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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2014‒11‒12
seventeen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Cavalieri, Duccio |
| Abstract: | This is an analysis of the present state of the theory of capital. The paper contains a proposal to reformulate this theory in an ‘late-Marxian’ up-to-dated perspective. The central problem discussed is the integration of the theories of value and capital with those of money and finance. An augmented cost-of-production theory of value is advocated. Special attention is focused on the role of Marx’s ‘monetary expression of labour value’ (MEV), rediscovered and unduly modified by neo-Marxists with the purpose to make it compatible with Marx’s labour theory of value. JEL Codes: B12, D46, E11. |
| Keywords: | value; labour; capital; money; critical Marxism; MEV; MELT.; value; |
| JEL: | B12 D46 E11 |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58198&r=hme |
| By: | Estrada, Fernando |
| Abstract: | This article is a tribute to the economist Albert O. Hirschman and their contributions to historical thinking in Colombia, in particular, having a broad impact analysis on the role of rhetoric in political economy. Hirschman distinguished clearly enough the official discourse of power and reaction components in the public debate. Since independence, the revolutionary demonstrations were accompanied by a jealous care of the spoken language, grammar and power. So the recent celebration of two hundred years of independence is really like Hirschman says Two hundred years of reactionary rhetoric. What implications does the model proposed by Hirschman in terms of historiography, political economy and social science analysis today? Our goal is to propose a re-reading this question and others-in terms of the hypotheses proposed by Hirschman. |
| Keywords: | Colombia, Bicentenary of Independence, Albert O Hirschman, German Colmenares |
| JEL: | B0 B1 B15 B3 B41 B5 N96 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58556&r=hme |
| By: | Lapniewska, Zofi |
| Abstract: | This paper concentrates on the three major fields listed in its title: the notion of well-being, the understanding of social development and efforts for gender equality. Due to the complexity and diversity of approaches, all of them are shown in the light of different theories, which to some extent I try to reflect in this paper. Additionally, to meet the goal of the "Gender equality and quality of life" project, that is construction of a new indicator, I summarise the existing indexes on well-being and gender and juxtapose them in tables. This provides readers with a clear picture of the focus areas and development trends of these measures, followed by the message they send. Critical reflection on the presented models and the final discussion might help in future work on quality of life and gender equality issues as well as their measurement and interpretations. |
| JEL: | I31 J16 B54 Z13 |
| Date: | 2014–10–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jmp:jm2014:pla730&r=hme |
| By: | Jael, Paul |
| Abstract: | During the marginalist controversy, full costers failed to convince economists of the superiority of full cost pricing over marginal theory of imperfect competition. The controversy was closed prematurely; various contributions published immediately thereafter in the fifties did not renew the debate despite their relevance. Topics included entry prevention, target rate of profit and the emergence of the market price The present paper shows that the full cost pricing is not so justified by the need for a rule of thumb than as a rational behaviour aiming at long term profit maximisation, especially in the case of highly competitive markets with few suppliers. The paper focuses also on the relationship between full cost pricing and changes in demand (mostly cyclical). It is also shown that the race for performance deserves a central position in the analysis of competition; it is too often neglected in favour of the sole competition on margins. |
| Keywords: | pricing; competition; market structure; full cost |
| JEL: | D22 D40 D49 |
| Date: | 2014–10–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59630&r=hme |
| By: | Acevedo Rueda, Rafael Alexis; Peña, Omaira; Harmath Fernéndez, Pedro Alexander |
| Abstract: | This article discusses the phenomenon of poverty under a multi-method approach. This in principle provides a theoretical tonnage based on the revision of some works by some scholars, who have ventured on the scourge analyzed in some countries including Venezuela, to well, make way for a deeper analysis of the findings from the work of Harmath and Acevedo (2009). The discussion generated in this study, overall reflects the features of poverty in the country, are mainly due to the lack of equitable distribution of resources generated by oil revenues over time, as well as to non-optimal design social strategies to channel the problem under study, from a point of view more "human-cultural" for the purpose of fighting him more deep rooted. |
| Keywords: | multi-method approach, total poverty, Venezuela |
| JEL: | I32 I38 |
| Date: | 2012 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58690&r=hme |
| By: | Havas, Attila |
| Abstract: | Against the backdrop of a strong plea for evidence-based policy, this paper juxtaposes how innovation is analyzed in mainstream economics and evolutionary economics of innovation, as well as their concomitant policy rationales. By discussing the indicators selected for the Innovation Union Scoreboard and another major EU report, it argues that the science-push model of innovation is still highly influential in the EU STI policy circles, despite a rich set of research insights stressing the importance of non-R&D types of knowledge in innovation processes. In conclusion, the chapter highlights the potential drawbacks of the persistent high-tech myth, considers possible reasons for its perseverance and discusses policy implications of the systemic view of innovation. Those include: i) STI policies should promote knowledge-intensive activities in all sectors, including low- and medium-technology industries and services; ii) it is a highly demanding set of tasks to identify systemic failures, devise appropriate policies to tackle those, and organize the required stakeholder dialogues; iii) several policies affect innovation processes and performance, perhaps even more strongly than STI policies, and hence policy goals and tools need to be orchestrated across several policy domains; iv) analysts and policy-makers need to be careful when interpreting their country’s ranking on ‘scoreboards’; v) the choice of an economics paradigm to guide policy evaluation is likely to be decisive. |
| Keywords: | Linear and networked models of innovation; Science-push; Market failure; Evolutionary economics of innovation; Systemic failures; STI policy; Opportunity costs |
| JEL: | B25 O31 O38 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58393&r=hme |
| By: | Xueting Zhao (Regional Research Institute, West Virginia University) |
| Abstract: | This Technical Document describes the steps to disaggregate an industry sector in an I-O table using Python. A disaggregation method that based on weight factors is used in this document. The calculation has three parts. The first part is to calculate the disaggregated input matrix DIM, which represents all the input from common sectors into the new sectors. The second part is to calculate the disaggregated output matrix DOM, which represents all possible output weights of new sectors into common sectors. The last part is to calculate the intra matrix DINM, which represents the allocation of intra-industry sales in the disaggregated sectors. This document states the problem and introduces the calculation method of the paper by Wolsky (1984), then follows with an example based on the data of the paper by Linder et al. (2013). |
| Keywords: | disaggregate, input-output |
| JEL: | C67 Q53 R15 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rri:wpaper:2014td03&r=hme |
| By: | Hirshleifer, David |
| Abstract: | Behavioral finance studies the application of psychology to finance, with a focus on individual-level cognitive biases. I describe here the sources of judgment and decision biases, how they affect trading and market prices, the role of arbitrage and flows of wealth between more rational and less rational investors, how firms exploit inefficient prices and incite misvaluation, and the effects of managerial judgment biases. There is need for more theory and testing of the effects of feelings on financial decisions and aggregate outcomes. Especially, the time has come to move beyond behavioral finance to social finance, which studies the structure of social interactions, how financial ideas spread and evolve, and how social processes affect financial outcomes. |
| Keywords: | Investor psychology, heuristics, overconfidence, attention, feelings, reference dependence, social finance |
| JEL: | G02 G1 G11 G14 G3 |
| Date: | 2014–08–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59028&r=hme |
| By: | Séne, Ligane; Cissé, Momath |
| Abstract: | The majority of African countries, included Senegal, continue to face widespread poverty. The objective of poverty reduction is accompanied by a set of initiatives and programs that might be reflected in the government budget allocation. A crucial point is to explore, in a context of severely limited resources, how to optimize budget allocation between different sectors and therefore get higher impact without necessarily much financial resources. In an effort to inform this discussion, this paper examines the linkage between disaggregated government expenditures and poverty using the most recent poverty monitoring survey in Senegal. Unlike most previous studies, our analysis is based on fuzzy set theory in the aim to find a suitable, complete and reliable way of measuring poverty, to overcome the limitations of one-dimensional framework, and better assess the impact of prior government expenditures. High heterogeneity in poverty appears from the decomposition of the overall poverty by location and by household head’s characteristics. The results from the model elucidate that previous government spending in infrastructure and spending on social development and women entrepreneurship yielded some positive impacts on poverty. These results provide useful policy insights for helping to improve the effectiveness of expenditures in reducing poverty. |
| Keywords: | poverty reduction, fuzzy set, government spending, multidimensional |
| JEL: | H5 I32 I38 |
| Date: | 2014–09–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58602&r=hme |
| By: | Vergés, Joaquim |
| Abstract: | ¿ Las Empresas Públicas funcionan en general con una menor eficiencia que sus equivalentes Privadas, como reza el tópico al respecto? Se trata de un lugar común utilizado profusamente como un axioma indiscutible, principalmente desde posiciones polÃticas conservadoras. Aunque también frecuentemente asumido por publicaciones, comentaristas o polÃticos que no pretenden serlo. A este tópico contribuye, sin duda, que desde la teorÃa económica dominante, la especÃfica ‘teorÃa de los derechos de propiedad’ sostiene en su tesis principal la predicción de que en el caso de una empresa pública la persona que la gestione (Director/a General, o el equipo directivo) será necesariamente menos eficaz que en caso de una empresa privada principalmente porque el sistema de control e incentivos sobre su gestión (por parte de la instancia pública propietaria) será a su vez o inexistente o muy poco eficaz. Independientemente de que las premisas en que se basa tal teorÃa pueda estimarse que no se dan en muchos casos, ¿Qué nos muestra la observación de la realidad? ¿Qué nos dice la evidencia empÃrica sobre tal lugar común respecto a si las empresas públicas son en general o ‘por naturaleza’ menos eficientes? El objetivo del presente trabajo es presentar y analizar la evidencia empÃrica acumulada durante décadas al respecto a escala internacional (apartados 2 y 3). Es decir, estudios empÃricos que tratan de comparar, utilizando ciertos indicadores, la eficiencia de empresas públicas (EP) con la de empresas privadas (PR). Se trata en cualquier caso de investigaciones publicadas en revistas académicas reconocidas internacionalmente, o en publicaciones equivalentes de instituciones económicas como el Banco Mundial, el Banco de España, etc.. Puede anticiparse que entre las conclusiones generales aquà derivadas del análisis de ese conjunto de estudios empÃricos (alrededor de 160) –y expuestas en el apartado 4- destaca la de que en una parte mayoritaria de esos estudios –entre 2/3 y un 58%- sus autores concluyeron que las empresas privadas de la muestra examinada presentaban un mayor nivel de eficiencia -según el indicador utilizado- que en el caso de las empresas públicas incluidas en la muestra. Y que en el resto de los estudios recopilados –entre 1/3 y un 42% de ellos- los autores concluyeron que no detectaron diferencias significativas, o bien que las empresas publicas de la muestra presentaban mejores niveles para los indicadores de eficiencia que los de las privadas con las que se comparaban. Esto permite afirmar pues que la referida predicción de la teorÃa de los derechos de propiedad -sobre que siempre o en general o por naturaleza las empresas públicas serán menos eficientes- no se cumple en la realidad en un número significativo de casos: entre 1/3 y un 42%; (por lo que cabe suponer que tal teorÃa debe estar desde hace tiempo en curso de ser reformulada en las agendas de los correspondientes teóricos). Por otra parte, un análisis más detallado de los 160 estudios referidos -considerando solo aquellos en que consta explÃcitamente que el indicador de eficiencia utilizado para basar las conclusiones no era tipo beneficios (dado sus limitaciones en cuanto a medir la eficiencia, discutidas aquÃ)- permite añadir que la proporción anterior (2/3 - 1/3) pasa al 50-50%: Es decir, igual número de estudios que concluyen que las empresas públicas estudiadas fueron menos eficientes como de estudios que concluyen que no. El presente informe finaliza con un resumen del ‘estado de la cuestión’ según lo anterior (punto 5.1), asà como con un intento de contestar unas peguntas relevantes que tal estado de la cuestión sugieren (punto 5.2): ¿De qué depende que una determinada empresa que, como la EP, no es gestionada por sus propietarios (situación que de hecho es la dominante también en medianas y grandes empresas privadas) sea más o menos eficiente? ¿Cuáles son las condiciones que hacen que esa empresa –sea pública o privada- pueda mejorar su eficiencia? O, visto desde otra perspectiva ¿Cuáles son los ‘defectos’ que explicarÃan una menor eficiencia comparativa -y cuya eliminación permitirÃan que la empresa en cuestión mejorase su eficiencia? Disculpas anticipadas al/a lector/a si encuentra que la respuesta que encontrará al final para tales preguntas no es corta y perfectamente definida sino un tanto compleja. = = Abstract in English: Do the Public Owned Enterprises operate generally with a lower efficiency than their Private equivalents, as the topical on the matter goes? It is certainly a common place, profusely used as an unquestionable axiom, mainly from conservative political positions. Although frequently also assumed by publications, commentators or politicians that do not consider themselves to be so. Of course, It contributes to that topical statement the fact that from the dominant economic theory, the specific one “theory of the property rights†supports in its main thesis the prediction that in the case of a public owned company the person who manages it (President, CEO, or the top-managers team) will be necessarily less effective than in case of a private enterprise; mainly because the control-and-incentive system –which will be applied by the public-property representatives (Administration)- in order to assess and motivate the company’s management will be either nonexistent or very little effective. Independent of the fact that the premises on which is based such prediction can be considered that they do not hold in many cases, What in the end the observation of reality shows to us about? What says to us the empirical evidence on such a common place –regarding if the public owned enterprises (PE) are generally or “by nature†less efficient than the private ones (PR)? The objective of this work is to present and analyze the empirical evidence on the matter that has been accumulated at international scale along last decades (sections 2 and 3): I.e., those empirical studies that try to compare, using certain indicators, the efficiency level of PE with the one of PR. Which means comparative research published in academic internationally-recognized journals, or equivalent publications by economic institutions like the World Bank, the Bank of Spain, etc. It can be anticipated that, among the general conclusions derived here (set out in section 4) from the analysis of the set of available empirical studies (around 160), it highlights the following one: In most of those studies –between 2/3 and 58% of them- their authors concluded that PR enterprises of the samples under analysis presented an efficiency-indicator level better than in the case of the PE in the sample. And that in the remaining compiled studies –between 1/3 and 42%- the authors conclude that they either did not detect significant differences or that the PE in the respective sample presented better indicators of efficiency than the PR they were compared with. This therefore allows to say that the referred prediction of the ‘theory of the property rights’ regarding PE always or in generally or by nature will perform as less efficient, is not fulfilled in the reality for a significant number of cases; (hence, it can be assumed that such theory must be since time ago on the way of being reformulated –as a task in the agendas of the corresponding theoreticians). On the other hand, a more detailed analysis of the referred 160 studies –by considering just those in which it is sure that the efficiency indicator used for drawing the conclusions was not benefits-type (because its limitations for efficiency measures, here discussed), allows to add that the above proportion (2/3 - 1/3) happens to change to 50-50%: That is, the same number of studies concluding that PE companies were less efficient, that studies concluding they do not. The present report finalizes with a summary on the “state of the question†according to the evidence presented and discussed (point 5,1), as well with an attempt to answer some relevant questions aroused by such state of the art (point 5,2). Thus: What it makes that a certain company, like a PE, which is not managed by its proprietors (a situation which is in fact dominant also among middle and large private enterprises), be more or less efficient? Which are the conditions that make that company – be it public or private- may improve its efficiency? Or, from another perspective, which are the shortcomings that would explain a lower comparative efficiency (and whose elimination would allow the referred company to improve its efficiency)? Apologies in advance to the reader if s/he feels that the answers to such questions that s/he will find at the end are not short and clear-cut but somewhat complex. |
| Keywords: | Eficiencia de las empresas públicas / Public-owned enterprises' efficiency, Eficiencia comparativa Empresa Pública vs. Empresa privada / Comparative efficiency of public-oned vs. private-owned enterprises. Medida de la eficiencia productiva / Measuring companies' productive efficiency |
| JEL: | D22 H42 H44 L21 L32 L33 M21 |
| Date: | 2014–09–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:58816&r=hme |
| By: | Kunze, Astrid (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | This study investigates whether and when during the life cycle women fall behind in terms of career progression because of children. We use 1987-1997 Norwegian panel data that contain information on individuals’ position in their career hierarchy as well as a direct measure of their promotions. We measure overall promotions as increases in rank within the same establishment as well as in combination with an establishment change. Women with children are 1.6 percentage points less likely promoted than women without children; this is what we refer to as the family gap in climbing the career. We find that mothers tend to enter on lower ranks than non-mothers. 37 percent of the gap can be explained by rank fixed effects and human capital characteristics. A large part remains unexplained. Graphical analyses show that part of the difference already evolves during the early career. Part of this seems related to the relatively low starting ranks. |
| Keywords: | Promotion; women; family gap; human capital; organizational hierarchy; decomposition. |
| JEL: | J10 J60 M50 |
| Date: | 2014–08–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2014_029&r=hme |
| By: | Maarten van 't Riet; Arjan Lejour |
| Abstract: | With a novel approach this paper sheds light on the international tax planning possibilities of multinationals. The international corporate tax system is considered a network, just like for transportation, and ‘shortest’ paths are computed, minimizing tax payments for the multinationals when repatriating profits. Read the accompanying press release and� background document . The network consists of 108 jurisdictions, and the ‘shortest’ paths are constructed from the rates of corporate income taxes, withholding taxes on dividends and the double taxation relief methods. Double taxation treaties typically lower bilateral withholding taxes. The possibility to funnel investments through a third country to take advantage of treaty provisions, treaty shopping, is found to lead to an average potential reduction of the combined effective tax rate of more than 6 percent. On average, multinationals need only pay taxes of 6 percent, after the corporate income tax in the host country. Moreover, the network approach identifies the countries which are most likely to perform the role of conduits. The United Kingdom heads the rankings of three out of four network centrality measures. The tax revenues on dividends for the conduit countries are less than a half percent of the worldwide flows. Finally, a crackdown on tax havens is simulated. The impact is found to be modest, both on the tax reduction and on network centrality. The result illustrates the strong dampening effect treaty shopping has on the remaining double tax rates. |
| JEL: | F23 H25 H26 H87 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpb:discus:290&r=hme |
| By: | Elisa (Fondazione Eni Enrico Mattei (FEEM) and Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Venice, Italy) |
| Abstract: | The years-long negotiations on an international mechanism for loss and damage (L&D) associated with climate change impacts got to a milestone during the nineteenth session of the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP-19), held in Warsaw in November 2013. The COP established the Warsaw international mechanism, aiming to address L&D associated with the adverse effects of climate change, including extreme events and slow onset events, in vulnerable developing countries (Decision 2/CP.19). The paper performs a Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of COP decision 2/CP.19 in order to evaluate its content and reflect on how the mechanism will be implemented. The analysis builds on Fairclough’s (1992) three-dimensional model for CDA, and makes use of a wide range of materials including previous COP decisions, High Level Segment statements and Parties submissions to COP 19, press releases and other relevant documents. The analysis highlights the lack of a common understanding and representation of L&D by developed and developing countries, with this fact ultimately hampering the possibility to define actual tools to address the issue within the mechanism The difficulty to come to a shared meaning on L&D is due to its connection to other controversial discourses under the UNFCCC: those of attribution, liability and compensation. |
| JEL: | F13 F18 F51 K33 Q37 |
| Date: | 2014–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fem:femwpa:2014.84&r=hme |
| By: | Luisa Natali; Goran Holmqvist; UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the use of Gallup World Poll Data to assess the impact of the Great Recession on various dimensions of well-being in 41 OECD and/or EU countries from 2007 up until 2013. It should be read as a complementary background paper to the UNICEF Report Card which explores trends in child well-being in EU/OECD countries since 2007/8. Overall the findings provide clear indications that the crisis has had an impact across a number of self-reported dimensions of well-being. Indeed, a strong correlation between the intensity of the recession and the worsening of people’s perceptions about their own life is recorded since 2007. Data also indicate that the impact has still not peaked in a number of countries where indicators were still deteriorating as late as 2013. A “League Table” is also presented where countries are ranked in terms of change between 2007 and 2013 for four selected Gallup World Poll indicators related material well-being, perceptions of how society treats its children, health and subjective well-being. |
| Keywords: | child well-being; economic crisis; indicators; surveys; |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ucf:inwopa:inwopa728&r=hme |
| By: | Dewandaru, Ginanjar; Rizvi, Syed Aun; Sarkar, Kabir; Bacha, Obiyathulla; Masih, Mansur |
| Abstract: | In theory, the price of equity is determined by the dividend yields and growth potentials of the firms. There exists established empirical proof of the impact of macroeconomic changes to the equity markets. With the advent of Islamic equities, and the recent surge of interest in them have raised the question of whether the same theoretical framework and relationship be considered for Shariah compliant equities or not. This study explores the impact of macroeconomic changes on Islamic and conventional indices for a large set of 37 countries, classifying them according to developed and emerging countries. The study finds a higher impact of Industrial production on the Islamic equities, while the interest rate and money supply have a lesser impact as compared to the impact on conventional counterparts. This lends support to the argument that Shariah screening methodology provides a set of Islamic equities which are more founded on the real sector of the economy. In addition the adjustment process during the crisis is faster for the Islamic equities in both regions. These results provide initial empirical proof for further research on the impact of specific economic variables on the changes in Islamic equity prices. |
| Keywords: | Islamic finance, Stock Market, Equity, Emerging Countries |
| JEL: | C22 C58 E44 G15 |
| Date: | 2014–05–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59587&r=hme |
| By: | Pongou, Roland; Serrano, Roberto |
| Abstract: | More than half of the HIV/AIDS-infected population today are women. We study a dynamic model of (in)fidelity, which explains the HIV/AIDS gender gap by the configuration of sexual networks. Each individual desires sexual relationships with opposite sex individuals. Two Markov matching processes are defined, each corresponding to a different culture of gender relations. The first process leads to egalitarian pairwise stable networks in the long run, and HIV/AIDS is equally prevalent among men and women. The second process leads to anti-egalitarian pairwise stable networks reflecting male domination, and women bear a greater burden. The results are consistent with empirical observations. |
| Keywords: | Fidelity networks, contagion index, HIV/AIDS, gender gap |
| JEL: | A1 A10 A13 C7 C73 C78 I1 I12 J1 J16 O1 |
| Date: | 2013–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:47232&r=hme |
| By: | Berliant, Marcus; Watanabe, Hiroki |
| Abstract: | Zipf’s law is one of the best-known empirical regularities in urban economics. There is extensive research on the subject, where each city is treated symmetrically in terms of the cost of transactions with other cities. Recent developments in network theory facilitate the examination of an asymmetric transport network. In a scale-free network, the chance of observing extremes in network connections becomes higher than the Gaussian distribution predicts and therefore it explains the emergence of large clusters. The city-size distribution shares the same pattern. This paper decodes how accessibility of a city to other cities on the transportation network can boost its local economy and explains the city-size distribution as a result of its underlying transportation network structure. |
| Keywords: | Zipf’s law; City-size distribution; Scale-free network |
| JEL: | R12 R40 |
| Date: | 2014–10–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:59448&r=hme |