Contacts by Nicola Giocoli
My CV by Nicola Giocoli
Drafts by Nicola Giocoli
Obiettivo: salvare la stagione 2019-2020 del calcio a livello UEFA (ma la proposta vale anche per... more Obiettivo: salvare la stagione 2019-2020 del calcio a livello UEFA (ma la proposta vale anche per basket, volley, ecc.)
The paper contains the table of contents and introduction of my manuscript "A Smithian Constituti... more The paper contains the table of contents and introduction of my manuscript "A Smithian Constitution. The Classical Political Economy of the Lochner Era". Other parts of the manuscript are available on request.
Papers by Nicola Giocoli
Il Pensiero Economico Italiano, 1997
In questo saggio esamino la teoria dell'interesse contenuta nell'opera giovanile di Galiani, Dell... more In questo saggio esamino la teoria dell'interesse contenuta nell'opera giovanile di Galiani, Della moneta. Nonostante l'attenzione riservata a questa teoria da tutti gli studiosi che si sono occupati di Galiani come economista, rimangono a mio avviso ancora alcuni aspetti da chiarire. Non è del tutto evidente, infatti, quale sia la spiegazione dell'interesse proposta dall'abate napoletano ed è persino legittimo dubitare che egli avesse una vera e propria teoria dell'interesse.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2004
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2011
The paper applies the notions of network cost and network efficiency, recently developed in compl... more The paper applies the notions of network cost and network efficiency, recently developed in complex network theory, to fully characterize all the relevant dimensions of Coase's famous "market versus firm" dichotomy. Thanks to network analysis, the latter emerges as a wider issue which touches every system of interconnected agents who exchange something among themselves. To show that, the new tools are applied to improve the analysis of the banking system by Allen & Gale 2000, where agents exchange liquidity and where troubles in a local area of the network may lead to systemic collapse.
Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, 2003
The goal of this paper is to investigate Maffeo Pantaleoni's early 20th century dynamic theory, a... more The goal of this paper is to investigate Maffeo Pantaleoni's early 20th century dynamic theory, and, in particular, to highlight the novelty of his notion of second-kind dynamics. The main thesis is that Pantaleoni employed the notion to build a truly original, non-orthodox disequilibrium dynamic theory capable of accounting for the dynamic and structural instability of the economic system as well as for the 'true' uncertainty affecting decisionmaking processes.
Cambridge Journal of Economics, 2005
The paper covers the 1924-1949 debate on the conjectural variations approach to duopoly theory an... more The paper covers the 1924-1949 debate on the conjectural variations approach to duopoly theory and focuses on the evolution of economists' views about the imposition of a consistency condition on the firms' conjectures. The main point is that, although the consistency condition entailed a notion of interactive equilibrium that resembled the modern correct conjectures equilibrium, most neoclassical economists of the time refused to apply it because of the excessive requirements it imposed upon the firms' forecasting abilities, and because of its failure to encompass an explanation of the equilibrating process.
Social Science Research Network, Jun 1, 2009
Abstract The paper deals with the history of the antitrust offence of predatory pricing in US ant... more Abstract The paper deals with the history of the antitrust offence of predatory pricing in US antitrust law. Despite being considered so serious a violation to deserve a per se condemnation, predatory behaviour has never been easy to identify in real markets because pricing at a very low level is normally welfare-enhancing. For most of the twentieth century, the violation has been severely enforced by US courts, though on the basis of a legal argument devoid of solid foundations in theoretical economics. The paper examines the ...
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Jun 26, 2003
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Jun 26, 2003
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Jun 26, 2003
Journal of The History of The Behavioral Sciences, Nov 16, 2012
Bayesian rationality is the paradigm of rational behavior in neoclassical economics. A rational a... more Bayesian rationality is the paradigm of rational behavior in neoclassical economics. A rational agent in an economic model is one who maximizes her subjective expected utility and consistently revises her beliefs according to Bayes's rule. The paper raises the question of how, when and why this characterization of rationality came to be endorsed by mainstream economists. Though no definitive answer is provided, it is argued that the question is far from trivial and of great historiographic importance. The story begins with Abraham Wald's behaviorist approach to statistics and culminates with Leonard J. Savage's elaboration of subjective expected utility theory in his 1954 classic The Foundations of Statistics. It is the latter's acknowledged fiasco to achieve its planned goal, the reinterpretation of traditional inferential techniques along subjectivist and behaviorist lines, which raises the puzzle of how a failed project in statistics could turn into such a tremendous hit in economics. A couple of tentative answers are also offered, involving the role of the consistency requirement in neoclassical analysis and the impact of the postwar transformation of US business schools.
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Jun 26, 2003
Edward Elgar Publishing eBooks, Jun 26, 2003
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Contacts by Nicola Giocoli
My CV by Nicola Giocoli
Drafts by Nicola Giocoli
Papers by Nicola Giocoli
As the business practice that most directly raises these kinds of questions, predatory pricing is at the core of antitrust debates. The history of its law and economics offers a privileged standpoint for assessing the broader development of antitrust, its past, present and future. In contrast to existing literature, this book adopts the perspective of the history of economic thought to tell this history, covering a period from the late 1880s to present times.
The image of a big firm, such as Rockefeller’s Standard Oil or Duke’s American Tobacco, crushing its small rivals by underselling them is iconic in American antitrust culture. It is no surprise that the most brilliant legal and economic minds of the last 130 years have been engaged in solving the predatory pricing puzzle. The book shows economic theories that build rigorous stories explaining when predatory pricing may be rational, what welfare harm it may cause and how the law may fight it. Among these narratives, a special place belongs to the Chicago story, according to which predatory pricing is never profitable and every low price is always a good price.