Thanks very much to Aylin! And EBASG update...
Lisa
starting this discussion group! We look forward to hearing your
thoughts on issues of interest as well as on activities that the EBASG
can pursue.
I've cut-and-paste a summary of our recent activities below, FYI.
Please also visit our website at http://www.sra.org/ebasg/ for
information on our activities, and feel free to email any of the
officers with your ideas and suggestions.
Best,
Lisa Robinson
EBASG Chair
Economics and Benefits Analysis Specialty Group - January 2010 Update
Lisa A. Robinson, Chair
Website: http://www.sra.org/ebasg/
Its been an enormously exciting year for the Economics and Benefits
Analysis Specialty Group (EBASG), culminating in several wonderful
events at the December SRA conference. We built on our June “New Ideas
for Risk Regulation” conference (http://www.sra.org/
events_2009_risk_regulation_conf.php) by co-sponsoring a roundtable
(with the Risk Policy and Law Specialty Group - RPLSG) to reflect on
key issues. Speakers included: Alberto Alemanno (HEC Paris), John D.
Graham (Indiana University), James K. Hammitt (Harvard University),
Sandra Hoffmann (Resources for the Future), Dominic J. Mancini (U.S.
Office of Management and Budget), Lisa A. Robinson (Independent
Consultant), and Jonathan Wiener (Duke University). EBASG members also
participated in numerous conference panels and poster sessions on
diverse topics, presenting, for example, new research on valuing human
health risks, on applying benefit-cost analysis to environmental and
food safety issues, on managing imported food risks, and addressing
uncertainty. We especially appreciate the work of EBASG members
Cristina McLaughlin and Aylin Sertkaya, who sponsored a very
successful workshop on using expert elicitation to inform decision-
making. Our Student Merit Award winner was Niam Yaraghi (Swedish Royal
Institute of Technology), who presented “A Model for Integrating
Quantitative Risk Analysis of Vendor’s Environmental Performance into
Supplier Selection Process.” In addition, we welcomed Nobel Prize-
winning economist Kenneth Arrow as a conference plenary speaker, and
greatly enjoyed networking at our mixer, co-sponsored with the RPLSG.
At our Monday business meeting, we discussed a number of possible
initiatives for the following year. These include expanding use of our
website and social networking tools, co-sponsoring seminars with SRA
regional groups and the RPLSG, and developing workshops on topics such
as behavioral economics or the expected new Executive Order on
regulatory analysis and review. Michael Greenberg, the Risk Analysis
Editor, encouraged members to submit articles on new economics
research as well as review articles and commentary. We also welcomed
our new officers. Our incoming Vice-Chair is Amber Jessup, a science
policy analyst at the Department of Health and Human Services in the
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation. Our
incoming Secretary/Treasurer is Aylin Sertkaya, a Vice President and
Senior Analyst at Eastern Research Group. Dominic Mancini will remain
on the Executive Committee as immediate Past-Chair and Lisa Robinson
will move from Vice-Chair to Chair. We especially thank Laina Bush for
her many years of service as Vice-Chair, Chair, and Past-Chair, and
Jun Zhuang for his support as Secretary/Treasurer.
Please feel free to contact me (Lisa.A....@comcast.net) or any of
the other EBASG offices with your ideas and suggestions for activities
to pursue in 2010. We look forward to another exciting year!