Asymmetric endogenous prize contests

We consider a two-player contest in which one contestant has a headstart advantage, but both can exert further effort. We allow the prize to depend on total performance in the contest and consider the respective cases in which efforts are productive and destructive of prize value. When the contest success function takes a logit form, and marginal cost is increasing in effort, we show that a Nash equilibrium exists and is unique both in productive and destructive endogenous prize contests. In equilibrium, the underdog expends more resources to win the prize, but still his probability of winning remains below that of the favorite. In a productive contest, the underdog behaves more aggressively and wins the prize more often in comparison to a fixed-value contest. Thus, the degree of competitive balance—defined as the level of uncertainty of the outcome—depends upon the (fixed or endogenous) prize nature of the contest.     

Endowment effects? “Even” with half a million on the table!

In the television show Deal or No Deal, a contestant is endowed with a sealed box containing a monetary prize between one cent and half a million euros. In the course of the show, the contestant is offered to exchange her box for another sealed box with the same distribution of possible monetary prizes inside. This offers a unique natural experiment for studying endowment effects under high monetary incentives. We find evidence of only a weak endowment effect when contestants exchange their box for another box with the same distribution of possible prizes.     

Risk Aversion when Gains are Likely and Unlikely: Evidence from a Natural Experiment with Large Stakes

In the television show Deal or No Deal a contestant is endowed with a sealed box, which potentially contains a large monetary prize. In the course of the show the contestant learns more information about the distribution of possible monetary prizes inside her box. Consider two groups of contestants, who learned that the chances of their boxes containing a large prize are 20% and 80% correspondingly. Contestants in both groups receive qualitatively similar price offers for selling the content of their boxes. If contestants are less risk averse when facing unlikely gains, the price offer is likely to be more frequently rejected in the first group than in the second group. However, the fraction of rejections is virtually identical across two groups. Thus, contestants appear to have identical risk attitudes over (large) gains of low and high probability.      

Social security: Indispensable solidarity

Social security must be considered not as an economic burden, but as a collection of mechanisms for collective solidarity based on the principle of income redistribution. The economic and social transformations that the various regions of the world are going through, in particular the globalization of the economy, are making social security increasingly necessary. Instead of yielding to proposals for the privatization of schemes — a formula that is less efficient and more expensive — we should be protecting and improving social security; developing it in those countries where its position is still weak; and stressing that, while its objectives are humane and social, it brings economic benefits too.     

从社会学视角探析和谐城市的社会分层——以西安社会分层为例

社会分层是根据经济和社会地位差别的一定标准,把社会成员划分为高低有序的不同等级、不同层次的过程。社会分层的实质是反映社会成员之间的贫富差距状况。西安社会阶层目前已经分化为党政机关和社会管理阶层、经理人员阶层、私营企业主阶层、专业技术人员阶层、办事人员阶层、个体工商户阶层、商业服务员阶层、产业工人阶层、农业劳动者阶层、城市无业、失业、半失业阶层。上述十大社会阶层在全国大城市具有代表性。社会阶层不和谐的主要问题包括:农业劳动者阶层处于明显劣势;产业工人的地位迅速下降;非公有制经济的新社会阶层的地位迅速上升;贫富不均。西安对全国构建和谐社会阶层的启示包括:关键要真正落实市委市政府关于构建和谐社会的实施意见;市委和市政府尽快建立有效协调各阶层利益的经济、政治、文化机制;逐步缩小城乡差距,公民应享受同等国民待遇;就业和再就业应列为"一把手工程";设立"弱势阶层受损补偿准备金";大城市应构建"菱形社会结构",尽快扩大中等收入阶层的比重;大城市应多管齐下,缩小贫富差距;社会保障向弱势阶层倾斜;我们应在所有城市社区居委会和农村社区的村委会设立"民意接待室";新建"和谐社会指标考核体系"。     

我国自主创新过程中存在的问题及解决对策

提高自主创新能力、建设创新型国家,是“十一五”时期的一项重要任务。自主创新作为发展的基本战略,不仅是提高综合国力的保障,也是实现现代化和民族复兴的必要条件,因此,必须把推动自主创新摆在全部科技工作的突出位置。鉴于目前我国创新主体尚未确立、科技领域创新能力不足、自主创新的环境氛围有待形成的实际,提高我国自主创新能力,应确立企业作为产业技术创新主体的地位,加速经济增长从要素驱动型向创新驱动型的转变;加大科技投入,强化科技界的原始创新和集成创新的攻关力度,为提高创新能力奠定基础;充分发挥政府战略导向、综合协调和服务职能,为形成产、学、研相结合的创新体系构建制度平台。同时,要建立健全自主创新的市场机制和法律保障机制。     

农村社区志愿服务发展的SWOT分析

近些年,社区志愿服务在国家民政部门的主导下取得了长足进展,农村社区志愿服务也逐渐丰富发展起来。当前农村社区志愿服务存在着农民参与意识不强,参与度低,"行政化"色彩浓厚,社会化水平低,制度体系不健全,服务水平偏低等问题。为了更好地促进农村社区志愿服务,应该坚持以人为本的原则不动摇,切实加强对农村社区志愿服务活动的指导和扶持,构建农村社区志愿者服务网络体系,建立健全农村社区志愿者队伍建设的制度体系,积极探索农村社工指导下的社区志愿服务模式。     

关于我国社会弱势群体的伦理思考

弱势群体是在社会经济利益和权力的分配中处于相对不利的地位,在政治、经济和文化生活中的影响力相对下降,成为整个社会需要同情和关爱的对象群体。在追求共同富裕的社会主义中国,他们的生活现状处于道德的尴尬状态。如果无视或漠视弱势群体的利益势必给社会的发展和进步带来道德的危害。鉴于此,必须贯彻以人为本、公平正义、人人共享社会发展成果的执政道德理念;选择并设计好扶助弱势群体的道德制度;营造一个扶助弱势群体的道德大环境;增强弱势群体主体适应竞争社会的技能与信心。     

引领农民进书屋策论

农家书屋建成后,后续发展的任务将更加艰巨,有的地方屋空书闲,作用打折。这一瓶颈必须突破。具体举措为:开展阅读演讲、书刊朗读、知识竞赛、读书征文、时事点评、信息发布、书屋讲座等系列化活动,点燃农民的阅读欲望;通过地方媒体开办专栏、权威媒体强势引领、深度报道担当主力、网络媒体广为利用等立体化宣传,助推农民阅读浪潮;实行藏书内容扼要导读、提供网络阅读条件与方法、严格书屋开放服务管理、强化设备配置完善功能、开展屋际资源协作共享、整合其他资源综合利用等多样化服务,搭建农民阅读阶梯。     

从集体记忆到个体记忆——对社会记忆研究的一个反思

本文立足于哈布瓦赫传统下的集体记忆研究范式,重点反思社会记忆的权力观和社会决定论问题,并试图将研究重心转移到对个体记忆的关注上。在此,遭遇到记忆的微光,它多存在于个体记忆之中,往往出现在个体记忆与集体记忆的缝隙之间,一般而言,是社会决定论与能动个体之间碰撞的产物。记忆的微光之于强势的社会记忆研究范式,其力量之微弱甚至暂时不能构成一种独立的记忆类型,但它描摹了另一种记忆的存在状态,提示着被忽视的现实洞察。     

重塑文艺批评的形象

当前 ,文艺批评信誉不高 ,标准混乱 ,批评家各说各理。要重塑文艺批评形象 ,必须坚持马克思主义在文艺批评中的“定位”。批评的形式和方法可以多元多派 ,但也要有一个主导趋向。一篇好的批评文章 ,也是对一个批评家道德良知的全面检验     

Risk aversion in n-person bargaining

Relations between risk properties of Pareto optimal n-person bargaining solutions are studied. The (weak) worse alternative property, risk sensitivity property, and risk profit opportunity property are considered, in particular relations between these properties, and between these properties and other properties such as independence of irrelevant alternatives and individual monotonicity. A distinction is made between bargaining games where all Pareto optimal outcomes are riskless, and bargaining games where Pareto optimal outcomes may represent the utilities of lotteries between riskless alternatives. In the first mentioned case, more general results can be obtained.     

Improved governance of Indian school system through school consolidation

Formal education is provided in schools that should be accessible to citizens, facilitating them to reach the schools with ease, safety and without travelling too large a distance. The requirement of accessibility, however, brings into consideration the corresponding cost and resource utilization. There exists a vast school network in India, with many schools established under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan program. However, the existence of too many schools, mostly low in enrolment, is creating problems in terms of quality of teaching and infrastructural facilities offered by these schools. This trade-off between large size schools having good infrastructure and conducive ecosystem, and many small schools deprived of it, can be addressed by appropriate school consolidation. The current study presents a mathematical programming model for school consolidation that aims to minimize the total disruption and transfer the students to an alternative school considering the school network. The model is then applied to a case for a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Various scenario runs have been done to come out with the appropriate policy parameters for the given district and the results are highly encouraging. The model and analysis can be replicated as well as customized according to the needs of different states.     

弱关系的弱势及其转化——“关系”的一种文化阐释路径

本文试图对“关系”的文化特质加以探讨。作者首先梳理了学界有关“关系”的文化论题、结构论题和工具论题，并阐明了重拾文化论题的必要性。在此基础上，作者指出，有必要突破以往过于倚重中国社会本土概念的文化阐释方法，寻求更具有普遍意含的社会学概念和理论工具来界说和分析中国社会的“关系”现象。作为一种初步尝试，作者提出，社会网络理论中的弱关系概念对于认识中国社会的“关系”具有特殊的意义。在作者看来，在中国社会，“关系” 是与家族（或家族）内部关系相对应的一种社会关系形式，前者以弱关系为特征，后者以强关系为特征，两者在满足的功能、成员的可供选择性、规范性和社会分层效应等诸多方面都具有明显的差异。作者认为，“关系”实际上是指导社会成员处理某些家庭外部社会关系的行动模板。作者还提出，中国的“关系”不仅是一种弱关系文化，而且由于它善于促成弱关系向强关系的方向转化，善于从弱关系的动员中释放出巨大的社会能量，因而深刻地塑造了中国的社会结构形态。     

Risk and risk aversion effects in contests with contingent payments

Contests by their very nature involve risk, winning and losing are both possible, and the gain from winning can itself be uncertain. The participants in a contest use resources to increase their chance of winning. The main focus of this analysis is on the effects of risk aversion and risk in contests where only winners pay for resources used to compete. When payment is contingent on winning, the effect of risk aversion is in the opposite direction of what occurs when costs are paid by both winners and losers. A number of contests observed in the marketplace that exhibit this contingent payment property are discussed.     

Evolutionarily Stable Co-operative Commitments

If contracts cannot be fully specified Pareto optimal results may be closed off because individuals cannot rationally trust each other's promises. This paper assumes that human individuals can become internally committed not to act opportunistically and that others can detect to a certain extent whether they are dealing with an uncommitted (untrustworthy) or a committed (trustworthy) partner. Adopting an `indirect evolutionary approach' we show that co-operative commitments can survive in evolutionary competition even if conventional mechanisms like repetition, reputation, contract or promising are lacking. If detection of uncommitted individuals is neither too costly nor too unreliable there will in general be a `niche' for both committed and uncommitted actors even in one off large numbers' interactions.     

儿童参与、城市社区与社会资本

在中国,长期以来儿童一直被作为弱势群体而被排除在社区参与之外。实际上,儿童参与对于整个社区的发展有着不可忽视的作用。面对中国城市社区各阶层成人参与率低、社区内社会资本没有充分被调动的情况,本文试图探讨通过社区“儿童参与”来带动“成人参与”进而形成整个社区的社会资本这一社区发展模式。     

The optimality of age-based lockdown policies

This paper studies an age-based lockdown that keeps over-60 workers at home as policy response to COVID-19 pandemic in a sample of thirty countries of the European single market. Three main policy issues are addressed, and the results can be summarized as follows. First, age-based lockdown policies are associated with limited output losses and, therefore, are an efficient strategy to limit the spread of the virus in a pandemic, especially in presence of strong age-dependent fatality rates. Second, lockdown policies generate substantial spillover effects; hence, international policy coordination avoiding that too many countries are in lockdown contemporaneously or that such coordination takes place across the countries with the highest integration of over-60 workers along GVCs may be helpful in reducing disruptions. Third, non-targeted lockdowns are much more costly than age-based ones; therefore, other things equal, age-based policies should always be preferred to non-targeted ones. Our analysis also suggests that, in our sample, the over-60 workers are relatively more numerous in sectors where the value added and the integration in GVCs is lower; this feature should be kept in mind in the design of other policies as it might play an important role.     

Race,Roll‐Off,and Racial Transition: The Influence of Political Change on Racial Group Voter Roll‐Off in Urban Elections*

Objectives. Many cities in the United States have undergone or are undergoing racial transition from a majority white to a majority black population. Accompanying this is a change in the racial makeup of elections and officeholders. This article seeks to explain racial patterns in voter roll‐off as a city undergoes racial transition. Methods. Using a fixed‐effects regression model, we analyze the level of voter roll‐off (from the top‐of‐the‐ballot mayoral contest) among black and white voters across Memphis City Council elections, from 1967 through 2003. Results. The level of voter roll‐off among racial groups is sensitive to the racial aspect of political change. Black voters are most likely to continue to vote in council contests when there is a racial choice among candidates, when blacks have previously been elected, and when blacks occupy the mayoralty and a majority of council seats. Whites are most likely to vote in racially competitive council contests, as well as when there are a large number of white candidates, and when whites hold a majority of the council seats. Conclusions. In settings such as Memphis, where race has played a pronounced historic role, the racial context of political empowerment has a strong influence on electoral participation. Elections below the top‐of‐the‐ballot become more salient, and political efficacy grows among racial group members when that cohort occupies institutional positions, particularly the majority of positions in a governing institution.     

Networks,case managers,and the job-search experiences of unemployed people

Employment services are commonly provided in network settings, but it is rare to find social policy analyses of how unemployed people search for jobs through networks. In a germinal analysis of social networks and employment, Mark Granovetter argued that “weak ties” (less familiar contacts) are more important to finding employment than are “strong ties” (family and friends). This is because weak ties provide more novel job-relevant information. Scholarship since Granovetter has predominantly supported the opposite argument, namely, that strong ties are more important for the unemployed, because they are more plentiful and thus provide more information in aggregate. Findings are also generally coloured by the focus being on “informal” networks or personal contacts. “Formal” networks, as represented most cogently by employment service providers, are absent or underestimated in most social network studies. On the basis of a qualitative study of 80 long-term unemployed people in Australia, incorporating analysis of both informal and formal networks, we argue that although “strong informal” ties are vital to job search, it is also important to consider “weak formal” ties, which can be complementary if and where service organizations are able to supply positive case management experiences.