American Economist articles from March 1998

American Economist archives from March 1998

The comparative study of public economies.
March 22, 1998... One of Adam Smith's major contributions was the development of a theory of order that demonstrated the possibility of beneficial outcomes emerging from the independent contributions of many individuals pursuing their own interests within a set of...

Thinking about economics.
March 22, 1998... The way I think about economics consists of things I learned years ago before knowing anything about economics as well as all the ways I have been learning since. I find that my way of thinking, which I assert is "thinking like an economist,"...

On the second-best foreign investment policy and pattern of commodity trade.
March 22, 1998... I. Introduction The primary objectives of a country to develop and apply protectionist measures toward certain industries are often motivated by national security, fear of deindustrialization, and external benefits, e.g., skills and innovation...

R&D rivalry in the U.S. automobile industry: a simultaneous equation model appraoch to Bain's hypothesis. (Joe Bain's research and development rivalry hypothesis)
March 22, 1998... Background and Introduction R&D efforts in the U.S. Auto industry are channeled into a variety of processes such as stamping, casting, machining, and assembling. Within the time-frame of our investigation, R&D efforts had to embrace sudden...

The social issues pedagogy vs. the traditional principle of economics: an empirical examination.
March 22, 1998... "What is the best way to teach introductory economics?" Academic economists have debated this question for at least fifty years (American Economic Association, 1950). Invariably the discussion revolves around the traditional Principles of...

Determinants of golf tournament earnings.
March 22, 1998... I. Determinants of Professional Golf Tournament Earnings Maximizing the value of the firm is generally considered the basic fundamental of financial management. To maximize the value of the firm, financial managers should undertake investments...

The aggregate demand/supply model: a premature requiem?
March 22, 1998... Two recent articles [Barro (1994) and Geithman (1994)] have argued that the aggregate demand/aggregate supply approach is incorrect and/or inappropriate for explaining macroeconomic theory (or theories) to students. The purpose of this brief note...

Has the fall in the foreign exchange value of the U.S. dollar since 1985 strengthened the U.S. industrial sector?
March 22, 1998... I. Introduction For many years a great deal of concern had been expressed about the health of the U.S. industrial sector. Concern became especially great by the mid-1980s when it was feared that this sector was not sharing fully in the U.S....

Keynes' antagonist: correspondence between Alvin Hansen and Dennis Holme Robertson.
March 22, 1998... 1. Introduction In 1936 John M. Keynes published The General Theory, which was designed to deal with difficult questions of economic theory and policy (5). This book represented a break from the traditional theories taught at Cambridge...

A case for private provision but collective ownership of public goods.
March 22, 1998... Introduction Since Samuelson's two seminal papers (1954, 1955) on public goods, it generally is accepted that private provision of public goods under competitive conditions is Pareto inefficient. With perfect competition, underproduction of...

Import quotas, foreign capital and income distribution.
March 22, 1998... It has been shown by Brecher and Diaz-Alejandro(2) that foreign capital entering into the capital intensive industry protected by a tariff will reduce the welfare of the host country. The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, it will be shown...

Takeovers and equity derivatives.
March 22, 1998... I. Introduction In December 1994, in the United Kingdom, a historic transaction occurred, as it was the first time equity derivatives were used on a large scale in conjunction with a tender offer. Prior to the announcement of its takeover bid...

A skeptical note on the importance of technology shocks.
March 22, 1998... There is now a large literature arguing that changes in technology drive the business cycle. Oddly, none of these papers actually demonstrate that movements in microeconomic technology parameters can cause business cycles. Instead, real business...

The textbook consumption function: a recent empirical irregularity, a comment.
March 22, 1998... In the Spring, 1988 issue of this journal, Edward Shapiro observed that estimates of the short run textbook Keynesian consumption function utilizing post-1973 data are radically different from those which were obtained using earlier sample...