On strategy-proof social choice under categorization

I consider social choice problems such that (i) the set of alternatives can be partitioned into categories based on a prominent and objective feature and (ii) agents have strict preferences over the alternatives. Main results are characterizations of the structure of the strategy-proof social choice functions. I prove that each social choice function is strategy-proof if and only if it is decomposable into “small” strategy-proof social choice functions; one of them chooses one category and each of the others chooses one alternative from a category.     

Reconciling normative and behavioural economics: the problems to be solved

We review the problem of reconciling normative and behavioural economics. In conventional welfare economics, individuals’ preferences are assumed to be coherent, and the satisfaction of those preferences is the normative criterion; but this approach breaks down if preferences are incoherent. Traditionally, the preference-satisfaction criterion has been interpreted in three conceptually different ways, emphasising respectively the normative value of happiness, self-assessed well-being, and freedom. If individuals’ preferences are incoherent, these interpretations diverge, leading to fundamentally different strategies for dealing with the reconciliation problem, and new questions are raised about whether normative economics should be addressed to governments or individuals.     

Decisions with endogenous frames

We develop a model of decision-making with endogenous frames and contrast the normative implications of our model to those of choice theoretic models in which observed choices are determined by exogenous frames or ancillary conditions. We argue that, frames, though they may be taken as given by the decision-maker at the point when choices are made, matter for both welfare and policy purposes.     

Sequential legislative lobbying

In this paper, we analyze the equilibrium of a sequential game-theoretical model of lobbying, due to Groseclose and Snyder (Am Polit Sci Rev 90:303–315, 1996), describing a legislature that vote over two alternatives, where two opposing lobbies compete by bidding for legislators’ votes. In this model, the lobbyist moving first suffers from a second mover advantage and will make an offer to a panel of legislators only if it deters any credible counter-reaction from his opponent, i.e., if he anticipates to win the battle. This paper departs from the existing literature in assuming that legislators care about the consequence of their votes rather than their votes per se. Our main focus is on the calculation of the smallest budget that the lobby moving first needs to win the game and on the distribution of this budget across the legislators. We study the impact of the key parameters of the game on these two variables and show the connection of this problem with the combinatorics of sets and notions from cooperative game theory.     

Index-number tests and the common-scaling social cost-of-living index

For a change in prices, the common-scaling social cost-of-living index is the equal scaling of each individual’s expenditure level needed to restore the level of social welfare to its pre-change value. This index does not, in general, satisfy two standard index-number tests. The reversal test requires the index value for the reverse change to be the reciprocal of the original index. And the circular test requires the product of index values for successive price changes to be equal to the index value for the whole change. We show that both tests are satisfied if and only if the Bergson–Samuelson indirect social-welfare function is homothetic in prices, a condition which does not require individual preferences to be homothetic. If individual preferences are homothetic, however, stronger conditions on the Bergson–Samuelson indirect must be satisfied. Given these results, we ask whether the restrictions are empirically reasonable and find, in the case that individual preferences are not homothetic, that they make little difference to estimates of the index.     

Sources of state capacity in Latin America: commodity booms and state building motives in Chile

The pursuits of private profit and distributional political advantage can be powerful state building motives. This article describes how each motive can trigger a distinct causal sequence amid commodity booms, which can result in the growth of state capacity. First, when pursuing profit during booms, export-oriented actors regularly seek new state-supplied public goods, the provision of which promotes the expansion of state capacity. Second, when booms enrich rivals to the ruling coalition, coalition members may respond with institution building to preserve their existing political advantages. A case study of Chile (1848–1883) and supplementary evidence from Argentina, Central America, Colombia, and Peru indicate that these causal sequences may have been central to state building in Latin America historically.     

Eating Disorder Treatment as a Process of Mind–Body Integration: Special Challenges for Women

The concept of body image remains too focused on internal representation and not enough on internal experiencing. Body image is but one expression of the more foundational body self. When an eating disorder is conceptualized as an attempt to manage an impaired sense of body self (and associated disregulation), the ultimate goal of treatment becomes embodiment. The eating disordered body must be worked with as an actual as well as symbolic body and understood within its own developmental trajectory. The gender-specificity of eating disorders is explored by focusing on three particular bodily challenges for females in our society: (1) Women are more likely than men to unconsciously use their bodies as repositories for their dissociated need and desire, (2) girls’ bodies are mirrored in a more distorted and overstimulating manner than boys’ and (3) because girls are the same biological sex as their usual primary caretakers, they are more likely to be used as narcissistic extensions. A clinical example is presented, illustrating the influence of these female bodily challenges on the development of body self and eating disorders and how these issues play out in treatment. An intensive clinical focus on the patient’s and therapist’s body states allows for the desomatization and integration of dissociated affect, resulting in a more integrated body–mind self and a decreased need for an eating disorder.     

Does High School Employment Develop Marketable Skills?

While decades of academic research have consistently demonstrated a positive relationship between high school employment and adult earnings, the literature is empirically silent in regards to why this association exists. This study uses data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (NLSY97) to examine the hypothesis that high school employment develops “marketable skills” in the form of occupation-specific human capital. By analyzing wage variation attributable to the commonality of skill portfolios across respondents’ high school and adult (age 20 and 23) occupations, this study fails to find consistent evidence that the types of skills utilized in high school employment are correlated with adult earnings. Within the framework of the human capital model, this would suggest that the positive, post-school economic gains of in-school work are largely attributable to increases in general human capital (e.g., workplace socialization, character building).     

Doing Well by Returning to the Origin. Mission Drift,Outreach and Financial Performance of Microfinance Institutions

The majority of studies discussed the existence of a trade-off between financial performance and outreach, pointing out those MFIs that look for higher profits lead to lower outreach. Another stream of research discussed the phenomena of mission drift, which see MFIs leave from their social mission, which is to provide micro financial services to break the cycle of poverty by reducing financial exclusion and move away from the traditional microcredit business model by three different ways. The paper contribute to the debate focussing the impact of mission drift phenomena on both financial performance and outreach of MFIs. This paper uses a dataset of 194 microfinance institutions (MFIs), 788 annual ratings from 2001 to 2010, collected by MicroFinanza Rating, an international MFIs’ rating agency, to study and test three hypotheses on the relationship between mission drift, financial performance and outreach of MFIs. Data analysed with mixed effect regressions shows that a trade-off exist between financial performance and outreach. Results show that mission drift positively impacts on financial performance but it reduces outreach. MFIs should be encouraged to clearly define if their main aim is to assure remuneration of shareholders or if they want to contribute to the outreach of poor.     

Do labour market reforms reduce labour productivity growth? A panel data analysis of 20 OECD countries (1960–2004)

Based on comprehensive regression analysis, the authors find that weak wage growth and a smaller labour share of national income significantly reduce labour productivity growth. They conclude that supply‐side labour market reforms have contributed to reducing labour productivity growth: this cannot be explained by a deregulation‐induced inflow of low‐productivity labour as proposed by OECD researchers. They also discuss why deregulation, easier firing and higher labour turnover may damage learning and knowledge accumulation in companies, notably by weakening the functioning of the “routinized” innovation model (“Schumpeter II”). Finally, their findings raise doubts about the relevance of Baumol's law and Verdoorn's law.