A quantitative discursive dilemma

The typical judgment aggregation problem in economics and other fields is the following: a group of people has to judge/estimate the value of an uncertain variable y, which is a function of k other variables, i.e., y = D(x ₁, . . . , x _k ). We analyze when it is possible for the group to arrive at collective judgements on the variables that respect D. We consider aggregators that fulfill Arrow’s IIA-condition and neutrality. We show how possibility and impossibility depend on the functional form of D, and generalize Pettit’s (2001) binary discursive dilemma to quantitative judgements.     

Axiomatizations of public good indices with a priori unions

We provide axiomatizations for six variants of the Public Good Index (PGI) for games with a priori unions. Two such coalitional PGIs have been introduced and alternatively axiomatized in Alonso-Meijide et al. (Working paper 18, 2008b). They assign power in two steps. In the first step, power is distributed between unions according to the PGI of the quotient game. In a second step, the Solidarity PGI splits power equally among union members while the Owen Extended PGI takes into account so-called essential parts. The other four coalitional PGIs have been introduced in Holler and Nohn (Homo Oeconomicus 26, 2009). The first variant elaborates the original idea of Holler (Political Studies 30:262–271, 1982) that the coalitional value is a public good and only minimal winning coalitions of the quotient game are relevant. The remaining three variants also use the two-step distribution where, however, on the member stage they take into account the possibilities of players to threaten their partners through leaving their union.     

Werbe-Management in jungen Wachstumsunternehmen

New ventures with above-average growth potential vary significantly with regard to their success and show on average high failure rates which may be traced back to their lack of reputation in the market. This study examines whether systematic advertising planning and control can exert a positive influence on new venture performance and whether these effects vary across life cycle stages. The research model is based upon the contingent resource-based view and has been tested with a sample of 181 new ventures with high growth potential. Findings indicate that, indeed, a large portion of new venture performance can be explained by targeted planning and control methods and tools. As regards advertising control, a moderating effect of life cycle stages emerges: While a negative relationship between advertising control and performance exists in early stages, this relationship becomes significantly positive in later stages.     

Is Materialism All That Bad? Effects on Satisfaction with Material Life, Life Satisfaction, and Economic Motivation

The literature in economic psychology and quality-of-life studies alludes to a negative relationship between materialism and life satisfaction. In contrast, the macroeconomic literature implies a positive relationship between material consumption and economic growth. That is, materialism may be both good and bad. We develop a model that reconciles these two contrasting viewpoints by asserting that materialism may lead to life dissatisfaction when materialistic people evaluate their standard of living using fantasy-based expectations (e.g., ideal expectations), which increases the likelihood that they would evaluate their standard of living negatively. In turn, dissatisfaction with standard of living increases the likelihood that they would evaluate their life negatively. However, materialistic people who evaluate their standard of living using reality-based expectations (e.g., ability expectations) are likely to feel more economically motivated than their non-materialistic counterparts, and this economic motivation is likely to contribute significantly and positively to life satisfaction. Survey data were collected from seven major cities each in a different country (Australia, Bosnia/Herzegovina, Germany, Egypt, Korea, Turkey, and the USA) using a probability sample (cluster sampling method involving income stratification). The results provide support for the model. The economic public policy implications concerning how people evaluate their standard of living using ability-based expectations are discussed in the context of the ideals of meritocracy.     

Transfer interest: measuring interest in training content and interest in training transfer

ABSTRACT

Motivational influences are important predictors of training effectiveness and transfer of training to the workplace. The present study introduces the Transfer Interest Questionnaire (TIQ) to measure trainee interest. Grounded in the person-object theory of interest, the construct encompasses two dimensions: interest in training content and interest in training transfer. The results of exploratory factor analyses of questionnaire data from 203 trainees provided strong support for the proposed scales. Based on the perspective of age-related motivational maintenance, socioemotional selectivity theory, the gender-similarities hypothesis, and research on training motivation and motivation to transfer, a series of moderator analyses tested the effects of six trainee and training-design characteristics: trainees’ age and gender, work experience, number of semesters completed, training course’s content area, and voluntary vs. mandatory training participation. Furthermore, based on social cognitive theory, the theory of planned behavior, and the expectancy-value model of achievement motivation, the study tested the TIQ scales’ associations with utility value, self-efficacy, normative beliefs, control beliefs, and transfer intentions. Implications for theorizing the role of interest in transfer of learning, screening training participants’ interest profiles in training evaluations, and future research directions on the role of interest in adult education, corporate training, and human resource development are discussed.     

哲学思维的跨文化转变——卡尔·雅斯贝尔斯与跨文化哲学的挑战

今日全球化这一世界境况要求哲学思维的跨文化转变.跨文化哲学指称一个新的哲学工作领域.跨文化性概念标志一系列文化相遇的基本范畴:文化身份与民族中心主义,文化相对主义、多元主义与普遍主义,可通约性与不可通约性,特有性与陌生性以及跨文化解释学等.雅斯贝尔斯的世界哲学计划是一种理念、假设、路标、目标和一种普遍的哲学交往过程,因此,世界哲学并非有朝一日可以存在于客观形态的某种统一理念之中.雅斯贝尔斯哲学思想的当代意义在于摆脱了所有排他性的绝对效应要求,在开放的视域中,提供了人类能够借以理解自身不同来源的一座平台.     

This Sporting Life: The intersection of hegemonic masculinities,space and emotions among rugby players

Through an ethnographic study of rugby players, this research shows how when men enter a physical space, they are bound by codes that define what sort of masculinities and emotions they ‘should' perform in order to denote cultural legitimacy. The article investigates how different spaces on and off the rugby field influence how different masculinities are performed. Rugby players enact fleeting and relative masculinities as they move in and out of the multiple hyper‐masculine spaces they encounter on game day. The codes of masculinity dictated by these different spaces are manifest in the men's bodies and in their emotions.     

Optimal Forecasts from Markov Switching Models

We derive forecasts for Markov switching models that are optimal in the mean square forecast error (MSFE) sense by means of weighting observations. We provide analytic expressions of the weights conditional on the Markov states and conditional on state probabilities. This allows us to study the effect of uncertainty around states on forecasts. It emerges that, even in large samples, forecasting performance increases substantially when the construction of optimal weights takes uncertainty around states into account. Performance of the optimal weights is shown through simulations and an application to U.S. GNP, where using optimal weights leads to significant reductions in MSFE. Supplementary materials for this article are available online.