SHIFTING BOUNDARIES IN ECONOMICS: THE INSTITUTIONAL COGNITIVE STRAND AND THE FUTURE OF INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS

This paper aims at contributing to the debate on the future of institutional economics and of the field as a whole by starting from the literature that discusses the relationship between Old‐Original Institutional Economics and New Institutional Economics. It suggests that the process of reunifying OIE and NIE (and evolutionary economics) prompted by part of the literature could be improved by the contribution of the Cognitive Institutional Economics. The paper follows a two‐stage pathway: first, it frames the debate on the relationships between NIE and the OIE and it concentrates on a subset of the literature that shows that NIE's recent developments complicate the distinction between NIE and OIE, and it explores the possibility that NIE and OIE may merge so that an amalgam of NIE, OIE and Evolutionary Economics becomes the next economic paradigm. Secondly, the paper argues that a step forward in the direction outlined by the literature has been made by CIE, which is a research stream that developed from cross‐fertilization among NIE, OIE and the Hayekian contributions to the analysis of institutions. In the concluding remarks, the possible emergence of a single institutional paradigm is discussed in the light of the literature about change in economics.     

THE ECONOMICS OF COUNTERTERRORISM: A SURVEY

We provide a review of theoretical and empirical contributions on the economic analysis of terrorism and counterterrorism. We argue that simple rational‐choice models of terrorist behavior – in the form of cost‐benefit models – already provide a well‐founded theoretical framework for the study of terrorism and counterterrorism. We also hint at their limitations which relate to the failure of accounting for the dynamics between terrorism and counterterrorism that may produce unintended second‐order effects as well as for the costs associated with counterterrorism and its international dimension. We reevaluate previously proposed counterterrorism strategies accordingly. Finally, in the light of our findings, we discuss interesting areas of future research.     

The Role of Sustainability‐Related Strategies on the Biofuel Industry: Trends,Prospects and Challenges

The aim of this study is to elucidate the sustainability‐related strategies on the biofuel industry. Our empirical analysis is based on a time series data set covering diesel demand in Greece over the period 1978–2014 and on the basis of these estimates we make forecasts for biodiesel consumption in the coming years (2015–2030) under three alternative scenarios. Our approach utilizes unit root testing to investigate possible co‐integrated relationships among the sample variables. The empirical findings indicate that diesel demand is income and price inelastic in both the long and the short run, while biodiesel demand seems to have an upward trend over the simulated period. We argue that the importance of biofuel in the Greek energy balance will change the form of the existing business strategies towards issues such as sustainability, green entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility to achieve the environmental goals set by the EU Energy Roadmap 2050. Copyright © 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment     

DISASTROUS ANTI‐ECONOMICS AND THE ECONOMICS OF DISASTERS

This article surveys and synthesises some of the research on the political economy of natural disasters. While people tend to support government intervention to reduce prices or otherwise aid disaster recovery, research shows that government organisations are often corrupt and ineffective. Further, since people tend to mis‐identify the causes of (for example) gasoline price increases after natural disasters, government intervention after a disaster is likely to do more harm than good.     

Coupons and price discrimination in vertically‐correlated markets

This research analyzes the non‐cooperative and cooperative strategies with respect to manufacturer and retailer coupons. In a model with one manufacturer selling its product to one retailer, it is found that the retailer can achieve third‐degree price discrimination equilibrium in retail markets by issuing coupons to demanders with higher elasticity. Although facing only one retailer, the manufacturer can also achieve the same third‐degree price discrimination equilibrium by issuing coupons directly to demanders of higher elasticity. However, when only one firm issues the coupon, both manufacturer and retailer coupons can help alleviate the channel profit loss due to double marginalization. If the manufacturer and the retailer non‐cooperatively issue coupons, then the subgame‐perfect Nash equilibrium outcomes are equivalent to those under the successive third‐degree price discrimination. Moreover, cooperative strategies between the manufacturer and the retailer can eliminate double marginalization, achieve the vertical integration effect, and lead to higher profits, consumer surpluses, and social surpluses than non‐cooperative coupon strategies. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

海堤防洪工程施工技术探析

文章结合工程实际，针对海堤建设工程沿线长、工期紧的特点，采用合理、有效的施工方案进行组织施工，使工程达到了预期的目标。     

海堤防洪工程施工技术探析

文章结合工程实际,针对海堤建设工程沿线长、工期紧的特点,采用合理、有效的施工方案进行组织施工,使工程达到了预期的目标。     

Can Leaders of Public Companies Make Them Innovative?

Public companies have limitations to innovate because they are usually concentrated on short‐term results and are subjected to scrutiny and accountability in their innovation projects. Therefore, leaders of public companies face a greater challenge if they want their companies to be innovative. Leaders must make use of all their creativity and leadership skills to accomplish short‐term goals and at the same time foster the innovation that companies need to remain successful.     

TRANSACTION COST ECONOMICS: THE PRECURSORS

Theories commonly progress through four stages, from informal to pre‐formal to semi‐formal and fully formal. This paper reports on the earliest stage of transaction cost economics that extended from the 1920s to the 1970s. That the gestation stage lasted so long is partly because transaction cost economics departed significantly from the then‐prevailing economic orthodoxy. Also, and related, it is an interdisciplinary undertaking. As reported herein, transaction cost economics selectively combines economics, organisation theory and law and is the product of the contributions of some of the finest minds in those three fields.     

THE ECONOMICS OF TAXPAYER COMPLIANCE

Abstract. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that tax evasion is now fairly extensive throughout Western Europe and North America. Academic economists have shown considerable interest in various aspects of tax evasion. In this article we examine the literature on two particular issues. First, why do individuals evade their tax obligations and second, what policies should governments pursue in attempting to reduce or eliminate evasion? We concentrate on income tax evasion which has been the major preoccupation in the literature. We first show that the compliance costs of income tax evasion are quite substantial. We then examine theoretical attempts to model individual taxpayers behaviour. Here we find that it is extremely difficult to make unambiguous predictions concerning the effects of changes in important variables, such as income tax rates. Next, we review the empirical ‘evidence’ obtained from (i) attitudinal surveys, (ii) tax games, and (iii) econometric analysis of individuals’ tax returns. All of these studies are found to be flawed in certain major respects. Finally, we consider a number of policy options available to tax authorities. Given the difficulty of determining a socially optimal level of evasion, governments are likely to pursue suboptimal policies aimed at entirely eliminating tax evasion. However, even here there is considerable disagreement about the design of an efficient policy.     

A SURVEY OF THE HOLD‐UP PROBLEM IN THE EXPERIMENTAL ECONOMICS LITERATURE

This paper reviews experimental studies on the so‐called “hold‐up problem.” Common features in the experimental design and results are summarized. Most experimental studies show evidence of the hold‐up problem, but to an extent less severe than what standard self‐interest model predicts. Hold‐up occurs at the individual level, but exhibits a less severe pattern than theoretically predicted at the aggregate level. A positive correlation is found between the investment stage decisions and subsequent bargaining behavior. Social preferences largely influence the results in hold‐up games. Remedies that enhance the effect of social preferences can effectively alleviate the hold‐up problem. These laboratory findings are also relevant to real‐life hold‐up situations, but differences in the specific institution and environment may require more variations in the experimental design.     

A PRIMER ON MATHEMATICAL MODELLING IN ECONOMICS

Abstract The Commission on Graduate Education in Economics had raised several concerns regarding the role of mathematics in graduate training in economics ( Krueger, 1991 ; Colander, 1998, 2005 ). This paper undertakes a detailed scrutiny of the notion of a utility function to motivate and describe the common patterns across mathematical concepts and results that are used by economists. In the process one arrives at a classification of mathematical terms which is used to state mathematical results in economics. The usefulness of the classification scheme is illustrated with the help of a discussion of Arrow's impossibility theorem. Common knowledge of the patterns in mathematical concepts and results could be effective in enhancing communication between students, teachers and researchers specializing in different sub‐fields of economics.     

Variations of the Entrepreneurial City: Goals,roles and visions in Rotterdam's Kop van Zuid and the Glasgow Harbour Megaprojects

Both Rotterdam's Kop van Zuid and the Glasgow Harbour waterfront developments are examples of different forms of European urban entrepreneurial megaprojects. They are both situated on formerly vacant land in older industrial cities. In Rotterdam, the municipality has taken the initiative in planning and developing the megaproject, while in Glasgow, this task has been left to the private sector, with the City functioning as a facilitator. While urban entrepreneurialism and megaprojects have been discussed in academic literature for almost three decades, there are too few case studies which delve into the specific visions guiding these projects, the goals which they are meant to achieve and the positions which different actors play. The aim of this article is to analyze the relationship between these visions, goals and positions of actors in megaprojects and whether these relationships can explain how the different outcomes are produced. What we see is that in municipally‐led projects, entrepreneurial goals are more easily formed and implemented than when the public sector acts only as a facilitator to private developers. It will also argue that it is not only structural contexts which are important in determining the types of megaprojects which get built and the success which they achieve, but also the specific values, visions and goals that different stakeholders have.     

Why So Unhappy? The Effects of Unionization on Job Satisfaction*

Using linked employer–employee data we investigate the job satisfaction effect of union membership in Britain. We develop a model that simultaneously controls for the determinants of individual membership status and for the selection of employees into occupations according to union coverage. We find a negative association between membership and satisfaction. However, having accounted for selection effects, we find that the negative association is confined to non‐covered employees. This is consistent with ‘voice’ effects, whereby non‐covered members voice dissatisfaction to achieve union goals, and with the possibility that membership increases preferences for collective bargaining, thus lowering members’ satisfaction in non‐covered environments.     

Moving beyond the tensions in open environmental innovation towards a holistic perspective

This paper analyses factors determining open environmental innovation (EI) and explores the possibility of embracing their tensions to achieve integrated environmental strategic goals. Building on recent literature linking open innovation and EI, the study assumes open EI strategic goals as a multidimensional construct based on the “synergistic and interwoven nature” of four identified enabling factors, that is, partners, knowledge, benefits, and motivations. A fuzzy‐set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) based on Boolean algebra is conducted to analyse a set of 186 European companies operating in the telecommunication and information and communication technology (ICT) service industries. Making important theoretical, managerial, and policy contributions, this paper offers insights into the key factors enabling open EI and the tensional relationships within and between them. In doing so, it captures the non‐linear effects among these factors and the strategic goals related to an open EI strategy. It also suggests how the paradox theory might help in addressing the tensional dilemma of open EI strategy.     

构建员工全职业生涯人才培养体系

企业通过人力资源管理的方式对员工的职业生涯进行规划,使之与企业的发展目标相结合,实现企业与员工双赢的目的。本文通过寻找员工的个人发展需要,使其与企业理念相一致,采取措施帮助员工不断提高自我,进而建立和完善人才培训体系,拓宽员工的职业通道,为企业发展提供参考依据。     

房地产项目施工阶段工程质量控制分析

文章结合笔者多年的工作实践,阐述了房地产项目施工阶段的质量控制要点,使项目工程质量在可预见、可预控范围内达到预期目标。     

创新教法,让语文课活起来

本文结合自身教学经验,探讨了在语文教学中如何创新教法,激发学生兴趣,培养学生学习积极性,使每个学生都得到充分发展,从而实现语文课堂的素质教育目标。     

WHAT'S TO KNOW ABOUT LABORATORY EXPERIMENTATION IN ECONOMICS?

Abstract Experimental economics has grown as a discipline from near non‐existence 50 years ago to a full‐fledged field within economics in the present. Much of experimental economics research involves experimental methods as a tool, applied to problems in other fields of economics. However, some of this research is inward looking, focusing on questions of the methodology of experimental economics. In this note, I briefly discuss two methodological issues in experimental economics that might benefit from meta‐analysis: the pool from which experimental participants are drawn (university undergraduate students versus other populations) and the scale of monetary incentives faced by participants (large, small or hypothetical).     

INFORMATION THEORETIC APPROACHES IN ECONOMICS

Economics has seen a recent rise in interest in information theory as an alternative framework to the conventional notion of equilibrium as a fixed state, such as Walrasian market‐clearing general equilibrium. The information theoretic approach is predicated on the notion of statistical equilibrium (SE) that takes a distribution over all possible states as an equilibrium, and therefore predicts the endogenous fluctuations of the system along with its central tendency simultaneously. For this reason, SE approaches can explain the observed data without relying on arbitrary assumptions about random noise and provide useful insights for many interesting economic problems that conventional methods have not been able to satisfactorily deal with. In this paper, we review the key elements of information theory focusing on the notions and applications of entropy and SE in economics, particularly paying attention to how entropy concepts open up a new frontline of economic research.