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on Neuroeconomics |
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Issue of 2011‒08‒09
three papers chosen by |
| By: | Ashraf, Quamrul; Galor, Oded |
| Abstract: | This research argues that deep-rooted factors, determined tens of thousands of years ago, had a significant effect on the course of economic development from the dawn of human civilization to the contemporary era. It advances and empirically establishes the hypothesis that, in the course of the exodus of Homo sapiens out of Africa, variation in migratory distance from the cradle of humankind to various settlements across the globe affected genetic diversity and has had a long-lasting effect on the pattern of comparative economic development that is not captured by geographical, institutional, and cultural factors. In particular, the level of genetic diversity within a society is found to have a hump-shaped effect on development outcomes in both the pre-colonial and the modern era, reflecting the trade-off between the beneficial and the detrimental effects of diversity on productivity. While the intermediate level of genetic diversity prevalent among Asian and European populations has been conducive for development, the high degree of diversity among African populations and the low degree of diversity among Native American populations have been a detrimental force in the development of these regions. |
| Keywords: | Comparative development; Human genetic diversity; Income per capita; Land productivity; Neolithic Revolution; Population density; The 'Out of Africa' hypothesis |
| JEL: | N10 N30 N50 O10 O50 Z10 |
| Date: | 2011–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:8500&r=neu |
| By: | Cobb-Clark, Deborah; Schurer, Stefanie |
| Abstract: | Empirical studies of the role of non-cognitive skills in driving economic behavior often rely heavily on the assumption that these skills are stable over the relevant time frame. We analyze the change in a specific non-cognitive skill, i.e. locus of control, in order to directly assess the validity of this assumption. We find that short- and medium-run changes in locus of control are rather modest on average, are concentrated among the young or very old, do not appear to be related to the demographic, labor market, and health events that individuals experience, and are unlikely to be economically meaningful. Still, there is no evidence that locus of control is truly time-invariant implying that the use of lagged measures results in an errors-in-variables problem that could downward bias the estimated wage return to locus of control by as much as 50 percent. Those researchers wishing to analyze the economic consequences of non-cognitive skills should consider (i) restricting their analysis to the working-age population for whom there is little evidence of systematic change in skill levels and (ii) accounting for error in the skill measures they employ. |
| Keywords: | non-cognitive skills, locus of control, stability, measurement error, endogeneity, life events, |
| Date: | 2011–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vuw:vuwecf:1619&r=neu |
| By: | Dave Valliere (Ted Rogers School of Management, Ryerson University) |
| Abstract: | This article is an investigation into the causes of entrepreneurial alertness, the ability of entrepreneurs to spot new business opportunities in the environment. By drawing from decision theory and schema theory, a model is developed to show how changes in the environment are mediated by entrepreneurial alertness and brought to the situated attention of entrepreneurs for evaluation. Entrepreneurial alertness is seen to be the application of unique schemata that allow the entrepreneur to impute meaning to environmental change that would not be imputed by other managers. It is argued that this arises from differences in schematic richness, schematic association, and schematic priming. These three antecedents may therefore form a basis on which enhanced entrepreneurial alertness can be developed |
| Keywords: | Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurial alertness, Opportunity spotting; Growth and innovation; SME development |
| JEL: | M0 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cms:2icb11:2011-147&r=neu |