James Halteman and Edd Noell
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- May 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780199763702
- eISBN:
- 9780199932252
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199763702.003.0007
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Financial Economics
Is economics like car building or car repair? Are we working toward a finished product, or are we attempting to answer pertinent questions that arise and change from time to time? These questions are ...
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Is economics like car building or car repair? Are we working toward a finished product, or are we attempting to answer pertinent questions that arise and change from time to time? These questions are entertained in this chapter in order to explore the nature of the methods economists employ. The subjective nature of data and the relevance of predicting from past trendsis explored. The proof that rational choice analysis predicts better than any alternative process is seen to be less than definitive by typical standards of proof. Welfare economics comes closest to philosophy when it optimizes social welfare with a social welfare function, but the ramifications of that model are rarely explored. Finally, it is suggested that key questions change and economic thinking then adapts to deal with the new challenges. The vignette for this chapter looks at John Maynard Keynes and his rethinking of mainstream macroeconomics.Less
Is economics like car building or car repair? Are we working toward a finished product, or are we attempting to answer pertinent questions that arise and change from time to time? These questions are entertained in this chapter in order to explore the nature of the methods economists employ. The subjective nature of data and the relevance of predicting from past trendsis explored. The proof that rational choice analysis predicts better than any alternative process is seen to be less than definitive by typical standards of proof. Welfare economics comes closest to philosophy when it optimizes social welfare with a social welfare function, but the ramifications of that model are rarely explored. Finally, it is suggested that key questions change and economic thinking then adapts to deal with the new challenges. The vignette for this chapter looks at John Maynard Keynes and his rethinking of mainstream macroeconomics.
Paul Stoneman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199572489
- eISBN:
- 9780191722257
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572489.003.0008
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation
This chapter considers alternative models of the demand for (diffusion of) soft innovations. From the several models, the list of factors shown to be important in the innovation process includes the ...
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This chapter considers alternative models of the demand for (diffusion of) soft innovations. From the several models, the list of factors shown to be important in the innovation process includes the level and, particularly, changes in costs of generating and developing innovations, fixed costs of production, variable production costs, the number of suppliers, the allocation of buyers' preferences, buyers' knowledge bases, buyers price, and technology expectations and the nature of the product. The theoretical analysis in Chapters 7 and 8 also jointly shows that there is no guarantee that free markets will produce a welfare optimal outcome. The outcome may involve either too much or too little variety and innovation. The market failure thus identified can come from a number of sources. One general source is that there are positive or negative externalities in the market that drive a wedge between private and social incentives. Other factors such as creative destruction effects and the standing on shoulders effects also have a role to play.Less
This chapter considers alternative models of the demand for (diffusion of) soft innovations. From the several models, the list of factors shown to be important in the innovation process includes the level and, particularly, changes in costs of generating and developing innovations, fixed costs of production, variable production costs, the number of suppliers, the allocation of buyers' preferences, buyers' knowledge bases, buyers price, and technology expectations and the nature of the product. The theoretical analysis in Chapters 7 and 8 also jointly shows that there is no guarantee that free markets will produce a welfare optimal outcome. The outcome may involve either too much or too little variety and innovation. The market failure thus identified can come from a number of sources. One general source is that there are positive or negative externalities in the market that drive a wedge between private and social incentives. Other factors such as creative destruction effects and the standing on shoulders effects also have a role to play.
Michio Morishima
- Published in print:
- 1969
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198281641
- eISBN:
- 9780191596667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198281641.003.0013
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Chapter 10 was concerned with the Final State Turnpike Theorem on the assumptions that consumption of each good per worker is fixed throughout the planning period and that the authorities try to ...
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Chapter 10 was concerned with the Final State Turnpike Theorem on the assumptions that consumption of each good per worker is fixed throughout the planning period and that the authorities try to maximize the stocks of goods that they can bestow, at the horizon, upon the future citizens; this chapter looks at a Second Turnpike Theorem. The partial optimization for the sake of the future should more properly be superseded by a general mutual optimization, so that the benefits from the properties initially available are shared between the people living in the planning period and those after that; this would inevitably cause confrontation with one of the hardest problems of economics—the interpersonal and intertemporal comparisons of utilities. In this chapter, attempts to solve the crux of the problem are abandoned and the other extreme is addressed: the conditions are derived for Ramsey optimality as distinct from DOSSO efficiency, i.e. optimization is in favour of the people in the planning period, and the satisfaction of the future residents is pegged at a certain level, of which the present residents approve. Among all feasible programmes that leave, at the end of the planning period, necessary amounts of goods for the future residents, the question is whether the people living choose a single one that is most preferable from their own point of view, i.e. there is a switch over of ideology from abstinence for the future to satisfaction in the transient life. The different sections of the chapter include discussion of: two norms of optimum growth—the Golden Balanced Growth path and the Consumption Turnpike; the existence of the Consumption Turnpike; the Silvery Rule of Accumulation’ the singular case where there is no discrimination between the living and the coming people; the Consumption Turnpike Theorem—the cases of the subjective time‐preference factor not being greater than the growth factor of the population, and of the former being greater than the latter; and an example of a cyclic Ramsey‐optimum growth.Less
Chapter 10 was concerned with the Final State Turnpike Theorem on the assumptions that consumption of each good per worker is fixed throughout the planning period and that the authorities try to maximize the stocks of goods that they can bestow, at the horizon, upon the future citizens; this chapter looks at a Second Turnpike Theorem. The partial optimization for the sake of the future should more properly be superseded by a general mutual optimization, so that the benefits from the properties initially available are shared between the people living in the planning period and those after that; this would inevitably cause confrontation with one of the hardest problems of economics—the interpersonal and intertemporal comparisons of utilities. In this chapter, attempts to solve the crux of the problem are abandoned and the other extreme is addressed: the conditions are derived for Ramsey optimality as distinct from DOSSO efficiency, i.e. optimization is in favour of the people in the planning period, and the satisfaction of the future residents is pegged at a certain level, of which the present residents approve. Among all feasible programmes that leave, at the end of the planning period, necessary amounts of goods for the future residents, the question is whether the people living choose a single one that is most preferable from their own point of view, i.e. there is a switch over of ideology from abstinence for the future to satisfaction in the transient life. The different sections of the chapter include discussion of: two norms of optimum growth—the Golden Balanced Growth path and the Consumption Turnpike; the existence of the Consumption Turnpike; the Silvery Rule of Accumulation’ the singular case where there is no discrimination between the living and the coming people; the Consumption Turnpike Theorem—the cases of the subjective time‐preference factor not being greater than the growth factor of the population, and of the former being greater than the latter; and an example of a cyclic Ramsey‐optimum growth.
Michio Morishima
- Published in print:
- 1969
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198281641
- eISBN:
- 9780191596667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198281641.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Devoted to establishing the optimality of competitive equilibrium paths of various orders. So far three kinds of equilibrium growth paths have been discussed in the book: the Cassel–von Neumann path ...
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Devoted to establishing the optimality of competitive equilibrium paths of various orders. So far three kinds of equilibrium growth paths have been discussed in the book: the Cassel–von Neumann path of balanced growth, the Lindahl–Hicks sequence of temporary equilibria, and the Hicks–Malinvaud perfect equilibrium over time. These are now examined for efficiency and optimality. Each of them is compared with any other in succession. The different sections of the chapter discuss definitions of efficiency and Pareto optimality, short‐run efficiency of temporary equilibrium and long‐run efficiency of full equilibrium, Pareto optimality of the Lindahl–Hicks and the Hicks–Malinvaud path, Farkas’ theorem of linear inequalities, the fact that shadow prices associated with a Pareto optimum obey the rules of competitive pricing, the conditions that should be satisfied in order for a given point of Pareto optimum to be a competitive equilibrium, and the Golden Rule of Accumulation.Less
Devoted to establishing the optimality of competitive equilibrium paths of various orders. So far three kinds of equilibrium growth paths have been discussed in the book: the Cassel–von Neumann path of balanced growth, the Lindahl–Hicks sequence of temporary equilibria, and the Hicks–Malinvaud perfect equilibrium over time. These are now examined for efficiency and optimality. Each of them is compared with any other in succession. The different sections of the chapter discuss definitions of efficiency and Pareto optimality, short‐run efficiency of temporary equilibrium and long‐run efficiency of full equilibrium, Pareto optimality of the Lindahl–Hicks and the Hicks–Malinvaud path, Farkas’ theorem of linear inequalities, the fact that shadow prices associated with a Pareto optimum obey the rules of competitive pricing, the conditions that should be satisfied in order for a given point of Pareto optimum to be a competitive equilibrium, and the Golden Rule of Accumulation.
Frederick J. Newmeyer
- Published in print:
- 2005
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199274338
- eISBN:
- 9780191706479
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199274338.003.0005
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Language Families
This chapter addresses the question of how direct the linkage is between functional pressures and the typological distribution of formal elements that represents a response to those pressures. It ...
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This chapter addresses the question of how direct the linkage is between functional pressures and the typological distribution of formal elements that represents a response to those pressures. It contrasts two positions on the question: one of which maintains that the link between grammatical constructs and functional motivations is very close, the other that maintains that the relationship between the two is extremely indirect. The latter position is shown to be the correct one.Less
This chapter addresses the question of how direct the linkage is between functional pressures and the typological distribution of formal elements that represents a response to those pressures. It contrasts two positions on the question: one of which maintains that the link between grammatical constructs and functional motivations is very close, the other that maintains that the relationship between the two is extremely indirect. The latter position is shown to be the correct one.
Christopher G. Small and Jinfang Wang
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198506881
- eISBN:
- 9780191709258
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198506881.003.0002
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Probability / Statistics
This chapter gives a survey of the basic concepts of estimating functions, which are used in subsequent chapters. The concept of unbiasedness for estimating functions is introduced as a ...
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This chapter gives a survey of the basic concepts of estimating functions, which are used in subsequent chapters. The concept of unbiasedness for estimating functions is introduced as a generalization of the concept of an unbiased estimator. Godambe efficiency, also known as the Godambe optimality criterion, is introduced by generalizing the concept of minimum variance unbiased estimation. Within the class of estimating functions which are unbiased and information unbiased, the score function is characterized as the estimating function with maximal Godambe efficiency. Extensions to the multiparameter case are given, and the connection to the Riesz representation theorem is described briefly. This chapter also discusses a number of examples from semiparametric models, martingale estimating functions for stochastic processes, empirical characteristic function methods and quadrat sampling; the estimating equations in some of these examples have possibly more than one solution.Less
This chapter gives a survey of the basic concepts of estimating functions, which are used in subsequent chapters. The concept of unbiasedness for estimating functions is introduced as a generalization of the concept of an unbiased estimator. Godambe efficiency, also known as the Godambe optimality criterion, is introduced by generalizing the concept of minimum variance unbiased estimation. Within the class of estimating functions which are unbiased and information unbiased, the score function is characterized as the estimating function with maximal Godambe efficiency. Extensions to the multiparameter case are given, and the connection to the Riesz representation theorem is described briefly. This chapter also discusses a number of examples from semiparametric models, martingale estimating functions for stochastic processes, empirical characteristic function methods and quadrat sampling; the estimating equations in some of these examples have possibly more than one solution.
Christopher G. Small and Jinfang Wang
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780198506881
- eISBN:
- 9780191709258
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198506881.003.0008
- Subject:
- Mathematics, Probability / Statistics
This chapter demonstrates that the numerical methods of earlier chapters are not constrained by statistical philosophy. The theory of Bayesian estimating functions is developed. It is shown that this ...
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This chapter demonstrates that the numerical methods of earlier chapters are not constrained by statistical philosophy. The theory of Bayesian estimating functions is developed. It is shown that this theory has Bayesian analogues for many of the concepts introduced in earlier chapters. While point estimation is often considered of secondary importance to Bayesians, the Bayesian estimating function methodology does have important applications in areas such as actuarial science.Less
This chapter demonstrates that the numerical methods of earlier chapters are not constrained by statistical philosophy. The theory of Bayesian estimating functions is developed. It is shown that this theory has Bayesian analogues for many of the concepts introduced in earlier chapters. While point estimation is often considered of secondary importance to Bayesians, the Bayesian estimating function methodology does have important applications in areas such as actuarial science.
Michio Morishima
- Published in print:
- 1969
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198281641
- eISBN:
- 9780191596667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198281641.003.0015
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The argument developed in the previous chapter was based on the tacit assumption that the production of goods by means of goods and labour is independent of the feeding of labour, and was described ...
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The argument developed in the previous chapter was based on the tacit assumption that the production of goods by means of goods and labour is independent of the feeding of labour, and was described in terms of the matrices of input and output coefficients and the vector of labour‐input coefficients, all of which were considered as technologically given constants. However, it is difficult to obtain precise figures of these coefficients, especially for the labour‐input coefficients, without knowing how and at what level people are fed; the productivity of labour depends not only on technology in the narrowest sense but also on the workers’ state of health, their living and working conditions, etc. Further, in a slave economy, with the wages fixed at a subsistence level, the productivity of labour was low, and it is this that led to its replacement by a more productive system—the capitalist economy. It is not surprising that outputs of goods might increase, even though the allocation of available goods among industries and families became unfavourable for the former; in fact, the positive indirect effect on outputs of a transfer of goods from industries to families causing an improvement in the welfare of the workers might be so strong as to overcome the negative direct effect on outputs of the decrease in industrial inputs. Thus, the production of goods and the feeding of men should be treated as an inseparable process, and this is the approach taken in this chapter, which discusses: the production of goods and ‘men’ by means of goods and ‘men’; the properties of aggregate production processes; conditions for the Silvery Equilibrium; modification of the rule of competitive pricing such that Keynesian involuntary unemployment is allowed for; the existence of ‘quasi‐equilibrium’ processes and prices; the upper semicontinuity of quasi‐equilibrium prices; the equilibration of quasi‐equilibrium; efficiency and optimality in an economy with a flexible labour force; instantaneous efficiency and Pareto optimality of the Silvery Equilibrium; the possibility of optimum cyclical growth of production of goods and men; and the intertemporal efficiency and Pareto optimality of the Golden Equilibrium.Less
The argument developed in the previous chapter was based on the tacit assumption that the production of goods by means of goods and labour is independent of the feeding of labour, and was described in terms of the matrices of input and output coefficients and the vector of labour‐input coefficients, all of which were considered as technologically given constants. However, it is difficult to obtain precise figures of these coefficients, especially for the labour‐input coefficients, without knowing how and at what level people are fed; the productivity of labour depends not only on technology in the narrowest sense but also on the workers’ state of health, their living and working conditions, etc. Further, in a slave economy, with the wages fixed at a subsistence level, the productivity of labour was low, and it is this that led to its replacement by a more productive system—the capitalist economy. It is not surprising that outputs of goods might increase, even though the allocation of available goods among industries and families became unfavourable for the former; in fact, the positive indirect effect on outputs of a transfer of goods from industries to families causing an improvement in the welfare of the workers might be so strong as to overcome the negative direct effect on outputs of the decrease in industrial inputs. Thus, the production of goods and the feeding of men should be treated as an inseparable process, and this is the approach taken in this chapter, which discusses: the production of goods and ‘men’ by means of goods and ‘men’; the properties of aggregate production processes; conditions for the Silvery Equilibrium; modification of the rule of competitive pricing such that Keynesian involuntary unemployment is allowed for; the existence of ‘quasi‐equilibrium’ processes and prices; the upper semicontinuity of quasi‐equilibrium prices; the equilibration of quasi‐equilibrium; efficiency and optimality in an economy with a flexible labour force; instantaneous efficiency and Pareto optimality of the Silvery Equilibrium; the possibility of optimum cyclical growth of production of goods and men; and the intertemporal efficiency and Pareto optimality of the Golden Equilibrium.
Bert Vaux
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- May 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199226511
- eISBN:
- 9780191710193
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199226511.003.0002
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Phonetics / Phonology
This chapter identifies an inventory of core phonological processes that are robustly attested in all or nearly all human languages. These are compared to the classes of phenomena predicted to be ...
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This chapter identifies an inventory of core phonological processes that are robustly attested in all or nearly all human languages. These are compared to the classes of phenomena predicted to be possible and impossible by Rule-Based Phonology (Kenstowicz 1994; Vaux 1998) and Classic Optimality Theory (Kager 1999). The comparison is argued to demonstrate that a phonological theory that employs extrinsically ordered rules, cyclicity, inviolable constraints, and the other machinery of Rule-Based Phonology provides a superior empirical match to and formal model of the facts.Less
This chapter identifies an inventory of core phonological processes that are robustly attested in all or nearly all human languages. These are compared to the classes of phenomena predicted to be possible and impossible by Rule-Based Phonology (Kenstowicz 1994; Vaux 1998) and Classic Optimality Theory (Kager 1999). The comparison is argued to demonstrate that a phonological theory that employs extrinsically ordered rules, cyclicity, inviolable constraints, and the other machinery of Rule-Based Phonology provides a superior empirical match to and formal model of the facts.
Laura J. Downing
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780199286393
- eISBN:
- 9780191713293
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199286393.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Syntax and Morphology
Prosodic morphology concerns the interaction of morphological and phonological determinants of linguistic form and the degree to which one determines the other. Although prosodic morphology has been ...
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Prosodic morphology concerns the interaction of morphological and phonological determinants of linguistic form and the degree to which one determines the other. Although prosodic morphology has been the testing ground for theoretical developments in phonology over the past twenty years, from autosegmental theory to optimality theory, this is the first book devoted to understanding the definition and operation of canonical forms — fixed shaped prosody — which are the defining characteristic of prosodic morphology. This book discusses past research in the field and provides a critical evaluation of the current leading theory, the Generalized Template Hypothesis, showing that it is empirically inadequate. The leading theory proposes that canonical shape of morphemes in processes like reduplication, templatic morphology, hypocoristics, and word minimality follows from the canonical shape of stress feet. The central problem with this proposal is that many of the world’s languages do not have word stress. Even in those that do, there is often a mismatch between the canonical stress foot and canonical morpheme shape. The book sets out an alternative approach, namely, that the basic prosody-morphology correlation is between the syllable and the morpheme. This new approach is tested in a cross-linguistic analysis of phonological and morphological forms over a wide range of languages, including several not previously studied from this perspective.Less
Prosodic morphology concerns the interaction of morphological and phonological determinants of linguistic form and the degree to which one determines the other. Although prosodic morphology has been the testing ground for theoretical developments in phonology over the past twenty years, from autosegmental theory to optimality theory, this is the first book devoted to understanding the definition and operation of canonical forms — fixed shaped prosody — which are the defining characteristic of prosodic morphology. This book discusses past research in the field and provides a critical evaluation of the current leading theory, the Generalized Template Hypothesis, showing that it is empirically inadequate. The leading theory proposes that canonical shape of morphemes in processes like reduplication, templatic morphology, hypocoristics, and word minimality follows from the canonical shape of stress feet. The central problem with this proposal is that many of the world’s languages do not have word stress. Even in those that do, there is often a mismatch between the canonical stress foot and canonical morpheme shape. The book sets out an alternative approach, namely, that the basic prosody-morphology correlation is between the syllable and the morpheme. This new approach is tested in a cross-linguistic analysis of phonological and morphological forms over a wide range of languages, including several not previously studied from this perspective.
