Friday, August 31, 2018

Populations of lateral entorhinal cortex neurons represent time inherently through the encoding of experience: this may be integrated with spatial inputs from the medial entorhinal cortex in the hippocampus, storing a unified representation of what, where and when

Integrating time from experience in the lateral entorhinal cortex. Albert Tsao, Jørgen Sugar, Li Lu, Cheng Wang, James J. Knierim, May-Britt Moser & Edvard I. Moser. Nature (2018), https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0459-6

Abstract: The encoding of time and its binding to events are crucial for episodic memory, but how these processes are carried out in hippocampal–entorhinal circuits is unclear. Here we show in freely foraging rats that temporal information is robustly encoded across time scales from seconds to hours within the overall population state of the lateral entorhinal cortex. Similarly pronounced encoding of time was not present in the medial entorhinal cortex or in hippocampal areas CA3–CA1. When animals’ experiences were constrained by behavioural tasks to become similar across repeated trials, the encoding of temporal flow across trials was reduced, whereas the encoding of time relative to the start of trials was improved. The findings suggest that populations of lateral entorhinal cortex neurons represent time inherently through the encoding of experience. This representation of episodic time may be integrated with spatial inputs from the medial entorhinal cortex in the hippocampus, allowing the hippocampus to store a unified representation of what, where and when.

Seen a widening gap between star firms (defined as those in top 10% of return on invested capital in any year) & the rest of the economy over time, especially in industries that rely on a skilled labor force, until you measure well intangible capital

Ayyagari, Meghana and Demirgüç-Kunt, Asli and Maksimovic, Vojislav, Who are America's Star Firms? (August 13, 2018). http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3230154

Abstract: There is widespread concern about a growing gap between top-performing publicly listed firms and the rest of the economy and the implications of this for rising inequality in the U.S. Using conventional return calculations, there is indeed a widening gap between star firms (defined as those in top 10% of return on invested capital in any year) and the rest of the economy over time, especially in industries that rely on a skilled labor force. However, once measurement error in intangible capital is accounted for, this gap shrinks dramatically and has not been widening over time. While pricing power, as measured by markups, predicts star firm status, a large fraction of star firms have low markups and there is no evidence that star firms are cutting output or investment more than other firms for the same markup. The effect of star status is persistent. Five years later, star firms have higher growth, pro ts, and Tobin's Q. A small subset of exceptional firms may pose more pressing policy concerns with much higher returns and the potential to exercise market power in the future.

Keywords: star firms, intangible capital, organizational capital, industry concentration, ROIC, capital expenditure
JEL Classification: G30, G31, G32, L22, L23, L25

We knew that people search for balance in moral behavior such that they feel licensed to behave less morally after a previous moral act (licensing) & cleanse previous morally questionable behaviors by subsequently behaving more morally (cleansing)

Taking Close Others’ Environmental Behavior Into Account When Striking the Moral Balance? Evidence for Vicarious Licensing, Not for Vicarious Cleansing. Marijn H. C. Meijers et al. Environment and Behavior, https://doi.org/10.1177/0013916518773148

Abstract: Research shows that people search for balance in their moral (e.g., environmentally friendly) behaviors such that they feel licensed to behave less morally after a previous moral act (licensing) and cleanse previous morally questionable behaviors by subsequently behaving more morally (cleansing). This article investigates whether this balancing may extend to close others, but not to nonclose others, and tests vicarious licensing and cleansing in the environmental domain. Study 1 showed that vicarious licensing effects are more likely when a close other displayed environmentally friendly (vs. neutral) behavior. Study 2 showed that environmental vicarious licensing effects are more likely for close than nonclose others. Studies 3 and 4 suggested that vicarious licensing effects, but not vicarious cleansing effects are more likely for close (vs. nonclose) others. Finally, a meta-analysis showed that overall these studies provide evidence for vicarious licensing effects, but not for vicarious cleansing effects in the environmental domain.

Keywords: environmentally friendly, licensing, cleansing, vicarious, self–other overlap, morality





We ask whether people in a strategic situation follow the Golden Rule, that is, do not treat others in ways that they find disagreeable to themselves; over three quarters of the experiments' subjects do so

Role-Reversal Consistency: An Experimental Study of the Golden Rule. Miguel A. Costa‐Gomes, Yuan Ju, Jiawen Li. Economic Inquiry, https://doi.org/10.1111/ecin.12708

Abstract: We report an experiment that asks whether people in a strategic situation behave according to the Golden Rule, that is, do not treat others in ways that they find disagreeable to themselves, a property that we call role‐reversal consistency. Overall, we find that over three quarters of the subjects are role‐reversal consistent. Regression analysis suggests that this finding is not driven by players maximizing their subjective expected monetary earnings given their stated beliefs about their opponents' behavior. We find that subjects' stated beliefs and actions reveal mild projection bias. (JEL C78, C91)