A Primer on the Tools and Concepts of Computable Economics

Computability theory came into being as a result of Hilbert's attempts to meet Brouwer's challenges, from an intuitionistc and constructive standpoint, to formalism as a foundation for mathematical practice. Viewed this way, constructive mathematics should be one vision of computability theory. However, there are fundamental differences between computability theory and constructive mathematics: the Church-Turing thesis is a disciplining criterion in the former and not in the latter; and classical logic - particularly, the law of the excluded middle - is not accepted in the latter but freely invoked in the former, especially in proving universal negative propositions. In Computable Economic an eclectic approach is adopted where the main criterion is numerical content for economic entities. In this sense both the computable and the constructive traditions are freely and indiscriminately invoked and utilised in the formalization of economic entities. Some of the mathematical methods and concepts of computable economics are surveyed in a pedagogical mode. The context is that of a digital economy embedded in an information society

Unemployment, Growth, and Complementarities between Innovation and Knowledge Diffusion

This paper analyzes the relationship between endogenous growth and unemployment. It provides knowledge diffusion as the link between innovation-based growth through creative destruction and the labor market outcome. Three dimensions of knowledge are considered: human capital (general skills), know-how gained through learning-byusing, and codified knowledge accumulated by research activities. Output growth is driven by innovations. However, the implementation of technological progress into a vintage-type production process requires the know-how that is only acquirable by the diffusion of knowledge through learning-by-using. A mutual feedback between research and the employment level thus arises, based on the complementary relationship between the input of labor in R&D and manufacturing. Inadequate knowledge diffusion causes limited growth and mismatch unemployment.mismatch unemployment, innovation-based growth, knowledge diffusion

Why Europe is Not Carbon Competitive. Bruegel policy brief 2007/05, November 2007

Summary. Europe specialises more than its main global competitors in industries with relatively high carbon emissions, such as minerals and chemicals, rather than in high-tech industries and services . This would have a real effect on Europe’s competitiveness in a world regulated by carbon pricing schemes such as the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme – even if other blocs apply them as the EU does. Furthermore, in the absence of fair and undistorting carbon pricing schemes worldwide, there is a real risk that business will resort to regulatory arbitrage which will entail a shift in where emissions take place – but no reduction in global emissions. In any case, the issue of which economies are ‘carbon competitive’ will gradually become a much bigger part of the global trade conversation

Consumption Taxes and Redistribution

It is relatively well known that the introduction of consumption taxation as an alternative in the tax code, and as the main source of government revenues, leads to a more efficient tax system. However the conventional wisdom is that the change from the actual tax code, based on taxation of capital and labor income to this consumption based system, has undesirable distributional consequences. In this work a very simple method is developed to argue that the converse is the most reasonable outcome from that fundamental tax reform. The main difference in relation to the literature comes from the assumed source of household heterogeneity. Additionally it is shown that the inclusion of a tax on consumption allows for redistributive policies with no costs in terms of efficiency.

The Innovation Public Policies and the Firms’ adoption of Innovative Processes - A New Methodological Approach for Evaluation

Today, innovation is present in the discourse of politicians and business leaders. They see innovation as a positive value and as a solution to solve social problems and company’s competitiveness, so organizations are encouraged to adopt innovative practices through incentives and innovation policies. Several economic and sociological studies have shown that Portuguese companies adopt more easily technological innovations (with short-term effects) then organizational and social innovations. In this sense, we will consider innovation public policies effects at Portuguese companies and how they take available opportunities for innovation. The aim is to know if the concept of innovation spread by these policies is multidimensional (eg social, economic and technological) or restricted. We propose to study the factors (internal and external) that affect innovation processes in enterprises through case studies methodology. This research strategy will show us the processes of innovation from within the organizations and analyze the socio-economic context in which organizations operate through a new methodological approach for evaluation.Innovation, Innovation Systems, Public Policies, Enterprises, Territory.

Creating, Capturing and Protecting Value A Property Rights-based View of CompetitiveStrategy

This paper develops a property rights-based view of strategy (the “PRV”). A property right (or economic right) is an individual’s net valuation, in expected terms, of the ability to directly consume the services of an asset (including, e.g., a monopoly position) or consume it indirectly through exchange. Resources expended on exchanging, protecting and capturing such rights are transaction costs; thus, we directly link property rights, transaction costs, and economic value. We assume that all relevant exchange is costly and that all agents maximize their property rights. This implies that economizing with transaction costs may be a distinct source of value, and potentially of sustained competitive advantage. Moreover, strategizing may be understood as revolving around influencing impediments (i.e., transaction costs) to value creation. Expectations and contracting also become crucial parts of processes of creating, protecting and capturing value. We use these insights to derive a number of refutable propositions, and argue that key insights from both industrial organization economics and the resource-based view are consistent with the PRV.Property rights, transaction costs, industrial organization

Public service mutuals: partnerships, collaboration and service-user outcomes

The provision of public services in England has undergone numerous reforms and a process of marketisation over the last few decades. This marketisation of public services has been led by a desire to create more cost-efficient services that are also responsive to service-user’s needs and is being driven by government through funding and legislation. In doing so, the government have encouraged the transfer of Local Authority staff into new provider and employee-owned mutual organisations (also known as ‘spin-outs’). This paper builds upon prior research that developed a theoretical overview of organisational change in the spin-out process, which was grounded in both policy-formulation and partnership theory. The research reported in this paper refines and develops this model, focusing in particular on the ‘outcome’ phase of the spin-out process. It draws on semi-structured interviews with senior managers at four spin-out organisations in order to develop a deeper theoretical understanding of what the outcomes are for spin-out staff and their service-users. In addition, it draws on survey data gathered from 66 spin-outs that allows the research to refine the partnership model by highlighting the differing importance of partners at different periods of the spin-out process. The research is ongoing but early analysis of the data reveals that service management and local authority senior managers and elected officials are the main arbiters of power at the start of the spin-out process, but that this importance reduces over time as the spin-out becomes more independent and service staff and users develop more strategic input. The data also suggests that outcomes for service beneficiaries improve following the spin-out process. The results are discussed in relation to our model of ‘organisational change in the spin-out process’ and the prior literature on partnerships, collaborations and policy-formulation