|
on Heterodox Microeconomics |
|
Issue of 2016‒07‒16
thirty-one papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Jo, Tae-Hee |
| Abstract: | The social provisioning process is how heterodox economists define economics in general. Instead of having a narrow definition of what constitutes economics, such as the mainstream has with its allocation of scarce resources among competing ends via the price mechanism, heterodox economists have opted for a much more expansive definition that permits different theoretical explanations for ways in which the provisioning process can take place in different types of economies in different historical contexts. In this chapter, we first examine the changes in the definition of economics from classical political economy to neoclassical and heterodox economics. The comparison between classical political economy and neoclassical economics manifests a clear distinction in view of economy and economics. The second section substantiates the meaning of the social provisioning process. In doing so we make a case that, first, defining heterodox economics as the study of the social provisioning process positions heterodox economics as an alternative to neoclassical economics, and, second, that such an expansive definition of economics has potential to synthesize various heterodox theoretical frameworks in a constructive manner. |
| Keywords: | Social Provisioning Process; Heterodox Economics; Classical Political Economy; Neoclassical economics; Surplus approach; monetary production economy; effective demand |
| JEL: | A11 B1 B2 B5 B51 B52 |
| Date: | 2016–06–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72384&r=hme |
| By: | Luca Pareschi (Dept. of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venice); Edoardo Mollona (Dept. of Computer Science and Engeneering, Università di Bologna) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the resistance to the neoliberal discourse supporting privatizations in the Italian sociopolitical field: we address the change from a state control over economy to a situation where most of the state owned enterprises are sold and neoliberal principles are widely adopted and accepted. We focus on resistance, which builds on two frames that differ according to the period when they arise, the words they are composed of, the meanings they bear upon. The first one, which is more prevalent in the period 1984-2000, and that we called Òvalues of developmental stateÓ, opposes privatizations from a technical point of view: it is used in quotes that rationally support state intervention in economy. The second frame, that we called Òstigma privatizationsÓ, becomes prevalent starting in 2000 and appears mainly in articles that deal with societal issues, literature, movies and the wider sociocultural debate. Here influential speakers blame privatizations as something that eroded societal cohesion. To explain the transformation, we mobilize the concept of capital as described by Bourdieu: as economic capital attached to delegitimized institutions erode, discourse on resistance does not disappear but is framed within the fields that are less dependent on economic capital. As a connected contribution, the key role played by cultural capital in preserving areas of resistances revives the debate on the role of intellectuals within power dynamics as described by Antonio Gramsci. From a technical point of view, we study the evolution of the vocabulary of privatizations by analyzing almost 70.000 articles in the period 1984-2014. we use Topic Modeling, that is an automated text analysis technique that elicits topics, which are the sets of words that constitute discourses. We then reconstruct frames starting from these topics. |
| Keywords: | institutional change, privatizations, discourse, frames, topic modeling, symbolic capital, discursive struggles |
| JEL: | H82 L32 L50 M00 P00 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vnm:wpdman:118&r=hme |
| By: | Noë, Ronald |
| Abstract: | After an introduction to biological markets written for non-biologists, I explore whether and to what extent natural markets, i.e. markets on which non-human traders exchange goods and services with members belonging to their own or to other species, can be compared to human ‘economic’ markets, i.e. the markets analysed by economists. Biological Market Theory (BMT) borrows jargon and ideas from economics, but was at least as much inspired by sexual selection theory, a collection of models of ‘mating markets’, including human mating markets. Here I ask two main questions: (1) Is there more than only a superficial resemblance between both types of markets? (2) Can the analysis of one yield insights about the other? First, I consider the different forms of human trading and markets and propose some biological ones to which these can best be compared, e.g. companies trading goods in markets shaped by ‘comparative advantage’ to underground nutrient exchange markets between plants and rhizobial bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi; job and retail markets with pollination, seed dispersal and protection markets between plants and insects; ‘embedded markets’ with grooming markets in non-human primates and so forth. Then I look at some phenomena that are considered to be exclusive to human markets, such as common currencies and binding contracts, and ask whether these are indeed that exclusive. Finally I look at the common ground: negotiations that take place on several types of markets, natural or not; the honesty of advertisements, which is recognised as a major problem for both human and non-human clients; the biological equivalent of the market – firm dichotomy and the importance of the costs of partner choice, which are known to economists as ‘transaction costs’ and to sexual selection theoreticians as ‘search costs’. I conclude that there are several good reasons to have a closer look at those properties that set human and biological markets apart, but certainly also at those features that make them comparable to each other. |
| Keywords: | cooperation, mutualism, trade, biological markets, mating markets, embedded markets, sexual selection, partner choice, currency, binding contract, negotiation, bargaining, honest advertisement, transaction costs, search costs, market – firm dichotomy |
| JEL: | B52 Z13 |
| Date: | 2016–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72509&r=hme |
| By: | Jo, Tae-Hee |
| Abstract: | The business enterprise directs and controls the social provisioning process. Enterprise decisions on price, investment, output and employment, in particular, directly affect the material basis of society as well as the material standard of living of working class households. The understanding the structure of and changes in the capitalist capitalists system thus requires a theory of the business enterprise that offers relevant and convincing explanations of business decisions and actions embedded in the wider social context. Such a theory must replace the mainstream-neoclassical theory of the firm, which is not only theoretically incoherent but also practically irrelevant since it confines itself to the hypothetical market structure and individual optimizing behavior. With this rationale this chapter attempts to build a heterodox theory of the business enterprises incorporating contributions made by various theoretical traditions in heterodox economics. |
| Keywords: | Heterodox Microeconomics; Social Provisioning Process; Business Enterprise; Going Concern; Monetary Theory of Production; Effective Demand; Surplus Approach; Strategic Enterprise Decisions |
| JEL: | B21 B51 B52 D21 |
| Date: | 2016–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72426&r=hme |
| By: | Isabel Günther (ETH Zürich); Melanie Grosse (Georg-August University Göttingen); Stephan Klasen (Georg-August University Göttingen) |
| Abstract: | We analyze the drivers of the size of the audience and number of questions asked in parallel sessions at the annual conference of the German Economics Association. We find that the location of the presentation is at least as important for the number of academics attending a talk as the combined effect of the person presenting and the paper presented. Being a presenter in a late morning session on the second day of a conference, close to the place where coffee is served, significantly increases the size of the audience. When it comes to asking questions, location becomes less important, but smaller rooms lead to more questions being asked (by women). Younger researchers as well as very senior researchers attract more questions and comments. There are also interesting gender effects. Women attend research sessions more diligently than men, but seem to ask fewer questions than men. Men are less likely to attend presentations on health, education, welfare, and development economics than women. Our findings suggest that strategic scheduling of sessions could ensure better participation at conferences. Moreover, different behaviors of men and women at conferences might also contribute to the lack of women in senior scientist positions. |
| Keywords: | Economists; Conference; Preferences; Gender Differences |
| JEL: | A11 B54 |
| Date: | 2016–07–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:got:gotcrc:210&r=hme |
| By: | Parada, Jairo |
| Abstract: | Despite the deep impact of the 2008s Great Recession, Department of Economics around the world keep teaching the neoclassical paradigm as it nothing happened. Economics´ teaching, especially at the undergraduate level, does not leave room for a pluralist background, although somewhat similar process happens at the graduate level. Global dominance of approaches market oriented, based on an individualistic ontology, a methodological deductivism and the massive use of mathematical models since the last three decades, have been closing the possibilities of different approaches. In this essay, possible causes behind this phenomenon are explored, and several proposals are presented about how a more integral and plural Microeconomics could be taught, and a more grounded Macroeconomics involved with today´s problems, and a development theory that does not give up with the theoretical richness of the Latin American traditions, could be also presented to students. The main criteria would be to endow our graduates with a more versatile vision about economic thought and economic theory, aiming toward the opening of new and creative approaches about public policies that would be able to solve our structural problems. Several concrete suggestions are offered regarding curriculums and books, and mechanism to overcome the Procrustean bed that incorporates the teaching of the dominant approach only. At the end, we would have creative professionals and conscious about the myriad of possibilities that a pluralist approach of economics science brings about, and new avenues of creative ideas will be opened to implement such policies. This proposal implies a more audacious curriculum and less timid toward the critique of the dominant cathedral of the main current of thought in Economics. |
| Keywords: | economic crisis, pluralist economics, economics teaching |
| JEL: | A2 A22 A23 |
| Date: | 2016–06–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72224&r=hme |
| By: | Gawlik, Remigiusz |
| Abstract: | The paper aims at recognizing the possibilities and perspectives of application of qualitative-quantitative research methodology in the field of economics, with a special focus on production engineering management processes. The main goal of the research is to define the methods that would extend the research apparatus of economists and managers by tools that allow the inclusion of qualitative determinants into quantitative analysis. Such approach is justified by qualitative character of many determinants of economic occurrences. At the same time quantitative approach seems to be predominant in production engineering management, although methods of transposition of qualitative decision criteria can be found in literature. Nevertheless, international economics and management could profit from a mixed methodology, incorporating both types of determinants into joint decision-making models. The research methodology consists of literature review and own analysis of applicability of mixed qualitative-quantitative methods for managerial decision-making. The expected outcome of the research is to find which methods should be applied to include qualitative-quantitative analysis into multicriteria decision-making models in the fields of economics, with a special regard to production engineering management. |
| Keywords: | qualitative-quantitative analysis; hierarchical decision-making; neural-network models; management; manufacturing processes |
| JEL: | C45 C65 D79 D81 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72362&r=hme |
| By: | Luc Avonds; Caroline Hambye; Bart Hertveldt; Bernhard Klaus Michel; Bart Van den Cruyce |
| Abstract: | This working paper presents two analytical applications based on the interregional input-output (IO) table for Belgium for the year 2010. The Federal Planning Bureau constructed this table in 2015 in cooperation with the statistical authorities of the country's three Regions (IBSA, SVR and IWEPS). The following standard IO analyses based on applying the Leontief model to the interregional IO table are presented here: the derivation of multipliers for each region and the estimation of regional value added and regional employment generated by domestic final demand and exports. |
| JEL: | D57 C67 R15 |
| Date: | 2016–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpb:wpaper:1605&r=hme |
| By: | Zacchia, Giulia |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to contribute to the analysis of recent changes in Italian economic thought by examining them from a gender perspective. Following a popular international trend, the use of bibliometric indicators for the purposes of personnel selection has been introduced in Italy, creating a more competitive environment heavily founded on rigid standardized indexes of “scientific productivity”. In this context, recent studies analyze gender differences by considering the willingness to enter competition. By contrast, we aim at describing what were the strategies adopted by men and women economists in terms of research fields, at different stages of their careers. We find that women progressively have converged to the research interests of their male colleagues. Specifically, we find that the decrease in non-mainstream publications, in particular in the fields of heterodox approaches and history of economic thought, is larger among female economists. Systematic follow-up is essential, in particular the creation of specific committee or observatory embodying a gender perspective in all aspects of the academic and research activity in economics in Italy. |
| Keywords: | recent economic thought; women; research evaluation |
| JEL: | A14 B40 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72279&r=hme |
| By: | Anne Boring (OFCE) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a unique database from a French university to analyze gender biases in student evaluations of teachers (SETs). The results of generalized ordered logit regressions and fixed-effects models suggest that male teachers tend to receive higher SET scores because of students' gender biases. Male students in particular express a strong bias in their favor: male students are approximately 30% more likely to give an excellent overall satisfaction score to male teachers compared to female teachers. The different teaching dimensions that students value in men and women tend to correspond to gender stereotypes. The teaching dimensions for which students perceive a comparative advantage for women (such as course preparation and organization) tend to be more time-consuming for the teacher, compared to the teaching dimensions that students value more in men (such as class leadership skills). Men are perceived as being more knowledgeable (male gender stereotype) and obtain higher SET scores than women, but students appear to learn as much from women as from men, suggesting that female teachers are as knowledgeable as men. Finally, I find that if women increased students' continuous assessment grades by 7.5% compared to the grades given by their male colleagues, they could obtain similar overall satisfaction scores as men. Yet, women do not act on this incentive (men and women give similar continuous assessment grades), suggesting that female teachers are unaware of students' gender biases. These biases have strong negative consequences for female academics, who may spend more time on teaching to try to obtain high SET scores, reducing time available for research. The results suggest that better teaching is not necessarily measured by SETs. |
| Keywords: | Incentives; Teaching effectiveness; Student evaluations of teaching; Gender biases and stereotypes |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/1seuirq4ak9b9bouu1j29ebui7&r=hme |
| By: | Ben Fine (School of Oriental and African Studies); Kate Bayliss (School of Oriental and African Studies); Mary Robertson (The University of Leeds) |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses the impact of financialisation on the systems of provision (SoPs) drawing on a series of case studies in housing and water – both non-financial sectors. In order to understand this more fully, the paper first considers some of the theoretical constructs connecting money, commodities and finance, exploring the theories of money, the extension of that theory to finance and the specification of the processes attaching finance to the non-financial. The paper shows that both case-study sectors have increasingly been subject to market forms with, for example, land markets in housing and cost recovery practices in water provision. However there are different forms of monetary relations across the case studies. Simply to equate financialisation with commodification would be misleading. The diversity of arrangements across sectors and locations is addressed in the paper by making the distinction between commodification (production for private profits), the commodity form (periodic payments for a good or service in the absence of a profit motive) and commodity calculation (application of a monetary logic without money changing hands). Each of these is associated with different forms of marketization and “market forces” but they are underpinned by different economic and social structures. The paper then goes on to tie these insights to financialisation and contemporary capitalism more generally with reference to the case studies. For housing there is variegation in the extent to which the expansion of finance coincides with expansion of material provision, as shown with for example the different outcomes from expanding lending for house production as opposed to mortgage lending for consumption. In water, there is diversity in the extent and nature of privatisation and this has led to differences in the extent and depth of financial intervention across the case studies. England and Wales lies at one extreme with heavily entrenched financialisation while this is considerably less significant in the case studies with less privatisation. The final section of this paper considers the implication of the different forms of financialisation for economic and social reproduction including gender. |
| Keywords: | financialisation, neoliberalism, housing, water, privatisation |
| JEL: | H4 L95 L33 R31 R38 P16 P1 P10 |
| Date: | 2016–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fes:wpaper:wpaper156&r=hme |
| By: | Cedric Durand (None); Maxime Gueuder |
| Abstract: | During the past decades, the link between profits and domestic investment has weakened in the biggest high-income economies. The present contribution explores this relaxation of the profits-investment nexus through a profit-centred perspective. Focusing on the impact of the origins and uses of profits, we study the investment behaviour of non-financial corporations in relation to their profits at the macro level since 1980, a period marked by financialisation and globalisation. We contrast three competing hypotheses – the Revenge of the Rentiers, the Financial Turn of Accumulation and Globalisation – and test them through a macro panel data analysis for France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States over the period 1980-2012. |
| Keywords: | profits, investment, financialisation, globalisation, macro panel analysis |
| JEL: | E22 F62 G35 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp1614&r=hme |
| By: | Giovanni Dosi; Marcelo C. Pereira; Andrea Roventini; Maria Enrica Virgillito |
| Abstract: | This paper is meant to analyse the effects of labour market structural reforms by means of an agent-based model. Building on Dosi et al., (2016b) we introduce a policy regime change characterized by a set of structural reforms on the labour market, keeping constant the structure of the capital- and consumption-good markets. Confirming a recent IMF report (Jaumotte and Buitron, 2015), the model shows how labour market structural reforms reducing workersù bargaining power and compressing wages tend to increase (i) unemployment, (ii) functional income inequality, and (iii) personal income inequality. We further undertake a global sensitivity analysis on key variables and parameters which confirms the robustness of our findings. |
| Keywords: | Labour Market Structural Reforms, Income Distribution, Inequality, Unemployment, Long-Run Growth |
| Date: | 2016–05–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2016/27&r=hme |
| By: | Ben Fine (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London); Alfredo Saad-Filho (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London); Kate Bayliss (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London); Mary Robertson (The University of Leeds) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the theories and practices of neoliberalism drawing upon five case studies of housing and water across Poland, Portugal, South Africa, Turkey and the United Kingdom. This examination ranges across thirteen aspects of (‘things you need to know about’) neoliberalism. They include the argument that neoliberalism is not reducible to a cogent ideology or a change in economic or social policies, nor is it primarily about a shift in the relationship between the state and the market or between workers and capital in general, or finance in particular. Instead, neoliberalism is a stage in the development of capitalism underpinned by financialisation. Neoliberalism is highly diversified in its features, impact and outcomes, reflecting specific combinations of scholarship, ideology, policy and practice. In turn, these are attached to distinctive material cultures giving rise to the (variegated) neoliberalisation of everyday life and, at a further remove, to specific modalities of economic growth, volatility and crisis. Finally, this paper argues that there are alternatives, both within and beyond neoliberalism itself. |
| Keywords: | financialisation, neoliberalism, housing, water, capitalism |
| JEL: | H4 L95 R31 R38 P16 P1 P10 |
| Date: | 2016–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fes:wpaper:wpaper155&r=hme |
| By: | Kate Bayliss (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London); Ben Fine (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London); Mary Robertson (The University of Leeds) |
| Abstract: | This paper draws on a series of case studies to consider the Role of the State, using the systems of provision (SoP) approach where the state and market are not considered to be dichotomous entities (as in most orthodox literature). Rather, markets are organised by the state in ways that are continually evolving. Our coverage of this extensive topic has been delimited by focusing on three aspects of the role of the state. The first of these is social compacting which considers the ways in which economic, political and ideological interests relate to the state. This section considers the state’s role in representing different social interests with a declining influence of labour. The second aspect addressed here is the state’s role in social policy and the provision of basic services. The paper shows that this increasingly comes down to providing for the hard to serve while wider concerns of equity and redistribution are neglected. Finally the paper explores the role of the state in connection with privatisation. Using the empirical evidence of the case studies, the paper shows that implementation and outcomes have been diverse across sectors and countries but common strands are emerging. These sectors are far from competitive, and privatisation has created conditions for significant rent extraction in ways that were unintended at the time of privatisation |
| Keywords: | role of the state, neoliberalism, social policy, privatisation, financialisation, housing, water |
| JEL: | H4 L95 L33 R31 R38 P16 P1 P10 |
| Date: | 2016–04–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fes:wpaper:wpaper154&r=hme |
| By: | Mani Sunil (National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies, Centre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, KeralaCentre for Development Studies, Trivandrum, Kerala, India) |
| Abstract: | India is one of the fastest growing countries of the world at present. Currently she is attempting to raise the share of her manufacturing sector to at least a quarter of her GDP by 2022 through variety of proactive industrial policies. This has led to a debate of sorts on the role of industrial policies when the economy is moving towards a free market economy where the discretionary role of government is reduced to a minimum. India's small manufacturing sector, although now sixth largest in the world, is slowly moving towards high and medium technology industries, both in terms of manufacturing value added and in terms of share of manufactured exports. India is now slowly becoming an important player in selected high and medium high technology sectors such as aerospace, pharmaceuticals, and automobiles while her attempts at developing a telecommunications equipment manufacturing industry has failed. The paper identifies the vertical policies that have been crucial for the development or lack of it of each of these four high tech industries. While these vertical policies are shown to be one of the necessary conditions for the growth of these high technology sectors, the sufficient conditions depend on the existence of firm strategies that can take advantage of these proactive vertical policies. The paper thus underscores the importance of specific vertical policies be it is the case of the offset policy in the case of the aerospace industry, the patent policy in the case of the pharmaceutical industry and so on. |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ngi:dpaper:16-08&r=hme |
| By: | Silvia Appelt; Fernando Galindo-Rueda |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the findings of a recent OECD project on the measurement of the link between public procurement and innovation that is intended to contribute to the review and implementation of the OECD measurement frameworks for R&D and innovation. The report highlights what concepts, definitions and measurement approaches can be used, with currently available data or suitably adapted sources, to produce policy-relevant indicators on the use of innovation procurement and carry out empirical analyses on the impact of public procurement on R&D, innovation and broader economic outcomes. Exploiting recent R&D and innovation survey data and administrative procurement records, it provides novel multi-country evidence on the incidence of public procurement of innovation. An exploratory analysis based on procurement, company account, R&D, patent and trademark data helps showcase the use of combined micro-data sources for analytical applications and points out important links between firm-level procurement activity, R&D and economic performance. |
| Keywords: | R&D, statistics, measurement, innovation, public procurement |
| Date: | 2016–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaaa:2016/3-en&r=hme |
| By: | Joachim Kaldasch |
| Abstract: | The paper presents an evolutionary economic model for the price evolution of stocks. Treating a stock market as a self-organized system governed by a fast purchase process and slow variations of demand and supply the model suggests that the short term price distribution has the form a logistic (Laplace) distribution. The long term return can be described by Laplace-Gaussian mixture distributions. The long term mean price evolution is governed by a Walrus equation, which can be transformed into a replicator equation. This allows quantifying the evolutionary price competition between stocks. The theory suggests that stock prices scaled by the price over all stocks can be used to investigate long-term trends in a Fisher-Pry plot. The price competition that follows from the model is illustrated by examining the empirical long-term price trends of two stocks. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1607.01248&r=hme |
| By: | Savioli, Marco; Patuelli, Roberto |
| Abstract: | Economic processes, consisting of interactions between human beings, exploit the social capital of persons endowed with specific cultures, identities and education. By taking into account this complexity, the authors focus on the role of institutions and policymaking in the building of social capital and its relevance to the fulfilment of their objectives. Social capital, however, is elusive and has several dimensions with which to interpret its multifaceted functions in economics and society. The authors cannot forget that social capital is sometimes even undesirable for society, for instance when unethically used. Even so, it is widely accepted that social capital has stable and positive effects. |
| Keywords: | social capital,institutions,policymaker,education |
| JEL: | Z13 B52 D78 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201626&r=hme |
| By: | Christian Schubert (University of Kassel) |
| Abstract: | Environmental policies are increasingly informed by behavioral economics insights. ‘Green nudges’ in particular have been suggested as a promising new tool to encourage consumers to act in an environmentally responsible way, such as choosing renewable energy sources or saving energy. While there is an emerging literature on the instrumental effectiveness of behavioral policy tools such as these, their ethical assessment has largely been neglected. This paper attempts to fill this gap by, first, providing a structured overview of the most important contributions to the literature on pro-environmental nudges and, second, offering some critical guidelines that may help the practitioner come to an ethically informed assessment of nudges. |
| Keywords: | Nudges, Libertarian Paternalism, Behavioral Economics, Green Defaults, Autonomy |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201609&r=hme |
| By: | Clive L. Spash; Clemens Gattringer |
| Abstract: | Human induced climate change poses a series of ethical challenges to the current political economy, although it has often be regarded by economists as only an ethical issue for those concerned about future generations. The central debate in economics has then concerned the rate at which future costs and benefits should be discounted. Indeed the full range of ethical aspects of climate change are rarely even discussed. Despite recent high profile and lengthy academic papers on the topic the ethical remains at best superficial within climate change economics. Recognising the necessary role of ethical judgment poses a problem for economists who conduct exercises in cost-benefit analysis and deductive climate modelling under the presumption of an objectivity that excludes values. Priority is frequently given to orthodox economic methodology, but that this entails a consequentialist utilitarian philosophy is forgotten while the terms of the debate and understanding is simultaneously restricted. We set out to raise the relevance of a broader range of ethical issues including: intergenerational ethics as the basis for the discount rate, interregional distribution of harm, equity and justice issues concerning the allocation of carbon budgets, incommensurability in the context of compensation, and the relationship of climate ethics to economic growth. We argue that the pervasiveness of strong uncertainty in climate science, incommensurability of values and non-utilitarian ethics are inherent features of the climate policy debate. That mainstream economics is ill-equipped to address these issues relegates it to the category of misplaced concreteness and its policy prescriptions are then highly misleading misrepresentations of what constitutes ethical action. |
| Keywords: | Climate change; economics; ethics; carbon budgets; discounting; compensation; harm; intergenerational equity; intragenerational distribution; justice; consequentialism; utilitarianism; incommensurability; risk; uncertainty; cost-benefit analysis; growth economy |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wiwsre:sre-disc-2016_02&r=hme |
| By: | Halkos, George; Tsilika, Kyriaki |
| Abstract: | We present data structures from multiregional multisectoral trade activities from the perspective of networks. To illustrate our approach we make use of trade patterns taken from three classical input-output models. Unlike other conventional approaches by which networks statistics are evaluated, here, emphasis is given on recovering the structure architecture of interrelations in the input-output model. By self-explanatory visual outputs we display the interaction of the trading partners, the number of trade links and the density of interrelations. Connectivity and density are quantified by evaluating the node degrees. Our network approach traces the feedback loops among regions and activities. Some global structural properties are also examined. Programming in Mathematica allows for the creation of iterative schemes explaining aspects of the nature of trade and the evolution of spatial trading/production cycles in growing trading systems. Mathematica’s environment enables interactive visual schemes and infinite number of experiments. |
| Keywords: | Trade data visualization; trade networks; Mathematica-based computations; graph theory. |
| JEL: | C63 C65 C67 C88 F10 |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72511&r=hme |
| By: | Davide Del Prete; Giorgia Giovannetti; Enrico Marvasi |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the participation of North African countries into international production networks and examines if/to what extent being part of a global value chain affects firms’ performance. Using largely unexploited Input-Output data from UNCTAD-Eora, we describe regional and country GVC involvement. Results show that North African countries have not been able so far to fully integrate into international production networks. However, large part of their (low) trade is due to value added related activities, mainly in the upstream phases, and the importance of global linkages has been increasing over time. To better understand the impact of international fragmentation of production on competitiveness, we complement the above assessment with a firm-level analysis. We show that the performance of firms, measured by several indicators, is positively associated with both internationalization modes and GVC participation. These results con.rm those of our sectoral analyses and are in line with existing anecdotical evidence. Enhancing GVC participation of North African countries is likely to substantially benefit firms, countries and the whole area. However, the ability to retain such benefits relies on specific characteristics, such as the level of human capital, trade logistics and the presence of trade barriers, thus leaving room for policy intervention. |
| Keywords: | global value chains, fi rm heterogeneity, North Africa, competitiveness |
| JEL: | F14 F15 L23 L25 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rsc:rsceui:2016/26&r=hme |
| By: | Jenny Carolina Hernández Cardozo; Adriana Carolina Silva Arias; Jaime Andrés Sarmiento Espinel |
| Abstract: | La adolescencia es una etapa de transición de la acumulación de capital humano a través del sistema educativo a la acumulación a través del mercado laboral. Este artículo analiza el perfil sociodemográfico de los adolescentes colombianos según su condición educacional y laboral. Para ello, se estimó, mediante un análisis logístico multinomial diferenciado por sexo, la probabilidad de cada uno de los posibles estados de actividad dadas algunas características del perfil sociodemográfico. Los resultados indican que los adolescentes que ni estudian ni trabajan presentan una significativa diferenciación de género. Particularmente, las mujeres mantienen roles intrafamiliares que limitan la igualdad de oportunidades de trayectorias educacionales y laborales. |
| Keywords: | Adolescencia, sistema educativo, estado ocupacional, división del trabajo por género |
| JEL: | D13 J13 J16 |
| Date: | 2016–06–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000382:014791&r=hme |
| By: | Nlemfu Mukoko, Jean Blaise |
| Abstract: | This work involves the construction of the 2013 Social Accounting Matrix for the D.R.Congo (MCS-CD2013). Three main sources of data were used namely Tables of Resources and Employment (TRE), the table of Integrated Economic Accounts (TCEI) for 2013, and data from the 1-2-3 survey on employment, the informal sector and household consumption for the year 2012. Given the nature of these data, we have resorted to the bottom-up approach to the development of this SAM and methods of RAS and cross-entropy for its balancing. After these steps, the obtained SAM past internal and external consistency tests. The results reflect macroeconomic accounting balances for the respective year. Therefore, this SAM is the basis for data Reference for macroeconomic studies and modeling of the Congolese economy. |
| Keywords: | Matrice de Comptabilité Sociale, Tableau des Ressources et Emplois,Tableau des Comptes Economiques Intégrés |
| JEL: | C82 E16 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72407&r=hme |
| By: | Montenegro, María; Mohapatra, Sandeep; Swallow, Brent |
| Abstract: | Women’s land rights are increasingly advocated as an empowerment tool to spur development outcomes. However, empirical evidence of this relationship is limited. In this study we use data from peasant communities in rural Peru to explore the effect of the intra-household allocation of inherited land on women’s empowerment. Empowerment is modeled as a latent variable measured by different influence indicators using a Generalized Structural Equation approach. We draw on Item Response Theory (IRT) to estimate difficulty and discrimination parameters which can inform policymakers about the impact of empowerment policies on women’s types of influences within their households. The empirical approach is consistent with empowerment’s latent and multidimensional nature and pays attention to endogeneity issues often present in other empirical studies. We find that although women’s land rights increase empowerment, the intra-household allocation of land determines the magnitude of this impact. |
| Keywords: | Women's empowerment, item response theory, structural equation modeling, land rights, International Development, Land Economics/Use, |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aaea16:239851&r=hme |
| By: | Coremberg, Ariel; Mastronardi, Leonardo; Romero, Carlos; Vila Martinez, Juan Pablo |
| Abstract: | A Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Argentina is presented in this paper using different sources of data. The result is a combination of GDP results for ARKLEMS – LAND UBA model and historical data from Argentina. The aim of the paper is to present a SAM that could be used for simulations of political economy in SAM based models or Computable General Equilibrium models. After INDEC intervention and the deficiency of the national stats system, an alternative GDP estimation for ARKLEMS, a household survey from 2004/2005 (ENGHo), imports for UNCOMTRADE and coefficients for old SAM’s estimations were used to estimate a new SAM. So we describe in the paper a basic methodology which indicates how to build an updated SAM for Argentina 2012. |
| Keywords: | SAM model Argentina |
| JEL: | D57 D58 |
| Date: | 2016–03–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:72303&r=hme |
| By: | Zanfrillo, Alicia Inés |
| Abstract: | El propósito del trabajo consiste en analizar la transferencia de tecnología -conocimientos, saberes prácticos, metodologías- llevada a cabo en el sector asociativo de la ciudad de Mar del Plata de la República Argentina, en el marco de un proyecto de Voluntariado Universitario. La experiencia tuvo como propósito valorizar el conocimiento real del sector y se aprovechó la oportunidad que ofrecen las tecnologías, para socializar experiencias en una comunidad de práctica virtual. Si bien la adopción de tecnologías por los agentes de economía social es creciente, aún resulta incipiente, con un gran desconocimiento del potencial de la participación en espacios no presenciales, desde un rol que supere la etapa de visibilización de la actividad productiva. La sustentabilidad de los emprendimientos requiere no sólo de condiciones del entorno y económicas para su éxito, sino que demanda un capital cultural en los agentes de economía social desarrollado en base a negociación de significados, valores compartidos y construcción de conocimiento relacional, situado y experiencial en pos de una inclusión más extensiva e intensiva. La problemática subyacente es la falta de equidad en el acceso a la información y el conocimiento por los agentes de economía social que, aunque hayan superado en gran medida las brechas de acceso a las tecnologías aún mantienen las diferencias en la aplicación de conocimientos para su uso y en las competencias necesarias. Se utilizó una estrategia cualitativa, de tipo exploratoria-descriptiva, con aplicación de entrevistas. El análisis -basado en el sentido cognitivo de las competencias y la producción de conocimiento mediada por tecnologías- devela que el sector no asume su propia práctica como un bien transferible ni es objeto de reconocimiento; sí valoriza el rol de las instituciones en la consolidación de formas asociativas y la interacción con sus pares en el agregado de valor y promoción de sus bienes. |
| Keywords: | Transferencia de Tecnología; Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones; Tercer Sector; |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nmp:nuland:2487&r=hme |
| By: | Wagner, Kathryn L. (Department of Economics Marquette University) |
| Abstract: | Medicaid reimburses healthcare providers for services at a lower rate than any other type of insurance coverage. To account for the burden of treating Medicaid patients, providers claim that they must cost-shift by raising the rates of individuals covered by private insurance. Previous investigations of cost-shifting has produced mixed results. In this paper, I exploit a disabled Medicaid expansion where crowd-out was complete to investigate cost-shifting. I find that hospitals reduce the charge rates of the privately insured. Given that Medicaid is expanding in several states under the Affordable Care Act, these results may alleviate cost-shifting concerns of the reform |
| JEL: | I11 I13 |
| Date: | 2016–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrq:wpaper:2016-04&r=hme |
| By: | Gonzalo Sanz Cerbino |
| Abstract: | En el presente trabajo intentaremos poner en cuestión una idea dominante respecto a la intervención política de la burguesía argentina: la fortaleza de la burguesía agraria más concentrada para imponer sus intereses económico-corporativos a diferentes gobiernos en la segunda mitad del siglo XX, discutiendo la pertinencia del concepto de "oligarquía". Luego de evaluar críticamente la producción sobre el tema, analizaremos algunos datos cuantitativos que nos permitirán poner en duda los supuestos dominantes. Por último, presentaremos un estudio de caso en el que observaremos la relación política establecida por la burguesía agropecuaria con los gobiernos que siguieron al golpe de estado de 1966. En particular, las gestiones de los diferentes equipos que pasaron por la cartera de Agricultura y Ganadería entre 1966 y 1971, su relación con las corporaciones agrarias y los límites que encontraron para desplegar su política. |
| Keywords: | Oligarquía, Dominación social, Política agropecuaria. |
| JEL: | D72 D74 D78 |
| Date: | 2014–12–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000382:014774&r=hme |
| By: | Klaus Wälde (Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz); Agnes Moors (KU Leuven) |
| Abstract: | Positive and negative feelings were central to the development of economics, especially in utility theory in classical economics. While neoclassical utility theory ignored feelings, behavioral economics more recently reintroduced feelings in utility theory. Beyond feelings, economic theorists use full-fledged specific emotions to explain behavior that otherwise could not be understood or they study emotions out of interest for the emotion itself. While some analyses display a strong overlap between psychological thinking and economic modelling, in most cases there is still a large gap between economic and psychological approaches to emotion research. Ways how to reduce this gap are discussed. |
| Date: | 2016–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jgu:wpaper:1612&r=hme |