Simulations:

Test

Working Papers:

• Signaling Equilibria in an Alliance System: Nuclear Arsenals in the Cold War

Refereed Publications:

1. Lipsey, R., Bekar, C., and Carlaw, K. (1998) ‘What Requires Explanation?’ Chapter Two in General Purpose Technologies, edited by Helpman, E.. MIT Press: Cambridge.
2. Lipsey, R., Bekar, C., and Carlaw, K. (1998) ‘The Consequences of Changes in GPTs.’ Chapter Eight in General Purpose Technologies, edited by Helpman, E.. MIT Press: Cambridge.
3. Bekar, C. (Forthcoming) 'Scattering as Insurance: A Robust Explanation of Open Fields?' Research in Economic History.

1. Lipsey, R and Bekar, C. (1995) ‘A Structuralist View of Technical Change and Economic Growth.’ Bell Canada Papers on Economic and Public Policy, Vol. 3; Technology, Information and Public Policy: John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy; Queens University.
2. Lipsey, R and Bekar, C. (1997) ‘A Structuralist View of Technical Change and Economic Growth.’ Reprinted in Microeconomics, Growth and Political Economy: The Selected Essays of Richard Lipsey Vol. One. Edward Elgar: Cheltenham, UK.
3. Bekar, C. (forthcoming) “Income Sharing Amongst Medieval Peasants: Usury Prohibitions and the Non-Market Provision of Insurance.” for a conference hosted by the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade (University of Oregon, 2000).
4. Bekar, C. and Lipsey R. (2001) “Clusters and Economic Policy.” prepared for Policies for the New Economy conference hosted by Finance Canada, Human Resources Development Canada, and Industry Canada, published in ISUMA: Canadian Policy Research Journal (Montreal, 2001).

1. Presented, ‘A Structuralist View of Technical Change and Economic Growth.’ at  John Deutsch Institute for the Study of Economic Policy; Queens University (1994).
2. Presented, ‘Science, Institutions, and the Industrial Revolution.’ at All-University of California Economic History Group Meeting, UC-Davis (1999).
3. Presented, ‘Pooling, Storage, and Scattering: A Simulation of Some Proposed Medieval Insurance Mechanisms.’ at All-University of California Economic History Group Meeting, UC-Riverside (2000).
4. Presented, ‘Religious Prohibitions Against Usury.’ at International Iinstitute Fisheries Economics and Trade International Conference, Oregon State University (2000).
5. Presenting, ‘Pooling, Storage, and Scattering: A Simulation of Some Proposed Medieval Insurance Mechanisms.’ Economic History Association sessions at ASSA meetings in New Orleans (2001).

• Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (September 1992 to present).
• Elements of the above research are being written up in the book, Time, Markets, and Technology: Explorations in Economic Change. (Forthcoming).
• Professor Richard Lipsey, Provided research assistance on Lipsey, Purvis and Steiner, Economics (Tenth Edition).

I am currently working on two strands of research. With my co-authors Richard Lipsey and Ken Carlaw I am exploring issues surrounding technological change and long-run economic growth. Issues of interest to me include how to properly model innovation; what "causes" innovation; and how innovation is related to economic growth (and the massive social dislocations that accompany economic growth).

I am also working on a number of issues surrounding the consumption smoothing efforts of medieval peasants. Peasants lived in an environment typified by extremely low seed yields--in fact net seed yields yielded close to a subsistence level crop. Importantly, the variance of net seed yields is also very high. So how come mortality is only weakly correlated with poor harvests? Potential explanations include the informal pooling of individual incomes, the scattering of one's land, the generosity of the church, or the saving grain. I am currently determining the empirical and theoretical support for each thesis. I employ a computer simulation to explore the theoretical aspects of each option.

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    Submitted Papers:

1.  With Clyde Reed, Religious Prohibitions Against Usury. Submitted to Explorations in Economic History.
2. With Richard Lipsey, Science, Institutions, and the Industrial Revolution. Submitted to Industrial and Corporate Change..
3. With Clyde Reed, Open Fields, Risk, and Land Divisibility. Submitted to Explorations in Economic History. [Code for Simulation]

 

1. Pooling, Storage, and Scattering: A Simulation of Some Proposed Medieval Insurance Mechanisms. [PDF file, 195K]
2. The Productivity Paradox of the Industrial Revolution. [PDF fiel, 157K]
3. Land as insurance and its distribution.

1. With Richard Lipsey and Ken Carlaw, Time, Markets, and Technology: Explorations in Economic Change. (Forthcoming).