Maurizio Fiaschetti

Congestion pricing for dynamic bandwidth allocation in satellite networks: A game-theoretic approach

The purpose of this work is to provide an enhanced adaptive approach to classic queue-based Bandwidth-on-Demand (BoD) procedures in broadband satellite networks. In queue-based schemes, the controllers objective is to drive the buffer queue length to an appropriate reference queue length, and the efficiency of the control strictly depends on the choice of its reference value. In latest approaches, solutions to adaptively modify the target reference queue length based on a set of network information have been proposed; nevertheless, in such approaches, the satellite terminals should base their control strategies on information which are not available to them, according to the communication standards of state-of-the-art technologies, such as DVB-RCS. The novelty of the presented algorithm is that it overcomes this limit by dynamically changing the reference queue length, based on information actually broadcast to the network terminals; the algorithm is at same time simple and effective, and is based on a game-theoretic approach which benefits of recent advances in congestion pricing theory. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is supported by Opnet® simulations as well as by considerations about the real implementability of the solution.

The regional heterogeneity of wellbeing ‘expenditure’ preferences: evidence from a simulated allocation choice on the BES indicators

With an online survey on major Italian newspapers we ask respondents to simulate the typical policymaker decision, that is, the dilemma of allocating scarce financial resources among alternative competing goals using the domains of the newly defined Italian BES (sustainable and equitable wellbeing) indicators. Our main finding is that homogeneity of choices is rejected since preferred allocations are strongly affected by socio-demographic factors and mainly by political orientation, age, education and gender. An important related result is that education and political orientation significantly affect preferences toward sustainable development. We as well find that respondents’ expenditure preferences on a given BES domain are mainly affected by the relative scarcity/abundance of wellbeing on that given domain at the regional level.

The Demand for Advice in Defined Contribution Pension Plans: Age, Gender, and the Size-of-Bet Effect

Defined contribution (DC) or money purchase pension saving schemes place the onus on participants to make decisions on asset allocation, the choice of investment vehicles, and the extent to which changes in individual circumstances and macroeconomic conditions should affect investment strategy. Many people are ill-equipped to make these types of decisions. The role of third-party advisers is quite problematic, particularly when their incentives are inconsistent with the interests of those that seek advice. In this paper, we report the results of a comprehensive study of the advice sought by Australian DC participants from their plan sponsors (agent) over time, explaining observed patterns by reference to participants’ age and gender, the salience of the issue, and the size-of-bet effect. The mode of inquiry, the frequency and volume of contact by plan participants, and the sensitivity of participants to announced changes in the national pension regime and macroeconomic events are also considered. Whereas research on this topic has focused upon fee-for-service advisers, we focus upon the advice provided by the agent of DC plan sponsors that has no direct interest in the outcome of calls or web-based inquiries. Analysis takes in approximately 430,000 Australians over the period 2004 to 2013.

The heterogeneity of wellbeing “expenditure” preferences: evidence from a simulated allocation choice on the BES indicators

With an online survey on major Italian newspapers we ask respondents to simulate the typical policymaker decision, that is, the dilemma of allocating scarce financial resources among alternative competing goals using the domains of the newly defined Italian BES (sustainable and equitable wellbeing) indicators. We find that two major factors explaining heterogeneity in preferences on expenditure in major wellbeing domains are left/right wing political orientation and low/high education. With regard to political orientation we identify “large coalition” items where left/right positions are similar and domains where opinion are more polarized. Overall, our findings document that left wing respondents would spend relatively more on environment, research and innovation, culture and education and relatively less on safety and measures directly aimed at improving economic wellbeing. We conclude that these findings make themselves significantly more oriented toward environmental sustainability in a hypothetical trade‐off between economic growth and the latter.

Playing with your future: Who gambles in defined-contribution pension plans?

In this article, we investigate the relationship between volatility in the stock market and the trading behaviour of employees in defined-contribution (DC) pension schemes. We found that 10% of our sample exhibited compulsive gambling behaviour; in other words, they both ‘fed’ and ‘fed-off’ volatility, and that their individual attributes such as gender, experience in the firm and age clearly influenced their trading behaviour. Our findings shed new light on the behavioural drivers of financial decision-making in a saving-for-retirement setting, and on the crucial importance of the need for the financial industry and policy makers to address the growing onus put on ill-equipped non-professional financial decision makers.

The Impact of Cash Mobs in the Vote with the Wallet Game: Experimental Results

We simulate in a randomised lab experiment the effect of Cash Mobs on consumers’ behaviour in an original variant of the multiplayer Prisoner’s dilemma called Vote-with-the-Wallet Game (VWG). The effect is modelled in a sequential game with/without an environmental frame in which a subset of players (cash-mobbers) is given the opportunity to reveal publicly (in aggregate without disclosing individual identities) their cooperation decision. We find that the treatment has a positive gross effect, that is, the share of cooperators is significantly higher in treated sessions and this is mainly due to the higher share of cooperators among cash-mobbers. Our results suggest that cash mobs-like mechanisms can help to solve social dilemmas with entirely private solutions (not based on punishment but on positive action) without costs for government budgets.

Compulsive Gamblers: The Frequency and Timing of Trades by UK DC Plan Participants

In this article, we investigate the relationship between volatility in the stock market and the trading behaviour of employees in defined-contribution (DC) pension schemes. We found that 10% of our sample exhibited compulsive gambling behaviour; in other words, they both ‘fed’ and ‘fed-off’ volatility, and that their individual attributes such as gender, experience in the firm and age clearly influenced their trading behaviour. Our findings shed new light on the behavioural drivers of financial decision-making in a saving-for-retirement setting, and on the crucial importance of the need for the financial industry and policy makers to address the growing onus put on ill-equipped non-professional financial decision makers.

Card Games and Financial Crises

There may be a nexus between card games and financial markets. Akerlof and Shiller (2010) ask whether the decline in the number of bridge players and the growth in the number of poker players may have led to the current bad financial traders’ practices which are responsible for the global financial crisis. The reason is that bridge is a cooperative game generally played without monetary payoffs, while poker is an individualistic game with monetary payoffs. We simulate trust and dictator game experiments on a large sample of affiliated bridge and poker players. We find that bridge players make more polarized choices and send significantly more than poker players as trustors, a result which is reinforced when corrected for risk aversion and dictator giving. Overall, our findings do not reject the hypothesis that bridge practice is associated with a relatively higher disposition to team reasoning and strategic altruism.