Showing papers on "Managerial economics published in 1976"

Problems of change in australian agricultural economics

Abstract: There has been a low level of methodological controversy within the Australian agricultural economics profession. Johnson's 1963 paper is the most significant and in it he passed criticisms on agricultural production economists not unlike those currently being made by political economists of economics in general. These past criticisms have in the main been ignored by the Australian profession but it is suggested that they are now being pushed with renewed vigour and they can no longer be ignored. It is argued that our policy work has by and large been successful and effective except for significant areas where our methodology was of restricted usefulness. In farm management the Johnsonian strictures would seem to apply but a more charitable interpretation is provided which should meet the approval of the political economists. Our almost complete neglect of development economics must soon draw to an end and we will find that the methodologies which we have relied on heavily and fairly successfully must be augmented as we become more involved in this field. The political economics challenge should be recognized and accepted with relish because the nature of our work is changing and will continue to change in the future. We have adapted fairly well as adjustment and equity have become major policy concerns. Meeting the political economics challenge will help this process of adaptation.

The place of economic history in the discipline of economics

Abstract: Despite the dominance of the field of economic history by trained economists who use the tools of economics, the output and services of economic historians are declining in demand. The explanation advanced in this address is that economic historians have not proved their value to economics. To play an essential role in economics, we must broaden the questions we ask and concommittently devise a set of theoretical tools to provide meaningful and testable theories about the structure and performance of economies over time. This address suggests the direction that such theory should take in order to make the field an indispensable part of the discipline of economics.

The dollars and sense of simulation

Abstract: This paper deals with the economics of computer simulation applied to problems in the operations management/industrial engineering area. First, the material in the literature dealing with the economics of simulation is summarized. However, the amount of information available on the economics of simulation is very small. A number of hypotheses are presented for this paucity of material. Since many managers operate in an environment in which costs and benefits are relevant to their decision-making process, the lack of data on the economics of simulation may be a barrier to the utilization of the technique. In an attempt to improve this situation, a framework for the collection and specification of the economics of simulation modeling projects is proposed as a method of urging management scientists to begin to collect and publish data on the economics of simulation projects.

Experiences in Multiobjective Management Processes

Abstract: In the sixties I performed a piece of descriptive and theoretical work with multiobjective problems seen from the point of view of managerial economics/operations research. The result was the book Studies in Multiobjective Decision Models, Studentlitteratur, Lund, 1968. The conclusion of the book is that a solution of a multiobjective problem in managerial practice is a continuous process of systems formulation and reconstruction according to what the relevant decision-makers desire from the resources that they control. In this continuous search-learning process it is wise to draw upon several disciplines, especially the behavioral sciences.

Cost accounting, planning and budgeting

Abstract: In the literature of managerial economics several definitions of the notions of plan.and budget and also divergent opinions of the relations between these notions are found. A plan can be conceived as a decision or a set of connected decisions about a line of conduct to be followed, taking into account the alternatives from which to choose, the objectives, and the restrictions under which the activities must be performed. A plan can be set up according to several methods and techniques. There are simple methods in which desired value (s) of one or more endogenous variables (e.g., sales) and/or desired situations (e.g., the financial structure) are fixed normatively, the remaining activities (e.g., the volume of production and the level of stocks and investments) being adapted to them consistently or not. There are mathematically complex methods by which the solution of the planning problem can be formalized. Especially if, as in an organization, the implementation of a plan requires the cooperation of several individuals or groups of individuals, the plan must be so specified that every person concerned can read from it what he is expected to do in order that the total activities shall be executed co-ordinatedly.

New approach to economic evaluation of labor-intensive transportation systems (abridgment)

Abstract: The managerial economics literature has provided easy-to-use tools for decision making under uncertainty for more than a decade. Recently social planners have begun adopting some of these concepts. Applying these tools for decision making and planning under uncertainty to a proposed bicycle-pedestrian transportation sytem on a medium-sized university campus generated important low-cost, easy-to-use information. Both benefits and costs contained a number of difficult-to-measure social and environmental variables such as loss of consumer surplus to restricted drivers and increased exercise and recreation for pedestrians and bicyclists. After the data were ranged from expected low to high values, a computer simulation model generated a distribution of costs and benefits with an expected benefit-cost ratio of 1.7:1 and probability of failure between 2.6 and 26 percent. Failure of the bicycle-pedestrian system (restricting parking and driving and developing other forms of transportation) would entail a low financial cost-$346,000 of fixed investment--and would be easily reversible. A hand-calculated example of the technique is presented by Everett.

Teaching Managerial Economics with a Computer Simulation Model.

Abstract: A number of fundamental concepts in managerial economics can be introduced to students through the use of a computer simulation model The model described here emphasizes such basic microeconomic ideas as the formulation of demand and cost functions, determination of profit-maximizing price and output levels, and calculation of various demand elasticity measures The model also introduces the student to problems of uncertainty, forecasting, inventory and production planning, and budgeting The computer program consists of two parts Both parts relate to a single firm producing one product Part A, the General Program, generates data for as many periods as the user may specify Part B, the Student Program, allows the student to make production, inventory, advertising, and pricing decisions on a period-to-period basis What exactly can a student learn by using this computer program? In order to answer this question, we will first examine the Student Program in terms of the economic concepts that are developed therein