An Ontological Account of the Action Theory of Economic Exchanges

In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in thedevelopment of ontologically well-founded conceptual models for Information Systems in areas such as Service Management, Accounting Information Systems and Financial Reporting. Economic exchanges are central phenomena in these areas. For this reason, they occupy a prominent position in modelling frameworks such as the REA (Resource-EventAction) ISO Standard as well as the FIBO (Financial Industry BusinessOntology). In this paper, we begin a well-founded ontological analysisof economic exchanges inspired by a recent ontological view on the nature of economic transactions. According to this view, what counts asan economic transaction is based on an agreement on the actions thatthe agents are committed to perform. The agreement is in turn based on convergent preferences about the course of action to bring about. This view enables a unified treatment of economic exchanges, regardless the object of the transaction, and complies with the view that all economictransactions are about services. In this paper, we start developing our analysis in the framework of the Unified Foundational Ontology (UFO)

EXPERT SYSTEMS

In recent decades IT and computer systems have evolved rapidly in economic informatics field. The goal is to create user friendly information systems that respond promptly and accurately to requests. Informatics systems evolved into decision assisted systems, and such systems are converted, based on gained experience, in expert systems for creative problem solving that an organization is facing. Expert systems are aimed at rebuilding human reasoning on the expertise obtained from experts, stores knowledge, establishes links between knowledge, have the knowledge and ability to perform human intellectual activities. From the informatics development point of view, expert systems are based on the principle of the knowledge separation from the treating program. Expert systems simulate the human experts reasoning on knowledge available to them, multiply the knowledge and explain their own lines of reasoning.expert systems, artificial intelligence, knowledge, expertise

Integrated Administration of the Organizations Informational Resources

Organizations grow and develop continuosly and information volume grows in the same rythm, which makes from improvement or changing the old counting systems an imperative. More and more companies, instead of continuing to invest in small applications choose integrated informational solutions, which are adapted to the user’s daily needsfrom, all decisional levels. Although apparently profitable from the costs point of view, small applications assure only the simple economical solutions between clients, partners, furnisors, and employees. For high business volume companies, this kind of applications become useless in a short time, fact that involves extra sustained investitionsorganization management, informatic solution, data volume, information system, benefit and economic performances.

Exponential wealth distribution: a new approach from functional iteration theory

Exponential distribution is ubiquitous in the framework of multi-agent systems. Usually, it appears as an equilibrium state in the asymptotic time evolution of statistical systems. It has been explained from very different perspectives. In statistical physics, it is obtained from the principle of maximum entropy. In the same context, it can also be derived without any consideration about information theory, only from geometrical arguments under the hypothesis of equiprobability in phase space. Also, several multi-agent economic models based on mappings, with random, deterministic or chaotic interactions, can give rise to the asymptotic appearance of the exponential wealth distribution. An alternative approach to this problem in the framework of iterations in the space of distributions has been recently presented. Concretely, the new iteration given by $f_{n+1}(x) = \int\int_{u+v>x}{f_n(u)f_n(v)\over u+v} dudv.$. It is found that the exponential distribution is a stable fixed point of the former functional iteration equation. From this point of view, it is easily understood why the exponential wealth distribution (or by extension, other kind of distributions) is asymptotically obtained in different multi-agent economic models.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure

An Axiomatic Approach to Routing

Information delivery in a network of agents is a key issue for large, complex systems that need to do so in a predictable, efficient manner. The delivery of information in such multi-agent systems is typically implemented through routing protocols that determine how information flows through the network. Different routing protocols exist each with its own benefits, but it is generally unclear which properties can be successfully combined within a given algorithm. We approach this problem from the axiomatic point of view, i.e., we try to establish what are the properties we would seek to see in such a system, and examine the different properties which uniquely define common routing algorithms used today. We examine several desirable properties, such as robustness, which ensures adding nodes and edges does not change the routing in a radical, unpredictable ways; and properties that depend on the operating environment, such as an "economic model", where nodes choose their paths based on the cost they are charged to pass information to the next node. We proceed to fully characterize minimal spanning tree, shortest path, and weakest link routing algorithms, showing a tight set of axioms for each.Comment: In Proceedings TARK 2015, arXiv:1606.0729

The IS Core-I: Economic and Systems Engineering Approaches to IS Identity

This article presents an economic basis for declaring Information Systems and Information Technology to be both cognitively and socio-politically legitimate and to show that learning [Benbasat and Zmud, 2003] has been achieved The large scale complexity and diversity of today\u27s information systems are discussed within the context of a software engineering (SE) model and the higher-level view of the product that SE provides. The history and scope of investments in computing, and the practices of software engineering demonstrate that we are not a New Collective suffering from an identity crisis. We are a heterogeneous group looking at a wide diversity of Information Systems, some of which challenge the way we think about organizational boundaries and show that artifacts are not adequate to define IT

Kulturelle Grundlagen der Ökonomie: Eine Analyse aus Sicht der modernen Informationsökonomik

Globalization puts the German economic model, the so-called social market economy, under pressure. Constituting elements of this model are fundamental social and economic values. Globalization puts some of these values under pressure and creates inefficiencies because the costs of running the social and economic fabric rise. This is an important justification to inquire into the normative foundations of economic efficiency The following article discusses to what extent culture is a base for efficient economic systems. Information theory is regarded as a key element for explaining social change. The arguments are based on institutional economics with a special view on transaction costs and on cooperation structures. It is shown that specific information technologies promote forms of cooperation, which influence institutional arrangements. The related information technologies themselves are part of the cultural system and its value structures. As a consequence, competition among economic systems favours certain combinations of technologies, cultural arrangements and economic systems. In as much as cultural competition precedes economic competition in the sense of a certain way of thinking, the cultural system can be regarded as a strategic competitive parameter for an economy.

Personality Psychology and Economics

This paper explores the power of personality traits both as predictors and as causes of academic and economic success, health, and criminal activity. Measured personality is interpreted as a construct derived from an economic model of preferences, constraints, and information. Evidence is reviewed about the "situational specificity" of personality traits and preferences. An extreme version of the situationist view claims that there are no stable personality traits or preference parameters that persons carry across different situations. Those who hold this view claim that personality psychology has little relevance for economics. The biological and evolutionary origins of personality traits are explored. Personality measurement systems and relationships among the measures used by psychologists are examined. The predictive power of personality measures is compared with the predictive power of measures of cognition captured by IQ and achievement tests. For many outcomes, personality measures are just as predictive as cognitive measures, even after controlling for family background and cognition. Moreover, standard measures of cognition are heavily influenced by personality traits and incentives. Measured personality traits are positively correlated over the life cycle. However, they are not fixed and can be altered by experience and investment. Intervention studies, along with studies in biology and neuroscience, establish a causal basis for the observed effect of personality traits on economic and social outcomes. Personality traits are more malleable over the life cycle compared to cognition, which becomes highly rank stable around age 10. Interventions that change personality are promising avenues for addressing poverty and disadvantage.personality, behavioral economics, cognitive traits, wages, economic success, human development, person-situation debate

AN ENTITY-CENTRIC APPROACH TO GREEN INFORMATION SYSTEMS

The integration of sustainable thinking and performance within day-to-day business activities has become an important business need. Sustainable business requires information on the use, flows and destinies of energy, water, and materials including waste, along with monetary information on environment-related costs, earnings, and savings. Creating this holistic view of economic, social and environmental information is not a straightforward mission from an IT perspective, and implies tackling several challenges such as information granularity and overload, the different projections of the same factual information, and the heterogeneity of information systems. In this paper, we propose an entity-centric approach to Green Information Systems to assist organisations in forming a cohesive representation of the environmental impact of their business operations at both micro- and macrolevels. Initial results from a Small Medium-size Enterprise case study are discussed along with future research directions

The determinants of agricultural production : a cross-country analysis

In this analysis of capital's role in agricultural production, a new construction of data on capital allowed the authors to advance the cross-country study of production functions. The model reveals the relative importance of capital, a finding quite robust to modifications of the model and the disaggregation of capital to its two components. The model is also consistent with the view that lack of physical capital serves as a constraint on agricultural growth. The shift to more productive techniques is associated with a decline in labor, reflecting labor-saving technical changes. This is not news, but it is emphasized here because it comes out an integral view of the process which distinguishes between the core technology and the changes that took place over time and between countries. Not only is capital important to agricultural production, and agricultural development dependent on the economic environment, but agriculture is more cost-capital-intensive than nonagriculture. Capital is all the more important as a factor of production in that land (also important) varies little over time. The availability of agricultural capital determines whether the gap between available and applied technologies can be closed. Prices have little direct, immediate impact on agricultural growth, beyond their impact through inputs and choice of technology. The legacy of past policies that distorted the relative returns to economic activity is enshrined in current stocks, which may respond slowly to policy reform. The analysis assumes that the production technology is heterogeneous and the implemented technology is endogenous and determined jointly with the level of unconstrained inputs. Thus, a change in the state variables affects both the technology and the inputs, so the production function is not identified. To overcome that problem, changes in productivity are decomposed to three orthogonal components caused by the fundamentally different processes underlying panel data. The statistical framework explains the unstable results observed in production functions derived from panel data. Statistically, the results depend on how the data are projected. Comparisons between units over time or of deviations from unit-means or time-means all describe different processes. This is based on theory but has an intuitive appeal as well. In this case, the spread in productivity among countries is different from the spread in productivity for a country through time. The factors explaining the spread will differ. The modeling approach should explicitly recognize the fact that panel data measure a combination of economic phenomena.Labor Policies,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,General Technology,Economic Theory&Research,Environmental Economics&Policies,Agricultural Knowledge&Information Systems,Economic Growth,Scientific Research&Science Parks