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The purpose of this analysis is to explain why labor shortages may have appeared during this pandemic. Interestingly, in this COVID-19 pandemic period, the labor supply shortage could very well become more easily explained than under the traditional portrayal of consumer economic behavior. The matter seemingly lends itself to provocative empirical inquiry.

From this model, it can be shown that the consumer’s labor supply curve is negatively sloped and, indeed, could even assume the form of a rectangular hyperbola. Applying this model in the labor market could explain the labor shortage in the USA during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Arguably, rational consumer behavior can take the form, under a variety of circumstances (including cultural), for consumers/households that have achieved a “comfortable” standing of living/utility level, involve the minimization of work effort to achieve that utility level. In other words, constrained utility maximization is not the only rational form of consumer economic behavior. When the former behavior prevails over the latter, there are myriad implications. These do include an inverse relationship between work effort and wage rate, i.e. a negatively sloped labor supply curve.

This paper departs from the conventional treatment of deriving the supply curve of labor based on constrained utility maximization. Instead, it acknowledges that consumers may have a target standard of living and seek to minimize the cost of achieving that given living standard.

Community solidarity with return migrants is commonly observed in the rural areas of developing countries. In this paper, we briefly review the evidence from sociological studies on this issue and suggest a new economic approach to such solidarity. We show that an implicit institutional arrangement, whereby migrants have no obligations (e.g., no obligation to remit) but may nevertheless enjoy equal ownership rights on collective resources upon return, enhances economic efficiency via an optimal regulation of migration flows. We also address enforceability issues since, within each generation, time consistency problems may give rise to opportunistic behavior among non-migrants.

Purpose – For the purpose of forming a nation from the independent regions, the desirability is examined whether first we must seek economic integration of the regions or first military integration of the regions. The comparison of the “all-volunteer army system” and the “draft system” is also attempted.

Design/methodology/approach – Assuming the two regions facing the assault by an intruder, the Walrasian general equilibrium theory in economics is utilized for the comparison. For the construction of armed forces, Lindahl mechanism is introduced. The desirability is evaluated by the comparison of final utilities for the two integration processes achieved from the computation of equilibrium prices and burden shares for military expenses.

Findings – It is found that the all-volunteer army system is more desirable than the draft system in any of the two integrations. Furthermore, “first, the economic integration of the two regions, then the military integration” is more desirable than “first, the military integration of the two regions, then the economic integration.”

Research limitations/implications – Parameters in production and utility functions as well as the population sizes are specified numerically, although the specification is made randomly. The present simulation provides a starting point for further research with general (unspecified) production and utility functions.

Originality/value – This simulation provides a theoretical support for the actual design of the European integration. The originality consists in the derivation of the conclusion from the formulation of a purely theoretical model, which assumes individuals' maximizing behavior.

The application on conjoint analysis to the task of customising financial services is discussed. Conjoint analysis allows for the generation of the utility levels associated with financial service design alternatives. By evaluating service‐provider and customer utility levels simultaneously, an efficient frontier of financial service designs can be identified. This process can greatly simplify the financial service design selection decision, since it eliminates inferior alternatives from consideration. A hypothetical example, the selection of commercial line of credit features for a potential corporate customer, is demonstrated.