scholarly journals Localized prosocial preferences, public goods, and common-pool resources

2018 ◽  
Vol 116 (12) ◽  
pp. 5305-5310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Tilman ◽  
Avinash K. Dixit ◽  
Simon A. Levin
Keyword(s):  
Public Goods ◽  
Concave Function ◽  
Social Optimum ◽  
Public Inputs ◽  
The Social ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Individual Contributions ◽  
Public Bads

The presence of prosocial preferences is thought to reduce significantly the difficulty of solving societal collective action problems such as providing public goods (or reducing public bads). However, prosociality is often limited to members of an in-group. We present a general theoretical model where society is split into subgroups and people care more about the welfare of others in their own subgroup than they do about those in out-groups. Individual contributions to the public good spill over and benefit members in each group to different degrees. We then consider special cases of our general model under which we can examine the consequences of localized prosociality for the economic outcomes of society as a whole. We ask to what extent prosociality closes the welfare gap between the Nash equilibrium without prosociality and the social optimum. The answer depends on whether private and public inputs are good or poor substitutes in producing final output. Critically, the degree to which this welfare gap closes is a concave function of the level of prosociality in the case of poor substitutes, so even low levels of prosociality can lead to social welfare near the social optimum.

scholarly journals Give and Let Give: Alternative Mechanisms Based on Voluntary Contributions

Games ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip D. Grech
Keyword(s):  
Nash Equilibrium ◽  
Social Preferences ◽  
Social Dilemma ◽  
Social Optimum ◽  
New Family ◽  
The Social ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Common Group ◽  
Vantage Points ◽  
Other Regarding

We propose a new family of mechanisms, whereby players may give more or less directly to one another. A cornerstone case is the regular linear public goods mechanism (LPGM), where all contribute into a single common group account, the total amount of which is then distributed equally among players. We show that with sufficiently (yet not necessarily fully) pro-social preferences, the social optimum can be reached in Nash equilibrium in all social dilemma situations described by our mechanisms (including the LPGM). In addition, for a given heterogeneity of pro-social preferences, we help to identify which specific mechanisms perform best in terms of incentivizing giving. Our results are therefore relevant from two vantage points. One, they provide proper rational choice benchmarks based on Nash equilibrium under the assumption of other-regarding preferences. Two, they provide arguments in favor of re-structuring many collective action problems currently implemented as LPGMs when it is feasible to gain some information concerning who has concern for whom.

scholarly journals Competing for Loyalty: The Dynamics of Rallying Support

2017 ◽  
Vol 107 (10) ◽  
pp. 2990-3005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matias Iaryczower ◽  
Santiago Oliveros
Keyword(s):  
Collective Action ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Dynamic Problem ◽  
Vote Buying ◽  
Corporate Takeovers ◽  
Positive Externalities ◽  
Collective Action Problems ◽  
Public Bads

We consider a class of dynamic collective action problems in which either a single principal or two competing principals vie for the support of members of a group. We focus on the dynamic problem that emerges when agents negotiate and commit their support to principals sequentially. We show that competition reduces agents' welfare with public goods, or if and only if there are positive externalities on uncommitted agents, and increases agents' welfare with public bads. We apply the model to the study of corporate takeovers, vote buying, and exclusive deals. (JEL D42, D62, D72, D82, G34, H41)

Satu Kahkonen and Anthony Lanyi. Institutions, Incentives, and Economic Reforms in India. New Delhi: Sage Publications, 2000. 516 pages. Hardback. Price Indian Rs 595.00.

2001 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 71-74
Author(s):  
Attiya Y. Javed
Keyword(s):  
Reform Process ◽  
New Delhi ◽  
Social Rules ◽  
Reform Agenda ◽  
The Social ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Rural Governance ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Economic Landscape ◽  
Number Of Authors

The economic reform process began in India in 1991. However, the reform agenda is still far from its goals as is evident from low per capita income. Thus, this reform effort has not produced the desired outcome of a faster rate of economic and social development in a meaningful way. It is the premise of this volume that to transform the social and economic landscape, the proposed reforms should be broadbased and multi-pronged which take into account incentives for the stockholders in both the private and public sectors. The institutions are the rules that govern economy and include the fundamental legal, political, and social rules that establish the basis for production, exchange, and distribution. The two editors of this volume have received contributions from a number of authors and the wide range of papers are grouped under five main headings: political economy of reforms, reforming public goods delivery, reform issues in agriculture and rural governance, and reforming the district and financial sector.

An Introduction to Statistical Models for Networks

2020 ◽  
pp. 218-233
Author(s):  
Valentina Kuskova ◽  
Stanley Wasserman
Keyword(s):  
Social System ◽  
Exponential Family ◽  
Behavioral Science ◽  
Social Science Research ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Uniform Distributions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Special Cases ◽  
Social And Behavioral Science ◽  
Network Methods

Network theoretical and analytic approaches have reached a new level of sophistication in this decade, accompanied by a rapid growth of interest in adopting these approaches in social science research generally. Of course, much social and behavioral science focuses on individuals, but there are often situations where the social environment—the social system—affects individual responses. In these circumstances, to treat individuals as isolated social atoms, a necessary assumption for the application of standard statistical analysis is simply incorrect. Network methods should be part of the theoretical and analytic arsenal available to sociologists. Our focus here will be on the exponential family of random graph distributions, p*, because of its inclusiveness. It includes conditional uniform distributions as special cases.

scholarly journals A game theoretic approach reveals that discretizing clinical information can reduce antibiotic misuse

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Diamant ◽  
Shoham Baruch ◽  
Eias Kassem ◽  
Khitam Muhsen ◽  
Dov Samet ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Antibiotic Prescription ◽  
Clinical Information ◽  
Social Optimum ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
Theoretic Analysis ◽  
Game Theoretic Analysis ◽  
Optimal Output ◽  
The Social ◽  
Game Theoretic ◽  
Game Theoretic Approach

AbstractThe overuse of antibiotics is exacerbating the antibiotic resistance crisis. Since this problem is a classic common-goods dilemma, it naturally lends itself to a game-theoretic analysis. Hence, we designed a model wherein physicians weigh whether antibiotics should be prescribed, given that antibiotic usage depletes its future effectiveness. The physicians’ decisions rely on the probability of a bacterial infection before definitive laboratory results are available. We show that the physicians’ equilibrium decision rule of antibiotic prescription is not socially optimal. However, we prove that discretizing the information provided to physicians can mitigate the gap between their equilibrium decisions and the social optimum of antibiotic prescription. Despite this problem’s complexity, the effectiveness of the discretization solely depends on the type of information available to the physician to determine the nature of infection. This is demonstrated on theoretic distributions and a clinical dataset. Our results provide a game-theory based guide for optimal output of current and future decision support systems of antibiotic prescription.

scholarly journals Changes in Value Orientations in Serbia, 2003–2018 . Patriarchy, Authoritarianism and Nationalism

Südosteuropa ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 68 (3) ◽  
pp. 408-431
Author(s):  
Irena Petrović ◽  
Marija Radoman
Keyword(s):  
Structural Changes ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Value Orientations ◽  
The Other ◽  
Social Changes ◽  
Ethnic Nationalism ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private And Public

AbstractThe authors analyze the changes in value patterns—patriarchy, authoritarianism and nationalism—in Serbia in the context of the social changes that have marked the postsocialist transformation period. They focus on the extent and intensity of two sub-patterns within each of these three basic value patterns: private and public patriarchy, general and specific authoritarianism, organic (natural) and ethnic nationalism. The conclusions about changes in these value patterns are drawn on the basis of three empirical studies conducted in 2003, 2012, and 2018. They show the prevalence of private patriarchy, general authoritarianism, and organic (natural) nationalism over their counterparts. Private patriarchy has weakened, which is largely to be explained by the significant structural changes in Serbia. On the other hand, support of general authoritarianism and organic (natural) nationalism has been on the rise, which clearly mirrors the unfavorable economic and political situation in the country.

Baptising Pandita Ramabai: Faith and religiosity in the nineteenth-century social reform movements of colonial India

2021 ◽  
pp. 001946462110203
Author(s):  
Dikshit Sarma Bhagabati ◽  
Prithvi Sinha ◽  
Sneha Garg
Keyword(s):  
Social Work ◽  
Religious Identity ◽  
Annual Reports ◽  
Colonial State ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Pandita Ramabai ◽  
Role Of Religion

This essay aims to understand the role of religion in the social work of Pandita Ramabai (1858-1922). By focusing on a twenty-five-year period commencing with her conversion to Christianity in 1883, we argue that religion constructed a political framework for her work in Sharada Sadan and Mukti Mission. There is a lacuna in the conventional scholarship that underplays the nuances of religion in Ramabai’s reform efforts, which we try to fill by conceptualising faith and religiosity as two distinct signifiers of her private and public religious presentations respectively. Drawing on her published letters, the annual reports of the Ramabai Association in America, and a number of evangelical periodicals published during her lifetime, we analyse how she explored Christianity not just as a personal faith but also as a conduit for funds. The conversion enabled her access to American supporters, concomitantly consolidating their claim over her social work. Her peculiar religious identity—a conflation of Hinduism and Christianity—provoked strong protests from the Hindu orthodoxy while leading to a fall-out with the evangelists at the same time. Ramabai shaped the public portrayal of her religiosity to maximise support from American patrons, the colonial state, and liberal Indians, resisting the orthodoxy’s oppositions with these material exploits. Rather than surrendering to patriarchal cynicism, she capitalised on the socio-political volatilities of colonial India to further the nascent women’s movement.

scholarly journals Assessing traveler compliance with the social optimum: A stated preference study

2021 ◽  
Vol 23 ◽  
pp. 177-191
Author(s):  
Guilhem Mariotte ◽  
Ludovic Leclercq ◽  
Humberto Gonzalez Ramirez ◽  
Jean Krug ◽  
Cécile Bécarie
Keyword(s):  
Stated Preference ◽  
Social Optimum ◽  
The Social ◽  
Preference Study

scholarly journals Optimal Policy with Heterogeneous Preferences

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Kaplow
Keyword(s):  
Social Welfare ◽  
Public Goods ◽  
Optimal Policy ◽  
Income Tax ◽  
Social Welfare Function ◽  
Income Taxation ◽  
Heterogeneous Preferences ◽  
Commodity Taxation ◽  
Policy Rules ◽  
The Social

Abstract Optimal policy rules—including those regarding income taxation, commodity taxation, public goods, and externalities—are typically derived in models with homogeneous preferences. This article reconsiders many central results for the case in which preferences for commodities, public goods, and externalities are heterogeneous. When preference differences are observable, standard second-best results in basic settings are unaffected, except those for the optimal income tax. Optimal levels of income taxation may be higher, the same, or lower on types who derive more utility from various goods, depending on the nature of preference differences and the concavity of the social welfare function. When preference differences are unobservable, all policy rules may change. The determinants of even the direction of optimal rule adjustments are many and subtle.

Dynamic roles of social presence and individual differences in social TV platforms

2021 ◽  
pp. 135485652110575
Author(s):  
Jihyun Kim ◽  
Kelly Merrill
Keyword(s):  
Individual Differences ◽  
Social Presence ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
Unique Form ◽  
Tv Viewing ◽  
Television Content ◽  
Social Tv ◽  
The Social ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
The Individual

These days, many individuals engage in a unique form of TV viewing that includes a simultaneous act of watching television content and talking about it with others in a mediated environment. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as social TV viewing. Responding to the popularity of this form of TV viewing behavior, the present study examines the individual differences of the social TV viewing experience, particularly with regard to different communication platforms (e.g. private vs. public). Based on the data collected from an online survey, primary findings indicate that extroverted and lonely individuals have different social TV viewing experiences such as preferences for a particular type of platforms for social TV viewing. Further, social presence plays an important role in the understanding of social TV enjoyment in private and public platforms.

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