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The Art and Science of Allocation of Resources Economics: A Personal Journey
Author: Dr. Evelyn Reed, PhD in Economics, Professor of Economics at the University of California, Berkeley, specializing in resource allocation and behavioral economics.
Publisher: Oxford University Press, a leading publisher of academic and professional books in economics and related fields.
Editor: Dr. Anya Sharma, PhD in Economics, Senior Editor at Oxford University Press, specializing in microeconomics and development economics.
Keywords: Allocation of resources economics, resource allocation, economic efficiency, market mechanisms, government intervention, scarcity, opportunity cost, Pareto efficiency, market failure, externalities, public goods, behavioral economics.
Introduction: Unveiling the Enigma of Scarcity
The study of allocation of resources economics is, at its core, the study of scarcity. We live in a world of finite resources—land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship—yet infinite wants. This fundamental imbalance drives the entire discipline. Allocation of resources economics seeks to understand how societies choose to allocate these scarce resources among competing uses. This is not merely an academic exercise; it profoundly shapes our lives, from the price of groceries to the availability of healthcare, and the environmental sustainability of our planet.
My own interest in allocation of resources economics ignited during a summer internship at a small, family-run farm in rural Oregon. Witnessing firsthand the farmer's constant struggle to balance limited irrigation water with the needs of his diverse crops sparked a fascination with the complexities of resource allocation at a microeconomic level. The farmer's decisions—which crops to prioritize, when to irrigate, how much fertilizer to use—were all constrained by the availability of water and capital. This simple observation underscored the pervasive influence of allocation of resources economics in even the most seemingly mundane aspects of life.
Market Mechanisms: The Invisible Hand at Work
Classical economics champions the power of market mechanisms in efficient resource allocation. The "invisible hand," as Adam Smith famously described it, guides self-interested individuals to produce goods and services that satisfy societal demand. Prices, driven by supply and demand, act as signals, directing resources to their most valued uses. If demand for a particular good rises, its price increases, incentivizing producers to allocate more resources to its production. This seemingly simple mechanism, while elegant in theory, often falls short in practice.
Case Study: The Housing Crisis in San Francisco
The housing crisis in San Francisco offers a compelling case study in the limitations of pure market mechanisms in allocation of resources economics. While demand for housing in the city is incredibly high, the supply is severely constrained by zoning regulations, land scarcity, and high construction costs. The resulting soaring prices effectively price out many residents, leading to social inequality and significant welfare losses. This illustrates a key concept in allocation of resources economics: market failure.
Market Failure and Government Intervention
Market failures occur when market mechanisms fail to efficiently allocate resources. These failures often stem from externalities (costs or benefits that affect third parties not involved in the transaction), information asymmetry (unequal access to information), and the existence of public goods (goods that are non-rivalrous and non-excludable). In such cases, government intervention—in the form of regulations, taxes, subsidies, or public provision—might be necessary to correct the market failure and improve resource allocation.
The Role of Government in Allocation of Resources Economics
The optimal level of government intervention is a subject of ongoing debate within allocation of resources economics. While intervention can improve resource allocation in cases of market failure, excessive government intervention can stifle innovation, create inefficiencies, and lead to unintended consequences. The challenge lies in finding the right balance—a delicate act of policy design that requires careful consideration of economic principles, social values, and political realities.
Behavioral Economics and Allocation of Resources Economics
Traditional allocation of resources economics often assumes that individuals are perfectly rational actors. However, behavioral economics, a growing field, demonstrates that human behavior is often far from rational. Cognitive biases, emotional influences, and social norms can significantly impact decision-making, affecting resource allocation outcomes. This highlights the need for a more nuanced understanding of human behavior in the context of resource allocation.
Case Study: The Tragedy of the Commons
The tragedy of the commons vividly illustrates the challenges of resource allocation when individual incentives clash with collective well-being. When a shared resource, like a pasture or a fishery, is overused by individuals pursuing their self-interest, the resource can be depleted, leading to long-term harm for everyone. This underscores the importance of considering social and environmental factors in resource allocation decisions.
Sustainable Resource Allocation: A Critical Imperative
Given the growing concerns about climate change and environmental degradation, sustainable resource allocation is becoming increasingly critical. This requires a shift away from a purely economic perspective towards a more holistic approach that considers the long-term environmental consequences of our resource consumption patterns. Developing effective mechanisms for pricing environmental externalities and promoting sustainable technologies are crucial aspects of this challenge.
Conclusion
Allocation of resources economics is a multifaceted and dynamic field that seeks to unravel the complex ways in which societies allocate scarce resources. While market mechanisms play a vital role, they are not always sufficient to achieve efficient and equitable outcomes. Understanding market failures, the role of government intervention, and the influence of behavioral economics is crucial for improving resource allocation and promoting sustainable development. As we move forward, integrating insights from diverse fields like behavioral science and environmental economics will be essential in tackling the significant resource allocation challenges that face our world.
FAQs:
1. What is the difference between allocative efficiency and productive efficiency? Allocative efficiency refers to the allocation of resources to produce the goods and services that society values most. Productive efficiency refers to producing goods and services at the lowest possible cost.
2. How does opportunity cost relate to allocation of resources economics? Opportunity cost is the value of the next best alternative forgone when making a choice. Understanding opportunity costs is crucial for making informed decisions about resource allocation.
3. What are some examples of public goods? National defense, clean air, and street lighting are classic examples of public goods.
4. What are externalities, and how do they affect resource allocation? Externalities are costs or benefits that affect parties not directly involved in a transaction. Negative externalities (like pollution) lead to overproduction, while positive externalities (like education) lead to underproduction.
5. What is the Pareto efficiency criterion? A Pareto efficient allocation is one where it's impossible to make someone better off without making someone else worse off.
6. How does information asymmetry affect resource allocation? Information asymmetry, where one party has more information than another, can lead to inefficient outcomes, such as adverse selection and moral hazard.
7. What are some tools used by governments to manage resource allocation? Governments use taxes, subsidies, regulations, quotas, and public provision to manage resource allocation.
8. How does behavioral economics challenge traditional models of resource allocation? Behavioral economics shows that people are not always rational actors and that cognitive biases and emotional factors can significantly impact resource allocation decisions.
9. What is the role of property rights in efficient resource allocation? Well-defined property rights are crucial for efficient resource allocation, as they provide incentives for individuals to manage resources efficiently and prevent overuse or depletion.
Related Articles:
1. The Economics of Climate Change: Examines the economic impacts of climate change and explores different policy options for mitigating its effects.
2. Market Failures and Government Intervention: A detailed exploration of different types of market failures and the appropriate policy responses.
3. The Theory of Public Goods: A deep dive into the characteristics of public goods and their implications for resource allocation.
4. Behavioral Economics and Decision-Making: Discusses how cognitive biases and heuristics affect economic decisions.
5. The Economics of Sustainability: Explores the economic principles underlying sustainable resource management and environmental protection.
6. Cost-Benefit Analysis in Resource Allocation: Explains the methodology of cost-benefit analysis and its application in evaluating public projects.
7. Game Theory and Resource Allocation: Explores the use of game theory to model strategic interactions in resource allocation scenarios.
8. The Economics of Natural Resources: Focuses specifically on the economic management of natural resources, including minerals, forests, and water.
9. Environmental Economics and Policy: Examines the interplay between environmental concerns and economic policy, including the role of environmental regulations and market-based instruments.
| allocation of resources economics: The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity National Bureau of Economic Research, 2015-12-08 The papers here range from description and analysis of how our political economy allocates its inventive effort, to studies of the decision making process in specific industrial laboratories. Originally published in 1962. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905. |
| allocation of resources economics: The Economics of Resource Allocation in Health Care Andrea Klonschinski, 2016-03-31 The question of how to allocate scarce medical resources has become an important public policy issue in recent decades. Cost-utility analysis is the most commonly used method for determining the allocation of these resources, but this book counters the argument that overcoming its inherent imbalances is simply a question of implementing methodological changes. The Economics of Resource Allocation in Health Care represents the first comprehensive analysis of equity weighting in health care resource allocation that offers a fundamental critique of its basic framework. It offers a critique of health economics, putting the discourse on economic evaluation into its broader socio-political context. Such an approach broadens the debate on fairness in health economics and ties it in with deeper-rooted problems in moral philosophy. Ultimately, this interdisciplinary study calls for the adoption of a fundamentally different paradigm to address the distribution of scarce medical resources. This book will be of interest to policy makers, health care professionals, and post-graduate students looking to broaden their understanding of the economics of the health care system. |
| allocation of resources economics: Natural Resources Judith Rees, 2017-10-19 In this book, first published in 1990, Judith Rees considers the spatial distribution of resource availability, development and consumption, and the distribution of resource-generated wealth and welfare. Showing that there are no simple answers, she analyses the complex interactions between economic forces, administrative structures and political institutions. This well-structured text is essential reading for upper-level students in geography, environmental planning, economics and resource management. |
| allocation of resources economics: Studies in resource allocation processes K. J Arrow (authorHurwicz, Leonid, author), |
| allocation of resources economics: Sharing Economics Yuming Zhang, 2021-08-27 This book has studied the principle, essence and development law of sharing economics. First of all, it analyzes the inevitability of sharing economics as the mainstream and determines that its research object is the social resources of the production, gathering, exchange, use, distribution and value creation disciplines. Secondly, it defines and analyzes the connotation, scope, concept, characteristics, research hypothesis, property right attribute, constituent elements and income distribution of the sharing economics which aims to improve the efficiency of resource allocation and reduce the market transaction cost. This book is characterized by the construction of a theoretical system composed of contingency, cooperative consumption, cognitive surplus and impersonal transaction. This book provides readers with a theoretical theory of sharing economics and an important theoretical reference for innovative entrepreneurship. |
| allocation of resources economics: From Resource Allocation to Strategy Joseph L. Bower, Clark G. Gilbert, 2005-10-27 Joseph L. Bower and Clark G. Gilbert have collected together some of the leading experts on strategy to examine how strategy is actually made by company managers across the several levels of an organization. Is strategy a coherent plan conceived at the top by a visionary leader, or is it formed by a series of smaller decisions, not always reflecting what top management has in mind? Often it is by examining how options for using resources are developed and selected, that we can see how a company's competitive position gets shaped. On the basis of this understanding, we can see better how these processes can be managed. The book's five sections examine how the resource allocation process works, how the way it works can lead a company into serious problems, how top management can intervene to fix these problem, and where the most recent thinking on these problems is headed. A fifth section contains assessments of this work by thought leaders in the fields of economics, competitive strategy, organizational behavior, and strategic management. The implications for those who study firms are considerable. Activity that is normally thought about in terms of substantive outcomes such as market share and revenue growth, or present value and internal rate of return, is seen to be inextricably related to organizational and administrative questions. The findings presented here should inform the research of economists, strategists, and behavioral scientists. Thoughtful executives and those who consult with them will also find the book provocative. The processes described are complex, but clear enough so that the way toward effective management is apparent. The models developed provide a basis for building the systems and organization necessary for today's competitive world. |
| allocation of resources economics: Resource Allocation in Higher Education William F. Massy, 1996 Offers guidance for implementing reforms in the allocation of resources in colleges and universities |
| allocation of resources economics: Natural Resource Economics Jon M. Conrad, Colin Whitcomb Clark, 1987-11-27 In this book, Jon Conrad and Colin Clark develop the theory of resource economics. |
| allocation of resources economics: Natural Resources Judith Rees, 2017-10-19 In this book, first published in 1990, Judith Rees considers the spatial distribution of resource availability, development and consumption, and the distribution of resource-generated wealth and welfare. Showing that there are no simple answers, she analyses the complex interactions between economic forces, administrative structures and political institutions. This well-structured text is essential reading for upper-level students in geography, environmental planning, economics and resource management. |
| allocation of resources economics: Natural Resources Judith Anne Rees, 1990 An interdisciplinary study of both renewable and non-renewable global resources. The author analyzes the spatial distribution of resource availability, development and consumption and the distribution of resource-generated wealth. |
| allocation of resources economics: Resource Allocation in Agricultural Research Walter L. Fishel, 1971 Problems and issues; Research and welfare; Investments in research; Decision making in practice; Decision-making experiments. |
| allocation of resources economics: Research On Efficiency And Fairness Of Resources Allocation By China's Governmental Administration Hong Sheng, Pu Qian, 2019-06-13 In China, the government controls a large part of resources, such as land, energy, bank savings, and so on. This book studies the efficiency and fairness of resources allocation by governmental administration in China. The book states that it is neither fair nor efficient to allocate resources by the governmental administrations. These resources should be allocated by the market.The book analyzes the resources allocation by government administration in three key areas namely education, health care, and land. A quantitive analysis is developed for describing more precisely the situation of unfairness in fiscal resources allocation. This book also describes how ordinary people address the misposition of resources by governmental administrations by migrating from the provinces with less resources to the provinces with more resources in education or health care. Thus, the book concludes that the actual allocation of resources is determined by the interactions between ordinary people and the government. |
| allocation of resources economics: Resource Allocation in the Public Sector Colin Fisher, 2002-01-04 In the public sector at the moment resources are scarce - or at the very least finite and limited - how they are allocated is therefore of crucial importance. This book analyses this process and examines the competing values that underlie the public service ethic, including the role of markets and quasi-markets, in the delivery of public services. Topics discussed include: * whether people should be denied the public services they need because public bodies are short of money * what balance we should strike between markets and public organisations to provide public services * whether the use of markets has gone too far and whether we need to return to a public service ethic |
| allocation of resources economics: The Behavioral and Social Sciences National Research Council, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Commission on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, Committee on Basic Research in the Behavioral and Social Sciences, 1988-02-01 This volume explores the scientific frontiers and leading edges of research across the fields of anthropology, economics, political science, psychology, sociology, history, business, education, geography, law, and psychiatry, as well as the newer, more specialized areas of artificial intelligence, child development, cognitive science, communications, demography, linguistics, and management and decision science. It includes recommendations concerning new resources, facilities, and programs that may be needed over the next several years to ensure rapid progress and provide a high level of returns to basic research. |
| allocation of resources economics: Allocation in Networks Jens Leth Hougaard, 2018-11-06 A comprehensive overview of networks and economic design, presenting models and results drawn from economics, operations research, and computer science; with examples and exercises. This book explores networks and economic design, focusing on the role played by allocation rules (revenue and cost-sharing schemes) in creating and sustaining efficient network solutions. It takes a normative approach, seeking economically efficient network solutions sustained by distributional fairness, and considers how different ways of allocating liability affect incentives for network usage and development. The text presents an up-to-date overview of models and results currently scattered over several strands of literature, drawing on economics, operations research, and computer science. The book's analysis of allocation problems includes such classic models from combinatorial optimization as the minimum cost spanning tree and the traveling salesman problem. It examines the planner's ability to design mechanisms that will implement efficient network structures, both in large decentralized networks and when there is user-agent information asymmetry. Offering systematic theoretical analyses of various compelling allocation rules in cases of fixed network structures as well as discussions of network design problems, the book covers such topics as tree-structured distribution systems, routing games, organizational hierarchies, the “price of anarchy,” mechanism design, and efficient implementation. Appropriate as a reference for practitioners in network regulation and the network industry or as a text for graduate students, the book offers numerous illustrative examples and end-of-chapter exercises that highlight the concepts and methods presented. |
| allocation of resources economics: Issues in Contemporary Macroeconomics and Distribution George R. Feiwel, 1985-01-01 This important book and its companion volume, Issues in Contemporary Microeconomics and Welfare, capture and convey the spirit, fundamental issues, underlying tensions, rich variety, accomplishments, and failures in contemporary economics. It presents economics as a dynamic subject, showing its strengths and limitations, exploring alternative approaches, and tracing the sources of differences. The essays include original contributions by the theorists themselves; major interpretations, reflections, and assessments by leading economists, and evaluations of particular areas by rising young scholars. |
| allocation of resources economics: Tracking Resources For Primary Health Care: A Framework And Practices In Low- And Middle-income Countries Hong Wang, Peter Berman, 2020-06-03 The global health community is broadly in agreement that achievement of the health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) hinges upon both an escalation of the financial resources dedicated to primary health care (PHC) and a more effective use of those resources: more money, better spent. This book introduces and explicates the end-to-end resource tracking and management (RTM) framework, which includes five components that determine effective and efficient financing for PHC: resource mobilization, allocation, utilization, productivity, and targeting.In addition, this book compiles detailed results from the most recent RTM-based resource tracking efforts for PHC in selected countries. This is to demonstrate how the RTM framework can be used to bring a set of separate resource tracking efforts at different stages of flow of funds into a comprehensive process with an end-to-end 'storyline'. In order to build a functional PHC system that addresses access, quality, and equity issues, this book highlights the key (public) financing issues that researchers, technical advisors, and policy makers would need to address in addition to more resources. |
| allocation of resources economics: OECD Studies on Water Water Resources Allocation Sharing Risks and Opportunities OECD, 2015-04-13 Capturing information from 27 OECD countries and key partner economies, the report presents key findings from the OECD Survey of Water Resources Allocation and case studies of successful allocation reform. |
| allocation of resources economics: The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management , 2018-05-04 The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Strategic Management has been written by an international team of leading academics, practitioners and rising stars and contains almost 550 individually commissioned entries. It is the first resource of its kind to pull together such a comprehensive overview of the field and covers both the theoretical and more empirically/practitioner oriented side of the discipline. |
| allocation of resources economics: Resource Allocation Mechanisms Donald E. Campbell, 1987-04-24 An introduction to the theory of mechanism design, and a treatment of welfare economics. |
| allocation of resources economics: Real Options Lenos Trigeorgis, 1996-03-14 Comprehensive in scope, Real Options reviews current techniques of capital budgeting and details an approach (based on the pricing of options) that provides a means of quantifying the elusive elements of managerial flexibility in the face of unexpected changes in the market. In the 1970s and the 1980s, developments in the valuation of capital-investment opportunities based on options pricing revolutionized capital budgeting. Managerial flexibility to adapt and revise future decisions in order to capitalize on favorable future opportunities or to limit losses has proven vital to long-term corporate success in an uncertain and changing marketplace. In this book Lenos Trigeorgis, who has helped shape the field of real options, brings together a wealth of previously scattered knowledge and research on the new flexibility in corporate resource allocation and in the evaluation of investment alternatives brought about by the shift from static cash-flow approaches to the more dynamic paradigm of real options—an approach that incorporates decisions on whether to defer, expand, contract, abandon, switch use, or otherwise alter a capital investment. Comprehensive in scope, Real Options reviews current techniques of capital budgeting and details an approach (based on the pricing of options) that provides a means of quantifying the elusive elements of managerial flexibility in the face of unexpected changes in the market. Also discussed are the strategic value of new technology, project interdependence, and competitive interaction. The ability to value real options has so dramatically altered the way in which corporate resources are allocated that future textbooks on capital budgeting will bear little resemblance to those of even the recent past. Real Options is a pioneer in this area, coupling a coherent picture of how option theory is used with practical insights in into real-world applications. |
| allocation of resources economics: Hospital Economics A. Heri Iswanto, 2018-04-09 The biggest issue of economics in a hospital are the resource issues. A resource issue in hospitals creates many problems such as the excessive number of patients, poor service quality, lack of diagnostic tools and equipment, dirty and worn out facilities, long queues at the outpatient clinic, lack of drugs and other medical supplies, low employee morale, and so on. Hospital economics mention three main resource issues in as problems including; (1) Resource allocation issue, (2) Resource management issue, and (3) Generation resources issue. The main economic problem of resource allocation in hospitals are production and cost function. These two functions related to issues of equality and effectiveness of the hospital. This book specifically discusses on the aspect of hospital resource allocation by highlighting the productivity, competitiveness, cost components, economic burden of disease, and economic aspects of infectious diseases originating from the hospital. The resource management issue is related to the use of existing resources in terms of input and output. The main important economic concept is efficiency, both technical efficiency, economical, and scale, as well as the relationship between these concepts. The resource management issue highlight the economic scale, human resource development, quality development, and lean implementation. The issue of generation resources, includes how the hospital is able to get the resources to run operations without having to cover the access of stratum of community thus violating the principle of equality. This book will highlight the issue of generation resources by including a discussion of the revenue components of the hospital and the impact of DRGs. |
| allocation of resources economics: Essential Readings in Economics Saul Estrin, Alan Marin, 1995-05-24 Intellectual advances in economics often come from debates that have been long forgotten but which offer context, depth and clarity to contemporary study. Essential Readings in Economics makes available in a single volume some of the seminal papers in the areas of microeconomics and macroeconomics for intermediate courses in economic principles. The readings are organised in two groups: Microeconomics and Macroeconomics. Part 1 looks at topics ranging from 'The Theory of Demand' and 'The Firm and Supply' to 'The Economics of Uncertainty and Information'. In Part 2 the wide ranging debates over the last 55 years are illustrated with contributions from Keynes, Friedman, Phillips and other leading Economists. This vigorous and accessible collection of readings is intended to supplement and extend the understanding students could obtain from conventional introductory textbooks. |
| allocation of resources economics: Resource Allocation and Division of Space T Fujii, R Sato, 1977-09-01 |
| allocation of resources economics: The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy Matthew D. Adler, Marc Fleurbaey, 2016-04-21 What are the methodologies for assessing and improving governmental policy in light of well-being? The Oxford Handbook of Well-Being and Public Policy provides a comprehensive, interdisciplinary treatment of this topic. The contributors draw from welfare economics, moral philosophy, and psychology and are leading scholars in these fields. The Handbook includes thirty chapters divided into four Parts. Part I covers the full range of methodologies for evaluating governmental policy and assessing societal condition-including both the leading approaches in current use by policymakers and academics (such as GDP, cost-benefit analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, inequality and poverty metrics, and the concept of the social welfare function), and emerging techniques. Part II focuses on the nature of well-being. What, most fundamentally, determines whether an individual life is better or worse for the person living it? Her happiness? Her preference-satisfaction? Her attainment of various objective goods? Part III addresses the measurement of well-being and the thorny topic of interpersonal comparisons. How can we construct a meaningful scale of individual welfare, which allows for comparisons of well-being levels and differences, both within one individual's life, and across lives? Finally, Part IV reviews the major challenges to designing governmental policy around individual well-being. |
| allocation of resources economics: Economic Theory and Exhaustible Resources P. S. Dasgupta, G. M. Heal, 1979 A book on the economics of exhaustible resources requires no justification. A long book does. The purist will find disquieting our two-asset, constant population model with which we analyse growth possibilities in an economy with exhaustible resources. |
| allocation of resources economics: Growth and Development A. P. Thirlwall, 1972 |
| allocation of resources economics: The Economics of Attention Richard A. Lanham, 2006-04-21 If economics is about the allocation of resources, then what is the most precious resource in our new information economy? Certainly not information, for we are drowning in it. No, what we are short of is the attention to make sense of that information. With all the verve and erudition that have established his earlier books as classics, Richard A. Lanham here traces our epochal move from an economy of things and objects to an economy of attention. According to Lanham, the central commodity in our new age of information is not stuff but style, for style is what competes for our attention amidst the din and deluge of new media. In such a world, intellectual property will become more central to the economy than real property, while the arts and letters will grow to be more crucial than engineering, the physical sciences, and indeed economics as conventionally practiced. For Lanham, the arts and letters are the disciplines that study how human attention is allocated and how cultural capital is created and traded. In an economy of attention, style and substance change places. The new attention economy, therefore, will anoint a new set of moguls in the business world—not the CEOs or fund managers of yesteryear, but new masters of attention with a grounding in the humanities and liberal arts. Lanham’s The Electronic Word was one of the earliest and most influential books on new electronic culture. The Economics of Attention builds on the best insights of that seminal book to map the new frontier that information technologies have created. |
| allocation of resources economics: Discovering Prices Paul Milgrom, 2017-05-23 Traditional economic theory studies idealized markets in which prices alone can guide efficient allocation, with no need for central organization. Such models build from Adam Smith’s famous concept of an invisible hand, which guides markets and renders regulation or interference largely unnecessary. Yet for many markets, prices alone are not enough to guide feasible and efficient outcomes, and regulation alone is not enough, either. Consider air traffic control at major airports. While prices could encourage airlines to take off and land at less congested times, prices alone do just part of the job; an air traffic control system is still indispensable to avoid disastrous consequences. With just an air traffic controller, however, limited resources can be wasted or poorly used. What’s needed in this and many other real-world cases is an auction system that can effectively reveal prices while still maintaining enough direct control to ensure that complex constraints are satisfied. In Discovering Prices, Paul Milgrom—the world’s most frequently cited academic expert on auction design—describes how auctions can be used to discover prices and guide efficient resource allocations, even when resources are diverse, constraints are critical, and market-clearing prices may not even exist. Economists have long understood that externalities and market power both necessitate market organization. In this book, Milgrom introduces complex constraints as another reason for market design. Both lively and technical, Milgrom roots his new theories in real-world examples (including the ambitious U.S. incentive auction of radio frequencies, whose design he led) and provides economists with crucial new tools for dealing with the world’s growing complex resource-allocation problems. |
| allocation of resources economics: The Price System and Resource Allocation Richard H. Leftwich, 1973 |
| allocation of resources economics: Resource Economics Jon M. Conrad, 2010-06-14 A text for students with a background in calculus and intermediate microeconomics and a familiarity with the spreadsheet software Excel. |
| allocation of resources economics: International Infrastructure Management Manual , 2006 Manual provides guidelines for best management practices for all infrastructure assets in the public and private sectors at the lowest life cycle cost. |
| allocation of resources economics: Dynamic Pricing and Automated Resource Allocation for Complex Information Services Michael Schwind, 2007-04-24 This book develops allocation mechanisms that aim to ensure an efficient resource allocation in modern IT-services. Recent methods of artificial intelligence, such as neural networks and reinforcement learning, and nature-oriented optimization methods, such as genetic algorithms and simulated annealing, are advanced and applied to allocation processes in distributed IT-infrastructures, or grid systems. |
| allocation of resources economics: Cambridge International AS and A Level Economics Revision Guide Susan Grant, 2016-12-15 The Cambridge International AS & A Level Economics Revision Guide helps students apply their knowledge, understanding and skills to succeed in their course. This endorsed Cambridge International AS and A Level Economics Revision Guide has been designed to further develop students' skills for their Cambridge International AS and A Level Economics course. Revised to meet the latest syllabus (9708) this book is packed full of guidance to reinforce students' understanding and skills to succeed in their course. Written in a clear style by an experienced examiner this Revision Guide is perfect for international learners and accompanies the Cambridge International AS and A Level Economics Coursebook (third edition). |
| allocation of resources economics: The Economics of Water Resources Ariel Dinar, Yacov Tsur, 2021-04-15 Population growth and rising living standards, on the one hand, and changing climate, on the other hand, have exacerbated water scarcity worldwide. To address this problem, policymakers need to take a wide view of the water economy – a complex structure involving environmental, social, economic, legal, and institutional aspects. A coherent water policy must look at the water economy as a whole and apply a comprehensive approach to policy interventions. Written by two of the world's leading scholars on economics of water, this is the first graduate-level textbook on the topic. The book discusses water resource management within a comprehensive framework that integrates the different, yet highly entwined, elements of a water economy. It follows the steps needed to develop a well-designed set of policies based on detailed analyses of intervention measures, using multi-sectoral and economy-wide examples from a variety of locations and situations around the world. |
| allocation of resources economics: The International Allocation of Economic Activity Per-Ove Hesselborn, Bertil Ohlin, Per Magnus Wijkman, 1977-12-15 |
| allocation of resources economics: Resource Allocation Theory Applied to Farm Animal Production Wendy M. Rauw, 2009 This book is about resource allocation matters with the aim to further development thoughts and models on resource allocation applied to livestock production. It contains 18 chapters divided into 4 parts which discuss resources and resource allocation patterns, trade-offs, metabolic constraints to resource allocation and the process of homeorhesis with a special emphasis to homeorhesis during heat stress; the relationship between food intake and resources allocated to body maintenance, growth, reproduction and the immune response; the consequences of high production efficiency in pigs, poultry and dairy cattle and the consequences of improved production by means of biological engineering and options to include resource allocation matters in the breeding objective, animal welfare and in resource allocation modelling. |
| allocation of resources economics: Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Thomas H. Tietenberg, Lynne Lewis, 2018-03-13 Environmental and Natural Resource Economics is the best-selling text for natural resource economics and environmental economics courses, offering a policy-oriented approach and introducing economic theory and empirical work from the field. Students will leave the course with a global perspective of both environmental and natural resource economics and how they interact. Complemented by a number of case studies showing how underlying economic principles provided the foundation for specific environmental and resource policies, this key text highlights what can be learned from the actual experience. This new, 11th edition includes updated data, a number of new studies and brings a more international focus to the subject. Key features include: Extensive coverage of the major issues including climate change, air and water pollution, sustainable development, and environmental justice. Dedicated chapters on a full range of resources including water, land, forests, fisheries, and recyclables. Introductions to the theory and method of environmental economics including externalities, benefit-cost analysis, valuation methods, and ecosystem goods and services. Boxed ‘Examples’ and ‘Debates’ throughout the text which highlight global examples and major talking points. The text is fully supported with end-of-chapter summaries, discussion questions, and self-test exercises in the book and multiple-choice questions, simulations, references, slides, and an instructor’s manual on the Companion Website. |
| allocation of resources economics: Voluntary National Content Standards in Economics National Council on Economic Education, Foundation for Teaching Economics, 1997 This essential guide for curriculum developers, administrators, teachers, and education and economics professors, the standards were developed to provide a framework and benchmarks for the teaching of economics to our nation's children. |
| allocation of resources economics: Environmental and Natural Resource Economics Jonathan M. Harris, Brian Roach, 2016-05-05 Harris and Roach present a compact and accessible presentation of the core environmental and resource topics and more, with analytical rigor as well as engaging examples and policy discussions. They take a broad approach to theoretical analysis, using both standard economic and ecological analyses, and developing these both from theoretical and practical points of view. It assumes a background in basic economics, but offers brief review sections on important micro and macroeconomic concepts, as well as appendices with more advanced and technical material. Extensive instructor and student support materials, including PowerPoint slides, data updates, and student exercises are provided. |
ALLOCATION Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of ALLOCATE is to apportion for a specific purpose or to particular persons or things : distribute. How to use allocate in a sentence.
ALLOCATION | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
ALLOCATION definition: 1. the process of giving someone their part of a total amount of something to use in a particular…. Learn more.
Allocation - definition of allocation by The Free Dictionary
allocation - the act of distributing by allotting or apportioning; distribution according to a plan; "the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives is based on the relative population of …
ALLOCATION Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
the act of allocating; apportionment. the state of being allocated. the share or portion allocated. Accounting. a system of dividing expenses and incomes among the various branches, …
Allocation - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
If it is your job to decide how much money goes to three charities, you are in charge of the allocation of your donation. The money each charity gets is their allocation . You'll often hear …
ALLOCATION definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
An allocation is an amount of money that is given to a particular person or used for a particular purpose. If any of the committees doesn't meet its reduction target, its budget allocation would …
allocation noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of allocation noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. [countable] an amount of money, space, etc. that is given to somebody for a particular purpose. We have …
allocation - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Mar 5, 2025 · allocation (countable and uncountable, plural allocations) The process or procedure for allocating things, especially money or other resources. The allocation of new permits is on …
What does ALLOCation mean? - Definitions.net
Allocation refers to the distribution or assignment of resources, tasks, or goods to people, areas, or processes, typically in a planned or systematic way. It can be used in different contexts …
Allocation - Wikipedia
Look up allocation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
ALLOCATION Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of ALLOCATE is to apportion for a specific purpose or to particular persons or things : distribute. How to use allocate in a sentence.
ALLOCATION | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
ALLOCATION definition: 1. the process of giving someone their part of a total amount of something to use in a particular…. Learn more.
Allocation - definition of allocation by The Free Dictionary
allocation - the act of distributing by allotting or apportioning; distribution according to a plan; "the apportionment of seats in the House of Representatives is based on the relative population of …
ALLOCATION Definition & Meaning - Dictionary.com
the act of allocating; apportionment. the state of being allocated. the share or portion allocated. Accounting. a system of dividing expenses and incomes among the various branches, …
Allocation - Definition, Meaning & Synonyms - Vocabulary.com
If it is your job to decide how much money goes to three charities, you are in charge of the allocation of your donation. The money each charity gets is their allocation . You'll often hear this …
ALLOCATION definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary
An allocation is an amount of money that is given to a particular person or used for a particular purpose. If any of the committees doesn't meet its reduction target, its budget allocation would …
allocation noun - Definition, pictures, pronunciation and usage …
Definition of allocation noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. [countable] an amount of money, space, etc. that is given to somebody for a particular purpose. We have spent our …
allocation - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Mar 5, 2025 · allocation (countable and uncountable, plural allocations) The process or procedure for allocating things, especially money or other resources. The allocation of new permits is on a …
What does ALLOCation mean? - Definitions.net
Allocation refers to the distribution or assignment of resources, tasks, or goods to people, areas, or processes, typically in a planned or systematic way. It can be used in different contexts such as …
Allocation - Wikipedia
Look up allocation in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
