Knowledge that Transforms

Using the von Neumann-Morgenstern approach to the theory of decision making under uncertainty, this paper shows that a broad decline in mortality rates should lead parents to substitute children for other goods and durable quality attributes of children for quantity of children. Further, if quantity is interpreted as survivors to maturity, the demographic transition--a sufficient decline in birth rates to reestablish a low population growth rate--will occur only if the substitution of quality for quantity outweighs the substitution of quantity for other goods.

The argument of efficient versus inefficient allocation of resources under share tenancy has received considerable attention in the literature. The purpose of this article is to show that share leasing does not result in inefficient resource use. This paper demonstrates that an arrangement in which rent is some percentage of farm output during a certain period of time for a given acreage yields an equilibrium solution with an efficient allocation of resources. A geometric proof, economic interpretation, and some general observations are provided.

Let currency be issued with several commodities as backing. If certain pricing rules are strictly followed, it is shown that currency can then be redeemed without restriction for any of the commodities and that, according to a certain definition, the currency retains constant value, so that general inflation cannot occur.

Puerto Rico's transformation from a preindustrial to an industralized economy in the period 1948-63 provides an opportunity to measure the impact of technological change on several basic parameters in a Marxian economic framework. The rate of surplus value (estimated using the Morishima-Seton transformation) remains relatively stable at 0.97 in 1948 and 0.93 in 1963, while the organic composition falls from 2.75 to 2.09. The stability in the rate of surplus value results from a 63 percent average fall in labor values counterbalanced by a 143 percent rise in labor's consumption. The rate of surplus value, when adjusted for trade flows, jumps to 1.31 in 1948 and 1.18 in 1963, due to Puerto Rico's large balance-of-trade deficit and the relative import intensity of labor's consumption.

This paper develops a geometrical model for the analysis of the collective decision process known as general fund financing. The model is used to compare the outcomes produced under general fund financing and simple majority voting and to explore the comparative statics properties of general fund financing. The major conclusion is that general fund financing often produces unpredictable and paradoxical outcomes. For example, a change in the preferences of voters which would lead to increased outputs of each of two public goods under simple majority voting can produce reduced outputs of both public goods under general fund financing.