Power-law distributions have been observed in various economical and physical systems. Lévy flights have infinite variance which discourage a physical approach. We introduce a class of stochastic processes, the “gradually truncated Lévy flight” in which large steps of a Lévy flight are...

The authors propose a new method for estimating the power-law exponents of firm size variables. Their focus is on how to empirically identify a range in which a firm size variable follows a power-law distribution. On the one hand, as is well known a firm size variable follows a power-law...

This paper proposes a theory for the social evolution of obesity. It considers a society, in which individuals experience utility from consumption of food and non-food, the state of their health, and the evaluation of their appearance by others. The theory explains why, ceteris paribus, poor...

In the video game industry, older adults tend to be avid consumers. Although considerable research has been devoted to the positive cognitive effects of video games, less attention has been paid to the older adult gamer profile. The aim of this paper is to describe a survey conducted from...

This article develops a socio-economic model that analyzes the doping decision of professional athletes. In their decision to use performance enhancing drugs athletes do not only evaluate the costs and benefits (in terms of potential rank improvement). They also take into account peer-group...

We review an empirical literature that studies the role of social interactions in driving economic and financial decision making. We first summarize recent work that documents an important role of social interactions in explaining household decisions in housing and mortgage markets. This...

Climate policy options are usually elaborated scientifically by Integrated Assessment Models that combine the economic system, the energy system and the climate system in one comprehensive framework. Most of them follow a neo-classical economic paradigm and calculate cost-efficient technological...

The literature regarding the effects of environmental hazards on social preferences is mixed and partially contradictory. The lack of a baseline in these studies is a severe methodological constraint, as it is hard to identify heterogeneous treatment effects through experience in the recovery...

This paper is an excursus on multiculturalism from a historical perspective. It ranges from the encounters of different cultures in ancient times, through the Middle Ages, the Reformation and Counter-Reformation period up to the present times. It describes the peculiarity of the solutions...