Economic Theory Commons^™

Ricardian Rent Explains Costs Of Elite Colleges, Lester G. Telser

Lester G Telser

Inequality Aversion And Efficiency With Ordinal And Cardinal Social Preferences – An Experimental Study, Dorothea K. Herreiner, Clemens Puppe

Dorothea Herreiner

In this paper, we report on a series of free-form bargaining experiments inwhich two players have to distribute four indivisible goods among themselves. In one treatment, players are informed about the monetary payoffs associated with each bundle of goods; in a second treatment only the ordinal ranking of the bundles is given. We find that in both cases, inequality aversion plays a prominent role. In the ordinal treatment, individuals apparently use the ranks in the respective preference orderings over bundles of goods as a substitute for the unknown monetary value. Allocations that distribute the value (money or ranks, respectively) most …

Distributing Indivisible Goods Fairly: Evidence From A Questionnaire Study, Dorothea K. Herreiner, Clemens Puppe

Dorothea Herreiner

We report the results of a questionnaire study on the fair distribution ofindivisible goods. We collected data from three different subject pools, first- and secondyear students majoring in economics, law students, and advanced economics students with some background knowledge of fairness theories. The purpose of this study is to assess the empirical relevance of various fairness criteria such as inequality aversion, the utilitarian principle of maximizing the sum of individual payoffs, the Rawlsian “maximin” principle of maximizing the payoff of the worst-off individual, and the criterion of envy-freeness (in the sense of Foley, 1967).

Envy Freeness In Experimental Fair Division Problems, Dorothea K. Herreiner, Clemens Puppe

Dorothea Herreiner

Envy is sometimes suggested as an underlying motive in the assessment ofdifferent economic allocations. In the theoretical literature on fair division, following Foley (1967), the term “envy” refers to an intrapersonal comparison of different consumption bundles. By contrast, in its everyday use “envy” involves interpersonal comparisons of well-being. We present and discuss results from free-form bargaining experiments on fair division problems in which inter- and intrapersonal criteria can be distinguished. We find that interpersonal comparisons play the dominant role. The effect of the intrapersonal criterion of envy-freeness is limited to situations in which other fairness criteria are not applicable.

Modern Economics In The Modern World, Lester G. Telser

Lester G Telser

A commodity is a creature of society, its traditions, its experience and, when necessary, its laws. Society defines and controls the legitimate use of commodities almost without exceptions. The three main categories of commodities are private, semi private and non private. An eating apple is a private commodity, an airline seat is a semi private commodity and a computer software program is a non private commodity. This essay describes how modern economics treats these categories.

Confronting The New Reality: Globalisation, The Global Financial Crisis And The State, John H. Farrar, David Mayes

John H. Farrar

Globalisation and the financial crisis have presented major challenges to orthodoxy. This article discusses the implications of these challenges for the role of the state across the globe and argues that it is high time to confront our theory with reality.

What Linear Models Of An Economy Can Teach Us, Lester G. Telser

Lester G Telser

What Linear Models of an Economy Can Teach Us The best way to appreciate the importance of convexity in models of the economy is by a careful examination of a linear model. Because a linear model relies on von Neumann's Saddle Value Theorem, this Theorem is the starting point of the model for two reasons. First, it explains its original application to 2-person zero sum games and its use of mixed strategies. Second, it shows why mixed strategies mislead economic analysis of non convexity in production. The linear model of the economy is a valid application of the Saddle Value …

Why Over-Financialization In The Eurozone Periphery Was Inevitable: A Crisis Of Flawed Legislation And Competitive Imbalances, Maximilian Bevan

Maximilian Bevan

Over the past three years, the heads of state in the Euro area have argued over the proper monetary mechanisms to alleviate the protracted European debt crisis. This paper illuminates the often-overlooked aspects of this crisis – the fundamental failures of the monetary union from its inception. It expands the scope of analysis on the Eurozone crisis by addressing the over-financialization in the Eurozone periphery (Greece, Portugal, and Spain) within a political-economy framework. It explicates the direct relationship between the political manipulations of the legislation by Germany (analyzed from a public choice perspective) and the resulting economic consequences that the …

Are People Probabilistically Challenged? Book Review Of Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast And Slow (2011), Alex Stein

Alex Stein

Daniel Kahneman’s recent book, Thinking, Fast and Slow, is a must-read for any scholar and policymaker interested in behavioral economics. Thus far, behavioral economists did predominantly experimental work that uncovered discrete manifestations of people’s bounded rationality: representativeness, availability, anchoring, overoptimism, base-rate neglect, hindsight bias, loss aversion, and other misevaluations of probability and utility. This work has developed no causal explanations for these misevaluations. Kahneman’s book takes the discipline to a different level by developing an integrated theory of bounded rationality’s causes and characteristics. This theory holds that humans use two distinct modes of reasoning, intuitive (System 1) and deliberative (System …

Self-Interest, Love, And Economic Justice: A Dialogue Between Classical Economic Liberalism And Catholic Social Teaching, Lawrence R. Cima, Thomas L. Schubeck S.J.

Thomas L. Schubeck S.J.

This essay seeks to start a dialogue between two traditions that historically have interpreted the economy in opposing ways: the individualism of classic economic liberalism (CEL), represented by Adam Smith and Milton Friedman, and the communitarianism of Catholic social teaching (CST), interpreted primarily through the teachings of popes and secondarily the U.S. Catholic bishops. The present authors, an economist and a moral theologian who identify with one or the other of the two traditions, strive to clarify objectively their similarities and differences with the opposing perspective. Section one focuses on each position's perspective of love of self and love of …

Self-Interest, Love, And Economic Justice: A Dialogue Between Classical Economic Liberalism And Catholic Social Teaching, Lawrence R. Cima, Thomas L. Schubeck S.J.

Lawrence R. Cima

This essay seeks to start a dialogue between two traditions that historically have interpreted the economy in opposing ways: the individualism of classic economic liberalism (CEL), represented by Adam Smith and Milton Friedman, and the communitarianism of Catholic social teaching (CST), interpreted primarily through the teachings of popes and secondarily the U.S. Catholic bishops. The present authors, an economist and a moral theologian who identify with one or the other of the two traditions, strive to clarify objectively their similarities and differences with the opposing perspective. Section one focuses on each position's perspective of love of self and love of …

Introducing Students To The Competing Schools Of Thought In Intermediate Macroeconomics, Harlan M. Smith Ii

Harlan M. Smith

The article discusses how the intermediate macroeconomics instructor can introduce students to ways of old and new Keynesians and classical theorists addressed the question on why output and employment fluctuate. Keynesian macroeconomics characterizes a school of thought developed around two central prepositions. New Keynesians develop alternative ways of explaining short-run movements in output and employment in the early 1970's. All individuals maximize utility, firm maximizes profits. Recently, new classicals developed an alternative approach in explaining short-run fluctuation in employment and output by redefining the concept of the short run.

Finanzkapital In The Twenty-First Century, Nikhilesh Dholakia

Nikhilesh Dholakia

Purpose – Drawing inspiration from the 1910 book Finanzkapital by Rudolf Hilferding, this paper seeks to explore the nature of financial capital in the early twenty-first century from a political-economic and culture theory perspective. It aims to offer suggestions for transcending the crises-prone contemporary economic systems.

Design/methodology/approach – The paper reconceptualises the notions of Finanzkapital in the contemporary context, drawing selective evidence from current and twentieth century economic and business history.

Findings – The nature of contemporaneous Finanzkapital is elaborated by presenting seven “theses” that probe the nature of Finanzkapital prior to, during, and after the Great Recession of 2007-9. …

Adverse Selection And Incentives In An Early Retirement Program, Kenneth T. Whelan, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Kevin F. Hallock, Ronald L. Seeber

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

We evaluate potential determinants of enrollment in an early retirement incentive program for non-tenure-track employees of a large university. Using administrative record on the eligible population of employees not covered by collective bargaining agreements, historical employee count and layoff data by budget units, and public information on unit budgets, we find dips in per-employee finance in a budget unit during the application year and higher recent per employee layoffs were associated with increased probabilities of eligible employee program enrollment. Our results also suggest, on average, that employees whose salaries are lower than we would predict given their personal characteristics and …

Economic And Statistical Analysis Of Discrimination In Hiring, Ronald G. Ehrenberg, Robert Smith

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Legal and administrative determinations of employers' compliance with "equal employment opportunity" (EEO) requirements often hinge on the Issue of the availability of protected class members to employers. That is, courts and affirmative action review agencies compare the hire rates of protected class members (the ratio of the number of protected class members hired to the number who applied or who were potentially available) to the comparable ratio for other applicants, in assessing whether an employer's hiring policies meet the standards required of them by equal opportunity regulations. The purpose of this paper is to review what economic theory suggests affects …

An Economic Analysis Of The Market For Law School Students, Ronald G. Ehrenberg

Ronald G. Ehrenberg

This study utilizes data from a number of sources to estimate how lawyers' starting salaries relate to their ability, the quality of law school they attended, and whether the law school was a private institution. Based upon this analysis, a benefit—cost analysis is conducted of the value of attending a high-quality private institution. Analyses are also done of how the financial attractiveness of law vis-a-vis other careers has changed in recent years and a conceptual framework discussed for law schools to use in allocating their financial aid resources.

Demonstrations And Price Competition In New Product Release, Raphael Boleslavsky, Christopher Cotton, Haresh Gurnani

Raphael Boleslavsky

We develop a game theoretic model of price competition in which an innovating firm can offer product demonstrations. Placing minimal restriction on the firm's ability to design demonstrations, we show that the equilibrium demonstration resolves some but not all customer valuation uncertainty and allows the innovating firm to attract customers while maintaining a high price. Consumer surplus may be lower with endogenous demonstrations than without demonstrations. Regulation requiring firms to provide fully-informative demonstrations (e.g., generous return policies or inspection periods) can further reduce consumer surplus. The ability to design demonstrations also creates incentives for innovating firms to limit the market …

Progressive Screening: Long Term Contracting With A Privately Known Stochastic Process, Raphael Boleslavsky, Maher Said

Raphael Boleslavsky

We examine a model of long-term contracting in which the buyer is privately informed about the stochastic process by which her value for a good evolves. In addition, the realized values are also private information. We characterize a class of environments in which the profit-maximizing long-term contract offered by a monopolist takes an especially simple structure: we derive sufficient conditions on primitives under which the optimal contract consists of a menu of deterministic sequences of static contracts. Within each sequence, higher realized values lead to greater quantity provision; however, an increasing proportion of buyer types are excluded over time, eventually …

Selloffs, Bailouts, And Feedback: Can Asset Markets Inform Policy?, Raphael Boleslavsky, David L. Kelly, Curtis R. Taylor

Raphael Boleslavsky

We present a model in which a policymaker observes trade in a financial asset before deciding whether to intervene in the economy, for example by offering a bailout or monetary stimulus. Because an intervention erodes the value of private information, informed investors are reluctant to take short positions and selloffs are, therefore, less likely and less informative. The policymaker faces a tradeoff between eliciting information from the asset market and using the information so obtained. In general she can elicit more information if she commits to intervene only infrequently. She thus may benefit from imperfections in the intervention process or …

Reassessing Corporate Personhood In The Wake Of Occupy Wall Street, Nick J. Sciullo

Nick J. Sciullo

This article is about corporate personhood, discussed on the backdrop of class consciousness and criticisms of capital generated, in large part, by the recent and continuing Occupy Movements. I am at first concerned with articulating the evolving jurisprudence of corporate personhood as developed in the Supreme Court of the United States. Combined with this doctrinal approach, I offer a Marxist criticism of corporate personhood jurisprudence that culminates in a discussion of the Occupy Movements' logic of resistance to corporate domination in the United States' law and policy. First, I discuss the role Marxist criticism has played in legal discourse and …

Heterogeneous Tiebout Communities With Private Production And Anonymous Crowding, Jaime Luque

Jaime P. Luque

Deleuze & Guattari And Minor Marxism, Eugene W. Holland

Eugene W Holland

This paper suggests a version of Marxism - a minor Marxism - derived from Deleuze & Guattari's political philosophy.

Resource Allocation, Affluence And Deadweight Loss When Relative Consumption Matters, Jesse A. Matheson, B. Curtis Eaton

Jesse A Matheson

A Unifying Impossibility Theorem, Priscilla Man, Shino Takayama

Priscilla Man