We propose a continuous merger activity variable (MAV) as an alternative to discrete industry merger waves. Ranking industries by MAV within a quarter removes the market-wide trend and gives a powerful measure of relative industry stock merger activity that is associated with strong patterns in before and after industry returns and operating performance. During 1989-2015, bucket 1 containing in...

The notion that good corporate governance means maximizing shareholder value derives from the neoclassical theory of the market economy. I explain why this perspective is highly problematic for understanding the operation and performance of the business corporation and hence the institutions that, for the sake of economic development, should govern it. The main problem is that the market-econom...

This paper reports on the results of three experiments based on the neoclassical theory of consumer behavior. All these experiments were carried out with the aim of simulating real-world behavior. Nonparametric tests, applying the theory of revealed preference, show that a significant number of individuals exhibit inconsistent behavior. If nearly optimizing behavior is postulated, then most of ...

We examine a variety of fixed asset investment theory approaches and show that, despite apparent differences, all contain a common ‘gene’ – the profitability gap. This finding is equally applicable to the paradigms of neoclassical general equilibrium in logical time and post-classical fullyadjusted stationary and steady states in historical time. The generic investment function and its characte...

In this work, we further develop the Korovkin-type approximation theory by utilizing a fuzzy logic approach and principles of neoclassical analysis, which is a new branch of fuzzy mathematics and extends possibilities provided by the classical analysis. In the conventional setting, the Korovkin-type approximation theory is developed for continuous functions. Here we extend it to the space of fu...

We study the dynamic behavior of a Neoclassical growth model with finite lifetimes and imperfect altruism in which individuals can accumulate both physical and human capital. We use the model to better understand and explain the behavior of economic miracles. Our results suggest that standard Neoclassical forces can account for the performance of the miracle economies and can explain the protra...

This article reconstructs Adam Smith’s theory of international trade and compares it with the way it is presented in modern textbooks as the theory of absolute advantage. This textbook presentation falls short of Smith’s original ideas. I argue that the reason for this is the doxographic reconstruction of Smith’s theory to fit him into a Whig history of international trade theory. In this way t...

In this broad-ranging book, Eric Beinhocker defends a vision of the economy as a complex adaptive system. The theory that explains the operation of the economic system he calls Complexity Economics. The Origin of Wealth is a frontal attack on Neoclassical economic theory. Beinhocker recognizes the successes of this theory, but locates them in the past. The combined aridity of classical game the...

The notion of the "stakeholders" of the firm has drawn ever-increasing attention since Freeman published his seminal book on Strategic Management: A Stakeholder Approach in 1984. In the understanding of most scholars in the field, stakeholder theory is not a special theory on a firm's constituencies but sets out to replace today's prevailing neoclassical economic concept of the firm. As such, i...