Supporting individuals in group decision-making

Pooling of different resources is typical among the member countries of the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance participating in joint large-scale construction projects. The problem faced by the members of the Council is to decide, how much of various resources each country should contribute to a construction project. In this paper we present a general approach to supporting individuals involved in such negotiations. We formulate the problem as a multiple criteria/multiple decision-maker model and use our approach to finding a compromise solution for the resource pooling problem within the Council of Mutual Economic Assistance. The approach is implemented on a computer, tested and illustrated using a prototypical example.     

Cooperative provision of indivisible public goods

A community faces the obligation of providing an indivisible public good that each of its members is able to provide at a certain cost. The solution is to rely on the member who can provide the public good at the lowest cost, with a due compensation from the other members. This problem has been studied in a non-cooperative setting by Kleindorfer and Sertel (J Econ Theory 64:20–34, 1994). They propose an auction mechanism that results in an interval of possible individual contributions whose lower bound is the equal division. Here, instead we take a cooperative stand point by modelling this problem as a cost sharing game that turns out to be a ‘reverse’ airport game whose core is shown to have a regular structure. This enables an easy calculation of the nucleolus that happens to define the upper bound of the Kleindorfer–Sertel interval. The Shapley value instead is not an appropriate solution in this context because it may imply compensations to non-providers.     

Power and size: A new paradox

An analysis of several different indices of voting power reveals that the voting power of a member of a weighted voting body may increase, rather than decrease, when new members are added to the original body. Real instances of this phenomenon, called the paradox of new members, are shown to have occurred when new states were added to the U.S. Electoral College and new countries to the European Community Council of Ministers. Conditions for the existence of the paradox, and probabilities of its occurrence in small and moderate-size voting bodies, are given. Efficient algorithms for the calculation of the voting power indices, based on generating functions, are also outlined.     

Modeling interest rate cycles in India

The present study tries to examine the behaviour of various Indian interest rates such as call money rate, and yields on secondary market securities with maturity periods of 15–91 days, 1-year, 5-years and 10-years. In the first stage, the study investigates the determinants of interest rates and finds that although the interest rates depend on some domestic macroeconomic variables such as yield spread and expected exchange rate, they are mainly affected by the movements of international interest rates, although with some lags. The policy variables such as Bank Rate and Federal Funds Rate did not show any significant impact on any of the interest rates. Further, it was found that the interest rates in the very recent period show some cyclical movements similar to that of the developed countries. Future behaviour of interest rates show that the present cycle of each interest rate would peak at different time points. This expected behaviour in domestic interest rates could be due to the integration of the domestic economy with the international money and financial market. This trend may be same in most of the emerging economies of Asia.     

Evolution of family policy in the light of demographic development in West European countries

The author examines some of the issues facing those responsible for developing family policies in European countries, many of which are experiencing rapid demographic aging. Population dynamics in Council of Europe member countries are first described. Implications of this trend for social policies as a whole are also reviewed.     

Is specialization desirable in committee decision making?

Committee decision making is examined in this study focusing on the role assigned to the committee members. In particular, we are concerned about the comparison between committee performance under specialization and non-specialization of the decision makers. Specialization (in the context of project or public policy selection) means that the decision of each committee member is based on a narrow area, which typically results in the acquirement and use of relatively high expertise in that area. When the committee members’ expertise is already determined, specialization only means that the decision of each committee member is based solely on his/her relatively high expertise area. This form of specialization is potentially inferior relative to non-specialization under which the decision of each committee member is based on different areas, not just his/her relatively high expertise area. Given that the expertise of the committee members is already determined but unknown, our analysis focuses on non-specializing individuals whose decision is based on a decision rule that does not require information on the decision-making skills. Under these realistic assumptions, non-specialization is shown to be preferable over specialization, depending on the aggregation rule applied by the committee. The significance of our approach is not limited to the specific results that we obtain. Rather, it should be viewed as a first step toward a deeper examination of the role of individual decision makers in enhancing the performance of collective decision making.     

Oligarchy for Social Choice Correspondences and Strategy-Proofness

We study the existence of a group of individuals which has some decisive power for social choice correspondences that satisfy a monotonicity property which we call modified monotonicity. And we examine the relation between modified monotonicity and strategy-proofness of social choice correspondences according to the definition by Duggan and Schwartz (2000). We will show mainly the following two results. (1) Modified monotonicity implies the existence of an oligarchy. An oligarchy is a group of individuals such that it has some decisive power (semi-decisiveness), and at least one of the most preferred alternatives of every its member is always chosen by any social choice correspondence. (2) Strategy-proofness of social choice correspondences is equivalent to modified monotonicity.     

Transporting attachment and biobehavioral catch-up to Norwegian child welfare services: A feasibility study

Transportation of evidence-based programs (EBPs) to a new cultural setting is often preferred over the comprehensive process of developing a new program. Intervention fidelity has been suggested as a predictor of successful transportation. The present study examined whether fidelity and parent behavior improved when implementing the U.S.-developed Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-up (ABC) intervention in Norwegian child welfare services (CWS). 11 child welfare workers received training and supervision to become ABC parent coaches. Fidelity was assessed through video-recordings of parent coaches' in vivo feedback at each home-visit session. Parent sensitive behavior was assessed using video-recordings of parent–child interactions, recorded before each ABC session. Mixed effects modeling showed that ABC fidelity increased over the course of training and supervision. Furthermore, parent behavior improved over the course of families' exposure to the intervention. These demonstrate that an EBP transported to a novel cultural setting can obtain promising levels of fidelity and intervention outcomes.     

A Qualitative Study of Non-Affiliated,Non-Scientist Institutional Review Board Members

In addition to outlining criteria for the approval of human subjects research, federal regulations provide guidance regarding local institutional review board (IRB) membership. IRBs are mandated to include “at least one member whose primary concerns are in nonscientific areas” and “at least one member who is not otherwise affiliated with the institution.” Often a single individual serves both of these roles simultaneously. Although there have been calls for increased representation of lay community members on IRBs, little is known regarding their experiences or their perceptions of human subject protections and the IRB process. Using an ethnographic interview approach, this study seeks to gain a perspective from non-affiliated, non-scientist (NA/NS) IRB members about the process in which they participate. Findings suggest a need for clarification regarding whom NA/NS IRB members represent. They also suggest that NA/NS IRB members’ experiences could be improved by an increased show of respect from the IRB chair, other members, and staff; efforts to make participation more convenient for these volunteer members; and training tailored specifically to NA/NS members. Further research on this important and understudied topic is needed to determine best practice and policy recommendations.     

A qualitative study of non-affiliated, non-scientist institutional review board members

In addition to outlining criteria for the approval of human subjects research, federal regulations provide guidance regarding local institutional review boards (IRB) membership. IRBs are mandated to include "at least one member whose primary concerns are in nonscientific areas" and "at least one member who is not otherwise affiliated with the institution." Often a single individual serves both of these roles simultaneously. Although there have been calls for increased representation of lay community members in IRBs, little is known regarding their experiences or their perceptions of human subject protections and the IRB process. Using an ethnographic interview approach, this study seeks to gain a perspective from non-affiliated, non-scientist (NA/NS) IRB members about the process in which they participated. Findings suggest a need for clarification regarding whom NA/NS IRB members represent. They also suggest that NA/NS IRB members' experiences could be improved by an increased show of respect from the IRB chair, other members, and staff; efforts to make participation more convenient for these volunteer members; and training tailored specifically to NA/NS members. Further research on this important and understudied topic is needed to determine best practice and policy recommendations.     

On the derivation of majority rule

It is well established that majority rule is transitive on some restricted domain and that majority rule is the unique social welfare function satisfying some standard axioms on the universal domain. We prove that majority rule is the unique social welfare function satisfying these axioms on a standard restricted domain over which majority rule is transitive. That is, the only profiles which are used to derive majority rule belong to the restricted domain.This paper was prepared while the author was visiting at the Ontario Economic Council, Toronto. It is a pleasure to acknowledge the hospitality of the OEC and the financial support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, Ottawa. Neither Council bears responsibility for the views expressed herein.     

Conflict of Interest Policies and Industry Relationships of Guideline Development Group Members: A Cross-Sectional Study of Clinical Practice Guidelines for Depression

Because of increased attention to the issue of trustworthiness of clinical practice guidelines, it may be that both transparency and management of industry associations of guideline development groups (GDGs) have improved. The purpose of the present study was to assess a) the disclosure requirements of GDGs in a cross-section of guidelines for major depression; and, b) the extent and type of conflicts of panel members. Treatment guidelines for major depression were identified and searched for conflict of interest policies and disclosure statements. Multi-modal screens for undeclared conflicts were also conducted. Fourteen guidelines with a total of 172 panel members were included in the analysis. Eleven of the 14 guidelines (78%) had a stated conflict of interest policy or disclosure statement, although the policies varied widely. Most (57%) of the guidelines were developed by panels that had members with industry financial ties to drug companies that manufacture antidepressant medication. However, only a minority of total panel members (18%) had such conflicts of interest. Drug company speakers bureau participation was the most common type of conflict. Although some progress has been made, organizations that develop guidelines should continue to work toward greater transparency and minimization of financial conflicts of interest.     

Conflicts of interest in academic research: policies, processes, and attitudes

Few studies have examined academic researchers' understandings or attitudes toward conflict of interest policies even though these understandings and attitudes represent a crucial component of both compliance and educational efforts. This study reports the results of a large-scale, cross-sectional survey of research faculty at the nine campuses of the University of California regarding their understandings of and attitudes toward campus conflict of interest policies. We gathered information on their general assessments of investigators with financial ties to industry sponsors and reactions to the process of implementing conflict of interest policies at their respective campuses. We surveyed 1,971 faculty members from the nine-campus University of California system and had 779 responses (39% response rate). The sampled faculty were in the ten departments with the most number of financial disclosures at each campus. We utilized the WebSurveyor software to create a secure, online, 21-item survey. Our study reveals faculty with complex, sometimes contradictory, feelings about academic-industry relationships and highlights perceived gaps in policy and process. Most respondents were concerned about unlimited financial relationships, but a sizable number also viewed campus policies as irrelevant. Some expressed considerable anger over the process of policy implementation, rejecting the policies on the basis of professional and individual self-determination and moral integrity. Our study suggests the need for renewed efforts to encourage awareness of the relevance of conflict of interest policies for all faculty, new efforts to increase understanding of the situational nature of conflicts of interest, and reexamination of the processes of policy implementation at the campus level.     

A theorem for Bayesian group decisions

This paper presents a natural extension of Bayesian decision theory from the domain of individual decisions to the domain of group decisions. We assume that each group member accepts the assumptions of subjective expected utility theory with respect to the alternatives from which they must choose, but we do not assume, a priori, that the group as a whole accepts those assumptions. Instead, we impose a multiattribute utility independence condition on the preferences of the group with respect to the expected utilities of its actions as appraised by its members. The result is that the expected utility of an alternative for the group is a weighted average of the expected utilities of that alternative for its members. The weights must be determined collectively by the group. Pareto optimality is not assumed, though the result is consistent with Pareto optimality.     

Information aggregation and preference heterogeneity in committees

This paper is concerned with the efficiency of information aggregation in a committee whose members have heterogeneous preferences over a binary decision variable. We study a voting game with a pre-vote communication stage and identify conditions under which full information aggregation is possible. In particular, if preferences are common knowledge and each committee member is endowed with information, full information aggregation is possible despite preference heterogeneity.     

Health and Social Policy Responses to Unemployment in Europe

This paper analyzes health policy development in Europe in response to economic instability, and describes agreements and declarations at a European level as well as commitments in some selected countries. One significant example is the European Health for All Strategy, which encompasses 38 operational targets agreed upon by all 32 member states of the European region. The Council of Europe and the Commission of the European Communities have instituted study groups on psychosocial and health effects of long-term unemployment, and on intervention measures taken or contemplated. This paper discusses interventions such as psychological and socio-pedagogic training schemes, measures for long-term unemployed, and a "social guarantee" of employment or training, as well as prevention of unemployment and empowerment of the unemployed. A local approach in a region of the Federal Republic of Germany illustrates the need for political involvement and strategies.     

Behavioural-Cognitive Groups for Adult Psychiatric Patients: A Pilot Study

Correspondence to Patricia McAuley, Social Services Training Centre, 34 Station Read, Antrim, N. Ireland, BT41 4AB Summary This paper describes a pilot study of a behavioural-cognitivegroup programme for adult psychiatric patients who presentedwith a variety of problems. The time-limited groups aimed toteach behavioural analysis skills through the selection, observationand treatment of a target problem by each group member. Resultsof ten such groups are analysed and indicate that members couldoperationally define a problem and implement behavioural changewhich was maintained at six month follow up. However, deficitsin formal behavioural analysis skills were evidenced.     

Conflicts of Interest in Academic Research: Policies,Processes, and Attitudes

Few studies have examined academic researchers' understandings of or attitudes toward conflict of interest policies even though these understandings and attitudes represent a crucial component of both compliance and educational efforts. This study reports the results of a large-scale, cross-sectional survey of research faculty at the nine campuses of the University of California regarding their understandings of and attitudes toward campus conflict of interest policies. We gathered information on their general assessments of investigators with financial ties to industry sponsors and reactions to the process of implementing conflict of interest policies at their respective campuses. We surveyed 1,971 faculty members from the nine-campus University of California system and had 779 responses (39% response rate). The sampled faculty were in the ten departments with the most number of financial disclosures at each campus. We utilized the WebSurveyor software to create a secure, online, 21-item survey. Our study reveals faculty with complex, sometimes contradictory, feelings about academic-industry relationships and highlights perceived gaps in policy and process. Most respondents were concerned about unlimited financial relationships, but a sizable number also viewed campus policies as irrelevant. Some expressed considerable anger over the process of policy implementation, rejecting the policies on the basis of professional and individual self-determination and moral integrity. Our study suggests the need for renewed efforts to encourage awareness of the relevance of conflict of interest policies for all faculty, new efforts to increase understanding of the situational nature of conflicts of interest, and a reexamination of the processes of policy implementation at the campus level.