Noblesse Oblige? Determinants of Survival in a Life and Death Situation

This paper explored the determinants of survival in a life and death situation created by an external and unpredictable shock. We are interested to see whether pro-social behaviour matters in such extreme situations. We therefore focus on the sinking of the RMS Titanic as a quasi-natural experiment do provide behavioural evidence which is rare in such a controlled and life threatening event. The empirical results support that social norm such as �women and children first� survive in such an environment. We also observe that women of reproductive age have a higher probability of surviving among women. On the other hand, we observe that crew members used their information advantage and their better access to resources (e.g. lifeboats) to generate a higher probability of surviving. The paper also finds that passenger class, fitness, group size, and cultural background matter.Decision under Pressure, Altruism, Social Norms, Interdependent Preferences, Excess of Demand

Surviving the Titanic Disaster: Economic, Natural and Social Determinants

The sinking of the Titanic in April 1912 took the lives of 68 percent of the people aboard. Who survived? It was women and children who had a higher probability of being saved, not men. Likewise, people traveling in first class had a better chance of survival than those in second and third class. British passengers were more likely to perish than members of other nations.This extreme event represents a rare case of a well-documented life and death situation where social norms were enforced. This paper shows that economic analysis can account for human behavior in such situations.decision under pressure, tragic events and disasters, survival, quasi-natural experiment, altruism

Surviving the Titanic Disaster: Economic, Natural and Social Determinants

The sinking of the Titanic in April 1912 took the lives of 68 percent of the people aboard. Who survived? It was women and children who had a higher probability of being saved, not men. Likewise, people traveling in first class had a better chance of survival than those in second and third class. British passengers were more likely to perish than members of other nations. This extreme event represents a rare case of a well-documented life and death situation where social norms were enforced. This paper shows that economic analysis can account for human behavior in such situations.Decision under Pressure, Tragic Events and Disasters, Survival, Quasi-Natural Experiment, Altruism

Noblesse Oblige? Determinants of Survival in a Life and Death Situation

This paper explored the determinants of survival in a life and death situation created by an external and unpredictable shock. We are interested to see whether pro-social behaviour matters in such extreme situations. We therefore focus on the sinking of the RMS Titanic as a quasi-natural experiment do provide behavioural evidence which is rare in such a controlled and life threatening event. The empirical results support that social norm such as “women and children first” survive in such an environment. We also observe that women of reproductive age have a higher probability of surviving among women. On the other hand, we observe that crew members used their information advantage and their better access to resources (e.g. lifeboats) to generate a higher probability of surviving. The paper also finds that passenger class, fitness, group size, and cultural background matter.decision under pressure, altruism, social norms, interdependent preferences, excess of demand

High Sensitivity Array Observations of the z=4.4z = 4.4 QSO BRI 1335-0417

We present sensitive phase-referenced VLBI results on the radio continuum emission from the $z=4.4$ QSO BRI 1335--0417. The observations were carried out at 1.4 GHz using the High Sensitivity Array (HSA). Our sensitive VLBI image at $189 \times 113$ mas ($1.25 \times 0.75$ kpc) resolution shows continuum emission in BRI 1335--0417 with a total flux density of $208 \pm 46 \mu$Jy, consistent with the flux density measured with the VLA. The size of the source at FWHM is $255 \times 138$ mas ($1.7 \times 0.9$ kpc) and the derived intrinsic brightness temperature is $\sim 3.5\times 10^4$ K. No continuum emission is detected at the full VLBI resolution ($32 \times 7$ mas, $211 \times 46$ pc), with a 4$\sigma$ point source upper limit of 34 $\mu$Jy beam$^{-1}$, or an upper limit to the intrinsic brightness temperature of $5.6\times 10^5$ K. The highest angular resolution with at least a 4.5$\sigma$ detection of the radio continuum emission is $53 \times 27$ mas ($0.35 \times 0.18$ kpc). At this resolution, the image shows a continuum feature in BRI 1335--0417 with a size of $64 \times 35$ mas ($0.42 \times 0.23$ kpc) at FWHM, and intrinsic brightness temperature of $\sim 2\times 10^5$ K. The extent of the observed continuum sources at 1.4 GHz and the derived brightness temperatures show that the radio emission (and thus presumably the far-infrared emission) in BRI 1335--0417 is powered by a major starburst, with a massive star formation rate of order a few thousand M_{\odot} {\rm yr}^{-1}$. Moreover, the absence of any compact high-brightness temperature source suggests that there is no radio-loud AGN in this$z=4.4$ QSO.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, AJ accepte

The use of happiness research for public policy

Research on happiness tends to follow a "benevolent dictator" approach where politicians pursue people's happiness. This paper takes an antithetic approach based on the insights of public choice theory. First, we inquire how the results of happiness research may be used to improve the choice of institutions. Second, we show that the policy approach matters for the choice of research questions and the kind of knowledge happiness research aims to provide. Third, we emphasize that there is no shortcut to an optimal policy maximizing some happiness indicator or social welfare function since governments have an incentive to manipulate this indicator

High-resolution radio imaging of two luminous quasars beyond redshift 4.5

Context. Radio-loud active galactic nuclei in the early Universe are rare. The quasars J0906+6930 at redshift z=5.47 and J2102+6015 at z=4.57 stand out from the known sample with their compact emission on milliarcsecond (mas) angular scale with high (0.1-Jy level) flux densities measured at GHz radio frequencies. This makes them ideal targets for very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) observations. Aims. By means of VLBI imaging we can reveal the inner radio structure of quasars and model their brightness distribution to better understand the geometry of the jet and the physics of the sources. Methods. We present sensitive high-resolution VLBI images of J0906+6930 and J2102+6015 at two observing frequencies, 2.3 and 8.6 GHz. The data were taken in an astrometric observing programme involving a global five-element radio telescope array. We combined the data from five different epochs from 2017 February to August. Results. For one of the highest redshift blazars known, J0906+6930, we present the first-ever VLBI image obtained at a frequency below 8 GHz. Based on our images at 2.3 and 8.6 GHz, we confirm that this source has a sharply bent helical inner jet structure within ~3 mas from the core. The quasar J2102+6015 shows an elongated radio structure in the east-west direction within the innermost ~2 mas that can be described with a symmetric three-component brightness distribution model at 8.6 GHz. Because of their non-pointlike mas-scale structure, these sources are not ideal as astrometric reference objects. Our results demonstrate that VLBI observing programmes conducted primarily with astrometric or geodetic goals can be utilized for astrophysical purposes as well.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Regulating altruistic agents

Altruism or `regard for others' can encourage self-restraint among generators of negative externalities, thereby mitigating the externality problem. We explore how introducing impure altruism into standard regulatory settings alters regulatory prescriptions. We show that the optimal calibration of both quantitative controls and externality taxes are affected. It also leads to surprising results on the comparative performance of instruments. Under quantity-based regulation welfare is increasing in the propensity for altruism in the population; under price-based regulation the relationship is non-monotonic. Price-based regulation is preferred when the population is either predominantly altruistic or predominantly selfish, quantity-based regulation for cases in between

Nucleation-induced transition to collective motion in active systems

While the existence of polar ordered states in active systems is well established, the dynamics of the self-assembly processes are still elusive. We study a lattice gas model of self-propelled elongated particles interacting through excluded volume and alignment interactions, which shows a phase transition from an isotropic to a polar ordered state. By analyzing the ordering process we find that the transition is driven by the formation of a critical nucleation cluster and a subsequent coarsening process. Moreover, the time to establish a polar ordered state shows a power-law divergence