Equilibria in large economies with a separable Banach commodity space and non-ordered preferences

The purpose of this paper is to provide an existence result of equilibria for economies with a measure space of agents, a non-trivial production sector and an infinite dimensional commodity space. The commodity space is modeled by an ordered separable Banach space whose positive cone has a non-empty interior. The discretization approach proposed in this paper, allows us to extend the existence results in Khan and Yannelis [Equilibrium in markets with a continuum of agents and commodities. In: Khan, M.A., Yannelis, N.C. (Eds.), Equilibrium Theory in Infinite Dimensional Spaces. Springer, Berlin, 1991] and Podczeck [Economic Theory 9 (1997) 585] to economies with a non-trivial production sector and with possibly non-ordered but convex preferences as well as partially ordered (possibly incomplete) but non-convex preferences.     

An introduction to mechanized reasoning

Mechanized reasoning uses computers to verify proofs and to help discover new theorems. Computer scientists have applied mechanized reasoning to economic problems but–to date–this work has not yet been properly presented in economics journals. We introduce mechanized reasoning to economists in three ways. First, we introduce mechanized reasoning in general, describing both the techniques and their successful applications. Second, we explain how mechanized reasoning has been applied to economic problems, concentrating on the two domains that have attracted the most attention: social choice theory and auction theory. Finally, we present a detailed example of mechanized reasoning in practice by means of a proof of Vickrey’s familiar theorem on second-price auctions.     

Equality of opportunity and the alignment of incentives

Under what conditions are the incentives of the members of society more aligned? We address this question in a setup in which individuals choose a policy without knowing who will benefit and who will be hurt by each policy. Our central result identifies a sufficient condition for a measure of disagreement in society, which has been linked to the equilibrium level of rent-seeking, to weakly decrease. This sufficient condition captures increasing equality of opportunity in a specific sense.     

The Borda class: An axiomatic study of the Borda rule on top-truncated preferences

The Borda rule, originally defined on profiles of individual preferences modelled as linear orders over the set of alternatives, is one of the most important voting rules. But voting rules often need to be used on preferences of a different format as well, such as top-truncated orders, where agents rank just their most preferred alternatives. What is the right generalisation of the Borda rule to such richer models of preference? Several suggestions have been made in the literature, typically considering specific contexts where the rule is to be applied. In this work, taking an axiomatic perspective, we conduct a principled analysis of the different options for defining the Borda rule on top-truncated preferences.     

中外城市群发展经验及其对山东半岛城市群的启示

城市群(带)是在工业化基础上而产生的一种城市高级化的空间组织形式,是区域参与国际竞争的战略支点。本文从解析城市群(带)研究的相关理论入手,着重分析了中外城市群发展的一般特征和形成的经验,提出了良好的区位和基础设施是城市群(带)发展的条件,工业化是其动力,产业转移是其发展的机遇,产业联系是其成功的关键。并以此为基础,对山东半岛建设城市群的路径和措施进行了对比分析,提出了对策建议。     

管理会计在企业的应用:社会和组织内部环境的影响

本文依据系统理论、管理会计权变理论的框架,采用历史分析的方法,研究社会环境和组织内部环境对中国企业管理会计应用的影响。认为影响我国企业管理会计应用的社会环境因素主要包括经济模式、政治因素、来自国外的影响、学术界引进等变量;组织内部环境因素主要有:组织文化、员工价值观以及组织结构等变量。     

Social Change: Measurement and Theory*

Societal change, which takes a variety of directions and forms and in no way can be assimilated or reduced to a single dimension, is often accompanied by a perception of insufficient understanding and lack of control. There is a frustrated need for mastering complexity and instability, separating the voluntary from the involuntary, the intended from the unintended, opportunities from risks, getting to the real causes and dominating the uncertain implications of social change. Social change catches us unprepared and confused. In this context statistics are generally considered a fundamental instrument of knowledge, but also part of the problem! In the public debate and in the specialized literature, the ability to measure social phenomena through current statistics and indicators is increasingly questioned. Data-it is claimed-are lacking, particularly longitudinal data; their quality (accuracy, relevance, timeliness, comparability, etc.) should be improved; indicators do not provide early warning signals, policy performance evaluation, and a precise indication of outcomes. Statistics cannot be used as a reliable and timely basis for decision making by individuals, organizations, governments, and for understanding these decisions. In some cases, statistics have been accused of giving a misleading and false picture of reality: do we measure the real extent of social exclusion and unemployment? Do we fully capture the quality of life and the degradation of the environment? Mismeasurement has been deemed by some commentators as being responsible for the wrong focus in inflation and stabilization policies, science and technology, unemployment and poverty. The productivity paradox, the informal economy, failure to measure welfare and the quality of urban life are instances where statistics do not seem to provide complete and satisfactory answers to the demand for information and knowledge. Our paper illustrates how, quite independently of measurement techniques and data production processes, the inadequacy of the conceptual framework may explain mismeasurement in relation to complex (multidimensional) and dynamic social phenomena. It is then to social theories, explanations and interpretations that statisticians need to turn, in order to come to grips with the new challenges in social measurement. We will develop this thesis looking at a few cases where measurement issues can be connected to both theoretical and empirical difficulties. The statistical gap which reveals itself in the mismeasurement or difficult measurement of social phenomena is closely interconnected with the social science gap. Only close collaboration between statisticians and social scientists can bring about continuous advancement in social science and quality improvement in social statistics.     

On Social Statement Spaces

In this fundamental draft we shall introduce the concept of social propositional spaces as a general notion of social science and in particular language, logic and methodology. This should help us bridge an old gap between extension and cognition, or said in more specific words, between space as conceived in mathematics or physics and space as is brought in by social location, by the meaning of predicates, their explanation and logic. ¹ We shall not rely on the idea of factor analysis where some “main components” are fit into the data. Because the notion of euclidean normalization and orthogonality, in this context, is a bit artificial. We first show how combinatorial manifolds of statements can be represented in finite vector spaces over the Galois field F₂. This space which we denote as logic statement space can be spanned by generators of alternating codes. In this way the old concepts of truth tables and interaction attributes can be linked to informatics and in particular code theory and geometry. Extending the logic statement space onto a real vector space by mapping units of the finite rings onto units of the real rings we obtain logistic statement spaces. It turns out that vectors in logistic statement spaces represent cross-tables of logits connected with logistic regression analysis. As a completion of the theory we show that the logit is the first derivative of entropy with respect to probability.     

创新人格教育理论发展空间的再寻找

创新教育已经成为当前我国教育改革的基本理念,创新人格培养是其中很重要的一个环节。然而,当下的创新人格教育理论似乎难以解答当前在教育实践中碰到的许多问题,培养学生的创新人格也逐渐的沦为形式化。因此,本文在反思现阶段大学生人格危机问题的基础上,就创新人格教育理论的发展空间进行了三方面的路径的融合,国际视野的"重构"之路;本土文化的"考古学"之路;教育实践的"应变性"之路。本文就丰富和发展中国现有的创新教育理论,引领创新人格培养走出教育实践的困境具有重要的理论与现实意义。     

Trading equilibrium in a public good economy with smooth preferences and a mixed measure space of consumers

Lindahl and Nash equilibria are often used in the theory of public good. Shitovitz and Spiegel (1998) present an example of 2-person economy with one private good and one pure public good, where the core efficient Lindahl allocation does not Pareto dominate the (inefficient) Nash allocation. In this paper we introduce the new concept of Trading equilibrium for a general public good economy with smooth preferences and a mixed measure space of consumers. We obtain that this economy admits a unique Trading equilibrium. Moreover, the Trading equilibrium induces a core allocation that strictly Pareto dominates the Nash allocation.     

Stratified network mapping decision making technique based decision support framework for R&D budget allocation in South Korea

In this research work, we proposed and developed a stratified network mapping (SNM) decision making method and used it to improve the industry–university specialization in R&D in each region selected in this study. The proposed method considers the influence of criteria on and their priority in alternatives performance evaluation process. By analyzing the influence of these criteria on decision-making, we can easily improve the performance of alternatives. The SNM gives a clear understanding of each alternatives performance efficiency level. It explores possible and inefficient states and high-level influence states in inefficient states. Narrowly using multi-criteria decision-making methods to rank alternatives does not improve the performance of alternatives. The proposed method helps rank alternatives and improve the performance level of alternatives in each state. We analyzed the R&D investment of central and local governments of South Korea. It is an attempt to invigorate and facilitate R&D collaboration using a decision support model. We analyzed industry–academia research networks and enhanced the efficiency of the research.     

Optimal Social Design: Estimating a Social Welfare Function from Questionnaire Data

A social design x evokes a response y from a set of individuals. The value of the design is expressed in terms of a social welfare function which is derived from Arrow’s formulation of social choice. Making certain simplifying assumptions the social welfare function can be expressed in terms of individuals’ ideal designs. A method for estimating the social welfare function from quite limited empirical evidence is developed. The method is applied to an educational case study. There was considerable variation in individuals’ ideal designs. The components of the social welfare were estimated: the welfare ideal, the population sensitivity, the population variation, the deviation from the ideal and the welfare ceiling. Methodological problems are discussed.     

社会责任与企业价值创造机理:一个研究框架

目前对企业承担社会责任的经济后果还没有取得一致的结论,在社会责任对企业价值创造的具体影响机理、程度和计量方式等企业关心的重要问题上还缺乏系统的研究。通过构建社会责任对企业价值创造影响的社会责任、信誉资本与企业价值创造的规范性分析框架模型,可以揭示企业承担社会责任对企业长期价值影响的方向、影响机理和影响程度等亟待探索的关键问题。本文提出了社会责任与企业价值研究领域的研究内容与分析方法,为进一步研究社会责任与企业价值的内生决定关系提供了全新分析框架。     

A pragmatic decision model for inventory management with heterogeneous suppliers

For enterprises, it is imperative that the trade-off between the cost of inventory and risk implications is managed in the most efficient manner. To explore this, we use the common example of a wholesaler operating in an environment where suppliers demonstrate heterogeneous reliability. The wholesaler has partial orders with dual suppliers and uses lateral transshipments. While supplier reliability is a key concern in inventory management, reliable suppliers are more expensive and investment in strategic approaches that improve supplier performance carries a high cost. Here we consider the operational strategy of dual sourcing with reliable and unreliable suppliers and model the total inventory cost where the likely scenario lead-time of the unreliable suppliers extends beyond the scheduling period. We then develop a Customized Integer Programming Optimization Model to determine the optimum size of partial orders with multiple suppliers. In addition to the objective of total cost optimization, this study takes into account the volatility of the cost associated with the uncertainty of an inventory system.     

A theory of stochastic choice under uncertainty

In this paper we propose a characterization of stochastic choice under risk and under uncertainty. We presume that decision makers’ actual choices are governed by randomly selected states of mind, and study the representation of decision makers’ perceptions of the stochastic process underlying the selection of their state of mind. The connections of this work to the literatures on random choice, choice behavior when preference are incomplete; choice of menus; and grades of indecisiveness are also discussed.     

A decision model for selecting protected habitat areas within migratory flyways

A decision model is developed for identifying alternative configurations of new protected habitat areas to augment and enhance major global flyways of migratory birds. New habitat areas are selected to fill in the spatial gaps between existing protected stopovers such as wildlife refuges. The methodology is applied to the US portion of the Atlantic flyway in order to develop alternative networks of habitat stepping stones extending from Maine to Florida. The model is formulated as a zero-one program and solutions are derived using a greedy adding heuristic procedure. Two ecological-economic objectives drive the model: maximizing the geographic coverage of the protected stopovers, and maximizing average stopover quality, as represented by an index based on wetland prevalence and land cost. Thirty-five alternative solutions were generated, indicating the tradeoffs between the objectives. These results are expected to be useful to natural resource agencies and conservation organizations in the development of habitat conservation, preservation, and restoration policies and programs.     

人文城市发展中的社交媒体管理

随着科学技术的快速发展、城市进程的加快,社交媒体被越来越广泛地应用到各个领域。年轻人更是将其作为了生活中不可或缺的一部分。然而,在人文城市建设的过程中,由社交媒体所引发的种种骚乱,其失控的形势也直逼1929年的全球经济大萧条,这使得许多国家的政府无所适从,不知如何应对。社会正在隐约地呼吁着在传媒领域建立一种新的社会秩序,这可能便是有限干预的社交媒体的模型。     

Measurement and its Uses: Harmonization and Quality in Social Statistics

The European construction has induced a strong demand of harmonization of statistics of the various countries. The latter can be focused on an harmonization of outputs , already practised for a long time by national accountants: the statistical variables are defined in common, then each country measures them according to its own means. On the other hand, the harmonization of inputs, more ambitious, seeks a standardization of all the construction process and data collection. This leads to distinguish clearly the two moments of use and of production of economic and social statistics. Now the same distinction is made in the debates over the notion of quality of statistics, which contrast the quality of the product with the one of the process. This quality cannot be judged independently from the expected uses of these statistics and of their form of social credibility. From this point of view, the various harmonization levels are compared with the various forms of connection and convertibility between the national currencies.     

Social distance,heterogeneity and social interactions

A crucial ingredient in social interaction models is the structure of peer groups, which link individuals with similar characteristics. We propose and study a dynamic binary choice model with social interactions in which heterogeneity of peer group effects is modeled introducing diversity in individual characteristics and linking pairwise influences to a social distance between individuals. Our framework allows for mimetic as well as anti-mimetic interactions and a heterogeneous structure of peer groups across individuals. Dynamic equilibria are studied in the limit when the number of agents is large. We show that the model exhibits multiple equilibria resulting from conflicts between various group pressures the individuals are subjected to. We study in particular the correlation in the population at equilibrium between the characteristics of the agents and their decisions: this quantity has an interesting empirical interpretation and solves a simple analytical equation when the number of agents is large. Finally we discuss the empirical content of the model and present a consistent estimator for the parameter describing which is consistent for any typical population regardless of the structure of individual characteristics.     

A multicriteria decision framework for governance of PPP projects towards sustainable development

The lack of a suitable decision framework for the governance of public-private partnership (PPP) projects in Africa, especially Ghana, is a major setback to project success, retarding sustainable development. This study develops a hierarchical decision framework for prioritizing project governance factors and their relationships using the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) method. We employ 30 experts to evaluate two main PPP governance factors and eleven subfactors. We found that contractual governance factors of PPP are more prominent than noncontractual ones for sustainable PPP projects. However, noncontractual governance factors have the highest net effect on contractual factors. Again, policy diffusion is the contractual factor with the highest net effect, while best practice team norm is the noncontractual factor with the highest net effect. Additionally, effective risk allocation is the most prominent contractual subfactor of PPP, while effective communication of project information is the most prominent noncontractual governance factor. The results imply that PPP project managers should improve governance factors for the sustainable development of PPP projects in Africa. However, they should emphasize the prominent and high net effect governance factors but not wholly disregard the less prominent ones.