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on Post Keynesian Economics |
| By: | Davis, John B. (Department of Economics Marquette University) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines Geoff Hodgson’s interpretation of Veblen in agency-structure terms, and argues it produces a conception of reflexive economic agents. It then sets out an account of cumulative causation processes using this reflexive agent conception, modeling them as a two-part causal process, one part involving a linear causal relation and one part involving a circular causal relation. The paper compares the reflexive agent conception to the standard expected utility conception of economic agents, and argues that on a cumulative causation view of the world the completeness assumption essential to the standard view of rationality cannot be applied. The final discussion addresses the nature of the choice behavior of reflexive economic agents, using the thinking of Amartya Sen and Herbert Simon to frame how agents might approach choice in regard to each of the two different parts of cumulative causal processes, and closing with brief comments on behavioral economics’ understanding of reference dependence and position adjustment. |
| Keywords: | Hodgson, Veblen, cumulative causation, reflexive agents, completeness assumption |
| JEL: | B41 B52 D01 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mrq:wpaper:2016-05&r=pke |
| By: | Fernando Rios-Avila |
| Abstract: | This document presents a description of the quality of match of the statistical matches used in the LIMTCP estimates prepared for Ghana and Tanzania. For Ghana, the statistical match combines the Living Standards Survey Round 6 (GLSS6) with the Ghana Time Use Survey (GTUS) 2009, and for Tanzania it combines the Household Budget Survey (THBS) 2012 with the time-use data obtained from the Integrated Labor Survey Module (ILFS) 2006. In both cases, the alignment of the two datasets is examined, after which various aspects of the match quality are described. Despite the differences in the survey years, the quality of match is high and the synthetic dataset appropriate for the time poverty analysis. |
| Keywords: | Statistical Matching; Time Use; Household Production; Poverty; LIMTCP; Ghana; Tanzania |
| JEL: | C14 C40 D31 J22 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_873&r=pke |
| By: | Boris Gershman |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews recent economics literature on culture, with an emphasis on its relation to the field of long-run growth and development. It examines the key issues debated in the new cultural economics: causal effects of culture on economic outcomes, the origins and social costs of culture, as well as cultural transmission, persistence, and change. Some of these topics are illustrated in application to the economic analysis of envy-related culture. |
| Keywords: | Culture, cultural persistence, cultural transmission, long-run development |
| JEL: | J15 O10 Z10 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:2016-06&r=pke |
| By: | Constant, Amelie F. (UNU-MERIT, and IZA); Zimmermann, Klaus F. (UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University, and Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | Findings: Diaspora economics is more than a new word for migration economics. It opens a new strand to political economy. Diaspora is perceived to be a well-defined group of migrants and their offspring with a joined cultural identity and ongoing identification with the country or culture of origin. This implies the potential to undermine the nation-state. Diasporas can shape policies in the host countries. Design/methodology/approach: Combine ethnicity, migration and international relations into a new thinking. Provide a typology of diaspora and a thorough evaluation of its role and the roles of the home and host countries. Originality/Value: Provide a new understanding of global human relations. |
| Keywords: | Diaspora economics, ethnicity, migration, nation-state |
| JEL: | F22 F24 F66 F68 J61 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–08–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2016042&r=pke |
| By: | Marcotte, Dave E. (American University) |
| Abstract: | Community colleges have long been recognized for their potential in providing access to post-secondary education for students of limited means. Indeed, the recent #FreeTuition movement is built on community colleges as a cornerstone. Previous research on the value of community colleges in shaping earnings and career outcomes suggests that encouraging access to community college is a good investment. But, the evidence base on this issue is limited. The main limitations stem from the fact that what we know comes from data collected from cohorts of students who studied in community colleges more than twenty years ago. In the meantime, the market for higher education has changed drastically, and the Great Recession and economy of the early 21st Century have reshaped how young Americans are educated and begin their careers. For these reasons, I update the evidence on the employment and earnings effects of community college education. I study the experiences of the Educational Longitudinal Survey (ELS) cohort, which graduated from high school and began studying in community colleges at the start of the Great Recession, and who began their working careers in the years after. The experiences of this cohort are important in their own right, since they provide insight into the experiences of American workers during and after one of the largest economic downturns in modern history. Moreover, this paper will provide insight into the role post-secondary education plays in shaping economic security more generally. |
| Keywords: | education, community college |
| JEL: | I21 I23 I26 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10202&r=pke |
| By: | Ziesemer, Thomas (UNU-MERIT, and Maastricht University, SBE) |
| Abstract: | We provide Gini coefficients of education based on data from Barro and Lee (2010) for 146 countries for the years 1950-2010. We compare them to an earlier data set and run some related LOESS fit regressions on average years of schooling and GDP per capita, both showing negative slopes, and among the latter two variables. Tertiary education is shown to reduce education inequality. A growth regression shows that tertiary education increases growth, Gini coefficients of education have a u-shaped impact on growth and labour force growth has an inverted u-shape effect on growth. |
| Keywords: | Human capital, Human capital distribution, education, inequality, growth, new data |
| JEL: | E24 I24 I25 O15 Y10 |
| Date: | 2016–08–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2016044&r=pke |
| By: | Aithal, Sreeramana; Aithal, Shubhrajyotsna |
| Abstract: | Technology has affected the society and its surroundings in many ways and helped to develop more advanced economies including today's global economy. Science has contributed many technologies to the society which include Aircraft technology, Automobile technology, Biotechnology, Computer technology, Telecommunication technology, Internet technology, Renewable energy technology, Atomic & Nuclear technology, Nanotechnology, Space technology etc. have changed the lifestyle of the people and provided comfortability. In order to sustain this comfort of people in the society, they have to worry about the sustainability of the surrounding environment. In this paper, we propose how the technologies can be made sustainable by adding green component so that they can avoid environmental degradation and converted into green technologies to provide a clean environment for future generations. The paper also discuss the opportunities and challenges for green technology for agriculture, green technology for potable water, green technology for renewable energy, green technology for buildings, green technology for aircraft and space exploration, green technology for education, green technology for food & processing, and green technology for health and medicine in 21st century. |
| Keywords: | Green Technologies, Sustainability, Green Society |
| JEL: | Q2 Q20 Q42 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:73661&r=pke |
| By: | Angus Deaton; Nancy Cartwright |
| Abstract: | The use of RCTs is spreading in economics. They are seen as desirable for discovery and for generating evidence for policy. Yet some of the enthusiasm for RCTs comes from misunderstandings: that randomization provides a fair test by equalizing everything but the treatment and so allows a precise estimate of the treatment alone; that randomization is required to solve selection problems; that lack of blinding does little to compromise inference; and that statistical inference in RCTs is straightforward, because it requires only the comparison of two means. RCTs do indeed require minimal assumptions and prior knowledge, an advantage when persuading distrustful audiences, but a crucial disadvantage for cumulative scientific progress, where randomization undermines precision. It is hard to use them outside of their original context. Yet, once they are seen as part of a cumulative program, they can play a role in building general knowledge and useful predictions, provided they are combined with other methods, including conceptual and theoretical development, to discover not “what works,” but why things work. Unless we are prepared to make assumptions, and to stand on what we know, making statements that will be incredible to some, all the credibility of RCTs is for naught. |
| JEL: | C10 C26 C93 O22 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:22595&r=pke |
| By: | Froemel, M.; Gottlieb, C. |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we quantify the effects of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) from a macroeconomic perspective. We use an incomplete markets model to analyze jointly the labor supply and saving responses to changes in tax credit generosity and their aggregate and distributional implications. In line with existing literature, our results show that the EITC is an effective policy instrument to raise labor force participation and provide insurance to working poor households. However, we show that the EITC also disincentivizes private savings for a large part of the population, except for the poorest transfer recipients. Furthermore, since unskilled labor supply reacts more strongly than skilled workers’ labor supply, wages for low skilled workers fall relative to high skilled workers. Whilst reducing post-tax earnings inequality, the EITC contributes to both a higher skill premium and wealth inequality. Finally, our welfare analysis suggests that EITC expansions are welfare improving for the majority of the population, both ex ante and when accounting for transitional dynamics. |
| Date: | 2016–09–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cam:camdae:1651&r=pke |
| By: | Frank, Markus |
| Abstract: | AgBalance comprises a multi-criteria life cycle based approach in combination with a defined aggregation and summary of single results into a single sustainability score (Frank et al. 2012). AgBalanceTM delivers results that enable farmers, the food industry, politicians and society to objectively evaluate processes in terms of their sustainability profile. In doing so, a vast amount of information on individual factors can be ascertained in addition to overall statements on the sustainability of agricultural practices (e. g. ploughing). AgBalance was finalized in mid of 2011. In September 2011, the methodology was given independent assurance by the global expert agencies such as DNV Business Assurance. AgBalanceTM can be used to map an individual farm or the whole agricultural sector in one region, for example. The focus can either be on the agricultural production system alone or on the processes that have established themselves downstream in the value chain, such as logistics or processing. Measuring sustainability can be a central key to steady improvements towards sustainable agriculture. It is therefore an essential requirement that it succeeds in translating results from complicated life-cycle analyses into farmers’ everyday reality and to derive specific recommendations for action from this. Novel IT solutions are required in order to make use of LCA-based knowledge for a more sustainable crop management on-farm. This is the basic idea of the online game “AgBalance – My Virtual Farm”. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iefi16:244533&r=pke |