Article ID Journal Published Year Pages File Type
720602 IFAC Proceedings Volumes 2009 5 Pages PDF
Abstract

Policies which change large-scale social behavior patterns are often implemented on the basis of likely short-term results with little consideration of their long-term consequences. Actions which change social behaviors can originate with governments, social policy groups, or business leaders. When large segments of society adjust their behaviors in similar ways, long-term effects of these changes can have profound effects on social structure. For example, as automobile use in some regions increased, public transit systems frequently collapsed. This consequence of a large-scale behavioral change was never subjected to \a priori analysis. This paper proposes methods of analysis which could be used to examine potential second-order effects of policy choices before the choices are implemented.

Related Topics
Physical Sciences and Engineering Engineering Computational Mechanics
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