Endogenous Preferences and Private Provision of Public Goods: a Double Critical Mass Model

In this paper we set up an evolutionary game-theoretic model aimed at addressing the issue of local public good provision via direct commitment of voluntary forces (namely, private donors and nonprofit providers) only. Two classes of agents are assumed to strategically interact within a double critical mass model, where the provision and maintenance, on voluntary bases, of a public-type good is concerned. Uncertainty as to equilibrium outcomes emerges as within both categories a positive proportion of agents faces the temptation to opportunistically free ride on others efforts. Further, private donors and nonprofit providers payoff functions are interdependent, in the sense that (a) potential donors decide to be actual donors only insofar as a large enough proportion of nonprofit organizations provides a high effort level, otherwise they act as free riders; (b) nonprofit organizations, in turn, prefer to exert a high productive effort only insofar as a large enough proportion of potential donors acts as actual donors, otherwise they exert a low effort level. Through this analytical framework, we are able to focus on the critical factors affecting the dynamic outcome of such interaction: under certain conditions, in a medium-long run perspective, even in contexts where, initially, either a large proportion of agents behaves as free riders or a large proportion of nonprofit organizations exerts a low effort level, the local public good may be provided.Public Goods; Evolutionary Crowding-out; Voluntary Sector;

Public Security vs. Private Self-Protection: Optimal Taxation and the Social Dynamics of Fear

In this paper, we develop a simple model of social dynamics governing the evolution of strategic self-protection choices of boundedly rational potential victims facing the threat of prospective offenders in a large population with random matching. We prove that individual (and socially transmitted) fear of exposure to criminal threats may actually condition choices even in the face of objective evidence of declining crime rates, and thereby cause the eventual selection of Pareto inefficient equilibria with self-protection. We also show that a suitable strategy of provision of public security financed through discriminatory taxation of self-protective expenses may actually overcome this problem, and drive the social dynamics toward the efficient no protection equilibrium. In our model, we do not obtain, as in Cressman et al. (1998), a crowding-out result such that the net impact of public spending on the actual social dynamics is neutral and the economy keeps on cycling between phases of high and low criminal activity with varying levels of self-protection; quite to the contrary, it can be extremely effective in implementing the social optimum, in that it acts primarily on the intangible dimension, that is, on the social dynamics of fear. We claim that this kind of result calls for more interdisciplinary research on the socio-psycho-economic determinants of fear of crime, and for consequent advances in modelling approaches and techniques.Self-Protection, Fear of Crime, Cultural Selection Dynamics, Replicator Dynamics

Participation, growth and social poverty: social capital in a homogeneous society

We introduce social capital accumulation into a neoclassical model, showing how it differs from physical and human capital accumulation. We take the view that social capital is crucial to the enjoyment of socially provided goods and that it is mainly accumulated by means of participation to social activities. Under-investment in social capital maylead a growing economy to fall into a social poverty trap. We argue that this risk is particularly relevant for advanced societies.Social capital; self-protection choices; social poverty traps

Economic Growth and Social Poverty: The Evolution of Social Participation

We develop an evolutionary model of growth in which agents choose how to allocate their time between private and social activities. We argue that a shift from social to private activities may foster market-based growth, but also generate social poverty. Within a formal framework that merges a game theoretic analysis of the evolution of social participation with a model of dynamic accumulation of its effects on social environment (i.e., of social capital accumulation), we show that growth and well-being may evolve in opposite directions (a plausible outcome for advanced and affluent societies).Time Allocation, Social Capital, Relational Goods

Social capital accumulation and the evolution of social partecipation

We study the co-evolution of social participation and social capital accumulation, taking the view that the former contributes to the latter, and both contribute to the enjoyment of relational goods Within this framework, we show that a process of substitution of private for social activities (observable in some advanced, affluent economies), might be self-reinforcing and lead to a Pareto-dominated steady state. We find some scope for policy intervention, but we also acknowledge its difficulty.Social Capita; Well-being; Time Allocation

Expectations, Animal Spirits, and Evolutionary Dynamics

We consider a (deterministic) evolutionary model where players have dynamic expectations about the strategy distribution. We provide a global analysis of the co-evolution of play and expectations for a generic two{by{two game. Besides the the typical indeterminacy of the evolutionary dynamics, we find some other ones: for any initial strategy configuration the dynamics can converge to any asymptotically stable fixed point, for different initial values of the expectations. Moreover, starting from the same initial pair of strategy configuration and values of expectations, the dynamics may lead to different asymptotically stable fixed points for different parameters of the expectations.evolutionary games, dynamic systems, animal spirits

Bertrand Vs. Cournot: An Evolutionary Approach

In this paper we study an oligopoly game with a differentiated product using a dynamic evolutionary approach. Firms are allowed to choose between quantity setting and price setting behavior. We find that, under both classical interaction structures, namely 'random mating' and 'paying the field'. Quantity setting behavior (i.e., 'Cournot' behavior), is selected as an asymptotically stable state for the dynamics

Critical mass effect and restructuring in the transition towards a market economy

Restructuring firms in a transition economy produces a sort of network externality, in that the profitability of restructuring depends on the number of firms that already adopted this strategy. We investigate under what conditions a ''critical mass'' exists, i.e. a situation in which such extemality is positive, and restructuring spurs imitation, possibly leading to the eventual transformation of the whole economy. We find a critical mass effect when the main effect of restructuring is an increase in value added (i.e., aggregate demand) rather than an increase in the firm's ability to compete against rival home firms. The critical mass case becomes the typical one when competition spurs firms' efficiency

La Responsabilità Sociale d’Impresa prospettive teoriche nel dibattito italiano

This paper is meant as a discussion of different methodological approaches to the analysis of corporate social responsibility (CSR), sorted out through a scrutiny of the literature that has emerged from the recent Italian debate. The first stream of literature is embedded in the neo-classical approach that adapts – to the contemporary economic environment - the famous Milton Friedman’s statement that the social responsibility of the firm is to make profits (Friedman, 1970). The second stream refers to a neo-contractualist approach, mainly developed by Lorenzo Sacconi (2004, 2005), that can be considered as an insightful application of incomplete contracts theory, strongly characterized by a contractualist-oriented ethical perspective. The third stream is the relational approach developed by Bruni and Zamagni (2004), which takes the issue of social reproduction into account in the description of the economic system, thereby looking at firms as producers of socially provided goods. Finally, we propose an integration between these different perspectives through the adoption of a conventionalist definition of CSR