Babbage's Legacy: The Origins of Microeconomics in On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures

British mathematician Charles Babbage (1791–1871) spent immense energy to build mechanical calculating engines. Hoping that it might help him in designing and building his engines, he visited numerous workshops and factories in both England and Continental Europe. One of the consequences of these visits was his On the Economy of Machinery and Manufactures, published in 1832. Through his observations, Babbage grasped the advantages of machinery and economies of scale. In micro terms, he acknowledged the cost‐reducing features of economies of location, vertical integration, and division of labor – beyond Adam Smith's analysis – as well as the efficacy of clustering. He also pointed out the relationship between firm size, economic crisis, and innovation.     

Rural nonfarm income and its impact on agriculture: evidence from Albania

Using data from the 2005 Albania Living Standards Measurement Study (ALSMS05) survey, this article analyzes the overall impact of household nonfarm income-generating activities (RIGA) on agricultural expenditures as well as technical efficiency of rural farm households. We also differentiate the impact for subsistence and commercial farmers, who are in the top 25% of the distribution of value of annual agricultural sales. Our results show that on the whole, Albanian rural households utilize their nonfarm earnings not to invest in time-saving, efficiency-increasing technologies, but to move out of crop production. We derive similar findings when we try to estimate the same relation separately for commercial and subsistence farmers. However, for commercial farmers, we find a positive impact of household nonfarm earnings on livestock expenditures.     

Modeling Consumer Responses to a Vignette Television Commercial Drama for a Vacation Resort

This project involved the formulation and testing of a model the cognitive and affective responses to a vignette television commercial drama for a vacation resort. Results indicate that response to the commercial was affective in nature with sympathy, empathy, and attitude toward the ad mediating the influences of verisimilitude and homophily on attitude toward the brand. Results suggest that to effectively promote tourism services a commercial's production value and realism must be high to produce sufficient verisimilitude. Also the behaviors and appearance of the actors chosen for the commercial should match those of the intended target audience in order to produce sufficient homophily.