The big lie

People wonder about the cause of poverty when scarcity is the natural state of things. Why? Because we are “designed” (metaphorically) to survive and reproduce our genes as much as possible. Not to discover reality. Not to enjoy. This is why evolution has selected in us the fear of death and the belief in that life is always worth living. We are “programmed” to make our life as long as possible, at any cost. “The Big Lie” was published in The Antinatalism Magazine, vol. 1, September, 2017. Jiwoon Hwang, Ed. Paperback Kindle Editio

On the Modelling of Price Effects in the Diffusion of Optional Contingent Products

In this chapter, we study the pricing strategies of firms in a multi-product diffusion model where we use a new formalization of the price effects. More particularly, we introduce the impact of prices on one of the factors that affect the diffusion of new products: the innovation coefficient. By doing so, we relax one of the hypotheses in the existing literature stating that this rate is constant. In order to assess the impact of this functional form on the pricing policies of firms selling optional contingent products, we use our model to study two scenarios already investigated in the multiplicative form model suggested by Mahajan and Muller (1991) (M&M). We follow a ‘logical experimentation’ perspective by computing and com- paring the results of three models: (i) The M&M model, (ii) a modified version of M&M where the planning horizon is infinite, and (iii) our model, where the new formalization of the innovation effect is introduced. This perspective allows us to attribute the differences in results to either the length of the planning horizon, or to our model’s formalization. Besides its contribution to the literature on pricing and diffusion, this paper highlights the sensitiv- ity of results to the hypothesis used in product diffusion modelling and could explain the mixed results obtained in the empirical validations of diffusion models (Mesak, 1996).MINECO under projects ECO2014-52343-P and ECO2017-82227-P (AEI) and by Junta de Castilla y León VA024P17 and VA105G18 co-financed by FEDER funds (EU)

Offensive and Defensive Marketing in Spatial Competition

While it is well-established that travel costs impact on customer preference toward local service providers, research about how this situation affects competitive marketing strategies remains sparse. This paper investigates, in a local market with two competing service providers, whether service providers should undertake defensive marketing, targeted at the nearest customers who typically prefer their offering for convenience and/or offensive marketing, directed to relatively remote customers who favor the rival as the closest alternative. We find that the service providers can exclusively undertake either defensive marketing or offensive marketing or combine the two in a full differentiated strategy at the equilibrium. We compare the outcomes of these three strategic options to identify the conditions under which they are worth implementing. Main findings suggest that service providers are better off undertaking offensive marketing alone when their rival’s retaliatory offensive capacity is weak and customers incur small travel costs. Otherwise, service providers may exclusively undertake defensive marketing or combine it with offensive marketing when travel costs become significant. Also, service providers should not invest in any marketing activity when they have no market power, like in the case of two adjacent outlets in a mall. Finally, the implications of these findings are discussed.MEC under projects ECO2014-52343-P and ECO2017-82227-P (AEI) and by Junta de Castilla y León under projects VA024P17 and VA105G18, co-financed by FEDER fund

Implicaciones procesales de las anomalías del negocio jurídico que en derecho sustantivo operan de pleno derecho : de la inexistencia, de la ineficacia y la inoponibilidad consagradas en el código de comercio

El derecho sustancial dispone diversos factores por los que un negocio jurídico puede devenir ineficaz, inexistente, inoponible, nulo o anulable. De estas anomalías, algunas operan de pleno derecho por disposición legal expresa en el Código de Comercio pero dicha disposición, de carácter sustantivo por supuesto, no puede regular la forma como funciona y está legislado en Colombia el Derecho Procesal, por lo que lo único que hace es aclarar, para que no quede duda alguna, que el juez no es el que hace surgir dichas anomalías, simplemente está facultado para reconocer si las mismas operaron o no, pues éstas operan con el simple cumplimiento de los requisitos legales establecidos para las mismas.107 p.Contenido parcial: Anomalías del negocio jurídico -- Conceptualización del derecho procesal -- Alcance del concepto anomalías que operan de pleno derecho

Non-linear incentive equilibrium strategies for a transboundary pollution differential game

Producción CientíficaIn this paper we apply non-linear incentive strategies to sustain over time an agreement. We illustrate the use of these strategies in a linear-quadratic transboundary pollution differential game. The incentive strategies are constructed in such a way that in the long run the pollution stock (the state variable) is close to the steady state of the pollution stock under the cooperative mode of play. The non-linear incentive functions depend on the emission rates (control variables) of both players and on the current value of the pollution stock. The credibility of the incentive equilibrium strategies is analyzed and the performance of open-loop and feedback incentive strategies is compared in their role of helping to sustain an agreement over time. We present numerical experiments to illustrate the results.This research is partially supported by MINECO under projects MTM2016-78995-P (AEI) and ECO2014-52343-P and ECO2017-82227-P (AEI) and by Junta de Castilla y León VA024P17 and VA105G18 co-financed by FEDER funds (EU

Isotope networks : training, sales and publications, 1946-1965

The aim of this paper is to provide an assessment of the spread of isotope-related techniques in Western Europe and the USA in the two first decades after World War II, by focusing on structural features. In particular, I analyse three major components of the European «isotope industry»: radioisotope distribution networks, the establishment of training sites and publications in which isotopes played some role as the object of study or research tools. This study leads to an assessment of the importance of industrial applications of isotopes in this period, in relation to biomedical ones, and provides with a transnational comparison in terms of productivity in material resources, workforce and knowledge

Reseñas

Obra ressenyada: Aitor ANDUAGA EGAÑA, Geofísica, Economía y Sociedad en la España Contemporánea. Madrid : Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 2009