Where MLM Intersects MFA: Morally Suspect Goods and the Grounds for Regulatory Action

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (1) ◽  
pp. 138-161
Author(s):  
Jeff Frooman
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Business Ethics ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Regulatory Action ◽  
Pareto Optimal ◽  
Pareto Optimal Solutions ◽  
Optimal Solutions ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Market Participants ◽  
Market Failures Approach

The market failures approach (MFA) to business ethics argues that economic theory regarding the efficient workings of a market can generate normative prescriptions for managerial behaviour. It argues that actions that inhibit Pareto optimal solutions are immoral. However, the approach fails to identify goods that should be regulated or prohibited from the market, something common to the moral limits to markets (MLM) approach to business ethics. There are, however, numerous assumptions underlying Paretian efficiency, including some about the preferences of market participants. Trade in some goods violates some of these assumptions, and so these goods are morally suspect and can be understood to indicate that the market for these goods is not moral. This creates grounds sufficient for regulating, and possibly prohibiting, these goods. To help determine whether it is then necessary to regulate the goods, I propose a supplementary economic analysis to ascertain why an assumption regarding a particular preference is being violated.

scholarly journals Between Market Failures and Justice Failures: Trade-Offs Between Efficiency and Equality in Business Ethics

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charlie Blunden
Keyword(s):  
Business Ethics ◽  
Private Firms ◽  
Market Failures ◽  
Costs And Benefits ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Efficiency Losses ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Hybrid Theory ◽  
Market Failures Approach ◽  
Ethical Obligations

AbstractThe Market Failures Approach (MFA) is one of the leading theories in contemporary business ethics. It generates a list of ethical obligations for the managers of private firms that states that they should not create or exploit market failures because doing so reduces the efficiency of the economy. Recently the MFA has been criticised by Abraham Singer on the basis that it unjustifiably does not assign private managers obligations based on egalitarian values. Singer proposes an extension to the MFA, the Justice Failures Approach (JFA), in which managers have duties to alleviate political, social, and distributive inequalities in addition to having obligations to not exploit market failures. In this paper I describe the MFA and JFA and situate them relative to each other. I then highlight a threefold distinction between different types of obligations that can be given to private managers in order to argue that a hybrid theory of business ethics, which I call the MFA + , can be generated by arguing that managers have obligations based on efficiency and duties based on equality to the extent that these latter obligations do not lead to efficiency losses. This argument suggests a novel theoretical option in business ethics, elucidates the issues that are at stake between the MFA and the JFA, and clarifies the costs and benefits of each theory.

scholarly journals Optimization Of Multi-Module CrN/CrCN Coatings

2015 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 1037-1043
Author(s):  
Ł. Szparaga ◽  
P. Bartosik ◽  
A. Gilewicz ◽  
J. Ratajski
Keyword(s):  
Optimization Procedure ◽  
Stress And Strain ◽  
Pareto Optimal ◽  
Mutual Distance ◽  
Pareto Optimal Solutions ◽  
Optimal Solutions ◽  
Decision Criteria ◽  
Decision Variables ◽  
42Crmo4 Steel ◽  
The Stability

Abstract In the paper was proposed optimization procedure supporting the prototyping of the geometry of multi-module CrN/CrCN coatings, deposited on substrates from 42CrMo4 steel, in respect of mechanical properties. Adopted decision criteria were the functions of the state of internal stress and strain in the coating and substrate, caused by external mechanical loads. Using developed optimization procedure the set of optimal solutions (Pareto-optimal solutions) of coatings geometry parameters, due to the adopted decision criteria was obtained. For the purposes of analysis of obtained Pareto-optimal solutions, their mutual distance in the space of criteria and decision variables were calculated, which allowed to group solutions in the classes. Also analyzed the number of direct neighbors of Pareto-optimal solutions for the purposes of assessing the stability of solutions.

A DECOMPOSITION-COORDINATION METHOD FOR COMPLEX MULTI-OBJECTIVE SYSTEMS

2009 ◽  
Vol 26 (06) ◽  
pp. 735-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. MIGUEL ◽  
T. GÓMEZ ◽  
M. LUQUE ◽  
F. RUIZ ◽  
R. CABALLERO
Keyword(s):  
Information Exchange ◽  
Exchange Process ◽  
Efficient Solutions ◽  
Pareto Optimal ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Pareto Optimal Solutions ◽  
Optimal Solutions ◽  
Conflicting Objectives ◽  
Upper Level ◽  
Problem Instances

The generation of Pareto optimal solutions for complex systems with multiple conflicting objectives can be easier if the problem can be decomposed and solved as a set of smaller coordinated subproblems. In this paper, a new decomposition-coordination method is proposed, where the global problem is partitioned into subsystems on the basis of the connection structure of the mathematical model, assigning a relative importance to each of them. In order to obtain Pareto optimal solutions for the global system, the aforementioned subproblems are coordinated taking into account their relative importance. The scheme that has been developed is an iterative one, and the global efficient solutions are found through a continuous information exchange process between the coordination level (upper level) and the subsystem level (lower level). Computational experiments on several randomly generated problem instances show that the suggested algorithm produces efficient solutions within reasonable computational times.

Multiobjective optimization of the flaxseed mucilage extraction process using normal-boundary intersection approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mariana Souza Rocha ◽  
Luiz Célio Souza Rocha ◽  
Marcia Barreto da Silva Feijó ◽  
Paula Luiza Limongi dos Santos Marotta ◽  
Samanta Cardozo Mourão
Keyword(s):  
Multiobjective Optimization ◽  
Optimization Method ◽  
Extraction Process ◽  
Pareto Optimal ◽  
Pareto Optimal Solutions ◽  
Optimal Solutions ◽  
Fiber Concentration ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Normal Boundary

PurposeThe mucilage of the Linum usitatissimum L. seed (Linseed) is one of the natural mucilages that presents a great potential to provide a food hydrocolloid with potential applications in both food and pharmaceutical industries. To increase the yield and quality of linseed oil during its production process, it is necessary to previously extract its polysaccharides. Because of this, flax mucilage production can be made viable as a byproduct of oil extraction process, which is already a product of high commercial value consolidated in the market. Thus, the purpose of this work is to optimize the mucilage extraction process of L. usitatissimum L. using the normal-boundary intersection (NBI) multiobjective optimization method.Design/methodology/approachCurrently, the variables of the process of polysaccharide extraction from different sources are optimized using the response surface methodology. However, when the optimal points of the responses are conflicting it is necessary to study the best conditions to achieve a balance between these conflicting objectives (trade-offs) and to explore the available options it is necessary to formulate an optimization problem with multiple objectives. The multiobjective optimization method used in this work was the NBI developed to find uniformly distributed and continuous Pareto optimal solutions for a nonlinear multiobjective problem.FindingsThe optimum extraction point to obtain the maximum fiber concentration in the extracted material was pH 3.81, temperature of 46°C, time of 13.46 h. The maximum extraction yield of flaxseed was pH 6.45, temperature of 65°C, time of 14.41 h. This result confirms the trade-off relationship between the objectives. NBI approach was able to find uniformly distributed Pareto optimal solutions, which allows to analyze the behavior of the trade-off relationship. Thus, the decision-maker can set extraction conditions to achieve desired characteristics in mucilage.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper is to confirm the existence of a trade-off relationship between the productivity parameter (yield) and the quality parameter (fiber concentration in the extracted material) during the flaxseed mucilage extraction process. The NBI approach was able to find uniformly distributed Pareto optimal solutions, which allows us to analyze the behavior of the trade-off relationship. This allows the decision-making to the extraction conditions according to the desired characteristics of the final product, thus being able to direct the extraction for the best applicability of the mucilage.

scholarly journals Two-Step Many-Objective Optimal Power Flow Based on Knee Point-Driven Evolutionary Algorithm

Processes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 250 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yahui Li ◽  
Yang Li
Keyword(s):  
Decision Analysis ◽  
Evolutionary Algorithm ◽  
Power Flow ◽  
Optimal Power Flow ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Pareto Optimal ◽  
Pareto Optimal Solutions ◽  
Optimal Solutions ◽  
Optimal Power ◽  
Knee Point

To coordinate the economy, security and environment protection in the power system operation, a two-step many-objective optimal power flow (MaOPF) solution method is proposed. In step 1, it is the first time that knee point-driven evolutionary algorithm (KnEA) is introduced to address the MaOPF problem, and thereby the Pareto-optimal solutions can be obtained. In step 2, an integrated decision analysis technique is utilized to provide decision makers with decision supports by combining fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering and grey relational projection (GRP) method together. In this way, the best compromise solutions (BCSs) that represent decision makers’ different, even conflicting, preferences can be automatically determined from the set of Pareto-optimal solutions. The primary contribution of the proposal is the innovative application of many-objective optimization together with decision analysis for addressing MaOPF problems. Through examining the two-step method via the IEEE 118-bus system and the real-world Hebei provincial power system, it is verified that our approach is suitable for addressing the MaOPF problem of power systems.

Solving Environmental/Economic Dispatch Problem

2010 ◽  
pp. 123-145
Author(s):  
M.A. Abido
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Economic ◽  
Economic Dispatch ◽  
Test System ◽  
Standard Test ◽  
Pareto Optimal ◽  
Pareto Optimal Solutions ◽  
Optimal Solutions ◽  
Swarm Optimization ◽  
Nondominated Solutions ◽  
Multiobjective Particle Swarm Optimization

Multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) technique for environmental/economic dispatch (EED) problem is proposed and presented in this work. The proposed MOPSO technique evolves a multiobjective version of PSO by proposing redefinition of global best and local best individuals in multiobjective optimization domain. The proposed MOPSO technique has been implemented to solve the EED problem with competing and non-commensurable cost and emission objectives. Several optimization runs of the proposed approach have been carried out on a standard test system. The results demonstrate the capabilities of the proposed MOPSO technique to generate a set of well-distributed Pareto-optimal solutions in one single run. The comparison with the different reported techniques demonstrates the superiority of the proposed MOPSO in terms of the diversity of the Pareto optimal solutions obtained. In addition, a quality measure to Pareto optimal solutions has been implemented where the results confirm the potential of the proposed MOPSO technique to solve the multiobjective EED problem and produce high quality nondominated solutions.

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