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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2017‒07‒16
thirteen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Maria Nikolaidi (University of Greenwich); Engelbert Stockhammer |
| Abstract: | Minsky’s ideas have recently gained prominence in the mainstream as well as in the heterodox literature. However, there exists no agreement upon the formal presentation of Minsky’s insights. The aim of this paper is to survey the literature and identify differences and similarities in the ways through which Minskyan ideas have been formalised. We distinguish between the models that focus on the dynamics of debt or interest, with no or a secondary role for asset prices, and the models in which asset prices play a key role in the dynamic behaviour of the economy. Within the first category of models we make a classification between (i) the Kalecki-Minsky models, (ii) the Kaldor-Minsky models, (iii) the Goodwin-Minsky models, (iv) the credit rationing Minsky models, (v) the endogenous target debt ratio models and (vi) the Minsky-Veblen models. Within the second category of models, we distinguish between (i) the equity price Minsky models and (ii) the real estate price Minsky models. Key limitations of the models and directions for future research are outlined. |
| Keywords: | business cycles, financial instability, post-Keynesian economics, debt cycles |
| JEL: | B50 E32 G01 |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp1706&r=hme |
| By: | Sue Konzelmann; Frank Wilkinson |
| Abstract: | Liberal economics has traditionally put strong emphasis on individualisation and specialisation – and has struggled with the notion of co-operation. Thus, Alfred Marshall's pioneering work on the English industrial districts of his day posed a significant challenge to the conventional wisdom, which embraced laissez-faire markets and Adam Smith's claim that improvements in efficiency depend upon the increased division of labour within firms competing in them. Marshall found that an important determinant of the competitive success of industrial districts was effective co-operation within and between firms, supported by a dense network of institutions, and markets regulated by agreed rules, norms and standards. He theorised that these generate external economies of scale and scope that enable the district and its constituent small firms to successfully compete with large, vertically integrated firms. From the mid-1920s, however, with the emergence and growth of very large, highly successful firms, the conventional wisdom shifted to suppose that the historical tendency in capitalist development was towards large firm dominance; and the small firm sector was progressively reduced to a residuum. However, the rediscovery of the industrial district by Italian scholars during the 1960s revived interest in Marshall's notion of localised productive systems and attracted considerable attention to this form of industrial organisation. This paper traces themes within this literature, from the earliest theorising by the Classical Political Economists to the present, focusing on the role of co-operation in production, the relationship between the organisation of production and markets, and the nature and functioning of productive systems. |
| Keywords: | Industrial Districts, Productive Systems, Co-operation and Competition, Industrial Organisation |
| JEL: | B00 L00 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cbr:cbrwps:wp481&r=hme |
| By: | Klaus Jaffe |
| Abstract: | Classic economic science is reaching the limits of its explanatory powers. Complexity science uses an increasingly larger set of different methods to analyze physical, biological, cultural, social, and economic factors, providing a broader understanding of the socio-economic dynamics involved in the development of nations worldwide. The use of tools developed in the natural sciences, such as thermodynamics, evolutionary biology, and analysis of complex systems, help us to integrate aspects, formerly reserved to the social sciences, with the natural sciences. This integration reveals details of the synergistic mechanisms that drive the evolution of societies. By doing so, we increase the available alternatives for economic analysis and provide ways to increase the efficiency of decision-making mechanisms in complex social contexts. This interdisciplinary analysis seeks to deepen our understanding of why chronic poverty is still common, and how the emergence of prosperous technological societies can be made possible. This understanding should increase the chances of achieving a sustainable, harmonious and prosperous future for humanity. The analysis evidences that complex fundamental economic problems require multidisciplinary approaches and rigorous application of the scientific method if we want to advance significantly our understanding of them. The analysis reveals viable routes for the generation of wealth and the reduction of poverty, but also reveals huge gaps in our knowledge about the dynamics of our societies and about the means to guide social development towards a better future for all. |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1707.02853&r=hme |
| By: | Ormazabal Sánchez, Kepa Mirena |
| Abstract: | The question discussed in this paper is whether a political society not emancipated from labor can be a free society. In a less abstract way, the question can be posed as follows; can a society with a laboring class and a labor market be free? The question arises because labor and freedom seem to be in conflict, so a society with a working class and a labor market can neither be free nor democratic. The opposition between labor and freedom has always been a central theme in Practical Philosophy, and its recurrent idea that labor involves an irretrievable loss of self-consciousness and, thereby, of freedom has survived right up to this day. The Marxian treatment of alienation is just an outstanding example of this old idea, but not a real novelty. In this paper I intend to explore an alternative path to the still dominant idea of Practical Philosophy by examining the ontological foundations of the alternative response developed by Hegel in his Philosophy of the Spirit. |
| Keywords: | liberal, democracy, political, economy, freedom, labor |
| JEL: | A13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehu:ikerla:22105&r=hme |
| By: | chatterjee, susmita |
| Abstract: | This is well noted that women have been subjugated by the throes of patriarchy. They have been bounded by certain gendered social and cultural norms.In this study, we have found that being empowered by joining the self help gropus and with change in lifestyle factors along with sense of self esteem women influence the child birth decision which is leading to demographic transition irrespectiv of their settlement places. |
| Keywords: | empowerment, child birth decision, demographic transition |
| JEL: | J0 J13 |
| Date: | 2017–07–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80067&r=hme |
| By: | Novy, Andreas |
| Abstract: | This paper presents transformative social innovation as a specific type of social innovation which attempts avoiding the trap of being used by the neoliberal mainstream. Unfortunately, utilizing social innovations to strengthen the "human face of neoliberalism" has become a real threat since the Barroso Commission has embraced social innovation as a panacea to solve the social crisis resulting from the financial breakdown in 2008. In this approach, social innovation has increasingly been reduced to a recipe of fostering social entrepreneurship and creating quasi-markets (Jenson, 2015, p. 101), thereby promoting an "enabling welfare state" which uses the creativity and personal commitment of its citizens (Bureau of European Policy Advisors, 2010: 7). In current social innovation policies, attention focuses on the space of manoeuvre of deliberate agency, often by social entrepreneurs or "change maker", to implement "piecemeal changes" in the short run, like improving language skills of migrants or reintegrating of long-term unemployed into the labour market. Nobody can object to "doing more with less" in the form of cost-and resource efficient responses in times of ecological crisis and fiscal constraints. Nor can one oppose incentives for active citizenship in a "participation society". However, these efforts have become increasingly problematic, as a one-sided concern with measureable social impact, offering quick and visible solutions, has impeded to reflect on the deeper causes of the current multiple crises. But without understanding causes, agency can neither grasp important dimensions of a problem nor identify potentials. It, therefore, tends to remain ineffective. This recalls the "old saying that 'when it comes to practicality, nothing beats a good theory" (Danermark, Ekström, Jakobsen, & Karlsson, 2005, p. 187f) - and a good theory of capitalist modernisation is prerequisite for all types of emancipatory agency. In this paper, I will first quickly present attempts at elaborating a more radical version of social innovation that aims at tackling causes, including unequal power relations and systemic elements of capitalist market economies. Frank Moulaert and his colleagues, the research project TRANSIT and Mangabeira Unger offer different analyses for identifying the transformative potential of social innovations. Based on these contributions, I will present my understanding of transformative social innovations, grounding it in Karl Polanyi's The Great Transformation, critical realism and transdisciplinarity. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus009:5619&r=hme |
| By: | Aspiazu, Eliana |
| Abstract: | El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la incorporación de la problemática de género en el ámbito sindical, a partir del estudio de los aspectos institucionales, culturales y subjetivos que intervienen facilitando o limitando su inclusión y legitimación dentro de las organizaciones gremiales. Específicamente, indagar en los avances y obstáculos e identificar el impacto de las políticas sindicales de género en el bienestar de la población trabajadora. |
| Keywords: | Género; Equidad; Sindicalismo; Salud; |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nmp:nuland:2685&r=hme |
| By: | Mayra Buvinic (Center for Global Development); Megan O’Donnell |
| Abstract: | A review of the recent evaluation evidence on financial services and training interventions questions their gender neutrality and suggests that some design features in these interventions can yield more positive economic outcomes for women than for men. These include features in savings and ‘Graduation’ programs that increase women’s economic self-reliance and self-control, and the practice of repeated micro borrowing that increases financial risk-taking and choice. ‘Smart’ design also includes high quality business management and jobs skills training, and stipends and other incentives in these training programs that address women’s additional time burdens and childcare demands. Peer support may also help to increase financial risk taking and confidence in business decisions, and may augment an otherwise negligible impact of financial literacy training. These features help women overcome gender-related constraints. However, when social norms are too restrictive, and women are prevented from doing any paid work, no design will be smart enough. Subjective economic empowerment appears to be an important intermediate outcome for women that should be promoted and more reliably and accurately measured. More research is also needed on de-biasing service provision, which can be gender biased; lastly, whenever possible, results should be sex-disaggregated and reported for individuals as well as households. |
| JEL: | J16 J24 L25 L26 M53 O12 |
| Date: | 2017–05–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cgd:wpaper:456&r=hme |
| By: | Klaus Kraemer (Department of Sociology, University of Graz) |
| Date: | 2017–07–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grz:wpsses:2017-03&r=hme |
| By: | Alexandre Chirat; Charlotte Le Chapelain |
| Abstract: | This contribution highlights some unexpected proximities between Galbraith and Schultz’s thoughts on human capital. Despite apparently strong methodological divergences, both authors analyze the issue of human capital investment in the light of the dynamics of the economic development process. This issue is formulated in Galbraith’s vocabulary in terms of the requirements of the planning system, and in terms of the needs of production activities deriving from the dynamics of growth in Schultz’s. But the logic underlying their analysis is of the same order. The emphasis on the needs of production leads the two authors to address the issue of student sovereignty in making allocative decisions regarding education. By highlighting these proximities, our study shows that Schultz’s thought on human capital must not be conflated, from a methodological point of view, with Becker’s and Mincer’s. We thus question the idea that the human capital research program is characterized by strong methodological unity, in particular that it is characterized by methodological individualism. That Becker and Mincer’s works rely on methodological individualism is not called into question; the idea that Schultz’s thought is grounded on it deserves more careful examination. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital, Education, Schultz, Galbraith, Methodological Individualism. |
| JEL: | B41 H52 I15 P46 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2017-18&r=hme |
| By: | Islahi, Abdul Azim |
| Abstract: | Dr. Muhammad Hamidullah is famous for his French translation of the Qur'an, and well-known for discovery, editing and bringing in light a number of rare and invaluable hadith manuscripts. He is also rightly acknowledged for his ground-breaking research works on international Islamic law, biography of the Prophet (peace be upon him), Islamic politics and archival heritage of Islam. A less known but significant aspect of his contribution is his pioneering works on Islamic Economics. Spread over more than fifty years he wrote scores of papers in English, Urdu, Arabic, French and Turkish. In fact it was he who coined the term "Islamic Economics" by which this discipline is known worldwide today. Many firsts in this subject belong to him. For instance: the first and the earliest record of the interest-free financial institution in the modern period, advocacy of mutuality as the basis for Islamic insurance, mutuality based Islamic finance, proposal for establishment of international interest-free monetary fund, federation of currencies for Muslim countries, etc. He also focused on topics such as nature of Islamic economic system, critiques of capitalism and communism, insurance, zakah and public finance, money and banking, partnership and equity finance, production and distribution, labor relations, et cetera. The present paper aims at introducing this aspect of his contribution and his legacy in Islamic economics. |
| Keywords: | Genesis of Islamic Economics, Hamidullah, Islamic Insurance, Zakah, Labour organization, Interest, Risk shifting, Federation of currencies, Mutuality. |
| JEL: | B3 B31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80149&r=hme |
| By: | Owen, Ann L.; Temesvary, Judit |
| Abstract: | Previous literature has shown mixed results on the role of female participation on bank boards and bank performance: some find that more women on boards enhance financial performance, while others find negative or no effects. Applying Instrumental Variables methods to data on approximately 90 US bank holding companies over the 1999-2015 period, we argue that these inconclusive results are due to the fact that there is a non-linear, U-shaped relationship between gender diversity on boards and various measures of bank performance: female participation has a positive effect once a threshold level of gender diversity is achieved. Furthermore, this positive effect is only observed in better capitalized banks. Our results suggest that continuing the voluntary expansion of gender diversity on bank boards will be value-enhancing, provided that they are well capitalized. |
| Keywords: | Bank performance; Gender Diversity; Instrumental Variables Estimation |
| JEL: | G21 G34 J16 |
| Date: | 2017–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:80078&r=hme |
| By: | Cuervo González, Luis Mauricio |
| Abstract: | En este libro se recogen cuatro trabajos inéditos, escritos por el autor a lo largo de los últimos años, cada uno de ellos construido como respuesta a desafíos específicos, pero articulados alrededor de preocupaciones comunes, transversales al conjunto. Cada texto hace parte de búsquedas de investigación desplegadas a lo largo de varias décadas de trabajo. Se trata, por tanto, de textos representativos del estado actual de interrogaciones fundamentales y constituyen versiones de síntesis en cada una de las líneas de trabajo en los que ellas se inscriben: la teoría del desarrollo, la epistemología urbana, la geografía económica de la mundialización y la economía política de la ciudad y el territorio en América Latina. |
| Keywords: | DESARROLLO ECONOMICO, DESARROLLO SOCIAL, PLANIFICACION DEL DESARROLLO, DESARROLLO LOCAL, CIUDADES, ECONOMIA URBANA, ASPECTOS SOCIALES, ASPECTOS CULTURALES, GLOBALIZACION, INVESTIGACION URBANA, DESIGUALDADES REGIONALES, INDICADORES ECONOMICOS, INDICADORES SOCIALES, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, LOCAL DEVELOPMENT, CITIES, URBAN ECONOMY, SOCIAL ASPECTS, CULTURAL ASPECTS, GLOBALIZATION, REGIONAL DISPARITIES, ECONOMIC INDICATORS, SOCIAL INDICATORS, DEVELOPMENT PLANNING, URBAN RESEARCH |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:41943&r=hme |