Define the riskiness of a gamble as the reciprocal of the absolute risk aversion (ARA) of an individual with constant ARA who is indifferent between taking and not taking that gamble. We characterize this index by axioms, chief among them a “duality” axiom which, roughly speaking, asserts...

Presented is an evolutionary model of consumer non-durable markets, which is an extension of a previously published paper on consumer durables. The model suggests that the repurchase process is governed by preferential growth. Applying statistical methods it can be shown that in a competitive...

Price elasticity of demand measures how much, in terms of percentage change, the quantity demanded responds to a change in price. In this pedagogical note, first we intuitively introduce the very first notion of price elasticity, which is a directional measure because it describes the impact of...

“… if I create high quality research, readers and other interested researchers will beat a path to my door”. WRONG. Such an approach worked well in the 19th century and seemingly for much of the 20th century. However, the way of the 21st century is for smart “consumers” of new...

Behaviourism is the view that preferences, beliefs, and other mental states in social-scientific theories are auxiliary constructs re-describing people's behavioural dispositions. Mentalism is the view that they capture real phenomena, no less existent than the unobservable entities and...

We develop an analytical core for sociology. We follow standard dynamical systems theory by first specifying the conditions for social equilibrium, and then study the dynamical principles that govern disequilibrium behavior. Our general social equilibrium model is an expansion of the general...

The perception about gold in India has come a long way from the days when its main function was to merely adorn and act as a status symbol. The emotional investment in the metal was so huge that parting with it seemed unthinkable. Consequently, it seldom yielded worthwhile returns. Now, however,...

Faff’s (2015; 2021) “Pitching Research” framework (PRF) is built on a research planning tool that challenges (novice) researchers to productively communicate their prospective research ideas to academic field experts. The framework gives you a total communication budget of 1,000 words ± 20%,...

Faff’s (2015; 2021) “Pitching Research” framework (PRF) is built on a research planning tool that challenges (novice) researchers to productively communicate their prospective research ideas to academic field experts. The framework gives you a total communication budget of 1,000 words ± 20%,...

In this paper we explore the underlying consumer heterogeneity in competitive markets for subscription-based IT services that exhibit network effects. Insights into consumer heterogeneity with respect to a given service are paramount in forecasting future subscriptions, understanding the impact...