Stacking Subsidies in Factor Markets: Evidence from Market Experiments

Government policies employ different support programs such as subsidies to reduce risks, increase efficiency in markets, and enhance societal welfare. In markets such as ethanol markets, where multiple agents receive subsidy, it is often difficult to determine whether recipients of these support programs will transfer some of their payments to other agents in the market. In this study, we use laboratory market experiments to understand subsidy incidence in markets where both buyers and sellers receive subsidies, and there are few buyers relative to sellers. Our results show that when subsidizing both sides of the market, framing effects matter, and when markets are buyer concentrated, subsidy distributions generally tend to favor buyers. With a per-unit subsidy of 20 tokens to both sides and an equal number of buyers and sellers in the market, we find that buyers increase their earnings by 13.4% while seller earnings decrease by 16.1%. On a per-schedule basis, buyer earnings in the concentrated market are similar to what we observed in the competitive market.

Psychology in the function of the well-being of the individual and society - BOOK OF ABSTRACTS

As the guidelines of human attitudes and behavior, the values are extremely important for individuals and for the society. All major societal flaws (violence, war, aggression, criminal, delinquency, lawlessness, corruption, ecological devastation, terrorism, totalitarianism, exploitation, misery, poverty, hunger, starvation, ignorance, fanaticism and others) are result of behavior that is as odd with basic human values. Thus, a value-congruent behavior is a necessary condition for stable and successful society and the strengthening of value-aligned behavior is a planetary task. Psychological research convincingly demonstrated that the values represent and occupy a great field of attitudes and beliefs, one of the three great domains of the psychological trilogy (personality; attitudes, beliefs and values; cognitive abilities). In psychology, we need a clear and elaborated theoretical explanation of values. A comprehensive theoretical model of values (CTV) was therefore developed in last decades. It comprises all important aspects of the values: the structure, hierarchical organization, development, cross-cultural validity and differences, connections to other important psychological and behavioral domains and the role of values in our life. The knowledge of values is necessary, yet it is not enough in order to cope with all risks of individual and societal welfare. Another requirement is therefore crucial, namely the abovementioned alignment of values and behavior. Values that are not accomplished or realized in our behavior are useless. Thus, the research of value–behavior relations is extremely important in psychology. It is one of essential pillars in the scientific basis of a stable society and has therefore tremendous practical consequences. It also brings us closer to the perennial question connected with the role of values in our life: does the behavior that is aligned and congruent with values make us happier or not. Thus, the final part of my lecture will be focused on the empirical answers to that question. And, as research results are proving, the life and behavior which are congruent with the values factually correlate with the happiness and general wellbeing.

“Humane Criminology”: An Inclusive Victimology Protecting Animals and People

To those who primarily associate the word “humane” with “humane society”, its connection to criminology might appear to be unrelated. The origins of “humane” and “humane society” are complex and primarily reflect an abiding interest in human and societal welfare rather than animal welfare. Consequently, the origins and evolution of the current American association of humane societies with animal protection—as contrasted to its British association with rescuing victims of drowning—remain shrouded in mystery. A new focus that returns to the original roots of “humane” describing the implications of animal cruelty, abuse, and neglect as cause for human and societal concern due to their potential as sentinel indicators and predictors of interpersonal violence, rather than a strict focus on animals’ welfare or their alleged “rights”, holds great promise for advancing legislation and community programming that improves the well-being of human and non-human animal species and the prevention of crime.

The role of Islamic social finance in societal welfare: a case study of selected IFBOs in southwest Nigeria

Purpose This study aims to examine the role of Islamic social finance (ISF) instruments such as Zakah, Sadaqah and Waqf in the provision of social services by Islamic faith-based organizations (IFBOs) in Southwest Nigeria. Design/methodology/approach This study adopts exploratory approach based on field interviews conducted with leaders of IFBOs, whereas purposive sampling technique was used to select three case study organizations. Data collected from interviews and documents of case study organizations was analyzed using content and narrative analyses. Findings The first findings indicate faith in the Unseen God, scriptural texts and socio-economic factors as major motivation that accounted for the IFBOs’ concern for social services. The second finding shows that the ISF strategies used by the IFBOs to improve access to social services include Zakah, Awqaf, Sadaqah and gifts. The third finding reveals that the IFBOs have efficient stand-alone and windows operational structures that align with IFBOs corporate governance. The fourth finding also reveals the challenges facing the IFBOs such as inadequate funding, dearth of manpower, lukewarm and uncooperative attitude of Muslims and attitudinal behaviour of givers and takers. Research limitations/implications Absence of documented directory about the role IFBOs usage of ISF in providing social services in Southwest Nigeria affected the study. Many IFBOs were eliminated during the process of selection because of lack of records to indicate their social services relevant to the study. As such, information that could have been collected from the eliminated IFBOs could have contributed significantly to the study. Practical implications The major implications of the study are that ISF has been reinvented as an ethical social welfare framework for supporting the disadvantaged members of the society with ISF instruments and also highlighted the dichotomy existing between IFBOs in the North and Southwest Nigeria with respect to the legal and operational activities of IFBOs usage of ISF. Originality/value This study has contributed to a better understanding of the role of ISF instruments in the provision of social services in an area that is largely under-researched in Nigeria.

The Carrot and the Stick

After I helped construct a school in Guatemala, I found their educational system might be corrupt. I used game theory, or the study of strategic interdependence, to analyze this issue. Each actor anticipates the other’s reactions and acts accordingly. Payoff matrices, 2-by-2 grids in which one actor’s options are listed across the top of the boxes and the second actor’s options are listed by the left side of the boxes, helped simplify this complex situation into a workable model that shows individual incentives and actions as well as the collective best action for societal welfare. If the first player makes “x” choice rather than “y” choice, is the second player incentivized to make “a” or “b” choice? Conversely, if the first player makes “y” choice, is the second player incentivized to make “a” or “b” choice? If, for a particular choice, no player can do better by unilaterally changing its decision, it is a Nash equilibrium. Ideally, the government won’t receive a bribe, and the parents will send their children to volunteer. The penalty if the local government gets caught accepting a bribe plays an important role; interestingly, increasing the government's goodwill amongst the local population through the school-building process would also lead to the ideal outcome. Further, simultaneously increasing both the penalty from accepting a bribe, as well as the goodwill to the government from school-building, produces the optimal outcome. I call this the “carrot and the stick” approach, and it may prove quite effective in ending corruption entirely.

Assessing the benefits of a fertilizers program for the welfare on the corn (Zea mays L.) market in Chiapas, Mexico

Objective: To assess the impact that the Fertilizers Program for the Welfare would have on corn production and consumption in the state of Chiapas, Mexico. Methodology: A spatial equilibrium model applied to the corn market in the state of Chiapas for 2018 was used. To assess the benefits of policy implementation, producer and consumer surpluses were calculated with and without the Fertilizers Program. Results: The results indicate that the implementation of the program increases production and consumption of corn by 171 and 115 thousand tons, which would represent an increase of 13 and 8.3%, compared to the base model with no program. The producer and consumer surpluses would increase by 6 and 4.5 million pesos (MXN), which would represent an increase of more than 10 million pesos in the welfare of society in the state. Study limitations/implications: The positive effects on corn producers and consumers imply that the policy should be extended to all those regions that have the potential to increase production via their yield. Conclusions: The program has positive effects on the corn market by increasing corn production, consumption and societal welfare. dad.

If it ducks like a quack: balancing physician freedom of expression and the public interest

Physicians expressing opinions on medical matters that run contrary to the consensus of experts pose a challenge to licensing bodies and regulatory authorities. While the right to express contrarian views feeds a robust marketplace of ideas that is essential for scientific progress, physicians advocating ineffective or dangerous cures, or actively opposing public health measures, pose a grave threat to societal welfare. Increasingly, a distinction has been made between professional speech that occurs during the physician-patient encounter and public speech that transpires beyond the clinical setting, with physicians being afforded wide latitude to voice empirically false claims outside the context of patient care. This paper argues that such a bifurcated model does not sufficiently address the challenges of an age when mass communications and social media allow dissenting physicians to offer misleading medical advice to the general public on a mass scale. Instead, a three-tiered model that distinguishes between citizen speech, physician speech and clinical speech would best serve authorities when regulating physician expression.

An analysis of the meteorological compound hazard of typhoons

<p>An assessment of the compound hazard – extreme wind and extreme precipitation, of tropical cyclones (TCs) is of importance due to the enormous potential impact of TCs to the economic development and societal welfare of coastal regions.  Recently, a new method to construct a large physically consistent TC event set (roughly 10,000 years of events) based on numerical weather prediction models has been developed (Ng & Leckebusch, 2021).  However, a systematic method for the detailed analysis of the compound nature of the TC hazard with respect to damage relevant impacts is not yet available.  In this presentation, we propose a new metric, TC compound meteorological hazard risk index (CMRI) to assess TC compound meteorological hazard risk in terms of potential economic loss for mainland China.  CMRI considers TC-related extreme wind and extreme precipitation which are identified based on an impact-oriented tracking algorithm.  CMRI is closely linked to the normalised economic loss in China between 1979-2014.  We also present preliminary results of the application of CMRI in estimating the return period of the TC-related potential economic loss in mainland China.</p>

Probing Consumer Awareness & Barriers Towards Consumer Social Responsibility: A Novel Sustainable Development Approach

Global scenario has revealed paucity of consumers’ awareness towards their social responsibilities which is certainly crucial to step forward on path of sustainable development. Regulating corporates practices has practically struggled for resource wastage reduction, dipping environmental harm, and improving societal welfare. Only corporates efforts are insufficient for desired improvement of societal & environmental health and demand consumers understanding their responsible actions towards society & environment. Centre of attention is to identify relationship between Consumer Social Responsibility (CnSR) and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). This relationship is endeavored by means of relationship matrix in which four unique developments are considered and accordingly solutions are suggested. Existence of barriers hindering consumers green decisions have been observed and addressed for better understanding. A total of 600 structured questionnaires were distributed, of which 457 returned and included incomplete contents also. Analysis is finally executed using 429 complete responses. Results are utilized to overcome barriers and improvise the consumers’ awareness towards various antecedents of CnSR for required sustainable consumption. Consumers’ requires support towards sustainable choices and as their awareness level will increase, they will start understanding the implications of their consumption choices leading to long-term sustainable practices.