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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2024‒08‒26
nineteen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Giancarlo Ianulardo (University of Exeter Business School - University of Exeter); Aldo Stella (UNIPG - Università degli Studi di Perugia = University of Perugia) |
| Abstract: | In an article entitled "Agency, functionalism and all that. A Sraffian view", published in the Journal of Philosophical Economics, Professor Cesaratto (2024) has proposed a functionalist methodology to study the relation between agency and structure. In doing so, he made some criticisms of an article of ours that had previously appeared in the same journal in issue XV, entitled "Towards a unity of sense: a critical analysis of the concept of relation in methodological individualism and holism in economics" (Ianulardo and Stella, 2022). We take Cesaratto's critique as an invitation to a dialogue on the methodology of the social sciences, and we would like to clarify some aspects in response to his critique. In essence, we clarify that our article consisted of two parts, which we can call pars destruens and pars construens, respectively. In the first, we show that while the determinate identity of the individual postulated by methodological individualism cannot stand without reference to difference, the relational methodology postulated by methodological holism requires its terms (i.e. individuals) to stand as a relation. In the second part, we make it clear that the sense of unity to which we have referred is not represented by an actual community, but by the drive towards unity that is common to all individuals when they intend to form a social entity (group, class, nation, party, institution etc.). Every unification makes it possible to shed new light on the moments that led to it. In this sense, we have spoken of a teleological perspective, since the end point allows us to re-signify the intermediate moments that led to it. |
| Keywords: | Methodological individualism methodological holism teleology relation unity, Methodological individualism, methodological holism, teleology, relation, unity |
| Date: | 2024–07–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04528106 |
| By: | Rajdeep Tah; Colin Benjamin |
| Abstract: | Consider the scenario where an infinite number of players (i.e., the \textit{thermodynamic} limit) find themselves in a Prisoner's dilemma type situation, in a \textit{repeated} setting. Is it reasonable to anticipate that, in these circumstances, cooperation will emerge? This paper addresses this question by examining the emergence of cooperative behaviour, in the presence of \textit{noise} (or, under \textit{selection pressure}), in repeated Prisoner's Dilemma games, involving strategies such as \textit{Tit-for-Tat}, \textit{Always Defect}, \textit{GRIM}, \textit{Win-Stay, Lose-Shift}, and others. To analyze these games, we employ a numerical Agent-Based Model (ABM) and compare it with the analytical Nash Equilibrium Mapping (NEM) technique, both based on the \textit{1D}-Ising chain. We use \textit{game magnetization} as an indicator of cooperative behaviour. A significant finding is that for some repeated games, a discontinuity in the game magnetization indicates a \textit{first}-order \textit{selection pressure/noise}-driven phase transition. The phase transition is particular to strategies where players do not severely punish a single defection. We also observe that in these particular cases, the phase transition critically depends on the number of \textit{rounds} the game is played in the thermodynamic limit. For all five games, we find that both ABM and NEM, in conjunction with game magnetization, provide crucial inputs on how cooperative behaviour can emerge in an infinite-player repeated Prisoner's dilemma game. |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2407.15801 |
| By: | Cajas Guijarro, John |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes two theoretical dynamic models (Models A and B) to analyze the interaction between distributive and financial cycles in capitalist economies. Model A assumes investment equals savings at the aggregate level but assumes a delay between capitalists saving their income and distributing it to firms for reinvestment, leading to credit demand from a rentier class. Model B extends and modifies Model A by representing capitalist incentives to invest through an investment function and accounting for the dynamic effect of non-zero excess demand. Analytical proofs for the existence of limit cycles in both models are provided using Hopf bifurcation theorems for four-dimensional and five-dimensional dynamical systems, and numerical simulations identify stable and limit cycles, unstable cycles, damped oscillations, and multiple relevant patterns. The results suggest that the stability of cycles is significantly influenced by the distribution of bargaining power between workers and capitalists, as well as the behavior of the central bank and the rentier class. Furthermore, the paper suggests two methods to identify financing regimes within capitalist cycles and concludes by providing insights for future analytical and empirical research. |
| Keywords: | Distributive cycles, Financial cycles, Hopf bifurcation, Bargaining power, Stability, Interest rate |
| JEL: | C61 E11 E12 E32 G01 |
| Date: | 2024–07–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:121404 |
| By: | Graf, Sarah; Bosch, Christine; Codjoe, Emmanuel; Ojo, Christianah; Ojo, Temitope; Oyinbo, Oyakhilomen |
| Abstract: | Rural classes tend to be defined at household level and along a single dimension: labour. This neglects class relations in land and capital markets. Also, it falsely assumes a unitary household defined by a supposed male breadwinner, disregarding differing economic activities and class relations of women and youth. Our contribution will propose a new analytical framework and illustrate its application using data from two mixed-methods village studies based on nine months of fieldwork in the forest zones of Ghana and Nigeria. The framework combines three innovative approaches: (1) using Social Network Analysis to research class structures; (2) quantifying surplus extractions through class relations; and (3) systematically analysing the coexistence of class relations in land, labour, and capital markets. This approach has the following advantages: Conceptually, it allows us to differentiate various forms of class relations (e.g. renting, pledging, or wage labour) and disentangle a person’s various roles in the three markets. Methodologically, we rely on empirically observable arrangements, whereas categories of classes are always ideal types. Empirically, such an analysis provides new insights: We find substantial variation of class position within the household; we document how surplus labour is passed on through land and capital markets and we compare the overall surplus transferred in each market. This deepens our understanding of rural power dynamics and drivers of agrarian change. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2023–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi23:344250 |
| By: | Domptail, Stéphanie Eileen; Mörsdorf, Jessica |
| Abstract: | The science of agricultural and natural resource use economics tends to be developed and applied within a post-positivist epistemological standpoint. Researchers, objective and exter-nal, investigate a state of being on the ground and interpret their results in the context of theo-ries of agricultural and natural resources, which we assume as close to the truth as humanity can be on a given day. This epistemological positioning follows from the scientific method developed within the Western Cartesian worldview in the 17th century. Our current knowledge relies on ecological social and economic theories that were largely developed in Europe since then - in such, they pertain to a European Cartesian ontology. Yet, the paper’s premise is that knowledge is a social construction and is contextual to specif-ic ontologies. Following the pluriverse idea, we point to limits of a single world perspective, also in science and research when attempting to address creatively the multiple environmental crises the current civilisation generated. Our paper aims to make the point that a decolonized teaching and research curricula is needed to support a deeper change in humans’ relation to nature towards sustainability. We use the decolonization concept to highlight power relations between scientists and researches as well as between different forms of knowledge. This will lead us to reflect on the tangible implications for decolonization of research in agricultural economics and natural resource use. Especially, we suggest developing awareness on the po-sitionality of researchers and on structural power relations transported by research and data collection methods. These are first steps towards the possible development of a more inclu-sive epistemology. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies |
| Date: | 2023–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi23:344244 |
| By: | Beckert, Jens |
| Abstract: | Narratives of the future are a crucial source of the dynamics of capitalism (Beckert 2016). Since there are no future facts, assessments of the future necessarily need to rely on accounts that cannot be limited to the presentation of facts. This means they cannot be true or false, but they can be credible or non-credible. To trigger decisions, the narrative must convince actors that it is at least sufficiently probable that events will indeed play out as portrayed. But where does this credibility come from? I propose a simple model which consists of three elements. I distinguish first the story-maker or persuader, the person (or institution) that creates specific imagined futures and often wants to convince other actors of the accuracy of the narrative. Second, the story-taker or agent who ultimately makes the decisions through which resources are put at risk and who needs to become convinced of the credibility of the imagined future. The third element in the model is social context, the features of the social and material environment that position the agent in a social network and influence assessments of credibility. |
| Abstract: | Zukunftsnarrative bestimmen maßgeblich die Dynamik des Kapitalismus (Beckert 2016). Da es jedoch keine zukünftigen Fakten gibt, können auch Beschreibungen der Zukunft nicht allein auf Fakten begrenzt bleiben. Dies bedeutet, dass imaginierte Zukünfte nicht einfach wahr oder falsch sind, sondern vielmehr glaubwürdig oder unglaubwürdig. Um andere Akteure zu Entscheidungen zu bewegen, müssen Narrative diese hinreichend überzeugen, dass die Zukunft sich tatsächlich so gestalten wird wie dargestellt. Aber wodurch wird eine imaginierte Zukunft glaubwürdig? Ich schlage hier ein einfaches Modell vor, das drei Elemente enthält. Zunächst unterscheide ich den Geschichtenerzähler oder persuador, die Person (oder Institution), die eine bestimmte imaginierte Zukunft erzeugt und häufig andere Akteure von der Richtigkeit der Erzählung überzeugen will. Zweitens unterscheide ich den Adressaten der Erzählung oder Agens, der letztendlich die Entscheidungen trifft, die Ressourcen einem Risiko auszusetzen, und der dafür von der Glaubwürdigkeit der imaginierten Zukunft überzeugt sein muss. Das dritte Element in dem Modell ist der soziale Kontext. Dieser umfasst die Merkmale der sozialen und materiellen Umwelt, die den Adressaten der Geschichte in ein soziales Netzwerk einbetten und damit beeinflussen, inwieweit er der imaginierten Zukunft Glauben schenkt. |
| Keywords: | credibility, imagined futures, narrative, persuasion, power, social context, story, uncertainty, Erzählung, Geschichten, Glaubwürdigkeit, imaginierte Zukunft, Macht, sozialer Kontext, Überzeugung, Ungewissheit |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:300664 |
| By: | Naudé, Wim (RWTH Aachen University) |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship scholarship and policy are based on the myth of firm growth as imperative and the related myth of perpetual economic growth. This paper takes issue with the obsession with this growth myth, discussing the dangers it poses. Green growth and sustainable entrepreneurship are exposed as oxymorons. Given the dangers and the impossibility of perpetual growth, the paper then tries to answer the question of what role entrepreneurship could play in a post-growth society or in degrowth (the proposed approach to get there). The tentative conclusion is that entrepreneurship is incompatible with current visions of post-growth and degrowth. Degrowth and post-growth societies are post-entrepreneurship societies. While seeing how post-growth and degrowth could be made compatible with entrepreneurship is complicated, it does not mean it is impossible. More imagination and attention by entrepreneurship and post-growth scholars on the nature of entrepreneurship beyond growth is required sooner rather than later. Since economic growth is not perpetual, time is running out. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, economic growth, capitalism, polycrisis, climate change |
| JEL: | L26 L21 O40 O44 P17 |
| Date: | 2024–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17158 |
| By: | Raphael Porcherot (IDHES - Institutions et Dynamiques Historiques de l'Économie et de la Société - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - UEVE - Université d'Évry-Val-d'Essonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - ENS Paris Saclay - Ecole Normale Supérieure Paris-Saclay, CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - LABEX ICCA - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPCité - Université Paris Cité - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord); Sebastian Valdecantos (AAU - Aalborg University [Denmark]); Ricardo Orzi (Universidad Nacional de Luján [Buenos Aires]); Federico Camargo |
| Abstract: | Social currencies can make a valuable contribution to sustainability as they strengthen solidarity markets, a specific exchange practice that enhances the resilience of their surrounding environmental, social and human systems. Until now, the need to secure trust in a currency has been a major challenge for social currency initiatives not backed by the State. The emergence of Blockchain, which offers security, transparency and auditability to currencies and transactions it supports, seemingly circumvents this issue. This raises the question that this paper seeks to address: is Blockchain a game-changer for bottom-up solidarity economy initiatives? The methodological approach draws on a multidimensional conceptualization of trust that recognizes three components: ethical, hierarchical and methodical trust. It uses Moneda PAR, an Argentinian Blockchain-based social currency, as a case study and draws on use data, participant surveys and direct observation by the authors as action researchers to explore social currency and solidarity economy development in relation to currency performance on each dimension of trust. Findings from the case show that despite strengthening hierarchical and methodical trust, Blockchain needs to be articulated with additional market-building strategies to be a true game-changer in the development of social currency systems. |
| Keywords: | special-purpose money, social currencies, Blockchain, sustainability |
| Date: | 2024–06–29 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04599645 |
| By: | Ferrer, Jacobo (New School for Social Research, United States); Martínez-González, Adrián (Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico); Torres-González, Luis Daniel (Universidad National Autonoma de Mexico) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents a reconstruction and evaluation of the theory of international relative prices (IRP) based on the theory of ‘real competition’.The main thesis of the theory is that the long-run behavior of the IRP of tradable commodity bundles is exclusively determined by their relative total unit labor costs (RTULC). This is equivalent to the assertion that the total profits-wages ratios (TPWR) of these two bundles are sufficiently similar over time and, therefore, neutral in the long run. We identified a set of issues that cast doubt on the strength of the theory. Firstly, due to accounting considerations, the proposed hypotheses cannot constrain IRP to depend solely on the RTULC. Secondly, the theoretical and empirical arguments put forth by the literature to constrain the TPWR are weak. The paper presents a comprehensive investigation of industries’ TPWR, which reveals that their statistical regularities do not align with the constraints necessary for the validity of the theory’s core thesis. |
| Keywords: | real exchange rates; terms of trade; absolute advantage; unit labor costs; capital intensities. |
| Date: | 2024–08–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sraffa:0067 |
| By: | Eichacker, Nina |
| Abstract: | While cryptocurrencies have existed since 1990, they have come to increasing prominence after 2009, when BitCoin was created. Since 2009, a proliferation of cryptocurrencies has emerged, prompting both debate and dramatic flurries of economic activity. While some argue that cryptocurrencies may present an alternative to state-backed fiat currencies, others characterize them as volatile financial assets that are used to exploit particularly vulnerable demographic groups. This chapter examines cryptocurrencies through two lenses: a historic-institutionalist account of how they have developed as both a financial asset and an alternative to the traditional centralized financial system based on banks, and a Keynesian analysis of crypto currencies as financial assets particularly prone to the generation of bubbles and crashes. It considers both the ecological and economic fallout from the creation of these assets, as well as lessons that traditional financial institutions may learn from cryptocurrencies and the institutions through which purchasers may access these assets. |
| Date: | 2024–07–26 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:7kyrm |
| By: | Pies, Ingo; Schultz, Felix Carl |
| Abstract: | Der Weltklimarat (IPCC) hat jüngst eine Autorengruppe wohlwollend rezipiert, die die These vertritt, Klimaschutz könne (nur) durch Wachstumsverzicht - durch Nullwachstum und besser noch durch Negativwachstum - ambitioniert vorangetrieben werden. Wir rekonstruieren diese spezifische Degrowth-Argumentation und konfrontieren sie aus der Perspektive des ordonomischen Forschungsprogramms mit zwei kritischen Anfragen. Im Ergebnis sehen wir uns veranlasst, die im Titel aufgeworfene Frage zu verneinen. Unsere Gegenargumente lauten: (a) Degrowth verkennt die zivilisatorischen Vorzüge der postmalthusianischen Wachstumsgesellschaft. (b) Degrowth nimmt die klimapolitische Herausforderung nicht ernst genug. Insbesondere wird unterschätzt, dass die zum Klimaschutz für nötig gehaltenen Innovationen unternehmerischer Anstrengungen bedürfen und insofern marktwirtschaftliche Leistungsanreize voraussetzen. |
| Abstract: | The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently published a favourable assessment of a group of authors who argue that climate protection can only be ambitiously advanced by foregoing growth - through zero growth or, even better, through negative growth. We reconstruct this specific degrowth argumentation and confront it with two critical questions from the perspective of the ordonomic research program. As a result, we feel compelled to answer the question raised in this article's title in the negative. Our counter-arguments are: (a) Degrowth fails to recognize the civilizational advantages of the post-Malthusian growth society. (b) Degrowth does not take the climate challenge seriously enough. In particular, this specific group of degrowth proponents underestimates that the innovations considered necessary for climate protection presuppose entrepreneurial efforts and therefore require market-based performance incentives. |
| Keywords: | Degrowth, grünes Wachstum, Innovation, Klimapolitik, post-malthusianische Gesellschaft, Green Growth, Climate Policy, Post-Malthusian Society |
| JEL: | B59 O44 Q54 Q57 Q58 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mlucee:300639 |
| By: | Victor Counillon (CERAG - Centre d'études et de recherches appliquées à la gestion - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes); Eléonore Disse (CGS i3 - Centre de Gestion Scientifique i3 - Mines Paris - PSL (École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris) - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - I3 - Institut interdisciplinaire de l’innovation - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | We are looking to identify what organizational ontology is adapted to integrate ecological issues into accounting and explore how this ontological focus can help building a shared understanding of organizations in the context of ecological crises, by bridging sciences. We adopt a conceptual approach by unveiling the ontological presuppositions underlying some financial and socio-environmental accounting. A hypothetical case study is mobilized to illustrate how C.A.R.E ecological accounting relies on alternative assumptions about the organizational ontology. Ontological presuppositions on organizations are related to the purpose of each accounting framework. Integrating the ecological responsibility of human activities into accounting demands to better consider the impacts organizations have on natural and social entities. "Relational ontologies" seem best adapted to such an understanding. Coupled with a process-based ontology from an extension of traditional accounting, natural and human capitals' uses can be followed and managed. Taking this ontological prism renews the role of accounting: ecological accounting structures and makes sense of information, is fed by and feeds other domain-specific ontologies (e.g. hydrology, climatology, pedology, law, economics). This enables conceptualization of organizational ontology as intrinsically related to these same ontologies. Only then can knowledge generated about organizational processes be rendered relevant in these domains. |
| Keywords: | organization ontology, accounting ontology, ecological accounting, interdisciplinarity, relational ontology, Basic Formal Ontology, natural capital |
| Date: | 2024–07–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04639877 |
| By: | Hansen, Rebecca; Hess, Sebastian |
| Abstract: | Cooperatives have long been criticised for their inefficiency due to high internal coordination costs and inefficient decision-making. This is a particular disadvantage in the production and marketing of agri-food products that have heterogeneous (hedonic) quality attributes. However, cooperatives continue to be widespread in agriculture, notably in the wine sector, because they can achieve scale economies and reduce transaction cost for their members. This paper compares the efficiency of cooperatives and non-cooperatives in the German wine sector with respect to their ability to place wines on the market at prices above their measurable quality attributes. The results from a stochastic metafrontier panel of 1, 223 wine prices from two wine guides suggest that consumers should purchase wine from cooperatives if they are seeking market prices that correspond closely with a wine’s quality. In turn, members of wine cooperatives should ask themselves why non-cooperatives are typically better at attracting an even greater willingness to pay for the respective quality of their wines. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness |
| Date: | 2023–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:gewi23:344240 |
| By: | Kumar A, Ajai; Kumar B, Pradeep; M N, Anitha |
| Abstract: | Although cooperative banks have become indispensable for the promotion of rural and farm sector, it is disheartening to note that the cooperative banks do not account for even 20 percent of the share of credit flow to the agriculture sector in India. This clearly shows that cooperative banks have not adequately met the credit requirements of the agriculture sector on the expected lines. It is obvious that at the all India level, only 46.12 percent of Primary Agriculture Credit Societies (PACSs) made profit in 2021. Cooperative bank failures have been reported from many parts of the country. Against this background, the formation of a separate Ministry of Cooperation at the Centre which works on the mantra of “Sahakar se Samriddhi can have far reaching positive effect on the cooperative sector in India. |
| Keywords: | Cooperative Banks, Commercial Banks, Non-Performing Assets. Credit Disbursement, Policy Level Interventions, PACS |
| JEL: | G3 G32 |
| Date: | 2024–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:121482 |
| By: | Julie Jammes (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - UM - Université de Montpellier, UM - Université de Montpellier); Pauline Folcher (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UM1 - Université Montpellier 1 - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UM2 - Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School, UM - Université de Montpellier); Gilles N'Goala (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - UM - Université de Montpellier, UM - Université de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | The social acceptability of technological innovation is a concept that has been discussed in various disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. However, this subject remains understudied in the marketing literature, which has predominantly focused on practical acceptability, adoption, and appropriation of technological innovation. To address this gap, this communication proposes a theoretical conceptualization of the social acceptability of technological innovation perceived by the consumer. This approach aims to lay the necessary conceptual foundations for operationalizing the construct and encouraging future marketing research. A qualitative study, involving 30 semi-structured interviews, was conducted to generate an enriched and detailed understanding of what the social acceptability of technological innovation means for consumers. The results indicate that the social acceptability of technological innovation is a bidimensional construct. |
| Abstract: | L'acceptabilité sociale de l'innovation technologique est un concept qui a été discuté dans diverses disciplines en sciences humaines et sociales. Cependant, ce sujet reste sous-étudié dans la littérature en marketing, qui a principalement focalisé son attention sur l'acceptabilité pratique, l'acceptation et l'appropriation de l'innovation technologique. Pour combler cette lacune, cette communication propose une conceptualisation théorique de l'acceptabilité sociale de l'innovation technologique perçue par le consommateur. Cette démarche vise à poser les bases conceptuelles nécessaires en vue d'opérationnaliser le construit afin d'encourager de futures recherches en marketing. Une étude qualitative, impliquant la réalisation de 30 entretiens semi-directifs, a été menée pour générer une compréhension enrichie et plus détaillée de ce que l'acceptabilité sociale de l'innovation technologique signifie pour les consommateurs. Les résultats indiquent que l'acceptabilité sociale de l'innovation technologique est une construction bidimensionnelle. |
| Keywords: | acceptability of technological innovation ; Conceptualization ; Qualitative study Marketing, Acceptabilité sociale de l'innovation technologique; Conceptualisation; Étude qualitative; Marketing Social; |
| Date: | 2024–06–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04643346 |
| By: | Mantey, Vida; Bosch, Christine; Missiame, Arnold; Birner, Regina; Birkenberg, Athena; Yameogo, Viviane Guesbeogo; Mburu, John |
| Abstract: | Dairy production is an important contributor to food security and poverty reduction, but it is also a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The development of smallholder agricultural carbon projects, such as the Mt. Elgon project, provides an opportunity for farmers to receive benefits for adopting sustainable practices that not only potentially increase farm productivity but also reduce GHG emissions. While there is growing evidence that agricultural cooperatives in conventional development projects improve the adoption of agricultural technologies and the economic performance of smallholder farms, there is a research gap on the role that dairy cooperatives can play in smallholder agricultural carbon projects. This study examines the role of dairy cooperatives in smallholder agricultural carbon projects and assesses the impact of cooperative membership on the technical efficiency of smallholder dairy carbon farmers in Western Kenya. The study used a mixed methods approach. A participatory and visual mapping tool, Net-Map, was used to identify key actors and their linkages. Stochastic frontier and endogenous switching regression models were used to estimate technical efficiency and assess the impact of cooperative membership on the technical efficiency of smallholder dairy carbon farmers, respectively. The results show that dairy cooperatives in carbon projects play an important role in project design and implementation, as well as in carbon monitoring and reporting. On average, smallholder farmers are 35.3 percent technically efficient, and cooperative members have lower technical efficiency than non-members. This finding can be attributed to the way these dairy cooperatives were set up and the fact that some farmers joined the cooperatives to participate in the project. Furthermore, an average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) and an average treatment effect on the untreated (ATU) of 0.311 and 0.251 respectively was observed. In general, the study concludes that without critical sources of heterogeneity, dairy cooperatives can support smallholder carbon farmers not only to improve their efficiency but also to promote sustainable dairy farming. |
| Keywords: | Livestock Production/Industries |
| Date: | 2024–08–07 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:cfcp15:344343 |
| By: | Forsyth, Tim; McDermott, Constance L.; Dhakal, Rabindra |
| Abstract: | Equitable resilience is an increasing focus of development policy, but there is still insufficient attention to how the framings of equity itself shape what, and who, is targeted through development efforts. Universalistic assumptions about climate risk or social marginalization can define equity in ways that hide dynamic and intersectional influences on what constitutes risk to whom under different circumstances. This paper investigates the implications of two different equity framings for resilience in Jumla District, western Nepal. Drawing on more than one hundred household surveys plus in-depth qualitative interviews in six villages, we find that state-led efforts to present post-civil war development as the “equal distribution” of roads and infrastructure, agricultural commercialization, and protection against systemic climate risk fail to reflect local experiences of risk, which are often expressed in terms of social exclusion rather than vulnerability to climate change. Yet, simultaneously, other efforts at building resilience that use caste and gender as indicators of social marginalization overlook how transitions in livelihoods and individual agency have changed vulnerability contexts for many people, or the increasing vulnerability to climate change of more landed farmers. The paper urges more critical attention to how normative framings of equity shape what, and for whom is considered equitable resilience, including assumptions about transformative change from analysts themselves. Representing risks and vulnerability in terms of socially marginalized groups alone might deny the dynamic, intersectional, and contextual interconnection of risks and social agency; and might impose unhelpful subjectivities of their own. |
| Keywords: | project entitled ‘‘Resilience and access to sustainable growth in upland Nepal and Myanmar |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2022–11–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:115924 |
| By: | Lucarelli, Stefano; Baron, Hervé |
| Abstract: | Presentiamo "Classe operaia e padronato nelle recenti vicende economiche", un opuscolo derivante da una lezione tenuta da Augusto Graziani nell’ambito di un corso per la formazione dei quadri dirigenti della Federazione Lavoratori Metalmeccanici (FLM) di Brescia svoltosi fra marzo ed aprile nel 1974. Fino ad oggi questo testo non era stato preso in considerazione nella redazione della bibliografia ufficiale delle opere di Augusto Graziani. Nell’opuscolo del 1974 abbiamo un Graziani insolitamente “esplicito” dal punto di vista politico, che tenta di costruire delle tassonomie dei frazionamenti interni al padronato ad uso della classe lavoratrice e a supporto delle sue lotte. Nell'opuscolo abbiamo anche il prodromo immediato di ciò che diverrà lo schema del circuito monetario. La compresenza di problemi di teoria economica in un contesto di teoria monetaria della produzione e di analisi della storia economica italiana rappresenta a nostro avviso anche una indicazione metodologica per leggere l’intera produzione intellettuale di Augusto Graziani. L'opuscolo è da Luglio 2024 liberamente scaricabile dal sito https://augustograziani.com. |
| Keywords: | Circuito Monetario, metodologia, storia della politica economica. |
| JEL: | B4 B40 B59 E5 E59 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:121462 |
| By: | Dietlmeier, Simon Frederic |
| Abstract: | In this paper, a qualitative model is inductively developed describing a dynamic “policy mix” -system of innovation enabling and outbalancing dimensions for the deployment of narrow artificial intelligence (AI) in the manufacturing value chain. A literature review first identifies and summarizes general policy recommendations on AI as an emerging technology presented by authors prior to this research. In the empirical part, policy dimensions and suggestions of policy remedies with a focus on the manufacturing value chain were taxonomized based on exploratory interviews with 37 international elite experts on AI across several stakeholder groups. The findings were refined in a survey with participants of the workshop “AI in Manufacturing” organized by the European Commission. The dimensions build the foundation for an industrial policy in the form of a “four-wing industrial policy system model” that can unleash the value of narrow AI in the manufacturing value chain and addresses barriers to scale-up. It represents a qualitative modelling approach and confirms previous views in the literature that innovation policies need to be thought as “policy mix” and systems. A case study of the European Union’s policy mix for AI validates the model empirically based on additional interviews with ten European civil servants. |
| Keywords: | Artificial Intelligence • Emerging Technologies • Manufacturing • Value Chain • System • Policy Mix |
| JEL: | A20 B5 B52 H70 M29 O3 Q5 Y4 Z1 |
| Date: | 2024–06–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:121183 |