Lifecycle

Author(s):  
Robin Hanson

How many kinds of tasks does a typical em worker regularly do in the course of their job? Looking at job performance today, we see that while extreme specialization can give maximum productivity in the short run, over a longer time a modest degree of task variation is often more productive, because of improved learning and engagement ( Staats and Gino 2012 ). Ems add an important new consideration to this usual tradeoff between task specialization and task variety. Whereas human minds have a limited rate at which they can do tasks, em minds can run at different speeds. So the limited subjective career length of an em can be spent either on more scope in tasks or on more scope in time. That is, an em worker can either run faster and simultaneously do and coordinate more related tasks, or it can run slower and coordinate fewer tasks over a longer period of time, and improve at those tasks in the process. Some tasks require a continual response to external drivers. These tasks include managing physical systems, such as driving cars. Such tasks usually require mental response times as fast as the slower of two rates: the rate at which outside disturbances arise to which it is useful to respond, and the rate at which the managed system such as a car is capable of responding to such disturbances. When choosing between mind speeds faster than this minimum response rate, one of the main tradeoff s is between getting really good at each task, and coordinating more related tasks. One can either do a more specific task more times over a longer narrower career, or do a wider range of related tasks over a shorter career. During either sort of career one could split off many spurs to do short-term tasks that do not need to be well remembered. Long, narrow careers can achieve high levels of competence while adapting to changing job detail, but require expensive communication between workers to coordinate related tasks. In contrast, having the same worker do a wider range of tasks allows for flexible coordination without communication across those tasks, but comes at the cost of more transitions for each worker between different tasks (Wout et al. 2015), and often lower competence because of less task specialization and a shorter career.

Author(s):  
Norhanishah Mohamad Yunus ◽  
Noraida Abdul Wahob

A plethora of studies have revealed the importance of new knowledge transfer from foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) in encouraging higher labour productivity and sustainable competitive advantages. However, less attention is given to low labour productivity issue despite the presence of FDI, especially in the developing country context. Most of the studies only heavily emphasised on 'technology' effects rather than 'knowledge' effects on the host country as a result of the presence of foreign technology. As Malaysia is one of the major FDI recipients in Southeast Asia, the specific spillover effects of each FDI investor country in Malaysia, need to be studied. With an abundance of MNCs, international technology transfer is considered as an imported mode for technology acquisition in a developing country like Malaysia. However, the benefits of FDI spillovers on labour productivity function in Malaysia remain ambiguous, even when classified according to specific investor countries. Globalisation and liberalisation have seen trade and investment activities booming, thus increasing multilateral relations between Malaysia and other countries regardless of their level of development. Thus, this study may help the Malaysian government to justify the cost that should be invested to attract more FDI inflows towards the manufacturing industries in the short run. Keywords: spillover effects, Foreign Direct Investment, labour productivity, technology spillovers, knowledge spillovers


2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (No. 5) ◽  
pp. 201-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Beranová ◽  
D. Martinovičová

The costs functions are mentioned mostly in the relation to the Break-even Analysis where they are presented in the linear form. But there exist several different types and forms of cost functions. Fist of all, it is necessary to distinguish between the short-run and long-run cost function that are both very important tools of the managerial decision making even if each one is used on a different level of management. Also several methods of estimation of the cost function's parameters are elaborated in the literature. But all these methods are based on the past data taken from the financial accounting while the financial accounting is not able to separate the fixed and variable costs and it is also strongly adjusted to taxation in the many companies. As a tool of the managerial decision making support, the cost functions should provide a vision to the future where many factors of risk and uncertainty influence economic results. Consequently, these random factors should be considered in the construction of cost functions, especially in the long-run. In order to quantify the influences of these risks and uncertainties, the authors submit the application of the Bayesian Theorem.


1998 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angus Deaton

Much of the profession accepts that the CPI likely overstates the rate of increase of the cost-of-living. It is less clear that there are sound and feasible steps that the BLS can adopt to improve matters in the short run. There are unresolved conceptual and identification problems in the measurement of quality. Superlative price indexes are not feasible, and feasible approximations are not superlative, and may not even be better. The need for a single index that aggregates over heterogeneous consumers with different incomes, tastes, and needs casts serious doubt on the cost-of-living approach.


2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Al-Mashhdani & Mahmood

The aim of this study was to estimate the profit and cost functions as well as economic, price, cost, and technical efficiencies beside the other economic indices at actual, optimal and profit-maximizing output of rice. A random sample of 240 rice  farms in Nejaf province was used during the agricultural season 2016. From efficiency scales of profit function, it was shown that the output quantity had the greatest impact on the profit compared to other variables (average output costs and price). According to the cost function, the optimum output level and the profit- maximizing output  level for the short run were 64.84 tons and 117.4 tons respectively. The lowest price that the farmer can accept was 194.83 thousand dinars / ton. At this price, the producer loss all fixed costs in the short run, hoping that the price of rice will improve in the long run. Net profit was estimated on the basis of actual output, cost minimizing output (optimal) and profit-maximizing output, which amounted to 8084.32, 30852.65 and 45547.5 thousand dinars, respectively. The of technical efficiency were 34%. and the cost efficiency was 0.52. We conclude from the study that economic resources have not been exploited optimally, indicating that actual output is far from optimal output. The study recommends a output policy aimed at increasing economic efficiency and optimizing the use of available resources.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander M. Gelber ◽  
Damon Jones ◽  
Daniel W. Sacks

We introduce a method for estimating the cost of adjusting earnings, as well as the earnings elasticity with respect to the net-of-tax share. Our method uses information on bunching in the earnings distribution at convex budget set kinks before and after policy-induced changes in the magnitude of the kinks: the larger is the adjustment cost, the smaller is the absolute change in bunching from before to after the policy change. In the context of the Social Security Earnings Test, our results demonstrate that the short-run impact of changes in the effective marginal tax rate can be substantially attenuated. (JEL H24, H31, H55, J22, J31)


1961 ◽  
Vol 63 (4) ◽  
pp. 247
Author(s):  
A. C. Livieratos

1990 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-53 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nils H. Hakansson

Those who know do not tell; those who tell do not know. Lao Tse In earlier papers (Hakansson, 1977, 1981), the equilibrium properties of two financial disclosure scenarios, “laissez-faire” and “timely public disclosure” were compared. The analysis showed that, measured in welfare space, the incentives of only two groups, less well-to-do subscribing investors and nonsubscribing investors (who tend to be “small” in terms of their resources) prefer the second scenario even though it results in greater aggregate output across states. The incentives of management, information searchers, and more well-to-do investors favor a “wide window” between significant events affecting the firm and their public disclosure, at least in the short run. The “cost” of this scenario is that it draws a sizable group of talented people from the productive sector into “scooping” information before its eventual disclosure. It is noteworthy that a regulatory solution is likely to further reduce, not improve, the productive efficiency of the economy. This paper examines the financial disclosure question further and argues that its resolution is directly linked to the principal-agent “contract” between the shareholders and management. These contracts do exhibit some peculiar properties, especially in the area of management compensation and with respect to MBOs, in which management apparently manages to be both the buyer and the “agent” for the seller.


1992 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 229-233 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence D. Valenzuela ◽  
Daniel W. Spaite ◽  
Lani L. Clark ◽  
Harvey W. Meislin ◽  
Raymond O. Sayre

AbstractHypothesis:Emergency cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) instruction via telephone (ETCPR) is cost-effective compared to prehospital, emergency medical technician (EMT)/paramedic treatment alone of witnessed, ventricular fibrillation (VF) in adult patients.Methods:A total of 118 patients, age >18 years, with prehospital, witnessed ventricular fibrillation were studied. Patient data were extracted from hospital records, monitor-defibrillator recordings, paramedic reports, dispatching records, and telephone interviews with bystanders. No ETCPR was available during this period. The costs of ETCPR implementation were estimated retrospectively. Marginal cost of the paramedic service attributable to treatment of VF was calculated from fire department records. Years-of-life saved were estimated from age, gender, and race matched norms.Results:Of the 53 patients receiving bystander CPR (BCPR), 14 (26%) survived to hospital discharge versus 4/65 patients (6%) lacking BCPR, These groups did not differ significantly (p>.05) in age, EMS response times, or time from collapse to defibrillation. The mean time interval from collapse to CPR was significantly less for patients with BCPR (1.8 min) than for patients without BCPR (7.1 min). Had all patients received BCPR and survived at the rate of 0.26, 13 additional patients would have survived to hospital discharge. The cost per year-of-life saved by the EMS system with ETCPR would have been [US]$2,834 versus $4,881 without ETCPR. The cost per additional year-of-life saved by ETCPR was estimated to be $560 in patients experiencing out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation.Conclusion:The use of ETCPR instruction of callers by 9-1-1 dispatchers potentially is a cost-effective addition to a two-tier, EMS system for treatment of prehospital ventricular fibrillation.


1978 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bleddyn Davies ◽  
Martin R. J. Knapp

AbstractA comparison of costs to the organization of alternative forms of care requires estimates for similar types of client. The degree of dependency is the main characteristic in which comparability is necessary with regard to services for the aged. This paper presents estimates of the costs incurred in providing residential care for clients of four degrees of incapacity for self-care – the capacity implicit in Bevan's residential hotel model of the old people's home, and three progressively more severe states of dependency. The estimates are for two cost concepts – average (unit) costs and marginal costs (the cost of caring for an additional person). The paper also estimates both long-run costs (costs that it is appropriate to take into account in decisions in which capital investment in new plant is being considered), and short-run costs (costs that it is appropriate to consider when the issue is the allocation of existing capacity between client groups). It also examines the consequences of the size of the home with regard to costs. Inter alia the paper shows:(a) that the size of home beyond which costs do not fall with scale provides for as many as fifty places (equivalent to an average daily census of forty-six residents); and(b) that, although the dependency components of costs are much smaller than the hotel components, dependency costs are large enough for it to be important to base comparisons of alternative forms of care on estimates of costs for clients which are comparable with respect to dependency.


Author(s):  
MATTHIAS BOOK ◽  
VOLKER GRUHN ◽  
MALTE HÜLDER ◽  
ANDRÉ KÖHLER ◽  
ANDREAS KRIEGEL

When considering the addition of a mobile presentation channel to an existing web-based application, a key question that has to be answered even before development begins is how the mobile channel's characteristics will impact the user experience and the cost of using the application. If either of these factors is outside acceptable limits, economical considerations may forbid adding the channels, even if it would be feasible from a purely technical perspective. Both of these factors depend considerably on two metrics: The time required to transmit data over the mobile network, and the volume transmitted. The PETTICOAT method presented in this paper uses the dialog flow model and web server log files of an existing application to identify typical interaction sequences and to compile volume statistics, which are then run through a tool that simulates the volume and time that would be incurred by executing the interaction sequences on a mobile channel. From the simulated volume and time data, we can then calculate the cost of accessing the application on a mobile channel, and derive suitable approaches for optimizing cost and response times.


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