Showing papers on "Managerial economics published in 2004"

Principles of transport economics

Abstract: This book offers an analytical approach to worldwide transport economics and transport policy. Its aim is to show how economic principles can be applied to problems and practical solutions derived. The book addresses a range of issues and uses cutting edge data to provide universal tools to analyze and inform policy at all levels. The reader is assumed to have basic knowledge of economics. The book will also provide valuable reference material for policy makers who are involved in providing and regulating transport and researchers who are inerested in transport planning and policy.

The Welfare Economics of Public Policy

Abstract: This outstanding text, a follow-up to the authors’ award-winning 1982 text, provides a thorough treatment of economic welfare theory and develops a complete theoretical and empirical framework for applied project and policy evaluation. The authors illustrate how this theory can be used to develop policy analysis from both theory and estimation in a variety of areas including: international trade, the economics of technological change, agricultural economics, the economics of information, environmental economics, and the economics of extractive and renewable natural resources.

Behavioral Economics and Health Economics

Abstract: The health sector is filled with institutions and decision-making circumstances that create friction in markets and cognitive errors by decision makers This paper examines the potential contributions to health economics of the ideas of behavioral economics The discussion presented here focuses on the economics of doctor-patient interactions and some aspects of quality of care It also touches on issues related to insurance and the demand for health care The paper argues that long standing research impasses may be aided by applying concepts from behavioral economics

Business Economics and Managerial Decision Making

Abstract: In case you're seeking to understand how to acquire Business Economics and Managerial Decision Making eBooks, you need to go thorough study on popular search engines like google with all the search phrases download Dominick Salvatore PDF eBooks in order for you personally to only get PDF formatted books to download that are safer and virus-free you'll discover an array of websites catering for your requirements. Most of these internet sites possess a massive collection of PDF eBooks which you are able to use for your benefit.

Applied Evolutionary Economics and Complex Systems

Abstract: 'This book reflects the new level of maturity of evolutionary and institutional economics. The field of evolutionary economics has moved beyond merely describing the economy as an evolving complex system and is now developing empirically testable models of economic evolution. This book is a major contribution to the revolution now taking place in economic theory as traditional welfare economics is being replaced by more realistic models of human behavior and economic organisation.'- John Gowdy, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, US 'Statistical analogies and hypotheses testing now attract increasing attention in the evolutionary approach to economics. As much as evolutionary theorizing calls for new concepts to be able to go beyond static equilibrium analysis, as much does empirical work in evolutionary economics require an extension of the tool box of linear time series analysis and statistics. Foster and Holzl have brought together an excellent collection of papers highlighting both the broad range of problems facing such an extension and the possible solutions. The methodological studies and the practical applications in this volume represent a guide post for future empirical work in evolutionary economics.'- Ulrich Witt, Max Planck Institute, Jena, Germany This book takes up the challenge of developing an empirically based foundation for evolutionary economics built upon complex system theory.

Computable General Equilibrium Analysis in Transportation Economics

Abstract: This chapter describes how computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis, pioneered by Johansen (1960), Harberger (1962), and, on a larger scale, by Shoven and Whalley (1984), is now a standard tool in empirical economics for simulating the effects of variations in exogenous variables and parameters on any kind of economic variable such as output, employment, prices, income, and welfare. Exogenous variations (also called shocks) range from policy variables such as tax rates, tariffs, and transfers over regulatory frameworks to technologies and preferences. The literature is huge. A well-known large multi-country world model is GTAP (Hertel, 1997). A more recent field of application is transport economics, and this is the subject of this chapter. A typical transport economics application is the study of the quantitative impacts of transport initiatives such as infrastructure investments or pricing policies on economic variables.

Global Services Sourcing: Issues of Cost and Quality

Abstract: Global Services Sourcing (GSS) is not an original concept. What is original about it is the media attention it seems to be getting. We have adopted the " then and now " philosophy in developing this report. We start by talking to the pioneers of global services sourcing, companies like General Electric, Nortel Networks and Citibank. The key learning from talking to these companies who have been sourcing their processes for more than a decade is that the long held view-" went for cost, stayed for quality " about moving processes outside the company (in some cases outside the country) is too simplistic. Rather we found that " went for cost and quality, stayed for continued quality at competitive costs " is more in line with the strategy that that these companies employed. Next, our in depth questionnaire tries to capture the " now " of the global services sourcing industry. Since the pioneers had shone the arc light on quality we developed specific quality related questions. The results validated the pioneers' views: … 67% of the respondents said that actual cost savings from services sourcing have been anywhere from 5%-50% (onshore and/or offshored) … 82% of the respondents said that going into the global services sourcing arrangement they look for quality of processes to increase by 2 – 10% (onshore and/or offshored) … 70% of the respondents said that the quality of outsourced business processes has increased (quality increase of 5%-10%) or increased significantly (quality increase of 10%-25%) The top three drivers of outsourcing were: … Cost savings … Increasing capacity … Ability to take advantage of offshore labor (through captive centers) The most difficult phase of outsourcing was transition or handoff of business processes from the company to its outsourcing partner. The top risk factors in outsourcing were: … Loss of institutional knowledge … Poor communication with vendor … Mismatch of firm cultures Of the companies that are engaged in services sourcing, 79% of respondents were using an offshore based provider. Perhaps in a sign of maturing of global services sourcing 62% chose to offshore their services to at least one country in addition to India, the current offshoring destination of choice. As far as country risk factors, legal risks (laws comparable to international standards-data security, intellectual property rights) followed by political risks were identified as the top areas of concern. The lesson for countries competing for offshored …

Conspicuous by its absence: Ethics and managerial economics

Abstract: This paper gives prescriptions for introducing ethical concerns into the economic theory of the firm Topics include social responsibility, corporate governance, profit maximization, competition barriers, collusion, the market system, and welfare economics The need for such prescriptions is based on a content analysis of 21 managerial economics texts for their coverage of ethics My analysis finds that substantive discussions of ethics are conspicuous by their absence As ethical breaches can involve significant monetary damages to a firm – particularly through adverse market reactions – moral-reasoning abilities can complement analytical skills Consequently, my analysis demonstrates how ethics figure into the opportunity costs of managerial decision making, which is central to the economic definition of profit

Organizational Economics in the Food, Agribusiness, and Agricultural Sectors

Abstract: The past three decades have seen significant advances in the field of organizational economics. By endogenizing "institutions" into their analysis, organization economists have enriched and extended the study of economic behavior. This paper explores the dynamic process of adoption of organizational economics or new institutional economics as applied to food economics, agribusiness management, and agricultural economics. The authors view the rapid agroindustrialization of the global food system as fertile ground for adoption of transaction cost, property-rights/incomplete contracting, and agency approaches to understanding the significant changes currently affecting the sector. Numerous research centers and data collection efforts have emerged to expand the organizational economics analytical approach. This paper also serves as an introductory umbrella for the three subsequent papers which document the progress of conceptualization and empirical work in organizational economics applied to food, agribusiness, and agriculture.

Art Cities, Cultural Districts and Museums

Abstract: The subject of economic valorisation has become a current topic and the idea that culture can be considered a factor of economic production, able to generate wealth, appears to have been generally accepted. The book consists of a series of essays about the economic valorisation of the cultural, artistic and environmental heritage of the art city of Florence using a business economics approach and will appeal to scholars and researchers focusing on the cultural economics and managerial economics of art and to practitioners in the cultural sector and policy makers.

Towards a market oriented approach: employer requirements and implications for undergraduate economics programs

Abstract: The decline in enrolments in economics degrees and majors has been the focus of much concern in recent times. In 2001, two of the current researchers published a paper outlining a framework with which future investigation into the issue could be conducted (Keneley and Hellier 2001). Essentially this paper argued that a market orientated approach, which takes into account the value students and employers place on economics studies may point the way to a solution to the problem. As a first step in developing such an approach it is necessary to determine what employers require of the economics graduates they hire. With the support of the Economics Society of Australia such a survey was conducted in 2002. This paper presents the results of this survey and discusses some of the ramifications for the teaching of undergraduate economics.

Evolutionary thinking in environmental economics: retrospect and prospect

Abstract: This book takes up the challenge of developing an empirically based foundation for evolutionary economics built upon complex system theory. The authors argue that modern evolutionary economics is at a crossroads. At a theoretical level, modern evolutionary economics is moving away from the traditional focus of the operation of selection mechanisms and towards concepts of ‘complex adaptive systems' and self-organisation. On an applied level, new and innovative methods of empirical research are being developed and considered. The contributors take up this challenge and examine aspects of complexity and evolution in applied contexts.

Towards an Economics of Human Relations: on the Role of Psychology in Economics:

Abstract: In this paper, I concentrate on the relationship between economics and psychology, focusing on ways to enlarge the scope of economic research to make it more relevant for the analysis of policy means and of policy ends and, more generally, with the intention of fostering a climate for change and stimulating debate.

Economics for Business

Abstract: Damien Ward and David Begg, Economics for Business (Berkshire: McGraw-Hill, 2016), ISBN: 978-0-0771-7528-3

The Economics of Institutions and the Institutions of Economics.

Abstract: Some basic tools of modern approach to the "Economic of Institutions" are shown to be useful to develop an "Economics of Economics" that may throw some light on the nature of the "Institutions of Economics". The "over-supply" of mathematics, that characterizes modern Economics, can be explained by the value that mathematical techniques have as screening and as signalling devices. The emphasis, which is placed on the assumption of maximizing behaviour, is claimed to be one of the most typical example of this type of "overproduction". Economic Research may be biased by the economic incentives of Economists. Individual economists may have incentives to abate screening costs or to signal abilities that may well diverge from the purpose of Economics to explain and to improve the working of economic systems.

Developing Managerial Work. A system and work-flow approach

Abstract: Companies focus change and development in order to improve their competitiveness. In manufacturing companies a shift in focus from production to product development has been recognized. During the last decade, many companies in automotive industry have utilized mergers and acquisitions, as a means to create competitive advantages by enabling synergies. In the auto industry, as well as in the telecom industry, some companies have just grown. This has lead to an increased organizational complexity. Organizational change, together with complexity, make the managerial task challenging and critical, and thus also an issue for development. In research, management activity has been approached within the concept of managerial work, and also within the concept of leadership. Managerial work studies have been focused on organizing discrete activities into categories, made up from basic managerial functions (e.g. planning, organizing, commanding, coordinating, controlling), which goes all the way back to Fayol (1916), and on characterizing different types of managerial jobs. Managerial work is generally characterized as hectic, varied, fragmented, reactive and disorderly, and closely related to context and hierarchy, and individual aspects dominate the choice and proportion of activities. This characteristic of managerial work has been found to be relatively stable over the decades. However, management and managerial work have proven to be difficult to define and understand both in theory and in practice. Due to a lack of a firm theoretical base, advice on good management and managerial work is mostly of a tentative kind. Consequently, there is an ongoing debate about the relevance gap in management science, from a practical perspective. Based on the research on the managerial work situation in product development, it is argued here that change and development of managerial work – as such – need to be focused, when organizational change and complexity are taken into account. But due to the lack of integrative perspectives and approaches it is difficult to define what to develop, and also how to develop managerial work. In order to deal with development of managerial work in product development, this thesis argues that approaches with work-flow and system orientation are relevant to consider, especially within a context characterized by change and complexity. A work-flow and system-based approach represents a more integrative perspective of managerial work, and thus represents an alternative to the dominant fragmented and individually related approaches. Together with frameworks for collective learning and design, a work-flow and system approach has the potential to facilitate development. It is also proposed that collaborative research approaches can contribute to both scientific and practical relevance in managerial work development.

Personnel Economics: An Economic Approach to Human Resource Management **

Abstract: The theoretical idea of personnel economics is to apply simple economic principles to the field of human resources management. Personnel economics as a research field has grown rapidly since the first text book on “Personnel Economics” was published in 1998. The development is driven by new theoretical insights based on institutional and behavioural economics and new empirical methods and data sets. Those new theoretical insights are very fruitful to analyze reasons and consequences of various human resource management practices, to understand what actually drives and motivates employees, and what causes organisations to be successful or to fail. With the new data sets and econometric methods the theories that have been laid out in personnel economics either many years ago or very recently can now be tested thoroughly. And the evidence produced by the new data and methods is strongly supportive, which is not only reassuring for researchers, but it also suggests that practitioners can actually rely on the ideas because they are born out in the data. So, personnel economics is not only a vivid research field, but also of great value for human resource managers, particularly for those taking strategic HR decisions. The fruitfulness of personnel economics is demonstrated with four examples: training strategies of companies, recruiting in tight labour markets, career incentives, team size and effort, and entrepreneurial signalling towards employees and creditors.

The Development Set: The Character of the Journal of Development Economics 2002

Abstract: We survey the six issues of the Journal of Development Economics that were published in 2002 in an effort to test the proposition that the field of development economics has been transformed by the institutional choice perspective in economics and political economy, and by the accumulating evidence on the failed policies of development assistance. These radical departures from business as usual research in development economics are evident in scholarly books, popular books, and public policy discussions. As we document, however, neither the theoretical perspective of institutional economics nor the empirical record of failed policy have had that significant of an impact on the field of development economics as reflected in the Journal of Development Economics. We find that the research agendas of scholars in the field mirror the research mandates of the leading international agencies and that the mode of argumentation attempts to mimic the professional biases in the economics profession toward formalism, and both of these forces conspire to limit the creativity and engagement with real problems of public policy by the "Development Set."

The Commonality Between Economics and Law

Abstract: The development of law and economics is a success story in the expansion of economics into other social sciences since the 1960s. The success has been attributed to the fact that economics offers a powerful set of analytical tools with a forceful theory of human behavior. But if this is the only reason, then the move of economics into other social sciences such as political science and sociology should have been equally successful. This, however, has not been true, and the discrepancy calls for an explanation. The commonalities between economics and law in both subject matter and analytical approach provide a more convincing explanation; some of the difficulties faced by the legal economists can also be explained by an appreciation of the commonalites between economics and law.

Paradoxes versus Formalism in Economics. Evidence from the Early Years of Game Theory and Experimental Economics

Abstract: This paper argues that the acceptance of two recent methodological advances in economics, namely game theory and laboratory experimentation, was affected by the history dependence constraining the formalization of economics. After an early period in which the two methods were coolly received by economists because their applications challenged some basic hypotheses of mainstream economics, their subsequent acceptance was the result of the corroboration of those same hypotheses. However, the recent emergence of some paradoxes has finally revealed that the effectiveness of game theory and experimental techniques in economics is improved when descriptively implausible and normatively unsatisfactory assumptions such as the centrality of individual maximization in decision theory and the definition of rationality as consistency in preferences are revised.