Resources Repository
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ReviewPublication 2016Remembering Howard Raiffa
Howard Raiffa (1924-2016) had a profound influence on all aspects of the decision sciences and on …
Howard Raiffa (1924-2016) had a profound influence on all aspects of the decision sciences and on the fields of systems analysis and operations research. He guided the introduction of the decision sciences into numerous fields such as business, medicine, public health, the environmental sciences, and law, and was instrumental in building world-recognized institutions such as the Kennedy School at Harvard and the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis near Vienna, Austria. This article is a thoughtful tribute by…
Military/Defense | Business/Industry | Decision Theory | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America -
BookPublication 2016Foundations of Decision Analysis
This book is described by the authors as emerging from what they have learned by …
This book is described by the authors as emerging from what they have learned by "teaching decision analysis to thousands of people in the United States and around the world in university classes and special professional educational programs". The early chapters and certain later chapters are written to be accessible to a general audience. Chapters 1 through 17 introduce the foundations of decision analysis without requiring significant mathematical sophistication. Chapter 26 discusses multi-attribute decision problems…
Military/Defense | Business/Industry | Decision Theory | Decision Psychology | Probability/Bayes | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Global -
BookPublication 2013Making Hard Decisions with Decision Tools, 3rd Edition
Making Hard Decisions with Decision Tools® is a new edition and teaches the fundamental ideas …
Making Hard Decisions with Decision Tools® is a new edition and teaches the fundamental ideas of decision analysis, without an overly technical explanation of the mathematics used in decision analysis. This new version has been purposefully written to be more relevant to students in business and engineering compared to previous versions. This new version also incorporates and implements the powerful DecisionTools® software by Palisade Corporation. At the end of each chapter, topics are illustrated with step-by-step instructions…
Military/Defense | Business/Industry | Probability/Bayes | Preferences/Values | Test Performance | Value of Information | Microsimulation | Decision Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global | North America | Europe -
ReviewPublication 1982Decision Analysis: An Overview
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can …
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can and cannot do, why one should care to do this, and how one does it. Keeney describes decision analysis as "a formalization of common sense for decision problems which are too complex for informal use of common sense." He provides a more technical definition also, describing decision analysis as "a philosophy, articulated by a set of logical axioms, and a methodology…
Military/Defense | Business/Industry | Decision Theory | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology -
ArticlePublication 2023Benefits and Costs of COVID-19 Vaccine Mandates
Written mid-pandemic, this article evaluates the direct costs and health benefits of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations …
Written mid-pandemic, this article evaluates the direct costs and health benefits of requiring COVID-19 vaccinations for U.S. federal employees and healthcare and private sector workers. These mandates were controversial and some were halted by litigation. If they had been implemented as intended, the net benefits would depend on the course of the pandemic. If a more transmissible variant (such as Omicron) emerges, the net benefits may be large. If the pandemic instead fades, the benefits…
Business/Industry | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2019Cost-Effectiveness of U.S. National SSB Tax with a Multistakeholder Approach: Who Pays and Who Benefits
This analysis estimated the health impact and cost-effectiveness of a national penny-per-ounce sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) …
This analysis estimated the health impact and cost-effectiveness of a national penny-per-ounce sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax, overall and with stratified costs and benefits for nine distinct stakeholder groups. A microsimulation model (CVD PREDICT) was used to estimate cardiovascular disease reductions, quality-adjusted life years gained, and cost-effectiveness for U.S. adults aged 35 to 85 years, evaluating full and partial consumer price pass-through. Results showed that from both a health care and societal perspective, the SSB tax was…
Business/Industry | Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2018Cost-Effectiveness of Financial Incentives and Disincentives for Improving Food Purchases and Health through SNAP
This analysis estimated the health impact, costs, and cost-effectiveness of food incentives, disincentives, or restrictions …
This analysis estimated the health impact, costs, and cost-effectiveness of food incentives, disincentives, or restrictions in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). A microsimulation model (CVD-PREDICT) was used to compare three policy interventions: (1) a 30% incentive for fruits and vegetables (F&V), (2) a 30% F&V incentive with a restriction of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs), and (3) a broader incentive/disincentive program for multiple foods that also preserves choice (SNAP-plus). From a societal perspective, all three scenarios…
Business/Industry | Microsimulation | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ReviewPublication 2016Decision Support for Infectious Disease Control
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to …
This report from RAND reviews decision-support tools, including models and nonmodeling approaches, that are relevant to infectious disease prevention, detection, and response and aligns these tools with real-world policy questions that the tools can help address. This overview is designed to help modelers and other technical experts understand the questions that policymakers will raise and the decisions they must make. The report also presents policymakers with the capabilities and limitations of the different tools that may…
Military/Defense | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Infectious Diseases | Global Governance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Global -
ReviewPublication 2015Agent-Based Models and Microsimulation
This article reviews the principles and applications of agent-based models (ABMs). ABMs are computational models …
This article reviews the principles and applications of agent-based models (ABMs). ABMs are computational models used to simulate the actions and interactions of “agents” within a system. Usually, each agent has a set of rules for how he or she responds to the environment and to other agents. These models are used to gain insight into the emergent behavior of complex systems with many agents, in which the emergent behavior depends upon the micro-level behavior…
Military/Defense | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology