The study presented in this paper represents a new and fresh approach to the problem of efficiently and optimally allocating scarce resources in the provision of public services—namely, street-lighting. The methodology developed is aimed at introducing more systematic and rational thinking in a way which is both technically and politically feasible. To the best of the author's knowledge, the study presents, for the first time, a procedure for the comprehensive quantitative estimate of the utility accruing from street-lighting. The utility value derived from each street-lighting project depends upon several factors, some of which can be technically assessed and others estimated only by subjective values.
In order to deduce the subjective values, the Delphi method was employed. This method permits derivation of subjective values for groups of interviewees whose assessments may reasonably be assumed to be crucial in determining the relative values of the objectives of the utility function. Those components of the utility function representing subjective values were identified and estimated.
The conventional practice, whereby residents have no explicit say in the planning of the lighting system in their city, was abandoned. Residents' value judgements concerning the relative importance of the objectives to be gained by the lighting system were incorporated into the planning process. An optimization model based on an integer programming algorithm was employed because it permits periodic (e.g. annual) selection of a set of indivisible projects to be realized during a given period. This enables maximum economic and social utility to be derived, subject to budgetary and technological constraints.
The selection process was extended and deepened so as to render it sensitive to benefit from economies of scale and external economies. The optimization process was carried out with the use of an IBM-MPS X (an integer programming algorithm). The methodology was applied to a large and diverse quarter in the city of Jerusalem that is divided into seven semi-homogeneous neighborhoods—in terms of their physical as well as their socio-economic and demographic characteristics. This represents a very different approach when compared to the conventional way in which the planning design and installation of street-lighting projects are currently carried out. 相似文献
ABSTRACTThe ASEAN Economic Community, born in 2003 and developed over the next 12 years, aims to build a ‘single market’ whilst ‘enhancing the production base’ in ASEAN for global and regional value-chains. The paper attempts to understand the AEC via a conceptual as well as a pragmatic approach. It summarizes achievements up to 2015 and assesses the 2025 Blueprint in some detail. At times the latter reads like a Roadmap full of details but measures often remain open-ended or somewhat vague, a typical ASEAN characteristic. What ultimately matters to ASEAN is economic growth and the AEC may well serve as a handmaiden to sustained high growth. 相似文献
Against the backdrop of the highly controversial debate on the future competences of the different European institutions,
the principle of subsidiarity, a fundamental principle of European Union law, has recently met with renewed interest. The
contributions to this Forum discuss a number of pertinent issues.
*A longer version of this article is to be found in H. Tomann (ed.): Die Rolle der europ?ischen Institutionen in der Wirtschaftspolitik,
Baden-Baden 2006, Nomos, pp. 59-76. 相似文献
The aim of this work is to advocate the use of multifractional Brownian motion (mBm) as a relevant model in financial mathematics. mBm is an extension of fractional Brownian motion where the Hurst parameter is allowed to vary in time. This enables the possibility to accommodate for varying local regularity, and to decouple it from long‐range dependence properties. While we believe that mBm is potentially useful in a variety of applications in finance, we focus here on a multifractional stochastic volatility Hull & White model that is an extension of the model studied in Comte and Renault. Using the stochastic calculus with respect to mBm developed in Lebovits and Lévy Véhel, we solve the corresponding stochastic differential equations. Since the solutions are of course not explicit, we take advantage of recently developed numerical techniques, namely functional quantization‐based cubature methods, to get accurate approximations. This allows us to test the behavior of our model (as well as the one in Comte and Renault) with respect to its parameters, and in particular its ability to explain some features of the implied volatility surface. An advantage of our model is that it is able both to fit smiles at different maturities, and to take volatility persistence into account in a more precise way than Comte and Renault. 相似文献
We provide a model of product-based cultural change where trade integration leads to cultural convergence. A standard trade model of Dixit–Stiglitz monopolistic competition is coupled with a micro-founded model of cultural dynamics. We show that access to varieties that are attached to a global cultural type changes the incentives of parents to socialize their children and transmit their type. The resulting increase in agents of the global cultural type leads to a magnification of the initial shock. A striking feature of the model is that even temporary shocks to openness may have permanent effects through the changing distribution of preferences in the economy. 相似文献
We modify a standard Baron–Myerson model by assuming that, instead of knowing the state of nature, the agent has to incur a cost γ to learn it. Under these conditions, the principal will offer contracts that, depending on the value of γ, try to induce the agent to gather or not to gather information. We study the tradeoffs that are involved.Journal of Economic LiteratureClassification Numbers: D82, D83. 相似文献