Operations Research and Public Policy Issues

Actually MBA programs with a Health care track would be a good fit.

http://www.bnet.com/2403-13070_23-266849.html

Arizona state is mentioned in the above, GEorge washington University and Colorado U offer these i think online.

I think that You are looking more for the policy side so look at miami:

http://www.bus.miami.edu/graduate-programs/executive-mba/health-management/index.html

By the way, Miami's South beach is a great place to take a break from study...

http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Florida/Miami-Beach/blog-272332.html

Hope you find this helpful.

milo

Thank you sir! I will check them out.

It has always struck me that people don't approach many social issues the right way. They work from ideology or "principles" rather than from empirical facts. And they oversimplify, drastically.

It seems to me many big problems, like what is the best long term energy development plan, could be almost "solved" like a math problem, provided you have good data and good understanding. But I never hear about anybody doing that. So that is what I am looking for. I am sure coming up with solutions is not simple, but at least it would be rational and empirical.

Thanks again!

karlc

Welcome,

Do some searches here you'll be suprised by the number of issues discussed & the range of opinion found on CR4.

Good luck. The issue with empricism is one man's facts are another person's delusions. assigning rational values to something to plug into your formulas is problematic.

David stockman, reagans OBM manager had aninteresting approach to an acid rain question when a new york senator asked for millions in acid rain remediation funds, He said, 'Thats about $10 per fish' in the lake in question...

In china they need a damn to make power; in usa we'll probably never again make such large sacle damns because of environmental impact. in usa, beaver damns are valued more in policy than people dams that provide lifesaving electricity to run dialysis machines etc.

Fundamentally its always about determining values.

And with out passion, there will be no wisdom...

my 2 cents.

milo

Milo said:

Good luck. The issue with empricism is one man's facts are another person's delusions. assigning rational values to something to plug into your formulas is problematic.

Thank you! That is true; I have already seen that the values need are often unknown.

But I think there is value in even developing a formula, as you call it. It can help us see what data is missing.

David stockman, reagans OBM manager had aninteresting approach to an acid rain question when a new york senator asked for millions in acid rain remediation funds, He said, 'Thats about $10 per fish' in the lake in question...

If you will pardon me, that strikes me as the kind of oversimplification that I would like to avoid. The fish themselves are not only thing at stake. You have to also look at lots of other things. For example, do those fish have any economic value? Do they provide income for the fishing or tourism industries? Would remediation itself provide jobs? Or would it be just a sunk cost? Does acid rain have other effects, such as on agriculture? Etc.

In china they need a damn to make power; in usa we'll probably never again make such large sacle damns because of environmental impact. in usa, beaver damns are valued more in policy than people dams that provide lifesaving electricity to run dialysis machines etc.

But clearly, that electricity is also used to power plasma tvs that are left on all day, or to cool poorly insulated apartment buildings. And destroying beaver dams is not the only negative effect of dams. Dams create a pool of water upstream, submerging land that might or might not be valuable in other ways.

In a really good analysis, environmental effects are just part of the metaphorical equation. There is also cost relative to the alternatives, including reducing electricity use so perhaps no power plant of any kind, or just a smaller one, is required.

Fundamentally its always about determining values.

And with out passion, there will be no wisdom...

Absolutely, but it doesn't have to be about a single value, above all else. If you or I decide "Feed the poor" or "Smaller government" is the single overriding value, we will create solutions that don't work, partly because they aren't based on reality. One can appreciate complexity and still be passionate. ;-)

You will do well in this field.

Of course my examples were oversimplifications.

But who are we to say that powering plasma tvs all day or cooling poorly insulated apartments is a bad thing? What if well insulated apartments cost so much thta instead the people were homeless? because they could not afford the new mandated quality?

As i said, good luck, but without agreement on values even the formulas themselves will be just subject to dispute.

milo

Don't know if you saw Hillary Clinton's graphical representation of national health care several years ago, but one could tell, without even looking at any detail, that the bureaucracy would cost taxpayers much more than directly funding the 15% of Americans who don't have health care insurance. The graphic looked like a spider with a thousand legs, and the majority of legs had legs too!