This paper models how imperfect memory affects the optimal continuity of policies. We examine the choices of a player (individual or firm) who observes previous actions but cannot remember the rationale for these actions. In a stable environment, the player optimally responds to memory loss with...

Socio-economic decisions are commonly explained by rational cost vs. benefit considerations, whereas person variables have not usually been considered. The present study aims at investigating the degree to which dispositional power motivation and affective states predict socio-economic...

Research in sociology and ethics suggests that individuals adhere to social norms of behavior established by their peers. Within an agency framework, we model endogenous social norms by assuming each agent's cost of implementing an action depends on the social norm for that action, defined to be...

This paper compares the characteristics of Mamp;A in 1991-2005 across five countries: Japan, France, Germany, the UK and USA. We ask what factors explain the growth of Mamp;A markets across these countries, and what similarities and differences exist in the ways the Mamp;A market operates. We...

An interlock between two firms occurs if the firms share one or more directors in their boards of directors. We explore the effect of interlocks on firm performance for 101 large Dutch firms using a large and new panel database. We use five different performance measures, and for each...

This paper investigates micro-macro links in stock markets. Empirical investigations on individual investors' decision-making and interactions are used to formalize agent rules for an artificial stock market. Simulation of the social interactions of multiple agents in this market generates macro...

This paper explores a new perspective in understanding social trust and its formation in a game theoretic setting. Evidence from experiments and real life suggests individuals differ in predisposition to cooperate, which is essentially a component of human capital that is costly to cultivate but...

We present a model incorporating both social and economic components, and analyze their interaction. The notion of a social asset, an attribute that has value only because of the social institutions governing society, is introduced. In the basic model, agents match on the basis of income and...

We study whether the individual decision to become an entrepreneur, entrepreneurial profits and investment are affected by the decisions of other individuals belonging to the same social group. To overcome identification problems, we include local labor market fixed effects, social group fixed...