Impossibility theorems for normal form games

Two recent papers (Cubitt and Sugden, 1994; Samuelson, 1992) have established impossibility results which cast doubt on the coherence of the assumption of common knowledge of rationality'. It is shown that the Cubitt–Sugden result is the more powerful of the two impossibilities. Second, it is proved that the existence of a quasi-strict equilibrium is sufficient to construct sets which satisfy the Cubitt–Sugden axioms. This fact is used to establish that their impossibility result cannot arise in 2-player games. Finally, it is shown that if a weak symmetry postulate is added, a new impossibility result arises for this class of games.     

The impossibility of a paretian loyalist

Amartya Sen has argued the impossibility of the Paretian liberal. While his abstract argument is compelling, the concrete significance of the conclusion is in some doubt. This is because it is not clear how important liberalism in his sense is; in particular it is not clear that the sort of liberalism required for the impossibility result is a compelling variety. We show that even if the argument cannot be used to establish the inconsistency of Paretianism and common-or-garden liberalism, it can be adapted to prove a parallel impossibility. This is the impossibility of combining the Pareto criterion with a loyalty constraint involving certain claim-rights rather than liberty-rights. The impossibility of the Paretian loyalist is of interest in itself but it is also interesting for the light it throws on the source of Sen-style impossibilities.     

Invoking a Cartesian product structure on social states

The purpose of this article is to introduce a Cartesian product structure into the social choice theoretical framework and to examine if new possibility results to Gibbard’s and Sen’s paradoxes can be developed thanks to it. We believe that a Cartesian product structure is a pertinent way to describe individual rights in the social choice theory since it discriminates the personal features comprised in each social state. First we define some conceptual and formal tools related to the Cartesian product structure. We then apply these notions to Gibbard’s paradox and to Sen’s impossibility of a Paretian liberal. Finally we compare the advantages of our approach to other solutions proposed in the literature for both impossibility theorems.     

The impossibility of unbiased judgment aggregation

Standard impossibility theorems on judgment aggregation over logically connected propositions either use a controversial systematicity condition or apply only to agendas of propositions with rich logical connections. Are there any serious impossibilities without these restrictions? We prove an impossibility theorem without requiring systematicity that applies to most standard agendas: Every judgment aggregation function (with rational inputs and outputs) satisfying a condition called unbiasedness is dictatorial (or effectively dictatorial if we remove one of the agenda conditions). Our agenda conditions are tight. When applied illustratively to (strict) preference aggregation represented in our model, the result implies that every unbiased social welfare function with universal domain is effectively dictatorial.     

Abstract Aggregations and Proximity Preservation: An Impossibility Result

An impossibility result for completely abstract social aggregation rules is presented. It is shown that non-imposition and a new no-veto property (two properties in the spirit of the Pareto principle and non-dictatorship respectively) are incompatible with an inter-profile consistency condition formulated in terms of proximity preservation.The result in this paper has been presented in the Staff Seminar at the University of Graz and at the 2001 Meeting of the Public Choice Society in San Antonio. We are grateful to all participants, especially Hannu Nurmi and Don Saari, and to an anonymous referee for helpful comments.     

Aggregation of preferences: The fuzzy case

The basic purpose of this paper is to link both theorems of impossibility and existence by introducing fuzzy relations of preference and an exogeneous requirement, the planner's one, and then proving the fundamental part played by the extremist agents, leximin and leximax. In other words, to bring out the link between the planner's requirement and the difficulty of the transition from individual to collective, as well as the theoric relation between this requirement and the extremist agents, we define a fuzzy behavior of preference which allows us to build up two determinant fuzzy coalitions. These coalitions will be the base of the planner's requirement and the link between pessimistic results (Arrow's impossibility) and optimistic ones (May's theorem of majority choice).     

Alternative libertarian claims and Sen's paradox

One of the ways of escaping from Sen's impossibility of a Paretian liberal is to weaken Sen's libertarian condition imposed on the collective choice rule. This paper compares three different versions of a revised libertarian claim: (1) Gibbard's theory of alienable rights (1974), (2) Gaertner's and Krüger's approach of self-supporting preferences (1981), and (3) a modification of Gibbard's theory which combines a weakened condition for alienating rights with the requirement of unconditional preferences. A new possibility theorem is obtained for version (3). It is shown that all three approaches are logically independent. Furthermore, it turns out that, under the original as well as the modified version of Gibbard's theory, the alienation of rights can be achieved through strategic misrepresentation of preferences by other members of society, whereas the concept of self-supporting preferences does not admit this kind of manipulation of rights. Approach (2) appears, therefore, to agree more closely with our intuitions concerning the nature of individual rights.     

On fair compensation

This paper analyses the problems arising in the pure exchange fair division model, when some dimensions of the resources are personal, fixed, and cannot be redistributed. The remaining resources must then be allocated in a compensatory way. A set of desirable normative properties is defined. No-envy satisfies these properties, but is not generally non-empty in this setting and other criteria are examined, for which existence results are given. General impossibility results obtain. In particular, it is generally impossible to compensate fully and only for differential personal resources, when preferences differ.     

Use-value and exchange-value

Discussion of the relation between exchange-value and use-value (as defined inCapital I) is clarified by the construction of set-theoretical models of these concepts. Marx argues fallaciously for the independence of exchange-value and use-value. His fallacy is diagnosed as depending upon a mistaken assumption about the impossibility of inferring a certain linear order on a set from a certain (different) partial order on that set.     

中西哲理文字的可译性

中西哲学文献之间的翻译一直是困扰学术界的一个难题,这种不同语言之间的“不可译性”给不同学术传统之间的相互理解造成了巨大障碍。我们首先应该区分“可译”和“(意指的)可确定”,翻译的不可确定性并不会导致翻译的不可能性;其次,我们要区分那些待翻译文本中比较可确定其意义与比较不可确定其意义的部分;最后,在哲学文本的翻译上,我们应倡导多种译法并存的学术风格。     

Nondictatorial social welfare functions with different discrimination structures

In societies where agents distinguish imperfectly among the alternatives, a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of an Arrovian Social Welfare Function is the presence of an agent who only distinguishes two groups of alternatives or of two agents with complementary discrimination patterns. This result is based on the observation that differences in discrimination structures may lead to the absence of free triples, thus providing a way to escape Arrow's impossibility result.     

The independence condition in the theory of social choice

Arrow's theorem is really a theorem about the independence condition. In order to show the very crucial role that this condition plays, the theorem is proved in a refined version, where the use of the Pareto condition is almost avoided.A distinction is made between group preference functions and group decision functions, yielding respectively preference relations and optimal subsets as values. Arrow's theorem is about the first kind, but some ambiguities and mistakes in his book are explained if we assume that he was really thinking of decision functions. The trouble then is that it is not clear how to formulate the independence condition for decision functions. Therefore the next step is to analyse Arrow's argument for accepting the independence condition.The most frequent ambiguity depends on an interpretation of A as the set of all conceivable alternatives, while the variable subset B is the set of all feasible or available alternatives. He then argues that preferences between alternatives that are not feasible shall not influence the choice from the set of available alternatives. But even if this principle is accepted, it only forces us to require independence with respect to some specific set B and not to every B simultaneously. Therefore the independence condition cannot be accepted on these grounds.Another argument is about an election where one of the candidates dies. On one interpretation this argument can be taken to support an independence requirement which leads to a contradiction. On another interpretation it is a condition about connexions between choices from different sets.The so-called problem of binary choice is found to be different from the independence problem and it plays no essential role in Arrow's impossibility result. Other impossibility results by Sen, Batra and Pattanaik and by Schwartz are of a different character.In the last section, several weaker independence conditions are presented. Their relations to Arrow's condition are stated and the arguments supporting them are discussed.     

不可能性:后马克思思潮的政治立场

齐泽克基于拉康的精神分析理论发挥了某种"后马克思主义"哲学和政治学话语,把共产主义理解为一种不可能性的逻辑。这种话语是通过对传统主体观的批评来实现的。站在拉康之残缺或空无的主体性立场上,他否定了马克思主义的彻底社会解放,转向寻求一种与女权主义、生态主义和民主主义相容的解放立场,并把政治学本身引向无止尽的意识形态斗争。     

民主的两种批评者

在当代政治哲学中,人们主要从以下两个维度来定义民主：一种是以公共利益为基本导向的民主理论;另一种民主理论认为,在现代社会中,随着实质性的共同利益的消失和单一的群体性意志的不可能,民主不可能在以公共利益为基本导向的模式上建立起来,所以,它们认为＂多元＂和＂竞争＂才是民主的本质性特征。在这两种民主理论中,前者往往被认为是一种压迫性的、独裁性的民主理论;而后者则往往被认为有着重陷霍布斯状态的倾向。     

Stories of contemporary aging: An analysis of “lived” citizenship in later life

ABSTRACT

The new political economy of aging portrays “active citizenship” among seniors as a key challenge for the years to come. As a policy framework, Active Aging ranks high on the agendas of most supranational bodies. Informed by discourse analysis and a narrative approach, this article focuses on, first, older women’s everyday “active” practices, their meaning, and purpose and second, their day-to-day practical citizenship and social engagement experiences. A typology consisting of four figures of “lived” citizenship is proposed. Social contribution in later age is expressed through various types of engagement identified through these citizenship figures. These figures support older women’s social anchoring and sustain their feeling of belonging to the community. However, the figures outlined also reveal tensions, produced by relations of power between “dominant citizenship” and “relational citizenship,” pertaining to social relations and to caring for the other. In the latter case, we see that the coupling of action between the choice of action and social engagements in later age is more limited, due to social and health inequalities as well as lack of opportunities throughout the life course. Finally, in order to guarantee the right to age with dignity, we suggest a change of orientation in aging policies.     

The mediating role of the Ombudsman in the protection of human rights

The findings of the study discussed in this article indicate that the respondents are aware of the power of the economy over social issues in all social affairs in our society. They see the networking role, professional knowledge and leadership skills of the Ombudsman as core competencies in solving problems pertaining to human rights brought about by increasing social inequality. Complex problems regarding human rights demand coordination between national and international governmental and non-governmental organisations because human rights are becoming a central dimension of international affairs today.     

The disgust-promotes-disposal effect

Individuals tend toward status quo bias: preferring existing options over new ones. There is a countervailing phenomenon: Humans naturally dispose of objects that disgust them, such as foul-smelling food. But what if the source of disgust is independent of the object? We induced disgust via a film clip to see if participants would trade away an item (a box of unidentified office supplies) for a new item (alternative unidentified box). Such “incidental disgust” strongly countered status quo bias. Disgusted people exchanged their present possession 51% of the time compared to 32% for people in a neutral state. Thus, disgust promotes disposal. A second experiment tested whether a warning about this tendency would diminish it. It did not. These results indicate a robust disgust-promotes-disposal effect. Because these studies presented real choices with tangible rewards, their findings have implications for everyday choices and raise caution about the effectiveness of warnings about biases.     

亚太地区“权力转移”的基本态势

始于2008年的全球金融危机,加速了亚太地区"权力转移"的进程。当前,亚太地区的"权力转移"呈现出以下三个基本态势:首先,亚太地区出现了经济和安全主导权分离的迹象,中国与美国在经济和安全领域各领风骚的权力架构呼之欲出;其次,由于"崛起国"满足于既有国际秩序且"主导国"接纳"崛起国",因而,亚太地区的"权力转移"将以和平方式进行;最后,亚太地区的"权力转移"与地区性国际机制的建设平行推进。     

Options traders exhibit subadditive decision weights

Professional options traders priced risky prospects as well as uncertain prospects whose outcomes depended on future values of various stocks. The prices of the risky prospects coincided with their expected value, but the prices of the uncertain prospects violated expected utility theory. An event had greater impact on prices when it turned an impossibility into a possibility or a possibility into a certainty than when it merely made a possibility more or less likely, as predicted by prospect theory. This phenomenon is attributed to the subadditivity of judged probabilities.     

Caring while living apart

In recent years, researchers have paid increasing attention to the issue of care in the new types of family and partner relationships. The aim of this study is to examine expectations and attitudes concerning care among elderly people in LAT (Living Apart Together)- relationships in Sweden, that is, people who have a long-term intimate relationship, but who do not share a common home. Questionnaires were completed by 116 elderly people in LAT-relationships. Partners are ranked as the main providers of care, especially by men, but there is considerable variation in the answers. This seems to be principally related to the degree of flexibility in this type of relationship. Some individuals see a LAT-relationship as a marriage-like relationship, while others see it primarily as a type of relationship that guarantees them the possibility of maintaining their own independent way of life.