Academicians and practitioners are becoming increasingly interested in the economics of Information Technology (IT). In part, this interest stems from the increased role that IT now plays in the strategic thinking of most large organizations, and from the significant dollar costs expended by these organizations on IT. Naturally enough, researchers are turning to economics as a reference discipl...

Most economic models are based on the self-interest hypothesis that assumes that all people are exclusively motivated by their material self-interest. In recent years experimental economists have gathered overwhelming evidence that systematically refutes the self-interest hypothesis and suggests that many people are strongly motivated by concerns for fairness and reciprocity. Moreover, several ...

In this chapter I provide an overview of research on social networks and their role in shaping behavior and economic outcomes. I include discussion of empirical and theoretical analyses of the role of social networks in markets and exchange, learning and diffusion, and network games. I also include some background on social network characteristics and measurements, models of network formation, ...

Recent theoretical studies have shown that a relaxation algorithm can be used to find noncooperative equilibria of synchronous infinite games with nonlinear payoff functions and coupled constraints. In this study, we introduce an improvement to the algorithm, such as the steepest-descent step-size control, for which the convergence of the algorithm is proved. The algorithm is then tested on sev...

This paper presents synthetically some recent developments in the theory of coalition and network formation. For this purpose, some major equilibrium concepts recently introduced to model the formation of coalition structures and networks among players are brie‡y reviewed and discussed. A few economic applications are also illustrated to give a ‡avour of the type of predictions such models are ...

Small-world networks (SWN) are found to be closer to the real social systems than both regular and random lattices. Then, a model for the evolution of economic systems is generalized to SWN. The Sznajd model for the two-state opinion formation problem is applied to SWN. Then a simple de,nition of leaders is included. These models explain some socio-economic aspects. c © 2003 Elsevier Science B....

The rise in healthcare expenditures due to the incorporation of new diagnostic and therapeutic technologies and increasing life expectancy is a major concern, particularly in developing countries. The role of economic evaluation in health is to optimize the benefits of available resources. This article aims to allow readers to identify the basic characteristics and types of economic evaluation ...

Electronic paper (e-paper), an electronic replacement for white paper that attempts to copy its properties as closely as possible, is available since about three decades. Research efforts in this area have created several different technological approaches to the issue, one of its most promising being electrophoretic displays (EPDs). Due to their extraordinary properties, they have the potentia...