Towards a more appropriate method for determining the optimal scale of production units

In this paper the overall diseconomies experienced beyond certain production unit scale thresholds are investigated. These are due to several costs, including those relating to the consumption of non- renewable resources, which firms have generally not internalised, to the extent that they can operate far beyond the socially optimal scale. Economic instruments such as environmental taxes may induce a shift towards marginally more sustainable production levels for a plant of a given size, but they are not designed to affect the plant size itself. This paper suggests a method for determining a socially optimal scale, by focussing on the factors which determine optimality. The results of applying this method show that establishing the scale of production units at a social optimum rather than a private one implies a significant decrease in scale for most economic activities. Downscaling has significant economic welfare and environmental advantages. Incentives linked to the factors which determine the social optimum are put forward as measures for inducing a shift towards an optimal size for production units.optimal scale, sustainable production, market areas

When win-argument pedagogy is a loss for the composition classroom

Despite the effort educators put into developing in students the critical writing and thinking skills needed to compose effective arguments, undergraduate college students are often accused of churning out essays lacking in creative and critical thought, arguments too obviously formulated and with sides too sharply drawn. Theories abound as to why these deficiencies are rampant. Some blame students’ immature cognitive and emotional development for these lacks. Others put the blame of lackadaisical output on the assigning of shopworn writing subjects, assigned topics such as on American laws and attitudes about capital punishment and abortion. Although these factors might contribute to faulty written output in some cases, the prevailing hindrance is our very pedagogy, a system in which students are rewarded for composing the very type of argument we wish to avoid — the eristic, in which the goal is not truth seeking, but successfully disputing another’s argument. Certainly the eristic argument is the intended solution in cases when a clear‑cut outcome is needed, such as in legal battles and political campaigns when there can only be one winner. However, teaching mainly or exclusively the eristic, as is done in most composition classrooms today, halts the advancement of these higher‑order inquiry skills we try developing in our students

Rational reasoning or adaptive behavior? Evidence from two-person beauty contest games

Many experiments have shown that human subjects do not necessarily behave in line with game theoretic assumptions and solution concepts. The reasons for this non-conformity are multiple. In this paper we study the argument whether a deviation from game theory is because subjects are rational, but doubt that others are rational as well, compared to the argument that subjects, in general, are boundedly rational themselves. To distinguish these two hypotheses, we study behavior in repeated 2-person and many-person Beauty- Contest-Games which are strategically different from one another. We analyze four different treatments and observe that convergence toward equilibrium is driven by learning through the information about the other player’s choice and adaptation rather than self-initiated rational reasoning.Beauty contest, Guessing game, Bounded rationality, Weak dominance, Learning

Relative payoffs and happiness: An experimental study

Some current utility models presume that people are concerned with their relative standing in a reference group. If this is true, do certain types care more about this than others? Using simple binary decisions and self-reported happiness, we investigate both the prevalence of ``difference aversion'' and whether happiness levels influence the taste for social comparisons. Our decision tasks distinguish between a person’s desire to achieving the social optimum, equality or advantageous relative standing. Most people appear to disregard relative payoffs, instead typically making choices resulting in higher social payoffs. While we do not find a strong general correlation between happiness and concern for relative payoffs, we do observe that a willingness to lower another person’s payoff below one’s own (competitive preferences) seems correlated with unhappiness.Happiness, relative payoffs, social preferences, subjective well-being, Leex

Regional productivity and efficiency in the U.S.: effects of business cycles and public capital

Business cycles ; Regional economics

The response of local governments to Reagan-Bush fiscal federalism

Fiscal policy ; Local government

Finding Common Ground: Efficiency Indices

The last two decades have witnessed a revival in interest in the measurement of productive efficiency pioneered by (1957) and (1951). 1978 was a watershed year in this revival with the christening of DEA by (1978) and the critique of Farrell technical efficiency in terms of axiomatic production and index number theory in Fare and (1978). These papers have inspired many others to apply these methods and to add to the debate on how best to define technical efficiency.Efficiency Measurement, Russell Efficiency, Farrell Efficiency

Go West My Class

Grade Level(s): 9-12Introduce students to GIS and its possible use in our daily lives and also see how geography affects our choices in where we choose to liveMinooka, IL; Minooka Community High Schoo

Die korrelasie tussen die gemiddelde daaglikse toename van kalwers en die herbesetting van hulle moers as hulpmiddel by die ondersoek na vrugbaarheidsprobleme in vleisbeeskuddes

No Abstrac