Numeraire Illusion: The Final Demise of the Kaldor-Hicks Principle

The result in this paper undercuts the major applications of the Kaldor-Hicks reasoning in the standard Chicago school (wealth maximization) of law and economics, cost–benefit analysis, policy analysis, and related parts of applied welfare economics.

Wall Street Capitalism as “The Model” for Market Economies

This paper addresses the way the American “Wall Street Capitalism” embodies the irresponsible disconnect between action and the results that markets (unlike governments) are supposed to prevent. This paper is in the Slovene journal Theory and Practice that dates back to 1964.

Introduction to Property Theory

This is yet another unpublished paper to introduce property theory to various audiences, particularly economists.

The Libertarian Case for Slavery: A Note on Nozick

This is a historically important paper, by one “J. Philmore,” arguing along with Robert Nozick from a free-market libertarian viewpoint that the self-sale contract and the current employment or self-rental contract are on the same moral footing.

The Market Mechanism of Appropriation

This is a non-mathematical treatment of the fundamental theorem about the laissez faire mechanism for property appropriation.

Hume Implies Locke: Fundamental Theorem of Property Theory

The fundamental theorem for the invisible hand mechanism in the property system is that if Hume’s conditions are satisfied, then the invisible judge imputes in accordance with the Lockean responsibility principle. The paper mathematically formulates and proves the theorem using vector flows on graphs.

Mathematics of Real Estate Appraisal

This paper on the math of real estate appraisal is my most downloaded paper on the SSRN site! Hence I might as well make it available here too. It is a long discourse on the mathematics of compounding and discounting.

Arbitrage Theory

This a reprint of an applied math paper connecting the notion of arbitrage and the Lagrange multipliers of mathematical economics. The paper has a simple application showing that a circular gear train (all in the same plane) with an odd number of gears is rigid (cannot move) like the graphic to the left.

On the Role of Capital in “Capitalist” and in Labor-Managed Firms

This paper outlines the “fundamental myth” about the structure of property rights in a capitalist economy, namely the idea that being the residual claimant in a productive opportunity is part of a bundle of property rights known as the “ownership of the firm.” Residual claimancy is contractually determined so there is no such “ownership.” The fundamental myth exposes a basic fallacy in capital theory that has hitherto escaped attention in the capital theory debates. (Reprint from: Review of Radical Political Economics, Winter 2007)

Goodwill: Not a Present Property Right

This is a small article in a Dutch finance and accounting journal that makes a big point.