Resources Repository
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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…
Probability/Bayes | Decision Theory | Business/Industry | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Economics/Finance | Energy/Engineering | 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…
State-Transition | Business/Industry | Mathematical Models | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2019Cost-Effectiveness of Community-Based Childhood Obesity Prevention Interventions in Australia
This study examined the cost-effectiveness of community-based obesity prevention interventions (CBIs) consisting of strategies to …
This study examined the cost-effectiveness of community-based obesity prevention interventions (CBIs) consisting of strategies to promote healthy eating and physical activity for Australian children aged between 5-18 years. A multiple cohort Markov model that simulates diseases associated with overweight and obesity was used to estimate the health benefits, measured as health-adjusted life years (HALYs) and healthcare-related cost offsets from diseases averted due to exposure to the intervention. Health and cost outcomes were estimated over the…
State-Transition | Food/Agriculture | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | Oceania -
ArticlePublication 2017Modeled Health Benefits of a SSB Tax across Different Socioeconomic Groups in Australia
This analysis assessed the potential cost-effectiveness, health gains, and financial impacts of a 20% sugar-sweetened …
This analysis assessed the potential cost-effectiveness, health gains, and financial impacts of a 20% sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) tax for Australia. Australia-specific price elasticities were used to predict decreases in SSB consumption for each socio-economic quintile. Changes in body mass index (BMI) were based on SSB consumption, BMI from the Australian Health Survey, and energy balance equations. Markov cohort models were used to estimate the health-adjusted life years (HALYs) gained, healthcare costs saved, and out-of-pocket costs…
State-Transition | Food/Agriculture | Mathematical Models | Chronic Disease/Risk | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Oceania -
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…
Decision Theory | Business/Industry | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | North America -
ReviewPublication 2016Economic Dimensions of Noncommunicable Diseases in Latin America and the Caribbean
This companion volume to Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3), explores the impact of noncommunicable diseases …
This companion volume to Disease Control Priorities, Third Edition (DCP3), explores the impact of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) on development and economic growth in the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). This collection of manuscripts examines the complex interplay among NCDs, health expenditures and financial investments in health, poverty, and inequities, using up-to-date information and evidence from the LAC region. There is compelling proof that NCDs are a major and growing problem for low- and…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Food/Agriculture | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Technology Assessment | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Mental Health | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Latin America & Caribbean -
ReviewPublication 2016Strengthening Cost-Effectiveness Analysis for Public Health Policy
Many important opportunities to improve health lie outside the health sector and involve improving the …
Many important opportunities to improve health lie outside the health sector and involve improving the conditions in which we live and work: safe design and maintenance of roads, bridges, train tracks, and airports; control of environmental pollutants; occupational safety; healthy buildings; a safe and healthy food supply; safe manufacture of consumer products; a healthy social environment; and others. Faced with the overwhelming array of possibilities, U.S. decision makers need help identifying those that can contribute the…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Food/Agriculture | Preferences/Values | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America -
ArticlePublication 2015Salt Reduction Policy in South Africa: Extended Cost-Effectiveness Analysis
This paper is an extended cost-effectiveness analysis to model the potential health and economic impacts of …
This paper is an extended cost-effectiveness analysis to model the potential health and economic impacts of a salt reduction policy in South Africa. The authors used surveys and epidemiologic studies to estimate reductions in CVD resulting from lower salt intake. They calculated the average out-of-pocket (OOP) cost of CVD care and estimated the reduction in OOP expenditures and government subsidies due to the policy. They also estimated the costs of policy implementation and financial risk protection (FRP) benefits. The…
Priority Setting/Ethics | Food/Agriculture | Costing Methods | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa -
ReviewPublication 2011Simulation Models of Obesity: A Review of the Literature
Simulation models combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for …
Simulation models combine information from a variety of sources to provide a useful tool for examining how the effects of obesity unfold over time and impact population health. They can aid in the understanding of the complex interaction of the drivers of diet and activity and their relation to health outcomes. This paper provided an overview of different types of simulation models used to evaluate the potential impact of policies to address the obesity epidemic.…
State-Transition | Food/Agriculture | Mathematical Models | Microsimulation | Calibration/Validation | Decision Analysis | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine