Resources allocation choices

The basis on which resource allocation choices should be made - efficiency... 

Scarcity means that resource allocation decisions cannot be avoided. If this is accepted, then it is clear that the basis on which these decisions are made should be explicit. Although economists do not claim to have the only - or even necessarily the best - answer for all choices that need to be made, at least economic criteria are explicit and hence open for criticism and debate. 

To be useful to those concerned with choices in the allocation of health and social care resources, the data for economic evaluations need to be timely, relevant, credible and accurate (Davies, 1998). As a minimum, the costs associated with the interventions should be estimated from activity data, which quantify resources used, and price or unit cost data. Often evidence from well-controlled prospective trials with high internal validity is required to establish whether differences in economic end points are directly attributable to the interventions. However, the economic evaluations of acetylcholinesterase inhibitors estimated costs from retrospective analysis of available datasets Qonsson et al, 1999b), analysis of published literature (e.g. Stewart et al, 1998) and expert opinion (e.g. O Brien et al, 1999 Neumann et al, 1999). This means that it is not clear whether differences in costs were due to the anticholinesterase inhibitors or to other factors such as availability of services in different areas, the living situation of the patient, or disease severity. 

Accounting is the information system that records, analyzes, and reports economic transactions, enabling decision makers to make informed choices when allocating scarce economic resources. It is a... 

Economics is about the allocation of resources to production and the distribution of the outputs that result. Economics exists as a discipline because the resources available globally, nationally, regionally or to any industry, organisation or individual are finite. At the same time, it would appear that no amount of output could ever satisfy all human wants and desires. Taken together, this means that choices about the level of resources to allocate to various sectors of the economy or to the production of specific outputs within those sectors are unavoidable. Equally, choices about distribution cannot be escaped. Thus, economics is the science of making choices. 

The ideal of self-realization is a strenuous one. Is it too demanding Would communist society exclude or stigmatize those who prefer the passive pleasures of consumption, be it in the contemplation of pushpin or of poetry Would an allocation of resources to facilitate the process of creation do an injustice to those who would rather enjoy the fruits of creation 1 confess to some doubt here. While I feel confident that the passive attitudes of many persons in contemporary societies are largely the result of remediable social causation, I am not at all sure that they could never be the object of an autonomous choice. I am not sure, that is, that if freed from such constraints as lack of time, energy, money or self-esteem, everyone would spontaneously choose creation over consumption. And since 1 do not think this can be decided in other ways than by the individuals concerned, the uncertainty should lead to some caution in the implementation of the ideal. 

Allocation of scarce resources can be decided in a number of ways, for example by the principles of utilitarianism (such as by using medical criteria to select those most likely to benefit) or by random choice. 

Economics is concerned with the most efficient allocation of scarce resources to various uses and with the creation and distribution of wealth. The complete economic picture can best be understood by first discussing how the individual consumer or household chooses to allocate a limited budget and how these individual choices subsequently lead to demand for a product. Section 2.1 reviews of some important aspects of consumer economics. 

This is a complex example, since university teaching is intertwined with research, so there are reasons to select people over instruments even at the expense of research results. I simply intended to point out that, focussing only on research, there are hard management choices to make among the resources available, and the actual productivity of the national R D effort depends on how these choices are made. Undoubtedly, all sectors will sacrifice some equipment needs in favor of strengthening staff, particularly over a short-term difficulty. When this is practiced over a long-term period, there can be marked effects on output. More intensive studies on such allocations and their impacts are called for. 

Strategic choices Needs of owner versus needs of firm Degree of integration market-share objective breadth of product line Entry and exit from industries allocation of resources by industry rate of growth... 

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