The Economics and Bioeconomics of Folk and Scientific Classification

Synopsis This paper is the product of a collaboration between a biologist (Ghiselin 1997) who works on the philosophy of classification and an economist (Landa 1981, 1994) who works on the ‘Economics of Identity’: how and why people classify people based on identity in the context of a theory of ethnic trading networks. In developing the ‘bioeconomics’ (the synthesis of economics with biology) of classification, we crossed a number of disciplinary boundaries—anthropology, economics, sociology, biology, and cognitive psychology including evolutionary psychology’s ‘fast and frugal’ heuristics. Using a bioeconomics approach, we argue that folk classifications—the classifications used by ordinary persons—have much in common with scientific classifications: underlying both is the need for economy of information processing in the brain, for the efficient organization of knowledge, and for efficiency of information acquisition and transmission of information to others. Both evolve as a result of trial and error, but in science there is relatively more foresight, understanding, and planning.     

Quantifying central banks’ scientization: why and how to do a quantified organizational history of economics

ABSTRACT

A subset of research in the history of economics is organizational history – i.e. the study of the organizations producing, circulating and applying economic ideas. This article maintains that some research questions in organizational history call for quantitative methods because they ask about magnitudes. More precisely, we claim that quantitative methods should complement rather than replace other research methods when the research question is at least partly about magnitudes. We walk the walk with a study of one type of organization, central banks, and of its changing relationship with economic science. Our results point unambiguously toward a growing dominance of central banks in the specialized field of monetary economics. Central banks have swelling research armies, they publish a growing share of the articles in specialized scholarly journals, and these articles tend to have more impact today than the articles produced outside central banks.     

POSSIBILITIES AND PROBLEMS OF RECONCILIATION OF THE SNA AND THE MPS

This paper reviews the underlying concepts and definitions of SNA and MPS in order to identify those areas where the differences in the content or classifications of the corresponding aggregates of these systems of national accounting can be eliminated or reduced in the course of the present or the future work on the revision of both SNA and MPS. This will bring the systems nearer to each other and improve international comparability of national income data. In cases where such a reconciliation is not feasible, the introduction of certain modifications or clarifications in the selected sections of SNA and/or MPS will be a useful step.
Pursuing this objective, the paper introduces the following classification of the intersystem differences:
—differences in the fundamental concepts and definitions;
—differences caused by the peculiarities in the
—institutional set up;
—so called "incidental" differences.
On examining the above classification the paper comes to the conclusion that each group requires its own approach. The second conclusion is that possibilities for reducing intersystem differences are more promising in the case of the third group.
The paper uses the simplified MPS matrix in order to demonstrate the usefulness of certain modifications in the MPS classifications. These modifications do not imply any deviations from the fundamental concepts and yet they could facilitate international comparability.
The paper also discusses certain modifications (or clarifications) concerning some aggregates which could be useful in the context of international comparisons.     

Size and distribution of incomes as determinants of social welfare

The paper is concerned with the relationship between the inequality of income distributions and the social welfare they imply. Starting-point is an ordering of income distributions in terms of inequality. Based on explicit value judgments about the trade-off between size and distribution of incomes an ordering in terms of social welfare is derived. The welfare functions representing this ordering allow a size-distribution split up. It is shown that the procedure can be reversed. This ordinal approach is considerably more flexible and less arbitrary than most methods proposed in the literature.     

Classification of natural language messages using a coordination game

The role of natural language communication in economic exchange has been the focus of substantial experimental analysis. Recently, scholars have taken the important step of investigating whether certain types of communication (e.g., promises) might affect decisions differently than other types of communication. This requires classifying natural language messages. Unfortunately, no broadly-accepted method is available for this purpose. We here describe a coordination game for classification of natural language messages. The game is similar in spirit to the “ESP” game that has proven successful for the classification of tens of millions of internet images. We compare our approach to self-classification as well as to classifications based on a standard content analysis. We argue that our classification game has advantages over those alternative approaches, and that these advantages might stem from the salient rewards earned by our game’s participants.     

ORGANIZATIONAL PORTFOLIO THEORY: PERFORMANCE-DRIVEN ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE

The article outlines some of the main ideas of a new organizational theory: organizational portfolio theory. The literature has empirically established that organizations tend not to make needed adaptive changes until they suffer a crisis of low organizational performance. Organizational portfolio theory takes this idea and constructs a theory of the conditions under which organizational performance becomes low enough for adaptive organizational change to occur. The focus is on the interaction between organizational misfit and the other causes of organizational performance. To model these interactions use is made of the concepts of risk and portfolio.     

The Value of Biodiversity in Pharmaceutical Research with Differentiated Products

Biologists and conservation advocates have expressed grave concern over perceived threats to biological diversity. ``Biodiversity prospecting' – the search among naturally occurring organisms for new products of agricultural, industrial, and, particularly, pharmaceutical value – has been advanced as both a mechanism and a motive for conserving biological diversity. Economists and others have attempted to estimate the value of biodiversity for use in new pharmaceutical project research. In this paper we apply a new approach to estimating values: we employ two models of competition among differentiated products. Each model confirms previous findings that the value to private researchers of the ``marginal species' is likely to be small. The models can have very different implications with respect to social values, however. These findings underscore the need for a better understanding of the true meaning of diversity.Resources for the Future     

排名变动与企业创新——基于合法性视角的分析

企业排名作为一种兼顾横向比较和纵向比较的公开信息，会对组织合法性产生重要影响，进而影响企业信心、利益相关者行为以及资源和信息的获取，从而影响企业创新活动。本文基于组织合法性理论探索排名变动对企业创新活动的影响。本文对A股上市的中国500强企业2011—2015年的面板数据进行分析发现：排名上升时，企业的创新强度会显著增强。排名连续下降时，企业的创新强度会显著减弱。高管技术背景在上述过程中发挥着重要作用。实力获得提升的企业倾向于增加创新强度来获取更强竞争优势，这种情况促进了市场中强者更强的现象。     

Competitive selection, self-organisation and Joseph A. Schumpeter

Post-Schumpeterians have tended to use biological analogies to understand economic evolution, in contrast to Schumpeter himself. In this paper it is argued that the biological analogies used tend to be outdated and that Schumpeter espoused an intuitive understanding of the evolutionary economic process that is closely related to modern conceptions of self-organisation, suitably adapted for application in socioeconomic systems. Using a self-organisation approach, competition can be understood without recourse to biological analogy, in terms of general systemic principles that operate in the presence of variety. Viewing economic evolution in terms of complex adaptation in self-organising systems yields nonequilibrium and nonlinear perspectives that parallel Schumpeter's own intuitions, reinvigorating them as the basis of evolutionary economic thinking in the new Millennium.     

PUBLIC SERVICE PERSPECTIVES ON REFORMS OF ELECTRICITY DISTRIBUTION AND SUPPLY: A MODULAR ANALYSIS

ABSTRACT ** : This article analyzes organizational change in electricity distribution and retail businesses and its impact on public service issues. Organizational change has resulted from the European electricity directives, especially the EU Electricity directive 2003/54/EC , which has imposed major transformations on these activities, requiring legal unbundling of electricity distribution networks by 1 July 2007. Organizational change has also resulted from an adaptation of companies to the newly competitive environment. This has led to a diversity of organizational choices across Europe. We analyze this diversity by using a modular approach, which decomposes reforms in electricity distribution and retail into logical ‘blocks’. We then examine how European countries have dealt with two policy and regulatory issues related to customer protection in that new environment: the regulation of quality of distribution, which is a task of regulators, and energy affordability policies for vulnerable customers, which are a central aspect of public service policies in the electricity sector.     

The classification and performance of alternative exchange-rate systems

Owing to dissatisfaction with the IMF's de jure classification of exchange-rate regimes, a substantial literature has emerged presenting de facto classifications of exchange-rate systems and using the latter classifications to compare performances of alternative regimes in terms of key macroeconomic variables. This paper critically reviews the literature on de facto regimes. In particular, the paper (1) describes the main methodologies that have been used to construct de facto codings, (2) surveys the empirical literature generated by de facto regime codings, and (3) lays-out the problems inherent in constructing de facto classifications. The empirical literature is found to yield few robust findings. We argue that the as-yet unfulfilled objective of this literature, and the major research agenda for the future in this area, lies in the need of a more thorough investigation of the degree of monetary-policy independence without relying exclusively on movements in exchange rates, an agenda the attainment of which is made especially challenging because of the lack of comprehensive and reliable data on reserves and interest rates.     

Early state institutions and the persistence of linguistic diversity

The persistence of diversity is often associated with various negative economic outcomes, and yet the causes of its wide disparity throughout the world are not well understood. This paper hypothesizes the persistence of linguistic diversity (measured as the survival rate of indigenous languages) can be explained by the length of statehood experience. Using data for up to 133 countries, the results suggest that countries which have experienced a long history of pre-colonial statehood tend to have a lower degree of persistence of linguistic diversity today. This finding, therefore, provides some support to the view that a more established state has a greater capacity to reduce inter-group differences, thus contributing to less persistent linguistic diversity within a country.     

服务业分类方案探讨——以北京市为例

本文从服务业类型划分的依据出发,对国际上几种主要类型划分进行了述评,提出了针对北京目前阶段经济特征的四级划分方案。在二级分类中,提出了成熟型服务业、基于信息技术的新兴服务业和为提高科学文化素质的服务业的划分,突出了这几种行业对我国经济的引导作用。在此基础上,利用北京市2006年的数据,对新划分的类型进行了实证分析,希望能够为服务业类型的统一认识和分析提供参考。     

国外组织复杂性研究述评

现代科技飞速发展,组织所面临的环境日益动荡与复杂,与此相应的组织复杂性问题成为组织无法回避的一个命题.一方面组织复杂性使组织具有发动及维持多重行为的能力,使组织具备适应日益复杂和动荡环境的弹性;另一方面组织复杂性对组织也会产生负面影响.因此,正确的认识和管理组织复杂性,对组织的生存与发展具有重要意义.从组织复杂性的内涵、类型;形成原因、测量以及应对策略五个角度对国外组织复杂性的相关研究成果进行概述,并作简要评论.通过梳理发现,组织复杂性研究呈现出逐渐深化和多样化的态势.     

Evaluation of Selected Methods of Classification for the Warsaw Stock Exchange

The portfolio analysis allows a complex analysis of all the securities and it is connected with diversification of the portfolios risk. The problem that arises before the portfolios will be constructed and is connected with database of securities—what generally simplifies selection securities to portfolios. In a way of building database can be useful a taxonomic methods. The main aim of the paper is researching stability classifications for proposing methods and verification how different or similar they are. Such an approach in analysis of classification stability gives more information about researching companies and their financial or economic stability. It also gives information about the Polish capital market. In addition, such analyses are useful in making investment decisions, particularly in selection companies to portfolio. Presented at the Fifty-Seventh International Atlantic Economic Conference, March 10–14, 2004, Lisbon, Portugal.     

欧盟框架计划研发项目管理机制及其借鉴

随着我国科技投入总量的不断增加,如何科学有效地管好用好科技经费已经成为科技管理部门和广大科技人员面临的一个现实问题。欧盟框架计划已形成了具有自己特色的项目管理模式,注重资源配置、协调合作以及项目的管理与实施,尤其是任务安排的适当性、连续性和完整性以及合作关系的质量。从欧盟框架计划管理的组织架构、财务管理、审计监控和知识产权归属4个方面进行了分析,以期对改进我国的研发项目管理绩效有所启示。     

PLACING INNOVATION: AN APPROACH TO IDENTIFYING EMERGENT TECHNOLOGICAL ACTIVITY

Identifying the elements of physical and organizational infrastructure most important for technological innovation is challenging for at least two reasons: measuring technological innovation is difficult; and establishing causality is difficult. In this paper, we partially address these paired challenges by (1) describing a new approach for measuring innovation, and (2) employing that approach to compare established technology regions with emerging ones, and to describe how technologies migrate as they develop.     

The complementary nature of technological capabilities: Measurement and robustness issues

The application of composite indicators to complex phenomena in social science has come to remarkable prominence. As a result, they have been widely applied in wide-ranging fields. This paper explores the application of a composite indicator of technological capabilities that can be also valid for composite indicators in other fields. We focus on whether different methodologies to build composite indicators lead to different results. The arithmetic mean to aggregate technological capabilities variables has been widely criticized, as it allows for perfect substitutability between variables, thus disregarding the complementary nature of technological capabilities. We introduce a new aggregation rule, the concave mean, in order to take into account the complementarity argument in a Science-Technology-Innovation context. Using a dataset for 138 countries, we show that the arithmetic mean is biased in principle but robust in practice. This depends upon the fact that technologically more advanced countries tend to have a more complementary structure in their technological capabilities compared to less developed nations.     

Political Economy and Organizational Leadership: A Hope-based Theory

Unlike other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, economics has neglected leadership. This paper proposes that a distinctive leadership role is to facilitate the development of hope so that organizational members can sustain their commitments. The conceptual grounding for this approach can be found in the work of Amaryta Sen, Albert Hirschman and Jon Elster, who have tried to explain the effect of commitment and emotions on behavior. It is also proposed here that the authority organizational leaders have to call meetings gives them the capacity both to influence social interactions to carry out this role, and to gauge the organization's cultural strength and its members' receptiveness to inspirational information that can shape the choice of leadership styles.