A Secure and Fair Protocol that Addresses Weaknesses of the Nash Bargaining Solution in Nonlinear Negotiation

Negotiation with multiple interdependent issues is an important problem since much of real-world negotiation falls into this category. This paper examines the problem that, in such domains, agent utility functions are nonlinear, and thereby can create nonconvex Pareto frontiers. This in turn implies that the Nash Bargaining Solution, which has been viewed as the gold standard for identifying a unique optimal negotiation outcome, does not serve that role in nonlinear domains. In nonlinear domains, unlike linear ones, there can be multiple Nash Bargaining Solutions, and all can be sub-optimal with respect to social welfare and fairness. In this paper, we propose a novel negotiation protocol called SFMP (the Secure and Fair Mediator Protocol) that addresses this challenge, enabling secure multilateral negotiations with fair and pareto-optimal outcomes in nonlinear domains. The protocol works by (1) using nonlinear optimization, combined with a Multi-Party protocol, to find the Pareto front without revealing agent’s private utility information, and (2) selecting the agreement from the Pareto set that maximizes a fair division criterion we call approximated fairness. We demonstrate that SFMP is able to find agreements that maximize fairness and social welfare in nonlinear domains, and out-performs (in terms of outcomes and scalability) previously developed nonlinear negotiation protocols.     

Trade with Endogenous Market Power Under Asymmetric and Incomplete Information

This paper addresses whether or not trade under both asymmetric information and endogenous market power fits standard assumptions and outcomes of mechanism design of imperfect competition. I analyse the outcomes of a bilateral trade in which a manufacturer (the principal) purchases n inputs from a seller (the agent). Each input has a continuum of types, but the principal has no information on these input types, excepting their distributions. The model allows input types to shift input supply curves and flexibly accounts for any endogenous monopsony power (i.e., determined by the mechanism). Focusing on an optimal Bayesian mechanism, I find that the monotonicity assumption may not be enough to ensure price discrimination based on type. Truthful implementation implies that when allocation is increasing and weakly convex (curvature zero or positive) in the input type, the principal’s monopsony power decreases as the input type increases (i.e., is higher near competitive price for higher input type). However, under increasing but concave allocation, ambiguity remains as it is no longer guaranteed that high types would receive high prices. I also examine some extensions of the analysis in the cases of a benevolent principal and a mechanism with multiple agents. The findings provide explanation to real-world situations where input attribute affects market power of either player and to the functioning of many markets of goods and services under asymmetric and incomplete information.     

Initiating Negotiations: The Role of Machiavellianism, Risk Propensity, and Bargaining Power

Initiation is an often-overlooked yet essential stage of the negotiation process. This study examined the effects of two measures of personality—Machiavellianism and risk propensity—and relative bargaining power (as based on multiple situational factors) on three phases of the initiation process—engaging a counterpart, making a request, and optimizing the request. Using a multi-scenario approach, one hundred fifteen participants indicated their initiation preferences for three distinct negotiations. The results of repeated measures ANOVAs indicate that bargaining power influences an individual’s decision to initiate negotiations. In addition, those high in Machiavellianism choose to initiate negotiations even when relative bargaining power is low, whereas those high in risk propensity tend to optimize their requests. The implications of these findings for practitioners and future research are discussed.     

新媒体背景下国际商务谈判策略选择

当前电商网站成为国际商务谈判双方获取信息的重要途径,并且利用即时通讯软件在不见面的情况下直接完成谈判协议主体内容的谈判,这种谈判跟传统谈判有很大的区别。文章在综合阐述传统谈判策略技巧的基础上,分析了新媒体背景下影响国际商务谈判的各种因素,给出了新媒体背景下国际商务谈判的策略建议。     

不完全竞争下的对外贸易战略推进的最优化路径--兼评林毅夫、郭克莎之争

从理论和经济发展史两方面对后发型国家产业健康发展与对外贸易战略实施之间关系处理的两种主要路径,也就是林毅夫所推崇的按照比较优势进行产业定位及技术选择的模式和郭克莎所主张的——加强政府在产业发展与外贸战略实施中的必要扶持和保护作用的发展路径,进行了比较深入的分析。认为象中国这样的发展中大国必须要发挥政府在聚合资源、产业升级、人力资本的积累和技术进步等方面的促进作用,而不能完全按照比较优势进行产业结构的定位。当然,政府作用的发挥,必须最大限度地利用市场在资源配置中的积极作用。     

The Montreal Taxonomy for Electronic Negotiations

Research in the domain of electronic negotiations is a rather new and very interdisciplinary field, which gains more and more attention due to the industry hype and momentum regarding electronic commerce and electronic markets. Negotiations in a narrow sense (not taking into account simple forms such as hit and take) have been identified as an advantageous coordination mechanism for the interaction of buyers and sellers in electronic markets that transcend the selling of commodities or uniform goods. Hence, support for negotiations may become a critical success factor for electronic markets, especially regarding the recent failures of many industrial ventures. This paper presents the Montreal Taxonomy, which allows not only for the exact characterisation and comparison of a broad variety of electronic negotiation designs and systems, ranging from auctions to bilateral bargaining tables, but could also lead towards a more structured approach for the design of electronic negotiations.     

融资租赁下承租人应如何进行会计处理

《企业会计准则——租赁》于2001年1月18日正式发布,并于2001年1月1日起在我国所有企业履行。这一准则的实施进一步规范了承租人和出租人融资租入和经营租赁的会计核算和相关信息的披露。为使会计人员能更好地应用《租赁会计准则》,对承租人的融资租赁业务的会计处理方法及时规范。     

信息商品价格决定模型

信息商品价格的合理确定 ,体现了信息商品供求双方的利益 ,不仅能够促进信息商品贸易的发展 ,而且对新技术的开发和迅速推广应用具有积极的作用。在对信息商品买方预期新增利润估算的基础上 ,利用效用理论和经济博弈理论 ,建立信息商品的价格决定模型     

非对称信息下企业员工素质类型目标考核甄别机制

采用数量经济学方法,利用委托-代理理论,给出在存在员工素质信息非对称条件下,企业构建的员工素质类型目标考核甄别机制;指出基于两阶段工资与考核标准的目标考核甄别机制具有信息甄别功能,对于给定的员工通过考核概率,企业增加第二阶段工资与减少第一阶段工资,加大工资差距,更有利于促进对两类不同素质员工的有效甄别与增加低素质员工企图冒充高素质员工的成本。     

Economic Factors Which Influence Consumer Search for Price Information

An ordinary least squares model was developed depicting relationships between four economic factors and search effort prior to purchase. The model was examined using data provided by a sample of 166 couples who had purchased an automobile or one of eight durable goods. Wife's education and relative size of expenditure were found to be positively associated with search effort. Policy implications of the research findings are noted for designers of consumer information programs.     

利率市场化条件下中小企业的融资约束及解决方法

中小企业在整个国民经济中的地位是很重要的，由于各种原因中小企业一直面临严重的融资难问题。随着我国金融体制改革的深入，金融领域的诸多限制将会逐步取消，特别是利率管制的取消可以使金融主体依据市场规律，按收益和风险原则自主决定各类金融资产的价格，从而缓解中小企业融资难问题。然而，由于金融市场上普遍存在的信息不对称，利率市场化并不能完全消除中小企业融资难问题，中小企业仍将面临来自直接和间接融资方面的约束。要从根本上解决中小企业融资难问题，除了放松管制，还必须从根本上解决信息不对称问题。     

The Price of International Business Morality: Twenty Years Under The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act

Last year marked the 20th anniversary of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) of 1977. The FCPA is the first and only statute prohibiting bribery and other corrupt business practices by U.S. citizens and companies conducting business overseas. This paper provides an overview of the FCPA during the two decades of its existence. More specifically, the objectives of this paper are four-fold. First, the paper provides background information about the FCPA of 1977 and subsequent amendments in 1988. Second, the paper discusses the enforcement of the FCPA since its passage by examining the number of cases prosecuted under the FCPA and the respective penalties imposed. Third, the paper discusses the economic impact of the FCPA by addressing whether the FCPA places U.S. firms at a competitive disadvantage. Fourth, the paper provides public policy recommendations to expand the reach and scope of the FCPA. It covers efforts to criminalize bribery through multilateral organizations, such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Organization of American States (OAS). It also covers bilateral arrangements and efforts by non-governmental organizations such as Transparency International.     

Risk Minimization with Incomplete Information in a Model for High‐Frequency Data

We study risk‐minimizing hedging‐strategies for derivatives in a model where the asset price follows a marked point process with stochastic jump‐intensity, which depends on some unobservable state‐variable process. This model reflects stylized facts that are typical for high frequency data. We assume that agents in our model are restricted to observing past asset prices. This poses some problems for the computation of risk‐minimizing hedging strategies as the current value of the state variable is unobservable for our agents. We overcome this difficulty by a two‐step procedure, which is based on a projection result of Schweizer and show that in our context the computation of risk‐minimizing strategies leads to a filtering problem that has received some attention in the nonlinear filtering literature.     

应对新一轮气候变化谈判政治博奕的准备

2011年10月1日到7日召开的巴拿马气候变化谈判会议是年底第17届联合国气候变化框架公约缔约方大会前的最后一次非正式会议。虽然会议上京都议定书第二承诺期没有进展,但在技术发展和转让议题、适应议题、法律形式议题等方面却有明显的起色。身为亲历者,笔者对此番政治博弈中发展中国家需要强化的准备工作进行了剖析。     

测算价格贸易条件指数的困境及出路

我国学者运用帕氏公式测算我国价格贸易条件指数时经常得到大相径庭的结果,笔者认为这是由我国海关统计资料的数据缺陷造成的。文章提出采用环比-定基两步法测算价格贸易条件指数:第一步,采用环比的方法用帕氏公式测算每年与上年相比的进出口价格指数;第二步,用定基的方法以某一年为基期进行转换计算,测算出各年度与基期相比的进出口价格指数,然后用相同基期的出口价格指数除以进口价格指数测算价格贸易条件指数。通过环比-定基两步法可有效解决测算我国价格贸易条件指数的困境。     

Time as a Direct Source of Utility: The Case of Price Information Search for Groceries

A “joint production” model that combines aspects of household production and the economics of information is formulated to explain variation in time spent in price information search for groceries by dual earner households. Enjoyment of search time, a psychological variable, is incorporated into the model. Empirical estimation using grocery expenditure data indicates that enjoyment, income, age, the price of search time, presence of young and teenage children, daily use of a microwave oven, and the percentage of a market basket filled with name brand items are significant factors in explaining variation in time spent in price information search.     

土地出让制度对房价影响的理论模型与推论

土地出让制度对房地产市场的影响是毋庸置疑的。在分析土地出让制度对房价影响的基础上,建立理论模型研究其影响机理,并利用相关数据进行实证分析,进而提出了政府调控房地产市场的政策建议。     

信息技术解决组织的两类共性问题

信息技术的发展和应用改造了传统的组织管理理论，同时经济发展提出了管理信息化与组织变革的要求。提出组织中存在两种深层次共性问题：客观-技术问题与主观-代理问题，对这两种问题的解决影响着组织绩效的改善。探讨了信息技术解决这两类共性问题的途径。