An evolutionary model for the dynamics of vertical integration and network-based production

The concept of modularity has gained recently a growing attention in the management literature as a key to explain the contemporary trends of industrial dynamics. A stronger exploitation of external «networkbased» economies with respect to internal «bureaucracy-based» economies is one of the major consequences of the diffusion of flexible production systems and of modular architectures for products. To explain this connection, in this paper a model is presented which tries to explain the co-evolution of technology and organization as the outcome of a complex evolutionary process. In particular, through a set of exploratory agent-based simulations we try to show the existence of qualitatively different dynamic processes in coincidence of different phases and specific conditions of product and technology development, as well as the existence of a relationship between this dynamics and other competitive factors, determining a wide set of structurally different dynamical patterns in coincidence of different combinations of factors.modularity, modular networks

Efficiency of financial micro intermediation in the WAEMU countries: A stochastic frontier production analysis.

This paper investigates the efficacy and technical efficiency of financial micro intermediation in the productive process of the WAEMU economies over the period 2002-2007 using a stochastic frontier production model with technical inefficiency effects. Four specific variables of the financial dualism deepening and the financial micro intermediation are considered: the ratio of microcredit to GDP, the microcredit growth rate, the share of microcredit in the economy financing due to the private sector and the agents preference for decentralized deposits. Our findings show that the four variables have positive effect on technical efficiency with 0.6 of semi-elasticity estimated on average whereas bank loans have on average only 0.3 on average. We conclude that the financial micro intermediation development which results from the financial dualism deepening makes it possible to almost double increase the productive efficiency in WAEMU area.Financial micro intermediation, financial dualism, stochastic frontier, technical efficiency, WAEMU

Discovering Functional Communities in Dynamical Networks

Many networks are important because they are substrates for dynamical systems, and their pattern of functional connectivity can itself be dynamic -- they can functionally reorganize, even if their underlying anatomical structure remains fixed. However, the recent rapid progress in discovering the community structure of networks has overwhelmingly focused on that constant anatomical connectivity. In this paper, we lay out the problem of discovering_functional communities_, and describe an approach to doing so. This method combines recent work on measuring information sharing across stochastic networks with an existing and successful community-discovery algorithm for weighted networks. We illustrate it with an application to a large biophysical model of the transition from beta to gamma rhythms in the hippocampus.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures, Springer "Lecture Notes in Computer Science" style. Forthcoming in the proceedings of the workshop "Statistical Network Analysis: Models, Issues and New Directions", at ICML 2006. Version 2: small clarifications, typo corrections, added referenc

STRUCTURAL DYNAMIC OF THE PUBLIC SECTOR AND MULTILEVEL GOVERNANCE: BETWEEN HIERARCHIES, MARKET AND NETWORK FORMS

In the current economic, social and political context, the problem of the competitiveness reform in public sector lies in the assumption of strategic approaches focused on meeting the public interest, with the lowest cost for society. The philosophy management which governs public sector reform tends to create new paradigms and contributes to shaping a new way of thinking and behavior. Central idea of this paper is that the two dominant models of administration: bureaucracy and governance, provides a range of institutional opportunities but also raises a number of barriers to strategic approaches to emerging public sector. Bureaucracy is for example, criticized because the lack of prioritization skills and lack of goals and also because lacks to stimulate innovation in the public sector. Bureaucracy leads to uniformity, flattening of public services. Governance model contains a number of similarities with the strategic approach in the public sector, when we talk about networks, interdependence and self-organizing nature of public administration. The issue that we are trying reveal to your attention is that the current institutional conditions are more complex than two models mentioned are able to cover. These new demands require the types of organizational structures based on flexible, decentralized structure to replace the traditional centralized, which now is totally inapplicable. Institutional framework may, for example, to provide an opportunity for the New Public Management, but also create a barrier to governance.bureaucracy, governance, public policy, networks, multilevel governance.

Austrian and Post-Marshallian EconomicsThe Bridging Work of George Richardson

Austrian and post-Marshallian economics share a number of concerns, such as a basic subjecticist stance and an emphasis on the importance of inquiry into the disequilibrium market process. This paper details similarities and differences between these two bodies of thought, and argue that a closer liaison is possible. George Richardson's work is presented as a possible bridge, since his work incorporates both Austrian and post-Marshallian elements. The paper ends by sketching a combined Austrian and post-Marshallian approach to the firm.Austrian economics, post-Marshallian economics, George Richardson, the theory of the firm

A NEW APPROACH OF THE BUDGET DEFICIT: AN EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS

Economic policies and, particularly, fiscal policies are not designed and implemented in an “empty space”: the structural characteristics of the economic systems, the institutional architecture of societies, the cultural paradigm and the power relations between different social groups, define the borders of these policies. This paper tries to deal with these borders, to describe their nature and the implications of their existence to the fiscal policies’ quality and impact at a theoretical level as well as at an empirical one. The main results of the proposed analysis support the ideas that the mentioned variables matters both for the social mandate entrusted by the society to the state and thus to role and functions of the state and for the economic growth as a support of the resources collected at distributed by the public authorities.budget deficit, structural characteristics, economic freedom, institutions, cultural paradigm, political freedom