We argue that it is natural to study social institutions within the framework of standard game theory (i.e., only by resorting to concepts like players, actions, strategies, information sets, payoff functions, and stochastic processes describing the moves of nature, which constitute a stochastic game when combined) — concepts like “social norms,” and “mechanisms” can be easily accommodated, as ...

Social networks are structures that aim to represent the relationships among the actors of a society. In the multiagent model, these networks depict the dependencies among the agents. The dependencies reflect the relation between the goals of the agents and the agents who have the power to achieve them. Like any social structure, also a multiagent system can be regulated by a set of norms and i...

In early 2008 I published I Was Wrong: The Meanings of Apologies.1 Discussing numerous apologies from ancient and recent history, I Was Wrong argues that we suffer from considerable confusion about the moral meanings and social functions of these complex interactions. rather than asking whether a speech act “is or is not” an apology, I offer a nuanced theory of apologetic meaning and argue that...

This article discusses the growing prominence of “faith-based” programs in American corrections and the historical context of penal regime change during periods of economic crisis. The article traces areas of overlap and divergence in recent discussions of penal reform in the U.S. The article suggests a new American penitentiary movement is emerging, noting central tenets of faith-based program...

With the rapid expansion of higher education in the Asia-Pacific Region, the need for community engagement by higher education institutions (HEIs) becomes a more important institutional and social goal. In addition to the traditional moral and ethical objective of service and outreach by HEIs, there are political and economic motivations of engagement in the massified higher education system. H...

Research shows that prison inmates have a higher risk of contracting HIV/AIDS than the general population, prompting widespread measures aimed at diagnosing, quarantining, and treating inmates. Yet, recent scholarship has linked the release inmates to an increase in the HIV incidence rate of various communities. In this paper we explore the disjuncture between institutional policies and potenti...

There has recently been a resurgence of interest in how institutions affect economic performance. A review of this literature reveals that the concept of an "institution" means different things to different scholars, both within economics and across the social sciences. We discuss what factors unify the different definitions of institutions, and develop a concept of institutions useful for the ...

The social context can have a large impact on economic decisions. The theoretical challenge is to formulate a model that encompasses both social and economic decisions in a meaningful manner. We discuss the incorporation of social context into neoclassical economic models using social institutions. We also discuss the relationship between social institutions, social capital, and the social valu...

in this study we tried to examine the role of participatory institutions in the local development by measuring the effect of social capital on the promotion of performance. our research sample was dehong's (a village in south of iran) islamic council. on the other hand it tries to evaluate effect of social capital on local development. the result of the study showed that some of social capital ...