Stabilizing consumer choice: the role of ‘true dynamic stability’ and related concepts in the history of consumer choice theory

Abstract

It is often argued that the inability of Arrow–Debreu general equilibrium theory to produce an adequate proof of the stability of the Walrasian price adjustment mechanism was one of the program's most significant failures. This paper will not question this standard interpretation of the history of general equilibrium theory, but makes the case that characterizing the ‘stability’ question in terms of market stability– in particular the stability of the equilibrium price vector in the Walrasian general equilibrium model – actually helped to stabilize the standard model of consumer choice in general equilibrium theory and elsewhere within microeconomics. The problem of the stability of ‘consumer's equilibrium’ was much discussed early in the twentieth century, and it has recently re-emerged in a different guise as the ‘endowment effects’ and ‘reference dependencies’ of contemporary behavioral economics, and yet it disappeared from mainstream discussion during the period 1950 to 1980. This paper argues that shifting the discussion from the intra-agent stability of the individual consumer to the inter-agent stability of the competitive market contributed – despite its ultimately negative impact on general equilibrium theory – to the long period of stable normal science consumer choice theory enjoyed during the middle of the twentieth century.     

N‐FIRM OLIGOPOLY WITH GENERAL ISO‐ELASTIC DEMAND

In this note oligopoly with iso‐elastic demand is analysed. Unlike previous studies we consider general iso‐elastic demand rather than the case of unit elasticity. An n‐firm Nash‐Cournot equilibrium for the case of heterogeneous constant marginal costs is derived. The main result is a closed‐form solution that shows the dependency of the equilibrium on the elasticity of demand and the share of industry costs. The result has applications to a wide range of areas in oligopoly theory by allowing comparisons across markets with different elasticities of demand.     

慎重看待大用户直供电问题

论述了在电力市场初期我国缺少实施大用户直供电所必须具备的若干条件,分析了当前开展大用户直供电存在的问题及可能造成的影响,指出开展直供是改革的趋势但不可急于求成.     

新冠肺炎疫情的经济影响分析：长期视角与短期应对*

本文从需求和供给两侧分析了此次新冠疫情对我国经济的短期和长期影响。在需求侧，基于理论分析和非典疫情对经济的影响特征，经济总需求会随着此次疫情的结束而在短期内快速得到恢复。但此次疫情也会加大总需求和居民收入增速的下行压力。在供给侧，疫情不仅会降低劳动力资源配置效率，加剧劳动力供需结构矛盾，同时也大幅降低了我国的资本投资，在缺乏有效干预措施下，很可能加剧我国资本投资和经济总体增速的短期下滑趋势。而基于理论分析，相应供给冲击也将对我国长期产出带来增长压力。基于疫情对我国经济需求侧和供给侧的影响分析，2020年要实现全面建成小康社会的经济目标需要实施改革力度更大、更为有效的财政和货币等支持政策。     

The use of open source internet to analysis and predict stock market trading volume

The objective of this paper is to evaluate the impact of information demand and supply on stock market trading volume. Few studies have demonstrated the role of Google search data in analyzing trading volume activity. In this study, we employ a proxy for information demand which is derived from weekly internet search volume. The latest is from Google Trends database, for 25 of the largest stocks traded on CAC40 index, between April 2007 and March 2014. We use news headlines as a proxy for information supply. We use Garch model to analyze and predict trading volume.The empirical results present new evidences. First, information supply has an impact on trading volume but information demand's impact is much more important. Secondly, by applying MCA to results found, it could be concluded that the impact of public information on transaction volume is conditioned by two elements: the firm and market news disclosure and the second element relates to the characteristics of the market participants, more precisely their news interpretations and their risk aversion. Thirdly, we used Chow structural break test to verify the stability of our model. We found that for securities with structural changes, information demand is the responsible variable of the change in our model. Finally, we found that information variables have a predictive power on transaction volume.This paper contributes to existing literature by incorporating open source internet-based data into the analysis and prediction of transaction volume. Using internet information about the stock market, which has appeared recently as an interesting research for financial empiricists, computer scientists and practitioners, will have a very important utility because quantifying demand and supply of information becomes possible.     

中国财产保险需求影响因素的实证研究

运用中国1980-2009年的相关数据,引入六个解释变量,采用逐步回归方法,对中国财产保险需求的影响因素进行了实证分析,结果表明:与人寿保险需求截然不同,经济增长、人均收入、风险意识对财产保险需求未发现有显著影响;而固定资产投资、汽车拥有量和货物运输量对财产保险需求有着显著的推动作用.实证结果进一步解释了财产保险市场结构严重失衡的状况.     

Minimum Wage Compliance and the Labor Demand Curve

Contrary to the traditional analysis of the employment effects of the minimum wage setting, the author shows that if compliance is contingent upon enforcement, complying with the minimum wage law involves a leftward shift of the labor demand curve rather than an upward movement along the curve. Furthermore, the labor demand curve will shift leftward with enforcement even if enforcement is insufficient to ensure compliance, becoming vertical when the options of compliance and noncompliance are equally attractive. Hence, it is not paying the statutory minimum wage that brings about a reduction in employment down to the full-compliance level but enforcement that, if sufficiently high, induces that same reduction in employment, even if the employer is still noncomplying with the minimum wage law.     

Job Polarization and Task‐Biased Technological Change: Evidence from Sweden, 1975–2005

In this paper, we show that between 1975 and 2005, Sweden exhibited a pattern of job polarization with expansions of the highest‐ and lowest‐paid jobs compared to middle‐wage jobs. The most popular explanation for such a pattern is the hypothesis of task‐biased technological change, where technological progress reduces the demand for routine middle‐wage jobs but increases the demand for non‐routine jobs located at the tails of the job–wage distribution. However, our estimates do not support this explanation for the 1970s and 1980s. Stronger evidence for task‐biased technological change, albeit not conclusive, is found for the 1990s and 2000s. In particular, there is both a statistically and economically significant growth of non‐routine jobs and a decline of routine jobs. However, results for wages are mixed; while task‐biased technological change cannot explain changes in between‐occupation wage differentials, it does have considerable explanatory power for changes in within‐occupation wage differentials.     

Some comments on the Sraffian Supermultiplier approach to growth and distribution

Abstract

The article discusses the Sraffian Supermultiplier (SSM) approach to growth and distribution. It makes 5 points. First, in the short run, the role of autonomous expenditure can be appreciated within a standard post Keynesian framework (Kaleckian, Kaldorian, Robinsonian, etc.). Second, and related to the first, the SSM model is a model of the long run and has to be evaluated as such. Third, in the long run, one way that capacity adjusts to demand is through an endogenous adjustment of the rate of utilization. Fourth, the SSM model is a peculiar way to reach what Garegnani called the “second Keynesian position.” Although, it respects the letter of the “Keynesian hypothesis,” it makes investment quasi-endogenous and subjects it to the growth of autonomous expenditure. Fifth, in the long run it is unlikely that “autonomous expenditure” is really autonomous. From a stock-flow consistent point of view this implies unrealistic adjustments after periods of changes in stock-flow ratios. Moreover, if we were to take this kind of adjustment at face value, there would be no space for Minskyan financial cycles. This also creates serious problems for the empirical validation of the model.     

环境质量变化对游客福利的影响——基于旅行费用和条件行为联合数据

环境质量是影响游客旅游需求及福利的重要因素,但单一使用陈述性偏好法或揭示性偏好法仍存在诸多局限性。为探究环境质量改变对游客需求及福利变化的具体影响,结合旅行费用与条件行为数据,在明确现有环境质量状况下景区价值基础上,评估环境质量改善与恶化两种情景下,游客消费者剩余的变化。结果表明,环境质量改变直接影响旅行次数,从而增加或减少消费者剩余,但不会通过影响游客旅行费用间接改变消费者剩余,实际行为与条件行为数据偏好存在一致性;白洋淀景区当前消费者剩余为909.09元/次;环境质量改善使游客平均旅行次数增加1.45次/年,并使每位游客每年的消费者剩余增加1 318.18元;环境质量恶化使游客平均旅行次数降低1.41次/年,并使每位游客每年的消费者剩余减少1 281.81元。