Beyond behaviorism, positivism, and neo-institutionalism in economics: a conversation with Deirdre Nansen McCloskey

Silvestri interviews McCloskey about her forthcoming book, ‘Beyond Behaviorism, Positivism, and Neo-Institutionalism in Economics’, critical of recent economics, especially of neo-institutionalism. Neo-institutionalism uses the ugly character ‘Herr Max U’ as its central idea: the elevation of Prudence to the only virtue. Institutions are mainly intermediate, not ultimate, causes in society. Ethics, rhetoric, identity, ideology, and ideas matter. McCloskey's turn to defending liberalism is in the background of her critique of behaviorism, positivism, and neo-institutionalism as anti-liberal, reducing the analysis of people to a model of childish slaves. Liberalism is the theory of non-slave adults. Of the big ideas of the past few centuries, only liberalism treats people with suitable dignity, and permits them to have a go, and make others rich. Neo-institutionalism shares the two sins of modern Samuelsonian economics: a devotion of mere existence proofs; and a deviation to arbitrary tests of statistical ‘significance’. And in its tale of a rise of ‘capitalism’, it shares the errors of amateur economic history. The better word for the modern economic world of the Great Enrichment – fully 3,000% increases in real income per person – is ‘innovism’. Neo-institutionalism, as the method of historical economics, must be replaced by ‘Humanomics’.

Combined effects of singular and exponential nonlinearities in fractional Kirchhoff problems

<p style='text-indent:20px;'>In this paper we establish the existence of at least two (weak) solutions for the following fractional Kirchhoff problem involving singular and exponential nonlinearities</p><p style='text-indent:20px;'><disp-formula> <label/> <tex-math id="FE1"> \begin{document}$ \begin{cases} M\left(\|u\|^{{n}/{s}}\right)(-\Delta)^s_{n/s}u = \mu u^{-q}+ u^{r-1}\exp( u^{\beta})\quad\text{in } \Omega,\\ u&gt;0\qquad\text{in } \Omega,\\ u = 0\qquad\text{in } \mathbb R^n \setminus{ \Omega}, \end{cases} $\end{document} </tex-math></disp-formula></p><p style='text-indent:20px;'>where <inline-formula><tex-math id="M1">\begin{document}$ \Omega $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> is a smooth bounded domain of <inline-formula><tex-math id="M2">\begin{document}$ \mathbb R^n $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M3">\begin{document}$ n\geq 1 $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M4">\begin{document}$ s\in (0,1) $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M5">\begin{document}$ \mu&gt;0 $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> is a real parameter, <inline-formula><tex-math id="M6">\begin{document}$ \beta &lt;{n/(n-s)} $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula> and <inline-formula><tex-math id="M7">\begin{document}$ q\in (0,1) $\end{document}</tex-math></inline-formula>.The paper covers the so called degenerate Kirchhoff case andthe existence proofs rely on the Nehari manifold techniques.</p>

A bottom-up approach to fermion mass hierarchy: a case with vector-like fermions

We propose a bottom-up approach in which a structure of high-energy physics is explored by accumulating existence proofs and/or no-go theorems in the standard model or its extension. As an illustration, we study fermion mass hierarchies based on an extension of the standard model with vector-like fermions. It is shown that the magnitude of elements of Yukawa coupling matrices can become $O(1)$ and a Yukawa coupling unification can be realized in a theory beyond the extended model, if vector-like fermions mix with three families. In this case, small Yukawa couplings in the standard model can be highly sensitive to a small variation of matrix elements, and it seems that the mass hierarchy occurs as a result of fine tuning.

Computer-assisted Existence Proofs for One-dimensional Schrödinger-Poisson Systems

Motivated by the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrödinger-Poisson system we prove the existence of non-trivial solutions of the one-dimensional stationary Schrödinger-Poisson system using computer-assisted methods. Starting from a numerical approximate solution, we compute a bound for its defect, and a norm bound for the inverse of the linearization at the approximate solution. For the latter, eigenvalue bounds play a crucial role, especially for the eigenvalues "close to" zero. Therefor, we use the Rayleigh-Ritz method and a corollary of the Temple-Lehmann Theorem to get enclosures of the crucial eigenvalues of the linearization below the essential spectrum. With these data in hand, we can use a fixed-point argument to obtain the desired existence of a non-trivial solution "nearby" the approximate one. In addition to the pure existence result, the used methods also provide an enclosure of the exact solution.

PENATAAN KEMBALI KOMPLEKS MUSEUM RADYA PUSTAKA DENGAN PENDEKATAN ARSITEKTUR KONTEKSTUAL DI SURAKARTA

<em>Radya Pustaka Museum Complex Realignment using Contextual Architecture approach in Surakarta caused by the rapid urban development results in the decrease of the heritage buildings image, especially in Surakarta. Radya Pustaka Museum realignment is an attempt to preserve Radya Pustaka Museum’s existence as one of the oldest museums in Indonesia which preserves Javanese cultural existence proofs in the past. The realignment of the museum complex is conducted by maintaining the shape of Radya Pustaka Museum original building as a conservation effort in which the new object design functions as a new cultural appreciation place done by restoring and developing the function of previous existing activities which were able to accommodate all the museum’s activities and needs. The method used is architecture designing plan method approached by Contextual Architecture. Contextual Architecture is applied as an execution design method with the purpose of creating contextual environment visual harmony between the new building and it previous environment. By using this approach, the form, mass order, and façade elements in the new building are designed by not only aesthetic and contrast appearance, but also contextual to the old one. The realignment is designed in line with Surakarta City Government Planning related to tourism, education, and culture development which are expected to make Radya Pustaka Museum as one of the main representation of the historical aspect of the city and to enact the tourism in the city of Surakarta, as the City of Culture. Also it is expected to improve the quality of life for people both inside and outside the scope of Radya Pustaka Museum complex on an ongoing basis.</em>

The Micro-Comparative Syntax of Possession in Quechua

The approach of this book makes two important predictions different from those of the Freeze/Kayne tradition: (a.) possession constructions can vary in the place in the structure where the possessor is introduced, (b.) the different ways of building possession sentences permitted by (a.) could have somewhat different meanings, depending on the semantic contributions of the pieces that make them up. This chapter provides existence proofs that these predictions are correct, drawn from new fieldwork data on two understudied Quechua dialects. Prediction (a.) is supported by an analysis of two possession constructions in Cochabamba Quechua, dubbed the BE construction and the BE-APPL construction, which differ precisely in where the possessor is introduced into the structure. Prediction (b.) is supported via a comparison of the BE-APPL construction in Cochabamba Quechua with a similar construction in Santiago del Estero Quechua. Both case studies suggest that the applicative morpheme does not introduce a thematic role of its own, a fact that has important implications for applicative theory. The chapter closes with some preliminary remarks on why Quechua languages vary with respect to whether or not they have HAVE.