Cost-benefit analysis is a process for evaluating the merits of a particular project or course of action in a systematic and rigorous way. Social cost-benefit analysis refers to cases where the project has a broad impact across society – and, as such, is usually carried out by the government. While the cost and benefits may relate to goods and services that have a simple and transparent measure...

The paper discusses the determination of the social cost of carbon (SCC) using the PAGE2002 model used in the Stern Review. The SCC depends sensitively on assumptions about future economic development, the range and likelihood of economic and social damage arising from climate change at future dates and the discount rate to apply to that damage. The paper critically examines the choice of pure ...

This paper critically considers the neoclassical social-cost approach to problems of pollution. This traditional approach, when subjected to close scrutiny, is found to be seriously wanting in applicability and consistency. A less ambitious alternative based on notions of strict liability is offered. The social-cost approach is an offshoot of the “new welfare economics~’developed during the las...

The social cost of carbon (SCC) is a central concept for understanding and implementing climate change policies. This term represents the economic cost caused by an additional ton of carbon dioxide emissions or its equivalent. The present study presents updated estimates based on a revised DICE model (Dynamic Integrated model of Climate and the Economy). The study estimates that the SCC is $31 ...

I present a multi-impact economic valuation framework called the Social Cost of Atmospheric Release (SCAR) that extends the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) used previously for carbon dioxide (CO2) to a broader range of pollutants and impacts. Values consistently incorporate health impacts of air quality along with climate damages. The latter include damages associated with aerosol-induced hydrologi...

Wireless social community networks (WSCNs) is an emerging technology that operate in the unlicensed spectrum and have been created as an alternative to cellular wireless networks for providing low-cost, high speed wireless data access in urban areas. WSCNs is an upcoming idea that is starting to gain attention amongst the civilian Internet users. By using special WiFi routers that are provided ...

Campaigners are increasingly using online social networking platforms for promoting products, ideas and information. A popular method of promoting a product or even an idea is incentivizing individuals to evangelize the idea vigorously by providing them with referral rewards in the form of discounts, cash backs, or social recognition. Due to budget constraints on scarce resources such as money ...

The spread of rumors through social media and online social networks can not only disrupt the daily lives of citizens but also result in loss of life and property. A rumor spreads when individuals, who are unable decide the authenticity of the information, mistake the rumor as genuine information and pass it on to their acquaintances. We propose a solution where a set of individuals (based on t...

I study the welfare effects of a lack of common knowledge in a dynamic price-setting model with incomplete nominal adjustment due to incomplete, heterogeneous information. I identify two welfare effects of informational heterogeneity: First, it affects the dynamic adjustment of prices in response to aggregate shocks, and thereby the magnitude of aggregate consumption volatility. Second, informa...

Human-Robot Interaction literature frequently uses Gaussian distributions within navigation costmaps to model proxemic constraints around humans. While it has proven to be effective in several cases, this approach is often hard to tune to get the desired behavior, often because of unforeseen interactions between different elements in the costmap. There is, as far as we are aware, no general str...