On the coase theorem and coalitional stability: the principle of equal relative concession

The Coase theorem is argued to be incompatible with bargaining set stability due to a tension between the grand coalition and sub-coalitions. We provide a counter-intuitive argument to demonstrate that the Coase theorem may be in complete consonance with bargaining set stability. We establish that an uncertainty concerning the formation of sub-coalitions will explain such compatibility: each agent fears that others may `gang up' against him and this fear forces the agents to negotiate. The grand coalition emerges from the negotiations if each agent uses the principle of equal relative sacrifice to determine the actual allocation. We also establish the rational basis for the choice of the principle of equal relative concession by the negotiating agents. Hence we argue that the Coase theorem will be valid even if there are stable sub-coalitions.     

Civic-secular and ethnic nationalisms as bases of the nation-state: multiculturalism at the crossroads? 1

The dominant Eurocentric paradigm of the nation and the nation-state was premised on western historical experience that was indigenous to the west but claimed universality for the rest. Many post-colonial countries, particularly those that went through national liberation struggles, like India and China, with multi-ethnic mobilisations, established sovereign states. The nationalist leaders claimed the unity of nationhood for their culturally diverse countries (states), with their millennia-deep civilisational identity, compelling a new discourse on the untenability of the classic Eurocentric paradigm. The second development witnessed the inevitable cultural heterogenisation of the western countries premised on the expansion of the (immigrant) labour market through an ever-enveloping regime of economic liberalisation and world trade. The catharsis of the invasion of cheaper labour from culturally diverse countries, often native-displacing, resulted in western countries attempting to accommodate the emerging changing reality in the context of mono-cultural nations through the concept and policy of multiculturalism. In spite of this, western countries have been witness to intercultural violence, racial discrimination and threats of home grown terrorism. The paper seeks to distinguish between ‘pluralism’ and ‘multiculturalism’ and argues for a reformulation of the concept of the nation-state that will have greater applicability across states.     

ON THE ROBUSTNESS OF MAJORITY RULE

We show that simple majority rule satisfies five standard and attractive axioms—the Pareto property, anonymity, neutrality, independence of irrelevant alternatives, and (generic) decisiveness—over a larger class of preference domains than (essentially) any other voting rule. Hence, in this sense, it is the most robust voting rule. This characterization of majority rule provides an alternative to that of May (1952). (JEL: D71)     

Giving to family versus giving to the community within and across generations

In this paper, we examine the impact of parental giving on the transfer behavior of adult children to family members and community institutions using unique data from the Indonesian Family Life Surveys. Our findings point to persistence of private transfer networks across generations. In particular, the community transfer decisions of adults living outside origin households are positively influenced by the origin household’s community giving. We also investigate the relationship between household transfers to family and community networks. We find that unobserved heterogeneity in giving to family members and community organizations is positively correlated, suggesting important complementarities between transfer networks.     

Analysis of dose-response in flexible dose titration clinical studies

Assessing dose-response from flexible-dose clinical trials (e.g., titration or dose escalation studies) is challenging and often problematic due to the selection bias caused by 'titration-to-response'. We investigate the performance of a dynamic linear mixed-effects (DLME) model and marginal structural model (MSM) in evaluating dose-response from flexible-dose titration clinical trials via simulations. The simulation results demonstrated that DLME models with previous exposure as a time-varying covariate may provide an unbiased and efficient estimator to recover exposure-response relationship from flexible-dose clinical trials. Although the MSM models with independent and exchangeable working correlations appeared to be able to recover the right direction of the dose-response relationship, it tended to over-correct selection bias and overestimated the underlying true dose-response. The MSM estimators were also associated with large variability in the parameter estimates. Therefore, DLME may be an appropriate modeling option in identifying dose-response when data from fixed-dose studies are absent or a fixed-dose design is unethical to be implemented.     

ON THE POWER BREAKDOWN OF THE NEGATIVE EXPONENTIAL DISPARITY TESTS

The generalized negative exponential disparity, discussed in Bhandari et al. (Robust inference in parametric models using the family of generalized negative exponential disparities, 2006, ANZJS, 48 , 95–114), represents an important class of disparity measures that generates efficient estimators and tests with strong robustness properties. In their paper, however, Bhandari et al. failed to provide a sharp lower bound for the power breakdown point of the corresponding tests. This was acknowledged by the authors, who indicated the possible existence of a sharper bound, but noted that they did not “have a proof at this point”. In this paper we provide an improved bound for this power breakdown point, and show with an example how this can enhance the existing results.     

Modified Robust Second-Order Slope-Rotatable Designs

Generally it is very difficult to construct robust slope-rotatable designs along axial directions. Present paper focuses on modified second-order slope-rotatable designs (SOSRDs) with correlated errors. Modified robust second-order slope-rotatability conditions are derived for a general variance–covariance structure of errors. These conditions get simplified for intraclass correlation structure. A few robust second-order slope-rotatable designs (over all directions, or with equal maximum directional variance slope, or D-optimal slope) are examined with respect to modified robust slope-rotatability. It is observed that robust second-order slope-rotatable designs over all directions, or with equal maximum directional variance slope, or D-optimal slope are not generally modified robust second-order slope-rotatable designs.