Technological and Economic Development of Economy

The main research activities in economics during the last five years have significantly increased. The main research fields are operation research and sustainable development. The philosophy of decision making in economics is to assess and select the most preferable solution, implement it and to gain the biggest profit. Preferences are used in a lot of problem situations both in individual and organizational decision making processes. A number of effective decision making methods that support decisions under conditions of multiple criteria have appeared in the last decade. This paper presents a panorama of decision making methods in economics and summarizes the most important results and applications over the last five years. This paper considers decision making in light of the recent developments of multiple criteria decision making methods (because classical methods are overviewed in a lot of earlier publications). Authors of different approaches, pioneering studies and works are presented in s...

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Multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) methods in economics: an overview

Natural ecosystems perform fundamental life-support services upon which human civilization depends. However, many people believe that nature provides these services for free and therefore, they are of little or no value. While we do not pay for them, we pay significantly for their loss in terms of wastewater treatment facilities, moratoriums on greenhouse gases, increased illnesses, reduced soil fertility and losses in those images of nature that contribute to our basic happiness. Little is understood about the well-being benefits of the natural environment and its ecosystem services. The interwoven relationship of ecosystems and human well-being is insufficiently acknowledged in the wider philosophical, social, and economic well-being literature. In this article, we discuss an approach to examine human well-being and the interactions of its four primary elements—basic human needs, economic needs, environmental needs, and subjective well-being—and ecosystem services.

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A review of the elements of human well-being with an emphasis on the contribution of ecosystem services.

This article provides an interpretive survey on implications of insights from behavioral economics for environmental policy. In particular, it discusses whether, and if so how, policy implications based on conventional economic theory have to be modified when insights from behavioral economics are considered. More specifi- cally, it discusses concerns for cooperation, fairness, self-image, social approval, and status. Moreover, it addresses potential crowding- out effects, context-dependent and incoherent preferences, risk mis- perceptions, ambiguity aversion, and regulator bias. We conclude that behavioral economics has a lot to offer environmental eco- nomics and that some normative policy recommendations have to be modified. Yet the most fundamental policy recommendations in environmental economics generally prevail and are sometimes even reinforced through behavioral economics insights.

Behavioral Economics and Environmental Policy

Differences in the recreational value of urban parks between weekdays and weekends: A discrete choice analysis

A comparison of citizen and expert preferences using an attribute-based approach to choice

The value of public rights of way: A choice experiment in Bedfordshire, England

Local Government Authorities (LGA) in England and Wales have statutory responsibility for the maintenance of Public Rights of Way (PROW), such as pathways and byways open to non-motorised traffic. The departments responsible have to compete for budgets and justify their expenditure in terms of councils’ priorities, such as well-being and environment. A need was identified for a simple decision support tool to provide a consistent and transparent framework for assessing the range of possible social and economic benefits from expenditure on PROW. The tool uses the Analytic Hierarchy Process to elicit weights forming the links from path attributes to users and usage to benefits, with a final stage to combine the benefits according to LGA priorities. It was successfully tested through case studies, where improving signage was generally found to be the most cost effective option, giving moderate benefits at low cost, whereas improving the physical conditions of the surface gave greater benefits at relatively high cost.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Fjors.2013.94.pdf

M. Brawn

Papers

A comparison of citizen and expert preferences using an attribute-based approach to choice

The value of public rights of way: A choice experiment in Bedfordshire, England

A decision support tool for Public Rights of Way officers based on the Analytic Hierarchy Process