Three phenomena—the disparity between the assumed and observed attributes of economic man, the link between nature and artifacts, and the use of computers as a source of knowledge––fascinated Herbert A. Simon. He built a new paradigm for each field—bounded rationality to deal with the disparity, the science of the artificial as its link to nature, and artificial intelligence for creation of kno...

The notion that Marx neither understood nor advocated the use of mathematics is a persistent one. His interest in both commercial and abstract mathematics spanned more than two decades, however, and culminated in two \contributions" to the foundations of the calculus: \On the Concept of the Derived Function" (1881) and \On the Concept of the Di erential" (1881). A detailed examination of these ...

Contract Violations, Neighborhood Effects, and Wage Arrears in Russia We present a model of neighborhood effects in wage payment delays. Positive feedback arises because each employer’s arrears affect the late payment costs faced by other firms in the same local labor market, resulting in a strategic complementarity in the practice. The model is estimated on panel data for workers and firms in ...

When we take a cab we may feel cheated if the driver takes an unnecessarily long route despite the lack of a contract or promise to take the shortest possible path. Is the behavior of the driver affected by beliefs about our cheating notions, and where do his beliefs come from? For that matter, where do our cheating notions come from, and how do they color our own decisions? We address these qu...

Using life satisfaction as a direct measure of individual utility has become popular in the empirical economic literature. In this context, it is crucial to know what circumstances or changes the measure is sensitive to. Is life satisfaction a volatile concept that is affected by minor changes in life circumstances? Or is it a reliable measure of personal happiness? This paper will analyze the ...

Let A = ( A11 A12 A21 A22 ) ∈ Mn, where A11 ∈ Mm with m ≤ n/2, be such that the numerical range of A lies in the set {eiφz ∈ C : |=z| ≤ (<z) tanα}, for some φ ∈ [0, 2π) and α ∈ [0, π/2). We obtain the optimal containment region for the generalized eigenvalue λ satisfying λ ( A11 0 0 A22 ) x = ( 0 A12 A21 0 ) x for some nonzero x ∈ C, and the optimal eigenvalue containment region of the matrix I...

A filamentous phage library displaying a vast repertoire of synthetic single chain fragment variable (scFv) antibody fragments was subjected to affinity selection on purified bluetongue virus (BTV) particles. After four rounds of selection and amplification, 73 out of a total of 90 fusion phage clones tested were found to bind to purified BTV in ELISA. One of these, the clone producing the high...

This paper considers two methods for pricing assets and examines the relations between them. The +rst method is based on the principle of no-arbitrage, which asserts that introduction of the new asset should not create an arbitrage in a market that was before arbitrage free. This condition is satis+ed by prices for the new asset between speci+c lower and upper limits, determined as the values o...

We develop a model to study the implications of a legal environment on the organization of software production. We show that contract enforcement a®ects the organizational mode (i.e., in-house versus outsourcing) of customized software development while copyright protection determines the introduction of package software. When copyright protection is weak, only customized software will be devel...

Standard economic analysis holds that labor market rigidities are harmful for job creation and typically increase unemployment. But many orthodox reforms of the labor market have proved di±cult to implement because of political opposition. For these reasons it is important to explain why we observe such regulations. In this paper I outline a theory of how they may arise and why they ̄t together...