Calculable Power: A Case Study of IMF Quotas and Voting Rights Reform*

Voting procedure is an important mechanism for public choice in collective bodies such as international organizations. This paper measures and compares IMF member countries’ voting power before the 2008 reform and after the 2010 reform on the basis of datasets on IMF quotas and voting rights distribution provided by IMF. Our study verifies that IMF’s quotas and voting rights reforms do help to reduce the voting power gap among member countries. The 2008 and 2010 reforms produce a greater improvement in emerging members’ voting power under the 70 percent majority rule than the 85 percent rule; the 70 percent majority rule means the United States would lose its absolute veto. Moreover, the paper disproves the underlying assumption that regards a member’s voting power as proportional to its voting rights. Countries with different amounts of voting rights can still have the same voting power.     

Scrutinizing an algorithmic technique: the Bayes classifier as interested reading of reality

ABSTRACT

This paper outlines the notion of ‘algorithmic technique’ as a middle ground between concrete, implemented algorithms and the broader study and theorization of software. Algorithmic techniques specify principles and methods for doing things in the medium of software and they thus constitute units of knowledge and expertise in the domain of software making. I suggest that algorithmic techniques are a suitable object of study for the humanities and social science since they capture the central technical principles behind actual software, but can generally be described in accessible language. To make my case, I focus on the field of information ordering and, first, discuss the wider historical trajectory of formal or ‘mechanical’ reasoning applied to matters of commerce and government before, second, moving to the investigation of a particular algorithmic technique, the Bayes classifier. This technique is explicated through a reading of the original work of M. E. Maron in the early 1960 and presented as a means to subject empirical, ‘datafied’ reality to an interested reading that confers meaning to each variable in relation to an operational goal. After a discussion of the Bayes classifier in relation to the question of power, the paper concludes by coming back to its initial motive and argues for increased attention to algorithmic techniques in the study of software.     

New V control chart for the Maxwell distribution

Control charts have been popularly used as a user-friendly yet technically sophisticated tool to monitor whether a process is in statistical control or not. These charts are basically constructed under the normality assumption. But in many practical situations in real life this normality assumption may be violated. One such non-normal situation is to monitor the process variability from a skewed parent distribution where we propose the use of a Maxwell control chart. We introduce a pivotal quantity for the scale parameter of the Maxwell distribution which follows a gamma distribution. Probability limits and L-sigma limits are studied along with performance measure based on average run length and power curve. To avoid the complexity of future calculations for practitioners, factors for constructing control chart for monitoring the Maxwell parameter are given for different sample sizes and for different false alarm rate. We also provide simulated data to illustrate the Maxwell control chart. Finally, a real life example has been given to show the importance of such a control chart.     

A new generalized two-sided class of distributions with an emphasis on two-sided generalized normal distribution

The ordinary-G class of distributions is defined to have the cumulative distribution function (cdf) as the value of the cdf of the ordinary distribution F whose range is the unit interval at G, that is, F(G), and it generalizes the ordinary distribution. In this work, we consider the standard two-sided power distribution to define other classes like the beta-G and the Kumaraswamy-G classes. We extend the idea of two-sidedness to other ordinary distributions like normal. After studying the basic properties of the new class in general setting, we consider the two-sided generalized normal distribution with maximum likelihood estimation procedure.     

Parametric bootstrap inferences for the growth curve models with intraclass correlation structure

This paper presents parametric bootstrap (PB) approaches for hypothesis testing and interval estimation of the fixed effects and the variance component in the growth curve models with intraclass correlation structure. The PB pivot variables are proposed based on the sufficient statistics of the parameters. Some simulation results are presented to compare the performance of the proposed approaches with the generalized inferences. Our studies show that the PB approaches perform satisfactorily for various cell sizes and parameter configurations, and tends to outperform the generalized inferences with respect to the coverage probabilities and powers. The PB approaches not only have almost exact coverage probabilities and Type I error rates, but also have the shorter expected lengths and the higher powers. Furthermore, the PB procedure can be simply carried out by a few simulation steps. Finally, the proposed approaches are illustrated by using a real data example.     

Asymptotic inference in poverty indices: an empirical processes approach

We derive an empirical poverty index containing most of those proposed in the literature. Then, we study its asymptotic behavior by using empirical processes theory. From the results obtained, we derive a Wald-type test for comparing a vector of theoretical poverty indices to a vector of reference indices. We study the test statistic under the null hypothesis of equality, fixed alternatives, and a sequence of local alternatives. A simulation experiment conducted shows that our test performs well for exponential and Pareto data.     

Pricing power options with a generalized jump diffusion

In this article, the valuation of power option is investigated when the dynamic of the stock price is governed by a generalized jump-diffusion Markov-modulated model. The systematic risk is characterized by the diffusion part, and the non systematic risk is characterized by the pure jump process. The jumps are described by a generalized renewal process with generalized jump amplitude. By introducing NASDAQ Index Model, their risk premium is identified respectively. A risk-neutral measure is identified by employing Esscher transform with two families of parameters, which represent the two parts risk premium. In this article, the non systematic risk premium is considered, based on which the price of power option is studied under the generalized jump-diffusion Markov-modulated model. In the case of a special renewal process with log double exponential jump amplitude, the accurate expressions for the Esscher parameters and the pricing formula are provided. By numerical simulation, the influence of the non systematic risk’s price and the index of the power options on the price of the option is depicted.     

Statistical test based on intuitionistic fuzzy hypotheses

In this paper, the classical statistical test based on intuitionistic fuzzy hypotheses in relation to the underlying population parametric is extended. In this approach, the type-I, type-II, power of test, and p-value are extended for intuitionistic fuzzy hypotheses. Throughout the paper, some applied examples are provided for both parametric and non parametric cases to clarify the discussions.     

Collective Bargaining and the Gender Pay Gap in the Printing Industry

This paper considers the effect of collective bargaining on the gender pay gap in the printing industry. This sector was subject to multi‐employer bargaining for around 90 years, until 2010. The article analyses gendered collective bargaining processes through the mechanism of symbolic power, that is, the power of interpretation and definition, and utilizes Walton and McKersie's seminal work on bargaining behaviour to understand the processes that have prevented the closing of the pay gap. It finds that symbolic power operates within the sub‐processes of attitudinal structuring and intra‐organizational bargaining to de‐legitimize women's role in equal pay bargaining, alongside distributive bargaining tactics that preclude equal pay bargaining, thereby creating the impression that women are irrelevant to bargaining processes and ensuring relative invisibility for issues of importance to equality bargaining.     

国家起源论

国家是拥有最高权力及其管理组织或政府的社会,是最大且最高的社会。因此,一方面,从人的社会本性来看,国家必然起源于每个人对于社会最大化的需要和使各种社会成为一个统一整体的需要。这是国家的内在的、间接的和终级的起源。另一方面,从国家实际的产生状况来看,任何权力无疑必然都产生、形成和起源于社会成员的普遍同意;最高权力属于权力范畴,因而必定产生、形成和起源于社会成员的普遍同意。任何两个以上的人就某种利益交换关系所达成的同意无疑都是契约。于是,最高权力或国家便必然直接产生、形成和起源于契约,起源于社会成员就最高权力所关涉的权利与义务等利益之交换所缔结的契约。但究竟起源于何种最高权力契约则是偶然的:唯有起源于民主地缔结的民主的最高权力契约,才是善的、应该的和道德的;否则便是恶的、不应该和不道德的。这是国家的直接的外在的起源。