This is a scan of the first journal publication of the mathematical formulation and generalization to vectors of double-entry bookkeeping.
Arbitrage Theory
December 11, 2012 by
This a reprint of an applied math paper connecting the notion of arbitrage and the Lagrange multipliers of mathematical economics. The paper has a simple application showing that a circular gear train (all in the same plane) with an odd number of gears is rigid (cannot move) like the graphic to the left.
World Bank survey paper on migration
December 10, 2012 by
This survey of the literature on migration and development was my last written product before retiring from the World Bank. But the results of years of documented experience is that migration leads to poverty alleviation (remittances) but not development. This is not the message that the Bank wants to hear so the results are largely ignored.
Seminar in Quantum Information Theory II
December 10, 2012 by
These are the slides from a seminar in quantum information theory and related topics in the Computer Science Department of UC/Riverside during the Spring quarter 2012.
Seminar in Quantum Information Theory I
December 10, 2012 by
These are the slides from a seminar in quantum information theory taught in the Computer Science Department of UC/Riverside in the Winter quarter 2012.
On the Role of Capital in “Capitalist” and in Labor-Managed Firms
December 10, 2012 by
This paper outlines the “fundamental myth” about the structure of property rights in a capitalist economy, namely the idea that being the residual claimant in a productive opportunity is part of a bundle of property rights known as the “ownership of the firm.” Residual claimancy is contractually determined so there is no such “ownership.” The fundamental myth exposes a basic fallacy in capital theory that has hitherto escaped attention in the capital theory debates. (Reprint from: Review of Radical Political Economics, Winter 2007)
Translatio versus Concessio: Retrieving the debate about contracts of alienation with an application to today’s employment contract
December 10, 2012 by
Liberal thought is based on the fundamental question of consent versus coercion. The autocracies and slavery systems of the past were based on coercion whereas today’s democracy in the political sphere and employment system in the economy are based on consent. This paper retrieves an almost forgotten contractarian tradition, dating from at least the Middle Ages, that based political autocracy and economic slavery on explicit or implicit voluntary contracts. Hence the democratic and antislavery movements had to hammer out arguments not simply in favor of consent and against coercion, but arguments based on the distinction between contracts to alienate (translatio) sovereignty versus contracts to only delegate (concessio) self-governance rights.
Should Development Agencies Have Official Views?
December 10, 2012 by
The major development agencies have ex cathedra “Official Views” (with varying degrees of explicitness) on the complex and controversial questions of development. At the same time, knowledge is now more than ever recognized as key to development—in the idea of a “knowledge bank” or knowledge-based development assistance. I argue that these two practices are in direct conflict—much as making Lysenko’s views as “Official Soviet Science” was in conflict with the progress of the science of genetics in the Soviet Union. When an agency attaches its “brand name” to certain Official Views, then it is very difficult for the agency to also be a learning organization or to foster genuine learning in the clients.
Helping People Help Themselves: Towards a Theory of Autonomy-Compatible Help
December 10, 2012 by
This is a presis of my book Helping People Help Themselves: From the World Bank to an Alternative Philosophy of Development Assistance. (U. of Michigan Press, 2005) I explore several principles or themes of a theory of autonomy-compatible assistance and show how these themes arise in the work of various authors in rather different fields.
Jane Jacobs on the Nature of Development
December 10, 2012 by
Jane Jacobs is best known as a writer about cities and as a vigorous critic of urban planning. The purpose of this paper is to suggest that she should be read as a writer on economic development who focuses on cities as the principal sites of development. The recently upsurge of interest in migration policies and development is taken as the entry point into her work, e.g., to explain why “poverty reduction” through remittances will tend to be nondevelopmental. Her ecologically-inspired “tangled bank” conception of development as growth through differentiation is used to elucidate a number of developmental issues. It also shows how the “spin-off conundrum” of multiproduct diversification is important to industrial development policies. Several examples are outlined of how that problem has been approached.