Procedural Economics

I am currently writing a book on a procedural consumer. This book expands on the following papers:

I Published papers

2. On the Complexity of Consumer Decision Rules This paper has now been published in Computational Economics. For pdf version, click here

3. Two-Stage Budgeting: A difficult problem. This paper has now been published in the Computational Economics. See below for details and if you wish click here for pdf version.

4. Can consumer software selection code for digital cameras improve consumer performance? This paper has now published in Computational Economics. For pdf version, click here

II Work in progress

4. Cyberspace Representations and Choice. This paper was presented at Digital Communities 20003 in Stockholm, Sweden in June 2003. For the revised pdf version, click here  I have given up on trying to publish this paper as it is far from standard economics.  Parts of it will appear in the book.

5. Repeated Price Search.  This paper has now been accepted for publication in Computational Economics.

6. Paper for ESA Tucson conference Oct 2007 : Sequential Consumer Theory An earlier version was presented at the  Behavioral and Experimental Conference in Lyon, France May 2007 We will again work on this topic 2008-2009.

Last updated: 9 Jun 09

Education:

• A. B., Physics, Harvard University, 1958
• M. A., Economics, University of California at Los Angeles, 1966
• Ph.D., Economics, University of Minnesota, 1971

Present Position: Professor, Department of Economics, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas 78712


Academic Activities:

• Teaching Awards:
  
  • 2009: Economics Department: Service Appreciation Award for undergraduate teaching at 2009 graduation ceremony
  • 2003:  Finalist in Teaching with Technology category of the UT IITAP 2003 contest (Dubious honor, indeed!!!)
  • 2002: Eyes of Texas Excellence Award 2002 (Pure honor, but it made my day)
  • 1994:
    
  • Voted “Outstanding Professor of the Year” (1993-94) by UT Economics Association. (Pure honor, but it made my day)
  • Texas Excellence Teaching Award (1993-94) [Best undergraduate Teacher in the College of Liberal Arts]. ($1000)
  • Liberal Arts Council Teaching Award 1994 ($1500)
• Books:
  • Norman, A. (1993), Informational Society: an economic theory of discovery, invention and innovation, Kluwer Academic Publishers. An updated version is presented in Informational Society online.

  
  

• Articles and Notes in Journals and Journal Supplements:
  • Norman A., J. Berman, K. Brehm, M. Drake, A. Dyer, J. Frisby, C. Govil, C. Hinchey, L. Heuer, J. Ke, S. Kejriwal, K. Kuang, S. Keyburn, S. Ler, K. Powers, A. Robertson, J. Sanghai, C. Schulze, J. Schieck, J. Sussman, L. Tan, A. Tello, R. Wang, K. Yan, and T. Zeinullayev (Forthcoming) Repeated Price Search, Computational Economics
    
  • Norman A.,  M. Aberty, K. Brehm, M. Drake, S. Gour, C. Govil, B. Gu, J. Hart, G. El Kadiri, J. Ke, S. Keyburn, M Kulkarni, N. Mehta, A. Robertson,  J. Sanghai, V. Shah, J. Schieck, YSivakumaran, j. Sussman, C. Tillmanns, K. Yan, and F. Zahradnic, (2008) Can consumer software selection code for digital cameras improve consumer performance?, Computational Economics. 31(4) 363-380 Springer has also published this paper electronically, 5 Mar 08, and it can be obtained at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10614-007-9121-3
    
  • Norman A, A. Ahmed, J. Chou, A. Dalal, K. Fortson, M. Jindal, C. Kurz, H. Lee, K. Payne, R. Rando, K. Sheppard, E. Sublett, and I. White, (2004), On the Computational Complexity of Consumer Decision Rules, Computational Economics, 23(2), 173-192
  • Norman, A., A. Ahmed, J. Chou, K. Fortson, C. Kurz, H. Lee, L. Linden, K. Meythaler, R. Rando, K. Sheppard, N. Tantzen, I. White and M. Ziegler, (2003), An Ordering Experiment, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Vol 50 249-262
  • Norman A, J Chou, M Chowdhury, A Dalal, K Fortson, M. Jindal, K. Payne, and M Rajan,(2001), Two-Stage Budgeting: A difficult problem, Computational Economics, 18 259-271
  • A Norman, G Chitra, J Chou, M Chowdhury, A Dalal, K Fortson, V Jagdish, and K Mahmood, (2000), Introductory Honors Economics on the WEB, Netnomics, 2, 57-73
  • Norman, A. (1994), Computability, Complexity and Economics, Computational Economics, 7, pp. 1-21.
  • Norman, A. and D. Shimer (1994), Risk, Uncertainty and Complexity, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, 18, pp. 231-249.
  • Norman, A. (1994), On the Complexity of Linear Quadratic Control, European Journal of Operations Research, 73, pp. 319-330.
  • Norman, A. (1987), A Theory of Monetary Exchange, Review of Economic Studies, Vol. VIV (3) No. 179, pp. 499-517.
  • Norman, A. (1984), Information Structure and Stochastic Control Performance, Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 8, pp. 137-49.
  • Norman, A. (1984), "Alternative algorithms for the MacRae OLCV strategy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 7, pp. 21-39
  • Norman, A., Lasdon and J. Hsin (1983), "A comparison of methods for solving and optimizing a large nonlinear econometric model," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 6, pp. 3-24.
  • Condie, J., A. Havenner, R. Herman, A. Norman, and R. Porter (1983), "A brief description of the FRB Modeleasy/Fedeasy econometric language," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control 5, pp. 75-79.
  • Norman, A. (1981), "On the control of structural models," and "A reply," Journal of Econometrics 15, pp. 13-24 and 29.
  • Norman, A. and W. Jung (1980), "Target controllability," Review of Economic Studies XLVIII, pp. 451-57.
  • Norman, A., M. Norman, and C. Palash (1979), "Multiple relative maxima in optimal macroeconomic policy: An illustration," Southern Economic Journal 46, pp. 274-79.
  • Norman, A. (1978), "Anticipatory first period certainty equivalence," International Economic Review 19, pp. 797-800.
  • Ando, A., A. Norman, and C. Palash (1978), "On the application of optimal control to large scale econometric models," Applied Optimal Control, TIMS Studies in the Management Sciences 9, A. Bensoussan, P. Kleindorfer, C. Tapiero (eds.) pp. 147-70.
  • Norman, A., and W. Jung (1977), "Linear quadratic theory for models with long lags," Econometrica 45, pp. 905-17.
  • Norman, A. (1976), "First order dual control," Annals of Economic and Social Measurement 5/3, pp. 311-21.
  • Norman, A. (1975), "Informational Society," Futures 7, pp. 321-28.
  • Norman, A. (1974), "On the relationship between linear feedback control and first period certainty equivalence," International Economic Review 15, pp. 209-15.
  • Hoenack, S. and A. Norman (1974), "Incentives and resource allocation in universities," Journal of Higher Education XLV, pp. 21-37.
  • Norman, A. and M. Norman (1973), "Behavior consistency tests of econometric models," IEEE Transactions in Automatic Control 18, pp. 465-72.
• Articles and Chapters in Books:
  • Norman, A., “L’impresa tra scoperta, invenzione e innovazione,” in Burello, A. (ed.), Leadership & Innovazione, Edizioni Dedalo srl, Barr, 1998.
  • Norman, A. with G. Leonard, L. Linden, K. Meythaler, K. Murray, H. Newhouse,
    N. Tantzen, and M. Fregles, “Order: Human versus Computer,” (eds.) A. Whinston and B. Rustem, Computational Approaches to Economic Problems, Kluiser Publisher, 1997.
  • Norman, A. (1993), “Computability, Complexity and Economics,” in Computational Techniques in Econometrics and Economic Analysis, (ed) Belsley, D., Kluwer Academic Press, pp. 89-108.
  • Norman, A., P. Tinsley with B. Garrett, G. Fries, and J. Berry (1984), "On the stochastic control of large nonlinear econometric models" in Dynamic Modelling and Control of National Economies 1983, (ed) T. Basar and L. Pau, (Pergamon, New York).
  • Norman, A. (1982), "Informational Society," Futures 7 (1975) pp. 321-28 was translated into Italian and reprinted as a chapter in La Forma E Il Futuro (ed) M. Negrotti and D. Bertasio, (Franco Angeli Editore, Milano).
  • Norman, A. (1979), "Dual control with perfect observations," in Models of Decision Making in National Economies, J. Janssen, L. Pau, and A. Straszak (ed), (North Holland, Amsterdam), pp. 343-49.
• Conference Proceedings:
  • Henaff, P. J. and A. Norman (1986), "A Reduced Newton Algorithm for Vector Processors," Proceedings of the 18th American Statistical Association Conference "On the Interface." Also included in an IFAC conference proceedings on Games, Control and Modelling.
  • Norman, A. and P. Tinsley (1983), "On the stochastic control of large nonlinear econometric models," 4th IFAC / IFORS / IIASA Conference on the modelling and control of National economies and the 1983 SEDC conference on economic dynamics and control preprints, T. Basar (ed), (Mcgregor & Werner, Inc., Washington), pp. 67-73.
  • Tinsley, P. B. Garrett, A. Norman, P. Swamy, and P. von zur Muehlen (1981), "The impact of uncertainty on the feasibility of Humphrey-Hawkins objectives," The Journal of Finance Vol. XXXVI, No. 2 , pp. 489-96.
  • Norman, A. (1976), "Alternative estimation and control strategies II," Conference record, Ninth Asilomar Conference on Circuits and Systems, Western Periodicals Company, pp. 361-65.
  • Norman, A. and M. Norman (1973), "Behavioral consistency tests of Econometric Models," Conference Record, Sixth Asilomar Conference on Circuits and Systems, Western Periodicals Company, pp. 361-65.
  • Norman, A. (1971), "Optimal economic policy and econometric models," Proceedings of the 1971 IEEE conference on Decision and Control, Web Printers of Florida, pp. 85-95.
• Grants
  • Consultant on an NSF supercomputer grant, 1984-86;
  • Member NSF grant on control theory, 1972-80;
  • OECD funded four members of the Portuguese Ministry of Industry and Technology to come to Austin to take a special course in control theory organized and taught by A. Norman, 1977.
• Editorships:
  • 1979-87 Associate editor of Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, North Holland.
  • Editorial advisory board of Acta Applicandae Mathematicae, Reidel
  • Editorial Board of Computational Economics, Kluwer.

Other Activities:

• Consultant, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,Washington, D.C., 1980-1985
• Economist, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System,Washington, D.C., 1978-1980
• Consultant, 1967-1972; clients
  • University of Minnesota -- operations research on university operations
  • Professor J. C. Hause -- missing data correlation and regression programs.
  • Mathematica, Inc. Princeton, NJ -- analysis of fluctuations in passenger traffic flows the northeast corridor, 1967-1970
  • Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington, D.C. 1980-1985
• Engineer, Douglas Aircraft Company, developed a three dimensional trajectory optimization program, 1962-1966
• Engineer Officer, USS Evans (DE-1023), Lt. USNR, 1959-1965