Foreword: On Academic Fads and Fashions

Hairy Heel Warts: Fads and Fashions

Lameness is an economically important problem in dairy cattle worldwide. Economic losses resulting from lameness arise not only from the cost to treat clinical cases but also from decreased milk production, decreased reproductive efficiency and premature culling. New York researchers estimate the total cost of lameness per 100 cows per year to be nearly $9000. The average incidence was 30 cases...

Management Techniques : Transient Fads or Trending Fashions ?

A model of fads, fashions, and group formation

I develop a model of consumer behavior where agents purchase goods in order to signify personal characteristics. Agents purchase goods in order to imitate agents similar to them and agents they want to emulate. Depending on parameter values of consumer preferences the model generates stable groups, fads and fashion cycles, or a mixture of both. The model is unique to the economic literature on ...

The Life Cycle of Academic Management Fads

eat tIe Institutions of higher education are always under pressure to become more efficient and effective. In response, many have attempted (either voluntarily or under mandate) to adopt new management systems and processes that were originally designed to meet the needs of (presumably) more efficient business or governmental organizations. One contemporary observer, referring to "the hum of co...

The Effect of Selection Bias in Studies of Fads and Fashions

Most studies of fashion and fads focus on objects and practices that once were popular. We argue that limiting the sample to such trajectories generates a selection bias that obscures the underlying process and generates biased estimates. Through simulations and the analysis of a data set that has previously not been used to analyze the rise and fall of cultural practices, the New York Times te...