The distribution of firm sizes is known to be heavy tailed. In order to account for this stylized fact, previous economic models have focused mainly on growth through investments in a company's own operations (internal growth). Thereby, the impact of mergers and acquisitions (M&A) on the firm size (external growth) is often not taken into consideration, notwithstanding its potential large impac...

The advent of the internet and digital technologies has given rise to a number of new economic models. These have often been applied to education, but either through faults in the initial models or differences in the characteristics of the education sector, they have not proven to be widely applicable. The use of digital, network technologies combined with open licences is one area that has see...

If Neuroscience is to contribute to Economics, it will do so by the way of Psychology. Neural data can and do lead to better psychological theories, and psychological insights can and do lead to better economic models. Hence, Neuroscience can in principle contribute to Economics. Whether it actually will do so is an empirical question and the jury is still out. Economics currently faces theoret...

Classical economic models make behavioral predictions based on the assumption that people are fully rational and care only about maximizing their own payoffs. Although this approach successfully explains human behavior in many situations, there is a wealth of experimental evidence demonstrating conditions where people deviate from the predictions of these models. One setting that has received p...

Ecologists and economists both use models to help develop strategies for biodiversity management. The practical use of disciplinary models, however can be limited because ecological models tend not to address the socioeconomic dimension of biodiversity management, whereas economic models tend to neglect the ecological dimension. Given these shortcomings of disciplinary models, there is a necess...

A variety of social and economic arrangements exist to facilitate the exchange of goods, services, and information over gaps in social structure. Each of these arrangements bears some relationship to the idea of brokerage, but this brokerage is rarely like the pure and formal economic intermediation seen in some modern markets. Indeed, for reasons illuminated by existing sociological and econom...

The institutional framework for the funding of higher education in the UK is discussed. In England, much of the financial support for teaching and learning, especially of ‘home and EU’ undergraduates, is channelled through the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). HEFCE operates a formula funding mechanism, though in the wake of recent policy reforms – which include the introduc...

In this paper, we show how ecological and economic models can be linked to determine the economic impact of climate change on global timber markets. We begin by discussing some of the important issues relevant to global impact analyses such as this. We then outline our general modeling framework and discuss the particular models that will be used. Finally, we discuss some of the important issue...

The race to economic superiority is increasingly occurring on a global scale. Competitors from different countries are employing new types of growth strategies in attempts to win that race. The United States cannot, therefore, continue to rely on outdated economic growth strategies, which include an inability to understand the complexity of the typical industrial technology and the synergies am...

In many economies, wealth is strikingly concentrated. Entrepreneurs--individuals with ownership in for-profit enterprises--comprise a large portion of the wealthiest individuals, and their behavior may help explain patterns in the national distribution of wealth. Entrepreneurs are less diversified and more heavily invested in their own companies than is commonly assumed in economic models. We p...