Are smarter machines our children's friends? Or can they bring about a transfer from our relatively unskilled children to ourselves that leaves our children and, indeed, all our descendants - worse off? This, indeed, is the dire message of the model presented here in which smart machines...

The stationary structure of the simple overlapping generations economies is used to try to extend to the case with extrinsic uncertainty the characterizations of their stationary equilibria by means of symmetrical multiple equilibria of a related exchange economy in which the representative...

This paper investigates how time and uncertainty interweave. Specifically, it studies the appearance of symmetries and asymmetries - with respect to the direction in which time flows - in the set of equilibria of simple overlapping generations economies which are open-ended in both directions,...

Delay functions, which vary timing of rewards but fix the money dimension, can elicit the form of discount functions with minimal assumptions. We present a general theorem that characterizes the set of discount functions and utility indices compatible with any 'regular' preference. We provide...

This paper shows that the standard optimal growth model can be solved explicitly by using a utility function describing preferences for consumption and savings. Such a maximising criterion including the flow of savings can actually be strongly motivated by two arguments. First, the basic...

We estimate the relationship between international youth and professional tennis rankings. We find no difference between the predictiveness of rankings from age 14 & Under versus age 16 & Under competitions. The most persistent predictor of professional success is beating older top ranked...

In the United States, the level of concern over 401(k) fees is steadily increasing. However, very few employers understand the nature and scope of the retirement plan industry's business model. Not even the Federal Government fully grasps the issue. Understanding how hidden fees came about, and...

Failure or refusal to fully disclose fees, expenses, revenue sharing, and other hidden costs is causing hundreds of thousands of 401(k) and similar plans to operate outside the realm of fiduciary prudence, unknowingly engage in prohibited transactions, and unnecessarily erode the future benefits...

We study the value of public information in competitive economies with incomplete asset markets. We show that generically the welfare effect of a change in the information available prior to trading can be in any direction: there exist changes in information that make all agents better off, and...