Applying cognitive perspectives on decision-making to the policy advice process: a practitioner's view

Behavioural economics and the related fields of cognitive and social psychology are now very much in the mainstream, as the highly visible success of the Behavioural Insights Unit in the United Kingdom attests. A robust and diverse range of findings about the limits of human thinking challenges policy practitioners to reconsider how they both design and advise on policies. This challenge is particularly relevant given that the training and background of policy advisors typically does not include these fields, with political science, law and conventional economics much more common. A range of recent books have popularised many concepts from these fields and are leading an increasing number of people outside academia to revisit the way we conceive of thinking and decision-making. For example, The Wisdom of Crowds (Surowiecki, 2004), Blink (Gladwell, 2005), The Black Swan (Taleb, 2007), Predictably Irrational (Ariely, 2008), Nudge (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008), Thinking Fast and Slow (Kahneman, 2011) and The Signal and the Noise (Silver, 2012) all underline the limitations of rational accounts of thinking and decision-making. Perhaps reflecting the new public popularity of these fields, it has become fashionable in certain circles to consider ways to incorporate the findings of cognitive psychology and behavioural economics into the design of policies (e.g. Ministry of Economic Development, 2006; Dolan et al., 2010), often under the label libertarian paternalism or choice architecture (Thaler, Sunstein and Balz, 2010). The argument is often that small changes in the design of policies can nudge choices in a desired direction without the need for compulsion. Perhaps the best known example is the design of KiwiSaver, where the default option is automatic enrolment, with people required to opt out instead of opt in. • Tim Hughes studied economics at the University of Auckland and has worked in policy roles at the Department of Corrections and the Ministry of Social Development. He is currently working in the sector investment team at the Ministry of Justice

An Investigation of Nonlinear Estimation and System Design for Mechatronic Systems

This thesis is a collection of two projects in which the author was involved during his master\u27s degree program. The first project involves the estimation of 3D Euclidean coordinates of features from 2D images. A 3D Euclidean position estimation strategy is developed for a static object using a single moving camera whose motion is known. This Euclidean depth estimator has a very simple mathematical structure and is easy to implement. Numerical simulations and experimental results using a mobile robot in an indoor environment are presented to illustrate the performance of the algorithm. The second section describes the design of a test system for the Argon Environment Electrical Study (AEES) conducted by the Department of Energy (DOE). The initial research proposal, safety review, and literature review are presented. Additionally, the test plan and system design are highlighted

Social Investment (in Wellbeing?)

This article outlines social investment and the wellbeing approach. It discusses how these frameworks have evolved and argues for a hybrid approach, one drawing on the insights of both a broad spectrum of indicators and detailed distributional evidence

Urban water management: optimal price and investment policy under uncertainty

Australian urban water utilities face a significant challenge in designing appropriate demand management and supply augmentation policies in the presence of increasing water scarcity and uncertainty over future dam inflows. This paper considers the design of optimal demand management and supply augmentation policies for urban water. In particular, scarcity pricing is considered as a potential alternative to the predominant demand management policy of water restrictions. A stochastic dynamic programming model of an urban water market is developed based on data from the Australian Capital Territory. The model involves an explicit consideration of uncertainty via a probability distribution over dam inflows. Given a specification of the demand and supply for urban water, state dependent optimal price and investment policies are estimated. The results illustrate how the optimal urban water price varies inversely with the prevailing storage level and how the optimal timing of investment differs significantly between rain dependent and rain independent augmentation options.Public Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy, Risk and Uncertainty,

The Athletic Profile of Fast Bowling in Cricket : A Review

Cricket is a global sport played in over 100 countries with elite performers attracting multimillion dollar contracts. Therefore, performers maintaining optimum physical fitness and remaining injury free is important. Fast bowlers have a vital position in a cricket team, and there is an increasing body of scientific literature that has reviewed this role over the past decade. Previous research on fast bowlers has tended to focus on biomechanical analysis and injury prevention in performers. However, this review aims to critically analyze the emerging contribution of physiological-based literature linked to fast bowling in cricket, highlight the current evidence related to simulated and competitive in-match performance, and relate this practically to the conditioning coach. Furthermore, the review considers limitations with past research and possible avenues for future investigation. It is clear with the advent of new applied mobile monitoring technology that there is scope for more ecologically valid and longitudinal exploration capturing in-match data, providing quantification of physiological workloads, and analysis of the physical demands across the differing formats of the game. Currently, strength and conditioning specialists do not have a critical academic resource with which to shape professional practice, and this review aims to provide a starting point for evidence in the specific areaPeer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio