Download or read book Social Learning and Parameter Uncertainty in Irreversible Investments And Partial Maximum Likelihood Estimation of a Spatial Probit Model written by Honglin Wang and published by . This book was released on 2009 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Uncertainty and Forecasting of Water Quality written by M.B. Beck and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 382 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis began its study of water quality modeling and management in 1977, it has been interested in the relations between uncertainty and the problems of model calibration and prediction. The work has focused on the theme of modeling poorly defined environmental systems, a principal topic of the effort devoted to environmental quality control and management. Accounting for the effects of uncertainty was also of central concern to our two case studies of lake eutrophication management, one dealing with Lake Balaton in Hungary and the other with several Austrian lake systems. Thus, in November 1979 we held a meeting at Laxenburg to discuss recent method ological developments in addressing problems associated with uncertainty and forecasting of water quality. This book is based on the proceedings of that meeting. The last few years have seen an increase in awareness of the issue of uncertainty in water quality and ecological modeling. This book is relevant not only to contemporary issues but also to those of the future. A lack of field data will not always be the dominant problem for water quality modeling and management; more sophisticated measuring techniques and more comprehensive monitoring networks will come to be more widely applied. Rather, the important problems of the future are much more likely to emerge from the enhanced facility of data processing and to concern the meaningful interpretation, assimilation., and use of the information thus obtained.
Download or read book Contemporary Bayesian Econometrics and Statistics written by John Geweke and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2005-10-03 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Tools to improve decision making in an imperfect world This publication provides readers with a thorough understanding of Bayesian analysis that is grounded in the theory of inference and optimal decision making. Contemporary Bayesian Econometrics and Statistics provides readers with state-of-the-art simulation methods and models that are used to solve complex real-world problems. Armed with a strong foundation in both theory and practical problem-solving tools, readers discover how to optimize decision making when faced with problems that involve limited or imperfect data. The book begins by examining the theoretical and mathematical foundations of Bayesian statistics to help readers understand how and why it is used in problem solving. The author then describes how modern simulation methods make Bayesian approaches practical using widely available mathematical applications software. In addition, the author details how models can be applied to specific problems, including: * Linear models and policy choices * Modeling with latent variables and missing data * Time series models and prediction * Comparison and evaluation of models The publication has been developed and fine- tuned through a decade of classroom experience, and readers will find the author's approach very engaging and accessible. There are nearly 200 examples and exercises to help readers see how effective use of Bayesian statistics enables them to make optimal decisions. MATLAB? and R computer programs are integrated throughout the book. An accompanying Web site provides readers with computer code for many examples and datasets. This publication is tailored for research professionals who use econometrics and similar statistical methods in their work. With its emphasis on practical problem solving and extensive use of examples and exercises, this is also an excellent textbook for graduate-level students in a broad range of fields, including economics, statistics, the social sciences, business, and public policy.
Download or read book Social Capital written by Partha Dasgupta and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2000 with total page 438 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains a number of papers presented at a workshop organised by the World Bank in 1997 on the theme of 'Social Capital: Integrating the Economist's and the Sociologist's Perspectives'. The concept of 'social capital' is considered through a number of theoretical and empirical studies which discuss its analytical foundations, as well as institutional and statistical analyses of the concept. It includes the classic 1987 article by the late James Coleman, 'Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital', which formed the basis for the development of social capital as an organising concept in the social sciences.
Download or read book Handbook of Industrial Organization written by Kate Ho and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2021-12-09 with total page 782 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Handbook of Industrial Organization Volume 4 highlights new advances in the field, with this new volume presenting interesting chapters. Each chapter is written by an international board of authors. Part of the renowned Handbooks in Economics series Chapters are contributed by some of the leading experts in their fields A source, reference and teaching supplement for industrial organizations or industrial economists
Download or read book Cost Benefit Analysis and the Environment Recent Developments written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2006-01-30 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth assessment of the most recent conceptual and methodological developments in cost-benefit analysis and the environment.
Download or read book Conditional Cash Transfers written by Ariel Fiszbein and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2009-02-09 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Conditional Cash Transfer (CCT) programs aim to reduce poverty by making welfare programs conditional upon the receivers' actions. That is, the government only transfers the money to persons who meet certain criteria. These criteria may include enrolling children into public schools, getting regular check-ups at the doctor's office, receiving vaccinations, or the like. They have been hailed as a way of reducing inequality and helping households break out of a vicious cycle whereby poverty is transmitted from one generation to another. Do these and other claims make sense? Are they supported by the available empirical evidence? This volume seeks to answer these and other related questions. Specifically, it lays out a conceptual framework for thinking about the economic rationale for CCTs; it reviews the very rich evidence that has accumulated on CCTs; it discusses how the conceptual framework and the evidence on impacts should inform the design of CCT programs in practice; and it discusses how CCTs fit in the context of broader social policies. The authors show that there is considerable evidence that CCTs have improved the lives of poor people and argue that conditional cash transfers have been an effective way of redistributing income to the poor. They also recognize that even the best-designed and managed CCT cannot fulfill all of the needs of a comprehensive social protection system. They therefore need to be complemented with other interventions, such as workfare or employment programs, and social pensions.
Download or read book Why Cooperate written by Scott Barrett and published by OUP Oxford. This book was released on 2010-09-16 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change, nuclear proliferation, and the threat of a global pandemic have the potential to impact each of our lives. Preventing these threats poses a serious global challenge, but ignoring them could have disastrous consequences. How do we engineer institutions to change incentives so that these global public goods are provided? Scott Barrett provides a thought provoking and accessible introduction to the issues surrounding the provision of global public goods. Using a variety of examples to illustrate past successes and failures, he shows how international cooperation, institutional design, and the clever use of incentives can work together to ensure the effective delivery of global public goods.
Download or read book Principles of Health Economics for Developing Countries written by William Jack and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 1999-01-01 with total page 308 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Developing countries present health economists with an array of situations and circumstances not seen in developed countries. This book explores those characteristics particular to developing countries.
Download or read book Risk Assessment Methods written by V.T. Covello and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-06-29 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Much has already been written about risk assessment. Epidemiologists write books on how risk assessment is used to explore the factors that influence the distribution of disease in populations of people. Toxicologists write books on how risk assess ment involves exposing animals to risk agents and concluding from the results what risks people might experience if similarly exposed. Engineers write books on how risk assessment is utilized to estimate the risks of constructing a new facility such as a nuclear power plant. Statisticians write books on how risk assessment may be used to analyze mortality or accident data to determine risks. There are already many books on risk assessment-the trouble is that they all seem to be about different sUbjects! This book takes another approach. It brings together all the methods for assessing risk into a common framework, thus demonstrating how the various methods relate to one another. This produces four important benefits: • First, it provides a comprehensive reference for risk assessment. This one source offers readers concise explanations of the many methods currently available for describing and quantifying diverse types of risks. • Second, it consistently evaluates and compares available risk assessment methods and identifies their specific strengths and limitations. Understand ing the limitations of risk assessment methods is important. The field is still in its infancy, and the problems with available methods are disappoint ingly numerous. At the same time, risk assessment is being used.
Download or read book Cost Benefit Analysis for Development written by Asian Development Bank and published by Asian Development Bank. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 367 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Asian Development Bank (ADB) has been continuously undertaking measures to enhance the effectiveness of its operations. To improve projects both at the preparation and implementation stages, ADB issued the Guidelines for Economic Analysis of Projects in 1997 as a means to enhancing project quality at entry. The conduct of proper economic analysis helps ensure the efficient use of development funds and public resources and thereby increase aid effectiveness. This practical guide is a supplement to the Guidelines for the Economic Analysis of Projects. It provides an overview of recent methodological developments in cost-benefit analysis as well as suggested improvements in the economic analysis of projects in selected sectors through case studies. These case studies illustrate the application of suggested methodologies, taking into account sector-specific needs, as well as difficulties faced by practitioners in terms of data and time constraints during project processing. It also aims to contribute to ADB’s capacity building initiatives as this will be the main reference material for conduct of economic analysis.
Download or read book Reducing Poverty Protecting Livelihoods and Building Assets in a Changing Climate written by Dorte Verner and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2010-06-25 with total page 460 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Climate change is the defining development challenge of our time. More than a global environmental issue, climate change and variability threaten to reverse recent progress in poverty reduction and economic growth. Both now and over the long run, climate change and variability threatens human and social development by restricting the fulfillment of human potential and by disempowering people and communities in reducing their livelihoods options. Communities across Latin America and the Caribbean are already experiencing adverse consequences from climate change and variability. Precipitation has increased in the southeastern part of South America, and now often comes in the form of sudden deluges, leading to flooding and soil erosion that endanger people s lives and livelihoods. Southwestern parts of South America and western Central America are seeing a decrease in precipitation and an increase in droughts. Increasing heat and drought in Northeast Brazil threaten the livelihoods of already-marginal smallholders, and may turn parts of the eastern Amazon rainforest into savannah. The Andean inter-tropical glaciers are shrinking and expected to disappear altogether within the next 20-40 years, with significant consequences for water availability. These environmental changes will impact local livelihoods in unprecedented ways. Poverty, inequality, water access, health, and migration are and will be measurably affected by climate change. Using an innovative research methodology, this study finds quantitative evidence of large variations in impacts across regions. Many already poor regions are becoming poorer; traditional livelihoods are being challenged in unprecedented ways; water scarcity is increasing, particularly in poor arid areas; human health is deteriorating; and climate-induced migration is already taking place and may increase. Successfully reducing social vulnerability to climate change and variability requires action and commitment at multiple levels. This volume offers key operational recommendations at the government, community, and household levels with particular emphasis placed on enhancing good governance and technical capacity in the public sector, building social capital in local communities, and protecting the asset base of poor households.
Download or read book Global Value Chains in a Changing World written by Deborah Kay Elms and published by . This book was released on 2013 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A collection of papers by some of the world's leading specialists on global value chains (GVCs). It examines how GVCs have evolved and the challenges they face in a rapidly changing world. The approach is multi-disciplinary, with contributions from economists, political scientists, supply chain management specialists, practitioners and policy-makers. Co-published with the Fung Global Institute and the Temasek
Download or read book Beyond the City written by David M. De Ferranti and published by World Bank Publications. This book was released on 2005-01-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The rural economy's contribution to development: summary of findings and policy implications; The rural contribution to development: analytical issues; The rural contribution to development: policy issues.
Download or read book Comparative Quantification of Health Risks Sexual and reproductive health written by Majid Ezzati and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2004 with total page 2282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Provides a comprehensive assessment of the scientific evidence on prevalence and the resulting health effects of a range of exposures that are know to be hazardous to human health, including childhood and maternal undernutrition, nutritional and physiological risk factors for adult health, addictive substances, sexual and reproductive health risks, and risks in the physical environments of households and communities, as well as among workers. This book is the culmination of over four years of scientific equiry and data collection, know as the comparative risk assessment (CRA) project.
Download or read book Transportation Decision Making written by Kumares C. Sinha and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-09-09 with total page 576 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This pioneering text provides a holistic approach to decisionmaking in transportation project development and programming, whichcan help transportation professionals to optimize their investmentchoices. The authors present a proven set of methodologies forevaluating transportation projects that ensures that all costs andimpacts are taken into consideration. The text's logical organization gets readers started with asolid foundation in basic principles and then progressively buildson that foundation. Topics covered include: Developing performance measures for evaluation, estimatingtravel demand, and costing transportation projects Performing an economic efficiency evaluation that accounts forsuch factors as travel time, safety, and vehicle operatingcosts Evaluating a project's impact on economic development and landuse as well as its impact on society and culture Assessing a project's environmental impact, including airquality, noise, ecology, water resources, and aesthetics Evaluating alternative projects on the basis of multipleperformance criteria Programming transportation investments so that resources can beoptimally allocated to meet facility-specific and system-widegoals Each chapter begins with basic definitions and concepts followedby a methodology for impact assessment. Relevant legislation isdiscussed and available software for performing evaluations ispresented. At the end of each chapter, readers are providedresources for detailed investigation of particular topics. Theseinclude Internet sites and publications of international anddomestic agencies and research institutions. The authors alsoprovide a companion Web site that offers updates, data foranalysis, and case histories of project evaluation and decisionmaking. Given that billions of dollars are spent each year ontransportation systems in the United States alone, and that thereis a need for thorough and rational evaluation and decision makingfor cost-effective system preservation and improvement, this textshould be on the desks of all transportation planners, engineers,and educators. With exercises in every chapter, this text is anideal coursebook for the subject of transportation systems analysisand evaluation.
Download or read book The Economics of Forest Disturbances written by Thomas P. Holmes and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008-04-18 with total page 424 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: by Peter J. Roussopoulos, Director, Southern Research Station The world and its ecosystems are repeatedly punctuated by natural disturbances, and human societies must learn to manage this reality Often severe and unp- dictable, dynamic natural forces disrupt human welfare and alter the structure and composition of natural systems Over the past century, land management ag- cies within the United States have relied on science to improve the sustainable management of natural resources Forest economics research can help advance this scientifc basis by integrating knowledge of forest disturbance processes with their economic causes and consequences As the twenty-frst century unfolds, people increasingly seek the goods and services provided by forest ecosystems, not only for wood supply, clean water, and leisure pursuits, but also to establish residential communities that are removed from the hustle and bustle of urban life As vividly demonstrated during the past few years, Santa Ana winds can blow wildfres down from the mountains of California, incinerating homes as readily as vegetation in the canyons below Hurricanes can fatten large swaths of forest land, while associated foods create havoc for urban and rural residents alike Less dramatic, but more insidious, trees and forest stands are succumbing to exotic insects and diseases, causing economic losses to private property values (including timber) as well as scenic and recreation values As human demands on public and private forests expand, science-based solutions need to be identifed so that social needs can be balanced with the vagaries of forest disturbance processes
