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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2017‒02‒05
thirteen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Silvestri, Paolo (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | This paper aims to address the following two questions: a) what is the logic of the kind of discourse that seeks to found, demarcate or defend the autonomy or the boundaries of a discipline; b) why does this discourse, whether methodological, ontological or epistemological, sometimes turn into normative, dogmatic-excommunicating wrangles among disciplines, schools or scholars? I will argue that an adequate answer may be found if we understand: 1) disciplines as institutions and, therefore, as dogmatic systems, where scholars’ discourse often takes the form of a legitimizing discourse regarding the founding Reference of their own discipline; 2) that scholars speak in the name of that very foundation, with which they closely identify; 3) that the issue of the legitimacy of a discipline cannot easily be separated from the issue of identity and, therefore, of a scholar’s legitimacy; 4) that the excommunication may arise not only when the founding Reference is absolutized, but also as a form of self-defense of a scholar’s identity-legitimacy. To understand these claims I will re-examine three paradigmatic positions: the methodological, ontological and epistemological considerations put forward by (and the debates between) Pareto, Croce and Einaudi – with specific reference to the demarcation between philosophy, economics and value-judgments. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201704&r=hme |
| By: | Silvia Sacchetti (Department of Public Leadership and Social Enterprise, The Open University; and Euricse); Marco Faillo (Department of Economics and Management, University of Trento, Italy; Euricse, Italy) |
| Abstract: | This contribution focuses on forms of CSR of the likes of NPOs, social enterprises, co-operative firms, employee-owned companies (EOCs) and multi-stakeholder governance. Their common feature is that they all are organizational types which do not maximise profits, and add the social dimension in the operation and aims of the organization as fundamental elements. The explicit recognition of a social dimension can therefore be studied at different levels, starting from basic institutions, such as control rights and governance, up to strategic and operational dimensions such as organizational routines, managerial models and employment relations. The issue to be examined, in these respects, is how these firms design their governance consistently with the instrumental role of profit and other commercial objectives, and how the role of profit is reconciled with the main societal aims. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ent:wpaper:wp61&r=hme |
| By: | Michele Tronconi |
| Abstract: | The main thesis of this work is that Intermediate bodies as well as most interest groups have their origin in ancestral strategic coalitions. More precisely their constitutive origins are stated in the leveling coalitions that ethologists and primatologists describe as normal behaviour in anthropoid ape groups. The aim of this kind of coalitions is to prevent overbearing excesses of the higher ranking members of the bunch, without aiming to take over. In so doing they participate to maintain peace inside the bunch and assure coordination between their members. In human societies they play a similar defensive role, achieving mediated solutions (for example as regards tax burden) trying to influence the decisions of those in power. Many of these ancestral schemes seem to be behind our social psychology, which remain essentially a groupist one, inherently polarized between the in-group and the out-group – a trend that apply particularly to our political dimension; that thing that provides order and predictability in social relationships. This point of view is an alternative to the one based on the so called ‘Economic Man’ (homo oeconomicus). At the beginning of the paper we will recreate the cultural history of modern individualism; we will then trace back our groupist tendency connecting it with multilevel selection hypothesis. The reading grid based on leveling coalitions will then be applied to medieval guilds, highlighting the consistency with the latest historiographical interpretations. |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:liu:liucec:304&r=hme |
| By: | Yasuhiro Sakai (Faculty of Economics, Shiga University) |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to shed a new light on the working and performance of the market economy from a pluralistic viewpoint. To this end, we first pay attention to the general equilibrium theory a la L.W. McKenzie, K. J. Arrow and G. Debreu. Whereas this theory seems to be established on the foundation of solid logic and advanced mathematics, the existence of special ethics and ideology behind the scenes should not be forgotten. We next reexamine the thought of Frank H. Knight, who has raised an strong objection against glorification of the market economy. In the late 1960s, I was a graduate student at the University of Rochester. I still recall the touching moment when Professor McKenzie, finally succeeding after a long struggle to prove the existence of a competitive economy by help of a mathematical theorem of fixed point, posed a bit in a class and said quietly, "It' so beautiful! ". The world was then in the midst of Cold War and divided into the two powerful blocs, the socialist bloc dominated by the Soviet Union and the capitalist block led by the United States of America. McKenzie's complacent whispering sounded like the victory declaration of capitalism over socialism. Around 40 years have passed since then. It seems that the "academic Cold War" between Marxian economics and modern economics is now over. At the same time, the ethics and ideology of general equilibrium looks surely fading away although it is not completely vanished. It is our regret, however, the new, synthetic social science which can replace the existing dogmatic doctrines are not in sight yet. A completely new approach like a second Knight or a second Keynes would urgently be needed. |
| Keywords: | Knight, market thinking, general equilibrium, ethics, ideology |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:shg:dpapea:22&r=hme |
| By: | Ferber, Tim |
| Abstract: | In response to the recent financial crisis, European policymakers put banking regulation in the Eurozone on top of the agenda. In 2016, as part of the newly created European banking union, a mechanism for resolving troubled banks, the Single Resolution Mechanism (SRM), became fully operational for the 19 member states of the euro area. The SRM was established to avoid future involvement of tax payers' money in the resolution of banks. This paper focuses on the negotiations on one of its instruments, the Single Resolution Fund (SRF), a fund of ex-ante contributions of Eurozone banks set up to winding down unviable banks. The SRF proved to be a main conflict issue during the negotiations. Germany and France were pushing for diverging preferences although both countries' banking sectors suffered from the crisis and both governments generally favored a regulatory approach on the European level. I provide an institutionalist explanation for these opposing positions of the two most important Eurozone countries. By drawing on the "Varieties of Capitalism" literature, I explain how the distinct features of these countries' financial and banking systems accounted for their preferences. On the one side, German negotiators sought to preserve the dominant way of bank-based corporate finance by particularly protecting savings and cooperative banks. On the other, the French government was in favor of higher contributions by the banking sector because market-based corporate finance is more prevalent in France. Nevertheless, France aimed at keeping its 'national champions' out as far as possible. This paper has important implications for how to think about preference formation in European financial regulation. |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fubipe:272016&r=hme |
| By: | Lavrentyeva, Irina (Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Chelyabinsk branch); Natalia Golubeva (South Ural State University (National Research Institute), Zlatoust Branch) |
| Abstract: | In article the alternative mechanism of permission of the main contradiction of the present is offered: between action of a market mechanism of “economic liberalism” and social protection of the motherhood and the childhood which essence is stated in methodology of inclusion of reproductive work in economy of the Russian Federation. |
| Keywords: | reproductive work, parental work, professionalizing of parental work, social protection, institute of training of parents |
| JEL: | J0 |
| Date: | 2015–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rnp:ppaper:ch1604&r=hme |
| By: | Spiegler, Ran |
| Abstract: | Behavioral economics is perceived by many to be part of a general shift in the culture of economics toward a less theoretical style. I present a critical discussion of certain manifestations of this trend: a preference for an anecdotal style of exposition (illustrated by Akerlof and Shiller's Phishing for Phools), reduced-form modeling (illustrated by Campbell's Ely Lecture), and the method of capturing psychological forces using parametric modifications of conventional functional forms. I argue that the subject of "psychology and economics" is intrinsically foundational, and that a pure-theory component is essential for it to realize its transformative potential. |
| JEL: | D03 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:11786&r=hme |
| By: | B. Zorina Khan |
| Abstract: | Economic studies typically underestimate incremental changes in consumer goods and design innovations that enhance allocative efficiency and structural dynamics. This paper assesses over 12,000 innovations by female patentees and participants in industrial fairs and prize-granting institutions in Britain, France and the United States, compared to parallel samples of some 60,000 patented and unpatented innovations by men. These data uniquely allow for the systematic assessment of women’s creativity within the nonmarket household sector and outside the patent system. The analysis distinguishes between improvements in consumer final goods, changes in designs, and other forms of technological creativity. The results indicate that women, especially nonpatentees, were significantly more likely than men to be associated with innovations in consumer final goods and design-oriented products at the boundary of art and technology. Even those who did not commercialize their products or work outside the home pursued such improvements to benefit their families. The patterns suggest that framing women’s creativity in terms of a “gender difference” rather than a “gender gap” might yield useful analytical insights. A general implication is that, by inaccurately gauging consumer innovations within the household and in the market, economic research likely underestimates the extent of technological progress and advances in welfare. |
| JEL: | B54 D12 L26 N40 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:23086&r=hme |
| By: | Sprenger, Julia |
| Abstract: | The current study examines the way people deal with financial decisions. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of financial consulting in the decision making process and the complex decision dynamics in the run up to a decision. Data for this study were collected through a series of semi-structured interviews with both financial consultants of a savings bank and their clients. The findings provide insights into different attitudes towards financial decision making, locate financial consulting within the decision process, and compare the information habits and the degree to which decision autonomy is maintained, restricted, or given up across different types of clients. Besides, the study shows how trust between client and consultant encourages reciprocal behavior and increases the willingness to accept opportunity costs. The paper discusses these findings with respect to consulting practices and consumer policy and outlines directions for future research. |
| Keywords: | financial decision making,financial consulting,interviews,decision autonomy,information |
| JEL: | D14 D18 D83 G21 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:670&r=hme |
| By: | Osorio, Jaime (Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana Unidad Xochimilco) |
| Abstract: | This paper underscores the significance of the Use Values that Latin America produces, which contributes to a reduced and focalized increase in productivity, and allows an unequal interchange with developed economies. This generates a modality of Capitalism—Dependent, which presents peculiarities in its reproduction, that the Marxist Dependency Theory aims to explain. En este escrito se pone de manifiesto la significación de los valores de uso que produce América Latina, lo que propicia una elevación reducida y focalizada de la productividad y abre paso al intercambio desigual con las economías desarrolladas. Todo esto genera una modalidad de capitalismo, el dependiente, que presenta particularidades en su reproducción, las que la teoría marxista de la dependencia busca explicar. |
| Keywords: | World-system; Dependent Capitalism; Unequal Exchange |
| JEL: | B24 B51 F10 F50 |
| Date: | 2016–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:enedoc:0003&r=hme |
| By: | Nikolay NENOVSKY; Tsvetelina MARINOVA |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:leo:wpaper:2459&r=hme |
| By: | OECD |
| Abstract: | This Policy Paper describes the relatively new phenomenon of publicly-capitalised green investment banks and examines why they are being created and how they are mobilising private investment. It draws on the OECD report “Green Investment Banks: Scaling up Private Investment in Low-carbon, Climate-resilient Infrastructure". |
| Date: | 2017–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:envaac:6-en&r=hme |
| By: | Suren Vardanyan |
| Abstract: | We experimentally study the possibility that news of a crisis in one market may cause a contagious crisis in another market though there are no links between those markets. Literature provides models of contagion in which news of a crisis may cause contagion in Bandwagon and Strategic risk channels; however, these models lack empirical evidence. The reason may be that it is difficult to isolate the effect of news of a crisis in real data, as markets are linked in many ways. To our knowledge this is the first research into contagious effects of the news of a crisis. We modify the influential experimental design of Smith et al. (1988) to construct an environment in which two separate markets are traded simultaneously, and there is no link between these markets other than possibility of observing prices in the other market. We create a crisis in one market by simulating a price drop in that market and observe whether prices in the other market drop in a contagious manner. Our results show that news of a crisis is a significant source of contagion and the Bandwagon channel is significant, while the Strategic risk channel is not. Further, news of a crisis may cause contagion in channels other than Bandwagon and Strategic risk; however, we do not identify which channels in the present study, leaving it for future research. |
| Keywords: | asset market; contagion; experiment; |
| JEL: | C92 G12 |
| Date: | 2016–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cer:papers:wp580&r=hme |