A Nobel Prize for Asymmetric Information: The economic contributions of George Akerlof,Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz

This paper reviews the research related to the asymmetric information of George Akerlof, Michael Spence and Joseph Stiglitz, for which they jointly received the 2001 Nobel Prize in Economics. After recounting their overall careers, the history of the asymmetric information idea is presented and their key papers are discussed. This is followed by an examination of various applications of the concept, including in industrial organization and microeconomic dynamics, efficiency wage theories of unem ployment, credit market rationing theory, and issues of economic development and global stability. The degree to which these latter theories can be considered to be truly Keynesian is also considered.     

Structural Balance of Trade Deficits in a Small Open Economy with Exogenous Capital Flows: A Monetary Approach*

This paper presents a ‘structural’ balance of trade model which can be interpreted as combining two major building blocks. The first one is identical to the monetary approach to the balance of payments. The second, which explains the price level, consists of the orthodox Scandinavian model of price and wage determination. It is shown that under these assumptions the balance of trade deficit can be broken down into a structural, an imported, and a ‘home-made’ component. A n empirical illustration of the structural balance of trade model is given for the New Zealand economy.     

Are Rational Expectations Equilibria with Private Information Eductively Stable?

The paper derives conditions for eductive stability of rational expectations equilibria in simple linear economic models with private information. Following Guesnerie (1992; 2002), the concept of eductive stability is used. It is shown that even in a private information setting, rational expectations equilibria might be justified as a result of mental process of reasoning of the agents. The paper considers an equilibrium concept, where the agents are unable to condition their forecasts on the actual market price. It is shown that eductive stability in this case requires that a condition is satisfied that is also relevant in the symmetric information case. This condition is compared to the respective stability condition that must hold if agents are able to use the current market price as an additional source of information. It turns out that the conditions for eductive stability that emerge under both equilibrium concepts differ.revised version received September 11, 2003     

Fractional cointegration and the term structure

According to the expectations theory of the term structure of interest rates, the yield spread between long-term and short-term interest rates is an optimal predictor of future changes in short rates over the long-run. Results concerning the empirical validity of this hypothesis are not unanimous. These contradictions may be due to the fact that the traditional concept of cointegration is too restrictive. We refer here to the concept of fractional cointegration introduced by Granger (1986). We study the expectations theory by testing for the existence of a (fractional) cointegration relationship between short-term and long-term interest rates. There is evidence of fractional cointegration between interest rates for the G7 countries, with the exception of Germany.First version received: July 2002 / Final version received: July 2003We thank two anonymous referees for very helpful and detailed comments.     

CONCEPT AND DEFINITION OF INCOME IN THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTS

It is a truism that the national accounts have engendered their own concept of income which is different from other contexts such as business accounting, taxation or welfare analysis. Less known are the principles on which this income concept is based. This article is an attempt to specify such principles, investigating in particular the role of the transaction principle, and to derive an income concept therefrom. The crucial point of the argument is whether or not it is appropriate within the system of the national accounts to assign an income to sectors other than the households. The theory is applied to some practical questions which have been discussed in the process of the revision of the SNA.     

基于知识图谱的团队断裂带与创新：热点及趋势分析

团队断裂带基于团队整合与协同理念,考虑团队成员多重特征,丰富了团队属性的研究。其概念自1998年提出后,受到了广泛关注。探讨团队断裂带与创新的关系,从中国知网（CNKI）和 Web of Science数据库中选取“团队断裂带”为关键词,运用Citespace Ⅲ软件,进行知识计量图谱分析和信息挖掘。在此基础上,对相关文献进行梳理与总结,探究团队断裂带与创新的关系,从不同侧面探究了两者之间的作用机制。团队断裂带已经被分解出不同类型,需要更多的强度计算方法,分析断裂带宽度计算方法对创新的影响。通过构建团队断裂带与创新关系的研究框架模型,总结现有研究的脉络,进而指出现有研究的不足与未来研究方向。     

A behavioural analysis of the subsistence standard of living

Subsistence is analysed as an endogenous variable, contraryto its conventional exogenous treatment. It is postulated thatthe subsistence-livers perceive their own standard of subsistence,direct their earnings behaviour towards attaining, maintainingor exceeding this standard and, thus, reveal the standard throughthis behaviour. The labour supply function of the working poor,which displays a forward-falling segment at low wages and anupward-rising segment at higher wages, is hypothesised to offermeasures of subsistence and survival standards. The conceptsare rationalised using Sen's concept of ‘freedom of choice’and Arrow's concept of ‘freedom as flexibility’.It is argued that at below-subsistence living, individuals lackfreedom of flexibility in choosing their preferences and thussuffer the loss of freedom of choice—while subsistenceoffers a reasonable minimum of this freedom, the freedom iscompletely lost at the lowest survival standard.     

The (Price) Core of a Bertrand–Edgeworth Economy

In this paper, a solution concept from cooperative game theory is applied to a special kind of oligopolistic markets. Traditionally, oligopoly theory uses non-cooperative game theory. The cooperative solution concept, the Price Core, has been specially developed for this paper. In contrast to the Core, in the Price Core, different consumers may pay different prices for the same commodity. An example shows that the set of competitive allocations may be a proper subset of the Core and that the Core may be a proper subset of the Price Core. Received July 24, 2001; revised version received February 25, 2002 Published online: December 5, 2002     

The economic implications of exaptation

Accounts of economic change recognize that markets create selective pressures for the adaptation of technologies in the direction of customer needs and production efficiencies. However, non-adaptational bases for technological change are rarely highlighted, despite their pervasiveness in the history of technical and economic change. In this paper the concept of exaptation -a feature co-opted for its present role from some other origin - is proposed as a characteristic element of technological change, and an important mechanism by which new markets for products and services are created by entrepreneurs. Exaptation is a missing but central concept linking the evolution of technology with the entrepreneurial creation of new markets and the concept of Knightian uncertainty.JEL Classification: O3, M13, D8, D52Correspondence to: Nicholas DewThe authors would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Batten Institute of the Darden School of Business Administration, University of Virginia, for carrying out this research. We also wish to thank Rama Velamuri and an anonymous referee for their comments, which significantly improved this paper. All remaining faults are the sole responsibility of the authors.     

The impact of nursing on patient and organizational outcomes

The impact of nursing on patient and organizational outcomes has received significant attention from researchers in the past 10 years. Although some research has been based on a theoretical framework, to date, there has not been one, consistent framework that can guide this research. In addition, the frameworks that have been used do not identify nursing as the pivotal concept in the model. The purpose of this article is to identify a framework to guide such research with an emphasis on nursing as the essential concept. Unit culture, nurse staffing, staffing mix, and other variables do not have a direct effect on outcomes. It is only through these variables' influence on the delivery of nursing care that outcomes are affected.     

基于服务能力和关系资本的服务商选择研究——决策者个体视角

根据认知行为理论,从我国服务商选择的实际情况出发,构建了服务商选择影响机制概念模型,并利用问卷调查数据对概念模型和研究假设进行实证检验。结果显示,客户在选择服务商时通过对服务商提供服务感知来形成自己的选择意图,这种感知包括承诺感知和移情感知,客户感知承诺越强,其对服务商的选择意图越强;客户感知移情越强,其对服务商的选择意图越强;服务商的服务能力和关系资本明显地影响着客户对服务的感知。     

营造优良绩效文化,促进供电企业科学发展

追求高绩效对于企业而言是一个永远不变的目标。建设优秀的绩效文化是践行国家电网公司文化的重要支撑。宜昌供电公司变电检修中心从理念宣贯入手,狠抓绩效指标体系的设计与执行。通过绩效文化建设,变电检修中心的管理水平、员工素质均获得大幅提升,企业科学发展的步伐持续加大。     

Minimax regret and strategic uncertainty

This paper introduces a new solution concept, a minimax regret equilibrium, which allows for the possibility that players are uncertain about the rationality and conjectures of their opponents. We provide several applications of our concept. In particular, we consider price-setting environments and show that optimal pricing policy follows a non-degenerate distribution. The induced price dispersion is consistent with experimental and empirical observations (Baye and Morgan (2004) [4]).     

基于时间竞争的供应链成本控制的延迟策略

在日益竞争激烈的供应链环境中,延迟策略能有效结合时间竞争与成本控制方法,降低规模定制的成本,快速响应顾客需求。本文分析了供应链的时间延迟模型;认为基于时间竞争的供应链成本控制的延迟策略是通过重新设计产品或流程,延后产品的最后工序,强调在收到顾客订单后,再完成最后作业;提出产品混合配送延迟和产品延迟等延迟策略可以压缩供应链时间,强化供应链成本控制。     

城市人居环境评价——以杭州城市为例

城市人居环境研究具有重要的理论与实践意义。本文从对城市人居环境概念的剖析入手,制订了其评价指标体系。并以此通过问卷调查对杭州城市人居环境作了评价,归纳总结了关于城市人居环境建设的３点结论和有关启示