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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
| By: | Ciani Scarnicci, Manuela |
| Abstract: | Amartya Sen (1933-) is one of the greatest scholars who studied the relationship between ethics and economics and was held the Nobel Economics Prize thanks to this. At the awarding of the Nobel prize, while talking about his studies, the motive was: “...has been highly instrumental in restoring an ethical dimension to economics and related disciplines”. Precisely the theories of this binomial taken from the work of A. Sen “Economics and Ethics” are the basis of this work. Thanks to A. Sen there is proof that there has been a strong detachment of economics from ethics and this is to be considered as one of the greatest lack of the modern economic theory. The basis of the argument of the Nobel Prize winner is the idea that economy can be made more productive in paying more attention to ethical considerations which determine human beings’ behaviour and judgement. Sen, affirms that the predominant economic theory is the one based on individual interest aimed at the maximization of one’s own benefits, yet there aren’t proofs that this maximization is present in any choice of men. Moreover, it is not true that by only following one’s own interest it is possible to reach excellent economic trends. Adam Smith’s theory itself on self- interest, if careful interpretation is provided, do not represent a support for the defenders of human behavior which is only moved by self-interest. Obviously, there might be peculiar situations too where self-interest might lead to ethical approaches. Ethical economics is based on the behavior that individuals exercise in doing business practices. It is then useful to understand what causes such behaviors, therefore it is important to retrieve an interdisciplinary economic study, as Robert Skidelsky claims in his work “The return of the Master”. In this script he tries to give a perspective on the reasons which push an individual towards justice and equity. This dissertation arises from the theories of a few great political philosophers who found their teachings not only on the intrinsic reasons of the human nature but also on the role a State must have to make possible for a civil society to exercise those principles previously said. All the authors considered assume that the individual is a social animal and so the latter is analyzed and studied as integrated in a social context . |
| Keywords: | Aritotle; Sen; Hume; Hobbes; Kant; Rousseau; Calvin; D'Aquino; Smith; ASP; Sympathy; aurea medietas; Becker; Locke; |
| JEL: | D63 I18 Z10 N00 H30 A11 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38713&r=hme |
| By: | De Prato, Giuditta; Nepelski, Daniel |
| Abstract: | Global innovation networks are emerging as a result of the international division of innovation processes through, among others, international technological collaborations. At the aggregate level, the creation of technological collaboration between countries can be considered as mutually beneficial (or detrimental) and their random distribution is unlikely. Consequently, the dynamics and evolution of the technological collaborations can be expected to fulfil the criteria of a complex network. To study the structure and evolution of the global technological collaboration network, we use patent-based data of international co-inventions and apply the network analysis. In addition, extending the gravity model of international technological collaboration by measures controlling for countries position in the network, we show that that a country's position in the network has very strong impact on the intensity of collaboration with other members of the network. |
| Keywords: | globalisation of technology; technological collaboration; co-invention; network analysis; patent |
| JEL: | O30 F23 O57 D8 O14 |
| Date: | 2012–05–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38818&r=hme |
| By: | Juan Antonio Rubio Mondéjar (Universidad de Granada. Department of Economic Theory and Economic History); Josean Garrués Irurzun (Universidad de Granada. Department of Economic Theory and Economic History) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes some of the characteristics of Spanish capitalism between 1917 and 1970. For that purpose, we resort to the technique known as interlocking directorates and applies the methodology of social network analysis (SNA) to the board of directors of the 210 largest Spanish companies, in a benchmark dates (1917, 1930, 1948 and 1970). The results allow us to answer the questions of what has been the evolution of the Spanish business structure over the twentieth century and which sectors have been central to each of the moments analyzed. At the same time, we identify the main groups of companies, and the links established among them, assessing the role of financial sector in the national economic structure. Based on the relationships between the members of the Board of Directors and social capital theory, the second objective identifies the circle of Spanish economic power, quantifies the degree of cohesion, and follow its evolution over time, confirming its continuity / disappearance. |
| Keywords: | social networks, financial system, board of directors, Business History, interlocking directorates |
| JEL: | N24 P12 L14 C63 |
| Date: | 2012–05–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gra:fegper:01/12&r=hme |
| By: | Trude Lappegård, Randi Kjeldstad and Torbjørn Skarðhamar (Statistics Norway) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the relationship between the division of housework in couples and the local gender equality context. We use data from the Norwegian Generations and Gender survey 2007 combined with a range of macrolevel measures on gender equality in the municipality where the respondents live. Results show that in married and cohabiting couples, the division of housework is associated with local gender equality context. Irrespective of their individual characteristics, couples living in municipalities with high gender equality have more equal division of housework. The within country regional variation in women’s status and participation on various arenas as compared to men’s, seems to influence housework arrangements in the family. This corresponds to findings from previous studies comparing countries, hence indicating that several of the operating mechanisms are also present at a lower aggregate level. However, in contrast to cross-national comparisons, we find that individual characteristics are not associated differently with the division of housework according to regional gender context. This might be due to the fact that Norway is a relatively homogeneous and egalitarian country at both the regional and individual level. |
| Keywords: | division of housework; regional gender equality index; multilevel analysis; Norway |
| JEL: | J22 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssb:dispap:689&r=hme |
| By: | Walter, Arthur |
| Abstract: | The paper discusses the possibility of behavioural change in accordance with the objectives of sustainable development considering the human behaviour through the needs. Using the concepts of fundamental human needs and satisfiers of Manfred Max-Neef, the attempt was made to determine the adequacy test of a satisfier as a key point of this approach when researching the human behaviour. The paper offers the definition of an adequate satisfier and as an illustration the analysis of a case of a family in Moldova. Finally, the attention is drawn to the necessity to intensify the joint efforts to form the sustainable behaviour and to the inadmissibility of the substitution or mix up of the key concepts at the application of this approach by the researchers. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable development; human behaviour; fundamental human needs; poverty; adequate satisfier; labour migration; Moldova |
| JEL: | I31 Q01 B00 R23 A13 Q56 A12 R11 D01 Q58 |
| Date: | 2012–02–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38800&r=hme |
| By: | Jaime Gomez-Ramirez; Manuel G. Bedia |
| Abstract: | Since the financial crash in 2008, economic science and the economic profession are under siege. Critics point fingers at ivory tower economists, devoted to the construction of unfalsifiable models based on unrealistic assumptions in purely theoretical basis. Economies are complex man-made systems where organisms and markets interact according to motivations and principles not entirely understood yet. Neo-classical economics is agnostic about the neural mechanisms that underlie the valuation of choices and decision making. The increasing dissatisfaction with the postulates of traditional economics i.e. perfectly rational agents, interacting through efficient markets in the search of equilibrium, has created new incentives for different approcahes in economics. Behavioral economics [2],[9] builds on cognitive and emotional models of agents, Neuroeconomics addresses the neurobiological basis of valuation of choices [8],[7] or Evolutionary economics [3], [5], [4],[1],[6] which strives for a new understanding of the economy as a complex evolutionary system, composed of agents that adapt to endogenous patterns out of equilibrium regions. The science of complexity may provide the platform to cross disciplinary boundaries in seemgly disparate fields such as brain science and economics. In this paper we take an integrative stance, fostering new insights into the economic character of neural activity. Key concepts in brain science like Hebbian learning and neural plasticity are revisited and elaborated, inside a new theoretical framework, that is sensitive to the new ideas that econophysics is proposing for financial markets. The objective here is to precisely delineate common topics in both neural and economic science, within a systemic outlook grounded in empirical basis that jolts the unification across the science of complex systems. |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1205.2999&r=hme |
| By: | Carol Graham (The Brookings Institution); Soumya Chattopadhyay (The Brookings Institution) |
| Abstract: | A wide body of research explores gender differences in welfare outcomes, and their implications for economic development. We aim to contribute to this work by looking at differences in reported well-being (happiness) across genders around the world. We examine differences across genders within countries, comparing age, income, education, and urban versus rural cohorts, and explore how those same within country differences vary in countries of different development levels. Our findings, based also on previous research on well-being more generally, highlight some consistent patterns across genders, with women typically happier than men in the world as a whole, with the exception of the poorest sample of countries. We also find substantial differences in the standard relationships between key variables - such as marriage - and happiness when we take differences in gender rights into account. Our research also suggests that cross-gender differences in well-being are affected by the same empirical and methodological factors that drive the paradoxes underlying the income and happiness debates more generally, with norms and expectations playing an important mediating role. Women's happiness seems to fall - at least in the short-term - when there are changes/improvements in gender rights, in keeping with our more general findings on the drops in reported well-being that are often associated with the process of acquiring agency. |
| Keywords: | happiness, gender, agency, expectations |
| JEL: | I3 J1 J7 |
| Date: | 2012–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2012-010&r=hme |
| By: | Jusot, Florence; Berchet, Caroline |
| Abstract: | L’état de santé des immigrés est considéré comme un véritable enjeu de santé publique en raison de la fragilisation économique et sociale que peuvent connaître certains d’entre eux, et qui participe à la détérioration de leur état de santé. Ce bilan des études françaises sur l’état de santé et l’accès aux soins des immigrés suggère l’existence d’inégalités de santé liées à la migration et de disparités selon le pays d’origine. En outre, l’ensemble des études s’ac- corde sur le moindre recours aux soins de la population immigrée, révélant des difficultés d’accès à la médecine de ville. Enfin, la situation économique et sociale plus défavorisée des immigrés, leur moindre accès à la complémentaire santé et leur moindre intégration sociale sont les principaux facteurs expliquant ces inégalités de santé et d’accès aux soins. Ces travaux appellent à une modification des politiques sanitaires et sociales visant à améliorer l’état de santé et l’accès aux soins des populations d’origine étrangère. |
| Abstract: | The health status of immigrants is considered as a genuine public health concern due to the economic and social fragility that they may experience, which contributes to the deterioration of their health. This review of French studies on migrant health status and access to care suggests the existence of health inequalities related to migration and some disparities according to the country of origin. In addition, the body of evi-dence shows a lesser use of health care among the migrant population, suggesting difficulties in accessing ambulatory care. Finally, the more dis-advantaged economic and social status of immigrants, their lower access to complementary health coverage, and their lower social integration are the most important factors explaining these health and health care inequalities. These studies call for health and social policy reforms designed to improve the health status and health care use of the foreign born population. |
| Keywords: | Migration; inégalités de santé; recours aux soins; Migration; health inequalities; access to care; |
| JEL: | I18 |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:dauphi:urn:hdl:123456789/9218&r=hme |
| By: | Fabienne FECHER (Université de Liège); Benoît LÉVESQUE (Université du Québec à Montréal) |
| Abstract: | Dans ce texte, nous proposons dans un premier temps, un bref aperçu de la longue histoire des Annales en mettant en lumière sa préoccupation pour la consolidation d’une économie orientée vers l’intérêt général. Dans un deuxième temps, nous fournissons un aperçu des principales contributions portant sur l’économie sociale et coopérative de 1975 à nos jours (2011). Cette longue période présente une certaine unité puisqu’elle débute par une sorte de renversement de tendance : d’une part, l’affirmation d’un tiers secteur où les associations connaissent une progression sans précédent ; d’autre part, l’apparition d’un double cadrage théorique, soit celui de l’économie sociale et celui des « non-profit organizations ». Par ailleurs, les thématiques varient sensiblement en fonction de la conjoncture économique et politique. D’où trois moments : celui des années 1975-1985 alors que la crise économique est l’occasion d’un questionnement sur l’avenir de ce tiers secteur, notamment en ce qui concerne les coopératives et les mutuelles ; celui des années 1986-1996 alors que plusieurs articles portent sur la montée des associations et des nouvelles coopératives ; celui des années 1997-2011 alors que les articles portent sur diverses thématiques telles la performance, la gouvernance, la poursuite de l’intérêt général. En conclusion, les auteurs rappellent que les Annales peuvent être caractérisées par une double transversalité, soit celle du rapport de la connaissance à l’action et celle du rapport entre les entreprises publiques et les entreprises du tiers secteur. En ce qui concerne le tiers secteur, les analyses tendent à montrer qu’il a contribué au cours des dernières décennies à faire de l’État providence une Welfare mix ou encore un Welfare pluralism. Enfin, les auteurs mettent également en lumière l’ouverture de cette revue où l’on retrouve des contributions relevant à la fois de l’économie néoclassique et des approches hétérodoxes, de plus en plus en dialogue. |
| Keywords: | tiers secteur, économie sociale, non-profit organizations, intérêt général, autogestion, coopératives, associations, mutuelles, histoire |
| Date: | 2012–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crc:wpaper:1201&r=hme |
| By: | García-Gómez, Pilar (Erasmus School of Economics, Erasmus University Rotterdam); Labeaga, José M. (UNU-MERIT/MGSoG, Maastricht University, and UNED, Madrid); Oliva, Juan (Universidad de Castilla – La Mancha) |
| Abstract: | The therapeutic advances that have taken place since the mid 1990s have profoundly affected the situation of people living with HIV/AIDS, not only in terms of life expectancy and quality of life but also socio-economically. This has numerous effects on different aspects of the patients' life and, especially, on their working life. We analyse in this paper labour force participation and wages of people living with HIV/AIDS in Spain. We select a control group from the general population. We find that the employment probability decreases by 16.4 percentage points among asymptomatic HIV patients, by 22.5 percentage points among symptomatic HIV patients, and as much as by 41.3 percentage points if the person is in the AIDS phase. In addition, wages of HIV patients are from 9 to 34 per cent (if infected by Intravenous Drug Use) lower. Gender, educational attainment, unearned income, HIV clinical indicators and number of household members are the main determinants of the employment probability of HIV patients. On the other hand, wages do not play a significant role in employment decisions of these individuals. |
| Keywords: | HIV/AIDS, labour supply, wages, unearned income |
| JEL: | I10 J20 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dgr:unumer:2012043&r=hme |
| By: | Haroon Bhorat; Ravi Kanbur; Natasha Mayet (Development Policy Research Unit; Director and Professor) |
| Abstract: | Minimum wage legislation is central in South African policy discourse, with both strong support and strong opposition. The validity of either position depends, however, on the effectiveness of minimum wage enforcement. Using detailed matching of occupational, sectoral and locational codes in the 2007 Labour Force Survey to the gazetted minimum wages, this paper presents, we believe for the first time, estimates of minimum wage violation in South Africa. Our results give considerable cause for concern. Minimum wage violation is South Africa is disturbingly high. We find that 44% of covered workers get paid wages below the legislated minimum, whilst the average depth of shortfall is 35% of the minimum wage. Around this average, violation is most prevalent in the Security, Forestry and Farming Sectors. We hope that the quantifications in this paper will provide a more solid basis for discussion of minimum wage levels and their enforcement in South Africa. |
| Keywords: | Minimum Wage Violation, South Africa |
| JEL: | A1 |
| Date: | 2011–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctw:wpaper:11143&r=hme |
| By: | Ronald Bachmann; Thomas K. Bauer; Hanna Kröger |
| Abstract: | This study analyses employers‘ support for the introduction of industry-specific minimum wages as a cost-raising strategy in order to deter market entry. Using a unique data set consisting of 800 firms in the German service sector, we find some evidence that high-productivity employers support minimum wages. We further show that minimum wage support is higher in industries and regions with low barriers to entry. This is particularly the case in East Germany, where the perceived threat of low-wage competition from Central and Eastern European countries is relatively high. In addition, firms paying collectively agreed wages are more strongly in favour of minimum wages if union coverage is low and the mark-up of union wage rates is high. |
| Keywords: | Minimum wage; product market competition; service sector |
| JEL: | J38 J50 L41 L80 |
| Date: | 2012–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rwi:repape:0329&r=hme |
| By: | Isabelle Chort (PSE); Flore Gubert (Author-Workplace-Name:PSE); Jean-Noël Senne (CREST, PSE) |
| Keywords: | remittances, migrant workers, asymmetric information |
| JEL: | F24 F22 D82 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crs:wpaper:2011-34&r=hme |
| By: | Berger, Allen N.; Kick, Thomas; Koetter, Michael; Schaeck, Klaus |
| Abstract: | Social capital theory predicts individuals establish social ties based on homophily, i.e., affinities for similar others. We exploit a unique sample to analyze how similarities and social ties affect career outcomes in banking based on age, education, gender, and employment history to examine if homophily and connectedness increase the probability that the appointee to an executive board is an outsider (an individual without previous employment at the bank) compared to being an insider. Our results show that homophily based on age and gender raises the chance of the successful candidate being an outsider, whereas similar educational backgrounds reduce the chance that the appointee comes from outside. When we examine performance effects, we find weak evidence that social ties are associated with reduced profitability. -- |
| Keywords: | Social networks,executive careers,banking,corporate governance |
| JEL: | G21 G32 G34 J16 |
| Date: | 2011 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:bubdp2:201118&r=hme |
| By: | Theodore Mariolis (Panteion University); Lefteris Tsoulfidis (Department of Economics, University of Macedonia) |
| Abstract: | Brody’s conjecture is submitted to an empirical test using input-output flow data of varying size for the US economy for the benchmark years 1997 and 2002, as well as for the period 1998-2010. The results suggest that the ratio of the modulus of the subdominant eigenvalue to the dominant one increases both with the size of the matrix and, for the same matrix size, over the years lending support to the view of increasing instability (in the sense of Brody) for the US economy over the period 1997-2010. |
| Keywords: | Actual economies; Brody’s conjecture; Eigenvalue distribution; Speed of convergence. |
| JEL: | C62 C67 D57 |
| Date: | 2012–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mcd:mcddps:2012_06&r=hme |
| By: | Otto, Alkis Henri; Steinhardt, Max Friedrich |
| Abstract: | This paper provides new evidence on the effect of immigration on election outcomes. Our analysis makes use of data on city districts in Hamburg, Germany, during a period of substantial inflows of immigrants and asylum seekers. We find significant and robust effects for changes in foreigner shares on the electoral success of parties that built up a distinctive reputation in immigration politics. In particular, our fixed-effects estimates indicate a positive effect for xenophobic, extreme right-wing parties and an adverse effect for the Green party that actively campaigned for liberal immigration policies and minority rights. Overall, our results support the hypothesis that changes in local compositional amenities shape individual attitudes towards immigration. -- |
| Keywords: | immigration,elections,xenophobia |
| JEL: | D72 J15 R23 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:122&r=hme |
| By: | Maureen McKelvey (University of Gothenburg, Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, School of Business, Economics and Law); Bastian Rake (Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Graduate College "The Economics of Innovative Change") |
| Abstract: | This paper explores how and why collaboration with different types of partners and the position within a research network can affect firms' innovative performance in terms of product innovations. A detailed empirical analysis is carried out in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. This industry is characterized by a rapidly developing, complex, and dispersed knowledge base, where one would expect positive benefits from collaboration and the position within a network for innovative output. The paper uses a unique dataset in pharmaceutical cancer research based on scientific co-publications and new drug approvals. We apply social network analysis and count data regressions. We observe that collaboration with a diverse set of partners from academia and the network position in terms of eigenvector centrality is positively related to product innovation. However, we do not find a general positive association between collaboration, particularly with biotechnology companies, and product innovation or between central network positions and product innovation. Therefore, these results require a re-assessment of the role of scientific collaboration and biotechnology companies in the development of the pharmaceutical industry. |
| Keywords: | Research Networks, Research Collaboration, Innovative Performance, Pharmaceuticals |
| JEL: | L25 O31 |
| Date: | 2012–05–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2012-021&r=hme |
| By: | Kurt Kratena (WIFO); Michael Wüger (WIFO) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is the econometric analysis of embodied and induced technological change that reduces energy input and CO2 emissions in production. For this purpose, a model of unit costs and factor demand for 35 industries in 23 EU countries has been set up, based on the World Input-Output Database (WIOD). The deterministic trend usually applied for describing the factor bias for energy is replaced by a mixed term of energy efficiency of physical production capacity and a trend in three energy intensive industries. This new variable for energy saving technological change is linked to the vintage structure of installed capital. By this link technological change becomes induced, if capital and energy are substitutes. If energy and capital are complements, this technological change can only be enforced by measures that accelerate the path of renovating the capital stock. Within the three energy intensive industries we identify one, where induced technological change is energy saving, but energy and capital are complements (pulp and paper), one where energy and capital are very weak substitutes, but technological change is energy using (non-metallic minerals) and one, where energy and capital are substitutes and technological change is energy saving (basic metals). Only in this latter case, price induced technological change can contribute significantly to fossil energy and emission reduction. |
| Keywords: | embodied and induced technological change, vintage models, emission mitigation policies |
| Date: | 2012–05–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wfo:wpaper:y:2012:i:427&r=hme |
| By: | Calabria, Alejandro A.; Rottenschweiler, Sergio |
| Abstract: | Since 2003, it has been observed in Argentina a paradigm shift with regard to social security, in general, and pension system, in particular, based mainly on the inclusion and solidarity. The implementation of the Pension Inclusion Plan, more than ten increases in pension benefits before the Mobility Act´s implementation, the creation of the Sustainability Guarantee Fund (FGS) and the Argentinean Integrated Retirement System (SIPA) have undeniably impacted on the economic situation of older adults through improvements in pension benefits and the highest rate of coverage. In this paper, through the estimation of a Welfare Index for the Elderly (IBPM), we conclude that the effects of these measures were not limited to mere monetary issues but hauled as a result, significant improvements in quality of life, education, health and longevity, among others, for a vulnerable age group as that of older adults. |
| Keywords: | adultos mayores; índice de bienestar; cobertura previsional; sistema previsional argentino |
| JEL: | H55 I31 I38 |
| Date: | 2011–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:38817&r=hme |