When Inmates Misbehave: The Costs of Discipline

1996 ◽  
Vol 76 (2) ◽  
pp. 165-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID LOVELL ◽  
RON JEMELKA
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Successful Treatment ◽  
Average Cost ◽  
Related Issue ◽  
Treatment Programs ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Medium Security ◽  
Treatment Policies

Reduction of infraction rates may serve as one measure of the efficacy of in-house treatment programs for psychologically disturbed inmates. To address the related issue of cost-effectiveness, the authors analyzed the costs of infractions at a medium-security prison, yielding an estimated average cost of $970 per infraction. These fixed costs do not respond to marginal changes in numbers of infractions but help to estimate the additional system costs that successful treatment may prevent in the long run. Like the costs of imprisonment in the free community, these costs need to be considered in disciplinary and treatment policies within prisons.

scholarly journals Average Cost Brownian Drift Control with Proportional Changeover Costs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
John H. Vande Vate
Keyword(s):  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Average Cost ◽  
Drift Rate ◽  
Optimality Criteria ◽  
Value Functions ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
Holding Costs ◽  
Practical Procedure ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Relative Value

This paper considers the problem of optimally controlling the drift of a Brownian motion with a finite set of possible drift rates so as to minimize the long-run average cost, consisting of fixed costs for changing the drift rate, processing costs for maintaining the drift rate, holding costs on the state of the process, and costs for instantaneous controls to keep the process within a prescribed range. We show that, under mild assumptions on the processing costs and the fixed costs for changing the drift rate, there is a strongly ordered optimal policy, that is, an optimal policy that limits the use of each drift rate to a single interval; when the process reaches the upper limit of that interval, the policy either changes to the next lower drift rate deterministically or resorts to instantaneous controls to keep the process within the prescribed range, and when the process reaches the lower limit of the interval, the policy either changes to the next higher drift rate deterministically or again resorts to instantaneous controls to keep the process within the prescribed range. We prove the optimality of such a policy by constructing smooth relative value functions satisfying the associated simplified optimality criteria. This paper shows that, under the proportional changeover cost assumption, each drift rate is active in at most one contiguous range and that the transitions between drift rates are strongly ordered. The results reduce the complexity of proving the optimality of such a policy by proving the existence of optimal relative value functions that constitute a nondecreasing sequence of functions. As a consequence, the constructive arguments lead to a practical procedure for solving the problem that is tens of thousands of times faster than previously reported methods.

The economic average cost Brownian control problem

2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (01) ◽  
pp. 300-337
Author(s):  
Melda Ormeci Matoglu ◽  
John H. Vande Vate ◽  
Haiyue Yu
Keyword(s):  
Control Problem ◽  
Average Cost ◽  
Drift Rate ◽  
Sufficient Conditions ◽  
Optimal Solution ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Brownian Control Problem ◽  
Cost Parameters ◽  
The Cost

AbstractIn this paper we introduce and solve a generalization of the classic average cost Brownian control problem in which a system manager dynamically controls the drift rate of a diffusion process X. At each instant, the system manager chooses the drift rate from a pair {u, v} of available rates and can invoke instantaneous controls either to keep X from falling or to keep it from rising. The objective is to minimize the long-run average cost consisting of holding or delay costs, processing costs, costs for invoking instantaneous controls, and fixed costs for changing the drift rate. We provide necessary and sufficient conditions on the cost parameters to ensure the problem admits a finite optimal solution. When it does, a simple control band policy specifying economic buffer sizes (α, Ω) and up to two switching points is optimal. The controller should invoke instantaneous controls to keep X in the interval (α, Ω). A policy with no switching points relies on a single drift rate exclusively. When there is no cost to change the drift rate, a policy with a single switching point s indicates that the controller should change to the slower drift rate when X exceeds s and use the faster drift rate otherwise. When there is a cost to change the drift rate, a policy with two switching points s < S indicates that the controller should maintain the faster drift rate until X exceeds S and maintain the slower drift rate until X falls below s.

Cost-effectiveness Analysis of Submandibular Gland Preservation With Sialendoscopy for the Management of Sialolithiasis

2021 ◽  
pp. 019459982110268
Author(s):  
Joseph R. Acevedo ◽  
Ashley C. Hsu ◽  
Jeffrey C. Yu ◽  
Dale H. Rice ◽  
Daniel I. Kwon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Submandibular Gland ◽  
Average Cost ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Cost Effectiveness Analysis ◽  
Effectiveness Analysis ◽  
Life Years ◽  
Probability Of Success ◽  
Markov Decision Model ◽  
The Cost

Objective To compare the cost-effectiveness of sialendoscopy with gland excision for the management of submandibular gland sialolithiasis. Study Design Cost-effectiveness analysis. Setting Outpatient surgery centers. Methods A Markov decision model compared the cost-effectiveness of sialendoscopy versus gland excision for managing submandibular gland sialolithiasis. Surgical outcome probabilities were found in the primary literature. The quality of life of patients was represented by health utilities, and costs were estimated from a third-party payer’s perspective. The effectiveness of each intervention was measured in quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs). The incremental costs and effectiveness of each intervention were compared, and a willingness-to-pay ratio of $150,000 per QALY was considered cost-effective. One-way, multivariate, and probabilistic sensitivity analyses were performed to challenge model conclusions. Results Over 10 years, sialendoscopy yielded 9.00 QALYs at an average cost of $8306, while gland excision produced 8.94 QALYs at an average cost of $6103. The ICER for sialendoscopy was $36,717 per QALY gained, making sialendoscopy cost-effective by our best estimates. The model was sensitive to the probability of success and the cost of sialendoscopy. Sialendoscopy must meet a probability-of-success threshold of 0.61 (61%) and cost ≤$11,996 to remain cost-effective. A Monte Carlo simulation revealed sialendoscopy to be cost-effective 60% of the time. Conclusion Sialendoscopy appears to be a cost-effective management strategy for sialolithiasis of the submandibular gland when certain thresholds are maintained. Further studies elucidating the clinical factors that determine successful sialendoscopy may be aided by these thresholds as well as future comparisons of novel technology.

A bivariate optimal replacement policy for a repairable system

1994 ◽  
Vol 31 (4) ◽  
pp. 1123-1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuan Lin Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Explicit Expression ◽  
Average Cost ◽  
Replacement Policy ◽  
Repairable System ◽  
Optimal Replacement ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Optimal Replacement Policy ◽  
Working Age ◽  
Better Than

In this paper, a repairable system consisting of one unit and a single repairman is studied. Assume that the system after repair is not as good as new. Under this assumption, a bivariate replacement policy (T, N), where T is the working age and N is the number of failures of the system is studied. The problem is to determine the optimal replacement policy (T, N)∗such that the long-run average cost per unit time is minimized. The explicit expression of the long-run average cost per unit time is derived, and the corresponding optimal replacement policy can be determined analytically or numerically. Finally, under some conditions, we show that the policy (T, N)∗ is better than policies N∗ or T∗.

Shopping for Lower Sales Tax Rates

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 209-250
Author(s):  
Scott R. Baker ◽  
Stephanie Johnson ◽  
Lorenz Kueng
Keyword(s):  
Shopping Behavior ◽  
Sales Tax ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
Tax Rates ◽  
Inventory Problem ◽  
Sales Taxes ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Short Run ◽  
State And Local

Using comprehensive high-frequency state and local sales tax data, we show that shopping behavior responds strongly to changes in sales tax rates. Even though sales taxes are not observed in posted prices and have a wide range of rates and exemptions, consumers adjust in many dimensions. They stock up on storable goods before taxes rise and increase online and cross-border shopping in both the short and long run. The difference between short- and long-run spending responses has important implications for the efficacy of using sales taxes for countercyclical policy and for the design of an optimal tax framework. Interestingly, households adjust spending similarly for both taxable and tax-exempt goods. We embed an inventory problem into a continuous-time consumption-savings model and demonstrate that this behavior is optimal in the presence of shopping trip fixed costs. The model successfully matches estimated short-run and long-run tax elasticities. We provide additional evidence in favor of this new shopping complementarity mechanism. (JEL E21, E32, G51, H21, H25, H71)

Optimal repair/replacement policy for a general repair model

2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 206-222 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoyue Jiang ◽  
Viliam Makis ◽  
Andrew K. S. Jardine
Keyword(s):  
Average Cost ◽  
Failure Time ◽  
Operating Time ◽  
Replacement Policy ◽  
Repair Cost ◽  
Virtual Age ◽  
Preventive Replacement ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Cost Limit

In this paper, we study a maintenance model with general repair and two types of replacement: failure and preventive replacement. When the system fails a decision is made whether to replace or repair it. The repair degree that affects the virtual age of the system is assumed to be a random function of the repair-cost and the virtual age at failure time. The system can be preventively replaced at any time before failure. The objective is to find the repair/replacement policy minimizing the long-run expected average cost per unit time. It is shown that a generalized repair-cost-limit policy is optimal and the preventive replacement time depends on the virtual age of the system and on the length of the operating time since the last repair. Computational procedures for finding the optimal repair-cost limit and the optimal average cost are developed. This model includes many well-known models as special cases and the approach provides a unified treatment of a wide class of maintenance models.

scholarly journals Cost-effectiveness of hepatitis C screening and treatment linkage intervention in US methadone maintenance treatment programs

2018 ◽  
Vol 185 ◽  
pp. 411-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce R. Schackman ◽  
Sarah Gutkind ◽  
Jake R. Morgan ◽  
Jared A. Leff ◽  
Czarina N. Behrends ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Cost Effectiveness ◽  
Hepatitis C ◽  
Methadone Maintenance Treatment ◽  
Maintenance Treatment ◽  
Methadone Maintenance ◽  
Treatment Programs

scholarly journals Exploring the Road to Agricultural Sustainability by Assessing the EU Debt Influencing Factors

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 2465
Author(s):  
Laura Brad ◽  
Gabriel Popescu ◽  
Alina Zaharia ◽  
Maria Claudia Diaconeasa ◽  
Daniela Mihai
Keyword(s):  
Poverty Reduction ◽  
Fixed Costs ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Labor Costs ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Total Debt ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Periodic Analysis ◽  
The Impact

The importance of agricultural financing in ensuring food security and safety, jobs, poverty reduction, economic growth and more recently, climate change mitigation, natural resource conservation and sustainable development imposes periodic analysis of the factors which might influence the farmers’ financial situation, in order to improve it. One way of assessing this is to analyze the agricultural debt. In this context, based on previous models, the paper aims to assess the impact of specific factors on the agricultural debt level in the European Union during 2008–2015, as these should be considered in future common agriculture policies as well as in achieving sustainable agriculture. The research was conducted based on econometric techniques, by applying panel models in the Eviews 7.0 software-64 bit version. More than 20 variables were considered in the analysis. Some of the findings suggest that an increase in subsidies as well as the share of cash flow in the total existing capital would determine considerable reductions of the total debt. Decoupled subsidies seem to have a higher impact than coupled subsidies on short term debt, while its value is between the one found for coupled subsidies in the case of long term debt. Large farms/companies, to which decoupled payments are granted, have higher debts on long run and on total debt. The same units, to which coupled subsidies were granted, have smaller short-term debt. In contrast, the increases of labor costs, fixed costs, and crop/livestock costs lead to an increase in the total debt, since the farms require additional financial resources to cover the expanded costs. Also, the results suggest that short-term debts are mainly formed of long-term loans that reached maturity. In this case, the authors support the idea of differentiated financing programs for the agricultural activities because of their peculiarities and reinforced by the need to turn the intensive agriculture into a sustainable and plentiful one.

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