Claiming Kin

Tressa: Claiming the Future

Unlike sequential programs, concurrent programs have to account for interference on shared variables. Static verification of a desired property for such programs crucially depends on precisely asserting the conditions for interference. In a static proof system, in addition to program variables, auxiliary (history) variables summarizing the past of the program execution are used in these asserti...

2030’s Seniors : Kin and Step-Kin

Demographic computer microsimulation is applied to produce projections of numbers and distributions of close kin for the U.S. elderly of 2030. This paper reports results for the non-black population, with special emphasis on the numbers and possible roles of step-kin. The projections indicate that the elderly of 2030 are likely to be moderately deprived in terms of numbers of close living biolo...

Framing and Claiming: How Information-Framing Affects Expected Social Security Claiming Behavior.

This paper provides evidence that Social Security benefit claiming decisions are strongly affected by framing and are thus inconsistent with expected utility theory. Using a randomized experiment that controls for both observable and unobservable differences across individuals, we find that the use of a "breakeven analysis" encourages early claiming. Respondents are more likely to delay when la...

Kin Selection

Kin selection

How can individuals calculate relatedness? They generally don’t need to, any more than a bird needs to calculate aerodynamic forces to fly. If, under certain conditions, performing a behavior satisfies Hamilton’s rule, then the action is favored. The triggering conditions may include cues to relatedness, which are usually based on social experience. A bee, for example, learns the smell of her b...