Minimizing regret when dissolving a partnership

We study the problem of dissolving an equal-entitlement partnership when the objective is to minimize maximum regret. We initially focus on the family of linear-pricing mechanisms and derive regret-optimizing strategies. We also demonstrate that there exist linear-pricing mechanisms satisfying ex-post efficiency. Next, we analyze a binary-search mechanism which is ex-post individually rational. We discuss connections with the standard Bayesian-Nash framework for both linear and binary-search mechanisms. On a more general level, we show that if entitlements are unequal, ex-post efficiency and ex-post individual rationality impose significant restrictions on permissible mechanisms. In particular, they rule out both linear and binary-search mechanisms.Partnership dissolution; minimax regret; fair division; allocative efficiency

Bidding a bridge hand: a thesis on knowledge acquisition and application

Computerizing the game of Bridge has not yet met with much success. The efforts to date have fallen short of any reasonable technical proficiency. The game does appear to be perfectly suited for an expert system, however, since the game can be segmented into three contexts (Bidding, Play of the Hand, and Defense), each context can be described by a set of rules, and a series of inferences can be used to fire those rules. Each of the contexts is reviewed, then Bidding is chosen for further research. This thesis claims that the set of all hands subdivides into 1 1 bidding classifications, based on a number of selection criteria. One of these subsets, Invitational Hands, is studied in detail Classic knowledge acquisition techniques are used to define Invitational Hands, assimilate the knowledge, then translate the facts, inferences, deductions and suppositions into a knowledge base. Changes in the state of the auction as bidding progresses are stored in state variables. These state variables are used to navigate the knowledge base to find the next bid. The interaction of state variable settings and facts firing rules in the knowledge base implement a frame architecture

Costs, Complexification and Crisis: Government's Human Services Contracting System Hurts Everyone

Multiple government reports, news accounts from across the country, and now hard data from the first comprehensive nationwide survey of problems nonprofits experience through government contracts all point to one inescapable conclusion: while governments rely extensively on nonprofits to deliver human services to their most vulnerable residents, governments do so using a contracting "system" that is so woefully broken that it now jeopardizes public health and safety.The decisions to rely on nonprofits to provide services have sound policy, economic, and administrative justifications. Yet the convoluted, disjointed, and patch-worked laws and practices by which governments contract with nonprofits have led to nonpayment, underpayments, and late payments to nonprofits, in part because contracting and reporting processes have become excessively complex and irrational (through continual "complexification" as opposed to simplification).The Urban Institute's new in-depth study, Human Service Nonprofits and Government Collaboration: Findings from the 2010 National Survey of Nonprofit Government Contracting and Grants ("Urban Institute Study"), provides the results of the first national survey documenting the serious and widespread problems experienced by nonprofit human service providers under contract with governments at the local, state, and federal levels.1 Human service nonprofits include groups that provide essential needs such as food assistance, public safety, housing, child care, community and economic development, youth development, and more (but do not include other charitable nonprofits, such as arts and culture, education, or health care).This related Special Report by the National Council of Nonprofits provides additional context to the Urban Institute's findings. This Report explains how the contracting problems affect everyone in America, not just nonprofits. It also identifies specific practices that contribute to the problems being experienced, and proposes solutions that nonprofits, government officials, funders, and citizens can adopt to improve services, restore value for taxpayers, and benefit communities

Right-to-Choose Auctions: A Field Study of Water Markets in the Limari Valley of Chile

Field experiments were conducted with farmers in the Limarí Valley of Chile to test extant theory on right-to-choose auctions. Water volumes that differed by reservoir source and time of availability were offered for sale by the research team. The auctions were supplemented by protocols to elicit risk and time preferences of bidders. We find that the right-to-choose auctions raise significantly more revenue than the benchmark sequential auction. Risk attitudes explain a substantial amount of the difference in bidding between auction institutions, consonant with received theory. The auction bidding revealed distinct preferences for water types, which has implications for market re-design.auction design, field experiments,water market

Private opportunity, public benefit?

The newly elected Labour government has pledged to ‘reinvigorate the Private Finance Initiative’, as part of the new emphasis on ‘public/private partnerships’ in the delivery of core public services. This article assesses the merits of using private finance to deliver public services against three criteria: whether it will lead to additional investment in social infrastructure, whether it represents good value for the taxpayer’s money and whether the use of private finance will reduce the public sector’s flexibility to pursue its public service objectives.

It’s Time! Revising the Factors that Impact Computer-based Training Application Development for an Aging Population

This paper discusses the results of a literature survey that identifies key factors related to the development of high quality computer-based training (CBT) applications. A special focus of this study is on training older adults. Analysis of case study data identifies how a CBT application is used by an 83 year old man to increase his skill and personal competitive advantage. This study begins to explore the concerns of the elderly using CBT applications. A framework is developed that may be used by application developers to help support training objectives in the context of an aging population

United States-Canada Trade and Economic Relationship: Prospects and Challenges

[Excerpt] The terrorist attacks of 2001 focused attention on the U.S.-Canadian border. Several bilateral initiatives have been undertaken to minimize disruption to commerce from added border security. The focus on the border has renewed interest in some quarters in greater economic integration, either through incremental measures such as greater regulatory cooperation or potentially larger goals such as a customs or monetary union. Congressional interest has focused mostly on trade disputes, and also on the ability of the two nations to continue their traditional volume of trade with heightened security on the border