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Making Ends Meet: A Conceptual and Ethical Analysis of Efficiency

Mitchell, P; Cribb, A; Entwistle, V; Crowe, S; Utley, M; (2024) Making Ends Meet: A Conceptual and Ethical Analysis of Efficiency. Kennedy Institute of Ethics Journal , 34 (1) pp. 1-26. 10.1353/ken.2024.a943428. Green open access

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Abstract

Efficiency is often overlooked as an ethical value and seen as ethically relevant chiefly when it conflicts with other values, such as equality. This article argues that efficiency is a rich and philosophically interesting concept deserving of independent normative examination. Drawing on a detailed healthcare case study, we argue that making assessments of efficiency involves value-laden, delib-erative judgments about how to characterize the functioning of human systems. Personal and emotional resources and ends are crucial to system functioning but are often discounted in favor of a relatively narrow set of financial inputs and institutional or procedural outputs. Judgments about efficiency tend to advantage (or disadvantage) different parties, depending on the resources and ends consid-ered. Different constructions of efficiency can therefore promote or neglect the perspectives and interests of differently placed actors. Models of efficiency do not merely embody contestable ethical standpoints but—put to use—can unwittingly reify and reproduce them.

Type: Article
Title: Making Ends Meet: A Conceptual and Ethical Analysis of Efficiency
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1353/ken.2024.a943428
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1353/ken.2024.a943428
Language: English
Additional information: This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions.
Keywords: Humans, Ethical Analysis, Delivery of Health Care, Judgment
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Mathematics
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Mathematics > Clinical Operational Research Unit
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10201440
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