Herd behavior and the quality of opinions

This paper analyzes a decentralized decision model by adding some inertia in the social leaning process. Before making a decision, an agent can observe the group opinion in a society. Social learning can result in a variety of equilibrium behavioral patterns. For insufficient ranges of quality (precision) of opinions, the chosen stationary state is unique and globally accessible, in which all agents adopt the superior action. Sufficient quality of opinions gives rise to multiple stationary states. One of them will be characterized by inefficient herding. The confidence in the majority opinion then has serious welfare consequences.     

Citizens’ Perception of Past Environmental Damage and Liability in Countries with Transition: Evidence from Kemerovo,Russia

This paper analyzes citizens’ perception of past environmental damage and liability through the estimation of willingness to pay for the implementation of decontamination and land rehabilitation of the damaged site. The paper takes the Russian Federation as a case of country in transition and focuses on Kemerovo region as one of the most affected regions in the country. The major analytical tool employed in the study is choice experiment, data for which was collected through a household survey. Primary conclusion of the analysis is that citizens' willingness to financially support the implementation of environmental quality improvement projects is not high though individuals in the studied area express high level of concern over the issue in focus.     

The economics of possible selves

This article proposes an economic model of how intentional self-change occurs. People have an array of possible selves. The self-system is multifaceted and dynamic, with different self-representations activated at different times. Comparison between the actual self and the ideal self has important motivational consequences. The response to perceived discrepancy can be shaped toward desired behavioral change. However, self-verification is also an important factor in the individual's motivational system. Self-verification is expected to undermine intentional self-change. Individuals may have an inert area within which they do not attempt self-change. The inert area idea permits both optimal and sub-optimal economic outcomes within the same model.     

Allocating Costs of Environmental Management among Generations: A Case of Environmental Liabilities in Transition Economies

The objective of this paper is to examine cost allocation in relation to remediating environmental liability issues in Russia, where significant environmental damages, continuing from the Soviet era, present serious impediments to pursuing sustainable development. The research attempts to highlight citizens?? preferences for remediating facilities and sites with environmental liabilities, and elicits preference differences among citizens using choice experiment methods. Intergenerational issues are involved in addressing environmental liabilities in transition economies because the causes and effects are spread among generations. Therefore, evaluating citizens?? preferences provides more policy implications for future remediation initiatives. The econometric analysis reveals that citizens demonstrate positive preferences for reducing pollution of drinking water and soil decontamination. The research also suggests that the households with higher incomes, older household heads (or spouses), and more young children have higher preferences for remediating environmental liabilities in Russia. Estimation of the marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for age and income segments of the households allows the government to determine a suitable taxation policy. The findings provide new insights on cost allocation in relation to remediating environmental damages in transition economies that have suffered from these serious environmental legacies.     

Exclusion of self evaluations in peer ratings: monotonicity versus unanimity on finitely restricted domains

We consider the model of peer ratings, where each candidate is requested to evaluate all the other candidates, and an aggregation rule specifies the final score of each candidate for every possible configuration of evaluations. We show that if the candidates can select the evaluation marks from a finite and large set of real numbers, there is no aggregation rule that satisfies Monotonicity and Unanimity. We then prove that if the candidates can select the evaluation marks from a finite and small set of real numbers, the summation rule satisfies Monotonicity and Unanimity. Moreover, alternative definitions of unanimity appropriate for the model of peer ratings are proposed and discussed.     

Correlating Post-disaster Support Network Density with Reciprocal Support Relation Satisfaction: An Elderly Cohort Within One Year of the 2011 Japan Disasters

While there has been much empirical investigation into how social support networks improve mental health in post-disaster communities, network density—the extent members within a network are acquainted—remains under-researched. This study examines correlations between support network density and support reciprocity satisfaction in an elderly sample (N = 221), and the influence on post-disaster depression and trauma symptomology in a fishing community south of the Fukushima nuclear plant within 1 year of the March 11, 2011 Japan earthquake. The Brief Inventory of Social Support Exchange Network (BISSEN) taps support network density, support source by relational category, tangible and emotional type, and providing or receiving direction of social support. Density measurement convergent validity was established from questionnaire responses. After confirming network density construct and criteria validity, and extracting components reciprocal support relationship satisfaction, correlation between these two variables was moderate at r = 0.34. However, reciprocity satisfaction moderately explained mental health variance, but results were not significant for density nor interaction between predictors. These results question the assumption that support network density and support reciprocity can be validly incorporated into a construct of “social capital” necessarily promoting mental health.     

Design and implementation of a telecollaboration project for primary school students to trigger intercultural understanding

ABSTRACT

Telecollaboration involving children around the world allows them to develop international understanding (IU). This paper reports on the design and implementation of a telecollaboration project between Japanese and Australian primary school students. The main purpose of the project, which integrates the contents of Social Studies and foreign language (FL) education, is to promote student interest in learning their own and a foreign language, as well as a foreign culture, using an educational social network site (SNS), in this case Edmodo. This study focused on Japanese students in particular. The exchange of cultural information online became a meaningful and authentic activity for communication in FL. Additionally, the evaluation showed that the Japanese students became more motivated to learn English and initiate IU. A curriculum-based telecollaboration project involving a long-term plan – instead of a one-off activity – is recommended in order to develop young students’ IU in FL education.     

Rank-dominant strategy and sincere voting

Theory and Decision - This study considers a voting rule wherein each player sincerely votes when he/she has no information about the preferences of the other players. We introduce the concept of...     

多文化共生:跨国移民与多元文化的新日本

美国人类学家玛格丽特·米德60年前在其未出版的一本著作题目中使用了"学习共同生活在一个世界".60年后的今天,这个题目还是那么贴切.日本近年展开的"多文化共生"项目就是走向"全人类生活在一个世界"之基本目标的一个尝试.