Comparing Expressed and Revealed Preferences for Risk Reduction: Different Hazards and Question Frames

Studies often note the wide differences that exist in costs per death avoided across U.S. federal programs and regulatory contexts. This paper explores two new, related explanations for these differences. First, it argues that the patterns of revealed preferences (public allocations) may be related to public values, which are measured here through subjects' expressed preference responses to a contingent valuation survey regarding risk reduction. Subjects' expressed values are compared to actual (and proposed) costs of safety regulations for a similar set of hazards. We discover strong congruence in the ranking of expressed values and actual values. Second, the paper presents the results of a subsequent survey that investigates why the patterns observed in the first survey might occur. It suggests that one reason for the observed similarities between revealed and expressed preferences may be in how choices are framed. The paper hypothesizes that both subjects and decision makers may frame valuation decisions in the same way: as percentage changes from the reference point provided by the base rate of deaths for that hazard.     

The Role of Effort in Shifting Preference for Feedback Stimuli

ABSTRACT

Researchers have examined preference for the format of delivery of feedback, however little research has examined strategies to increase feedback and praise desirability. The current study aimed to evaluate whether preference shifted for stimuli that signaled work and for manager-praise stimuli that were delivered after work. Moreover, we sought to understand if these preference shifts were greater when the work was higher-effort compared to lower-effort work tasks (a phenomenon described in the basic literature as within-trial contrast). The study took place in a simulated work environment. Sixteen university students clicked on a shape that produced the work task, completed a mock medical data-entry task, and received manager-praise on an FR1 and FR20 schedule. At the start of the study and following each contingency exposure trials, they completed a preference assessment for both the shapes and the manager-feedback stimuli. The primary dependent variable was the percentage of preference change for two categories of stimuli – shapes presented at the beginning of trials that signaled which condition participants were in and manager-praise stimuli presented at the end of trials. Preference for the shape stimuli for both high- and low-effort stimuli decreased indicating that stimuli that signal work may become less preferred. Preference for the manager-praise stimuli for both high- and low-effort stimuli increased suggesting that stimuli that follow work may become more preferred. Overall, these data suggest that the conditions under which managers deliver feedback and praise may influence preference for those stimuli.     

Improved Approximation for Breakpoint Graph Decomposition and Sorting by Reversals

Sorting by Reversals (SBR) is one of the most widely studied models of genome rearrangements in computational molecular biology. At present, is the best known approximation ratio achievable in polynomial time for SBR. A very closely related problem, called Breakpoint Graph Decomposition (BGD), calls for a largest collection of edge disjoint cycles in a suitably-defined graph. It has been shown that for almost all instances SBR is equivalent to BGD, in the sense that any solution of the latter corresponds to a solution of the former having the same value. In this paper, we show how to improve the approximation ratio achievable in polynomial time for BGD, from the previously known to for any > 0. Combined with the results in (Caprara, Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, vol. 3, pp. 149–182, 1999b), this yields the same approximation guarantee for n! – O((n – 5)!) out of the n! instances of SBR on permutations with n elements. Our result uses the best known approximation algorithms for Stable Set on graphs with maximum degree 4 as well as for Set Packing where the maximum size of a set is 6. Any improvement in the ratio achieved by these approximation algorithms will yield an automatic improvement of our result.     

发电成本垂直差异电力市场概率发电——基于大用户电量偏好视角

针对碳减排后普遍存在的发电成本垂直差异电力市场及其显著的大用户电量偏好差异,本文提出概率性电量供给以及与之对应的概率发电,并利用价格杠杆调控发电商低碳发电尤其高发电成本发电机会与供给效能不足.先后构建发电成本内、外生选择下的概率发电模型,求解发电商的电量供给均衡并分析概率发电策略的最优性.最后,将发电成本内生选择模型拓展到分解市场需求不确定性的概率发电模型.研究发现:相比基准发电,概率发电可以作为一种有利可图的发电容量过剩的解决方法,即使在发电成本内生选择时也是可行的;当发电商采用“强”成本差异的发电策略时,引入折中的概率发电会让产品线上成本水平相互更接近,且大用户的消费者剩余得到提高;与此相反,在市场中实施“弱”成本差异发电,发电商利用概率发电则增大成本分离并降低大用户的消费者剩余;在不确定性市场需求下,当偏好低发电成本电量的大用户对单位发电成本的估价相对于偏好高发电成本电量的大用户对单位发电成本的估价足够高时,概率发电可以以一种管理不利需求状况工具的身份出现.     

大学生政治社会化的有效途径——从思维风格与教学风格偏好关系角度研究

目前大学生政治社会化面临着许多障碍,大学生政治社会化研究亟需相关学科的加入。当代大学生政治社会化正规有效的途径主要是在学校,所以高校的思想政治理论课的教学对学生的政治社会化起着举足轻重的作用。文章从思维风格的角度把思维风格与教学风格偏好关系的实证研究结果运用到高校的思想政治理论课的教学实践中,为探索大学生政治社会化有效途径提供了理论和实践参考。     

政府补偿下基于私人公平偏好的PPP项目投资决策分析

针对PPP （Private-Public Partnership）项目收益的不确定性,引入政府补偿契约问题。考虑私人投资者对政府补偿存在公平偏好倾向,借鉴BO模型的思想,将私人投资要求的特许收益作为其公平参考点,并通过对FS模型加以改进,构建私人公平偏好效用函数,从而给出私人在政府补偿下的投资决策模型。通过模型求最优解和概率分析,探讨私人公平偏好对其最优投资决策的影响,并借助数值分析给予检验。结果表明:当政府补偿使私人感知有利不公平时,私人将选择期望效用最大的最优投资,并随其感知程度的增加而增加;而当政府补偿使私人感知不利不公平时,私人最优投资及可能性将在有限公平偏好内随其感知程度的增加而减小。     

汉语关系从句加工研究现状和展望

关系从句具有复杂的句法结构和丰富的类型学特征,它在认识人类语言能力及认知机制方面较其他句法结构相比具有更特殊的地位。从语言类型学的角度来看,汉语是唯一结合了SVO语序和中心词居后双重特点的语言,它的关系从句结构在句子加工的研究领域中具有重要的作用。本文厘清了目前学界比较重要的句子加工理论以及国内外汉语关系从句加工的研究成果,探讨了汉语关系从句独特的类型学特征及研究意义,并对未来在此领域的研究方向提出了建议。     

我国村级公共品需求偏好表达机制的构建

村级公共品的特殊性质决定了村民有参与公共品供给决策的可能性,但我国村级公共品“自上而下”的供给体制忽视了广大农民对公共品的实际需求,使村民参与公共品供给决策成为不可能。为破解这一现实困境,就要从农民的实际需求出发,构建村级公共产品的需求偏好表达机制,而加快基层民主建设、改变基层干部的产生办法与绩效考核办法、深化土地制度与户籍制度改革以及推行村级公共品投资主体多元化是构建村级公共品需求偏好表达机制的现实路径选择。     

一类具有补偿的采购供应链中供应商R&D投资决策分析

在建立具有补偿的采购供应链R&D投资规模调控模型的基础上,对采购中供应商的R&D投资决策均衡进行研究,着重探讨采购商的决策偏好和供应商的行动顺序对投资均衡的影响。所得结论表明:在一定的条件下,供应商对R&D项目的投资均衡为采购商所希望的均衡,但是,当采购商对供应商的投资行为存在决策偏好时,无论供应商先行动还是后行动,供应商的投资均衡将会偏离采购商所希望的均衡。