Mixing on function spaces

Summary We prove that a probability measure over a space of functions induces a measure over the product space of the image and range of these functions. As an application, we show that the equilibrium of large anonymous games with uncertainty completely describes the behavior of players. In the second part of the paper we prove that mixed strategies over function spaces are equivalent to behavioral and distributional strategies.     

Intertemporal pricing in laboratory posted offer markets with differential information

Summary. This paper analyzes intertemporal seller pricing and buyer purchasing behavior in a laboratory retail market with differential information. A seller posts one price each period that a buyer either accepts or rejects. Trade occurs over a sequence of "market periods" with a random termination date. The buyer and seller are differentially informed: The seller's cost of producing a unit of a fictitious good is known and constant in all periods, but the buyer's value for the good (demand) is a random variable governed by a Markov Process whose structure is common knowledge. At the beginning of each period the unit's value is determined by "nature" and is privately revealed only to the buyer. The market termination rule is a binary random variable. We conduct 32 laboratory experiments designed to study intertemporal pricing by human subjects in the Posted Offer Institution when demand follows a stochastic process. There are four series of experiments: 8 with simulated buyers, 8 with inexperienced subjects, 8 with once experienced subjects, and 8 with twice experienced subjects.     

The Relationship Between Saving and Credit from a Schumpeterian Perspective

After 1995, the United States experienced housing and mortgage booms, fuelled by increased lending from less regulated institutions, such as hedge funds. At the micro level, the housing boom may have left families with more wealth, but the mortgage boom may have increased their financial vulnerability. Using the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances, we consider both wealth creation and a select number of financial vulnerability measures of homeowners. The data indicate that the housing boom was not only associated with larger house values, but also moderated wealth gains and substantially greater financial vulnerability of homeowners. Both trends were more pronounced among middleincome and Hispanic families, who saw larger wealth gains, but also greater increases in financial vulnerability than their counterparts. Given the breadth of the spread in homeowners’ financial vulnerability alongside sharply higher house prices, our results support the link between more deregulated financial markets and rising financial instability.     

ACCOUNTING FOR EXHAUSTIBLE RESOURCES IN THE CANADIAN SYSTEM OF NATIONAL ACCOUNTS: FLOWS, STOCKS AND PRODUCTIVITY MEASURES

The paper shows that the Canadian System of National Accounts includes exhaustible resources but treats them as if they were produced goods. Thus, the claim that conventional accounts ignore the contribution of exhaustible natural resources is partly true. To fully account for exhaustible resources, we present an alternative national accounting framework that incorporates natural resource flows and stocks. The framework modifies the measure of the net domestic product by a factor that differs from the Hartwick-Solow-Weitzman rule and leads to different estimates of GDP, national wealth, and productivity growth. An application to the Canadian oil and gas industry shows order-of-magnitude effects.     

Incentives and invention in universities

We show that universities in the United States that provide stronger royalty incentives to faculty scientists generate greater license income, controlling for university characteristics. We use pre‐sample data on university patenting to control for the potential endogeneity of royalty shares. Faculty responds to royalties both in the form of cash and research lab support, indicating both pecuniary and intrinsic research motivations. The impact of incentives is larger in private than in public universities, and we provide new survey evidence on the organization and objectives of university licensing offices to explain this difference. Royalty incentives work both by raising faculty effort and sorting scientists across universities. The primary impact of incentives is to increase the quality rather than the quantity of inventions.     

Problemi di classificazione e connessione in una classe di grafi planari a facce esagonali

Aldo Ruscitti è mancato a Roma il 20 agosto 1978 a soli 39 anni di età. Era stato assistente ordinario e professore incaricato di Istituzioni di Analisi Matematica nella Facoltà di Scienze Statistiche Demografiche e Attuariali dell’Università di Roma. Sin dalla preparazione della tesi di laurea, i suoi interessi scientifici erano stati rivolti alle applicazioni della matematica in campo economico. Nell’ultimo periodo della sua attività si era impegnato in ricerche sulla struttura di particolari classi di grafi, settore nel quale aveva conseguito risultati a livello internazionale. Con la pubblicazione postuma di questo contributo di A. Ruscitti intendiamo rendere un affettuoso omaggio alla memoria di un caro amico che tra i primi aveva voluto entrare a far parte della famiglia dell’AMASES.

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On the problems of classification and enumeration in a class of 6-valent planar graphs

In this article the author investigates the problems of classification and enumeration of maps with the vertices of degree six and with the faces of cardinality two or three. The graphs in this class are analysed in terms of the maximal number of vertices with degree two they possess on the boundary of their faces. Special emphasis is placed on the problem of the connectivity of these graphs, according with the suggestion of B. Grünbaum and J. Zaks (see [4], p. 112): in particular the author proves that there exist 5-connected graphsG _n in this class with degreen> , for all εN.

     

Do R&D Subsidies Stimulate or Displace Private R&D? Evidence from Israel

In evaluating the effect of an R&D subsidy we need to know what the subsidized firm would have spent on R&D had it not received the subsidy. Using data on Israeli manufacturing firms in the 1990s we find evidence suggesting that the R&D subsidies granted by the Ministry of Industry and Trade greatly stimulated company financed R&D expenditures for small firms but had a negative effect on the R&D of large firms, although not statistically significant. One subsidized New Israeli Shekel (NIS) induces 11 additional NIS of own R&D for the small firms. However, because most subsidies go to the large firms a subsidy of one NIS generates, on average, a statistically insignificant 0.23 additional NIS of company financed R&D.     

Social conflict and growth

Despite the predictions of the neoclassical theory of economic growth, we observe that poor countries have invested at lower rates and have not grown faster than rich countries. To explain these empirical regularities we provide a game-theoretic model of conflict between social groups over the distribution of income. Among all possible equilibria, we concentrate on those that are on the constrained Pareto frontier. We study how the level of wealth and the degree of inequality affects growth. We show how lower wealth can lead to lower growth and even to stagnation when the incentives to domestic accumulation are weakened by redistributive considerations.