This is a question that the Math and Optimization Cooperative has to answer a lot, so I’m collecting some links here.
If you look through these links, you might think that these are not necessarily causes that you support. But don’t fault the technique. At issue is about what people are being paid to do research on. Maximize “catching terrorists” gets lots of research money, maximize “environmental justice” gets less, for example.
- Video starring Vijay Mehrotra: www.bnet.com/2422-13722_23-178846.html
- www.lionhrtpub.com/orms/orms-12-06/beat...
- http://www.scienceofbetter.org/
- Jacobson, S. H. L. A. McLay, 2006. “The Economic Impact of Obesity on Automobile Fuel Consumption,” The Engineering Economist 51(4), 307 – 323.
- http://www.randomhouse.com/bantamdell/supercrunchers/
- http://mat.tepper.cmu.edu/blog/?p=174
- www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?stor...
Some potentially good uses of OR/MS:
