This paper investigates the relative labor productivity level for total manufacturing in Germany, Sweden and the US for the period 1980-2001. The paper also presents estimates of labor productivity levels for 18 different manufacturing industries for the period 1993-2000. The results show that...

This paper examines the small world hypothesis. The first part of the paper presents empirical evidence on the evolution of a particular world: the world of journal publishing economists during the period 1970-2000. We find that in the 1970's the world of economics was a collection of islands,...

The future is now. According to some, we currently face the inevitability of a post-human world, a world where humans enhanced by science far exceed the capabilities of humans unaided by science. Genetic enhancement presents the most familiar way this future may occur. Science fiction films such...

The discipline of economics has traditionally refused to study the behavior and achievements of specific individuals. Yet creativity – a primary source of the technological change that drives economic growth – is largely the domain of extraordinary individuals or small groups. For the first...

The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) is making moves to get into the world of Internet governance. Many haven't heard of the ITU, and this essay provides some historical background by first looking at the events that took place 100 years ago at the time of the sinking of the Titanic....

Recent conceptualizations of trends in the structure of U.S. industry have focused on the relative importance of markets, hierarchies, and hybrid intermediate forms. This paper seeks to advance the discussion by distinguishing three ideal-typical forms of organization and their corresponding key...

Christensen (1997) provided evidence for disruptions in the hard disk drive industry by examining the technological changes of disk drives. By building up the disruption model, Christensen argues that the failures of the established firms in the industry to respond to simple technological...

The Declaratory Judgment Act of 1934 was quickly tagged by the U.S. Supreme Court as a simple procedural measure. Whether simple or procedural, the addition of the declaratory judgment option has dramatically increased the rights of would-be defendants. This is of special interest in patent law,...