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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2022‒10‒24
nineteen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Cogliano, Jonathan F.; Veneziani, Roberto; Yoshihara, Naoki |
| Abstract: | This paper develops a framework to analyse imperialistic international relations and the dynamics of international exploitation. A new measure of unequal exchange across borders is proposed which captures the territorial structure of imperialistic international relations: wealthy nations are net lenders and exploiters, whereas endowment-poor countries are net borrowers and exploited. Capital flows transfer surplus from countries in the periphery of the global economy to those in the core. However, while international credit markets and wealth inequalities are central in generating international exploitation, other factors, including labour-saving technical change, are shown to be essential in explaining its persistence. |
| Keywords: | International exploitation, Imperialism, Unequal exchange, Uneven development, Capital movements |
| JEL: | F54 B51 D63 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hituec:736&r= |
| By: | Cahen-Fourot, Louison |
| Abstract: | First, I update and wrap up the discussion on a monetary growth imperative, namely the argument that debt-moneybearing interest triggers real GDP growth. I provide a detailed account of thedifferent versions of the argument and show why none of them hold. In allcases, the argument is shown to be inconsistent in macro-accounting terms or tobe at odds with the functioning of the monetary system. The general solution tothe monetary growth imperative is that a sufficient share of wealth must be putback in circulation, for example via higher consumption out of wealth ortaxation. Moreover, I show that a monetary growth imperative could equally welloccur in an economy without debt-money or interest. However, the solution tothe monetary growth imperative entails a sustainability paradox: more wealthput back in circulation allows to reach a stable full stationary state but maybe environmentally unsustainable. I also highlight convergences between thecritique of the monetary growth imperative and the monetary circuit literature.Second, I address the criticism that no net wealth accumulation is unrealistic.It requires to explain why there is accumulation in the first place. Buildingfrom post-Keynesian and institutionalist perspectives, I argue that we need tolocate the analysis at the level of the definitional social relations ofcapitalism: market exchange and wage labour. Growth imperatives are emergingproperties of these two social relations. I develop a critique of steady stateeconomics and underline the ontological difference between a zero -growth capitalism and a post -growth economy. |
| Keywords: | growth imperative; capitalism; paradox of profit; ecological macroeconomics; post-growth |
| Date: | 2022–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus045:25112810&r= |
| By: | Power, Michael |
| Abstract: | This essay is a conversation between Shoshana Zuboff’s theory of surveillance capitalism, Mikkel Flyverbom’s conceptualization of the hyper-visibility afforded by digital architectures, and my own ‘analog’ theory of accounting dynamics in the ‘audit society’. Drawing upon trends in accounting practice and research I develop a number of inflection points which define theoretical tensions between the concepts of audit society and surveillance capitalism. These tensions suggest that theoretical innovation is required in the face of: the accelerating constitution of organizations by platforms and their processes – ‘platformization’; the constitution of human agents as data-driven subjects of these data architectures – ‘cyborgization’; and the reconstruction of the social sciences by a pervasive data positivism in which accounting becomes ‘accountics’. The exploration of these three inflection points reveals the deep operational logic of surveillance capitalism as an ‘economy of traces’ and traceability. Zuboff’s challenge of a political dystopia governed by technology giants and Flyverbom’s image of a society ‘overlit’ by digital architectures necessitate a re-specification of the audit society dynamics that I have previously theorized. The re-specification that I propose in this essay is a form of a critical ‘traceology’ which takes as its focus the ongoing production of all manner of traces and how they make up organizations, people and forms of knowledge. |
| Keywords: | accountics; accounting; algorithm; audit society; cyborg; data architecures; digitalization; platforms; surveillance capitalism; security; traces; traceology; Sage deal |
| JEL: | M40 |
| Date: | 2022–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:112167&r= |
| By: | Ron Boschma; ; ; |
| Abstract: | The literature of Evolutionary Economic Geography (EEG) has received little attention in Evolutionary Economics, despite overwhelming evidence that time-space dimensions are crucial to understand economic evolution. This chapter will focus on the relationship between EEG and regional policy. We will discuss how evolutionary principles like proximity, relatedness and path dependency have been used to construct regional innovation policy in the European Union. |
| Keywords: | Evolutionary Economic Geography, regional innovation policy, Smart Specialization, relatedness, complexity |
| JEL: | O25 O38 R11 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2220&r= |
| By: | Mertens, Daniel; Nölke, Andreas; May, Christian; Schedelik, Michael; Ten Brink, Tobias; Gomes, Alexandre |
| Abstract: | The growth model perspective has provided positive momentum for Comparative and International Political Economy. This article seeks to move beyond the existing geographical confines of this perspective to elaborate on its potential for enhancing our understanding of the trajectories of different emerging capitalist economies (ECEs), the center of global economic growth during the last decades. Using national accounts data, we calculate the relative contributions of demand components to GDP growth for nine large emerging economies in the period from 2001 to 2016. Departing from the prevalent juxtaposition of consumption-led and export-led growth models, we add an investment-led model within a variegated set of ECE accumulation strategies. Subsequently, we employ case vignettes from Brazil, China, India and Indonesia to highlight ECE specificities in (1) the effects of international interdependencies on growth models, (2) the political underpinnings of growth models through social blocs, and (3) the existence of structural productive heterogeneities leading to regional growth models in very large economies. We conclude that these macro-political and institutional specificities should serve as a point of departure for a more global research agenda on growth models. |
| Keywords: | Comparative capitalism,growth models,emerging capitalist economies,commodity super cycles,social blocs |
| JEL: | O11 O19 O43 O57 P52 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ipewps:1882022&r= |
| By: | Giancarlo Ianulardo (University of Exeter Business School - University of Exeter); Aldo Stella (UNIPG - Università degli Studi di Perugia) |
| Abstract: | In social sciences and, in particular, in economics the debate on the most adequate model of explanation of social phenomena has been centred around two models: Methodological Individualism and Holism. While Methodological Individualism claims to be the most rigorous attempt to explain social phenomena by reducing them to their ultimate components, Holism stresses the primacy of the social relation, outside of which individuals cannot be understood as analytical units. In the analysis, we will refer to the way the debate has influenced economics education too through the debate on microfoundations and the role of individual preferences. In synthesis, we aim to show that the two explanatory models, rather than being opposed need to be integrated, because they need each other. But for this to be done, we need to reflect on the role that the concept of "relation" plays in our understanding of the social structure and of the dynamics that characterise it. Indeed, the holistic-systemic model, though privileging the relation, must acknowledge that the relation needs some ultimate elements (the individuals), which in turn are prioritised by methodological individualism. But these entities, the individuals, in order to be what they are, i.e., each a determinate identity, need each to be referred to other individuals, which are essential to determine the single determinate identity. This means that each individual needs the relation. To prevent a circular explanation, we claim that a correct methodology should understand both the individual and society in the light of the unity of sense that emerges at the end of the process, rather than focusing on its starting point. |
| Keywords: | Methodological Individualism,holism,systemism,relation,unity |
| Date: | 2022–09–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03771892&r= |
| By: | Noorfadhleen Binti Mahmud (Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak Branch, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia Author-2-Name: Nadrawina Isnin Author-2-Workplace-Name: Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak Branch, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia Author-3-Name: Noni Harianti binti Junaidi Author-3-Workplace-Name: Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak Branch, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia Author-4-Name: "Nursuria binti Mahrif" Author-4-Workplace-Name: Universiti Teknologi MARA, Sarawak Branch, 94300, Kota Samarahan, Sarawak, Malaysia Author-5-Name: Author-5-Workplace-Name: Author-6-Name: Author-6-Workplace-Name: Author-7-Name: Author-7-Workplace-Name: Author-8-Name: Author-8-Workplace-Name:) |
| Abstract: | " Objective - The purpose of this study is to gain an understanding of the issues that prevent women from socially participating in NGOs Methodology/Technique - Qualitative research using in-depth interviews was used to collect relevant data. The findings were analyzed using a thematic analysis approach and discussed within the theoretical framework of social participation. In response to the nature of women's social participation in Sarawak, the researchers highlighted long, critical answers and discussions by 36 selected participants from various NGOs in Sarawak. Finding - There were four difficulties for Sarawak women's social participation in NGOs identified in this study. The factors were practical deterrents, a psychological barrier, discrimination and prejudice, and lack of resources. The impeding factors which were grouped in these four categories comprised 16 factors. This study hoped to help the stakeholders develop different strategies for assisting women to be more aware and active in a civil-based society. Novelty - The study highlighted the complex factors of Sarawak women's social participation in NGOs. These factors show different perspectives on the subject investigation in Sarawak, Malaysia. Furthermore, the adapted qualitative method conducted in this paper is further discussed regarding the complex factors of Sarawak women's social participation in NGOs. There are many studies conducted exploring political participation. However, studies on social participation that focused on NGOs that are not politically based are very low. Type of Paper - Empirical" |
| Keywords: | Non-governmental organizations; Social Participation; complexities; Sarawak's Women. |
| JEL: | D71 D73 Z19 |
| Date: | 2022–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gtr:gatrjs:gjbssr618&r= |
| By: | Marco Ranaldi; Elisa Palagi |
| Abstract: | This work presents a framework to jointly study individuals' heterogeneity in terms of their capital and labor endowments (endowment heterogeneity) and of their saving and consumption behaviors (behavioral heterogeneity), from an empirical perspective. By adopting a newly developed synthetic measure of compositional inequality, this work classifies more than 20 economies across over two decades on the basis of their heterogeneity characteristics. Modern economies are far from being characterized by agents with same propensities to save and con- sume and same endowments (Representative Agent systems), or by the existence of rich capital-abundant savers and poor hand-to-mouth consumers (Kaldorian systems). Our framework and results are discussed in light of the heterogeneity assumptions underlying several types of macroeconomic models with heterogeneous agents (Kaldorian, TANK & HANK, OLG, and ABM models). A negative relationship between behavioral heterogeneity and the economy's saving rate is also documented. |
| Keywords: | Heterogeneity in Macroeconomics; Compositional Inequality. |
| Date: | 2022–10–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2022/30&r= |
| By: | Claudia Fontanari (Roma Tre University); Antonella Palumbo (Roma Tre University) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how stagnating real wages may have contributed to the slowdown of US productivity. Through shift-share analysis, we find that after a sharp change in distribution against wages, some historically high-productivity sectors (like manufacturing) switched towards slower productivity growth. This supports our hypothesis that the anemic growth of productivity may be partly due to the trend toward massive use of cheap labor. Our estimation of Sylos Labini's productivity equation confirms the existence of two direct effects of wages, one acting through the incentive to mechanization and the other through the incentive to reorganize labor use. We also show that labor 'weakness' may exert a further negative effect on labor productivity. On the whole, we find that a persistent regime of low wages may determine very negative long-term consequences on the economy. |
| Keywords: | Labor Productivity, Wages, Shift-Share Analysis, Paolo Sylos-Labini, Classical-Keynesian approach |
| JEL: | E24 O47 L16 |
| Date: | 2022–07–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:inetwp187&r= |
| By: | Romain Moretti (UDC - Université de Corse - UPP - Université Pascal Paoli) |
| Abstract: | This work proposes to take a step back from the notion of employability. He deconstructs the concept by highlighting the excesses of its contemporary use and highlights the malicious attitude of institutions opposite a concept diverted exclusively to the benefit of their performance. We therefore propose to observe employability through the prism of self-efficacy in order to restore it to its human dimension. |
| Abstract: | Ce travail propose de prendre du recul sur la notion d'employabilité. Il déconstruit le concept en soulignant les dérives de son utilisation contemporaine et met en évidence l'attitude malveillante des institutions vis-à-vis d'une notion détournée au profit exclusif de leur performance. Nous proposons alors d'observer l'employabilité sous le prisme de l'auto-efficacité afin de lui redonner sa dimension humaine. |
| Keywords: | employability,self-efficacy.,employabilité,auto-efficacité. |
| Date: | 2021–12–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03767450&r= |
| By: | Andreas Chai; Elena Stepanova; Alessio Moneta |
| Abstract: | Economic growth stimulates fundamental changes in consumption patterns, as consumers who get rich tend to spread their spending more evenly across a wider variety of goods and services. This diversification process magnifies the heterogeneity of spending patterns across the population of consumers within each country, as well as across countries. We empirically track how global consumption patterns grow more diverse as economies develop using entropy measures and show how different stages of economic development are characterized by major shifts in the distribution of final demand across goods and services. We study how this process exhibits path dependence and how economic growth stimulates increases in demand heterogeneity via rising income inequality on the macro level and rising household income on the micro level |
| Keywords: | Spending diversity; economic development; income elasticity; economic complexity. |
| Date: | 2022–10–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2022/29&r= |
| By: | Christian Cordes; Joshua Henkel |
| Abstract: | This paper relates channels of cultural transmission to "green nudging". It studies the effectiveness of this behavioral policy measure as to the promotion of sustainable consumption. The impact of "green nudges" is constrained for it is subject to decay and temporary behavioral adjustments. We argue that "enhanced green nudges" incorporating social learning biases that are based on humans' evolved capacity for culture are more likely to entail persistent behavioral changes due to the inducement of preference learning. We consider biases based on norm psychology, conformity, self-similarity, and the influence of role models. Moreover, these biases' effectiveness in cultural transmission hinges on whether the learning environment resembles the one in which they evolved during human phylogeny. Hence, "enhanced green nudges" are instruments to lastingly introduce environmentally begin consumption patterns. Several scenarios based on a model of cultural evolution illustrate our arguments. |
| Keywords: | Nudging, Cultural evolution theory, Consumption, Social learning, Sustainability |
| JEL: | A12 B52 D00 Q01 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:atv:wpaper:2208&r= |
| By: | Christian Reiner (Research Office, Lauder Business School, Austria); Christian Bellak (Department of Economics, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria) |
| Abstract: | This contribution asks whether the economic power of firms has increased in Austria in parallel with many other OECD countries. A new conceptualization of corporate power is proposed, It draws a distinction between economic and political power, as well as between economic power due to firm size (termed “scalepower†) and market power in the traditional, more narrow sense. Synthesizing the historical literature on market power in Austria provides evidence of an in some cases unjustified assumption of increased competition intensity, stimulated by events such as the fall of the iron curtain or EU accession. Based on various methods, indicators and data, we provide estimations of markups and of various competition indicators like profitability, concentration rates and firm dynamics to highlight recent changes in the market power of Austrian firms in international comparison. The evidence suggests not only rather large markups of Austrian firms, but also that markups have increased. Together with the results such as rising profit rates, we tentatively conclude that the power of Austrian firms has increased. Drawing on long lasting and still ongoing debates in Europe and the US shows some parallels and documents the necessity of a policy debate on corporate power in Austria. |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ico:wpaper:140&r= |
| By: | Brahim Gaies (IPAG Business School) |
| Abstract: | After the global financial crisis of 2008, the rise of nationalism, the Sino-American trade war and the Covid-19 pandemic, questioning the merits of financial globalization and liberalization policies has been put on the agenda. But is financial globalization a modern political construct following the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s, meaning that it can be reformed and even reversed? Or is it the result of a process that began in antiquity and is therefore difficult, if not impossible, to reverse? This paper aims to answer these questions using the historical method in the social sciences. |
| Abstract: | Après la crise financière de 2008, la montée des nationalismes dans le monde, la guerre commerciale sino-américaine et la pandémie de Covid-19, la remise en question des bien-fondés de la globalisation financière et des politiques de libéralisation qui en découlent a été mise à l'ordre du jour. Mais la globalisation financière n'est-elle que le produit de l'effondrement du système de Bretton Woods à partir des années 1970, et à ce titre constitue-t-elle une construction politique moderne réformable et même réversible, ou bien est-elle issue d'une marche amorcée dès l'antiquité et, pour ainsi dire, coextensive aux sociétés humaines, si bien qu'il serait difficile, voire impossible de l'endiguer ? Cet article vise à apporter quelques éléments de réponse à cette question, en adoptant la méthode historique appliquée aux sciences sociales. |
| Keywords: | financial capitalism,financial crisis,multinational companies,deglobalization,capitalisme financier,crises financières,multinationales,déglobalisation, Covid-19 |
| Date: | 2021–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03767392&r= |
| By: | Marc Germain (LEM - Lille économie management - UMR 9221 - UA - Université d'Artois - UCL - Université catholique de Lille - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the path of an economy constrained by bio-physical limits, due to (i) limited natural capital availability and (ii) compliance with the postulate of strong sustainability. The economy tends towards a stationary state characterized by lower and higher endowments of natural capital and human factors respectively than in the initial state. But this evolution is not monotonous in the sense that GDP and consumption have a path in four phases: growth, reversal, decrease and a quasi-stationary phase leading to steady state. On the contrary, the natural capital stock is declining almost monotonically, involving increasing natural capital operating costs. This results in a structural change by which the human factors share devoted to exploitation increases continuously at the expense of that devoted to final production. Taking pollution into account results in a peak of GDP less pronounced and advanced over time compared to the pollution-free situation. |
| Keywords: | Limits to growth,Strong sustainability,Structural change |
| Date: | 2020–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03129992&r= |
| By: | Jakob Vestergaard (Roskilde University, Denmark.) |
| Abstract: | Central banks can potentially influence the investment decisions of private financial institutions, which in turn will create incentives towards green technology adoption and development of lower emission business models. This paper examines how monetary policies can be deployed to promote a greening of finance. To guide the efforts, the paper mobilizes the Money View literature. This enables a comparative assessment of different monetary policy options. The main finding is that a promising way forward for green monetary policy is to adopt a strategy of expanding collateral eligibility through positive screening and widening haircut spreads to change relative incentives in favor of green over brown assets. |
| Keywords: | Climate change, green central banking, monetary policy, collateral policy, haircuts. |
| JEL: | E42 E52 E58 G18 G28 |
| Date: | 2022–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:inetwp188&r= |
| By: | Mehdi El Herradi (BSE - Bordeaux Sciences Economiques - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Aurélien Leroy (BSE - Bordeaux Sciences Economiques - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | How do banking crises affect rich, middle-class and poor households? This paper quantifies the distributional implications of banking crises for a panel of 132 economies over the 1970–2017 period. We rely on different empirical settings, including an instrumental variable approach, that exploit the geographical diffusion of banking crises across borders. Our results show that banking crises systematically reduce the income share of rich households and positively affect middle-class households. We also find that income inequality increases during periods preceding the occurrence of a banking crisis. |
| Keywords: | Banking crises,income distribution,inequality |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03770620&r= |
| By: | Jinhee Kim; Keun Lee; ; |
| Abstract: | This study identifies the characteristics and types of the regional innovation systems (RIS) of regions and cities in emerging economies in comparison to those in advanced economies. It uses the citation data of the US patents filed by 30 regions. Some RIS variables are newly developed, and they include intra-regional, inter-regional, and inter-national sourcing of knowledge and local ownership of innovation. The cluster analysis of these variables enables us to identify four major types of RIS around the world and link them to regional economic performance. The four types are, in the descending order of their per capita income levels, as follows: large, mature RIS characterized by a combination of long cycle technology specialization and high local ownership (Group 1), mixed RIS characterized by a long cycle and low local ownership (Group 2), “strong catch-up†characterized by short cycle and high local ownership (Group 3), and “weak catch-up†characterized by short cycle and low local ownership (Group 4). Groups 3 and 4 include only the regions in emerging world. They similarly specialize in the same short cycle time of technologies (CTT)-based sectors but show different records of economic performance. The key differentiating variable is the degree of local ownership of knowledge, which can be a basis for increasing domestic sourcing of knowledge and sustained catching up. Another important variable is decentralization, of which the level is lower in the strong catch-up group than in the weak catch-up group. In this Group 3, catching up is led by big businesses. Several cities experiencing upgrading, like Moscow, Beijing, and Shanghai, also show an increasing trend of local ownership and centralization. |
| Keywords: | regional innovation systems, innovation, patents, economic growth, economic catch-up |
| JEL: | C23 O31 O32 O33 O50 R11 R58 |
| Date: | 2022–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2219&r= |
| By: | Shubhdeep Deb; Jan Eeckhout; Aseem Patel; Lawrence Warren |
| Abstract: | We propose a theory of how market power affects wage inequality. We ask how goods and labor market power jointly affect the level of wages, the Skill Premium, and wage inequality. We then use detailed microdata from the US Census between 1997 and 2016 to estimate the parameters of labor supply, technology and the market structure. We find that a less competitive market structure lowers the wage level, contributes 7% to the rise in the Skill Premium and accounts for half of the increase in between-establishment wage variance. |
| Keywords: | Market Power. Wage Inequality. Skill Premium. Technological Change. Market Structure. Endogenous Markups. Endogenous Markdowns. |
| JEL: | L1 C6 D3 D4 D5 |
| Date: | 2022–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cen:wpaper:22-37&r= |