BUYING VERSUS HIRING—AN INDIRECT EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH

On a symmetric homogeneous oligopoly market with stochastic demand, firms can either hire employees or buy their labor input on a competitive labor market. Whereas the wage of hired labor does not depend on the realization of stochastic demand, the price of ‘bought’ labor reacts positively to product demand. We derive the equilibrium price vector to define an evolutionary process, assuming that the number of hiring firms increases when they earn more than buying firms. We then derive and discuss the stationary distribution of this stochastic adaptation process.     

Two Decades of Trends in Undergraduate Economics Degrees, 1991–2011

The trend in U.S. undergraduate economics degrees continued its upward trajectory in 2010 to 2011, growing by an average of 4 percent.     

Symposium on the Industrial Organization of Higher Education

Review of Industrial Organization -     

Conventions,local interaction,and automata networks

This paper deals with the evolution of conventions in a finite population of boundedly rational players. We apply methods from the theory of automata networks to analyze the effects of different interaction structures. It is shown that the size of the reference group for each player has an important impact on the evolutionary stability of a particular convention, and that the interaction structure crucially determines the distribution of conventions in the population.     

The Role of Broadcasting in National Collegiate Athletic Association Sports

This essay describes important technological changes with regard to broadcasting and the growth of new revenue streams that those changes have created over the last 30 years and their influence on how, when, where and even for whom college sports are played. We discuss college sports broadcasting history, including the advent of cable television and new media technologies, complementary industries such as sponsorships and apparel, and public goods and winner-take-all market considerations as they relate to broadcasting. We examine the impact of these changes on the National Collegiate Athletic Association and its members as they adjust to, and compete for this new money that is on the table. Finally, we speculate about how all of this might play out by 2030.     

Does more calculus improve student learning in intermediate micro- and macroeconomic theory?

Using a selection bias correction model with ordered probit, we estimate how a second semester of calculus affects students' grades in intermediate economic theory. Selection bias correction is needed because similar aptitudes and interests often lead students to enroll and do well in both mathematics and economics. A sample of students enrolled in 49 classes of intermediate micro and 41 classes of intermediate macro is used to estimate the model. The results show a predicted payoff from a second semester of calculus of about one whole letter grade in intermediate micro, but no payoff in intermediate macro. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Impacts of Rising Energy Prices on Saskatchewan Agriculture: A Comment

In their recent article in this Journal [ CJAE 36(2): 239–60] Devi D. Tewari and Surendra N. Kulshreshtha analyzed the impacts of fuel and fertilizer price increases on Saskatchewan agriculture and concluded that energy price increases would reduce the level of production, product demand, energy use, consumer surplus and net returns over energy-related inputs.     

The path to European Monetary Union

The planned broadening of the common internal market into an economic and monetary union as proposed in the Delors Plan means a significant qualitative leap in the process of European integration, which should ultimately lead to political union in Europe. Is this objective realistic? In what ways could it be achieved?