The Diablo 3 Economy: An Agent Based Approach
Makram El-Shagi, Gregor von Schweinitz
Computational Economics,
No. 2,
2016
Abstract
Designers of MMOs such as Diablo 3 face economic problems much like policy makers in the real world, e.g. inflation and distributional issues. Solving economic problems through regular updates (patches) became as important to those games as traditional gameplay issues. In this paper we provide an agent framework inspired by the economic features of Diablo 3 and analyze the effect of monetary policy in the game. Our model reproduces a number of features known from the Diablo 3 economy such as a heterogeneous price development, driven almost exclusively by goods of high quality, a highly unequal wealth distribution and strongly decreasing economic mobility. The basic framework presented in this paper is meant as a stepping stone to further research, where our evidence is used to deepen our understanding of the real-world counterparts of such problems. The advantage of our model is that it combines simplicity that is inherent to model economies with a similarly simple observable counterpart (namely the game environment where real agents interact). By matching the dynamics of the game economy we can thus easily verify that our behavioral assumptions are good approximations to reality.
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Private Equity, Jobs, and Productivity
Steven J. Davis, John Haltiwanger, Kyle Handley, Ron S. Jarmin, Josh Lerner, Javier Miranda
American Economic Review,
No. 12,
2014
Abstract
Private equity critics claim that leveraged buyouts bring huge job losses and few gains in operating performance. To evaluate these claims, we construct and analyze a new dataset that covers US buyouts from 1980 to 2005. We track 3,200 target firms and their 150,000 establishments before and after acquisition, comparing to controls defined by industry, size, age, and prior growth. Buyouts lead to modest net job losses but large increases in gross job creation and destruction. Buyouts also bring TFP gains at target firms, mainly through accelerated exit of less productive establishments and greater entry of highly productive ones.
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Determinants of Knowledge Exchange Between Foreign and Domestic Enterprises in European Post-transition Economies
Andrea Gauselmann
Journal Economia e Politica Industriale (Journal of Industrial and Business Economics),
No. 4,
2014
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to contribute to the literature on internationalised research and development by investigating determinants of knowledge and technology transfer between foreign subsidiaries and the local economy in European post-transition economies. This inquiry leads to a better understanding of determinants that influence this knowledge and technology exchange. Applying a logit model, we find that, in particular, the foreign subsidiary’s corporate governance structure, its embeddedness in the multinational enterprise’s internal knowledge base, its own technological capacity, the growth of the regional knowledge stock and the regional sectoral diversification are all positively associated with the transfer of knowledge. Subsidiaries’ investment motives and the relative weight of the sector of investment in the region’s economy appear to be of less importance. The analysis focuses on European post-transition economies, using the example of five selected Central Eastern European countries and East Germany. We exploit a unique dataset, the IWH FDI Micro database, which contains information on one thousand two hundred forty-five foreign subsidiaries in this region.
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Relative Deprivation and Migration Preferences
Walter Hyll, Lutz Schneider
Economics Letters,
No. 2,
2014
Abstract
In this letter, we overcome the existing shortages with respect to the assignment of individuals to reference groups and are the first to show that individual aversion to relative deprivation plays a decisive role in shaping migration preferences.
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Keine Angst vor China – Befunde zur Internationalisierung von Forschung und Entwicklung
Iciar Dominguez Lacasa, Wilfried Ehrenfeld, Jutta Günther, Björn Jindra
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
No. 3,
2013
Abstract
Die Internationalisierung von Forschung und Entwicklung nimmt seit vielen Jahren zu. Dieses Phänomen weckt die Befürchtung, der Technologiestandort Deutschland könne durch die Verlagerung von Forschungsaktivitäten insbesondere in die aufstrebenden Schwellenländer gefährdet werden. Um ein vollständigeres Bild dieser Vorgänge zu erhalten, gibt der Beitrag auf der Basis transnationaler Patentdaten einen Überblick über das Ausmaß sowie die relevanten Technologie-felder der Erfinderaktivitäten deutscher Unternehmen im Ausland in den ver-gangenen zwei Jahrzehnten. Die Analyse zeigt, dass Westeuropa mit einem stabilen Anteil von gut 60% weiterhin die wichtigste Zielregion für technologische Aktivitäten deutscher Unternehmen mit Patentoutput ist. In den letzten Jahren haben allerdings Schwellenländer, allen voran China, deutlich an Attraktivität gewonnen, wobei sich der Umfang der Erfinderaktivitäten deutscher Firmen in diesen Ländern immer noch auf einem sehr niedrigen Niveau befindet. Gleichzeitig haben die USA an Bedeutung verloren, bleiben jedoch das wichtigste einzelne Zielland. Die aktuelle Internationalisierung der Erfindertätigkeit in Richtung Schwellenländer stellt schon aufgrund ihres geringen Ausmaßes keine Bedrohung für den Forschungsstandort Deutschland dar. Zudem birgt die stärkere technologische Vernetzung mit diesen aufstrebenden Regionen nicht nur Gefahren, sondern eröffnet auch Potenziale für die in Deutschland ansässige FuE der Unternehmen.
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