Sexual differences in natal dispersal and philopatry of the grey-sided vole

The natal dispersal distance of the grey-sided vole,Clethrionomys rufocanus (Sundevall), was measured in a large outdoor enclosure (2.1 ha) in Hokkaido, Japan. Voles in about half of the enclosure (1 ha) were fed. Distance from the natal site to the site of reproduction was significantly greater in males (64.9 m) than in females (35.3 m). In males, 24.8% settled within one home range length of their natal site and 49.6% settled further than two range lengths from their natal site. In femles, the respective percentages were reversed: 51.2% and 22.0%. The timing of large movements (≥50 m) was related to body mass in both sexes. The population density was always higher on the fed grid than on the control grid, which resulted in the frequency of large movements being greater on the fed grid that on the control grid. Thus, the percentage of voles performing a large movement was not different between the grids in both sexes.     

Preference Aggregation With Incomplete Information

We show in an environment of incomplete information that monotonicity and the Pareto property applied only when there is common knowledge of Pareto dominance imply (i) there must exist a common prior over the smallest common knowledge event, and (ii) aggregation must be ex ante and ex post utilitarian with respect to that common prior and individual von Neumann–Morgenstern utility indices.     

Necessity of Transversality Conditions for Infinite Horizon Problems

This paper studies necessity of transversality conditions for the continuous time, reduced form model. By generalizing Benveniste and Scheinkman's (1982) “envelope” condition and Michel's (1990) version of the squeezing argument, we show a generalization of Michel's (1990, Theorem 1) necessity result that does not assume concavity. The generalization enables us to generalize Ekeland and Scheinkman's (1986) result as well as to establish a new result that does not require the objective functional to be finite. The new result implies that homogeneity of the return function alone is sufficient for the necessity of the most standard transversality condition. Our results are also applied to a nonstationary version of the one‐sector growth model. It is shown that bubbles never arise in an equilibrium asset pricing model with a nonlinear constraint.     

Relative Income and Happiness in Asia: Evidence from Nationwide Surveys in China, Japan, and Korea

This study attempts to examine relative income effects on perceived happiness in three major Asian countries—China, Japan, and Korea—in comparison with the United Sates, on the basis of largely comparable nationwide surveys in these countries. Consistent with the results from previous studies in Western countries, comparisons with an individual’s own income and average income of the reference group are significantly associated with the individual’s perceived happiness in Asia. The associations between relative income and happiness are stronger for individual income than family income in China, while the opposite is true in Japan and Korea. Even after controlling for the subjective assessment of family income or personal class identification within the society as a whole, income comparisons within the reference group matter for assessing happiness, especially when using family income for comparisons. Moreover, relative deprivation within the reference group, which is measured by the Yitzhaki index, is negatively related to happiness, providing more evidence for the validity of the relative income hypothesis.