In this review, we present several variations of the Alpern-Reyniers two-sided matching model, with particular application to its biological interpretation as a mate selection game. In this context, the model describes equilibrium behavior in a dynamic game where unmated males and females of various types in a given cohort group are randomly matched in a succession of periods. If they 'accept' ...

12 Arrow's Impossibility Theorem 72 13 References 75 2 These are notes for a basic class in decision theory. The focus is on decision under risk and under uncertainty, with relatively little on social choice. The notes contain the mathematical material, including all the formal models and proofs that will be presented in class, but they do not contain the discussion of background, interpretatio...

The early work of Condorcet in the 18th century, and that of Arrow and others in the 20th century, revealed the complex and interesting mathematical problems that arise in the theory of Social Choice, showing that the simple process of voting leads to strikingly counter-intuitive paradoxes. I will describe some of these, focusing on several recent intriguing examples whose analysis combines com...

We consider classic social choice problems in an online setting. In the problems we consider, a decision-maker must select a subset of candidates in accordance to reported preferences, e.g. to maximize the value of a scoring rule. However, agent preferences cannot be accessed directly; rather, agents arrive one at a time to report their preferences, and each agent cares only about those candida...

Two fundamental axioms in social choice theory are consistency with respect to a variable electorate and consistency with respect to components of similar alternatives. In the context of traditional non-probabilistic social choice, these axioms are incompatible with each other. We show that in the context of probabilistic social choice, these axioms uniquely characterize a function proposed by ...

Many economic decisions involve a binary choice for example, workers choosing between education and labor force participation, consumers determining whether to buy a good, firms selecting whether to enter a market or whether to adopt a new technology. In such settings, agents’ choices often depend on imperfect expectations of the future payoffs from their decision (expectational error) as well ...

5 Social networks and social capital are generally considered to be important 6 variables in explaining the diffusion of behavior. However, it is contested 7 whether the actual social connections, cultural discourse, or individual 8 preferences determine this diffusion. Using discrete choice analysis applied 9 to longitudinal Twitter data, we are able to distinguish between social 10 network in...

Often in cooperative situations, many aspects of the decision-making environment are uncertain. We investigate how cooperation is shaped by the way information about risk is presented (from description or from experience) and by differences in risky environments. Drawing on research from risky choice, we compare choices in stochastic social dilemmas to those in lotteries with equivalent levels ...

This article develops an account of a theory of rational choice based on the conception of rationality as a normatively justified correspondence between interests and choices. In this conception, rationality is best thought of as a property not of individual actions, but of a complex two-level phenomenon comprised of the social justification of behavioral norms and of the everyday choices made ...

China’s impressive growth has been accompanied by huge rural-urban divide and social sacrifice of many including rural-urban migrants. Reflecting on the documentary Last Train Home (2009) by Lixin Fan, this paper identifies and examines the life of rural-urban migrants in China in terms of poverty-reduction, child-care, education and equal opportunities for a better life. By comparing the seemi...