Social networks play a central role in individual interactions and decision making. While it is recognized that networks can correlate behaviors and preferences among connected agents, relatively little work has considered mechanisms for social choice on such networks. We introduce a model for social choice—specifically, consensus decision making—on social networks that reflects dependence amon...

Many practitioners currently use rules of thumb to price tasks on online labor markets. Incorrect pricing leads to task starvation or inefficient use of capital. Formal pricing policies can address these challenges. In this paper we argue that a pricing policy can be based on the trade-off between price and desired completion time. We show how this duality can lead to a better pricing policy fo...

1 The Bayesian view of the Jury Theorem 1.1 Criticism on the Bayesian view Recall the model setup: let s ∈ {±1} be the true state of the world. We shall assume a uniform prior on s, that is, P (s = +) = P (s = −) =

In this paper, we study the effects of introducing contrarians in a model of Opinion Dynamics where the agents have internal continuous opinions, but exchange information only about a binary choice that is a function of their continuous opinion, the CODA model. We observe that the hung election scenario still exists here, but it is weaker and it shouldn’t be expected in every election. Finally,...

with fκ(s) as large as possible (resp. Fκ(s) as small as possible) given that the above inequality holds for all choices of A satisfying (1). Selberg [3] has shown (in a much more general context) that the functions fκ(s), Fκ(s) are continuous, monotone, and computable for s > 1, and that they tend to 1 exponentially as s goes to infinity. Let β = β(κ) be the infimum of s such that fκ(s) > 0. S...

Through their choice of for example education citizens are in a position to influence the production of public services, thus exercising ‘consumer democracy’ as outlined by Bellamy & Taylor. This article focuses on the framing of citizens as consumers in quasi-markets and the role of cybermediaries in this process, with special reference to the market for publicly financed education in Sweden. ...

We study the impact of import protection on relationship-specific investments, organizational choice and welfare. We show that a tariff on intermediate inputs can improve social welfare through mitigating hold-up problems. It does so if it discriminates in favor of the investing party, thereby improving its bargaining position. On the other hand, a tariff can prompt inefficient organizational c...

This study focuses on the effects of framing information on perceptions and choices of genetically modified food. Information that is presented in a neutral, positive, or negative framing provokes different reactions and may change perceptions and choices. The effect of framing on judgment and choices is stronger when consumers are less knowledgeable, and their beliefs are not very strong. This...

We investigate a social system of agents faced with a binary choice. We assume there is a correct, or beneficial, outcome of this choice. Furthermore, we assume agents are influenced by others in making their decision, and that the agents can obtain information that may guide them towards making a correct decision. The dynamic model we propose is of nonequilibrium type, converging to a final de...

Survey experiments, like vignette and conjoint analyses, are widely used in the social sciences to elicit stated preferences and study how humans make multidimensional choices. However, there is a paucity of research on the external validity of these methods that examines whether the determinants that explain hypothetical choices made by survey respondents match the determinants that explain wh...