Exit Time Risk-Sensitive Control for Systems of Cooperative Agents

We study sequences, parametrized by the number of agents, of many agent exit time stochastic control problems with risk-sensitive cost structure. We identify a fully characterizing assumption, under which each of such control problem corresponds to a risk-neutral stochastic control problem with additive cost, and sequentially to a risk-neutral stochastic control problem on the simplex, where the specific information about the state of each agent can be discarded. We also prove that, under some additional assumptions, the sequence of value functions converges to the value function of a deterministic control problem, which can be used for the design of nearly optimal controls for the original problem, when the number of agents is sufficiently large

Trust, opportunism and governance

The paper considers a (static) portfolio system that satisfies adding-up contraints and the gross substitution theorem. The paper shows the relationship of the two conditions to the weak dominant diagonal property of the matrix of interest rate elasticities. This enables to investigate the impact of simultaneous changes in interest rates on the asset demands.

Exit time risk-sensitive stochastic control problems related to systems of cooperative agents

We study sequences, parametrized by the number of agents, of exit time stochastic control problems with risk-sensitive costs structures generate by unbounded costs. We identify a fully characterizing assumption, under which, each of them corresponds to a risk-neutral stochastic control problem with additive cost, and also to a risk-neutral stochastic control problem on the simplex, where the specific information about the state of each agent can be discarded. We finally prove that, under some additional assumptions, the sequence of value functions converges to the value function of a deterministic control problem

Mean-Field-Type Games in Engineering

A mean-field-type game is a game in which the instantaneous payoffs and/or the state dynamics functions involve not only the state and the action profile but also the joint distributions of state-action pairs. This article presents some engineering applications of mean-field-type games including road traffic networks, multi-level building evacuation, millimeter wave wireless communications, distributed power networks, virus spread over networks, virtual machine resource management in cloud networks, synchronization of oscillators, energy-efficient buildings, online meeting and mobile crowdsensing.Comment: 84 pages, 24 figures, 183 references. to appear in AIMS 201

Social Capital, Institutions and Trust

This paper analyzes the relations between social capital, institutions and trust.These concepts are full of ambiguity and confusion.This paper attempts to dissolve some of the confusion, by distinguishing trust and control, and analyzing institutional and relational conditions of trust.It presents a tool for the analysis of the foundations of trust and a diagnosis of its strength and viability.social capital;institutions;trust;economic systems

Regulating Clothing Outwork: A Sceptic's View

By applying the strategies of international anti-sweatshop campaigns to the Australian context, recent regulations governing home-based clothing production hold retailers responsible for policing the wages and employment conditions of clothing outworkers who manufacture clothing on their behalf. This paper argues that the new approach oversimplifies the regulatory challenge by assuming (1) that Australian clothing production is organised in a hierarchical ‘buyer-led’ linear structure in which core retail firms have the capacity to control their suppliers’ behaviour; (2) that firms act as unitary moral agents; and (3) that interventions imported from other times and places are applicable to the contemporary Australian context. After considering some alternative regulatory approaches, the paper concludes that the new regulatory strategy effectively privatises responsibility for labour market conditions – a development that cries out for further debate

Anglo-American corporate governance and the employment relationship: a case to answer

The corporate governance environment in the UK and US is generally thought to be hostile to the emergence of cooperative employment relations of the kind exemplified by labour-management partnerships. We discuss case study evidence from the UK which suggests that, contrary to this widespread perception, enduring and proactive partnerships may develop, in conditions where management can convince shareholders of the long-term gains from this approach, and where other regulatory factors operate to extend the time-horizon for financial returns. We conclude that there is more scope than is commonly allowed for measures which could reconcile liquidity in capital markets with cooperation in labour relations