Friendship,not altruism: an economic theory with cross-cultural applications

Friendship is both ubiquitous and economically important, but neglected in the economic literature. We provide a definition of friendship supported by anthropology research that we believe is plausible, widely accepted, and distinct from altruism. This motivates a game-theoretic model of friendship that provides a characterization of how friendship in a bilateral relationship can explain cooperation in a finite-horizon setting without the aid of altruism or pro-social preferences. We highlight the difference between two key equilibria of our model: opportunistic friendship that is short-lived and driven by material support, and sustained friendship that is long-lived and is distinguished from opportunistic friendship by the provision of support without the expectation of return. Opportunistic friendship seems more likely in environments characterized by economic uncertainty such as in developing countries or immigrant communities. We provide cross-cultural examples of friendship that are consistent with the conditions underpinning opportunistic versus sustained friendship equilibria.     

Migration,Friendship Ties,and Cultural Assimilation

We study immigrant assimilation by analyzing whether friendship with natives is a measure of cultural assimilation, and by investigating the formation of social ties. Using the German Socio‐Economic Panel, we find that immigrants with a German friend are more similar to natives than those without German friends, along several important dimensions, including concerns about the economy, an interest in politics, and a host of policy issues. Turning to friendship acquisition, we find that becoming employed, time spent in the host country, the birth of a child, residential mobility, and additional education acquired in the host country are significant drivers of social network variation.     

论构建和谐社会的博弈论基础

将和谐社会置于组织理论框架中,运用博弈论的分析方法,研究和谐社会的理论内涵、实现目标及其途径.在组织理论框架中,运用博弈论的方法将法律、政治、经济、文化(意识形态)等整合为一个完整的理论框架,寻求集体理性下的纳什均衡;纳什均衡体现了公平正义、激励及秩序,它要求以民主法制为前提,诚信友爱,产权明晰,人与自然和谐.和谐社会的构建目标应该致力于组织合作制度的建立,努力达成博弈的合作均衡,其途径包括民主与法制建设、建立完善的产权制度、健全社会保障制度、教育的普及与深化以及文化建设.     

论构建和谐社会的生态价值观

中央提出建设社会主义和谐社会,是充分总结人类社会的发展规律与中华民族的历史实践得出的基本结论。人与自然的和谐和环境友好型社会的提出,是人类社会发展规律的认识新境界。本文就环境友好型社会是构建和谐社会的现实需要及如何构建环境友好型社会做出了论述,从中体现出和谐社会的生态价值观。     

FAVOURING FRIENDS

This paper focuses on the friendship effect on donations in a dictator game. Our results indicate that the taste for altruism is substantially increased when friends play the role of recipients. Controlling for reciprocity there is still a significant friendship effect on donations.     

印度人对中国的认识及攀比心理

国际社会长期将中印两国看作一对（counterparts）或孪生兄弟（twins）,并将中印关系描述为竞争或竞赛的关系。印度人也大都喜欢处处与中国攀比或对比,不少人将中国看作超越的对象,也有印度人将中国看作对手并心存嫉妒;不过,在印度也有不少有识之士对中国评价相当积极并主张对华友好。印度人对中国的态度是复杂的,甚至是矛盾的,有点爱恨交织。这是一种“中国情结”或“心结”。印度人尽管非常关注中国,但对中国的了解也相当有限。随着两国相互交往的加深,这种局面将会有所改变。两国长期友好将是大势所趋。     

授权型领导对员工隐性知识分享的影响机制

在环境不确定性和内外部资源约束情境下，知识管理对于企业成长与发展变得愈发重要。从心理授权视角出发，探讨了授权型领导与员工隐性知识分享的关系，并以角色认同与自我归类理论为基础，进一步研究了内部人身份感知与职场友谊在以上关系中的作用。基于276份“主管-员工”配对数据的实证结果表明：授权型领导对员工隐性知识分享具有显著正向预测效果；内部人身份感知在授权型领导与隐性知识分享之间起到部分中介作用；职场友谊正向调节内部人身份感知与隐性知识分享间的关系，即职场友谊水平越高，内部人身份感知对员工隐性知识分享的正向作用越强。     

中国喀什对巴基斯坦开放研究

中国喀什自古就和巴基斯坦有着紧密往来,随着中国喀什特殊经济区的建立和中巴经济走廊建设的提出,喀什对巴基斯坦开放迎来新篇章。中国喀什属于民族、边疆、贫困＂三位一体＂地区,而基于中国-巴基斯坦之间的全天候友谊,其对巴基斯坦开放也面临同其他对外开放地区不一样的特点。本文从历史与现实、政治安全、经贸、通道、社会文化旅游、能源等方面阐述喀什对巴基斯坦开放的一般性和特殊性问题,有利条件和不利因素,并提出相应的对策。     

Are modern philosophical accounts of well-being excessively ‘individualistic’?

Do modern accounts of well-being which have influenced, or been adopted by, some economists encourage excessive ‘individualism’? I suggest that this question can be answered by considering two objections to modern views of welfare: (1) that they involve an impoverished view of persons and (2) that they decompose all goods into goods for individuals and do not give intrinsic value to collective goods. I argue that two influential views of well-being—the informed desire view and the capability approach—can convincingly respond to these objections. Both views allow for our distinct social roles and identities: the ways in which social norms and institutions shape values and a concern for others. Neither view sees goods as goods only of specific individuals, nor do they require us to separate out neatly the realisation of values in the lives of various individuals. But that does not imply that goods such as friendship are collective rather than individual goods or that collective goods have intrinsic value. Nonetheless, accounts of well-being may need to be more explicit than they have been in incorporating the social dimension.     

Signaling in social network and social capital formation

This paper presents a model of social capital and social network formation. The key interaction within the model is that whom an individual chooses to become friends with affects the value (social capital) of the friendship. In the model, how a player searches for and then forms friendships reveals how willing she is to engage in cooperation with a potential friend. Individuals observe their local network structure (friends and cliques) and the actions of players within these. Willingness to cooperate is private information and is captured by the discount factor of an individual. Cooperative types have high discount factors and can signal their type by forming a clique through befriending a friend of a friend. Uncooperative types do not form these kinds of friendships because of the local observability of their actions to all members of a clique. Thus, when a player meets someone with whom she shares a friend, her belief that the individual has a high discount factor is greater than the population average. In this sense, people “trust” each other more when they share a friend in common. Finally, I relate the primitives of the model to characteristics of the implied social network by nesting the sequential equilibrium in an algorithm of network formation proposed by Jackson and Rogers (Am Econ Rev 97(3):890–915, 2007). The model highlights a trade-off between maximizing the total amount of social capital in a society and distributing it equitably across individuals.