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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2018‒02‒05
29 papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Mariolis, Theodore; Tsoulfidis, Lefteris |
| Abstract: | Capital theory and the associated with it price effects consequent upon changes in the distributive variables hold centre stage when it comes to the internal consistency of both classical and neoclassical theories of value. This paper briefly reviews the literature and then focuses on the detected skew eigenvalue distribution of the vertically integrated technical coefficients matrices of actual economies. The findings prompt the use of the Schur triangularization theorem for the construction even of a single industry from the input-output structure of the entire economy. Such a hyper-basic industry, in combination with hyper-non-basic industries, embodies properties that may capture the behaviour of the entire economic system. Thus, we can derive some meaningful results consistent with the available empirical evidence, which finally suggest that actual economies tend to respond as ‘irregular-uncontrollable’ systems. |
| Keywords: | Almost irregular-uncontrollable economy; Capital theory; Eigenvalue distribution; Hyper-basic industry; Effective rank |
| JEL: | B21 B51 C67 D46 D57 |
| Date: | 2018–01–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:84214&r=hme |
| By: | Grillitsch, Markus (Lund University); Sotarauta, Markku (University of Tampere) |
| Abstract: | The study of regional growth paths is a key theme in economic geography and of elemental interest for policy makers concerned with regional development. Evolutionary theory explains the path-dependent nature of regional development, and points to its open-ended nature. This paper addresses the interplay between path-dependent, structural forces and the construction and utilization of opportunities through agentic processes. Extending to the evolutionary framework, it is argued that not only history but also perceived future opportunities influence agentic processes in the present and thus shape regional growth paths. Building on recent work about foresightful, strategic and distributed agency, this paper identifies three forms of agency, Schumpeterian innovative entrepreneurship, institutional entrepreneurship and place leadership, that call for and necessitate each other in the process of shaping regional growth paths. It is argued that such a holistic view is essential to understand regional development processes and in particular structural change as manifested in economic diversification and new industrial path development. |
| Keywords: | Regional development; agency; path-dependency; Schumpeterian innovative entrepreneurship; institutional entrepreneurship; place leadership; economic diversification; new industrial path development |
| JEL: | B52 L16 O30 R10 |
| Date: | 2018–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2018_001&r=hme |
| By: | Giovanni Dosi (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Pisa Italy); Andrea Roventini (Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna Pisa Italy also OFCE Sciences Po Paris); Emanuele Russo (Superiore Sant'Anna,Pisa Italy & OFCE Sciences Po Paris France) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present a multi-country, multi-industry agent-based model investigating the different growth patterns of interdependent economies. Each country features a Schumpeterian engine of endogenous technical change which interacts with Keyneasian/Kaldorian demand generation mechanisms. National growth trajectories are driven by firms’ accumulation of technological knowledge, which in turn also leads to emergent specialization patterns in different industries. Interactions among economies occur via trade flows, stemming from the competition of firms in international markets. Simulation results show the emergence of persistent income divergence among countries leading to polarization and club formation. Moreover, each country experiences a structural transformation of its productive structure during the development process. Such dynamics results from firm-level virtuous (or vicious) cycles between knowledge accumulation, trade performances, and growth dynamics. The model accounts for a rich ensemble of empirical regularities at macro, meso and micro levels of aggregation. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous growth, structural change, technology-gaps, global divergence, absolute advantages, agent based models |
| JEL: | F41 F43 O4 O3 |
| Date: | 2018–01–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1802&r=hme |
| By: | Carlo Borzaga; Simone Poledrini; Giulia Galera |
| Abstract: | Italian social enterprises are not a new topic in literature. Several aspects e.g. theoretical frameworks, quality of work and job satisfaction, networking strategies, and the impact of the recent financial crisis, have been studied from many different perspectives in the last twenty years. Most of these contributions focus in particular on social cooperatives, as the most representative legal form of social enterprise in Italy. Therefore, the idea that has been spreading in literature and among scholars is that social cooperatives are the only example of social enterprise existing in Italy. Conversely, in recent years, new forms of non-profit organizations, that were traditionally based on volunteer and donor support, have started to operate as social enterprises, employing people and running commercial activities. This article, which is one of a very few works that explore this topic, is intended to answer the following research questions: �How many different types of SEs are there in Italy?�; �How many SEs of each type are there?�; �In what ways and to what extent do they differ from each other?�. |
| Keywords: | Social Enterprises, Social cooperatives, Social capital, Governance, Italy |
| JEL: | L30 L31 P13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpeu:1796&r=hme |
| By: | Franck Aggeri (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - MINES ParisTech - École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris - PSL - PSL Research University - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The issue of performativity reverse the classical perspective in the social sciences, for they revolve less around describing a pre-existing reality than understanding how reality is produced by intentional interventions. Yet the link between intervention and performativity is by no means automatic. On the contrary, this approach encourages us to focus on the pragmatic conditions that allow this performation to be constructed. In this sense, the aim of this article is threefold. First, it expands the field of performativity, which is structured around three dominant approaches (Austinian, Callonian and Butlerian), to encompass lesser-known research on writing and calculation. Second, it proposes a comparison between theoretical perspectives of research on performativity, and two other research trends in social science and in organizations. These, without using the term performativity, present strong similarities to it from a theoretical and methodological point of view: Foucauldian approaches and instrument-based approaches to organizations. Based on the concepts thus introduced, this article then proposes an analysis framework for performation processes in organizations, articulated around three levels of analysis: i) the study, on an elementary level, of speech acts, acts of calculation, and acts of writing organized around instrumented activities; ii) their insertion within the management dispositifs that give them meaning and contribute to defining their boundaries; and iii) the putting into perspective of these dispositifs in historical transformations in forms of governmentality. This analytical framework is applied in the case of the car project referred to as L, an instance of collaborative research in which a crisis situation characterized by the disalignment between the elementary acts studied and the management dispositif implemented by the company was examine. This case illustrates a more general phenomenon in which management dispositifs produce negative effects on the skills dynamics in a company, and on individuals’ involvement in these collective projects. It also explains the infelicity of certain performative acts. |
| Abstract: | Qu'est-ce que la performativité peut apporter aux recherches en management et sur les organisations Mise en perspective théorique et cadre d'analyse Franck Aggeri Résumé. La problématique de la performativité renverse la perspective classique en sciences sociales : il s'agit moins de décrire une réalité préexistante que de comprendre comment la réalité est produite par des interventions intentionnelles. Toutefois, le lien entre intervention et performativité n'a rien d'automatique et cette approche invite, au contraire, à s'intéresser aux conditions pragmatiques qui permettent de construire cette performation. Dans cette perspective, cet article vise un triple objectif. Il élargit tout d'abord le champ de la performativité, structuré autour de trois approches dominantes (dites austinienne, callonienne et butlérienne), à des travaux moins connus sur les actes d'écriture et de calcul. Il propose ensuite une mise en perspective des travaux sur la performativité par rapport à deux autres courants de recherche en sciences sociales et dans les organisations qui, sans utiliser le terme de performativité, présentent de fortes similitudes sur le plan théorique et méthodologique : les approches foucaldiennes et les approches des organisations par les instruments. A partir des concepts introduits, l'article propose enfin un cadre d'analyse des processus de performation dans les organisations qui articule trois niveaux d'analyse : l'étude, à un niveau élémentaire, des actes de langage oraux, de calcul et d'écriture organisés autour d'activités instrumentées ; leur insertion dans des dispositifs de management qui leur donnent du sens et contribuent à les cadrer ; la mise en perspective de ces dispositifs dans les transformations historiques des formes de gouvernementalité. Ce cadre d'analyse est mobilisé sur le cas du projet automobile L, objet d'une recherche-intervention, dans lequel une situation de crise, caractérisée par un désalignement entre les actes élémentaires étudiés et le dispositif de management mis en place par l'entreprise, a pu être étudiée. Ce cas illustre un phénomène plus général où les dispositifs de management produisent des effets pervers sur la dynamique des compétences et sur l'adhésion des individus à de tels projets collectifs et expliquent l'infélicité de certains actes performatifs. |
| Keywords: | Management instrument,Dispositif,critical management studies,Performativity |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01609172&r=hme |
| By: | Sylvie Thoron (LIPHA - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire d'Etude du Politique Hannah Arendt Paris-Est - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée) |
| Abstract: | Behavioral economics sought to draw inspiration from research on empathy to modify the interactive model of homo oeconomicus. However, it was faced with the impossibility of considering emotions, and emotional empathy in particular, in the framework of a theory of social preferences anchored in the rationality of the interactionist and individualistic model of game theory. This impossibility is due to the fact that game theory first, then behavioral economics, did not want to question the fundamental motives of the individual when he interacts with others. Yet, the question of emotions, and emotional empathy in particular, should lead to questioning the sources of behavior. Indeed, what do the other behavioral sciences tell us? While the survival of the organism is undoubtedly a fundamental objective common to all living things, human beings derive their specificity from the fact that they also have fundamental and pre-wired mechanisms that specialize them for life in interaction with their fellows. It is thanks to these fundamental mechanisms that the human species has been able to develop productive and societal modes of cooperation on a large scale. We propose, therefore, a change of perspective in behavioral economics that would allow to consider that the ultimate objective of the individual in society is not to ensure her survival and needs but rather to create and maintain the links with others. |
| Abstract: | -Lorsque l’économie comportementale a voulu s’inspirer des recherches sur l’empathie pour modifier le modèle de l’homo oeconomicus en interaction, elle s’est heurtée à l’impossibilité de penser les émotions dans le cadre d’une théorie des préférences sociales toujours ancrée dans la rationalité du modèle individualiste interactionniste de la théorie des jeux. Cette impossibilité est due au fait que la théorie des jeux tout d’abord, puis l’économie comportementale ensuite, n’ont pas voulu remettre en question l’objectif fondamental de l’individu lorsqu’il agit en interaction avec les autres. Or, se pencher sur la question des émotions et de l’empathie émotionnelle en particulier devait amener à remettre en question les ressorts du comportement. Que nous disent en effet les autres sciences du comportement ? Que si la survie de l’organisme est sans doute un objectif fondamental et commun à tous les êtres vivants, ce dernier tire par ailleurs sa spécificité de mécanismes fondamentaux et pré-câblés qui le spécialisent pour la vie en interaction avec ses semblables. Grâce à ces mécanismes fondamentaux l’espèce humaine a pu élaborer des modes de coopération productifs et sociétaux à grande échelle. Nous proposons en conséquence un changement de perspective en économie comportementale qui permettrait de considérer que l’objectif ultime de l’individu en société n’est pas d’assurer sa survie et ses besoins, mais de créer et d’entretenir le lien aux autres. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01645082&r=hme |
| By: | Guillaume Hensel Fongang Fouepe (Université de Dschang - Faculté des sciences agronomiques (FASA)); Barthelemy Nguekeng; Urcil Papito Kenfack Essougong (Université de Dschang - Faculté des sciences agronomiques (FASA)) |
| Abstract: | This article focuses on adaptation and revival strategies of an agricultural cooperative (CAPLAME) in West Cameroon following the coffee crisis and their impacts on its performances. The study is based on a survey using questionnaires with 74 producers and 12 employees. Our results show that the strategies set up include: diversification of incomes sources and the signature of conventions' with the government. These strategies are insufficient and inadequate for a revival though they permit a reduction of the cooperative financial deficit. Likewise, they have not improved its social performances and within the coffee sector. CAPLAME has to rethink its identity and activities. She has also to rethink its relationship with members and set up new strategies in order to impulse a positive dynamics at the level of its performances. |
| Abstract: | Cet article porte sur les stratégies d'adaptation et de relance de la Coopérative Agricole des Planteurs de la Menoua (CAPLAME) à l'Ouest Cameroun suite à la crise caféière, ainsi que sur l'évolution de ses performances. L'étude repose sur des enquêtes par questionnaires auprès de 74 producteurs et 12 employés. Les résultats montrent que les stratégies développées incluent une diversification des sources de revenus et la signature de conventions de soutien avec l'Etat. Ces stratégies s'avèrent insuffisantes et inadaptées pour une relance quoiqu'ayant permis une réduction du déficit financier de la coopérative. De même, elles n'ont en rien amélioré ni ses performances sociales, ni ses performances au sein de la filière café. La CAPLAME devrait repenser son identité, son projet, et partant son objet et ses activités. Elle doit aussi revoir sa relation avec ses adhérents et mettre en place des stratégies novatrices et ambitieuses afin d'impulser une dynamique d'amélioration significative de ses performances. |
| Keywords: | Viability,Coffee crisis,Cameroon ,Agricultural cooperative,Strategy,Stratégie,Viabilité,Crise caféière,Cameroun,Coopérative agricole |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01651924&r=hme |
| By: | Hegadekatti, Kartik |
| Abstract: | Man has not only evolved biologically and culturally but also economically. Human economy has grown over many centuries through continuous addition of value. This value addition has been an evolutionary factor as it has influenced the formation of the main economic sectors-namely Primary, Secondary and Tertiary. Recently after the advent of Blockchain technology, Bitcoin achieved Gold parity. This paper analyses whether such an event will have any impact on the evolution of our economies. First, I discuss the various sectors of the economy. Then I evaluate how Bitcoin (BTC) achieving Gold Parity (GP) may influence the outcome of future economic scenarios. The paper concludes by summarizing the importance of technology in our economic systems and how technology affects its evolution. |
| Keywords: | blockchain, economic evolution, bitcoin, K-Y protocol |
| JEL: | B52 O32 O33 Q55 |
| Date: | 2017–03–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82852&r=hme |
| By: | Gevrek, Z. Eylem (Universidade Catolica Portuguesa, Porto); Neumeier, Christian (University of Konstanz); Gevrek, Deniz (Texas A&M University Corpus Christi) |
| Abstract: | Using data from the 2012 PISA across 56 countries, this study examines the link between societal gender inequalities and the gender test score gap in mathematics. We employ a novel two-stage empirical strategy in which the first stage involves decomposing the gender mathematics gap into a part that is explained by gender differences in observable characteristics and a part that remains unexplained. We use a semiparametric Oaxaca-Blinder (OB) decomposition to analyze the gap in each country individually. In the second stage, we investigate whether the decomposition components of the gap are systematically related to country-level gender inequality measures. The results indicate that the gap is not statistically significantly associated with the indicators of gender inequality, but the unexplained part of the gap is. In more gender-equal countries, the unexplained part of the gap favoring boys appears smaller. Moreover, we find that the relationship between the unexplained part of the gap and the societal gender inequality varies within the test score distribution, and tends to become less pronounced at the upper end of the distribution. |
| Keywords: | gender math gap, Semiparametric Oaxaca Blinder decomposition, culture |
| JEL: | C14 I24 I25 J16 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11260&r=hme |
| By: | Antonios Katris (Centre for Energy Policy, University of Strathclyde); Gioele Figus (Centre for Energy Policy, University of Strathclyde); Karen Turner (Centre for Energy Policy, University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | Social Accounting Matrices (SAM) are used as the main data source for Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) models, which in turn can be used to simulate economic shocks and study their economy-wide impact. However, SAMs usually include highly aggregated categories of final consumers, therefore preventing the use of CGE models to study the impact of economic shocks on economic agents with specific characteristics. For this type of analysis, it is necessary to disaggregate the economic agent of interest in the SAM. This paper presents an approach by which it is possible to disaggregate the households in the UK SAM in quintiles based on their gross weekly income. The necessary steps to disaggregate the households are presented in detail, along with the supporting datasets and variables required to replicate the disaggregation approach for future SAMs. |
| Keywords: | social accounting matrix, household disaggregation, income quintiles |
| JEL: | D57 D58 |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:1708&r=hme |
| By: | Joel Rabinovich (Centre d'Economie de l'Université de Paris Nord (CEPN)) |
| Abstract: | One aspect in which nonfinancial corporations are said to be financialised is that they emulate the asset and income structure of financial corporations. This is what we call the financial rentieralization hypothesis. In this article we show that the evidence used to sustain it, in the US setting, has to be reconsidered. Our findings show that, contrary to the financial rentieralization hypothesis, financial income averages 2.5% of total income since the ‘80s while net financial profit gets more negative as percentage of total profit for nonfinancial corporations. In terms of assets, some of the alleged financial assets actually reflect other activities in which nonfinancial corporations have been increasingly engaging: internationalization of production, activities refocusing and M&As. |
| Keywords: | financialisation of the non-financial corporation, firm strategy, corporate governance, USA |
| JEL: | G3 L2 F23 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upn:wpaper:2017-22&r=hme |
| By: | Grant Michelson (Macquarie University - Macquarie University); Sandrine Frémeaux (Audencia Business School) |
| Abstract: | Businesses have long been admonished for being unduly focused on the pursuit of profit. However, there are some organizations whose purpose is not exclusively economic to the extent that they seek to constitute common good. Building on Christian ethics as a starting point, our article shows how the pursuit of the common good of the firm can serve as a guide for humanistic management. It provides two principles that humanistic management can attempt to implement: first, that community good is a condition for the realization of personal good, and second, that community good can only be promoted if it is oriented towards personal good. To better understand which community good can favor personal good and how it can be achieved, we examine two recent humanistic movements—Conscious Capitalism and Economy of Communion—that strive to participate in the common good. From the analysis of these two movements, we identify a shared managerial willingness to adopt the two principles. Moreover, we also reveal that Conscious Capitalism and Economy of Communion present different ways of linking community good and personal good, and therefore, different means exist for firms to participate in the common good. |
| Keywords: | Humanistic management, Personalist principle, Personal good,Christian ethics, Common good of the firm, Community good, Conscious capitalism, Economy of communion |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01625348&r=hme |
| By: | Doepke, Matthias (Northwestern University); Tertilt, Michèle (University of Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | We document evidence on preferences for childbearing in developing countries. Across countries, men usually desire larger families than women do. Within countries, we find wide dispersion in spouses' desired fertility: there are many couples whose ideal family size differs by five children or more. This disagreement between spouses suggests that the extent to which women are empowered should matter for fertility choices. We point to evidence at both the macro and micro levels that this is indeed the case. We conclude that taking account of household bargaining and women's empowerment in analyses of fertility is an important challenge for research. |
| Keywords: | women's empowerment, desired fertility, marital bargaining |
| JEL: | J12 J13 J16 O10 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11262&r=hme |
| By: | Mitja Stefancic; Silvio Goglio; Ivana Catturani |
| Abstract: | The governance of cooperative banks is arguably so distinctive that it cannot be properly captured by standard economic models. One of the problems that arises in the assessment of the assumed democratic governance in such banks refers to the members� commitment to the banks. This paper considers the fact that it is not always clear whether cooperative banks� members have the proper incentives to actively participate in making decisions that relate to bank strategies and policies. To shed light on this problem, this paper provides an improved framework of governance based on some seminal concepts by Albert O. Hirschman (1970), such as voice, exit and loyalty. Given the challenges that cooperative banks are currently facing, the arguments discussed in this paper should help illuminate the kind of reforms that such banks are expected to pursue in the coming years. Their governance model needs to be updated in practice to retain its specific features; otherwise, it may end up mirroring that of standard for-profit banks. |
| Keywords: | Cooperative banks, Democratic governance, Commitment of members, Albert O. Hirschman |
| JEL: | D71 D72 G21 G3 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpeu:1799&r=hme |
| By: | Cnossen, Boukje (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management) |
| Abstract: | Although larger firms have several advantages when it comes to operating in competitive markets, western economies have a growing number of one-person firms or individual entrepreneurs. This creates new relevance for the question of how selfemployed workers can organise themselves in order to capture some of the benefits that come with being part of an organisation. This dissertation looks at this question by using three qualitative case studies, each zooming in on a particular setting where self-employed workers share space and work together. It employs a practicebased approach to organising and borrows from literature on labour in the creative and cultural industries across various disciplines, such as sociology, anthropology, and management. The main theoretical approach adopted in this dissertation sees organisations as temporary results of communicative practices. Such practices are explored in the context of two creative spaces and a network-like organisation of community artists in Amsterdam. Countering the widely-held idea that organisations must have a clear identity, or display unity in how they present themselves to the outside world, it is argued that the organising and organisations discussed in this dissertation all rely on selective modes of appropriation. This term is put forward to capture the fact that the organisations and the modes of organising discussed, make no attempt to appropriate the artistic and creative content their members produce. It is theorized that this allows for flexible modes of membership negotiation and institutional positioning, which better serves the members’ fluctuating strategic needs. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiutis:0ed1d5bb-37db-4b92-9f0c-1c29381f633f&r=hme |
| By: | Pierre Ginet (CERGAPE - LOTERR - Centre d'Etude et de Recherche en Géographie de l'Aménagement des Paysages et de l'Environnement - UL - Université de Lorraine) |
| Abstract: | La filière nucléaire française est confrontée au devenir des déchets radioactifs qu’elle produit. Leur enfouissement à Bure (55) est la solution envisagée par un État, sourd aux interrogations d’une partie croissante de la population. Une douzaine de citoyen-ne-s qualifiés dans le champ des Sciences sociales, des Sciences de la vie et de la terre et du Droit s’expriment ici. Leur parole se construit autour de constats et d’hypothèses adressés à l’État nucléaire, élément d’un système global que nous nommons Système de Davos. Ce livre constitue l’espace de rencontre inédit de deux logiques ordinairement distinctes : celle de l’universitaire et celle de citoyens, non pas considérés ici comme objets d’étude et ignorants, mais comme sachants et dépositaires de la légitimité ultime de décider ce qui doit se faire ou non en termes d’aménagement. Notre réflexion interroge aussi le rôle que devraient jouer les universitaires, de plus en plus contraints par la logique totalisante du Système de Davos ; Elle est motivée par notre souci d’une science en conscience et par le rôle fondamental que l’Université doit revendiquer et consolider, spécialement dans le champ des Humanités, celui de former des citoyen-e-s capables d’analyser et de comprendre les dynamiques géopolitiques à l’œuvre et de peser le cas échéant sur elles et sur le cadre décisionnel qui les a formulées. Car le clivage entre citoyen-ne-s et expert-e-s gagne à être entretenu par un système qui tire profit d’une telle instrumentalisation pour perpétuer son emprise et sa survie. Car au-delà de la question du devenir des déchets nucléaires, la question posée par Cigéo est celle de la capacité de nos prétendues démocraties à le devenir réellement, ou à achever leur métamorphose en totalitarisme d’un genre nouveau, insidieux, global, incoercible. |
| Keywords: | démocratie, Université , Système de Davos , géopolitique , épistémologie , contrôle social ,Déchets nucléaires , Cigéo , aménagement , géographie |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01592406&r=hme |
| By: | Amrita Saha (Institute of Development Studies, UK); Tommaso Ciarli (SPRU, University of Sussex, UK;) |
| Abstract: | Structural change can be both, a cause or a consequence of innovation, while structural change and innovations are usually accompanied by short-term outcomes of social inclusion or exclusion. Inclusion may in turn have an impact on further innovations. Yet, we find little evidence in the literature on the three-way relations between innovation, structural change and inclusion. This paper advances a first exercise in this direction. Given the multidimensionality of each (innovation, structural change, and inclusion), we extract the underlying unobserved common factor structure from various well-known macro indicators. With a structural vector auto regression (SVAR) model for a short panel of developing countries over 13 years, we nd the following main results. First, we con rm the virtuous cycle between innovation and structural change, aligning with existing literature. Second, the strongest result is the positive effect of inclusion on both innovation and structural change, that suggests policy to improve inclusion beyond poverty and inequality. Third, on decomposing the innovation index (formal, firm-level and ICT), we find each related differently to both structural change and inclusion, that suggests specific policy roles in their infl uence on inclusion and structural change. |
| Keywords: | Innovation, structural change, inclusion |
| JEL: | O3 O11 O15 |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:2018-01&r=hme |
| By: | Antr�s, Pol; Chor, Davin |
| Abstract: | This paper offers four contributions to the empirical literature on global value chains (GVCs). First, we provide a succinct overview of several measures developed to capture the upstreamness or downstreamness of industries and countries in GVCs. Second, we employ data from the World Input-Output Database (WIOD) to document the empirical evolution of these measures over the period 1995-2011; in doing so, we highlight salient patterns related to countries' GVC positioning - as well as some puzzling correlations - that emerge from the data. Third, we develop a theoretical framework - which builds on Caliendo and Parro's (2015) variant of the Eaton and Kortum (2002) model - that provides a structural interpretation of all the entries of the WIOD in a given year. Fourth, we resort to a calibrated version of the model to perform counterfactual exercises that: (i) sharpen our understanding of the independent effect of several factors in explaining the observed empirical patterns in the period 1995-2011; and (ii) provide guidance for how future changes in the world economy are likely to shape the positioning of countries in GVCs. |
| Keywords: | Downstreamness; global value chains; Input-Output Tables; Upstreamness |
| JEL: | D5 F1 F2 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:12549&r=hme |
| By: | Alessandro Pirani; Flaviano Zandonai |
| Abstract: | Questo contributo si propone di riformulare lo statuto �critico� del consumo, andando a ricercarne le tracce all�interno di modelli che da alternativi sono diventati mainstream. In particolare si intendono analizzare gli effetti generati da nuove value chains rispetto a un utente/consumatore pi� consapevole e proattivo. In altre parole: i mercati tradizionali stanno effettivamente rimodellando i loro processi produttivi e assetti di governance per rispondere a esigenze, in senso lato �sociali�, dei propri pubblici di riferimento? E quale ruolo giocano in questo quadro evolutivo le organizzazioni dell�economia sociale e solidale che tradizionalmente sono riconosciute come pioniere a livello di advocacy e di innovazione di prodotto e processo? |
| Keywords: | Economia sociale, modelli di consumo, commercio equo e solidale, sharing economy |
| JEL: | D12 P46 L2 D71 L31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpeu:1797&r=hme |
| By: | Johnston Birchall; Silvia Sacchetti |
| Abstract: | When cooperatives were first invented, it was assumed their membership would be limited to one type of user. The Rochdale Pioneers favoured consumers, and employee representation was deliberately limited to a set percentage of board members. Similarly, Schulze Delitsch and Raiffeisen privileged farmers, Buchez workers, insurance mutuals those who are insured, and so on. Recently, Italian social cooperatives have developed a different model in which all the relevant stakeholders become members: those who are cared for, the carers, the workers, and volunteers. Also, occasionally dual stakeholder cooperatives have been designed. Eroski, the big Spanish retailer, has both consumers and workers in membership, and iCoop in Korea has both consumers and farmers. This paper has two aims, to set out some of the theoretical arguments for and against multi-stakeholder governance, to look at examples of multi-stakeholder models in practice, and to generate from this a set of research questions. |
| Keywords: | Cooperative governance, Organizational design |
| JEL: | D23 P13 L20 L31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpeu:1795&r=hme |
| By: | Attavanich, Witsanu; Mungkung, Rattanawan; Mahathanaseth, Itthipong; Sanglestsawai, Santi; Jirajari, Athiwatr |
| Abstract: | There is no indicator measuring Thailand’s green growth by valuing the resource degradation and environmental damage costs. This article aims to estimate Thailand’s green gross domestic (GDP) that takes into account environmental damage costs with the detailed analysis on the agricultural sector using the Economic Input Output - Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) approach. The representative product in each sector was selected based on the available life cycle inventory data, economic values and their magnitude of impacts. Here we find that oil palm cultivation (Sector 011 in the economic input-output table), fibre crops (Sector 013), rice cultivation using chemicals (Sector 001), coffee-tea-cocao (Sector 015), and coconut growing (Sector 010), respectively, generated the highest environmental damage value. This study revealed that the total environmental damage costs of agricultural products was $22.05 million per year accounting for only 0.1003 percent of total GDP in agricultural sector while the total environmental damage cost from all sectors is equal to $36,950.79 million accounting for 14.58 of total GDP. |
| Keywords: | Green GDP, EIO-LCA, Life Cycle Assessment, Economic Input Output, Agricultural Sector, Green Growth |
| JEL: | O1 O13 Q51 Q56 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:83785&r=hme |
| By: | Tsoulfidis, Lefteris; Papageorgiou, Aris |
| Abstract: | Basic innovations and their diffusion, the expansion or contraction of the level of economic activity and the volume of international trade, rising sovereign debts and their defaults, conflicts and the outbreak of wars, are some of the major phenomena appearing during the downswing or upswing phases of long cycles. In this article, we examine the extent to which these phenomena constitute stylized facts of the different phases of long cycles which recur quite regularly in the turbulent economic history of capitalism. The main argument of this paper is that the evolution of long cycles is a result of the long-run movement of profitability. During the downswing of a long cycle, falling profitability induces innovation investment and the associated with it 'creative destruction' of the capital stock that eventually set the stage for the upswing phase of a new long cycle. |
| Keywords: | Long Cycles Innovations Profit rate Logistic regression Stagnation Kondratiev Schumpeter |
| JEL: | B14 B25 E11 E3 E32 N0 N1 N10 O3 O31 |
| Date: | 2017–06–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82853&r=hme |
| By: | Ermanno Tortia |
| Abstract: | Contemporary literature dealing with the governance of the exploitation of common-pool natural resources was initiated by Elinor Ostrom in 1990, and has been growing fast ever since. On the contrary, within the same research stream, the study of the presence and economic role of common resources in entrepreneurial-organizational is, to date, under-researched. This work endeavours some attempt to fill this gap. Firstly, by spelling out a new-institutionalist framework for the analysis of the accumulation and governance of common capital resources within organizational boundaries. Secondly, by considering co-operative enterprises as the organizational form that, on the basis of historical record, and of behavioural and institutional characteristics, demonstrated to be most compatible with a substantial role for common and non-divided asset-ownership and with its governance thereof. The economic forces influencing the optimal level of self-financed common capital resources in co-operatives are enquired. Also their governance is brought under the spotlight, evidencing: (i) the constraints that need to be fulfilled, and the potential benefits arising out of their presence; (ii) the compatibility and mutual adaptability between democratic governance in co-operatives and the governance of non-divided assets. |
| Keywords: | Co-operative enterprises, Indivisible reserves, Common resources, Rivalry, Non-excludability, Capital accumulation, Governance |
| JEL: | P13 P14 P48 P51 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpeu:1790&r=hme |
| By: | Ballesteros, Marife M.; Orbeta, Aniceto Jr. C.; Ancheta, Jenica; Corpus, John Paul |
| Abstract: | The study aims to assess the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP) implementation processes based on recent policy enhancements and to determine additional dimensions or indicators of program success. The analysis is based on focus group discussions and key informant interviews, and a survey of a small sample of beneficiaries. Majority of those served by the program have expressed positive results from the SLP intervention particularly when it comes to the skills training. There is a felt improvement in the standard of living experienced from additional household income, business expansion, and a stable source of employment. Other dimensions of success include increased motivation to be productive; better links to employment or that the program provided a form of social protection. However, beneficiary targeting is poor with parent leaders, their friends and relatives capturing most of the benefits. Delays in project review and approval caused potential beneficiaries to drop out, back out, or find other opportunities. Moreover, the establishment of SLP associations is viewed as a deterrent instead of a mechanism for success. Overall, additional reforms in the delivery of program services is still needed. The reforms should focus on beneficiary targeting and development of characteristic-based assessment tool on beneficiary readiness and capacities. The Department of Social Welfare and Development also needs to examine project review and approval, caseload of project development officers, and issues with regard to social preparation and development of associations. Lastly, an impact evaluation has to be undertaken to provide better evidence of program success. |
| Keywords: | Philippines, poverty, livelihood, employment, Sustainable Livelihood Program, microenterprise |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:phd:dpaper:dp_2017-54&r=hme |
| By: | Massimo Baldini; Giovanni Gallo; Costanza Torricelli |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to test whether a temporary experience of income scarcity in the recent past affects the individual’s assessment of financial fragility over time. Using EU-SILC (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Condition) longitudinal data in 2010-2013 period, our results highlight that individuals who transited out of a short spell of scarcity tend to record a lower subjective ability to make ends meet than those who never experienced it during the reference period, even after two years and controlling for the current level of household income. When a more objective measure of household financial health is taken, the effect is weaker and disappears when current income is accounted for. Our results, which are robust to various robustness checks, have implications for public policies since they question the idea that helping people to leave an objective condition of income scarcity is enough to address poverty and social exclusion. |
| Keywords: | Scarcity; Financial fragility; Perception; Coarsened ExactMatching |
| JEL: | C25 D60 I32 |
| Date: | 2017–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:wcefin:17121&r=hme |
| By: | Eric Rahim (Department of Economics, University of Strathclyde) |
| Abstract: | In The Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 (completed in August 1844) Marx takes two crucial steps in the formation of his worldview. The first relates to his rejection of all ‘old’ materialism, including Feuerbach’s, and the adoption of his own version, which he called ‘communist’, ‘practical’. This view was later presented definitively in the first Thesis on Feuerbach (spring of 1845), and elaborated in The German Ideology (1845-46). The second step relates to Marx’s synthesising of the philosophical standpoint that he had developed up to this point (around the spring of 1844) with political economy. Up to this point he had spoken of alienation in largely philosophical terms; now it is rooted in the process of production. On both counts Adam Smith was an important influence. This claim provides the focus of this paper. To make this point successfully I have found it necessary to briefly trace the development of Marx’s philosophical standpoint up to the writing of the Manuscripts, and to distinguish between the two methodologically distinct aspects of Adam Smith’s thought, the one that Marx accepted and the other that he rejected. |
| Date: | 2017–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:1712&r=hme |
| By: | Eddi Fontanari |
| Abstract: | The new agri-food market scenario is considered a detrimental factor for the competitiveness and financial equilibria of the agricultural cooperatives. According to this vision, as a result of the saturation and globalization process, the shift of the specific investment at the forward level of the supply chain (i.e., for the brand development, or for R&D activities) would be a serious threat for the cooperative model. These assumptions come from a transaction cost and property rights-based framework. The results of these studies are surely insightful and valuable, but they should be integrated with the strengths in terms of knowledge integration (and coordination) assured by the agricultural cooperative model. This work is aimed at updating the function/justification of modern agricultural cooperatives. Firstly, a theoretical contribution mingling the knowledge-based theory of the firm with the social innovation approach in agriculture will be defined. Secondly, two case studies will be discussed. |
| Keywords: | Agricultural cooperatives, Agri-food, Innovation |
| JEL: | Q13 O31 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpeu:1791&r=hme |
| By: | Romensen, Gert-Jan; Soetevent, Adriaan (Groningen University) |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gro:rugsom:17016-eef&r=hme |
| By: | Ďurčová, Júlia; Mirdala, Rajmund |
| Abstract: | Increasing participation of the Slovak republic in the global value chains (GVCs) represents one of the key implications of the steadily growing position of important Slovak industries in both domestic and international terms. Slovak Republic is mainly positioned in the downstream activities of GVCs. However, his fact contributes to the relatively limited domestic value added creation. The aim of this article is to analyze whether the changes and the increasing participation of the Slovak republic in the GVCs influenced the position of important industries in term of value added creation and employment. We analyze the multipliers of production and value added using input-output model. The factors of skill structure of labor demand will be estimated using the system of cost share equations derived from translog cost function. The data covers period 2000-2014 and 1995-2009 for socio-economic analyses and come from World Input-Output Database (WIOD). The results for two analyzed industries show that their impact on total industrial production has decreased during the analyzed period. The results for employment analysis clearly revealed the differences between domestic and foreign orientated industry. |
| Keywords: | value added, employment, multipliers, GVCs, offshoring, labor demand, input-output model, translog cost function |
| JEL: | F14 F16 J31 |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:82862&r=hme |