Resources Repository
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Working PaperPublication 2015Benefit-Cost Analysis and the Cities
This paper provides a short introduction to the use of benefit-cost analysis to assess interventions …
This paper provides a short introduction to the use of benefit-cost analysis to assess interventions undertaken at the city or municipal level. It introduces the concepts that underlie the conduct of benefit-cost analysis, describes the major analytic components, and discusses how to tailor the analysis to the characteristics of the policy and the resources available. It concludes with a list of references for those interested in learning more.
Culture/Society | Preferences/Values | Priority Setting/Ethics | Decision Analysis | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Policy/Regulation | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | North America | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
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…
State-Transition | Energy/Engineering | Mathematical Models | Microsimulation | Dynamic Simulation | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology -
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…
Energy/Engineering | Preferences/Values | Probability/Bayes | Test Performance | Value of Information | Microsimulation | Decision Analysis | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology | Global | North America | Europe -
ArticlePublication 2013Contribution of H. Pylori and Smoking to US Incidence of Gastric Adenocarcinoma: A Microsimulation Model
Although gastric cancer has declined dramatically in the US, the disease remains the second leading …
Although gastric cancer has declined dramatically in the US, the disease remains the second leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide. This analysis estimates the contribution of risk factor trends on past and future intestinal-type non-cardia gastric adenocarcinoma (NCGA) incidence. The authors developed a population-based microsimulation model of intestinal-type NCGA and calibrated it to U.S. epidemiologic data on precancerous lesions and cancer. The model explicitly incorporated the impact of Helicobacter pylori and smoking on disease natural history, for which…
Calibration/Validation | Culture/Society | Microsimulation | Chronic Disease/Risk | Social Determinants | Health/Medicine | North America -
BookPublication 2013Handbook of Decision Analysis
This book describes the philosophy, technical concepts, mathematics, and art of decision analysis for the …
This book describes the philosophy, technical concepts, mathematics, and art of decision analysis for the decision professional, and is designed to be supplemental reading for professional decision analysis training courses, a reference for beginning and experienced practitioners, and a supplemental text for an undergraduate or graduate course in decision analysis. The handbook includes chapters on the following topics: decision-making challenges; mathematical foundations of decision analysis; decision analysis soft skills; selecting the decision making process for…
Energy/Engineering | Preferences/Values | Decision Theory | Probability/Bayes | Value of Information | Decision Analysis | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine -
ArticlePublication 2011Model-Based Analyses to Compare Health and Economic Outcomes of Cancer Control: Inclusion of Disparities
In order to identify strategies that improve both population health and ensure its equitable distribution, …
In order to identify strategies that improve both population health and ensure its equitable distribution, the authors developed a typology of cancer disparities that considers types of inequalities among black, white, and Hispanic populations across different cancers. This paper reports on the typology using an existing disease simulation model of cervical cancer that was calibrated to clinical, epidemiological, and cost data in the United States and presents characteristics important for policy discussions. The typology proposed…
State-Transition | Culture/Society | Priority Setting/Ethics | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
ArticlePublication 2010Cost-Effectiveness of Alternative Pregnancy Termination Strategies in Nigeria and Ghana
To explore the policy implications of increasing access to safe abortion in Nigeria and Ghana, …
To explore the policy implications of increasing access to safe abortion in Nigeria and Ghana, the authors developed a computer-based decision analytic model which simulates induced abortion and its potential complications in a cohort of women. The model was used to compare the costs and benefits of unsafe abortion and three first-trimester abortion modalities: hospital-based dilatation and curettage, hospital- and clinic-based manual vacuum aspiration (MVA), and medical abortion using misoprostol (MA). The results showed that…
State-Transition | Culture/Society | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Maternal/Reproductive Health | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa -
Online LearningVideo, Teaching Resource 2010TED Talk. The Riddle of Experience vs. Memory
In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the study of happiness, yet Daniel …
In recent years, much attention has been devoted to the study of happiness, yet Daniel Kahneman argues that there is confusion around defining happiness or well-being. He distinguishes between the happiness of our “experiencing selves” (whether we are happy in the moment) and our “remembering selves” (whether we are happy with the state of our lives on reflection). When we make choices, therefore, our decisions may be biased toward pleasing either the experiencing or remembering…
Culture/Society | Preferences/Values | Decision Psychology | Chronic Disease/Risk | Health/Medicine | High School | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Professional | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Decision Making/Leadership -
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…
Energy/Engineering | Preferences/Values | Decision Theory | Probability/Bayes | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine