Product Description

In recent years, agent-based simulation has become a widely accepted tool when dealing with complexity in economics and other social sciences. The contributions presented in this book apply agent-based methods to derive results from complex models related to market mechanisms, evolution, decision making, and information economics. In addition, the applicability of agent-based methods to complex problems in economics is discussed from a methodological perspective. The papers presented in this collection combine approaches from economics, finance, computer science, natural sciences, philosophy, and cognitive sciences.

Product Description

Simulation is used in economics to solve large econometric models, for large-scale micro simulations, and to obtain numerical solutions for policy design in top-down established models. But these applications fail to take advantage of the methods offered by artificial economics (AE) through artificial intelligence and distributed computing. AE is a bottom-up and generative approach of agent-based modelling developed to get a deeper insight into the complexity of economics. AE can be viewed as a very elegant and general class of modelling techniques that generalize numerical economics, mathematical programming and micro simulation approaches. The papers presented in this book address methodological questions and applications of AE to macroeconomics, industrial organization, information and learning, market dynamics, finance and financial markets.

Product Description
This second edition of an already widely-used textbook presents an up-to-date analysis of the roles played by financial institutions and markets in the working of the UK economy.
The book assumes only a basic grounding in economics and will be widely recommended to students of macroeconomics, monetary economics and finance. ... Read more

Product Description
Based on the reality that today's engineers need a broad range of decision-making skills, this uniquereference draws together--into a single comprehensive volume--all thefundamental principles of systems analysis (both hard and soft systems), economics (particularlymicroeconomics), probability, and statistics that engineers need to develop a rich, multifaceted perspective from which to tackle--and solve--complex engineering problems. The emphasis throughout is on presenting the fundamental concepts and their practical engineering applications, unobscured by complicated mathematics. Using a large number of worked examples, it integrates the power of quantitative analysis with the conceptual richness of capital budgeting and microeconomics into the elements of systems engineering. Coverage is broad-based and applicable for engineers in practically all branches of engineering.The Systems Approach.Problem Solving in Engineering & Planning.Basic Engineering Economics & Evaluation.Basic Micro Economics for Engineers &Planners. Principles of Probability (Probability Theory; Random Variables and Probability Distributions; Joint Probability Functions and CorrelatedVariables). Principles of Statistics (Estimation of Statistical Parameters andTesting Validity of Distribution Functions; Hypothesis Testing, Analysis of Variance, Regression and Correlation Analysis). Basic HardSystems Engineering. Basic Soft Systems Thinking & Analysis.For Civil, Chemical, Electrical, Environmental, Mechanical, and Industrial Engineers, Urban Planners, Architects, and Construction Managers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Fundamentals of Systems Engineering with Economics, Probability, and Statistics
Very readable. Good balance of theory and practicality ... Read more

Product Description
Covering the economic aspects of automation and process control, this newly revised 2nd Edition expands on how the tools of economic and financial analysis can be applied to automation projects, especially those concerned with continuous processes. New sections have been added to extend application of economic and financial analysis to control of discontinuous processes, including batch and discrete parts manufacturing. A new glossary has also been added to help define economic terms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Um livro superficial
Esperava mais do livro, que se mostrou muito superficial em todos os assuntos abordados. Para iniciante, talvez seja uma boa leitura, mas para quem já está no ramo e quer ter maiores referências para cálculos econômicos ligados a projetos de automação, o livro simplesmente não agrega valor significativo.

How to Transform an Automation and Control Idea into a Realistic Project Proposal

This book is a self-study guide that will introduce you to the aspects that need to be considered when preparing or reviewing a Process Automation and Control project proposal, providing a framework for economics and financial analysis to evaluate this kind of Projects, including the incorporation of risk into calculations.

The porpoise of the book is to provide an understanding of the economics of process control. The basic tools of economic analysis are presented and then applied to real world process control projects and proposals. From these applications one can see how to use the tools and what factors are likely to have the greatest influence on the profitability of the project.

To give a better idea of what is covered and since the Table of Contents is not available in the information provided by the good fellows of Amazon, following I have included how the book is organized:

- Introduction and overview.
- Basic concepts.
- Benefit identification.
- Benefit estimation.
- Cost estimation.
- Project evaluation.
- Ammonia plant control - A detailed example.
- Including risks in cost estimation.
- Including risks in benefit estimation.
- Including risks in project evaluation.
- Strategies for risk minimization.
- Sulfur burner control - A detailed example.
- Economics of batch process control.
- Economics of automation.
- Suggested reading and study materials.
- Solution to all exercises.
- Glossary of economic terms.

If you prepare or review Automation and Control Project Proposals this book is for you. ... Read more

Product Description
This comprehensive and impressive volume presents the first book-length, multi-country investigation of reform of economic education in transition economies. Authors from the West and from the transition economies describe the major changes in economics content and instruction that occurred in schools and universities throughout nations in eastern and central Europe and the former Soviet Union from 1989 to 2000.

Nine of the chapters discuss specific countries - Belarus, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Russia, and Ukraine. Other chapters describe reforms in the undergraduate economics curriculum at Moscow State University, Kiev State University, and Belarus State University. One chapter reports the findings from a five-nation study of the effect of economics programs to retrain teachers on the economic understanding of secondary students. Another chapter explains the important role of economic education in creating support for public policy reforms in a nation. The results from multi-national surveys of public attitudes toward economic reforms and the market economy are also analyzed. The book concludes with an insightful explanation of the major ‘change agents’ responsible for the reform of academic economics and the teaching of economics in the transition economies.

Anyone interested in economic education, transition economies, or educational reform in schools and universities will find this book unique and fascinating reading. ... Read more

Product Description
"All readers will profit by the virtuosity with which the author has carried out his pioneering attempt to erect the structure of economic hisotry on the basis of a theory of development." —Carter Goodrich, American Historical Review"On the eve of the Civil War the United States had already achieved rapid and sustained economic expansion. We had filled out our territorial boundaries, and the frontier was already encroaching upon the parched lands in the lee of the Rocky Mountains and moving east of the Sierra Nevadas. We were an industrial nation second only to Britain in manufacturing. Our expansion had been matched by an acceleration of economic well-being. The obstacles to American economic growth had been removed before the Civil War took place. That war was a costly and bitter interruption."

Integrating economic theory, history, and statistics in this provocative study, Professor North develops a fresh interpretation of the sources and determining factors of United States growth from the founding of the nation to the Civil War.

From 1970 to 1814 economic development is seen primarily as a result of external influences. From 1815 to 1860 the westward movement and the transformation to an industrial economy provided accelerating influences on the nation's growing prosperity. Professor North concludes that the export trade, particularly in cotton, was of prime importance as a stimulant to the economy. And he emphasizes the cornerstone of growth was the spread of a market economy, which attracted "an increasing percentage of resources into production for the market and out of pioneer self-sufficiency." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great book!
The book came in great condition and it was an inexpensive price perfect for college students.

Basic
This excellent book is a description and analysis of the major economic trends in the early republic.This book consists of a large amount of economic data and a relatively simple theory.Over one third of the book consists of data tables used to develop North's argument.The relatively simple theory is that export of a single primary product, cotton, provided the platform of much American economic development and determined the contours of regional and national economic development.

North divides his study period into 3 periods.There is much of the Napoleonic wars, when the American economy was impelled forward by a boom in shippling made possible by neutral status.Then the period from the end of the War of 1812 to the mid-1840s, which might be described as the age of cotton.Finally, from the mid-1840s to the Civil War, a period of considerable economic diversification, accelerating industrialization, and Northeastern-Western economic integration.North divides the USA into 3 regions.The cotton and other plantation staple dominated South, the mercantile and industrializing Northeast (New England and Middle Atlantic states), and the largely more diversified agricultural West.North shows these divisions as emerging fairly early, before the cotton boom era.

North documents very nicely the major trends in this period, the increasing population, geographic enlargement, and increasing economic vigor of the USA.North emphasizes the key role of cotton production for the international, particularly British market, and the increasing involvement of Americans in both international, national, and regional markets.Cotton production and exports led to increased mercantile/financial activity in the Northeast, played a key role in the development of the leading edge of the industrial revolution in the USA, the New England textile industry, and drove Western expansion by demand for agricultural products in the South.But the cotton plantation system also meant that the South developed many features of a colonial economy dominated by a backward looking oligarchy.After the 1840s, increasing industrialization, urbanization, and market articulation, coupled with railroad and telegraph development would draw the Northeast and West together with the South's key role in American economic life diminishing.

North's analysis reveals the importance of some strictly non-economic factors.Given the key role of cotton exports in the emergence of the American economy, coerced slave labor and land expropriated from Southern Indians were key factors in American economic success.In the development of the Northeast and West, government action to develop improved transportation was crucial, particularly canal development.North also comments on the importance of a well educated population in industrial innovation in the Northeast, something that arises directly from the Puritan emphasis on education.

Clearly written with an assembly of easy to read charts and tables, this is an easy and rewarding read. ... Read more

Product Description
The financial integration of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States was arguably one of the most profound changes experienced by the world economy in the 1990s. This book examines these countries in reforming their financial systems in the fist decade of transition. Through case studies as well as more thematic approaches contributors deal with crucial elements of building a market based financial system, the transformation of the banking sector, and non-bank reform and regulation of financial markets. They emphasize the importance of institution building to the process of financial sector transformation and highlight the lessons to be learned from transitional financial experiences. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is concerned with dynamic relations between international division of labor, division of consumption and determination of prices structure within a perfectly competitive framework in global economy. Our analytical framework examines the issues related to trade which are raised in the traditional trade theories. It also provides insights into the issues related to interdependence between knowledge creation and utilization and international trade examined by the new trade theory. The comparative advantage of our theory is that in providing rich insights into the complex of international trade it only uses a few concepts and simplified functional forms and accepts few assumptions about behavior of consumers, producers and institutional structures. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is concerned with dynamic relations between urban division of labor, division of consumption and determination of prices structure within a perfectly competitive framework in spatial economy. Our analytical framework examines the issues related to urban dynamics raised in the traditional urban economic theories and provides insights into the issues related to interdependence between knowledge creation and utilization and spatial economies examined by the new urban/regional economic theory. The comparative advantage of our theory is that in providing rich insights into the complex of urban evolution it uses only a few concepts and simplified functional forms and accepts a few assumptions about the behavior of consumers, producers and institutional structures over space. ... Read more

Product Description
This new fourth edition of this successful textbook discusses the different parts of the welfare system and in particular, cash benefits, the health service and education. The text argues that the welfare state exists not just to help the underprivileged, but also for efficiency reasons, in areas where private markets would be inefficient or would not exist at all.The book is fully updated and will contain a number of student learning features. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

Perfect
Perfect condition (brand new), arrived in about three weeks here in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - much less than the predicted. I would definitely buy again with them.

The Truth Starts Here
Let me begin this review with the recommendation: this book is the ultimate resource for a clear, non-polemic analysis of the welfare state. If you really want to learn about the ins and outs of welfare andprivatization - and I mean _really_ learn - this is the book you want. Youcould read any five other books about welfare economics, income inequity,and social policy without getting as thorough an examination as this bookcontains. If you want to learn about the ins and outs of privatization andthe welfare state, what works and what doesn't (and why), look no further.I have never read, nor even heard of, a more thorough treatment - which isremarkable considering that this book is accessible to any intelligentreader with a bit of patience.

"The Economics of the WelfareState" is commonly used as a textbook for upper year undergraduate andintroductory graduate courses in economics. This does not, however, meanthat you actually need to have such an economic background to understandit. This 415 page text starts from the beginning, covering all of theeconomic theory and politucal background you need to understand thecontents. In my opinion, it would help to have taken a course inintroductory microeconomics before reading this book. That isn't strictlynecessary, though, I just think it's helpful in order to understand suchserious economic ideas without too much head-scratching. In fact, the bookhas simplified summaries of the theory chapters for"non-technical" readers, and suggestions of what you should read,depending on your interests, if you don't want to read the whole thing.

The author warns that you may have to take some stuff on faith if youskip the theory, but trust me, you can because it's rock solid.

Oh yes,and while this may be a book on economics, you won't find very manyequations in it. And every single one of them can safely be skipped withoutreally hurting the general reader's understanding of the book. This isn'tan abstract work, either - Britain is used as the major case study, withmany comparisons to other countries such as the US. Specific institutionsand policies are described and evaluated, with direct application toreal-world political debates. Every bit of theory in the book is directlyapplied to relevant, detailed examples. The author intends to educate,rather than to pursuade, so the issues are considered in light of multipleideological perspectives. After describing the major views on the welfarestate, all the way from libertarianism through to socialism, Barr pointsout the relevance of his major points to the perspectives of these variousgroups.

This is a good book for people interested in evaluating justabout any political orientation. It uses clear, well-justified arguments todemonstrate that market failure in many important areas is unambiguous, andthat government intervention may not only be superior in principle, butoften is superior in the real world. It considers these issues fromdifferent perspectives, making it clear that concerns for economicefficiency and social equity may lead to different conclusions.

Theauthor makes no bones about shooting down all unsubstantiated arguments,not just conservative ones. He clearly demolishes a lot of liberal andsocialist arguments that some services should be provided by government -if the market really is more efficient at producing something that onewants to guarantee, the government should usually pay for it, not produceit. He considers many situations, such as housing, where the historical useof subsidy and regulation rather than outright income transfers appears tobe economically inefficient and inequitable. Barr also explains how somepolicies designed to decrease inequality can actually increase it. Hedescribes the university system in the UK as regressive, that is, promotinginequality. While it is paid for by all and free to all, in practice therich are much more likely to actually attend university. Those wishing topromote social equality would do best to read these arguments, so that theycan avoid supporting measures destined to backfire. He even demonstratesthat some major political arguments have been over trivialities. Heexplains how the differences between "pay as you go" socialinsurance schemes and those funded by one's own previous contributions areactually not all that great, contrary to much of the debate about SocialSecurity in the US.

Biased but useful
This is a useful book since it is clear, systematic and rigorous. It is biased because it leaves out certain arguments and are more critical of opposing arguments than arguments in favour of the welfare state. For instance, very few pages are devoted to discussing government failure and the information problems facing the government ... Read more

Product Description

Product Description

Computable Foundations for Economics is a unified collection of essays, some of which are published here for the first time and all of which have been updated for this book, on an approach to economic theory from the point of view of algorithmic mathematics. By algorithmic mathematics the author means computability theory and constructive mathematics. This is in contrast to orthodox mathematical economics and game theory, which are formalised with the mathematics of real analysis, underpinned by what is called the ZFC formalism, i.e., set theory with the axiom of choice. This reliance on ordinary real analysis and the ZFC system makes economic theory in its current mathematical mode completely non-algorithmic, which means it is numerically meaningless.

The book provides a systematic attempt to dissect and expose the non-algorithmic content of orthodox mathematical economics and game theory and suggests a reformalization on the basis of a strictly rigorous algorithmic mathematics. This removes the current schizophrenia in mathematical economics and game theory, where theory is entirely divorced from algorithmic applicability – for experimental and computational exercises.

The chapters demonstrate the uncomputability and non-constructivity of core areas of general equilibrium theory, game theory and recursive macroeconomics. The book also provides a fresh look at the kind of behavioural economics that lies behind Herbert Simon’s work, and resurrects a role for the noble classical traditions of induction and verification, viewed and formalised, now, algorithmically. It will therefore be of particular interest to postgraduate students and researchers in algorithmic economics, game theory and classical behavioural economics.

Customer Reviews (2)

"The road not taken"
It has long been known that textbook economics, based both explicitly and implicitly on the neo-classical model, is completely wrong. Recent work in econophysics has driven the last nails into the coffin of neo-classical thought, but the inhabitants of 'the citadel' have not yet realized that their mathematized ideology is dead and about to be buried. As Alan Kirman quoted in one of his papers, "No amount of attention to the walls will prevent the citadal from being empty."

One can say that two main schools of thought have evolved as alternatives to neo-classical thinking: econophysics, based on empirical modelling, and computable economics, based on the requirement of computable models. The second school of thought is strongest in Italy. E.g., there are schools of alternative economic thought in Pisa,Trento, Firenze, Sienna, Ancona, and Salerno. Professor Velupillai, now in Galway, taught earlier in Trento and is a well-known advocate for the idea of comnputable economic modelling.

Velupillai's monograph begins with a sketch of the contributions of Alain Lewis (who did computable analysis, following Radner's key 1969 paper on equilibrium under uncertainty) and points out that there is no reason to prefer set theoretic models over computable ones. Leaving the question of stability aside, the next question is whether equilibrum is recursively defined, is algorithmically calculable. The latter is the main point emphasized and discussed by Velupillai. Leading neo-classical theorists like Arrow have mightily resisted the imposition of computability restrictions on their modelling. In other words, complexity was ruled out of consideration out of hand. Even if equilibrium would 'exist' mathematically in a given model and would be stable, neo-classical thinking takes for granted that the brain could perform the calculations that would be required in order for agents cooperatively to locate equilibrium. In general, such an assumption places impossible information acquisition and processing demands on agents, and indeed there exists no empirical evidence whatsoever for 'market clearing' in any known market!

Velupillai, who is apparently very well-read in the history and philosophy of economic thinking, attributes the first considerations of complexity in economic thought to Simon, Scarf, Menger (the author of the famous traveling salesman problem), and others. Hayek, who worried about 'socialist calculation' but did no quantatitive work, is also brought into the picture. Simon's program is outlined for the readership in detail.

Chapter 3, "Computable Rationality", begins with Witgenstein's quote: 'Turing's "Machines". These machines are humans who calculate.' Indeed, Turing's original idea (outlined for the reader in the Appendix) is based on the idea of typing symbols onto an arbitrarily long strand of paper. Turing began implicitly mechanically with what the brain can do, in contrast with neo-classical modelling.

In Chapter 4 we are introduced to the latest thinking about dynamics and computability through a model suggested by Cris Moore. As Velupillai points out in the text, Moore (in the early ninties) gave examples of simple one and two dimensional iterated maps that are equivalent to Turing machines. This was an enormous breakthrough in dynamical systems theory that goes far beyond Feigenbaum's discovery of the universal period doubling sequence to chaos, but is hardly known in physics and mathematics, let alone in economics. In my opinion, it is a great credit to Velupillai that he makes the reader aware of Moore's pioneering work on the origins of complexity in deterministic dynamics, especially the stark difference between chaos and complexity.

My favorite chapter is the ninth, where I learned for the first time about an integral equation with computable kernel and initial condition where the solution is not computable. The trick (shown in Aberth and Pour-El & Richards) is that the Lipshitz condition must be violated: nonuniqueness and branching of solutions are required for the noncomputability of the solution.

While in complete agreement with the criticism of standard economic theory given in the book, my main point of departure is that economic models should be firmly empirically based. I would expect that empirically based models will be computable, or at least decimally approximable. Because of this difference in emphasis, I disagree with some a few specific proposals made in the text. Multiple equilibria are discussed as alternative to single equilibria, but evidence for equilibria of any sort has not yet been found empirically (and there is enormous confusion over 'equilibrium' in economics and finance texts and papers). Velupillai argues that models should be nonlinear, but he assumes deterministic dynamics. Financial markets are instead stochastic, and are described very well empirically via linear stochastic models (leaving out complexity). It remains to be seen whether business cycle data are strong enough to permit the deduction of a reliable model, analogous to the success of modelling financial markets. In fact, success analogous to empirically-based finance market modelling should be the main aim of economic theory.

In closing, I strongly recommend this short, entertaining monograph to the mathematically prepared reader as strong antidote to the terribly misleading standard econ texts by 'leading authors' like Varian, Samuelson, Mankiw and Barro.

Let us compute?
What is Computable Economics? I have found the first exhaustive answer in this compact and well-written volume. The appendix presents the basic results in computability theory in the form of a "child's guide"making the book readable even by absolute beginners. The corpus offers aseries of applications of this approach to economic theory which rangesfrom microeconomics, to game theory, to macroeconomics and developmenteconomics. A fascinating endevour. ... Read more

Product Description
An account of the history, structure, and operation of the First and Second Banks of the United States, this study examines how the banks performed as national and central institutions, and what happened to the economy when the charter of the Second Bank was allowed to expire in 1836. Historians have paid little recent attention to the early history of central banking in the United States, and many Americans believe that the Federal Reserve, created in 1913, was our first central bank. The economic crisis during the American Revolution actually led to the founding of a national bank, called the Bank of North America, during the period of Confederation. Although it became a private bank before the Constitution was ratified in 1788, it proved to be such a success that in 1791 Alexander Hamilton, the first Secretary of the Treasury, was able to convince President Washington that a similar bank should be established. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Intriguing and Enlightening
A great read for anyone with an interest in the history of the Bank of the US, or for US history buffs in general.Kaplan explores not only the patterns and general themes of the Bank's development and demise, but also some of the finer points of its history that add character to this intriguing story. ... Read more

Product Description

Breadth of scope is unique

Author is a widely-known and successful textbook author

Unlike many recent textbooks on chaotic systems that have superficial treatment, this book provides explanations of the deep underlying mathematical ideas

No technical proofs, but an introduction to the whole field that is based on the specific analysis of carefully selected examples

Includes a section on cellular automata

Product Description
One of the key constraints to accelerated economic performance in developing countries is, in the authors' view, the absence of strong, dynamic financial systems. Many, if not most, developing countries suffer from repressed financial systems. Thus the most important step in effecting the development of capital markets is to lay a foundation of sound macroeconomic, sectorial, and regulatory policies conducive to financial sector development. This book presents a unique approach to financial sector reform composed of financial sector diagnosis, policy and institutional targeting, macroeconomic reforms, bank regulation and supervision reform, and privatization. ... Read more

Product Description
Going beyond the usual state-centric approach to the study of the politics of neoliberal reform, Moisés Arce emphasizes the importance of understanding the interaction between state reformers and collective actors in society. In Market Reform in Society he helpfully focuses our attention on how various societal groups are affected by different types of reform and how their responses in turn affect the state's subsequent pursuit of reform. As a country characterized by strong state autonomy and widespread disintegration of civil society and representative institutions during the 1990s when Alberto Fujimori was president, Peru serves as an excellent case for examining how collective actors can succeed in influencing the reform process. Arce compares reforms in three areas: taxation, pension privatization, and social-sector programs in poverty alleviation and health decentralization. Differences in the concentration or dispersion of costs and benefits, he shows, affected incentives for groups to form and engage in collective action for supporting, opposing, or modifying the reforms. ... Read more

Product Description

This Handbook contains surveys of state-of-the-art concepts, systems, applications, best practices as well as contemporary research in the intersection between IT and finance. Included are recent trends and challenges, IT systems and architectures in finance, essential developments and case studies on management information systems, service oriented architecture modelling, IT architectures for securities trading, IT-systems in banking, process-oriented systems in corporate treasuries, grid computing and networking. The IT applications in banking, trading and insurance cover risk management and controlling, financial portals, electronic payment and others. In addition, also finance-related IT applications in non-financial companies are considered. The concept-oriented part of the book focuses on IT methods in finance like financial models and modelling financial data, planning and processes, security, algorithms and complexity.