Using Choice Experiments to Assess People''s Preferences for Railway Transports of Hazardous Materials

This article investigates whether the choice experiment approach can be used to assess people's preferences and the determinants of these preferences in order to estimate the costs and benefits of different configurations of the transport of hazardous materials by rail. Changes in the exposure to hazardous materials that people are subjected to are used rather than changes in accident risk. To the best knowledge of the author, this has not been done before in a study of people's preferences toward hazardous materials. A mail survey, carried out in two cities in Sweden, is used to obtain tentative estimates of the willingness to pay for a reduction in exposure as well as the willingness to accept an increase in exposure. Special attention is given to viability, since the complexity of the activity studied, transport of hazardous materials, and the method used pose particular challenges. The response rate and tests of validity and consistency indicate that this method can be applied. Moreover, the results suggest that studies of this kind may provide guidance on changes in the transport of hazardous materials, especially because policymakers may influence the attributes presented here. Referring to the exposure of hazardous materials highlights the importance of providing the respondents with adequate information regarding hazardous transports. An important finding is that the amount of background information may have some effect on the stated preferences.     

Revealed Preference and Expected Utility

This essay gives necessary and sufficient conditions for recovering expected utility from choice behavior in several popular models of uncertainty. In particular, these techniques handle a finite state model; a model for which the choice space consists of probability densities and the expected utility representation requires bounded, measurable utility; and a model for which the choice space consists of Borel probability measures and the expected utility representation requires bounded, continuous utility. The key result is the identification of the continuity condition necessary for the revelation of linear utility.     

国有产权改革的宪政思维

在当前困扰中国经济改革的各类现实问题中,国有产权改革是带有根本性和制约全局意义的。尤其是当这项改革逐渐进入攻坚阶段,对改革之必要性、改革政策之合理性、改革过程之公正性、改革结果之可取性等等诸多问题就越需要深入研究并给予相应的解决对策。国有产权改革本身的复杂性注定了这项改革已经不单纯是一个经济问题,更是一个以经济为核心、以宪政制度为框架约束的公共选择过程,理应以宪政的思维去理解和推进这项改革。     

Is Context-Based Choice due to Context-Dependent Preferences?

The rationalization of context-based choice is usually based on the assumption that preferences are context-dependent. In this paper, we show that context-based choice can be due to the characteristics of the choice procedure applied by the individual and not to the dependence of preferences (stochastic or deterministic) on the context. Our arguments are illustrated focusing on the much-studied dominated-alternative effects.     

Where are the motives? A problem with evidence in the work of Richard Thaler

In this journal (Mackenzie, 1997. Economic Psychology 18(1), 123–135), Mackenzie argues that there is a problem with Thaler's work: in failing to provide evidence about motives, Thaler's claims are vulnerable. In this comment, I present a different view. Thaler merely pinpoints some stylized facts, such as the endowment effect. Models of economic behaviour should be able to account for these. Mackenzie's discussion of the wine owner anecdote gives ad hoc reasons for apparently irrational behaviour. Thaler's work focuses on systematic effects, which is a much more fruitful approach. Mackenzie fails to do justice to the work that has been done to document the endowment effect.     

对我国证券投资基金组合理财的分析思考

从六个方面分析我国证券投资基金组合理财的现状,从定性和定量的角度解析了现代投资组合理论,并以此为基础,预测了我国证券投资基金发展的前景。     

历史与现实的完美结合——论《苏菲的选择》的叙事策略

威廉·斯泰伦的《苏菲的选择》被认为是"大屠杀"文学的经典之作,小说以纳粹大屠杀为题材,立足现实进行历史言说。本文侧重于小说不断变换的叙述视角、叙事空间的多维切换以及叙事方式上表现的碎片化和拼贴式的形态,使小说将历史与现实中各种矛盾的、异质的思想共熔一炉,表现了斯泰伦的思想立足点在不停地移形换位,不断针对生活与历史进行自我辩驳与自我超越的探索精神,最终达到了历史与现实完美的融合。     

Making choices in my life: Listening to the ideas and experiences of young people in the UK who communicate non-verbally

Service user participation and making choices are frequently advocated, however, they are complex concepts and how they are translated and/or experienced in everyday life can vary amongst different groups of service users. Recognising the importance of participation in current international guidance and UK government policy this paper seeks to explore how research can include a frequently marginalised group of disabled young people, in particular young people with learning disabilities and/or who communicate non-verbally. The paper discusses the use of non-traditional research methods, especially symbol based interviews developed in an ongoing English longitudinal study exploring choices and decision-making processes for young people with life-limiting conditions. The paper then presents some research findings and concludes by discussing their implications. In particular, it demonstrates how the use of symbol based interviews can inform policy makers about how these young people can be included in research and that listening to them can inform our understanding of decision-making processes.