On simple concrete giffen utility functions : old and new results

The authors present a theoretical review of the literature on simple concrete continuous utility functions for Giffen and inferior goods within the context of the utility maximisation problem under a budget restriction and provide new functional forms. The article is organised around the specific properties such utility functions have. These properties include increasingness, quasi-concavity, and the applicability of Gossen's Second Law

The Impact of Tourism on Curacao's Economy: A Scenario Approach

Curaçao is an autonomous countrywithin the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The governmentwants to support tourism development. However,various development strategies are possible. This articlepresents four scenarios of marketing and investmentstrategies that will affect the number of tourists fromThe Netherlands and North America (USA and Canada)in different ways. A multiplier model was used to calculatethe economic impacts of the four scenarios. Bydoing so, this article shows how the government’s decisionto support particular marketing and investmentstrategies may have certain outcomes for the number ofjobs in Curaçao’s tourism industry

Competitiveness of Agrarian Areas in the Stavropol Region

Regional development is determined by possessing specific competitive advantages and their constant improvement. The problem how to increase competitiveness of the areas remains one of the most important for the agrarian sector. Russian economic policy aims at the stable development of the agro industrial complex (and agriculture as its central part). Therefore it is necessary to analyze competitiveness not only on the country level, but also on the regional and sub-regional scale. In this paper we have analyzed the major factors influencing the competitiveness of agricultural areas in the Stavropol regio

Integrerend en ontwerpend onderzoek nodig : kennis biodiversiteit beter benutten

Soortenrijkdom wordt sterk be"invloed door de oppervlakte en ruimtelijke verdeling van ecosystemen. Dit wetenschappelijke feit is steeds vaker als notie aanwezig in de ruimtelijke planvorming. De achterliggende kennis wordt echter weinig gebruikt, omdat deze niet aansluit bij de besluitvormingsprocessen over aanpassing van het landschap, en omdat de maatschappelijke waarde van biodiversiteit niet kan worden afgewogen tegen die van andere landschapsfuncties

Depletable resources and the economy

The subject of this thesis is the depletion of scarce resources. The main question to be answered is how to avoid future resource crises. After dealing with the complex relation between nature and economics, three important concepts in relation with resource depletion are discussed: steady state, time preference and efficiency.For the steady state, three variants are distinguished; the stationary state, the physical steady state and the state of steady growth. It is concluded that the so-called sustainable growth is a combination of the physical steady state and the state of steady growth. Next time preference is discussed. This empirical phenomenon is important in determining the optimum depletion speed of non-renewable and renewable resources. The market interest rate is probably too high to serve as a rate of time preference. The efficient depletion speed of a non-renewable resource is determined by the Hotelling rule, while the optimum depletion speed of a renewable resource is determined by an adapted Hotelling rule which takes into account the renewal rate of the renewable resource. Indeed, both rules can be deduced from the Faustmann rule.The analysis is continued with the integration of the optimum depletion rules in traditional growth theory. It appears that sustainable growth is just one of several growth paths, and not a necessary one. Short term cyclical developments are discussed with the help of the multiplier-accelerator model, the Cobweb model and a neoclassical cycle model with a so-called KLEM production function.It appears that market forms influence the depletion speed of depletable resources. For instance, a monopoly depletes a resource less quickly than firms under perfect competition. Another matter which is dealt with extensively is the influence of the property rights on the depletion pattern. Ways in which government can influence the resource use of firms are discussed extensively. The main solutions of possible future resource crises are to be found in special types of technological development, recycling, substitution between resources, substitution between resources and capital or labour and economies of scale. Finally the question is answered whether scarce resources should be considered relatively or absolutely scarce

Applied Macroeconomics

This book contains a course in applied macroeconomics. Macroeconomic theory is applied to real world cases. Students are expected to compute model results with the help of a spreadsheet program. To that end the book also contains descriptions of the spreadsheet applications used, such as linear regression and matrix manipulations. Especially second year students of economics with knowledge of basic theory will benefit from this approach