Global analysis and economics III: Pareto Optima and price equilibria

Among other things a global version of the fundamental theorem of welfare economics is proved. One starts with a pure exchange economy with fixed total resources where hypotheses of differentiability, convexity, and monotonicity are made on the utility functions. Let ? be the set of price equilibria where the initial allocation coincides with the final one. Then the map which assigns to such a price equilibrium, the corresponding allocation is a diffeomorphism (a complete correspondence) between ? and the set of Pareto Optima.     

Bounded rationality,expectations, and child labour

This paper develops a model with overlapping generations, where the household's optimal fertility, child labour, and education decisions depend on the parents’ expectations or beliefs about the return to education. It is shown that there exists a range of parental income where the fertility rate is high and children participate in the labour market and receive an incomplete education if a parent believes the return to education is low. The act of participating in the labour market reduces the child's ability to accumulate human capital; thus, the action of sending a child into the labour market is sufficient to ensure that the parents’ initially pessimistic expectations are fulfilled. It is then shown that a one‐time policy intervention, such as banning child labour and mandatory education, can be enough to move a country from the positive child labour equilibrium to an equilibrium with no child labour.     

为能源而战--亚洲今夏节能新举措

由于最近一轮破纪录的油价飙升,许多能源紧缺的亚洲国家政府纷纷带头推动节能举措,以抑制今夏的能源需求。继中国政府宣布26℃为办公场所室内最佳的空调温度之后,韩国一位部长亲自走上T型台,加入一场“不打领带”的时装秀,以鼓励办公室工作人员身着更凉爽的服装;而在印度尼西亚,政府为节约能源,