NP-Hardness and Approximation Algorithms for Iterative Pricing on Social Networks with Externalities

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-23
Author(s):  
Chenli Shen ◽  
Wensong Lin
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Total Weight ◽  
Negative Externality ◽  
Total Degree ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
Positive Externality ◽  
Np Hardness ◽  
Over Time

We study how a monopolist seller should price an indivisible product iteratively to the consumers who are connected by a known link-weighted directed social network. For two consumers [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], there is an arc directed from [Formula: see text] to [Formula: see text] if and only if [Formula: see text] is a fashion leader of [Formula: see text]. Assuming complete information about the network, the seller offers consumers a sequence of prices over time and the goal is to obtain the maximum revenue. We assume that the consumers buy the product as soon as the seller posts a price not greater than their valuations of the product. The product’s value for a consumer is determined by three factors: a fixed consumer specified intrinsic value and a variable positive (resp. negative) externality that is exerted from the consumer’s out(resp. in)-neighbours. The setting of positive externality is that the influence of fashion leaders on a consumer is the total weight of links from herself to her fashion leaders who have owned the product, and more fashion leaders of a consumer owning the product will increase the influence (external value) on the consumer. And the setting of negative externalities is that the product’s value of showing off for a consumer is the total weight of links from her followers who do not own the product to herself, and more followers of a consumer owning the product will decrease this external value for the consumer. We confirm that finding an optimal iterative pricing is NP-hard even for acyclic networks with maximum total degree [Formula: see text] and with all intrinsic values zero. We design a greedy algorithm which achieves [Formula: see text]-approximation for networks with all intrinsic values zero and show that the approximation ratio [Formula: see text] is tight. Complementary to the hardness result, we design a [Formula: see text]-approximation algorithm for Barabási–Albert networks.

Kant against the Animals, Part 2

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine M. Korsgaard
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
Limits Of Knowledge

Opponents of Kant suppose he thinks that autonomy gives rational beings a special kind of intrinsic value. Since knowledge of intrinsic values would have to be a kind of metaphysical knowledge, this interpretation is contrary to Kant’s strictures on the limits of knowledge. Rather, Kant thinks that only rational beings can engage in reciprocal lawmaking, which is the source of moral laws. Animals cannot obligate us in the sense of participating in making laws for us. This, however, ignores a second sense in which we can have duties to animals: the laws we make for the treatment of people might also cover the treatment of animals. The chapter ends by explaining why it is hard to get this kind of conclusion using the universalization test.

Sustainability-oriented strategy and Sustainable Development Goals

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscila Borin de Oliveira Claro ◽  
Nathalia Ramajo Esteves
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Theoretical Argument ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Global Compact ◽  
Content Type ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Over Time

PurposeSustainability-oriented strategies involve considering all possible environmental, social and economic factors that impact stakeholders and sustainable development. They could be a crucial contribution of the private sector to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The study’s objective is twofolded. First, the authors want to discover if enterprises doing business in Brazil are contemplating the SDGs in their strategies. Second, the authors want to identify the external and internal factors that motivate them.Design/methodology/approachThe authors collected data through an online survey with employees from Global Compact signatories in Brazil. From a list of 335 for-profit enterprises, the authors got back 132 answers. The sample comprises Brazilian enterprises that only operate in the Brazilian market, Brazilian multinational enterprises (MNEs) and foreign multinationals operating in Brazilian and international markets. For this study, the MNEs’ group comprises Brazilian multinationals and foreign multinationals (MNEs). To characterize the sample and identify the motivating factors, the authors conducted a descriptive analysis. To compare the domestic and MNEs’ mean differences regarding the factors that influenced their strategies and the SDGs, the authors performed Mann–Whitney's U-test.FindingsThe results of the study show that enterprises are addressing the SDGs in their strategies. All internal and external driving factors are similar for domestic and MNEs, except for the value chain's negative externalities. MNEs are more prone to consider their negative externalities, which is a positive trend. Finally, results suggest that both groups of enterprises consider the 17 goals in their strategies, contrary to the theoretical argument that multinationals suffer more pressure because of their broad geographic scope.Research limitations/implicationsThe database of the study involves data collected through a self-response survey. Thus, the authors cannot discuss the effectiveness of real SDGs' strategies once enterprises' discourse on sustainability does not always correspond with practices. Therefore, the authors suggest that researchers address the results of implemented strategies on the SDGs over time to check for improvements and new developments.Practical implicationsThe authors suggest frequent materiality assessment of domestic enterprises' supply chain and articulation of explicit purposes around the selected SDGs, including setting key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitoring progress.Social implicationsThe authors believe that enterprises and decision makers should recognize their essential role to bend the curve on SDGs and shift their behavior toward strategic choices that could contribute to their positive performance over time, without contributing to environmental degradation and socioeconomic chaos.Originality/valuePublication on how enterprises address the SDGs in Brazil is relatively scarce. This study provides some answers to that by focusing on the factors influencing sustainability-oriented strategies on the SDGs. Besides, most previous studies consider a small sample of enterprises and are industry specific or focus on the effects of the SDGs in public policy. The sample of this study is diverse and represents 42% of the for-profit signatories of the Global Compact in Brazil.

A Naturalistic Intrinsic Value Theodicy

2019 ◽  
pp. 236-258
Author(s):  
Scott A. Davison
Keyword(s):  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Natural Sciences ◽  
Human Freedom ◽  
Human Survival ◽  
Divine Intervention ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
The World ◽  
The Universe

The theodicy explored in Chapter 13 is naturalistic in the sense that it does not appeal to the existence of good things or events or processes that cannot be studied using the natural sciences. More specifically, unlike most of the theodicies that are typically discussed in the literature, this one does not involve any claims about human survival of death, the existence of a soul, libertarian human freedom, or divine intervention, miraculous or otherwise. The theodicy explored here involves the following claims: Everything that exists is intrinsically valuable to some degree; the universe as a whole is a thing of immense intrinsic value; the immense intrinsic value of the universe as a whole provides God with a justifying reason for creating it; the evil in the world is offset by the intrinsic values of the creatures affected together with the intrinsic value of the world that comes from its regularity.

scholarly journals The effects of dust on the derived photometric parameters of disks and bulges in spiral galaxies

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (S292) ◽  
pp. 290-290
Author(s):  
B. A. Pastrav ◽  
C. C. Popescu ◽  
R. J. Tuffs ◽  
A. E. Sansom
Keyword(s):  
Surface Brightness ◽  
Spiral Galaxies ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Central Surface ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
Balmer Lines ◽  
The One ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Dust Effects ◽  
Simulated Images

AbstractHere we present results on the effects of dust on the derived Sérsic index of disks and bulges. This is part of a larger study (see Pastrav et al. 2012a, Pastrav et al. 2012b) that quantifies the dust effects on all photometric parameters, including scale-lengths, axis-ratios, central surface brightness and effective radii of individual and decomposed (from B/D decomposition) disks and bulges. The effects of dust are derived for both broadband and narrow line (Balmer lines) images. The changes in the derived photometric parameters from their intrinsic values (as seen in the absence of dust) were obtained by fitting simulated images of disks and bulges produced using radiative transfer calculations and the model of Popescu et al. (2011). This study follows on the analysis of Möllenhoff et al. (2006), who quantified the effects of dust on the photometry of old stellar disks seen at low and intermediate inclination. We extend the study to disks at all inclinations and we investigate the changes in the photometry of young stellar disks and bulges. For the individual components, in the majority of cases: 1) the dust lowers the Sérsic index from its intrinsic value; 2) the Sérsic index decreases as the inclination and the B band central face-on dust opacity, τBf, increase. For the decomposed disks and bulges, dust slightly increases the Sérsic index as compared with the one derived on individual components (e.g. Fig. 1); this effect is stronger for higher values of the inclination, τBf and B/D.

Are Adolescents Addicted to Smartphones?

2019 ◽  
pp. 219-238
Author(s):  
Geunyong Park ◽  
Jisun Lim
Keyword(s):  
Panel Data ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
South Korea ◽  
Mobile Phone ◽  
The Other ◽  
Positive Externality ◽  
Smartphone Use ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
Rational Addiction Model ◽  
Over Time

This empirical study shows how people use their smartphones by employing the rational addiction model of Becker and Murphy. The analysis uses micro-level panel data on the monthly usage of smartphone applications (so-called “apps”) derived from 10,337 users in South Korea, from 2012 to 2016. The authors find that smartphone users are “addicted” to mobile phone apps, in the sense that their prior usage has significantly influenced their current use. Nonetheless, people in the sample seem to use their smartphones in a forward-looking manner, adjusting consumption over time to maximize their utility. On the other hand, the study's result rejects the conventional belief that younger individuals behave more myopically than older ones. Furthermore, only the mother's smartphone use was found to generate a positive externality for her children.

The Economics of Public Health in the Presence of Exploitation Strategies

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Herrmann
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Antimicrobial Resistance ◽  
Bacterial Resistance ◽  
Viral Infections ◽  
Treatment Effectiveness ◽  
Supply Side ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Economic Agents ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Over Time

Public health faces novel challenges because of rising bacterial resistance to antibiotics and the possible fatal spread of highly communicable viral infections. Multiple economic agents interact in the use and provision of anti-infective drugs, without accounting for their impact on others, and this gives rise to positive and negative externalities. On the supply side, anti-infective drugs may be linked, depending on the particular epidemiological context. A common example is that of antibiotic treatment effectiveness, which can be lost over time, affecting various antibiotics belonging to the same antibiotic family. This chapter describes how conflicting private objectives among economic agents may lead to exploitation strategies that lower the overall social welfare. Important open research questions are highlighted and possible public policies addressed that could address the problem of antimicrobial resistance.

The Unity of Freedom

2021 ◽  
pp. 237-246
Author(s):  
Kieron O’Hara
Keyword(s):  
Network Effects ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Internet ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Common Interests ◽  
Over Time

The final chapter summarizes the ideas of Four Internets. The Internet needs to remain connected, while its governance should allow different ideologies to flourish simultaneously, without imposing their view on the rest. Governance should pursue common interests while respecting cultural diversity. The prominent role of the United States remains an issue, although it has historically been a good steward of the infrastructure, and probably better than any alternative, including the multilateral structures promoted by nations like China and Russia. Governance is currently multistakeholder and ad hoc, but informal, emergent arrangements are probably better and more flexible than something neater and designed. Innovation and network effects need to be fostered, but policymakers will, on occasion, have to intervene against (perceived) negative externalities. New Internets will emerge over time; a COVID-19 Internet is imagined and described, for example. New technologies, such as quantum computing, will create new stresses, requiring a constant focus on resilience.

scholarly journals Nonlinear Dynamics in a Cournot Duopoly with Different Attitudes towards Strategic Uncertainty

2013 ◽  
Vol 2013 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luciano Fanti ◽  
Luca Gori ◽  
Mauro Sodini
Keyword(s):  
Incomplete Information ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Expected Utility Theory ◽  
Complete Information ◽  
Market Demand ◽  
Strategic Uncertainty ◽  
Cournot Duopoly ◽  
Coexistence Of Attractors ◽  
Critical Lines ◽  
Over Time

This paper analyses the dynamics of a duopoly with quantity-setting firms and different attitudes towards strategic uncertainty. By following the recent literature on decision making under uncertainty, where the Choquet expected utility theory is adopted to allow firms to plan their strategies, we investigate the effects of the interaction between pessimistic and optimistic firms on economic dynamics described by a two-dimensional map. In particular, the study of the local and global behaviour of the map is performed under three assumptions: (1) both firms have complete information on the market demand and adjust production over time depending on past behaviours (static expectations—“best reply” dynamics); (2) both firms have incomplete information and production is adjusted over time by following a mechanism based on marginal profits; and (3) one firm has incomplete information on the market demand and production decisions are based on the behaviour of marginal profits, and the rival has complete information on the market demand and static expectations. In cases 2 and 3 it is shown that complex dynamics and coexistence of attractors may arise. The analysis is carried forward through numerical simulations and the critical lines technique.

scholarly journals Carsharing Services in Italy: Trends and Innovations

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 771
Author(s):  
Lucia Rotaris
Keyword(s):  
Critical Factor ◽  
Peer To Peer ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Environmental Footprint ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Collaborative Consumption ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Social Economic Development ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Over Time

Transport is a critical factor for social-economic development, however, its environmental footprint cannot be neglected and is increasing over time. New mobility services based on collaborative consumption, such as peer-to-peer carsharing, have been developed with the aim of improving accessibility and reducing the negative externalities produced by transport. However, in the literature, there are very few documents that analyze collaborative consumption in the transport sector. To shed light on this topic, we described the Italian carsharing market and explained how it has changed over time. Moreover, we studied the potentialities of peer-to-peer carsharing in a less densely populated Italian region on the basis of a survey we conducted through face-to-face interviews. We found that the main reason preventing its spread is that individuals are not yet aware of its existence. We also analyzed the motivations of those who would like to use it and of those who stated the opposite. Suggestions are presented on the strategies to be implemented to facilitate the adoption of the service for the benefit of both platform providers and local administrators.

scholarly journals An Intrinsic Value Approach to Valuation with Forward–Backward Loops in Dividend Paying Stocks

Mathematics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (13) ◽  
pp. 1520
Author(s):  
Anna Kamille Nyegaard ◽  
Johan Raunkjær Ott ◽  
Mogens Steffensen
Keyword(s):  
Stochastic System ◽  
Intrinsic Value ◽  
Numerical Approach ◽  
Deterministic System ◽  
Underlying Asset ◽  
Numerical Example ◽  
Dividend Payments ◽  
Intrinsic Values ◽  
Equity Value ◽  
Asset Value

We formulate a claim valuation problem where the dynamics of the underlying asset process contain the claim value itself. The problem is motivated here by an equity valuation of a firm, with intermediary dividend payments that depend on both the underlying, that is, the assets of the company, and the equity value itself. Since the assets are reduced by the dividend payments, the entanglement of claim, claim value, and underlying is complete and numerically challenging because it forms a forward–backward stochastic system. We propose a numerical approach based on disentanglement of the forward–backward deterministic system for the intrinsic values, a parametric assumption of the claim value in its intrinsic value, and a simulation of the stochastic elements. We illustrate the method in a numerical example where the equity value is approximated efficiently, at least for the relevant ranges of the asset value.

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