We study optimal labor-income taxation in a dynamic economy in which the agents’ productivity is their own private information, is stochastic, and evolves endogenously over the lifecycle due to learning-by-doing. First, we identify novel distortions that originate in the endogeneity of the agents’ private information and that contribute to higher labor wedges under the optimal tax code. Next, w...

Companies find it difficult to change strategy for many reasons, but one stands out: strategic thinking is not a core managerial competence at most companies. Executives hone their capabilities by tackling problems over and over again. Changing strategy, however, is not usually a task that they face repeatedly. Once companies have found a strategy that works, they want to use it, not change it....

We develop two related themes, learning procedures and knowledge transfer. This paper introduces two methods for learning procedures and one for transferring previously-learned knowledge to a slightly different task. We demonstrate by experiment that transfer accelerates learning.

This paper is a study on the process of evolution of a novice to an expert in a diagnostic context. In this paper, we have chosen an abstract example of a diagnostic problem. The results in this article are based on a longitudinal study of a single subject. The empirical base is a protocol of the subject as he solved this problem until he mastered the most sophisticated strategy. Based on an an...

The papers in this Special Issue of Educational Technology and Society are extensions of presentations given at the 1999 Texas Distance Learning Association (TxDLA) Annual Conference held April 5-8, 1999, in Waco, Texas, U.S.A. TxDLA is pleased that our collaboration with IFETS has afforded the opportunity to present these papers for publication in their official Journal. The eight extended pap...

The World Trade Center terrorist attacks of September 11 th have stimulated us to think about the challenges organizations face in dealing with low-probability events that have catastrophic consequences. More specifically, there are certain bad events that can only occur once. Death is the clearest example: an individual's death is irreversible and unrepeatable. With respect to firm behavior, b...

Managers can create and implement their own efficient strategic plans to adapt to changes which have diminished the firm’s competitiveness in the market. A three-step method can be applied in its formulation as an alternative to relying on outsourced planning or business consultants. The method includes the identification of economic, technological, or competitive factors within the firm which ...