We will review some of the major results in random graphs and some of the more challenging open problems. We will cover algorithmic and structural questions. We will touch on newer models, including those related to the WWW.

Random graphs

The paper is concerned with spatial clustering of economic activity and its relation to the spatiality of knowledge creation in interactive learning processes. It questions the view that tacit knowledge transfer is confined to local milieus whereas codified knowledge may roam the globe almost frictionlessly. The paper highlights the conditions under which both tacit and codified knowledge can be exchanged locally and globally. A distinction is made between, on the one hand, the learning processes taking place among actors embedded in a community by just being there dubbed buzz and, on the other, the knowledge attained by investing in building channels of communication called pipelines to selected providers located outside the local milieu. It is argued that the co-existence of high levels of buzz and many pipelines may provide firms located in outward-looking and lively clusters with a string of particular advantages not available to outsiders. Finally, some policy implications, stemming from this argumen...

/pdf/clusters-and-knowledge-local-buzz-global-pipelines-and-the-29bsuyvekg.pdf

Clusters and knowledge: local buzz, global pipelines and the process of knowledge creation

The author systematically examines one of the important issues of information — establishing the market price. He introduces the concept of «search» — where a buyer wanting to get a better price, is forced to question sellers. The article deals with various aspects of finding the necessary information.

Economics of Information

Social Network Analysis

The 2008 crash has left all the established economic doctrines - equilibrium models, real business cycles, disequilibria models - in disarray. Part of the problem is due to Smith’s "veil of ignorance": individuals unknowingly pursue society’s interest and, as a result, have no clue as to the macroeconomic effects of their actions: witness the Keynes and Leontief multipliers, the concept of value added, fiat money, Engel’s law and technical progress, to name but a few of the macrofoundations of microeconomics. A good viewpoint to take bearings anew lies in comparing the post-Great Depression institutions with those emerging from Thatcher and Reagan’s economic policies: deregulation, exogenous vs. endoge- nous money, shadow banking vs. Volcker’s Rule. Very simply, the banks, whose lending determined deposits after Roosevelt, and were a public service became private enterprises whose deposits determine lending. These underlay the great moderation preceding 2006, and the subsequent crash.

The Economic Institutions of Capitalism

The Unified Patent Court (UPC) will be the pillar of a unified European patent enforcement system. Crucial to its success will be the harmonization of geographical variation in national jurisdictions. Germany offers a unique opportunity to explore such harmonization, as plaintiffs can choose between twelve regional courts to file a patent suit, resulting in different patent court practices within the same jurisdiction. Adopting a legal geography perspective, we examine the appellate process as a mechanism that reconciles regional variation in court practices. Based on more than 100 decisions from 34 contentious litigations that went through all instances up to the Federal Court of Justice between 2005 and 2019, we find that decision reversals, case citations and guiding principles are important tools to improve error correction and judicial consistency within an IP system. We see these instruments as crucial for national harmonization also in the upcoming European framework.

/pdf/the-judicial-geography-of-patent-litigation-in-germany-17nyz8pe.pdf

The Judicial Geography of Patent Litigation in Germany: Implications for the Institutionalization of the European Unified Patent Court

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many governments enforced epidemic policies of social distancing, restrictions of professional practice, and the prohibition of cultural live performances. Because such policies dried up important sources of income in the cultural and tourism industries, this paper examines how cultural institutions coped with this crisis. Drawing on the case of the Mannheim Philharmonic Orchestra in Germany, we collected original data and employed a regional economic impact analysis to determine both the financial resilience of the Orchestra and its impact on the urban economy. Because the Orchestra could not reduce costs during the COVID-19 pandemic, public subsidies were crucial to fill the income gap of missed live concerts. In turn, the regional impact analysis suggests that the Orchestra maintained its positive effect on the economic demand for goods and services in the urban economy. When balancing the city’s subsidies with the rental (city concert halls) and tax incomes generated by the Orchestra’s local impact, the Orchestra managed to induce surplus revenue for the city’s treasury.

https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/4/3611/pdf?version=1676516985

Live Music in the Time of Corona: On the Resilience and Impact of a Philharmonic Orchestra on the Urban Economy

Abstract Because Brexit has implied a surge of relocation decisions by financial service firms during a short period of time, we examine the locational decisions of the financial industry in Europe. Adopting a relational perspective we analyze the association between similar relocation decisions of UK-based banks and the connectivity of their decision boards. Based on an analysis of relocation announcements in the media, press releases, and annual reports, as well as of interlocking directorships within the financial sector, our study connects research streams on relocation and internationalization with cross-board memberships and interlocks. Our findings suggest that the higher the competition between two banks and the stronger the connectivity in interlocking board memberships between them, the more likely are these banks to announce different relocation decisions. We interpret these robust findings as a behavior that effectively reduces competition for limited localized resources.

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/zfw-2021-0043/pdf

Post-Brexit: Do board interlocks make banks take similar relocation decisions?

Transnational public–private governance initiatives (TGIs) have become key elements in global governance, especially in the governance of sustainability. Pertinent research has concentrated on why TGIs have emerged as well as on their impacts on political outcomes and questions related to their legitimacy. This instructive literature has predominantly focused on TGIs as entities in their own right. This explorative study contributes to the literature by advocating a complementary analytical perspective that pays attention to domestic-level patterns of participation in TGIs and national factors that determine which types of organizations (public, business, or civil society) participate in TGIs. It is shown for six Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru) that there exists cross-country variation in the composition patterns in 29 TGIs on sustainability, suggesting that national conditions matter for how organizations participate in them. By improving the knowledge of the national conditions, a more complete analysis of participation and the effectiveness of TGIs can be provided in global sustainability governance. In this spirit, in a last step, an agenda is developed for guiding future research on this topic. 

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdfdirect/10.1002/gch2.202300012

Johannes Glückler

Papers

The Judicial Geography of Patent Litigation in Germany: Implications for the Institutionalization of the European Unified Patent Court

Live Music in the Time of Corona: On the Resilience and Impact of a Philharmonic Orchestra on the Urban Economy

Post-Brexit: Do board interlocks make banks take similar relocation decisions?

Country‐Specific Participation Patterns in Transnational Governance Initiatives on Sustainability: Preliminary Insights and Research Agenda