The Emergence of Oligopoly

Originally published in 1969. In describing the emergence of oligopoly, Professor Eichner has written a history of the American sugar refining industry, one based in part on records of the United States Department of Justice. Sugar refining was one of the first major industries to be consolidated, and its expertise was in many ways typical of the development of other industries. Eichner's focus is on the changing pattern of industrial organization. This study is based on a unique four-stage model of the process by which the industrial structure of the American economy has evolved. The first part of the book traces the early history of the sugar refining industry and argues that the classical model of a competitive industry is inherently unstable once large fixed investments are required. The more closely sugar refining approximated this model, the more unstable the model became in practice. This instability led, in 1887, to the formation of the sugar trust. The author contends that the trust was formed not to exploit economies of scale but with the intent of achieving control over prices. In the second part of the book, Eichner describes the political and legal reaction that transformed monopoly into oligopoly. This sequence of events is best understood in terms of a learning curve in which the response of businessmen over time was related to the changing institutional environment in which they were forced to operate

La théorie post-keynésienne et la recherche empirique

The paper argues that post-Keynesian theory has reached a third stage in its development, that of empirically validating its arguments. The failure of the alternative neoclassical paradigm to meet any of the necessary empirical tests — the correspondence, comprehensiveness, parsimony and praxis tests in particular — is first pointed out. The methodological pitfalls which post-Keynesian theory must guard against if it is to avoid the same result are then indicated. From this line of argument emerges the imminent research agenda if post-Keynesian theory is eventually to place economics on a scientific basis by developing a body of theory which can be both empirically validated and conducive to further empirical research

La théorie post-keynésienne et la recherche empirique

The paper argues that post-Keynesian theory has reached a third stage in its development, that of empirically validating its arguments. The failure of the alternative neoclassical paradigm to meet any of the necessary empirical tests — the correspondence, comprehensiveness, parsimony and praxis tests in particular — is first pointed out. The methodological pitfalls which post-Keynesian theory must guard against if it is to avoid the same result are then indicated. From this line of argument emerges the imminent research agenda if post-Keynesian theory is eventually to place economics on a scientific basis by developing a body of theory which can be both empirically validated and conducive to further empirical research.

Brain structure and function: a multidisciplinary pipeline to study hominoid brain evolution

To decipher the evolution of the hominoid brain and its functions, it is essential to conduct comparative studies in primates, including our closest living relatives. However, strong ethical concerns preclude in vivo neuroimaging of great apes. We propose a responsible and multidisciplinary alternative approach that links behavior to brain anatomy in non-human primates from diverse ecological backgrounds. The brains of primates observed in the wild or in captivity are extracted and fixed shortly after natural death, and then studied using advanced MRI neuroimaging and histology to reveal macro- and microstructures. By linking detailed neuroanatomy with observed behavior within and across primate species, our approach provides new perspectives on brain evolution. Combined with endocranial brain imprints extracted from computed tomographic scans of the skulls these data provide a framework for decoding evolutionary changes in hominin fossils. This approach is poised to become a key resource for investigating the evolution and functional differentiation of hominoid brains