How to Use Multi-Attribute Utility Measurement for Social Decision Making
Abstract
The thrust of this paper is that a public value is a value assigned to an outcome by a public, usually by means of some public institution that does the evaluating. This amounts to treating 'a public' as a sort of organism whose values can be elicited by some appropriate adaptation of the methods already in use to elicit individual values. Multi-attribute utility measurement can spell out explicity what the values of each participant (decision-maker, expert, pressure group, government, etc.) are, show how much they differ, and in the process can frequently reduce the extent of such differences. The paper is structured around three examples. One is land use management; the specific example will be a study aimed at the decision problems of the California Coastal Commission. The second example is concerned with administrative decision making. The third example is more abstract; it concerns an attempt to develop a consensus among disagreeing experts on water quality.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Aug 01, 1976
- Accession Number
- ADA036842
Entities
People
- Ward Edwards