The chapter provides a concise discussion of the role of mathematics in economic theory. After a brief overview of the main applications of the mathematical methods to economic problems, the chapter focuses on general equilibrium theory in its atemporal and intertemporal versions and discusses the concepts of equilibrium and dynamics in natural sciences and economics. In this context, business ...

Minsky also believed that economics provided no easy answers. As a careful student of both theory and history, he knew that neither provided strong evidence for relying on markets alone to produce prosperity and economic stability. Making Minsky's search for practical answers even more difficult was the fact that during his career the U.S. economics profession was dominated by neoclassical theo...

The relation between magnetic geometry and the level of ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) driven turbulence in stellarators is explored through gyrokinetic theory and direct linear and nonlinear simulations. It is found that the ITG radial heat flux is sensitive to details of the magnetic configuration that can be understood in terms of the linear behavior of zonal flows. The results throw light o...

The huge regional disparity in government health expenditures (GHE) is a major policy concern in China. This paper addresses whether provincial GHE converges in China from 1997 to 2009 using the economic convergence framework based on neoclassical economic growth theory. Our empirical investigation provides compelling evidence of long-term convergence in provincial GHE within China, but not in ...

This course introduces students to the field of ecological economics and explores how the field's simple premise — to recognize the fundamental dependence of the economic system on the environment — complicates matters for conventional economic theory and practice. While focusing on ecological economics, the intent is to expose students to a variety of thought on the theoretical relationship be...

In this paper two models of investment stemming from the neoclassical theory are derived in a unifying framework. The Q type models view the stock market valuation of a firm as an all-encompassing variable determining its investment decisions, while the Euler equation for investment highlights the dynamic nature of firms’ decisionmaking. A sample of 779 UK manufacturing companies listed in the ...

By checking whether consumer demand satisses the axioms of revealed preference , one can test the empirical validity of the neoclassical theory of consumer behaviour. However, applying the axioms to actual consumer purchase data is diicult, if not impossible, since serious problems of both a methodological and practical nature arise. This paper, after commenting on the few previous empirical st...

The paper advances the view that if global markets “worked” as theory suggests, then the answer to the question posed would be in the affirmative. Six reasons are given why this does not occur, namely: (1) the prevalence of trade manipulation; (2) the nature of markets in poor countries; (3) exceptions to neoclassical efficient market theory; (4) theoretical and empirical inconclusiveness regar...