Resources Repository
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OrganizationWeb Portal 2024RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation (“Research and Development”) is a research organization that develops solutions to public …
The RAND Corporation (“Research and Development”) is a research organization that develops solutions to public policy challenges to help make communities throughout the world safer and more secure, healthier and more prosperous. RAND is nonprofit, nonpartisan, and committed to the public interest. RAND’s research findings and recommendations are based on data and evidence and therefore do not necessarily reflect the policy preferences or interests of its clients, donors, or…
Policy/Regulation | Energy/Engineering | Government/Law | Child/Nutrition | Injuries/Accidents | Environmental Health | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Education/Labor | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology | Global -
OrganizationWeb Portal 2024Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis
The Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis (SBCA), founded in 2007, works to improve the theory and …
The Society for Benefit-Cost Analysis (SBCA), founded in 2007, works to improve the theory and practice of benefit-cost analysis and support evidence-based policy decisions. It addresses policy areas including public health, transportation, criminal justice, education, energy, environmental quality, homeland security, and poverty. Members include scholars and practitioners from around the world, who work in government, academia, nonprofits and private industry. Its members represent numerous disciplines such as economics, law, engineering, public policy, decision science, and…
Policy/Regulation | Energy/Engineering | Government/Law | Preferences/Values | Priority Setting/Ethics | Costing Methods | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Social Determinants | Environmental Health | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | Education/Labor | Food/Agriculture | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology | Global | Critical Thinking/Analysis -
Lesson/ModuleWeb Portal, Teaching Resource 2016Educational Module: Shale Gas Development
This module has been developed around the topic of the extraction of natural gas from …
This module has been developed around the topic of the extraction of natural gas from shale. This practice, commonly referred to as fracking, involves several practices that have complex and uncertain consequences. In the module, three scientific concepts are explored in order to elucidate how science is applied toward addressing real-world problems. The scientific concepts are: (1) correlation is not the same as causation, (2) hazard is not the same as risk, and (3) risk…
Policy/Regulation | Energy/Engineering | Government/Law | Probability/Bayes | Risk Analysis | Environmental Health | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Science/Technology | Global | North America | College | Graduate | Doctoral | Critical Thinking/Analysis | Decision Making/Leadership -
ReviewPublication 2001Modeling for Health Care and Other Policy Decisions: Uses, Roles and Validity
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making …
This is a review article of the role of modeling approaches to guide decision making in health care and other domains. The role of models to support recommendations on the cost-effective use of medical technologies and pharmaceuticals is controversial. At the heart of the controversy is the degree to which experimental or other empirical evidence should be required prior to model use. The authors argue that the controversy stems in part from a misconception that…
Policy/Regulation | Energy/Engineering | Government/Law | Priority Setting/Ethics | Evidence Synthesis | Mathematical Models | Technology Assessment | Environmental Health | Health Systems | Business/Industry | Climate/Environment | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America -
ReviewPublication 1982Decision Analysis: An Overview
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can …
This article, written for the non-decision analyst, describes what decision analysis is, what it can and cannot do, why one should care to do this, and how one does it. Keeney describes decision analysis as "a formalization of common sense for decision problems which are too complex for informal use of common sense." He provides a more technical definition also, describing decision analysis as "a philosophy, articulated by a set of logical axioms, and a methodology…
Policy/Regulation | Energy/Engineering | Government/Law | Decision Theory | Preferences/Values | Decision Analysis | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Military/Defense | Science/Technology -
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…
Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Mathematical Models | State-Transition | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Business/Industry | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | North America -
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…
Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Decision Theory | Costing Methods | Health Outcomes | State-Transition | Decision Analysis | Infectious Diseases | Economics/Finance | Health/Medicine | Middle East & North Africa -
ArticlePublication 2021Rational Policymaking during a Pandemic
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and …
Policymaking during a pandemic can be extremely challenging. As COVID-19 is a new disease and its global impacts are unprecedented, decisions are taken in a highly uncertain, complex, and rapidly changing environment. In such a context, in which human lives and the economy are at stake, the authors argue that using ideas and constructs from modern decision theory, even informally, will make policymaking a more responsible and transparent process.
Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Decision Theory | Priority Setting/Ethics | Infectious Diseases | Health/Medicine | Science/Technology | Global -
ReportPublication 2021Valuing COVID-19 Mortality and Morbidity Risks
In this report, the researchers develop an approach for valuing COVID-19 mortality and morbidity risk …
In this report, the researchers develop an approach for valuing COVID-19 mortality and morbidity risk reductions that builds on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Guidelines for Regulatory Impact Analysis. They review the differences between COVID-19 mortality risks and the types of risks that are more commonly studied, and find that the impacts of these differences on the value of mortality risk reductions (the value per statistical life, VSL) are uncertain. They…
Policy/Regulation | Government/Law | Preferences/Values | Benefit-Cost Analysis | Infectious Diseases | North America