Economics Management-Business Research-Education

Monetizing Innovation

Research and development (known colloquially as R&D) is an inevitability of capitalist markets. New innovations usually outpace yesterday’s technologies. However, many R&D products fail to transition from development to the marketplace. In this work, Ramanujam and Tacke suggest that many of the failures can be avoided by proper management of pricing prior to the start of the project. In truth, this work is an in-depth look at how to set the price of an innovation.…

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Economics Society

The Cost-Benefit Revolution by Cass R. Sunstein

Sunstein, a Harvard law professor, has served in several administrations, both Republican and Democratic. In this book, he exposits his experience in regulation to suggest more effective ways to do so. Instead of partisan pro-con analysis, he suggests to measure costs and benefits, an idea originally implemented by Reagan through the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). This practice provides a pragmatic – Sunstein calls it “technocratic” – way of assessing which regulations are…

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Economics

Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness

This book was written shortly before Barack Obama’s election as U.S. President. Notably, that time was also just before the Great Recession. In that light, this book seems to suggest an ending to the deep conflicts between the world-views of conservative and liberal Baby Boomers and an opening to some sort of resolution of their tensions. It attempts to paint a middle way between economic conservatives (libertarians) and economic liberals (paternalists), a way called “libertarian…

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Economics

Thinking, Fast and Slow

In this book, the author Kahneman shares with us his essential philosophical insights which propelled him to a Nobel Prize. He describes the foundation in neuroscience and psychology which changed his view of how we ascertain something’s value to us. This changed the way that many economists see how the public chooses one choice over another. Traditional economic theory places a dollar value on an economic choice. So for instance, would you rather have $45…

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Economics

Building the New American Economy: Smart, Fair, and Sustainable

by Jeffrey D. SachsAudiobook(c) 2016. I voted for Hillary Clinton twice in 2016. She beat Bernie Sanders in the first race, only to lose to Donald Trump in the second in a close race. Bernie Sanders relied on Sachs’ economics advice. Therefore, I find it important to educate myself on the issues in this democracy and to read this book to illuminate my ignorant mind. Sachs lays out a powerful and persuasive case for engaging…

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