In this paper the existence of unemployment is partly explained as being the result of coordination failures. This is achieved by considering a standard general equilibrium model and splitting the set of commodities in two groups. The first group contains commodities like gold. The prices of...

In this paper the existence of unemployment is partly explained as being the result of coordination failures. It is shown that as a result of self-fulfilling pessimistic expectations, even at Walrasian prices, a continuum of equilibria results, among which an equilibrium with approximately no...

We use a two-factor, two-sector model to study the effects of economic integration and its reversal in the presence of input-generated external economies in one of the sectors. The equilibrium selection problem that arises is solved by applying a simple trial-and-error learning rule. Economic...

Workers are embedded within a network of social relationships and can communicate through word-of-mouth. They can find a job either directly or through personal contacts. From this micro scenario, we derive an aggregate matching function that has the standard properties but fails to be...

Two myths have harmed many economies throughout the world. One is the theory of absolute advantage of central planning over the market mechanism, and the other is the belief that efficient markets develop spontaneously and quickly enough if appropriate economic legislation is established....

Any legislative framework is likely to generate different institutions or norms of behavior which the legislator occasionally could have never foreseen. I suggested a general pattern, on which inefficient, if stable, norms or institutions called institutional traps would form.

This paper introduces the class of mean defined supermodular games. The characteristic feature of these games is that, given an order on the strategy sets of the players, the payoff to each player depends on his own strategy and the average of the population play. We characterise the set of the...

This paper shows how idiosyncratic shocks, macro-economic complementarities and a reallocation timing effect, can lead to multiple cyclical output equilibria. When reallocating labor from low productivity plants to high productivity plants takes time and effort which cannot be used for normal...

We provide a new theory of the role of banks as catalysts for industrialization. In their influential analysis of 19th century continental European industrialization, Gerschenkron and Schumpeter accorded banks a central role, arguing that they promoted the creation of new industries. We...

The concepts of coordination and cooperation are widely used in economics, and particularly in game theory. They were also at the foundation of development economics at the time of WWII, with Paul Rosenstein-Rodan highlighting the existence of intersectoral spillovers effects, multiple...