Research Frontiers

2019 ◽  
pp. 235-258
Author(s):  
Matthew D. Adler
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Economic Literature ◽  
Population Ethics ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Variable Population ◽  
Ethical Significance ◽  
Research Frontiers ◽  
Fixed Population

This chapter discusses how the SWF framework can be generalized to accommodate variable-population cases and differentiated individual responsibility. The framework, as presented in earlier chapters, assumes a fixed-population setup (the very same individuals exist in all outcomes). Conversely, a variable-population setup allows for individuals who exist in some outcomes but not others. Extending the SWF framework to this case means grappling with the philosophical literature on population ethics—specifically, grappling with the ethical significance of non-identity and deciding how to make ethical comparisons between outcomes with different total population sizes. Earlier chapters also focus solely on the pattern of well-being in outcomes—ignoring that two individuals who are at the same well-being level may be differentially responsible for their condition and thus have unequal ethical claims to a well-being improvement. The economic literature on equality of opportunity (EOp) provides a structure for generalizing the SWF framework to reflect differentiated responsibility.

Growth and the Multiple Dimensions of Well-Being

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Valerie Tiberius
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Psychological Well Being ◽  
Cultural Narrative ◽  
Post Traumatic Growth ◽  
Multiple Dimensions ◽  
Post Traumatic ◽  
The Individual

What is the possible role of adversity in promoting the development of wisdom and well-being? This chapter focuses on examining psychological discussions of post-traumatic growth and discusses whether and how we would expect suffering, adversity, or trauma to push an individual in positive and negative ways, with an emphasis on multiple dimensions of psychological well-being. The chapter interweaves insights from the philosophical literature to arrive at a better understanding of whether and to what degree post-traumatic growth is likely to occur or if growth following adversity is part of the cultural narrative that does not effectively translate to the individual.

“The secret to happiness may be unhappiness”

Propelled ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Andreas Elpidorou
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Positive Emotions ◽  
Good Life ◽  
Well Being ◽  
The Good Life ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
Negative Experiences ◽  
Emotional Adaptation ◽  
Positive Experiences ◽  
Conception Of The Good

The chapter explores the nature of the good life, articulates the role that happiness, pleasure, and positive emotions play in such a life, and considers the effects of emotional adaptation and emotional diversity on our well-being. By drawing upon both philosophical literature and research in social psychology and cognitive neuroscience, it argues for a broad conception of the good life, one that does not identify the good life simply with the presence of positive experiences and the absence of negative ones. The chapter shows not only that negative experiences aren’t detrimental to our well-being, but that they are often necessary to achieve it.

Forward and backward processes in bisexual models with fixed population sizes

1994 ◽  
Vol 31 (02) ◽  
pp. 309-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Möhle
Keyword(s):  
Overlapping Generations ◽  
Weak Limit ◽  
Fixed Number ◽  
Uhlenbeck Process ◽  
Fisher Model ◽  
Extinction Probabilities ◽  
Ornstein Uhlenbeck Process ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Watson Process ◽  
Fixed Population

This paper introduces exchangeable bisexual models with fixed population sizes and non-overlapping generations. In each generation there are N pairs of individuals consisting of a female and a male. The N pairs of a generation produce N daughters and N sons altogether, and these 2N children form the N pairs of the next generation at random. First the extinction of the lines of descendants of a fixed number of pairs is studied, when the population size becomes large. Under suitable conditions this structure can be approximately treated in the framework of a Galton-Watson process. In particular it is shown for the Wright-Fisher model that the discrepancy between the extinction probabilities in the model and in the approximating Galton-Watson process is of order N. Next, the process of the number of ancestor-pairs of all pairs of a generation is analysed. Under suitable conditions this process, properly normed, has a weak limit as N becomes large. For the Wright-Fisher model this limit is an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process (restricted to a discrete time-set). The corresponding stationary distributions of the backward processes converge to the normal distribution, as expected.

scholarly journals Dynamical Models for Infectious Diseases with Varying Population Size and Vaccinations

2012 ◽  
Vol 2012 ◽  
pp. 1-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peilin Shi ◽  
Lingzhen Dong
Keyword(s):  
Infectious Diseases ◽  
Global Stability ◽  
Periodic Solutions ◽  
Dynamical Models ◽  
Bifurcation Theorem ◽  
Time Period ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Variable Population ◽  
Disease Free ◽  
Varying Population

We formulate and discuss models for the spread of infectious diseases with variable population sizes and vaccinations on the susceptible individuals. First, we assume that the susceptible individuals are vaccinated continuously. We establish the threshold-like results for the existence and global stability of the disease-free and the endemic equilibriums for these systems. Especially, we prove the global stability of the endemic equilibriums by converting the systems into integrodifferential equations. Second, we suppose that vaccinations occur once per time period. We obtain the existence and global stability of the disease-free periodic solutions for such systems with impulsive effects. By a useful bifurcation theorem, we acquire the existence of the endemic periodic solutions when the disease-related deaths do not occur. At last, we compare the results with vaccinations and without vaccinations and illustrate our results by numerical simulations.

Fixation in bisexual models with variable population sizes

1997 ◽  
Vol 34 (02) ◽  
pp. 436-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Möhle
Keyword(s):  
Main Part ◽  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Moran Model ◽  
Fisher Model ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Variable Population ◽  
Allelic Type ◽  
Ultimate Homozygosity ◽  
Necessary And Sufficient ◽  
Forward Process

A general exchangeable bisexual model with variable population sizes is introduced. First the forward process, i.e. the number of certain descending pairs, is studied. For the bisexual Wright-Fisher model fixation of the descendants occurs, i.e. their proportion tends to 0 or 1 almost surely. The main part of this article deals with necessary and sufficient conditions for ultimate homozygosity, i.e. the proportion of an arbitrarily chosen allelic type tends to 0 or 1 almost surely. The results are applied to a bisexual Wright-Fisher model and to a bisexual Moran model.

Faculty wellness in academic medicine: Addressing stressors in the workplace

Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-7
Author(s):  
Claudia Finkelstein ◽  
Anne Ordway ◽  
Kurt L. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Organizational Context ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Professional Autonomy ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
System Level ◽  
Physician Burnout ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Physician Wellness ◽  
Promotion System

BACKGROUND: Burnout is widely regarded as a syndrome resulting from chronic occupational stress. While physician burnout has been the subject of extensive research, physician wellness has been proposed as an alternative framework for understanding physician distress. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this qualitative study was to understand the organizational context of faculty wellness within an academic health care system. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 24 chairs of clinical and non-clinical departments in a US university school of medicine. RESULTS: Chairs described several system-level factors perceived to interfere with faculty wellness such as a stricter regulatory environment, the loss of professional autonomy, the up or out promotion system, limitless hours, and the rise of shadow work. While all chairs articulated some degree of responsibility for the wellness of their faculty, some said they lacked the skills or knowledge of resources to fully engage in this role. CONCLUSIONS: Findings from this study are consistent with recent research on physician burnout, which has pivoted from describing burnout as an individual responsibility to including the professional, organizational, and societal factors which likely contribute to physician job satisfaction and well-being. As health care organizations, including academic medical centers, move toward systems-based solutions for physician occupational health, it will be incumbent upon organizational leaders to make administrative decisions favoring physician wellness.

scholarly journals The Enforcement Approach to Coercion

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott A. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Physical Force ◽  
Philosophical Literature ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Authority ◽  
The One ◽  
The Right ◽  
Ethical Significance ◽  
The Way

This essay differentiates two approaches to understanding the concept of coercion, and argues for the relative merits of the one currently out of fashion. The approach currently dominant in the philosophical literature treats threats as essential to coercion, and understands coercion in terms of the way threats alter the costs and benefits of an agent’s actions; I call this the “pressure” approach. It has largely superseded the “enforcement approach,” which focuses on the powers and actions of the coercer rather than the perspective of the coercee. The enforcement approach identifies coercion with certain uses of the kinds of powers that agents need to accumulate and wield in order to be able to make significant, credible threats. Though there is considerable overlap extensionally in the instances of coercion recognized by the two approaches, the enforcement approach encompasses some uses of power to coerce that do not involve threats (in particular some direct uses of physical force). It also circumscribes which threats should be counted as coercive, though notably it provides a picture of coercion that is non-moralized in its essentials. While there may be specific purposes for which a pressure account is to be preferred, I argue that the enforcement approach better describes how coercion works, and elucidates factors that are often tacitly assumed by pressure accounts. It also is more useful for explaining the social and political significance of coercion, and why coercion is thought to have the implications commonly associated with it. In particular, I argue that it helps us understand why uses of coercion are in general a matter of ethical significance, why state authority depends on commanding a monopoly on the right to use coercion, and why being coerced may reasonably provide one a defense against being held responsible for actions one is coerced into taking.

scholarly journals A literature review of Happiness and Economics and guide to needed research

Competitio ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-131 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Wiese
Keyword(s):  
Well Being ◽  
Jel Classification ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Empirical Estimate ◽  
Economic Literature ◽  
Individual Utility ◽  
Human Welfare ◽  
Economic Issues ◽  
New Knowledge ◽  
Leading Journals

Happiness and Economics as a new branch of behavioural economics has had a major impact on economic theory and economic policy: Several studies have been published in the last 20 years in leading journals. Furthermore, several governments have decided to collect data about the well-being of their citizens. The author claims that utility cannot only be measured by the choices individuals do: Reported happiness and life satisfaction data is also an acceptable empirical estimate for individual utility. Consequently, happiness research can bear new knowledge and important understanding of human welfare. Therefore, this paper gives an overview of the existing literature. Methods and approach of scholars is critically analysed and shortcomings are discussed. Thereafter, findings on major economic issues like growth, unemployment and inflation are presented. Besides, governmental policy and implications for society are debated. Lastly, future research possibilities are mentioned. Journal of Economic Literature (JEL) Classification: D60 D63 I31

scholarly journals Influence of rate of resource flow on dynamics of community of people and artificial beings

2021 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 0
Author(s):  
Vladimir Kotov
Keyword(s):  
Differential Equations ◽  
Human Population ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Reproduction Rate ◽  
System Of Differential Equations ◽  
Equilibrium Solutions ◽  
Resource Flow ◽  
Population Sizes ◽  
Decreasing Functions ◽  
Function Constant

We develop and analyze a population model allowing us to examine a system, where people coexist with artificial beings (robots) and the both consume the same resource entering the system. The robot population consists of friendly and aggressive robots that differ in their attitudes towards people. We propose a system of differential equations, which define a dynamics of the populations of people, friendly robots and aggressive robots, and discuss different scenarios of the system evolution including those that lead to disappearance of the human population. We determine conditions that ensure a more or less prosperous future for humanity. We analyze the behavior of the system for different time dependences of the rate of the resource flow (a constant function, a step-like function, constant functions with undershoots and overshoots, a periodic function, monotonically increasing and decreasing functions). Our analysis shows that the dynamics of the rate of the resource flow defines the changes of the tendencies of the population sizes. Among the obtained solutions, there are solutions that lead to an equilibrium between populations. For people this equilibrium may be regarded as favorable if robots prefer to benefit from communication with people, but not from their extermination. However, equilibrium solutions imply a constant or slowly changes of the rate of the resource flow. Short-term changes of the rate of the resource flow modify the balance between the human population and the robot population. Accumulation of the changes can even lead to disappearance of one of the populations. Qualitative analyzes of the proposed system of differential equations along with computer simulations allow us to conclude that there are some necessary conditions for a well-being of the humans and robots. These conditions are as follows. Firstly, the benefit of the robot from communicating with people has to be higher than the benefit from their extermination. Secondly, to prevent the appearance of the aggressive robots the humanity has to regulate effectively the size of its own population. Thirdly, people have to be able to restrict their needs while maintaining the reproduction rate.

scholarly journals Overview on Well-being Theories and the Role of Individual Responsibility

2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Henrique de Morais Campetti
Keyword(s):  
Social Development ◽  
Capability Approach ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Individual Responsibility ◽  
Mainstream Economics ◽  
Happiness Economics ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Relevant Component ◽  
The Capability Approach

Abstract: This paper aims to make a theoretical review on the main approaches to Well-being and also introduce the subject of Responsibility as an element to be considered in this discussion. Thus, three theories of well-being are presented: the Mainstream Economics, the Happiness Economics and The Capability Approach. Each of them provides considerations about what matters for people’s life and social development. However, none of them contemplates individual responsibility as a relevant component for development. And only The Capability Approach takes account of responsibility, but without furthering the subject. In this sense, the theme of responsibility is defended as having an important role for development and well-being, and could be incorporated by The Capability Approach.

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