Cataloging a large, multi-media collection of traditional song and drama in preparation for online presentation highlights issues of song identity and access in the context of contemporary digitized archives. In the James Madison Carpenter collection a particular folksong sung by a particular individual may exist in multiple manifestations: typed song text, sound recording(s), and/or manuscript...

We review theory and evidence relating to herd behaviour, payoff and reputational interactions, social learning, and informational cascades in capital markets. We offer a simple taxonomy of effects, and evaluate how alternative theories may help explain evidence on the behaviour of investors, firms, and analysts. We consider both incentives for parties to engage in herding or cascading, and the...

The primary objective of this chapter is to discuss the effects of genetics on the behavior of herding animals during handling and restraint. Compared to rodents, poultry, and fruit flies (Drosophilia) very little behavioral genetics work has been done on livestock. During our careers we have observed thousands of animals under many different conditions. In this chapter we will discuss our obse...

This paper investigates how emotions, in this case fear, affect behaviour. We consider deer and sheep as exemplary flocking mammals. The paper also describes and applies a mechanism to measure different types of flocking, using singular values and entropy to compute complexity. Results show that emotion can be used to regulate two competing and vital behaviours inherent in herding animals: the ...

Individual choices are either based on personal experience or on information provided by peers. The latter case, causes individuals to conform to the majority in their neighborhood. Such herding behavior may be very efficient in aggregating disperse private information, thereby revealing the optimal choice. However if the majority relies on herding, this mechanism may dramatically fail to aggre...

This article discusses the Swedish nomad school system (nomadskola, 1913–1962), targeting children of reindeer herding Sámi, in an environmental history perspective. Earlier research has highlighted demographics (especially social Darwinism), national economy, and reform pedagogy as ideological foundation system. shows that fixing a frontier between society wilderness was at confluence all thes...

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author(s) and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. We study herd behavior in a laboratory financial market with ...