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- Starts out great but fizzles out
- Lacks the rigor of his previous books
- Economic Change For the Business Executive
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Understanding the Process of Economic Change (Princeton Economic History of the Western World)
Douglass C. North
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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Economic Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy
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Knowledge and the Wealth of Nations: A Story of Economic Discovery
ASIN: 0691118051 |
Book Description
In this landmark work, a Nobel Prize-winning economist develops a new way of understanding the process by which economies change. Douglass North inspired a revolution in economic history a generation ago by demonstrating that economic performance is determined largely by the kind and quality of institutions that support markets. As he showed in two now classic books that inspired the New Institutional Economics (today a subfield of economics), property rights and transaction costs are fundamental determinants. Here, North explains how different societies arrive at the institutional infrastructure that greatly determines their economic trajectories.
North argues that economic change depends largely on "adaptive efficiency," a society's effectiveness in creating institutions that are productive, stable, fair, and broadly accepted--and, importantly, flexible enough to be changed or replaced in response to political and economic feedback. While adhering to his earlier definition of institutions as the formal and informal rules that constrain human economic behavior, he extends his analysis to explore the deeper determinants of how these rules evolve and how economies change. Drawing on recent work by psychologists, he identifies intentionality as the crucial variable and proceeds to demonstrate how intentionality emerges as the product of social learning and how it then shapes the economy's institutional foundations and thus its capacity to adapt to changing circumstances.
Understanding the Process of Economic Change accounts not only for past institutional change but also for the diverse performance of present-day economies. This major work is therefore also an essential guide to improving the performance of developing countries.
Customer Reviews:
Starts out great but fizzles out.......2006-12-25
North starts his book out emphasizing the important role played in economic development by the uncertainty of the future that impacts the decision makers whose actions will create technological and institutional change over time.This uncertainty is the uncertainty emphasized by Schumpeter,Keynes,Knight,Ellsberg,and Mandelbrot( or mild risk versus wild risk),as opposed to the risk emphasized by neoclassical economics in the form of the standard deviation of a normal probability distribution.Throughout the book North correctly emphasizes uncertainty and not risk as being the environment in which decision makers make choices that will determine future economic growth and change.Unfortunately,North devotes only one small paragraph on p.13 to this vital distinction(uncertainty versus risk).North needs to have spent much more time and pages carefully covering this distinction since it is crucial to understanding the process of economic change .North needs to provide the reader with at least two chapters devoted to covering the risk versus uncertainty topic.The only readers who will benefit from this book would be readers who have already read the relevant works of Knight ,Keynes,Schumpeter,Ellsberg,and Mandelbrot that deal with this topic.I would recommend that a potential reader first cover chapters 7 and 8 of Knight's 1921 book,Risk,Uncertainty and Profit ,and then read chapter 7 on the business cycle from Schumpeter's 1912 book The Theory of Economic Development.North needs to substantially revise the book .His preliminary chapter on cognitive psychology can be filled out more completely once he has added the chapters on uncertainty and its impact on the irreversible nature of investment in long run,long lived, physical,durable capital goods which is " cast in concrete " and essentially irrevocable.
Lacks the rigor of his previous books.......2006-10-19
The book's main conjecture can probably be best described backwards: at the end of a number of steps, the political and economic outcomes may be observed. These outcomes are the result of the behavior of a number of relevant actors. Their incentives are structured by the prevailing institutions, which, in North's understanding, consist of formal rules, informal norms, and their enforcement characteristics. Institutions themselves, however, are not exogenously given; they are created by humans who act intentionally. North argues that institutions are created based on the relevant actors' beliefs. If the results of the institutions people create are not as expected, people will update their beliefs--they will learn--and institutional change will continue endlessly. To understand the process of institutional change, then, one must understand how beliefs come into being, receive updating, and form the basis of human action. Such understanding is North's current goal....
North tries to deal with the question by delving into cognitive science. To understand how beliefs are formed and how humans learn, he asserts, we must first understand better how our brains work. Thus, he enters territory where, owing to the academic division of labor, economists are amateurs. However, rather than seriously engaging the relevant issues, he barely scratches the surface. Far from familiarizing the reader with the relevant issues by a thorough survey of recent discussions in cognitive science, he barely mentions two or three competing standpoints and then ends the chapter....
In sum, at the outset of my reading of this book, I hoped to find further substantial progress in the new institutional economics. While reading it, however, I realized that it lacked the rigor of the same author's previous books in this field of research. Instead of offering intriguing new arguments, North repeats questions without offering any real answers.
Economic Change For the Business Executive.......2005-11-24
I think everyone interested in general business, economics or business strategy should read this book. For some a topic as big as the one Professor North is tackling here might require thousands of pages and a great deal of analytical complexity.
Most students of economics recognize Nobel Prize winner Douglass North and his work. As a specialized student of management, finance and accounting, I am not qualified to analyze the work in relation to its place in the professional field of economics -- although I understand its intentions and direction. My review rather focuses on the relevance of Professor North's statement in this book as a guide for my students of corporate strategy, business policy, finance and accounting; including as well my many clients in executive positions and the practice of law.
The systems view of economic change provided by Professor North casts light on long-term organizational thinking and helpful to our search for corporate and business strategy models in the increasingly efficient capital market environment revealed by modern financial economics.
More to follow....
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The Evolutionary Foundations of Economics
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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Origin of Wealth: Evolution, Complexity, and the Radical Remaking of Economics
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Business Organization and the Myth of the Market Economy
ASIN: 0521621992 |
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Evolutionary economics is attracting increasing interest as a way of understanding the processes which generate particular forms of economic activities and structures. This collection brings together economists who are at the forefront of this new field of enquiry to provide the most comprehensive and authoritative survey available.
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It is widely recognised that mainstream economics has failed to translate micro consistently into macro economics and to provide endogenous explanations for the continual changes in the economic system. Since the early 1980s, a growing number of economists have been trying to provide answers to these two key questions by applying an evolutionary approach. This new departure has yielded a rich literature with enormous variety, but the unifying principles connecting the various ideas and views presented are, as yet, not apparent. This volume brings together fifteen original articles from scholars - each of whom has made a significant contribution to the field - in their common effort to reconstruct economics as an evolutionary science. Using meso economics as an analytical entity to bridge micro and macro economics as well as static and dynamic realms, a unified economic theory emerges, offering an entirely new approach to the foundations of economics.
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An Evolutionary Theory of Economic Change (Belknap Press)
Richard R. Nelson , and
Sidney G. Winter
Manufacturer: Belknap Press
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The Theory of the Growth of the Firm
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Strategy and Structure: Chapters in the History of the American Industrial Enterprise
ASIN: 0674272285 |
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This book contains the most sustained and serious attack on mainstream, neoclassical economics in more than forty years. Nelson and Winter focus their critique on the basic question of how firms and industries change overtime. They marshal significant objections to the fundamental neoclassical assumptions of profit maximization and market equilibrium, which they find ineffective in the analysis of technological innovation and the dynamics of competition among firms.
To replace these assumptions, they borrow from biology the concept of natural selection to construct a precise and detailed evolutionary theory of business behavior. They grant that films are motivated by profit and engage in search for ways of improving profits, but they do not consider them to be profit maximizing. Likewise, they emphasize the tendency for the more profitable firms to drive the less profitable ones out of business, but they do not focus their analysis on hypothetical states of industry equilibrium.
The results of their new paradigm and analytical framework are impressive. Not only have they been able to develop more coherent and powerful models of competitive firm dynamics under conditions of growth and technological change, but their approach is compatible with findings in psychology and other social sciences. Finally, their work has important implications for welfare economics and for government policy toward industry.
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- A compilation of organisational/international KM practices
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Knowledge Emergence: Social, Technical, and Evolutionary Dimensions of Knowledge Creation
Ikujiro Nonaka , and
Toshihiro Nishiguchi
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Human Knowledge: Classical and Contemporary Approaches
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ASIN: 0195130634 |
Book Description
This book brings together the research of a number of scholars in the field of knowledge creation and imparts a sense of order to the field. The chapters share three characteristics: they are all grounded in extensive qualitative and/or quantitative research; they all go beyond the mere description of the knowledge-creation process and offer both theoretical and strategic implications; they share a view of knowledge creation and knowledge transfer as delicate processes, necessitating particular forms of support from managers.
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A compilation of organisational/international KM practices.......2003-01-23
This book provides a collection of diverse perspectives on knowledge activities ranging from creativity and technology infrastructure to cross-border knowledge creation and sectoral strategies in Asia.
The material is academic and well-researched; it covers 15 chapters from 19 contributors, most of them professors from US and Japanese universities. The book is the outcome of a KM conference sponsored by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation.
Ikujiro Nonaka is the author of "The Knowledge-Creating Company" and "Enabling Knowledge Creation." Toshihiro Nishiguchi is the author of "Strategic Industrial Sourcing" and "Managing Product Development."
A fundamental thread uniting these essays is the idea that knowledge must be "nurtured" rather than "managed," according to the editors.
The Japanese term ba refers to a space-time nexus, the physical and/or mental space shared by co-workers, whose nature defines the scale and scope of knowledge creation through its various phases like socialization (originating ba), externalization (dialoguing ba), combination (systematizing ba) and internalization (exercising ba).
Care is an important requisite for building trust for knowledge-sharing in an organization. There are four modes of knowledge creation, depending on whether there is low care (individuals are left to their own; employees therefore exchange explicit knowledge) or high care (individuals are supported by a strong social network; tacit knowledge is shared) and whether there is creation of individual or organizational knowledge.
Such humanistic models of knowledge emergence encompass "wandering inside and outside" the organization, and accommodate emotional facets like freedom, interest, commitment, charisma and safety. Notable examples include the Seven-Eleven chain in Japan (through practices like the use of field counselors to encourage dialogue and idea sharing) and Maekawa Seisakusho (through knowledge vision for building and energizing ba).
"Certain types of knowledge can be created and communicated only through sharing time and space together," according to the authors.
New IT platforms and tools along with human-oriented approaches can help greatly in knowledge sharing processes: CAD/CAM/CAE (which improve the efficiency of product developers' inductive, deductive and abductive reasoning processes), simulation (to encourage experimentation), and prototyping (to refine solution models).
The authors call for a blend of human-oriented as well as systematic-rationality-oriented approaches to KM. For instance, companies like Boeing resort to advanced computer networks as well as co-location of project members.
In industries like software ("the quintessential knowledge industry"), the knowledge component in the end-products is nearly total. Companies like Microsoft use a "synch-and-stabilise" strategy (in contrast to a sequential "waterfall" model) where teams work in parallel, synchronise their activities, and periodically stabilize the multiple releases.
Cross-border knowledge creation within multinational companies involves IT platforms, identification of centers of excellence, customer/partner alliances, links with expert organization/universities/thinktanks, and a mix of short-, medium- and long-term movements of people across borders.
Dispersed innovation centers in countries around the globe are leading to joint knowledge creation at local and global levels in MNCs, which thus function as knowledge-creating networks. Nonaka identifies this cross-border synergistic process as "global knowledge creation" and sees it as the key process of globalisation.
Challenges can arise here in enabling knowledge transfers between cultures with differing levels of egalitarian work cultures, and in appointment of managers in foreign branches depending on variations in management style. According to research by Ronnie Lessem and Franz-Friedrich Neubauer, the Anglo-Saxon orientation to knowledge creation can be categorized as pragmatic, the French-Nordic as rational, Japanese as holistic, and Latin as humanistic.
Symbiotic co-evolution of organizations can also create knowledge, as evinced in the Japanese aircraft and electronics industries and the South Korean chip company Samsung.
Cooperation across entire industrial sectors occurs with varying levels of intensity and collective benefits in different countries of the world. For instance, it may be the case that US companies are better at learning from and with competitors than Japanese companies.
Samsung leveraged a variety of techniques like "knowledge catch-up" mode (prevalent in many emerging economies), knowledge pioneering, knowledge exposure, co-opetition, absorptive capacity, migratory knowledge (from the Korean diaspora), M&As, and pro-actively creating internal crises to intensify the work pace and accelerate the process of knowledge conversion, according to Linsu Kim, author of "Imitation to Innovation: The Dynamics of Korea's Technological Learning."
Other cultural factors - such as the extremely hard-working habits of the people of South Korea, its cramped and cold environment, memories of Japanese occupation, and a determination to out-compete Japan - cannot be duplicated in other countries, according to Kim.
In sum, this is an informative and wide-ranging book, and opens the door to many more research questions, working hypotheses, and KM methodologies. It forms an effective bridge between other books that focus either on the organizational or sectoral/national aspects of innovation, knowledge and competitiveness.
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Evolutionary Psychology and Economic Theory, Volume 7 (Advances in Austrian Economics)
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ASIN: 076231138X |
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Contributors to this volume seriously engage issues in the crossroads where biology, psychology, and economics meet. The volume makes several important contributions to the area and provides an overview of the current state of knowledge. Biologist David Sloan Wilson, psychologists Robert Kurzban and C.A. Aktipis, economists Geoffrey Hodgson, Paul Rubin and Evelyn Gick, and jurist David Friedman consider altruism, selfishness, group selection, methodological individualism, dominance hierarchies, and other issues relating evolutionary psychology to economics. Several contributors, such as Viktor Vanberg and Brian Loasby, pay special attention to the role of F. A. Hayek and other "Austrian" thinkers in shaping evolutionary approaches to economic theory. Theoretical biologist Deby Cassill relates her revolutionary theory of "skew selection" in biology to perennial issues in political economy. The volume includes a symposium on group selection and methodological individualism. In an important paper, D. G. Whitman argues that group selection and methodological individualism are "compatible and complementary." Comments from Elliot Sober & David Sloan Wilson, Richard Langlois, Todd Zywicki, and Adam Gifford offer a heterogeneous set of responses to Whitman's argument. Roger Koppl's introduction constitutes a review essay and includes an argument that "Austrian" economists have a comparative advantage in bringing the Verstehen tradition of social thought into contact with recent work in biology and evolutionary psychology.
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The Economy As an Evolving Complex System, III: Current Perspectives and Future Directions (Santa Fe Institute Studies on the Sciences of Complexity)
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
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The Economy as an Complex Evolving System II (Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity Lecture Notes)
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ASIN: 0195162595 |
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Derived from the 2001 Santa Fe Institute Conference, "The Economy as an Evolving Complex System III," represents scholarship from the leading figures in th area of economics and complexity. The subject, a perennial centerpiece of the SFI program of studies has gained a wide range of followers for its methods of employing empirical evidence in the development of analytical economic theories. Accordingly, the chapters in this volume addresses a wide variety of issues in the fields of economics and complexity, accessing eclectic techniques from many disciplines, provided that they shed light on the economic problem. Dedicated to Kenneth Arrow on his 80th birthday, this volume honors his many contributions to the Institute. SFI-style economics is regarded as having had an important impact in introducing a new approach to economic analysis.
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- Brilliant synthesis of behavioral microeconomics
- Very strong, but flawed
- Demonstrates The Instability of Current Economic Theory
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Microeconomics: Behavior, Institutions, and Evolution (The Roundtable Series in Behavioral Economics)
Samuel Bowles
Manufacturer: Princeton University Press
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ASIN: 0691126380 |
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In this novel introduction to modern microeconomic theory, Samuel Bowles returns to the classical economists' interest in the wealth and poverty of nations and people, the workings of the institutions of capitalist economies, and the coevolution of individual preferences and the structures of markets, firms, and other institutions. Using recent advances in evolutionary game theory, contract theory, behavioral experiments, and the modeling of dynamic processes, he develops a theory of how economic institutions shape individual behavior, and how institutions evolve due to individual actions, technological change, and chance events. Topics addressed include institutional innovation, social preferences, nonmarket social interactions, social capital, equilibrium unemployment, credit constraints, economic power, generalized increasing returns, disequilibrium outcomes, and path dependency.
Each chapter is introduced by empirical puzzles or historical episodes illuminated by the modeling that follows, and the book closes with sets of problems to be solved by readers seeking to improve their mathematical modeling skills. Complementing standard mathematical analysis are agent-based computer simulations of complex evolving systems that are available online so that readers can experiment with the models. Bowles concludes with the time-honored challenge of "getting the rules right," providing an evaluation of markets, states, and communities as contrasting and yet sometimes synergistic structures of governance. Must reading for students and scholars not only in economics but across the behavioral sciences, this engagingly written and compelling exposition of the new microeconomics moves the field beyond the conventional models of prices and markets toward a more accurate and policy-relevant portrayal of human social behavior.
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Brilliant synthesis of behavioral microeconomics.......2007-06-19
Samuel Bowles, a heterodox economist known for his long time cooperation with Herb Gintis on various cutting edge works in the field of behavioral economics and related subjects, has made a fantastic synthesis of all the material and conclusions in this area of research in "Microeconomics: Behavior, Institutions and Evolution".
As the title promises, Bowles makes extensive use of concepts from socio-evolutionary theory, institutional economics and anthropology, as well as applications from (evolutionary) game theory, to discuss the basics of economic choices, interaction, cooperation, and exchange. It may take a bit of adjusting at first, especially if one is not used to heterodox economics, since his well-written overview starts from very different points than most generic orthodox textbooks do. But it is very rewarding: all the relevant issues are presented in their complexity, nothing is swept under the carpet, and what makes this book in particular commendable is the way in which information from anthropology, psychology and the social sciences is weaven into the 'story'. The contrast with the ridiculous assumptions and the unrealistic or simply false simplistic models of standard neoclassical textbooks (like for example that of Mankiw) is striking.
It must be said that a proper understanding of all the arguments requires familiarity with intermediate level mathematics for economists, and the general level of abstraction and discussion is quite high, so this is not an easy book. Fortunately, this is mitigated somewhat by Bowles' clear writing, and sometimes he also takes the trouble (which unfortunately few economists do) of specifically explaining what the mathematical formulas mean, for people who have difficulty with somewhat advanced equations and the like. In any case, he relies quite correctly more on empirical arguments regarding problems of the common, of evolution of institutions, the workings of altruism, prisoner's dilemmas, and so on than on any kind of math (although these things can be expressed in math, often).
At the end, Bowles provides some problem sets organized by subject as in the book, to allow readers and students to grapple with the issues presented.
Overall, this is probably the best overview specifically about microeconomics currently in existence, and it's a shame that it is not the standard textbook in all economics classes on the subject. Much better than anything Mankiw, Barro etc. have ever produced.
Very strong, but flawed.......2006-03-30
In Microeconomics, Bowles applies game theory, the insights of experimental economics, a contested exchange theory of the firm based upon conflict and power, and endogenous formation of traits, to microeconomic theory.
This is probably the most developed statement of what Bowles has called "Post-Walrasian Economics." Essentially, a form of neoclassical economics in which the unrealistic assumptions of Walrasian/ perfectly competitve type economics are rejected and not merely replaced "imperfect" competition and information (e.g. some degree of divergence from the walrasian assumptions, using those assumptions as their reference point). Rather, Bowles gives complex, somewhat realistic descriptions of the non-Walrasian characteristics of the economy, many of which have a totally different qualitative side than the Walrasian model.
Bowles is largely successful, yet there are some problems. There is alot of calculus in this book, not at an incredibly high level, but this certainly limits the appeal of this book to many readers without an understanding of calculus. Also, many of the examples used in the models are very abstract. An agent is faced with a choice to "adopt a characteristic" when they "have an interaction" with some other agent. Nothing wrong with abstraction per se, but it would be nice to have a better idea of what real world issues these models have relevance for.
Also, Bowles rose to prominence as one of the top radical economists and one of the founders of the Union for Radical Political Economics. He apparently still has similar political views and much of this book supports the existence of pervasive market failures supports a left perspective. Yet, not much time is spent on the particular topics usually explored by radical models. Those aspects of the "conflict theory" of the firm which are most profound, such as the choice of technique being influenced by the need of the capitalist to maximize their bargaining power rather than efficiency, are mentioned but not explored in great detail. However, given the incredibly detailed exploration of various aspects of conflict in the labor process, the models developed in this book have great value for those looking to develop new radical models.
Also, this book is thoroughly neoclassical (albeit informed by the best advances in NC economics, even those which contradict age old staples of NC theory) in terms of price and distribution theory, etc... As someone who is heterodox in their beliefs about economics, this is bit of a disappointment for me. However, most of these insights could be integrated into heterodox theory.
There are also a few problematic claims in this book. Bowles apparently supports Duncan Foley's argument that if we focus on aggregate outcomes, the consequences of the SMD theorem are somewhat mitigated. Foley's claims are actually quite questionable. See Frank Ackerman's "Still Dead After all these Years: Interpreting the failure of General Equilibrium Theory."
Demonstrates The Instability of Current Economic Theory.......2005-06-08
The idea of Walrasian equilibria is in serious trouble, and there isn't a good back filler that fits experimental evidence. If this represents an exciting plot for you, read on. On the other hand, if you want to hide out in late 19th century (supplemented by 1950s) math models for a few more years, avoid this book.
If Bowles is any indication of the enlightened center, the walls of stable microeconomic theory are shaking. The trumpets are blown by experimentalists and and supporting work from serious anthropologists, historians, etc. that suggest people just don't quite do what is expected by classical microeconomics. That is a problem. Elegance that isn't factual just isn't science. Neither does it look like the gods of game theory fully come to the rescue, no matter how elegant Nash equilibria might be.
Still, the most likely candidate theory for stable microeconomics is the evolution literature and the associated game theoretic concepts that have been staples in biology for over 30 years. Ideas adapted from biology may offer dynamics without contextuality. Bowles teaches related constructs neatly in a book that is still less quantitative than a few others I have looked at. There are few partial differentials for their own sake. On the other hand, there is real math here--enough to scare people off who are fightened by such things, but math isn't the point as it can be in other micro theory works. The point is reality, which is also the slippery slope that will make this book hard for the trade to adopt, I'd guess. Remarkably, the book reads like a search for solutions rather than the expression of what can be said with simple math models in a logically consistent manner.
If your prof uses this text for microeconomic theory, you are lucky. It could be a lot worse. On the other hand, if you are an economist (or wannabe), you might want to supplement this with more conventional work if you are going to face departmental exams, syllabus reviews, etc.
This is decidedly the new view of things, though it will probably become dated in a reasonably short period as experimentalists proceed. It is isn't a history book of ahistorical microeconomic theory, which is the safe way to go for conventional texts.
Overall, this is probably as exciting as microeconomic theory can be, and it is the foundations of an honest social science theory--no matter how tentative. It opens more questions than it solvies which is probably the new standard for positive social science texts.
The book might have been improved by some broader treatment of social network theory in the game theory section and by even more extensive treatment of experimental evidence and methods--particularly methods. Few people are actually training social scientists to do experiments these days. That's too bad. It is the future.
If this work is the skeleton of such a future, economists are going to be political psychologists, are going to be behavioral biologists, are going to be population ecologists, etc. It may be a very interesting time to become an economist if this is the sort of book a program is using. Historians and science studies folks will want to monitor these emerging changes. This is a place to peg legitimate change.
Average customer rating:
- interesting lateral applications
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Biologically Inspired Algorithms for Financial Modelling (Natural Computing Series)
Anthony Brabazon , and
Michael O'Neill
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ASIN: 3540262520 |
Book Description
Predicting the future for financial gain is a difficult, sometimes profitable activity. The focus of this book is the application of biologically inspired algorithms (BIAs) to financial modelling. In a detailed introduction, the authors explain computer trading on financial markets and the difficulties faced in financial market modelling. Then Part I provides a thorough guide to the various bioinspired methodologies – neural networks, evolutionary computing (particularly genetic algorithms and grammatical evolution), particle swarm and ant colony optimization, and immune systems. Part II brings the reader through the development of market trading systems. Finally, Part III examines real-world case studies where BIA methodologies are employed to construct trading systems in equity and foreign exchange markets, and for the prediction of corporate bond ratings and corporate failures. The book was written for those in the finance community who want to apply BIAs in financial modelling, and for computer scientists who want an introduction to this growing application domain.
Customer Reviews:
interesting lateral applications.......2007-01-24
In the ceaseless search for better modelling of financial instruments and economic events, one approach is to look for methods from mathematical biology as inspiration. Here, the main approaches studied include neural networks, genetic algorithms and ant colony modelling. The first two are perhaps the most widely used.
The key inspiration is to look into the future. The later sections of the book involve predicting various events, like a corporate failure. The efficacy of the biological methods for doing predictions is unclear. The book's results are intriguing, though.
There appear to be 2 audiences for the book. One is biologists or programmers already using those methods in biology, and who are looking at applying these to finance. The other audience is mathematicians in finance wanting more tools. Consequently, each audience will find different portions of the book useful. The explanation of conventional financial modelling is for the biologist, for example.
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- Evolution is the Only Business
- Evolution is the Only Business
- A compassionate view of the future.
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CEO: Chief Evolutionary Officer, Leaders Mapping the Future
AugustT Jaccaci , and
SusanB Gault
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Foundations of Futures Studies: Human Science for a New Era: History, Purposes, Knowledge (Human Science for a New Era, 1)
ASIN: 0750671386 |
Book Description
This book is about evolutionary leadership and collaborating to create the future of business. Jaccaci is respected as a futurist and a social architect and who presently works with leaders who want to create the most ideal futures for their enterprises. Gault comes out of Digital's Engineering and Software Division where she was a group manager in information design and consulting. Together, they've created a model called "Metamatrix" to create a domain map as a creative vision based based on the dynamics of transformative growth.
This is a call to leaders to evolve their enterprises in a way that serves life and uses nature's successful growth patterns. The authors assert that doing so is a path to abundant social and financial profits. They teach the reader how to map a domain of business, predict the future of that domain and plan for the enterprise's evolutionary success in that domain and beyond.
The book gives the reader a clear view of a future ideal and teaches the creative thinking and evolutionary dynamics needed to practically move into action. Unique in that it tells leaders how to create a vision of their own making. It is an entire system of insights and tools.
CEO is a book whose purpose is to inspire leaders in all capacities to undertake responsibility for designing conscious evolution of for-profit and non-profit enterprises and communities of all kinds. It provides the rationale and philosophy supporting our call to conscious evolution and it provides a vision of the future that can be collectively created. The rationale and philosophy are based in Social Architecture. Social Architecture uses natural order and general periodicity as models for the planning of human fulfillment. In applying the principles of natural order and general periodicity to growth and learning, August Jaccaci discovered the METAMATRIX Map for visualizing and charting transformative growth. The generic METAMATRIX Map and examples of its application provide the basis for planning conscious evolution throughout the book.
On the concrete side, CEO tells how you can grow and evolve your enterprise , including businesses, in a way that is both profitable and Earth-friendly. The METAMATRIX Domain Mapping application helps you scope out the activity of a whole domain or industry and plan for a leadership role in that domain. Using the Domain Mapping process, Chief Evolutionary Officers and all leaders can create an ideal vision of the future for their enterprise and map their way to that future.
This is a call to leaders to evolve their enterprises in a way that serves life and uses nature's successful growth patterns. The authors assert that doing so is a path to abundant social and financial profits. They teach the reader how to map a domain of business, predict the future of that domain and plan for the enterprise's evolutionary success in that domain and beyond.
The book gives the reader a clear view of a future ideal and teaches the creative thinking and evolutionary dynamics needed to practically move into action. Unique in that it tells leaders how to create a vision of their own making. It is an entire system of insights and tools
Gives the reader a clear view of a future ideal and teaches the creative thinking and evolutionary dynmaics needed to practically move into action.
Entire system of insights and tools
Customer Reviews:
Evolution is the Only Business.......2000-03-22
Of all the new breed of humanist business books, only this one nails the genre's essential message so succinctly.
1. Evolution is the only business
2. Life is the only customer
3. Community is the only profit
4. Love is the only future
Kudos to Jaccaci and Gault. Heart felt and extraordinary.
Evolution is the Only Business.......2000-03-22
Of all the new breed of humanist business books, only this one nails the genre's essential message so succinctly.
1. Evolution is the only business
2. Life is the only customer
3. Community is the only profit
4. Love is the only future
Kudos to Jaccaci and Gault. Heart felt and extraordinary.
A compassionate view of the future........1999-09-11
I liked this book because it allows the readers to map all aspects of the future - especially business. The basic thesis states that compassion and empathy will be required to do business in the next millennium. Although this may seem contrary to the current "Greed is Good" school of thought, the authors show that paradigm shifts will force businesses to change their focus. A very practical book as well.
Average customer rating:
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Applied Evolutionary Economics And the Knowledge-based Economy
Manufacturer: Edward Elgar Publishing
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ASIN: 1843769034 |
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This book focuses on knowledge-based economies and attempts to analyze dynamic innovation driven processes within those economies.
It shows that evolutionary economics, and in particular the strand of applied industry and innovation studies often called Neo-Schumpeterian economics, has left the nursery of new academic approaches and is able to offer important insights for the understanding of socio-economic processes of change and development having a strong impact on economic reality all over the world. The contributions are summarized under four major sections - knowledge and cognition, studies of knowledge-based industries, the geographical dimension of knowledge-based economies and measuring and modelling for knowledge-based economies - and give a broad overview of the prolific research being undertaken in applied evolutionary economics.
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