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.     

Interlocking Corporate Directorships as a Social Network

A bstract . Outside directors are now a majority on the boards of the' Fortune 500' corporations creating a network of interconnections through interlocking directorates. Details of this phenomenon and explanations for its significance can be found in an earlier article in this Journal *. This network can be visualized as a system through which common norms, values , and a sense of "weness" can flow. This sense of being part of a corporate establishment would have significant effects on corporate conduct. From what top corporate leaders say and do, the validity and implications of this hypothesis are examined. This class hegemony theory views power as shared within a system of social relationships, in contrast to the management control theory which considers management as in total control.     

Integrating the Social Structure of Accumulation and Social Accounting Matrix with the Social Fabric Matrix

The purpose here is to elaborate on the social fabric matrix approach (SFM‐A), and to assess the possibility of integrating it with the social structure of accumulation and the social accounting matrix.The SFM‐A to analysis and policy evaluation allows for cultural values, social beliefs, institutions, attitudes, technology, and the ecological system to be modeled into a system. The guiding goal is to work toward a more complete model of the provisioning process.     

A Reformulation of Social Action Theory

ABSTRACT.— This paper presents a limited number of concepts that comprise social action theory. By establishing greater precision in defining the basic concepts as goals, values, norms, means and social conditions, a reformulation of the "unit-act" is set forth. The interrelationships among these concepts for the manifestation of social volition are discussed in keeping with the voluntaristic orientation.     

Preindustrial patterns in Chinese organizational culture

Chinese organizational culture is usually described as being influenced by Confucian social norms and unique to the country. The paper argues in contrast to this view that there are important cultural similarities between values and norms in organizations in China and other developing countries. It is suggested that China, like other developing countries, is in a process of industrialization but retains preindustrial social norms which shape social relations and organizational structures. The paper shows first that the morals of social distance and reciprocity which anthropologists have found to be constitutive of a large number of preindustrial communities also govern relationships within and between organizations in present-day China. The paper then turns to organizations in Africa and Latin America and it is shown that the same social morals structure behaviours in these two developing regions, suggesting that the cultural characteristics of Chinese organizations are not simply unique to this country but a set of preindustrial norms that industrializing countries have in common as a legacy of the past.     

Social Capital Across European Countries: Individual and Aggregate Determinants of Group Membership

Social capital refers to norms and networks of reciprocity, trust, and cooperation that facilitate coordinated action for a mutual benefit. Theoretical and empirical studies have documented the positive contribution of social capital in social welfare and development. This study empirically explores the determinants of social capital, in the form of group membership, across European countries. Data is derived from the European Community Household Panel, which covers a large sample of individuals from a set of European countries. Binary logistic regression models are applied to regress an index of individuals' group membership on a set of individual characteristics (income, education, gender, age, marital status, employment), as well as aggregate characteristics of countries (GDP per capita, income inequality, social trust, trust in public institutions, corruption, unemployment, and violation of political and civil rights). Results provide evidence of the impact of both individual and aggregate factors on group membership. These factors constitute a possible means to rebuilding patterns of social capital, especially in Southern European countries, where special‐interest groups and patron‐client relations prevail over generalized norms and networks of reciprocity, trust, and cooperation that promote wider social welfare and development objectives.     

The Theory of Socially Embedded Games: The Mathematics of Social Relationships,Rule Complexes,and Action Modalities

In their classic work, Von Neumann and Morgensterndefined a game as simply the totality of the rules which describe it. Theydid not, however, elaborate a theory of rules. Such considerations lead toconceptualizing rules and rule configurations as mathematical objects, specifyingthe principles for combining rules, developing the theory of revising,replacing, and, in general transforming rules and rule complexes. Themathematics is based on contemporary developments at the interface ofmathematics, logic, and computer science. This article, drawing on themathematical theory of rules and rule complexes, extends and generalizes gametheory (GGT). The theory of rule complexes is used to conceptualize andanalyze diverse social relationships, roles, and games as particulartypes of rule complexes. A social role, for instance, is the major basisof an individual's action in a game. It consists of at least four majorcomponents – which are mathematical objects – in the determinationof action: value complex, model of reality (including beliefs and knowledgebases), a repertoire of acts, routines, programs, and strategies, and modalities,role-specific algorithms for determininig or generating action in gamesettings. The article focuses on three types of action modality routineor habitual, normative, andinstrumental modalities. The theory: (1) provides a cultural/institutionalbasis for a theory of gameswhere games, social relationships, and rolesare formalized in terms of rule complexes; (2) explains human action as a formof rule application or rule-following action, which underlies allmodalities of action; (3) formulates the theory that actors construct an action or make choices amongalternative actions by making comparisons and judging similarity (ordissimilarity) between an option or options considered and their norms and values,and, in general, determine whether or not, and to what degree, a value,norm, or goal will be realized or satisfied; (4)reconceptualizes ``game' as a social form and makes a distinction between open and closed games.     

On the role of labor supply for the optimal size of Social Security

The paper studies the welfare effects of a Social Security system in a stylized overlapping generations economy with random production and capital accumulation. Different welfare concepts including long run optimality, social optimality, and time consistency are employed to determine the optimal size of the system. When labor supply is exogenous, a unique contribution level can be identified which is optimal according to all three concepts. When labor supply is endogenous, however, this result generically fails to hold and the long-run optimal solution is only constrained socially optimal while the time-consistent policy may even lead to an inefficient equilibrium.     

Private law enforcement with competing groups

This paper introduces groups that are in conflict against each other in law enforcement policy. These groups can have an effect on the process of law enforcement by making upfront investments, such as bribes. We also investigate consequences when a policy maker acts to maximize a bribe instead of social welfare. Thus, this paper presents an inclusive framework for incorporating private law enforcement, corruption and avoidance activities. This article shows that this competition can lead to moderate and more efficient law enforcement activities. This indicates that inefficient law enforcement by authority with harm reduction motivation can be avoided. Additionally, this paper shows that depending on the policy maker’s objection between rent-seeking motivation or social welfare maximizer, deterrence effects vary. This paper provides a clear mechanism that the rent-seeking motivated policy maker tends to set less severe enforcement policies than the social welfare level.     

Resource balance, limited information and public policy

The U.S. Federal Government through its expenditure programs is having a major impact on all forms of pollution abatement. Total expenditures on Federal environmental programs amounted to $3.3 billion in 1972. A program of this magnitude can easily lead to waste and expenditures on conflicting goals unless carefully managed.

In a recent article in the Am. Econ. Rev. William Baumol examined the theoretical justification for and attacks on the Pigouvian tax and subsidy approach to controlling externalities. He concluded that while it is theoretically possible to control externalities through Pigou's procedure, the existence of multiple equilibrium and information requirements make it impractical. He proposes an alternate approach which changes the policy goal from maximization of social welfare to generation of acceptable levels of externalities. His goals differ drastically from those of the resource balance model presented by Kneese, Ayres and D'Arge of maximization of social welfare. This paper will combine the concept of resource balance with the goal of obtaining acceptable level of externalities at minimum cost in the presentation of a theoretical model that can be operationalized.

This paper proposes a general equilibrium method, utilizing the decomposition principle of linear programming, that will permit expenditures and regulations only on non-conflicting goals and includes a feedback mechanism for determining if a program is wasteful in relation to other programs. The model has five advantages over earlier proposals: (1) it is a general equilibrium rather than partial equilibrium model; (2) it is dynamic rather than static; (3) limited information rather than complete information is required for its implementation; (4) the model is heuristic rather than optimizing in the sense that policy decisions always increase the efficiency of pollution control, but because of the existence of uncertainty, they cannot be interpreted as maximizing social welfare; (5) the model incorporates multiple rather than a single policy tool.     

Social Science and Social Policy: A Comment

A bstract . The notion that a social science can be value-free ignores the fact that the concepts upon which the social sciences remain dependent cannot possibly be. The emphasis upon methodology, mainly responsible for that position continues, but in recent years it has been paired with emphasis upon policy, applied social science. Value free social policy is within possibility— but it would be irrelevant.     

The Question of Value in Social Marketing

A bstract . Economic theory fails to recognize value in social marketing, it is argued, because these beliefs are widely held: (1) social marketers do not consider consumer needs , (2) they are motivated by social welfare , (3) the price mechanism does not fully operate in the social sphere, (4) there is usually insufficient competition , and (5) social marketing is less effective in market control. Based on quality-of-life (QOL) theory , several normative principles are derived to guide the efforts of social marketers. One, QOL-means have to be determined by relating them to QOL-ends (long term satisfaction). Two, discrepancies between QOI, means potentialities and actualities have to be minimized. And third, social marketing programs designed to minimize those discrepancies have to be developed in such a way as to reduce negative environmental impacts.     

Institutional Antecedents of the Corporate Social Responsibility Narrative in the Developing World Context: Implications for Sustainable Development

Efforts to understand the background to perceptions and manifestation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in the developing world need to focus on establishing their link with the challenges of socio‐economic governance and societal expectations and cultural traditions. This signifies a departure from a western centric understanding of CSR but also an over‐focus on CSR as philanthropy. This study considers the Malawian tourism industry and finds that its colonial legacy, post‐colonialism development thinking and the national education system explain the prevalence of a ‘CSR as philanthropy’ agenda. When these factors interact with challenges of socio‐economic governance and societal expectations, however, the universality thesis that has often been associated with the theory and implementation CSR can be challenged. These findings therefore suggest a shift from the western centric CSR thinking to a CSR perspective that is strongly grounded in local values and norms and which meets the expectations of the global society. This indicates a way forward if CSR is to be adequately institutionalized in the developing world. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

Social interactions and the prophylaxis of SI epidemics on networks

We investigate the containment of epidemic spreading in networks from a normative point of view. We consider a susceptible/infected model in which agents can invest in order to reduce the contagiousness of network links. In this setting, we study the relationships between social efficiency, individual behaviours and network structure. First, we characterise individual and socially efficient behaviour using the notions of communicability and exponential centrality. Second we show, by computing the Price of Anarchy, that the level of inefficiency can scale up linearly with the number of agents. Third, we prove that policies of uniform reduction of interactions satisfy some optimality conditions in a vast range of networks. In setting where no central authority can enforce such stringent policies, we consider as a type of second-best policy the implementation of cooperation frameworks that allow agents to subsidise prophylactic investments in the global rather than in the local network. We then characterise the scope for Pareto improvement opened by such policies through a notion of Price of Autarky, measuring the ratio between social welfare at a global and a local equilibrium. Overall, our results show that individual behaviours can be extremely inefficient in the face of epidemic propagation but that policy can take advantage of the network structure to design welfare improving containment policies.     

Bureaucrats as "Social Engineers": Federal Welfare Programs in Herbert Hoover's America

A bstract . Historians interested in 20th century American reform often seek to analyze the ideologies of political leaders separately from the institutions that these same leaders created. Such emphases on ideas, as opposed to actions, has, for example, led "revisionist" American historians to argue that the presidencies of Herbert Hoover and Franklin D. Roosevelt were "conceptually continuous." Our examination of the major social welfare programs undertaken by the federal government in the 1920s disputes this claim. Examination of the operations of the federal bureaucracy instead of the rhetoric of politicians demonstrates the existence of decided policy differences between the Hoover and Roosevelt eras. "Efficiency" analogues dominant during the Hoover era were replaced with "direct service-provider" approaches which created a clear distinction between private and public welfare programs. Elements of "continuity" between the two eras have been overdrawn. Background is provided for increased understanding of some of the policy implications of America's contemporary welfare debate—particularly about "rehabilitation" strategies and/or rationales for action in the social welfare field.     

Using goal programming to determine interest group disutility for public policy choices

Within this paper a framework is developed for incorporating into the process of social choice both interest group preferences for social goals and the efficient allocation of limited resources. The social welfare function is adopted as the foundation for the framework and the goal programming algorithm is used to approximate the utility of the interest groups for their optimal policy choice. A function is defined which measures the disutility experienced by a social unit when a policy other than its optimal choice is selected. A surrogate measure of this disutility involving imposed preference weight changes for social goals is determined and its implications for use in developing the social welfare function are examined.     

A model for the influence of social interaction and social support on female expatriates' cross-cultural adjustment

This paper offers a model to describe the way in which female expatriates develop relationships and utilize those relationships to become cross-culturally adjusted. This model includes three predictive components affecting cross-cultural adjustment. The first includes the factors affecting whether a woman is able to form relationships on the expatriate assignment. These antecedents can include the female expatriate's personality, the cultural norms towards women, her language skills and the availability of possible opportunities for interaction. The second component includes the various sources of social interaction and social support (e.g. family members, and host national colleagues). The third component describes the nature of a female expatriate's social interaction and social support (e.g. emotional, informational and instrumental). Practical considerations for multinational organizations sending female expatriates are offered.     

社会价值、经济价值与社会企业创业策略的选择 ——基于制度逻辑理论的案例研究

社会企业在创业过程中如何选择市场逻辑与公益逻辑,以平衡社会价值和经济价值之间的冲突,促进企业的可持续发展?其作用机理是怎样的?影响不同逻辑选择背后的因素是什么?基于制度逻辑视角,以三家典型社会企业为研究对象,对上述问题进行了研究,发现:①相对于单一的公益逻辑、单一的市场逻辑,混合逻辑是社会企业最佳的创业策略,可以很好地...     

Gentrification,Social Justice and Personal Ethics

Gentrification, leading to displacement, is an increasingly recognized social problem. Individuals who are confronted with tight housing possibilities but have adequate incomes confront personal ethical issues on whether to act in ways that may contribute to displacement of lower‐income residents, and researchers working on housing issues may be particularly concerned. In order to work out an ethical position, clarity is first needed on the differences among the various aspects of gentrification. The working definition used here is that gentrification includes the danger of displacement. A public policy response is thus required to deal with its social injustices. Specific steps are suggested for the development of such policy. Secondly, the suggestion is made that the individual choice of whether to move in or not is, importantly, a personal ethical choice and should take into account both the economic and political impact of the move itself but also the contribution that can be made through collective and political action by an in‐mover to deal with the injustices of gentrification. However, it is also an ethical choice for the professions involved and their associations.