Tautologies in Economics and the Natural Sciences

Propositions true by interlocking definitions or by convention occur fairly often. Recognizing their nature and usefulness helps forestall misunderstanding and quibbles. Examples include Walras's Law, the equation of exchange, microeconomic tautologies, the money-multiplier formula, the government budget constraint, the principle of comparative advantage, and certain strands of balance-of -payments analysis. Comparisons are drawn with examples from mathematics, classical mechanics, electricity, and other fields.

The Monetary Transmission Mechanism

Several articles have recently questioned the "money view" of the monetary transmission mechanism and have offered an alternative "credit view". We argue that the money view has been incompletely presented in much of the literature and in almost all textbooks on Macroeconomics and Money and Banking. A distinction between the two views is unnecessary if one presents the money view correctly. A change in the money supply can affect income both directly and indirectly through what we call the "cash balance effect", which has other aspects than the wealth aspect that Patinkin emphasizes in discussing his "real-balance effect."Credit; Macroeconomics; Monetary; Money Supply; Money; Supply

Privatizing Regulation: Whistleblowing and Bounty Hunting in the Financial Services Industries

Addresses use of whistleblowers and suggests private enforcement methodologies to supplement or supplant public enforcement activities in financial services under new law

Money: A Market Microstructure Approach

The current discussion about the future of the financial system draws heavily on a set of theories known as the ‘New Monetary Economics’. The New Monetary Economics predicts that deregulation and financial innovation will lead to a moneyless world. This paper uses a market microstructure approach to show that a common medium of exchange that serves as unit of account will remain a necessary instrument to reduce transaction costs. This finding is supported by empirical evidence from foreign exchange markets

Economic Analysis of Knowledge: The History of Thought and the Central Themes

Following the development of knowledge economies, there has been a rapid expansion of economic analysis of knowledge, both in the context of technological knowledge in particular and the decision theory in general. This paper surveys this literature by identifying the main themes and contributions and outlines the future prospects of the discipline. The wide scope of knowledge related questions in terms of applicability and alternative approaches has led to the fragmentation of research. Nevertheless, one can identify a continuing tradition which analyses various aspects of the generation, dissemination and use of knowledge in the economy