The Great Recession seems to be a natural experiment for macroeconomics showing the inadequacy of the predominant theoretical framework — the New Neoclassical Synthesis — grounded on the DSGE model. In this paper, we present a critical discussion of the theoretical, empirical and political-economy pitfalls of the DSGE-based approach to policy analysis. We suggest that a more fruitful research a...

Agent-based computational economics studies the nature of economic processes by means of artificial agents that simulate human behavior. Human behavior is known to be scripted by cultural background. The processes of trade partner selection and negotiation work out differently in different communities. Different communities have different norms regarding trust and opportunism. These differences...

Introduction. Comparative cross national (CNC) drug utilization studies are challenging. However, there can be concerns with the accuracy and robustness of the data collected with previous studies showing differences in utilisation rates between different databases. In addition, if utilisation rates vary appreciably between countries with no logical explanation. These studies have been carried ...

This chapter introduces Agent-Based Modeling (ABM) as a research tool that possesses advantages for heterodox research programs. We introduce the approach in four steps. First, we discuss the uniqueness of ABMs, which lies primarily in the flexibility to incorporate vastly heterogeneous agents and to address models with high degrees of freedom. Second, we argue that the flexibility of ABMs make...

This paper was prepared under the direction of Nicholas Stern, Chief Economist and Senior Vice President Development Economics (DEC); and Ian Goldin, Director of Development Policy. Halsey Rogers, a Senior Economist, was the lead author. Many other staff from across the Bank contributed. Sections and 5 draw heavily on the experience of the Operations Evaluation Department; the interpretation of...

Many clinicians remain unsure of the relevance of measuring quality of life to their clinical practice. In health economics quality of life measures have become the standard means of assessing the results of health care interventions and, more controversially, the means of prioritising funding; but they have many other applications. This article--the first of three on measuring quality of life-...

Regulation, broadly defined, can include any effort by the government to control and direct behaviour of individuals or agencies. In this sense all law is regulatory in nature. But the common meaning of the concept of regulation captures the more narrowly focused economic aspects of governmental direction. Thus typically the literature on regulation canvasses the arguments about the desirabilit...

Vol. 14 The National Food Survey of Great Britain households. From the nutritional aspect these families are of high importance, because they contained about a quarter of the children in all households surveyed. The annual average calcium intakes for these families can be obtained with a standard error of 0.8% so that differences between two sample annual averages must be just over 2% to achiev...

AIM The aim of this study was to explore and understand the complexity of ageing in relation to factors of importance for extending working life. METHOD Discourse analysis of documents was used in an integrative review including 128 articles. RESULT Four different conceptualisation of ageing are shown to affect older workers' ability to extend their working life: (a) biological ageing peopl...