Value and the foundation of Economic Dynamics

This article constructs time-varying labour value measures free of such restrictions and shows that they call for a radical re-evaluation of this century's debate on value. We exhibit a counter-example to the Okishio theorem in which labour-saving innovation leads to a continuously-falling profit rate, and a dynamic approach to the classical problem of transforming values into prices in which the sum of values is equal to the sum of prices while the sum of profits remains equal to the sum of surplus values. Elsewhere we have exhibited a computer simulation model using these values. A dynamic value measure is thus practical, necessary, and the basis for a general reconstruction of economics

Value and the foundation of Economic Dynamics

This article constructs time-varying labour value measures free of such restrictions and shows that they call for a radical re-evaluation of this century's debate on value. We exhibit a counter-example to the Okishio theorem in which labour-saving innovation leads to a continuously-falling profit rate, and a dynamic approach to the classical problem of transforming values into prices in which the sum of values is equal to the sum of prices while the sum of profits remains equal to the sum of surplus values. Elsewhere we have exhibited a computer simulation model using these values. A dynamic value measure is thus practical, necessary, and the basis for a general reconstruction of economics.Profit Rate; Okishio Theorem; Marxist economics; Value Theory; TSSI

Origins and Early Development of the Nonlinear Endogenous Mathematical Theory of the Business Cycle: Part I - The Setting

We study the emergence of the nonlinear, endogenous, theory of the business cycle, in mathematical modes, within the framework of a macroeconomic theory, which was itself going through its own formal 'birth pangs' at the same time, in the same years. The first part of the story begins in 1928 and ends, with the publication of Yasui's classic on Kaldor, Hicks and Goodwin, in 1953, and Hudson's classic of 1957. But there were other classics in the 1930s, even within some theories of the business cycles of the time - particularly the Austrian and that which may now be called the 'time-to-build' tradition, which originates in Marx and Aftalion, independently, and reaches its nonlinear formalization origins in Tinbergenís work of 1931, followed by Kalecki's theories of the business cycle, substantially influenced also by Tinbergen's classic for mathematical method. There is also what may, for want of a better name, be called the 'cobweb' tradition, on the one hand, and the tradition of Swedish Sequence Analysis, on the other (especially in the 1937 classic work of Lundberg, summarising the Swedish discussion on business cycle theory). The former having its origins, partly, in Austrian inspired search for an integration of dynamic method with equilibrium economic theory (especially represented by a series of classics by Rosenstein-Rodan, from about 1929); and partly in the well known phenomenon of lagged responses in the supply-demand interactions in agricultural and commodity markets, particularly elegantly formalised by Leontief in 1934. From the point of view of economic theory, they were all part of the emerging consensus on the need to incorporate money and áuctuations in nontrivial ways as intrinsic components of orthodox equilibrium economic theory which was characterised as static theory. The implication was that the search was for a synthesis of dynamic method with traditional static equilibrium economic theory. The origins of macroeconomic theory, generally attributed to the post-depression development of monetary theory, business cycle theory and the theory of policy, could be traced to this particular search for a synthesis and was brilliantly summarised by Kuznets in a series of pioneering contributions in 1929/30. The story we try to tell is of mathematical business cycle theory in its non-linear modes, and how it emerged from one strand of macroeconomic theory, which, as just mentioned, was itself being forged, ab initio, dynamically

(Never) Mind your p's and q's: Von Neumann versus Jordan on the Foundations of Quantum Theory

In two papers entitled "On a new foundation [Neue Begr\"undung] of quantum mechanics," Pascual Jordan (1927b,g) presented his version of what came to be known as the Dirac-Jordan statistical transformation theory. As an alternative that avoids the mathematical difficulties facing the approach of Jordan and Paul A. M. Dirac (1927), John von Neumann (1927a) developed the modern Hilbert space formalism of quantum mechanics. In this paper, we focus on Jordan and von Neumann. Central to the formalisms of both are expressions for conditional probabilities of finding some value for one quantity given the value of another. Beyond that Jordan and von Neumann had very different views about the appropriate formulation of problems in quantum mechanics. For Jordan, unable to let go of the analogy to classical mechanics, the solution of such problems required the identication of sets of canonically conjugate variables, i.e., p's and q's. For von Neumann, not constrained by the analogy to classical mechanics, it required only the identication of a maximal set of commuting operators with simultaneous eigenstates. He had no need for p's and q's. Jordan and von Neumann also stated the characteristic new rules for probabilities in quantum mechanics somewhat differently. Jordan (1927b) was the first to state those rules in full generality. Von Neumann (1927a) rephrased them and, in a subsequent paper (von Neumann, 1927b), sought to derive them from more basic considerations. In this paper we reconstruct the central arguments of these 1927 papers by Jordan and von Neumann and of a paper on Jordan's approach by Hilbert, von Neumann, and Nordheim (1928). We highlight those elements in these papers that bring out the gradual loosening of the ties between the new quantum formalism and classical mechanics.Comment: New version. The main difference with the old version is that the introduction has been rewritten. Sec. 1 (pp. 2-12) in the old version has been replaced by Secs. 1.1-1.4 (pp. 2-31) in the new version. The paper has been accepted for publication in European Physical Journal

Social Contract II: Gauthier and Nash

This is the second of several free-standing papers whose beginnings lie in Rawls' [1958, 1968, 1972] theory of the social contract. The aim of the sequence of papers is to defend a version of Rawls' "egalitarian" conclusion for a world in which agents are assumed to be constrained only by rational self-interest.Center for Research on Economic and Social Theory, Department of Economics, University of Michiganhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/100627/1/ECON104.pd

Thomas Bernhard as Nestbeschmutzer, criticisms of society and self in Wittgenstein’s Neffe, eine Freundschaft and Holzfalien, eine Erregung.

My thesis will aim to explore the later prose work o f Thomas Bernhard, in order to examine the author as a Nestbeschmutzer. The Nestbeschmutzer is an author who writes critically o f his/her own country, and my thesis will aim to investigate exactly how Bernhard fulfils this role. However, this investigation will not just be a straightforward examination of themes, as the Nestbeschmutzer author is bome out of a specific political, social and historical environment and must therefore be placed in this context. The Nestbeschmutzer is a product of the German speaking literary world and is typically concerned with an examination of the legacy of the war and a confrontation of the problems the war poses for the present generation. They aim to challenge and provoke members of society into dealing with the issues of the past and accepting some responsibility for their role, or the roles of their ancestors during the war years. Arising as they did from certain historical circumstances, I will endeavour to briefly explain these circumstances, which prompted their literary assaults on society. I will also give a brief history of the Nestbeschmutzer literary movement itself, and Bernhard’s controversial role in it, concentrating mostly on the reception of his most controversial text Heldenplatz, and the scandal which it prompted. The main body of my thesis will concern the criticisms levelled in the novellas. I have chosen the novels Holzfallen eine Erregung and Wittgenstein’s Neffe, eine Freundschaft, as both were written during the turbulent eighties, further reinforcing the importance of historical and social influence on the author. I have identified three main strands of criticism present in Bernhard’s other novellas, and seek to investigate if they are present in the novellas under study. These are a criticism of state, culture and the handling of the Nazi past. I also wish to explore a very interesting characteristic o f both novellas, namely the presence of the author in the text as a character. Both have also largely escaped critical attention; therefore an analogy o f them could yield interesting results. From the above, I intend to examine how Bernhard made his attacks on society and prove that he truly was a Nestbeschmutzer. I will then investigate the legacy of Thomas Bernhard in brief, and explore his influence on the Austria of today. This will include a study of expert opinions of the work of Bernhard, and end in a conclusion which proves his importance to the world of literature, and indeed to the world at large, beyond a doubt

Domestic and international dimensions of transboundary water politics

A considerable amount of research in the field of International Relations (IR) has acknowledged the interplay between domestic politics and foreign policy. Few studies, however, have investigated this phenomenon in the narrower field of transboundary water politics. There is also a general lack of research exploring how the formation of a national identity can overlap with the construction of a large hydraulic infrastructure, and how this can have repercussions at the international level. This paper draws on Robert Putnam’s (1988) two-level game theory to illustrate how the interrelation between the domestic and the international dimensions matters in transboundary water politics. Perspectives from IR, political geography, and water politics serve to present a conceptual framework which is then linked to studies on nationalism. This helps to highlight the analytical relevance of such a perspective to understand the issue of large dams. The paper takes the cases of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in Ethiopia and the Rogun Dam in Tajikistan as examples

Connectionist Inference Models

The performance of symbolic inference tasks has long been a challenge to connectionists. In this paper, we present an extended survey of this area. Existing connectionist inference systems are reviewed, with particular reference to how they perform variable binding and rule-based reasoning, and whether they involve distributed or localist representations. The benefits and disadvantages of different representations and systems are outlined, and conclusions drawn regarding the capabilities of connectionist inference systems when compared with symbolic inference systems or when used for cognitive modeling

Spartan Daily, April 3, 1987

Volume 88, Issue 47https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/spartandaily/7572/thumbnail.jp