Welfare function

We also know that several welfare functions of forests will be affected. Wood covered land has a leveling effect on climate, snow smelt and run off. Bare land shows much greater peaks of wind velocity, run off and in... 

However, in the following it will simply be assumed that an agreement has been reached through international negotiations on the form of the world welfare function one wishes to jointly optimize, so that the optimization task has been reduced to the... 

Some measures, for example installing a fire alarm in one s house, will affect the survival probabilities of aU household members. Replace therefore the individual utility function by a well-behaved household welfare function ... 

More secular, and technical, versions of the arguments that destitution and/or inequality are to be remedied are presented by modern liberal theories of economics, which posit a social welfare function that weights the welfare of the poorer more than the welfare of the less poor. These theories say, in essence, that society benefits more if a poor person receives an extra unit of income than if a rich person does. There are many variations on the theme and numerous ways of weighting among individuals and income levels (see Barr 2004 for a discussion), but the basic notion is the moral judgment that welfare gains for the poorer are more important to society than those for the less poor. 

Equilibrium in this model will be when social welfare (W), the combination of consumer and producer surplus, is maximized. Note that total revenue appears as a negative amount in equation (11.2) and a positive amount in equation (11.3). It therefore cancels out in the combined social welfare function ... 

The general problem facing the social planner is to choose a set of feasible consumption bundles in order to inter-temporally maximize social welfare. We ignore political questions of how the aggregating principle is decided upon, though in some sense it is crucial since notions of the individual and the social are Implicated in any choice of social welfare function. 

The point is that the functional form of the social welfare function embodies our ethical viewpoint, even though we often fail to recognize this. One way of talking about ethics, then, would be to ask what we think are reasonable properties of our aggregating principle (in addition to the processes involved in getting to one). 

NIOSH. 1974. Evaluation of behavioral functions in workers exposed to lead. In Xintaras C, Johnson BL, De Groot 1, eds. Behavioral toxicology Early detection of occupational hazards. Cincinnati, OH US. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, 248-266. 

In the following section of this chapter we analyse the various types of market structure that occur in the case of pharmaceuticals, and we review the different factors that can limit the functioning of price competition in this market on both the supply side and the demand side. Finally, we analyse possible forms of intervention, in particular mechanisms to encourage price competition in pharmaceutical markets, and discuss the extent to which they might improve efficiency and social welfare. 

Figure 7.1 Demand functions, co-payment levels and welfare loss...

If we say, for example, that it stands at -0.2, we mean that if the price rises by 1 per cent, the quantity demanded will decrease by 0.2 per cent. In fact, the price elasticity of demand measures the potential for moral hazard.9 In Figure 7.1, the slope of the demand function for 100 per cent copayment is what ultimately determines the shaded area, which as we already know, corresponds to the welfare loss of total coverage pharmaceutical insurance. 

The authors develop their model on the basis of these assumptions, inferring the demand and profit functions and the condition that the market is covered. Then they find the collective welfare. Under the conditions they set, a drop in the intervened price would bring about an increase in welfare, which... 

Figure 5-3 Air temperature as a function of altitude for day and night conditions. The temperature gradient affects the vertical air motion. Adapted from D. Bruce Turner, Workbook of Atmospheric Dispersion Estimates (Cincinnati US Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, 1970), p. 1.

Carbaryl is perhaps one of the best studied of the major lawn chemicals, and evidence of health-related risks related to its use date as early as the late 1960s, when studies of the chemical revealed both its toxicity and its potential impact on animal (and potentially human) reproduction. In 1969 the U.S. Department of Health Education and Welfare recommended restrictions on the use of the chemical, owing to mounting evidence that it may be tetragenic (causing birth defects). Later research in the 1980s pointed towards the possible implication of carbaryl in neurotoxicity, brain function, and aggressive behavior. ... 

Hasselblad, V., G. Lowrimore, W. C. Nelson, J. Creason, and C. J. Nelson. Regression Using Hockey Stick Functions. Durham. N.C. U.S. Department of Health. Education, and Welfare. Public Health Service. Environmental Health Service, National Air Pollution Control Administration (in-house report, 1970). 5 pp. 

Animal welfare may be considered from two aspects. The first is concerned with the ethical treatment of animals, the second with the long-term biological functioning of animals. Generally speaking, both aspects should be given equal priority. 

A physiological function of a given food that maintains our homeostasis and contributes to our health quality is currently known as a tertiary function of food. In Japan, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare accepts the prophylaxis of lifestyle-related diseases by functional foods. Presently, many functional foods are available in the market as food for specific health use (FOSHU) products. To date, more than 940 items to prevent lifestyle-related diseases such as hypertension, diabetes and hyperlipidemia are accepted as a FOSHU product. Amongst the products, antihypertensive foods are unique rather than others, since their candidates (in most cases, peptides) can improve elevated blood pressure (BP) after intact absorption into our body. 

The presumption that family is the best place for children is part of the same, often untested, belief that kin relations are beneficial and that kin networks are stable and willingly supportive (Cramer and McDonald 1996). These expectations do not just operate on the social plane they are embedded deep in the framework of social welfare systems everywhere too (Kelley 1993). However, the addition of one or, often, more children to the household can have a major impact on its functioning. Family strain, conflict and instability can all be part of the equation where another family member assumes the care of children (Caliandro and Hughes 1998 Cramer and McDonald 1996). It might cause problems of overcrowding and resentment as already resident children are forced to live in cramped... 

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