David Horsfall looks at decision-making processes

Article Abstract:

Allan Pred developed a behavioral matrix approach to the use of information in decision-making. Pred's matrix is summarized by a graph which plots the ability to use perceived information along the x-axis and the quantity and quality of perceived information along the y-axis. Pred's model realistically emphasizes the importance of goals in decision-making and bases real decisions on perceived information rather than on an objective measure of information. However, it portrays information changes as mechanical and underemphasizes the role of motivation.

Operations research, Management science, Decision-making, Decision making, Analysis, Information theory, Systems engineering

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David Horsfall looks at the contrasting views of two population theorists: Thomas Malthus and Ester Boserup

Article Abstract:

Thomas Malthus and Ester Boserup both examined the questions of population and food production using different methods and arrived at different results. Malthus in the 1790s reasoned that population growth was exponential while agricultural growth was merely arithmetic using deductive logic. Boserup in 1965 used empirical evidence to theorize that technology could bypass environmental constraints and that food production was driven by population pressure. The accumulation of resources in the developed world renders both theories somewhat inaccurate.

Criticism and interpretation, Population, Malthus, Thomas Robert, Malthusianism, Boserup, Ester

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David Horsfall looks at the Hotelling model of locational interdependence

Article Abstract:

Economist Harold Hotelling developed a theory of business agglomeration called locational interdependence which allows more than one producer to accommodate demand. Hotelling's model infers that two sellers can maintain prior markets and partake of one another's market by moving closer together, causing centralization. The inverse of the model can occur if customers on the market area fringe begin to do business elsewhere. Drawbacks of this model include presumptions of the cost, quality, demand for products and willingness to relocate of industry.

Logistics, Business logistics, Industrial locations, Industrial location

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