The Implications of Pricing on Social Learning

We study the implications of endogenous pricing for learning and welfare in the classic herding model . When prices are determined exogenously, it is known that learning occurs if and only if signals are unbounded. By contrast, we show that learning can occur when signals are bounded as long as non-conformism among consumers is scarce. More formally, learning happens if and only if signals exhibit the vanishing likelihood property introduced bellow. We discuss the implications of our results for potential market failure in the context of Schumpeterian growth with uncertainty over the value of innovations

Dispersal of Galactic Magnetic Fields into Intracluster Space

Little is known about the origin and basic properties of magnetic fields in clusters of galaxies. High conductivity in magnetized interstellar plasma suggests that galactic magnetic fields are (at least partly) ejected into intracluster (IC) space by the same processes that enrich IC gas with metals. We explore the dispersal of galactic fields by hydrodynamical simulations with our new {\em Enzo-Galcon} code, which is capable of tracking a large number galaxies during cluster assembly, and modeling the processes that disperse their interstellar media. Doing so we are able to describe the evolution of the mean strength of the field and its profile across the cluster. With the known density profile of dispersed gas and an estimated range of coherence scales, we predict the spatial distribution of Faraday rotation measure and find it to be consistent with observational data

A QBF-based Formalization of Abstract Argumentation Semantics

Supported by the National Research Fund, Luxembourg (LAAMI project) and by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC, UK), grant ref. EP/J012084/1 (SAsSY project).Peer reviewedPostprin

The Task of Being Content: Expatriate Wives in Beijing, Emotional Work and Patriarchal Bargain

Based upon an ethnographic study of western expatriate (expat) wives in Beijing, this paper describes these women’s ‘patriarchal bargain’ and the emotional labor it involves. Relocation entails pressures to support the husbands’ careers in various ways, interruption of their working and social life, and increased economic and social dependency. At the same time, however, it also allows them to enjoy leisure and prestige, and to conduct a privileged life style. This bargain demands an emotional labor on the women’s part: an ongoing effort to feel good with their life in Beijing. The study focuses on the strategies the women use in order to cope with ambivalence, to be content, and to demonstrate contentment