Recent studies draw attention on the highly specialized capacity of human beings in recognizing altruists versus cheaters in social interactions. These results hint at the existence of specialized abilities that support discriminating behavior in strategic interactions. In this paper, we explore the implications of discriminating behavior in the study of the indirect evolutionary selection of selfish versus altruistic motivations in the context of generic 2×2 base games, and in particular for coordination and cooperation scenarios. Continue reading Rawlsian altruism with perfect discrimination leads to social efficiency
Tag Archives: Inclusion
Location matters for pro-environmental behavior: a spatial Markov Chains approach to proximity effects in differentiated waste collection
We analyze data on differentiated waste collection (as a proxy of proenvironmental behaviors) in Italian provinces in the years 1999–2012.
Continue reading Location matters for pro-environmental behavior: a spatial Markov Chains approach to proximity effects in differentiated waste collection
Multidimensional Similarities at a Global Scale: An Approach to Mapping Open Society Orientations
This paper analyzes the global geography of open society orientations in the sense of Karl Popper’s notion of open society, by means of a database consisting of five common, public and widely used indicators such as UNDP’s Human Development Index, the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index, the Heritage Foundation’s Economic Freedom Index, Reporters Sans Frontieres’ Press Freedom Index, and Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index. Continue reading Multidimensional Similarities at a Global Scale: An Approach to Mapping Open Society Orientations
Self-protection, Psychological Externalities, and the Social Dynamics of Fear
We examine the social dynamics of crime by means of evolutionary game theory, and we model the choice of boundedly rational potential victims to privately self-protect against prospective offenders. Negative externalities from self-protection, as the socially transmitted fear of victimization, can influence the strategic choices of victims even with constant or declining crime rates, and this circumstance may lead to Pareto inefficient equilibria with excessive expenses for private protection. Providing higher levels of public security (or of appropriate social care) financed through discriminatory taxation of private defensive behaviors can prevent crime andreduce superfluous selfprotection, thus driving the social dynamics toward a more efficient equilibrium. Continue reading Self-protection, Psychological Externalities, and the Social Dynamics of Fear
Analyzing the semantics of point spaces through the topological weighted centroid and other mathematical quantities: the hidden geometry of the global economic order
For many spatial processes, there is a natural need to find out the point of origin on the basis of the available scatter of observations; think, for instance, of finding out the home base of a criminal given the actual distribution of crime scenes, or the outbreak source of an epidemics. In this article, we build on the topological weighted centroid (TWC) methodology that has been applied in previous research to the reconstruction of space syntax problems, for example, of problems where all relevant entities are of spatial nature so that the relationships between them are inherently spatial and need to be properly reconstructed. Continue reading Analyzing the semantics of point spaces through the topological weighted centroid and other mathematical quantities: the hidden geometry of the global economic order
Beyond the rhetoric of participation: New challenges and prospects for inclusive urban regeneration
We carry out a critical analysis of current participation practices in urban regeneration processes. Many concrete examples suffer from major flaws in terms of instrumental or ineffective involvement of parts of the community, and especially of the weakest and most deprived constituencies, at the advantage of more affluent andexperienced ones, which are familiar enough with institutionalized public decision making to surf and manipulate the deliberation dynamics at their own advantage. Continue reading Beyond the rhetoric of participation: New challenges and prospects for inclusive urban regeneration
Cultural Access and Mental Health: An Exploratory Study
Loss of well-being, rising rates of depression and various psychological illnesses are a public health concern. This study aims to explore the associations between cultural access and mental illness. Continue reading Cultural Access and Mental Health: An Exploratory Study
Cultural Participation, Relational Goods and Individual Subjective Well-Being: Some Empirical Evidence
This paper focuses on the role of cultural participation as a source of individual subjective well-being in terms of the sociability orientation of different cultural activities. Continue reading Cultural Participation, Relational Goods and Individual Subjective Well-Being: Some Empirical Evidence
The Power of the Arts in Vancouver: Creating a Great City
An Approach to Cultural Policy in Vancouver
I. Introduction: building competitive advantage for the nascent Vancouver knowledge economy
(…) In a knowledge economy, the reasoning abilities of teenagers may be seen as a key component of the economy’s and society’s “intangible infrastructure”, i.e. as a key factor of competitiveness. Sophisticated cognitive abilities are in fact necessary both on the supply and demand sides: to produce knowledge-intensive goods and
services, and to use and enjoy them in a meaningful, satisfactory way. Measuring how such abilities are being developed by teenagers gives us an interesting view of
the future prospects of specific knowledge economies. Continue reading The Power of the Arts in Vancouver: Creating a Great City
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