A note on deriving rank-dependent utility using additive joint receipts

Luce and Fishburn (1991) derived a general rank-dependent utility model using an operation ⊕ of joint receipt. Their argument rested on an empirically supported property (now) calledsegregation and on the assumption that utility is additive over ⊕. This note generalizes that conclusion to the case where utility need not be additive over ⊕, but rather is of a more general form, which they derived but did not use in their article. Tversky and Kahneman (1992), conjecturing that the joint receipt of two sums of money is simply their sum, criticized that original model because ⊕=+ together with additive utility implies the unacceptable conclusion that the utility of money is proportional to money. In the present generalized theory, if ⊕=+, utility is a negative exponential function of money rather than proportional. Similar results hold for losses. The case of mixed gains and losses is less well understood.     

On the foundations of mean-variance analyses

Let (, ) and (, ) be mean-standard deviation pairs of two probability distributions on the real line. Mean-variance analyses presume that the preferred distribution depends solely on these pairs, with primary preference given to larger mean and smaller variance. This presumption, in conjunction with the assumption that one distribution is better than a second distribution if the mass of the first is completely to the right of the mass of the second, implies that (, ) is preferred to (, ) if and only if either > or ( = and < ), provided that the set of distributions is sufficiently rich. The latter provision fails if the outcomes of all distributions lie in a finite interval, but then it is still possible to arrive at more liberal dominance conclusions between (, ) and (, ).This research was supported by the Office of Naval Research.     

Joint Beliefs in Conflictual Coordination Games

The traditional solution concept for noncooperative game theory is the Nash equilibrium, which contains an implicit assumption that players probability distributions satisfy t probabilistic independence. However, in games with more than two players, relaxing this assumption results in a more general equilibrium concept based on joint beliefs (Vanderschraaf, 1995). This article explores the implications of this joint-beliefs equilibrium concept for two kinds of conflictual coordination games: crisis bargaining and public goods provision. We find that, using updating consistent with Bayes rule, players beliefs converge to equilibria in joint beliefs which do not satisfy probabilistic independence. In addition, joint beliefs greatly expand the set of mixed equilibria. On the face of it, allowing for joint beliefs might be expected to increase the prospects for coordination. However, we show that if players use joint beliefs, which may be more likely as the number of players increases, then the prospects for coordination in these games declines vis-à-vis independent beliefs.     

Nontransitive preferences in decision theory

Intransitive preferences have been a topic of curiosity, study, and debate over the past 40 years. Many economists and decision theorists insist on transitivity as the cornerstone of rational choice, and even in behavioral decision theory intransitivities are often attributed to faulty experiments, random or sloppy choices, poor judgment, or unexamined biases. But others see intransitive preferences as potential truths of reasoned comparisons and propose representations of preferences that accommodate intransitivities. This article offers a partial survey of models for intransitive preferences in a variety of decisional contexts. These include economic consumer theory, multiattribute utility theory, game theory, preference between time streams, and decision making under risk and uncertainty. The survey is preceded by a discussion of issues that bear on the relevance and reasonableness of intransitivity.     

气候资本主义:低碳经济的政治学

我们很可能处在亲历气候资本主义出现的初级阶段。它是一种基于逐渐摆脱和远离化石燃料使用来持续经济发展的资本主义新形式,其中,脱碳被看作是一种缓和资本主义积累与抑制气候变化要求之间矛盾的机遇。但是,它依然是一种资本主义——通过市场、私有财产和工人阶级等要素组织起来,而且经济增长是其至高无上的律令。在未来几十年里,无论哪种具体版本的气候资本主义的出现,它实现脱碳的能力将取决于其导向低能源和低碳能源的投资的能力,同时还要处理好合法性的挑战,这些挑战不可避免地来自这种将全球金融作为管理碳排放手段的依赖。就全球气候变化管治的发展而言,无论是在《联合国气候变化框架公约》之下,还是最终超越了这一框架,成功的关键在于它是否能够创造一个有力的环境使全球经济转变为一种与强调气候变化相容的气候资本主义制度,或者,碳市场只是一种其取向与严肃应对气候危机的诸多努力不相容的经济制度中的孤立性存在。     

A conceptual framework for the study of work and mental health

Abstract

The key features which influence mental health both in jobs and unemployment are brought together within a single perspective. Three principal axes of affective well-being are identified as warranting investigation, and it is suggested that nine environmental features are of primary importance. The impact of these features on mental health is viewed as analogous to the influence of vitamins on physical health, with an explicit non-linearity in the relationship. This ‘vitamin model’ is extended to permit examination of individual differences (for example, in terms of baseline values and specific matching characteristics), and empirical evidence is summarized. It is concluded from previous research that job features do not interact synergistically in relation to employee well-being, although this possibility may not yet have been adequately tested. The framework is suggested to be adequately comprehensive, but, as is the case with other models, it requires development in respect of the specific mechanisms operating between environmental features and mental health.     

The Interacting-Reflecting Training Exercise: Addressing the Therapist’s Inner Conversation in Family Therapy Training

In recent years several authors have made a beginning in describing therapeutic conversations from a dialogical perspective. Training and supervision, however, have not yet been addressed from a dialogical perspective. In this article, an experiential training exercise is described that is focused on the basic dialogical skills of the trainee: respectful inquiry and constructive reflecting. Rather than teaching and instructing, this training exercise is aimed at staging a dialogue. The trainees are invited to take part in this dialogue, as they are encouraged to experiment with new positions and new ways of encountering others, and as their different voices tell of their experiences, of the things they have learned, and of the new perspectives that have opened up for them. Leaning on ideas about the therapist’s inner conversation (Rober, 1999, 2005b) and stressing the importance of polyphony, dialogism, and tolerance for uncertainty, the training exercise described in this article is consistent with a dialogical and postmodernist frame, as described by Seikkula and Olson (2003) .     

The Job Demands-Job Control Model and absence behaviour: results of a 3-year longitudinal study

Empirical results of earlier studies only marginally supported the relevance of Karasek's Job Demands-Job Control Model for absence behaviour. Since longitudinal studies with respect to these relations were largely lacking, a four-wave panel study was carried out using data from 1755 male employees of a technical maintenance firm in the public sector. Job demands, job control, physical working conditions, and the employee's age, education, and health were measured in one year and absenteeism in the same year and in the next 3 years. Data were analysed with linear regression and Poisson regression techniques. The Poisson regression technique was superior to the linear regression technique in explaining absence. Age, health and prior absence were the best predictors of later absence behaviour. With respect to the Job Demands-Job Control Model, the main findings of the study were (1) that job control was significantly associated with a low number of simultaneous and later absence days, and (2) that, contrary to expectations, job demands were also related to a low number of simultaneous and later absence days. These results hold when age, health, education, prior absence, and working conditions are controlled for. Job control and job demands did not predict later absence frequency. In the discussion it is suggested that a high level of job demands may not only be harmful for the well-being of employees but also work as 'a pressure to attend'.