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…
Operations Research | Decision Analysis | Business/Industry | Decision Theory | Preferences/Values | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | North America -
ArticlePublication 2007Decision Analysis: A Personal Account of How It Got Started and Evolved
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement …
In this chapter, Howard Raiffa discusses the evolution of decision analysis and his personal involvement in its development. He describes the early days of Operations Research (OR) in the late 1940s with its approach to complex, strategic decision making. After reading John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern’s Theory of Games and Economic Behavior (1947) and Abraham Wald’s two books (1947, 1950), he became involved in statistical decision theory. A few years later, after reading Leonard…
Operations Research | Decision Analysis | Business/Industry | Decision Theory | Probability/Bayes | Preferences/Values | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine -
ReviewPublication 2004Decision Analysis Applications in Operations Research
This article reviews trends and developments in decision analysis applications, based primarily on a survey of …
This article reviews trends and developments in decision analysis applications, based primarily on a survey of decision analysis applications published in the period 1990–2001 in major English-language operations research and closely related journals. It serves as a guide to those interested in recent applications in specific areas or in applications that illustrate the use of particular methods. The authors identify and discuss noteworthy trends in, and developments affecting, published applications, including those in computer software and…
Operations Research | Decision Analysis | Business/Industry | Health/Medicine -
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…
Benefit-Cost Analysis | Business/Industry | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ReviewPublication 2022Systematic Review of Economic Evaluations of COVID-19 Interventions: Non-Health Impacts and Distributional Issues
The authors conducted a systematic review of economic evaluations of COVID-19 interventions and assessed whether …
The authors conducted a systematic review of economic evaluations of COVID-19 interventions and assessed whether they incorporated non-health impacts and distributional concerns. Among the 70 articles included, more than half (56%) included at least one non-health impact, although only 21% incorporated non-economic consequences. Only 17% examined subgroups of interest. The median ICER for the entire sample was $67,000/quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) (interquartile range [IQR] $9000-$893,000/QALY). Interventions including a pharmaceutical component yielded a median ICER of $93,000/QALY (IQR…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Culture/Society | Evidence Synthesis | Infectious Diseases | Social Determinants | Economics/Finance | 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…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Business/Industry | Microsimulation | 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…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Business/Industry | Microsimulation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2018Cost-Effectiveness of Strategies to Prevent Road Traffic Injuries in Eastern Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia: New Results from WHO-CHOICE
The authors applied a generalized cost-effectiveness analysis (GCEA) approach, applying a null reference case, in …
The authors applied a generalized cost-effectiveness analysis (GCEA) approach, applying a null reference case, in which the effects of currently implemented interventions were subtracted from current rates of burden, in order to identify the most efficient package of interventions that could be applied to Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs). They used a population model to estimate costs and effectiveness of interventions over a 100 year time frame in eastern sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. All heath…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Culture/Society | State-Transition | Injuries/Accidents | Policy/Regulation | Science/Technology | Sub-Saharan Africa | Asia & Pacific -
ArticlePublication 2016Estimation of the Cost-Effectiveness Threshold: Why, What, How?
This is a systematic review of the thresholds used in cost-effectiveness analyses in several international …
This is a systematic review of the thresholds used in cost-effectiveness analyses in several international settings. While many health care systems claim to incorporate the cost-effectiveness criterion in their investment decisions, the threshold value is often controversial and not publicly available. Even when available, it often lacks a theoretical or empirical basis. This article aims to identify and critically appraise the conceptual perspectives and methodologies used to date to estimate the cost-effectiveness threshold. The authors…
Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Culture/Society | Priority Setting/Ethics | Health Systems | Health/Medicine