Socially Subjective Equilibrium in Strategic Form Games

This study provides a new framework and a new equilibrium concept, which are able to describe the situation where people have various images of the society and have various solution concepts for social outcomes, and where people accept the social outcomes. In socially subjective equilibrium, people have a coherence of their own norms in two senses. One is the consistency of the norm itself. Imagined outcomes should satisfy a certain (subjective) solution concept. The other is the consistency between the imagined outcomes and realized one. These are the main features of our equilibrium concept. This paper forms a part of my doctoral thesis, which is titled “On socially subjective equilibrium”. The first person I would like to thank is my direct supervisor Professor Ken Urai (Osaka University). I obtained a basic idea of the main concept of my doctoral thesis, that is, the solution concept scheme, from Professor Urai. I am grateful to Professor Hiroaki Nagatani (Osaka University) and Professor Ken-Ichi Shimomura (Kobe University), who monitored my works and took efforts in providing me with valuable comments on earlier versions of my thesis. I also obtained a fruitful advice from Professor Kenichi Amaya (Kobe University). Lastly, I specially thank to Kozo Shiraishi (Osaka University).     

A genealogy of the concept of merit wants

This paper proposes a genealogy of the concept of merit wants coined by Richard A. Musgrave in his Theory of Public Finance (1959). The concept of merit wants can only be understood as a complement to the concept of public goods. I suggest that Musgrave invented the concept to apprehend some considerations that have been left out in the process of consolidation of the concept of public good. The narrow definition of the latter could not account for important state responsibilities that have been asserted by many economists.

I attempt to reconstruct Musgrave's intellectual background. First, I select examples of arguments for state intervention from authors influential in Musgrave's formative period (J.S. Mill, H. Sidgwick, E. Sax, H. Ritschl, G. Cassel, A. Wagner). Second, I argue that the invention of the concept in the 1950s reflected contemporary concerns for redistributive policies. I show that critics of the New Welfare approach (G. Colm, A. Hansen, W. Heller, H. Bowen) have held similar views, which were also in line with the liberal policy spirit of the post-war era in the United States.     

Theories of coalitional rationality

This paper generalizes the concept of best response to coalitions of players and offers epistemic definitions of coalitional rationalizability in normal form games. The (best) response of a coalition is defined to be an operator from sets of conjectures to sets of strategies. A strategy is epistemic coalitionally rationalizable if it is consistent with rationality and common certainty that every coalition is rational. A characterization of this solution set is provided for operators satisfying four basic properties. Special attention is devoted to an operator that leads to a solution concept that is generically equivalent to the iteratively defined concept of coalitional rationalizability.     

Antipeponthos and reciprocity: the concept of equivalent exchange from Aristotle to Turgot

In modern discussions of reciprocity the concept is distinguished from that of self-interested exchange. In the problem of value in exchange, however, as set up in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics the concept of reciprocity (antipeponthos) as equivalent exchange was central in commercial transactions. The paper discusses (1) the concept of antipeponthos in Aristotle, (2) how issues of trust and inequality of services provided were dealt in Aristotle and (3) the trajectory of the concept of equivalent exchange from Aristotle to Turgot.     

Chernoff's dual axiom,revealed preference and weak rational choice functions

A new and a weaker concept of rationalizability is introduced and its implications on the properties of individual choice are investigated. Especially, (i) it is shown that a property of choice functions, called Chernoff's dual axiom in this paper, plays a crucial role for the rationality of choice, and (ii) weakening the concept of rationalizability facilitates characterization of revealed preference relations.     

Homo oeconomicus and homo politicus in Ecological Economics

The model of homo oeconomicus has been criticised in Ecological Economics. We discuss this critique and alternative approaches that have been developed in the literature. In contrast to these approaches, which are based on Arrow's concept of the Social Welfare Function, psychology, biology, and general considerations, we propose a concept of homo politicus that is founded in political philosophy. We show that this concept is suitable for normative purposes of Ecological Economics. At the same time, we demonstrate in a case study that the concept has empirical relevance in explaining real political processes.     

The technology element model,path-dependent growth,and innovation policy

This paper uses a multi-element model of technology-based growth, including characterizations of both private and public components of such elements, to assess expansion paths for high-tech industries. Such a technology element model (TEM) maintains the traditional proprietary (excludable) technology element that directly results in innovations, while adding the ‘technology platform’ – a quasi-public (non-excludable) proof of concept that bridges the gap between an industry's science base and proprietary technology development, and a diverse technical infrastructure that has substantial impacts on industry productivity. These three elements are related to each other and to the production of technical knowledge by a homothetic technology production function. The TEM is then applied to assess the concept of constrained expansion paths. Such path dependence is shown to be a natural evolutionary process in that the evolving character of a technology over time is not necessarily the result of market failures. Finally, the TEM and the concept of path dependence are combined to assess the factors affecting both adaptive and allocative efficiency with respect to the expansion path, thereby better informing innovation policy.     

EQUILIBRIA IN NON-COOPERATIVE GAMES I: PERTURBATIONS BASED REFINEMENTS OF NASH EQUILIBRIUM

The concept of Nash equilibrium is widely used to analyse non-cooperative games. However, one of the problems with that concept is that many games have multiple equilibria. Recent work has concentrated on reducing or refining the set of Nash equilibria in some games. In this paper, we survey some equilibrium concepts based on perturbations of strategies that refine the set of Nash equilibria. We discuss the pros and cons of each concept and its relationship to the others by the use of numerous examples and intuition. It is hoped that this survey will enable the economist to consider the relevance of a particular equilibrium concept to a given economic model of interest. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Number: C72.     

古代岭南州府城市近郊风景的公共性研究

“城市山林”作为中国园林史研究中屡被提及的重要概念，已有了具体而明确的理论赋义。与之形成反差的，是当代研究长期缺乏对该词的历史溯源。为此，基于《四库全书》检索得到一定数量的文献史料，对“城市山林”概念的发展演变进行了初步考析。从中发现，“城市山林”并非一开始就是独立的概念；“城市”与“山林”两词媾和的过程，本质上是文人阶层有关“人之栖居”问题的长期思辨与抉择。而对此的认知，或将有助于更好地理解“园林”与“城市山林”之间的关系。     

REPLY: THE CONCEPT OF CAPITAL

Edward Denison and I agree that the correct theoretical concept of capital is to consider two capital goods equivalent if they generate the same real net revenue, defined as gross revenue minus variable operating costs measured at a fixed set of output and input prices. Although I showed in my book that the correct concept could be fully implemented for commercial aircraft and electric generating equipment, for other products I was able only partially to take operating costs into account. As a result, both Denison and I agree that my radical revision to the official capital goods deflators does not go far enough and is biased toward understating improvements in quality. Our disagreement comes down to research strategy: I believe that I have progressed partway toward the ultimate goal of implementing the correct concept, while he views such a full implementation as infeasible. As a result, he advocates a return to the traditional criterion of base-period production cost, even though this yields price deflators that ignore improvements in performance (as for computers) and improvements in operating efficiency (as for successive generations of jet aircraft) made possible by technological advances that reduct the cost of production.     

STEM 教育理念引入市场营销学教学后的实施效果评估研究——基于3年教学调查数据的双重倍差法分析

集科学、技术、工程和数学于一体的STEM教育理念是否能提高在校大学生的创新能力,是一个具有研究价值的问题。本文以STEM教育理念引入市场营销课程为研究目标,通过理论分析其融合机制与实现形式,设计了基于STEM教育理念的市场营销学课程模式,并利用市场营销课程教学效果的3年调查数据,运用能够消除政策内生性的双重倍差法,实证检验了STEM教育理念引入后的教学效果。研究发现,STEM教育理念引入课程能够显著提升学习优秀率0.23个百分点。这一结论对于大二年级的学生尤为明显,但并不存在明显的性别差异。鉴于此,本文认为应当加快STEM教育理念引入课程教学的建设进程,加大对课程建设的投资力度,以此保证高校培养创新性人才的效果。     

The Institution,the Economy and the Market: Karl Polanyi's Institutional Thought for Economists

This paper aims to clarify the logical structure of Karl Polanyi's concept of institution, especially with regard to his most important contribution to political economy—the conception of self-regulating markets as institutions. Although Polanyi did not provide a well-developed concept of institution, this article argues that such a concept exists in his work. Moreover, there is in Polanyi's work a sophisticated institutionalist account of the self-regulating market that has been largely overlooked as Polanyi does not present it explicitly. Analyzing the economy as an institutionalized process, as Polanyi does, reveals that the market is neither a natural nor a spontaneous phenomenon—a conclusion that runs counter to conventional economic thinking. Polanyi's approach enables us to view capitalism (the ‘market society’ in Polanyi's language) through a highly specific cultural fact: the fiction of the self-regulating market. This institutional perspective needs to be reassessed beyond new-institutionalist theoretical constructions.     

基于复杂产品系统的合约化质量概念研究

提出了合约化质量的定义,并论述其相关关系,进行了与主观质量等相关概念的比较分析,研究了基于复杂产品系统的合约化质量概念确立的价值,从而使复杂产品系统质量引入博弈论成为可能,也可实现基于合约化的质量管理。     

Risk and risk aversion when states of nature matter

When uncertainty is associated with some intrinsically relevant states of nature, there is no reason for an agent to base his or her preferences only on probability distribution of claims. We propose a new concept of risk for state-contingent claims that, unlike the standard concept of Rothschild–Stiglitz, does not identify state-contingent claims with their probability distribution. This concept is called mean-independent risk, and we provide a simple characterization in terms of marginal utilities of (non-expected) utility functions that exhibit aversion to mean-independent risk. We study implications of aversion to mean-independent risk on agents’ choices under uncertainty. This research has been supported by the NSF under Grant SES-0099206. I have benefited from numerous conversations with Rose-Anne Dana and illuminating discussions with Tadeusz Miłosz about the theory of subgradients.     

论新世纪适宜居住的城市观

人们越来越认同适宜居住的新城市观。本文阐述了适宜居住的城市观的形成过程,分析了发展中国家和中国城市人居环境中的主要问题,提出了城市适宜居住的基本标准以及优化城市居住环境的基本要求、目标与手段,并指出知识基础是新城市观的价值取向。     

Biotechnology as a Technological Paradigm in the Global Knowledge Structure

This article offers a critique of the application of the concept 'technological paradigm', and associated concepts, to biotechnology. It argues that despite the attractiveness of Dosi's concept there are clear problems in applying it to technologies with a strong socio-political character. One set of problems lie with the limitations of the concept itself. A more profound problem is the complexity of biotechnology, extending to the controversies surrounding it, and its place in the global political economy. It is argued that there is a need to go beyond what is essentially an innovation economist's conceptualisation to engage a more socio-political context. The concerns of the field of international political economy are brought to bear on these issues to support an extension of the definition of technological paradigm as well as to re-assert a more widespread importance of the concept.     

What is evolutionary about ‘regional systems of innovation’? Implications for regional policy

The literature on Regional Systems of Innovation (RSI) has produced an extensive body of research in recent years and has been used widely as a framework for the design and implementation of policies in a variety of regional contexts. However, certain lack of clarity remains in relation to the defining elements and the dynamics of RSI, which make it difficult to operationalize and to articulate properly the concept for policy purposes. This lack of clarity is motivated by the fact that the concept of RSI is influenced by a number of theories and approaches, in particular institutional, systemic and evolutionary approaches to innovation and learning. As a result of this mix of influences, the concept of RSI derives different and even conflicting theoretical assumptions and policy rationales. The paper advocates a more coherent evolutionary articulation of regional systems and a better understanding of the complexity surrounding policy processes.     

面子观念视角下农户亲环境行为影响因素研究——以农户塑料袋重复利用行为为例

农户从非亲环境行为转变为亲环境行为的过程中,面子观念对其影响至关重要。研究将转换过程划分为三个阶段,并从经典家庭理论出发,构建面子观念与农户亲环境行为偏好选择模型,在此基础上,以农户塑料袋重复利用行为为例,采用CGSS2013调查数据,运用Logit模型实证分析面子观念对农户亲环境行为的影响。结果表明:(1)在理性人假设下,在非亲环境行为转变为亲环境行为的第一阶段,由于转换成本的形成和高水平状态而维持成本较小,农户越看重面子观念,越对非亲环境行为具有明显偏好;(2)相较于男性,女性更偏好选择亲环境行为;(3)相较于不信教农户,信教农户更偏好选择亲环境行为。研究结论将在指导乡村振兴开展过程中对亲环境行为的宣传和监督上发挥重要作用。     

Coalitional stability under perfect foresight

Summary. We analyze strategic social environments where coalitions can form through binding or nonbinding agreements and actions of a coalition may impose externalities upon the welfare of the rest of the players. We define a solution concept that (1) captures the perfect foresight of the players that has been overlooked in the literature (e.g., Harsanyi [10] and Chwe [6]) and (2) identifies the coalitions that are likely to form and the “stable” outcomes that will not be replaced by any coalition of rational (and hence farsighted) players. The proposed solution concept thereby offers a notion of agreements and coalition formation in complex social environments. Received: February 12, 1996; revised version: March 3, 1997