The book presents a broad view on the nature of intelligent decision-making which is characterized by the use of models and methods in the framework of decision support for management. Contributions to this volume dedicated to Paul StAhly on the occasion of his 65th birthday include theoretical research and applications in optimization, operations research as well as decision support and management systems.

This book presents a rigorous treatment of the mathematical instruments available for dealing with income distributions, in particular Lorenz curves and related methods. The methods examined allow us to analyze, compare and modify such distributions from an economic and social perspective. Though balanced income distributions are key to peaceful coexistence within and between nations, it is often difficult to identify the right kind of balance needed, because there is an interesting interaction with innovation and economic growth. The issue of justice, as discussed in Thomas Piketty's bestseller "Capital in the Twenty-First Century" or in the important book "The Price of Inequality" by Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, is also touched on. Further, there is a close connection to the issue of democracy in the context of globalization. One highlight of the book is its rigorous treatment of the so-called Atkinson theorem and some extensions, which help to explain under which type of societal utility functions nations tend to operate either in the direction of more balance or less balance. Finally, there are some completely new insights into changing the balance pattern of societies and the kind of coalitions between richer and poorer parts of society to organize political support in democracies in either case. Oxford University's Sir Tony Atkinson, well known for his so-called Atkinson theorem, writes in his foreword to the book: "[The authors] contribute directly to t he recent debates that are going on in politics. [...] with this book the foundation of arguments concerning a proper balance in income distribution in the sense of identifying an 'efficient inequality range' has got an additional push from mathematics, which I appreciate very much."

This title represents an ambitious undertaking, namely a broad view on the nature of intelligent decision making, which is characterized by the use of models and methods in the framework of decision support for management. With this title we want to reflect the scope of our field, but, at the same time, honor our colleague th Paul Stahly on the occasion of his 65 birthday. Paul Stahly has over decades invested his energy in developing the area of Operations Research from such a broad point of view. He has done this not only at his chairs at the HSG / University of St. Gallen and the University of Linz, but also on a broad international level as editor of ITOR and as influential member of all the Operations Research societies in the German speaking countries. He has, in particular, enriched our area by application-oriented research and industrial projects in fields such as logistics, emergency planning, [mance, and others, and he was pivotal in strengthening the cooperation between the national and international OR societies, particular in the German speaking area. VI Consequently, many colleagues who partly cooperated very closely with him, have contributed to this monograph. Some of these contributions have been presented at a colloquium in January 2001 in St. Gallen in honor of Paul Stahly. This colloquium was attended by many colleagues coming from Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and even from the United States.