Economics and Psychology Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Economics and Psychology - Essay Example Evidence also proved that offers rejected when they came from a person would be accepted if they were generated by a computer. The assumption of rationality is not completely true as people do not always make rational decisions. In economics, rationality is understood to be an approximation with hope that departures from rationality are rare. Some economists have argued that some deviations from rational do not matter (Akerlof & Yellen 1985). Psychology have challenged the assumption of rationality which is the basis of economic subjective utility. The concepts of bounded rationality was introduced in an attempt to formulate a theory of rational choice (Simon 1955). Economists predict the behavior of agents by assuming that they have stable, well-defined preferences and they make rational choices in consistence with preferences of the markets. Loewenstein & Thaler (1989) present a number of anomalies within empirical results which are difficult to rationalize. Economic theory makes exact prediction of the discount rate of money people should apply utilizing the after-tax market value of interest. High discount rates are experienced in some contexts and by some groups which raises questions concerning the rationality of consumers. Economic theories of individual behavior are vague and un-testable. Intertemporal decisions are related to the spread of costs and benefits over time. The rationality of many intertemporal decisions especially individual and self-control choices are challenged. Psychology of intertemporal choice complicated the question of selecting the proper social rate of discount. Standard computation of discount rate is determined by the standard rate of interest adjusted for tax distortions. Adjusting tax distortion is complicated by the internalization of capital markets. It is suggested to determine time preferences at the individual level to avoid these complications. The individual rate should be consistent across all individual belongings. Economists do not agree with the psychology of decision making. Evidence from psychological research proved that individuals did not follow rational choices. However, psychologists did not provide means to incorporate these findings in economic models. However, psychologists affect and benefits economic theories in a number of other cases. For example, in the case of wave profiling, psychology experimented and observed that people care about changes in wages in addition to absolute values of their wages. This could affect the profile of increasing wages in addition to the discount of the future. In this example, psychology suggested modification to the utility function of wage determination. Psychology provided testable assumptions which are supported by experimental evidence. Smith, V. (1991). Rational Choice: The contrast between Economics and Psychology, Journal of Political Economy, vol. 99. No. 4., University of Chicago Press. Smith (1991) examined the contest between economic theory and evidence from psychology with respect to experimental economics. He argued that rational choice is a combination of both rationalists from psychology and behavioralist from economics. Smith

Western Governor’s University Essay Example for Free

Western Governor’s University Essay A nurse can exert leadership without occupying a formal leadership position by taking a leadership stance. In the course, Becoming a Leader in Health Care, it describes leadership as an attitude and not just a position (Reinertsen, 2009, p. 2). Leaders take responsibility for problems and look for ways to solve them. The nurse on an interdisciplinary team serves as a leader by acting as a patient advocate and by coordinating with the other team members to work towards a common goal for the patient. The nurse is instrumental in directing the care and communicating the essential issues in the patient’s care to the whole team. Communication is an essential part to the healthcare team. The nurse communicates with all the members of the team the vital information and ensures follow up care is received. This coordination of care and effective communication leads to positive patient outcomes and increased patient satisfaction. Another way the nurse serves as a leader on the interdisciplinary team is by bringing forth process problems and asking for the teams input on how to solve a particular problem. For example, the nurse may identify a problem with a decrease in hand hygiene compliance. The nurse can solicit ideas on how to solve the problem. The nurse may also bring forward some of his or her own ideas to solve the problem like more dispensers outside of each room and visual reminders to staff to do hand hygiene that are not following the procedure to increase hand hygiene compliance. By doing this nurse is acting as a leader by taking responsibility for a problem. The leadership stance is a lets solve it attitude towards problem resolution. (Reinersten, 2009, p. 2). C. Active Involvement It is important for a nurse to be actively involved in the interdisciplinary team because teamwork is essential in effective patient care. One of the first ways a nurse plays a contributing role on the interdisciplinary team is by communication of relevant information. A structured communication tool called SBAR (Situation, Background, Assessment, and Recommendation) is used to relay relevant information between caregivers. An example would be a nurse communicating to a doctor regarding a patient with chest pain. Situation: â€Å"Mr. Clark is complaining of chest pain radiating down both arm.† Background: â€Å"He has a history of cardiovascular disease and has taken 3 sublingual Nitroglycerin without relief.† Assessment: â€Å"He is short of breath and diaphoretic.† Recommendation: â€Å"Can we institute the Acute Coronary Syndrome Orders until you get here? How long will it be till you arrive?† A second example of the way a nurse contributes to the interdisciplinary team is through the coordination of care. If the patient needs a bedside procedure such as a bronchoscopy the nurse needs to coordinate with the physician to provide informed consent and the equipment technician to set-up the equipment for the procedure. The nurse must coordinate with the pharmacist to obtain medications that will be needed for the procedure and the respiratory therapist to assist with the procedure. Lastly, the nurse must coordinate with the lab and radiology to do any post-procedure labs and x-rays. C1. Contributing Position The nurse can take an active contributing role with an interdisciplinary team by working with the other disciplines. The nurse collects data for the dietician such as height and weight, monitors fluid intake and output and diet intake. The nurse does a thorough assessment of the gastrointestinal system and monitors bowel movements. This information enables the dietician to better plan the nutritional needs of the patient. This collaboration leads to improved outcomes for the patient. A second way that the nurse can take a contributing role is by making sure core measures are done for specific diagnoses. These evidenced based measures guide the care and contribute to better outcomes for the patient. D. Culture of Safety The Institute of Healthcare Improvement defines the four characteristics of a culture of safety as psychological safety, active leadership, transparency and fairness (â€Å"Culture of Safety†, 2011). Psychological safety pertains to a safe environment where people feel comfortable in speaking up about a concern. For example, if site verification is done on an impending surgery and one member of the team feels there might be an error the person can feel safe to speak up and question without fear of being penalized or berated for speaking up. This promotes an environment where learning is increased and the risk of future harm to patients is decreased. Active leadership in a culture of safety is using effective leadership. Effective leaders set a positive tone in the environment, share information and invite others to share, call people by their names to create familiarity, and are approachable. An example of this would be surgeon who is about to perform surgery, he speaks to the team members using their first names, explains the case to the them, and asks the team to speak up if there is questions during the case. The surgeon maintains a positive attitude and the team feels that they can approach him with concerns. Transparency is the willingness of an organization to investigate errors that have occurred and share the information so that others can learn from the mistake. If transparency does not exist it can allow errors to continue to occur and risk patient safety. An example would be a wrong site surgery, if an important check was omitted and not reported the error could occur again. Transparency allows the organization to fix process problems that may have precipitated the error and help find solutions to prevent future errors. Lastly, fairness is another component to the culture of safety. Fairness relates to the fact that people are responsible for their behavior but the important distinction is the fact that some errors are made due to flawed systems and some errors are made due to poor decision-making. The three concepts of human behavior that need to be determined before accountability can be decided are human error where the nurse just inadvertently made a slip or lapse by forgetting to turn back on the tube feeding after giving medication. When the nurse creates a shortcut in a policy, such as running potassium faster than the recommended 10 meq/hr, is considered at risk behavior. Reckless behavior would be a nurse taking narcotic medication prescribed for a patient while on duty (â€Å"Culture of Safety†, 2011). Culture of safety is an important a spect to making patient care safer. References Reinertsen, J. (2009). Becoming a leader in health care. Retrieved from http://www.ihi.org/offerings/IHIOpenSchool/Courses/Pages/default.aspx PS 106: Introduction to the Culture of Safety. (2011). Retrieved from www.ihi.org/offerings/IHIOpenSchool/Courses/Pages/default.aspx

Priceline.com Essay -- Economics Case Study e-commerce, solution

Priceline.com Priceline.com is an Internet company that pioneered a unique type of e-commerce known as â€Å"demand collection system† that enables consumers to use the Internet to save money on a wide range of products and services while enabling sellers to generate incremental revenue. Using a simple and compelling consumer proposition of â€Å"name your price,† the consumer is in control of the product they wish to purchase. In the form of individual customer offers guaranteed by a credit card for a particular product or service at a price set by the customer and communicate that demand directly to the participating sellers or to their private databases. The company works by allowing the consumers to agree to hold their offers open for a specified period of time to enable priceline.com to fulfill their offers from inventory provided by participating sellers. Once fulfilled, offers generally cannot be canceled. By requiring consumers to be flexible with respect to brands, sellers and/or product features, the company enables sellers to generate incremental revenue without disrupting their existing distribution channels or retail pricing structures. The company is grounded on the assumption of â€Å"rational self-interest.† In other words, since individuals make rational decisions to achieve the greatest satisfaction or the maximum fulfillment of their goals, Priceline.com has now revolutionized the market industry. By their ‘name and lock your price† strategy, more and more consumers have been able to maximize their satisfaction on differentiated products. The consumers want to spend their incomes to get the greatest benefit from the goods and services they can afford. Priceline.com helps them to achieve their goals. Since the inception of this internet-based company, millions of consumers were able to afford more with less expenditure on their goods. In addition, rational behavior varies among every individual because individual preferences, circumstances, and available information differ. Priceline.com offers various or â€Å"differentiated goods and services† in a broad range of products to purch ase from. â€Å"E-Commerce Pioneer Priceline.com Sells 20,000 Leisure Airline Tickets In Six Weeks.† As ticket sales accelerated, priceline.com has become one of the nation’s top 10 most-visited commerce Web sites. In it’s first six weeks of operation, pricelin... ...e expected rate of return is far greater than the interest invested in producing advertisement. Moreover, they expect companies to support their business strategy so the other companies in return can generate greater revenue as well. Conclusively, Priceline.com has brought an exciting and provides other businesses with inspiration to follow their strategies. Many consumers have benefited from this Internet Company and as a result have saved money to spend on other wants. Now we have the option of choosing a price and giving countless vendors the chance to bid. For better or worse, this could transform the way we think of shopping, as well as the way in which we do it. Conceivably, it could alter the nature of balance and power between vendors and consumers. In addition, it restructures long-standing capitalistic business and sales traditions. This new business model appears to have the potential to give enormous new powers to people who want to buy things, since their price is being offered to many thousands, even millions, of possible sellers. The new business method venture is successful and it opens the doors for consumers who are tired of the fixed prices they have to pay.

How to format a hard drive :: essays research papers

How to Format Your Hard Drive You had a long day at work; the traffic is bumper to bumper on the freeway. You are almost home and you get pulled over and cited a speeding ticket. You finally get home and get on your computer to research some lawyers to get out of that speeding ticket and your computer seems to be not acting right. Well it is time to format the hard drive. If you are like most computer owners, you understand how frustrating and expensive a computer can be. Taking your computer to the repair shop and paying high technician fees can be a thing of the past. Follow my directions and you will not ever have to worry about keeping your computer running again. Before you begin, you need to have a computer and a basic understanding of how it operates. You will need a few 3.5-inch floppy disks, a startup disk, and an operating system disk. The startup disk is a disk that was made especially for your computer. It tells the computer what hardware it has and which type of operating system is going to be installed. The operating system disk is, for most personal home computers, Microsoft Windows. Today the Windows versions would most likely be Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 S.E., Windows ME, Windows 2000, or Windows X.P. If you have the floppy disks, the startup disk and the operating system disk then you are ready for the next step. Now, you need to decide which (if any) information you do not want erased. This information will be saved on a 3.5-inch floppy. To save on a 3.5-inch floppy you need to insert the disk into the skinny hole on your tower making sure to keep the shiny side down. The drive that you inserted the disk into is called the A-drive. After your disk is inserted into the A-drive open the file you wish to save. Click on the word file and a drop down menu appears. On the drop down menu you will see a list of options. Click on save as. Another window will open and ask you where you would like to save the file and what you would like to name it. Type the name of the file and click on A-drive 3.5 floppy. Do this with everything that you do not want to lose. When you have finished saving, take a deep breath.

Business strategy: A guide to Effective Decision making Essay

Strategies decisions depends highly on perceptions, people’s attitudes and assumptions, therefore they are rarely straightforward or simple. Strategic decisions determine the direction as well as success of an organization, which is why it is essential for decision-makers to understand the decision-making process in order to make the right decisions. Chapter 2, 3, and 4 focus on introducing forces which will form a decision, including ideas, developments and potential pitfalls. In chapter 4, a practical and useful framework is also created to guide step by step in a decision-making process. Chapter 8 outlines insights and techniques for implementing and improving decisions in order to have a competitive strategy. Chapter 12 introduces forces which will have affection in sales, marketing and brand management decisions. It is necessary to understand the decision-making process and other involved factors to be able to create a practical and competitive strategy. Right decisions will make a huge impact on company’s directions as well as success in the future. Chapter 2: Ideas at Work Setting a strategy has always been complex due to the changes that company has to face over time. There are several factors that will affect the decision making process. Decision-making approaches The classical administrator The classical administrator, which was founded by Henri Fayol, has become the most traditional model of the decision-makers or strategists. A set of common activities and principles of managements was developed and divided into five sections: planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating and controlling. Planning involves setting the goals of the organization and developing an action plan for future success. Organizing involves structuring the organization and using necessary resources to achieve these aims. Commanding makes sure the optimum return from people, which is usually considered the most expensive component of a business. Coordinating involves focusing on people’s effort to achieve the goals. Control makes sure that everything is going according to plan, making adjustment when necessary to ensure success. The design planner When the strategy is planned, the techniques of the classical administrator would be used to implement the strategy. Design planning will help the implementation process and it requires expertise in two areas: Analyzing and anticipating the future environment, techniques and models. Be aware of the external opportunities and threats; internal strengths and weaknesses. The role player The role player involves in the strategic decision-maker’s job as a reflective and analyzing planner and controller, to make sure the plan is realistic and practical. The competitive positioner It is crucial for competitive positioner to understand the power of the external environment in order to achieve competitive advantage. Customers and suppliers, substitute products, present and potential competitors are considered competitive forces. The competitive positioned should be able to eliminate barriers to enter its market, set a competitive prices, reduce operating costs and be aware of its rivals. The visionary transformer Vision is one of the fundamental tools to make a strategic decision, and it should focus on answering the following questions: Where in the market should the organization position itself? Brand positioning? How should the organization achieve its goal? However, visions should be achievable and visionary transformers should be able to ensure that they are achieved. The self-organizer The self-organizer needs the ability to network, innovate and collaborate with people to achieve the organization’s goal. The turnaround strategist The turnaround strategist focuses on turning around the performance of an organization once a visionary leader has failed. It is important to adapt new control systems quickly, find out the reasons for failing and be able to reverse them. Financial issues There are three financial issues that influence strategic decisions, they are: cash management, risk management and budgeting. It is important for company to be able to manage its cash flow and have an effective financial control while implementing strategic decisions. Controlling costs Controlling costs, by saving money, making cost-cutting is one way to boost profits and reduce losses. Managing for value: implementing the balanced scorecard The balances scorecard takes into account four important perspective of activity, they are: financial perspective, customers, internal processes, innovation and learning perspective. The main stages of implementing the balanced scorecard include: Preparing and defining the strategy, deciding what to measure, finalizing and implementing the plan, publicizing a d using the results, reviewing and revising the system. The rise of technology and the impact on technology on decision-making The rise of technology has opened up a multiple ways to add value, increase sales, reduce costs and manage more efficiently, therefore technology has made a huge and diverse impact on business decisions. Factors that affect a business and decision-making such as: adding value, understanding customer needs, competitive advantage and assessing costs can be done much faster and more efficient with the help of technology. That is why it is definitely important to use and manage information systems properly to take the best out of it. Chapter 3: Pitfalls In this chapter, several types of failure may be encountered in decision-making process, such as: thinking flaws, leadership flaws and cultural flaws. Behavioral flaws In order to avoid traps made by human brain while making decisions, common traps should be recognized and understood which ones are likely to influence decision-maker’s thinking. Some common traps which were mentioned in this chapter were: the anchoring trap, the status quo trap, the sunk-cost trap, the confirming-evidence trap, the overconfidence trap, the framing trap, the recent event trap, and the prudence trap. Leadership flaws Leadership flaws can also affect strategic decisions. One of them is failure of understanding, when the leader does not properly understand a problem. Another common flaw is rationalistic planning, when everybody assumes that there is only one effective choice, therefore, leads to only one conclusion. Decision-making pitfalls Cultural flaws The culture of an organization can make a negative effect on strategic decision, and fragmentation occurs when people are in disagreement. In the other hand, groupthink is when an idea is given because it is supposed to harmony with the majority. Such behaviors are common and therefore, decisions may be affected by the cultural of an organization. Failure to respond to change It is important to sense when to change before the business goes down and gets bankrupt. Responding to the need to change may be not easy, due to other external factors, but changing in the right way and at the right time is crucial to remain the business in the market. Overcoming decision-making problems It is usually much more difficult to over problems than just pointing them out. When looking for a solution, two main factors should be considered seriously: the ability of the decision maker and the importance of testing and perfecting decisions. Some other ways to overcome problems and aim to effective decision-making are: being aware (and raising awareness among others), avoiding subjective or irrational analysis, being sensitive, establishing clear priorities and objectives, fostering creativity and innovation, understanding substantive issues and last but not least, focusing on the relevance and potency of the business idea. Organizational learning and scenarios Two popular approaches that can be used to avoid the pitfalls of strategic thinking are adaptive organizational learning and scenario thinking. Adaptive organizational learning means continuing the process by adapting new changes to suit the organizational environment and to improve performance. Scenario thinking is a process which is divided into two parts: a formal element designed by managers, and an informal part, characterized by casual conversations. Chapter 4: Rational or intuitive? Frameworks for decision-making The rational approach Assessing the situation Assessing the situation is the first step of rational decision-making process. It starts by asking whether the decision relates to a permanent issue or it is the result of an isolated event, therefore the decision-maker may have some idea of what to do in the next step. Defining the critical issues When considering a decision, all aspects should be taken into account, and funneling is a useful and rational technique to be used. The method involves collecting information, then prioritizes and eliminates issues that aroused based on the data that were collected and analyzed. Specifying the decision This step defines what the decision must achieve. By defining the minimum set of goals, this helps to ensure focus and smooth implementation. Making the decision Compromise is usually involved in the decision-making process. In this stage of the process, embracing with creativity and innovation may ensure the strategic decision will be implemented successfully. Implementing the decision After defining the decision, executing it is usually the most critical and time-consuming phase. These following factors are involved: planning how it will be implemented, assigning the tasks clearly and specifically, communicating, motivating and rewarding, managing resources to ensure that people carrying out the decision have the necessary equipment to complete their task. Monitoring and making adjustments It is very important to monitor the implementation so that everything is going according to plan and adjustments can be made in time. Decision-making is a cycle, from the last step comes back to the first step again, therefore the assessment of the next decisions should start will the monitoring of current ones. The intuitive approach

5 Examples of Extraneous Hyphens

5 Examples of Extraneous Hyphens 5 Examples of Extraneous Hyphens 5 Examples of Extraneous Hyphens By Mark Nichol Hyphens are helpful little things that aid in reader comprehension. Although confusion is not at great risk in phrases like â€Å"sharp-dressed man† (though the omission of the hyphen suggests that the passage literally refers to a dressed man who is sharp) others, such as â€Å"small-business owner,† can at the very least conjure distracting imagery if they omit the hyphen. And such hyphenated word strings as â€Å"song-and-dance man† and â€Å"customer-relationship-management software† help keep the reader focused, though judiciously relaxing a phrase is often a welcome solution: The former phrase isn’t exhausting to read, but how about â€Å"software for customer-relationship management† in lieu of the latter? On the other hand, sins of commission regarding hyphenation are as endemic as those of omission. Here are examples of superfluous usage: 1. â€Å"Mergers and acquisitions ground to a near-halt in 2001.† â€Å"Near-halt† and its cousins â€Å"near-disaster† and â€Å"near-miss† are results of a misunderstanding: When near modifies another adjective, it should be hyphenated to its teammate (â€Å"near-fatal accident†), but a hyphen serves no use in linking near in isolation directly to a noun. 2. â€Å"The recently-launched firm survived by limiting itself to modestly-scaled projects.† Adverbs ending in -ly never are never hyphenated, though suffix-free adverbs are: â€Å"longer-lasting freshness.† 3. â€Å"The mostly flat paved trail is an inline-skater’s dream.† There was a time when compound nouns that are now open or closed, such as â€Å"income tax† or â€Å"taskmaster,† were likely to be hyphenated. That usage, however, is now considered archaic (with some puzzling exceptions such as mind-set and life-form). Safely assume that just about any such linkage you see is incorrect though, to be safe, I offer the inverse of a piece of all-purpose advice: Distrust, but verify. 4. â€Å"She realized that the police department was less-than-dedicated to assisting her.† Step back and ponder what benefit of comprehension accrues from creating the wagon train of â€Å"less-than-dedicated,† then excise the offending hyphens. 5. â€Å"The starting center is seven-feet tall.† The necessity of hyphenating physical dimensions in phrasal adjectives (â€Å"the seven-foot-tall center†) confuses many writers into believing that any phrasing having to do with size or weight or distance must be linked. â€Å"Seven-foot-tall center† is hyphenated so as not to suggest that the tall center has seven feet, but no such ambiguity attends â€Å"seven feet tall.† Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Punctuation category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:Avoid Beginning a Sentence with â€Å"With†What is the Difference Between Metaphor and Simile?Prepositions to Die With

Locke And Hobbes Essays - Libertarian Theory, John Locke

Locke And Hobbes Essays - Libertarian Theory, John Locke Locke And Hobbes Hobbes point of view on human nature and how a government should be run is a more realistic way of looking at things than John Lockes theory. Both Hobbes and Locke see human nature differently, Hobbes sees people as being run by selfishness whereas Locke says that people are naturally kind. In our state of nature, Hobbes says we have no rights but Locke suggests that we have natural rights, God-given rights. Using reason, people decide to enter into a social contract with a ruler or a form of government, which would make a trade that, would help both of the parties. They both argue that the ruler can go too far or not fulfill their part of the contract, giving the people the right to revolt. Hobbes shows that humans are naturally evil that lays down the groundwork for his form of government. Hobbes and Lockes theories differ greatly beginning with their views of human nature. Hobbes suggests that people are naturally, solitary, poor, nasty, and brutish. He also says that without authority mankind is selfish and egotistical. John Locke, on the other hand, sees people as being peaceful in their nature state. These different points of show how they formed their theory of the state of nature. Without a government people are put into their state of nature, Hobbes and Locke both picture a different scene when they express human state of nature. Hobbes states that the condition of people before government was short, solitary, poor, brutish, and disorderly. But John Locke shows a different point of view, he notes three rights that are God-given and inalienable, these three are life, liberty, and property. Knowing what people do and don't have the right to relates to how the government should rule their subjects. A social contract is an agreement between the people and the government in order to preserve order. Hobbes sees the government or ruler as a powerful sovereign. He named it Leviathan, which is the name of a giant sea serpent in the Old Testament that supposedly battled Yahweh. The people must trade their rights, power, and their desire to dominate in order to receive protection. This special type of protection punishes those who break the contract. Under Lockes theory, the ruler must protect the peoples natural rights and the people must give up their power to rule each other. The governments job is to keep the people happy by not overstepping their boundary. Hobbes and Locke both agree on the fact that there is a point in time that it is not only the right but also the responsibility of the people to overthrow the government. The government must be stable in order to follow through on their side of the contract or they are bringing a revolt upon themselves. Hobbes says that the Leviathan must be taken out of power when he fails to fulfill his side of the contract. Under Lockes rules, the government must be overthrown when any of the peoples three God-given rights are taken away or lost. After viewing why a government should or would be overthrown we can look at Hobbes and Lockes theorys overall. Hobbes theory is a pessimistic look at human being and the way they act around each other but Lockes theory suggests that people are more easy-going and peaceful towards each other. As we see in the news daily, people are often cruel and inhumane, and we also see kinder people in everyday life. We see people who give up their own personal pleasure so they can serve others. But these people are far and few between, it becomes quickly obvious that humans are drawn towards self-happiness. A morally pure person would look at their neighbor and think, what can I do to help him? whereas the more realistic perspective would be, what would make me happy right now? Hobbes form of government uses the natural state of man to create a way of living that would help everyone, so you can feel safe in a usually non-safe environment. Bibliography none needed, sorry