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1500 questions
6
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3 answers
Are cryptocurrencies a ponzi scheme or a bubble?
Several users in this forum have addressed bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as ponzi schemes. Bitcoins have several uses which could legitimate its value as a currency, but also have received massive investments in the last months, making it…
JoaoBotelho
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6
votes
1 answer
Was the average person no better off in 1800 than in 100,000 BC?
I was somewhat surprised by the following claims by Gregory Clark in A Farewell to Alms, A Brief Economic History of the World (2007):
the average person in the world of 1800 was no better off than the
average person of 100,000 BC. Indeed in 1800…
user18
6
votes
5 answers
The relation between econometrics and machine learning
In my understanding the utility of econometrics versus machine learning is generally argued to be the research of causality.
If I'm not wrong, when we put aside experimental economics, the golden standard to prove causality is to use Intrumental…
mobupu
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6
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1 answer
list of exotic production functions?
Standard production functions are Cobb-Douglas, CES, Leontief.
The most exotic production function I have seen is the Ethier production function.
I am wondering whether there is a book/list of other exotic production functions. i.e. production…
user56834
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6
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3 answers
Collusion model with imperfect public monitoring
It is well known that consumers' intertemporal incentives may play a key role on the potential of firms to sustain collusion. To my knowledge, most previous efforts studying the topic have assumed perfect observability of actions. How would…
han-tyumi
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6
votes
2 answers
Does there exist a mathematical formalization of Hayek's ideas about information and the price system?
Hayek's idea, roughly, is that individuals in aggregate have distributed knowledge about their own utility functions and about specific supply-conditions, that no single individual can oversee, and that markets can aggregate this information…
user56834
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6
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1 answer
Does the envelope theorem hold at a corner solution?
Suppose we have the following production function:
$$F(L,K)=\max_{L_K}H(L,L_K,K)=\max_{L_K}\left[(L-L_K+1)^\alpha(L_K+K)^{1-\alpha}\right]=(L-L_K^*+1)^\alpha(L_K^*+K)^{1-\alpha}$$
With the constraint $L_K\in[0,L]$.
We know that $$\frac…
user56834
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6
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1 answer
Comparative Methods of Econometric Analysis
While RIMS II, IMPLAN, and other methods regularly deviate substantially from each other in the answers they yield to analytical questions, is there a "band" within results should be considered "more accurate".
For example, if RIMS and IMPLAN give a…
Jason Nichols
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6
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1 answer
Envelope theorem for discrete choice sets?
If we have a function
$$f(x)=\max_yg(x,y)$$
Then we can find the derivative $d/dx \ f(x)$ by realizing that
$$(1): \quad \frac {\partial }{\partial y}g(x,y^*)=0$$
because of the first order condition for maximization.
We can use this by…
user56834
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6
votes
1 answer
Intuition for why $EV>CV$ for a normal good
I understand the mathematical proof and the graphical illustration behind this property ($EV>CV$ for the variation in the price of a normal good), but I still do not understand the economic intuition. Can anyone explain, in intuitive terms, why the…
Oliv
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2 answers
Does every allocation have a maximal Pareto-improvement?
Consider an economy with a finite number of goods and a finite quantity of each good. Each agent $i$ has a preference-relation $\succeq_i$ which is a total, reflexive and transitive relation over the set of bundles. Given an allocation $x$ of the…
Erel Segal-Halevi
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6
votes
1 answer
Auction models for tickets
Consider a typical event for which tickets are sold. The event only occurs once, and for simplicity we can assume that only one kind of ticket is provided, i.e, no VIP seats etc. $N$ tickets are available for purchase, and the $N$ highest bids win…
Filip Nilsson
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6
votes
3 answers
Who created the concept of "present value"?
I cannot find anything on this online. The wikipedia article is purely technical, except by a mention that such system was used in England in early 16th century.
Do you know who was the first to come up with this idea and technique?
chatGPT
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6
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3 answers
Why is railway electrification in North America far less common than in Europe?
Why is railway electrification in North America far less common than in Europe? I suspect that the answer has something to do with the economics of electrification. In Europe, railway electrification varies a lot between countries, ranging from 3%…
gerrit
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6
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4 answers
Alternative to linear regression
I'm third year economics student and all econometrics we had so far and basically all empirical studies in economic subjects we had so far are linear regression. Is there any alternative, can anyone suggest any reading material or direction in which…
econ
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