This paper reconsiders Tullock's analysis of rent seeking and wasteful overdissipation. The purpose of this paper is to point outthat even though his original analysis of overdissipation is technically flawed, the definition of overdissipation can bemodified to explain instances in which...

The paper characterizes first and second order tail behavior ofconvolutions of i.i.d. heavy tailed random variables with supporton the real line. The result is applied to the problem of riskdiversification in portfolio analysis and to the estimation of theparameter in a MA(1) model.

This paper is concerned with linear dynamic factor models. In such models the observed process is decomposed into a structural part called the latent process, and a remainder that is called noise. The observed variables are treated in a symmetric way, so that no distinction between inputs and...

The strategy method is becoming an important tool in experimentalmethodology. This study examines how well this method works in anindividual decision experiment. Subjects are faced with a sequentialsearch problem. After extensive practice solving the problem andformulating strategies, they play...

We study a class of scheduling problems involving the maximumlateness criterion and an element of batching. For all the problemsthat we examine, algorithms appear in the literature which consistof a sorting step to determine an optimal job sequence, followedby a dynamic programming step which...

We apply the stochastic evolutionary approach of equilibrium selection tomacroeconomic models in which a complementarity at the macro level ispresent. These models often exhibit multiple Pareto-ranked Nash equilibria,and the best response-correspondence of an individual increases with ameasure...

A model framework, SIMBIOSES, is presented which describes economic activities and relatedmaterial, substance and energy flows in a multi-region and multi-sector economic system. Theconceptual design of the framework is discussed in relation to current issues on dematerializationand...

This paper takes a fresh look at two issues in the aid effectiveness debate. We begin by providing theoretical foundations for the various claims made with regard to the effectiveness of aid in stimulating long-run productivity. When foreign aid is modelled as an exogenous transfer of income or...

The paper investigates strategic campaigning in a model of redistributive politics in a society with many groups and two parties. Campaigns are informative, and parties can target campaigns to different groups. Voters are uncertain about whether parties favor special groups. The parties will...

This paper examines the welfare implications of non-discriminatory tariff reforms by a subset of countries, which we term a non-preferential trading club. We show that there exist coordinated tariff reforms, accompanied by appropriate income transfers between these countries, that unambiguously...