Download or read book Optimal Dynamic Investment Policies of a Value Maximizing Firm written by Peter M. Kort and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 196 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1.1. Scope of the Book This book is a contribution to the area of "dynamic models of the firm". The motivation for this kind of research is the following: Empirical studies (e.g. Albach (1976)) have shown that the development of the firm over time can be divided into different stages. such as growth. stationarity and contraction. In order to understand and evaluate these stages in a proper way. it is important to develop a suitable theoretical framework. To that end. economists have applied dynamic mathematical techniques. such as optimal control theory. calculus of variations and dynamic programming to design and analyse dynamic models of the firm. In this way. the economic theory of the firm is extended to a dynamic context. Within the field of the dynamics of the firm this book - develops a general investment decision rule. based on the concept "net present value of marginal investment". which is applicable in deterministic dynamic models of the firm; - studies the influence of adjustment costs of investment on optimal dynamic firm behavior; - extends the stochastic dynamic theory of the firm by connecting it with a dynamic version of the Capital Asset Pricing Model. Before elaborating on "the dynamics of the firm". we first review the subject of net present value in the classical analysis.

Download or read book Encompassing written by Geert Dhaene and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-03-09 with total page 169 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of many sciences is characterized by an almost continuous emer gence of new theories. From a normative point of view, the survival of a new theory should mainly be determined by its ability to explain a new body of facts which the existing theories are unable to explain. If in addition the new theory is able to explain all the results obtained by the existing theories and if it can point out why these theories fail to explain certain facts, it should become the dominant theory. Otherwise, it might coexist with other theories for some time. Hence, a new theory ought to be judged not only by confronting it with existing facts, but also by confronting it with existing theories. The idea that a theory should be able to account for the results ob tained by other theories, although implicitly adhered to by many scientists, has rarely been formalized. The statistics literature on parametric hypoth esis testing, though, might be seen as an instance of such a formalization.

Download or read book Bargaining in a Video Experiment written by Heike Hennig-Schmidt and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bilateral bargaining situations are of great importance in reality. Traditional microeconomics, however, make cognitive and motivational assumptions of subjects` full rationality that are revealed as being unrealistic by a growing number of experimental investigations. The present book adds an important contribution to the understanding of principles of boundedly rational behavior by directly observing groups of subjects in a decision situation and videotaping their discussions. A very important result of the book is that the behavior of subjects is guided by aspirations regarding the final outcome. The levels of aspirations are influenced by prominence and different forms of the equity principle resulting in several fairness norms as to the allocation of the amount of money to be divided. Another important feature of the book stems from the analysis of break off discussions and enables a motivational explanation of the emergence of breakdowns in bargaining.

Download or read book Regime Transitions Spillovers and Buffer Stocks written by Peter Stalder and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 203 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents an econometric modeling approach for analysing macroeconomic disequilibria, focusing on the market for goods and labor and the spillovers between these markets transmitted through firms' decisions in the production sphere. The macroeconomic markets are treated as heterogeneous aggregates, consisting of a multitute of micro markets on which demand/supply ratios differ. Disequilibrium models have been under attack because they neglect that inventories enable firms to smooth production over the cycle, but the author argues that buffer stocks (output inventories, unfilled orders) should be accounted for within the disequilibrium framework, giving rise to a dynamic modification rather than a fundamental invalidation of rationing and spillover effects. The model developed in this book combines traditional Keynesian-type analysis with supply-side considerations and at the same time allows for micro-level imbalance. The resulting econometric structure is inherently nonlinear, reflecting that the response of economic activity to demand-side and supply-side factors varies over the cycle, depending on the aggregate mix of regimes. The model is estimated with quarterly data for Switzerland. Various simulation experiments clearly demonstrate the potential of this type of model for empirical business cycle analysis and policy discussions.

Download or read book Trends in Multicriteria Decision Making written by Theodor Stewart and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 454 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of papers gives a broad overview of the state of the art in Multiple Criteria Decision Making (MCDM), in both theory and practice. Topical sections are ranging from preference modelling and methodological developments to a number of applications of MCDM thinking. Special sections are devoted to applications in natural resources and environmental management issues, to negotiation and group decision support, and to philosophical issues, particularly in the interface between systems thinking and MCDM. The book will be relevant not only to those working in the area of MCDM, but also to researchers and practitioners concerned with broader areas of management science, especially those concerned with decision support systems and negotiation support.

Download or read book Lotsizing and Scheduling for Production Planning written by Knut Haase and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 127 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Billions of dollars are tied up in the inventories of manufacturing companies which cause large (interest) costs. A small decrease of the inventory and/or production costs without reduction of the service level can increase the profit substantially. Especially in the case of scarce capacity, efficient production schedules are fundamental for short delivery time and on-time delivery which are important competitive priorities. To support decision makers by improving their manufacturing resource planning system with appropriate methods is one of the most of production planning. interesting challenges The following chapters contain new models and new solution strategies which may be helpful for decision makers and for further research in the areas of production planning and operations research. The main subject is on lotsizing and scheduling. The objectives and further characteristics of such problems can be inferred from practical need. Thus, before an outline is given, we consider the general objectives of lotsizing and scheduling and classify the most important characteristics of such problems in the following sections.

Download or read book Count Data Models written by Rainer Winkelmann and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2013-11-11 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book presents statistical methods for the analysis of events. The primary focus is on single equation cross section models. The book addresses both the methodology and the practice of the subject and it provides both a synthesis of a diverse body of literature that hitherto was available largely in pieces, as well as a contribution to the progress of the methodology, establishing several new results and introducing new models. Starting from the standard Poisson regression model as a benchmark, the causes, symptoms and consequences of misspecification are worked out. Both parametric and semi-parametric alternatives are discussed. While semi-parametric models allow for robust interference, parametric models can identify features of the underlying data generation process.

Download or read book Stochastic Project Networks written by Klaus Neumann and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Project planning, scheduling, and control are regularly used in business and the service sector of an economy to accomplish outcomes with limited resources under critical time constraints. To aid in solving these problems, network-based planning methods have been developed that now exist in a wide variety of forms, cf. Elmaghraby (1977) and Moder et al. (1983). The so-called "classical" project networks, which are used in the network techniques CPM and PERT and which represent acyclic weighted directed graphs, are able to describe only projects whose evolution in time is uniquely specified in advance. Here every event of the project is realized exactly once during a single project execution and it is not possible to return to activities previously carried out (that is, no feedback is permitted). Many practical projects, however, do not meet those conditions. Consider, for example, a production process where some parts produced by a machine may be poorly manufactured. If an inspection shows that a part does not conform to certain specifications, it must be repaired or replaced by a new item. This means that we have to return to a preceding stage of the production process. In other words, there is feedback. Note that the result of the inspection is that a certain percentage of the parts tested do not conform. That is, there is a positive probability (strictly less than 1) that any part is defective.

Download or read book Predictive Behavior written by Gunnar Brennscheidt and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 234 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes a series of laboratory experiments (with a total of 167 independent subjects) on forecasting behavior. In all experiments, the time series to be forecasted was generated by an abstract econometric model involving two or three artificial exogenous variables. This designprovides an optimal background for rational expectations and least-squares learning. As expected, these hypotheses do not explain observed forecasting behavior satisfactorily. Some phenomena related to this lack of rationality are studied: Concentration on changes rather than levels,underestimation of changes and overvaluation of volatile exogenous variables. Some learning behavior is observed. Finally, some aspects of individual forecasts such as prominence of "round" number, dispersion, etc.,are studied.

Download or read book Experimental Duopoly Markets with Demand Inertia written by Claudia Keser and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This report portrays the results of experimental research on dynamic duopoly markets with demand inertia. Two methods of experimentation are studied: game-playing experiments where subjects interact spontaneously via computer terminals, and computer tournaments between strategies designed by subjects. The principal aim of this study is the understanding of boundedly rational decision making in the dynamic duopoly situation. 1. 1 Motivation The experiments examine a multistage duopoly game where prices in each period are the only decision variables. Sales depend on current prices and also on past sales (demand inertia). Applying the game-theoretic concept of subgame perfect equilibrium, the game is solved by backward induction. The result is a uniquely determined system of decision rules. However, we can hardly expect that human beings behave according to the equilibrium strategy of this game. It is unlikely that subjects are able to compute the equilibrium. And even if a subject is able to compute it, he might not make use of this knowledge. Only if he expects the others to behave according to the equilibrium, it is optimal for him to play the equilibrium strategy. We have evidence from several earlier experimental studies on oligopoly markets that, even in less complex oligopoly situations where the equilibrium solutions are very easy to compute, human behavior often is different from what is prescribed by normative theory. ! Normative theory is based on the concept of ideal rationality. However, human capabilities impose cognitive limits on rationality.

Download or read book Economic Theory of Fuzzy Equilibria written by Antoine Billot and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-04-17 with total page 175 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fuzzy set theory, which started not much more than 20 years ago as a generalization of classical set theory, has in the meantime evolved into an area which scientifically, as well as from the point of view of applications, is recognized as a very valuable contribution to the existing knowledge. To an increasing degree, however, fuzzy set theory is also used in a descriptive, factual sense or as a decision making technology. Most of these applications of fuzzy set theory are in the areas of fuzzy control, multi-criteria analysis, descriptive decision theory and expert systems design. In economics, the application of fuzzy set theory is still very rare. Apart from Professor Ponsard and his group, who have obviously recognized the potential offuzzy set theory in economics much better than others, only very few economists are using this new tool in order to model economic systems in a more realistic way than often possible by traditional approaches, and to gain more insight into structural interdependences of economic systems. I consider it, therefore, particularly valuable that Dr. Billot, in his book, makes a remarkable contribution in this direction. There seems to be one major difference between Dr.

Download or read book Operator Theorems with Applications to Distributive Problems and Equilibrium Models written by Antonio Villar and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 166 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Presentation Many economic problems, as equilibrium models, input-output analysis, rational behaviour, etc. , are usually modelled in terms of operators in Euclidean spaces. This monograph deals with the analysis of a number of formal problems involving this kind of operators (with particular reference to complementarity problems and variational inequalities), and their applications to distributive problems and equilibrium models. Thus the purpose of this work is to provide a set of new results on the solvability of those problems, and a number of economic applications that will illustrate the interest of these results in economics. It is worth stressing from the very begining that our analysis concentrates on the existence (and in some cases optimality) of solutions. That is what is meant here by solvability (in particular, nothing will be said with respect to the uniqueness, stability, sensitivity analysis or computation of solutions). The results on the solvability of operator problems presented here, were actually arrived at as a way of solving specific economic models. Yet we are going to relate this case by somehow reversing the way it happened, that is, starting with the formal results and then presenting a number of economic models which appear as applications of VIII these formal results. The rationale for this approach is twofold. First, it provides a neat track via which to go through the whole work. Then, because I would like to emphasize the interest of complementarity and variational inequalities problems in economic modelling.

Download or read book Dynamic Firm and Investor Behaviour under Progressive Personal Taxation written by Geert-Jan C.T.van Schijndel and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book aims to include the effects of a progressive personal tax into the deterministic dynamic theory of the firm. To this end the author investigates the impact of a progressive personal tax on the optimal dividend, financing and investment policy of a shareholder-controlled, value-maximising firm. More specifically, the principal aim is the justification of the thesis that during each stage of their evolution, firms will be controlled by investors in different tax brackets. With this aim in mind, the author develops a dynamic equilibrium and portfolio theory under certainty, which considers: - the market value of an arbitrary firm such that no excess demand for or supply of shares exists, - the portfolio selection of differently taxed investors, - the succession of differently taxed investors, who possess the shares of any value-maximizing firm, in the course of time, - the optimal resulting policy string and corresponding evolution of a firm in the course of time.

Download or read book Fuzzy Multiple Attribute Decision Making written by Shu-Jen Chen and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph is intended for an advanced undergraduate or graduate course as well as for researchers, who want a compilation of developments in this rapidly growing field of operations research. This is a sequel to our previous works: "Multiple Objective Decision Making--Methods and Applications: A state-of-the-Art Survey" (No.164 of the Lecture Notes); "Multiple Attribute Decision Making--Methods and Applications: A State-of-the-Art Survey" (No.186 of the Lecture Notes); and "Group Decision Making under Multiple Criteria--Methods and Applications" (No.281 of the Lecture Notes). In this monograph, the literature on methods of fuzzy Multiple Attribute Decision Making (MADM) has been reviewed thoroughly and critically, and classified systematically. This study provides readers with a capsule look into the existing methods, their characteristics, and applicability to the analysis of fuzzy MADM problems. The basic concepts and algorithms from the classical MADM methods have been used in the development of the fuzzy MADM methods. We give an overview of the classical MADM in Chapter II. Chapter III presents the basic concepts and mathematical operations of fuzzy set theory with simple numerical examples in a easy-to-read and easy-to-follow manner. Fuzzy MADM methods basically consist of two phases: (1) the aggregation of the performance scores with respect to all the attributes for each alternative, and (2) the rank ordering of the alternatives according to the aggregated scores.

Download or read book Flexibility and Adjustment to Information in Sequential Decision Problems written by Armin Schmutzler and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 1 The Importance of Irreversibility and Learning - Familiar 11 Bxamples Revisited 1. 1 Neoclassical Investment Models: A Brief Survey 11 1. 1. 1 The Standard Neoclassical Investment Theory Model 13 1. 1. 2 The Investment Model with Adjustment Costs 15 1. 1. 3 The Irreversibility of Investment 17 1. 1. 4 Delivery Lags 18 1. 2 Flexible Manufacturing Systems 22 1. 2. 1 Some Basic Facts about Manufacturing 23 1. 2. 2 The Determinants of the Flexibility of Manufacturing Systems 25 1. 2. 3 Manufacturing as a Multiperiod Choice Problem 28 1. 3 Conclusions 30 2 The Role of Irreversibility and Learning in Sequential Decision Problems - Basic Concepts 33 2. 1 The Two-Period Model without Uncertainty 33 2. 1. 1 The Elements of the Model 34 2. 1. 2 Economic Examples 37 2. 1. 3 Some Basic Results 39 2. 1. 4 Intertemporal Opportunity Costs 42 2. 2 The Two-Period Model with Uncertainty 46 2. 2. 1 The Elements of the Kodel 46 2. 2. 2 Special Cases 50 2. 2. 3 Flexibility and the Value of Information 54 2. 2. 4 An Example: Waiting to Invest 56 2. 3 Switching Costs 59 2. 3. 1 The Extended Model 59 2. 3. 2 An Example: Money Demand as Demand for Flexibility 61 2. 4 Summary and Outlook 63 3 Determinants of the Optimal Choice in Sequential Decision Problems - The Two-Period Case 65 3. 1 The Formulation of the Problem 66 3. 1.

Download or read book The Social Viability of Money written by Joan Esteban and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this book overlapping generations economies are analysed from a game theoretical point of view and the social acceptability of consumption allocations is studied in infinite horizon models of pure exchange economieswith agents with finite lifetimes who behave cooperatively. The core of such economies and its relation with competitive equilibria, both walrasian and monetary and the essential characteristics of the overlapping generations model are examined. The author defines the problem of trust in intertemporal consumption allocations as a question of belonging or not to the core of economy and provides a full characterization of the core allocations for n-goods pure exchange economies with one agent per generation: a consumption allocation belongs to the core if and only it is Pareto optimal and Sequentially Individually Rational. From this it follows that for one commodity economies no consumption allocation involving intertemporal transfers can belong to the core of the economy. In other words, no monetary equilibrium is socially viable. This result is no longer true for many goods models. For that case it is demonstrated that there exist bounds on the real value of equilibrium money purchases beyond which monetary equilibria are not socially viableand with many agents in every generation it is shown that as the economy becomes large and monetary (as well as IOU) equilibria become eventually excluded from the core of the economy. These results provide an analytical rationale for the fact that in most countries fiat money is legal tender.

Download or read book Bootstrapping and Related Techniques written by Karl-Heinz Jöckel and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2012-12-06 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains 30 selected, refereed papers from an in- ternational conference on bootstrapping and related techni- ques held in Trier 1990. Thepurpose of the book is to in- form about recent research in the area of bootstrap, jack- knife and Monte Carlo Tests. Addressing the novice and the expert it covers as well theoretical as practical aspects of these statistical techniques. Potential users in different disciplines as biometry, epidemiology, computer science, economics and sociology but also theoretical researchers s- hould consult the book to be informed on the state of the art in this area.