Three talks by Caleb Koch on Rethinking free-riding and Index-wise comparative statics in Japan on 19.04, 24.04 and 26.04.2018
In three talks at Kochi University of Technology and Kyoto University in Japan, Caleb Koch speaks about rethinking free-riding and discusses index-wise comparative statics.
—— Talks 1 & 2——
The first talk discusses 'Rethinking free-riding and tragedy of the commons'. The leading explanation for over-usage and depletion of common-pool resources, phenomena extensively documented at the aggregate level, is free-riding. In this talk, Koch will present the first analysis to directly test, as well as find robust evidence against, the free-riding hypothesis with real-world data at the micro-level. The empirical analysis is based on a unique, large-scale dataset of groundwater-usage in the American Midwest accounting for 2% of the US irrigated acres. Contrary to free-riding, positive interaction effects based on reciprocation are robustly identified. Koch discusses how this finding suggests new perspectives on tragedy of the commons and their governance, and ends by presenting preliminary work that builds on these positive interaction effects to optimally design markets that support resource sustainability
The talk will be held on April 19th, from 13:00 to 14:30 at Kochi University of Technology, Kochi, Japan. A similar talk will be held on April 24th, from 13:00 to 15:00 at the Research institute of Humanities and Nature, Kyoto University, Japan.
—— Talk 3 ——
The third talk is titled 'Index-wise comparative statics'. In this talk, Koch will discuss a paper in which he identifies a necessary and sufficient condition for index- and component-wise comparative statics. He proves these results with an extended version of lattice theory, which enables analysis in settings where substitutability among variables would otherwise preclude the use of current comparative statics methods. Koch shows the theory allows for the treatment of decision-making problems with and without uncertainty. Throughout, he illustrates the theory and results with various applications including optimal behavior in a futures market, stopping and control problems, and consumption-investment decisions.
The talk will be held on April 26th, from 17:00 to 19:00 at the Institute of Economic Research, Kyoto University.