Behavioral Economics and Empirical Public Policy

Science.gov (United States)

Hursh, Steven R.; Roma, Peter G.

2013-01-01

The application of economics principles to the analysis of behavior has yielded novel insights on value and choice across contexts ranging from laboratory animal research to clinical populations to national trends of global impact. Recent innovations in demand curve methods provide a credible means of quantitatively comparing qualitatively…

Behavioral Economics and the Public Acceptance of Synthetic Biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliver, Adam

2018-01-01

Different applications of synthetic biology are alike in that their possible negative consequences are highly uncertain, potentially catastrophic, and perhaps irreversible; therefore, they are also alike in that public attitudes about them are fertile ground for behavioral economic phenomena. Findings from behavioral economics suggest that people may not respond to such applications according to the normal rules of economic evaluation, by which the value of an outcome is multiplied by the mathematical probability that the outcome will occur. Possibly, then, synthetic biology applications challenge the normative postulates of the standard approach, too. I want to first consider how some of the phenomena described by behavioral economists-and behavioral scientists more broadly-might affect people's perceptions of the uncertainties associated with synthetic biology. My analysis will be far from complete, however, because behavioral economics is essentially the study of human behavior, and thus its reach is potentially vast and its development longstanding and ongoing. Nonetheless, I hope to give an indicative perspective on how some aspects of behavioral economics might affect the assessment and perceived acceptability of synthetic biology. I will then consider the issue of agency. Should policy-makers respect people's reactions to synthetic biology when those reactions are known to be driven by behavioral economic phenomena rather than following the normative postulates of rational choice theory? Or should policy-makers dismiss these reactions as inherently biased? I will argue that the normative force of these human reactions (probably) depends on phenomenon and context. © 2018 The Hastings Center.

Economic Cycles in a Behavioral Disequilibrium Perspective

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Mosekilde, Erik; Sterman, J.D.

1997-01-01

The paper reviews the characteristic features of the main economic cycles and discusses the behavioral foundation for each mode at the microlevel. The analysis continues to illustrate some of the nonlinear dynamic phenomena that can arise through interaction between the various modes and through...

Behavioral Economics of Education

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koch, Alexander Karl; Nafziger, Julia; Nielsen, Helena Skyt

2015-01-01

-dimensional rather than one-dimensional. Explicitly accounting for soft skills often implies departing from the standard economic model by integrating concepts studied in behavioral and experimental economics, such as self-control, willingness to compete, intrinsic motivation, and self-confidence. We review how...

BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS AND THE NEED OF PSYCHOLOGY IN ECONOMIC RESEARCH

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Andreea GRADINARU

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The turning point in economic science has now come, marked especially by triggering the biggest crisis since the Great Depression of '29-'33, has called into question the need to reconsider the status of economic science and finding ways in which it can increase its practical foundations. In the elaboration of this study I’ve took into account the fact that beyond any abstract, formal and mathematical model, economics is a science, having the man in its center. Furthermore, every economic process is based on the human being. But the way individuals behave does not follow precisely the pattern predicted by classical and neoclassical models, but most of the time they are making decisions under the influence of psychological factors. Starting from these assumptions I considered important to highlight a real need for psychology in economic research. Therefore, the aim of this work is exclusively theoretical meant to show that the study of psychological factors is necessary in economic research, because it allows a better explanation of the economic problems and lead to obtaining results closer to reality than those who only take into consideration economic factors. In this way I appealed to behavioral economics. This represents a new trend of economic thinking that reunites psychology with economy. The thing that I observed after finishing the study is that behavioral economics can increase the explanatory power of economics by providing more realistic psychological bases, because human behavior is not only the subject matter of economics but psychology too.

Applying Behavioral Economics to Public Health Policy

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Matjasko, Jennifer L.; Cawley, John H.; Baker-Goering, Madeleine M.; Yokum, David V.

2016-01-01

Behavioral economics provides an empirically informed perspective on how individuals make decisions, including the important realization that even subtle features of the environment can have meaningful impacts on behavior. This commentary provides examples from the literature and recent government initiatives that incorporate concepts from behavioral economics in order to improve health, decision making, and government efficiency. The examples highlight the potential for behavioral economics to improve the effectiveness of public health policy at low cost. Although incorporating insights from behavioral economics into public health policy has the potential to improve population health, its integration into government public health programs and policies requires careful design and continual evaluation of such interventions. Limitations and drawbacks of the approach are discussed. PMID:27102853

APPLICATIONS OF BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS IN UNIVERSITY LIFE

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GEORGE NICULESCU

2017-11-01

Full Text Available In the first part of the article I have dealt with the role and place of behavioral economics in the economic sciences. Classical economic theories are criticized by the behavioral economy. We think we are rational beings and that we make logical decisions based on the information we have at our disposal. In fact, we have our own cognitive limitations that can lead to hasty decisions or confusing judgments; the real individual is a complex person, with actions that result in failures and incomprehensible behaviors for the economics Behavioral economics is trying to explain why individuals often make irrational choices, and why decisions they take do not follow exactly the patterns predicted by classical and neoclassical economic models. This paper is trying to assess the individual behavior involved in the decision making process in the university space. This article describes aloso a series of experiments on behavioral economics. The experiments are from university life and contest the hypothesis of the perfectly rational person's existence in making decisions and the neoclassical economic theories and models that are based only on the premise of the existence of homo oeconomicus rationalis. Observations and experiments conducted with students at Constantin Brancusi University in Târgu-Jiu are relevant in challenging the hypothesis of perfect rationality, preference stability, perfect information and market efficiency. The research method used in this article is the experiment. Study results are useful for academic management.

A behavioral economics perspective on tobacco taxation.

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Cherukupalli, Rajeev

2010-04-01

Economic studies of taxation typically estimate external costs of tobacco use to be low and refrain from recommending large tobacco taxes. Behavioral economics suggests that a rational decision-making process by individuals fully aware of tobacco's hazards might still lead to overconsumption through the psychological tendency to favor immediate gratification over future harm. Taxes can serve as a self-control device to help reduce tobacco use and enable successful quit attempts. Whether taxes are appropriately high depends on how excessively people underrate the harm from tobacco use and varies with a country's circumstances. Such taxes are likely to be more equitable for poorer subgroups than traditional economic analysis suggests, which would strengthen the case for increased tobacco taxation globally.

Economic Recession and Obesity-Related Internet Search Behavior in Taiwan: Analysis of Google Trends Data.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Ho-Wei; Chen, Duan-Rung

2018-04-06

Obesity is highly correlated with the development of chronic diseases and has become a critical public health issue that must be countered by aggressive action. This study determined whether data from Google Trends could provide insight into trends in obesity-related search behaviors in Taiwan. Using Google Trends, we examined how changes in economic conditions-using business cycle indicators as a proxy-were associated with people's internet search behaviors related to obesity awareness, health behaviors, and fast food restaurants. Monthly business cycle indicators were obtained from the Taiwan National Development Council. Weekly Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) weighted index data were accessed and downloaded from Yahoo Finance. The weekly relative search volumes (RSV) of obesity-related terms were downloaded from Google Trends. RSVs of obesity-related terms and the TWSE from January 2007 to December 2011 (60 months) were analyzed using correlation analysis. During an economic recession, the RSV of obesity awareness and health behaviors declined (r=.441, P<.001; r=.593, P<.001, respectively); however, the RSV for fast food restaurants increased (r=-.437, P<.001). Findings indicated that when the economy was faltering, people tended to be less likely to search for information related to health behaviors and obesity awareness; moreover, they were more likely to search for fast food restaurants. Macroeconomic conditions can have an impact on people's health-related internet searches. ©Ho-Wei Wang, Duan-Rung Chen. Originally published in JMIR Public Health and Surveillance (http://publichealth.jmir.org), 06.04.2018.

Behavioral economics and diabetic eye exams.

Science.gov (United States)

Williams, Andrew M; Liu, Peggy J; Muir, Kelly W; Waxman, Evan L

2018-07-01

Diabetic retinopathy is a common microvascular complication of diabetes mellitus and is the leading cause of new blindness among working-age adults in the United States. Timely intervention to prevent vision loss is possible with early detection by regular eye examinations. Unfortunately, adherence to recommended annual diabetic eye exams is poor. Public health interventions have targeted traditional barriers to care, such as cost and transportation, with limited success. Behavioral economics provides an additional framework of concepts and tools to understand low screening rates and to promote regular diabetic eye exams for populations at risk. In particular, behavioral economics outlines biases and heuristics that affect decision-making and underlie pervasive barriers to care, such as not viewing diabetic eye exams as a priority or perceiving oneself as too healthy to need an examination. In this review, we examine the literature on the use of behavioral economics interventions to promote regular diabetic eye exams. From the results of the included studies, we outline how concepts from behavioral economics can improve eye examination rates. In particular, the default bias, present bias, and self-serving bias play a significant role in precluding regular diabetic eye examinations. Potential tools to mitigate these biases include leveraging default options, using reminder messages, providing behavioral coaching, applying commitment contracts, offering financial incentives, and personalizing health messages. When combined with traditional public health campaigns, insights from behavioral economics can improve understanding of pervasive barriers to care and offer additional strategies to promote regular preventive eye care for patients with diabetes. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A Behavioral Economics Perspective on Tobacco Taxation

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

Economic studies of taxation typically estimate external costs of tobacco use to be low and refrain from recommending large tobacco taxes. Behavioral economics suggests that a rational decision-making process by individuals fully aware of tobacco's hazards might still lead to overconsumption through the psychological tendency to favor immediate gratification over future harm. Taxes can serve as a self-control device to help reduce tobacco use and enable successful quit attempts. Whether taxes are appropriately high depends on how excessively people underrate the harm from tobacco use and varies with a country's circumstances. Such taxes are likely to be more equitable for poorer subgroups than traditional economic analysis suggests, which would strengthen the case for increased tobacco taxation globally. PMID:20220113

Economic Holobiont: Influence of Parasites, Microbiota and Chemosignals on Economic Behavior

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Petr Houdek

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The article is a perspective on utilization of microorganisms and chemosignals in studying human economic behavior. Research in biological roots of economic development has already confirmed that parasitic pressure influenced the creation and development of cultural norms and institutions. However, other effects of microorganisms on human groups and individual decision-making and behavior are heavily understudied. The perspective discusses how parasitic infections, sexually transmitted organisms and microbiota (i.e., “human holobiont” could causally influence risk-seeking behavior, impulsivity, social dominance, empathy, political views and gender differences. As a case study, the parasite Toxoplasma gondii and its influence on economic preferences, personal characteristics and human appearance are examined. I also briefly review how chemosignals influence decision-making, particularly in the social preferences domain. I mention some predictions that arise from the paradigm of economic holobiont for the economic science. The conclusion summarizes limitations of the discussed findings and the stated speculations.

The behavioral economics of health and health care.

Science.gov (United States)

Rice, Thomas

2013-01-01

People often make decisions in health care that are not in their best interest, ranging from failing to enroll in health insurance to which they are entitled, to engaging in extremely harmful behaviors. Traditional economic theory provides a limited tool kit for improving behavior because it assumes that people make decisions in a rational way, have the mental capacity to deal with huge amounts of information and choice, and have tastes endemic to them and not open to manipulation. Melding economics with psychology, behavioral economics acknowledges that people often do not act rationally in the economic sense. It therefore offers a potentially richer set of tools than provided by traditional economic theory to understand and influence behaviors. Only recently, however, has it been applied to health care. This article provides an overview of behavioral economics, reviews some of its contributions, and shows how it can be used in health care to improve people's decisions and health.

Behavioral economics: Past, present, and future

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Richard H. Thaler

2018-04-01

Full Text Available “Behavioral economics” attempts to incorporate insights from other social sciences, especially psychology, in order to enrich the standard economic model. The interest in the psychology of human behavior returns economics to its earliest roots. Adam Smith talked about such key concepts as loss aversion, overconfidence, and self-control. Nevertheless, the modern version of behavioral economics introduced in the 1980s met with resistance by some economists, who preferred to retain the standard neo-classical model. They introduced several arguments for why psychology could safely be ignored. In this essay I show that these arguments have been rejected, both theoretically and empirically, so it is time to move on. The new approach should include two different kinds of theories: normative models that characterize the optimal solution to specific problems and descriptive models that capture how humans actually behave. The latter theories will incorporate some variables I call supposedly irrelevant factors, which can improve the explanatory power of economic models.

A HUMANISING ECONOMIC APPROACH ON COMPETITION POLICY OR HOW THE BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS BLENDS WITH “TRADITIONAL ECONOMICS”

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Liviana Andreea Niminet

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Behavioral are crucial for understanding both the consumer’s attitude and firms’ attitude as well as for understanding the market outcomes. The past ten years brought a lot of attention from researchers and policy-makers on the behavioral economics issue. Classical, traditional economic models rely on the assumptions of rationality and ordered preferences. Behavioral economics explores interactions between demand and supply including information framing, the use of heuristics in decision-making and time-inconsistent preferences. The research on behavioral economics has led to an extensive debate about the relative merits of both traditional and behavioral economics. First of all we propose to highlight the advantages and disadvantages of behavioral economics versus traditional economics on a very sensitive issue: the competition policy. Then we address market issues that can be solved by means of behavioral economics afterwards turning out attention to the remedies of behavioral economics and ,last but not least, the United Kingdom successful model on the matter of competition policy.

The role of behavioral economics and behavioral decision making in Americans' retirement savings decisions.

Science.gov (United States)

Knoll, Melissa A Z

2010-01-01

Traditional economic theory posits that people make decisions by maximizing a utility function in which all of the relevant constraints and preferences are included and weighed appropriately. Behavioral economists and decision-making researchers, however, are interested in how people make decisions in the face of incomplete information, limited cognitive resources, and decision biases. Empirical findings in the areas of behavioral economics and judgment and decision making (JDM) demonstrate departures from the notion that man is economically rational, illustrating instead that people often act in ways that are economically suboptimal. This article outlines findings from the JDM and behavioral-economics literatures that highlight the many behavioral impediments to saving that individuals may encounter on their way to financial security. I discuss how behavioral and psychological issues, such as self-control, emotions, and choice architecture can help policymakers understand what factors, aside from purely economic ones, may affect individuals' savings behavior.

Behavioral economic analysis of cue-elicited craving for tobacco: a virtual reality study.

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Acker, John; MacKillop, James

2013-08-01

Subjective craving is a prominent construct in the study of tobacco motivation; yet, the precise measurement of tobacco craving poses several difficulties. A behavioral economic approach to understanding drug motivation imports concepts and methods from economics to improve the assessment of craving. Using an immersive virtual reality (VR) cue reactivity paradigm, this study tested the hypothesis that, compared with neutral cues, tobacco cues would result in significant increases in subjective craving and diverse aspects of demand for tobacco in a community sample of 47 regular smokers. In addition, the study examined these motivational indices in relation to a dual-component delay and cigarette consumption self-administration paradigm. In response to the VR tobacco cues, significant increases were observed for tobacco craving and the demand indices of Omax (i.e., maximum total expenditure toward cigarettes) and Breakpoint (i.e., price at which consumption is completely suppressed), whereas a significant decrease was observed for Elasticity (i.e., lower cigarette price sensitivity). Continuous analyses revealed trend-level inverse associations between Omax and Intensity in relation to delay duration and significant positive associations between subjective craving, Omax, and Elasticity in relation to the number of cigarettes purchased. The results from this study provide further evidence for the utility of behavioral economic concepts and methods in understanding smoking motivation. These data also reveal the incremental contribution of behavioral economic indices beyond subjective craving in predicting in vivo cigarette consumption. Relationships to previous studies and methodological considerations are discussed.

Financial incentives for healthy behavior: ethical safeguards for behavioral economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Lunze, Karsten; Paasche-Orlow, Michael K

2013-06-01

Economic incentives to promote healthy behavior are becoming increasingly common and have been suggested as an approach to decreasing healthcare costs. Ethical concerns about programs with such incentives are that they may contribute to inequities, be coercive, interfere with therapeutic relationships, undermine personal responsibility for health, and decrease social solidarity. Additionally, they may be a source of stigma or discrimination, promote dependence, and be unfair for those already engaged in targeted health behaviors or those who cannot fulfill the incentivized behaviors. Incentive programs need to incorporate appropriate safeguards to monitor these risks and support fairness in offering economic incentives to promote healthy behavior. Copyright © 2013 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Behavioral economics and the ‘new’ paternalism1

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Rostislav Kapeliushnikov

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The paper provides a critical appraisal of the normative program of behavioral economics known as ‘new paternalism’. First, it explores the theoretical foundations of behavioral economics, describes major behavioral anomalies associated with bounded rationality of economic agents and discusses its normative principles and political implications. It then discusses the main empirical and conceptual drawbacks of new paternalism and provides arguments for the alternative non-welfarist normative tradition based on the idea of freedom.

Essays in behavioral economics : Applied game theory and experiments

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Mermer, A.G.

2014-01-01

Behavioral Economics aims at understanding the decision of economic agents who are not necessarily monetary utility maximizers and accounts for the fact that agents may have other concerns next to economic gain. This thesis contributes to the literature by studying the behavior of economic agents

Behavioral economics strategies for promoting adherence to sleep interventions.

Science.gov (United States)

Stevens, Jack

2015-10-01

Cognitive-behavioral treatment for insomnia and continuous positive airway pressure therapy for obstructive sleep apnea are among the most efficacious sleep interventions. Unfortunately, adherence levels are disappointingly low for these interventions. Behavioral economics offers a promising framework for promoting adherence, often through relatively brief and straightforward strategies. The assumptions, goals, and key strategies of behavioral economics will be introduced. These strategies include providing social norms information, changing defaults, using the compromise effect, utilizing commitment devices, and establishing lottery-based systems. Then, this review will highlight specific behavioral economic approaches to promote patient adherence for three major sleep interventions: 1) behavioral treatment for pediatric insomnia, 2) cognitive-behavioral treatment for adult insomnia, and 3) continuous positive airway pressure for obstructive sleep apnea. Next, behavioral economic strategies will be discussed as ways to improve health care provider adherence to clinical practice guidelines regarding appropriate prescribing of hypnotics and ordering sleep-promoting practices for hospitalized inpatients. Finally, possible concerns that readers may have about behavioral economics strategies, including their efficacy, feasibility, and sustainability, will be addressed. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Behavioral Effects in Forming the Preferences of the Economic Selection of the Economic Subject

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Svetlana, V. Belikova

2017-03-01

Full Text Available An attempt has been made to substantiate the behavioral features of the economic choice of an economic entity in the context of the decision-making environment transformation, and also to study their influence on the forming subjective preferences. At the same time, the behavioral paradigm is identified as a basic theoretical construct, which makes it possible to identify the main irrationalizing factors. Based on the study of the conceptual provisions of the behavioral paradigm, it was concluded that the preferences of the economic entity in the process of implementing the economic choice are formed under the influence of motivational and cognitive predictors, which limit the rationality of the economic entity. Deviating from rational criteria towards irrational, the economic entity shapes its preferences on the basis of economic and non-economic criteria, systematically making mistakes in the context of the influence of cognitive distortions manifested in decision-making under modern conditions. Based on the findings, the author constructs a model of economic choice, taking into account behavioral predictors. Among the most important cognitive distortions are herd instinct, professional deformation, "curse of knowledge", bias toward information retrieval, error of substantiation of assessment, bias of confirmation, neglect of formalized methods of cognition, conservatism, preferences of personified trust and heuristics of asymmetric perception.

Economic Analysis of Long Working Hours (Japanese)

OpenAIRE

OHTAKE Fumio; OKUDAIRA Hiroko

2008-01-01

In this paper we set out the economic grounds for restrictions on long working hours and conduct an empirical analysis using surveys from the perspective of behavioral economics. The results of the analysis indicate that, on a year-on-year basis, if state of health improves, the probability of working more than 60 hours per week increases significantly, but that even when state of health deteriorates there is no decrease in the probability of working long hours. Moreover, among male managemen...

Special issue: Behavioral Economics and Health Annual Symposium.

Science.gov (United States)

2011-09-01

The application of behavioral economics to health and health care has captured the imagination of policymakers across the political spectrum. The idea is that many people are irrational in predictable ways, and that this both contributes to unhealthy behaviors like smoking and holds one of the keys to changing those behaviors. Because health care costs continue to increase, and a substantial portion of costs are incurred because of unhealthy behaviors, employers and insurers have great interest in using financial incentives to change behaviors. However, it is in the details that complexity and controversies emerge. Who should the targets be, and what outcomes should be rewarded? How should incentives be structured, to maximize their effectiveness and minimize unintended consequences? In what situations should we be intervening to affect decisions by people who may prefer to be obese or to smoke, and in what situations should we accept their preferences? To begin to answer these questions, the Penn-CMU Roybal P30 Center on Behavioral Economics and Health held its first annual Behavioral Economics and Health Symposium on March 24-25, 2011 with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The symposium drew more than 50 researchers, scholars, and health professionals from a variety of disciplines, including medicine, public health, economics, law, management, marketing, and psychology. They heard perspectives on behavioral economics from public and private funders, the CEO of the University of Pennsylvania Health System, and the CEO of stickK.com, a start-up company that uses online, voluntary commitment contracts to help people achieve their goals. Participants formed eight working groups to review the current state-of-the-art in a variety of clinical contexts and to consider how behavioral economics could inform a research agenda to improve health. This Issue Brief summarizes the findings of these working groups and the symposium.

Some current dimensions of the behavioral economics of health-related behavior change.

Science.gov (United States)

Bickel, Warren K; Moody, Lara; Higgins, Stephen T

2016-11-01

Health-related behaviors such as tobacco, alcohol and other substance use, poor diet and physical inactivity, and risky sexual practices are important targets for research and intervention. Health-related behaviors are especially pertinent targets in the United States, which lags behind most other developed nations on common markers of population health. In this essay we examine the application of behavioral economics, a scientific discipline that represents the intersection of economics and psychology, to the study and promotion of health-related behavior change. More specifically, we review what we consider to be some core dimensions of this discipline when applied to the study health-related behavior change. Behavioral economics (1) provides novel conceptual systems to inform scientific understanding of health behaviors, (2) translates scientific understanding into practical and effective behavior-change interventions, (3) leverages varied aspects of behavior change beyond increases or decreases in frequency, (4) recognizes and exploits trans-disease processes and interventions, and (5) leverages technology in efforts to maximize efficacy, cost effectiveness, and reach. These dimensions are overviewed and their implications for the future of the field discussed. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Behavioral Economic Laboratory Research in Tobacco Regulatory Science.

Science.gov (United States)

Tidey, Jennifer W; Cassidy, Rachel N; Miller, Mollie E; Smith, Tracy T

2016-10-01

Research that can provide a scientific foundation for the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) tobacco policy decisions is needed to inform tobacco regulatory policy. One factor that affects the impact of a tobacco product on public health is its intensity of use, which is determined, in part, by its abuse liability or reinforcing efficacy. Behavioral economic tasks have considerable utility for assessing the reinforcing efficacy of current and emerging tobacco products. This paper provides a narrative review of several behavioral economic laboratory tasks and identifies important applications to tobacco regulatory science. Behavioral economic laboratory assessments, including operant self-administration, choice tasks and purchase tasks, can be used generate behavioral economic data on the effect of price and other constraints on tobacco product consumption. These tasks could provide an expedited simulation of the effects of various tobacco control policies across populations of interest to the FDA. Tobacco regulatory research questions that can be addressed with behavioral economic tasks include assessments of the impact of product characteristics on product demand, assessments of the abuse liability of novel and potential modified risk tobacco products (MRTPs), and assessments of the impact of conventional and novel products in vulnerable populations.

Is economics coursework, or majoring in economics, associated with different civic behaviors?

OpenAIRE

Sam Allgood; William Bosshardt; Wilbert Van der Klaauw; Michael Watts

2010-01-01

Studies regularly link levels of educational attainment to civic behavior and attitudes, but only a few investigate the role played by specific coursework. Using data collected from students who attended one of four public universities in our study, we investigate the relationship between economics coursework and civic behavior after graduation. Drawing from large samples of students in economics, business, or general majors, we compare responses across the three groups and by the number of u...

Investor decisions through the lens of behavioral economics

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

David S. Murphy

2013-07-01

Full Text Available Traditional economic theory postulates that people are rational. This implies that people make decisions to maximize their utility functions and to do this, that they have fully and correctly evaluated their preferences and limitations. Behavioral economics recognizes that this is not always true, that sometimes information is incomplete. This article is examines some of the effects of behavioral economics (which come largely from cognitive psychology in decision-making by investors in the stock exchanges.

Modeling human behavior in economics and social science.

Science.gov (United States)

Dolfin, M; Leonida, L; Outada, N

2017-12-01

The complex interactions between human behaviors and social economic sciences is critically analyzed in this paper in view of possible applications of mathematical modeling as an attainable interdisciplinary approach to understand and simulate the aforementioned dynamics. The quest is developed along three steps: Firstly an overall analysis of social and economic sciences indicates the main requirements that a contribution of mathematical modeling should bring to these sciences; subsequently the focus moves to an overview of mathematical tools and to the selection of those which appear, according to the authors bias, appropriate to the modeling; finally, a survey of applications is presented looking ahead to research perspectives. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

When does "economic man" dominate social behavior?

Science.gov (United States)

Camerer, Colin F; Fehr, Ernst

2006-01-06

The canonical model in economics considers people to be rational and self-regarding. However, much evidence challenges this view, raising the question of when "Economic Man" dominates the outcome of social interactions, and when bounded rationality or other-regarding preferences dominate. Here we show that strategic incentives are the key to answering this question. A minority of self-regarding individuals can trigger a "noncooperative" aggregate outcome if their behavior generates incentives for the majority of other-regarding individuals to mimic the minority's behavior. Likewise, a minority of other-regarding individuals can generate a "cooperative" aggregate outcome if their behavior generates incentives for a majority of self-regarding people to behave cooperatively. Similarly, in strategic games, aggregate outcomes can be either far from or close to Nash equilibrium if players with high degrees of strategic thinking mimic or erase the effects of others who do very little strategic thinking. Recently developed theories of other-regarding preferences and bounded rationality explain these findings and provide better predictions of actual aggregate behavior than does traditional economic theory.

Behavioral Economics and Climate Change Policy

OpenAIRE

John M. Gowdy

2007-01-01

The policy recommendations of most economists are based on the rational actor model of human behavior. Behavior is assumed to be self-regarding, preferences are assumed to be stable, and decisions are assumed to be unaffected by social context or frame of reference. The related fields of behavioral economics, game theory, and neuroscience have confirmed that human behavior is other regarding, and that people exhibit systematic patterns of decision-making that are "irrational" according to the...

Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Improve Heart Failure Care and Outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Chang, Leslie L; DeVore, Adam D; Granger, Bradi B; Eapen, Zubin J; Ariely, Dan; Hernandez, Adrian F

2017-08-22

Behavioral challenges are often present in human illness, so behavioral economics is increasingly being applied in healthcare settings to better understand why patients choose healthy or unhealthy behaviors. The application of behavioral economics to healthcare settings parallels recent shifts in policy and reimbursement structures that hold providers accountable for outcomes that are dependent on patient behaviors. Numerous studies have examined the application of behavioral economics principles to policy making and health behaviors, but there are limited data on applying these concepts to the management of chronic conditions, such as heart failure (HF). Given its increasing prevalence and high associated cost of care, HF is a paradigm case for studying novel approaches to improve health care; therefore, if we can better understand why patients with HF make the choices they do, then we may be more poised to help them manage their medications, influence daily behaviors, and encourage healthy decision making. In this article, we will give a brief explanation of the core behavioral economics concepts that apply to patients with HF. We will also examine how to craft these concepts into tools such as financial incentives and social networks that may improve the management of patients with HF. We believe that behavioral economics can help us understand barriers to change, encourage positive behaviors, and offer additional approaches to improving the outcomes of patients with HF. © 2017 American Heart Association, Inc.

Behavioral Economics: A New Lens for Understanding Genomic Decision Making.

Science.gov (United States)

Moore, Scott Emory; Ulbrich, Holley H; Hepburn, Kenneth; Holaday, Bonnie; Mayo, Rachel; Sharp, Julia; Pruitt, Rosanne H

2018-05-01

This article seeks to take the next step in examining the insights that nurses and other healthcare providers can derive from applying behavioral economic concepts to support genomic decision making. As genomic science continues to permeate clinical practice, nurses must continue to adapt practice to meet new challenges. Decisions associated with genomics are often not simple and dichotomous in nature. They can be complex and challenging for all involved. This article offers an introduction to behavioral economics as a possible tool to help support patients', families', and caregivers' decision making related to genomics. Using current writings from nursing, ethics, behavioral economic, and other healthcare scholars, we review key concepts of behavioral economics and discuss their relevance to supporting genomic decision making. Behavioral economic concepts-particularly relativity, deliberation, and choice architecture-are specifically examined as new ways to view the complexities of genomic decision making. Each concept is explored through patient decision making and clinical practice examples. This article also discusses next steps and practice implications for further development of the behavioral economic lens in nursing. Behavioral economics provides valuable insight into the unique nature of genetic decision-making practices. Nurses are often a source of information and support for patients during clinical decision making. This article seeks to offer behavioral economic concepts as a framework for understanding and examining the unique nature of genomic decision making. As genetic and genomic testing become more common in practice, it will continue to grow in importance for nurses to be able to support the autonomous decision making of patients, their families, and caregivers. © 2018 Sigma Theta Tau International.

Social and Economic Analysis Branch: integrating policy, social, economic, and natural science

Science.gov (United States)

Schuster, Rudy; Walters, Katie D.

2015-01-01

The Fort Collins Science Center's Social and Economic Analysis Branch provides unique capabilities in the U.S. Geological Survey by leading projects that integrate social, behavioral, economic, and natural science in the context of human–natural resource interactions. Our research provides scientific understanding and support for the management and conservation of our natural resources in support of multiple agency missions. We focus on meeting the scientific needs of the Department of the Interior natural resource management bureaus in addition to fostering partnerships with other Federal and State managers to protect, restore, and enhance our environment. The Social and Economic Analysis Branch has an interdisciplinary group of scientists whose primary functions are to conduct both theoretical and applied social science research, provide technical assistance, and offer training to support the development of skills in natural resource management activities. Management and research issues associated with human-resource interactions typically occur in a unique context and require knowledge of both natural and social sciences, along with the skill to integrate multiple science disciplines. In response to these challenging contexts, Social and Economic Analysis Branch researchers apply a wide variety of social science concepts and methods which complement our rangeland/agricultural, wildlife, ecology, and biology capabilities. The goal of the Social and Economic Analysis Branch's research is to enhance natural-resource management, agency functions, policies, and decisionmaking.

The Making of Behavioral Development Economics

OpenAIRE

Demeritt, Allison; Hoff, Karla

2018-01-01

A core insight from early behavioral economics is that much of human judgment and behavior is influenced by "fast thinking" that is intuitive, associative, and automatic; very little human thinking resembles the rational thinking that characterizes homo economicus. What is less well-recognized is that innate reliance on cognitive shortcuts means that cultural mental models --categories, co...

Psychology, behavioral economics, and public policy

OpenAIRE

Amir, O; Ariely, D; Cooke, A; Dunning, D; Epley, N; Gneezy, U; Koszegi, B; Lichtenstein, D; Mazar, N; Mullainathan, S; Prelec, D; Shafir, E; Silva, J

2005-01-01

Economics has typically been the social science of choice to inform public policy and policymakers. In the current paper we contemplate the role behavioral science can play in enlightening policymakers. In particular, we provide some examples of research that has and can be used to inform policy, reflect on the kind of behavioral science that is important for policy, and approaches for convincing policy-makers to listen to behavioral scientists. We suggest that policymakers are unlikely to in...

Neural systems supporting and affecting economically relevant behavior

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Braeutigam S

2012-05-01

Full Text Available Sven BraeutigamOxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, University of Oxford, Oxford, United KingdomAbstract: For about a hundred years, theorists and traders alike have tried to unravel and understand the mechanisms and hidden rules underlying and perhaps determining economically relevant behavior. This review focuses on recent developments in neuroeconomics, where the emphasis is placed on two directions of research: first, research exploiting common experiences of urban inhabitants in industrialized societies to provide experimental paradigms with a broader real-life content; second, research based on behavioral genetics, which provides an additional dimension for experimental control and manipulation. In addition, possible limitations of state-of-the-art neuroeconomics research are addressed. It is argued that observations of neuronal systems involved in economic behavior converge to some extent across the technologies and paradigms used. Conceptually, the data available as of today raise the possibility that neuroeconomic research might provide evidence at the neuronal level for the existence of multiple systems of thought and for the importance of conflict. Methodologically, Bayesian approaches in particular may play an important role in identifying mechanisms and establishing causality between patterns of neural activity and economic behavior.Keywords: neuroeconomics, behavioral genetics, decision-making, consumer behavior, neural system

Social Capital And Economic Behavior Of Farmers

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Heliawaty

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Abstrac The purpose of this study to analyze the relationship between social capital affects economic behavior in producing coffee plants in improving coffee farmers income. This study was conducted in the district of Bantaeng South Sulawesi. Subdistrict Tampobulu selected purposively. The study lasted for four months of April to July 2014. The data used in this study consist of primary data and secondary data. It can be concluded that social capital is trust networking and institutions affect economic behavior namely the production of coffee plants. Trust improving technology adoption Robusta and Arabica coffee cuttings while distrust led to rampant theft of coffee is still green. Networking affect the price of coffee and institutions influence the behavior of farmers in obtaining venture capital through middlemen. It is expected that future studies should be focused on the factors that influence the innovative behavior in increasing the production of coffee plants.

Neuroeconomics and behavioral health economics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Larsen, Torben

2009-01-01

  Objective: Neuroeconomics integrates behavioral economics, psychology and neuroscience. Recently, this line of research is summarized in a neuroeconomic model (NeM) which addresses behavioral health from a new angle as surveyed in this study. Data and Method Firstly, NeM is used as framework...... for explanation of the neural dynamics of normal decision making. Secondly, the literature is reviewed for evidence on hypothesized applications of NeM in behavioral health. Results I. The present bias as documented by neuroeconomic game-trials is explained by NeM as rooted in the basal activation of Amygdala...... mechanism. In this case neuroeconomics may serve as an evidence-based public monitoring across specific historical meditation settings. Conclusion Neuroeconomics reveal the action-mechanism of dominant behavioral health interventions as integrated home care for patients suffering from stroke, heart failure...

Are Financial Incentives for Lifestyle Behavior Change Informed or Inspired by Behavioral Economics? A Mapping Review.

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McGill, Bronwyn; O'Hara, Blythe J; Bauman, Adrian; Grunseit, Anne C; Phongsavan, Philayrath

2018-01-01

To identify the behavioral economics (BE) conceptual underpinnings of lifestyle financial incentive (FI) interventions. A mapping review of peer-reviewed literature was conducted by searching electronic databases. Inclusion criteria were real-world FI interventions explicitly mentioning BE, targeting individuals, or populations with lifestyle-related behavioral outcomes. Exclusion criteria were hypothetical studies, health professional focus, clinically oriented interventions. Study characteristics were tabulated according to purpose, categorization of BE concepts and FI types, design, outcome measures, study quality, and findings. Data Synthesis and Analysis: Financial incentives were categorized according to type and payment structure. Behavioral economics concepts explicitly used in the intervention design were grouped based on common patterns of thinking. The interplay between FI types, BE concepts, and outcome was assessed. Seventeen studies were identified from 1452 unique records. Analysis showed 76.5% (n = 13) of studies explicitly incorporated BE concepts. Six studies provided clear theoretical justification for the inclusion of BE. No pattern in the type of FI and BE concepts used was apparent. Not all FI interventions claiming BE inclusion did so. For interventions that explicitly included BE, the degree to which this was portrayed and woven into the design varied. This review identified BE concepts common to FI interventions, a first step in providing emergent and pragmatic information to public health and health promotion program planners.

Behavioral Economics and Public Opinion

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sunstein, Cass R.; Reisch, Lucia A.

2018-01-01

In recent years, there has been a great deal of discussion of uses of behavioral economics in policy circles, with a focus on empirical, conceptual and ethical questions. On the basis of data from many nations, our forthcoming book asks and answers a question pressing in democratic......-approve of behaviorally informed polices? (Short answer: Yes.) Do citizens of different nations agree with each other? (Short answer: Mostly yes, but with intriguing qualifications, involving diverging levels of trust and different evaluations of liberty.) This article previews our book, providing new insights...

Emotions, perceptions and economic behavior. A critical-philosophical approach to the place of Psychology in Economics

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Vicente Caballero de la Torre

2012-10-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the origin of the issue of empathy in the History of Ideas and its importance in economics, as well as its revitalization. It concludes that it is not the study of empathy, so fashionable today, but the study of decision making the place where Economics can find the nature of emotions in relation to human behavior. This nature is its power to inhibit behavior. The study of repentance is itself more interesting and helpful for the economy than the study of empathy. Finally, the institutional approach is presented as the best in order to understand the issues related to economic human behavior

Understanding consumer decisions using behavioral economics.

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Zandstra, Elizabeth H; Miyapuram, Krishna P; Tobler, Philippe N

2013-01-01

Consumers make many decisions in everyday life involving finances, food, and health. It is known from behavioral economics research that people are often driven by short-term gratification, that is, people tend to choose the immediate, albeit smaller reward. But choosing the delayed reward, that is, delaying the gratification, can actually be beneficial. How can we motivate consumers to resist the "now" and invest in their future, leading to sustainable or healthy habits? We review recent developments from behavioral and neuroimaging studies that are relevant for understanding consumer decisions. Further, we present results from our field research that examined whether we can increase the perceived value of a (delayed) environmental benefit using tailored communication, that is, change the way it is framed. More specifically, we investigated whether we can boost the value of an abstract, long-term "green" claim of a product by expressing it as a concrete, short-term benefit. This is a new application area for behavioral economics. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Models of Economic Analysis

OpenAIRE

Adrian Ioana; Tiberiu Socaciu

2013-01-01

The article presents specific aspects of management and models for economic analysis. Thus, we present the main types of economic analysis: statistical analysis, dynamic analysis, static analysis, mathematical analysis, psychological analysis. Also we present the main object of the analysis: the technological activity analysis of a company, the analysis of the production costs, the economic activity analysis of a company, the analysis of equipment, the analysis of labor productivity, the anal...

View from Behavioral Economics Theory: Case of Latvian Rural Entrepreneurs

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Igo Cals

2013-11-01

Full Text Available The theory of classical economics treats entrepreneurs as subjects who make rational economic decisions. Empirical surveys prove the fact that daily economic decisions made by a separate economic entity can be explained by concepts of behavioral economics rather than classical economics. The economic behavior of entrepreneurs happens to be based on bounded rationality instead of financial justification. The objective of an economic activity presented as economically efficient can turn out to be socially important to a specific entrepreneur and not to national economy as a whole. In the EU countries, agriculture is a subsidised industry of national economy. In this light, status consumption and purchase of positional goods should create a special interest among economists. The objective of this article is to present true reasons of economic decisions made by rural entrepreneurs and to analyse the value hierarchy of Latvian rural entrepreneurs through carrying out a field work and with the help of set of instruments developed by modern economics theory.

A behavioral economic analysis of the nonmedical use of prescription drugs among young adults.

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Pickover, Alison M; Messina, Bryan G; Correia, Christopher J; Garza, Kimberly B; Murphy, James G

2016-02-01

The nonmedical use of prescription drugs is a widely recognized public health issue, and young adults are particularly vulnerable to their use. Behavioral economic drug purchase tasks capture an individual's strength of desire and motivation for a particular drug. We examined young adult prescription drug purchase and consumption patterns using hypothetical behavioral economic purchase tasks for prescription sedatives/tranquilizers, stimulants, and opiate pain relievers. We also examined relations between demand, use frequency, and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.; DSM-5) substance use disorder (SUD) symptoms, and sex differences in these relations. Undergraduate students who endorsed past-year prescription drug use (N = 393) completed an online questionnaire for course credit. Measures assessed substance use frequency and DSM-5 SUD symptoms. Hypothetical purchase tasks for sedatives, stimulants, and pain relievers assessed participants' consumption and expenditure patterns for these substances across 25 prices. Past-year prescription sedative, stimulant, and pain reliever use was endorsed by 138, 258, and 189 participants, respectively. Among these users, consumption for their respective substance decreased as a function of ascending price, as expected. Demand indices for a prescription drug were associated with each other and with use frequency and SUD symptoms, with variability across substances but largely not by sex. In addition, demand for prescription pain relievers differentially predicted symptoms independent of use, with differences for females and males. In conclusion, hypothetical consumption and expenditure patterns for prescription drugs were generally well described by behavioral economic demand curves, and the observed associations with use and SUD symptoms provide support for the utility of prescription drug purchase tasks. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2016 APA, all rights reserved.

THE CAUSES OF ECONOMIC CRISIS. A BEHAVIORAL FOUNDATION.

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Soim Horatiu Florin

2012-07-01

Full Text Available The cyclical path of economy is a common place in the economic theory. The economic crisis that started in 2007 was not only one of the most severe since the WWII but it came unexpectedly. The cause of the crises and of the surprise consists in the economic models and theories that were founded on the rationality and maximization behavior of the economic actor. People lack the rationality the mainstream economics assume. This is why both economists and simple people do not act as theory predicts and finally economy does not tend toward equilibrium but suffers recurrent crises. This crisis started as a financial one, because of the subprime loans made in USA, but have spread in production sector because of credit frozen, is now in transforming into a social crisis because of austerity measures taken by governments. The paper analyzes the theoretical foundation of economic theory and how the facts that characterize the recent economic evolution fit with the non mainstream theories. It presents the figures of the economic evolution in the last 3 years and explains them based of the agent’s behavior described by Herbert Simon and Daniel Kahneman. Their challenge of mainstream economics is based on an analyze of human behavior. Herbert Simon introduced the concept of bounded rationality as opposed to perfect rationality postulated by neoclassic economics and Daniel Kahneman realized experiments that proved that people cannot stick with the performances assumed by mainstream economics. Their conclusion permit to understand the approach of George Soros who says that people actions are bounded by reflexivity and as a consequences sometimes economy move not toward but far from equilibrium, creating bubbles that end in financial and economic crises. As Akerlof mention the cause of the crisis is the reliance of a false theory which said that we are safe. The conclusion is that we need new theories more close to the real life and an agent description

Clinical efficacy and economic evaluation of online cognitive behavioral therapy for major depressive disorder: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

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Ahern, Elayne; Kinsella, Stephen; Semkovska, Maria

2018-02-01

Leading cause of disability worldwide, depression is the most prevalent mental disorder with growing societal costs. As mental health services demand often outweighs provision, accessible treatment options are needed. Our systematic review and meta-analysis evaluated the clinical efficacy and economic evidence for the use of online cognitive behavioral therapy (oCBT) as an accessible treatment solution for depression. Areas covered: Electronic databases were searched for controlled trials published between 2006 and 2016. Of the reviewed 3,324 studies, 29 met the criteria for inclusion in the efficacy meta-analysis. The systematic review identified five oCBT economic evaluations. Therapist-supported oCBT was equivalent to face-to-face CBT at improving depressive symptoms and superior to treatment-as-usual, waitlist control, and attention control. Depression severity, number of sessions, or support did not affect efficacy. From a healthcare provider perspective, oCBT tended to show greater costs with greater benefits in the short term, relative to comparator treatments. Expert commentary: Although efficacious, further economic evidence is required to support the provision of oCBT as a cost-effective treatment for depression. Economic evaluations that incorporate a societal perspective will better account for direct and indirect treatment costs. Nevertheless, oCBT shows promise of effectively improving depressive symptoms, considering limited mental healthcare resources.

75 FR 50783 - Committee for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-08-17

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION ADVISORY Committee for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences..., Behavioral, and Economic Sciences ( 1171). Date/Time: September 7, 2010; 8:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. September 8... Assistant Director, Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation...

Tax Compliance Models: From Economic to Behavioral Approaches

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Larissa Margareta BĂTRÂNCEA

2012-06-01

Full Text Available The paper reviews the models of tax compliance with an emphasis on economic and behavioral perspectives. Although the standard tax evasion model of Allingham and Sandmo and other similar economic models capture some important aspects of tax compliance (i.e., taxpayers’ response to increases in tax rate, audit probability, penalty rate they do not suffice the need for an accurate prediction of taxpayers’ behavior. The reason is that they do not offer a comprehensive perspective on the sociological and psychological factors which shape compliance (i.e., attitudes, beliefs, norms, perceptions, motivations. Therefore, the researchers have considered examining taxpayers’ inner motivations, beliefs, perceptions, attitudes in order to accurately predict taxpayers’ behavior. As a response to their quest, behavioral models of tax compliance have emerged. Among the sociological and psychological factors which shape tax compliance, the ‘slippery slope’ framework singles out trust in authorities and the perception of the power of authorities. The aim of the paper is to contribute to the understanding of the reasons for which there is a need for a tax compliance model which incorporates both economic and behavioral features and why governments and tax authorities should consider these models when designing fiscal policies.

The different modes of hydro-economic analysis (Invited)

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Harou, J. J.; Binions, O.; Erfani, T.

2013-12-01

In the face of growing water demands, climate change and spatial and temporal water access variability, accurately assessing the economic impacts of proposed water resource management changes is useful. The objective of this project funded by UK Water Industry Research was to present and demonstrate a framework for identifying and using the ';value of water' to enable water utilities and their regulators to make better decisions. A hydro-economic model can help evaluate water management options in terms of their hydrological and economic impact at different locations throughout a catchment over time. In this talk we discuss three modes in which hydro-economic models can be implemented: evaluative, behavioral and prescriptive. In evaluation mode economic water demand and benefit functions are used to post-process water resource management model results to assess the economic impacts (over space and time) of a policy under consideration. In behavioral hydro-economic models users are represented as agents and the economics is used to help predict their actions. In prescriptive mode optimization is used to find the most economically efficient management actions such as allocation patterns or source selection. These three types of hydro-economic analysis are demonstrated on a UK watershed (Great River Ouse) that includes 97 different water abstractors from amongst the public water supply, agriculture, industry and energy plant cooling sectors. The following issues under dry and normal historical conditions were investigated: Supply/demand investment planning, societal cost of environmental flows, water market prices, and scarcity-sensitive charges for water rights. The talk discusses which hydro-economic modeling mode is used to study each of these issues and why; example results are shown and discussed. The topic of how hydro-economic models can be built and deployed effectively is covered along with how existing water utility operational and planning tools can be

Proposers’ Economic Status Affects Behavioral and Neural Responses to Unfairness

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Yijie Zheng

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Economic status played an important role in the modulation of economic decision making. The present fMRI study aimed at investigating how economic status modulated behavioral and neural responses to unfairness in a modified Ultimatum Game (UG. During scanning, participants played as responders in the UG, and they were informed of the economic status of proposers before receiving offers. At the behavioral level, higher rejection rates and lower fairness ratings were revealed when proposers were in high economic status than in low economic status. Besides, the most time-consuming decisions tended to occur at lower unfairness level when the proposers were in high (relative to low economic status. At the neural level, stronger activation of left thalamus was revealed when fair offers were proposed by proposers in high rather than in low economic status. Greater activation of right medial prefrontal cortex was revealed during acceptance to unfair offers in high economic status condition rather than in low economic status condition. Taken together, these findings shed light on the significance of proposers’ economic status in responders’ social decision making in UG.

Kahneman and Tversky and the Origin of Behavioral Economics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heukelom, F.

2007-01-01

Kahneman and Tversky and their behavioral economics stand in a long tradition of applying mathematics to human behavior. In the seventeenth century, attempts to describe rational behavior in mathematical terms run into problems with the formulation of the St. Petersburg paradox. Bernoulli’s

Behavioral economic measures of alcohol reward value as problem severity indicators in college students.

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Skidmore, Jessica R; Murphy, James G; Martens, Matthew P

2014-06-01

The aims of the current study were to examine the associations among behavioral economic measures of alcohol value derived from 3 distinct measurement approaches, and to evaluate their respective relations with traditional indicators of alcohol problem severity in college drinkers. Five behavioral economic metrics were derived from hypothetical demand curves that quantify reward value by plotting consumption and expenditures as a function of price, another metric measured proportional behavioral allocation and enjoyment related to alcohol versus other activities, and a final metric measured relative discretionary expenditures on alcohol (RDEA). The sample included 207 heavy-drinking college students (53% female) who were recruited through an on-campus health center or university courses. Factor analysis revealed that the alcohol valuation construct comprises 2 factors: 1 factor that reflects participants' levels of alcohol price sensitivity (demand persistence), and a second factor that reflects participants' maximum consumption and monetary and behavioral allocation toward alcohol (amplitude of demand). The demand persistence and behavioral allocation metrics demonstrated the strongest and most consistent multivariate relations with alcohol-related problems, even when controlling for other well-established predictors. The results suggest that behavioral economic indices of reward value show meaningful relations with alcohol problem severity in young adults. Despite the presence of some gender differences, these measures appear to be useful problem indicators for men and women. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2014 APA, all rights reserved.

Applying Behavioral Economics to Public Health Policy: Illustrative Examples and Promising Directions.

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Matjasko, Jennifer L; Cawley, John H; Baker-Goering, Madeleine M; Yokum, David V

2016-05-01

Behavioral economics provides an empirically informed perspective on how individuals make decisions, including the important realization that even subtle features of the environment can have meaningful impacts on behavior. This commentary provides examples from the literature and recent government initiatives that incorporate concepts from behavioral economics in order to improve health, decision making, and government efficiency. The examples highlight the potential for behavioral economics to improve the effectiveness of public health policy at low cost. Although incorporating insights from behavioral economics into public health policy has the potential to improve population health, its integration into government public health programs and policies requires careful design and continual evaluation of such interventions. Limitations and drawbacks of the approach are discussed. Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. All rights reserved.

Emotional responses to behavioral economic incentives for health behavior change.

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van der Swaluw, Koen; Lambooij, Mattijs S; Mathijssen, Jolanda J P; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Polder, Johan J; Prast, Henriëtte M

2018-03-05

Many people aim to change their lifestyle, but have trouble acting on their intentions. Behavioral economic incentives and related emotions can support commitment to personal health goals, but the related emotions remain unexplored. In a regret lottery, winners who do not attain their health goals do not get their prize but receive feedback on what their forgone earnings would have been. This counterfactual feedback should provoke anticipated regret and increase commitment to health goals. We explored which emotions were actually expected upon missing out on a prize due to unsuccessful weight loss and which incentive-characteristics influence their likelihood and intensity. Participants reported their expected emotional response after missing out on a prize in one of 12 randomly presented incentive-scenarios, which varied in incentive type, incentive size and deadline distance. Participants primarily reported feeling disappointment, followed by regret. Regret was expected most when losing a lottery prize (vs. a fixed incentive) and intensified with prize size. Multiple features of the participant and the lottery incentive increase the occurrence and intensity of regret. As such, our findings can be helpful in designing behavioral economic incentives that leverage emotions to support health behavior change.

The behavioral economics of violence.

Science.gov (United States)

Rachlin, Howard

2004-12-01

From the viewpoint of teleological behaviorism the first question to ask in attempting to understand any behavior, including violent behavior, is: What are its contingencies of reward and punishment? Or, to put the question in economic terms: What are the short-term and long-term costs and benefits that such behavior entails? Let us therefore consider the costs and benefits of youth violence. Among the short-term costs of violent behavior are the physical effort of the act, the possibility of immediate physical retaliation, immediate social disapproval, and the opportunity cost of other social acts that the violent behavior takes the place of (you can't be affectionate and violent at the same time, for instance). Among the immediate benefits of violent behavior are the intrinsic satisfaction of the violent act itself and any extrinsic benefit; if A violently appropriates B's new sneakers then obtaining the sneakers reinforces A's violence. These immediate benefits may well outweigh the costs in many contexts. Among the long-term costs of violent behavior are delayed retaliation, possible social disapproval and loss of social support, rejection from a social group, job loss, and health risks associated with a violent lifestyle. Among the long-term benefits are long-term intimidation of others (your neighbor is less likely to build a fence on your property if you have a reputation for violence), and a possibly exciting lifestyle. These long-term benefits may well be outweighed by the long-term costs. Opposition of long-term net costs to short-term net benefits, where it exists, creates a personal self-control trap: Overall satisfaction may decrease monotonically with rate of the target behavior but, regardless of its rate, the immediate satisfaction of doing it is always higher than that of not doing it. In the case of violent behavior, this trap is exacerbated by the fact that as a person's violence increases, net immediate reinforcement also increases (due to

The future of health economics: The potential of behavioral and experimental economics

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Fredrik Hansen

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Health care systems around the globe are facing great challenges. The demand for health care is increasing due to the continuous development of new medical technologies, changing demographics, increasing income levels, and greater expectations from patients. The possibilities and willingness to expand health care resources, however, are limited. Consequently, health care organizations are increasingly required to take economic restrictions into account, and there is an urgent need for improved efficiency. It is reasonable to ask whether the health economics field of today is prepared and equipped to help us meet these challenges. Our aim with this article is twofold: to introduce the fields of behavioral and experimental economics and to then identify and characterize health economics areas where these two fields have a promising potential. We also discuss the advantages of a pluralistic view in health economics research, and we anticipate a dynamic future for health economics.

BEHAVIORAL INPUTS TO THE THEORETICAL APPROACH OF THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

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Sinziana BALTATESCU

2015-09-01

Full Text Available The current economic and financial crisis gave room for the theoretical debates to reemerge. The economic reality challenged the mainstream neoclassical approach leaving the opportunity for the Austrian School, Post Keynesianism or Institutionalists to bring in front theories that seem to better explain the economic crisis and thus, leaving space for more efficient economic policies to result. In this context, the main assumptions of the mainstream theoretical approach are challenged and reevaluated, behavioral economics is one of the main challengers. Without developing in an integrated school of thought yet, behavioral economics brings new elements within the framework of economic thinking. How are the main theoretical approaches integrating these new elements and whether this process is going to narrow the theory or enrich it to be more comprehensive are questions to which this paper tries to answer, or, at least, to leave room for an answer.

Economic analysis model for total energy and economic systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shoji, Katsuhiko; Yasukawa, Shigeru; Sato, Osamu

1980-09-01

This report describes framing an economic analysis model developed as a tool of total energy systems. To prospect and analyze future energy systems, it is important to analyze the relation between energy system and economic structure. We prepared an economic analysis model which was suited for this purpose. Our model marks that we can analyze in more detail energy related matters than other economic ones, and can forecast long-term economic progress rather than short-term economic fluctuation. From view point of economics, our model is longterm multi-sectoral economic analysis model of open Leontief type. Our model gave us appropriate results for fitting test and forecasting estimation. (author)

Emotional responses to behavioral economic incentives for health behavior change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Swaluw, Koen; Lambooij, Mattijs S.; Mathijssen, Jolanda J.P.; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Polder, Johan J.; Prast, Henriëtte M.

2018-01-01

Many people aim to change their lifestyle, but have trouble acting on their intentions. Behavioral economic incentives and related emotions can support commitment to personal health goals, but the related emotions remain unexplored. In a regret lottery, winners who do not attain their health goals

Emotional Responses to Behavioral Economic Incentives for Health Behavior Change

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Swaluw, Koen; Lambooij, Mattijs S; Mathijssen, Jolanda; Zeelenberg, Marcel; Polder, Johan; Prast, Henriette

2018-01-01

Many people aim to change their lifestyle, but have trouble acting on their intentions. Behavioral economic incentives and related emotions can support commitment to personal health goals, but the related emotions remain unexplored. In a regret lottery, winners who do not attain their health goals

Assessment of the regional economic impacts of catastrophic events: CGE analysis of resource loss and behavioral effects of an RDD attack scenario.

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Giesecke, J A; Burns, W J; Barrett, A; Bayrak, E; Rose, A; Slovic, P; Suher, M

2012-04-01

We investigate the regional economic consequences of a hypothetical catastrophic event-attack via radiological dispersal device (RDD)-centered on the downtown Los Angeles area. We distinguish two routes via which such an event might affect regional economic activity: (i) reduction in effective resource supply (the resource loss effect) and (ii) shifts in the perceptions of economic agents (the behavioral effect). The resource loss effect relates to the physical destructiveness of the event, while the behavioral effect relates to changes in fear and risk perception. Both affect the size of the regional economy. RDD detonation causes little capital damage and few casualties, but generates substantial short-run resource loss via business interruption. Changes in fear and risk perception increase the supply cost of resources to the affected region, while simultaneously reducing demand for goods produced in the region. We use results from a nationwide survey, tailored to our RDD scenario, to inform our model values for behavioral effects. Survey results, supplemented by findings from previous research on stigmatized asset values, suggest that in the region affected by the RDD, households may require higher wages, investors may require higher returns, and customers may require price discounts. We show that because behavioral effects may have lingering long-term deleterious impacts on both the supply-cost of resources to a region and willingness to pay for regional output, they can generate changes in regional gross domestic product (GDP) much greater than those generated by resource loss effects. Implications for policies that have the potential to mitigate these effects are discussed. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

Socio-economic differences in health risk behavior in adolescence : Do they exist?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Tuinstra, J; Groothoff, JW; Van den Heuvel, WJA; Post, D

Socio-economic differences in risk behaviors in adolescence can be seen as a prelude to the re-emergence of socio-economic health differences in adulthood. We studied whether or not socio-economic differences in health risk behaviors are present in male and female adolescents in The Netherlands. The

Towards a Theory of Revealed Economic Behavior: The Economic-Neurosciences Interface

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Pennings, J.M.E.; Garcia, P.; Hendrix, E.M.T.

2005-01-01

Based on recent findings from economics and the neurosciences, we present a conceptual decision-making model that provides insight into human decision-making and illustrates how behavioral outcomes are transformed into phenomena. The model may be viewed as a bridge between the seemingly disparate

Encouraging Healthful Dietary Behavior in a Hospital Cafeteria: A Field Study Using Theories from Social Psychology and Behavioral Economics

OpenAIRE

Mazza, Mary Carol

2013-01-01

Public policy efforts to curb obesity often adhere to a rational actor model of human behavior, asserting that consumer behavior will change provided proper economic incentives, nutritional information, and health education. However, rigorous academic research related to such questions remains limited in scope and appears inconclusive as to the success of such economic and cognitive interventions. In contrast, research in social psychology and behavioral economics suggests that decision mak...

77 FR 62538 - Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-10-15

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences..., Behavioral and Economic Sciences ( 1171). Date/Time: November 15, 2012; 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Place..., Behavioral and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard, Room 905, Arlington...

76 FR 65219 - Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-10-20

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences..., Behavioral and Economic Sciences ( 1171) Date/Time: November 3, 2011; 1 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. November 4, 2011; 8..., Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard...

A behavioral economic analysis of the effect of next-day responsibilities on drinking.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilbert, Lindsey J; Murphy, James G; Dennhardt, Ashley A

2014-12-01

Approximately 37% of college students report heavy episodic drinking (5 or more drinks in an occasion for men and 4 or more for women) in the past month. This pattern of drinking is often associated with high blood alcohol levels, accidents, injuries, and negative social and academic outcomes. There is a need for novel theoretical approaches to guide prevention efforts. Behavioral economics emphasizes the role of contextual determinants, such as drink price and the presence and amount of alternative reinforcement as determinants of drinking levels and has received strong empirical support in basic laboratory research. This translational research study used a hypothetical behavioral economic measure to investigate the impact of a variety of next-day responsibilities on night-before drinking intentions in a sample of first-year college students (N = 80; 50% female) who reported recent heavy episodic drinking. Drinking estimates were significantly lower in all of the responsibility conditions relative to the no-responsibility condition; internships were associated with the greatest reduction (d(rm) = 1.72), and earlier class times were associated with greater reductions in drinking intentions (d(rm) range = 1.22-1.35) than later class times (d(rm) range = 0.83-1.00). These results suggest that increasing morning responsibilities should be further investigated as a potential strategy to reduce drinking in college students.

Real analysis with economic applications

CERN Document Server

Ok, Efe A

2011-01-01

There are many mathematics textbooks on real analysis, but they focus on topics not readily helpful for studying economic theory or they are inaccessible to most graduate students of economics. Real Analysis with Economic Applications aims to fill this gap by providing an ideal textbook and reference on real analysis tailored specifically to the concerns of such students. The emphasis throughout is on topics directly relevant to economic theory. In addition to addressing the usual topics of real analysis, this book discusses the elements of order theory, convex analysis, optimization, correspondences, linear and nonlinear functional analysis, fixed-point theory, dynamic programming, and calculus of variations. Efe Ok complements the mathematical development with applications that provide concise introductions to various topics from economic theory, including individual decision theory and games, welfare economics, information theory, general equilibrium and finance, and intertemporal economics. Moreover, a...

Economy Over Security: Why Crises Fail to Impact Economic Behavior in East Asia

Science.gov (United States)

2017-12-01

SECURITY: WHY CRISES FAIL TO IMPACT ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR IN EAST ASIA by Aaron R. Sipos December 2017 Thesis Advisor: Michael Glosny Second...REPORT TYPE AND DATES COVERED Master’s thesis 4. TITLE AND SUBTITLE ECONOMY OVER SECURITY: WHY CRISES FAIL TO IMPACT ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR IN EAST...release. Distribution is unlimited. 12b. DISTRIBUTION CODE 13. ABSTRACT (maximum 200 words) This study examines changes in economic behavior in

77 FR 25207 - Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-27

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences..., Behavioral and Economic Sciences ( 1171). Date/Time: May 17, 2012; 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.; May 18, 2012; 8:30..., Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard...

75 FR 25886 - Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-10

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences..., Behavioral, and Economic Sciences ( 1171). Date/Time: May 20, 2010; 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. May 21, 2010; 8:30..., Directorate for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard...

78 FR 25309 - Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences; Notice of Meeting

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2013-04-30

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION ADVISORY Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic..., Behavioral and Economic Sciences ( 1171) Date/Time: May 20, 2013; 9:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. May 21, 2013; 9:00 a..., Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard...

76 FR 24062 - Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences; Notice of Meeting

Science.gov (United States)

2011-04-29

... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION Advisory Committee for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences..., Behavioral and Economic Sciences ( 1171) Date/Time: May 19, 2011; 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. May 20, 2011; 9 a.m. to..., Directorate for Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences, National Science Foundation, 4201 Wilson Boulevard...

Field Experiments in Behavioral and Public Economics

OpenAIRE

Bhanot, Syon Pandya

2015-01-01

The three essays in this dissertation present field experiments exploring phenomena in behavioral and public economics in real-world settings. The first essay outlines a field experiment that uses mailers with peer rank information to motivate water conservation. The essay contributes some of the first pieces of evidence on how comparisons with specific peers might influence behavior. The main finding is that while competitive framing of peer information has positive impacts on efficient h...

A behavioral economic reward index predicts drinking resolutions: moderation revisited and compared with other outcomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Jalie A; Roth, David L; Vignolo, Mary J; Westfall, Andrew O

2009-04-01

Data were pooled from 3 studies of recently resolved community-dwelling problem drinkers to determine whether a behavioral economic index of the value of rewards available over different time horizons distinguished among moderation (n = 30), abstinent (n = 95), and unresolved (n = 77) outcomes. Moderation over 1- to 2-year prospective follow-up intervals was hypothesized to involve longer term behavior regulation processes than abstinence or relapse and to be predicted by more balanced preresolution monetary allocations between short-term and longer term objectives (i.e., drinking and saving for the future). Standardized odds ratios (ORs) based on changes in standard deviation units from a multinomial logistic regression indicated that increases on this "Alcohol-Savings Discretionary Expenditure" index predicted higher rates of abstinence (OR = 1.93, p = .004) and relapse (OR = 2.89, p moderation outcomes. The index had incremental utility in predicting moderation in complex models that included other established predictors. The study adds to evidence supporting a behavioral economic analysis of drinking resolutions and shows that a systematic analysis of preresolution spending patterns aids in predicting moderation.

Economic Stress, Emotional Quality of Life, and Problem Behavior in Chinese Adolescents with and without Economic Disadvantage

Science.gov (United States)

Shek, Daniel T. L.

2005-01-01

The relationships between perceived economic stress (current economic hardship and future economic worry) and emotional quality of life (existential well-being, life satisfaction, self-esteem, sense of mastery, psychological morbidity) as well as problem behavior (substance abuse and delinquency) were examined in 1519 Chinese adolescents with and…

Benford's law and the FSD distribution of economic behavioral micro data

Science.gov (United States)

Villas-Boas, Sofia B.; Fu, Qiuzi; Judge, George

2017-11-01

In this paper, we focus on the first significant digit (FSD) distribution of European micro income data and use information theoretic-entropy based methods to investigate the degree to which Benford's FSD law is consistent with the nature of these economic behavioral systems. We demonstrate that Benford's law is not an empirical phenomenon that occurs only in important distributions in physical statistics, but that it also arises in self-organizing dynamic economic behavioral systems. The empirical likelihood member of the minimum divergence-entropy family, is used to recover country based income FSD probability density functions and to demonstrate the implications of using a Benford prior reference distribution in economic behavioral system information recovery.

Behavioral Economics Interventions to Improve Outpatient Antibiotic Prescribing for Acute Respiratory Infections: a Cost-Effectiveness Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gong, Cynthia L; Zangwill, Kenneth M; Hay, Joel W; Meeker, Daniella; Doctor, Jason N

2018-05-08

Behavioral economics interventions have been shown to effectively reduce the rates of inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions for acute respiratory infections (ARIs). To determine the cost-effectiveness of three behavioral economic interventions designed to reduce inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions for ARIs. Thirty-year Markov model from the US societal perspective with inputs derived from the literature and CDC surveillance data. Forty-five-year-old adults with signs and symptoms of ARI presenting to a healthcare provider. (1) Provider education on guidelines for the appropriate treatment of ARIs; (2) Suggested Alternatives, which utilizes computerized clinical decision support to suggest non-antibiotic treatment choices in lieu of antibiotics; (3) Accountable Justification, which mandates free-text justification into the patient's electronic health record when antibiotics are prescribed; and (4) Peer Comparison, which sends a periodic email to prescribers about his/her rate of inappropriate antibiotic prescribing relative to clinician colleagues. Discounted costs, quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), and incremental cost-effectiveness ratios. Each intervention has lower costs but higher QALYs compared to provider education. Total costs for each intervention were $178.21, $173.22, $172.82, and $172.52, and total QALYs were 14.68, 14.73, 14.74, and 14.74 for the control, Suggested Alternatives, Accountable Justification, and Peer Comparison groups, respectively. Results were most sensitive to the quality-of-life of the uninfected state, and the likelihood and costs for antibiotic-associated adverse events. Behavioral economics interventions can be cost-effective strategies for reducing inappropriate antibiotic prescriptions by reducing healthcare resource utilization.

Economic and Financial Analysis Tools | Energy Analysis | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Economic and Financial Analysis Tools Economic and Financial Analysis Tools Use these economic and . Job and Economic Development Impact (JEDI) Model Use these easy-to-use, spreadsheet-based tools to analyze the economic impacts of constructing and operating power generation and biofuel plants at the

Autoshaped choice in artificial neural networks: implications for behavioral economics and neuroeconomics.

Science.gov (United States)

Burgos, José E; García-Leal, Óscar

2015-05-01

An existing neural network model of conditioning was used to simulate autoshaped choice. In this phenomenon, pigeons first receive an autoshaping procedure with two keylight stimuli X and Y separately paired with food in a forward-delay manner, intermittently for X and continuously for Y. Then pigeons receive unreinforced choice test trials of X and Y concurrently present. Most pigeons choose Y. This preference for a more valuable response alternative is a form of economic behavior that makes the phenomenon relevant to behavioral economics. The phenomenon also suggests a role for Pavlovian contingencies in economic behavior. The model used, in contrast to others, predicts autoshaping and automaintenance, so it is uniquely positioned to predict autoshaped choice. The model also contemplates neural substrates of economic behavior in neuroeconomics, such as dopaminergic and hippocampal systems. A feedforward neural network architecture was designed to simulate a neuroanatomical differentiation between two environment-behavior relations X-R1 and Y-R2, [corrected] where R1 and R2 denote two different emitted responses (not unconditionally elicited by the reward). Networks with this architecture received a training protocol that simulated an autoshaped-choice procedure. Most networks simulated the phenomenon. Implications for behavioral economics and neuroeconomics, limitations, and the issue of model appraisal are discussed. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Dopamine, behavioral economics, and effort

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John D Salamone

2009-09-01

Full Text Available Abstract. There are numerous problems with the hypothesis that brain dopamine (DA systems, particularly in the nucleus accumbens, directly mediate the rewarding or primary motivational characteristics of natural stimuli such as food. Research and theory related to the functions of mesolimbic DA are undergoing a substantial conceptual restructuring, with the traditional emphasis on hedonia and primary reward yielding to other concepts and lines of inquiry. The present review is focused upon the involvement of nucleus accumbens DA in behavioral activation and effort-related processes. Viewed from the framework of behavioral economics, the effects of accumbens DA depletions and antagonism on food-reinforced behavior are highly dependent upon the work requirements of the instrumental task, and DA depleted rats are more sensitive to increases in response costs (i.e., ratio requirements. Moreover, interference with accumbens DA transmission exerts a powerful influence over effort-related choice behavior. Rats with accumbens DA depletions or antagonism reallocate their instrumental behavior away from food-reinforced tasks that have high response requirements, and instead these rats select a less-effortful type of food-seeking behavior. Nucleus accumbens DA and adenosine interact in the regulation of effort-related functions, and other brain structures (anterior cingulate cortex, amygdala, ventral pallidum also are involved. Studies of the brain systems regulating effort-based processes may have implications for understanding drug abuse, as well as energy-related disorders such as psychomotor slowing, fatigue or anergia in depression and other neurological disorders.

Economic demand predicts addiction-like behavior and therapeutic efficacy of oxytocin in the rat

Science.gov (United States)

Bentzley, Brandon S.; Jhou, Thomas C.; Aston-Jones, Gary

2014-01-01

Development of new treatments for drug addiction will depend on high-throughput screening in animal models. However, an addiction biomarker fit for rapid testing, and useful in both humans and animals, is not currently available. Economic models are promising candidates. They offer a structured quantitative approach to modeling behavior that is mathematically identical across species, and accruing evidence indicates economic-based descriptors of human behavior may be particularly useful biomarkers of addiction severity. However, economic demand has not yet been established as a biomarker of addiction-like behavior in animals, an essential final step in linking animal and human studies of addiction through economic models. We recently developed a mathematical approach for rapidly modeling economic demand in rats trained to self-administer cocaine. We show here that economic demand, as both a spontaneous trait and induced state, predicts addiction-like behavior, including relapse propensity, drug seeking in abstinence, and compulsive (punished) drug taking. These findings confirm economic demand as a biomarker of addiction-like behavior in rats. They also support the view that excessive motivation plays an important role in addiction while extending the idea that drug dependence represents a shift from initially recreational to compulsive drug use. Finally, we found that economic demand for cocaine predicted the efficacy of a promising pharmacotherapy (oxytocin) in attenuating cocaine-seeking behaviors across individuals, demonstrating that economic measures may be used to rapidly identify the clinical utility of prospective addiction treatments. PMID:25071176

Behavioral economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Chambers, David W

2009-01-01

It is human nature to overestimate how rational we are, both in general and even when we are trying to be. Such irrationality is not random, and the search for and explanation of patterns of fuzzy thinking is the basis for a new academic discipline known as behavioral economics. Examples are given of some of the best understood of our foibles, including prospect theory, framing, anchoring, salience, confirmation bias, superstition, and ownership. Humans have two cognitive systems: one conscious, deliberate, slow, and rational; the other fast, pattern-based, emotionally tinged, and intuitive. Each is subject to its own kind of error. In the case of rational thought, we tend to exaggerate our capacity; for intuition, we fail to train it or recognize contexts where it is inappropriate. Humans are especially poor at estimating probabilities, or even understanding what they are. It is a common human failing to reason backwards from random outcomes that are favorable to beliefs about our power to predict the future. Five suggestions are offered for thinking within our means.

The Economic Viability of Ethnicity: Economic Behavior as an Expression of Ethnic Identity among Serbian Immigrants in the USA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Saša Nedeljković

2016-03-01

Full Text Available The economic aspect of ethnicity represents a wide topic of research which still hasn’t been extensively studied in Serbian ethnology and anthropology. It encompasses numerous kinds of relationships between people who belong to the same ethnic group, as well as all kinds of economic discrimination or economic favorizing based on ethnic identity. In this paper I shall attempt to highlight some of the basic characteristics of this issue, and to point out the interconnectedness of economic behavior and ethnic identity, based on one case study. I shall also demonstrate some of the specifics of the socio-economic system within which the studied topic was considered (USA, as well as the complex and ambiguous influence that this system has had on ethnic identity through certain economic actions. The paper focuses on the economic aspect of ethnicity of the Serbian Diaspora in the US, and certain specific issues are considered through the example of the economic behavior of one Serbian immigrant from Romania.

Behavioral economics perspective on foreign direct investment in emerging markets: The case on Bosnia and Herzegovina

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Amra Halaba

2016-08-01

Full Text Available The growing field of behavioral economics (BE has revolutionized the way we look at economic behavior at micro and macro levels. Importance of foreign direct investment (FDI appeals for analysis of decisions made regarding it to be assessed from expanding view of BE. This research provides overview of previous studies and focuses on the case of Bosnia and Herzegovina (B&H as representative of emerging markets to investigate motivations for investing into this country by temporarily present foreign companies. Empirical analysis was based on the questionnaire that was disseminated among foreign investors to B&H. Questionnaire contained motivations for investing in B&H, where examined motivation factors were divided in two groups; namely irrational and rational ones. Choice of methodology was narrowed due to moderate sample size, but consisting of quality the sample members. In order to analyze data, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis and regression analysis were used. By regressing two groups of predictors on annual amount of foreign investments to B&H, it was shown that the highest motivation for investing was business instinct.

Economic Optimization Analysis of Chengdu Electric Community Bus Operation

Science.gov (United States)

Yidong, Wang; Yun, Cai; Zhengping, Tan; Xiong, Wan

2018-03-01

In recent years, the government has strongly supported and promoted electric vehicles and has given priority to demonstration and popularization in the field of public transport. The economy of public transport operations has drawn increasing attention. In this paper, Chengdu wireless charging pure electric community bus is used as the research object, the battery, air conditioning, driver’s driving behavior and other economic influence factors were analyzed, and optimizing the operation plan through case data analysis, through the reasonable battery matching and mode of operation to help businesses effectively save operating costs and enhance economic efficiency.

A Behavioral Economic Reward Index Predicts Drinking Resolutions: Moderation Re-visited and Compared with Other Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Jalie A.; Roth, David L.; Vignolo, Mary J.; Westfall, Andrew O.

2014-01-01

Data were pooled from three studies of recently resolved community-dwelling problem drinkers to determine whether a behavioral economic index of the value of rewards available over different time horizons distinguished among moderation (n = 30), abstinent (n = 95), and unresolved (n = 77) outcomes. Moderation over 1-2 year prospective follow-up intervals was hypothesized to involve longer term behavior regulation processes compared to abstinence or relapse and to be predicted by more balanced pre-resolution monetary allocations between short- and longer-term objectives (i.e., drinking and saving for the future). Standardized odds ratios (OR) based on changes in standard deviation units from a multinomial logistic regression indicated that increases on this “Alcohol-Savings Discretionary Expenditure” index predicted higher rates of both abstinence (OR = 1.93, p = .004) and relapse (OR = 2.89, p moderation outcomes. The index had incremental utility in predicting moderation in complex models that included other established predictors. The study adds to evidence supporting a behavioral economic analysis of drinking resolutions and shows that a systematic analysis of pre-resolution spending patterns aids in predicting moderation. PMID:19309182

Behavioral Economics and Public Policy 102: Beyond Nudging

OpenAIRE

Saurabh Bhargava; George Loewenstein

2015-01-01

Policymakers have recently embraced Behavioral Economics as an alternative approach which recognizes the limits and consequences of human decision-making. Early applications of BE ("nudges") produced notable successes and helped to set the stage for more aggressive applications aimed at the deeper causes of policy problems. We contend that policies that aspire to simplify products and incentives, rather than choice environments, aggressively protect consumers from behavioral exploitation, and...

Using Behavioral Economics to Design Physician Incentives That Deliver High-Value Care.

Science.gov (United States)

Emanuel, Ezekiel J; Ubel, Peter A; Kessler, Judd B; Meyer, Gregg; Muller, Ralph W; Navathe, Amol S; Patel, Pankaj; Pearl, Robert; Rosenthal, Meredith B; Sacks, Lee; Sen, Aditi P; Sherman, Paul; Volpp, Kevin G

2016-01-19

Behavioral economics provides insights about the development of effective incentives for physicians to deliver high-value care. It suggests that the structure and delivery of incentives can shape behavior, as can thoughtful design of the decision-making environment. This article discusses several principles of behavioral economics, including inertia, loss aversion, choice overload, and relative social ranking. Whereas these principles have been applied to motivate personal health decisions, retirement planning, and savings behavior, they have been largely ignored in the design of physician incentive programs. Applying these principles to physician incentives can improve their effectiveness through better alignment with performance goals. Anecdotal examples of successful incentive programs that apply behavioral economics principles are provided, even as the authors recognize that its application to the design of physician incentives is largely untested, and many outstanding questions exist. Application and rigorous evaluation of infrastructure changes and incentives are needed to design payment systems that incentivize high-quality, cost-conscious care.

Behavioral Economics and Marketing in Aid of Decision Making Among the Poor

OpenAIRE

Bertrand, Marianne; Shafir, Eldar; Mullainathan, Sendhil

2006-01-01

This article considers several aspects of the economic decision making of the poor from the perspective of behavioral economics, and it focuses on potential contributions from marketing. Among other things, the authors consider some relevant facets of the social and institutional environments in which the poor interact, and they review some behavioral patterns that are likely to arise in these contexts. A behaviorally more informed perspective can help make sense of what might otherwise be co...

Economics as a factor in models of behavioral motivation and change.

Science.gov (United States)

Montoya, I D; Atkinson, J S; Trevino, R A

2000-02-01

This note first presents a summary of four main behavioral models that are used to explain behavioral motivation and change. Three models are based on psychosocial theory. They are: 1) the Theory of Reasoned Action, 2) the Theory of Planned Behavior, and 3) the Theory of Stages-of-Change. The fourth model is based on economic theory and is known as the Rational Addiction Model. Each model is analyzed for its strengths and weaknesses. The note concludes by arguing for the usefulness of integrating the economic and the psychosocial models to study drug use. Specific examples and suggestions are presented.

Social Determinants of Economic Behavior of Older Adults in Europe

OpenAIRE

Youssim, Iaroslav

2015-01-01

This PhD thesis contributes to the growing economic literature which studies effects of social and cultural variables on economic behavior of older adults in Europe. Landes, cited in Guiso et al. (2006), states that "if we learn anything from the history of economic development, it is that culture makes all the difference” (p. 29). Indeed, in the recent years economists put an effort to apply their analytical frameworks and empirical tools to study the role of culture on economic outcomes (Gu...

Bringing the patient back in: behavioral decision-making and choice in medical economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Mendoza, Roger Lee

2018-04-01

We explore the behavioral methodology and "revolution" in economics through the lens of medical economics. We address two questions: (1) Are mainstream economic assumptions of utility-maximization realistic approximations of people's actual behavior? (2) Do people maximize subjective expected utility, particularly in choosing from among the available options? In doing so, we illustrate-in terms of a hypothetical experimental sample of patients with dry eye diagnosis-why and how utility in pharmacoeconomic assessments might be valued differently by patients when subjective psychological, social, cognitive, and emotional factors are considered. While experimentally-observed or surveyed behavior yields stated (rather than revealed) preferences, behaviorism offers a robust toolset in understanding drug, medical device, and treatment-related decisions compared to the optimizing calculus assumed by mainstream economists. It might also do so more perilously than economists have previously understood, in light of the intractable uncertainties, information asymmetries, insulated third-party agents, entry barriers, and externalities that characterize healthcare. Behavioral work has been carried out in many sub-fields of economics. Only recently has it been extended to healthcare. This offers medical economists both the challenge and opportunity of balancing efficiency presumptions with relatively autonomous patient choices, notwithstanding their predictable, yet seemingly consistent, irrationality. Despite its comparative youth and limitations, the scientific contributions of behaviorism are secure and its future in medical economics appears to be promising.

The SIGMA plants economic behavior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rivarola, Martin E.; Bergallo, Juan E.

1999-01-01

In this work, the economical behavior of the Uranium Enrichment Plants, built using the Gaseous Isotopic Separation using Advanced Methods (SIGMA) (Separacion Isotopica Gaseosa por Metodos Avanzados) technology is analyzed. The calculations were made using an integrated computer code, where the cost of each main component of the plant is estimated. The program computes the production cost for several configurations of enrichment cascades, each one corresponding to a production rate. The program also includes a numerical optimizer and it seeks the SIGMA optimal configuration for a given set of design parameters. The present work does not contemplate the model and calculation of the auxiliary system costs. The total amortization cost is obtained by using the cascade capital cost and assuming that the auxiliary system represents a fixed part of the total cost.The results obtained show that the SIGMA technology for Enrichment Uranium Plants could achieve economical competition in a much lower production scale than the conventional Gaseous Diffusion Enrichment Plants. (author)

A crowdsourced nickel-and-dime approach to analog OBM research: A behavioral economic framework for understanding workforce attrition.

Science.gov (United States)

Henley, Amy J; DiGennaro Reed, Florence D; Reed, Derek D; Kaplan, Brent A

2016-09-01

Incentives are a popular method to achieve desired employee performance; however, research on optimal incentive magnitude is lacking. Behavioral economic demand curves model persistence of responding in the face of increasing cost and may be suitable to examine the reinforcing value of incentives on work performance. The present use-inspired basic study integrated an experiential human operant task within a crowdsourcing platform to evaluate the applicability of behavioral economics for quantifying changes in workforce attrition. Participants included 88 Amazon Mechanical Turk Workers who earned either a $0.05 or $0.10 incentive for completing a progressively increasing response requirement. Analyses revealed statistically significant differences in breakpoint between the two groups. Additionally, a novel translation of the Kaplan-Meier survival-curve analyses for use within a demand curve framework allowed for examination of elasticity of workforce attrition. Results indicate greater inelastic attrition in the $0.05 group. We discuss the benefits of a behavioral economic approach to modeling employee behavior, how the metrics obtained from the elasticity of workforce attrition analyses (e.g., P max ) may be used to set goals for employee behavior while balancing organizational costs, and how economy type may have influenced observed outcomes. © 2016 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Economic Crisis and SMEs’ Behavior: An Analysis on the Furniture Sector in Italy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marco Cioppi

2014-09-01

Full Text Available This paper examines the results of a case study analysis carried out on five small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs operating in the furnishing sector of an Italian province. The aim of the study was to analyze which kind of strategies SMEs are adopting in order to face the economic crisis started in 2008. The cases analyzed highlighted the ability of firms in reacting by the development a proactive strategy, which brought them to positive economic results over time. Discussion of results and managerial implications are suggested in order to properly address other enterprises acting in similar market condition

Applied economics: The use of monetary incentives to modulate behavior.

Science.gov (United States)

Strang, S; Park, S Q; Strombach, T; Kenning, P

2016-01-01

According to standard economic theory higher monetary incentives will lead to higher performance and higher effort independent of task, context, or individual. In many contexts this standard economic advice is implemented. Monetary incentives are, for example, used to enhance performance at workplace or to increase health-related behavior. However, the fundamental positive impact of monetary incentives has been questioned by psychologists as well as behavioral economists during the last decade, arguing that monetary incentives can sometimes even backfire. In this chapter, studies from proponents as well as opponents of monetary incentives will be presented. Specifically, the impact of monetary incentives on performance, prosocial, and health behavior will be discussed. Furthermore, variables determining whether incentives have a positive or negative impact will be identified. © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IN TERMS OF BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ewa Mazanowska

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Behaviourists believe human capital is seen as the potential in people. They believe that the human resource in the organization are intangible assets embodied in the employees, not the people themselves. Behavioral economics emphasizes that people aren’t owned by the company, only their abilities and skills made available to the employer on the basis of certain legal relations which holds it to manage these assets in a rational way. Recognition of behavioral economics also highlights the aspects of development and human capital perspective, which appear in the may resource Staff in the future. These may be limited to: raise, awareness of capacity, internal aspirations, motives. Human capital management is nothing but a recognition of the relevant characteristics of the potential held within the company Staff and correct its use. As a consequence, it can bring tangible benefits to the organization.

Economic analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

None

1980-06-01

The Energy Policy and Conservation Act (EPCA) mandated that minimum energy efficiency standards be established for classes of refrigerators and refrigerator-freezers, freezers, clothes dryers, water heaters, room air conditioners, home heating equipment, kitchen ranges and ovens, central air conditioners, and furnaces. EPCA requires that standards be designed to achieve the maximum improvement in energy efficiency that is technologically feasible and economically justified. Following the introductory chapter, Chapter Two describes the methodology used in the economic analysis and its relationship to legislative criteria for consumer product efficiency assessment; details how the CPES Value Model systematically compared and evaluated the economic impacts of regulation on the consumer, manufacturer and Nation. Chapter Three briefly displays the results of the analysis and lists the proposed performance standards by product class. Chapter Four describes the reasons for developing a baseline forecast, characterizes the baseline scenario from which regulatory impacts were calculated and summarizes the primary models, data sources and assumptions used in the baseline formulations. Chapter Five summarizes the methodology used to calculate regulatory impacts; describes the impacts of energy performance standards relative to the baseline discussed in Chapter Four. Also discussed are regional standards and other program alternatives to performance standards. Chapter Six describes the procedure for balancing consumer, manufacturer, and national impacts to select standard levels. Details of models and data bases used in the analysis are included in Appendices A through K.

Evaluating Behavioral Economic Models of Heavy Drinking Among College Students.

Science.gov (United States)

Acuff, Samuel F; Soltis, Kathryn E; Dennhardt, Ashley A; Berlin, Kristoffer S; Murphy, James G

2018-05-14

Heavy drinking among college students is a significant public health concern that can lead to profound social and health consequences, including alcohol use disorder. Behavioral economics posits that low future orientation and high valuation of alcohol (alcohol demand) combined with deficits in alternative reinforcement increase the likelihood of alcohol misuse (Bickel et al., 2011). Despite this, no study has examined the incremental utility of all three variables simultaneously in a comprehensive model METHOD: The current study uses structural equation modeling to test the associations between behavioral economic variables - alcohol demand (latent), future orientation (measured with a delay discounting task and the Consideration of Future Consequences (CFC) scale), and proportionate substance-related reinforcement - and alcohol consumption and problems among 393 heavy drinking college students. Two models are tested: 1) an iteration of the reinforcer pathology model that includes an interaction between future orientation and alcohol demand; and 2) an alternative model evaluating the interconnectedness of behavioral economic variables in predicting problematic alcohol use RESULTS: The interaction effects in model 1 were nonsignificant. Model 2 suggests that greater alcohol demand and proportionate substance-related reinforcement is associated with greater alcohol consumption and problems. Further, CFC was associated with alcohol-related problems and lower proportionate substance-related reinforcement but was not significantly associated with alcohol consumption or alcohol demand. Finally, greater proportionate substance-related reinforcement was associated with greater alcohol demand CONCLUSIONS: Our results support the validity of the behavioral economic reinforcer pathology model as applied to young adult heavy drinking. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

The behavioral economics of substance use disorders: reinforcement pathologies and their repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Bickel, Warren K; Johnson, Matthew W; Koffarnus, Mikhail N; MacKillop, James; Murphy, James G

2014-01-01

The field of behavioral economics has made important inroads into the understanding of substance use disorders through the concept of reinforcer pathology. Reinforcer pathology refers to the joint effects of (a) the persistently high valuation of a reinforcer, broadly defined to include tangible commodities and experiences, and/or (b) the excessive preference for the immediate acquisition or consumption of a commodity despite long-term negative outcomes. From this perspective, reinforcer pathology results from the recursive interactions of endogenous person-level variables and exogenous environment-level factors. The current review describes the basic principles of behavioral economics that are central to reinforcer pathology, the processes that engender reinforcer pathology, and the approaches and procedures that can repair reinforcement pathologies. The overall goal of this review is to present a new understanding of substance use disorders as viewed by recent advances in behavioral economics.

Behavioral Economic Predictors of Overweight Children's Weight Loss

Science.gov (United States)

Best, John R.; Theim, Kelly R.; Gredysa, Dana M.; Stein, Richard I.; Welch, R. Robinson; Saelens, Brian E.; Perri, Michael G.; Schechtman, Kenneth B.; Epstein, Leonard H.; Wilfley, Denise E.

2012-01-01

Objective: Our goal was to determine whether behavioral economic constructs--including impulsivity (i.e., steep discounting of delayed food and monetary rewards), the relative reinforcing value of food (RRV[subscript food]), and environmental enrichment (i.e., the presence of alternatives to unhealthy foods in the home and neighborhood…

Economic Consequence Analysis of Disasters: The ECAT Software Tool

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rose, Adam; Prager, Fynn; Chen, Zhenhua; Chatterjee, Samrat; Wei, Dan; Heatwole, Nathaniel; Warren, Eric

2017-04-15

This study develops a methodology for rapidly obtaining approximate estimates of the economic consequences from numerous natural, man-made and technological threats. This software tool is intended for use by various decision makers and analysts to obtain estimates rapidly. It is programmed in Excel and Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to facilitate its use. This tool is called E-CAT (Economic Consequence Analysis Tool) and accounts for the cumulative direct and indirect impacts (including resilience and behavioral factors that significantly affect base estimates) on the U.S. economy. E-CAT is intended to be a major step toward advancing the current state of economic consequence analysis (ECA) and also contributing to and developing interest in further research into complex but rapid turnaround approaches. The essence of the methodology involves running numerous simulations in a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model for each threat, yielding synthetic data for the estimation of a single regression equation based on the identification of key explanatory variables (threat characteristics and background conditions). This transforms the results of a complex model, which is beyond the reach of most users, into a "reduced form" model that is readily comprehensible. Functionality has been built into E-CAT so that its users can switch various consequence categories on and off in order to create customized profiles of economic consequences of numerous risk events. E-CAT incorporates uncertainty on both the input and output side in the course of the analysis.

Behavioral economics survey of patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Emoto N

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Naoya Emoto,1 Fumitaka Okajima,1 Hitoshi Sugihara,2 Rei Goto3,4 1Division of Endocrinology, Department of Medicine, Nippon Medical School Chiba Hokusoh Hospital, Chiba, 2Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Graduate School of Medicine, Nippon Medical School, Tokyo, 3Hakubi Center of Advanced Research, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 4Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan Background: Adherence to treatment and the metabolic control of diabetes are challenging in many patients with diabetes. The theory of neuroeconomics can provide important clues for understanding unreasonable human behavior concerning decisions between outcomes occurring at different time points.  Objective: We investigated patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes to determine whether patients who are at a risk of developing complications are less risk averse. We also examined whether patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes have different behavioral traits in decision making under risk.  Methods: We conducted a behavioral economics survey of 219 outpatients, 66 with type 1 diabetes and 153 with type 2 diabetes. All patients had been referred by general practitioners or other departments in the hospital. At the time of the survey, levels of hemoglobin A1c were not significantly different between patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes.  Results: Patients with type 2 diabetes showed a lower response rate to the survey compared with patients with type 1 diabetes (71.9% vs 87.9%, P<0.01. Logistic regression analysis indicated that diabetic retinopathy was negatively associated with risk averse in pricing of hypothetical lotteries, myopic time preference, willingness to pay for preventive medicine, and levels of satisfaction with life. Diabetic nephropathy was also negatively associated with risk averse in pricing of hypothetical lotteries. Detailed analysis revealed that a lower proportion of patients with type 2 diabetes (22.7% were categorized

Thermo-economic analysis of combined power plants with changing economic parameters

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bidini, G.; Desideri, U.; Facchini, B.

1991-01-01

A method of thermo-economic analysis for the choice of optimal thermodynamic parameters of steam bottoming cycles in combined cycle power plants is presented. By keeping the thermodynamic aspects separated from the economic aspects, this method allows designers to easily perform a sensitivity analysis of the change in the economic parameters

Behavioral economics: "nudging" underserved populations to be screened for cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Purnell, Jason Q; Thompson, Tess; Kreuter, Matthew W; McBride, Timothy D

2015-01-15

Persistent disparities in cancer screening by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status require innovative prevention tools and techniques. Behavioral economics provides tools to potentially reduce disparities by informing strategies and systems to increase prevention of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. With an emphasis on the predictable, but sometimes flawed, mental shortcuts (heuristics) people use to make decisions, behavioral economics offers insights that practitioners can use to enhance evidence-based cancer screening interventions that rely on judgments about the probability of developing and detecting cancer, decisions about competing screening options, and the optimal presentation of complex choices (choice architecture). In the area of judgment, we describe ways practitioners can use the availability and representativeness of heuristics and the tendency toward unrealistic optimism to increase perceptions of risk and highlight benefits of screening. We describe how several behavioral economic principles involved in decision-making can influence screening attitudes, including how framing and context effects can be manipulated to highlight personally salient features of cancer screening tests. Finally, we offer suggestions about ways practitioners can apply principles related to choice architecture to health care systems in which cancer screening takes place. These recommendations include the use of incentives to increase screening, introduction of default options, appropriate feedback throughout the decision-making and behavior completion process, and clear presentation of complex choices, particularly in the context of colorectal cancer screening. We conclude by noting gaps in knowledge and propose future research questions to guide this promising area of research and practice.

Investigation of the Behavior of Steel Shear Walls Using Finite Elements Analysis

OpenAIRE

Abubakri, K.; Veladi, H.

2016-01-01

Currently, steel shear walls are considered by engineers as an economic method against lateral loads imposed by wind and earthquake in tall structures. Accordingly, there is a growing need to develop accurate methods alongside approximation methods to estimate the behavior of these structural elements. The finite element technique is one of the strongest numerical methods in analysis of solid mechanics problems. Finite element analysis however requires high technical knowledge of the behavior...

The Behavioral Economics of Substance Use Disorders: reinforcement pathologies and their repair

Science.gov (United States)

Bickel, Warren K.; Johnson, Matthew W.; Koffarnus, Mikhail N.; MacKillop, James; Murphy, James G.

2015-01-01

The field of behavioral economics has made important inroads into the understanding of substance use disorders through the concept of reinforcer pathology. Reinforcer pathology refers to the joint effects of (a) the persistently high valuation of a reinforcer, broadly defined to include tangible commodities and experiences, and/or (b) the excessive preference for the immediate acquisition or consumption of a commodity despite long-term negative outcomes. From this perspective, reinforcer pathology results from the recursive interactions of endogenous person-level variables and exogenous environment-level factors. The current review describes the basic principles of behavioral economics that are central to reinforcer pathology, the processes that engender reinforcer pathology, and the approaches and procedures that can repair reinforcement pathologies. The overall goal of this review is to present a new understanding of substance use disorders as viewed by recent advances in behavioral economics. PMID:24679180

Behavioral economics: from advising organizations to nudging individuals

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Sent, E.-M.; Heukelom, F.

2017-01-01

This paper starts from a distinction between “old” and “new” behavioral economics. The former is associated with, amongst others, a Carnegie group around Herbert Simon and a Michigan cluster led by George Katona. The roots of the latter may be traced to the work of especially Amos Tversky and Daniel

Predictors of health behaviors after the economic downturn: a longitudinal study.

Science.gov (United States)

Macy, Jonathan T; Chassin, Laurie; Presson, Clark C

2013-07-01

Economic declines and their associated stress, shortage of financial resources, and changes in available time can impair health behaviors. This study tested the association between change in working hours, change in employment status, and financial strain and health behaviors measured after the 2008 recession after controlling for pre-recession levels of the health behaviors. The moderating influences of demographic factors and pre-recession levels of the health behaviors on the association between change in working hours and employment status and financial strain and the health behaviors were also tested. Participants (N = 3984) were from a longitudinal study of a U.S. Midwestern community-based sample. Regression analyses tested the unique relations between change in hours worked per week, change in employment status, and financial strain and five health behaviors over and above demographic factors and pre-recession levels of the same behavior. Models included predictor by covariate interactions. Participants who reported higher levels of financial strain engaged in lower levels of all but one of the five health behaviors, but there were no significant main effects of a change in the number of hours worked per week or change in employment status. Significant interactions revealed moderation of these relations by demographic characteristics, but findings differed across health behaviors. Financial strain negatively affected engagement in multiple healthy behaviors. Promoting the maintenance of healthy behaviors for disease prevention is an important public health goal during times of economic decline. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Socio-Economic Factors’ Impact on the Offline Networking: A Quantitative Analysis of Albanian Business

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Besa Shahini

2016-05-01

Full Text Available It exists so many studies and research on networks, especially on business networks, but still there is a little research which explores the factors that influence a manager's’ willingness to participate in business networks. Some of the socio-economic factors that moderate this participation are explored through this paper and the focus is based on offline face-to-face networking activities between companies, especially in an Albanian context. The research findings shows how the socio-economic factors such as gender, age, position and education level, influence the participation of such a business network moderated by the personal networking behavior of an individual. The study is based on a quantitative analysis of Albanian business member of the business networks. The results suggest that these socio –economic effects are important, but they do not come first in the perception of the process. What is important, the analysis, furthermore, finds that personal behavior and attitude are to be considered as key issues when it comes to participation in offline business networks.

Considerations regarding the Effects of Economic Crisis on Employee Communicational Behavior

OpenAIRE

Popescu Manoela; Crenicean Cecilia Luminita

2011-01-01

The economic crisis has caused significant changes in socio-economic entities strategies. In conclusion, firms were obliged to develop strategies for crisis as a result of their focus on customer, without understanding the customer as an employee. Moreover, strategic changes are not the result of company development, but as a direct effect of economic context. Otherwise, firms do not reflect the strategic communication behavior of their employees. Therefore, such a strategy may not be viable ...

THE IMPACT OF CREDIT AND CAPITAL SUPPORTS ON ECONOMIC BEHAVIOR OF FARM HOUSEHOLDS: A HOUSEHOLD ECONOMIC APPROACH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bernardus Bala de Rosari

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This research aimed at analysing the demand and allocation of credit and capital supports by farm household and impact on production, consumption, and investment. The research was conducted in East Nusa Tenggara Timur (ENT Province, one of targeted region of credit and capital supports policy of the government. Data collection was conducted from April to June 2013 by sampling for 178 households of farmers in Kupang District and Timor Tengah Selatan (TTS District. The result of this research showed that the allocation of credit and capital supports caused increaseof cattle production, consumption expenditure, and investment. The usage of credit and capital supports was depend on economical situation of the household itself. The decision of farm household on using credit and capital supports had impact on overall economical behavior of household, i.e. production, consumption and investment behavior. The transmission use was reciprocally interacted. Finally, the policy of credit and capital supports scheme for farmers should be adjusted with the context of farm household economics.

Analysis Of Economic Motivation When Individuals Choose An Educational Path

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktor Anatolyevich Koksharov

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The authors consider the economic motivations when individuals choose an educational path. This line of research is relevant from both, the point of view of science — research of economic behavior of an individual, and the point of view of practice — allows to increase efficiency of investments in a human capital. The authors have developed the economic and mathematical model of choice of optimum educational paths by individuals. The model is realized in the software and approved on real data on more than 5,5 thousand students. For the analysis of the importance of rational economic expectations when an educational path has to be chosen, the paths chosen by students is compared and the educational paths optimum from the point of view of economic rationality are calculated. The analysis of the results has showed that mainly, the choice of educational paths happens according to the economic motivations. On the considered selection, 66 % of prospective students have chosen an optimum path from the point of view of economic preferences. The most significant factor providing development of optimum educational paths is an expectation of higher income upon completion of education — 22 % of all educational paths, and a possibility of cost-cutting of educating or state-subsidized education — 12 %. In our opinion, one of the most important practical results of the research of optimum educational path is the need to consider expectations of students and prospective student when developing a state policy of investment in human capital.

Conceptual model and economic experiments to explain nonpersistence and enable mechanism designs fostering behavioral change.

Science.gov (United States)

Djawadi, Behnud Mir; Fahr, René; Turk, Florian

2014-12-01

Medical nonpersistence is a worldwide problem of striking magnitude. Although many fields of studies including epidemiology, sociology, and psychology try to identify determinants for medical nonpersistence, comprehensive research to explain medical nonpersistence from an economics perspective is rather scarce. The aim of the study was to develop a conceptual framework that augments standard economic choice theory with psychological concepts of behavioral economics to understand how patients' preferences for discontinuing with therapy arise over the course of the medical treatment. The availability of such a framework allows the targeted design of mechanisms for intervention strategies. Our conceptual framework models the patient as an active economic agent who evaluates the benefits and costs for continuing with therapy. We argue that a combination of loss aversion and mental accounting operations explains why patients discontinue with therapy at a specific point in time. We designed a randomized laboratory economic experiment with a student subject pool to investigate the behavioral predictions. Subjects continue with therapy as long as experienced utility losses have to be compensated. As soon as previous losses are evened out, subjects perceive the marginal benefit of persistence lower than in the beginning of the treatment. Consequently, subjects start to discontinue with therapy. Our results highlight that concepts of behavioral economics capture the dynamic structure of medical nonpersistence better than does standard economic choice theory. We recommend that behavioral economics should be a mandatory part of the development of possible intervention strategies aimed at improving patients' compliance and persistence behavior. Copyright © 2014 International Society for Pharmacoeconomics and Outcomes Research (ISPOR). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Fort Collins Science Center- Policy Analysis and Science Assistance Branch : Integrating social, behavioral, economic and biological sciences

Science.gov (United States)

2010-01-01

The Fort Collins Science Center's Policy Analysis and Science Assistance (PASA) Branch is a team of approximately 22 scientists, technicians, and graduate student researchers. PASA provides unique capabilities in the U.S. Geological Survey by leading projects that integrate social, behavioral, economic, and biological analyses in the context of human-natural resource interactions. Resource planners, managers, and policymakers in the U.S. Departments of the Interior (DOI) and Agriculture (USDA), State and local agencies, as well as international agencies use information from PASA studies to make informed natural resource management and policy decisions. PASA scientists' primary functions are to conduct both theoretical and applied social science research, provide technical assistance, and offer training to advance performance in policy relevant research areas. Management and research issues associated with human-resource interactions typically occur in a unique context, involve difficult to access populations, require knowledge of both natural/biological science in addition to social science, and require the skill to integrate multiple science disciplines. In response to these difficult contexts, PASA researchers apply traditional and state-of-the-art social science methods drawing from the fields of sociology, demography, economics, political science, communications, social-psychology, and applied industrial organization psychology. Social science methods work in concert with our rangeland/agricultural management, wildlife, ecology, and biology capabilities. The goal of PASA's research is to enhance natural resource management, agency functions, policies, and decision-making. Our research is organized into four broad areas of study.

Who needs the assumption of opportunistic behavior? Transaction cost economics does not!

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Koch, Carsten Allan

2000-01-01

The assumption of opportunistic behavior, familiar from transaction cost economics, has been and remains highly controversial. But opportunistic behavior, albeit undoubtedly an extremely important form of motivation, is not a necessary condition for the contractual problems studied by transaction...

Economic analysis of fuel treatments

Science.gov (United States)

D. Evan Mercer; Jeffrey P. Prestemon

2012-01-01

The economics of wildfire is complicated because wildfire behavior depends on the spatial and temporal scale at which management decisions made, and because of uncertainties surrounding the results of management actions. Like the wildfire processes they seek to manage, interventions through fire prevention programs, suppression, and fuels management are scale dependent...

Techno-Economic, Sustainability, and Market Analysis | Bioenergy | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Techno-Economic, Sustainability, and Market Analysis Techno-Economic, Sustainability, and Market Analysis NREL conducts techno-economic analyses (TEAs) for algal biofuels, thermochemical conversion, and agitating the liquid as it flows around. Algal Biofuels Techno-Economic Analysis NREL's Algae Techno

Syntactical Analysis of Economics Textbooks.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilcox, George K.

An analysis of the syntax of economics textbooks was undertaken to (1) provide real-language examples of the difficult grammatical structures being taught in an advanced economics reading course, and (2) construct a factual database of the nature of economics textbooks. Five texts representative of those typically used in introductory economics…

Approaches based on behavioral economics could help nudge patients and providers toward lower health spending growth.

Science.gov (United States)

King, Dominic; Greaves, Felix; Vlaev, Ivo; Darzi, Ara

2013-04-01

Policies that change the environment or context in which decisions are made and "nudge" people toward particular choices have been relatively ignored in health care. This article examines the role that approaches based on behavioral economics could play in "nudging" providers and patients in ways that could slow health care spending growth. The basic insight of behavioral economics is that behavior is guided by the very fallible human brain and greatly influenced by the environment or context in which choices are made. In policy arenas such as pensions and personal savings, approaches based on behavioral economics have provided notable results. In health care, such approaches have been used successfully but in limited ways, as in the use of surgical checklists that have increased patient safety and reduced costs. With health care spending climbing at unsustainable rates, we review the role that approaches based on behavioral economics could play in offering policy makers a potential set of new tools to slow spending growth.

Obesity: can behavioral economics help?

Science.gov (United States)

Just, David R; Payne, Collin R

2009-12-01

Consumers regularly and predictably behave in ways that contradict standard assumptions of economic analysis such that they make decisions that prevent them from reaching rationally intended goals. These contradictions play a significant role with respect to consumers' food decisions and the effect these decisions have on their health. Food decisions that are rationally derived include those that trade short-term gains of sensory pleasure (hedonic) for longer term gains of health and wellness (utilitarian). However, extra-rational food decisions are much more common. They can occur because of the contexts in which they are made--such as being distracted or pressed for time. In these contexts, heuristics (or rules of thumb) are used. Because food decisions are made with little cognitive involvement, food policies designed to appeal to highly cognitive thought (e.g., fat taxes, detailed information labels) are likely to have little impact. Furthermore, food marketing environments influence not only what foods consumers buy but also how much. As a general principle, when individuals do not behave in their own interest, markets will feed perverse and sub-optimal behaviors. Given the limited ability of individuals to retain and use accurate health information coupled with varying levels of self control, profit motivations of marketers can become predatory--though not necessarily malicious. Alternative policy options that do not restrict choice are outlined, which enable consumers to make better decisions. These options allow for profit motivations of marketers to align with the long-term well being of the consumer.

Behavioral Economics and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program:: Making the Healthy Choice the Easy Choice.

Science.gov (United States)

Ammerman, Alice S; Hartman, Terry; DeMarco, Molly M

2017-02-01

The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) serves as an important nutritional safety net program for many Americans. Given its aim to use traditional economic levers to provide access to food, the SNAP program includes minimal nutritional requirements and restrictions. As food choices are influenced by more than just economic constraints, behavioral economics may offer insights and tools for altering food purchases for SNAP users. This manuscript outlines behavioral economics strategies that have potential to encourage healthier food choices within the SNAP program. Copyright © 2016 American Journal of Preventive Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A nudge toward participation: Improving clinical trial enrollment with behavioral economics.

Science.gov (United States)

VanEpps, Eric M; Volpp, Kevin G; Halpern, Scott D

2016-07-20

Interventions informed by behavioral economics can address barriers to patient enrollment in clinical trials and improve recruitment efforts. Copyright © 2016, American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Applying the behavioral economics principle of unit price to DRO schedule thinning.

Science.gov (United States)

Roane, Henry S; Falcomata, Terry S; Fisher, Wayne W

2007-01-01

Within the context of behavioral economics, the ratio of response requirements to reinforcer magnitude is called unit price. In this investigation, we yoked increases in reinforcer magnitude with increases in intervals of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) to thin DRO intervals to a terminal value.

Integrating Household Risk Mitigation Behavior in Flood Risk Analysis: An Agent-Based Model Approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Haer, Toon; Botzen, W J Wouter; de Moel, Hans; Aerts, Jeroen C J H

2017-10-01

Recent studies showed that climate change and socioeconomic trends are expected to increase flood risks in many regions. However, in these studies, human behavior is commonly assumed to be constant, which neglects interaction and feedback loops between human and environmental systems. This neglect of human adaptation leads to a misrepresentation of flood risk. This article presents an agent-based model that incorporates human decision making in flood risk analysis. In particular, household investments in loss-reducing measures are examined under three economic decision models: (1) expected utility theory, which is the traditional economic model of rational agents; (2) prospect theory, which takes account of bounded rationality; and (3) a prospect theory model, which accounts for changing risk perceptions and social interactions through a process of Bayesian updating. We show that neglecting human behavior in flood risk assessment studies can result in a considerable misestimation of future flood risk, which is in our case study an overestimation of a factor two. Furthermore, we show how behavior models can support flood risk analysis under different behavioral assumptions, illustrating the need to include the dynamic adaptive human behavior of, for instance, households, insurers, and governments. The method presented here provides a solid basis for exploring human behavior and the resulting flood risk with respect to low-probability/high-impact risks. © 2016 The Authors Risk Analysis published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of Society for Risk Analysis.

When Do Financial Incentives Reduce Intrinsic Motivation? Comparing Behaviors Studied in Psychological and Economic Literatures

Science.gov (United States)

2013-01-01

Objective: To review existing evidence on the potential of incentives to undermine or “crowd out” intrinsic motivation, in order to establish whether and when it predicts financial incentives to crowd out motivation for health-related behaviors. Method: We conducted a conceptual analysis to compare definitions and operationalizations of the effect, and reviewed existing evidence to identify potential moderators of the effect. Results: In the psychological literature, we find strong evidence for an undermining effect of tangible rewards on intrinsic motivation for simple tasks when motivation manifest in behavior is initially high. In the economic literature, evidence for undermining effects exists for a broader variety of behaviors, in settings that involve a conflict of interest between parties. By contrast, for health related behaviors, baseline levels of incentivized behaviors are usually low, and only a subset involve an interpersonal conflict of interest. Correspondingly, we find no evidence for crowding out of incentivized health behaviors. Conclusion: The existing evidence does not warrant a priori predictions that an undermining effect would be found for health-related behaviors. Health-related behaviors and incentives schemes differ greatly in moderating characteristics, which should be the focus of future research. PMID:24001245

When do financial incentives reduce intrinsic motivation? comparing behaviors studied in psychological and economic literatures.

Science.gov (United States)

Promberger, Marianne; Marteau, Theresa M

2013-09-01

To review existing evidence on the potential of incentives to undermine or "crowd out" intrinsic motivation, in order to establish whether and when it predicts financial incentives to crowd out motivation for health-related behaviors. We conducted a conceptual analysis to compare definitions and operationalizations of the effect, and reviewed existing evidence to identify potential moderators of the effect. In the psychological literature, we find strong evidence for an undermining effect of tangible rewards on intrinsic motivation for simple tasks when motivation manifest in behavior is initially high. In the economic literature, evidence for undermining effects exists for a broader variety of behaviors, in settings that involve a conflict of interest between parties. By contrast, for health related behaviors, baseline levels of incentivized behaviors are usually low, and only a subset involve an interpersonal conflict of interest. Correspondingly, we find no evidence for crowding out of incentivized health behaviors. The existing evidence does not warrant a priori predictions that an undermining effect would be found for health-related behaviors. Health-related behaviors and incentives schemes differ greatly in moderating characteristics, which should be the focus of future research. PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2013 APA, all rights reserved.

The contention within health economics: a micro-economic foundation using a macro-economic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Yaxley, I L

1998-03-01

Health economists claim to use market economics combined with the micro-economic concepts of opportunity cost and the margin to advise on priority setting. However, they are advising on setting priorities through a macro-economic analysis using the costs of the supplier, thus prioritising the producer and not the consumer as the dynamic of economic activity. For health economists any contention within priority setting is due to lack of data not their confusion over fundamental concepts.

Breaking out of the economic box: energy efficiency, social rationality and non-economic drivers of behavioral change

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ehrhardt-Martinez, Karen; Laitner, John A. ' Skip' (ACEEE, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, Washington, D.C. (United States))

2009-07-01

Energy concerns are increasingly on people's minds. According to a recent Gallup poll, nearly 30 percent of American's reported that energy prices were the most important financial problem facing their families today. But are these new concerns likely to translate into long-term behavioral changes and more energy-efficient behavior? Research suggests that it will take more than high prices to achieve maximum energy savings. People may like to think of themselves as rational economic actors, but a variety of studies by social-psychologists and behavioral economists reveal that people often act in ways that may be better described as 'socially-rational' and 'predictably irrational'. Despite these findings, many residential energy programs and most policy assessments continue to model potential energy savings as a function of existing technologies and the cost of those energy resources. This paper explores the ways in which individual behavior is shaped by the social context within which people operate and presents an alternative framework for modeling efficiency behavior. The alternative model recognizes that while individuals may not always behave in economically-rational ways, their behavior may be entirely rational from other vantage points. In fact, individuals often behave as rational social actors, determining what is and isn't 'appropriate' behavior by gleaning information from their own observations, from their peers, and from interactions within their sphere of social influence. As such, this paper explores the ways in which social rules, resources and context shape individual patterns of energy consumption. This alternative approach has important implications for program designs and policy recommendations.

Applying the Behavioral Economics Principle of Unit Price to DRO Schedule Thinning

Science.gov (United States)

Roane, Henry S.; Falcomata, Terry S.; Fisher, Wayne W.

2007-01-01

Within the context of behavioral economics, the ratio of response requirements to reinforcer magnitude is called "unit price." In this investigation, we yoked increases in reinforcer magnitude with increases in intervals of differential reinforcement of other behavior (DRO) to thin DRO intervals to a terminal value. (Contains 1 figure.)

Behavioral Economics: “Nudging” Underserved Populations to Be Screened for Cancer

Science.gov (United States)

Thompson, Tess; Kreuter, Matthew W.; McBride, Timothy D.

2015-01-01

Persistent disparities in cancer screening by race/ethnicity and socioeconomic status require innovative prevention tools and techniques. Behavioral economics provides tools to potentially reduce disparities by informing strategies and systems to increase prevention of breast, cervical, and colorectal cancers. With an emphasis on the predictable, but sometimes flawed, mental shortcuts (heuristics) people use to make decisions, behavioral economics offers insights that practitioners can use to enhance evidence-based cancer screening interventions that rely on judgments about the probability of developing and detecting cancer, decisions about competing screening options, and the optimal presentation of complex choices (choice architecture). In the area of judgment, we describe ways practitioners can use the availability and representativeness of heuristics and the tendency toward unrealistic optimism to increase perceptions of risk and highlight benefits of screening. We describe how several behavioral economic principles involved in decision-making can influence screening attitudes, including how framing and context effects can be manipulated to highlight personally salient features of cancer screening tests. Finally, we offer suggestions about ways practitioners can apply principles related to choice architecture to health care systems in which cancer screening takes place. These recommendations include the use of incentives to increase screening, introduction of default options, appropriate feedback throughout the decision-making and behavior completion process, and clear presentation of complex choices, particularly in the context of colorectal cancer screening. We conclude by noting gaps in knowledge and propose future research questions to guide this promising area of research and practice. PMID:25590600

Presenting quality data to vulnerable groups: charts, summaries or behavioral economic nudges?

Science.gov (United States)

Elbel, Brian; Gillespie, Colleen; Raven, Maria C

2014-07-01

Despite the increased focus on health care consumers' active choice, not enough is known about how to best facilitate the choice process. We sought to assess methods of improving this process for vulnerable consumers in the United States by testing alternatives that emphasize insights from behavioral economics, or 'nudges'. We performed a hypothetical choice experiment where subjects were randomized to one of five experimental conditions and asked to choose a health center (location where they would receive all their care). The conditions presented the same information about health centers in different ways, including graphically as a chart, via written summary and using behavioral economics, 'nudging' consumers toward particular choices. We hypothesized that these 'nudges' might help simplify the choice process. Our primary outcomes focused on the health center chosen and whether consumers were willing to accept 'nudges'. We found that consumer choice was influenced by the method of presentation and the majority of consumers accepted the health center they were 'nudged' towards. Consumers were accepting of choices grounded in insights from behavioral economics and further consideration should be given to their role in patient choice. © The Author(s) 2014 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav.

THE IMPACT OF GLOBAL ECONOMIC CONTRACTION TOWARDS LENDING BEHAVIOR OF BANKS IN INDONESIA

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rizky Yudaruddin

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The global financial crisis of 2008 that hit many countries had become an important concern, especially thebanking industry in Indonesia. This was because first, the experience of the economic crisis of 1997-1998.Second, the nature of the crisis could spread to other countries. So this study aimed to examine empirically theimpact of the global economic contraction on the behavior of bank credit in Indonesia. Using panel data sourcefrom the Word Bank and Bank Indonesia Year 2004-2012, the data were analyzed with Dynamic Panel Datausing E-views program 8. The results showed that the global economic contraction had a significant effect onthe behavior of credit in foreign and joint venture banks in Indonesia in 2004-2012.

Moving Forward: Positive Behavior Support and Applied Behavior Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Tincani, Matt

2007-01-01

A controversy has emerged about the relationship between positive behavior support and applied behavior analysis. Some behavior analysts suggest that positive behavior support and applied behavior analysis are the same (e.g., Carr & Sidener, 2002). Others argue that positive behavior support is harmful to applied behavior analysis (e.g., Johnston,…

WAEA Keynote Address Behavioral Environmental Economics: Money Pumps & Nudges

OpenAIRE

Shogren, Jason F.

2012-01-01

Herein we explore how money pumps from rational choice theory and nudges from behavioral economics work toward helping create better environmental policy. We examine the role of money pumps in environmental policy, and whether policymakers can use nudges to "supercharge" incentives. We summarize insight that has emerged from both camps in the areas of conflict/cooperation and mechanism design.

THE ROLE OF BEHAVIORAL ECONOMICS IN EXPLAINING CONSUMPTION DECISION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mihaela Andreea STROE

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The new economic approach starts from the idea that the individual does not need food, but feels the need to feed, or do not require newspapers, but feels the need of information. In this way, those who changes are not human preferences, but the way we satisfy them. At this stage of the paper, we explain the inconsistency in consumer preferences and the exceptions to the standard theory by making light upon what is called in behavioral economics: the effects of property, loss aversion and framing effects. In which concerns the standard economic model, it seems that there are discrepancies between objective measures of sources of comfort / discomfort and measures reported subjective sensations. Many defenders of classical model would argue that the measures are not reported subjective feelings of economic phenomena and therefore are not of interest to economists. However, when such feelings and sensations affect or may affect future decisions, things become relevant for the economy. Limited Rationality implies both that the agent is imperfectly informed decision-making in a complex and dynamic environment, and a limited ability processing.

Toxics, Toyotas, and terrorism: the behavioral economics of fear and stigma.

Science.gov (United States)

Schulze, William; Wansink, Brian

2012-04-01

Economists have traditionally viewed the behavioral response to risk as continuous and proportional. In contrast, psychologists have often contended that people have little control over their response to risk that is dichotomous, nonproportional, visceral, and fear based. In extreme cases, this automatic response results in the stigmatization of a product, technology, or choice, which seemingly cannot be eliminated or reduced. In resolving these contrasting perspectives, we review four recent studies that blend behavioral economics and psychology. Together, they provide evidence for a dual-process decision model for risk that incorporates both reason and fear. They show consumers' responses to perceived risk as a mix of proportional and dichotomous (safe/unsafe) responses that are relatively more continuous in situations where deliberation is possible, and more dichotomous in emotional or stressful circumstances. These findings reconcile mixed results in past studies, and, more importantly, the dual-process model allows a clear definition of stigma, and suggests new ways to mitigate stigma and to help manage potentially damaging overreactions to it. © 2012 Society for Risk Analysis.

Physical activity counseling in primary care: Insights from public health and behavioral economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Shuval, Kerem; Leonard, Tammy; Drope, Jeffrey; Katz, David L; Patel, Alpa V; Maitin-Shepard, Melissa; Amir, On; Grinstein, Amir

2017-05-06

Physical inactivity has reached epidemic proportions in modern society. Abundant evidence points to a causal link between physical inactivity and increased risk for numerous noncommunicable diseases, such as some types of cancer and heart disease, as well as premature mortality. Yet, despite this overwhelming evidence, many individuals do not meet the recommended amount of physical activity required to achieve maximum health benefits. Because primary care physicians' advice is highly regarded, clinicians have the unique opportunity to play an important role in enabling patients to modify their behavior at the point of care with the goal of guiding patients to adopt and maintain an active lifestyle. In the current study, the authors evaluate pertinent literature from the fields of medicine/public health and economics/psychology to suggest a comprehensive approach to physical activity counseling at the primary care level. They first examine the public health approach to physical activity counseling, and then proceed to offer insights from behavioral economics, an emerging field that combines principles from psychology and economics. The application of key behavioral economics tools (eg, precommitment contracts, framing) to physical activity counseling in primary care is elaborated. CA Cancer J Clin 2017;67:233-244. © 2017 American Cancer Society. © 2017 American Cancer Society.

Can Food Stamps Do More to Improve Food Choices? An Economic Perspective--Making Healthy Food Choices Easier: Ideas From Behavioral Economics

OpenAIRE

Mancino, Lisa; Andrews, Margaret S.

2007-01-01

With obesity the most prevalent nutrition problem facing Americans at all economic levels, promoting diets that provide adequate nutrition without too many calories has become an important objective for the Food Stamp Program. Findings from behavioral economics suggest innovative, low-cost ways to improve the diet quality of food stamp participants without restricting their freedom of choice. Unlike more traditional economic interventions, such as changing prices or banning specific foods, th...

Background effects of emergencies on indicators of economic analysis of enterprise economic activity

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K.Yu. Polyak

2017-03-01

Full Text Available The paper deals with the study of scientific works on the issue of formation and development of organizational and methodological regulations of accounting and analytical support of the economic activity of an enterprise in emergencies, which led to the conclusion about the complex character of the study of theory, methodology and economic analysis of enterprises in various sectors of national economy. The author studies the approaches to the nature and methods of economic analysis that resulted in the presentation of instructional techniques to the economic structure. In assessing the consequences of emergencies, it is necessary to determine their impact on the indices of economic analysis; so, there was the need to define areas resulting index changes as a result of emergency situations by identifying its components which may affect emergencies. After analyzing the data, it was found that the consequences of emergency situations affecting the indices of business analysis and can lead to changes in management decisions of internal and external users.

Improving utilization of and retention in PMTCT services: can behavioral economics help?

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, Nicholas Kenji; Buttenheim, Alison M

2013-10-10

The most recent strategic call to action of the World Health Organization sets the elimination of pediatric HIV as a goal. While recent efforts have focused on building infrastructure and ensuring access to high-quality treatment, we must now turn our focus to the behavior change needed to eliminate vertical transmission. We make the case for the application of concepts from the field of behavioral economics to prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) programs to more effectively address demand-side issues of uptake and retention. We introduce five concepts from the field of behavioral economics and discuss their application to PMTCT programs: 1) Mentor mothers who come from similar circumstances as PMTCT patients can serve as social references who provide temporally salient modeling of utilization of services and adherence to treatment. 2) Economic incentives, like cell phone minutes or food vouchers, that reward adherence to PMTCT protocols leverage present bias, the observation that people are generally biased toward immediate versus future awards. 3) Default bias, our preference for the default option, is already being used in many countries in the form of opt-out testing, and could be expanded to all PMTCT programs. 4) We are hardwired to avoid loss more than to pursue an equivalent gain. PMTCT programs can take advantage of loss aversion through the use of commitment contracts that incentivize mothers to return to the clinic in order to avoid both reputational and financial loss. Eliminating vertical transmission of HIV is an ambitious goal. To close the remaining gap, innovations are needed to address demand for PMTCT services. Behavioral economics offers a set of tools that can be engineered into PMTCT programs to increase uptake and improve retention with minimal investment.

Interrelations between Energy Security Economics and Social Cohesion: Analysis of a Lithuanian Case

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Dainius Genys

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Growing attention to sustainable development in academic discourse fosters discussions on how energy security affects society. In most cases the discussions consider the political and economic consequences, which affect or may affect the society. The aim of the article is to assess the impact of energy security economics on social cohesion in Lithuania. To achieve this aim the interrelations between energy security, energy economics and social cohesion are discussed. The theoretical framework of social cohesion (introduced by J. Jenson and P. Bernard is presented and applied in empirical analysis. The operationalization of empirical variables is based on economic, political and socio-cultural - activity areas, which are analyzed to verify the dichotomies between public attitudes and the actual behavior of society. These dichotomies help to distinguish six analytical dimensions, on the basis of which we created 17 empirical indicators, which analysis allows for describing the impact of Lithuanian energy security economics on social cohesion in quantitative data. The statistical analyses showed that the impact of attitudinal dimensions of energy security economics on social cohesion in Lithuania has an almost neutral effect: 3.05 (1-very negative; 3-neutral, 5-very positive. Whereas, the impact of behavioural dimensions of energy security economics on social cohesion has a negative effect: 2.47. The aggregated average of the overall impact of energy security economics on social cohesion in Lithuania has a negative effect: 2.76.

Make the healthy choice the easy choice: using behavioral economics to advance a culture of health.

Science.gov (United States)

Volpp, K G; Asch, D A

2017-05-01

Despite great advances in the science and technology of health care, a large gap separates theoretically achievable advances in health from what individuals and populations actually achieve. Human behavior sits on the final common pathway to so many of our health and health care goals, including the prevention and management of illness and the fostering of wellness. Behavioral economics is a relatively new field offering approaches to supplement many of the conventional approaches to improving health behaviors that rely on education or standard economic theory. While those conventional approaches presume that an educated public will naturally make decisions that optimize personal welfare, approaches derived from behavioral economics harness existing and predictable patterns of behavior that often lead people to make choices against their best interests. By keeping these predictable patterns of behavior in mind when designing health insurance, health care programs or the health-related aspects of everyday life, behavioral economists aim to meet people half-way: no longer asking them to reshape their behavior to something more health promoting, but helping the behavioral patterns they already follow lead them to better health. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Physicians. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Applying Behavioral Economics Concepts in Designing Usage-Based Car Insurance Products

OpenAIRE

Greenberg, Allen

2010-01-01

Behavioral economics, a discipline combining economics and psychology to explain consumer decision making, offers insights on how best to institute transportation pricing in a manner that is acceptable to drivers and also meets public policy objectives. As an example of how to use this relatively new discipline to enhance the acceptance and benefits of transportation pricing, its application to designing usage-based or pay-as-you-drive-and-you-save (PAYDAYS) insurance products is explored. Sp...

Emergent behavior in a coupled economic and coastline model for beach nourishment

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E. D. Lazarus

2011-12-01

Full Text Available Developed coastal areas often exhibit a strong systemic coupling between shoreline dynamics and economic dynamics. "Beach nourishment", a common erosion-control practice, involves mechanically depositing sediment from outside the local littoral system onto an actively eroding shoreline to alter shoreline morphology. Natural sediment-transport processes quickly rework the newly engineered beach, causing further changes to the shoreline that in turn affect subsequent beach-nourishment decisions. To the limited extent that this landscape/economic coupling has been considered, evidence suggests that towns tend to employ spatially myopic economic strategies under which individual towns make isolated decisions that do not account for their neighbors. What happens when an optimization strategy that explicitly ignores spatial interactions is incorporated into a physical model that is spatially dynamic? The long-term attractor that develops for the coupled system (the state and behavior to which the system evolves over time is unclear. We link an economic model, in which town-manager agents choose economically optimal beach-nourishment intervals according to past observations of their immediate shoreline, to a simplified coastal-dynamics model that includes alongshore sediment transport and background erosion (e.g. from sea-level rise. Simulations suggest that feedbacks between these human and natural coastal processes can generate emergent behaviors. When alongshore sediment transport and spatially myopic nourishment decisions are coupled, increases in the rate of sea-level rise can destabilize economically optimal nourishment practices into a regime characterized by the emergence of chaotic shoreline evolution.

A behavioral economic analysis of texting while driving: Delay discounting processes.

Science.gov (United States)

Hayashi, Yusuke; Miller, Kimberly; Foreman, Anne M; Wirth, Oliver

2016-12-01

The purpose of the present study was to examine an impulsive decision-making process underlying texting while driving from a behavioral economic perspective. A sample of 108 college students completed a novel discounting task that presented participants with a hypothetical scenario in which, after receiving a text message while driving, they rated the likelihood of replying to a text message immediately versus waiting to reply for a specific period of time. Participants also completed a delay discounting task in which they made repeated hypothetical choices between obtaining a larger amount of money available after a delay and an equal or lesser amount of money available immediately. The results show that the duration of the delay is a critical variable that strongly determines whether participants choose to wait to reply to a text message, and that the decrease in the likelihood of waiting as a function of delay is best described by a hyperbolic delay discounting function. The results also show that participants who self-reported higher frequency of texting while driving discounted the opportunity to reply to a text message at greater rates, whereas there was no relation between the rates of discounting of hypothetical monetary rewards and the frequency of texting while driving. The results support the conclusion that texting while driving is fundamentally an impulsive choice. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Preferences All the Way Down: Questioning the Neoclassical Foundations of Behavioral Economics and Libertarian Paternalism

OpenAIRE

White, Mark D.

2017-01-01

Behavioral economics has enriched our understanding of the limitations and imperfections of human decision-making that were neglected by the overly simplistic neoclassical model of choice. However insightful its results and clever its modifications to the traditional model of choice, much of behavioral economics is built upon the core of that model, constrained preference-satisfaction, which cannot accommodate many other aspects of human choice such as principles, ideals, judgment, and will. ...

Economic conditions, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease: analysis of the Icelandic economic collapse.

Science.gov (United States)

Birgisdóttir, Kristín Helga; Jónsson, Stefán Hrafn; Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey

2017-12-01

Previous research has found a positive short-term relationship between the 2008 collapse and hypertension in Icelandic males. With Iceland's economy experiencing a phase of economic recovery, an opportunity to pursue a longer-term analysis of the collapse has emerged. Using data from a nationally representative sample, fixed-effect estimations and mediation analyses were performed to explore the relationship between the Icelandic economic collapse in 2008 and the longer-term impact on hypertension and cardiovascular health. A sensitivity analysis was carried out with pooled logit models estimated as well as an alternative dependent variable. Our attrition analysis revealed that results for cardiovascular diseases were affected by attrition, but not results from estimations on the relationship between the economic crisis and hypertension. When compared to the boom year 2007, our results point to an increased probability of Icelandic women having hypertension in the year 2012, when the Icelandic economy had recovered substantially from the economic collapse in 2008. This represents a deviation from pre-crisis trends, thus suggesting a true economic-recovery impact on hypertension.

Investigation of the Behavior of Steel Shear Walls Using Finite Elements Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

K. Abubakri

2016-10-01

Full Text Available Currently, steel shear walls are considered by engineers as an economic method against lateral loads imposed by wind and earthquake in tall structures. Accordingly, there is a growing need to develop accurate methods alongside approximation methods to estimate the behavior of these structural elements. The finite element technique is one of the strongest numerical methods in analysis of solid mechanics problems. Finite element analysis however requires high technical knowledge of the behavioral models of materials. Therefore, it is less used by designers for certain structural elements such as steel shear walls. This study examines the failure mechanism of steel shear walls using finite elements analysis and validates this modeling by comparing the results with experimental studies.

Infants' behavioral styles in joint attention situations and parents' socio-economic status.

Science.gov (United States)

Abels, Monika; Hutman, Ted

2015-08-01

In this study the eco-cultural model of parenting (Keller, H. (2007). Cultures of infancy. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum) was applied to the study of joint attention behavior of children from families with different socio-economic status (SES). It was hypothesized that infants' early communication styles would differ with SES reflecting more independent or interdependent interactions with their caregivers. It was also hypothesized that infants would use the same types of behaviors whether they have declarative or imperative communication goals. The Early Social Communication Scales (ESCS, Mundy et al., 2003) was administered to 103 typically developing infants of 12 months (approximately half of them siblings of children with autism). A factor analysis, yielding four behavioral factors, namely pointing, eye contact, actions and following points, confirmed the hypothesis that infants use behaviors consistently across situations independent of their communicative intent. MANOVAs (comprising parental education and income) revealed that higher SES infants showed actions more frequently in the ESCS whereas lower SES infants followed experimenter's points more frequently. The results are discussed in the context of presumably differing socialization goals for infants and the divergent contribution of parental education and income that seem to have additive contribution to some factors (actions, following points) but divergent contributions to others (pointing, eye contact). Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Analysis and Application of Quality Economics Based on Input-Output

Science.gov (United States)

Lu, Qiang; Li, Xin

2018-01-01

Quality economics analysis is an important research area in the current economic frontier, which has a huge role in promoting the quality-benefit type road development in China. Through the study of quality economics analysis and application, economics of quality and quality economics management are summarized, and theoretical framework of quality economics analysis is constructed. Finally, the quality economics analysis of aerospace equipment is taken as an example to carry on the application research.

Economic Analysis of Nuclear Energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Man Ki; Moon, K. H.; Kim, S. S.; Lim, C. Y.; Oh, K. B.

2006-12-01

It has been well recognized that securing economic viabilities along with technologies are very important elements in the successful implementation of nuclear R and D projects. The objective of the Project is to help nuclear energy to be utilized in an efficient way by analyzing major issues related with nuclear economics. The study covers following subjects: the role of nuclear in the future electric supply system, economic analysis of nuclear R and D project, contribution to the regional economy from nuclear power. In addition, the study introduces the international cooperation in the methodological area of efficient use of nuclear energy by surveying the international activities related with nuclear economics

Economic Analysis of Nuclear Energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Man Ki; Moon, K. H.; Kim, S. S.; Lim, C. Y.; Oh, K. B

2006-12-15

It has been well recognized that securing economic viabilities along with technologies are very important elements in the successful implementation of nuclear R and D projects. The objective of the Project is to help nuclear energy to be utilized in an efficient way by analyzing major issues related with nuclear economics. The study covers following subjects: the role of nuclear in the future electric supply system, economic analysis of nuclear R and D project, contribution to the regional economy from nuclear power. In addition, the study introduces the international cooperation in the methodological area of efficient use of nuclear energy by surveying the international activities related with nuclear economics.

Advanced Economic Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Greenberg, Marc W.; Laing, William

2013-01-01

An Economic Analysis (EA) is a systematic approach to the problem of choosing the best method of allocating scarce resources to achieve a given objective. An EA helps guide decisions on the "worth" of pursuing an action that departs from status quo ... an EA is the crux of decision-support.

Prospective Analysis of Behavioral Economic Predictors of Stable Moderation Drinking Among Problem Drinkers Attempting Natural Recovery.

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Jalie A; Cheong, JeeWon; Chandler, Susan D; Lambert, Brice H; Pietrzak, Brittney; Kwok, Heather; Davies, Susan L

2016-12-01

As interventions have expanded beyond clinical treatment to include brief interventions for persons with less severe alcohol problems, predicting who can achieve stable moderation drinking has gained importance. Recent behavioral economic (BE) research on natural recovery has shown that active problem drinkers who allocate their monetary expenditures on alcohol and saving for the future over longer time horizons tend to have better subsequent recovery outcomes, including maintenance of stable moderation drinking. This study compared the predictive utility of this money-based "Alcohol-Savings Discretionary Expenditure" (ASDE) index with multiple BE analogue measures of behavioral impulsivity and self-control, which have seldom been investigated together, to predict outcomes of natural recovery attempts. Community-dwelling problem drinkers, enrolled shortly after stopping abusive drinking without treatment, were followed prospectively for up to a year (N = 175 [75.4% male], M age = 50.65 years). They completed baseline assessments of preresolution drinking practices and problems, analogue behavioral choice tasks (Delay Discounting, Melioration-Maximization, and Alcohol Purchase Tasks), and a Timeline Followback interview including expenditures on alcohol compared to voluntary savings (ASDE index) during the preresolution year. Multinomial logistic regression models showed that, among the BE measures, only the ASDE index predicted stable moderation drinking compared to stable abstinence or unstable resolutions involving relapse. As hypothesized, stable moderation was associated with more balanced preresolution allocations to drinking and savings (odds ratio = 1.77, 95% confidence interval = 1.02 to 3.08, p < 0.05), suggesting it is associated with longer-term behavior regulation processes than abstinence. The ASDE's unique predictive utility may rest on its comprehensive representation of contextual elements to support this patterning of behavioral

Prospective Analysis of Behavioral Economic Predictors of Stable Moderation Drinking Among Problem Drinkers Attempting Natural Recovery

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Jalie A.; Cheong, JeeWon; Chandler, Susan D.; Lambert, Brice H.; Pietrzak, Brittney; Kwok, Heather; Davies, Susan L.

2016-01-01

Background As interventions have expanded beyond clinical treatment to include brief interventions for persons with less severe alcohol problems, predicting who can achieve stable moderation drinking has gained importance. Recent behavioral economic (BE) research on natural recovery has shown that active problem drinkers who allocate their monetary expenditures on alcohol and saving for the future over longer time horizons tend to have better subsequent recovery outcomes, including maintenance of stable moderation drinking. The present study compared the predictive utility of this money-based “Alcohol-Savings Discretionary Expenditure” (ASDE) index with multiple BE analogue measures of behavioral impulsivity and self-control, which have seldom been investigated together, to predict outcomes of natural recovery attempts. Methods Community-dwelling problem drinkers, enrolled shortly after stopping abusive drinking without treatment, were followed prospectively for up to a year (N = 175 [75.4% male], M age = 50.65 years). They completed baseline assessments of pre-resolution drinking practices and problems; analogue behavioral choice tasks (Delay Discounting, Melioration-Maximization, and Alcohol Purchase Tasks); and a Timeline Followback interview including expenditures on alcohol compared to voluntary savings (ASDE index) during the pre-resolution year. Results Multinomial logistic regression models showed that, among the BE measures, only the ASDE index predicted stable moderation drinking compared to stable abstinence or unstable resolutions involving relapse. As hypothesized, stable moderation was associated with more balanced pre-resolution allocations to drinking and savings (OR = 1.77, 95% CI = 1.02 ∼ 3.08, p < .05), suggesting it is associated with longer term behavior regulation processes than abstinence. Conclusions The ASDE's unique predictive utility may rest on its comprehensive representation of contextual elements to support this patterning of

Evolution of the global economic science as a factor of forming the expectations of economic agents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Valeriy Vladimirovich Shlychkov

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Objective to reveal the correlation between the level of economic system development and the adequacy of economic ideas and conceptions at particular historic periods to define the role of economic theory in generating economic knowledge and the degree of its influence on economic subjects39 behavior under permanent changes in technology setups and evolutionary development of economic systems. Methods the research methodology was based on ensuring the uniformity of logical and historical approaches the research methods were widely used descriptive analysis and synthesis deduction and induction generalization observation prediction scientific abstraction statistical analysis system analysis and techniques of grouping and classification methods of comparative historical and interdisciplinary analysis expert judgment the combination of these methods allowed to ensure the accuracy of the research and the validity of conclusions. Results the correlation was revealed between the level of economic system development and the adequacy of economic ideas and concepts at certain historical periods the significant role of economic theory in shaping the optimal behavior of economic entitieswas identified the purpose of the economic theory was statedass providing the evolutionary development of our civilization through the process of scientifictheoretical support of business activities of the society. Scientific novelty the main theoretical and methodological approaches were identified to the formation of economic agents expectations to obtain economic knowledge the trends are revealed of expansion and qualitative change of the range of issues facing economistsresearchers in the development of postindustrial society the authorsrsquo interpretation is proposed of the notion ldquoeconomic agentsrsquoexpectationrdquo in which public expectations of economic science are viewed as quotthe formed society need for scientifically grounded economic knowledgequot it

The relationship between parenting and the economic orientation and behavior of Norwegian adolescents.

Science.gov (United States)

Nyhus, Ellen K; Webley, Paul

2013-01-01

Little is known about the economic socialization of children and adolescents and the role of parents in this process. The authors' purpose was to explore the role of parenting in the intergenerational transfer of economic orientation and economic behavior. More specifically, they studied the link between four parenting dimensions (parental warmth-responsiveness, behavioral control, psychological control, autonomy granting), three parenting styles (authoritative, authoritarian, and neglectful) and adolescents' conscientiousness, future time perspective, and present hedonistic orientation. The authors also studied the relationships between these dispositions and the adolescents' spending preferences and ability to control spending. They used data collected from 14-16-year-olds (n = 597) and their parents (n = 469) in Norway. Results showed that adolescents who perceived their parents as psychologically controlling were less future oriented and conscientious, and were more present hedonistic oriented than others, while adolescents who perceived their parents as responsive, autonomy granting, and controlling of behavior were more future orientated and conscientious than others. Adolescents' scores for conscientiousness and future orientation were negatively associated with preferences for spending and positively with the ability to control spending, while the opposite relationships were found with respect to a present hedonistic orientation. Parental style was also found to be important for the future educational plans of adolescents, and plans for higher education were more frequent among adolescents who characterized their parents as authoritative than among those who perceived their parents as neglectful. Implications of the findings for economic socialization are discussed.

Validating a behavioral economic approach to assess food demand: effects of body mass index, dietary restraint, and impulsivity.

Science.gov (United States)

Reslan, Summar; Saules, Karen K; Greenwald, Mark K

2012-10-01

Behavioral economic theory is a useful framework for analyzing factors influencing choice, but the majority of human behavioral economic research has focused on drug choice. The behavioral economic choice paradigm may also be valuable for understanding food-maintained behavior. Our primary objective was two-fold: (1) Validate a human laboratory model of food-appetitive behavior, and (2) Assess the contribution of individual level factors that may differentially impact food choice behavior. Two studies were conducted. In Study 1, female subjects (N=17) participated in two consecutive food choice experimental sessions, whereas in Study 2, female subjects (N=21) participated in one concurrent food choice experimental session. During consecutive choice sessions (Study 1), demand for the more palatable food (i.e., high-sugar/high-fat) was more inelastic than the less palatable (i.e., low-sugar/low-fat) option. During concurrent choice sessions, demand for the more palatable food (i.e., high-sugar/high-fat) was more inelastic for restrained vs. unrestrained eaters, and for those who were overweight vs. normal weight. Demand for both palatable and less palatable choices was more elastic for high-impulsive vs. low-impulsive subjects. These findings suggest that the behavioral economic framework can be used successfully to develop a human laboratory model of food-appetitive behavior. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Individual Differences in Consumer Buying Patterns: A Behavioral Economic Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Cavalcanti, Paulo R.; Oliveira-Castro, Jorge M.; Foxall, Gordon R.

2013-01-01

Although previous studies have identified several regularities in buying behavior, no integrated view of individual differences related to such patterns has been yet proposed. The present research examined individual differences in patterns of buying behavior of fast-moving consumer goods, using panel data with information concerning purchases of…

A Developmental Behavioral Analysis of Dual Motives’ Role in Political Economies of Corruption

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sara Nora Ross

2014-03-01

Full Text Available This paper is a developmental meta-analysis of behaviors that contribute to political economies of corruption, deploying bioneurological dual motive and behavioral development theories. Together, these systems of analysis enable a developmental perspective to illustrate and analyze a progression of dual motives’ variations as humans and their conditions change. The progression of examples indicates that there are multiple evolutions of political economies that vary in their complexity, with different behavioral features at each level. Dual motive theory helps in identifying and understanding the complex linkages and layers of socio-political and economic behaviors as they become more complex. Increasingly complex horizontal and vertical stacks of social networks, like lattice-works of dual motives, enable individuals and groups to develop and maintain sturdy yet adaptable social systems of patronage, brokerage, and clientelism. These so-often informally structured relationships underlie corruption-like transactions long before, and long after, they are regarded as the enduring institution of corruption. Three hypotheses under gird the development of that thesis. The first is that dual motive theory facilitates meta-analyses of social networks’ often hidden layers of complexity. A second hypothesis is that analyses using dual motive theory can explicate more complexity when the theory is integrated with developmental behavioral theory. The third hypothesis is that analyses made possible by that integration offer substantive contributions to understanding socio-political-economic behaviors, including multiple political economies of corruption. Three strategies are employed to develop the paper’s thesis. First, the concepts of social ties, networks, reciprocity and dual motive theory are introduced to set the context. second, a behavioral task measurement theory is introduced: the model of hierarchical complexity. Scoped for this paper to

Energy efficiency, human behavior, and economic growth: Challenges to cutting energy demand to sustainable levels

Science.gov (United States)

Santarius, Tilman

2015-03-01

Increasing energy efficiency in households, transportation, industries, and services is an important strategy to reduce energy service demand to levels that allow the steep reduction of greenhouse gases, and a full fledged switch of energy systems to a renewable basis. Yet, technological efficiency improvements may generate so-called rebound effects, which may `eat up' parts of the technical savings potential. This article provides a comprehensive review of existing research on these effects, raises critiques, and points out open questions. It introduces micro-economic rebound effect and suggests extending consumer-side analysis to incorporate potential `psychological rebound effects.' It then discusses meso-economic rebound effects, i.e. producer-side and market-level rebounds, which so far have achieved little attention in the literature. Finally, the article critically reviews evidence for macro-economic rebound effects as energy efficiency-induced economic growth impacts. For all three categories, the article summarizes assessments of their potential quantitative scope, while pointing out remaining methodological weaknesses and open questions. As a rough "rule of thumb", in the long term and on gross average, only half the technical savings potential of across-the-board efficiency improvements may actually be achieved in the real world. Policies that aim at cutting energy service demand to sustainable levels are well advised to take due note of detrimental behavioral and economic growth impacts, and should foster policies and measures that can contain them.

Exercise Behavior, Facilitators and Barriers among Socio-economically Disadvantaged African American Young Adults

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Maria Kosma

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Background: Although exercise participation has numerous benefits among young adults, socio-economically disadvantaged ethnic minorities tend to be less active than their White counterparts of higher SES. Instead of relying on logical positivism in exercise promotion, a phronetic (humanistic approach may better assist with understanding exercise behavior. Objective: The study purpose was to examine the exercise behavior and qualitatively distinct exercise values (e.g., activity and inactivity reasons among socio-economically disadvantaged African American young adults. Method: This was a phronetic, qualitative study among 14 African American young adults (Mage = 32.97 years old ±14.13, who attended General Educational Development classes in an inner-city learning center. An in-depth and dialogical interview process was conducted regarding exercise behavior, positive and negative exercise experiences, reasons for exercise participation or not, exercise behavior of participants’ peers and significant others, and neighborhood safety. Results: Only three men met the minimum aerobic exercise recommendations and their main activity was basketball. Three individuals were somewhat active, while the rest of the participants were inactive. Based on the phronetic, thematic analysis, two themes emerged. Exercise facilitators included enjoyment (from skill and fitness development in a playful setting, health improvement, weight loss and toned physique, and utilitarian purpose (i.e., karate to work for campus security. Exercise barriers included time constraints and other priorities (school, work, caretaking, injuries, accessibility and cost issues, safety issues (unsafe neighborhoods, personality (lack of motivation and self-discipline, and undesirable results on appearance and performance. Conclusion: Exercise promoters should emphasize: a playful, culturally meaningful, and socially supported activities to increase fitness, skill development, and

Effect of human behavior on economizer efficacy and thermal comfort in southern California

Science.gov (United States)

Lanning, TIghe Glennon

California has set a zero net-energy conservation goal for the residential sector that is to be achieved by 2020 (California Energy Commission 2011). To reduce energy consumption in the building sector, modern buildings should fundamentally incorporate sustainable performance standards, involving renewable systems, climate-specific strategies, and consideration of a variety of users. Building occupants must operate in concert with the buildings they inhabit in order to maximize the potential of the building, its systems, and their own comfort. In climates with significant diurnal temperature swings, environmental controls designed to capitalize on this should be considered to reduce cooling-related loads. One specific strategy is the air-side economizer, which uses daily outdoor temperature swings to reduce indoor temperature swings. Traditionally a similar effect could be achieved by using thermal mass to buffer indoor temperature swings through thermal lag. Economizers reduce the amount of thermal mass typically required by naturally ventilated buildings. Fans are used to force cool nighttime air deep into the building, allowing lower mass buildings to take advantage of nighttime cooling. Economizers connect to a thermostat, and when the outdoor temperature dips below a programmed set-point the economizer draws cool air from outside, flushing out the warmed interior air. This type of system can be simulated with reasonable accuracy by energy modeling programs; however, because the system is occupant-driven (as opposed to a truly passive mass-driven system) any unpredictable occupant behavior can reduce its effectiveness and create misleading simulation results. This unpredictably has helped prevent the spread of economizers in the residential market. This study investigated to what extent human behavior affected the performance of economizer-based HVAC systems, based on physical observations, environmental data collections, and energy simulations of a residential

Analysis on Peasants’ Diet Condition and Food Safety Awareness in Northern Jiangsu——From the Perspective of Economics

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

2010-01-01

Taking three counties in northern Jiangsu (Suining,Ganyu and Sihong) as the respondents,the economic principles of food safety issues of rural areas in northern Jiangsu are described from three aspects which are information asymmetry,food supply and food safety issue and food consumption and food safety issue.From the two aspects-adverse selection of consumers and opportunistic behavior of producers,the paper introduces the influence of food safety issues of rural areas in northern Jiangsu.Based on the above analysis,economic theories for solving food safety issues of rural areas in northern Jiangsu are put forward:First,improve consumers’ knowledge of food safety;Second,normalize the behavior of main bodies of production and management;Third,improve the current situation of information asymmetry of food safety;Fourth,accelerate economic construction of rural areas in northern Jiangsu,practically increase peasant income and living standard.

Entropy Maximization as a Basis for Information Recovery in Dynamic Economic Behavioral Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

George Judge

2015-02-01

Full Text Available As a basis for information recovery in open dynamic microeconomic systems, we emphasize the connection between adaptive intelligent behavior, causal entropy maximization and self-organized equilibrium seeking behavior. This entropy-based causal adaptive behavior framework permits the use of information-theoretic methods as a solution basis for the resulting pure and stochastic inverse economic-econometric problems. We cast the information recovery problem in the form of a binary network and suggest information-theoretic methods to recover estimates of the unknown binary behavioral parameters without explicitly sampling the configuration-arrangement of the sample space.

Advancing School-Based Interventions through Economic Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Olsson, Tina M.; Ferrer-Wreder, Laura; Eninger, Lilianne

2014-01-01

Commentators interested in school-based prevention programs point to the importance of economic issues for the future of prevention efforts. Many of the processes and aims of prevention science are dependent upon prevention resources. Although economic analysis is an essential tool for assessing resource use, the attention given economic analysis…

Typology of consumer behavior in times of economic crisis: A segmentation study from Bulgaria

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Katrandjiev Hristo

2011-01-01

Full Text Available This paper presents the second part of results from a survey-based market research of Bulgarian households. In the first part of the paper the author analyzes the changes of consumer behavior in times of economic crisis in Bulgaria. Here, the author presents market segmentation from the point of view of consumer behavior changes in times of economic crisis. Four segments (clusters were discovered, and profiled. The similarities/dissimilarities between clusters are presented through the technique of multidimensional scaling (MDS The research project is planned, organized and realized within the Scientific Research Program of University of National and World Economy, Sofia, Bulgaria.

Estimating the economic impact of a repository from scenario-based surveys: Models of the relation of stated intent to actual behavior

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Easterling, D.; Morwitz, V.; Kunreuther, H.

1990-12-01

The task of estimating the economic impact of a facility as novel and long-lived as a high-level nuclear waste (HLNW) repository is fraught with uncertainty. One approach to the forecasting problems is to survey economic agents as to how they would respond when confronted with hypothetical repository scenarios. A series of such studies conducted for the state of Nevada have examined the potential impact of a Yucca Mountain repository on behavior such as planning conventions, attending conventions, vacationing, outmigration, immigration, and business location. In each case, respondents drawn from a target population report on whether a particular repository event (either some form of an accident, or simply the presence of the facility) would cause them to act any differently than they otherwise would. The responses to such a survey provide an indication of whether or not economic behavior would be altered. However, the analysis is inevitably plagued with the question of how much credence to place in the reports of intended behavior; can we believe what people report they would do in a hypothetical situation? The present study examines a more precise version of this question regarding the validity of stated intent data. After reviewing a variety of literature in the area of intent versus actual behavior, we provide an answer to the question, ''What levels of actual behavior are consistent with the intent data that have been observed in the repository surveys?'' More formally, we assume that we are generally interested in predicting the proportion of a sample who will actually perform a target behavior. 86 refs., 6 figs., 9 tabs

The behavioral economics of social anxiety disorder reveal a robust effect for interpersonal traits.

Science.gov (United States)

Rodebaugh, Thomas L; Tonge, Natasha A; Weisman, Jaclyn S; Lim, Michelle H; Fernandez, Katya C; Bogdan, Ryan

2017-08-01

Recent evidence suggests that reduced generosity among individuals with social anxiety disorder (SAD) in behavioral economic tasks may result from constraint in changing behavior according to interpersonal contingencies. That is, people with SAD may be slower to be more generous when the situation warrants. Conversely, more global effects on generosity may be related to interpersonal vindictiveness, a dimension only somewhat related to SAD. A total of 133 participants, 73 with the generalized form of SAD, completed self-report instruments and a behavioral economic task with simulated interpersonal (friend, romantic partner, stranger) interactions. In a separate visit, friends (n = 88) also came to the lab and rated participants on vindictiveness. Interpersonal vindictiveness was associated with reduced initial and overall giving to simulated friends. SAD predicted a lack of increased giving to a simulated friend, and attenuated an increase in giving to simulated known versus unknown players compared to participants without SAD. Friend-reported vindictiveness predicted in the same direction as diagnosis. However, the findings for SAD were less robust than those for vindictiveness. SAD is perhaps weakly related to behavioral constraint in economic tasks that simulate interpersonal interactions, whereas vindictiveness is strongly related to lower overall generosity as well as (via friend report) behavioral constraint. Further study is needed to better characterize the construct of vindictiveness. Our findings dovetail with the suggestion that SAD is related to impairment in the proposed affiliation and attachment system, but further suggest that direct study of that system may be more fruitful than focusing on disorders. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economic Booms and Risky Sexual Behavior: Evidence from Zambian Copper Mining Cities

OpenAIRE

Nicholas Wilson

2010-01-01

Existing studies suggest that individual and household level economic shocks affect the demand for and supply of risky sex. However, little evidence exists on the effects of an aggregate shock on equilibrium risky sexual behavior. This paper examines the effects of the early twenty-first century copper boom on risky sexual behavior in Zambian copper mining cities. The results indicate that the copper boom substantially reduced rates of transactional sex and multiple partnerships in copper min...

How Marketing Instruments Affect Consumer Behavior in Times of Economic Turbulence

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Naďa Birčiaková

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This article analyzes the behavioural changes in groups of consumers and households on the market with individual commodities, based on the classification of individual reasonable consumption. Consumers expressed the degree of influence in their decision-making on satisfying their needs through selected key marketing factors such as price, brand, quality, habits and experience, advertising, recommendation from friends and relatives, packaging, discounts, new items, and so on. The analysis sought to determine whether the changes in the economic situation in the Czech Republic have an impact on the degree of marketing instrument influence on consumer behavior and decision-making. To express the degree of influence 10 point opinion scale is used. Thanks to the investigation taking place in 2007 with 609 respondents and in 2013 with 516 respondents, it was possible, it was possible to deal with the search for evidence of differences in the importance of individual factors using the Wilcoxon test. In 2013, attention was also paid to the degree of influence of some marketing tools such as price, quality and discount events on consumer behavior and decision-making in selected groups of households created by different income levels and different level of education achieved by the head of the household. The influence is expressed by radial graphs.

Overcoming barriers to integrating economic analysis into risk assessment.

Science.gov (United States)

Hoffmann, Sandra

2011-09-01

Regulatory risk analysis is designed to provide decisionmakers with a clearer understanding of how policies are likely to affect risk. The systems that produce risk are biological, physical, and social and economic. As a result, risk analysis is an inherently interdisciplinary task. Yet in practice, risk analysis has been interdisciplinary in only limited ways. Risk analysis could provide more accurate assessments of risk if there were better integration of economics and other social sciences into risk assessment itself. This essay examines how discussions about risk analysis policy have influenced the roles of various disciplines in risk analysis. It explores ways in which integrated bio/physical-economic modeling could contribute to more accurate assessments of risk. It reviews examples of the kind of integrated economics-bio/physical modeling that could be used to enhance risk assessment. The essay ends with a discussion of institutional barriers to greater integration of economic modeling into risk assessment and provides suggestions on how these might be overcome. © 2011 Society for Risk Analysis.

Unique prediction of cannabis use severity and behaviors by delay discounting and behavioral economic demand.

Science.gov (United States)

Strickland, Justin C; Lile, Joshua A; Stoops, William W

2017-07-01

Few studies have simultaneously evaluated delay discounting and behavioral economic demand to determine their unique contribution to drug use. A recent study in cannabis users found that monetary delay discounting uniquely predicted cannabis dependence symptoms, whereas cannabis demand uniquely predicted use frequency. This study sought to replicate and extend this research by evaluating delay discounting and behavioral economic demand measures for multiple commodities and including a use quantity measure. Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk was used to sample individuals reporting recent cannabis use (n=64) and controls (n=72). Participants completed measures of monetary delay discounting as well as alcohol and cannabis delay discounting and demand. Cannabis users and controls did not differ on monetary delay discounting or alcohol delay discounting and demand. Among cannabis users, regression analyses indicated that cannabis delay discounting uniquely predicted use severity, whereas cannabis demand uniquely predicted use frequency and quantity. These effects remained significant after controlling for other delay discounting and demand measures. This research replicates previous outcomes relating delay discounting and demand with cannabis use and extends them by accounting for the contribution of multiple commodities. This research also demonstrates the ability of online crowdsourcing methods to complement traditional human laboratory techniques. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Economic and Power System Modeling and Analysis | Water Power | NREL

Science.gov (United States)

Economic and Power System Modeling and Analysis Economic and Power System Modeling and Analysis technologies, their possible deployment scenarios, and the economic impacts of this deployment. As a research approaches used to estimate direct and indirect economic impacts of offshore renewable energy projects

Energy efficiency, human behavior, and economic growth: Challenges to cutting energy demand to sustainable levels

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Santarius, Tilman, E-mail: tilman@santarius.de [Visiting Scholar, Institute of European Studies and Energy and Resources Group, University of California, Berkeley, 310 Barrows Hall, Berkeley, CA 94720-3050 (United States)

2015-03-30

Increasing energy efficiency in households, transportation, industries, and services is an important strategy to reduce energy service demand to levels that allow the steep reduction of greenhouse gases, and a full fledged switch of energy systems to a renewable basis. Yet, technological efficiency improvements may generate so-called rebound effects, which may ‘eat up’ parts of the technical savings potential. This article provides a comprehensive review of existing research on these effects, raises critiques, and points out open questions. It introduces micro-economic rebound effect and suggests extending consumer-side analysis to incorporate potential ‘psychological rebound effects.’ It then discusses meso-economic rebound effects, i.e. producer-side and market-level rebounds, which so far have achieved little attention in the literature. Finally, the article critically reviews evidence for macro-economic rebound effects as energy efficiency-induced economic growth impacts. For all three categories, the article summarizes assessments of their potential quantitative scope, while pointing out remaining methodological weaknesses and open questions. As a rough “rule of thumb”, in the long term and on gross average, only half the technical savings potential of across-the-board efficiency improvements may actually be achieved in the real world. Policies that aim at cutting energy service demand to sustainable levels are well advised to take due note of detrimental behavioral and economic growth impacts, and should foster policies and measures that can contain them.

Pillars of cooperation: Honesty-Humility, social value orientations, and economic behavior

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hilbig, B.E.; Zettler, Ingo

2009-01-01

The current work explores the predictive power of the recently proposed sixth personality dimension, Honesty-Humility, with respect to economic and cooperative behavior. It was expected that this factor should explain how decision makers allocate a valued good to themselves vs. another in the dic......The current work explores the predictive power of the recently proposed sixth personality dimension, Honesty-Humility, with respect to economic and cooperative behavior. It was expected that this factor should explain how decision makers allocate a valued good to themselves vs. another...... in the dictator and the ultimatum game. More importantly, we predicted that Honesty-Humility would explain differences between these games in which the power of the recipient to retaliate is varied. Both conjectures were corroborated in a semi-experimental study with N = 134 participants: individuals low...... in Honesty-Humility made more selfish decisions and only shifted towards a more fair allocation whenever the other was empowered to punish defection. Those high in Honesty-Humility, on the other hand, displayed a stable tendency for choosing a more fair solution - even when they could have defected without...

A behavioral economics perspective on the overjustification effect: Crowding-in and crowding-out of intrinsic motivation.

OpenAIRE

Weibel, Antoinette; Wiemann, Meike; Osterloh, Margit

2014-01-01

In the last two decades, economic motivation research has undergone a paradigm shift when it comes to the effect of incentive schemes on individual performance and motivation. Inspired by self-determination theory, a new branch in economics evolved called behavioral economics. Especially by evidencing the negative effect of “pay-for-performance” on intrinsic motivation, called the “crowding-out” or “overjustification” effect, it challenges the economic paradigm of the relative price-effect an...

Economic Thinking for Strategic Leaders

Science.gov (United States)

2011-03-24

unprepared to analyze certain complex, ambiguous issues and craft informed decisions. 15. SUBJECT TERMS Behavioral Economics, Public Choice Theory ...COUNT: 7,668 PAGES: 38 KEY TERMS: Behavioral Economics, Public Choice Theory , Army Profession CLASSIFICATION: Unclassified Military senior...various economic fields, including Identity Economics, Neoclassical Economics, Behavioral Economics, and Public Choice Economics. Finally, it

Economic effects of corruption in judiciary

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Begović Boris

2005-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of the paper was to explore economic effects of corruption in judiciary. The examination included the analysis of economic features of judiciary and economic mechanisms of corruption in judiciary within the theoretical framework of Backer's model of criminal behavior. The analysis demonstrates that corruption in judiciary violates the rule of law, hence undermines the fundaments of market economy and specialization, i.e. social division of labor as the ground for improving economic efficiency. As to the static economic efficiency, the most important effect of corruption in judiciary is transaction costs that are generated and the consequent allocative inefficiency. As to the dynamic economic efficiency, corruption decreases economic growth rates and reallocates recourses from productive to distributive activities. The effects of corruption in judiciary to economic inequality are not significant, particularly not comparing with the already identified effects to the economic efficiency.

The genetic and environmental foundations of political, psychological, social, and economic behaviors: a panel study of twins and families.

Science.gov (United States)

Hatemi, Peter K; Smith, Kevin; Alford, John R; Martin, Nicholas G; Hibbing, John R

2015-06-01

Here we introduce the Genetic and Environmental Foundations of Political and Economic Behaviors: A Panel Study of Twins and Families (PIs Alford, Hatemi, Hibbing, Martin, and Smith). This study was designed to explore the genetic and environmental influences on social, economic, and political behaviors and attitudes. It involves identifying the psychological mechanisms that operate on these traits, the heritability of complex economic and political traits under varying conditions, and specific genetic correlates of attitudes and behaviors. In addition to describing the study, we conduct novel analyses on the data, estimating the heritability of two traits so far unexplored in the extant literature: Machiavellianism and Baron-Cohen's Empathizing Quotient.

ALMR deployment economic analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delene, J.G.; Fuller, L.C.; Hudson, C.R.

1993-06-01

This analysis seeks to model and evaluate the economics of the use of Advanced Liquid Metal Reactors (ALMR) as a component of this country's future electricity generation mix. The ALMR concept has the ability to utilize as fuel the fissile material contained in previously irradiated nuclear fuel (i.e., spent fuel). While not a requirement for the successful deployment of ALMR power plant technology, the reprocessing of spent fuel from light water reactors (LWR) is necessary for any rapid introduction of ALMR power plants. In addition, the reprocessing of LWR spent fuel may reduce the number of high level waste repositories needed in the future by burning the long-lived actinides produced in the fission process. With this study, the relative economics of a number of potential scenarios related to these issues are evaluated. While not encompassing the full range of all possibilities, the cases reported here provide an indication of the potential costs, timings, and relative economic attractiveness of ALMR deployment

Behavioral economics holds potential to deliver better results for patients, insurers, and employers.

Science.gov (United States)

Loewenstein, George; Asch, David A; Volpp, Kevin G

2013-07-01

Many programs being implemented by US employers, insurers, and health care providers use incentives to encourage patients to take better care of themselves. We critically review a range of these efforts and show that many programs, although well-meaning, are unlikely to have much impact because they require information, expertise, and self-control that few patients possess. As a result, benefits are likely to accrue disproportionately to patients who already are taking adequate care of their health. We show how these programs could be made more effective through the use of insights from behavioral economics. For example, incentive programs that offer patients small and frequent payments for behavior that would benefit the patients, such as medication adherence, can be more effective than programs with incentives that are far less visible because they are folded into a paycheck or used to reduce a monthly premium. Deploying more-nuanced insights from behavioral economics can lead to policies with the potential to increase patient engagement and deliver dividends for patients and favorable cost-effectiveness ratios for insurers, employers, and other relevant commercial entities.

Improving Public Perception of Behavior Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Freedman, David H

2016-05-01

The potential impact of behavior analysis is limited by the public's dim awareness of the field. The mass media rarely cover behavior analysis, other than to echo inaccurate negative stereotypes about control and punishment. The media instead play up appealing but less-evidence-based approaches to problems, a key example being the touting of dubious diets over behavioral approaches to losing excess weight. These sorts of claims distort or skirt scientific evidence, undercutting the fidelity of behavior analysis to scientific rigor. Strategies for better connecting behavior analysis with the public might include reframing the field's techniques and principles in friendlier, more resonant form; pushing direct outcome comparisons between behavior analysis and its rivals in simple terms; and playing up the "warm and fuzzy" side of behavior analysis.

Economic theory and evidence on smoking behavior of adults.

Science.gov (United States)

Sloan, Frank A; Wang, Yang

2008-11-01

To describe: (i) three alternative conceptual frameworks used by economists to study addictive behaviors: rational, imperfectly rational and irrational addiction; (ii) empirical economic evidence on each framework and specific channels to explain adult smoking matched to the frameworks; and (iii) policy implications for each framework. A systematic review and appraisal of important theoretical and empirical economic studies on smoking. There is some empirical support for each framework. For rational and imperfectly rational addiction there is some evidence that anticipated future cigarette prices influence current cigarette consumption, and quitting costs are high for smokers. Smokers are more risk-tolerant in the financial domain than are others and tend to attach a lower value to being in good health. Findings on differences in rates of time preference by smoking status are mixed; however, short-term rates are higher than long-term rates for both smokers and non-smokers, a stylized fact consistent with hyperbolic discounting. The economic literature lends no empirical support to the view that mature adults smoke because they underestimate the probability of harm to health from smoking. In support of the irrationality framework, smokers tend to be more impulsive than others in domains not related directly to smoking, implying that they may be sensitive to cues that trigger smoking. Much promising economic research uses the imperfectly rational addiction framework, but empirical research based on this framework is still in its infancy.

Aspects of economic analysis in forestry enterprises

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M.Yu. Chik

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The subject of economic analysis from the point of view of philosophical sciences and works of domestic and foreign scientists is researched. The analysis of costs and production costs as the most important components of the economic analysis of forestry enterprises are distinguished. The basic tasks of the economic analysis at the enterprises of forestry are determined. The main objects of the study of indicators of the cost price of forestry products are singled out. The calculation of general indicators of expenditures at the State Enterprise «Zolochiv Forestry» is carried out and the corresponding general conclusions are made. The influence of factors on the change in the cost price of harvesting of forestry products in terms of expenditure items at the State Enterprise «Zolochiv Forestry» is calculated and the corresponding general conclusions are indicated. The main sources of reserves for reducing the costs of forestry products at the State Enterprise «Zolochiv Forestry» are proposed.

Health Behavior and Behavioral Economics: Economic Preferences and Physical Activity Stages of Change in a Low-Income African American Community

Science.gov (United States)

Leonard, Tammy; Shuval, Kerem; de Oliveira, Angela; Skinner, Celette Sugg; Eckel, Catherine; Murdoch, James C.

2014-01-01

Purpose To examine the relationship between physical activity stages of change and preferences for financial risk and time. Design A cross-sectional, community-based study. Setting A low-income, urban, African American neighborhood. Subjects 169 adults Measures Self-reported physical activity stages of change—precontemplation to maintenance, objectively measured BMI and waist circumference, and economic preferences for time and risk measured via incentivized economic experiments. Analysis Multivariable ordered logistic regression models were used to examine the association between physical activity stages of change and economic preferences while controlling for demographic characteristics of the individuals. Results Individuals who are more tolerant of financial risks (OR=1.31, pfinancial risk tolerance or 1 unit increase in the time preference measure, respectively. Conclusions Greater tolerance of financial risk and more patient time preferences among this low-income ethnic minority population are associated with a more advanced physical activity stage. Further exploration is clearly warranted in larger and more representative samples. PMID:23448410

Probabilistic sensitivity analysis in health economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Baio, Gianluca; Dawid, A Philip

2015-12-01

Health economic evaluations have recently become an important part of the clinical and medical research process and have built upon more advanced statistical decision-theoretic foundations. In some contexts, it is officially required that uncertainty about both parameters and observable variables be properly taken into account, increasingly often by means of Bayesian methods. Among these, probabilistic sensitivity analysis has assumed a predominant role. The objective of this article is to review the problem of health economic assessment from the standpoint of Bayesian statistical decision theory with particular attention to the philosophy underlying the procedures for sensitivity analysis. © The Author(s) 2011.

Advanced Fuel Cycle Economic Sensitivity Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

David Shropshire; Kent Williams; J.D. Smith; Brent Boore

2006-12-01

A fuel cycle economic analysis was performed on four fuel cycles to provide a baseline for initial cost comparison using the Gen IV Economic Modeling Work Group G4 ECON spreadsheet model, Decision Programming Language software, the 2006 Advanced Fuel Cycle Cost Basis report, industry cost data, international papers, the nuclear power related cost study from MIT, Harvard, and the University of Chicago. The analysis developed and compared the fuel cycle cost component of the total cost of energy for a wide range of fuel cycles including: once through, thermal with fast recycle, continuous fast recycle, and thermal recycle.

Conflict, Institutions, and Economic Behavior : Legacies of the Cambodian Genocide

OpenAIRE

KOGURE, Katsuo; TAKASAKI, Yoshito

2016-01-01

This paper examines potential long-term effects of the Cambodian genocide under the Pol Pot regime (1975-'79) on individual economic behaviors, taking into account underlying institutions. Combining spatial genocide data and census microdata, we examine effects of the genocide on subsequent parental investments in children's education of couples who had their first child during and after the Pol Pot regime. Under the state ownership of spouses and children, resulting from the complete denial ...

Combining Behavioral Endocrinology and Experimental Economics: Testosterone and Social Decision Making

Science.gov (United States)

2011-01-01

Behavioral endocrinological research in humans as well as in animals suggests that testosterone plays a key role in social interactions. Studies in rodents have shown a direct link between testosterone and aggressive behavior1 and folk wisdom adapts these findings to humans, suggesting that testosterone induces antisocial, egoistic or even aggressive behavior2. However, many researchers doubt a direct testosterone-aggression link in humans, arguing instead that testosterone is primarily involved in status-related behavior3,4. As a high status can also be achieved by aggressive and antisocial means it can be difficult to distinguish between anti-social and status seeking behavior. We therefore set up an experimental environment, in which status can only be achieved by prosocial means. In a double-blind and placebo-controlled experiment, we administered a single sublingual dose of 0.5 mg of testosterone (with a hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin carrier) to 121 women and investigated their social interaction behavior in an economic bargaining paradigm. Real monetary incentives are at stake in this paradigm; every player A receives a certain amount of money and has to make an offer to another player B on how to share the money. If B accepts, she gets what was offered and player A keeps the rest. If B refuses the offer, nobody gets anything. A status seeking player A is expected to avoid being rejected by behaving in a prosocial way, i.e. by making higher offers. The results show that if expectations about the hormone are controlled for, testosterone administration leads to a significant increase in fair bargaining offers compared to placebo. The role of expectations is reflected in the fact that subjects who report that they believe to have received testosterone make lower offers than those who say they believe that they were treated with a placebo. These findings suggest that the experimental economics approach is sensitive for detecting neurobiological effects as subtle

The Economic Cost of Suicide and Non-Fatal Suicide Behavior in the Australian Workforce and the Potential Impact of a Workplace Suicide Prevention Strategy.

Science.gov (United States)

Kinchin, Irina; Doran, Christopher M

2017-03-27

Suicide and non-fatal suicide behavior (NFSB) are significant problems faced by most countries. The objective of this research is to quantify the economic cost of suicide and NFSB in the Australian workforce and to examine the potential impact of introducing a workplace suicide prevention intervention to reduce this burden. The analysis used the best available suicide data, a well-established costing methodology, and a proven workplace intervention. In 2014, 903 workers died by suicide, 2303 workers harmed themselves resulting in full incapacity, and 11,242 workers harmed themselves resulting in a short absence from work. The present value of the economic cost of suicide and NFSB is estimated at $6.73 billion. Our analysis suggests the economic benefit of implementing a universal workplace strategy would considerably outweigh the cost of the strategy. For every one dollar invested, the benefits would be in excess of $1.50 ($1.11-$3.07), representing a positive economic investment. All variations of the key parameter hold the positive benefit-cost ratio. Rates of suicide and NFSB are far too high in Australia and elsewhere. More needs to be done to reduce this burden. Although workplace strategies are appropriate for those employed, these interventions must be used within a multifaceted approach that reflects the complex nature of self-harming behavior.

The Economic Cost of Suicide and Non-Fatal Suicide Behavior in the Australian Workforce and the Potential Impact of a Workplace Suicide Prevention Strategy

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Irina Kinchin

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Suicide and non-fatal suicide behavior (NFSB are significant problems faced by most countries. The objective of this research is to quantify the economic cost of suicide and NFSB in the Australian workforce and to examine the potential impact of introducing a workplace suicide prevention intervention to reduce this burden. The analysis used the best available suicide data, a well-established costing methodology, and a proven workplace intervention. In 2014, 903 workers died by suicide, 2303 workers harmed themselves resulting in full incapacity, and 11,242 workers harmed themselves resulting in a short absence from work. The present value of the economic cost of suicide and NFSB is estimated at $6.73 billion. Our analysis suggests the economic benefit of implementing a universal workplace strategy would considerably outweigh the cost of the strategy. For every one dollar invested, the benefits would be in excess of $1.50 ($1.11–$3.07, representing a positive economic investment. All variations of the key parameter hold the positive benefit-cost ratio. Rates of suicide and NFSB are far too high in Australia and elsewhere. More needs to be done to reduce this burden. Although workplace strategies are appropriate for those employed, these interventions must be used within a multifaceted approach that reflects the complex nature of self-harming behavior.

Economic analysis of nuclear energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lee, Han Myung; Lee, M.K.; Moon, K.H.; Kim, S.S.; Lim, C.Y.; Song, K.D.; Kim, H

2001-12-01

The objective of this study is to evaluate the contribution of nuclear energy to the energy use in the economical way, based on the factor survey performed on the internal and external environmental changes occurred recent years. Internal and external environmental changes are being occurred recent years involving with using nuclear energy. This study summarizes the recent environmental changes in nuclear energy such as sustainable development issues, climate change talks, Doha round and newly created electricity fund. This study also carried out the case studies on nuclear energy, based on the environmental analysis performed above. The case studies cover following topics: role of nuclear power in energy/environment/economy, estimation of environmental external cost in electric generation sector, economic comparison of hydrogen production, and inter-industrial analysis of nuclear power generation.

Economic analysis of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Han Myung; Lee, M.K.; Moon, K.H.; Kim, S.S.; Lim, C.Y.; Song, K.D.; Kim, H.

2001-12-01

The objective of this study is to evaluate the contribution of nuclear energy to the energy use in the economical way, based on the factor survey performed on the internal and external environmental changes occurred recent years. Internal and external environmental changes are being occurred recent years involving with using nuclear energy. This study summarizes the recent environmental changes in nuclear energy such as sustainable development issues, climate change talks, Doha round and newly created electricity fund. This study also carried out the case studies on nuclear energy, based on the environmental analysis performed above. The case studies cover following topics: role of nuclear power in energy/environment/economy, estimation of environmental external cost in electric generation sector, economic comparison of hydrogen production, and inter-industrial analysis of nuclear power generation

Using crowdsourcing to examine behavioral economic measures of alcohol value and proportionate alcohol reinforcement.

Science.gov (United States)

Morris, Vanessa; Amlung, Michael; Kaplan, Brent A; Reed, Derek D; Petker, Tashia; MacKillop, James

2017-08-01

Online crowdsourcing websites such as Amazon's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) are increasingly being used in addictions research. However, there is a relative paucity of such research examining the validity of administering behavioral economic alcohol-related measures, via an online crowdsourcing platform. This study sought to validate an alcohol purchase task (APT) for assessing demand and a questionnaire measure of proportionate alcohol reinforcement, using an online sample of participants recruited via MTurk. Participants (N = 865, 59% female) were recruited via MTurk to complete the APT, proportionate alcohol reinforcement questionnaire, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), and demographics. Responses on the APT were highly systematic (crowdsourcing websites for investigating behavioral economic determinants of alcohol misuse. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).

Digit Ratio (2D:4D) Predicts Self-Reported Measures of General Competitiveness, but Not Behavior in Economic Experiments.

Science.gov (United States)

Bönte, Werner; Procher, Vivien D; Urbig, Diemo; Voracek, Martin

2017-01-01

The ratio of index finger length to ring finger length (2D:4D) is considered to be a putative biomarker of prenatal androgen exposure (PAE), with previous research suggesting that 2D:4D is associated with human behaviors, especially sex-typical behaviors. This study empirically examines the relationship between 2D:4D and individual competitiveness, a behavioral trait that is found to be sexually dimorphic. We employ two related, but distinct, measures of competitiveness, namely behavioral measures obtained from economic experiments and psychometric self-reported measures. Our analyses are based on two independent data sets obtained from surveys and economic experiments with 461 visitors of a shopping mall (Study I) and 617 university students (Study II). The correlation between behavior in the economic experiment and digit ratios of both hands is not statistically significant in either study. In contrast, we find a negative and statistically significant relationship between psychometric self-reported measures of competitiveness and right hand digit ratios (R2D:4D) in both studies. This relationship is especially strong for younger people. Hence, this study provides some robust empirical evidence for a negative association between R2D:4D and self-reported competitiveness. We discuss potential reasons why digit ratio may relate differently to behaviors in specific economics experiments and to self-reported general competitiveness.

Digit Ratio (2D:4D Predicts Self-Reported Measures of General Competitiveness, but Not Behavior in Economic Experiments

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Werner Bönte

2017-12-01

Full Text Available The ratio of index finger length to ring finger length (2D:4D is considered to be a putative biomarker of prenatal androgen exposure (PAE, with previous research suggesting that 2D:4D is associated with human behaviors, especially sex-typical behaviors. This study empirically examines the relationship between 2D:4D and individual competitiveness, a behavioral trait that is found to be sexually dimorphic. We employ two related, but distinct, measures of competitiveness, namely behavioral measures obtained from economic experiments and psychometric self-reported measures. Our analyses are based on two independent data sets obtained from surveys and economic experiments with 461 visitors of a shopping mall (Study I and 617 university students (Study II. The correlation between behavior in the economic experiment and digit ratios of both hands is not statistically significant in either study. In contrast, we find a negative and statistically significant relationship between psychometric self-reported measures of competitiveness and right hand digit ratios (R2D:4D in both studies. This relationship is especially strong for younger people. Hence, this study provides some robust empirical evidence for a negative association between R2D:4D and self-reported competitiveness. We discuss potential reasons why digit ratio may relate differently to behaviors in specific economics experiments and to self-reported general competitiveness.

Analysis of Economic Factors Affecting Stock Market

OpenAIRE

Xie, Linyin

2010-01-01

This dissertation concentrates on analysis of economic factors affecting Chinese stock market through examining relationship between stock market index and economic factors. Six economic variables are examined: industrial production, money supply 1, money supply 2, exchange rate, long-term government bond yield and real estate total value. Stock market comprises fixed interest stocks and equities shares. In this dissertation, stock market is restricted to equity market. The stock price in thi...

Marital dissolution: an economic analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Hunter, K A

1984-01-01

A longitudinal analysis of factors affecting marital dissolution in the United States is presented using data from the Coleman-Rossi Retrospective Life History. Factors considered include labor force participation of both spouses, wage growth, size of family unit, age at marriage, and educational status. The study is based on the economic analysis approach developed by Gary S. Becker and others.

The science of ecological economics: a content analysis of Ecological Economics, 1989-2004.

Science.gov (United States)

Luzadis, Valerie A; Castello, Leandro; Choi, Jaewon; Greenfield, Eric; Kim, Sung-kyun; Munsell, John; Nordman, Erik; Franco, Carol; Olowabi, Flavien

2010-01-01

The Ecological Economics journal is a primary source for inquiry on ecological economics and sustainability. To explore the scholarly pursuit of ecological economics, we conducted a content analysis of 200 randomly sampled research, survey, and methodological articles published in Ecological Economics during the 15-year period of 1989-2004. Results of the analysis were used to investigate facets of transdisciplinarity within the journal. A robust qualitative approach was used to gather and examine data to identify themes representing substantive content found within the span of sampled journal papers. The extent to which each theme was represented was counted as well as additional data, such as author discipline, year published, etc. Four main categories were revealed: (1) foundations (self-reflexive themes stemming from direct discussions about ecological economics); (2) human systems, represented by the themes of values, social indicators of well-being, intergenerational distribution, and equity; (3) biophysical systems, including themes, such as carrying capacity and scarcity, energy, and resource use, relating directly to the biophysical aspects of systems; and (4) policy and management encompassing themes of development, growth, trade, accounting, and valuation, as well as institutional structures and management. The results provide empirical evidence for discussing the future direction of ecological economic efforts.

Positive Behavior Support and Applied Behavior Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Johnston, J. M.; Foxx, R. M.; Jacobson, J. W.; Green, G.; Mulick, J. A.

2006-01-01

This article reviews the origins and characteristics of the positive behavior support (PBS) movement and examines those features in the context of the field of applied behavior analysis (ABA). We raise a number of concerns about PBS as an approach to delivery of behavioral services and its impact on how ABA is viewed by those in human services. We…

The death and resurrection of 'economics with psychology': remarks from a methodological standpoint

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Roberta Muramatsu

2009-03-01

Full Text Available One of the merits of contemporary economic analysis is its capacity to offer accounts of choice behavior that dispense with details of the complex decision machinery. The starting point of this paper is the concern with the important methodological debate about whether economics might offer accurate predictions and explanations of actual behavior without any reference to psychological presuppositions. Inspired by an exercise of rational reconstruction of ideas, I aim to offer an interpretation of the process of freeing economic analysis from psychology at the end of the 19th century and the contemporary resurrection of behavioral approaches in the late 1980s.

Economic analysis of fusion breeders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Delene, J.G.

1985-01-01

This paper presents a study of the economic performance of Fission/Fusion Hybrid devices. This work takes fusion breeder cost estimates and applies methodology and cost factors used in the fission reactor programs to compare fusion breeders with Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactors (LMFBR). The results of the analysis indicate that the Hybrid will be in the same competitive range as proposed LMFBRs and have the potential to provide economically competitive power in a future of rising uranium prices. The sensitivity of the results to variations in key parameters is included

ECONOMIC IDENTITY OF THE SOUTH-RUSSIAN REGIONS: RESULTS OF EMPIRICAL RESEARCH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sergey Bazhenov

2016-12-01

Full Text Available The article presents the results of the interdisciplinary expert survey «Bottom-up: how the economic identity of the region is manifested in the socio-economic behavior of the individual.» His goal was to detect and record the effects of an economic identity of the region in socio-economic behavior of individuals in various regions of six Federal districts of the Russian Federation. The article focuses on the results of the survey obtained in the regions of the South of Russia, such as the regions of the North Caucasus. The article presents the methodology, describes the technology survey and analysis of obtained results. The authors also draw conclusions about cross-cultural differences in models of economic behavior of the studied ethnic and cultural groups in the South-Russian regions. They show the relationship of economic phenomena of identity and models of economic behavior with social and cultural factors. The nature of these linkages varies among the representatives of different groups, and when we define economic identity, then the factor of religious affiliation less important than the factor of ethnicity.

Analysis of Economic Burden of Seasonal Influenza: An Actuarial Based Conceptual Model

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S. S. N. Perera

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Analysing the economic burden of the seasonal influenza is highly essential due to the large number of outbreaks in recent years. Mathematical and actuarial models can be considered as management tools to understand the dynamical behavior, predict the risk, and compute it. This study is an attempt to develop conceptual model to investigate the economic burden due to seasonal influenza. The compartment SIS (susceptible-infected-susceptible model is used to capture the dynamical behavior of influenza. Considering the current investment and future medical care expenditure as premium payment and benefit (claim, respectively, the insurance and actuarial based conceptual model is proposed to model the present economic burden due to the spread of influenza. Simulation is carried out to demonstrate the variation of the present economic burden with respect to model parameters. The sensitivity of the present economic burden is studied with respect to the risk of disease spread. The basic reproduction is used to identify the risk of disease spread. Impact of the seasonality is studied by introducing the seasonally varying infection rate. The proposed model provides theoretical background to investigate the economic burden of seasonal influenza.

Economic disadvantage and young children's emotional and behavioral problems: mechanisms of risk.

Science.gov (United States)

Rijlaarsdam, Jolien; Stevens, Gonneke W J M; van der Ende, Jan; Hofman, Albert; Jaddoe, Vincent W V; Mackenbach, Johan P; Verhulst, Frank C; Tiemeier, Henning

2013-01-01

This study aimed to establish potential mechanisms through which economic disadvantage contributes to the development of young children's internalizing and externalizing problems. Prospective data from fetal life to age 3 years were collected in a total of 2,169 families participating in the Generation R Study. The observed physical home environment, the provision of learning materials in the home, maternal depressive symptoms, parenting stress, and harsh disciplining practices were all analyzed as potential mediators of the association between economic disadvantage and children's internalizing and externalizing problem scores. Findings from structural equation modeling showed that for both internalizing and externalizing problems, the mechanisms underlying the effect of economic disadvantage included maternal depressive symptoms, along with parenting stress and harsh disciplining. For internalizing but not for externalizing problem scores, the lack of provision of learning materials in the home was an additional mechanism explaining the effect of economic disadvantage. The current results suggest that interventions that focus solely on raising income levels may not adequately address problems in the family processes that emerge as a result of economic disadvantage. Policies to improve the mental health of mothers with young children but also their home environments are needed to change the economic gradient in child behavior.

Economic Analysis of Factors Affecting Technical Efficiency of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Economic Analysis of Factors Affecting Technical Efficiency of Smallholders ... socio-economic characteristics which influence technical efficiency in maize production. ... Ministry of Agriculture and livestock, records, books, reports and internet.

Changes in Rational Economic Behavior Model, Caused By the Development of E-Commerce

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Menzeleev Ilya, A.

2016-03-01

Full Text Available In the paper the author examines the origins of rationality concept and its transformation within the framework of economic science. According to the author, rationality is a fundamental concept both for philosophy and for economics. Changes in rational economic behavior model significantly effect on informal institutes (in short-term perspective and on formal institutes (in long-term period. In the paper it is said about significant changes taking place with humanity right now. Today it becomes more and more difficult to describe human behavior by uniform concept of rationality. Now people live in a world that is developing unprecedentedly fast, with the usage of incredible amount of information, countless tasks and social contacts. The development of the Internet and IT tools facilitate this process. Already since the midtwentieth century advertising and marketing has been influencing people’s lifestyle like politics or news. Media resources brands today are comparable to the resources of some political parties or even TV channels what means that advertising today is one of the main factors affecting consumers ' minds and their behavioral model, main feature of which is the premise of rationality or justification of actions. The author analyzes the changes of models of rationality over time and, above all, the changes caused by the development of Internet marketing and its tools for monitoring user activity and the impact on decision making in the Network. In conclusion a number of recommendations is given, which can help consumers to save an independence in making decisions in the Internet environment.

Towards sustainable consumption: A socio-economic analysis of household waste recycling outcomes in Hong Kong.

Science.gov (United States)

Lo, Alex Y; Liu, Shuwen

2018-05-15

Many high-density cities struggle to find space for disposing municipal solid waste. Hong Kong is one of these cities, seeking to scale up waste recovery efforts as an alternative to disposal. However, territory-wide recovery initiatives do not account for socio-economic variations across place, leading to mixed outcomes among diverse communities. This study aims to investigate socio-economic effects on recycling behavior in a sample of subsidized rental housing estates. It constitutes an improvement from previous studies by using the entire estate as a unit of analysis and analyzing actual recycling outcomes, which have received limited attention from researchers. The analysis focused on the volume of recyclables collected from 158 public housing estates in Hong Kong, with an average population of 12,285. Results suggest that recycling outcomes vary with a limited set of socio-economic factors. Housing estates managed by a private property management company and populated by better off households collected more recyclables from their residents. Measures of absolute and relative recycling intensity achieved similar results. The findings will be useful for identifying residential communities requiring additional support for promoting waste separation and recycling. Differentiated policies for economically disadvantaged communities are warranted. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Economic Analysis: An Approach to Provide Basic Guidance for Conducting and Reviewing Economic Analysis within the Venezuelan Navy.

Science.gov (United States)

1986-06-01

la Armada (EMGAR)-- Staff of the Navy ------------------------- 18 b. Direction de Presupuesto Programac ion Ecomica (DIPPE)-Direction of Budget and...Economic Programming -------------------- 18 c. Cornite De Programacion y Presupuesto (CPP)-- Programming and Budget Committee-----------18 3. Major...development. This analysis is included in the annual budget. b. Direction de Presupuesto Programaclon Ecomica (DIPPE)- Direction of Budget and Economic

Thermodynamics, thermoeconomic and economic analysis of ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The thermoeconomic analysis proposes the distribution of costs based on thermodynamic concepts, enabling the evaluation of reflection of the investment costs and fuel in the cost of products (steam and electricity). The economic analysis acts as a deciding factor for acceptance or project rejection. Keywords: Cogeneration ...

Consumer Behavior towards Scheduling and Pricing of Electric Cars Recharging: Theoretical and Experimental Analysis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Fetene, Gebeyehu Manie

electric cars. The last chapter deals with analysis of energy consumption rate and its determinants of electric cars under the hands of customers. A variety of techniques are used including analysis of field data, economics laboratory experiments and theoretical modeling with simulation. Chapter one...... and Pricing of Electric Vehicle Recharging’, proposes, and tests at laboratory, contracts about recharging BEVs combining the ultimatum game framework and the myopic loss aversion (MLA) behavioral hypothesis. The model represents the behavior of EV-owners trading-off between the amount of the discount on fee...... price as long-term contracts may curtail MLA behavior and help BEV owners to choose cost minimizing recharging time and, simultaneously, may help to reduce BEVs impact on the electricity grid system. The fourth chapter, ‘Using the Peer Effect in Scheduling and Pricing Electric Vehicles Recharging...

Anthropological Invariants in Travel Behavior

OpenAIRE

Marchetti, C.

1994-01-01

Personal travel appears to be much more under the control of basic instinct than of economic drive. This may be the reason for the systematic mismatch between the results of cost benefit analysis and the actual behavior of travelers. In this paper a list of the basic instincts that drive and contain travelers' behavior has been put together, showing how they mesh with technological progress and economic constraints.

The Gender Pay Gap: Can Behavioral Economics Provide Useful Insights?

OpenAIRE

Heilman, Renata M.; Kusev, Petko

2017-01-01

People are faced with numerous decisions every day. Whether we must choose our outfit for the day, which cell phone brand to buy, what college to attend, to buy a car or house insurance, or even when or to whom to get married, decisions are a permanent presence in our daily activities. Behavioral economics is a multi-disciplinary field of study investigating how people make judgments and decisions (Camerer and Loewenstein, 2004; Heilman, 2014). Even though, from a historic point of view, beha...

Economic Darwinism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sloth, Birgitte; Whitta-Jacobsen, Hans Jørgen

2011-01-01

We define an evolutionary process of "economic Darwinism" for playing the field, symmetric games. The process captures two forces. One is "economic selection": if current behavior leads to payoff differences, behavior yielding lowest payoff has strictly positive probability of being replaced...... in the literature. Using this result, we demonstrate that generally under positive (negative) externalities, economic Darwinism implies even more under- (over-)activity than does Nash equilibrium....

Item Analysis in Introductory Economics Testing.

Science.gov (United States)

Tinari, Frank D.

1979-01-01

Computerized analysis of multiple choice test items is explained. Examples of item analysis applications in the introductory economics course are discussed with respect to three objectives: to evaluate learning; to improve test items; and to help improve classroom instruction. Problems, costs and benefits of the procedures are identified. (JMD)

FROM THE BEHAVIORAL ANALYSIS TO POST-BEHAVIORALISM: HISTORY OF PARADIGM

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M. I. Bogachev

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Article is devoted to the review of formation and decline of behavioralism paradigm in political science. The author begins the analysis with critical consideration of the scientific concepts preceding emergence of modernist empiricism within which there is a behavioral analysis. Further the researcher traces formation behaviorism in the social disciplines: formation model in psychology, release of the theory out of limits of pure psychology and transferring ideas in sociology and political science. The author analyzes inquiries to the scientific theory by behavioralism. He opens the principles of behavioralism as paradigm in political science. The author presents the conceptual and contextual factors promoting recession of popularity behavioralism in political science and submits methodological restrictions approach. The author states the main claims of critics to this research approach and explains the reasons decline this paradigm. At the same time the methodological reflection of behavioralism which has followed recession of his popularity is reflected in work. The author opens the principles of the new methodological direction – post-behavioralism and the position of modern representatives of the behavioral analysis.

ANALYSIS OF FACTORS WHICH AFFECTING THE ECONOMIC GROWTH

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Suparna Wijaya

2017-03-01

Full Text Available High economic growth and sustainable process are main conditions for sustainability of economic country development. They are also become measures of the success of the country's economy. Factors which tested in this study are economic and non-economic factors which impacting economic development. This study has a goal to explain the factors that influence on macroeconomic Indonesia. It used linear regression modeling approach. The analysis result showed that Tax Amnesty, Exchange Rate, Inflation, and interest rate, they jointly can bring effect which amounted to 77.6% on economic growth whereas the remaining 22.4% is the influenced by other variables which not observed in this study. Keywords: tax amnesty, exchange rates, inflation, SBI and economic growth

Fundamental principles of conducting a surgery economic analysis study.

Science.gov (United States)

Kotsis, Sandra V; Chung, Kevin C

2010-02-01

The use of economic evaluation in surgery is scarce. Economic evaluation is used even less so in plastic surgery, in which health-related quality of life is of particular importance. This article, part of a tutorial series on evidence-based medicine, focuses on the fundamental principles of conducting a surgery economic analysis. The authors include the essential aspects of conducting a surgical cost-utility analysis by considering perspectives, costs, outcomes, and utilities. The authors also describe and give examples of how to conduct the analyses (including calculating quality-adjusted life-years and discounting), how to interpret the results, and how to report the results. Although economic analyses are not simple to conduct, a well-conducted one provides many rewards, such as recommending the adoption of a more effective treatment. For comparing and interpreting economic analysis publications, it is important that all studies use consistent methodology and report the results in a similar manner.

Highway Safety, Economic Behavior, and Driving Environment

OpenAIRE

Keeler, Theodore E.

1991-01-01

Economic analysis has enhanced our understanding of the efficacy of highway safety regulations. Specifically, a consumer-theoretic literature has developed on drivers' responses to regulations, based on ideas first set forth by Lester lave and W. E. Weber (1970) and more fully thought out by Sam Peltzman (1975). Meanwhile, an empirical literature has also developed, testing hypotheses relating to the effects on safety of speed limits, safety-device regulations, and alcohol policies, among oth...

Accuracy, gender and race in tort trials : a (behavioral) law and economics perspective

NARCIS (Netherlands)

G. Dominioni (Goran)

2018-01-01

textabstractThis thesis contributes to various streams of literature in the behavioral law and economics of tort law and judicial decisionmaking. Each chapter addresses a selected topic in this area from either a theoretical or an empirical perspective. The overarching theme of the thesis is the

A social identity analysis of responses to economic inequality

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Jetten, Jolanda; Wang, Zhechen; Steffens, Niklas K.; Mols, Frank; Peters, Kim; Verkuyten, Maykel

2017-01-01

Even though there is growing awareness that economic inequality is harmful for people's health, the way that such inequality affects social behavior and political attitudes remains poorly understood. Moving beyond a focus on the health and well-being costs of income inequality, we review research

Economic Darwinism

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sloth, Birgitte; Whitta-Jacobsen, Hans Jørgen

We define an evolutionary process of “economic Darwinism” for playing-the-field, symmetric games. The process captures two forces. One is “economic selection”: if current behavior leads to payoff differences, behavior yielding lowest payoff has strictly positive probability of being replaced...... in the literature. Using this result, we demonstrate that generally under positive (negative) externalities, economic Darwinism implies even more under- (over-) activity than does Nash equilibrium...

Applying lessons from behavioral economics to increase flu vaccination rates.

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Frederick; Stevens, Ryan

2017-12-01

Seasonal influenza imposes an enormous burden on society every year, yet many people refuse to obtain flu shots due to misconceptions of the flu vaccine. We argue that recent research in psychology and behavioral economics may provide the answers to why people hold mistaken beliefs about flu shots, how we can correct these misconceptions, and what policy-makers can do to increase flu vaccination rates. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

Psychology and Economics rather than Psychology versus Economics: Cultural differences but no barriers!

OpenAIRE

Hermann Brandstätter; Werner Güth; Hartmut Kliemt

2009-01-01

During the last three decades the ascent of behavioral economics clearly helped to bring down artificial disciplinary boundaries between psychology and economics. Noting that behavioral economics seems still under the spell of the rational choice tradition - and, indirectly, of behaviorism - we scrutinize in an exemplary manner how the development of some kind of "cognitive economics" might mirror the rise of "cognitive psychology" without endangering the advantages of the division of labor a...

Emergy-Based Regional Socio-Economic Metabolism Analysis: An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis and Decomposition Analysis

OpenAIRE

Zilong Zhang; Xingpeng Chen; Peter Heck

2014-01-01

Integrated analysis on socio-economic metabolism could provide a basis for understanding and optimizing regional sustainability. The paper conducted socio-economic metabolism analysis by means of the emergy accounting method coupled with data envelopment analysis and decomposition analysis techniques to assess the sustainability of Qingyang city and its eight sub-region system, as well as to identify the major driving factors of performance change during 2000–2007, to serve as the basis for f...

Constructing a consumption model of fine dining from the perspective of behavioral economics

Science.gov (United States)

Tsai, Sang-Bing

2018-01-01

Numerous factors affect how people choose a fine dining restaurant, including food quality, service quality, food safety, and hedonic value. A conceptual framework for evaluating restaurant selection behavior has not yet been developed. This study surveyed 150 individuals with fine dining experience and proposed the use of mental accounting and axiomatic design to construct a consumer economic behavior model. Linear and logistic regressions were employed to determine model correlations and the probability of each factor affecting behavior. The most crucial factor was food quality, followed by service and dining motivation, particularly regarding family dining. Safe ingredients, high cooking standards, and menu innovation all increased the likelihood of consumers choosing fine dining restaurants. PMID:29641554

Constructing a consumption model of fine dining from the perspective of behavioral economics.

Science.gov (United States)

Hsu, Sheng-Hsun; Hsiao, Cheng-Fu; Tsai, Sang-Bing

2018-01-01

Numerous factors affect how people choose a fine dining restaurant, including food quality, service quality, food safety, and hedonic value. A conceptual framework for evaluating restaurant selection behavior has not yet been developed. This study surveyed 150 individuals with fine dining experience and proposed the use of mental accounting and axiomatic design to construct a consumer economic behavior model. Linear and logistic regressions were employed to determine model correlations and the probability of each factor affecting behavior. The most crucial factor was food quality, followed by service and dining motivation, particularly regarding family dining. Safe ingredients, high cooking standards, and menu innovation all increased the likelihood of consumers choosing fine dining restaurants.

Using contingent behavior analysis to measure benefits from rural electrification in developing countries: an example from Rwanda

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manning, Dale T.; Means, Peter; Zimmerle, Daniel; Galvin, Kathleen; Loomis, John; Paustian, Keith

2015-01-01

Hundreds of millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa do not have access to electricity and will not receive it from national grids in the next few decades. Electricity makes up an important component of rural development and so increasing access can have positive socioeconomic benefits. In this study, we use contingent behavior analysis to quantify the potential benefits of electricity in rural Rwandan villages which currently do not have electricity. The proposed method allows for calculation of net benefits as well as electricity bills. We find that even relatively poor, isolated households would pay for electricity, though amounts vary across households and this affects the financial viability of electrification. Common uses for electricity include lighting, battery charging, and agricultural processing. Despite heterogeneity, opportunities exist to improve rural economic welfare through increased electricity access. - Highlights: • A lack of electricity slows economic growth in rural villages of Sub-Saharan Africa. • Household survey provides data on potential electricity use in Rwandan villages. • Contingent behavior analysis estimates total economic surplus from electricity. • Household electricity bills estimated to calculate investment returns. • Investment in rural electrification likely to bring positive benefits to rural Rwanda.

Military construction program economic analysis manual: Sample economic analyses: Hazardous Waste Remedial Actions Program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1987-12-01

This manual enables the US Air Force to comprehensively and systematically analyze alternative approaches to meeting its military construction requirements. The manual includes step-by-step procedures for completing economic analyses for military construction projects, beginning with determining if an analysis is necessary. Instructions and a checklist of the tasks involved for each step are provided; and examples of calculations and illustrations of completed forms are included. The manual explains the major tasks of an economic analysis, including identifying the problem, selecting realistic alternatives for solving it, formulating appropriate assumptions, determining the costs and benefits of the alternatives, comparing the alternatives, testing the sensitivity of major uncertainties, and ranking the alternatives. Appendixes are included that contain data, indexes, and worksheets to aid in performing the economic analyses. For reference, Volume 2 contains sample economic analyses that illustrate how each form is filled out and that include a complete example of the documentation required

ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS OF THE BUILDINGS REHABILITATION SOLUTIONS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

STAN IVAN F.E.

2016-07-01

Full Text Available The paper includes a simplified economical and financial analysis of the buildings rehabilitation solutions, for heating and lighting. The most important economic and financial indicators analyzed and determined are: economic return on investment and payback period of investment in dynamic form, net present value, and internal rate of return economic residual value of the investment on thermal insulation, building maintenance costs, energy costs. In order to reduce the electricity consumption: the methods consisted in replacing inefficient lighting with some efficient energy and for heat consumption: the proposed solution was building rehabilitation (exterior wall insulation, floor insulation board. The analysis consists in determining the economical and financial indicators before and after the building rehabilitation. The 3 rooms apartment is located in Craiova town, (wind zone IV, 2nd floor, orientation is S.

Some observations from behavioral economics for consideration in promoting money management among those with substance use disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Chivers, Laura L; Higgins, Stephen T

2012-01-01

Behavioral economics research has revealed systematic biases in decision making that merit consideration in efforts to promote money management skills among those with substance use disorders (SUDs). The objective of this article was to briefly review the literature on five of those biases (i.e., hyperbolic delay discounting, defaults and preference for the status quo, loss aversion, mental accounting, and failure to account for opportunity cost) that may have particular relevance to the topic of money management. Selected studies are reviewed to illustrate these biases and how they may relate to efforts to promote money management skills among those with substance use disorders. Studies were identified by searching PubMed using the terms "behavioral economics" and "substance use disorders", reviewing bibliographies of published articles, and discussions with colleagues. Only one of these biases (i.e., hyperbolic delay discounting) has been investigated extensively among those with SUDs. Indeed, it has been found to be sufficiently prevalent among those with SUDs to be considered as a potential risk factor for those disorders and certainly merits careful consideration in efforts to improve money management skills in that population. There has been relatively little empirical research reported regarding the other biases among those with SUDs, although they appear to be sufficiently fundamental to human behavior and relevant to the topic of money management (e.g., loss aversion) to also merit consideration. There is precedent of effective leveraging of behavioral economics principles in treatment development for SUDs (e.g., contingency management), including at least one intervention that explicitly focuses on money management (i.e., advisor-teller money management therapy). The consideration of the systematic biases in human decision making that have been revealed in behavioral economics research has the potential to enhance efforts to devise effective strategies

Economic booms and risky sexual behavior: evidence from Zambian copper mining cities.

Science.gov (United States)

Wilson, Nicholas

2012-12-01

Existing studies suggest that individual and household level economic shocks affect the demand for and supply of risky sex. However, little evidence exists on the effects of an aggregate shock on equilibrium risky sexual behavior. This paper examines the effects of the early twenty-first century copper boom on risky sexual behavior in Zambian copper mining cities. The results suggest that the copper boom substantially reduced rates of transactional sex and multiple partnerships in copper mining cities. These effects were partly concentrated among young adults and copper boom induced in-migration to mining cities appears to have contributed to these reductions. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier B.V.

Economic data used in working group 5 analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Haffner, D.R.; Parker, M.B.

1979-03-01

This paper presents the economic data used in the detailed economic analysis carried out in the U.S. paper WG-40 and is also used to arrive at the economics conclusions in U.S. papers WG 5A-19 and WG 5A-22. The data base includes reactor characteristics for the standard, 15 percent improved and 30 percent improved LWR plus the FBR system characteristics, fuel cost data, reactor plant capital cost data, and economic data (debt rate, equity rate, fixed charge rate, etc.)

Modeling of ineffective Norms of economic Agents’ Behavior in Terms of Relationship of «Investor – Government» type

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sokolovskyi Dmytro B.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available This paper considers relationship between investors and government in frame of their activity in some economic system. Author analyzed the reasons and proposed model of decisions (behavior of investors, depending on the parameters of economic environment in which they act. Author used the model to estimate the following: 1 the favorable conditions for agents of different groups for shifting into the economy with better investment climate; 2 the agents’ attitude towards appearance in economy of another agents’; 3 the agents’ will to invest into improvement of economic climate environment in which they act; 4 the government’s will to invest into improvement of national economy. This study suggests that the government, contrary to common belief, usually shows no real interest in maintaining and improving the economic climate in the country. Even if the economic climate is relatively unfavorable, can select tax parameters under which such a situation will satisfy not only government but also investors. Author formal argued that successive realization of natural behavioral motives of economic agents in analyzed economic system finally leads to «closure» of economics and to (establishing of incomplete market.

The economic impact of pilgrimage: An economic impact analysis of pilgrimage expenditures in Galicia

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Graave, Elisabeth J.E.; Klijs, J.; Heijman, W.J.M.

2017-01-01

In this article, we calculate the economic impact of pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in the NUTS 2 region Galicia (Spain) in 2010. This economic impact is relevant to policymakers and other stakeholders dealing with religious tourism in Galicia. The analysis is based on the Input-Output model.

Insurer’s activity as object of economic analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

O.O. Poplavskiy

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The article is devoted to the substantiation of theoretical fundamentals of insurer’s analysis and peculiarities of its implementation. The attention has been focused on the important role of economic analysis in economic science which is confirmed by its active use in research and practical orientation. The author summarizes the classification and principles of insurer’s activity analysis, supplements it with specific principles for insurer’s environment, publicity and risk-orientation which enable increasingly to take into account the peculiarities of insurance relations. The paper pays attention to the specification of elements of analysis and its key directions including the analysis of insurer’s financing, the analysis of insurance operations and the analysis of investment activity which will allow the effective functioning of risk management system.

How Much Is Too Much to Pay for Internet Access? A Behavioral Economic Analysis of Internet Use.

Science.gov (United States)

Broadbent, Julie; Dakki, Michelle A

2015-08-01

The popularity of online recreational activities, such as social networking, has dramatically increased the amount of time spent on the Internet. Excessive or inappropriate use of the Internet can result in serious adverse consequences. The current study used a behavioral economic task to determine if the amount of time spent online by problematic and nonproblematic users can be modified by price. The Internet Purchase Task was used to determine how much time undergraduate students (N=233) would spend online at 13 different prices. Despite high demand for Internet access when access was free, time spent online by both problematic and nonproblematic users decreased dramatically, even at low prices. These results suggest that the amount of time spent online may be modified by having a tangible cost associated with use, whereas having free access to the Internet may encourage excessive, problematic use.

Behavioral economic insights into physician tobacco treatment decision-making.

Science.gov (United States)

Leone, Frank T; Evers-Casey, Sarah; Graden, Sarah; Schnoll, Robert

2015-03-01

Physicians self-report high adherence rates for Ask and Advise behaviors of tobacco dependence treatment but are much less likely to engage in "next steps" consistent with sophisticated management of chronic illness. A variety of potential explanations have been offered, yet each lacks face validity in light of experience with other challenging medical conditions. Conduct a preliminary exploration of the behavioral economics of tobacco treatment decision-making in the face of uncertain outcomes, seeking evidence that behaviors may be explained within the framework of Prospect Theory. Four physician cohorts were polled regarding their impressions of the utility of tobacco use treatment and their estimations of "success" probabilities. Contingent valuation was estimated by asking respondents to make monetary tradeoffs relative to three common chronic conditions. Responses from all four cohorts showed a similar pattern of high utility of tobacco use treatment but low success probability when compared with the other chronic medical conditions. Following instructional methods aimed at controverting cognitive biases related to tobacco, this pattern was reversed, with success probabilities attaining higher valuation than for diabetes. Important presuppositions regarding the potential "success" of tobacco-related patient interactions are likely limiting physician engagement by favoring the most secure visit outcome despite the limited potential for health gains. Under these conditions, low engagement rates would be consistent with Prospect Theory predictions. Interventions aimed at counteracting the cognitive biases limiting estimations of success probabilities seem to effectively reverse this pattern and provide clues to improving the adoption of target clinical behaviors.

Behavioral Economic Insights into Physician Tobacco Treatment Decision-Making

Science.gov (United States)

Evers-Casey, Sarah; Graden, Sarah; Schnoll, Robert

2015-01-01

Rationale: Physicians self-report high adherence rates for Ask and Advise behaviors of tobacco dependence treatment but are much less likely to engage in “next steps” consistent with sophisticated management of chronic illness. A variety of potential explanations have been offered, yet each lacks face validity in light of experience with other challenging medical conditions. Objective: Conduct a preliminary exploration of the behavioral economics of tobacco treatment decision-making in the face of uncertain outcomes, seeking evidence that behaviors may be explained within the framework of Prospect Theory. Methods: Four physician cohorts were polled regarding their impressions of the utility of tobacco use treatment and their estimations of “success” probabilities. Contingent valuation was estimated by asking respondents to make monetary tradeoffs relative to three common chronic conditions. Measurements and Main Results: Responses from all four cohorts showed a similar pattern of high utility of tobacco use treatment but low success probability when compared with the other chronic medical conditions. Following instructional methods aimed at controverting cognitive biases related to tobacco, this pattern was reversed, with success probabilities attaining higher valuation than for diabetes. Conclusions: Important presuppositions regarding the potential “success” of tobacco-related patient interactions are likely limiting physician engagement by favoring the most secure visit outcome despite the limited potential for health gains. Under these conditions, low engagement rates would be consistent with Prospect Theory predictions. Interventions aimed at counteracting the cognitive biases limiting estimations of success probabilities seem to effectively reverse this pattern and provide clues to improving the adoption of target clinical behaviors. PMID:25664676

Transportation and quantitative analysis of socio-economic development of relations

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Yun

2017-12-01

Transportation has a close relationship with socio-economic. This article selects the indicators which can measure the development of transportation and socio-economic, using the method of correlation analysis, regression analysis, intensity of transportation analysis and transport elastic analysis, to analyze the relationship between them quantitatively, so that it has the fact guiding sense in the national development planning for the future.

The Behavioralist Goes to School: Leveraging Behavioral Economics to Improve Educational Performance. NBER Working Paper No. 18165

Science.gov (United States)

Levitt, Steven D.; List, John A.; Neckermann, Susanne; Sadoff, Sally

2012-01-01

A long line of research on behavioral economics has established the importance of factors that are typically absent from the standard economic framework: reference dependent preferences, hyperbolic preferences, and the value placed on non-financial rewards. To date, these insights have had little impact on the way the educational system operates.…

An economic analysis of life expectancy by gender with application to the United States.

Science.gov (United States)

Leung, Michael C M; Zhang, Jie; Zhang, Junsen

2004-07-01

This paper presents an economic model to explain the behavior of life expectancy of both sexes. It explicitly examines the relationship between the gender gap in life expectancy and the gender gap in pay. It shows that as the latter narrows over the course of economic development, the former may initially expand but will eventually shrink. Simulation results from our model accord with the behavior of life expectancy for both sexes since the 1940s in the United States.

Economic analysis of electric heating based on critical electricity price

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Feng; Sun, Zhijie; Zhou, Xinnan; Fu, Chengran; Yang, Jie

2018-06-01

The State Grid Corporation of China proposes an alternative energy strategy, which will make electric heating an important task in the field of residential electricity consumption. This article takes this as the background, has made the detailed introduction to the inhabitant electric heating technology, and take the Zhangjiakou electric panels heating technology as an example, from the expense angle, has carried on the analysis to the electric panels heating economy. In the field of residential heating, electric panels operating costs less than gas boilers. After customers implying energy-saving behavior, electric panels operating cost is even lower than coal-fired boilers. The critical price is higher than the execution price, which indicates that the economic performance of the electric panels is significantly higher than that of the coal boiler.

Economic analysis of KNGR's conceptual design

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roh, Myung-Sub; Chung, Kyung-Nam; Hong, Jang-Hee

1997-01-01

During the last two decades in Korea, with the rapid economic growth and industrialization, nuclear power has played an important role in electric power production. At present, Korea has 11 nuclear units in operation with total installed capacity of 9,916MWe and 7 units under construction with total capacity of 6,100MWe. An advanced reactor development program, called Korean Next Generation Reactor (KNGR), has been started for the coming 21st century. It aims to enhance safety features compared to existing plants and follow the target to maintain the economic competitiveness of nuclear energy with alternative energy sources. In order to meet these requirements, a number of technical and economical factors have been taken into the program. These factors include the economy of plant size, design simplification and optimization, and reduction of construction period. This paper addresses the preliminary economic analysis results for the KNGR design. It is indicated that KNGR has about 17% economic advantage compared to the current 1,000 MWe PWR. This paper also describes some of the experiences gained and important factors related to reducing the investment and operation costs. 5 refs., 2 figs., 5 tabs

Influence of health risk behavior and socio-economic status on health of Slovak adolescents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Geckova, AM; van Dijk, JP; Honcariv, R; Groothoff, JW; Post, D

Aim. To investigate the role of health risk behavior, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, in the explanation of socio-economic health differences among adolescents. The hypothesis of different exposure and the hypothesis of different vulnerability were explored. Method. In the study carried out

IDENTIFICATOIN AS A SOCIO-ECONOMIC MECHANISM OF REGULATION OF CONSUMER BEHAVIOR IN THE REGION

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nona Gubnelova

2015-12-01

Full Text Available This article discusses the concepts of basic types and factors of identification as a result of socialization and social relations. Identified criteria and specific identification of consumer behavior as regulator of material well-being and socio-economic development of the region.

Economic openness and economic growth: A cointegration analysis for ASEAN-5 countries

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Klimis Vogiatzoglou

2016-11-01

Full Text Available The paper considers three channels of economic openness, namely FDI, imports, and exports, and examines their short-run and long-run effects on the economic growth in the five founding member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN over the period from 1980 to 2014. Besides the impact on the economic growth, the authors analyze all possible causal interrelationships to discern patterns and directions of causality among FDI, imports, exports, and GDP. The quantitative analysis, which is based on the vector error correction co-integration framework, is conducted separately for each country in order to assess their individual experiences and allow for a comparative view. Although the precise details differ across countries, the findings indicate that there is a long-run equilibrium relationship between economic openness and GDP in all ASEAN-5 economies. FDI, imports and exports have a significantly positive short-run and long-run impact on the economic growth. Our results also show that export-led growth is the most important economic growth factor in most countries, followed by FDI-led growth. Another crucial finding is the bi-directional causality between exports and FDI across the ASEAN-5 countries. This indicates the presence of direct and indirect effects on GDP and a self-reinforcing process of causality between those two variables, which strengthens their impact on the economic growth.

Socio-economic analysis in the transport sector

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

an important element in the political decision process. The analysis provides information about how the society’s resources – from an economic viewpoint – are used in the best possible way, and how costs and benefits are distributed between e.g. the state, the users and the environment. The society does......This compendium is intended to be a tool for students in conducting socio-economic appraisals in the transport sector following the recommendations made by the Danish Manual for Socio-economic Appraisal (DMT, 2003). The appraisal process is in this compendium outlined as a step-by-step process...

Economic Analysis of Improved Alkaline Water Electrolysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuckshinrichs, Wilhelm; Ketelaer, Thomas; Koj, Jan Christian

2017-01-01

Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is a mature hydrogen production technology and there exists a range of economic assessments for available technologies. For advanced AWEs, which may be based on novel polymer-based membrane concepts, it is of prime importance that development comes along with new configurations and technical and economic key process parameters for AWE that might be of interest for further economic assessments. This paper presents an advanced AWE technology referring to three different sites in Europe (Germany, Austria, and Spain). The focus is on financial metrics, the projection of key performance parameters of advanced AWEs, and further financial and tax parameters. For financial analysis from an investor’s (business) perspective, a comprehensive assessment of a technology not only comprises cost analysis but also further financial analysis quantifying attractiveness and supply/market flexibility. Therefore, based on cash flow (CF) analysis, a comprehensible set of metrics may comprise levelised cost of energy or, respectively, levelized cost of hydrogen (LCH) for cost assessment, net present value (NPV) for attractiveness analysis, and variable cost (VC) for analysis of market flexibility. The German AWE site turns out to perform best in all three financial metrics (LCH, NPV, and VC). Though there are slight differences in investment cost and operation and maintenance cost projections for the three sites, the major cost impact is due to the electricity cost. Although investment cost is slightly lower and labor cost is significantly lower in Spain, the difference can not outweigh the higher electricity cost compared to Germany. Given the assumption that the electrolysis operators are customers directly and actively participating in power markets, and based on the regulatory framework in the three countries, in this special case electricity cost in Germany is lowest. However, as electricity cost is profoundly influenced by political decisions as

Economic Analysis of Improved Alkaline Water Electrolysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kuckshinrichs, Wilhelm, E-mail: w.kuckshinrichs@fz-juelich.de; Ketelaer, Thomas; Koj, Jan Christian [Forschungszentrum Juelich, Institute for Energy and Climate Research – Systems Analysis and Technology Evaluation (IEK-STE), Juelich (Germany)

2017-02-20

Alkaline water electrolysis (AWE) is a mature hydrogen production technology and there exists a range of economic assessments for available technologies. For advanced AWEs, which may be based on novel polymer-based membrane concepts, it is of prime importance that development comes along with new configurations and technical and economic key process parameters for AWE that might be of interest for further economic assessments. This paper presents an advanced AWE technology referring to three different sites in Europe (Germany, Austria, and Spain). The focus is on financial metrics, the projection of key performance parameters of advanced AWEs, and further financial and tax parameters. For financial analysis from an investor’s (business) perspective, a comprehensive assessment of a technology not only comprises cost analysis but also further financial analysis quantifying attractiveness and supply/market flexibility. Therefore, based on cash flow (CF) analysis, a comprehensible set of metrics may comprise levelised cost of energy or, respectively, levelized cost of hydrogen (LCH) for cost assessment, net present value (NPV) for attractiveness analysis, and variable cost (VC) for analysis of market flexibility. The German AWE site turns out to perform best in all three financial metrics (LCH, NPV, and VC). Though there are slight differences in investment cost and operation and maintenance cost projections for the three sites, the major cost impact is due to the electricity cost. Although investment cost is slightly lower and labor cost is significantly lower in Spain, the difference can not outweigh the higher electricity cost compared to Germany. Given the assumption that the electrolysis operators are customers directly and actively participating in power markets, and based on the regulatory framework in the three countries, in this special case electricity cost in Germany is lowest. However, as electricity cost is profoundly influenced by political decisions as

Combined-cycle steam section parametric analysis by thermo-economic simulation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Macor, A.; Reini, M.

1991-01-01

In the case of industrial cogeneration plants, thermal power production is, in general, strictly dependent on the technological requirements of the production cycle, whereas, the electrical power which is produced can be auto- consumed or ceded to the utility grid. In both cases, an economic worth is given to this energy which influences the overall economic feasibility of the plant. The purpose of this paper is to examine parametric inter-relationships between economic and thermodynamic performance optimization techniques. Comparisons are then made of the results obtained with the use of the thermo- economic analysis technique suggested in this paper with those obtained with the use of indicators in other exergo-economic analysis techniques

Complexity theory and financial regulation: economic policy needs interdisciplinary network analysis and behavioral modeling

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Battiston, S.; Farmer, J.D.; Flache, A.; Garlaschelli, D.; Haldane, A.G.; Heesterbeek, H.; Hommes, C.; Jaeger, C.; May, R.; Scheffer, M.

2016-01-01

Traditional economic theory could not explain, much less predict, the near collapse of the financial system and its long-lasting effects on the global economy. Since the 2008 crisis, there has been increasing interest in using ideas from complexity theory to make sense of economic and financial

Behavior analysis: the science of training.

Science.gov (United States)

Farhoody, Parvene

2012-09-01

Behavior analysis is a data-driven science dedicated to understanding the mechanisms of behavior. Applied behavior analysis is a branch of this scientific field that systematically applies scientific principles to real-world problems in an effort to improve quality of life. The use of the behavioral technology provides a way to teach human and nonhuman animals more effectively and efficiently and offers those using this technology increased success in achieving behavioral goals. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Environmental Impact Assessment for Socio-Economic Analysis of Chemicals

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Calow, Peter; Biddinger, G; Hennes, C

This report describes the requirements for, and illustrates the application of, a methodology for a socio-economic analysis (SEA) especially as it might be adopted in the framework of REACH.......This report describes the requirements for, and illustrates the application of, a methodology for a socio-economic analysis (SEA) especially as it might be adopted in the framework of REACH....

Women in development : issues for economic and sector analysis

OpenAIRE

Women in Development Division

1989-01-01

This paper highlights issues and action plans concerning women in economic and sector analysis and in project design. The paper focuses on the majority of women who are poor. It emphasizes measures to include women in development that contribute to economic performance, poverty reduction, slower population growth, and other broad development objectives. The paper concludes that women already contribute far more economically than is usually recognized. By expanding women's economic choices, ou...

Economic analysis of nuclear power generation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Ki Dong; Choi, Young Myung; Kim, Hwa Sup; Lee, Man Ki; Moon, Kee Hwan; Kim, Seung Su

1997-12-01

The major contents in this study are as follows : - long-term forecast to the year of 2040 is provided for nuclear electricity generating capacity by means of logistic curve fitting method. - the role of nuclear power in a national economy is analyzed in terms of environmental regulation. To do so, energy-economy linked model is developed. By using this model, the benefits from the introduction of nuclear power in Korea are estimated. Study on inter-industry economic activity for nuclear industry is carried out by means of an input-output analysis. Nuclear industry is examined in terms of inducement effect of production, of value-added, and of import. - economic analysis of nuclear power generation is performed especially taking into consideration wide variations of foreign currency exchange rate. The result is expressed in levelized generating costs. (author). 27 refs., 24 tabs., 44 figs

ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF MASS-MEDIA AND THE CHANGES GENERATED BY THE ECONOMIC CRISIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

TRAIAN ALEXANDRU NASTASE

2011-04-01

Full Text Available In this paper we intend to describe the economic implications of mass-media in correlation with the recent socio-economic changes generated by the economic crisis. We take into consideration the dual market on which mass-media evolves: the mass-media products market, and the advertising market, keeping in mind that the behavior of a mass-media institution on one market, can have direct implication on the other market. We analyze the relation between mass-media and the public (audience, the cost for creating mass-media products, the ways in which mass-media reduces costs and the ways of increasing their profits. As mass-media must always adapt to the social changes and to the public, we take our analysis further and we describe how the recent economic changes influenced the mass-media consumption trends and mass-media profits on all the main communication channels: TV, radio, outdoor, internet, newspapers/magazines. This analysis is performed at both a global and a local level, for Romania. In the end we predict how other key changes may affect the economic model approach of the mass-media institutions on short and middle terms.

Techno-economical Analysis of Indoor Enterprise Solutions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Liu, Zhen

2013-01-01

and the proposed centralized coordinated scheduling system. The proposed system is proved capable of achieving the best overall performance. Subsequently, we conduct the financial economic analysis for indoor DAS and Femto systems based on the TCO analysis. For very high data-rate in-building deployment, the Femto...

Generic modelling framework for economic analysis of battery systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

You, Shi; Rasmussen, Claus Nygaard

2011-01-01

opportunities, a generic modelling framework is proposed to handle this task. This framework outlines a set of building blocks which are necessary for carrying out the economic analysis of various BS applications. Further, special focus is given on describing how to use the rainflow cycle counting algorithm...... for battery cycle life estimation, since the cycle life plays a central role in the economic analysis of BS. To illustrate the modelling framework, a case study using a Sodium Sulfur Battery (NAS) system with 5-minute regulating service is performed. The economic performances of two dispatch scenarios, a so......Deregulated electricity markets provide opportunities for Battery Systems (BS) to participate in energy arbitrage and ancillary services (regulation, operating reserves, contingency reserves, voltage regulation, power quality etc.). To evaluate the economic viability of BS with different business...

Latent factor structure of a behavioral economic marijuana demand curve.

Science.gov (United States)

Aston, Elizabeth R; Farris, Samantha G; MacKillop, James; Metrik, Jane

2017-08-01

Drug demand, or relative value, can be assessed via analysis of behavioral economic purchase task performance. Five demand indices are typically obtained from drug purchase tasks. The goal of this research was to determine whether metrics of marijuana reinforcement from a marijuana purchase task (MPT) exhibit a latent factor structure that efficiently characterizes marijuana demand. Participants were regular marijuana users (n = 99; 37.4% female, 71.5% marijuana use days [5 days/week], 15.2% cannabis dependent) who completed study assessments, including the MPT, during a baseline session. Principal component analysis was used to examine the latent structure underlying MPT indices. Concurrent validity was assessed via examination of relationships between latent factors and marijuana use, past quit attempts, and marijuana expectancies. A two-factor solution was confirmed as the best fitting structure, accounting for 88.5% of the overall variance. Factor 1 (65.8% variance) reflected "Persistence," indicating sensitivity to escalating marijuana price, which comprised four MPT indices (elasticity, O max , P max , and breakpoint). Factor 2 (22.7% variance) reflected "Amplitude," indicating the amount consumed at unrestricted price (intensity). Persistence factor scores were associated with fewer past marijuana quit attempts and lower expectancies of negative use outcomes. Amplitude factor scores were associated with more frequent use, dependence symptoms, craving severity, and positive marijuana outcome expectancies. Consistent with research on alcohol and cigarette purchase tasks, the MPT can be characterized with a latent two-factor structure. Thus, demand for marijuana appears to encompass distinct dimensions of price sensitivity and volumetric consumption, with differential relations to other aspects of marijuana motivation.

Economic effectiveness of disease management programs: a meta-analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Krause, David S

2005-04-01

The economic effectiveness of disease management programs, which are designed to improve the clinical and economic outcomes for chronically ill individuals, has been evaluated extensively. A literature search was performed with MEDLINE and other published sources for the period covering January 1995 to September 2003. The search was limited to empirical articles that measured the direct economic outcomes for asthma, diabetes, and heart disease management programs. Of the 360 articles and presentations evaluated, only 67 met the selection criteria for meta-analysis, which included 32,041 subjects. Although some studies contained multiple measurements of direct economic outcomes, only one average effect size per study was included in the meta-analysis. Based on the studies included in the research, a meta-analysis provided a statistically significant answer to the question of whether disease management programs are economically effective. The magnitude of the observed average effect size for equally weighted studies was 0.311 (95% CI = 0.272-0.350). Statistically significant differences of effect sizes by study design, disease type and intensity of disease management program interventions were not found after a moderating variable, disease severity, was taken into consideration. The results suggest that disease management programs are more effective economically with severely ill enrollees and that chronic disease program interventions are most effective when coordinated with the overall level of disease severity. The findings can be generalized, which may assist health care policy makers and practitioners in addressing the issue of providing economically effective care for the growing number of individuals with chronic illness.

Pricing strategy for aesthetic surgery: economic analysis of a resident clinic's change in fees.

Science.gov (United States)

Krieger, L M; Shaw, W W

1999-02-01

The laws of microeconomics explain how prices affect consumer purchasing decisions and thus overall revenues and profits. These principles can easily be applied to the behavior aesthetic plastic surgery patients. The UCLA Division of Plastic Surgery resident aesthetics clinic recently offered a radical price change for its services. The effects of this change on demand for services and revenue were tracked. Economic analysis was applied to see if this price change resulted in the maximization of total revenues, or if additional price changes could further optimize them. Economic analysis of pricing involves several steps. The first step is to assess demand. The number of procedures performed by a given practice at different price levels can be plotted to create a demand curve. From this curve, price sensitivities of consumers can be calculated (price elasticity of demand). This information can then be used to determine the pricing level that creates demand for the exact number of procedures that yield optimal revenues. In economic parlance, revenues are maximized by pricing services such that elasticity is equal to 1 (the point of unit elasticity). At the UCLA resident clinic, average total fees per procedure were reduced by 40 percent. This resulted in a 250-percent increase in procedures performed for representative 4-month periods before and after the price change. Net revenues increased by 52 percent. Economic analysis showed that the price elasticity of demand before the price change was 6.2. After the price change it was 1. We conclude that the magnitude of the price change resulted in a fee schedule that yielded the highest possible revenues from the resident clinic. These results show that changes in price do affect total revenue and that the nature of these effects can be understood, predicted, and maximized using the tools of microeconomics.

Economic Feasibility Analysis Report. Strategic Mobility 21

National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

Mallon, Lawrence G; Monaco, Kristen; Fetty, George R

2007-01-01

.... This multi-disciplinary analysis provides an objective examination of the economic and operational feasibility of a shuttle train intermodal rail operation under various scenarios connecting the San...

Dynamic analysis of savings and economic growth in Nigeria ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Dynamic analysis of savings and economic growth in Nigeria. ... a trivariate dynamic Granger causality model with savings, economic growth and foreign ... It is recommended that in the short run, policies in Nigeria should be geared towards ...

Applied behavior analysis: understanding and changing behavior in the community-a representative review.

Science.gov (United States)

Luyben, Paul D

2009-01-01

Applied behavior analysis, a psychological discipline, has been characterized as the science of behavior change (Chance, 2006). Research in applied behavior analysis has been published for approximately 40 years since the initial publication of the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis in 1968. The field now encompasses a wide range of human behavior. Although much of the published research centers on problem behaviors that occur in schools and among people with disabilities, a substantial body of knowledge has emerged in community settings. This article provides a review of the behavioral community research published in the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis as representative of this work, including research in the areas of home and family, health, safety, community involvement and the environment, recreation and sports, crime and delinquency, and organizations. In the interest of space, research in schools and with people with disabilities has been excluded from this review.

The Importance of Leadership Behavior and Motivation İn Creating Employee Performance: (A Study at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Brawijaya

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Abdo-Alaziz H. E Mihrez

2015-09-01

Full Text Available This research was conducted at the faculty of economics and business, Brawijaya University which aimed to determine whether there is a direct effect of leadership behavior on intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and employee performance. In addition, it was done to determine the effect of indirect leadership behavior on employee performance through intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. In this study, the data were collected using a questionnaire with Likert scale, and then distributed to 65 employees UB. To answer the purpose of this study, the method of analysis used was used Partial Least Square (PLS. The results of the analysis in this study inform that leadership behavior has a positive and significant effect on intrinsic motivation, extrinsic motivation, and employee performance. Later in this study it was found that intrinsic motivation variable does not have significant and negative effect on the performance of employees and it is unable to mediate the effect of leadership behavior on employee performance. Meanwhile, extrinsic motivation variable gives positive and significant effect on the performance of employees and it is said that extrinsic motivation is also able to mediate the influence of leadership behaviors on employee performance.

The economics of food choice behavior: why poverty and obesity are linked.

Science.gov (United States)

Drewnowski, Adam

2012-01-01

Obesity in the United States does not affect all segments of the population equally. It is more prevalent in deprived neighborhoods and among groups with lower education and incomes. Inequitable access to healthy foods is one mechanism by which socioeconomic factors can influence food choice behaviors, overall diet quality, and bodyweight. Having a supermarket in the immediate neighborhood has been linked to better diets and to lower obesity rates. However, the affordability of healthy foods may have more of an impact on food patterns than does distance to the nearest store. Grains, added sugars, and added fats are inexpensive, good-tasting, and convenient. Their consumption has been linked to lower quality diets, lower diet costs, and lower socioeconomic status. By contrast, the recommended healthier diets not only cost more but were consumed by more affluent groups. New techniques of spatial analysis are a promising approach to mapping obesity rates and linking them with measures of socioeconomic status based on diverse social and economic aspects of the built environment. Low residential property values predicted bodyweights of women better than did either education or incomes. Shopping in low-cost supermarkets was another powerful predictor of bodyweight. Bodyweight gain may be best predicted not by any one nutrient, food or beverage but by low diet cost. Higher obesity rates in poor neighborhoods may be the toxic consequence of economic insecurity. Alleviating poverty may be the best, if not the only, way to stop the obesity epidemic. Copyright © 2012 Nestec Ltd., Vevey/S. Karger AG, Basel.

The Economics of Networking

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Sørensen, Olav Jull

The literature on business networks is often oversocialized. The economic side of business is implicitly assumed. This paper analyses the economics of network behavior by loking at each of the key concepts in the Network Theory.......The literature on business networks is often oversocialized. The economic side of business is implicitly assumed. This paper analyses the economics of network behavior by loking at each of the key concepts in the Network Theory....

The physical and mathematical model of dynamic economic analysis and assessment for NPP

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xu Jiming

1992-01-01

A set physical and mathematical model of dynamic economic analysis referring to international general sub-item and account of investment and constant money levelized model and combining current economic analysis method in China for nuclear power plant was established. The model can be used in economic analysis not only for nuclear power plant but also for coal-fired power plant and can satisfy demand of doing economic analysis and assessment for nuclear power plant and conventional power plant

From partial to total economic analysis. Five applications to environmental and energy economics

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hoffmann, T.

2006-05-04

The studies presented in this thesis address the consequences of market distortions of governmental policies - predominantly in the area of environmental and energy policy. The studies cover different economic aggregation levels: The first study aims at investigating firm-level effects. Thus, the results refer only to a small number of well-defined economic entities, e.g. electricity supply companies in Germany. Subsequently, issues - such as the evaluation of efficiency effects of the European Emissions Trading system - are addressed on a multi-sectoral and multi-regional level, but still only one market is considered. Thereupon, the scope of investigation is broadened by interactions of different markets - e.g. as in the case of the economic evaluation of renewable energy promotion strategies. Finally, a general equilibrium analysis of a European nuclear phase-out scenario covers all economic feed-backs on the national and international level. (orig.) 5.

Analysis of the environmental and economic indicators of the industrial enterprise

Science.gov (United States)

Mikhailov, V. G.; Kiseleva, T. V.

2018-05-01

In the paper the features of the analysis of the environmental and economic indicators of the industrial enterprise are considered. The purpose of the study is to improve the system of environmental and economic analysis at the enterprise for more accurate forecasting of its main environmental and economic indicators. The study of the main approaches to the implementation of environmental and economic analysis based on the corresponding systems of indicators with identification of the most significant factors was carried out. The main result of the study is the choice of a system for analyzing the environmental and economic indicators, maximally oriented to a specific enterprise, taking into account its production specific features. The practical significance of the study consists in the selection of an adequate system of indicators at enterprises to improve the effectiveness from preparation of an environmentally safe management decision.

An economic analysis of communal goat production.

Science.gov (United States)

Sebel, P J; McCrindle, C M E; Webb, E C

2004-03-01

The economic impact of different extension messages used was calculated using enterprise budgeting (gross margin analysis). Input data were gleaned from the literature, from participatory appraisals, as well as a field study, spanning 12 months, of small-scale communal goat farming systems in Jericho in the Odi District of North West Province. The number of offspring weaned per annum, as a proportion of does owned, was selected as the desired output for analysis. This study has shown that small-scale communal goat farmers are not adopting or implementing extension messages to improve production capacity. In South Africa the majority of goats are slaughtered in the informal sector. If the informal sector is to be persuaded to market goats commercially through formal channels, then knowledge of the economics of goat farming on communal lands should be provided. The economic aspects of extension messages are probably an important factor in determining acceptance and sustainability yet appear to be seldom investigated. The probable reason for lack of adoption of standard extension messages, which promote improved nutrition, parasite control, vaccination and treatment of goats, was economic. In other words, the so-called 'poor management practices' used by communal farmers appeared to be economically more profitable than the 'good management practices' suggested to increase production. The price of communal goats was not related to their mass. A higher level of inputs would probably have resulted in a heavier kid, however it was established that this would not have influenced the price received as a majority of the goats were slaughtered for ritual purposes where age, colour and sex were more important to the purchaser than body mass. It is standard practice in commercial farming systems to evaluate the economic benefits of all management practices before they are implemented. Production animal veterinarians use veterinary economics to compare different scenarios to

An economic analysis of communal goat production

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

P.J. Sebei

2004-06-01

Full Text Available The economic impact of different extension messages used was calculated using enterprise budgeting (gross margin analysis. Input data were gleaned from the literature, from participatory appraisals, as well as a field study, spanning 12 months, of small-scalecommunal goat farming systems in Jericho in the Odi District of NorthWest Province. The number of offspring weaned per annum, as a proportion of does owned, was selected as the desired output for analysis. This study has shown that small-scale communal goat farmers are not adopting or implementing extension messages to improve production capacity. In south Africa the majority of goats are slaughtered in the informal sector. If the informal sector is to be persuaded to market goats commercially through formal channels, then knowledge of the economics of goat farming on communal lands should be provided. The economic aspects of extension messages are probably an important factor in determining acceptance and sustainability yet appear to be seldom investigated. The probable reason for lack of adoption of standard extension messages, which promote improved nutrition, parasite control, vaccination and treatment of goats, was economic. In other words, the so-called 'poor management practices' used by communal farmers appeared to be economically more profitable than the 'good management practices' suggested to increase production. The price of communal goats was not related to their mass. A higher level of inputs would probably have resulted in a heavier kid, however it was established that this would not have influenced the price received as a majority of the goats were slaughtered for ritual purposes where age, colour and sex were more important to the purchaser than body mass. It is standard practice in commercial farming systems to evaluate the economic benefits of all management practices before they are implemented. Production animal veterinarians use veterinary economics to compare different

Standardization: using comparative maintenance costs in an economic analysis

OpenAIRE

Clark, Roger Nelson

1987-01-01

Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited This thesis investigates the use of comparative maintenance costs of functionally interchangeable equipments in similar U.S. Navy shipboard applications in an economic analysis of standardization. The economics of standardization, life-cycle costing, and the Navy 3-M System are discussed in general. An analysis of 3-M System maintenance costs for a selected equipment, diesel engines, is conducted. The potential use of comparative ma...

Behavior of Serbian Tourists During Economic Crisis: Two Empirical Researches

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Marija Najdić

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Tourist’s behavior research is focused on understanding and explaining the factors that affect tourist’s preferences and holiday destination choice. In this paper is analyzed the impact of the global economic crisis on the preferences toward leisure travels of the residents from Serbia. The paper is based on researches conducted in 2006-2009, through travel agencies and in 2011 on the general population major of age with support of TNS Medium Gallupa. Better understanding of the perception process and how tourists react to certain factor can give more accurate information on the dynamics of tourism demand and its dependence on tourist’s perception.

An Objective Comparison of Applied Behavior Analysis and Organizational Behavior Management Research

Science.gov (United States)

Culig, Kathryn M.; Dickinson, Alyce M.; McGee, Heather M.; Austin, John

2005-01-01

This paper presents an objective review, analysis, and comparison of empirical studies targeting the behavior of adults published in Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis (JABA) and Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM) between 1997 and 2001. The purpose of the comparisons was to identify similarities and differences with respect to…

Techno-economic analysis of bioenergy systems; Bioenergiasysteemien teknistaloudellinen analyysi. IEA Bioenergy Agreement Techno-economic Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Solantausta, Y.

1995-12-31

The objectives of the IEA Bioenergy Technoeconomic Analysis Activity are: To promote development of thermochemical biomass conversion methods by carrying out selected site specific feasibility studies in participating countries. Both agricultural and woody biomasses will be converted either into electricity or boiler fuels. To compare advanced technologies to commercial alternatives based on techno-economic basis to establish future development needs. To facilitate information exchange between participants on relevant basic process issues. Five countries (Finland, Canada, USA, Norway, Austria) are participating to the Activity. Initially two feasibility studies are planned for each country. Each study has three common elements: site specific, technical, and economic data. The site specific cases are described below in short. Products in the cases are electricity, heat and fuel oil. Total of two cases per country are planned

Techno-economic analysis of bioenergy systems; Bioenergiasysteemien teknistaloudellinen analyysi. IEA Bioenergy Agreement Techno-economic Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Solantausta, Y

1996-12-31

The objectives of the IEA Bioenergy Technoeconomic Analysis Activity are: To promote development of thermochemical biomass conversion methods by carrying out selected site specific feasibility studies in participating countries. Both agricultural and woody biomasses will be converted either into electricity or boiler fuels. To compare advanced technologies to commercial alternatives based on techno-economic basis to establish future development needs. To facilitate information exchange between participants on relevant basic process issues. Five countries (Finland, Canada, USA, Norway, Austria) are participating to the Activity. Initially two feasibility studies are planned for each country. Each study has three common elements: site specific, technical, and economic data. The site specific cases are described below in short. Products in the cases are electricity, heat and fuel oil. Total of two cases per country are planned

Positive Behavior Support and Applied Behavior Analysis: A Familial Alliance

Science.gov (United States)

Dunlap, Glen; Carr, Edward G.; Horner, Robert H.; Zarcone, Jennifer R.; Schwartz, Ilene

2008-01-01

Positive behavior support (PBS) emerged in the mid-1980s as an approach for understanding and addressing problem behaviors. PBS was derived primarily from applied behavior analysis (ABA). Over time, however, PBS research and practice has incorporated evaluative methods, assessment and intervention procedures, and conceptual perspectives associated…

Economic impact analysis of load forecasting

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ranaweera, D.K.; Karady, G.G.; Farmer, R.G.

1997-01-01

Short term load forecasting is an essential function in electric power system operations and planning. Forecasts are needed for a variety of utility activities such as generation scheduling, scheduling of fuel purchases, maintenance scheduling and security analysis. Depending on power system characteristics, significant forecasting errors can lead to either excessively conservative scheduling or very marginal scheduling. Either can induce heavy economic penalties. This paper examines the economic impact of inaccurate load forecasts. Monte Carlo simulations were used to study the effect of different load forecasting accuracy. Investigations into the effect of improving the daily peak load forecasts, effect of different seasons of the year and effect of utilization factors are presented

Effects of Filter Ventilation on Behavioral Economic Demand for Cigarettes: A Preliminary Investigation.

Science.gov (United States)

Stein, Jeffrey S; Koffarnus, Mikhail N; O'Connor, Richard J; Hatsukami, Dorothy K; Bickel, Warren K

2017-07-23

The majority of cigarettes sold in the United States and abroad feature filter ventilation holes designed to dilute mainstream smoke. Although initially intended to produce a safer cigarette, data instead suggest that filter ventilation increases total harm from smoking. In the present study, we examined the effects of blocking ventilation holes on behavioral economic demand for cigarettes (i.e., consumption as a function of price). In a within-subjects design, regular smokers (N = 15) of ventilated cigarettes sampled vent-blocked cigarettes for 3 days. Subsequently, they completed three sessions in which they used an experimental income to purchase vent-blocked and/or control cigarettes across a range of prices. Participants also completed the Drug Effects/Liking Scale. In sessions in which only one cigarette type was available, demand measures were undifferentiated between cigarette types. However, in sessions in which both cigarettes were available at equivalent prices, significantly greater preference for ventilated control cigarettes emerged in demand measures. Regardless of session type, participants also rated vent-blocked cigarettes more poorly in the Drug Effects/Liking Scale (more bad effects, fewer good effects, and less liking, desire, and less likely to use again). Removing filter ventilation reduced cigarette abuse liability, as measured by behavioral economic demand and the Drug Effects/Liking Scale. However, reduced demand was only apparent when both cigarette types were concurrently available. This selective effect suggests that regulatory action banning filter ventilation would only reduce cigarette consumption when effective substitutes for vent-blocked cigarettes are available. This preliminary study indicates that regulatory action designed to ban or restrict cigarette filter ventilation may decrease cigarette abuse liability as measured by both behavioral economic demand and self-report measures. However, effects of removing filter ventilation

Assessing community-based conservation projects: A systematic review and multilevel analysis of attitudinal, behavioral, ecological, and economic outcomes

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Brooks Jeremy

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Community-based conservation (CBC promotes the idea that long-term conservation success requires engaging with, and providing benefits for local communities. Though widespread, CBC projects are not always successful or free of controversy. With criticisms on all sides of the conservation debates, it is critical to have a better understanding of (1 whether CBC is an effective conservation tool, and (2 of the factors associated with the success or failure of CBC projects, and the scale at which these factors operate. Recent CBC reviews have typically examined only a single resource domain, have limited geographic scope, consider only one outcome, or ignore the nested nature of socioecological systems. To remedy these issues, we use a newly coded global comparative database of CBC projects identified by systematic review to evaluate success in four outcome domains (attitudes, behaviors, ecological, economic and explore synergies and tradeoffs among these outcomes. We test hypotheses about how features of the national context (H-NC, project design (H-PD, and local community characteristics (H-CC affect these four measures of success. Methods To add to a sample of 62 projects that we used from previous systematic reviews, we systematically searched the conservation literature using six terms in four online databases. To increase the number of projects for each country in order to conduct a multilevel analysis, we also conducted a secondary search using the Advancing Conservation in a Social Context online library. We coded projects for 65 pieces of information. We conducted bivariate analyses using two-dimensional contingency tables and proportional odds logistic regression and conducted multivariate analyses by fitting reduced form proportional odds logistic regression models that were selected using a forward stepwise AIC approach. Results The primary and secondary searches produced 74 new projects to go along with the 62

On the Economics of Corporate Responsibility

OpenAIRE

Lundgren, Tommy

2007-01-01

This paper seeks to explore the economic mechanisms behind corporate social responsibility (CSR) in a micro-economic model of the firm. The motivation of this study is to shed some light on the potential causes of the observed phenomena of voluntary over-compliance among firms. We consider a few diferent models, both static and dynamic, to investigate how various assumptions about costs and benefits may aspect CSR behavior through a stock of goodwill capital. Our analysis show that in optimum...

Consumer Buying Behavior

OpenAIRE

Irena Vida; Mojca Maher Pirc

2006-01-01

The study examines the phenomenon of national identity and economic ethnocentrism in consumer buying behavior. Analysis of data collected from a representative sample of adult Slovenian consumers reveals only moderately expressed ethnocentric tendencies. Similar moderation was revealed in the preferences of Slovenian consumers for patriotic purchasing behavior, whereby the domestic origin of products was more important in the case of nondurable goods and services than in the case of durable g...

BEHAVIOR ANALYSIS OF CONSUMER COMPLAINT

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Andrie Prasetyo

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Complaining is one form of communication for consumers to express their dissatisfaction. Understanding the consumer complaint behavior is an important thing for businesses; however, it is not easy to do. The initial step in understanding this behavior of consumer complaints is to map consumers based on their behavior of complaints and analyze the factors that influence this. This study examines the complaint behavior of consumers in Cibubur who have experienced dissatisfaction with a product.  The objectives of this study are to map the consumer complaint behavior and identify its relationship with various factors such as consumer demographics, personality, attitude to businesses, attribution of the causes of dissatisfaction, and product attributes. A crosstab descriptive analysis method was used to map the consumers, while the Pearson correlation analysis methods was used to analyze consumer complaint behavioral relationships with various factors. The results of this study indicated that consumers in Cibubur based on their complaint behavior are classified into four groups: passive, voicers, irates and activist. The passive consumers dominate the category with a percentage of 49%.  The voicers, irates, and activist belong to the complaining type and are dominated by young women, with high levels of education and income. Keywords: consumer complaint behavior, product, crosstab, pearson correlation

RETHINKING ECONOMICS-OF-CRIME MODEL OF TAX COMPLIANCE FROM BEHAVIORAL PERSPECTIVE APPLIED TO ROMANIAN CASE

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Elena Ana Iancu(Nechita

2016-12-01

Full Text Available Present paper tackles several research paradigms regarding tax compliance behavior that have been used to understand tax evasion phenomenon and tax avoidance behavior of the taxpayer. These notions have been studied by numerous researchers all over the world as phenomenon of tax evasion has a debating issue on every state agenda for several decades. First economic model of tax compliance behavior was developed in the early 1970s and since then researchers improved the model adding new elements from sociology, psychology, legal studies, finance, game theory, neurosciences, econophysics and others. This paper presents the most important developments of current theories regarding tax compliance behavior starting from the economics-of-crime model,till the 'slippery slope framework ', and more. It creates the premises for a Romanian model of tax compliance behavior according to national characteristics regarding taxpayers attitude towards tax avoidance, risk appetite or aversion upon enforcement of law through punishment and penalty, taxpayers’ trust in authority’s efficient spending of tax collected revenue to public budget and personal beliefs regarding notions like morality, cheating, honesty, social responsibility, loyalty, patriotism, civic duty, guilt, fairness, reciprocity or financial incentives. Recent models of tax compliance behavior underline the importance of the dynamics between all the actors involved in the fiscal system such as government, tax authorities, tax consultants and accountants and the behavior of all other taxpayers as a whole. Current research trends believe that these are mutually related. Another important aspect regarding taxpayer’s attitude towards tax avoidance is its own motivation to voluntarily pay taxes driven by intrinsic beliefs or by fear of penalty coming from enforcement of laws. On the contrary, other taxpayers choose to assume an extra share of risk and decide to avoid taxes hiding in anonymity of

Economic analysis of the health impacts of housing improvement studies: a systematic review

Science.gov (United States)

Fenwick, Elisabeth; Macdonald, Catriona; Thomson, Hilary

2013-01-01

Background Economic evaluation of public policies has been advocated but rarely performed. Studies from a systematic review of the health impacts of housing improvement included data on costs and some economic analysis. Examination of these data provides an opportunity to explore the difficulties and the potential for economic evaluation of housing. Methods Data were extracted from all studies included in the systematic review of housing improvement which had reported costs and economic analysis (n=29/45). The reported data were assessed for their suitability to economic evaluation. Where an economic analysis was reported the analysis was described according to pre-set definitions of various types of economic analysis used in the field of health economics. Results 25 studies reported cost data on the intervention and/or benefits to the recipients. Of these, 11 studies reported data which was considered amenable to economic evaluation. A further four studies reported conducting an economic evaluation. Three of these studies presented a hybrid ‘balance sheet’ approach and indicated a net economic benefit associated with the intervention. One cost-effectiveness evaluation was identified but the data were unclearly reported; the cost-effectiveness plane suggested that the intervention was more costly and less effective than the status quo. Conclusions Future studies planning an economic evaluation need to (i) make best use of available data and (ii) ensure that all relevant data are collected. To facilitate this, economic evaluations should be planned alongside the intervention with input from health economists from the outset of the study. When undertaken appropriately, economic evaluation provides the potential to make significant contributions to housing policy. PMID:23929616

Economic solvency in the context of violence against women: a concept analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Gilroy, Heidi; Symes, Lene; McFarlane, Judith

2015-03-01

The aim of this concept analysis is to define economic solvency in the context of violence against women. Poverty, or lack of resources, is often discussed as a risk factor for intimate partner violence. The concept of economic solvency, which may be a protective factor for women, is less often discussed and not well defined. Databases searched for the analysis included EBSCOhost, CINAHL, PubMed and Gender Watch. The Rodgers evolutionary method was used to perform the concept analysis. A total of 134 articles were retrieved, using the specified search terms 'economic solvency and women', 'economic self-reliance and women' and 'economic self-sufficiency and women'. Articles were included if they were peer reviewed, contained the keywords with sufficient context to determine the author's intended meaning, and focused on women only or contrasted men to women. Thirty-five articles were used in the concept analysis. The definition of economic solvency drawn from the concept analysis is: a long-term state that occurs when there is societal structure that supports gender equity and external resources are available and can be used by a woman who has necessary human capital, sustainable employment and independence. Just as poverty and violence are cyclical, so are economic solvency and empowerment of women. To decrease women's risk of intimate partner violence around the world and further improve the status of women, we recommend continued research on economic solvency, including the individual, family, community and societal resources required to obtain economic solvency and the human capital characteristics needed for sustainability. © 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Behavior-Driven Development in Malware Analysis

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Thomas Barabosch

2016-03-01

Full Text Available A daily task of malware analysts is the extraction of behaviors from malicious binaries. Such behaviors include domain generation algorithms, cryptographic algorithms or deinstallation routines. Ideally, this tedious task should be automated. So far scientific solutions have not gotten beyond proof-of-concepts. Malware analysts continue to reimplement behaviors of interest manually. However, often times they merely translate the malicious binary assembler code to a higher-level language. This yields to poorly readable and undocumented code whose correctness is not ensured. Furthermore, the current process that malware analysts are following leads to a suboptimal focusing since they deal with too much binary code at once. In this paper, we aim at overcoming these shortcomings by improving the malware analysis process regarding the reimplementation of malicious behaviors. We achieve this by integrating Behavior-Driven Development in the malware analysis process. We explain in detail how the integration of Behavior-Driven Development into the malware analysis process can be done. In a case study on the highly obfuscated malware Nymaim, we show the feasibility of our approach.

Consumer financial behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Raaij, W.F.

2014-01-01

Consumer financial behavior is a domain between micro-economics, behavioral finance, and marketing. It is based on insights and behavioral theories from cognitive, economic, and social psychology (biases, heuristics, social influences), in the context of and sometimes in conflict with micro-economic

Neuroeconomics: Bringing Neuroscience and Economics Together

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Gelengül KOÇASLAN

2010-12-01

Full Text Available There are revealed situations in economics where the key axioms of mainstream theory are violated. Bandwagon, snob and Veblen effects are the examples from the demand theory . Maurice Allais and Daniel Ellsberg have determined the behavior anomalies under risk and uncertainty in 1953 and in 1962 respectively. Deviations from the optimal economic behavior have been argued by several economists and psychologists. Currently the components of economic behavior is being discussed at a neural base by neuroeconomists combining the methods of neuroscience and economics. This study is designed to understand neuroeconomics, its techniques and applications and also it is aimed to better understand the basic motives underlying economic behavior in real life situations

Tokyo Tech–Hitotsubashi Interdisciplinary Conference : New Approaches to the Analysis of Large-Scale Business and Economic Data

CERN Document Server

Takayasu, Misako; Takayasu, Hideki; Econophysics Approaches to Large-Scale Business Data and Financial Crisis

2010-01-01

The new science of econophysics has arisen out of the information age. As large-scale economic data are being increasingly generated by industries and enterprises worldwide, researchers from fields such as physics, mathematics, and information sciences are becoming involved. The vast number of transactions taking place, both in the financial markets and in the retail sector, is usually studied by economists and management and now by econophysicists. Using cutting-edge tools of computational analysis while searching for regularities and “laws” such as those found in the natural sciences, econophysicists have come up with intriguing results. The ultimate aim is to establish fundamental data collection and analysis techniques that embrace the expertise of a variety of academic disciplines. This book comprises selected papers from the international conference on novel analytical approaches to economic data held in Tokyo in March 2009. The papers include detailed reports on the market behavior during the finan...

The role of testosterone and estrogen in consumer behavior and social & economic decision making: A review.

Science.gov (United States)

Stanton, Steven J

2017-06-01

A contribution to a special issue on Hormones and Human Competition.This manuscript reviews the current literature on the actions of the steroid hormones testosterone and estradiol in shaping humans' behavior within two applied contexts, specifically consumer behavior and decision making (both social and economic). The theoretical argument put forth is that steroids shape these everyday behaviors and choices in service to being more competitive in achieving long-term goals related to resource acquisition, mating success, and social dominance. In addition, a discussion of the increased research focus on the role of steroids in other applied business domains will highlight the relevant applications of basic science discoveries in behavioral endocrinology. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Economic impacts of climate change in Australia: framework and analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ford, Melanie

2007-01-01

Full text: There is growing interest in understanding the potential impacts of climate change in Australia, and especially the economic impacts of 'inaction'. In this study, a preliminary analysis of the possible economic impacts of future climate change in Australia is undertaken using ABARE's general equilibrium model of the global economy, GTEM. In order to understand the potential economy-wide economic impacts, the broad climatic trends that Australia is likely to experience over the next several decades are canvassed and the potential economic and non-economic impacts on key risk areas, such as water resources, agriculture and forests, health, industry and human settlements and the ecosystems, are identified. A more detailed analysis of the economic impacts of climate change are undertaken by developing two case studies. In the first case study, the economic impact of climate change and reduced water availability on the agricultural sector is assessed in the Murray-Darling Basin. In the second case study, the sectoral economic impacts on the Australian resources sector of a projected decline in global economic activity due to climate change is analysed. The key areas of required development to more fully understand the economy-wide and sectoral impacts of climate change are also discussed including issues associated with estimating both non-market and market impacts. Finally, an analytical framework for undertaking integrated assessment of climate change impacts domestically and globally is developed

[Economic analysis of multinational clinical trials in oncology].

Science.gov (United States)

Lejeune, Catherine; Lueza, Béranger; Bonastre, Julia

2018-02-01

In oncology, as in other fields of medicine, international multicentre clinical trials came into being so as to include a sufficient number of subjects to investigate a clinical situation. The existence of tight budgetary constraints and the desire to make the best use of the resources available have resulted in the development of economic evaluations associated with these trials, which, thanks to their level of evidence and their size, provide particularly relevant material. Nonetheless, economic evaluations alongside international clinical trials raise specific questions of methodology with regard to both the design and the analysis of the results. Indeed, the costs of goods and services consumed, the types and quantities of resources, and medical practices vary from one country to another and within an individual country. Economic data from the different countries involved must be available so as to study and to take into account this variability, and appropriate techniques for cost estimations and analysis must be implemented to aggregate the results from several countries. From a review of the literature, the aim of this work was to provide an overview of the specific methodological features of economic evaluations alongside international clinical trials: analysis of efficacy data from several countries, collection of resources and real costs, methods to establish the monetary value of resources, methods to aggregate results accounting for the trial effect. Copyright © 2017 Société Française du Cancer. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Confronting the 'sugar daddy' stereotype: age and economic asymmetries and risky sexual behavior in urban Kenya.

Science.gov (United States)

Luke, Nancy

2005-03-01

"Sugar daddy" relationships, which are characterized by large age and economic asymmetries between partners, are believed to be a major factor in the spread of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa. Information is needed about sugar daddy partnerships-and about age and economic asymmetries more generally-to determine how common they are and whether they are related to unsafe sexual behavior. The sample comprised 1,052 men aged 21-45 who were surveyed in Kisumu, Kenya, in 2001. Data on these men and their 1,614 recent non-marital partnerships were analyzed to calculate the prevalence of sugar daddies and sugar daddy relationships, as well as a range of age and economic disparities within non-marital partnerships. Logistic regression models were constructed to assess relationships between condom use at last sexual intercourse and various measures of age and economic asymmetry. The mean age difference between non-marital sexual partners was 5.5 years, and 47% of men's female partners were adolescents. Fourteen percent of partnerships involved an age difference of at least 10 years, and 23% involved more than the mean amount of male-to-female material assistance. Men who reported at least one partnership with both these characteristics were defined as sugar daddies and made up 5% of the sample; sugar daddy relationships accounted for 4% of partnerships. Sugar daddy partnerships and the largest age and economic asymmetries we constructed were associated with decreased odds of condom use. Although sugar daddy relationships are not as pervasive as generally assumed, age and economic asymmetries in non-marital partnerships are relatively common. All these types of asymmetries are associated with nonuse of condoms. Increasing women's power within asymmetric sexual relationships could improve their ability to negotiate safer sexual behaviors, such as condom use.

Nicotine reduction as an increase in the unit price of cigarettes: a behavioral economics approach.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Tracy T; Sved, Alan F; Hatsukami, Dorothy K; Donny, Eric C

2014-11-01

Urgent action is needed to reduce the harm caused by smoking. Product standards that reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes are now possible both in the U.S. and in countries party to the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Specifically, standards that required substantially reduced nicotine content in cigarettes could enable cessation in smokers and prevent future smoking among current non-smokers. Behavioral economics uses principles from the field of microeconomics to characterize how consumption of a reinforcer changes as a function of the unit price of that reinforcer (unit price=cost/reinforcer magnitude). A nicotine reduction policy might be considered an increase in the unit price of nicotine because smokers are paying more per unit of nicotine. This perspective allows principles from behavioral economics to be applied to nicotine reduction research questions, including how nicotine consumption, smoking behavior, use of other tobacco products, and use of other drugs of abuse are likely to be affected. This paper reviews the utility of this approach and evaluates the notion that a reduction in nicotine content is equivalent to a reduction in the reinforcement value of smoking-an assumption made by the unit price approach. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Economic Growth and Transboundary Pollution in Europe. An Empirical Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ansuategi, A. [Ekonomi Analisiaren Oinarriak I Saila, Ekonomi Zientzien Fakultatea, Lehendakari Agirre Etorbidea, 83, 48015 Bilbao (Spain)

2003-10-01

The existing empirical evidence suggests that environmental Kuznets curves only exist for pollutants with semi-local and medium term impacts. Ansuategi and Perrings (2000) have considered the behavioral basis for the correlation observed between different spatial incidence of environmental degradation and the relation between economic growth and environmental quality. They show that self-interested planners following a Nash-type strategy tend to address environmental effects sequentially: addressing those with the most immediate costs first, and those whose costs are displaced in space later. This paper tests such behavioral basis in the context of sulphur dioxide emissions in Europe.

Economic Growth and Transboundary Pollution in Europe. An Empirical Analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ansuategi, A.

2003-01-01

The existing empirical evidence suggests that environmental Kuznets curves only exist for pollutants with semi-local and medium term impacts. Ansuategi and Perrings (2000) have considered the behavioral basis for the correlation observed between different spatial incidence of environmental degradation and the relation between economic growth and environmental quality. They show that self-interested planners following a Nash-type strategy tend to address environmental effects sequentially: addressing those with the most immediate costs first, and those whose costs are displaced in space later. This paper tests such behavioral basis in the context of sulphur dioxide emissions in Europe

Financial liberalization and economic growth : A meta-analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Bumann, Silke; Hermes, Niels; Lensink, Robert

This study provides a systematic analysis of the empirical literature on the relationship between financial liberalization and economic growth by conducting a meta-analysis, based on 441 t-statistics reported in 60 empirical studies. We focus on explaining the heterogeneity of results in our sample

Economic analysis of reactive power compensation in a wind farm: Influence of Spanish energy policy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martinez, E.; Daroca, F. [Grupo Eolicas Riojanas, Carretera de Laguardia, 91-93, 26006 Logrono, La Rioja (Spain); Sanz, F.; Blanco, J. [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of La Rioja, Logrono, La Rioja (Spain); Jimenez, E. [Department of Electrical Engineering, University of La Rioja, Logrono, La Rioja (Spain)

2008-08-15

Presently, renewable energies and especially wind energy are gaining a special relevance in the electrical market worldwide. This current rate of growth brings with it the need for the various wind farms to not limit themselves to producing energy but also provide stability to the network within its capabilities. So, the actual objective is to adapt the installations that produce wind energy in such a way that they give a maximum amount of support in any given moment to the electrical network. For this purpose, there are governing techno-economic parameters that influence the economic behavior of commercial wind farms. A complete cost-benefit analysis model is developed, focused on incorporating automatic capacitor banks into wind farms for the compensation of reactive power. This economic analysis is about doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbines. Although this kind of wind turbines have a certain capability in terms of modulating reactive power, this capacity is not enough to achieve the new requirements of reactive power regulation in Spain and it is necessary to invest in systems of external compensation. In this paper, we have studied the case of DFIG wind turbine and capacitor banks, although the used methodology can be applied to other technologies as well by simply amplifying the algorithms according to the specific characteristics of the option elected. Following this premise, a detailed analysis of the specific needs of a wind farm has been carried out, as well as a search for the optimum performance for the compensation of reactive power. (author)

Economic analysis of reactive power compensation in a wind farm: Influence of Spanish energy policy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Martinez, E.; Daroca, F.; Sanz, F.; Blanco, J.; Jimenez, E.

2008-01-01

Presently, renewable energies and especially wind energy are gaining a special relevance in the electrical market worldwide. This current rate of growth brings with it the need for the various wind farms to not limit themselves to producing energy but also provide stability to the network within its capabilities. So, the actual objective is to adapt the installations that produce wind energy in such a way that they give a maximum amount of support in any given moment to the electrical network. For this purpose, there are governing techno-economic parameters that influence the economic behavior of commercial wind farms. A complete cost-benefit analysis model is developed, focused on incorporating automatic capacitor banks into wind farms for the compensation of reactive power. This economic analysis is about doubly fed induction generator (DFIG) wind turbines. Although this kind of wind turbines have a certain capability in terms of modulating reactive power, this capacity is not enough to achieve the new requirements of reactive power regulation in Spain and it is necessary to invest in systems of external compensation. In this paper, we have studied the case of DFIG wind turbine and capacitor banks, although the used methodology can be applied to other technologies as well by simply amplifying the algorithms according to the specific characteristics of the option elected. Following this premise, a detailed analysis of the specific needs of a wind farm has been carried out, as well as a search for the optimum performance for the compensation of reactive power. (author)

On the costs of self-interested economic behavior: how does stinginess get under the skin?

Science.gov (United States)

Dunn, Elizabeth W; Ashton-James, Claire E; Hanson, Margaret D; Aknin, Lara B

2010-05-01

The present study examined how financial decisions 'get under the skin'. Participants played an economic game in which they could donate some of their payment to another student. Affect was measured afterward and salivary cortisol was measured before and afterward. Participants who kept more money for themselves reported less positive affect, more negative affect, and more shame. Shame predicted higher levels of post-game cortisol, controlling for pre-game cortisol; stingy economic behavior therefore produced a significant indirect effect on cortisol via shame. Thus, shame and cortisol represent plausible emotional and biological pathways linking everyday decisions with downstream consequences for health.

The effect of perceived regional accents on individual economic behavior: a lab experiment on linguistic performance, cognitive ratings and economic decisions.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephan Heblich

Full Text Available Does it matter if you speak with a regional accent? Speaking immediately reveals something of one's own social and cultural identity, be it consciously or unconsciously. Perceiving accents involves not only reconstructing such imprints but also augmenting them with particular attitudes and stereotypes. Even though we know much about attitudes and stereotypes that are transmitted by, e.g. skin color, names or physical attractiveness, we do not yet have satisfactory answers how accent perception affects human behavior. How do people act in economically relevant contexts when they are confronted with regional accents? This paper reports a laboratory experiment where we address this question. Participants in our experiment conduct cognitive tests where they can choose to either cooperate or compete with a randomly matched male opponent identified only via his rendering of a standardized text in either a regional accent or standard accent. We find a strong connection between the linguistic performance and the cognitive rating of the opponent. When matched with an opponent who speaks the accent of the participant's home region--the in-group opponent--, individuals tend to cooperate significantly more often. By contrast, they are more likely to compete when matched with an accent speaker from outside their home region, the out-group opponent. Our findings demonstrate, firstly, that the perception of an out-group accent leads not only to social discrimination but also influences economic decisions. Secondly, they suggest that this economic behavior is not necessarily attributable to the perception of a regional accent per se, but rather to the social rating of linguistic distance and the in-group/out-group perception it evokes.

Economic Evaluation and Impact Analysis of SMART

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jeong, K. H.; Kim, J. H.; Boo, K. D.; Park, S. B.

2010-07-01

The objective of this study is to analyze the economic value and contribution to the national economy of the SMART project. This study tries to evaluate three kinds of values of the project separately; national economy contribution, the financial cost-benefit analysis and intangible social benefit of the project. The research methods are Net Present Valuation (NPT) for the first analysis, Input-Output (IO) model for the second analysis and Contingent Valuation Method(CVM) for the last analysis. This study tries to answer for the following questions: (1) how much does the project affect on Korean national economy in area of construction, electricity generation and export? (2) what is the financial cost - benefit assessment of the SMART project which is of the most interest to the private sector constructing the reactor? (3) how much is the project's intangible social gains in that it brings Korea's scientific development in area of nuclear generation and improves Korea's global standing? Main Results of Research are (1) Domestic Construction and Electricity Generation of the 1st Reactor A. Contribution to the National Economy Production inducing effect by the domestic construction and generation of the 1st reactor amounts to 1,801 ∼2,059 billion won, value added inducing effect amounts to 789∼919 billion won, and employment inducing effect amounts to 11,015∼12, 856 men. B. Financial Cost-Benefit Assessment Financial cost - benefit of the domestic construction and generation of the 1st reactor turns out to be economically non-profitable from the point of view of private companies participating the project, by having economic loss over all scenarios of construction costs. C. Combining Financial Cost-Benefit Assessment and Contribution to the National Economy's Value-Added Combining financial cost - benefit and value added inducing effect of the domestic construction and generation of the 1st reactor turns out to be economically valid from the point of view of

Study on Behavior Value Analysis and Decision Methodology of Grid Corporations in China

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jiang Yuanbin

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Based on grid corporations, business environment and value characteristics in China, the article analyzes its behavior value factors, and then divides its behavior into three categories: the behavior only affecting the current Economic Value Added(EVA, the behavior affecting both the current and future EVA, and the behavior only affecting future EVA. Finally, the article studies such corporations, behavior value decision making based upon analyses and classifications above.

Dopamine, Effort-Based Choice, and Behavioral Economics: Basic and Translational Research.

Science.gov (United States)

Salamone, John D; Correa, Merce; Yang, Jen-Hau; Rotolo, Renee; Presby, Rose

2018-01-01

Operant behavior is not only regulated by factors related to the quality or quantity of reinforcement, but also by the work requirements inherent in performing instrumental actions. Moreover, organisms often make effort-related decisions involving economic choices such as cost/benefit analyses. Effort-based decision making is studied using behavioral procedures that offer choices between high-effort options leading to relatively preferred reinforcers vs. low effort/low reward choices. Several neural systems, including the mesolimbic dopamine (DA) system and other brain circuits, are involved in regulating effort-related aspects of motivation. Considerable evidence indicates that mesolimbic DA transmission exerts a bi-directional control over exertion of effort on instrumental behavior tasks. Interference with DA transmission produces a low-effort bias in animals tested on effort-based choice tasks, while increasing DA transmission with drugs such as DA transport blockers tends to enhance selection of high-effort options. The results from these pharmacology studies are corroborated by the findings from recent articles using optogenetic, chemogenetic and physiological techniques. In addition to providing important information about the neural regulation of motivated behavior, effort-based choice tasks are useful for developing animal models of some of the motivational symptoms that are seen in people with various psychiatric and neurological disorders (e.g., depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson's disease). Studies of effort-based decision making may ultimately contribute to the development of novel drug treatments for motivational dysfunction.

Dopamine, Effort-Based Choice, and Behavioral Economics: Basic and Translational Research

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John D. Salamone

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Operant behavior is not only regulated by factors related to the quality or quantity of reinforcement, but also by the work requirements inherent in performing instrumental actions. Moreover, organisms often make effort-related decisions involving economic choices such as cost/benefit analyses. Effort-based decision making is studied using behavioral procedures that offer choices between high-effort options leading to relatively preferred reinforcers vs. low effort/low reward choices. Several neural systems, including the mesolimbic dopamine (DA system and other brain circuits, are involved in regulating effort-related aspects of motivation. Considerable evidence indicates that mesolimbic DA transmission exerts a bi-directional control over exertion of effort on instrumental behavior tasks. Interference with DA transmission produces a low-effort bias in animals tested on effort-based choice tasks, while increasing DA transmission with drugs such as DA transport blockers tends to enhance selection of high-effort options. The results from these pharmacology studies are corroborated by the findings from recent articles using optogenetic, chemogenetic and physiological techniques. In addition to providing important information about the neural regulation of motivated behavior, effort-based choice tasks are useful for developing animal models of some of the motivational symptoms that are seen in people with various psychiatric and neurological disorders (e.g., depression, schizophrenia, Parkinson’s disease. Studies of effort-based decision making may ultimately contribute to the development of novel drug treatments for motivational dysfunction.

A thermo-economic analysis of the separation process of an ethylene plant

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yi, T.; Jan-Min, S.

1989-01-01

This study has established a model of thermo-economic balance for chemical processes. The general rules to form the exergy-price constraint equation and the equations of some major types of the units have been proposed. With this model, a thermo-economic analysis for the separation process of an Ethylene Plant has been studied. The paper has made an analysis for the effects of different boundary exergy prices on the process evaluation. The result shows that the thermo-economic analysis for a process, using the method advanced in here, merely depends on the process construction and the ratio of supplying exergy-prices. As soon as the ratio is well-matched, a similar analogic analysis may be set up for the same type of processes in different economic environments

ECONOMIC RELATIONS BETWEEN PERSONAL AND CORPORATE INCOME TAX

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tomasz Skica

2014-06-01

Full Text Available The main goal of this article is to discuss the mutual economic relations between personal and corporate income taxes. The article consists of three parts. The first is an introduction to these taxes and taxation. The second is the analysis in which the objective of the taxation is discussed. This part represents the trends in research on taxation and clarifies the aspects of taxes that should be considered in an optimal tax system construction. These include solutions which stimulate taxpayer behavior, the economically and socially oriented objectives of taxation, and guides needed for tax equalization. The conclusions are focused on the tax rates in personal and corporate income tax and their influence on economic behavior of firms and individuals. The authors show different points of view on tax rate equalization and discuss its consequences.

The economic and poverty impacts of animal diseases in developing countries: new roles, new demands for economics and epidemiology.

Science.gov (United States)

Rich, Karl M; Perry, Brian D

2011-09-01

Animal disease outbreaks pose significant threats to livestock sectors throughout the world, both from the standpoint of the economic impacts of the disease itself and the measures taken to mitigate the risk of disease introduction. These impacts are multidimensional and not always well understood, complicating effective policy response. In the developing world, livestock diseases have broader, more nuanced effects on markets, poverty, and livelihoods, given the diversity of uses of livestock and complexity of livestock value chains. In both settings, disease control strategies, particularly those informed by ex ante modeling platforms, often fail to recognize the constraints inherent among farmers, veterinary services, and other value chain actors. In short, context matters. Correspondingly, an important gap in the animal health economics literature is the explicit incorporation of behavior and incentives in impact analyses that highlight the interactions of disease with its socio-economic and institutional setting. In this paper, we examine new approaches and frameworks for the analysis of economic and poverty impacts of animal diseases. We propose greater utilization of "bottom-up" analyses, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of value chain and information economics approaches in impact analyses and stressing the importance of improved integration between the epidemiology of disease and its relationships with economic behavior. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A Behavioral Economic Reward Index Predicts Drinking Resolutions: Moderation Revisited and Compared with Other Outcomes

Science.gov (United States)

Tucker, Jalie A.; Roth, David L.; Vignolo, Mary J.; Westfall, Andrew O.

2009-01-01

Data were pooled from 3 studies of recently resolved community-dwelling problem drinkers to determine whether a behavioral economic index of the value of rewards available over different time horizons distinguished among moderation (n = 30), abstinent (n = 95), and unresolved (n = 77) outcomes. Moderation over 1- to 2-year prospective follow-up…

An economic analysis code used for PWR fuel cycle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liu Dingqin

1989-01-01

An economic analysis code used for PWR fuel cycle is developed. This economic code includes 12 subroutines representing vavious processes for entire PWR fuel cycle, and indicates the influence of the fuel cost on the cost of the electricity generation and the influence of individual process on the sensitivity of the fuel cycle cost

Turning for Ulcer Reduction (TURN) Study: An Economic Analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Paulden, Mike; Bergstrom, Nancy; Horn, Susan D; Rapp, Mary; Stern, Anita; Barrett, Ryan; Watkiss, Michael; Krahn, Murray

2014-01-01

The Turning for Ulcer Reduction (TURN) study was a multisite, randomized controlled trial that aimed to determine the optimal frequency of turning nursing facility residents with mobility limitations who are at moderate and high risk for pressure ulcer (PrU) development. Here we present data from the economic analysis. This economic analysis aims to estimate the economic consequences for Ontario of switching from a repositioning schedule of 2-hour intervals to a schedule of 3-hour or 4-hour intervals. Costs considered in the analysis included those associated with nursing staff time spent repositioning residents and with incontinent care supplies, which included briefs, barrier cream, and washcloths. The total economic benefit of switching to 3-hour or 4-hour repositioning is estimated to be $11.05 or $16.74 per day, respectively, for every resident at moderate or high risk of developing PrUs. For a typical facility with 123 residents, 41 (33%) of whom are at moderate or high risk of developing PrUs, the total economic benefit is estimated to be $453 daily for 3-hour or $686 daily for 4-hour repositioning. For Ontario as a whole, assuming that there are 77,933 residents at 634 LTC facilities, 25,927 (33%) of whom are at moderate or high risk of developing PrUs, the total economic benefits of switching to 3-hour or 4-hour repositioning are estimated to be $286,420 or $433,913 daily, respectively, equivalent to $104.5 million or $158.4 million per year. We did not consider the savings the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care might incur should less frequent repositioning reduce the incidence of work-related injury among nursing staff, so our findings are potentially conservative. A switch to 3-hour or 4-hour repositioning appears likely to yield substantial economic benefits to Ontario without placing residents at greater risk of developing PrUs.

Age and Employee Green Behaviors: A Meta-Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Wiernik, Brenton M.; Dilchert, Stephan; Ones, Deniz S.

2016-01-01

Recent economic and societal developments have led to an increasing emphasis on organizational environmental performance. At the same time, demographic trends are resulting in increasingly aging labor forces in many industrialized nations. Commonly held stereotypes suggest that older workers are less likely to be environmentally responsible than younger workers. To evaluate the degree to which such age differences are present, we meta-analyzed 132 independent correlations and 336 d-values based on 4676 professional workers from 22 samples in 11 countries. Contrary to popular stereotypes, age showed small positive relationships with pro-environmental behaviors, suggesting that older adults engaged in these workplace behaviors slightly more frequently. Relationships with age appeared to be linear for overall, Conserving, Avoiding Harm, and Taking Initiative pro-environmental behaviors, but non-linear trends were observed for Transforming and Influencing Others behaviors. PMID:26973550

Behavior analysis and neuroscience: Complementary disciplines.

Science.gov (United States)

Donahoe, John W

2017-05-01

Behavior analysis and neuroscience are disciplines in their own right but are united in that both are subfields of a common overarching field-biology. What most fundamentally unites these disciplines is a shared commitment to selectionism, the Darwinian mode of explanation. In selectionism, the order and complexity observed in nature are seen as the cumulative products of selection processes acting over time on a population of variants-favoring some and disfavoring others-with the affected variants contributing to the population on which future selections operate. In the case of behavior analysis, the central selection process is selection by reinforcement; in neuroscience it is natural selection. The two selection processes are inter-related in that selection by reinforcement is itself the product of natural selection. The present paper illustrates the complementary nature of behavior analysis and neuroscience through considering their joint contributions to three central problem areas: reinforcement-including conditioned reinforcement, stimulus control-including equivalence classes, and memory-including reminding and remembering. © 2017 Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

The economics of protecting tiger populations: Linking household behavior to poaching and prey depletion

Science.gov (United States)

Damania, R.; Stringer, R.; Karanth, K.U.; Stith, B.

2003-01-01

The tiger (Panthera tigris) is classified as endangered and populations continue to decline. This paper presents a formal economic analysis of the two most imminent threats to the survival of wild tigers: poaching tigers and hunting their prey. A model is developed to examine interactions between tigers and farm households living in and around tiger habitats. The analysis extends the existing literature on tiger demography, incorporating predator-prey interactions and exploring the sensitivity of tiger populations to key economic parameters. The analysis aims to contribute to policy debates on how best to protect one of the world's most endangered wild cats.

Low income Russian families adopt effective behavioral strategies to maintain dietary stability in times of economic crisis.

Science.gov (United States)

Dore, Anna R; Adair, Linda S; Popkin, Barry M

2003-11-01

The social, political and economic reforms of 1992 in Russia led to a decade of rising income inequality, unemployment and economic crises, the most severe of which occurred in 1998. This study assesses dietary trends for children in low and high income households during this politically and economically unstable period from 1994 to 2000. Several possible food-related behaviors were also assessed to evaluate coping strategies adopted in the face of decreasing economic stability. Low income children maintained a steady energy intake per kilogram weight throughout the study period (251.0-259.4 kJ/kg), whereas intake for high income children increased significantly to a per capital average of 297.1 kJ/kg by 2000. At the food group level, the trend in per capita intake for all food groups was maintained for low income children except for a 22% decrease in meat and poultry consumption (P economic crisis.

Improving SFR Economics through Innovations from Thermal Design and Analysis Aspects

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Haihua Zhao; Hongbin Zhang; Vincent Mousseau; Per F. Peterson

2008-06-01

Achieving economic competitiveness as compared to LWRs and other Generation IV (Gen-IV) reactors is one of the major requirements for large-scale investment in commercial sodium cooled fast reactor (SFR) power plants. Advances in R&D for advanced SFR fuel and structural materials provide key long-term opportunities to improve SFR economics. In addition, other new opportunities are emerging to further improve SFR economics. This paper provides an overview on potential ideas from the perspective of thermal hydraulics to improve SFR economics. These include a new hybrid loop-pool reactor design to further optimize economics, safety, and reliability of SFRs with more flexibility, a multiple reheat and intercooling helium Brayton cycle to improve plant thermal efficiency and reduce safety related overnight and operation costs, and modern multi-physics thermal analysis methods to reduce analysis uncertainties and associated requirements for over-conservatism in reactor design. This paper reviews advances in all three of these areas and their potential beneficial impacts on SFR economics.

Techno-Economic Analysis of Biochemical Scenarios for Production of Cellulosic Ethanol

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kazi, F. K.; Fortman, J.; Anex, R.; Kothandaraman, G.; Hsu, D.; Aden, A.; Dutta, A.

2010-06-01

A techno-economic analysis on the production of cellulosic ethanol by fermentation was conducted to understand the viability of liquid biofuel production processes within the next 5-8 years. Initially, 35 technologies were reviewed, then a two-step down selection was performed to choose scenarios to be evaluated in a more detailed economic analysis. The lignocellulosic ethanol process was selected because it is well studied and portions of the process have been tested at pilot scales. Seven process variations were selected and examined in detail. Process designs were constrained to public data published in 2007 or earlier, without projecting for future process improvements. Economic analysis was performed for an 'nth plant' (mature technology) to obtain total investment and product value (PV). Sensitivity analysis was performed on PV to assess the impact of variations in process and economic parameters. Results show that the modeled dilute acid pretreatment process without any downstream process variation had the lowest PV of $3.40/gal of ethanol ($5.15/gallon of gasoline equivalent) in 2007 dollars. Sensitivity analysis shows that PV is most sensitive to feedstock and enzyme costs.

Methodology of economic analysis of evidence of cartel in the resale market of fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Costa, Cleber Ribeiro da Silva; Tiryaki, Gisele Ferreira; Ramos, Maria Olivia

2010-01-01

The existence of anti competitive conduct such as cartels would lead to a situation of high prices and profits harming competition and society in general. The methodology of economic analysis of evidence of cartel by the ANP in the resale market of fuels involves analysis of the behavior of the average prices of resale and distribution, the nominal average gross margin on resale, the coefficient of variation of prices of resale and distribution of fuel for a given period by the municipality. Combining the analysis of these elements, the ANP has suggested the investigation into possible cartels. This text aims to bring contributions for a better definition of the relevant market in the analysis of economic evidence in cartel in the market for resale of fuel and add elements currently not considered in the analysis of ANP and regulation of the sector. To this end, this article is organized into three sections besides the introduction and final consideration. The first section takes place at the constitution some myths about cartels thread reseller retailer of automotive fuel by analyzing the main causes leading to complaints by consumers. Then presents a conceptual analysis of relevant market, since this definition is essential to characterize anti-competitive practices of operations performed by companies holding market power, notably the formation of cartels. Finally, it is a discussion on how the action of the main bodies involved in dismantling of anti competitive practices in the industry. Expected to find results that work with greater integration between agencies to safeguard competition and better defining the relevant market segment for the resale of fuel. (author)

Socio-economic analysis: a tool for assessing the potential of nanotechnologies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Brignon, Jean-Marc

2011-01-01

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) has a long history, especially in the USA, of being used for the assessment of new regulation, new infrastructure and more recently for new technologies. Under the denomination of Socio-Economic Analysis (SEA), this concept is used in EU safety and environmental regulation, especially for the placing of chemicals on the market (REACh regulation) and the operation of industrial installations (Industrial Emissions Directive). As far as REACh and other EU legislation apply specifically to nanomaterials in the future, SEA might become an important assessment tool for nanotechnologies. The most important asset of SEA regarding nanomaterials, is the comparison with alternatives in socio-economic scenarios, which is key for the understanding of how a nanomaterial 'socially' performs in comparison with its alternatives. 'Industrial economics' methods should be introduced in SEAs to make industry and the regulator share common concepts and visions about economic competitiveness implications of regulating nanotechnologies, SEA and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) can complement each other : Socio-Economic LCA are increasingly seen as a complete assessment tool for nanotechnologies, but the perspective between Social LCA and SEA are different and the respective merits and limitations of both approaches should be kept in mind. SEA is a 'pragmatic regulatory impact analysis', that uses a cost/benefit framework analysis but remains open to other disciplines than economy, and open to the participation of stakeholders for the construction of scenarios of the deployment of technologies and the identification of alternatives. SEA is 'pragmatic' in the sense that it is driven by the purpose to assess 'what happens' with the introduction of nanotechnology, and uses methodologies such as Life Cycle Analysis only as far as they really contribute to that goal. We think that, being pragmatic, SEA is also adaptative, which is a key quality to handle the novelty of

Socio-economic analysis: a tool for assessing the potential of nanotechnologies

Science.gov (United States)

Brignon, Jean-Marc

2011-07-01

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) has a long history, especially in the USA, of being used for the assessment of new regulation, new infrastructure and more recently for new technologies. Under the denomination of Socio-Economic Analysis (SEA), this concept is used in EU safety and environmental regulation, especially for the placing of chemicals on the market (REACh regulation) and the operation of industrial installations (Industrial Emissions Directive). As far as REACh and other EU legislation apply specifically to nanomaterials in the future, SEA might become an important assessment tool for nanotechnologies. The most important asset of SEA regarding nanomaterials, is the comparison with alternatives in socio-economic scenarios, which is key for the understanding of how a nanomaterial "socially" performs in comparison with its alternatives. "Industrial economics" methods should be introduced in SEAs to make industry and the regulator share common concepts and visions about economic competitiveness implications of regulating nanotechnologies, SEA and Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) can complement each other : Socio-Economic LCA are increasingly seen as a complete assessment tool for nanotechnologies, but the perspective between Social LCA and SEA are different and the respective merits and limitations of both approaches should be kept in mind. SEA is a "pragmatic regulatory impact analysis", that uses a cost/benefit framework analysis but remains open to other disciplines than economy, and open to the participation of stakeholders for the construction of scenarios of the deployment of technologies and the identification of alternatives. SEA is "pragmatic" in the sense that it is driven by the purpose to assess "what happens" with the introduction of nanotechnology, and uses methodologies such as Life Cycle Analysis only as far as they really contribute to that goal. We think that, being pragmatic, SEA is also adaptative, which is a key quality to handle the novelty of

Economic impact assessment in pest risk analysis

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Soliman, T.A.A.; Mourits, M.C.M.; Oude Lansink, A.G.J.M.; Werf, van der W.

2010-01-01

According to international treaties, phytosanitary measures against introduction and spread of invasive plant pests must be justified by a science-based pest risk analysis (PRA). Part of the PRA consists of an assessment of potential economic consequences. This paper evaluates the main available

Marketing and Economic Analysis of Potatoes Irradiation in Egypt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Khateeb, M.A.; El-Hayawan, H.

1999-01-01

The aim of this work is to examine the marketing, economic and financial feasibility of a project for potatoes irradiation in Egypt. The Egyptian market of potatoes was described and analyzed considering the production size distributed over several years, methods of preservation and storage, percentage of loss and cost for each method, distribution channels and packing materials. The financial and economic analysis of the establishment of a pallet conveyor unit for the irradiation of potatoes was also carried out . The following investment criteria were utilized for the commercial evaluation : benefit - cost radio , payback period, average rate of return and net present value . The results of this analysis showed that the installation of a unit for the irradiation of potatoes in Egypt would be economically viable. The unit of irradiation would decline if the irradiator is used as a multipurpose facility

Marketing and Economic Analysis of Garlic Irradiation in Egypt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

El-Khateeb, M.A.

2000-01-01

The aim of this work is to examine the marketing , economic and financial feasibility of a project for garlic irradiation in Egypt. The Egyptian market of garlic was described and analyzed considering the production size distributed over several years, methods of preservation and storage, percentage of loss and cost for each method and distribution channels. The financial and economic analysis of the establishment of A tote Box unit for the irradiation of garlic was also carried out. The following investment criteria were utilized for the commercial evaluation : benefit-cost ratio, payback period, average rate of return and net present value. The results of this analysis showed that the installation of a unit for the irradiation of garlic in Egypt would be economically viable. The unit cost of irradiation would decline if the irradiator is used as a multipurpose facility

Economic Analysis of Several Nuclear Fuel Cycles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ko, Won Il; Gao, Fanxing; Kim, Sung Ki

2012-01-01

Economics is one of the essential criteria to be considered for the future deployment of the nuclear power. With regard to the competitive power market, the cost of electricity from nuclear power plants is somewhat highly competitive with those from the other electricity generations, averaging lower in cost than fossil fuels, wind, or solar. However, a closer look at the nuclear power production brings an insight that the cost varies within a wide range, highly depending on a nuclear fuel cycle option. The option of nuclear fuel cycle is a key determinant in the economics, and therefrom, a comprehensive comparison among the proposed fuel cycle options necessitates an economic analysis for thirteen promising options based on the material flow analysis obtained by an equilibrium model as specified in the first article (Modeling and System Analysis of Different Fuel Cycle Options for Nuclear Power Sustainability (I): Uranium Consumption and Waste Generation). The objective of the article is to provide a systematic cost comparison among these nuclear fuel cycles. The generation cost (GC) generally consists of a capital cost, an operation and maintenance cost (O and M cost), a fuel cycle cost (FCC), and a decontaminating and decommissioning (D and D) cost. FCC includes a frontend cost and a back-end cost, as well as costs associated with fuel recycling in the cases of semi-closed and closed cycle options. As a part of GC, the economic analysis on FCC mainly focuses on the cost differences among fuel cycle options considered and therefore efficiently avoids the large uncertainties of the Generation-IV reactor capital costs and the advanced reprocessing costs. However, the GC provides a more comprehensive result covering all the associated costs, and therefrom, both GC and FCC have been analyzed, respectively. As a widely applied tool, the levelized cost (mills/KWh) proves to be a fundamental calculation principle in the energy and power industry, which is particularly

Socio-economic analysis of CCS/EOR in Denmark; Samfundsoekonomisk analyse af CCS/EOR i Danmark

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

NONE

2012-12-15

The Danish Energy Agency has initiated an analysis of the socio-economic sustainability of a CCS / EOR system based on CO{sub 2} capture from Danish sources and injected into selected Danish North Sea oil fields. The analysis shall assess the socioeconomic consequences of such a project as well as highlight the budgetary economic effects for the parties involved. Taking into account a realistic time frame for conversion of the cogeneration power plants and for the extent of the possible capture of CO{sub 2} in each of these plants, it has been chosen only to presuppose the establishment of CCS in three plants, namely Studstrupvaerket, Fynsvaerket and Nordjyllandsvaerket. Only the oil fields Dan, Halfdan and Gorm were selected for the analysis. The analysis shows that in the selected oil fields it is possible to increase the oil production by approx. 151 million. barrels of oil to the year 2049, which corresponds to approx. 40% of the estimated potential in these fields. The increased oil production requires that approx. 95 million. tonnes of CO{sub 2} is captured in the three power plants, which are subsequently transported and injected in the oil fields in the North Sea. The transport of CO{sub 2} from the CHP plants to the North Sea are assumed to be done by ship, since this solution is economically favorable and also offers logistical advantages and increased flexibility. The analysis shows that both the budget economic and the socio-economic analysis as a whole provide a positive economic net present value over a 30-year period. The socio-economic benefit is expected to be about. 3.5 billion DKK higher. This difference is due to especially the following conditions: a) CO{sub 2} emissions of CO{sub 2} transport are only included in the socio-economic analysis, since shipping is outside the quota system. In the socio-economic analysis, the estimated value of damage impact on the environment is included; b) The value of the oil produced after 2049 is included in

What determines crime rates? An empirical test of integrated economic and sociological theories of criminal behavior

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Engelen, Peter Jan; Lander, Michel W.; van Essen, Marc

Research on crime has by no means reached a definitive conclusion on which factors are related to crime rates. We contribute to the crime literature by providing an integrated empirical model of economic and sociological theories of criminal behavior and by using a very comprehensive set of

Essays in health economics and labor economics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Palali, Ali

2015-01-01

The economics literature presents a growing number of studies focusing on risky health behaviors such as tobacco use or cannabis use. One of the most important characteristics of these risky health behaviors is that they harm the users and the people around the users, causing great social and

Risk factors for disordered weight control behaviors among Korean adolescents: Multilevel analysis of the Korea Youth Risk Behavior Survey.

Science.gov (United States)

Kim, Yongjoo; Austin, S Bryn; Subramanian, S V; Thomas, Jennifer J; Eddy, Kamryn T; Franko, Debra L; Rodgers, Rachel F; Kawachi, Ichiro

2018-02-01

To investigate the prevalence and risk factors for disordered weight control behaviors (DWCB) in South Korean adolescents at multiple levels, including individual, family, school, and geographic area. We drew participants from the 11th Korea Youth Risk Behavior Web-based Survey, conducted in 2015, with 65,529 adolescents (31,687 girls, 33,842 boys) aged 12-18 years. DWCB was defined as engaging in any of the following behaviors for weight control over the past month: fasting, one-food diet (eating only one food over an extended period of time for weight control), vomiting, and taking laxatives/diuretics/unprescribed diet pills. Sex-stratified four-level multilevel logistic models examined potential predictors of DWCB, including age, body-mass index, puberty, perceived household economic status, parental education, living structure, school type and sex-composition, percentage of students participating in school nutrition programs, and urbanicity. Overall, 6.2% of Korean adolescents (8.9% of girls, 3.7% of boys) exhibited any DWCB. We found significant between-school variation among girls and boys and between-classroom variation among girls. Older age, overweight/obesity, pubertal maturity, high household economic status (vs. mid-range economic status), and vocational schooling (vs. general) were positively associated with DWCB among girls and boys. Low household economic status (vs. mid-range economic status), higher parental education, and coeducational schooling (vs. single-sex) were positively associated with DWCB among girls only. The findings suggest that DWCB are prevalent among Korean adolescents across age, sex, and socioeconomic status. Social contextual factors including school and familial environmental factors, as well as individual characteristics, should be considered when developing effective prevention strategies. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Exergo-Economic Analysis of an Experimental Aircraft Turboprop Engine Under Low Torque Condition

Science.gov (United States)

Atilgan, Ramazan; Turan, Onder; Aydin, Hakan

Exergo-economic analysis is an unique combination of exergy analysis and cost analysis conducted at the component level. In exergo-economic analysis, cost of each exergy stream is determined. Inlet and outlet exergy streams of the each component are associated to a monetary cost. This is essential to detect cost-ineffective processes and identify technical options which could improve the cost effectiveness of the overall energy system. In this study, exergo-economic analysis is applied to an aircraft turboprop engine. Analysis is based on experimental values at low torque condition (240 N m). Main components of investigated turboprop engine are the compressor, the combustor, the gas generator turbine, the free power turbine and the exhaust. Cost balance equations have been formed for all components individually and exergo-economic parameters including cost rates and unit exergy costs have been calculated for each component.

How Has Applied Behavior Analysis and Behavior Therapy Changed?: An Historical Analysis of Journals

Science.gov (United States)

O'Donohue, William; Fryling, Mitch

2007-01-01

Applied behavior analysis and behavior therapy are now nearly a half century old. It is interesting to ask if and how these disciplines have changed over time, particularly regarding some of their key internal controversies (e.g., role of cognitions). We examined the first five years and the 2000-2004 five year period of the "Journal of Applied…

Chaotic time series analysis in economics: Balance and perspectives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Faggini, Marisa

2014-01-01

The aim of the paper is not to review the large body of work concerning nonlinear time series analysis in economics, about which much has been written, but rather to focus on the new techniques developed to detect chaotic behaviours in economic data. More specifically, our attention will be devoted to reviewing some of these techniques and their application to economic and financial data in order to understand why chaos theory, after a period of growing interest, appears now not to be such an interesting and promising research area

Chaotic time series analysis in economics: Balance and perspectives

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Faggini, Marisa, E-mail: mfaggini@unisa.it [Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Statistiche, Università di Salerno, Fisciano 84084 (Italy)

2014-12-15

The aim of the paper is not to review the large body of work concerning nonlinear time series analysis in economics, about which much has been written, but rather to focus on the new techniques developed to detect chaotic behaviours in economic data. More specifically, our attention will be devoted to reviewing some of these techniques and their application to economic and financial data in order to understand why chaos theory, after a period of growing interest, appears now not to be such an interesting and promising research area.

Economic analysis of land regeneration programmes through rural cooperatives

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reddy, B.S.; Srinivasan, P.V.; Parikh, K.S.; Parikh, J.K.

1997-01-01

An economic analysis of land regeneration programmes is given combining the criteria of financial as well as economic feasibility and sustainability applied to a wood plantation of Mallanahlly TGCS in Karnataka, India. Feasibility is measured in terms of economic benefits to the stakeholders and sustainability through optimal rotation of trees as well as continuous annual income to the stakeholders from such rotations. The plantation programme is evaluated at the perspectives of both TGCS and the society as a whole and it is found that benefit cost ratios are high in both the cases. (K.A.)

Economic analysis vs. capital-recovery requirements of power reactor decommissioning

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ferguson, J.S.

1980-01-01

As a consultant to electric utilities the author often becomes involved in the development of policy for capital recovery and in the determination of depreciation rates that will implement the policy. Utility capital recovery is controlled by generally accepted depreciation accounting practices and by regulatory commission accounting rules and, as a result, can differ significantly from engineering economics. Those involved with decommissioning of power reactors should be aware of the depreciation accounting and regulatory framework that dictates capital recovery requirements, whether their involvement is related to engineering economics or capital recovery. This presentation defines that framework, points out several significant implications (particularly tax), describes several conforming capital-recovery methods, describes several techniques that have been used with the decommissioning component in economic analysis of alternative energy sources, and discusses why those involved in economic analysis should learn the accounting and regulatory framework for capital recovery

Methods of economic analysis applied to fusion research. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

1983-01-01

In this and previous efforts ECON has provided economic assessment of a fusion research program. This phase of study focused on two tasks, the first concerned with the economics of fusion in an economy that relies heavily upon synthetic fuels, and the second concerned with the overall economic effects of pursuing soft energy technologies instead of hard technologies. This report is organized in two parts, the first entitled An Economic Analysis of Coproduction of Fusion-Electric Energy and Other Products, and the second entitled Arguments Associated with the Choice of Potential Energy Futures

Techno-Economic Analysis of Biogas Utilization as an Alternative Fuel

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Merry Indahsari Devi

2014-07-01

Full Text Available This paper will discuss the feasibility and economic analysis of biogas energy as a supply for the diesel engine generator. The techno-economic analysis was performed by using three parameters which are Net Present Value (NPV, Internal Rate of Return (IRR, and Payback Period (PP as the feasibility indicators of the biogas power plant project. Calculation of substitution was obtained from the comparison between data of diesel engine using diesel fuel and dual-fuel with biogas. Economic calculations include the substitution percentage of diesel fuel by biogas for dual-fuel. Meanwhile, the calculation of savings was based on the ratio of energy content between diesel fuel and biogas. The eventual outcome is determined using economic comparison between the use of diesel fuel and dual-fuel mode. Feasibility shows that the pilot plant of 1 to 6 kWh using diesel fuel and dual-fuel are not feasible while techno-economic parameter analysis shows that NPV<0, IRR

Complexity and the culture of economics: a sociological and inter-disciplinary analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hendrik Van den Berg

2012-05-01

Full Text Available This paper offers a sociological explanation for why the field of economics has so severely restricted the scope of its analysis to the point where it failed to foresee the financial crises, economic recessions, and other large shifts in economic activity that have characterized the global economy in recent decades. This paper’s analysis of the culture of economics draws heavily on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the French sociologist who developed a useful framework with which to analyze the culture of an intellectual field like economics. Specifically, the paper describes how the neo-liberal doxa supports the restrictive neoclassical (marginalist modeling approach that is a central element of the habitus of mainstream economics. Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence shows how the orthodox economics culture perpetuates itself even in the face of the complete failure of the culture’s favored neoclassical and rational expectations models to anticipate recent macroeconomic crises. The paper concludes with some thoughts on how this understanding of the culture of economics can enable economists to free themselves from the oppressive culture of mainstream economics.

Analysis of Three Antecedent Dimensions of Service Towards Consumer's Trust and Their Impact on Post-Purchase Behavior

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Retno Dewanti

2011-09-01

Full Text Available In the last few years retail industry in Indonesia has been grown rapidly by three main factors, namely economic, demographic and socio-cultural. If a retail business can gain success in Malaysia, it may not gain the same success in Indonesia. A research is conducted using associative analysis by correlation test with path analysis technique and Pearson Product Moment correlation. The results of this research show that three antecedents of service variables – interaction quality, the quality of physical environment, and outcome quality – are related to each other and simultaneously influence consumer’s trust. Regarding to the partial analysis, it is found that the quality of physical environment and consumer’s trust has significant effects on post-purchase behavior. Path analysis shows that three antecedents of service indirectly contribute to consumer post-purchase behavior through consumer’s trust. However, the outcome quality provides the largest contribution on it.

Offshore Wind Market and Economic Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hamilton, Bruce Duncan [Navigant Consulting, Inc., Chicago, IL (United States)

2014-08-27

This report is the third annual assessment of the U.S. offshore wind market. It includes the following major sections: Section 1: key data on developments in the offshore wind technology sector and the global development of offshore wind projects, with a particular focus on progress in the United States; Section 2: analysis of policy developments at the federal and state levels that have been effective in advancing offshore wind deployment in the United States; Section 3: analysis of actual and projected economic impact, including regional development and job creation; Section 4: analysis of developments in relevant sectors of the economy with the potential to affect offshore wind deployment in the United States

Low Self-Esteem during Adolescence Predicts Poor Health, Criminal Behavior, and Limited Economic Prospects during Adulthood

Science.gov (United States)

Trzesniewski, Kali H.; Donnellan, M. Brent; Moffitt, Terrie E.; Robins, Richard W.; Poulton, Richie; Caspi, Avshalom

2006-01-01

Using prospective data from the Dunedin Multidisciplinary Health and Development Study birth cohort, the authors found that adolescents with low self-esteem had poorer mental and physical health, worse economic prospects, and higher levels of criminal behavior during adulthood, compared with adolescents with high self-esteem. The long-term…

Economic Analysis of Nuclear Energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, S. S.; Lee, M. K.; Moon, K. H.; Nam, J. H.; Noh, B. C.; Kim, H. R.

2008-12-01

The concerns on the global warming issues in the international community are bringing about a paradigm shift in the national economy including energy technology development. In this connection, the green growth mainly utilizing green technology, which emits low carbon, is being initiated by many advanced countries including Korea. The objective of the study is to evaluate the contribution to the national economy from nuclear energy attributable to the characteristics of green technology, to which nuclear energy belongs. The study covers the role of nuclear in addressing climate change issues, the proper share of nuclear in the electricity sector, the cost analyses of decommissioning and radioactive waste management, and the analysis on the economic performance of nuclear R and D including cost benefit analysis

Techno-economic analysis of bioenergy systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Solantausta, Y.

1995-01-01

The objectives of the IEA Bioenergy Technoeconomic Analysis Activity are: To promote development of thermochemical biomass conversion methods by carrying out selected site specific feasibility studies in participating countries. Both agricultural and woody biomasses will be converted either into electricity or boiler fuels. To compare advanced technologies to commercial alternatives based on techno-economic basis to establish future development needs. To facilitate information exchange between participants on relevant basic process issues. Five countries (Finland, Canada, USA, Norway, Austria) are participating to the Activity. Initially two feasibility studies are planned for each country. Each study has three common elements: site specific, technical, and economic data. The site specific cases are described below in short. Products in the cases are electricity, heat and fuel oil. Total of two cases per country are planned

Helping patients make better decisions: how to apply behavioral economics in clinical practice

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Courtney MR

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Maureen Reni Courtney,1 Christy Spivey,2 Kathy M Daniel1 1College of Nursing, 2College of Business, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, USA  Abstract: Clinicians are committed to effectively educating patients and helping them to make sound decisions concerning their own health care. However, how do clinicians determine what is effective education? How do they present information clearly and in a manner that patients understand and can use to make informed decisions? Behavioral economics (BE is a subfield of economics that can assist clinicians to better understand how individuals actually make decisions. BE research can help guide interactions with patients so that information is presented and discussed in a more deliberate and impactful way. We can be more effective providers of care when we understand the factors that influence how our patients make decisions, factors of which we may have been largely unaware. BE research that focuses on health care and medical decision making is becoming more widely known, and what has been reported suggests that BE interventions can be effective in the medical realm. The purpose of this article is to provide clinicians with an overview of BE decision science and derived practice strategies to promote more effective behavior change in patients.Keywords: nursing, message framing, defaults, incentives, social norms, commitment devices, health care

Using hydro-economic modelling to investigate trade-offs between ecological and economic water management objectives

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Riegels, Niels

is that land and water use levels predicted by the two approaches are essentially the same. The prediction that high-value irrigated crops will not replace low-value crops is not unreasonable given behavior observed in the baseline data set and highlights the limitations of using economic models calibrated......In regions where water scarcity exists, economic analysis can help identify ways to increase benefits of water use. The European Union’s Water Framework Directive (WFD), is an example of a law that requires the use of economic principles, approaches, and instruments in water resources management....... One of these instruments is water pricing. This study develops an approach for implementing the water pricing guidelines of the WFD at the river basin scale and then uses hydro-economic modelling to estimate the impacts of applying these guidelines. The central purpose of the WFD is the protection...

Socio-economic institutions in classical political economy of Ukraine

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yu.V. Ushchapovskyy

2015-09-01

Full Text Available Fragmentary researches of socio-economic institutions by classical political economy are caused by the absence of social components in its methodological «core». The article concentrates on the ideas of institutionalism in the context of classical political economy formation. The author underlines the necessity to adapt the analysis of socio-economic institutions in the heritage of classical political economy in Ukraine of the 19-th century to the creation of an integral conception of genesis and evolution of institutionalism in Ukrainian economic thought. Following the traditions of European economic science, Ukrainian scientists tried to take into account social contradictions, the needs in democratic transformations of social relations in their works. In spite of absence of the category of «standard (rule» among Adam Smith’s followers, and Ukrainian economists paid attention to a social problematic in the context of traditional researches of classical political economy, there is the necessity to examine socio-economic institutions in their heritage and the possibility of its application to the formation of the paradigm of modern institutionalism. Michail Baludyanskiy considered that a state could limit the freedom of an economic activity only on the base of generally accepted standards, but in this case contributing to safety and freedom of an economic activity. National system of economy, its legislative and management systems must conceptually obey economic policy, Anthropocentrism defined the philosophical conception of Tihon Stepanov’s political economy. He followed methodological holism as he concluded the characteristics of an individual on the base of characteristics of institutions (society. Ivan Vernadskiy’s researches concerning behavior of an individual and his trials to characterize value from a consumer’s point of view don’t fully correspond to traditional classical political economy. To improve Adam Smith’s study

Economic analysis of needs the training of human resources

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Buha Vesna V.

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The issue of lifelong learning is linked to the voluntary and motivated to seek knowledge from personal or organizational reasons. The fact that an individual learns driven by personal career goals, desire for self improvement and motivation refers to the importance of lifelong learning for the entire social inclusion, sustainability, and competitiveness and employment. The common denominator of all the problems of investment in education is an issue of increasing allocations to the social issues, the pace that in this area manifest needs. Relative resource constraints requires that the investment in professional development taking place in accordance with the expected contribution to the creation of new value, increase productivity and social development of society as a whole. Respecting this request, in general, should provide maximum socio-economic effects with minimal investment. Precise measurement is achieved by tools of economic analysis: cost & benefit, economic sensitivity analysis, risk assessment.

Scrutinizing The Epistemology of Islamic Economics: A Historical Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Nurizal Ismail

2016-05-01

Full Text Available The first International Conference on Islamic Economics was held in Makkah, in 1976. Economists, jurists and scholars met together to discuss issues of Muslim ummah. However, there was many books written related to Islamic economics in the history of Islamic civilization, especially in the period of Abbasid caliphate. The fact, development of knowledge in Islamic medieval had established the epistemology of Islamic economics itself. Moreover, the epistemology is a study of the theory of knowledge, the source of knowledge, the application of knowledge and limitation of knowledge. Therefore, this paper aims to explore the contribution of earlier Muslim thinkers to the source of Islamic economics and to identify the epistemology of Islamic economics as proposed by the Muslim thinkers in medieval period. As a result, this paper will propose the epistemology of Islamic economics by integrating Islamic heritage and modern economics that is not conflict with Islamic principles and values. To achieve its objectives; this study employs qualitative research by applying content and descriptive analysis. The finding of this study is that the earlier Muslim thinkers have contributed to the construction of epistemology in Islamic economics. Then, to construct the genuine of Islamic economics, tawhid must be put as a core of Islamic economic epistemology that directs the sources of knowledge which are rooted firstly from revealed and then rational knowledge by using appropriate methods.

Building and Defining Behavioral Economics

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Heukelom, F.; Emmett, R.; Biddle, J.E.

2011-01-01

George Loewenstein, a prominent behavioral economist, recalls thatIn 1994, when Thaler, Camerer, Rabin, Prelec and I spent the year at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences, we had a meeting to make a kind of final decision about what to call what we were doing. Remarkably, at

[HEALTH ECONOMIC ANALYSIS AND FAIR DECISION MAKING].

Science.gov (United States)

Jeantet, Marine; Lopez, Alain

2015-09-01

Health technology assessment consists in evaluating the incremental cost-benefit ratio of a medicine, a medical device, a vaccine, a health strategy, in comparison to alternative health technologies. This form of socio-eoonomic evaluation aims at optimizing resource allocation within the health system. By setting the terms of valid alternatives, it is useful to highlight public choices, but it cannot in itself make the decision as regards the public funding of patient's access to the considered technology. The decision to include such technology in the basket of health goods and sercices covered, the levels and conditions of the coverage, also result from budget constraints, from economic situation and from a political vision about health policy, social protection and public expenditure. Accordingly, health economic analysis must be implemented on specific and targeted topics. The decision making process, with its health, economic and ethical stakes, calls for a public procedure and debate, based on shared information and argument. Otherwise, health system regulation, confronted with radical and costly innovations in the coming years, will become harder to handle. This requires the development of health economic research teams able to contribute to this assessment exercise.

Changes in transport behavior during the financial crisis. An analysis of urban form, location and transport behavior in the greater Copenhagen area 2006-2011

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nielsen, Thomas Alexander Sick

2015-01-01

A multitude of studies have focussed on the connections between urban form, location and transport behavior to inform sustainable and resilient urban planning. However, few have studied the stability of urban form and location effects under changing economic conditions. This paper presents...... an analysis of the changes in urban form and location correlates of travel distances in the Danish Zealand/Copenhagen region from before the financial crisis (2006/07) to some years after the financial downturn (2010/11). Significant changes are found in the socio-economic as well as urban form and location....../destinations. It follows that the location pattern, the geographical configuration of the urban region, is a factor in households' adaptive strategies which partly determine the possibilities for reducing travel and the possibilities for adaption and regional resilience....

Economic Context and HIV Vulnerability in Adolescents and Young Adults Living in Urban Slums in Kenya: A Qualitative Analysis Based on Scarcity Theory.

Science.gov (United States)

Jennings, Larissa; Mathai, Muthoni; Linnemayr, Sebastian; Trujillo, Antonio; Mak'anyengo, Margaret; Montgomery, Brooke E E; Kerrigan, Deanna L

2017-09-01

Urban slum adolescents and young adults have disproportionately high rates of HIV compared to rural and non-slum urban youth. Yet, few studies have examined youth's perceptions of the economic drivers of HIV. Informed by traditional and behavioral economics, we applied a scarcity theoretical framework to qualitatively examine how poverty influences sexual risk behaviors among adolescents and young adults. Focus group discussions with one hundred twenty youth in Kenyan's urban slums were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using interpretive phenomenology. Results indicated that slum youth made many sexual decisions considered rational from a traditional economics perspective, such as acquiring more sex when resources were available, maximizing wealth through sex, being price-sensitive to costs of condoms or testing services, and taking more risks when protected from adverse sexual consequences. Youth's engagement in sexual risk behaviors was also motivated by scarcity phenomena explained by behavioral economics, such as compensating for sex lost during scarce periods (risk-seeking), valuing economic gains over HIV risks (tunneling, bandwidth tax), and transacting sex as an investment strategy (internal referencing). When scarcity was alleviated, young women additionally described reducing the number of sex partners to account for non-economic preferences (slack). Prevention strategies should address the traditional and behavioral economics of the HIV epidemic.

Energy alternatives for irrigation pumping: an economic analysis for northern India.

OpenAIRE

Bhatia R

1984-01-01

ILO pub-WEP pub. Working paper presenting an economic analysis of alternative energy sources for irrigation pumping in Northern India - considers economic and technical aspects of photovoltaic pumping systems, solar energy systems, electric power, dual-fuel and diesel engines, Biogas and wind power; discusses economic and social development aspects. Abbreviations, bibliography, glossary and tables.

Testing the effectiveness of in-home behavioral economics strategies to increase vegetable intake, liking, and variety among children residing in households that receive food assistance.

Science.gov (United States)

Leak, Tashara M; Swenson, Alison; Vickers, Zata; Mann, Traci; Mykerezi, Elton; Redden, Joseph P; Rendahl, Aaron; Reicks, Marla

2015-01-01

To test the effectiveness of behavioral economics strategies for increasing vegetable intake, variety, and liking among children residing in homes receiving food assistance. A randomized controlled trial with data collected at baseline, once weekly for 6 weeks, and at study conclusion. Family homes. Families with a child (9-12 years) will be recruited through community organizations and randomly assigned to an intervention (n = 36) or control (n = 10) group. The intervention group will incorporate a new behavioral economics strategy during home dinner meal occasions each week for 6 weeks. Strategies are simple and low-cost. The primary dependent variable will be child's dinner meal vegetable consumption based on weekly reports by caregivers. Fixed independent variables will include the strategy and week of strategy implementation. Secondary dependent variables will include vegetable liking and variety of vegetables consumed based on data collected at baseline and study conclusion. Mean vegetable intake for each strategy across families will be compared using a mixed-model analysis of variance with a random effect for child. In additionally, overall mean changes in vegetable consumption, variety, and liking will be compared between intervention and control groups. Copyright © 2015 Society for Nutrition Education and Behavior. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Project analysis and integration economic analyses summary

Science.gov (United States)

Macomber, H. L.

1986-01-01

An economic-analysis summary was presented for the manufacture of crystalline-silicon modules involving silicon ingot/sheet, growth, slicing, cell manufacture, and module assembly. Economic analyses provided: useful quantitative aspects for complex decision-making to the Flat-plate Solar Array (FSA) Project; yardsticks for design and performance to industry; and demonstration of how to evaluate and understand the worth of research and development both to JPL and other government agencies and programs. It was concluded that future research and development funds for photovoltaics must be provided by the Federal Government because the solar industry today does not reap enough profits from its present-day sales of photovoltaic equipment.

Deterministic economic analysis of feedlot Red Angus young steers: slaughter weights and bonus

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Paulo Santana Pacheco

2015-03-01

Full Text Available The joint analysis of indicators of the investment project is very relevant in making decisions, resulting in more consistent information regarding risk assessment and its confrontation with the possibility of return. This research aimed to evaluate the economic feasibility of Red Angus young steers finished in feedlot, slaughtered at 340, 373, 396 or 430kg with use of various financial indicators, marketed with or without bonus. The purchase of feeder cattle and feeding were variable costs with a higher share in the total cost. In the analysis with bonus, the regression analysis to gross margin, net margin, net present value, benefit:cost index and additional return on investment showed quadratic behavior, with the point of maximum at 406kg (R$ 185.17, 406kg (R$ 161.76 , 393kg (R$ 128.29, 392kg (1.12, 392kg (11.98%, respectively. In the analysis without bonus, gross margin and net margin showed a quadratic response (346kg, with R$ 110.31 and R$ 86.90, respectively, while for the other indicators, there was a linear reduction as an increase in slaughter weight.

Translational Research: It's Not 1960s Behavior Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Poling, Alan; Edwards, Timothy L.

2011-01-01

The authors find Critchfield's article ("Translational Contributions of the Experimental Analysis of Behavior," "The Behavior Analyst," v34, p3-17, 2011) scholarly, clear, and insightful. In it, Critchfield provides an excellent overview of translational research in behavior analysis and suggests several general strategies for increasing the…

Applied Behavior Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Szapacs, Cindy

2006-01-01

Teaching strategies that work for typically developing children often do not work for those diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. However, teaching strategies that work for children with autism do work for typically developing children. In this article, the author explains how the principles and concepts of Applied Behavior Analysis can be…

The Economic Analysis of University Participation Rates

Science.gov (United States)

Fallis, George

2015-01-01

Over the postwar period in most developed countries, the university participation rate has risen steadily to well over 30 percent, although there remain differences between countries. Students from lower income families have lower participation rates than those from higher income families. The article provides an economic analysis of these…

An economic analysis of communal goat production

OpenAIRE

P.J. Sebei; C.M.E. McCrindle; E.C. Webb

2004-01-01

The economic impact of different extension messages used was calculated using enterprise budgeting (gross margin analysis). Input data were gleaned from the literature, from participatory appraisals, as well as a field study, spanning 12 months, of small-scalecommunal goat farming systems in Jericho in the Odi District of NorthWest Province. The number of offspring weaned per annum, as a proportion of does owned, was selected as the desired output for analysis. This study has shown that small...

Analysis of the interaction between experimental and applied behavior analysis.

Science.gov (United States)

Virues-Ortega, Javier; Hurtado-Parrado, Camilo; Cox, Alison D; Pear, Joseph J

2014-01-01

To study the influences between basic and applied research in behavior analysis, we analyzed the coauthorship interactions of authors who published in JABA and JEAB from 1980 to 2010. We paid particular attention to authors who published in both JABA and JEAB (dual authors) as potential agents of cross-field interactions. We present a comprehensive analysis of dual authors' coauthorship interactions using social networks methodology and key word analysis. The number of dual authors more than doubled (26 to 67) and their productivity tripled (7% to 26% of JABA and JEAB articles) between 1980 and 2010. Dual authors stood out in terms of number of collaborators, number of publications, and ability to interact with multiple groups within the field. The steady increase in JEAB and JABA interactions through coauthors and the increasing range of topics covered by dual authors provide a basis for optimism regarding the progressive integration of basic and applied behavior analysis. © Society for the Experimental Analysis of Behavior.

Economic analysis of nuclear energy

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Man Ki; Moon, K. H.; Kim, S. S.; Lim, C. Y.; Song, K. D.; Oh, K. B.

2004-12-01

This study evaluated the role of nuclear energy in various aspects in order to provide a more comprehensive standard of judgement to the justification of the utilization of nuclear energy. Firstly, this study evaluated the economic value addition of nuclear power generation technology and Radio-Isotope(RI) technology quantitatively by using modified Input-Output table. Secondly, a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis of nuclear power generation was conducted with an effort to quantify the foreign exchange expenditure, the environmental damage cost during 1986-2015 for each scenario. Thirdly, the effect of the regulation of CO 2 emission on the Korean electric supply system was investigated. In more detail, an optimal composition of power plant mix by energy source was investigated, under the assumption of the CO 2 emission regulation at a certain level, by using MESSAGE model. Finally, the economic spillover effect from technology self-reliance of NSSS by Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute was evaluated. Both production spillover effect and value addition spillover effect were estimated by using Input-Output table

Analysis of Health Behavior Theories for Clustering of Health Behaviors.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Seung Hee; Duffy, Sonia A

The objective of this article was to review the utility of established behavior theories, including the Health Belief Model, Theory of Reasoned Action, Theory of Planned Behavior, Transtheoretical Model, and Health Promotion Model, for addressing multiple health behaviors among people who smoke. It is critical to design future interventions for multiple health behavior changes tailored to individuals who currently smoke, yet it has not been addressed. Five health behavior theories/models were analyzed and critically evaluated. A review of the literature included a search of PubMed and Google Scholar from 2010 to 2016. Two hundred sixty-seven articles (252 studies from the initial search and 15 studies from the references of initially identified studies) were included in the analysis. Most of the health behavior theories/models emphasize psychological and cognitive constructs that can be applied only to one specific behavior at a time, thus making them not suitable to address multiple health behaviors. However, the Health Promotion Model incorporates "related behavior factors" that can explain multiple health behaviors among persons who smoke. Future multiple behavior interventions guided by the Health Promotion Model are necessary to show the utility and applicability of the model to address multiple health behaviors.

Integrating economic analysis and the science of climate instability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hall, Darwin C.; Behl, Richard J.

2006-01-01

Scientific understanding of climate change and climate instability has undergone a revolution in the past decade with the discovery of numerous past climate transitions so rapid, and so unlike the expectation of smooth climate changes, that they would have previously been unbelievable to the scientific community. Models commonly used by economists to assess the wisdom of adapting to human-induced climate change, rather than averting it, lack the ability to incorporate this new scientific knowledge. Here, we identify and explain the nature of recent scientific advances, and describe the key ways in which failure to reflect new knowledge in economic analysis skews the results of that analysis. This includes the understanding that economic optimization models reliant on convexity are inherently unable to determine an 'optimal' policy solution. It is incumbent on economists to understand and to incorporate the new science in their models, and on climatologists and other scientists to understand the basis of economic models so that they can assist in this essential effort. (author)

Manometer Behavior Analysis using CATHENA, RELAP and GOTHIC Codes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Yang Hoon; Han, Kee Soo; Moon, Bok Ja; Jang, Misuk [Nuclear Engineering Service and Solution Co. Ltd., Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2014-05-15

In this presentation, simple thermal hydraulic behavior is analyzed using three codes to show the possibility of using alternative codes. We established three models of simple u-tube manometer using three different codes. CATHENA (Canadian Algorithm for Thermal hydraulic Network Analysis), RELAP (Reactor Excursion and Leak Analysis Program), GOTHIC (Generation of Thermal Hydraulic Information for Containments) are used for this analysis. CATHENA and RELAP are widely used codes for the analysis of system behavior of CANDU and PWR. And GOTHIC code also has been widely used for the analysis of thermal hydraulic behavior in the containment system. In this paper, the internal behavior of u-tube manometer was analyzed using 3 codes, CATHENA, RELAP and GOTHIC. The general transient behavior is similar among 3 codes. However, the behavior simulated using GOTHIC shows some different trend compared with the results from the other 2 codes at the end of the transient. It would be resulted from the use of different physical model in GOTHIC, which is specialized for the multi-phase thermal hydraulic behavior analysis of containment system unlike the other two codes.

Software Integration of Life Cycle Assessment and Economic Analysis for Process Evaluation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kalakula, Sawitree; Malakula, Pomthong; Siemanonda, Kitipat

2013-01-01

This study is focused on the sustainable process design of bioethanol production from cassava rhizome. The study includes: process simulation, sustainability analysis, economic evaluation and life cycle assessment (LCA). A steady state process simulation if performed to generate a base case design...... of the bioethanol conversion process using cassava rhizome as a feedstock. The sustainability analysis is performed to analyze the relevant indicators in sustainability metrics, to definedesign/retrofit targets for process improvements. Economic analysis is performed to evaluate the profitability of the process........ Also, simultaneously with sustainability analysis, the life cycle impact on environment associated with bioethanol production is performed. Finally, candidate alternative designs are generated and compared with the base case design in terms of LCA, economics, waste, energy usage and enviromental impact...

BERCENI VILLAGE - A SOCIAL-ECONOMICAL ANALYSIS

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adina IORGA

2014-06-01

Full Text Available Rural modernization aims at maintaining rural societies through occupational diversification that will improvequality of life and avoid rural exodus. It aims to acquire some features of the modern world such as those related totechnical, increased productivity, infrastructure, whereby rural community enriches its identity, acquiring newmeanings.This study is a close social-economical analysis of the countryside households of Berceni village. Berceniis in the southern county of Ilfov near Bucharest. It is based on the statistical data provided by National Institute ofStatistics. The data have been processed into the following indicators:age structure and gender, births and deaths,feminization, migration .Considering that human resources is the main factor in developing and moderinization ofrural space, this study is aimed to investigate as well, the posibility of diversifying inhabitants’ occupationsaccording to pshicologycal, social and economical resources.

Comparative Economic Analysis of Beekeeping Using Traditional ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

The study was carried out in Tabora and Katavi regions in the miombo woodlands of Tanzania. The overall objective of the study was to undertake a comparative economic analysis of beekeeping using improved or traditional beehives. Data were collected from 198 beekeepers that were randomly selected from a sampling ...

National Launch System comparative economic analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Prince, A.

1992-01-01

Results are presented from an analysis of economic benefits (or losses), in the form of the life cycle cost savings, resulting from the development of the National Launch System (NLS) family of launch vehicles. The analysis was carried out by comparing various NLS-based architectures with the current Shuttle/Titan IV fleet. The basic methodology behind this NLS analysis was to develop a set of annual payload requirements for the Space Station Freedom and LEO, to design launch vehicle architectures around these requirements, and to perform life-cycle cost analyses on all of the architectures. A SEI requirement was included. Launch failure costs were estimated and combined with the relative reliability assumptions to measure the effects of losses. Based on the analysis, a Shuttle/NLS architecture evolving into a pressurized-logistics-carrier/NLS architecture appears to offer the best long-term cost benefit.

SINGULAR SPECTRUM ANALYSIS: METHODOLOGY AND APPLICATION TO ECONOMICS DATA

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Hossein HASSANI; Anatoly ZHIGLJAVSKY

2009-01-01

This paper describes the methodology of singular spectrum analysis (SSA) and demonstrate that it is a powerful method of time series analysis and forecasting, particulary for economic time series. The authors consider the application of SSA to the analysis and forecasting of the Iranian national accounts data as provided by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of lran.

Marriage From the Perspective of Economics of Law

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

علی تازیکی‌نژاد

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Marriage law, as part of general pattern of family, is a policy instrument that defines optimal behavioral standards for matrimonial relationship through ordaining sanctions. Imposing such standards regardless of their consequences may result in anxiety in the family institution and subsequently in the society itself and may raise the motivation of defensive behaviors among people and as a result will increase the cost of legislative and judicial system. Economic approach to the marriage law with analyzing aftermath of laws on couple's behavior is looking for minimizing marriage costs including couple, society and judiciary system costs, and maximizing the cost of its inefficient breach. Incentive role of family law and its supplements, such as labor laws, tax and employment affairs etc., on the rate of marriage and divorce, the amount of dowry and other couple's decisions is a topic that economics of family law is recently very focused on. This article, in the form of “contract” and “market” and by using of concepts including costs, benefits, efficiency, competition and monopolywill present the economic analysis of marriage and other related legal concepts and is to introduce a new approach to Iranian family legislators and judges.

Strategies to Position Behavior Analysis as the Contemporary Science of What Works in Behavior Change

OpenAIRE

Smith, Julie M.

2015-01-01

The negative perception of behavior analysis by the public, and conveyed in mass media, is well-recognized by the professional community of behavior analysts. Several strategies for correcting this perception have been deployed in the field by organizational behavior management practitioners, in particular, with encouraging results. These strategies include (a) reframing behaviorism in a more resonant format, (b) pushing direct outcome comparisons between behavior analysis and its rivals, and...

Integrating Educational, Environmental, and Behavioral Economic Strategies May Improve the Effectiveness of Obesity Interventions

OpenAIRE

Joel Gittelsohn; Katherine Lee

2013-01-01

Interventions that change the food environment, provide nutrition education, and employ behavioral economics strategies can potentially contribute to healthier diets and reduce the risk of chronic disease, but no attempt has been made to integrate these into the same conceptual framework. We present case studies of three multilevel, integrated interventions implemented by Johns Hopkins University between 2004–2011. We develop a conceptual model based on these case studies. Interventions and p...

Theoretical and methodological construction of ecological economic and analysis of operations industrial enterprises

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D.O. Gritsishen

2015-09-01

Full Text Available To form an effective analytical maintenance of economic and environmental security of industrial enterprises were justified assumptions of ecological and economic analysis. In particular, the goal (the formation of the effect of business enterprises, based on established causal link that allows you to get a comprehensive assessment to management decisions to change the parameters of governance in general and individual management subsystems aimed at ensuring the environmental and economic safety of industrial enterprise and task object (causal relationships that characterize the state of the relationship of economic activity to the environment and determine the level of environmental and economic security of industrial enterprise and object (economic activity in partial relationship with the environment that determine the level of environmental and economic security of industrial enterprises. It is possible to expand understanding of economic analysis in general and its importance in ensuring effective interaction with the enterprise environment.

Economic cycles and their synchronization: Spectral analysis of macroeconomic series from Italy, The Netherlands, and the UK

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Sella, Lisa; Vivaldo, Gianna; Ghil, Michael; Groth, Andreas

2010-05-01

The present work applies several advanced spectral methods (Ghil et al., Rev. Geophys., 2002) to the analysis of macroeconomic fluctuations in Italy, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. These methods provide valuable time-and-frequency-domain tools that complement traditional time-domain analysis, and are thus fairly well known by now in the geosciences and life sciences, but not yet widespread in quantitative economics. In particular, they enable the identification and characterization of nonlinear trends and dominant cycles --- including low-frequency and seasonal components --- that characterize the behavior of each time series. We explore five fundamental indicators of the real (i.e., non-monetary), aggregate economy --- namely gross domestic product (GDP), consumption, fixed investments, exports and imports --- in a univariate as well as multivariate setting. A single-channel analysis by means of three independent spectral methods --- singular spectrum analysis (SSA), the multi-taper method (MTM), and the maximum-entropy method (MEM) --- reveals very similar near-annual cycles, as well as several longer periodicities, in the macroeconomic indicators of all the countries analyzed. Since each indicator represents different features of an economic system, we combine them to infer if common oscillatory modes are present, either among different indicators within the same country or among the same indicators across different countries. Multichannel-SSA (M-SSA) reinforces the previous results, and shows that the common modes agree in character with solutions of a non-equilibrium dynamic model (NEDyM) that produces endogenous business cycles (Hallegatte et al., JEBO, 2008). The presence of these modes in NEDyM results from adjustment delays and other nonequilibrium effects that were added to a neoclassical Solow (Q. J. Econ., 1956) growth model. Their confirmation by the present analysis has important consequences for the net impact of natural disasters on the

Economic analysis of alternatives for optimizing energy use in manufacturing companies

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Méndez-Piñero, Mayra Ivelisse; Colón-Vázquez, Melitza

2013-01-01

The manufacturing companies are one of the main consumers of energy. The increment in global warming and the instability in the petroleum oil market have motivated companies to find alternatives to reduce energy use. In the academic literature several researchers have demonstrated that optimization models can be successfully used to reduce energy use. This research presents the use of an optimization model to identify feasible economic alternatives to reduce energy use. The economic analysis methods used were the payback and the internal rate of return. The optimization model developed in this research was applied and validated using an electronic manufacturing company case study. The results demonstrate that the main variables affecting the economic feasibility of the alternatives are the economic analysis method and the initial implementation costs. Several scenarios were analyzed and the best results show that the manufacturing company could save up to $78,000 in three years if the recommendations based on the optimization model results are implemented. - Highlights: • Evaluate top consumers of energy in manufacturing: A/C, compressed air, and lighting • Economic analysis of alternatives to optimize energy used in manufacturing • Comparison of payback method and internal rate of return method with real data • Results demonstrate that the company could generate savings in energy use

A modified exponential behavioral economic demand model to better describe consumption data.

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Koffarnus, Mikhail N; Franck, Christopher T; Stein, Jeffrey S; Bickel, Warren K

2015-12-01

Behavioral economic demand analyses that quantify the relationship between the consumption of a commodity and its price have proven useful in studying the reinforcing efficacy of many commodities, including drugs of abuse. An exponential equation proposed by Hursh and Silberberg (2008) has proven useful in quantifying the dissociable components of demand intensity and demand elasticity, but is limited as an analysis technique by the inability to correctly analyze consumption values of zero. We examined an exponentiated version of this equation that retains all the beneficial features of the original Hursh and Silberberg equation, but can accommodate consumption values of zero and improves its fit to the data. In Experiment 1, we compared the modified equation with the unmodified equation under different treatments of zero values in cigarette consumption data collected online from 272 participants. We found that the unmodified equation produces different results depending on how zeros are treated, while the exponentiated version incorporates zeros into the analysis, accounts for more variance, and is better able to estimate actual unconstrained consumption as reported by participants. In Experiment 2, we simulated 1,000 datasets with demand parameters known a priori and compared the equation fits. Results indicated that the exponentiated equation was better able to replicate the true values from which the test data were simulated. We conclude that an exponentiated version of the Hursh and Silberberg equation provides better fits to the data, is able to fit all consumption values including zero, and more accurately produces true parameter values. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2015 APA, all rights reserved).