Decentralized trade, random utility and the evolution of social welfare

We study decentralized trade processes in general exchange economies and house allocation problems with and without money. The processes are affected by persistent random shocks stemming from agents’ maximization of random utility. By imposing structure on the utility noise term—logit distribution—one is able to calculate exactly the stationary distribution of the perturbed Markov process for any level of noise. We show that the stationary distribution places the largest probability on the maximizers of weighted sums of the agents’ (intrinsic) utilities, and this probability tends to 1 as noise vanishes.     

A functional approach for studying technological progress: Extension to energy technology

This paper extends a broad functional category approach for the study of technological capability progress recently developed and applied to information technology to a second key case—that of energy based technologies. The approach is applied to the same three functional operations—storage, transportation and transformation—that were used for information technology by first building a 100 plus year database for each of the three energy-based functional categories. In agreement with the results for information technology in the first paper, the energy technology results indicate that the functional approach offers a stable methodology for assessing longer time technological progress trends. Moreover, similar to what was found with information technology in the first study, the functional capability for energy technology shows continual—if not continuous—improvement that is best quantitatively described as exponential with respect to time. The absence of capability discontinuities—even with large technology displacement—and the lack of clear saturation effects are found with energy as it was with information. However, some key differences between energy and information technology are seen and these include:

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Lower rates of progress for energy technology over the entire period: 19-37% annually for Information Technology and 3-13% for Energy Technology.

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Substantial variability of progress rates is found within given functional categories for energy compared to relatively small variation within any one category for information technology. The strongest variation is found among capability progress among different energy types.

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More challenging data recovery and metric definition for energy as compared to information technology.

These findings are interpreted in terms of fundamental differences between energy and information including the losses and efficiency constraints on energy. We apply Whitney's insight that these fundamental differences lead to naturally modular information technology artifacts. The higher progress rates of information-based as opposed to energy-based technologies follows since decomposable systems can progress more rapidly due to the greater ease of independent as opposed to simultaneous development. In addition, the broad implications of our findings to studies of the relationships between technical and social change are briefly discussed.     

什么影响了居民的社会信任水平?——来自广东省的经验证据

采用2004年广东省城市居民调查数据,本文发现,个人因素、社区因素、社会因素都显著影响了居民自身的社会信任水平。年龄越大、单身、有除工作外的其它收入来源、有宗教信仰、担任管理人员、职业变动越少、越乐观、对生活或工作的满意度越高的居民的社会信任水平越高。其次,日常所讲语言不是其所在城市最通行语言、在出现经济困难时得到过街坊邻居、居委会或街道办的帮助、在本市居住的时间越长、在18岁之前就居住在本市、出生地在本省的居民的社会信任水平越高。第三,对政府、媒体、消费者协会的评价越高以及对工会组织评价越低的居民的社会信任水平越高。此外,居民的各种信任分布呈现出"差序格局"的特征。我们的研究为建设诚信社会提供了一个系统的信任发展视角:社会信任水平的提高,不仅需要个体自身的努力,更需要稳定和谐的社区建设、政府治理的改善、媒体作用的发挥以及消费者协会等中介组织的成长。     

A Critique of ‘Neoliberal Autonomy’: The Rhetoric of Ownership Society

The rhetoric of the Ownership Society defined by the Cato Institute has been integral to framing the motivation behind the Social Security reform introduced by George W. Bush. This motivational frame involves a fierce advocacy of what we will call ‘neoliberal autonomy’ in a Hayekian and Friedmanite sense. For Hayek and Friedman, the social adequacy component of Social Security is problematized in the name of self-reliance and individual choice, which rejects any authoritative standards as morally indefensible. Nevertheless, the rhetoric of the Ownership Society, though it glorifies the neoliberal notion of autonomy, does not explicitly question the moral basis of Social Security. Rather, by defining the terms of debate, it frames the meaning of Social Security along neoliberal lines in an attempt to make a supposedly detached economic case for private retirement accounts. In this ‘pro-privatization’ framework, the social adequacy component of the Social Security system fades away as individual equity, or actuarial fairness, comes to the fore as the chief theme. We suggest a ‘pro-social’ rhetoric that recognizes the pursuit of social standards as providing the element of autonomy.

语言学层面的网络流行语解读

网络流行语是指伴随现实社会新闻事件的发生而在网络几近同步产生、迅速流行风靡于网络内外、短时间内生命力极其强大但并不长久的热门词语,归属网络语言。流行快,传播广、意义飘、使用活是其袁象特征。网络流行语是一种社会现象,由大众集体认同,约定俗成,形象化、格式化和简单化是其得以流行的关键。     

Is group selection necessary? An alternative interpretation of homogeneous Middleman groups: Comments on Janet Landa’s paper

This article critiques the efforts by Janet Landa, David Sloan Wilson and others to use group selection paradigms to explain the success of homogenous middlemen groups (HMGs). It argues that group selection theory cannot explain the conflicts of interests that arise within HMGs or why they dissolve in certain occasions. Landa’s earlier explanations, which stressed the combination of genetic (kinship) and social bonds in the creation of trust and cooperation in the extension of credit and the creation of local public goods, better predicts both the strength and weaknesses of HMGs.      

Taxes and labor supply: Portugal, Europe, and the United States

I relate hours worked with taxes on consumption and labor for Portugal, France, Spain, United Kingdom and United States. From 1986 to 2001, hours per worker in Portugal decreased from 35.1 to 32.6. With the parameters for Portugal, the model predicts hours worked in 2001 with an error of only 12 min from the actual hours. Across countries, most predictions differ from the data by 1 h or less. The model is not sensible to special assumptions on the parameters. I calculate the long run effects of taxes on consumption, hours, capital and welfare for Portugal. I extend the model to discuss implications for Social Security. I discuss the steady state and the transition from a pay-as-you-go to a fully funded system.

基于产业集群的社会资本治理机制

本文主要是以安徽省马鞍山当涂县博望地区的刀具产业集群为研究对象,在分析了社会网络和社会资本的基本构成后,研究了博望社会网络的一般特征,并在实证的调研的基础上分析社会资本了对博望刃具产业集群的影响,分析了社会资本在产业集群下的治理机制,得出社会资本治理机制对我国产业集群的形成和发展有着重要的借鉴作用,有利于推动产业集群的健康发展.     

Extending the service-dominant logic: from customer centricity to balanced centricity

This is a contribution to the reorientation of marketing. It aligns the service-dominant logic with other developments in marketing and management. It claims that the marketing concept and customer-centricity are too limited as a foundation for marketing and have not—and cannot—but partially be implemented in practice. It urges marketing scholars and educators to accept the complexity of marketing and develop and teach a network-based stakeholder approach—balanced centricity—epitomized by the concept of many-to-many marketing.