43,952 research outputs found
Misery loves company: social influence and the supply/pricing decision of a popular restaurant
In a model with social influence, Becker (1991) offers an explanation for why popular restaurants with excess demand do not raise their prices. He also offers an explanation for why such restaurants do not increase supply but admits his explanation may be weak. Becker does not provide a formal analysis of why supply is not increased. In this paper, I present a formal analysis of Becker's argument based on a different kind of social influence. I also offer an alternative explanation of why some restaurants are popular and others are not. Finally, while Becker (1991) includes market demand and the gap between market demand and supply as separate arguements in the customers' demand function to explan why supply and price are not increased. I only include the gap between demand and supply in the customers' utility function to explain both puzzles.cost of failure; excess demand; social influence
Efficiently Computing Real Roots of Sparse Polynomials
We propose an efficient algorithm to compute the real roots of a sparse
polynomial having non-zero real-valued coefficients. It
is assumed that arbitrarily good approximations of the non-zero coefficients
are given by means of a coefficient oracle. For a given positive integer ,
our algorithm returns disjoint disks
, with , centered at the
real axis and of radius less than together with positive integers
such that each disk contains exactly
roots of counted with multiplicity. In addition, it is ensured
that each real root of is contained in one of the disks. If has only
simple real roots, our algorithm can also be used to isolate all real roots.
The bit complexity of our algorithm is polynomial in and , and
near-linear in and , where and constitute
lower and upper bounds on the absolute values of the non-zero coefficients of
, and is the degree of . For root isolation, the bit complexity is
polynomial in and , and near-linear in and
, where denotes the separation of the real roots
Adaptive kNN using Expected Accuracy for Classification of Geo-Spatial Data
The k-Nearest Neighbor (kNN) classification approach is conceptually simple -
yet widely applied since it often performs well in practical applications.
However, using a global constant k does not always provide an optimal solution,
e.g., for datasets with an irregular density distribution of data points. This
paper proposes an adaptive kNN classifier where k is chosen dynamically for
each instance (point) to be classified, such that the expected accuracy of
classification is maximized. We define the expected accuracy as the accuracy of
a set of structurally similar observations. An arbitrary similarity function
can be used to find these observations. We introduce and evaluate different
similarity functions. For the evaluation, we use five different classification
tasks based on geo-spatial data. Each classification task consists of (tens of)
thousands of items. We demonstrate, that the presented expected accuracy
measures can be a good estimator for kNN performance, and the proposed adaptive
kNN classifier outperforms common kNN and previously introduced adaptive kNN
algorithms. Also, we show that the range of considered k can be significantly
reduced to speed up the algorithm without negative influence on classification
accuracy
Evaluation of LTAG parsing with supertag compaction
One of the biggest concerns that has been raised over the feasibility of using large-scale LTAGs in NLP is the amount of redundancy within a grammarÂżs elementary tree set. This has led to various proposals on how best to represent grammars in a way that makes them compact and easily maintained (Vijay-Shanker and Schabes, 1992; Becker, 1993; Becker, 1994; Evans, Gazdar and Weir, 1995; Candito, 1996). Unfortunately, while this work can help to make the storage of grammars more efficient, it does nothing to prevent the problem reappearing when the grammar is processed by a parser and the complete set of trees is reproduced. In this paper we are concerned with an approach that addresses this problem of computational redundancy in the trees, and evaluate its effectiveness
401(k) Plan Expenses
Under a 401(k) plan, your benefit is your vested account balance. This account balance reflects the contributions you make to the plan, the contributions your employer makes to the plan on your behalf (if any), and investment gains and losses.
Many 401(k) plan participants are responsible for choosing how to invest their account balances. If you direct the investment of your 401(k) plan account balance, it is important to understand that fees and expenses may substantially reduce the growth of your 401(k) plan account balance over the course of your working life. The Department of Labor (DOL) estimates that paying 1% in extraneous fees can reduce your 401(k) plan account balance by 28% over the course of 35 years.
Accordingly, it is important to familiarize yourself with the various types of fees and expenses that can affect the growth of your 401(k) plan account balance. This fact sheet summarizes many of these common fees
Becker random behavior and the as-if defense of rational choice theory in demand analysis
In discussing rational choice theory (RCT) as an explanation of demand behavior, Becker (1962, Journal of Political Economy, 70, 1â13) proposed a model of random
choice in which consumers pick a bundle on their budget line according to a uniform distribution. This model has then been used in various ways to assess the validity of
RCT and to support as-if arguments in defense of it. This paper makes both historical and methodological contributions. Historically, it investigates how the interpretation of Becker random behavior evolved between the original 1962 article and the modern experimental literature on individual demand, and surveys six experiments in which it has been used as an alternative hypothesis to RCT. Methodologically, this paper conducts an assessment of the as-if defense of RCT from the standpoint of Beckerâs model. It argues that this defense is âweakâ in a number of senses, and that it has negatively influenced the design of experiments about RCT
Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras Winter Concert, February 2, 1992
This is the concert program of the Greater Boston Youth Symphony Orchestras Winter Concert on Sunday, February 2, 1992 at 4:00 p.m., at the Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue. Works performed were Concerto Grosso in D minor, Op. 3 No. 11 by Antonio Vivaldi, Allegro from Divertimento in F major K. 138 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Mazurka, Op. 7 by Frederic Chopin (arr. M. Balakirew), Traumerei by Robert Schumann (arr. J. Herbeck), Simple Symphony by Benjamin Britten, Allegro Assai from Symphony No. 31, K. 297 by W. A. Mozart, and Symphony No. 8 in G major, Op. 88 by Antonin DvorĂĄk. Digitization for Boston University Concert Programs was supported by the Boston University Humanities Library Endowed Fund
The Deviance of the Zookeepers
In May 1968 Alvin Gouldner published his attack on the âBecker Schoolâ of sociology (âThe Sociologist as Partisanâ). The essay was a sometimes sarcastic and brutal but characteristically insightful and sharp critique of what he called the âBecker Schoolâ of sociology â especially as it related to law-breaking and norm-transgressing outsiders. In attacking the failure of âsceptical deviancy theoryâ to confront the wider structural sources of power and authority, its seeming inability to address gross social divisions of wealth and status, and its lack of attention to the larger political and economic interests that were embedded in departments of State and industrial and financial corporations alike, Gouldner pinpointed with some accuracy the radical motivations of the soon-to-emerge ânew criminologyâ â in both its âleft idealistâ and âleft realistâ guises. What Gouldnerâs essay really exposed was a certain kind of âdeviant imaginationâ (c.f., Pearson, 1975) prevalent in the emerging critical criminologies of 1960s America (and then the UK, see Young, 1969). In this paper I use Gouldnerâs essay as a lens to investigate the âdeviant imaginationâ of contemporary critical criminologies and ask: who are the zookeepers of contemporary criminology and what is their deviant imagination
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