This paper presents a dynamic programming (DP) model of an electric utility's optimal policy for operating a nuclear power plant (NPP). The utility chooses the level of capacity utilization of the NPP as a function of signals about the NPP's current operating state. In each period the utility...

Economic theories of rational addiction aim to describe consumer behavior in the presence of habit-forming goods. We provide a biological foundation for this body of work by formally specifying conditions under which it is optimal to form a habit. We demonstrate the empirical validity of our...

In 1999, the Commonwealth Government referred legislation and associated regulations relating to the architectural profession to the Productivity Commission for inquiry and report within nine months. The reference was sent on behalf of the governments of the Northern Territory, the Australian...

About 80\% of all societies recorded by anthropologists are polygynous (men have many wives). Even our own society is less monogamous than claimed. This paper attempts to explain such mysteries as why bride prices and dowries are not ``opposites'', why polygamous societies are usually...

In this paper we analyze the correlation between measures of success (number of recordings, artistic income) over a sample of performing musicians. We obtain that women tend to record more than men but earn less artistic income; measures of success are correlated positively with broad measures of...

Alchian and Allen’s “third law of demand” states that as a fixed cost increases by the same amount for low- and high-quality goods, the ratio of the prices of high- to low-quality goods will fall and the quantity demanded of high quality goods relative to low quality goods will increase....

Ïðîöåññ ëèáåðàëèçàöèè ÿâëÿåòñÿ ïðèîðèòåòíûì íàïðàâëåíèåì äëÿ ýêîíîìèêè íàøåé ñòðàíû. Ïîñòåïåííî, ðåãóëèðóþùèå ôóíêöèè ýêîíîìèêè ïåðåäàþòñÿ ñóáúåêòàì...

An exposition of economic dynamics based on Lagrange multipliers without the use of utility or game theory.

In this note we derive expressions for the Morishima elasticity of substitution for a multiple input and outputs profit function. These expressions may have important applications to empirical studies.

The traditional approach for assessing farm sustainability (based on indicators of “productivity”, “profitability”, and “financial dependency”) fails to explain why there exist highly sustainable farms with different levels of “efficiency” such as low productive subsistent and...