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IN THE FOLLOWING ARGUMENT, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE INFORMATIONAL DIMENSION OF SMALL-SCALE COLLECTIVE CHOICE SYSTEMS BE INTRODUCED INTO THE SET OF EXPLANATORY VARIABLES, BE ALLOWED TO FLUCTUATE WHILE THE 'COMMITTEE' IS IN SESSION AND, FINALLY, BE PERMITTED TO "FEED BACK" TO THE INDIVIDUAL PARTICIPANTS DURING THE GROUP DECISION PROCESS. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT CONSIDERATION OF THE IN-PERIOD OR 'IN-COMMITTEE' SHOCKS WHICH THIS RELEASE AND FLOW OF INFORMATION MAY BE MODELED TO HAVE ON THE PARTICIPANTS' ROUND-TO-ROUND VOTING STRATEGIES MIGHT PROVIDE A SUPPLEMENTARY EXPLANATION OF SOME OF THE ANOMALOUS RESULTS (SUCH AS THE RELATIVE RARITY OF OBSERVED CYCLING) ENCOUNTERED IN OBSERVATIONS OF COLLECTIVELY CONTROLLED SYSTEMS.

The origins and role of corporate landholding and land redistribution practices over arable land in seventeenth- to nineteenth-century Japan have posed a quandary for scholars. The most common forms are widely seen as means to spread the impact of flooding among villagers in districts that are considered to be at great risk from flood hazards. Such conclusions are often based on individual village studies. In contrast, this study takes a regional approach and tests the validity of this relationship using geographic information systems technology experimentally. This experiment reveals a variety of anomalies that, taken together, suggest that any link between natural hazard risk and the presence or absence of redistribution practices is more subtle than typical explanations assert.