This is an introduction to the mathematics of series-parallel duality which shows many unexpected applications.
Mathematics of Real Estate Appraisal
December 11, 2012 by
This paper on the math of real estate appraisal is my most downloaded paper on the SSRN site! Hence I might as well make it available here too. It is a long discourse on the mathematics of compounding and discounting.
Mathematics of Double Entry Bookkeeping
December 11, 2012 by
This is a scan of the first publication in a mathematics journal of the mathematical treatment of double-entry bookkeeping using the group of differences construction.
Double Entry Multidimensional Accounting
December 11, 2012 by
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.