11,857 research outputs found
Spatial interactions in agent-based modeling
Agent Based Modeling (ABM) has become a widespread approach to model complex
interactions. In this chapter after briefly summarizing some features of ABM
the different approaches in modeling spatial interactions are discussed.
It is stressed that agents can interact either indirectly through a shared
environment and/or directly with each other. In such an approach, higher-order
variables such as commodity prices, population dynamics or even institutions,
are not exogenously specified but instead are seen as the results of
interactions. It is highlighted in the chapter that the understanding of
patterns emerging from such spatial interaction between agents is a key problem
as much as their description through analytical or simulation means.
The chapter reviews different approaches for modeling agents' behavior,
taking into account either explicit spatial (lattice based) structures or
networks. Some emphasis is placed on recent ABM as applied to the description
of the dynamics of the geographical distribution of economic activities, - out
of equilibrium. The Eurace@Unibi Model, an agent-based macroeconomic model with
spatial structure, is used to illustrate the potential of such an approach for
spatial policy analysis.Comment: 26 pages, 5 figures, 105 references; a chapter prepared for the book
"Complexity and Geographical Economics - Topics and Tools", P. Commendatore,
S.S. Kayam and I. Kubin, Eds. (Springer, in press, 2014
Privacy as a Public Good
Privacy is commonly studied as a private good: my personal data is mine to protect and control, and yours is yours. This conception of privacy misses an important component of the policy problem. An individual who is careless with data exposes not only extensive information about herself, but about others as well. The negative externalities imposed on nonconsenting outsiders by such carelessness can be productively studied in terms of welfare economics. If all relevant individuals maximize private benefit, and expect all other relevant individuals to do the same, neoclassical economic theory predicts that society will achieve a suboptimal level of privacy. This prediction holds even if all individuals cherish privacy with the same intensity. As the theoretical literature would have it, the struggle for privacy is destined to become a tragedy.
But according to the experimental public-goods literature, there is hope. Like in real life, people in experiments cooperate in groups at rates well above those predicted by neoclassical theory. Groups can be aided in their struggle to produce public goods by institutions, such as communication, framing, or sanction. With these institutions, communities can manage public goods without heavy-handed government intervention. Legal scholarship has not fully engaged this problem in these terms. In this Article, we explain why privacy has aspects of a public good, and we draw lessons from both the theoretical and the empirical literature on public goods to inform the policy discourse on privacy
Giving and Volunteering in the Netherlands : Sociological and Psychological Perspectives
Dissertation of the University of Utrecht
Volunteer work, membership of voluntary associations, philanthropy and
donation of blood and organs are studied by scholars from a wide range of disciplines.
Sociologists and economists assume that good intentions are universal, but that some
people have a stock of human and social capital that allows them to fulfill these
intentions while others lack the resources to do so. Thus, they have studied the effects
of financial capital (income and wealth), human capital (level of education and health),
and social capital (community and religious involvement) on giving and volunteering.
Personality and social psychologists, on the other hand, argue that across a variety of
social conditions, some people are more likely to contribute because they have an
âaltruistic personalityâ: they are more helpful, empathic, or more able to take the
perspective of people in need, while others are more likely to refuse, evade, or forget
their duties. However, we know very little about the relative effects of personality
characteristics and social conditions on prosocial behavior. Therefore, the first research
question of this dissertation is: To what extent can giving and volunteering behavior be
explained by prosocial motives and other psychological characteristics of people and
the social conditions in which they live?
But we know even less about the interactive effects of personality characteristics
and social conditions. This is the second research question: In which conditions are
prosocial motives and other psychological characteristics more strongly related to
giving and volunteering? An economist would say: especially if it does not cost them
too much. This idea is called the âlow cost hypothesisâ. Another idea in this regard
originated in personality psychology, and predicts that people act upon their individual
preferences when the expectations of others about their behavior are rather unclear.
This idea is called the âweak situation hypothesisâ.
Using data of the Family Survey of the Dutch Population 2000 (n=1,587), I find
that on average, about 30% of all the variance in the examples of prosocial behavior
that was explained by the most extensive regression models was due to personality
characteristics and social value orientations. The most distinctive characteristic of
people who give time, money, blood and organs is their higher than average level of
education. In addition, people who are more religious, live in smaller communities,
work more hours for pay and earn higher incomes also tend to contribute more.
In contrast to the low cost-hypothesis and the weak situation-hypothesis,
personality is not more important for giving and volunteering when the price of giving
is low or social pressure is weak. However, I found evidence that the relations of giving
and volunteering with social conditions such as education or church attendance are
partly due to personality characteristics; and that purely sociological studies of
participation can lead to biased estimates of the effects of social conditions such as age
and education. The major implication for scholars is that studies from either sociology
or psychology are incomplete because they disregard the role of the determinants that
are part of the other discipline.
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Meer dan tachtig procent van de Nederlandse huishoudens geeft geld aan âgoede
doelenâ. Ongeveer Ă©Ă©n derde van de Nederlanders is regelmatig actief als onbetaald vrijwilliger voor een vereniging. EĂ©n op de zes Nederlanders heeft besloten zijn of haar organen voor transplantatie of de wetenschap ter beschikking te stellen na de dood. En ongeveer Ă©Ă©n op de twintig Nederlanders geeft minstens Ă©Ă©n keer per jaar bloed bij de bloedbank. Geefgedrag â het geven van geld aan goede doelen, het geven van bloed, van organen, en het geven van tijd door vrijwilligerswerk â heet ook wel prosociaal gedrag. Het gaat om bijdragen aan collectieve goederen: zij vragen een persoonlijk offer van de gever, waarvan de baten ten goede komen aan groepen burgers of de samenleving als geheel.
Wie geeft er eigenlijk tijd, geld, bloed en organen? En waarom geven deze mensen
ĂŒberhaupt tijd, geld, bloed en organen ten bate van anderen, als dat ten koste van henzelf gaat?
Dit proefschrift bestudeert deze vragen vanuit twee verschillende disciplines in de
sociale wetenschappen: vanuit de sociologie, en vanuit de sociale en persoonlijkheidspsychologie.
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