Optimal Policies and Socially Oriented Behavior: Some Problematic Effects of an Incentive Compatible Device

Mancur Olson was pivotalin identifying the formal structure ofcollective action and the problems ofachieving optimal social outcomes with it. Using experimental methods, an incentivecompatible device is introduced in a5-person prisoner's dilemma. Thearrangements reflect constructs of Harsanyiand Rawls designed to identify optimal andfair outcomes. The device moves groupstowards optimality but its removalnegatively affects subsequent behavior,compared to a control with no ICD. Thisspill-over problem seems to reflect aweakened connection between sociallyoriented values and behavior, suggestingthat ICD's may have unanticipated negativeexternalities.     

A role for structured observation in ethics

Progress in the natural sciences has depended upon the collection and use of carefully controlled observational data. By contrast, ethicists have failed to agree upon a role for observational data in their enterprise. Although factors embedded in the human condition obscure the role of observational data in ethical theory, barriers to the use of such data in ethics may be superable. Observation may not provide definitive answers to most ethical or metaethical questions. However observation of carefully constructed experimental conditions may provide the basis for cumulative progress in some branches of ethics.     

A view of how the mining industry can support NEPAD

This article examines how British decision‐makers attempted to manage the Suez crisis and Falklands conflict. Of interest is the influence which the number of actors involved and the structure of their alliance relationships had on British calculations. The level of available military technology is also examined, in particular whether the absence of mutually recognised upper thresholds of mass destruction makes the Suez crisis and Falklands conflict akin to international disputes which occurred prior to the advent of nuclear weapons, despite the fact that both crises occurred in the ‘nuclear age’.     

Fiction in Review

The Assistant , introduction by Jonathan Rosen
Dubin's Lives , introduction by Thomas Mallon
The Magic Barrel , introduction by Jhumpa Lahiri
The Natural , introduction by Kevin Baker
The Tenants , introduction by Aleksandar Hemon