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The past two decades of economic activity in the U.S. have been characterized by both high inflation and interest rates in comparison to previous periods of stability. The importance of these two variables to our economic welfare and to the effectiveness of economic policy have led to renewed interest in the Fisher Effect. This is the hypothesis put forth by Irving Fisher describing the relationship between these two variables. It usually takes the form R = re + pe + repe (1) in which R is the nominal rate of interest, re is the expected real rate of interest, and pe is the expected rate of change of prices. The term repe is usually considered insignificant and is dropped, giving R = re + pe. (2) Although this equation can be readily quantified on an ex post basis using actual rather than expected values, the fact that expectation of r and p are not directly observable have always made it difficult to derive an ex ante measure of the real rate.

The French are becoming world leaders in networked information. The key to this development is the immediate access to the general public provided by their national Minitel system. New networked libraries are being built, existing libraries are going online, and the crisis‐ridden French publishing industry is looking to networked information for its salvation. The French approach to networking offers interesting lessons for the Internet, not least because the French approach may ultimately be considered more attractive than the Internet′s for developing networked information in Asia and elsewhere

It is now forty years since there appeared H. R. Plomer's first volume Dictionary of the booksellers and printers who were at work in England, Scotland and Ireland from 1641 to 1667. This has been followed by additional Bibliographical Society publications covering similarly the years up to 1775. From the short sketches given in this series, indicating changes of imprint and type of work undertaken, scholars working with English books issued before the closing years of the eighteenth century have had great assistance in dating the undated and in determining the colour and calibre of any work before it is consulted.

Ethics in the Information Age requires an awareness of abstracted reasoning just as information itself is the integration of abstracted data. Recent works by Gibson and Boisot are employed to introduce the rise of an information society and the abstraction of information upon which we base our knowledge. Several ethical problems of the Information Age are discussed, including personal privacy, the specter of alternate personae in the virtual world of computer networks, the quality of information, even disinformation, and codes of conduct. The ethical problems inherent in the notion of intellectual property reveal themselves through application of John Locke's natural law of property right juxtaposed against the dilemmas encountered by fictional characters (in William Gibson's Idoru) living in a virtual world set just a few years from now. An ethical analysis for the Age of Information applies philosophical tenets found in deep ecology, social ecology, communitarianism, and anarchy to the current problems of ethics. In conclusion, the greater degree of abstraction required by ethical behavior in the Information Age requires even greater attention to the philosophers of the past, as well as the philosophies of the presen

This exploratory study examines the financial performance satisfaction of small business owners at two time periods: (1) nearing the end of the Great Recession and (2) three years into economic recovery. In addition to considering small business owners in general, special attention has been paid to women and minority owners. Using independent samples t-tests, results indicate that business owners are more satisfied with their financial performance in 2012 than they were in 2009. However, results were not consistent for all subgroups of the population; differences exist between men and women owners and between Caucasian and minority owners. Whereas men mirrored the results for all business owners, women did not report increased satisfaction in any of the five areas of financial performance examined. Caucasian owners reported increases in four of the five areas of financial health and minority owners saw an increase in only three. The study also provides practical implications and areas for future research.

Hooking into the Electronic Grid. Cyberpunk science fiction postulates a world in the not too distant future where a vast information grid is responsible for most activity of any importance. Future hackers with the requisite skills and mental discipline can hook their brains directly to this grid and travel the ‘data paths’ in search of adventure. Novels such as Neuromancer by William Gibson have invigorated the often dull genre by extrapolating present trends into an all‐too‐believable near future. In some sense, the world postulated by cyberpunk is already here. Anyone connected to a network has already become dependent on the vast information grid that is now responsible for a great deal of activity. Indeed, a computer sitting off by itself may still be a useful tool. But with the addition of a modem it can serve as a window into a vast array of information and services.

Pebble Technology Corporation (Pebble) was an early entrant into the smartwatch industry. Pebble’s Founder, Eric Migicovsky, began thinking about creating a smartwatch in 2008 while still an undergraduate engineering student. After selling about 1,500 prototype watches, he was accepted into Silicon Valley’s prestigious Y Combinator business start-up program. Finding it difficult to attract investors, Migicovsky launched a crowdfunding campaign that raised a record-breaking $10.27m on Kickstarter. The case concludes shortly after Apple’s unveiling of its soon-to-be-released Apple Watch. The case provides an opportunity to evaluate Pebble’s various strategic options at the time of Apple’s announcement.

The authors observed over 30 h of video and audio recordings of speeches, interviews and other events involving Pebble’s founder, other Pebble executives, investors and competitors. These recordings are all publicly available. Whenever possible, the authors also reviewed the Twitter feeds, Facebook sites and personal websites of Pebble’s top executives over time. Similarly, the authors followed Pebble’s official website, corporate blog and Kickstarter campaign websites. The authors also drew from numerous media reports. Due to the public nature of the data, no company release is provided nor has any information been disguised in any way.

The case is designed for both undergraduate and graduate students for courses in strategic management.

Aim of the present monograph is the economic analysis of the role of MNEs regarding globalisation and digital economy and in parallel there is a reference and examination of some legal aspects concerning MNEs, cyberspace and e‐commerce as the means of expression of the digital economy. The whole effort of the author is focused on the examination of various aspects of MNEs and their impact upon globalisation and vice versa and how and if we are moving towards a global digital economy.

EVERY librarian in his inmost heart dislikes newspapers. He regards them as bad literature; attractors of undesirable readers; a drain upon the limited resources of the library; and a target against which the detractors of public libraries are constantly battering. From the standpoint of the librarian, newspapers are the most expensive and least productive articles stocked by a library, and their lavish provision is, perhaps, the most costly method of purchasing waste‐paper ever devised. Pressure of circumstances and local conditions combine, however, to muzzle the average librarian, and the consequence is that a perfectly honest and outspoken discussion of the newspaper question is very rarely seen. In these circumstances, an attempt to marshal the arguments for and against the newspaper, together with some account of a successful practical experiment at limitation, may prove interesting to readers of this magazine.