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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Menudo, Jose M. |
| Abstract: | Based on the new way of studying the work of Adam Smith in greater depth, with greater attention being paid to the use and context of his language, this investigation examines the theory of competitive exchange described in The Wealth of Nations, with the aim of bringing new contributions to the field of decision-making beyond the utilitarian theoretical framework. We have found an exchange process with principles of behaviour that are very different to those described in the traditional literature, principally through the leading role of both the cognitive process of decision-making, and of institutions. This work concludes that natural price is a rule of equivalence that guarantees market consistency and that the cognitive process of its participants is described as a mechanism for forming expectations based on institutions outside the market. These conclusions allow us to redefine the hypotheses of Adam Smith’s system of price determination. |
| Keywords: | Classical; Adam Smith; Institutions; Market Structure and Pricing; Information and Knowledge. |
| JEL: | B31 B12 D02 D83 D4 |
| Date: | 2011–06–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:15361&r=hpe |
| By: | Calero, Analía Verónica |
| Abstract: | Adam Smith aimed to reveal the hidden links behind the appearance of the new society that was birthing at that time. In these two books, he stated that a natural order governs everything, and that individuals try to discover this natural order through experience. He argues that the great ends of Nature are self-preservation, the propagation of the species, and harmony. But, can human beings survive in this new society, where the predominant relation is commercial in nature, and benevolence does not prevail as a social cohesion mechanism? This paper aims to shed light on this matter and concludes that the “market breadth” meaning the universality of mercantile relation, makes Smith abandon the law of value and adopt the law of production costs in The Wealth of Nations. In the Theory of the Moral Sentiments, he abandons benevolence as a fundamental principle of social cohesion, and adopts justice. The latter, enforced by the State, will ensure the feasibility of the developing system. |
| Keywords: | B12; B13; B52; D33; D46; D63 |
| JEL: | D46 B12 D63 |
| Date: | 2009–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:32022&r=hpe |
| By: | Ulrich Hedtke |
| Abstract: | In May 2009 Ulrich Hedtke presented a paper at the Schumpeter School Kolloquium dealing with Schumpeter’s perception of the entrepreneur. In his paper he argues that Schumpeter’s concept of entrepreneurship changed over time, illustrates the transition of Schumpeter’s ideas, and discusses implications for research. |
| Keywords: | Schumpeter, innovation, leadership, entrepreneurship |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bwu:schdps:sdp11008&r=hpe |
| By: | Alexandre Mendes Cunha (Cedeplar-UFMG); Gustavo Britto (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | The article assesses the work of Celso Furtado (1920-2004) in the 1970s, when the author promotes an ambitious attempt to redefine the field of development economics. Furtado's works have recently been revisited by several authors, including in the field of history of economic thought. The text is devoted to explore how the author challenges development theory’s perceived failure to explain the reality of underdeveloped nations in the late 1970s by expanding the scope of analysis and giving culture a pivotal role in the dynamics of development and underdevelopment. This theoretical movement happens at the time in which development economics begins to drift out of the mainstream of economic theory. Hence, unlike the concept of underdevelopment introduced in the 1950s, the discussion of creativity and dependence encounters an adverse intellectual landscape, even though it represents one of the author’s most original contributions. |
| Keywords: | Celso Furtado, development, underdevelopment, creativity, culture. |
| JEL: | B20 O14 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td429&r=hpe |
| By: | Björn Frank (University of Kassel) |
| Abstract: | Economic page turners like Freakonomics are well written and there is much to be learned from them – not only about economics, but also about writing techniques. Their authors know how to build up suspense, i.e., they make readers want to know what comes. An uncountable number of pages in books and magazines are filled with advice on writing reportages or suspense novels. While many of the tips are specific to the respective genres, some carry over to economic page turners in an instructive way. After introducing some of these writing tools, I discuss whether these and other aspects of good writing lead to a biased presentation of economic theory and practice. I conclude that, whatever the problems with certain economic page turners may be, they are not due to the need to write in an accessible, appealing way. |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mar:magkse:201126&r=hpe |
| By: | Schilirò, Daniele; Graziano, Mario |
| Abstract: | This paper argues critically the issue of choices and rationality in economic models through a multidisciplinary analysis. First, the analysis aims at highlight the scientific contributions of psychology in economics, since psychology and the related approach of cognitive economics has made more complex and problematic the analysis of choices of the standard neoclassical economics. The cognitive approach in economics has pointed out the complexity of the choice process and the unsolved relationship between economic and psychological dimensions of such a process, showing the biases and the limits of rationality. Second, the analysis focuses on the use of evolutionary concepts in economic theory. Economic models, which are consistent with an evolutionary approach, have necessarily to be very different from those of standard economics. In particular, this paper examines the works of Alfred Marshall, since he is the first major economist to refer explicitly to biology for explaining economic evolution. The purpose of the analysis is to reveal the conditions required to succeed in building a real evolutionary model. A major condition, which is found in Marshall models, particularly in his Principles of Economics, is the understanding and the integration of darwinian philosophical matrix in his general economic approach. The paper, therefore, aims at demonstrating that economics has not been historically a discipline homogenously aligned to a single, undifferentiated form of thought, locked into the idea of perfect rationality, but that is a discipline that enriched and still enriches itself by contributions and contaminations from other disciplines. |
| Keywords: | scelta; razionalità; economia cognitiva; modelli evolutivi; biologia |
| JEL: | D81 B52 D90 D01 |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31910&r=hpe |
| By: | Sherstnev, Mikhail |
| Abstract: | The paper analyzes the current discussions on the the state of economics with special focus on the interreletionships between key ideas of economic theories and real actions of economic policy in the course of the global economic crisis. |
| Keywords: | Economics; methodology; economic policy; economic crisis |
| JEL: | A1 E6 |
| Date: | 2011–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:31912&r=hpe |
| By: | Stephen T. Ziliak (Roosevelt University) |
| Abstract: | In an article titled "Field Experiments in Economics: The Past, the Present, and the Future," Levitt and List (2009) make three important claims about the history, philosophy, and future of field experiments in economics. They claim that field experiments in economics began in the 1920s and 1930s, in agricultural work by Neyman and Fisher. Second, they claim that artificial randomization is the sine qua non of good experimental design; they claim that randomization is the only valid justification for use of Student‘s test of significance. Finally, they claim that the theory of the firm will be advanced by economists doing randomized controlled trials (RCTs) for private sector firms. Several areas of economics, for example the development economics of Banerjee and Duflo, have been influenced by the article, despite the absence of historical and methodological review. This comment seeks to fill that gap in the literature. Student has, it is found, priority over Fisher and Neyman; he compared balanced and random designs in the field—on crops from barley to timber—from 1905 to 1937. The power and efficiency of balanced over random designs - discovered by Student and confirmed by Pearson, Neyman, Jeffreys, and others adopting a decision-theoretic and/or Bayesian approach - is not mentioned by Levitt and List. Neglect of Student is especially regrettable, for he showed in his job as Head Brewer of Guinness that artificial randomization is neither necessary nor sufficient for improving efficiency, identifying causal relationships, or discovering economically significant differences. One way forward is to take a step backwards, from Fisher to Student. |
| Keywords: | field experiments, balanced, random |
| JEL: | B1 C9 C93 |
| Date: | 2011–06–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:create:2011-25&r=hpe |
| By: | Birendra K. Rai1; Chiu Ki So; Aaron Nicholas |
| Abstract: | This paper is modeled as a hypothetical first lecture in a graduate Microeconomics or Mathematical Economics Course. We start with a detailed scrutiny of the notion of a utility function to motivate and describe the common patterns across Mathematical concepts and results that are used by economists. In the process we arrive at a classification of mathematical terms which is used to state mathematical results in economics. The usefulness of the classification scheme is illustrated with the help of a discussion of fixed-point theorems and Arrow's impossibility theorem. Several appendices provide a step-wise description of some mathematical concepts often used by economists and a few useful results in microeconomics. |
| Keywords: | Mathematics, Set theory, Utility function, Arrow's impossibility theorem |
| Date: | 2011–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mos:moswps:2011-02&r=hpe |
| By: | Dilger, Alexander |
| Abstract: | Die Personalökonomik ist eine recht junge (Teil-)Disziplin, die (mikro-)ökonomische Methoden und Erkenntnisse auf die betriebliche Personalfunktion anwendet. Sie ist wissenschaftlich fruchtbar und ist komplementär zu anderen disziplinären Zugängen zu Personalproblemen, während ein disziplinloser Ansatz fraglich erscheint und eine originäre Personalwissenschaft nicht existiert. -- Personnel economics is a quite young academic (sub-)discipline, which applies (micro-)economic methodology and insights to the personnel function of companies. It is scientifically fertile and complementary to other disciplinary approaches to personnel issues while an approach without a grounding discipline seems dubious and an original personnel science does not exist. |
| JEL: | M5 M12 M1 M2 A12 B4 J0 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:umiodp:52011&r=hpe |
| By: | Lízia Figueiredo (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | Despite the lack of consensus on the appropriate concept of ‘social capital’, research in the area has continued even in the most criticized macroeconomic area. The investigation about the importance of social capital to generate differences in regional per capita income (per capita income growth rates) had new contributions in the last decade. Robustness analysis was carried on for cross-country analysis and interregional studies were explored. Empirical research was usually based on the idea that social capital is ‘norms, networks and trust’, although without a deep discussion about this choice. We will argue that the acceptance of this pragmatic concept was wise, not only because it allowed empirical research to follow one, but also because it is theoretically well established. We will also argue that the concern about robustness is one of the main ways ahead to the macro research, which was exactly the way followed by this literature. In other words, we will argue that economists follow a good practice in the episode and that the fruits of the research allow us to rethink and improve the way economists behave. |
| Keywords: | social capital, economic methodology, economic growth. |
| JEL: | B22 B41 O11 O40 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td430&r=hpe |
| By: | Robert Hoffmann (Nottingham University Business School) |
| Abstract: | This article surveys the experimental economics approach to the study of religion. The field has a place in the context of the scientific study of religion generally and the social psychology of religion in particular, but employs distinct economic methods which promise new and different insights. In particular, certain features of the experimental approach as used by economists such as incentive compatibility are particularly appropriate for studying the effect of religion on individual behaviour. The paper discusses results obtained so far in terms of two roles of religion in shaping individual behaviour, i.e. as a social group identifier and as a set of values. |
| Keywords: | Religion, Religiosity, Experiments |
| Date: | 2011–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bbr:workpa:17&r=hpe |
| By: | Jürgen Bracht (University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom); Tobias Regner (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Jena, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Actual behaviour is influenced in important ways by moral emotions, for instance guilt or shame (see among others Tangney et al., 2007). Belief-dependant models of social preferences using the framework of psychological games aim to consider such emotions to explain other-regarding behaviour. Our study links recent advances in psychological theory on moral emotions to belief-dependant models in economics. We find that - in addition to the positive effect of second-order beliefs and promises - individuals' disposition to guilt (their proneness to respond in an evaluative way to personal transgressions) is an important determinant of kind behaviour. This applies to private as well as public settings. |
| Keywords: | social preferences, other-regarding behaviour, experiments, psychological game theory, guilt aversion, shame, beliefs, emotions, partnership |
| JEL: | C70 C91 D82 |
| Date: | 2011–06–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2011-028&r=hpe |
| By: | Eduardo da Motta e Albuquerque (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | Despite the lack of consensus on the appropriate concept of ‘social capital’, research in the area has continued even in the most criticized macroeconomic area. The investigation about the importance of social capital to generate differences in regional per capita income (per capita income growth rates) had new contributions in the last decade. Robustness analysis was carried on for cross-country analysis and interregional studies were explored. Empirical research was usually based on the idea that social capital is ‘norms, networks and trust’, although without a deep discussion about this choice. We will argue that the acceptance of this pragmatic concept was wise, not only because it allowed empirical research to follow one, but also because it is theoretically well established. We will also argue that the concern about robustness is one of the main ways ahead to the macro research, which was exactly the way followed by this literature. In other words, we will argue that economists follow a good practice in the episode and that the fruits of the research allow us to rethink and improve the way economists behave. |
| Keywords: | Roman Rosdolsky suggests a method to deal with the transition towards socialism that integrates three issues: 1) the identification of dynamic features of capitalism; 2) the systematization of metamorphoses of capitalism; 3) the evaluation of how these metamorphoses reshape the elaboration of alternatives to capitalism. This evaluation is a precondition for the visualization, within the complex dynamics of capitalism, of seeds of a new society – institutions born out of political struggles and of emancipatory features of key social processes. These institutions reshape the nature of the metamorphoses of capitalism – and the possibility of establishing socialism and democracy. |
| JEL: | B51 B52 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td431&r=hpe |
| By: | Nadia Jacoby (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS : UMR8174 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris I) |
| Abstract: | Avec cet ouvrage paru en 1982, Nelson & Winter posent les bases d'une nouvelle théorie économique : la théorie évolutionniste. Cet ouvrage séminal est le fruit de près de 20 années de recherches, initiées avec l'article de Winter " Economic "natural selection" and the theory of the firm " paru en 1964 dans Yale Economic Essays. Partant d'une critique fondamentale de l'orthodoxie économique, et plus particulièrement d'une critique du principe de maximisation et de la recherche de solutions optimales, Nelson & Winter proposent une théorie alternative du changement économique. Pour cela, ils empruntent à la fois des idées simples à la biologie mais se réfèrent également à Schumpeter et à Simon envers qui ils expriment leur plus grande dette intellectuelle. |
| Date: | 2010 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-00605363&r=hpe |
| By: | Tadeusz Kowalski (Poznan University of Economics); Yochanan Shachmurove (Department of Economics, University of Pennsyslvania and The City College of The City University of New York) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the causes and implications of recent financial crises. Financial crises in general lead to changes in both theory and practice of economics. The paper takes an historical overview. The global consensus of economic theory during the 20th century is discussed. The paper describes the Bretton Woods regime after World War II, details the era of adaptive expectations and motivates the emerging of the rational expectations school of thoughts. Various perspectives on the causes of the financial crisis are incorporated. The paper provides some policy suggestions and remarks on the consequences of ever-changing capital markets. |
| Keywords: | Financial crises; The United States Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission; The 2010 Economic Report of the United States President; Keynsian Theory; Adaptive Expectations; Rational Expectations; Monetary and Fiscal Policies; Business Cycles; Regulations; General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT); World Trade Organization (WTO); Trade Liberalization; United States; China; Euro; Econometric Policy Evaluation |
| JEL: | B0 E0 E3 E4 E5 E6 F0 F3 F4 G0 H3 H6 K2 O51 P1 R3 |
| Date: | 2011–07–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pen:papers:11-019&r=hpe |
| By: | T. Brenner; G. Devetag; F. Pancotto |
| Abstract: | While in the literature participants' behavior in minority games has been extensively studied, nobody so far has made the eort to open the black box of strategic arguments and considerations laying behind this behavior. To this aim we use an experimental setting in which decisions behind behaviors are analyzed tracking down decisional processes and participants reasoning as the result of transcribed video recorded sessions of teams that constitute decisional units. Such discussions are then analyzed with Content Analysis. Results show the relevance of others' behavior as well as the own history of choices and payoffs, while theoretical solutions based on game understanding as well as randomization as hypothesized by game theoretical solutions, are rare. Secondly, co-evolution between arguments is present: teams that tend to be more strategic, induce the opposite attitude in opponent teams. |
| JEL: | C72 C91 C92 |
| Date: | 2011–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bol:bodewp:wp770&r=hpe |
| By: | Serrano, Roberto; Vohra, Rajiv |
| Abstract: | A core allocation of a complete information economy can be characterized as one that would not be unanimously rejected in favor of another feasible alternative by any coalition. We use this test of coalitional voting in an incomplete information environment to formalize a notion of resilience. Since information transmission is implicit in the Bayesian equilibria of such voting games, this approach makes it possible to derive core concepts in which the transmission of information among members of a coalition is endogenous. Our results lend support to the credible core of Dutta and Vohra [4] and the core proposed by Myerson [11] as two that can be justified in terms of coalitional voting |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:carlos:info:hdl:10016/354&r=hpe |