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The main emphasis in this work is on answers to such questions as: Can organizations operate efficiently or is there inevitably a loss of control? What are the principles of efficient organizational design? Do organizations operate under constant, increasing or decreasing returns to scale? In his preface Prof. J. Tinbergen writes:"In this book Professor Beckmann, with considerable ingenuity, offers a mathematical analysis of productive organizations in the widest sense... Among the organizations studied hierarchies play a predominant role and are compared with such forms of cooperation as partnerships and "ladders". A number of well-known basic concepts such as span of control, rank, line vs. staff and others serve as starting points. His analysis leads to such refinements as balance, regular or degenerated organization patterns and interesting comparisons of the efficiency of various structures... Several of the results obtained take simpler forms for very large hierarchies. The renewed interest, shown in political discussions, in the bureaucratization of both large enterprises and government machinery makes Dr. Beckmann's work highly topical". "Beckmann's microeconomic organisation theory presents...without a doubt, a very fine, formally closed and surprisingly informative conception" (Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft 9/1984, original in German). ... Read more

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Collection of articles on the economic theory of Jan Tinbergen, b. 1903, Dutch economist. ... Read more

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This study considers a decentralized economic policy and to what extent a centralization of economic policy would seem justified on a national and international level. ... Read more

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The institute of annual Tinbergen Lectures was established by the Royal Netherlands Economic Association in honour of one of its greatest members, Jan Tinbergen. Collected in this volume are the six Tinbergen lectures which have been delivered from 1987 onwards by economists of international standing. The lectures are preceded by a brief outline of their content and a chapter dealing with Tinbergen's membership of the Royal Netherlands Economic Association. In addition chapter three contains a survey of the change and continuity in Tinbergen's work. ... Read more

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With the economic problems facing Western economics during the last decade, theories about an alleged forty-five to sixty years' pulsation in economic life (the Kondratieff-Schumpeter cycle) have experienced a remarkable renaissance. In a survey of a literature the present book draws attention to some early Dutch studies of long waves which have been discovered recently in the archives of the University of Amsterdan: the disucssion between Josef A. Schumpeter and Simon Kuznets on clusters of innovations and long waves in economic life is also reviewed. The essential points of this old controversy are still questioned today: do long waves exist at all? Are they statistical fact or artefact? Is there any empirical evidence of Schumpeter's clustering of major innovations as a driving force behind the long waves in economic life? And why should such a clustering occur? Based on a new econometric test method, the author argues that new waves can be identified not only in price series but also in the aggregate output of a number of key industrialized countries.The authors's own research corroborates Schumpeter's hypothesis that, far from being caused by a flash of genius, radical innovations occur in clusters, interacting with economic fluctuations and social change. Beside fluctuations in the rate of innovations, there are also important shifts in the ratio of product to process innovations. In developing his conclusions the author is able to respond to academic criticism of his earlier work on long waves. ... Read more