Mass gatherings and special events are commonplace in the U.S. and require the coordinated efforts of a multitude of people, including EMS, to make for a successful event. As the medical director of the EMS, it is important to understand not only the medical problems that could occur at these events but also a basic knowledge of the business behind their planning. Constant interaction with event promoters and sponsors can help the director get a feel of the safety concerns and how funding of the event will occur. These interactions can help directors determine the size, recurrence, and risks of the event providing them with the necessary information of how much manpower will be needed and the costs of the services to be provided and will give them the power to have successful negotiations with a well thought out event plan.

Chapter 8 focuses on the enforcement of a final and binding award. It discusses the difference between orders and awards and when each is used in the arbitration proceedings. There are different types of awards that can be granted by tribunals, such as final awards, partial and interim awards, consent awards, and default awards. A tribunal has an obligation to make best efforts to produce an enforceable award. It is important that a tribunal make clear whether an award isa final award, and if so, that it ensures that the award deals with all issues in dispute between the parties. A lack of clarity could lead to requests for interpretation or even to attempts to vacate. In sum, to ensure the validity of an award, arbitrators need to take the time to craft the award carefully, to meet the legal requirements as to form and content, to make a clear representation of the substance of the award, and to ensure that the award does not exceed the scope of their authority. A highly valued aspect of international arbitration is that once an award is granted, it is enforceable and is not subject to being vacated or refused enforcement on the merits.

This chapter introduces the basics of the economic approach to understanding decision-making. This is done using examples drawn from consumer decision-making in the context of healthcare. Topics include how to think about preferences, different types of costs, optimization, and the importance of perceptions. The end of chapter supplement discusses how to use price indexes.

Chapter 4 addresses the rising civil costs of dissent. It examines the various costs and liabilities that apply to protest organizers, participants, and supporters. These include permit fees, damages resulting from personal injury lawsuits, statutory penalty enhancements, and loss of public benefits. The chapter makes the case for stricter First Amendment scrutiny of these costs and argues that certain fee-shifting arrangements and civil causes of action violate the First Amendment. It encourages public officials to commit to reducing rather than piling on the costs of dissent.

From an economic point of view, the substantive law is a mechanism to generate incentives towards efficient behaviour, i.e. behaviour that maximizes the social surplus. The same applies to the legal rules that the parties agree in the contracts they make. The behavioural response that legal rules aim for depends on accurate enforcement. Litigation, arbitration and other mechanisms of dispute settlement must be viewed and evaluated as tools for the accurate enforcement of legal rules. This contribution analyzes arbitration as an efficient enforcement mechanism that may be used by the parties to maximize the surplus they jointly reap from their transactions. The paper addresses the decision to be made by the parties in choosing arbitration over litigation and other tools of ADR, but also the choice between institutional and ad hoc arbitration. As it turns out, the parameters that influence these choices differ, depending on the domestic or international nature of the given transaction. However, the economics of arbitration are not only about the choices to be made by the parties. Thus, the paper also looks at the incentives faced by the arbitrators.

Relative to agricultural systems, high-carbon ecosystems – such as forests, peatlands, and mangroves – store large amounts of carbon in relatively small areas. Agricultural expansion often comes at the expense of high-carbon ecosystems, contributing to climate change. The food system is connected to these challenges. Ensuring no further agricultural expansion occurs in high-carbon ecosystems is a substantial climate change mitigation opportunity. The estimated costs of avoiding deforestation range from US$1.1 to US$395 billion per year, depending on growth scenarios and carbon prices; this is a bargain compared to the leverage these systems have on climate change and its social costs. Individuals, indigenous people, policies, institutions, and investments are all agents of change and will have to work together to avoid further land conversion.

The Introduction outlines the main premise of the book: the mass closure of public schools has serious consequences for American democracy. It begins with one mother’s – Ms. Leanne Woods’ – fight to save Steel Elementary School in Philadelphia. Using the example of Steel elementary, it argues that citizens learn about politics through the institutions they interact with the most, and that for many Americans, schools are those institutions. Accordingly, when schools close en masse, these blunt policy instruments play a significant role in shaping citizens’ – specifically African Americans and Latinx – relationship with government, politics, and political participation. And yet, despite the direct consequences of these policies on the lives of these Americans, the connection between educational policy experiences and democracy remain understudied in political science. In the impending chapters, Closed for Democracy takes on this investigation and demonstrates how affected citizens come to win policy battles to save schools but lose their faith in government.

This chapter introduces the main concepts that are discussed in the book: communicative efficiency, costs, benefits and accessibility. It is also proposed that language users’ behaviour is guided by the Principle of Communicative Efficiency. In addition, several more specific principles and heuristics are formulated, which may explain how everyday communication can be efficient. These are three main principles: the principle of positive correlation between benefits and costs, the principle of negative correlation between accessibility and costs, and the principle of maximization of accessibility. The principles work as heuristics that make production and comprehension automatic and therefore more efficient.

Where there is a significant risk of onerous costs being imposed on recalcitrant parties, a substantial increase in the number of disputes being mediated is the likely outcome. There is a clear link between the deployment of costs sanctions for unreasonable refusal to mediate and the increased use of mediation by commercial parties. Many jurisdictions, notably England and Wales among them, have equipped courts with the powers and authority to use mediation as a device for containing costs. Attempting to assess a party’s conduct to determine whether a costs sanction is appropriate has significant implications for mediation confidentiality. Objective criteria developed in seminal cases offer guidance to the courts in determining whether a party’s refusal to mediate was reasonable, and guidance to advisors and parties when considering mediation. While there are potential human rights implications where sanctions are construed as a means of making mediation compulsory, costs sanctions have proved to be an effective form of targeted incentive-setting where regulatory aims are integrated into the parties’ decision-making process.

One striking feature of the US health system, for people like us who are interested in evidence on how improvements in the way medical care is provided and financed affect its outcomes and costs, is that we have a pluralistic, not to say fragmented, medical care payment system. What is wrong with fragmentation? Think of a restaurant dinner for a large party of people. Usually they would order salads, main dishes, and desserts from a menu, and might be expected to ask the waiter to calculate the part of the check that represents their dishes – they would pay fee for service – and one could describe the pattern as fragmented. However, what if the group wants to divide the check equally? What if wine is cheaper by the large bottle but diners ordering different entrees want different wines, raising the bar tab? What if it is a restaurant where at least some dishes are better shared than on individual plates? Then a more integrated approach to dining and payment may lower cost may be better – at least for many. Many experts judge an arrangement in which health care is divided individually into different courses and ordered and paid a la carte as a system that is fragmented and ultimately costly to administer and inefficient. That is the challenge for payment reform – to move away from itemized “fee for service” (FFS) pricing to combined payment for a set menu or meal plan, and to do so in a way that will do more good than harm.

By understanding health-care financing and organization, health-care professionals can provide more effective care and achieve financial success. This chapter covers basic insurance principles and key business operations concepts. There is a focus on Medicare (including Medicare Advantage) and Medicaid. Hospital and professional payment methods are explained. Steps that may help reduce health-care costs, such as better chronic care management, are presented. Whether the United States truly has a health-care system, the social spending crowd-out of health-care spending, and a brief international perspective are presented.

Wildlife in Britain has been a source of delight for many generations of people. It has also been the inspiration for writers and poets, and has become the subject of serious scientific study. Media coverage has increased steadily, promoting wide interest in animals and plants in the UK. However, there are both costs and benefits arising from wildlife. Damage, including to crops and trees, by a range of ‘pest’ species can be extensive, and conservation measures such as maintenance of nature reserves are also costly. Nevertheless, these downsides are more than outweighed by the benefits to people and the economy. A wide range of ecosystem services make use of wildlife and healthy ecosystems, and access to these outdoor delights is highly valuable in the promotion of mental health. Unfortunately, more than half of Britain’s wildlife has been in continuous decline for several decades. Proximal reasons for this sad fact are summarised before considering them, and the primary issue of human numbers, in subsequent chapters.

This chapter develops the criteria relevant to assess a dispute resolution mechanism or DRM’s compliance with fair trial standards. The discussion focuses on the three broad fair trial guarantees that an institutional DRM must incorporate if it is to be considered appropriate. These are independence, impartiality and fairness. First, the discussion shows that for a DRM to be considered independent, it must possess institutional, decisional and personal/individual independence. Those three aspects will be explained succinctly. The chapter then focuses on the concept of judicial impartiality. For a fair trial to be provided, impartiality in its objective and subjective sense is critical. Finally, the chapter demonstrates how the right to a fair trial also demands that a claimant is treated fairly. Fairness is a broad guarantee and is explored through seven sub-component fair trial rights. Fairness cannot be achieved unless the right to equal access to the courts, the right to equality of arms, the right to an oral hearing, the right to appeal, the right to a reasoned judgment, the right to access justice without undue delay and the right to an effective remedy are provided for in the law, and importantly, practically realised.