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The Theory of Economic Equilibrium was written in the period of what George Shackle calls the “Years of High Theory”. Unlike the works that Shackle discusses, da Empoli’s volume received little attention and played no part in shaping the analytical formulations of the time. The Theory of Economic Equilibrium offered an alternative to the then conventional approach to the treatment of competition as an adjective. For da Empoli, competition was a rivalrous process, a verb. It is arguable that had da Empoli’s formulations found their way into the literature of the time, the recent revival of interest in competition as a process would now be at a more advanced state.

Municipal financial decisions involve the interaction of political actors (including voters, elected officials, and bureaucrats) pursuing their own interests. Although voters should determine public choices through elected officials, bureaucrats have the incentives and may have the monopoly power to dominate the process. This study investigates the relationships among municipal spending, fiscal manipulation, and financial monitoring. Fiscal illusion (as measured by revenue complexity) is employed as an empirical surrogate for bureaucratic manipulation and it is hypothesized that financial audits are an effective monitoring technique for moderating possible bureaucratic manipulation. The results of the study suggest that expenditure levels are related to political power and that fiscal illusion is significant for explaining expenditure levels, especially for cities having qualified opinions. Weak support is provided for the hypothesis that the financial audit is a monitoring technique that may constrain bureaucratic overspending. These findings have important implications for both public administration and governmental accounting and suggest the need for further research on monitorig effectiveness.

Two competing hypotheses have been developed in the public economics literature to explain the growth of government spending. The first, termed the fiscal illusion hypothesis, holds that governments have incentives to induce a misperception in the population about the cost of government. By constructing complex systems of taxation that obscure the true cost of government services, governments can lead the taxpayer to demand a larger quantity of services. The other hypothesis, the fiscal stress hypothesis, holds that tax complexity diversifies revenues, leading to less revenue variability and, hence, lower costs. Taxpayers, then, demand more government services. The two hypotheses make very different assumptions about the incentives of governments in regard to an informed electorate. The fiscal illusion hypothesis suggests incentives to obscure information, while the fiscal stress hypothesis suggests incentives to reveal true costs.

Accounting and financial reporting can play a role in revealing fiscal information to taxpayers, directly or indirectly, through information intermediaries. If the fiscal illusion hypothesis describes the behavior of governments, we would expect that such governments would attempt to protect the information advantage that is conveyed by a complex tax structure by minimizing accounting disclosures. On the other hand, the fiscal illusion hypothesis suggests that a government with a complex tax structure has no reason to minimize disclosure, and may have incentives publicize lower service costs.

This study examines the association of tax complexity and financial disclosure. We find that there is more disclosure in cities with more complex tax systems, a result that supports the fiscal stress hypothesis.

Nobody concerned with political economy can neglect the history of economic doctrines. Structural changes in the economy and society influence economic thinking and, conversely, innovative thought structures and attitudes have almost always forced economic institutions and modes of behaviour to adjust. We learn from the history of economic doctrines how a particular theory emerged and whether, and in which environment, it could take root. We can see how a school evolves out of a common methodological perception and similar techniques of analysis, and how it has to establish itself. The interaction between unresolved problems on the one hand, and the search for better solutions or explanations on the other, leads to a change in paradigma and to the formation of new lines of reasoning. As long as the real world is subject to progress and change scientific search for explanation must out of necessity continue.

The following is a complete list of World's Records as officially homologated by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale up to June 30, 1929

The following is a complete list of World's Records as officially homologated by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale up to December 31, 1929

This paper presents the process and outcomes of developing a national capability for strategic and portfolio planning within SBC Communications, Inc., a Fortune 100 company, and reviews the progress made and lessons learned since this initiative was implemented in October 2001. At this time SBC Corporate Real Estate standardised the planning approach used by its regionalised staff in order to achieve consistent business practices. This multidisciplinary effort involved process design, development of tools and templates, training and deployment, facilitation and mentoring, production of prototype plans, and ongoing coaching during implementation in 2002. The new approach, featuring scenario planning and economic modelling, has elevated planning services to an advisory level by emphasising shareholder value while satisfying business unit needs. Within the first year of implementation, the process has been fully endorsed by corporate leadership and adopted by business unit management. Refinements to the planning approach and enhancements to the methodology are being incorporated on an ongoing basis as part of a continuous improvement programme.

The essay narrates and analyzes Eugen Dühring’s remotion, i.e. the taking away of his status as Privatdozent, and thereby of his right to teach at a university, by the Prussian Minister of Culture in 1877. After sketching out the background of the University of Berlin, the institution of Privatdozent, and Dühring himself, first, Dühring’s 1875 clash with Adolph Wagner is described, which put him on “probation”. Then, the 1877 scandal is looked at in detail, and the accusations against Dühring by the Faculty of Philosophy – mainly libel and insult – checked against the facts. It is argued that, while there might have been a point in Dühring’s charge of plagiarism against the physicist Helmholtz regarding the first law of thermodynamics, Dühring was generally guilty as charged, and that his remotion was certainly legal. As far as the legitimacy of this harsh measure is concerned, the case is less clear, but in the end, it is claimed that the remotion was legitimate as well.

The purpose of this paper is to provide evidence on the information-gathering deficits in contemporary reputation measurement that are rooted in sampling and to obtain supporting information from respondents from various stakeholder groups.

In regard to social emergence theory, the authors examine the common practice of aggregating reputational judgments from randomly sampled respondents without considering their knowledge domains. A stereotyping experiment conducted in three countries provides evidence that lower-level reputations might vary, whereas higher-level reputations resulting from the social emergence process do not vary.

The findings demonstrate that researchers should consider respondents’ heterogeneity in regard to reputation measurement. Stakeholder judgments divergent from their domains of expertise often add noise, instead of informative answers, to the reputational categories.

The social emergence process, in addition to the roles of the stakeholders, their interaction structures and the timing of their communication, needs to be incorporated into an improved reputation measurement method.

Not all information from the same respondent should be considered when computing a final reputation score. Respondents’ heterogeneity is revealed to be fundamental for reputational assessments.

This study is original in its examination of the validity of reputation assessment being restricted to lower-level descriptions of the supervenience relation. Building upon the results of the experiment conducted in three national framings, this paper suggests ways to improve reputation measurement.

The purpose of this paper is to take up and contribute to understanding an important emerging theme in recent literature on global environmental change and socio‐ecological issues (including Slaughter's The Biggest Wake‐up Call in History): “positive reframing”. The paper also aims to deepen consideration of the potential for “overshoot and collapse” futures and related concerns by foresight practitioners.

The paper is based on, and presents, a thematic analytical literature review.

In total, four underlying drivers of increased reframing and four central themes in positive reframes are identified; mental “frames” informing and limiting foresight work need to be openly communicated and reflected on – such practitioner reflexivity is often missing in foresight work, such as in The Biggest Wake‐up Call in History by Richard Slaughter.

The paper includes discussion of the implications for futures practice, including the role of mental frames and reframing. The author suggests futures practitioners can play important new roles in challenging the recent re‐emergence of influential forms of environmental determinism and foresight practitioners need to be more wary of the potential for “narrative bias”.

Futures assessment is increasingly needed to guide policy and action in improving human‐environment relations. Barriers and opportunities to fulfilling this societal need must be understood.

The paper helps to deepen the consideration of “re‐framing” and environmental limits by foresight practitioners and theorists. In doing so, the paper also brings in new concepts from other fields (such as cognitive psychology and Science and Technology Studies) into the foresight/futures field.