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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Wennström, Johan (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)) |
| Abstract: | This essay argues that mainstream Left and Right parties’ convergence around the liberal moral foundations of care, fairness, and liberty most likely explains the popular discontent with establishment politicians and the ascendancy of insurgent political parties and movements in both Europe and the United States. It uses the moral consensus of two Swedish establishment parties, the Social Democratic Party and the right-wing Moderate Party, as its primary example. The convergence of those parties can be seen, for instance, in their approach to both education and immigration. The essay suggests that in order to win back wide public support, liberal Left and Right parties must become open to moral pluralism and acknowledge the legitimacy of conservative moral intuitions. Such pluralism would, in fact, be consistent with the traditions of liberalism. |
| Keywords: | Hedgehog–fox metaphor; Moderate Party; Moral foundations theory; Policy convergence; Social Democratic Party |
| JEL: | A13 D63 D70 D91 F60 J68 |
| Date: | 2021–05–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1389&r= |
| By: | Kok Fong See (Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia); Shawna Grosskopf (Oregon State University, United States); Vivian Valdmanis (Western Michigan University, United States); Valentin Zelenyuk (School of Economics and Centre for Efficiency and Productivity Analysis (CEPA) at The University of Queensland, Australia) |
| Abstract: | Not only does healthcare play a key role in a country’s economy, but it is also one of the fastest-growing sectors for most countries, resulting in rising expenditures. In turn, efficiency and productivity analyses of the healthcare industry have attracted attention from a wide variety of interested parties, including academics, hospital administrators, and policy makers. As a result, a very large number of studies of efficiency and productivity in the healthcare industry have appeared over the past three decades in a variety of outlets. In this paper, we conduct a comprehensive and systematic review of these studies with the aid of modern machine technology learning methods for bibliometric analysis. This approach facilitated our identification and analysis and allowed us to reveal patterns and clusters in the data from 477 efficiency and productivity articles associated with the healthcare industry from 1983 to 2019, produced by nearly 1000 authors and published in a multitude of academic journals. Leveraging on such ‘biblioanalytics’, combined with our own understanding of the field, we then highlight the trends and possible future of efficiency and productivity studies in healthcare. |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qld:uqcepa:161&r= |
| By: | Arrow, Kenneth J |
| Abstract: | Summaries by Nobel laureate Kenneth J. Arrow of his 1962 lectures on general equilibrium theory at Northwestern University. These summaries were widely circulated but unpublished. Reissued here, edited with updated notation. With permission of the Arrow family. |
| Keywords: | Social and Behavioral Sciences, Competitive equilibrium, general equilibrium, Brouwer fixed point theorem, Kakutani fixed point theorem, stability of equilibrium |
| Date: | 2021–05–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdl:ucsdec:qt1tj1x5r0&r= |
| By: | John B. Davis (Department of Economics Marquette University) |
| Abstract: | This chapter examines John Tomer’s contributions to our understanding of the concept of human capital. Tomer criticized the standard mainstream view of the concept as narrowly focused on education and training and as seeing investments in human capital as having “an individual, cognitive, and machine-like nature.” A broader concept included attention to the people’s noncognitive development, and employed both social capital and personal capital concepts. This produces a more expansive view of human development, allows for a humanistic psychological perspective, and supports a multi-dimensional, Maslovian understanding of the hierarchy of human needs. Tomer framed his policy thinking regarding investments in human capital in terms of the goal of helping people become ‘smart’ persons. He recognized that a barrier to accomplishing this is high levels of economic inequality. The chapter thus goes on to discuss how socially stratified societies generate economic inequality in regard to human capital investments, and how thinking in terms of people’s capabilities can help us advance progressive economic and social policies agendas. |
| Keywords: | human capital, human development, social capital, personal capital, inequality, capabilities |
| JEL: | A12 A13 B31 B55 J24 |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrq:wpaper:2021-04&r= |
| By: | Jean-François Laslier (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | To any normal form game, we associate the symmetric two-stage game in which, in a first stage, the roles to be played in the base game are randomly assigned. We show that any equilibrium of the κ-universalization of this extended game is an equilibrium of the base game played by altruistic players ("ex ante Homo Moralis is altruistic"), and that the converse is false. The paper presents the implications of this remark for the philosophical nature of ethical behavior (Kantianism behind the veil of ignorance implies but is stronger than altruism) and for its evolutionary foundations. |
| Keywords: | ethics,games,evolution,altruism,universalization,Kant,Homo Moralis ethics,Homo Moralis |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-03227354&r= |
| By: | Nicolas da Silva (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Cet article propose une relecture de l'histoire économique de la mutualité entre 1789 et 1947 au prisme de son rapport au capitalisme. Alors qu'après la Révolution française et jusqu'à la Commune de Paris la mutualité est une institution ambiguë, entre subversion et intégration au capitalisme, à partir de 1871 elle s'insère largement au capitalisme. C'est à cette période que se séparent mutualisme et syndicalisme. Initialement, les classes populaires sont contraintes de s'auto-organiser pour survivre au dépérissement des protections de l'Ancien Régime et au libéralisme asymétrique de la bourgeoisie. Toute la finesse de la réglementation de l'État sous le Second Empire et de la IIIème République est d'essayer d'intégrer la mutualité pour en vider le contenu contestataire. Contrairement aux interprétations classiques, on peut alors dire que la Sécurité sociale de 1945 n'est pas la revanche des syndicalistes sur les mutualistes mais celle d'une certaine forme de la mutualité contre une autre. |
| Date: | 2020–06–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03228414&r= |
| By: | Schnellenbach, Jan |
| Abstract: | Should economic policy be guided by rules? In this paper, we take the perspective of the Freiburg School and trace its argument for rule-based Ordnungspolitik back to the roots of the concept. In doing so, will not offer a comprehensive review of the literature, but argue closely along the works of Walter Eucken, whose works are central to understanding the founding generation of the Freiburg School. We argue that there are costs of not having rules and therefore that the main thrust of the Freiburg approach is still valid. There are good, empirical arguments for pursuing a rule-based Ordnungspolitik in order to avoid the costs of discretionary policy-making. Furthermore, we argue that a reliance on stable rules does not imply an incapacitation of democratic decision-making. Rules rely on democratic support, and rule-based Ordnungspolitik also leaves substantial material scope for discretionary democratic decision-making. |
| Keywords: | Ordnungspolitik,Freiburg School,economic orders,economic constitutions |
| JEL: | B15 B25 B41 H11 P48 P50 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:aluord:2107&r= |
| By: | Thierry Pouch (REGARDS - Recherches en Économie Gestion AgroRessources Durabilité Santé- EA 6292 - URCA - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne - MSH-URCA - Maison des Sciences Humaines de Champagne-Ardenne - URCA - Université de Reims Champagne-Ardenne) |
| Date: | 2021–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03213041&r= |
| By: | Yvon Pesqueux (ESD R3C - Équipe Sécurité & Défense - Renseignement, Criminologie, Crises, Cybermenaces - CNAM - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM]) |
| Abstract: | Ce texte est organisé de la manière suivante. Après une introduction consacrée aux précautions à prendre quant à l'usage de la philosophie, ce texte abordera successivement : une éthique à l'épreuve des siècles, les présupposés physiques et métaphysique de la morale stoïcienne, la morale stoïcienne, quelques éléments de discussion. |
| Date: | 2021–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03227138&r= |
| By: | Persson, Torsten; Tabellini, Guido |
| Abstract: | We review theoretical and empirical research on the dynamic interactions between cultures and institutions. We think about culture as a system of values and about institutions as formalized rules of the game. Our presentation is organized around a simple theoretical framework of political agency, which is gradually expanded so as to introduce new links and feedbacks between culture and institutions. |
| Keywords: | Culture; Development; History; institutions; Persistence |
| JEL: | H0 N0 O1 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15233&r= |
| By: | Yvon Pesqueux (ESD R3C - Équipe Sécurité & Défense - Renseignement, Criminologie, Crises, Cybermenaces - CNAM - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM]) |
| Abstract: | Ce texte est organisé de la manière suivante. Après une introduction consacrée aux précautions à prendre quant à l'usage de la philosophie, ce texte abordera successivement : « sauver les phénomènes » ; L'Ethique à Nicomaque ; le Souverain Bien, le bonheur et la vertu ; la vertu comme activité et « fonction propre » ; la mesure nécessaire et le juste milieude la justice à l'équité ; la prudence ; la politique dans son rapport à la morale ; le double dépassement de Platon et des Sophistes ; quelques éléments de discussion (un double dépassement du dogmatisme et du scepticisme-une réflexion originale sur l'action ; une sagesse pratique, autonome et spécifique ; une nouvelle conception de la loi et du droit) et l'actualité problématique d'Aristote. |
| Date: | 2021–05–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03227126&r= |
| By: | Yvon Pesqueux (ESD R3C - Équipe Sécurité & Défense - Renseignement, Criminologie, Crises, Cybermenaces - CNAM - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM]) |
| Abstract: | Ce texte est organisé de la manière suivante. Après une introduction consacrée aux précautions à prendre quant à l'usage de la philosophie, ce texte abordera successivement : Considérations générales, Dimensions fondamentales de la morale platonicienne (Une démarche rationnelle fondée ontologiquement sur l'Idée de Bien, Individu et Cité-Morale et Politique), Remarques critiques (dont-Un débat actuel : A propos d'un prétendu utilitarisme philosophique de Platon). |
| Date: | 2021–05–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03227069&r= |
| By: | Giuliano, Paola |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the literature on gender and culture. Gender gaps in various outcomes (competitiveness, labor force participation, and performance in mathematics, amongst many others) show remarkable differences across countries and tend to persist over time. The economics literature initially explained these differences by looking at standard economic variables such as the level of development, women's education, the expansion of the service sector, and discrimination. More recent literature has argued that gender differences in a variety of outcomes could reflect underlying cultural values and beliefs. This article reviews the literature on the relevance of culture in the determination of different forms of gender gap. I examine how differences in historical situations could have been relevant in generating gender differences and the conditions under which gender norms tend to be stable or to change over time, emphasizing the role of social learning. Finally, I review the role of different forms of cultural transmission in shaping gender differences, distinguishing between channels of vertical transmission (the role of the family), horizontal transmission (the role of peers), and oblique transmission (the role of teachers or role models). |
| Keywords: | Culture; Gender; Social norms |
| JEL: | A13 J16 Z1 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15185&r= |
| By: | Shircliff, Jesse Ezra; Mueller, Tom |
| Abstract: | Model specification is a critical step in demographic research. In model specification, control variables serve as an important tool for ensuring that the estimate of a relationship between X and Y is properly specified. However, control variables have often been uncritically included and potentially misspecified in observational social science, risking several types of bias. Using the journal Demography as a window into the discipline, we reviewed the use of control variables in statistical models published in the journal from 1995 to 2020. Results show that control variables are usually under-explained, making it difficult to evaluate their quality. When they are explained, variables are often included with logic that is out-of-step with current causal inference literature. There were just marginal improvements over the study period, and results were similar across topics. We discuss the implications for demographic science and recommend that a more rigorous selection of control variables and clear descriptions of that decision process are detailed as part of demographic scholarship. |
| Date: | 2021–05–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:zavcs&r= |
| By: | Ghatak, Maitreesh; Wahhaj, Zaki |
| Abstract: | What are the determinants of an organization's investment in the loyalty and motivation of its workers? We develop a simple principal-agent model where the standard optimal contract is to offer a bonus that trades off incentive provision versus rent extraction. We allow the principal to undertake two types of motivational investments - one that increases the agent's disutility from deviating from a prescribed effort level, and another that increases the agent's on-the-job satisfaction. We argue that these two types of investments can capture a range of organizational practices - other than extrinsic rewards - that aim to raise worker motivation. We show that the two types of motivational investments are complements and both are substitutes to financial incentives. Our analysis implies that technological improvements in the form of improved worker productivity or greater observability of output will induce profit-maximizing firms to make greater use of financial incentives and less use of motivational investments. The reason is that while financial incentives have constant returns in terms of its effect on the worker's effort level, motivational investments by their very nature have decreasing returns. |
| Keywords: | investment in worker motivation; Job Satisfaction; Motivated agents; worker moral hazard |
| JEL: | D23 D86 D91 J33 |
| Date: | 2020–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:15172&r= |
| By: | Junichi Hirose (Multidisciplinary Science Cluster, Collaborative Community Studies Unit, Kochi University); Koji Kotani (School of Economics and Management, Kochi University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | Inquisitiveness (curiosity & acceptance to something and someone different) is a main engine for one person to initiate some relation, and the literature has established that maintaining nice relationships with friends, family and general others contributes to generativity and happiness. However, little is known about how generativity and happiness are characterized by inquisitiveness. We hypothesize that inquisitiveness is a fundamental determinant for generativity and happiness, empirically examining the relationships along with cognitive, noncognitive and sociodemographic factors. We conduct questionnaire surveys with 400 Japanese subjects, applying quantile regression and structural equation modeling to the data. First, the analysis identifies the importance of inquisitiveness in characterizing generativity in that people with high inquisitiveness tend to be generative. Second, people are identified to be happy as they have high generativity and inquisitiveness, demonstrating two influential roles of inquisitiveness as direct and indirect determinants through a mediator of generativity. Overall, the results suggest that inquisitiveness shall be a key element of people’s happiness through intergenerational and intragenerational communications or relations. |
| Keywords: | inquisitiveness, generativity, happiness |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kch:wpaper:sdes-2021-3&r= |
| By: | Hunnes, John A. (University of Agder); Honningdal Grytten, Ola (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | This paper contributes to the understanding of how the environment, ethics, values, and historical contingencies shape public policy. Specifically, it explains the accomplishment of petroleum resource management in Norway. The main argument is that the success of this policy is an understanding of the ethics behind the environmental harvesting of the resource rent of this non-renewable natural resource. The paper firstly describes a model of Ricardian resource rent. Secondly, it investigates the set of values that were in place before the petroleum production started in the 1970s, as described in the influential white paper, “The role of petroleum activities in the Norwegian Society,” published in 1974. In the white paper, the government discussed the future opportunities, challenges, and responsibilities associated with the oil industry and how this would transform society. An important part of the white paper revealed the main ethical vision of the government was to build a “qualitatively better society” for the benefit of the people. Thirdly, the paper traces the historical roots of these values. Finally, the paper concludes that the focus on the natural environment and resource rent management can be attributed to popular values built on historical traditions. According to these, the state and the trust between the state and its citizens played key roles for the formation of the policy. |
| Keywords: | environment; resource rent; ethics; petroleum; oil; public policy. |
| JEL: | L52 N14 N50 Q32 Q38 Q58 |
| Date: | 2021–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2021_012&r= |
| By: | Obstfeld, Maurice |
| Abstract: | Recent events have highlighted areas of conflict between economic integration with the outside world and the demands of domestic electorates. Historically, the tradeoffs have always become sharper in periods of crisis, such as the present. After reviewing the U-shaped progress of globalization since the nineteenth century, this essay reconsiders John Maynard Keynes's views on "national self-sufficiency" in the early 1930s. I argue that the postwar Bretton Woods system he helped to create evolved from those views as a balanced middle ground between market forces and governments' desires for domestic economic stability. The gradual erosion of that balance in favor of the market has helped produce discontent over globalization and more nationalism in politics. Enhanced multilateral cooperation in key areas offers the hope of supporting globalization while better meeting voters' aspirations. Despite daunting political obstacles to global cooperation these days, collective action challenges in areas like climate, cybersecurity, and health â?? alongside economic policy â?? are only becoming more pressing over time. |
| Keywords: | deglobalization; Globalization; multilateralism; Nationalism; populism |
| JEL: | F52 F53 F60 N20 N40 |
| Date: | 2020–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:14990&r= |
| By: | Amory Gethin (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, WIL - World Inequality Lab); Clara Martínez-Toledano (WIL - World Inequality Lab , Imperial College London); Thomas Piketty (PSE - Paris School of Economics - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, WIL - World Inequality Lab) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on the long-run evolution of political cleavages in 21 Western democracies by exploiting a new database on the vote by socioeconomic characteristic covering over 300 elections held between 1948 and 2020. In the 1950s-1960s, the vote for democratic, labor, social democratic, socialist, and affiliated parties was associated with lower-educated and low-income voters. It has gradually become associated with higher-educated voters, giving rise to "multi-elite party systems" in the 2000s-2010s: high-education elites now vote for the "left", while high-income elites continue to vote for the "right". This transition has been accelerated by the rise of green and anti-immigration movements, whose key distinctive feature is to concentrate the votes of the higher-educated and lower-educated electorate, respectively. Combining our database with historical data on political parties' programs, we provide evidence that the reversal of the educational cleavage is strongly linked to the emergence of a new "sociocultural" axis of political conflict. We also discuss the evolution of other political cleavages related to age, geography, religion, gender, and the integration of new ethnoreligious minorities. |
| Date: | 2021–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wilwps:halshs-03226118&r= |