Resources Repository
-
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 | Microsimulation | Mathematical Models | Dynamic Transmission | State-Transition | Government/Law | Infectious Diseases | Global Governance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Global -
ReportPublication 2016Modeling to Inform Strategies to Improve Population Health
This workshop report summarizes a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine to explore the potential …
This workshop report summarizes a workshop convened by the Institute of Medicine to explore the potential uses of simulation and other types of modeling for improving health. Participants worked to identify how modeling could inform population health decision making (selecting and refining potential strategies, ranging from interventions to investments) based on lessons learned from models that have been, or have not been, used successfully, opportunities and barriers to incorporating models into decision making, and data needs and…
Dynamic Simulation | Microsimulation | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Government/Law | Decision Analysis | Chronic Disease/Risk | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Health/Medicine | North America -
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 | Microsimulation | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Energy/Engineering | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology -
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…
Decision Psychology | Decision Theory | Government/Law | Energy/Engineering | Probability/Bayes | Decision Analysis | Operations Research | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Global -
ArticlePublication 2022Vaccinations versus Lockdowns to Prevent COVID-19 Mortality
This analysis estimated the costs associated with preventing Covid-19 deaths by vaccinations versus lockdowns. Publicly …
This analysis estimated the costs associated with preventing Covid-19 deaths by vaccinations versus lockdowns. Publicly available datasets from the Israeli Ministry of Health were used to model the parameters of the pandemic in Israel. The Oxford COVID-19 Government Response Tracker was used for quantitative data on government policies. Data on the Israeli economy were taken from the Central Bureau of Statistics. The models demonstrate that the first lockdown prevented 1022 COVID-19 deaths at the cost…
Decision Theory | State-Transition | Health Outcomes | Government/Law | Costing Methods | Decision Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Middle East & North Africa -
Resource PackPublication, Teaching Resource 2020Resource Pack: Cost-Effectiveness of SSB Excise Taxes
The use of fiscal instruments, such as taxes or subsidies, to promote healthier dietary behavior …
The use of fiscal instruments, such as taxes or subsidies, to promote healthier dietary behavior has been of increasing interest in the last decade as the evidence-base builds for the health and economic consequences of obesity, overweight, and unhealthy eating. The motivation for using fiscal instruments in nutrition policy is to make the unhealthy option less affordable and less economically attractive by increasing the price via a tax, and therefore reduce the incentive to consume…
Microsimulation | Mathematical Models | Health Outcomes | Government/Law | Evidence Synthesis | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Child/Nutrition | Chronic Disease/Risk | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Food/Agriculture | Health/Medicine | North America | Latin America & Caribbean | Europe | Oceania -
BookPublication 2007Advances in Decision Analysis: From Foundations to Applications
Decision analysis consists of a prescriptive theory and associated models and tools that aid individuals …
Decision analysis consists of a prescriptive theory and associated models and tools that aid individuals or groups confronted with complex decision problems in a wide variety of contexts. Decision analysis can be applied to the environment, health and medicine, engineering, public policy, and business. This book reviews and extends the material typically presented in introductory texts on decision analysis. It covers the broad scope of decision analysis at an advanced level and includes chapters written by…
Mathematical Models | Decision Theory | Health Outcomes | Government/Law | Probability/Bayes | Preferences/Values | Costing Methods | Value of Information | Decision Analysis | Cost-Effectiveness Analysis | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | 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…
Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Government/Law | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Policy/Regulation | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America -
Online LearningVideo, Teaching Resource 2019Colloquium on Misinformation About Science in the Public Sphere
This colloquium was held in April 2019 at Irvine, CA in and was co-sponsored by …
This colloquium was held in April 2019 at Irvine, CA in and was co-sponsored by the Rita Allen Foundation, Science Sandbox, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the KAVLI Foundation. Misinformation about science in the public sphere is of great concern to scientists and to those who seek to communicate and support the use of science in public debate and decision-making. Participants examined the growing body of research on the factors that make people more or…
Decision Psychology | Government/Law | Energy/Engineering | Preferences/Values | Priority Setting/Ethics | Culture/Society | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | North America