DSAN 5450: Data Ethics and Policy
Spring 2025, Georgetown University
Wednesday, March 26, 2025
In the stu (RStudio), cooken up some 🔥 for yall. Bringing data (.csv files) back into all this econ game theory nonsense
\[ \DeclareMathOperator*{\argmax}{argmax} \DeclareMathOperator*{\argmin}{argmin} \newcommand{\bigexp}[1]{\exp\mkern-4mu\left[ #1 \right]} \newcommand{\bigexpect}[1]{\mathbb{E}\mkern-4mu \left[ #1 \right]} \newcommand{\definedas}{\overset{\small\text{def}}{=}} \newcommand{\definedalign}{\overset{\phantom{\text{defn}}}{=}} \newcommand{\eqeventual}{\overset{\text{eventually}}{=}} \newcommand{\Err}{\text{Err}} \newcommand{\expect}[1]{\mathbb{E}[#1]} \newcommand{\expectsq}[1]{\mathbb{E}^2[#1]} \newcommand{\fw}[1]{\texttt{#1}} \newcommand{\given}{\mid} \newcommand{\green}[1]{\color{green}{#1}} \newcommand{\heads}{\outcome{heads}} \newcommand{\iid}{\overset{\text{\small{iid}}}{\sim}} \newcommand{\lik}{\mathcal{L}} \newcommand{\loglik}{\ell} \DeclareMathOperator*{\maximize}{maximize} \DeclareMathOperator*{\minimize}{minimize} \newcommand{\mle}{\textsf{ML}} \newcommand{\nimplies}{\;\not\!\!\!\!\implies} \newcommand{\orange}[1]{\color{orange}{#1}} \newcommand{\outcome}[1]{\textsf{#1}} \newcommand{\param}[1]{{\color{purple} #1}} \newcommand{\pgsamplespace}{\{\green{1},\green{2},\green{3},\purp{4},\purp{5},\purp{6}\}} \newcommand{\prob}[1]{P\left( #1 \right)} \newcommand{\purp}[1]{\color{purple}{#1}} \newcommand{\sign}{\text{Sign}} \newcommand{\spacecap}{\; \cap \;} \newcommand{\spacewedge}{\; \wedge \;} \newcommand{\tails}{\outcome{tails}} \newcommand{\Var}[1]{\text{Var}[#1]} \newcommand{\bigVar}[1]{\text{Var}\mkern-4mu \left[ #1 \right]} \]
[What is] right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power; otherwise, the strong do as they please and the weak suffer what they must. (Thucydides 2013 c. 411 BC) (Think of necessary vs. sufficient conditions!)
liberalism | republicanism | ||
---|---|---|---|
Definition of Injustice | Strong do bad things (Berlin 1959) | Strong can do bad things (Skinner 1998; Pettit 1997; Lovett 2022) | |
Thucydides Question | Strong do as they please \(\overset{?}{\Rightarrow}\) Strong do bad things |
Strong do as they please \(\overset{?}{\Rightarrow}\) Strong can do bad things |
|
Answer | No, not necessarily! | Yes, necessarily! | |
Frederick Douglass | My feelings [towards slave masters] were not the result of any marked cruelty in the treatment I received… | …they sprung from the consideration of my being a slave in the first place. It was slavery—not its mere incidents—that I despised. (Douglass 1855) | |
A Doll’s House | Our home is nothing but a playroom. I have been your doll-wife, just as at home I was papa’s doll-child; and here the children have been my dolls. (Ibsen 1879) |
The Game
\(j\) | |||
Fish 6 Hours | Fish 8 Hours | ||
\(i\) | Fish 6 Hours | \(1.0,1.0\) | \(0.0,\boxed{1.2}\) |
Fish 8 Hours | \(\boxed{1.2}, 0.0\) | \(\boxed{0.4},\boxed{0.4}\) |
Pareto Dominance
\(j\) | |||
Early | Late | ||
\(i\) | Early | \(\boxed{4},\boxed{4}\) | \(0, \, 3\) |
Late | \(3, \, 0\) | \(\boxed{2},\boxed{2}\) |
It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our meal, but from their regard to their own interest (Smith 1776)
\(j\) | |||
Corn | Tomato | ||
\(i\) | Corn | \(2, \, 4\) | \(4, \, 3\) |
Tomato | \(\boxed{5}, \boxed{5}\) | \(3, \, 2\) |
An economic transaction is a solved political problem. Economics has gained the title “Queen of the Social Sciences” by choosing solved political problems as its domain. (Lerner 1972)
Thm: [Antecedents (Coase Conditions)] \(\Rightarrow\) markets produce Pareto-optimal outcomes
Case : Society decides Right to Clean Air \(\prec\) Right to Smoke \(\Rightarrow\) Start at \(E\)
Case Society decides Smoke \(\prec\) Clean Air \(\Rightarrow\) Repeat for \(E' \leadsto X'\)
\[ s^*_{\text{Priv}}, x^*_{\text{Priv}} = \argmax_{s,x}\left[ p_s s - c_s(s, x) \right] \]
\[ f^*_{\text{Priv}} = \argmax_{f}\left[ p_f f - c_f(f, x) \right] \]
\[ s^*_{\text{Yugo}}, f^*_{\text{Yugo}}, x^*_{\text{Yugo}} = \argmax_{s, f, x}\left[ p_s s + p_f f - c_s(s, x) - c_f(f, x) \right] \]
\[ W(\mathbf{u}) = W(u_1, \ldots, u_n) \Rightarrow W(\mathbf{u})(x) = W(u_1(x), \ldots, u_n(x)) \]
\[ W(\underbrace{v_1, \ldots, v_n}_{\text{Values}})(x) \overset{\text{e.g.}}{=} \omega_1\underbrace{v_1(x)}_{\text{Privacy}} + \omega_2\underbrace{v_2(x)}_{\mathclap{\text{Public Health}}} \]
\[ W(\underbrace{s_1, \ldots, s_n}_{\text{Stakeholders}})(x) = \omega_1\underbrace{u_{s_1}(x)}_{\text{Teachers}} + \omega_2\underbrace{u_{s_2}(x)}_{\text{Parents}} + \omega_3\underbrace{u_{s_3}(x)}_{\text{Students}} + \omega_4\underbrace{u_{s_4}(x)}_{\mathclap{\text{Community}}} \]
\[ W(u_1, \ldots, u_n)(x) = \frac{1}{n}u_1(x) + \cdots + \frac{1}{n}u_n(x) \]
While the rhetoric of “all men [sic] are born equal” is typically taken to be part and parcel of egalitarianism, the effect of ignoring the interpersonal variations can, in fact, be deeply inegalitarian, in hiding the fact that equal consideration for all may demand very unequal treatment in favour of the disadvantaged (Sen 1992)
DSAN 5450 Week 10: Welfare Economics and Policy Evaluation
Social Welfare Functionals