scholarly journals The Ethics of Nudge: Towards a governance structure for the ethical use of nudge theory by Governments

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vijay Raj

This paper explores the use of nudge theory within governments and performs a pragmatic evaluation of its adoption by policymakers from an ethical point of view. While most critics argue against the use of nudge theory by governments from an academic or philosophical standpoint, this paper examines the use of nudge theory as one of the many tools available for policymakers and adopts a pragmatic approach. The paper concludes by calling for a governance structure that addresses the ethical concerns and ensures the ethical application of nudge theory through the development of an ethical nudge.

1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-420
Author(s):  
Arthur MacEwan

These books are numbers 4 and 5, respectively, in the series "Studies in the Economic Development of India". The two books are interesting complements to one another, both being concerned with the analysis of projects within national plan formulation. However, they treat different sorts of problems and do so on very different levels. Marglin's Public Investment Criteria is a short treatise on the problems of cost-benefit analysis in an Indian type economy, i.e., a mixed economy in which the government accepts a large planning responsibility. The book, which is wholely theoretical, explains the many criteria needed for evaluation of projects. The work is aimed at beginning students and government officials with some training in economics. It is a clear and interesting "introduction to the special branch of economics that concerns itself with systematic analysis of investment alternatives from the point of view of a government".


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
P Schröder-Bäck ◽  
T Schloemer ◽  
K Martakis ◽  
C Brall

Abstract Background The outbreak of SARS in 2002 lead to a public health ethics discourse. The crisis management of that time was ethically analysed and lessons to be learned discussed. Scholarship and WHO, among others, developed an ethics of pandemic preparedness. The current “corona crisis” also faces us with ethical challenges. This presentation is comparing the two crises from an ethical point of view and a focus on Europe. Methods An ethics framework for pandemic preparedness (Schröder et al. 2006 and Schröder-Bäck 2014) is used to make a synopsis of ethical issues. Ethical aspects of 2002 and 2020 that were discussed in the literature and in the media are compared. For 2020, the focus is on interventions in Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. Results Topics that emerged from the 2002 crisis were, among others, revolving around aspects of stigmatisation and fair distribution of scarce resources (esp. vaccines, antivirals). Currently, most urgent and ethically challenging aspects relate to social distancing vs. autonomy: Isolation and quarantine are handled differently across Europe and the EU. Questions of transferability of such interventions prevail. Contexts vary vertically over time (2002 vs. 2020) and horizontally (e.g. between Italy and Germany at the same time). Furthermore, trust in authorities, media and health information is a key issue. Conclusions Ethical aspects are key for good pandemic preparedness and management. The context of the crises between 2002 and 2020 has slightly changed, also based on “lessons learned” from 2002. This has implications on ethical issues that are being discussed. New lessons will have to be learned from the 2020 crisis. Key messages Pandemic preparedness and outbreak management entail many ethical tensions that need to be addressed. Currently, questions of trust and transferability are key to the crisis management, further ethical issues could still emerge.


Morphology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rossella Varvara ◽  
Gabriella Lapesa ◽  
Sebastian Padó

AbstractWe present the results of a large-scale corpus-based comparison of two German event nominalization patterns: deverbal nouns in -ung (e.g., die Evaluierung, ‘the evaluation’) and nominal infinitives (e.g., das Evaluieren, ‘the evaluating’). Among the many available event nominalization patterns for German, we selected these two because they are both highly productive and challenging from the semantic point of view. Both patterns are known to keep a tight relation with the event denoted by the base verb, but with different nuances. Our study targets a better understanding of the differences in their semantic import.The key notion of our comparison is that of semantic transparency, and we propose a usage-based characterization of the relationship between derived nominals and their bases. Using methods from distributional semantics, we bring to bear two concrete measures of transparency which highlight different nuances: the first one, cosine, detects nominalizations which are semantically similar to their bases; the second one, distributional inclusion, detects nominalizations which are used in a subset of the contexts of the base verb. We find that only the inclusion measure helps in characterizing the difference between the two types of nominalizations, in relation with the traditionally considered variable of relative frequency (Hay, 2001). Finally, the distributional analysis allows us to frame our comparison in the broader coordinates of the inflection vs. derivation cline.


2001 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 311-321
Author(s):  
DN Carmichael ◽  
Michael Lye

Heart failure has been defined in many ways and definitions change over time. The multiplicity of definitions reflect the paucity of our understanding of the primary underlying physiology of heart failure and the many diseases for which heart failure is the common end-point. Fundamentally, heart failure represents a failure of the heart to meet the body’s requirement for blood supply for whatever reason. It is thus a clinical syndrome with characteristic features – not a single disease in its own right. The syndrome includes symptoms and signs of organ underperfusion, fluid retention and neuroendocrine activation. The syndrome arises from a range of possible causes of which ischaemic heart disease is the commonest. From the point of view of a clinician, the underlying pathology will determine treatment options and prognosis. The extensive range of possible aetiologies present a diagnostic challenge both to correctly identify the syndrome amongst all other causes of dyspnoea and to identify the aetiology, allowing optimization of treatment.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 629-635
Author(s):  
Howard A. Pearson ◽  
Louis K. Diamond

This brief review, being limited in scope to the recognition and management of the life-threatening and painful crises in infants and children with sickle-cell disease, has not even touched on the intriguing mystery of the molecular basis for the sickling phenomenon–how one amino-acid substitution (gene controlled) in the beta chain sequence of 146 amino acids can cause such serious disruption in form and function; or how this mutation occurred in the first place and why it has persisted in contrast to the rapid disappearance of many other deleterious mutants. Nor has there been even mention of the many milder symptoms, signs, and complications due to the presence of Hb. S., either in the homozygous (disease-producing) state or heterozygous form when found in combination with other hereditary hemoglobin defects. The accumulated knowledge about this mutant gene, its biochemical effects, and geographic distribution is enormous. From a fundamental scientific standpoint, sickle cell disease is one of the best understood of human afflictions. However, from a practical point of view treatment of the patient himself is often only symptomatic and palliative. Nevertheless, prompt and effective therapy of the myriad manifestations of sickle cell disease can effectively reduce morbidity and mortality. The pediatrician who cares for black children in his practice should be familiar with the cardinal diagnostic and clinical aspects of sickle cell disease and its crises.


Author(s):  
Michał Bartoszewicz

The article deals with standards of professional preparation of doctors in the scope of speaking and writing Polish. The thesis of the article is that this requirement is one of the elements of professional preparation which is not limited to knowledge but includes specific skills. Defining the threshold of minimum linguistic competence is a subtle matter. The study draws attention to the necessity of pragmatic approach to these requirements to the extent necessary to practice as a doctor or dentist. From the point of view of the doctor’s rights, a lot depends on the procedure of verifying the command of Polish language. Therefore, attention was paid to the jurisprudence of administrative courts in this area.


PEDIATRICS ◽  
1950 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-556

THE road to better child health has been discussed in relation to the doctor and his training, health services and their distribution. We have dealt with the unavoidable question of costs. Particular attention has been given to some of the advantages and dangers of decentralization of pediatric education and services. Each of the various subjects has been discussed from the point of view of its bearing on the ultimate objective of better health for all children and the steps necessary to attain this goal. Now, we may stand back from the many details of the picture, view the whole objectively and note its most outstanding features. First is the fact that the improvement of child health depends primarily upon better training for all doctors who provide child care, general practitioners as well as specialists. This is the foundation without which the rest of the structure cannot stand. The second dominant fact is the need for extending to outlying and isolated areas the high quality medical care of the medical centers, without at the same time diluting the service or training at the center. The road to better medical care, therefore, begins at the medical center and extends outward through a network of integrated community hospitals and health centers, finally reaching the remote and heretofore isolated areas. Inherent in all medical schools is a unique potential for rendering medical services as well as actually training physicians. The very nature of medical education—whereby doctors in training work under the tutelage of able specialists in the clinic, hospital ward, and out-patient department—provides medical services of high quality to people in the neighboring communities.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kochikpa Ondodje

Abstract The SARL "Pobè Fish Farm" located in the South-East of Benin specializes in the production and sale of tilapia and Clarias. The farm has twenty two ponds of 200 m2 (10 m × 20 m) supplied with water by a pipe system from a natural and permanent stream. The water supply is via a concrete channel which did not allow the water to be renewed once the pond is full. Work has been carried out to allow a larger inflow of water and communication between the ponds. The operation of the farm is modeled on the types of agro-fish farms existing in Asia and encountered in Vietnam in particular; it aims to put theoretical knowledge into practice and on the other hand to contribute to the development of a sector still little known in Benin, despite the many hydroagricultural potentials with which this country is endowed. The species bred at national level are rustic and adapted to the environment and whose genetic performance has not been improved. In fact, only modern breeding following very precise technical standards can allow obtaining interesting results from the point of view of agronomic yield and financial profitability. Indeed, these fish from our ponds are very popular with the populations (the average wholesale price is 1000 FCFA/kg) and are already an integral part of eating habits both in rural areas and in cities.


Philosophy ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 78 (3) ◽  
pp. 337-354 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. W. Moore

The author begins with an outline of Bernard William's moral philosophy, within which he locates William's notorious doctrine that reflection can destroy ethical knowledge. He then gives a partial defence of this doctrine, exploiting an analogy between ethical judgements and tensed judgements. The basic idea is that what the passage of time does for the latter, reflection can do for the former: namely, prevent the re-adoption of an abandoned point of view (an ethical point of view in the one case, a temporal point of view in the other). In the final section the author says a little about how reflection might do this.


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