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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2024‒03‒11
fourteen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Matteo Coronese; Martina Occelli; Francesco Lamperti; Andrea Roventini |
| Abstract: | Economic and population growth increasingly pressure the Earth system. Fertile soils are essential to ensure global food security, requiring high-yielding agro-technological regimes to cope with rising soil degradation and macro-nutrients deficiencies, which may be further exacerbated by climate change. In this work, we extend the AgriLOVE land-use agent-based model (Coronese et al., 2023) to investigate trade-offs in the transition between conventional and sustainable farming regimes in a smallholder economy exposed to explicit environmental boundaries. We investigate the ability of the system to favor a sustainable transition when prolonged conventional farming leads to soil depletion. First, we showcase the emergence of three endogenous scenarios of transition and lock-in. Then, we analyze transition dynamics under several behavioral, environmental and policy scenarios. Our results highlights a strong path-dependence of the agricultural sector, with scarce capacity to foster successful transitions to a sustainable regime in absence of external interventions. The role of behavioral changes is limited and we find evidence of negative tipping points induced by mismanagement of grassland and forests. These findings call for policies strongly supporting sustainable agriculture. We test regulatory measures aimed at protecting common environmental goods and public incentives to encourage the search for novel production techniques targeted at closing the sustainable-conventional yield gap. We find that their effectiveness is highly time-dependent, with rapidly closing windows of opportunity. |
| Keywords: | Agriculture; Land use; Agent-based model; Technological change; Transition; Environmental boundaries; Sustainability |
| Date: | 2024–02–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2024/05&r=hme |
| By: | Benjamin Patrick Evans; Sumitra Ganesh |
| Abstract: | Agent-based models (ABMs) have shown promise for modelling various real world phenomena incompatible with traditional equilibrium analysis. However, a critical concern is the manual definition of behavioural rules in ABMs. Recent developments in multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) offer a way to address this issue from an optimisation perspective, where agents strive to maximise their utility, eliminating the need for manual rule specification. This learning-focused approach aligns with established economic and financial models through the use of rational utility-maximising agents. However, this representation departs from the fundamental motivation for ABMs: that realistic dynamics emerging from bounded rationality and agent heterogeneity can be modelled. To resolve this apparent disparity between the two approaches, we propose a novel technique for representing heterogeneous processing-constrained agents within a MARL framework. The proposed approach treats agents as constrained optimisers with varying degrees of strategic skills, permitting departure from strict utility maximisation. Behaviour is learnt through repeated simulations with policy gradients to adjust action likelihoods. To allow efficient computation, we use parameterised shared policy learning with distributions of agent skill levels. Shared policy learning avoids the need for agents to learn individual policies yet still enables a spectrum of bounded rational behaviours. We validate our model's effectiveness using real-world data on a range of canonical $n$-agent settings, demonstrating significantly improved predictive capability. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.00787&r=hme |
| By: | Johann Lussange; Stefano Vrizzi; Stefano Palminteri; Boris Gutkin |
| Abstract: | Building on a previous foundation work (Lussange et al. 2020), this study introduces a multi-agent reinforcement learning (MARL) model simulating crypto markets, which is calibrated to the Binance's daily closing prices of $153$ cryptocurrencies that were continuously traded between 2018 and 2022. Unlike previous agent-based models (ABM) or multi-agent systems (MAS) which relied on zero-intelligence agents or single autonomous agent methodologies, our approach relies on endowing agents with reinforcement learning (RL) techniques in order to model crypto markets. This integration is designed to emulate, with a bottom-up approach to complexity inference, both individual and collective agents, ensuring robustness in the recent volatile conditions of such markets and during the COVID-19 era. A key feature of our model also lies in the fact that its autonomous agents perform asset price valuation based on two sources of information: the market prices themselves, and the approximation of the crypto assets fundamental values beyond what those market prices are. Our MAS calibration against real market data allows for an accurate emulation of crypto markets microstructure and probing key market behaviors, in both the bearish and bullish regimes of that particular time period. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2402.10803&r=hme |
| By: | Gabriel-Alin Ciocoiu (University of Political and Economic European Studies Constantin Stere, Republic of Moldova) |
| Abstract: | The concepts presented in this article are based on the context of morality.The analytical grasp of morality results in its identification as a property of what is moral, the nature, character, value of a fact, of the conduct of a person, or of a collectivity from a moral standpoint. Morality does not offer answers to specific questions but it only indicates whether something—a fact, an idea, or an action—is acceptable or unacceptable from a moral point of view. Morality may align with a certain set of laws while conflicting with another. In ethics, there are no categorical laws and there are no orders, there are only actions that are congruent with an ethical current and incongruent attitudes. We subscribe to the idea that ethics teaches individuals how to think but does not prescribe what to think. Like morality, ethics is not an absolute phenomenon. |
| Keywords: | ethics, morals, moral values, morality, human behaviors |
| Date: | 2023–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0347&r=hme |
| By: | Riccardo Zolea |
| Abstract: | The Classics and Marx, but also more recent contributions inspired by them, assume that the interest rate is a part of the profit rate. Over time, however, credit towards consumption and for the purchase of housing by workers has taken on greater and greater economic weight. This paper therefore aims to study this issue from a theoretical point of view, analysing its premises and implications. After investigating the necessary conditions on both the demand side (workers) and the supply side (banks), an attempt is made to analyse the distributional effects of a change in the interest rate. The results appear rather complex and difficult to interpret, suggesting a certain difficulty in identifying a simple dynamic that can be generalised to any economic context. |
| Keywords: | surplus approach; interest rate; mortgage |
| JEL: | E11 E40 |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp2403&r=hme |
| By: | Armanda Cetrulo; Dario Guarascio; Maria Enrica Virgillito |
| Abstract: | Are wages really a good proxy of the value of labour? Or, alternatively, do they largely reflect socio-institutional embedded practices of current societies according to which a manager deserves to be paid more than a nurse? This paper studies the determinants of wage remuneration and wage distribution focusing on two neglected origins of inequality: hierarchical power and care-work. Our contributions include, first the construction of a new synthetic indicator able to capture and quantitatively assess the distribution of power across occupations; second, the development of an indicator able to fine grained account for care jobs; third, the econometric estimation of the determinants of wage levels and wage distribution contrasting our new proxies for occupational attributes of care and power versus the benchmark Mincer equation and the routine task index. Our results downplay the role of the accustomed routine task index in determining the wage remuneration and prove the role of the socioinstitutional embeddedness of wage determination, rooted on hierarchical positions and largely discarding the role of essentiality in the executed job activity. |
| Keywords: | wage determination, social classes, labour-process, managerial functions, care jobs |
| Date: | 2024–02–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2024/04&r=hme |
| By: | Amélie Artis (IEPG - Sciences Po Grenoble - Institut d'études politiques de Grenoble - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes); Maryline Filippi (Bordeaux Sciences Agro [Gradignan] - Bordeaux Sciences Agro - Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Sciences Agronomiques de Bordeaux-Aquitaine, SADAPT - Sciences pour l'Action et le Développement : Activités, Produits, Territoires - AgroParisTech - Université Paris-Saclay - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Francesca Petrella (LEST - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | While the firm remains a major institution, the cooperative firm remains relatively understudied despite its significant and enduring presence in economic systems. In this article, we highlight the specificity of cooperatives based on a convention of cooperative identity founded on collective ownership and democratic governance. Using case studies, we reveal how the cooperative identity convention and the search for equilibrium caught in sectoral and territorial constraints are expressed. The originality of our contribution lies in the analysis of the cooperative identity convention and the highlighting of adjustments and compromises at the crossroads of sectoral rules and territorial logics. Our conceptualization is in line with the idea of singling out the cooperative enterprise in an institutionalist interpretation. |
| Abstract: | Si bien la empresa sigue siendo una institución importante, la empresa cooperativa permanece relativamente poco estudiada a pesar de su contribución significativa y duradera a los sistemas económicos. Proponemos abordarlo desde una convención de identidad cooperativa basada en la propiedad colectiva y la gobernabilidad democrática. A partir de diferentes estudios de caso, identificamos las propiedades de esta convención de identidad cooperativa y la forma en que potencialmente entran en tensión con las limitaciones sectoriales y territoriales. La originalidad de nuestro aporte radica en el análisis de esta convención de identidad cooperativa y en la comprensión de sus ajustes y compromisos, a través de una malla analítica, en la encrucijada de las lógicas sectoriales y territoriales. Nuestra conceptualización se enmarca en la perspectiva de una singularización de la empresa cooperativa en una lectura institucionalista |
| Abstract: | Alors que l'entreprise reste une institution majeure, l'entreprise coopérative demeure encore relativement peu étudiée malgré sa contribution significative et durable aux systèmes économiques. Nous proposons de l'aborder à partir d'une convention d'identité coopérative fondée sur la propriété collective et la gouvernance démocratique. À partir de différentes études de cas, nous dégageons les propriétés de cette convention d'identité coopérative et la manière dont elles entrent potentiellement en tension avec les contraintes sectorielles et territoriales. L'originalité de notre apport réside dans l'analyse de cette convention d'identité coopérative et dans la compréhension de ses ajustements et compromis, à travers une grille analytique, au croisement des logiques sectorielles et territoriales. Notre conceptualisation s'inscrit dans la perspective d'une singularisation de l'entreprise coopérative dans une lecture institutionnaliste |
| Keywords: | collective ownership, democratic governance, cooperative, economics of convention, cooperativa, economía de convenciones, propiedad colectiva, gobernabilidad democrática, coopérative, économie des conventions, propriété collective, gouvernance démocratique |
| Date: | 2023–07–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04435785&r=hme |
| By: | Alexandre Chirat; Basile Clerc |
| Abstract: | The concept of a necessary transition to a "war economy" in response to the ecological crisis is gaining traction. However, this discussion often overlooks the fact that a war economy primarily relies on policies such as price controls and rationing, as exemplified by the United States' economy during World War II. Whether it's for wartime efforts or addressing climate urgency, both scenarios seem justifying the suspension of market mechanisms in key sectors to achieve production goals while mitigating the social costs of transition. Nonetheless, a significant disparity lies in the social acceptability of such political measures, which proves to be considerably more challenging to establish within the context of the climate and ecological crisis. |
| Keywords: | Ecological transition - war economy - price controls |
| JEL: | Q50 Q41 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:drm:wpaper:2024-8&r=hme |
| By: | Guillaume Plaisance (IRGO - Institut de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations - UB - Université de Bordeaux - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Bordeaux) |
| Abstract: | Purpose: This article examines whether accountability can contribute to the analysis of effectiveness in grassroots voluntary organizations (GVOs) in France. Design/methodology/approach: Based on recent studies and stakeholder theory, hypotheses are formulated about the negative link between accountability and financial effectiveness and a positive link between accountability and non-financial effectiveness. Findings: The findings show that accountability practices are positive determinants of financial indicators (apart from return on assets [ROA]) and employment of people in difficulty. In contrast, the other non-financial indicators are not explained by accountability practices. Research limitations/implications: The study points out the complexity and paradoxes surrounding accountability and highlights the risk of insensitivity to it. It thus underlines a specific French situation, close to the risks of myopia linked to accountability. One possible explanation could be the coupling and decoupling mechanisms that allow non-profit organizations (NPOs) to regain power. Given the sometimes-random effects of accountability, producing nuanced theories is necessary, and governance should oscillate between equilibrium and adaptation in the face of stakeholders. Finally, this article introduces the risk of insensitivity of NPOs to accountability (i.e. they act as they wish, regardless of control mechanisms such as accountability). Practical implications: This study thus reveals governance dilemmas, which could be solved through less formal, more mission-oriented, more creative and therefore heterodox accountability. Originality/value: The French context of mistrust of certain managerial approaches and the development of codes of governance based on a disciplinary vision are confronted with a growing and critical literature on accountability in NPOs. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited. |
| Keywords: | Governance, Effectiveness, Accountability, Stakeholder theory, French nonprofit organizations |
| Date: | 2023–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04430976&r=hme |
| By: | Karmakar, Asim K.; Jana, Sebak Kumar |
| Abstract: | Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi (1869-1948), known as ‘Mahatma’, meaning ‘great-souled’ as people called him, was born on 2nd October 1869 at Porbandar in India. He was the first to warn the then-Indian leaders, policymakers, and his followers in the late 1940s about the dangers of high inequality in income and wealth distribution prevalent between the rich and the poor in India. This shows his power of visionary gleams and his awareness of the political economy. Gandhi’s vision of non-violence, ahimsa, and right action was based on the idea of the total spiritual interconnectedness and divinity of life as a whole. He was also the first to create three principles of sustainable development: Sarvodaya, Swadeshi, and Satyagraha, aptly relevant to today’s India. His idea of creating of economically self-sufficient local economy is now at the closest proximity to 'Atmanirbhar Bharat' which he tried to launch many years back. It is in this context we try to explore the relevance of Gandhian political economy for today’s India. |
| Keywords: | Political economy, Platform capitalism, Sarvodaya, Satyagraha, Sustainable development |
| JEL: | B3 |
| Date: | 2023–12–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:119582&r=hme |
| By: | Havas, Attila; Schartinger, Doris; Weber, Matthias K. |
| Abstract: | This article is a first attempt towards building an integrative analytical framework to study goal-orientated transformative change (GOTC) processes, defined as system-transforming processes that are guided by the ambition to resolve current or expected future societal challenges. GOTC can only start once a broad range of possible goals are considered by key stakeholders and major relevant actors are committed to act. Hence, there is a need for widening the scope of the current, partial conceptual models to consider the co-evolutionary interactions between technology, economy, and society to better understand and effectively guide and/or assess GOTC. This claim is based on our focussed review of Innovation Studies, Social Innovation, and Sustainability Transitions research. We offer four building blocks for a new, integrative framework to analyse GOTC: its overarching goal; objects, types, and levels of change; mechanisms of change; and a set of criteria to assess change. |
| Keywords: | An integrative analytical framework; Innovation studies; Social innovation research; Sustainability transitions ;research; Focussed literature review |
| JEL: | B52 H12 I31 O30 O33 O35 O38 O44 P11 Q01 Q50 Q54 Q55 Q58 |
| Date: | 2023–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120070&r=hme |
| By: | Sarah Louart (CLERSÉ - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Habibata Balde; Emilie Robert (UdeM - Université de Montréal); Valéry Ridde (CEPED - UMR_D 196 - Centre population et développement - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - UPCité - Université Paris Cité) |
| Abstract: | Realist evaluation is based on a conception of public policies as interventions that produce their outcomes through mechanisms that are only triggered in specific contexts. The analysis of these links between contexts, mechanisms and outcomes is therefore at the heart of this approach. This approach can be based on a variety of methods, but will in all cases use qualitative methods to investigate the mechanisms involved. Belonging to the family of theory-based evaluations, realist evaluation aspires to produce middle range theories that will facilitate the transfer of the knowledge produced on the intervention under study to other contexts or other interventions of the same type. |
| Keywords: | Qualitative methods, theory-based evaluation, context-mechanism-outcome (CMO) configurations, middle range theory, critical realism |
| Date: | 2023–07–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04441388&r=hme |
| By: | Malte Dold; Tim Krieger |
| Abstract: | Populist movements increasingly challenge liberal Western market democracies. Populism can be explained only in part by phenomena like globalization and digitization producing winners and losers in economic terms. Growing feelings of alienation from the market-democratic system and the perceived loss of autonomy within the political system contribute to rising populism as well. In this chapter, we ask whether elements of public deliberation may be a means to reasonably responding to the populist challenge by strengthening citizen sovereignty in addition to consumer sovereignty. Ordoliberalism, as a specific form of liberalism that aims at achieving both a ‘functioning and humane order’ within a system of ‘interdependent orders’, is particularly apt to embrace the idea of public deliberation if it is rules-based. |
| Keywords: | populism, ordoliberalism, democracy, deliberation |
| JEL: | B29 D63 D72 P16 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10888&r=hme |
| By: | Valérie Billaudeau (ESO - Espaces et Sociétés - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UM - Le Mans Université - UA - Université d'Angers - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Nantes Univ - IGARUN - Institut de Géographie et d'Aménagement Régional de l'Université de Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Humanités - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université - Institut Agro Rennes Angers - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Emmanuel Bioteau (ESO - Espaces et Sociétés - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UM - Le Mans Université - UA - Université d'Angers - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Nantes Univ - IGARUN - Institut de Géographie et d'Aménagement Régional de l'Université de Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Humanités - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université - Institut Agro Rennes Angers - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Oriane Vérité (ESO - Espaces et Sociétés - UNICAEN - Université de Caen Normandie - NU - Normandie Université - UM - Le Mans Université - UA - Université d'Angers - UR2 - Université de Rennes 2 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Nantes Univ - IGARUN - Institut de Géographie et d'Aménagement Régional de l'Université de Nantes - Nantes Université - pôle Humanités - Nantes Univ - Nantes Université - Institut Agro Rennes Angers - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement); Cécile Grémy‐gros (LARIS - Laboratoire Angevin de Recherche en Ingénierie des Systèmes - UA - Université d'Angers); Hervé Christofol (LAMPA - Laboratoire Angevin de Mécanique, Procédés et InnovAtion - Arts et Métiers Sciences et Technologies - HESAM - HESAM Université - Communauté d'universités et d'établissements Hautes écoles Sorbonne Arts et métiers université) |
| Abstract: | L'article s'inscrit dans une démarche de mesure d'impacts territorialisés de la durabilité de I'Economie sociale et solidaire (ESS). La portée plurielle d'évaluation posant l'utilité sociale et la durabilité renvoie à considérer l'inscription de l'action évaluée « dans » un territoire donné. Il est alors nécessaire d'aller au-delà des outils de mesure traditionnels et d'intégrer les parties prenantes de l'ESS. Cet article propose de suivre et d'analyser le cheminement méthodologique de la construction d'indicateurs de mesure d'impacts de trois initiatives en ESS. Nous illustrons comment la dimension territoriale de l'ESS devient support de co-construction d'une évaluation originale, de la portée des projets d'ESS. Ce filtre d'analyse territorialisée (re)couvre les enjeux de durabilité. Nous proposons d'interroger la conception des critères ayant pour but d'essaimer auprès de nouvelles structures partenaires : constitue-t-elle une mesure d'impacts tridimensionnelle adaptée aux objectifs de l'ESS et de la durabilité ? Partant de ces terrains, le texte propose un retour sur le positionnement des chercheurs dans la co-élaboration de l'outil de mesure d'impact et suggère l'intégration de la dimension territoriale dans la mesure d'impacts de durabilité des structures de l'ESS ainsi que l'appréhension de la finalité sociale de projet afin que le projet essaime et permette d'entamer une discussion sur les apports et rapports au territoire. |
| Keywords: | innovation, impacts assessment |
| Date: | 2022–03–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03759955&r=hme |