Utility assessment procedures for polynomial-exponential functions

This article develops a methodology for testing constant exchange risk properties and identifying an appropriate form for a decision maker's utility function. These risk properties characterize six different utility functions which are sums of products of polynomials and exponential functions. Such functional forms are commonly used in decision analysis applications. The practical advantage of this methodology is that these constant exchange risk properties eliminate the usual arbitrariness in the selection of a parametric utility function and often reduce the data requirements for subsequent estimation. The procedure is straightforward to apply. The decision maker need only provide certainty equivalents for two-outcome gambles and determine the more-preferred gamble in paired comparisons. The technical details of the procedure can be handled by interactive computer software.     

The divisionalized firm revisited—A comment on Enzer's “the static theory of transfer pricing”

Three different solutions to a very simple transfer pricing problem are outlined and contrasted. These are labeled by their authors: Hirshleifer, Enzer, and Ronen and McKinney. Weaknesses associated with each solution are pointed out.     

A heuristic network procedure for the assembly line balancing problem

Proposed is a Heuristic Network (HN) Procedure for balancing assembly lines. The procedure uses simple heuristic rules to generate a network which is then traversed using a shortest route algorithm to obtain a heuristic solution. The advantages of the HN Procedure are: a) it generally yields better solutions than those obtained by application of the heuristics, and b) sensitivity analysis with different values of cycle time is possible without having to regenerate the network. The rationale for its effectiveness and its application to problems with paralleling are presented. Computational experience with the procedure on up to 50 task test problems is provided.     

Book reviews

The Balkanization of the West: The Confluence of Postmodernism and Postcommunism By Stjepan G. Mestrovic, Routledge, London (1994). ISBN: 0-414-08755-4, Price £40.00 hardback, £13.99 paperback.

A Naval History of World War I By Professor Paul G. Halpern, UCL Press, 1994. pp. 624 ISBN 1-85728-295-7. Price £25.00

Arms Watch - SIPRI Report on the First Year of the UN Register of Conventional Arms By Edward J. Laurance, Siemon T. Wezeman and Herbert Wulf, Oxford University Press for SIPRI (1993) ISBN 019-829-1795, Price £25.00 hardback, £16.50 paperback.

A League of Airmen By J. A. Winnefeld, (Ed.), RAND, Santa Monica, ISBN 08330-1503-6, Price $30.00 (Hardcover) $15.00 (Softcover)     

A stochastic constrained optimal replacement model

In this paper a stochastically constrained replacement model is formulated. This model determines a sequence of replacement dates such that the total “current account” cost of all future costs and capital expenditures over an infinite time horizon for the n initial incumbent machines is minimized subject to the constraints that an expected number of machines are in a chosen utility class at any point in time. We then indicate one possible solution method for the model.     

Attack and defense of ICBMs deceptively based in a number of identical areas

On-site verification of ICBMs in the context of an arms control agreement might involve a situation where an inspector would choose one or more of a number of identical areas to inspect and would have confidence that the other areas had the same characteristics. This article considers optimal attack and defense of missiles deceptively based in a number of identical areas. The attacker may allocate warheads across areas as he desires and uniformly within areas. The defender may allocate interceptors across areas as he desires and either uniformly or preferentially within areas. The effect of restricting the defender to uniform allocation across areas is explored for various assumptions. Robustness of surviving missiles with respect to the number of attacking warheads is studied. Results are presented for a wide range of cases.     

Additive utilities with finite sets: Applications in the management sciences

A theory of additive utilities is discussed for cases where the set X, on which an individual's preference-indifference relation is defined, is a subset of the Cartesian product of n finite sets. A number of potential applications of additive utilities in decision making are presented.     

United States Internal Security Assistance to Pakistan1

Pakistan confronts numerous domestic security challenges including jihadist extremism, Sunni-Shi'a sectarian violence, drug trafficking, illegal commodity smuggling, endemic corruption, and systemic problems with the provision of justice and law enforcement. While much has been written about US military assistance to the Government of Pakistan (GOP) and the ever-evolving political relations between the two countries, basic questions of highest policy significance related to Pakistan's internal security have never been fully studied or considered. This essay begins to address these empirical lacunae. It first provides a comprehensive examination of Pakistan's internal security environment and the effectiveness of the GOP's criminal justice structures in dealing with these challenges. The paper then goes on to assess the impact and utility of the current suite of US law enforcement assistance in helping to fortify Pakistan's domestic security environment. The study raises a number of difficult questions pertinent to the long-term impact of this support, particularly in terms of its effect on fostering a viable, accountable and transparent system of civilian governance and policing.     

Algeria: A case study of insurgency in the new world order

Much of the literature on the decolonization of Namibia is set in a narrative mode and demonizes one or the other of the protagonists. This article, organized in a topical fashion, concerns the diplomatic, military, and economic facets of the Namibian war and draws upon the literature of comparable twentieth century colonial and anti-colonial wars in Algeria, Angola, Kenya, Mozambique, the Philippines, South Africa, Vietnam and Zimbabwe. It explores the changing discourse of legitimacy concerning independence for Namibia, the conduct of insurgency and counterinsurgency in the bush war, and economic aspects of that war.