From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.5-pre1 (2020-06-20) on ip-172-31-74-118.ec2.internal X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.0 required=3.0 tests=BAYES_40 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.5-pre1 Date: 30 Aug 93 18:31:02 GMT From: netcomsv!netcom.com!dani@decwrl.dec.com (Dani Zweig) Subject: Re: Economics of noncompliance with federal laws - a paper Message-ID: List-Id: srctran@world.std.com (Gregory Aharonian): > Assuming that the Ada Mandate in its literal sense (ie. ALL DoD >software has to be done in Ada, MIS, R&D, Embedded) is a rational optimal >economic policy for the DoD to follow, then each violation of the Mandate >for any project should end up costing more than if Ada had been used. No, lots of alternatives. It could be that it's cheaper for DoD as a whole to require suboptimal uses of Ada than to set up a good exceptions mechanism. It could be that the policy is globally optimal -- benefiting the Department as a whole -- without being the optimal strategy for each individual project. It could be the optimal policy in the agency sense that any weaker official policy would yield inadequate compliance. This isn't to say that the Mandate is or isn't a rational optimal economic policy -- just that the conclusion doesn't follow from the premise. ----- Dani Zweig dani@netcom.com The inability of snakes to count is actually a refusal, on their part, to appreciate the Cardinal Number system. -- "Actual Facts"