Mikhail V. Sokolov

Deriving weights from general pairwise comparison matrices

The problem of deriving weights from pairwise comparison matrices has been treated extensively in the literature. Most of the results are devoted to the case when the matrix under consideration is reciprocally symmetric (i.e., the i, j-th element of the matrix is reciprocal to its j, i-th element for each i and j). However, there are some applications of the framework when the underlying matrices are not reciprocally symmetric. In this paper we employ both statistical and axiomatic arguments to derive weights from such matrices. Both of these approaches lead to geometric mean-type approximations. Numerical comparison of the obtained geometric mean-type solutions with Saatys eigenvector method is provided also.

Computing Currency Invariant Indices with an Application to Minimum Variance Currency Baskets

This paper provides an exact and computable invariant currency value index (ICVI) which is independent of base currency choice. Thus, given a 1xed set of currencies, the index of a currency will have the same value, regardless of base currency choice. This currency index can be used as an indicator to assess movements of an individual currency’s value in world currency markets. The methodological and mathematical reasoning behind ICVI is formulated in terms of a simple exchange model (SIMEX). To demonstrate one possible application we employ ICVI to construct a currency basket of minimum variance. Utilizing a quadratic optimization framework, we compute optimal weights for currencies and construct a stable aggregate currency (SAC). Comparative empirical analyses of a 1ve-currency SAC and the IMF’s Special Drawing Rights (SDR) demonstrates that the SAC has lower volatility and lower correlations with its components than the SDR. In a similar way it is shown that a three-currency SAC has a smaller variance than the world money basket proposed by R. Mundell. Numerous academic and business implications are possible for further study with the use of the indices ICVI and SAC. c

Russian National Unity: An Analysis of the Political Style of a Radical-Nationalist Organization

In political science the concept of “style” is generally used to contrast how something is done with the substance of what is done, form with content, and means with ends. One of the first examples of the use of this concept was the study of voting in the United States conducted by Paul Lazarsfeld and his colleagues in the 1950s. The authors of this study contrast “positional” differences between candidates (divergences in programmatic goals) with “stylistic” differences (variations in means of achieving goals regarding which there was no fundamental disagreement) (Berelson et al. 1954; see also Campbell and Meier 1979). A similar meaning (admittedly, with some shift of emphasis) is given this concept by James Barber and Robert Hariman, who identify political styles based on the forms of practical action preferred by one or another politician (Barber 1992, Hariman 1995). Of course, use of the expression “political style” in the sense described above is permissible only insofar as we recognize that forms of political action can be demarcated and examined separately from their purpose and that

A Theory of Average Growth Rate Indices

This paper develops an axiomatic theory of an economic variable average growth rate (average rate of change) measurement. The obtained structures generalize the conventional measures for average rate of growth (such as the difference quotient, and the continuously compounded growth rate) to an arbitrary domain of the underlying variable and comprise various models of growth. These structures can be described with the help of intertemporal choice theory by means of parametric families of time preference relations on the “prize-time” space with a parameter representing the subjective discount rate.

Class as Ethnicity: The Rhetoric of the Russian Radical-Nationalist Movement

According to the definition given by Kenneth Burke in his classic work on the rhetoric of motives, the aim of any rhetorical appeal is to identify the speaker’s own goals with the strivings of his audience (Burke 1955, pp. ix–xi). In thinking out the words with which he plans to appeal to his listeners, he must accomplish a dual task: first, he must guess what needs are capable of arousing them to joint action; and second, he must clothe his own proposal for an alliance in forms that they will be prepared to accept. The relationship between these tasks is fundamental to rhetorical analysis. At each moment in time, any society possesses a limited set of types of argumentation that are considered legitimate. The use of arguments that do not belong to this set may compromise both the speaker and all those who have allowed him to convince them. (What will contemporary electors think of a cabinet of ministers that consults horoscopes in adopting a macroeconomic policy?) In this sense, every rhetorical appeal contains two analytically distinguishable layers: the first layer tries to persuade the direct audience that its interests coincide with the goals of the speaker, while the second layer demonstrates that this very process of persuasion lies within the bounds set by the conception of

The problem of money as a measuring stick

A more accurate measuring instrument may be found in stable money baskets built by computers and mathematics.