Expectations and the asset-market approach to the exchange rate

This paper advances the following arguments concerning that portion of the literature characterized by deterministic models in which asset markets adjust quickly relative to the commodity market: (i) Overshooting of the exchange rate in response to exogenous shocks is not inherent. (ii) Perfect foresight and stability are incompatible. (iii) An alternative trade-balance approach is free of this incompatibility and also illustrates that two competing theories of the exchange rate are consistent. The analysis is general enough to include all interesting assumptions about expectations formation and therefore embraces many recent contributions as special cases.     

Metaphors of Knowledge in Economics

"Knowledge" takes a central place in economics. This paper shows that the metaphor pervasively used in neoclassical economics to understand knowledge is that of "capital". Taking capital as a metaphor of knowledge introduces problems in neoclassical economic theory, as becomes apparent when economics addresses issues of learning and technological development. Instead, it is argued that economists could learn from what philosophers such as Gilbert Ryle and Michael Polanyi have said about how to understand knowledge.     

Learning in strategic technology alliances

In this paper we examine the influence of strategic technology alliances on organisational learning. From an empirical perspective we examine the pre- and post-alliance knowledge bases of allying firms. We find that the pre-alliance knowledge base overlap of the allying firms has an inverted U-shaped relationship with the degree of learning taking place in the alliance. Alliances established for the purpose of learning also show a significantly greater increase in knowledge base overlap for the allying firms than for non-learning alliance or non-allying firms. This shows the particular importance of learning alliances as a vehicle for organisational learning and competence development. Contrary to what we expected we found that weak ties are more important than strong ties in organisational learning within strategic alliances.     

Behavioral models of managerial decision-making

This paper reviews the literature that applies behavioral economic models to managerial decisions. It organizes the literature into research that focuses on alternative utility functions and research that focuses on non-equilibrium models. Generally, behavioral models have seen less application to manager decisions than to consumer decisions and therefore there are many opportunities to develop new theoretical models, new laboratory experiments, and new field applications. The application of these models to field data is particularly underdeveloped.     

Reproducing the Firm: Routines,Networks, and Identity

Firm survival or reproduction does not occur as a matter of course. Especially under circumstances in which uncertainty and equivocality prevail is firm reproduction potentially problematic. Uncertainty prevails when there is insufficient or inadequate information to assess a situation, equivocality when the information available is multiinterpretable. Firm routines, social networks in a firm, and an organization’s identity can explain how a firm reproduces. We offer suggestions as to which of these will contribute to firm reproduction under what circumstances.     

The general role of factor intensity in the theorems of international trade

The pattern of factor intensities often allows predictions of directions of change in 2 × 2 trade theory, but the most general higher dimensional extensions have said little about analogous predictions. This paper obtains general results in an elementary way.     

Social capital and rural institutions in Kenya Is Machakos unique？

In Eastern Africa, the experience of Machakos has been heavily debated between Malthusians and the more optimistic Boserupians. Machakos was the epitome of overpopulation and resource degradation in the 1950s, but has since thrived. The Boserupians view Machakos as an illustration of how population growth can solve rather than exacerbate the vicious cycle of poverty and resource degradation. The question arises whether Machakos is unique. This study investigates the role of social capital in Machakos. Using principal component analysis, the authors estimate various dimensions of social capital and find significant differences between Machakos and two other Kenyan regions particularly when it comes to the formation of associations.