Notes

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 1989

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Spring 1989

Auctions and Bidding: A Primer

[Symposium: Auctions]

By Paul Milgrom

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

The "Winner's Curse," is just one of the surprising and puzzling conclusions turned up by modern research into auctions. Another is the theoretical proposition that, for example, a sealed-bid Treasury bill auction in which each buyer pays a price equal to...

How Auctions Work for Wine and Art

[Symposium: Auctions]

By Orley Ashenfelter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

At the first wine auction I ever attended, I saw the repeal of the law of one price. This empirical surprise led me to begin collecting data on wine auctions, to interview auctioneers, and even to buy a little wine. In the meantime I have also had the opp...

Auctions as an Allocation Mechanism in Academia: The Case of Faculty Offices

[Symposium: Auctions]

By William J. Boyes and Stephen K. Happel

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

A six-story addition to Arizona State University's College of Business was completed in 1983, causing entire departments to be uprooted and relocated. Faculty offices had to be reassigned as a result. What seemed to be a trivial problem, the allocation of...

Expected Revenue from Open and Sealed Bid Auctions

[Symposium: Auctions]

By John G. Riley

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

The first objective of this paper has been to explain why it is that expected seller revenue is the same under very different auction rules. The second objective has been to explain why revenue equivalence no longer holds once the central assumptions of r...

Understanding Real Business Cycles

[Symposium: Real Business Cycles]

By Charles I. Plosser

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

This brief essay is intended to provide readers with an introduction to the real business cycle approach to business fluctuations. It discusses the basic real business cycle framework; economic growth and business cycles; real business cycles and the 1954...

Real Business Cycles: A New Keynesian Perspective

[Symposium: Real Business Cycles]

By N. Gregory Mankiw

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

Real business cycle theory is the latest incarnation of the classical view of economic fluctuations. It assumes that there are large random fluctuations in the rate of technological change. In response to these fluctuations, individuals rationally alter t...

Robert Solow: An Affectionate Portrait

By Paul A. Samuelson

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

Solow is the consummate economist's economist. He does everything well and with apparent ease. What Ty Cobb was to baseball, Solow has been to our generation of economists. But with this difference: Cobb had a will to win that never let up. Solow acts as ...

In Honor of Robert M. Solow: Nobel Laureate in 1987

By Alan S. Blinder

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

Bob Solow shares Galbraith's skill with the pen, Friedman's dexterity with the spoken word, and Samuelson's way of making mathematics sing economics. Take pity on the poor soul—me—who has to stand here and pay tribute to such a man without sou...

The Role of Potential Competition in Industrial Organization

By Richard J. Gilbert

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

Potential competition is important as a mechanism to control market power. I assess the strengths and limitations of alternative theories of potential competition by examining the available theoretical, empirical and institutional knowledge. I consider fo...

Cash Distributions to Shareholders

By Laurie Simon Bagwell and John B. Shoven

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

Economists have long been puzzled by why firms pay dividends when alternative methods of rewarding shareholders and financiers exist which involve less taxes. This paper will highlight the fact that firms can distribute cash to equity holders in ways more...

Bequest and Wealth Accumulation: Are Some Pieces of the Puzzle Missing?

By Denis Kessler and Andre Masson

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

The lively debate between Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Franco Modigliani presented in the Spring 1988 issue of this journal concerns an old question: what is the main motivation for saving and therefore for the accumulation of wealth? More specifically, what...

Thomas Robert Malthus and David Ricardo

By Robert Dorfman

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

This article will describe the enduring relationship between Thomas Malthus and David Ricardo initiated by a letter Malthus sent to Ricardo in June 1811. It was, very likely, the most remarkable and most fruitful collaboration in the history of economics....

Puzzles: The Arbitrage Mirage, Wait Watchers, and More

By Barry Nalebuff

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

This feature begins with three puzzles motivated by the paradox of the "greener envelope," which was described in detail in the Winter 1989 issue. Following these exchange paradoxes are two longer puzzles, also with answers provided at the end. The longer...

Recommendations for Further Reading

By Bernard Saffran

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

Correspondence

By Nancy J. Barrett and Ines Bustillo

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

Correspondence regarding: Symposium on the Slowdown in Productivity Growth Choice under Uncertainty: Problems Solved and Unsolved Anomalies: The Ultimatum Game

Notes

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

Front Matter

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Summer 1989

Symposium on Federal Deposit Insurance for S&L Institutions

[Symposium: Federal Deposit Insurance]

By Dwight M. Jaffee

Journal of Economic Perspectives, Fall 1989

Federal deposit insurance was introduced to eliminate the bank runs of the Great Depression: the FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) was created in 1933 to insure commercial bank deposits, and the FSLIC (Federal Savings and Loan Insurance Corpora...