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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
| By: | Yoann Verger (REEDS - Centre international de Recherches en Economie écologique, Eco-innovation et ingénierie du Développement Soutenable - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines : EA4456) |
| Abstract: | L'écologie industrielle et l'économie stationnaire peuvent se rejoindre dans la notion de cycles : ainsi les industries pourraient fonctionner en boucle quasiment fermées si la théorie de l'écologie industrielle était suivie jusqu'au bout, et l'économie dans sa forme plus générale ne perturberait pas les grands cycles naturels et écologiques qui lui permettent de subsister du point de vue de l'économie stationnaire, au contraire elle s'y insérerait parfaitement. C'est sur ce deuxième point que je veux travailler, en cernant dans quelles mesures une économie stationnaire pourrait s'organiser en préservant ces cycles naturels, voir en essayant de les renforcer. Sans aller jusqu'aux dérives de la bio-ingénierie, qui cherche à faire, littéralement, la pluie et le beau temps, mon postulat de base est que l'économie se sert de produits ou de services issus de processus environnementaux, et qu'elle en dégrade d'autres : les injonctions couplées du principe de précaution et du développement durable (en pensant notamment aux générations futures) nous obligent donc à nous préoccuper du bon fonctionnement de ces processus, qu'il s'agissent des grands cycles géochimiques ou des services liés plus spécifiquement aux écosystèmes (pollinisation par exemple). Les bienfaits économiques ou les effets économiques des dégradations ne sont pas forcément bien pris en compte, notamment à cause de ce que les économistes appellent les failles du marché (l'économie est myope concernant les biens publics). Des modèles ont tenté de définir les bénéfices économiques apportés par les services éco-systémiques, d'autres ont cherché à internaliser les dégâts causés sur ces mêmes services. Mon approche va se focaliser sur un type de modèle néo-ricardien de production jointe : je vais, à l'aide de celui-ci, décrire simplement la structure d'une économie qui s'appuie en partie sur la production de services éco-systémiques, pour montrer ensuite les implications en termes de changements structurels permettant de rendre viable le système sur le long terme. Je chercherai ainsi à démontrer que le seul système économique viable est alors une économie stationnaire qui va se servir du profit généré pour revitaliser le capital écologique, et non seulement pour servir la croissance du sous-système économique. Les principes de l'économie stationnaire tels que la non-consommation des ressources renouvelables à un taux plus élevé que leur renouvellement seront soulignés. Je me pencherai plus spécifiquement sur le cas d'un ensemble de processus décrivant le fonctionnement d'un système de production/consommation de bioénergie. Cet exemple se basera sur le développement récent en France de coproduction de chaleur et d'énergie à base de biomasse, ou permettant l'injection de biogaz dans le réseau de gaz de ville : dans le cadre de la " transition énergétique " récemment évoquée au plus haut niveau de l'Etat, ce type d'unité énergétique peut être vu comme un moyen à la fois d'assurer une autonomie locale vis-à-vis des ressources fossiles, et à la fois de réduire les émissions polluantes. L'exploration au niveau théorique des échanges de matière et d'énergie entre les différents processus impliqués permettra de souligner les enjeux évoqués plus haut. Puis, au niveau des applications pratiques, dans le cadre de l'exemple évoqué des bioénergies, je montrerai que les politiques permettant la viabilité du système peuvent s'inspirer des principes de l'écologie industrielle et de l'économie de fonctionnalité. L'objectif est donc double : d'une part théoriser les liens entre environnement et économie via la caractérisation d'un capital naturel produisant des biens et des profits accaparés par l'économie humaine, d'autre part construire une vision pratique de scénarios permettant de tirer profit des implications d'une économie stationnaire. Le rapprochement entre économie stationnaire et écologie industrielle me parait dans ce sens inévitable. |
| Keywords: | écologie industrielle ; économie écologique ; production jointe ; bioénergie ; économie stationnaire ; capitalisme naturel |
| Date: | 2013–03–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-00804223&r=hme |
| By: | Georg Schwesinger (University of Bremen) |
| Abstract: | This paper sheds new light on the concept of selection in evolutionary economics. The interpretation of natural evolution has experienced significant changes in the last decades, while these developments have been often ignored by economists. This is especially true for the concept of selection, a key concept in many evolutionary approaches. In economics as well as in biology, selection is seen as a central mechanism, which mediates for example the spread of information and innovation, the coordination of groups of agents and the optimization of their behavior. In this article we are aiming to explore the actual significance of selection as a major explanatory principle in economics. Starting with an analysis of a modern and modified understanding of the selection mechanism in nature we will draw some conclusions for its use in economics. |
| Keywords: | Selection, Bioeconomics, Evo-Devo, Cultural Evolution, Multilevel Selection, Economic Theory |
| JEL: | B15 B40 B52 D03 |
| Date: | 2013–04–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2013-014&r=hme |
| By: | Da Silva, Sergio |
| Abstract: | Group thinking is the notion that animals do those things that maximize the chance of survival of their species. It is wrong because natural selection does not favor what is good for the group or the species; it favors what is good for the individual. Here, I show through examples how group thinking also pervades economics. In connection with the fallacy of group thinking, I also discuss how economics fails to ground itself in the underlying knowledge provided by biology. I also argue that economists need to redirect their conventional approach to study group behavior. Current macroeconomics is reductionist while the route followed by biology, physics, and chemistry was to resort to a different approach when focusing on macro systems made up of a large number of heterogeneous micro units. The group level pattern self-organizes as it is not encoded directly in the individual-level rules. And here the right mathematical models can help deduce hidden connections between the interactions of individuals and the patterns that emerge at the group level. |
| Keywords: | group thinking, biology, economics |
| JEL: | B41 D7 Y8 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:45660&r=hme |
| By: | Saad Ahmad Khan; Ladislau Boloni |
| Abstract: | We describe an agent-based simulation of a fictional (but feasible) information trading business. The Gas Price Information Trader (GPIT) buys information about real-time gas prices in a metropolitan area from drivers and resells the information to drivers who need to refuel their vehicles. Our simulation uses real world geographic data, lifestyle-dependent driving patterns and vehicle models to create an agent-based model of the drivers. We use real world statistics of gas price fluctuation to create scenarios of temporal and spatial distribution of gas prices. The price of the information is determined on a case-by-case basis through a simple negotiation model. The trader and the customers are adapting their negotiation strategies based on their historical profits. We are interested in the general properties of the emerging information market: the amount of realizable profit and its distribution between the trader and customers, the business strategies necessary to keep the market operational (such as promotional deals), the price elasticity of demand and the impact of pricing strategies on the profit. |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1303.7445&r=hme |
| By: | Klaus Desmet; Jordan Rappaport |
| Abstract: | A prominent strand of economic literature argues that population growth rates across locations areas are uncorrelated with the population levels of those locations (“Gibrat’s Law”). Such uncorrelated growth, it is argued, can account for the current distribution of population across locations. This paper shows that, on the contrary, locations’ population growth throughout U.S. history has always been highly correlated with their initial population levels. Throughout the entire 19th century and the early 20th century, low-population locations tended to grow faster than intermediate-population locations, thereby causing the distribution of population to become more compressed. Throughout the second half of the 19th century and the entire 20th century, population growth among the highest-population locations was faster than population growth among intermediate-population locations, thereby causing the distribution of population to become more dispersed. ; This pattern of population growth is driven by two separate forces. First is the “entry” of new locations into the United States as the country spread westward. These locations typically entered with a low population after which many of them gradually transitioned up to much larger ones. Such transitions can account for the faster growth of low population locations. Second, the congestion arising from limited supplies of land within any given location may have eased over time. This may have occurred, for example, with the technology-driven move by workers from agriculture to manufacturing and services. Such a shift would cause high-population places to grow faster. ; Understanding historical population growth across locations gives insight into near-future population growth. For example, since 2000 population growth in larger locations (though not necessarily the very largest) has tended to outpace population growth in intermediate and smaller locations. This suggests that ongoing technological change may be continuing to relieve the “congestion” associated with living in large metro areas while increasing the disadvantages of living in small locations. Rapid advances in information technology are a possible source of such technological change. |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fip:fedkrw:rwp13-02&r=hme |
| By: | Franck Bailly (CLERSE - Centre lillois d'études et de recherches sociologiques et économiques - CNRS : UMR8019 - Université Lille I - Sciences et technologies); François-Xavier Devetter (CLERSE - Centre lillois d'études et de recherches sociologiques et économiques - CNRS : UMR8019 - Université Lille I - Sciences et technologies); François Horn (CLERSE - Centre lillois d'études et de recherches sociologiques et économiques - CNRS : UMR8019 - Université Lille I - Sciences et technologies) |
| Abstract: | Les services à la personne sont au cœur de la politique de l'emploi, en France, depuis plus de vingt ans et tout particulièrement depuis 2005. La volonté d'exploiter un gisement d'emploi a cependant fait privilégier les aspects quantitatifs sur la question de la qualité des emplois. Celle-ci demeure très médiocre en dépit des efforts affichés par de nombreux acteurs. L'article analyse le décalage entre ces discours et la réalité et étudie les mécanismes qui piègent les services à la personne dans une trappe à précarité. Des différences sont, cependant, perceptibles selon les activités : ainsi les perspectives d'amélioration sont meilleures pour les emplois qui relèvent du care que pour ceux qui relèvent du " clean ", ce que permet d'expliquer une analyse en termes de 'mondes de production'. |
| Keywords: | conditions de travail et d'emploi, services à la personne, trappe à précarité, mondes de production |
| Date: | 2012–06–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-00805678&r=hme |
| By: | Antoinette Baujard (GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - École Normale Supérieure - Lyon) |
| Abstract: | This paper tackles the problem of the demarcation of value judgments in economic expertise. Is it possible to disentangle values from facts, or neutral scientific assertions from value-laden judgments, in the context of economic expertise ? If not, why not ? And if it is, under what conditions ? First, drawing on concepts from analytic philosophy, the paper highlights the interdependencies between descriptive, evaluative, and prescriptive judgments. Second, drawing notably on social studies of science, the paper proposes a definition of 'expertise', and translates this into a list of successive stages wherein these different types of judgments are involved. A backward analysis of these stages is provided in order to identify where values stand, and who holds them. Third, reconsidering the positions of neutrality in economics (Mongin 2006), the paper defends the 'weak non-neutrality' view in the context of expertise, and concludes with reflections on what could be done to address the problem of democratic legitimacy raised by the difficulty of demarcation. |
| Keywords: | methodology ; value judgments ; prescription ; evaluation ; recommendation ; expertise ; neutrality ; demarcation |
| Date: | 2013–03–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00803552&r=hme |
| By: | Cameron Hepburn; Alex Bowen |
| Abstract: | Debate about the relationship between environmental limits and economic growth has been taking place for several decades. These arguments have re-emerged with greater intensity following advances in the understanding of the economics of climate change, increases in resource and oil prices and the re-emergence of the discussion about “peak oil”. The economic pessimism created by the great recession of 2008-2012 has also put the spotlight back on the prospects for economic growth. This chapter provides a conceptual and synthetic analysis of the relationship between economic growth and environmental limits, including those imposed by climate change. It explores two related questions. Will environmental limits, including limits on the climate system, slow or even halt economic growth? If not, how will the nature of economic growth have to alter? It is concluded that continued economic growth is feasible and desirable, although not without significant changes in its characteristics. These changes need to involve ultimately the reduction of the rate of material output, with continued growth in value being generated by expansion in the ‘intellectual economy’. |
| Date: | 2012–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsg:lsgwps:wp93&r=hme |
| By: | Hadrien Gouze (UP1 UFR02 - Université Paris 1, Panthéon-Sorbonne - UFR d'Économie - Université Paris I - Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | Dans Un nouveau modèle économique (1999a), Sen déclare : "Si les mérites du marché sont aujourd'hui largement reconnus, les raisons pour lesquelles nous souhaitons son existence ne sont pas assez expliquées" (Sen, 1999a, p. 154). Cette phrase contient deux aspects. D'une part, la première partie, qui donne un jugement plutôt favorable au marché, peut paraître étonnante au regard de la volonté de Sen de proposer une voie alternative à l'économie traditionnelle en prônant la "nécessité d'un examen critique du rôle des marchés" (op.cit., p. 168). D'autre part, la deuxième partie de la phrase identifie un manque : celui de la justification des raisons pour lesquelles nous recourrons au marché. C'est pour cela que Sen établit un argumentaire pour justifier le recours au mécanisme de marché concurrentiel dans l'analyse économique. En fait, les deux aspects de cette phrase peuvent être traités et analysés de manière complémentaire. L'argumentation de Sen pour justifier l'existence et le recours au marché se scinde en deux : d'une part, le marché est justifié par Sen au sein d'une argumentation de philosophie politique directement inspirée de Smith (1776) pour le penchant à l'échange, de Marx (1867) pour qui l'apparition du contrat de travail est constitutif de la liberté des individus d'entrer sur le marché du travail et de Hayek (1944) condamnant le planisme et l'absence de marchés ; d'autre part, Sen se fonde sur une justification purement économique autour des deux "théorèmes de l'économie du bien-être". Ce deuxième volet de l'argumentation contraste avec le premier dans la mesure où le marché n'est plus vu comme la possibilité de satisfaire le simple désir de participer à un échange mais comme la possibilité d'aboutir à une situation optimale au sens de Pareto. Ces deux volets participent d'une démarche sénienne consistant à "faire discuter l'économie et la philosophie ou l'éthique" (Bonvin et Farvaque, 2008, p. 17). En effet, cette séparation entre deux volets d'argumentation n'est que formelle car Sen va les allier au sein d'un raisonnement consistant à démontrer qu'il est possible d'aboutir à une situation qui soit optimale au sens de Pareto, non pas en termes d'utilités mais de libertés. Sen intègre de cette manière la liberté, correspondant à ce qu'il appelle le versant éthique de l'économie, à un raisonnement économique, correspondant au versant mécaniste de l'économie. Sen propose donc une manière originale d'articuler sa conception de la justice et l'efficacité marchande. La question qui se pose est donc celle de savoir de quelle manière Sen opère cette articulation et comment il se place vis-à-vis de traditions antérieures de conciliation entre justice et marché. Notre démarche consiste donc à suivre la manière dont Sen entend concilier la justice et l'efficacité et à la comparer à d'autres conceptions telles que celles de Walras, de Arrow et Debreu (auteurs auxquels Sen se réfère explicitement) et de Varian (avec la justice comme non-envie). |
| Keywords: | Amartya Sen, marché financier |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:dumas-00802133&r=hme |
| By: | Mujcic, Redzo (University of Queensland); Frijters, Paul (University of Queensland) |
| Abstract: | We employ a natural field experiment to study the extent and nature of racial discrimination in Queensland, Australia. Mimicking the historical case of Rosa Parks who was denied seating in a bus because she was black, an important moment for the U.S. civil rights movement, we sent trained testers who differed in ethnic appearance to bus stops asking the driver for a free ride on the basis that their bus pass was faulty (which it was). In total, we obtained 1,552 observations of testers either allowed a free ride or not, in each case recording the characteristics of the bus driver, the tester, and the circumstances. We find strong evidence of discrimination against black-skinned individuals. In the baseline scenario, white testers were accepted during 72% of the interactions versus only 36% for black testers. Indian testers were let on 51% of the time and Asian testers (mainly Chinese) were let on 73% of the time. Favors were more likely to be granted when the bus driver and tester were of the same ethnicity, and when there were fewer people in the bus. Patriotic appearance matters in that testers wearing army uniforms were accepted at a rate of 97% if they were white and 77% if they were black. Status appearance also mattered in that black testers dressed in business attire were just as likely to be favored as casually dressed white testers. When bus drivers were confronted with hypothetical baseline scenarios using photos taken of the real testers, 86% responded they would let on the black individual, more than double the actual number accepted, indicating dishonest self-reporting on this topic. |
| Keywords: | racial bias, discrimination, natural field experiment, prosocial behavior |
| JEL: | C93 J15 J71 D03 |
| Date: | 2013–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7300&r=hme |
| By: | Riordan, Brendan |
| Abstract: | An estimate of the contribution of the biosector to Ireland’s net foreign earnings in 2008 was recently published by The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (2012). This paper examines these results and their derivation from a wide range of data provided by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), particularly the Census of Industrial Production and the Supply and Use and Input-Output Tables for Ireland. The 'biosector' comprises the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries, along with the industries processing their products - the food and beverage industries. The main finding was that in 2008 the biosector accounted for 40 percent of net foreign earnings from merchandise exports. This was more than double the sector's percentage share of exports. The main reasons for the sector’s disproportionately large contribution to net foreign earnings were: lower import requirements per euro of exports, and higher receipts of EU payments. These results are analysed in terms of Balance of International Payments flows per €100 of merchandise exports. Put this way, in 2008 every €100 of exports from the biosector generated €52 in net foreign earnings. In contrast, exports from the non-biosector, contributed only €19 in net foreign earnings for every €100 of exports. The result is shown to be quite dependable in the light of its consistency with other statistics for the economy and with results for earlier years. For example, when previous results for 2005 were updated with revised data and reclassifications, the results were very similar to those for 2008. More generally, these results illustrate an approach to assessment of the value to the economy of exports from specific sectors. In particular, the contribution of one sector or industry relative to another, in terms of net inflows per €100 of exports, could be a valuable way to assess the case for the expansion of one export sector, or industry, relative to another. In this case the biosector’s contribution per €100 of exports in 2008 was provisionally estimated to be at least 2.7 times that of the non-biosector, and very likely to be far higher for Irish owner enterprises in the biosector sector. |
| Keywords: | Balance of payments; Agri-food sector; Export earnings; net Foreign earnings; Ireland; Merchandise trade. |
| JEL: | C13 F14 Q17 |
| Date: | 2012–10–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:45674&r=hme |
| By: | Ali Kabiri |
| Abstract: | The NYSE boom of the 1920s ended with the infamous crash of October 1929 and subsequent collapse in common stock prices from 1929-1932. Most approaches have suggested an overvaluation of 100%, usually dating from mid-1927 to September 1929.Excessive speculation based on high real earnings growth rates from 1921-8, amid a euphoric “new age” for the US economy, has been given as the cause. However, the 1920s witnessed the emergence of new ideas emanating from new research on the long-term returns to common stocks (Smith, 1924). The research identified a large premium on common stocks held over the long term compared to corporate bonds. This, in turn led to the formation of new investment vehicles that aimed to hold diversified stock portfolios over the long run in order to earn the large equity risk premium. Whilst such an approach was capable of earning substantial excess returns over bonds, new ideas derived from the research led to a change in stock valuations. The paper reconstructs fundamental values of NYSE stocks from long run dividend growth and stock volatility data, and demonstrates why such a change in theoretical values was unjustified. Investors switched to valuing stocks according to a new theory, which ignored the compensation for stock return volatility, which made up the Equity Risk Premium (ERP), on the assumption that “retained earnings” were the source of the observed ERP. |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fmg:fmgsps:sp218&r=hme |
| By: | Steven J. Lade; Alessandro Tavoni; Simon A. Levin; Maja Schlüter |
| Abstract: | Ecological regime shifts are rarely purely ecological. Not only is the regime shift frequently triggered by human activity, but the responses of relevant actors to ecological dynamics are often crucial to the development and even existence of the regime shift. Here,we show that the dynamics of human behaviour in response to ecological changes can be crucial in determining the overall dynamics of the system. We find a social-ecological regime shift in a model of harvesters of a common-pool resource who avoid over-exploitation of the resource by social ostracism of non-complying harvesters. The regime shift, which can be triggered by several different drivers individually or also in combination, consists of a breakdown of the social norm, sudden collapse of co-operation and an over-exploitation of the resource. We use the approach of generalised modelling to study the robustness of the regime shift to uncertainty over the specific forms of model components such as the ostracism norm and the resource dynamics. Importantly, the regime shift in our model does not occur if the dynamics of harvester behaviour are not included in the model. Finally, we sketch some possible early warning signals for the social-ecological regime shifts we observe in the models. |
| Date: | 2013–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lsg:lsgwps:wp105&r=hme |