IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reecde/v21y2017i3d10.1007_s10058-017-0199-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Pareto efficiency in the jungle

Author

Listed:
  • Harold Houba

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Roland Iwan Luttens

    (Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)

  • Hans-Peter Weikard

    (Wageningen University)

Abstract

We revisit the jungle economy of Piccione and Rubinstein (Econ J 117(July):883–896, 2007) in which the allocation of resources is driven by coercion. In this economy the unique equilibrium satisfies lexicographic maximization. We show that relaxing the assumptions on consumption sets and preferences slightly, allocations other than lexicographic maximizers can be jungle equilibria. We attribute this result to single unilateral taking where a stronger agent takes goods from only one weaker agent. Once multiple unilateral takings are introduced, we show that jungle equilibria coincide with lexicographic maximization under weak assumptions. However, we also present examples of equilibria that are Pareto inefficient, where voluntary gift giving by stronger agents is needed to achieve Pareto efficiency and even voluntary trade has a role in the jungle.

Suggested Citation

  • Harold Houba & Roland Iwan Luttens & Hans-Peter Weikard, 2017. "Pareto efficiency in the jungle," Review of Economic Design, Springer;Society for Economic Design, vol. 21(3), pages 153-161, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reecde:v:21:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10058-017-0199-3
    DOI: 10.1007/s10058-017-0199-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10058-017-0199-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10058-017-0199-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Michele Piccione & Ariel Rubinstein, 2007. "Equilibrium in the Jungle," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 117(522), pages 883-896, July.
    2. Emanuela Randon & Peter Simmons, 2017. "A top dog tale with preference complementarities," Journal of Economics, Springer, vol. 120(1), pages 47-63, January.
    3. E. Randon & P. Simmons, 2012. "A Top Dog Tale with Preference Rigidities," Working Papers wp839, Dipartimento Scienze Economiche, Universita' di Bologna.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Bertrand Crettez, 2020. "Pareto-minimality in the jungle," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 495-508, March.
    2. Soldatos, Gerasimos T., 2015. "Peacemaking and Peacebuilding through Opponent Non-Economic and Economic Homogenization," MPRA Paper 67482, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Joshua S. Gans, 2018. "Self-Regulating Artificial General Intelligence," NBER Working Papers 24352, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jung, Hanjoon Michael, 2009. "Spatial pillage game," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(11), pages 701-707, December.
    2. Ansink, Erik & Gengenbach, Michael & Weikard, Hans-Peter, 2012. "River Sharing and Water Trade," Climate Change and Sustainable Development 122860, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM).
    3. Ivan Balbuzanov & Maciej H. Kotowski, 2019. "Endowments, Exclusion, and Exchange," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 87(5), pages 1663-1692, September.
    4. Afacan, Mustafa Oğuz & Bó, Inácio, 2022. "Strategy-proof popular mechanisms," Journal of Mathematical Economics, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    5. Corchón, Luis C. & Triossi, Matteo, 2005. "Implementation with state dependent feasible sets and preferences: a renegotiation approach," UC3M Working papers. Economics we057136, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. Departamento de Economía.
    6. Herbst, Luisa & Konrad, Kai A. & Morath, Florian, 2017. "Balance of power and the propensity of conflict," Games and Economic Behavior, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 168-184.
    7. Michael Richter & Ariel Rubinstein, 2015. "Back to Fundamentals: Equilibrium in Abstract Economies," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(8), pages 2570-2594, August.
    8. Athreya, Kartik B., 2014. "Big Ideas in Macroeconomics: A Nontechnical View," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 1, volume 1, number 0262019736, December.
    9. Mehrdad Vahabi, 2020. "Introduction: a symposium on the predatory state," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 182(3), pages 233-242, March.
    10. Matthew O. Jackson & Stephen Nei, 2014. "Networks of Military Alliances, Wars, and International Trade," Working Papers 2014.46, Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei.
    11. Herings, P. Jean-Jacques & Saulle, Riccardo & Seel, Christian, 2018. "The Last will be First, and the First Last: Segregation in Societies with Positional Externalities," Research Memorandum 027, Maastricht University, Graduate School of Business and Economics (GSBE).
    12. Rakesh Chaturvedi, 2021. "Stability and efficiency in a model of production and pillage," Indian Economic Review, Springer, vol. 56(2), pages 313-333, December.
    13. Rowat, Colin & Kerber, Manfred, 2014. "Sufficient conditions for unique stable sets in three agent pillage games," Mathematical Social Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 69-80.
    14. Sjur Didrik Flåm, 2020. "Emergence of price-taking Behavior," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 70(3), pages 847-870, October.
    15. Konrad, Kai A. & Kovenock, Dan, 2012. "The lifeboat problem," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 56(3), pages 552-559.
    16. Jung, Florian & Sunde, Uwe, 2014. "Income, inequality, and the stability of democracy — Another look at the Lipset hypothesis," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 52-74.
    17. Gilles, Robert P. & Lazarova, Emiliya A. & Ruys, Pieter H.M., 2015. "Stability in a network economy: The role of institutions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 375-399.
    18. Michael Florig & Jorge Rivera, 2015. "Existence of a competitive equilibrium when all goods are indivisible," Working Papers wp403, University of Chile, Department of Economics.
    19. de Groot, Olaf J. & Rablen, Matthew D. & Shortland, Anja, 2011. "Gov-Aargh-Nance – “Even Criminals Need Law And Order”," NEPS Working Papers 7/2011, Network of European Peace Scientists.
    20. Akihiko Matsui & Megumi Murakami, 2017. "Demographics, Immigration, and Market Size," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1060, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Power; Coercion; Jungle economy; Pareto efficiency; Gift giving; Trade;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D51 - Microeconomics - - General Equilibrium and Disequilibrium - - - Exchange and Production Economies
    • D61 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Allocative Efficiency; Cost-Benefit Analysis
    • P52 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Comparative Economic Systems - - - Comparative Studies of Particular Economies

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:reecde:v:21:y:2017:i:3:d:10.1007_s10058-017-0199-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.