Rent-seeking with uncertain discriminatory power

We consider a two-player Tullock rent-seeking contest with uncertain discriminatory power in the contest success function. We examine the cases where both players are either informed or uninformed about the size of the discriminatory power, as well as the case where only one player has private information about it. We show that in all three cases the contest has a unique (Bayesian) Nash equilibrium. In each case we characterize key properties of the equilibrium.     

Bayesian Calibration of p‐Values from Fisher's Exact Test

p‐Values are commonly transformed to lower bounds on Bayes factors, so‐called minimum Bayes factors. For the linear model, a sample‐size adjusted minimum Bayes factor over the class of g‐priors on the regression coefficients has recently been proposed (Held & Ott, The American Statistician 70(4), 335–341, 2016). Here, we extend this methodology to a logistic regression to obtain a sample‐size adjusted minimum Bayes factor for 2 × 2 contingency tables. We then study the relationship between this minimum Bayes factor and two‐sided p‐values from Fisher's exact test, as well as less conservative alternatives, with a novel parametric regression approach. It turns out that for all p‐values considered, the maximal evidence against the point null hypothesis is inversely related to the sample size. The same qualitative relationship is observed for minimum Bayes factors over the more general class of symmetric prior distributions. For the p‐values from Fisher's exact test, the minimum Bayes factors do on average not tend to the large‐sample bound as the sample size becomes large, but for the less conservative alternatives, the large‐sample behaviour is as expected.     

Happy partisans and extreme political views: The impact of national versus local representation on well-being

The political party of elected officials can affect the happiness of the voting public through several different channels. Partisan voters will be happier whenever a member of their party controls political office regardless of the policies implemented. It is hypothesized that congruence between individual party identity and state politician affiliations should have a greater impact on citizen happiness than congruence with politicians at the national level due to results from the literature on Tiebout sorting. It is further hypothesized that individuals with extreme ideological views may report greater happiness as their ideology fulfills basic psychological needs for certainty and structure. Using data from the Generalized Social Survey the effect of party congruence of individuals with national and state politicians on happiness is estimated. The effect of extreme ideological political views on happiness is also estimated. Results find that congruence with presidential party affiliation has a much greater impact on happiness than congruence with national legislative affiliation, gubernatorial, or state legislative affiliation contradicting the hypothesis. Those who possess extreme political views are also found to report higher levels of happiness.     

Can Optimism be a Remedy for Present Bias?

Under economies with hyperbolic preferences, vast research has investigated welfare‐improving tax policies to resolve capital misallocation issues. In this paper, we suggests an alternative channel to overcome a form of this issue associated with consumer's present bias—optimism, as defined by overexpectation of future productivity. We show that even though optimism negatively impacts consumers under normal circumstances, a moderate level of it can be beneficial when consumers have hyperbolic preferences. On the other hand, pessimism always negatively impacts consumer welfare. A steady‐state analysis shows that the quantitative impact of optimism on welfare can be sizable.     

Competitor identification,perceived environmental uncertainty,and firm performance

To create a competitive advantage and generate superior performance, firms must first identify rivals. However, there is little understanding of how perceived environmental uncertainty affects competitor identification, why some firms are better at identifying domestic versus foreign rivals, or how competitor identification is related to firm performance. In this paper we theorize that perceived environmental uncertainty is an important antecedent of competitor identification; it influences how many competitors a firm identifies. Our theory also suggests that different firm characteristics influence domestic/foreign competitor identification and that there is an inverted‐U shaped relationship between under/overidentification of competitors and firm performance. Based on a large sample of Taiwanese firms, we find support for each of these ideas. Our study helps reinforce the importance of competitor identification for firm success. Copyright © 2015 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

ISO49＆ISO7-1标准内螺纹长度规定的不协调与矛盾的消除

文章通过分析、对比，阐述了ISO 49：1994和ISO 7-1：1994两个标准对管件内螺纹长度规定的不协调问题，并提出了通过修订ISO 49：1994标准实现标准协调统一的建议。     

Structural stability of P/E ratios of common stocks

Earlier studies have reported that the average price/earning ratios (P/E ratios) of groups of firms tend to maintain over time their ranks within their industry classes. This study looks at the rank stability of P/E ratios of individual stocks, without regard to their industry labels. Based on a sample of 429 stocks listed on the New York Stock Exchange, and covering the period 1960–1976, this study concludes that individual stocks exhibit significant stability in their P/E ratio ranks, more strongly so over shorter periods of time. This tendency has implications in investment management.     

Assessing the World Bank's Influence on the Good Governance Paradigm

What does “good governance” mean for the World Bank and to what extent has the organisation been successful in diffusing the paradigm worldwide? The Bank focused primarily on economic aspects of governance in the 1980s and progressively moved to emphasise its political dimensions towards the end of the 1990s. In this paper, the soft power of the Bank is analysed in relation to this specific issue through bibliometric methods and by examining the role of governance indicators, especially within the donor community.     

扫除力VS 7S管理的生活哲学

扫除力是日本较为流行的一个名词，在我们的学生的学习和生活里，很多时候教师常抓不懈的常规问题，同时见效甚微的也是扫除力给我们带来的一些问题。笔者从扫除力之于学生的重要性以及所在教育单位相关的管理举措暨7s管理的角度谈谈自己的看法。     

用碱性蓝6B作指示剂测定辣椒油酸价

选择碱性蓝6B作指示剂改变辣椒油酸价滴定终点的颜色,建立了辣椒油酸价测定的新方法。在GB/T 5009.37-2003《食用植物油卫生标准分析方法》的基础上,通过实验证明,在辣椒油酸价测定时用碱性蓝6B代替酚酞作为指示剂,在滴定终点的颜色变化上更敏锐,观察更方便、更准确。