Confidence regions for Pareto parameters from a single and independent samples

[Abstract] Based on a single and on two independent samples, joint confidence regions for parameters of Pareto distributions are proposed with minimum volume properties and without assigning the confidence level to dimensions. In the one-sample case, comparisons are made to former simultaneous confidence sets for Pareto parameters by means of simulation and a real data set. The two-sample case is studied in various set-ups and comprises simultaneous confidence regions for the shape parameters, the scale parameters, and higher-dimensional vectors of these parameters, where common shape and common scale models are also considered.     

“最低核心”理论与社会权的司法保护

为了澄清社会权的含义和内容以增进对其理解,国际人权学界提出了各种"最低核心"理论。其中影响较大的有最低核心内容理论、最低门槛理论和最低核心义务理论。关于最低核心理论与社会权司法保护之间的关系,长期以来一直存在两种对立的观点。支持者认为它可以提高社会权司法保护的程度,反对者则否认两者之间的关系,甚至否定它。尽管在理论上还存在诸多争议,但各国的司法实践已经证实了最低核心理论在推动社会权司法保护中的意义。     

Explaining Italian “exceptionalism” and its end: Minimum income from neglect to hyper-politicization

Traditionally at the margins of the political debate, minimum income protection has recently become a key issue in Italian politics. After decades of social and political “neglect” letting Italy the only European country (with Greece) still lacking an anti-poverty minimum income safety net in the 2010s, finally a national programme called Inclusion Income was introduced in 2018, then replaced by a more robustly financed scheme, the Citizenship Income in 2019. The introduction of these new programmes was the object of an intense political debate, which raises two main puzzles. Why a policy field characterized by the low political resources of would be beneficiaries and low incidence on the overall welfare budget has become so important in the political debate? How did it occur in Italy, where minimum income protection had been absent in political discourses for at least five decades after World War II? To answer these questions, this article first elaborates a novel theoretical framework which combines the main properties of socio-political demand and political supply in order to explain the scope and direction of minimum income reforms. Second, it provides an analytically oriented reconstruction of MIS policy trajectory in Italy in the three different phases: the phase of MIS “neglect” (1948–1992) characterized by inertia; the period of political “contentiousness” (1993–2012), marked by attempts of path departure followed by policy reversals; the more recent phase leading to the introduction and institutionalization of a MIS. Third, the article provides a theoretically framed interpretation of the overall MIS trajectory in Italy.     

多拉格朗日乘子情形下影子价格的判别和计算

非线性优化模型中经常出现多重Lagrange乘子现象,导致决策者错误地计算资源的影子价格.本文针对该问题指出最小欧几里得范数的Lagrange乘子是影子价格.同时,还提出了一个无约束优化模型用以求解最小欧几里得范数 Lagrange乘子,该无约束优化模型可以通过经典的非光滑优化算法求解.最后,本文提出一个基于次梯度的算法求解影子价格,该算法是次线性收敛的,且计算时间与约束条件的个数及自变量的个数线性相关.     

Inference in Censored Models with Endogenous Regressors

This paper analyzes the linear regression model y = xβ+ε with a conditional median assumption med (ε| z) = 0, where z is a vector of exogenous instrument random variables. We study inference on the parameter β when y is censored and x is endogenous. We treat the censored model as a model with interval observation on an outcome, thus obtaining an incomplete model with inequality restrictions on conditional median regressions. We analyze the identified features of the model and provide sufficient conditions for point identification of the parameter β. We use a minimum distance estimator to consistently estimate the identified features of the model. We show that under point identification conditions and additional regularity conditions, the estimator based on inequality restrictions is normal and we derive its asymptotic variance. One can use our setup to treat the identification and estimation of endogenous linear median regression models with no censoring. A Monte Carlo analysis illustrates our estimator in the censored and the uncensored case.     

Minimum income in the Western Balkans: From socialism to the European Pillar of Social Rights

In this article, we examine the evolution of minimum income programmes in the Western Balkans (comprising Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia). During socialism, Yugoslavia developed a rudimentary minimum income protection programme, while Albania did not have one. As countries moved towards a market economy, socialism's legacy remained relevant, but especially since 2000, governments have taken more direct responsibility for the minimum income schemes—typically under the influence of the World Bank. The attention was paid to strict targeting accuracy rather than to adequacy or sufficient coverage of the lowest deciles. In essence, neither socialist nor neoliberal policymakers ever recognised anything but the poverty relief function of the minimum income. Both ideologies were hostile, or at best indifferent, to increasing the adequacy and generosity of minimum income programmes, perceiving them as impediments and distractions that slowed socialist and neoliberal transformations. Despite some reform initiatives supported by the World Bank and, more recently, the European Union, the generosity and adequacy of minimum income programmes remain low, and coverage keeps declining. There have been very few efforts to develop inclusion function of the minimum income, while the activation aspect has achieved very little, sometimes degrading into punitive programmes of unpaid community work. In this dismal picture, the European Pillar of Social Rights action framework could serve as a guide for a long overdue third phase in the Western Balkans' minimum income policy evolution.     

Generalized discrete discrepancy and its applications in experimental designs

In recent years, there has been increasing interest in the study of discrete discrepancy. In this paper, the popular discrete discrepancy is extended to the so-called generalized discrete discrepancy. Connections among generalized discrete discrepancy and other optimality criteria, such as orthogonality, generalized minimum aberration and minimum moment aberration, are investigated. These connections provide strong statistical justification of generalized discrete discrepancy. A lower bound of generalized discrete discrepancy is also obtained, which serves as an important benchmark of design uniformity.     

最低工资标准与和谐劳动关系的构建——广州、佛山、深圳最低工资标准比较研究

最低工资保障问题是构建和谐劳动关系的核心内容和难点问题。对广州、佛山和深圳最低工资标准现状进行分析,并运用ELES模型测算其最低工资标准,测算结果显示：目前三市最低工资实际标准与理论标准仍有差距,其中广州的差距最小,佛山次之,深圳的差距最大;最低工资标准与职工平均工资比例偏低,与人均GDP比例关系失调,深圳最低工资执行标准总体优于广州和佛山。鉴此,提出应以发展线水平为目标制定最低工资标准等建议。     

基于不对称需求信息的供应链最小订购量决策

在由一个供应商和一个零售商组成的两级分散供应链中,供应商通过制定最小订购量取得规模效应,保障自身利益。当零售商和供应商之间存在需求信息不对称时,即零售商掌握需求信息而供应商仅知道需求信息中价格敏感因子的分布,如何进行最小订购量决策成为供应商面临的一个重要问题。针对这一问题,从营销视角构建了基于Stackelberg博弈的利润最大化模型。假设供应商知道需求的价格敏感因子服从正态分布,通过严密的数学推导确定了模型中的最优最小订购量。将提出的最优最小订购量决策方法应用于云存储的销售供应链中,确定了云存储供应商销售的最优最小存储容量,阐释了方法的合理性与有效性。通过实验研究发现,最小订购量的设置提升了供应商的利润。所提方法对于考虑最小订购量的供应链协调研究具有积极的推动作用。