Rationality and Society

Two or more players rank a set of indivisible items from best to worst. An efficient allocation of items is characterized, which may satisfy such properties as maximin, Borda maximin, and envy-avoidance. Whereas the two maximin properties are in conflict with envy-avoidance, there is always an efficient allocation that does not ensure envy, but it may not be maximin or Borda maximin. Computer calculations show that maximin allocations lead to envy quite often, but Borda maximin allocations do so only rarely. Implications of the theoretical findings for real-world fair-division problems are discussed.

The prevailing approaches to collective action in the rational choice paradigm often lead to implausible conclusions and tend to lack predictive power. This article introduces a method to overcome these difficulties. The method is based on the notion of stability sets of pure-strategy equilibria, already familiar from the literature on equilibrium selection and with close counterparts in evolutionary game theory. With the help of some simple examples, the article shows how this method can turn many intuitive insights into operational, testable hypotheses about phenomena of collective action.

A snowmobile trail canalizes snow-covered land to create a path of snowmobile travel. This form of communication infrastructure yields two kinds of benefits. First, it reduces negative externalities befalling landowners and other non-drivers. Second, it improves driving conditions for both local inhabitants and leisure tourists enjoying outdoor recreation. Our study suggests that problems befalling landowners decline as trails are established and the work provided by snowmobile associations intensifies. We discuss various social mechanisms that facilitate self-organization, and suggest that the extensive voluntary provision of snowmobile trails in Sweden is an example of how local common-pool resource dilemmas are resolved through self-organization, outside formal markets and beyond governmental politics.

It took the European Union (EU) 35 years to achieve a co-operative agreement on co-ordinated measures of savings taxation. Political science has offered two explanations for this. First, co-operation is difficult to achieve as a result of heterogeneity. Countries with a small domestic tax base favor tax competition, while countries with a large tax base prefer tax co-operation. Second, co-operation is difficult as a consequence of specific characteristics of the collective action problem involved. The actors face a prisoners’ dilemma. Both explanations have their limits. The first approach is not very good at predicting actual policy preferences of governments and the second approach dismisses the fact that the EU offers cooperative institutions that should be able to resolve a dilemma. The paper refines these explanations such that the theory fits better the empirical positions of EU governments and their problems of finding an agreement.