In this paper we propose a mathematical model for studying the phenomenon of division of labor in ant colonies. Inside this model we investigate how simple task allocation mechanisms can be used to achieve an optimal division of labor. We believe the proposed model captures the essential biological features of division of labor in ant colonies and is general enough to study a variety of differe...

The net effects of switching from consumption taxation to inflation taxation on resource allocation and welfare crucially depend on production externalities. With elastic labor supply, raising inflation taxation decreases leisure, but increases the levels of real consumption, capital, and output. Moreover, this tax switch has two opposing effects on the level of real money balances: A positive ...

Availability for work and engagement in active job search have been the conventional criteria to distinguish the unemployed from those not in the labor force. In this paper we use American time use survey data 2012-2013 to compare the demographic characteristics, time allocation and life satisfaction between the unemployed and three subgroups of those out of the labor force. The three subgroups...

Recessions appear to be times when the marginal rate of substitution between goods and workers’ time falls below the marginal product of labor. If so, the allocation of workers’ time is inefficient. I develop a model of households and production that reconciles cyclical movements in the marginal value of time and the marginal product. The model embodies the findings of research that the Frisch ...

This paper addresses the problem of multiagent task allocation in extreme teams. An extreme team is composed by a large number of agents with overlapping functionality operating in dynamic environments with possible inter-task constraints. We present an approximate algorithm for task allocation in extreme teams, called eXtreme-Ants. The algorithm is inspired in the division of labor in social i...

In this paper we examine gender differences in the inter-generational persistence of child labor within the context of intra-household resource allocation. We begin by building an intra-household allocation model where fathers and mothers may affect the education investment and the child labor participation of their sons and daughters differently due to differences in the children's human capit...

Trade's effect on the living standards of the poor is generally found to be the dominant channel through which trade influences child time allocation and schooling. Trade can influence the living standards of the poor by changing consumption prices and through altering labor and family asset income. It is this later channel, changes in labor and asset incomes, that researchers have highlighted ...