Resources Repository
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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…
Dynamic Simulation | Military/Defense | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Dynamic Transmission | Microsimulation | Infectious Diseases | Global Governance | Government/Law | Health/Medicine | Global -
ArticlePublication 2015Valuing Regulations Affecting Addictive or Habitual Goods
The analysis of regulations affecting addictive or habitual goods has drawn considerable controversy. Some studies …
The analysis of regulations affecting addictive or habitual goods has drawn considerable controversy. Some studies have suggested that such regulations have only small welfare benefits, as consumers value these goods despite health benefits from quitting, while other studies suggest that information or behavioral problems make existing consumption decisions a poor guide to welfare evaluation. This analysis examines potential utility offsets to health benefits of regulations affecting addictive or habitual goods theoretically and empirically. The paper…
Culture/Society | Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Social Determinants | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America -
Tutorial/PrimerPublication, Teaching Resource 2015White Paper: Retrospective Benefit-Cost Analysis
In this article the authors consider how benefit-cost analysis can be used retrospectively to promote …
In this article the authors consider how benefit-cost analysis can be used retrospectively to promote understanding of the impacts after a policy is implemented. Serving as a brief primer, the authors propose that analysis can be useful for identifying needed reforms as well as in improving the conduct of future prospective analyses. The major challenges relate to estimating what would have occurred in the absence of the policy and separating the effects of the policy…
Culture/Society | Priority Setting/Ethics | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Government/Law | North America | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Policy Translation -
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…
Dynamic Simulation | Military/Defense | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Microsimulation | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology -
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 -
ArticlePublication 2013Public Finance of Rotavirus Vaccination in India and Ethiopia: Extended CEA
This study uses extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) to evaluate a hypothetical publicly financed program for …
This study uses extended cost-effectiveness analysis (ECEA) to evaluate a hypothetical publicly financed program for rotavirus vaccination in India and Ethiopia. The authors measured program impact on: (1) averted rotavirus deaths; (2) reduction in household expenditures; (3) financial risk protection; and (4) distributional consequences across the country’s wealth strata. In India and Ethiopia, the program was predicted to decrease rotavirus deaths substantially, and effectively provide financial risk protection among the poor, while also reducing household…
Culture/Society | Priority Setting/Ethics | Health Outcomes | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Child/Nutrition | Social Determinants | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Sub-Saharan Africa | Asia & Pacific -
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…
Culture/Society | Priority Setting/Ethics | State-Transition | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Social Determinants | Health Systems | Clinical Care | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America -
BookPublication 2010Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions
This book explores the “hidden forces” that shape decisions as an argument against the common …
This book explores the “hidden forces” that shape decisions as an argument against the common assumption that people act in fundamentally rational ways. From drinking coffee to losing weight, people consistently overpay, underestimate, and procrastinate. Ariely shows that such misguided behaviors are systematic and predictable or “predictably irrational.”
Culture/Society | Decision Psychology | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Education/Labor | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology