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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences
Beyond Foraging: Behavioral Science And The Future Of Institutional Economics, Alexander J. Field
Beyond Foraging: Behavioral Science And The Future Of Institutional Economics, Alexander J. Field
Economics
Institutions affect economic outcomes, but variation in them cannot be directly linked to environmental factors such as geography, climate, or technological availabilities. Game theoretic approaches, based as they typically are on foraging only assumptions, do not provide an adequate foundation for understanding the intervening role of politics and ideology; nor does the view that culture and institutions are entirely socially constructed. Understanding what institutions are and how they influence behavior requires an approach that is in part biological, focusing on cognitive and behavioral adaptations for social interaction favored in the past by group selection. These adaptations, along with their effects …
From Quasi-Private To Quasi-Public: The Development Of Local Libraries In The United States, 1870-1930, Michael Kevane, William A. Sundstrom
From Quasi-Private To Quasi-Public: The Development Of Local Libraries In The United States, 1870-1930, Michael Kevane, William A. Sundstrom
Economics
The period 1870-1930 witnessed the emergence of the local public library as a widespread and enduring American institution. During these years, access to free community-based library services spread to a much larger share of the U.S. population, while the institutional structure of local libraries underwent a transition from largely quasi-private, voluntary associations to the tax-supported public institutions familiar today. In this paper we describe this transition, and document the expansion of public libraries and library services in the United States over these years, using data drawn from library surveys conducted by the federal Bureau of Education. We then review some …
Habitudes De Lecture Au Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane, Alain Joseph Sissao
Habitudes De Lecture Au Burkina Faso, Michael Kevane, Alain Joseph Sissao
Economics
Personne ne doute du fait que la pratique de la lecture tout au long du cursus scolaire soit un exercice très important pour le développement et la consolidation permanente de l’alphabétisation (1 ; 8 ; 2). Malgré ce consensus, il existe très peu d’études sur les habitudes de lecture des élèves en Afrique. La plupart des recherches se concentrent sur les problèmes des bibliothèques publiques (3 ; 13). Mais nous ne connaissons pas d’études qui analysent ou évaluent véritablement l’influence des bibliothèques sur les habitudes de lecture dans les pays africains. Ce qui est regrettable, car, pour évaluer l’impact des …
The Origins Of U.S. Total Factor Productivity Growth In The Golden Age, Alexander J. Field
The Origins Of U.S. Total Factor Productivity Growth In The Golden Age, Alexander J. Field
Economics
A consideration of TFP growth in the United States during the golden age (1948–1973) raises two related questions: on the one hand why was it so strong and on the other hand, why were TFP growth rates lower than they were during the Depression years (1929–1941)? A continuing downward trend in TFP growth within manufacturing, and its declining share after World War II, provide answers to the latter question. A persisting productivity windfall associated with the build out of the surface road infrastructure helps answer the former question. By adopting a longer historical perspective, we can move beyond understanding the …
The Equipment Hypothesis And U.S. Economic Growth, Alexander J. Field
The Equipment Hypothesis And U.S. Economic Growth, Alexander J. Field
Economics
In several articles published in the 1990s, de Long and Summers argued that investment in producer durables had a high propensity to generate externalities in using industries, resulting in a systematic and substantial divergence between its social and private return. They maintained, moreover, that this was not the case for structures investment. Together, these claims constitute the equipment hypothesis. This paper explores the degree to which the history of US economic growth in the 20th century supports it.