Book•
Intermediate microeconomics : A modern approach
01 Jan 2006-
TL;DR: The Varian approach as mentioned in this paper gives students tools they can use on exams, in the rest of their classes, and in their careers after graduation, and is still the most modern presentation of the subject.
Abstract: This best-selling text is still the most modern presentation of the subject. The Varian approach gives students tools they can use on exams, in the rest of their classes, and in their careers after graduation.
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TL;DR: This article constructed and implemented a variety of market designs for climate control in large buildings, as well as different standard control engineering solutions, so as to learn about differences between standard versus agent approaches, and yielding new insights about benefits and limitations of computational markets.
Abstract: Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) promise to offer solutions to problems where established, older paradigms fall short. In order to validate such claims that are repeatedly made in software agent publications, empirical in-depth studies of advantages and weaknesses of multi-agent solutions versus conventional ones in practical applications are needed. Climate control in large buildings is one application area where multi-agent systems, and market-oriented programming in particular, have been reported to be very successful, although central control solutions are still the standard practice. We have therefore constructed and implemented a variety of market designs for this problem, as well as different standard control engineering solutions. This article gives a detailed analysis and comparison, so as to learn about differences between standard versus agent approaches, and yielding new insights about benefits and limitations of computational markets. An important outcome is that "local information plus market communication produces global control".
133 citations
Cites background from "Intermediate microeconomics : A mod..."
...An allocation is Pareto efficient or Pareto optimal if there is no alternative allocation that makes any agent better off without making the outcome worse for some other agent (Varian, 1996, p. 15)....
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...The ontology and reusability aspects involved in thermodynamics model construction are discussed extensively by Borst, Akkermans, & Top (1997)....
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...An agent that acts competitively treats prices as exogenous, that is, the impact on the prices due to its own behavior is negligible (Varian, 1996, p. 516)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the authors used data envelopment analysis to evaluate the performance of Italian seaports from 2002 to 2003, combining operational and financial variables, and evaluated the role played by size, containerization and labour in the efficiency of the seaport analysed.
Abstract: This paper uses data envelopment analysis to evaluate the performance of Italian seaports from 2002 to 2003, combining operational and financial variables. The paper evaluates how close the Italian seaports are to the frontier of best practices. Moreover, the paper also tests for the role played by size, containerisation and labour in the efficiency of the seaports analysed. The general conclusion is that the Italians seaports examined display relatively high efficiency. However, there are also some inefficient seaports in the sample analysed. Management implications are subsequently drawn.
132 citations
TL;DR: The findings suggest that the firms that persist and survive over the long term in the dynamic software industry are able to capitalize on their competitive actions because of their greater capabilities, and particularly OP capabilities.
Abstract: This study examines why firms fail or survive in the volatile software industry. We provide a novel perspective by considering how software firms' capabilities and their competitive actions affect their ultimate survival. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV), we conceptualize capabilities as a firm's ability to efficiently transform input resources into outputs, relative to its peers. We define three critical capabilities of software-producing firms---research and development (RD), marketing (MK), and operations (OP)---and hypothesize that in the dynamic, high-technology software industry, RD and MK capabilities are most important for firm survival. We then draw on the competitive dynamics literature to theorize that competitive actions distinguished by a greater emphasis on innovation-related moves will increase firm survival more than actions emphasizing resource-related moves. Finally, we postulate that firms' capabilities will complement their competitive actions in affecting firm survival. Our empirical evaluation examines a cross-sectional, time series panel of 5,827 observations on 870 software companies from 1995 to 2007. We use a stochastic frontier production function to measure the capability for each software firm in each time period. We then use the Cox proportional hazard regression technique to relate capabilities and competitive actions to software firms' failure rates. Unexpectedly, our results reveal that higher OP capability increases software firm survival more than higher MK and RD capabilities. Further, firms with a greater emphasis on innovation-related than resource-related competitive actions have a greater likelihood of survival, and this likelihood increases even further when these firms have higher MK and OP capabilities. Additional analyses of subsectors within the software industry reveal that firms producing visual applications (e.g., graphical and video game software) have the highest MK capability but the lowest OP and RD capabilities and make twice as many innovation-related as resource-related moves. These firms have the highest market values but the worst Altman Z scores, suggesting that they are valued highly but also are at high risk for failure, and indeed the firms in this sector fail at a greater rate than expected. In contrast, firms producing traditional decision-support applications and infrastructure software have different capabilities and make different competitive moves. Our findings suggest that the firms that persist and survive over the long term in the dynamic software industry are able to capitalize on their competitive actions because of their greater capabilities, and particularly OP capabilities.
131 citations
Cites background from "Intermediate microeconomics : A mod..."
...Regarding inputs, labor and capital are the two primary inputs in the operations function (Varian, 2002)....
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TL;DR: This chapter argues that the view of preference changes if conceptualized explicitly as the product of memory representations and memory processes, and suggests that a consideration of properties of memory representation and retrieval may provide a unifying explanatory framework for some seemingly disparate preference phenomena.
Abstract: Our memories define who we are and what we do. Aside from a few preferences hardwired by evolution, they also define what we like and how we choose. In this chapter, we argue that our view of preference changes if conceptualized explicitly as the product of memory representations and memory processes. We draw on insights about the functions and operations of memory provided by cognitive psychology and social cognition to show that memory plays a crucial role in preference and choice. We examine memory processes in preference and choice at a more "micro" and process-oriented level than previous investigations into the role of memory processes, but at a level that is cognitive and functional, rather than computational. We suggest that a consideration of properties of memory representation and retrieval may provide a unifying explanatory framework for some seemingly disparate preference phenomena.
130 citations
Cites background from "Intermediate microeconomics : A mod..."
...Similarly, indifference functions describe equivalent levels of hedonic value or utility generated by combinations of different levels of two or more external attributes, for example, reference dependent prospect theory (Tversky & Kahneman, 1991) or standard models of consumer choice (Varian, 1999)....
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...The increasingly more hierarchical coding of experience in memory makes a gourmet out of a gourmand....
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