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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2017‒12‒03
twelve papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Tewathia, Nidhi |
| Abstract: | In India, workers in the informal sector are considered to be vulnerable and marginalised. Benefits of economic growth rarely reach to this segment of the society and they are also excluded from benefits of physical and social infrastructure expansion. This is particularly true for women. Women are constantly engaged in the household activities which are often unacknowledged and unquantified. This unparallel contribution of women towards social reproduction of class has remained unpaid. Now that more and more women have started to take up employment outside the house, they are not able to perform household activities. The domestic helps have replaced them for performing household work and are being paid for it. The household work which was earlier unpaid has been quantified to some extent as payment is made to the domestic workers for such work. This paper discusses the unaccounted and invisible contribution of women domestic workers in our country. Women domestic workers are not recognized as workers and their work is undervalued. Home of the employer is the workplace for the domestic workers and this unique feature makes them vulnerable to abuses, exploitation and acute working conditions. But, these workers themselves are left on the margins of the development matrix. Stuck between bad working conditions and expectations of subservient loyalty, the Indian domestic worker has to cope with the worst aspects of both feudalism and capitalism. This has led to a slew of new challenges for social justice that needs urgent consideration of the law makers and social scientists, given our national objective of inclusive growth. There is a common reluctance, in India, to accept the home as a work place. This is the prime reason for the low priority attached to labour rights and welfare in the current policy paradigm. The official data is unreliable and grossly inadequate as domestic work is notoriously under enumerated. The paper concludes by emphasising that the regulation and formalization of the domestic employment relationship is in the interests of both workers and employers. The government needs to draw its attention to the urgent need of provision of skill development, written contracts, regulatory body and regular inspections for the domestic workers. With the basic elements of protection, the government can assure them a minimum standard of living, compatible with self-respect and dignity which is essential to social justice. |
| Keywords: | Women, domestic, workers, India |
| JEL: | J21 J61 |
| Date: | 2017–10–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82258&r=hme |
| By: | Kurunmaki, Liisa; Mennicken, Andrea; Miller, Peter |
| Abstract: | In recent decades, there has been an avalanche of numbers in public life, one that matches that which occurred in the first half of the nineteenth century. The difference today is that many of the numbers that are now so central to political rule pertain to performance, and depend on a felicitous interlocking of quantifying, economising, and marketising. The calculated management of life is at a critical juncture, and it is essential that we consider carefully how this is affecting who we are, what we have become, and who we wish to be. Only a few decades ago, this bandwagon seemed limited or at least focused in its reach, yet it now appears as if no domain of human endeavour can escape. We argue that it is important to differentiate quantifying, economising, and marketising, so as to counter the often phobic response to the unrelenting march of numbers in modern political rule. We call for greater attention to the role of accounting numbers, for accounting numbers go beyond the abstract models of economics and allow a form of action on the actions of others that economics does not. We argue also for greater attention to the conditionality of the performativity of quantification, so that we can identify the conditions under which numbers produce effects, and the varying nature and extent of those effects. Finally, we consider the thorny issue of “democratising” the social sphere, and note that it is only recently that quantification has been largely annexed by the phenomenon dubbed neoliberalism. |
| Keywords: | quantifying; economising; marketising; democratising; performativity; accounting; neoliberalism; subjectifying |
| JEL: | M40 |
| Date: | 2016–10–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:67549&r=hme |
| By: | Mika J. Straka; Guido Caldarelli; Tiziano Squartini; Fabio Saracco |
| Abstract: | Bipartite networks provide an insightful representation of many systems, ranging from mutualistic networks of species interactions to investment networks in finance. The analysis of their topological structures has revealed the ubiquitous presence of properties which seem to characterize many - apparently different - systems. Nestedness, for example, has been observed in plants-pollinator as well as in country-product trade networks. This has raised questions about the significance of these patterns, which are often believed to constitute a genuine signature of self-organization. Here, we review several methods that have been developed for the analysis of such evidence. Due to the interdisciplinary character of complex networks, tools developed in one field, for example ecology, can greatly enrich other areas of research, such as economy and finance, and vice versa. With this in mind, we briefly review several entropy-based bipartite null models that have been recently proposed and discuss their application to several real-world systems. The focus on these models is motivated by the fact that they show three very desirable features: analytical character, general applicability and versatility. In this respect, entropy-based methods have been proven to perform satisfactorily both in providing benchmarks for testing evidence-based null hypotheses and in reconstructing unknown network configurations from partial information. On top of that, entropy-based models have been successfully employed to analyze ecological as well as economic systems, thus representing an ideal, interdisciplinary tool to approach the study of bipartite complex systems. [...] |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1710.10143&r=hme |
| By: | Clément Bosquet; Pierre-Philippe Combes; Cecilia García-Peñalosa |
| Abstract: | The promotion system for French academic economists provides an interesting environment to examine the promotion gap between men and women. Promotions occur through national competitions for which we have information both on candidates and on those eligible to be candidates. We can then examine the two stages of the process: application and success. Women are less likely to seek promotion and this accounts for up to 76% of the promotion gap. Being a woman also reduces the probability of promotion conditional on applying, although the gender difference is not statistically significant. Our results highlight the importance of the decision to apply. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps, promotions, academic labour markets |
| JEL: | J16 J7 I23 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1511&r=hme |
| By: | Sartori, Laura; Dini, Paolo |
| Abstract: | The remarkable growth of Sardex as a local currency throughout the island of Sardinia over the past 5 years motivated an in-depth look at its starting assumptions, design and operational principles, and local context. The paper looks at Sardex as a social innovation start-up, a complementary currency, a mutual credit system, and a socio-economic «circuit». The analysis relies on interviews of circuit members and its founders. The main findings are that trust was and continues to be fundamentally important for the creation and operation of the mutual credit system, and that Sardex encompasses both economic and social value(s) in a process of re-embedding of the economy. Sardex configured itself as a crucial mediator of economic exchanges and became a valuable actor acting as an institution at the regional level. These properties make it an ideal space for experimentation in socio-economic innovation that can be characterized as a «laboratory for multi-level governance». |
| JEL: | F3 G3 |
| Date: | 2016–08–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:67135&r=hme |
| By: | Meagher, Kate; Manna, Laura; Bolt, Maxim |
| Abstract: | This introductory article explores the transformative potential of global connections for African workers. It challenges recent claims that African workers have become functionally irrelevant to the global economy by examining the shift of global demand for African workers from formal to increasingly informalised labour arrangements, mediated by social enterprises, labour brokers and graduate entrepreneurs. Focusing on global employment connections initiated from above and from below, we consider why global labour linkages have tended to increase rather than reduce problems of vulnerable and unstable working conditions within African countries, and consider the economic and political conditions needed for African workers to capture the gains of inclusion in the global economy. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2016–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:66276&r=hme |
| By: | Platonova, Anna; Gény, Lydia Rosa |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a contextual analysis of the mutual relations between migration and women’s empowerment with the aim to facilitate the debate among stakeholders, including policymakers, practitioners and civil society in the Caribbean subregion on the role of migration as a means of empowerment for women. When contextualized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, this debate should inform practical actions for the formulation of the Global Compact for safe, orderly and regular migration that will be adopted in 2018, and more broadly for sustainable development that will ensure that no one is left behind as Member States and other stakeholders strive towards achieving inclusive, fairer, and sustainable societies. |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col033:42491&r=hme |
| By: | Giorgio Fagiolo; Daniele Giachini; Andrea Roventini |
| Abstract: | This paper extends the endogenous-growth agent-based model in Fagiolo and Dosi (2003) to study the finance-growth nexus. We explore industries where firms produce a homogeneous good using existing technologies, perform R&D activities to introduce new techniques, and imitate the most productive practices. Unlike the original model, we assume that both exploration and imitation require resources provided by banks, which pool agent savings and finance new projects via loans. We find that banking activity has a positive impact on growth. However, excessive financialization can hamper growth. Indeed, we find a significant and robust inverted-U shaped relation between financial depth and growth. Overall, our results stress the fundamental (and still poorly understood) role played by innovation in the finance-growth nexus. |
| Keywords: | Agent-based Models, Innovation, Exploration vs. Exploitation, Endogenous Growth, Banking Sector, Finance-Growth Nexus |
| Date: | 2017–11–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2017/30&r=hme |
| By: | Yaffe, Helen |
| JEL: | B14 B24 P2 P3 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:66944&r=hme |
| By: | Phoebe Koundouri (Dept. of International and European Economic Studies, Athens University of Economics and Business); Nikitas Pittis (University of Piraeus, Greece); Panagiotis Samartzis; Nikolaos Englezos; Andreas Papandreou |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on different types of ambiguity that affect climate change regulation. In particular, we analyze the effect of the interactions among three types of agents, namely, the decision maker (DM), the experts and the society, on the probabilistic properties of green-house gas (GHG) emissions and the formation of environmental policy, under two types of ambiguity: "deferential ambiguity" and "preferential ambiguity". Deferential ambiguity refers to the uncertainty that DM faces concerning to which expert's forecast (scenario) to defer. Preferential ambiguity stems from the potential inability of DM to correctly discern the society's preferences about the desired change of GHG emissions. This paper shows that the existence of deferential and preferential ambiguities have significant effects on GHG emissions regulation. |
| Keywords: | decision making on climate change, ambiguity, deep uncertainty, deferential ambiguity, preferential ambiguity, tail risks of environmental-policy variables. |
| JEL: | D8 D80 D81 D83 D |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aue:wpaper:1706&r=hme |
| By: | Ishkanian, Armine; Glasius, Marlies |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2017–10–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:85656&r=hme |
| By: | Johannes Boehm; Swati Dhingra; John Morrow |
| Abstract: | The presence of global value chains challenges the neoclassical idea of the firm since it implies firms are not monolithic but are rather interdependent on the larger economic environment. Examining establishments, the smallest units of production within firms, sheds light on the microeconomic incentives determining the location of production and whether a firm produces a good or sources it. Most work on multiproduct firms looks at developed countries, but constraints on firm growth are greater in developing economies. We examine multiproduct establishments in India during a high growth period. Multiproduct establishments made up the bulk of manufacturing production, and their product turnover contributed 28 per cent to net sales growth. Unlike the nineties which witnessed drastic liberalization, establishments in the two-thousands dropped products at rates similar to those for the US. Sales dispersion across products also predicts product addition. |
| Keywords: | multiproduct firms, product adoption, product diversity |
| JEL: | L1 L2 M2 O3 |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1509&r=hme |