The Economics Pack

Mathematica programs for economics
and practical decision support

Update 2011 available for Mathematica 8.0.1 (and higher as far as Mathematica is upward compatible)

You can freely download the Pack, install it on your computer and investigate it.
To actually run the software, you can order your password as explained below.

Available for Windows (also XP), Unix and Apple Macintosh.
For Mathematica 8.0.1

Thomas Cool (1999, 2001), "The Economics Pack. User Guide", ISBN 90-804774-1-9, ca 555 pp. (updated edition). JEL reference number is JEL 1999-0820.
(Journal of Economic Literature, volume 37, no. 3, September 1999).

The Pack provides a working environment that many will enjoy to have available.
It integrates more than 100 Mathematica packages and more than 1000 functions.
The Pack contains online help, a search index, 'click and paste' palettes, and additional exemplary notebooks.

The Pack has proven its use many times over. The software was written and adapted in the course of ongoing research, teaching and practical decision support since 1993. The Pack now has users in many countries in the world.

The User Guide is no longer in print but available both in the Help function where it can be executed and in PDF here. The User Guide was written in 1999 for Mathematica 4.0. There have been minor changes and the User Guide still is a 99.9% relevant reference. Those minor changes have been made in the packages and the Help function. Sadly though it is too much of a hassle to keep updating the printed version.

Update notes

2011: Updated to M8. Included new "Conquest of the Plane" (COTP). 2nd edition ALOE, 3rd edition VTFD.
2009-2010: Made fit for M7. Inclusion of multiple seats elections.
2008: Extended with some notebooks and packages on risk in multiplicative processes that result into a lognormal distribution.
2007: Extended with "A logic of exceptions" (ALOE) and the 2nd edition of "Voting theory for democracy" (VTFD), and work in progress on causality.
2005 for the version for Mathematica 5.0: (a) Adaptation to changes in FindRoot, FindMinimum, Combinatorica package etcetera. (b) Inclusion of notebooks and packages on the life sciences (life table, lexis plot, survival analysis, disease test tables, epidemiology, meta analysis, cost-effectiveness analysis, the value of life). (c) Support for the 2005 edition of DRGTPE.
2001: Extended with "Voting theory for democracy" (VTFD).
1993-2003: Some update notes, at EconWPA.

Some user reactions.
Ron Shone (2000), Review of the 2000 version of the Pack, also by Ron Shone, requested by the EJ but not published since the EJ stopped doing software reviews. PM. See also his fine review: Ron Shone, "Mathematica v4.0 for Windows 95 / 98 / NT", The Economic Journal February 2000, page F171-186.
Ron Shone (1998), Review of the 1998 version of the Pack , in The Economic Journal published July 1 1998, v 108 n 449, page 1229-1234.

See my own research that was made possible by the Pack:

the book Definition & Reality in the General Theory of Political Economy (DRGTPE)
the book A Logic of Exceptions (ALOE)
the book Voting Theory for Democracy (VTFD)
the book Conquest of the Plane (COTP)
general research
a description for a course "Introduction to Finance (using Mathematica)"

Ordering

A. Single user licence (buying)

See ordering details.

B. Site licences (software rental)

See ordering details.

C. Bonus licences

Schools who take a site licence for two years, get a personal Professional licence for free for a designated teacher.
If you are an established textbook writer and you want to investigate the possibilities of Mathematica and the Pack for your book and its use in class, you may be eligible for a free personal Standard licence.

D. Rules on free updates

A version of the Economics Pack will generally still work in a higher version of Mathematica, unless there are serious changes in Mathematica itself that require an adaptation of the Pack.
Users of the version for M2 up to M7 have always updated freely.
It depends upon the seriousness of the changes in Mathematica in the future what the policy will be.

Deliveries will be made only after payment has arrived.

For installation you need to be able to unpack zip formats (which can be handled by e.g. Winzip).

Note that your personal data, on acquiring the Pack, will be used only to contact you on the Pack (Privacy Statement).

Please note that the price is set low to increase volume potential. The low price does not mean that it has low quality. (See Shapiro & Varian, "Information Rules", Harvard Business Press 1998 for network economics.)

Licence Statement

The Economics Pack requires a licence.

Use of this software without licence for other purposes than strictly testing, is illegal under Dutch and international law.
If you use these files, please notefy the address below. Your comments are welcome.
This page takes precedence over any MathSource submission of earlier versions.
It is understood that software is complicated, and that the author is not liable for possible damages.

See Wolfram Research or CANdiensten for information on Mathematica.

The Economics Pack is (c) Thomas Cool
Please do not use lightly: cool@dataweb.nl

March 2011