Experimental Economics: modeling market behavior

 

The government is discussing the influence of immigrant workers on the employment situation in the country. A transport company is claiming a piece of regulation harmfully distorts the market. For an opinion, they turn to economists.

Unlike other scientists however, Economists can not resort to solid proof, to an experiment. They talk of past situations similar to the current one, arguing to support or contradict a given opinion. And past situations by definition happened in a diffent time, or in a different place, where multiple unknown conditions could have been at play. Since however the subject matter is numerous humans interacting, there is no way to simulate the problem case. Or is there?

Experiments in Economics came to the light of day thanks to the 2002 Nobel Prize. Largely based on a new, rules-of-behavior approach to what actually defines a given market, they have the potential of giving economists the solid evidence they always lacked to solve their disputes..

 

 

Z ziemi wloskiej do Polski (From the Italian soil to Poland): a journey in language evolution

 

Why is the Polish or Russian of today as complicated as the Latin of 100AD even though they have all once started from the same point, and the direction has always been to turn simpler?

Is it because Poland or Russia where late to get civilized? Well, probably not, given that most of the simplification that changed classic Latin into today's Italian, Spanish or French, happened during the completely barbaric period after the fall of Rome, when education didn't disturb the population in degrading their language further and further. Hardly a surprise, the result of such degradation may not be superior or inferior, but is definately easier to learn and to describe.

The idea I come out of is that the redundant, complex grammar creates dozens of versions for a single word that carry no communication value - that those barriers are set to crumble in the era of communication which we are now fully into. What held the Polish grammar as it was in the past was the strong conviction that the past (i.e. referring to the gradual descent the medieval Poland and continuous struggle to regain independence ever since it was lost), therefore attaching value to the otherwise unnecessary complexity and baroqueness. That sentiment for preservation of the past is reinforced using a returning Leitmotif in the teaching of Polish literature and history to school children in their formative years. A hidden second meaning it conveys, is that all that lies ahead of Poland is forever marked by the tragic fate of the nation. Even though Poland has been free to develop on its own for 15 years now, that education leitmotif remains unreviewed, and held up as immeasurable treasure still. It does however stand in a more and more stark contrast with the common perception of reality, and therefore is sure to catch attention and come under review once.

My point is that once the common values change from preservation to communication and understanding of one's fellow citizen, it will trigger an evolution in the language. An evolution that will try to catch up on the evolution that simplified other european languages. Based on how similar the changes were in other languages (definite, indefinite article, reduction and simplification of endings, abandonment of the case system, shift from free word order to fixed word order, general shift to conceptional language similar to English). And these are not only West-european languages which we can look at. There are examples much closer, such as Bulgarian or Serbian. We can also look at the advanced evolutionary level of Rumanian, a language of a nation with similar political past.

Most european languages originate from one grammar-heavy language. The grammar was reduntant and died away, especially in Latin-based and Germanic languages. English presents a particularly evolutionarily developed case. Apart from numerous transformations that gave it new qualities, it also took on foreign elements heavily, such as the large body of latin words in addition to its germanic core. The development momentum in Old English was spurned by the first Roman invasion, and was further advanced by the merger with Viking language later, and with the French of England's consequtive conquestors.

Other languages imported words but never developed such a dual vocabulary as English. A similar trend among nobles in 16/17th century Poland to use Latin expressions (abundant in polish literature classics) never gained popularity, perhaps because the nobles did not speak Latin natively. Latin was however similar enough to Polish so it could possibly act as a simplifying medium.