The degree of predictability of these determinants decreases as time is projected forward, with more certainty in short-term health statistics (e.g., deaths, illnesses, and injuries), less certainty in the medium term (e.g., demographic trends), and even less certainty in long-term determinants of health (including social and economic conditions and genetic change).
They need long-term certainty, rather than short-term incentives, to help support investment decisions".
For instance, in the consumer goods industry, short-term demand is known with certainty based on distinct customer orders.
But at some point, our short-term fixes and obsessions with certainty will block the entrepreneurial acts so essential to long-term security.
"It is critical that we pass a bill that not only avoids a short-term funding crisis but provides certainty and lays the groundwork for sustained economic growth.
But that is far from a certainty, and the short-term strategy of defunding bits of the scheme looks more likely to score points than actually stop the law.The other great hope for enemies of reform is that the Supreme Court will declare that the individual mandate is unconstitutional, and that this will lead directly to the unravelling of the dread laws.
Second, by raising rates by 25 bps at each scheduled meeting, the Fed has let traders know with near-certainty what their short-term funding costs will be, which has made trading on yield differentials by borrowing short and lending long a low risk endeavor.
But supporters say the move could provide a short-term lift because investors would have greater certainty about tax policy in the future.
Devising short-term tax incentives is the antithesis of creating long-term certainty — sticking to the rules of the game.
And because rules for setting short-term rates would be public, investors would have more certainty about what the Fed wanted.
