On properties of division rules lifted by bilateral consistency

We consider the problem of adjudicating conflicting claims in the context of a variable population. A property of rules is "lifted" if whenever a rule satisfies it in the two-claimant case, and the rule is bilaterally consistent, it satisfies it for any number of claimants. We identify a number of properties that are lifted, such as equal treatment of equals, resource monotonicity, composition down and composition up, and show that continuity, anonymity and self-duality are not lifted. However, each of these three properties is lifted if the rule is resource monotonic.claims problems, consistency, lifting, constrained equal awards rule, constrained equal losses rule

Consistency, converse consistency, and aspirations in TU-games

In problems of choosing ‘aspirations’ for TU-games, we study two axioms, ‘MW-consistency’ and ‘converse MW-consistency.’ In particular, we study which subsolutions of the aspiration correspondence satisfy MW-consistency and/or converse MW-consistency. We also provide axiomatic characterizations of the aspiration kernel and the aspiration nucleolus

Pairwise stable and stochastically stable networks in the four-person co-author model

The co-author model is introduced by Jackson and Wolinsky (1996, Journal of Economic Theory) as a typical example of the models of network formation. In this note, we study which network is pairwise stable and/or stochastically stable when the number of players is four.

Globalising Aboriginal Reconciliation: Indigenous Australians and Asian (Japanese) Migrants

Over the last few years, I have attended several political meetings concerned with the refugee crisis, multiculturalism or Indigenous rights in Australia, meetings at which liberal democratic–minded ‘left-wing’ people came together to discuss, or agitate for change in, governmental policies. At these meetings, I always found it difficult to accept the slogans on their placards and in their speeches: ‘Shame Australia! Reconciliation for a united Australia’, ‘Wake up Australia! We welcome refugees!’ or ‘True Australians are tolerant! Let’s celebrate multicultural Australia!’ My uncomfortable feeling came not only from the fact that I was left out because of my Japanese nationality but also because I had never seen or heard words like ‘shame Japan’, ‘wake up Japan’ or ‘true Japanese are ...’ at Japanese ‘left-wing’ political gatherings. In Japan, these are words used only by right-wing nationalists. Indeed it is difficult to even imagine liberal-left intellectuals in postwar Japan calling for a ‘true Japanese’ political response (as if such a response was positive), such is the extent to which the idea of ‘good nationalism’ is now regarded as an oxymoron. This is my starting point for an essay in which I want to be attentive to the different roles played by national(ism) in the Japanese and Australian political environments

Subgame-perfect free trade networks in a four-country model

Goyal and Joshi (2006, Int Econ Review) apply the notion of ``pairwise stable networks" introduced by Jackson and Wolinsky (1996, J Econ Theory) to a model of free trade network formation, and show that (i) every pairwise stable network is either complete or almost complete (with all countries except one forming direct links), and (ii) the complete network maximizes global welfare. In this note, we use essentially the same model as their model with four countries, and investigate which network is more likely to be realized than others by considering a dynamic process introduced by Jackson and Watts (2002, J Econ Theory).free trade network, network formation, subgame-perfect equilibrium

Simulating a Simple Real Business Cycle Model Using Excel

Simulating the real business cycle models is a popular topic in first-year graduate courses on macroeconomics. Usually, Maple and Matlab are used for this purpose, mainly because they can be used both for solving and for simulating the models. Strulik (2004) demonstrates that Excel can be used both for solving and for simulating a standard RBC model. In this paper, we propose a more elementary approach that might be suitable for undergraduate courses. We illustrate (i) how to solve a simple RBC model by hand and (ii) how to use Excel to simulate the solution.

Endoscopic and clinical evaluation of treatment and prognosis of Cronkhite-Canada syndrome: a Japanese nationwide survey.

BackgroundFirst reported in 1955, Cronkhite-Canada syndrome (CCS), a rare syndrome characterized by ectodermal abnormalities and inflammatory changes of the gastrointestinal tract mucosa, has been associated with a poor prognosis and life-threatening malignant complications. In a large population survey, we endeavored to characterize the course and treatment outcome of CCS through clinical and endoscopic assessment, and to explore its optimal treatment and surveillance strategy.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 210 patients with CCS was conducted via a questionnaire-based nationwide survey of 983 teaching hospitals located throughout Japan. We assessed clinical features, endoscopic findings, treatments used, and short- and long-term outcomes.ResultsThe average age at diagnosis was 63.5 years. In all cases, upper or lower gastrointestinal tract polyposis was confirmed, accompanied by characteristic ectodermal abnormalities. Of the treatments used, oral corticosteroids (30-49 mg/day) were the most effective treatment for active disease, with adjunctive nutritional support considered beneficial. With corticosteroid treatment, abdominal symptoms were relieved within a few months, whereas polyp regression often required more than 6 months. Maintenance of endoscopic remission with or without steroids for 3 years significantly lowered the development of CCS-related cancer, compared with relapsers or nonresponders, underscoring the importance of sustained endoscopic remission for cancer prevention.ConclusionsThe prognosis of CCS has greatly improved through the use of improved medical treatment. Although CCS continues to be relentlessly progressive, carrying a high cancer risk, a sufficient dose and duration of corticosteroid therapy accompanied by nutritional support and periodic endoscopic surveillance appears to improve its natural history

On the Coincidence of the Shapley Value and the Nucleolus in Queueing Problems

Given a group of agents to be served in a facility, the queueing problem is concerned with finding the order to serve agents and the (positive or negative) monetary compensations they should receive. As shown in Maniquet (2003), the minimal transfer rule coincides with the Shapley value of the game obtained by defining the worth of each coalition to be the minimum total waiting cost incurred by its members under the assumption that they are served before the non-coalitional members. Here, we show that it coincides with the nucleolus of the same game. Thereby, we establish the coincidence of the Shapley value and the nucleolus for queueing problems. We also investigate the relations between the minimal transfer rule and other rules discussed in the literature