Devaluation - Defeat or Golden Opportunity?

This paper considers whether the recent sterling devaluation represents a defeat for government policy or a golden opportunity for industrial recovery. It argues that devaluation offers a window of opportunity for higher growth and investment, but that this will disappear after two or three years with higher inflation. The risk is that this may distract firms from the necessity of competing on product and process innovation and marketing. The damage to the credibility of government policy has also been profound.     

Modeling a north American free trade area: Estimation of flexible functional forms

Modeling a North American Free Trade Area: Estimation of Flexible Functional Forms, - This paper provides estimates of the almost ideal demand system as applied to U.S. imports from Canada, Mexico, the rest of the world, and competing domestic output. Quarterly data over 1980-88 and for 19 mining and manufacturing sectors are used. Implications of adding up, homogeneity, symmetry, and negativity are considered. The econometric results should guide applied general equilibrium modeling of a North American Free Trade Area, especially with regard to potential terms-of-trade effects.     

Modeling regional electric power markets and market power

This paper develops a nonlinear, mathematical programming model for estimating production decisions in an open access, regional power market. Our approach allows one to estimate competitive power market equilibrium prices, which in turn offers empirical conclusions about marginal generation facilities, transmission interconnection congestion, and most importantly, load pockets and market power. Sensitivity analyses are conducted by subjecting the model to changes in production costs, peak hour demand, power imports, and transmission interconnection price assumptions. We then consider the issue of a firm's ability to exercise market power and the implications it may have on regional equilibrium power prices. The Louisiana power market is used as a case study for our work. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

government and the PSBR

The government has changed its view of how to gauge the size of the budget deficit. Nick Parsons and David Coleman, of Union Discount, argue that this change is an ill-omen for the control of public spending.     

Experiments Testing Multiobject Allocation Mechanisms

This paper reports the results of over 130 auctions conducted under controlled conditions to examine the robustness of several auction mechanisms to allocate multiple objects. The simultaneous discrete auction process used by the Federal Communications Commission to allocate Personal Communications licenses was contrasted with a sequential auction and a combinatorial auction over a variety of demand conditions. In test environments created to check only the minimum competency of the procedures, the simultaneous discrete auction process produces highly efficient allocations, approaching levels similar to those found with a continuous form of the auction, and it outperforms a sequential auction. However, in environments created to stress test the procedures, a combinatorial auction outperforms the simultaneous discrete auction.     

IBM绝地大反攻Ⅱ:加强与微软的合作

虽然网络服务目前还只是处于萌芽阶段,但IBM与微软早已积极思考未来。不管是两家公司的竞争对手、或者合作伙伴,甚至是客户,接下来大家的焦点都将放在谁能享有下一代网络的免费通行权上     

The fragility of a discipline when a model has monopoly status

We consider the consequences of a scientific literature with only one model of an important phenomenon. The falsification of the model would mean falsification of the science. Scientists who would prefer not to have their discipline falsified will be tempted to find ad hoc explanations to excuse the failure. To test this hypothesis we propose a study of the economic forecasts of the comparative Soviet and American growth rates in the years before a public choice model of central planning was a viable alternative to the public interest model. JEL Code A11, B23 Earlier versions of the paper were presented at the University of Manitoba Economics Department Retreat in October 2005 and at the Center for Study of Public Choice Wednesday Seminar in November 2005. We thank the participants for their suggestions. All the remaining errors are our responsibility.     

'multiculturalism' or assimilation: still to decide

Can communities of emigrants be assimilated? David Coleman of Oxford University examines how the issues have been dealt with in the United Kingdom.