|
on Heterodox Microeconomics |
| By: | Maria S. Floro; Hitomi Komatsu |
| Abstract: | The utilization of time use data for exploring employment issues has received little attention in economic analysis. Using data from the 2000 South African national time use survey we argue that a gender-aware understanding of how men and women organize their daily life can help identify labor market and subsistence work that are missed in labor force surveys, thus complementing the information they provide. Further, information on the time spent in jobrelated search and household work provide insights on the interconnectedness of gender inequalities in the labor market and within the household. Our analysis of the time use patterns of 10,465 working age women and men, shows that a non-trivial proportion of men and women classified as either "not in the labor force" or "unemployed" actually engaged in subsistence, temporary and casual forms of employment. Secondly, we find that regardless of their labor force status, women's and men's hours of unpaid work donot vary greatly. These affect not only employment options of women but also their ability to look for work. Thirdly, time use data helps identify the salient characteristics of these individuals and the type of occupations they are engaged in. |
| Keywords: | time allocation, gender, labor force participation, South Africa JEL Codes: E24, J22 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:2011-02&r=hme |
| By: | Sagamba, Moïse (Université Lumiére de Bujumbura and Université de Bretagne Occidentale); Shchetinin, Oleg (Department of Economics, School of Business, Economics and Law, Göteborg University); Yusupov, Nurmukhammad (Chaire Banque Populaire, Audencia Nantes School of Management) |
| Abstract: | The mission of microfinance is generally perceived as compensation for the failure of the mainstream financial institutions to deliver access to finance to the poor. Microloan officers have significant influence on microloans allocation as they contact loan applicants and process information inside microfinance institutions (MFIs). We conduct a choice experiment with microloan officers in Burundi to determine which clients are preferred for microloan allocation and whether the less advantaged are indeed targeted. The results suggest that the allocation of microloans is slightly in favor of the less advantaged, whereas the main determinant is the quality of the applicants' business projects. Somewhat surprisingly, we find only small differences in the determinants of the targeted groups between non-profit and profit-seeking MFIs.<p> |
| Keywords: | microfinance; choice experiment; microloan officers; non-profit organizations |
| JEL: | C93 G21 L31 O55 |
| Date: | 2011–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:gunwpe:0492&r=hme |
| By: | Andrés Gómez León; Jeanne Kelly Ruíz Tavera; Jaime Vergara Hincapié |
| Abstract: | El presente artículo destaca el aporte interdisciplinario, y por ende innovador para la teoría económica ortodoxa, propuesto por Layard para el entendimiento del origen y las causas de la felicidad; así mismo, procura un análisis crítico de las virtudes y falencias de argumentación del autor, de las estrategias para el alcance del bienestar individual y de las propuestas de política pública que pueden conducir a la obtención de la felicidad colectiva. |
| Date: | 2011–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:008069&r=hme |
| By: | Juan Camilo Galvis Ciro |
| Abstract: | La inflación ha ocupado, casi desde mediados del siglo pasado, un lugar cada vez más importante en la teoría y discursos económicos. Desde luego se le ha visto por parte de la escuela de pensamiento dominante como el peor de los males y generada por excesiva ingerencia de los gobiernos en la economía y la inconsistencia temporal de las políticas emprendidas por este. Aunque explicaciones alternativas tienen cada vez menos acogida, este artículo pretende revisar el tratamiento dado a la inflación desde una mirada estructural al sistema económico. Se considera un marco alternativo para descifrar los determinantes del alza consistente de los precios como un fenómeno que no es monetario estrictamente basándose para esto en la clásica división sectorial de la economía que caracteriza la escuela escandinava. |
| Date: | 2011–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:008075&r=hme |
| By: | Juan Esteban Santarcángelo |
| Abstract: | Si bien existen leyes generales que regulan el funcionamiento del sistema capitalista, la particularidad específica que presenta cada país no puede entenderse sin relacionar esta a un contexto histórico determinado. Argentina es un país que ha experimentado enormes transformaciones económicas en los últimos años, y que de ser ejemplo en los círculos académicos ha pasado a enfrentar a fines de 2001 la mayor crisis económico-social de su historia. En este marco, el presente trabajo intenta dar cuenta de dos elementos que resultan decisivos para explicar el reciente desempeño económico del país. Por un lado, analizaremos, para el período 1976-2006, el patrón de acumulación imperante en la economía argentina, así como las políticas económicas que lo han forjado y sostenido. Por otra parte, una vez identificado el patrón de acumulación, intentaremos revisar el modo en que el excedente generado se ha distribuído entre las distintas clases sociales, poniendo el énfasis en la distribución funcional del ingreso en tanto condicionante del modo de acumulación. * |
| Date: | 2011–03–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:008070&r=hme |
| By: | Alcides Gómez Jiménez |
| Abstract: | El problema de la internacionalización de la migración se aborda en cuatro secciones: en la primera se discute lo problemático por lo equívoco de la noción de migración; en la segunda, se hace una contextualización de la historia mundial del fenómeno desde los albores del capitalismo e incluye la supuesta ‘migración’ de África a América, con la trata de esclavos y hasta la ola migratoria que acompaña la llamada globalización desde finales del siglo pasado. La tercera sección se ocupa propiamente de la diáspora colombiana en su contexto regional y toma en cuenta su aceleración desde la década del setenta del siglo pasado. En la cuarta sección se introducen las características típicamente laborales de la migración y se ilustra con la discriminación que pesó sobre los trabajadores migrantes, hace treinta años, con destino a las labores más subvaloradas socialmente en Venezuela, principal destino de la emigración colombiana de ese entonces. |
| Date: | 2011–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:008019&r=hme |
| By: | Juan Pablo Mateo Tomé |
| Abstract: | El propósito de este artículo es presentar una caracterización teórica de una de las categorías propias del análisis económico de Marx, como es la composición del capital, la cual a su vez incorpora tres variantes, la dimensión técnica, en valor y orgánica. A partir de un análisis de las definiciones en mayor o medida explícitas contenidas en sus diferentes obras económicas, y en diálogo permanente con otras propuestas interpretativas que se someten a examen, se defiende la necesidad de considerar el método de El Capital y el conjunto de su edificio teórico, que culmina con la tendencia al descenso de la tasa de ganancia y la crisis, para entender la diferencia entre las expresiones de la composición del capital. |
| Date: | 2011–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:008021&r=hme |
| By: | Micheal Hudson |
| Abstract: | In this paper I want to discuss the financial sector’s tendency to dominate, deflate and polarize economies, thwarting economic potential. Understanding these financial dynamics is essential to explain why all nations are not operating up to the technological potential toward which classical liberalism aimed, and why the world economy is polarizing, as are domestic economies even in the most advanced industrial nations. |
| Date: | 2011–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:008010&r=hme |
| By: | Fernando Salazar Silva |
| Abstract: | Este artículo tiene el propósito de contribuir con una hipótesis explicativa en torno a la situación de profundización de los niveles de desempleo y desigualdad en Colombia. Como acepción más frecuente estas dos nociones están estrechamente ligadas a la expansión de la actividad económica, sin embargo, esto no reflejaría más que una generalización. El Estado colombiano no opera como garante del proyecto nacional de acumulación lo que ha generado una fragmentación del territorio y del colectivo, y en consecuencia una ilegitimidad de la centralidad de la cohesión social clasista. De esta manera, lo político no funciona como instrumento colectivo de construcción del orden social ni como expresión que conjuga los distintos intereses de los grupos sociales en el logro de la estabilidad social, ocasionando con ello la situación de desempleo y desigualdad en el país. |
| Date: | 2011–02–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000418:008015&r=hme |
| By: | Alexander Cotte Poveda |
| Abstract: | Este trabajo desarrolla un indicador para evaluar el nivel de efectividad del control de la violencia utilizando el método de análisis DEA. El índice evalúa el grado de efectividad del control de la violencia usando los departamentos de Colombia en el periodo 1993 - 2007. Comparando los resultados a través de los departamentos, se encontró que la gran mayoría mejoraron sus índices de efectividad. En un segundo paso, el análisis con datos de panel identificó que los departamentos con un mayor PIB, mejores niveles de educación y empleo tienen una mayor efectividad en el control de la violencia, mientras que departamentos con mayor violencia política, desempleo, necesidades básicas insatisfechas, población desplazada y hectáreas de coca cultivada presentan menor efectividad en el control de la violencia. |
| Date: | 2011–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000137:008079&r=hme |
| By: | Badiuzzaman, M. |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the influence of perceived violence on livelihood decisionmaking of indigenous households in post conflict Chittagong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh following a formal peace treaty in 1997. The study results suggest that households perceiving high risk of violence spend less on consumption expenditure and are sending children to school more, cultivating more land and engaged more in producing mixed subsistence and cash crops. Using both quantitative and qualitative data this study finds decreasing emphasis on present consumption, long term investment in human capital, using land more intensively to earn more cash and move towards creating surplus instead of producing for subsistence, which suggests perceived violence is producing decisions which are similar to those advocated in a classical ‘modernization process’. Findings of this paper are similar to the argument of ‘post traumatic growth theory’ and indicates a post-conflict ‘phoenix’ factor may be in operation at the household level in which some income raising livelihood decisions are made as a consequence of fear of renewed violence. In the short run, the ‘phoenix’ factor appears to operate through both increased land use and cash crop cultivation and in the long run through increased human capital. |
| Keywords: | Post-conflict;perception of violence;livelihood decisions;land use;schooling |
| Date: | 2011–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:euriss:516&r=hme |
| By: | Michele Bruni; Claudio Tabacchi |
| Abstract: | The paper aims to provide a representation, as rich and complete as possible, of the Chinese labour market, both in terms of stock and flow, despite the fact that the statistical information is still rather poor and often inconsistent. It does then document the increasing differences in the level and trends of the main labour market variables at the provincial level. In order to reach a deeper comprehension of the dynamic of the Chinese labour market, the paper analyses two other extremely relevant phenomena: the so called “floating population” and the labour shortages that are more and more frequently affecting the coastal regions. After having provided a demographic background to the Lewis model of development with unlimited supply of labour, the paper shows in which periods China has been obliged to accumulate a large labour surplus, mainly in the agricultural sector, and in which periods and through which mechanisms, including ageing and internal migration, the process of deaccumulation has taken place. More specifically, the paper shows how up to now internal migrations have provided urban areas and coastal regions with an unlimited supply of labour, a factor that has played a major role in boosting the Chinese economic development and determining its typology. In order to reach this result, simple demographic tools have been utilized to estimate the net migration balance of each province and in each province of rural and urban areas, and therefore to define areas of departures and areas of arrival, information not provided by the literature on the floating population. Finally the paper provides a rough estimate of the disguised unemployment in agriculture and of its geographical distribution. After assessing which percentage can represent a possible supply of labour for the modern sector, it will be maintained that China not only is very close to the Lewis turning point (a situation that has already been reached in many coastal areas), but is going to become the world biggest importer of labour. In order to provide its population with living standards comparable to that of the western world, in a reasonable time interval, China needs to continue to grow at an extremely high rate. This will require the capacity to deal with a series of structural problems. Limiting our concerns to the labour market, that is characterized by increasing complexity and regional differentiation, high priority should be given to improve the collection, analysis and dissemination of labour market data; to abolish the one child policy that is totally obsolete in a situation that will be soon characterized by a structural lack of labour supply; to give to the Chinese citizens the right to freely move and change residence, while rapidly regularizing the existing floating population; to raise the legal age of retirement; to plan and implement a structure of t entries in vocational courses and higher educational paths coherent with the expected structure of the labour demand in terms of flows by occupation; to strengthen the Employment service system in order to improve skills matching at the local level, and facilitate the correct allocation of human resources over the national territory, in order to minimize the human and economic costs of future unavoidable internal migrations. |
| Keywords: | China; labour market; stock and flow; demography; internal migration; Lewis turning point |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0083&r=hme |
| By: | Tindara Addabbo; Antonella Caiumi; Anna Maccagnan |
| Abstract: | Italy is characterized by a very uneven distribution of paid and unpaid work in gender terms. Italy has the lowest female employment rate apart from Malta in the European region, with a tangibly wide gender gap in employment and participation rates to the disadvantage of women. Furthermore, the female labour supply is very unevenly distributed across the Italian regions, and both institutional and labour market factors may be considered as lying at the basis of the high regional heterogeneity. This paper aims at understanding more in depth the uneven allocation of time by gender in Italian households. For this purpose we propose a model on the partners' allocation of time, that takes into account the simultaneity of partners' allocation of time decisions, as well as the issue of censored observations in some partenrs' uses of time. In order to estimate this model, we use IT SILC 2007 data that provides us with information on income and hours of work as well as on other relevant sociodemographic variables, maintaining the significance at regional level. This also allows us to analyze the contribution of institutional factors (like the heterogeneous distribution of childcare services in Italy and labour market differences) and interaction with various dimensions of wellbeing. Our findings suggest that an increase in women's wages affects women's working time, both by directly increasing womens paid hours of work, and decreasing the time devoted to household activities and indirectly via a more equal distribution of unpaid work within the couple. The presence of children in the household tends to reduce women's paid work, while having a positive effect on the time spent by the husband in paid work and on both partners supply of unpaid work. We also note that the availability of childcare services represents the most relevant factor affecting women's participatory decisions as well as their hours of paid work. |
| JEL: | J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0085&r=hme |
| By: | Anna Maccagnan |
| Abstract: | In this paper we theoretically and empirically analyse the capability to social interaction between parents and children in Italy, within a capability approach framework. For this purpose, after having identified the functionings and conversion factors related to this capability, we have built an integrated dataset for year 2008 with a procedure inspired to the propensity score matching. This allows us to work on a wide set of information, both on the realized functionings, ands on the personal and familiar factors that are likely to affect childrens attainments. We have analysed this data using descriptive statistics and structural equation modelling. Our results suggest lower levels of interaction for fathers that for mothers. Further, childrens capability to interact with the parents is negatively affected by the number of siblings in the household, by childs increasing age and by living in the South of Italy. Also parents characteristics are crucial: highly educated fathers tend to perform better in their interaction with the child and father-child relationship, furthermore, is positively affected by the fact that the mother is employed, while motherchild interaction does not significantly change. |
| Keywords: | Capability Approach, Human Development, Structural Equation Models |
| JEL: | C1 D6 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0084&r=hme |
| By: | Michele Bruni |
| Abstract: | The paper focuses on the demographic and labour market consequences of the dramatic decline in fertility that has characterized China starting at the beginning of the ‘50s. It is shared opinion that a sustained decline in fertility below replacement level will provoke a decline in Total population, an even more pronounced decline in Working age population and very relevant ageing phenomena. I have recently shown that, on the contrary and coherently with empirical evidence, a decline in fertility provokes a structural lack of labour supply that determines positive migration balances and, finally, positive demographic trends. The paper applies the same approach to China with similar results. The decline in fertility, determined by the process of economic development and its impact on education and urbanization, but promoted also trough the one-child policy, will provoke a relevant and growing structural lack of labour supply, even in the hypothesis that Chinese employment growth should sharply decline. The implication is that in order to continue its road to economic growth and social development, China will have to rely on large and growing migration flows that will determine a demographic expansion. In conclusion, the decline in fertility, actively pursued to set a ceiling to population growth, will end up provoking the opposite result. The uncertainty about the age structure of the Chinese population makes it impossible to determine in which year China will start to be affected by serious labour shortages. Our scenarios do however clearly show that China will reach the Lewis turning point in the next few years and before the middle of the century will become the world largest importer of labour. Our analysis does therefore clearly suggest that any legal restriction to fertility and territorial mobility is totally unwarranted, and that China should start to consider educational and labour policies aimed to mitigate labour shortages. It also indicates the necessity to start an in depth discussion of which immigration and social integration policies could better serve the interests of China, on the light both of the experiences of other countries, and of the role that China wants to play in the international arena. |
| Keywords: | Demography; Labour market; Demographic and labour market scenarios; Migrations; Lewis turning point; China |
| JEL: | J11 F22 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mod:cappmo:0082&r=hme |
| By: | VALENTOVA Marie |
| Abstract: | The main aims of the present paper are to examine whether gender role attitudes mitigate or facilitate social cohesiveness of Luxembourg residents and to uncover whether this effect is moderated by gender. Social cohesiveness is measured by composite indicators: first two represent general dimensions of social cohesiveness (behavioural and attitudinal) and the remaining five stand for specific domains of the concept (institutional trust, solidarity, socio-cultural participation, political participation and social relations). Attitudes toward gender are operationalized into three indicators: childcare, homemaking and economic relations. The outcomes of the analysis reveal that traditional attitudes, mainly those regarding homemaking, have a mixed impact on social cohesiveness. On the one hand, being more traditional increases attitudinal level of cohesiveness, i.e. institutional trust and solidarity. On the other hand, it seems to negatively affect cohesiveness at behaviour level, concretely in the intensity of socio-cultural relations and political participation. Gender appears to moderate the effect of gender role attitudes on political participation and solidarity, implying that traditional attitudes decrease the level of these type of cohesiveness more among women than among men. |
| Keywords: | gender roles; social cohesion; attitudes; multidimensional concepts |
| JEL: | D63 Z13 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2011-24&r=hme |
| By: | SOLOGON Denisa; O’DONOGHUE Cathal |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the role of labour market policy and institutional factors in explaining cross-national differences in persistent earnings inequality in Europe. Using non-linear least squares we reveal a complex framework, where institutions and their systemic interactions play a decisive role in shaping persistent inequality. "Piece-meal" reforms appear more effective in reducing persistent inequality than comprehensive policy packages: a substitution effect in reducing persistent inequality emerges between labour market deregulation, deunionization, the transition from a decentralized to a corporatist economy, increasing tax wedge, product market deregulation, increasing active labour market policies, and decreasing generosity of the unemployment benefit. Under special conditions, however, some complementarity effects do emerge. Moreover, the effect of each reform depends on the institutional mix. High corporatism emerges as the most effective tool in reducing the adverse effects of macroeconomic shocks on persistent inequality. |
| Keywords: | inequality; permanent earnings inequality; labour market institutions; labour market policies |
| JEL: | D31 J00 J31 J50 J60 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:irs:cepswp:2011-22&r=hme |
| By: | Naoaki Minamihashi |
| Abstract: | This paper finds that a regulation that promotes competition in one market may decrease competition in other related markets. Policy makers in the telecommunication industry currently are facing an important decision about whether to continue unbundling regulations on new optical-fiber lines. I find that unbundling regulation prevents new providers from building optical-fiber networks, by estimating a dynamic entry game with a dataset of fiber-optic network constructions in Japan from 2005 to 2009. In particular, when a new technology is introduced, unbundling regulation has an oligopolization effect on the regulated firms. This finding in the Japanese telecommunications industry suggests that unbundling regulation during periods of new technology diffusion may reduce the price of service but also decrease competition in the infrastructure market. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dpr:wpaper:0804&r=hme |
| By: | Robinson, Jonathan; Yeh, Ethan |
| Abstract: | Why do women engage in transactional sex? While much of the explanation is that sex-for-money pays more than other jobs, this paper uses a unique panel dataset constructed from 192 self-reported diaries of sex workers in Western Kenya to show that women who supply transactional sex develop relationships with regular clients, and that these clients send transfers in response to negative income shocks. Regular clients are the primary source of inter-person insurance that women receive, and women report in a separate survey that client transfers are an important reason that they participate in the market. |
| Keywords: | Population Policies,Gender and Law,Adolescent Health,Gender and Health,Population&Development |
| Date: | 2011–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5582&r=hme |
| By: | Aterido, Reyes; Beck, Thorsten; Iacovone, Leonardo |
| Abstract: | This paper assesses whether there is a gender gap in the use of financial services by businesses and individuals in Sub-Saharan Africa. The authors do not find evidence of gender discrimination or lower inherent demand for financial services by enterprises with female ownership participation or by female individuals when key characteristics of the enterprises or individuals are taken into account. In the case of enterprises, they explain this finding with selection bias -- females are less likely to run sole proprietorships than men, and firms with female ownership participation are smaller, but more likely to innovate. In the case of individuals, the lower use of formal financial services by women can be explained by gender gaps in other dimensions related to the use of financial services, such as their lower level of income and education, and by their household and employment status. |
| Keywords: | Access to Finance,Banks&Banking Reform,Emerging Markets,Housing&Human Habitats,Gender and Law |
| Date: | 2011–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:5571&r=hme |
| By: | Kristinn Hermannsson (Department of Economics, Strathclyde University); Katerina Lisenkova (Department of Economics, Strathclyde University); Peter McGregor (Fraser of Allander Institute, Strathclyde University); Kim Swales (Department of Economics, Strathclyde University) |
| Abstract: | This paper replicates the analysis of Scottish HEIs in Hermannsson et al (2010a) for the case of Northern Ireland in order to provide a self-contained analysis that is readily accessible by those whose primary concern is with the regional impacts of Northern-Irish HEIs. When we treat each of the four Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) that existed in Northern Ireland in 2006 as separate sectors in conventional input-output analysis, their expenditure impacts per unit of final demand appear rather homogenous, with the apparent heterogeneity of their overall impacts being primarily driven by scale. However, a disaggregation of their income by source reveals considerable variation in their dependence upon funding from the devolved Assembly and their ability to draw in income/funding from external sources. Acknowledging the binding budget constraint of the Northern Ireland Assembly and deriving balanced expenditure multipliers reveals large differences in the netexpenditure impact of HEIs upon the Northern Irish economy, with the source of variation being the origin of income. Applying a novel treatment of student expenditure impacts, identifying the amount of exogenous spending per student, modifies the heterogeneity of the overall expenditure impacts. On balance this suggests that the impacts of impending budget cut-backs will be quite different by institution depending on their sensitivity to public funding. However, predicting the outcome of budget cutbacks at the margin is problematic for reasons that we identify. |
| Keywords: | Higher Education Institutions, Input-Output, Northern Ireland, Impact study, Multipliers, Devolution. |
| JEL: | R51 R15 H75 I23 |
| Date: | 2011–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:str:wpaper:1103&r=hme |
| By: | Erik Stam; Bart Nooteboom |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the nature of entrepreneurship and its relation to innovation along a cycle in which exploration and exploration follow upon each other. We place the roles of entrepreneurship in innovation policy within this cycle of innovation. Different types of innovation along the cycle of innovation are realized with different forms of entrepreneurship, which are constrained or enabled by different legal institutions. One of the key roles of governments is to design, change or destruct institutions in order to improve societal welfare. The question is what governments should do in the context of innovation policy. Here, social scientists can make a contribution by providing insight into what entrepreneurship and innovation is (theories about these phenomena), and how institutions affect them in reality (empirical evidence about their effects). This requires social scientists to be engaged scholars and to provide new policy options as an honest broker between the academic world and the policy world. The key question of this paper is: How can policy best enable innovation based entrepreneurship? The answer is derived from looking at both theoretical tenets and empirical evidence using an institutional design perspective, which aims at providing arguments for the design, change and/or destruction of institutions, given the goals of the governments. We provide an overview of some (empirically tests of) institutions that enable or restrain particular types of entrepreneurship. Examples of these institutions are intellectual property rights and the Small Business Innovation Research program, employment protection, and non-compete covenants. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, innovation, institutions, innovation policy |
| JEL: | E61 G38 H57 K29 L26 L53 M13 O12 O31 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2011–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:use:tkiwps:1103&r=hme |
| By: | Paul Minoletti (Mansfield College, University of Oxford.) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses data from the 1833 Factory Inquiry to assess male and female occupations and earnings in factory textile production. This is contrasted with evidence drawn from various sources on male and female employment in domestic industry. 1780-1850 was a period of dramatic change in the nature and location of textile production, with important consequences for women's work. Whilst economic factors explain some of the changes we see, gender ideology had a powerful effect on how the labour market operated, and this was increasingly the case over this period as the organisation of work became more formalised and hierarchical. |
| Date: | 2011–02–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_087&r=hme |
| By: | Daniel A. Dias (Department of Economics, University of Illinois.); Carlos Robalo Marques (Banco de Portugal, Research Department.); Fernando Martins (Banco de Portugal, Research Department, ISEG (Technical University of Lisbon) and Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa.); Joao M.C. Santos Silva (Department of Economics, University of Essex and CEMAPRE.) |
| Abstract: | Infrequent price changes at the firm level are now well documented in the literature. However, a number of issues remain partly unaddressed. This paper contributes to the literature on price stickiness by investigating the lags of price adjustments to different types of shocks. We find that adjustment lags to cost and demand shocks vary with firm characteristics, namely the firm’s cost structure, the type of pricing policy, and the type of good. We also document that firms react asymmetrically to demand and cost shocks, as well as to positive and negative shocks, and that the degree and direction of the asymmetry varies across firms. JEL Classification: C41, D40, E31. |
| Keywords: | Firm heterogeneity, Panel-ordered probit, Real rigidities, Survey data. |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20111306&r=hme |
| By: | L. Randall Wray |
| Abstract: | This paper begins by defining, and distinguishing between, money and finance, and addresses alternative ways of financing spending. We next examine the role played by financial institutions (e.g., banks) in the provision of finance. The role of government as both regulator of private institutions and provider of finance is also discussed, and related topics such as liquidity and saving are explored. We conclude with a look at some of the new innovations in finance, and at the global financial crisis, which could be blamed on excessive financialization of the economy. |
| Keywords: | Money; Money of Account; Finance; Financial Instruments; Financial Institutions; Financial Innovation; Financialization; Liquidity; Saving; State Money; Chartalism; Shadow Bank; Hyman Minsky; Securitization; Robert Clower |
| JEL: | B14 B15 B22 B52 E12 E40 E42 E50 E51 E52 G14 G21 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_656&r=hme |
| By: | L. Randall Wray |
| Abstract: | In this paper I will follow Hyman Minsky in arguing that the postwar period has seen a slow transformation of the economy from a structure that could be characterized as "robust" to one that is "fragile." While many economists and policymakers have argued that "no one saw it coming," Minsky and his followers certainly did! While some of the details might have surprised Minsky, certainly the general contours of this crisis were foreseen by him a half century ago. I will focus on two main points: first, the past four decades have seen the return of "finance capitalism"; and second, the collapse that began two years ago is a classic "Fisher-Minsky" debt deflation. The appropriate way to analyze this transformation and collapse is from the perspective of what Minsky called "financial Keynesianism"—a label he preferred over Post Keynesian because it emphasized the financial nature of the capitalist economy he analyzed. |
| Keywords: | Hyman Minsky, Fisher-Minsky Debt Deflation, Hilferding, Finance Capitalism, Money Manager Capitalism, Financial Keynesian |
| JEL: | B22 B25 B52 E11 E12 E44 G18 G20 G21 |
| Date: | 2011–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_653&r=hme |
| By: | Justina A V Fischer (University of Mannheim); Benno Torgler (QUT) |
| Abstract: | Research on the effects of positional concerns on individuals’ attitudes and behavior is sorely lacking. To address this deficiency, we use the International Social Survey Programme 1998 data on 25’000 individuals from 26 countries to investigate the impact of relative income position on three facets of social capital, covering horizontal and vertical trust as well as norm compliance. Testing relative deprivation theory, we identify a deleterious positional income effect for persons below the reference income, particularly for their social trust and confidence in secular institutions. Also often a social capital-lowering effect of relative income advantage occurs, while a rise in absolute income almost always contributes positively. These results indicate that a rise in income inequality in society too large is rather detrimental to the formation of social capital. |
| Keywords: | Relative income, positional concerns, social capital, social norms, deprivation theory |
| JEL: | Z13 I30 D31 |
| Date: | 2011–02–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qut:dpaper:265&r=hme |