Domen Zavrl’s scientific contributions

Investment evaluation is the control of the planning and implementation of investment activities with regard to the objectives to be achieved. In this paper I assume the objective to be efficient outcome and profit maximization. This means that investment evaluation puts normative assessments into the context of planning and management and hence into the context of intentional action and cycles of action. Here not only the assessment of facts and scenarios is important but also the, more or less implicit, causal chains which connect activities with investment results and finally with goal achievement. The model for investment evaluation I propose has two money holders who must decide how to invest their money in two investment funds (financial intermediaries) that, in turn, will use the money to bid to acquire ownership in two projects. The general case when the number of money holders, the number of funds, and the number of investments are arbitrary may be handled in a similar manner to the development below, but at a cost of greater complexity. As a result no mechanism to achieve the maximum outcome is present and different methods to find optimal structure under uncertainty and different cost structures are discussed.

Project evaluation is the control of the planning and implementation of project activities with regard to the objectives to be achieved. In this paper we assume the objective to be efficient outcome and profit maximization. This means that project evaluation puts normative assessments into the context of planning and management and hence into the context of intentional action and cycles of action. The model for project evaluation we propose has two money holders who must decide how to invest their money in two investment funds (financial intermediaries) that, in turn, will use the money to bid to acquire ownership in two projects. The general case when the number of money holders, the number of funds, and the number of investments are arbitrary may be handled in a similar manner to the development below, but at a cost of greater complexity. As a result no mechanism to achieve the maximum outcome is present and different methods to find optimal structure under uncertainty and different cost structures are discussed.

An increasing number of Centers for Economic Development is emerging in different countries of European Union. Their main goal is to stimulate Economic Cross border Cooperation. The consequences of this raising number of CEDs are little understood: does the agglomeration stimulate cooperation, or does it lead to a competition between CEDs? We use a game simulation as a research method as it offers a successful way of performing policy research. The main finding of the ‘CED game’ is that with agglomeration, the willingness to cooperate decreases. Furthermore we discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of such game simulation as a tool for policy research. This article suggests that game simulations can be an interesting tool for policy research, but since this method also has its disadvantages a combination of various research methods will contribute to better results.

An increasing number of Centers for Economic Development is emerging in different countries of European Union. Their main goal is to stimulate Economic Cross border Cooperation. The consequences of this raising number of CEDs are little understood: does the agglomeration stimulate cooperation, or does it lead to a competition between CEDs? We use a game simulation as a research method as it offers a successful way of performing policy research. The main finding of the 'CED game' is that with agglomeration, the willingness to cooperate decreases. Furthermore we discuss the potential advantages and disadvantages of such game simulation as a tool for policy research. This article suggests that game simulations can be an interesting tool for policy research, but since this method also has its disadvantages a combination of various research methods will contribute to better results.

The current turmoil in the financial markets forces us to question the validity and relevance of the present economic theories. Complex dynamics characterized by bounded rationality and strong impact of expectations on the markets provides an independent source of fundamental uncertainty and this one can lead to speculative bubbles in assets markets triggering growth of public debt. The neoclassical methodology based on logical empiricism and deductive reasoning has failed to show what is going on in the real world. We will employ the institutionalist's view and focus on the behavioral aspects of the system modeling decision making process. We illustrate this approach with a model drawn from the current Greek sovereign debt crisis and its bailout discussions. The main benefit expected is the increased realism of the model itself. The discrepancies between theoretical predictions and observed behavior have had a major negative impact on economic models and system dynamicists can contribute a significant amount of value to institutional economics.