Technology before engineering: How James Bond films mediate between fiction and reality in the portrayal of innovation

Imaginary technical devices and machinery portrayed in the James Bond films are known to have inspired real innovation activities. This paper investigates the dynamics of cultural entrepreneurship behind this phenomenon. It presents a hermeneutic analysis of the James Bond film series which identifies various patterns in the portrayal of technology which create labels and vocabularies for innovation activities and cognitive legitimacy for their implementation. These patterns have little in common with systematic approaches known from industrial research and development. They are instead related to general strategies of sense-making among users, which neglect practical issues in engineering. Drawing on Suvin's concept of the novum, the paper describes this as a transformational approach to innovation, which is less interested in the actual characteristics of a new artefact, but rather its function as an enabler for change.     

Key problems facing industrial distributors

This article reports on a survey of the problems faced by industrial distributors. Five major problem categories are identified and managerial implications are derived from the findings.     

The trade wind,the statesman and the system of commerce: Sir James Steuart's vision of political economy

In the conception of history of the abbé de Condillac, one thing is really original. He establishes a causal relation between the functioning of the human mind and the history of societies. First, the understanding of humankind is not disordered: society develops, stages follow one another. But the commercial stage leads societies to divide into classes, the landowners are interested only in frivolous, luxurious objects: they have become denatured. Their behaviour entails society in a long phase of decline. However, this course is not inevitable. Condillac wishes to reform the individual in order to modify society and he proposes economic safeguards capable of reducing disparities. Life is simple, but history is not halted.     

The genesis of macroeconomics: new ideas from Sir William Petty to Henry Thornton

Annual reports are situated artefacts which relate a longitudinal grand narrative or corporate (auto)biography. This paper explores the narrative reporting of two former asbestos manufacturers, Turner &; Newall in the UK and James Hardie in Australia. Asbestos features prominently in the industrial expansion and decline of both companies as the toxic health effects of this ‘magic mineral’ became evident over time. This paper finds evidence of several distinct phases of reporting of asbestos, from reporting it as a source of unmitigated value, to a source of risk and finally as a threat to corporate viability. Each stage erased or re-situated the prior story of asbestos so that users of individual annual reports may be unaware of the grand narrative of asbestos in its transformation from ‘magic mineral to killer dust’.     

简析实用主义的真理观

实用主义是西方哲学中的一个重要流派,而真理观是其重要而具有代表性的一个观点。长期以来,我们对实用主义有过多的偏见与误解,甚至有时完全否定其科学价值。通过考察詹姆士真理观的基本内涵和基本特征,可以看出实用主义真理观中,既有需批判的谬误又有可吸收的真理。我们应以科学的态度来评价它。     

Optimal dynamic behavior of a market maker in choosing bid and asked prices

Dynamic programming is used to describe a specialist's choice of bid and asked prices given uncertainty about both limit and market orders. The role of limit orders is emphasized. Optimal quotes depend on the composition of limit orders, the size of the specialist's position, and the time of day. The optimal bid-ask spread, however, depends only on the composition of the book. The capitalized value of the specialist's franchise is studied. Long-run probability distributions for bid and ask prices are obtained, which show that the variances of these prices increase as the end of the day approaches.     

Detecting financially troubled property-liability insurers

The financial failure of property-liability insurers results in unpaid claims amounting to approximately $25 millions annually. A more effective system must be developed to detect these troubled firms at an earlier date and reduce this cost to society. The current system employed by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners relies primarily on loss reserves and loss ratios. It appears that most failures result from dishonesty and the removal of assets from the company into the possession of management. This study presents a model which incorporates variables designed to detect this draining of assets and identify companies which show a high probability for failure. This model is tested on an independent sample and is successful in correctly classifying 88% of the firms three years prior to liquidation. This study differs from prior studies by using a new approach to selecting the variables for the model.     

Back to Buchanan? Explorations of welfare and subjectivism in behavioral economics

In light of behavioral findings regarding inconsistent individual decision-making, economists have begun to re-conceptualize the notion of welfare. One prominent account is the preference purification approach (PP), which attempts to reconstruct preferences from choice data based on a normative understanding of neoclassical rationality. Using Buchanan’s notion of creative choice, this paper criticizes PP’s epistemic, ontological, and psychological assumptions. It identifies PP as a static position that assumes the satisfaction of given ‘true preferences’ as the normative standard for welfare. However, following Buchanan, choice should be understood dynamically as a process whereby preferences constantly regenerate. Accordingly, the meaning of welfare emerges from an ongoing quest for individual self-constitution. If this holds true, then rationality axioms cannot serve as a priori normative standards. Instead, creative imagination and learning processes must remain central to any understanding of welfare in economics.