MicroIncentives Research Center

An Interdisciplinary Program devoted to the study of micro-level incentives and behavior

Duke University

Incentives are the underlying determinants of economic performance....Bringing incentives up front focuses attention where it belongs, on the key to the performance of economies...Incentives have varied immensely over time and still do. Integrating institutional analysis into [the social sciences requires] redirecting emphasis, but not abandoning the theoretical tools already developed. Redirecting the emphasis entails modifying the notion and implications of rationality, incorporating ideas and ideologies into our analysis, explicitly studying the costs of transacting for the functioning of political and economic markets, and understanding the consequences of path dependence for the historical evolution of economies. At the same time, the underlying tools of neoclassical price theory and the sophisticated quantitative techniques developed by a generation of [microeconomists] continue to be part of the tool kit. How does such an approach alter our perception...?

(Douglass C. North, Institutions, Institutional Change, and Economic Performance, Cambridge, 1990, p. 135).

Mission

Paul Samuelson, in Foundations of Economic Analysis, said:

Logically the determination of output of a given firm under pure competition is precisely the same as the simultaneous determination of thousands of prices and quantities. In every case ceteris paribus assumptions must be made. The only difference lies in the fact that in the general equilibrium case the content of the historical discipline of theoretical economics is practically exhausted. The things which are taken as data for that system happen to be matters which economists have traditionally chosen not to consider as within their province. Among these data may be mentioned tastes, technology, the governmental and institutional framework, and many others...

It is clear, however, that logically there is nothing fundamental about the traditional boundaries of economic science. In fact, a system may be as broad or as narrow as we please depending upon the purpose at hand; and the data of one system may be the variables of a wider system depending on expediency. The fruitfulness of any theory will depend upon the degree to which factors relevant to the particular investigation at hand are brought into sharp focus. And if, for the understanding of the business cycle a theory of governmental policy is demanded, the economist can ill afford to neglect this need on the ground that such matters lie outside his province.

There are four main activities of the MIR Center:

“Venture Capital” approach to development of research initiatives in micro-incentives theory. Any faculty member who wishes to can become a MIR Center Associate, by filling out a questionnaire describing their background, research interests, and plans for use of micro-incentives theory in a project to be developed in association with the Center. The focus of this project should be some combination of developing a substantive research agenda and a plan for attracting outside funding in support of this agenda. Center funds as “seed money” to bring along grant proposals. Interdisciplinary research efforts focused on outside support could receive small summer stipends, technical support in grant preparation, and comments from professional peers in a sympathetic, yet rigorous atmosphere. One important initiative will be to develop closer relations with faculty at Fuqua, and invite an interested faculty member at Fuqua to participate as one of the Senior Research Associates of the Center.
Micro-Incentives Research Colloquium: Every other week, an associate of the Center or an outside speaker will present a paper in an informal setting, over lunch, to Associates who wish to attend. The schedule, and working papers to be presented, will be available the previous week in the form of an Adobe (“PDF”) file on the Center’s www site. The first half hour of each meeting will be informal, encouraging conversation and small group discussion among associates. The formal presentation and Q&A would be brief, lasting no more than an hour, with provision made for those who wish to stay to discuss the topic more extensively would be able to do so. The lunches would be held in the large meeting room of the renovated 2nd Floor West Union Building.
Biennial conference, on a topic to be proposed by Associates of the Center. This conference would be administered by Center staff, and paid for by a combination of Center funds and outside funds raised as appropriate for the topic of the conference.
Research and Training Post-Doctoral Fellowships in Micro-Incentives. Two post-doctoral fellowships will be awarded each year, one to a microeconomics theorist and one to a micro-incentives theorist from outside the traditional economics discipline. These Fellows would teach a 1-1 graduate level teaching load in their respective specialties, with the understanding being that current Duke faculty, as well as graduate students, are encouraged to audit the classes and join in discussions. Each Fellow would be allowed to invite in two speakers of their choice for the MIR Colloquium series, and would be expected to play an active role in the intellectual life of the Center. In order to be able to attract scholars to play this role, the compensation for the post-doctoral fellowships should be attractive, at least $50,000 per year plus benefits and a $5,000 research fund to be used at the Fellow’s discretion. The primary function of the Fellows would be training of graduate students and interested faculty in microeconomics and “formal theory” techniques. Each fellow would offer an integrated two course sequence, one in fall (“middle brow theory,” for a wider audience) and one in spring (“high brow theory,” for specialists and those who mastered the first course). It is expected that the solicitation of applications and selection of actual Fellows would be driven by interests of the personnel already on campus. A major project or initiative of the faculty already at Duke, with graduate students interested in developing expertise in this specific area, is what we have in mind. The two course sequence, and the presence of the Fellow on campus, will give graduate students and faculty extensive access to the best young minds, and latest techniques, in the area of micro-incentives research.

Senior Faculty:
Michael C. Munger            Department of Political Science                 CV
James T. Hamilton            Sanford Institute of Public Policy              CV
Thomas Nechyba              Department of Economics                        CV
Jonathan Wiener               Nicholas School of Environmen t               CV

Back to the top

This page is very much under construction.

If you have comments or suggestions, email me at munger@duke.edu

mission activities senior faculty duke university associates' research interests