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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
| By: | Ben Fine (Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, UK) |
| Abstract: | This paper is a lengthier and revised version of the Closing Plenary given to the World Congress of the Association of Social Economics, and Cairncross Lecture, University of Glasgow, June, 2012. Mainstream economics is seen as unfit for purpose because of deficiencies that have long been criticised by a marginalised heterodoxy. These include the taking out of the historical and social even if bringing them back in on the basis of a technical apparatus and architecture that is sorely inappropriate. These observations are illustrated in passing reference to social capital but are particularly appropriate for understanding the weakness of ethics within mainstream economics. An alternative is offered through taking various “entanglements†(such as facts and values) as critical point of departure, leading to the suggestion that ethical systems are subject to the 10 Cs – Constructed, Construed, Conforming, Commodified, Contextual, Contradictory, Closed, Contested, Collective and Chaotic. |
| Keywords: | Economics and ethics, heterodox critique of mainstream, social capital |
| JEL: | A10 A11 A12 A13 B41 B50 |
| Date: | 2013–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:soa:wpaper:176&r=hme |
| By: | Gilberto Tadeu Lima; Jaylson Jair da Silveira |
| Abstract: | We provide evolutionary game-theoretic microfoundations to a dynamic complete nominal adjustment in response to a monetary shock. To this end, we develop an approach based on a new analytical notion to which we refer as boundedly rational inattentiveness. We investigate the behavior of the price level in an context in which a firm can either pay a cost to update its information set and establish the optimal price (Nash strategy) or freely use information from the previous period and establish a lagged optimal price (bounded rationality strategy). We devise an evolutionary micro-dynamics that, by interacting to the dynamics of the aggregate variables, determines the co-evolution of the distribution of information-updating strategies in the population of firms and the extent of the nominal adjustment of the general price level to a monetary shock. Although the bounded rationality strategy is the only survivor in the long-run evolutionary equilibrium, money is nonetheless neutral. The evolutionary learning dynamics takes the information-updating process to an equilibrium configuration in which, despite all firms play the bounded rationality strategy, the corresponding price level is the symmetric Nash equilibrium price. |
| Keywords: | bounded rationality; evolutionary dynamics; monetary neutrality |
| JEL: | E31 C73 D83 |
| Date: | 2013–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spa:wpaper:2013wpecon03&r=hme |
| By: | Kamal, Mona |
| Abstract: | Given the global recognition of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) of the financial institutions in developed countries and the lack of interest in the relevance of this concept in Egypt, it is essential to investigate the relation between Corporate Social Responsibility and Financial Performance (i.e. CSR-FP link) in the Egyptian banking sector. This paper explores, empirically, this association. The results imply a negative and statistically significant relationship between CSR-dimensions and banks’ profitability. This empirical evidence is consistent with the neoclassical economists’ point of view that practicing CSR by an organization is associated with competitive disadvantages. |
| Keywords: | Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), Egypt, Banking Sector, Profitability. |
| JEL: | E50 G0 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:44697&r=hme |
| By: | Janueleviciute, Jurgita (Department of Economics, University of Bergen); Askildsen, Jan Erik (UniRokkansenteret); Kaarbøe, Oddvar (Department of Economics, University of Bergen); Siciliani, Luigi (Department of Economics and Related Studies, University of York); Sutton, Matt (Centre for Health Economics, University of Manchester) |
| Abstract: | Many publicly funded health systems use prospective activity-based financing to increase hospital production and efficiency. The aim of this study is to investigate whether price changes for different treatments affect the mix of activity provided by hospitals. We exploit variations in prices created by changes in the national average treatment cost per DRG offered to Norwegian hospitals over a period of five years (2003-2007). We use data from the Norwegian Patient Register, containing individual-level information on age, gender, type of treatment, diagnosis, number of co-morbidities and the national average treatment costs per DRG. To examine the changes in activity within the DRGs over time, fixed-effect models are applied. The results suggest that a ten-percent increase in price leads to a rise of one percent in the number of patients treated. This increase is mainly due to more admission of emergency patients, rather than to increases in elective activity. |
| Keywords: | Hospitals; DRGs; prices; activity |
| JEL: | H42 I11 |
| Date: | 2013–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:bergec:2012_015&r=hme |
| By: | Philippe Aghion; Ufuk Akcigit; Peter Howitt |
| Abstract: | Schumpeterian growth theory has operationalized Schumpeter's notion of creative destruction by developing models based on this concept. These models shed light on several aspects of the growth process which could not be properly addressed by alternative theories. In this survey, we focus on four important aspects, namely: (i) the role of competition and market structure; (ii) firm dynamics; (iii) the relationship between growth and development with the notion of appropriate growth institutions; (iv) the emergence and impact of long-term technological waves. In each case Schumpeterian growth theory delivers predictions that distinguish it from other growth models and which can be tested using micro data. |
| JEL: | O10 O11 O12 O30 O31 O33 O40 O43 O47 |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:18824&r=hme |
| By: | Leufkens, A.S. (Tilburg University) |
| Abstract: | Industries are working more and more in project-based settings. In addition, these projects increasingly involve several organizations. Essential in these multi-organizational projects is collaboration. The temporality and changing composition of representatives from companies complicates collaboration between these individuals and their companies in multi-organizational projects. Due to the multiple companies and individual representatives involved in a project it is difficult to keep goals and interests aligned. Important in collaboration is how these representatives perceive their interests. Rational choice theories assume that these interest motivations are given and neglect the social nature of interest conceptions. Therefore, this dissertation explores the social construction process of interests in relation to collaboration. This dissertation is interested in how collaboration is shaped by the social construction processes of interests of individuals and strategies of companies working in a multi-organizational setting. Building on qualitative data obtained in the shipbuilding industry, this dissertation presents five essays that aim to advance our understanding of social construction processes of interests. Additionally, this dissertation provides insights into the relationship between strategies of companies and collaboration in a project. An important contribution of this dissertation is that some mechanisms of social construction of interests are identified. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:tilbur:urn:nbn:nl:ui:12-5663717&r=hme |
| By: | Jackie Krafft (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR7321 - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS)); Yiping Qu (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR7321 - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS)); Francesco Quatraro (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR7321 - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS)); Jacques-Laurent Ravix (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR7321 - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (UNS)) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to revisit the link between corporate governance, value, and firm performance by focusing on convergence, understood as the way that non-US firms are adopting US best practice in terms of corporate governance, and the implications of this adoption. We examine theoretical questions related to conventional models (agency theory, transaction cost economics, new property rights theory),which tend to suggest rational adoption of best practice, and contributions that alternatively consider country- and firm-level differences as possible barriers to convergence. We contribute to the empirical literature by using a large international database to show how non-US firms' adoption of US best practice is having an impact on performance. |
| Keywords: | Corporate governance; governance metrics, ratings, rankings and scoring; firm value; firm performance |
| Date: | 2013–02–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00786664&r=hme |
| By: | MATSUBARA, Hideto |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this study is to identify and explore the determinants of success in the context of an industry crisis. To do so, we used the Japanese orange industry as an illustrative case, from which valuable information was obtained. Between 1968 and 1989, the Japanese orange industry underwent a period of crisis that was characterized by low levels of profitability, stunted growth, and limited development. This economic downturn compelled the production sector of the orange industry to develop innovative solutions for dealing with the crisis, as the shipping associations’ failure to respond to the crisis would damage their market position in the long term. Despite the pervasive economic crisis, those associations that were able to maintain internal contradictions became industry leaders. These events raise several questions. First, what factors incited aggressive associations to employ such counterintuitive strategies? Second, in a period of economic crisis, how could a successful shipping association realize favorable strategies? Based on our analysis, we drew the following conclusions. First, although some shipping associations in the orange industry dealt with the economic crisis through the elimination of internal contradictions (which were impediments to success), it led to a reduced ability to respond to changes in the supply chain. Related to this, although other associations were rife with internal contradictions in the short run, they could achieve desirable outcomes by positively utilizing issues that were perceived as problems. Finally, we found that organizational leadership played a critical role in transforming problems into key factors for success. |
| Date: | 2013–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hjbswp:165&r=hme |
| By: | Majumdar, Raju |
| Abstract: | Empirical tests of theoretical propositions necessitate quantitative estimation of qualitative firm level attribute. The challenges of such estimation are nowhere more pronounced than it is the context of estimating firm growth as evinced from the multiplicity of proxies used. However in using or theorizing about the validity of these alternative proxies in their quest to measure a common intangible called ‘firm growth’, the issue of inter-relationship between these variables and the dimensions of growth it is capable of capturing has never been explored. This research paper is an attempt to address this issue. This paper uses a sample of 429 listed manufacturing firms for the period 2004-05 to 2010-11, and employs correlation analysis as well as a panel data model to reach its conclusion. Findings of this research suggest that the alternative financial statements based measures of firm growth are not correlated to an extent that can warrant substitution or interchangeable use. And in certain cases correlations are stronger with time lags than without. Furthermore, it is also observed that financial statements based measures of growth have limited explanatory power when it comes to explaining variations in market-to-book ratio of firms. Findings of this paper coupled with studies on the linkage between macroeconomic and capital market conditions with equity prices, provides indirect evidence that market-to-book ratio factors in the forward looking perspective of growth that the other alternative measures are not capable enough to capture, given their historical nature. |
| Keywords: | Firm growth, empirical measures |
| JEL: | G3 |
| Date: | 2013–02–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:44874&r=hme |
| By: | Jesús F. Lampón (REDE & University of Vigo); Pablo Cabanelas-Lorenzo (University of Vigo); Santiago Lago-Peñas (REDE & University of Vigo & IEB) |
| Abstract: | The paper analyses the drivers of international production relocation using a model built on intra-corporate factors. The results of an empirical research on an original and thorough data base for the Spanish automobile parts sector over the period 2001-2008 show the impact of corporate restructuring strategies on flexibility for transferring resources overseas. In particular, the larger the number of alternative plants in other countries, the greater the operational flexibility and, therefore, the more likely relocation will be. Second, lean supply requirements and technological complexity in the product or process at production plant level are both serious barriers to mobility. Finally, our results confirm that sunk costs are irrelevant in comparison with corporate factors. |
| Keywords: | International production relocation, corporate strategy, lean supply, technology |
| JEL: | F2 F23 L2 L23 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ieb:wpaper:2013/6/doc2013-3&r=hme |