Euston Quah

Bio: Euston Quah is an academic researcher from Nanyang Technological University. The author has contributed to research in topics: Valuation (finance) & Economic cost. The author has an hindex of 13, co-authored 56 publications receiving 2163 citations. Previous affiliations of Euston Quah include National University of Singapore.

Cost-Benefit Analysis

Abstract: Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is the systematic and analytical process of comparing benefits and costs in evaluating the desirability of a project or programme – often of a social nature. It attempts to answer such questions as whether a proposed project is worthwhile, the optimal scale of a proposed project and the relevant constraints. CBA is fundamental to government decision making and is established as a formal technique for making informed decisions on the use of society’s scarce resources. This timely sixth edition of the classic Cost-Benefit Analysis text continues to build on the successful approach of previous editions, with lucid explanation of key ideas, simple but effective expository short chapters and an appendix on various useful statistical and mathematical concepts and derivatives. The book examines important developments in the discipline, with relevant examples and illustrations as well as new and expanded chapters which build upon standard materials on CBA. Highlights include: updated historical background of CBA extended non-market goods valuation methods the impact of uncertainty evaluation of programmes and services behavioural economics decision rules and heuristics CBA and regulatory reforms CBA in developed and developing countries value of household production other topics frequently encountered in CBA, such as costs of diseases and air pollution, and value of statistical life. This book is a valuable source and guide to international funding agencies, governments, interested professional economists and senior undergraduate and graduate students. The text is fully supported by a companion website, which includes discussion questions and PowerPoint slides for each chapter.

Mothers, Maids and Tutors: An Empirical Evaluation of their Effect on Children's Academic Grades in Singapore

Abstract: As female labour force participation in the workforce increases in Singapore, the basic economic unit—the home—has become wealthier, although arguably at the expense of both personal and family leisure. Yet with additional income, breadwinners are better able to undertake investment for their own well‐being or their children's well‐being that can offset the net loss of utility associated with less leisure. Concomitantly, it is common to find a domestic helper living with a Singapore family and other specialist helpers such as paid home tutors, who come to the home. This paper examines how this new investment vis‐a‐vis new home variables affects a child's overall academic performance. Primarily, the effects of a mother's choice to work, the presence of either tutors or domestic helpers and the effects of different investment strategies to raise a child's qualitative attributes. The paper asserts that how a child performs academically is less dependent on his/her choice of time use; rather, it is t...

A contextual-bandit approach to personalized news article recommendation

Abstract: Personalized web services strive to adapt their services (advertisements, news articles, etc.) to individual users by making use of both content and user information. Despite a few recent advances, this problem remains challenging for at least two reasons. First, web service is featured with dynamically changing pools of content, rendering traditional collaborative filtering methods inapplicable. Second, the scale of most web services of practical interest calls for solutions that are both fast in learning and computation.In this work, we model personalized recommendation of news articles as a contextual bandit problem, a principled approach in which a learning algorithm sequentially selects articles to serve users based on contextual information about the users and articles, while simultaneously adapting its article-selection strategy based on user-click feedback to maximize total user clicks.The contributions of this work are three-fold. First, we propose a new, general contextual bandit algorithm that is computationally efficient and well motivated from learning theory. Second, we argue that any bandit algorithm can be reliably evaluated offline using previously recorded random traffic. Finally, using this offline evaluation method, we successfully applied our new algorithm to a Yahoo! Front Page Today Module dataset containing over 33 million events. Results showed a 12.5% click lift compared to a standard context-free bandit algorithm, and the advantage becomes even greater when data gets more scarce.

Treating tobacco use and dependence.

Abstract: This month, the Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) column reviews the recently published guideline, Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence. This set of recommendations is available in a quick reference format and a more comprehensive clinician's guide that includes detailed information on the methodology and references used to develop the guidelines. Both are available in electronic and hard copy versions through a variety of sources, including the National Guidelines Clearinghouse, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the National Cancer Institute.

Contingent Valuation: Controversies and Evidence

Abstract: Contingent valuation (CV) has become one of the most widely used non-market valuation techniques. CV's prominence is due to its flexibility and ability to estimate total value, including passive use value. Its use and the inclusion of passive use value in benefit-cost analyses and environ- mental litigation are the subject of a contentious debate. This paper discusses key areas of the debate over CV and the validity of passive use value. We conclude that many of the alleged problems with CV can be resolved by careful study design and implementation. We further conclude that claims that empirical CV findings are theoretically inconsistent are not generally supported by the literature. The debate over CV, however, has clarified several key issues related to nonmarket valuation and can provide useful guidance both to CV practitioners and the users of CV results.

Mental contamination and mental correction: unwanted influences on judgments and evaluations.

Abstract: We define mental contamination as the process whereby a person has an unwanted response because of mental processing that is unconscious or uncontrollable This type of bias is distinguishable from the failure to know or apply normative rules of inference and can be further divided into the unwanted consequences of automatic processing and source confusion, which is the confusion of 2 or more causes of a response Mental contamination is difficult to avoid because it results from both fundamental properties of human cognition (eg, a lack of awareness of mental processes) and faulty lay beliefs about the mind (eg, incorrect theories about mental biases) People's lay beliefs determine the steps they take (or fail to take) to correct their judgments and thus are an important but neglected source of biased responses Strategies for avoiding contamination, such as controlling one's exposure to biasing information, are discussed