Equity and effectiveness of optimal taxation in contests under an all-pay auction

The means of contest design may include differential taxation of the prize. This paper considers all-pay auctions under complete information and establishes that, given a revenue-maximizing contest designer who faces a balanced-budget constraint, the optimal taxation scheme corresponding to an all-pay auction is appealing in two senses. First, it ensures extreme equitable final prize valuations. Second, it is effective; it yields total contestants’ efforts that are larger than those obtained under almost any pure-strategy equilibrium of a Tullock-type lottery contest.     

On nonlinear multi-covering problems

In this paper we define the exact k-coverage problem, and study it for the special cases of intervals and circular-arcs. Given a set system consisting of a ground set of n points with integer demands \(\{d_0,\dots ,d_{n-1}\}\) and integer rewards, subsets of points, and an integer k, select up to k subsets such that the sum of rewards of the covered points is maximized, where point i is covered if exactly \(d_i\) subsets containing it are selected. Here we study this problem and some related optimization problems. We prove that the exact k-coverage problem with unbounded demands is NP-hard even for intervals on the real line and unit rewards. Our NP-hardness proof uses instances where some of the natural parameters of the problem are unbounded (each of these parameters is linear in the number of points). We show that this property is essential, as if we restrict (at least) one of these parameters to be a constant, then the problem is polynomial time solvable. Our polynomial time algorithms are given for various generalizations of the problem (in the setting where one of the parameters is a constant).     

Is diversity in capabilities desirable when adding decision makers?

When the benefit of making a correct decision is sufficiently high, even a slight increase in the probability of making such a decision justifies an increase in the number of decision makers. Applying a standard uncertain dichotomous choice benchmark setting, this study focuses on the relative desirability of two alternatives: adding individuals with capabilities identical to the existing ones and adding identical individuals with mean-preserving capabilities that depend on the states of nature. Our main result establishes that when the group applies the simple majority rule, variability in the capabilities of the new decision makers under the two states of nature, which is commonly observed in various decision-making settings, is less desirable in terms of the probability of making the correct decision.     

Political leaders in the SYMLOG space: Perceptions of right and left wing leaders by right and left wing constituencies

Systematic Multiple Level Observation of Groups (SYMLOG) was applied to studying images of political leaders. Three left wing and three right wing Israeli leaders were evaluated by left and right wing voters along the SYMLOG's three dimensions—friendliness, task orientation, and dominance. It was found that right wing voters rated right wing leaders higher on friendliness and task orientation than left wing leaders. In a similar fashion, left wing voters viewed left wing leaders as more friendly and task-oriented than right wing leaders. Leaders of the right were viewed as more dominant than leaders of the left by left and right wing voters alike. Right and left wing voters assigned different SYMLOG types to right and left wing leaders. The dimension that distinguished between the various images was the dimension of friendliness. Whereas for right wing voters, all images of right wing leaders included a component of friendliness, none of these three images included an accented component of friendliness when rated by left wing voters. In a similar fashion, left wing voters saw two out of the three left wing leaders as including a component of friendliness, whereas none of the three left wing images included this component for right wing voters. Respondents from the right and the left rated their “ideal leader” as reflecting values of “dominance”, “friendliness,” and “task-orientation”. However, respondents saw leaders affiliated with their own political camp as closer to their image of the ideal leader on friendliness and task-orientation than leaders of the opposite political camp. Both right and left wing voters saw all political leaders as equally similar to their image of “ideal leader” on the “dominance” dimension regardless of that leader's political affiliation.     

Professional vitality and career success: Mediation,age and outcomes

We propose a model that explains the complex phenomenon of successful career at work, and focuses on the antecedents of professional vitality at the workplace. The model sheds light on the role of professional vitality as an essential ingredient for successful careers. Using a survey design, we tested our model with a sample of 545 managers and professionals. The findings suggest effects of career attitudes on career outcomes, mediated by professional vitality. The relationship between professional vitality and age at work environment forms an inverse U shape curve, peaking at age of fifties, an optimistic note for the global aging workforce.     

The Benefits of Congruence

This study examined the relation between 3 aspects of congruence (vocational, leisure, and skill utilization) and 6 well-being (or strain) measures (occupational satisfaction, work satisfaction, anxiety, burnout, somatic complaints and self-esteem). The study was conducted among 120 participants (lawyers, psychologists, and physicians). Findings were that (a) correlations among the congruence aspects ranged between .24 and .36, (b) all correlations between each of the congruence aspects and each of the well-being measures were in the expected direction, and (c) all 3 congruence aspects showed an additive effect on all well-being measures. Thus, supportive evidence for the benefits of congruence in its broader meaning was found.     

Strategic Liquidity Provision in Limit Order Markets

We characterize and prove the existence of Nash equilibrium in a limit order market with a finite number of risk‐neutral liquidity providers. We show that if there is sufficient adverse selection, then pointwise optimization (maximizing in p for each q) in a certain nonlinear pricing game produces a Nash equilibrium in the limit order market. The need for a sufficient degree of adverse selection does not vanish as the number of liquidity providers increases. Our formulation of the nonlinear pricing game encompasses various specifications of informed and liquidity trading, including the case in which nature chooses whether the market‐order trader is informed or a liquidity trader. We solve for an equilibrium analytically in various examples and also present examples in which the first‐order condition for pointwise optimization does not define an equilibrium, because the amount of adverse selection is insufficient.     

Demystifying the ‘metric approach to social compromise with the unanimity criterion’

Saari (Disposing dictators, demystifying voting paradoxes, 2008) well clarifies the source of three classical impossibility theorems in social choice and proposes possible escape out of these negative results. This note illustrates the relevance of these explanations in justifying the ‘metric approach to the social compromise with the unanimity criterion’.     

The effect of limited search ability on the quality of competitive rent-seeking clubs

A competitive rent-seeking club (CRSC) offers its members the chance of winning a prize (status, position, privilege) by being selected, typically, by a civil servant or a politician. The selector replaces in our setting the usual contest success function; instead of determining the winner on the basis of the club-members’ efforts, he selects the winner on the basis of quality. This article focuses on the effect of incomplete search of the selector on the efficiency of democratic self-governing and decentralized RSC’s that control admittance to the club and its transparency, assuming that quality of their members is fixed. The incomplete search of the selector is assumed to take the simple form of fixed random sampling of the contestants—the members of the CRSC. Our results imply that, even when active rent-seeking expenditures are disregarded, the decisions of CRSC’s regarding their composition and transparency tend to reduce quality and are therefore inefficient.     

Adolescent Perceptions of Conflict in Interdependent and Disengaged Friendships

Interdependent and disengaged friendships in a middle‐class sample of suburban Israeli adolescents were examined for differences in reports of conflict behavior. A total of 194 (100 females, and 94 males) close, reciprocal friends participated in a joint problem‐solving task used to categorize friendships. Interdependent friends balanced closeness and individuality by cooperating on the task, whereas disengaged friends emphasized individuality by working independently on the task. In separate interviews, these friends recounted their most important conflict from the previous week. Older adolescents (M= 17.4 years) reported more conflicts over private disrespect than did younger adolescents (M= 12.7 years), whereas younger adolescents reported more conflicts over public disrespect and undependability than did older adolescents. Differences between friendship types in conflict initiation, negative affect, and relationship impact were found among older adolescents but not younger adolescents; differences in conflict resolutions were found in both age groups. In contrast to disengaged friends, interdependent friends were better able to manage conflicts in a manner that emphasized relationship harmony over individual gain.