The essay contains a highly speculative theory of social change together with an application to the theory of labour management. It draws on previous work done by the author (1972, 1978), partly in collaboration with C.C.v.weizsäcker (Weizsäcker/Schlicht 1979). In Part I the proposed theory of...

The paper discusses a new seasonality hypothesis which is one part of a weighted regression approach for the decomposition of a time series into a trend, a seasonal component and an irregular component. It is shown that there exists a regression formulation leading, as in the descriptive...

A firm may reduce its turnover and the entailed turnover costs by raising wages. A rise in unemployment reduces turnover and turnover costs in a similar way. The interaction of these effects leads – in presence of perfectly flexible wages – to a stable equilibrium in the labor market which...

Custom is a key factor for economic performance. Social and economic institutions build on it. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the motivational force of custom per se, as brought about by history. History creates entitlements, and these influence behavior. Custom is thus understood as...