INTERNATIONAL R&D SPILLOVERS AND OECD ECONOMIC GROWTH

This paper quantifies the cross-national spillover effects of government and private investment in research and development (ROD), using a panel data set of ten OECD countries. The results show that domestic private research is a significant determinant of both domestic and foreign productivity growth, and that foreign government research stimulates domestic private research. These findings are significant in that they provide empirical support for arguments in favor of international economic policy coordination, particularly in the area of international science and technology.     

Ex Ante and Ex Post: What Does Rod Stewart Really Know Now?1

Do we really know whether or not we have “maximized” utility, or do we just know that we are “happy” or “sad”? We argue that we can never know objectively whether or not utility has been maximized; however, people acting on a free market are sufficiently close to the decision as to be able to hazard a better guess about their opportunity costs than policy makers.     

OWI AND MOTION PICTURES

Is the Office of War Information making fullest use of our motionpicture facilities? Mr. Wanger says no, and presents hereina forthright and vigorous criticism of the policies, personnel,and methods of the Motion Picture Bureau of the OWI. The author is president of the Academy of Motion Picture Artsand Sciences and has produced a wide variety of entertainmentfilms from Algiers and Foreign Correspondentto Eagle Squadronand Arabian Nights. Many of his productions have been attemptsto advance the motion picture as a serious medium of expression,notably in the case of Gabriel Over the White House, PrivateWorlds, The President Vanishes, and Blockade. Mr. Wanger isalso president of the Motion Picture Society for the Americaswhich is the Hollywood collaborator with the Office of the Coordinatorof Inter-American Affairs.     

MYTHS, ADMONITIONS AND RATIONALITY: THE AMERICAN INDIAN AS A RESOURCE MANAGER

As concern over natural resource management has increased, modern societies have been warned that a new, less materialistic ethic will be required for man's survival. The American Indian cultures have been prominent among the ideals mentioned. This paper puts forth and cites evidence to support the economic arguments that incentives matter most. Ethical considerations are important to the extent that they influence institutions, which are crucial in determining incentives. Indian use of private property rights, and the problems caused when that solution was impractical, are featured.     

A Matching Prior for the Shape Parameter of the Skew‐Normal Distribution

Abstract. This paper deals with the issue of performing a default Bayesian analysis on the shape parameter of the skew‐normal distribution. Our approach is based on a suitable pseudo‐likelihood function and a matching prior distribution for this parameter, when location (or regression) and scale parameters are unknown. This approach is important for both theoretical and practical reasons. From a theoretical perspective, it is shown that the proposed matching prior is proper thus inducing a proper posterior distribution for the shape parameter, also when the likelihood is monotone. From the practical perspective, the proposed approach has the advantages of avoiding the elicitation on the nuisance parameters and the computation of multidimensional integrals.