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    Greetings from Romania ! 
 
    I have read with interest that 'control theory' can be used as a basis for values or
prices !
    Is this the dynamic 'optimal control theory' ? e.g. Euler's variational calculus,
Pontryagin's maximum principle, Bellman's dynamic programming - as used to guide missiles
;-)
    Or does it refer to looser ideas in cybernetics regarding the flow of 'control'
information in a system ?
 
    What would be the firstly conceived, and now most important applications of this
Control theory in economics ? I saw references to Ramsey (1928) in the growth-vs-welfare (
invest-or-use) dilemma.
 
    Also saw that from another angle in Jean Tirole: _Theory of incentives in procurement
and regulation_ optimization not in time, but along a parameter in the 'continuum of
agents'.
 
    Is the Soviet military-originated notion of "Reflexive Control" (and reflexive games
theory) also mentioned ?
    It refers to agents formulating models of other agents' decision processes and
behaviours, and  including them in plans, along with means to make others 'decide' parts
of one's own plan ! I think Cournot's equilibrium implies this.
 
    A similar term is "masking" (Rus. maskirovka) which would refer to a complex of
camouflage, secrecy, propaganda, mis- and disinformation, intended to shape others'
perceptions and decisions.  Perhaps similar means (maybe not so overtly hostile) *are*
used in modern real-world marketing (but could anyone know ?)
 
    A general opinion is that "advertising creates value". 
Or does it not ? Is just the perception of value, value ? 
    What about the "next day's" opinion, when the psychological excitement fades off, and
the consumer judges past expense, and a not so satisfactory product ?
 
    Yet another strand of ideas is in psychiatrist William Glasser's "Choice/Control
theory" and "Reality Therapy" proposed as a more humane way of dealing with the world as
opposed to stressful "External control theory" (based on threats). His idea is that a
person can only control one's *own* acts (and should not expect control on others), but
the situation modified by this can affect others' decisions.
    Conclusions quite similar to those above... 
 
    Thank you for thinking on it, 
 
Mircea Pauca  
Bucuresti, Romania 
 
 
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