A note on discrete claims problems

In this note, we consider claims problems with indivisible goods. Specifically, by applying recursively the P-rights lower bound (Jiménez-Gómez and Marco-Gil (2008)), we ensure the fulfillment of Weak Order Preservation, considered by many authors as a minimal requirement of fairness. Moreover, we retrieve the Discrete Constrained Equal Losses and the Discrete Constrained Equal Awards rules (Herrero and Martíınez (2008)). Finally, by the recursive double imposition of a lower and an upper bound, we obtain the average between them. Keywords: Claims problems, Indivisibilities, Order Preservation, Constrained Egalitarian rules, Midpoint. JEL classification: C71, D63, D71.

From bargaining solutions to claims rules: a proportional approach

Is it important to negotiate on proportions rather than on numbers? To answer this question, we analyze the behavior of well-known bargaining solutions and the claims rules they induce when they are applied to a "proportionally transformed" bargaining set SP -so-called bargaining-in-proportions set. The idea of applying bargaining solutions to claims problems was already developed in Dagan and Volij (1993). They apply the bargaining solutions over a bargaining set that is the one de ned by the claims and the endowment. A comparison among our results and theirs is provided. Keywords: Bargaining problem, Claims problem, Proportional, Constrained Equal Awards, Constrained Equal Losses, Nash bargaining solution. JEL classi fication: C71, D63, D71.

Conflicting claims problem associated with cost sharing of a network

A minimum cost spanning tree (mcst) problem analyzes the way to efficiently connect individuals to a source when they are located at different places. Once the efficient tree is obtained, the question on how allocating the total cost among the involved agents defines, in a natural way, a confliicting claims situation. For instance, we may consider the endowment as the total cost of the network, whereas for each individual her claim is the maximum amount she will be allocated, that is, her connection cost to the source. Obviously, we have a confliicting claims problem, so we can apply claims rules in order to obtain an allocation of the total cost. Nevertheless, the allocation obtained by using claims rules might not satisfy some appealing properties (in particular, it does not belong to the core of the associated cooperative game). We will define other natural claims problems that appear if we analyze the maximum and minimum amount that an individual should pay in order to support the minimum cost tree. Keywords: Minimum cost spanning tree problem, Claims problem, Core JEL classification: C71, D63, D71.

Foundations for contest success functions

In the literature the outcome of contests is either interpreted as win probabilities or as shares of the prize. With this in mind, we examine two approaches to contest success functions. In the first we analyze the implications of contestants' incomplete information concerning the "type" of the contest administrator. While in the case of two contestants this approach can rationalize prominent contest success functions, we show that it runs into difficulties when there are more agents. Our second approach interprets contest success functions as sharing rules and establishes a connection to bargaining and claims problems which is independent of the number of contestants. Both approaches provide foundations for popular contest success functions and guidelines for the definition of new ones. Keywords: Endogenous Contests, Contest Success Function. JEL Classification: C72 (Noncooperative Games), D72 (Economic Models of Political Processes: Rent-Seeking, Elections), D74 (Conflict; Conflict Resolution; Alliances).

Enjoying cooperative games: The R package GameTheory

This paper focuses on cooperative games with transferable utility. We propose the computation of two solutions, the Shapley value for n agents and the nucleolus with a maximum of four agents. The current approach is also focused on conflicting claims problems, a particular case of coalitional games. We provide the computation of the most well-known and used claims solutions: the proportional, the constrained equal awards, the constrained equal losses, the Talmud and the random arrival rules. Keywords: Cooperative game, Shapley value, nucleolus, claims problem, claims rule, bankruptcy.

Allocation rules on networks

When allocating a resource, geographical and infrastructural constraints have to be taken into account. We study the problem of distributing a resource through a network from sources endowed with the resource to citizens with claims. A link between a source and an agent depicts the possibility of a transfer from the source to the agent. Given the supplies at each source, the claims of citizens, and the network, the question is how to allocate the available resources among the citizens. We consider a simple allocation problem that is free of network constraints, where the total amount can be freely distributed. The simple allocation problem is a claims problem where the total amount of claims is greater than what is available. We focus on consistent and resource monotonic rules in claims problems that satisfy equal treatment of equals. We call these rules fairness principles and we extend fairness principles to allocation rules on networks. We require that for each pair of citizens in the network, the extension is robust with respect to the fairness principle. We call this condition pairwise robustness with respect to the fairness principle. We provide an algorithm and show that each fairness principle has a unique extension which is pairwise robust with respect to the fairness principle. We give applications of the algorithm for three fairness principles: egalitarianism, proportionality and equal sacrifice.

Cost sharing solutions defined by non-negative eigenvectors

The problem of sharing a cost M among n individuals, identified by some characteristic ci∈R+,ci∈R+, appears in many real situations. Two important proposals on how to share the cost are the egalitarian and the proportional solutions. In different situations a combination of both distributions provides an interesting approach to the cost sharing problem. In this paper we obtain a family of (compromise) solutions associated to the Perron’s eigenvectors of Levinger’s transformations of a characteristics matrix A. This family includes both the egalitarian and proportional solutions, as well as a set of suitable intermediate proposals, which we analyze in some specific contexts, as claims problems and inventory cost games.

Clinical relationships and ethical problems in primary care, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil

Objectives: Main Objective: to identify ethical problems in primary care according to nurses` and doctors` perceptions. Secondary Objective: to know ethical issues of patient-professional relationships in primary care. Design: Synthesis to integrate and reinterpret primary results of qualitative studies. Setting: Primary healthcare centers, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. Participants and/or context: Incidental sample of 34 nurses and 36 medical doctors working in primary healthcare centers selected by convenience. Methods: Individual, semi-structured interviews to identity situations considered as sources of ethical problems. The sample is socially representative of primary care health centers and professionals. Data collection assured discourse saturation. Hermeneutic-dialectical discourse analysis was used to study the results. Results: Patient-professional relationships and team work were the main sources of ethical problems. The most important problems were patient information, privacy, confidentiality, interpersonal relationship, linkage and patient autonomy. These issues reflect the recent changes in clinical relation ships and show the peculiarities of primary care with its continuous care which lasts a long time. Healthcare involves multiprofessional team work in the midst of the patient claims for autonomy. Good care of patients needs requires a relationship based on communication and cooperation, and includes feelings and values, with communication skills. Conclusions: Ethical problems in primary care are common situations. For quality and humane primary care the relationship should consist of dialogue, trust and cooperation. (C) 2009 Elsevier Espana, S.L. All rights reserved.

Variational inequalities in Hilbert spaces with measures and optimal stopping problems

We study the existence theory for parabolic variational inequalities in weighted L2 spaces with respect to excessive measures associated with a transition semigroup. We characterize the value function of optimal stopping problems for finite and infinite dimensional diffusions as a generalized solution of such a variational inequality. The weighted L2 setting allows us to cover some singular cases, such as optimal stopping for stochastic equations with degenerate diffusion coeficient. As an application of the theory, we consider the pricing of American-style contingent claims. Among others, we treat the cases of assets with stochastic volatility and with path-dependent payoffs.

A way to play bankruptcy problems.

The commitment among agents has always been a difficult task, especially when they have to decide how to distribute the available amount of a scarce resource among all. On the one hand, there are a multiplicity of possible ways for assigning the available amount; and, on the other hand, each agent is going to propose that distribution which provides her the highest possible award. In this paper, with the purpose of making this agreement easier, firstly we use two different sets of basic properties, called Commonly Accepted Equity Principles, to delimit what agents can propose as reasonable allocations. Secondly, we extend the results obtained by Chun (1989) and Herrero (2003), obtaining new characterizations of old and well known bankruptcy rules. Finally, using the fact that bankruptcy problems can be analyzed from awards and losses, we define a mechanism which provides a new justification of the convex combinations of bankruptcy rules. Keywords: Bankruptcy problems, Unanimous Concessions procedure, Diminishing Claims mechanism, Piniles’ rule, Constrained Egalitarian rule. JEL classification: C71, D63, D71.

Ruin problems under IBNR Dynamics

In this paper, we consider a discrete-time risk process allowing for delay in claim settlement, which introduces a certain type of dependence in the process. From martingale theory, an expression for the ultimate ruin probability is obtained, and Lundberg-type inequalities are derived. The impact of delay in claim settlement is then investigated. To this end, a convex order comparison of the aggregate claim amounts is performed with the corresponding non-delayed risk model, and numerical simulations are carried out with Belgian market data.

Rationing problems with payoff thresholds

An extension of the standard rationing model is introduced. Agents are not only identi fied by their respective claims over some amount of a scarce resource, but also by some payoff thresholds. These thresholds introduce exogenous differences among agents (full or partial priority, past allocations, past debts, ...) that may influence the final distribution. Within this framework we provide generalizations of the constrained equal awards rule and the constrained equal losses rule. We show that these generalized rules are dual from each other. We characterize the generalization of the equal awards rule by using the properties of consistency, path-independence and compensated exemption. Finally, we use the duality between rules to characterize the generalization of the equal losses solution.

Zero-sum problems in finite cyclic groups

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate some open problems in the area of combinatorial number theory referred to as zero-sum theory. A zero-sequence in a finite cyclic group G is said to have the basic property if it is equivalent under group automorphism to one which has sum precisely IGI when this sum is viewed as an integer. This thesis investigates two major problems, the first of which is referred to as the basic pair problem. This problem seeks to determine conditions for which every zero-sequence of a given length in a finite abelian group has the basic property. We resolve an open problem regarding basic pairs in cyclic groups by demonstrating that every sequence of length four in Zp has the basic property, and we conjecture on the complete solution of this problem. The second problem is a 1988 conjecture of Kleitman and Lemke, part of which claims that every sequence of length n in Zn has a subsequence with the basic property. If one considers the special case where n is an odd integer we believe this conjecture to hold true. We verify this is the case for all prime integers less than 40, and all odd integers less than 26. In addition, we resolve the Kleitman-Lemke conjecture for general n in the negative. That is, we demonstrate a sequence in any finite abelian group isomorphic to Z2p (for p ~ 11 a prime) containing no subsequence with the basic property. These results, as well as the results found along the way, contribute to many other problems in zero-sum theory.

Setilement of motor accidents claims with special reference to Kerala

The accident toll on our road traffic is staggering. Obviously this appalling toll of life and.health represents heavy economic loss in addition to human tragedy. the enormous increase in the number of motor vehicles with its rash, negligent and reckless use by unscrupulous, inexperienced and dangerous drivers in the most miserably managed roads coupled with concomitant hazards would draw our attention that Accident Prevention, and Accident compensation are thoroughly two compatiable aims. Proposed solutions to the traffic Problems abound. Preventive efforts concentrated on each of the variables the driver, the road and the vehicle are all being initiated. Still it is a Will the .Motor Vehicles are not considered as dangerous machines. Motoring activity is found useful.A competent and specially trained police force has to be created to deal with the traffic offences in a more scientific ways.The term ‘legal representative needs to be defined on the constructive aspects of relation and dependence.Services of legal aid and public counsels shall necessarily be extended to the poor Motor Accident victims.Timely reporting and timely investigation of Motor Accidents cases will reduce the number of fraudulent claims. There are instances where cases are taken in to investigation after several months of occurrence.It is hoped that the suggestions made above as a result of the present study, if pwgninto practice, may make a humble contribution to the prevention sssof motor accidents and to a faster and speedier settlement of motor accident compensation claims.

The compulsory purchase of farmland: identifying severance and injurious affection claims

In situations of compulsory purchase of farmland, claims for the injurious affection of retained land can form a substantial part of the overall claim for compensation. This paper seeks to identify the problems of identifying injurious affection and severance items, and examines how statutory provision and subsequent case law have dealt with them.