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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2015‒02‒11
28 papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Cogliano, Jonathan F.; Veneziani, Roberto; Yoshihara, Naoki |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses the equilibrium dynamics of exploitation and class in general accumulation economies with population growth, technical change, and bargaining by adopting a novel computational approach. First, the determinants of the emergence and persistence of exploitation and class are investigated, and the role of labour-saving technical change and, even more importantly, power is highlighted. Second, it is shown that the concept of exploitation provides the foundations for a logically coherent and empirically relevant analysis of inequalities and class relations in advanced capitalist economies. An index that identi es the exploitation level, or intensity of each individual can be de ned and its empirical distribution studied using the standard tools developed in the theory of inequality measurement. |
| Keywords: | Exploitation, class, accumulation, simulation |
| JEL: | B51 D63 C63 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hit:hituec:621&r=hme |
| By: | Géraldine THIRY (UNIVERSITE CATHOLIQUE DE LOUVAIN, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES)); Philippe ROMAN (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Centre International REEDS) |
| Abstract: | L'Indice de richesse inclusive est issu de la théorie économique standard de la soutenabilité, entendue comme préservation d'une somme pondérée de capitaux censés contribuer au bien-être intergénérationnel. Cet indicateur semble voué à occuper une place importante dans la poursuite d'un développement soutenable, notamment dans les pays en développement. Si l'indicateur séduit par son élégance et sa portée, il n'en pose pas moins des problèmes méthodologiques, épistémologiques et politiques majeurs. Nous proposons une analyse critique de l'indicateur et du cadre théorique sur lequel il s'appuie, en mettant l'accent sur l'économicisme qui le caractérise sous les dehors d'une théorie rénovée et débarrassée de ses oripeaux néoclassiques les plus injustifiables. The Inclusive Wealth Index (IWI) is built upon mainstream sustainability economics, where sustainability is defined as a weighted sum of capital assets according to their supposed contribution to intergenerational wellbeing. The IWI will likely play an important role in the pursuit of sustainable development. While the IWI's elegance and scope are attractive features, major methodological, epistemological and political problems remain. We critically assess the indicator and its underlying theoretical framework. We specifically address the economism of a framework that seems relieved of its most unwarranted neoclassical assumptions. |
| Keywords: | indicateurs de soutenabilité, indicateur de richesse inclusive, économie écologique, économicisme,nouvelle économie des ressources sustainability indicators, inclusive wealth index, ecological economics, economism, new resource economics |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2015001&r=hme |
| By: | Mongin , Philippe; Cozic , Mikaël |
| Abstract: | Nudge is a semantically multifarious concept that originates in Thaler and Sunstein's (2008) popular eponymous book. In one of its senses, it is a policy for redirecting an agent's choices by only slightly altering his choice conditions, in another sense, it is concerned with bounded rationality as a means of the policy, and in still another sense, it is concerned with bounded rationality as an obstacle to be removed by the policy, when the latter has a benevolent aim. The paper centres on the interrelations, both semantic and factual, of these three nudge concepts. It argues that the first and second are basically disconnected on Thaler and Sunstein's major examples of nudges, and that this has gone unnoticed to them because they wrongly equate the second with the third concept, and also because they overestimate the explanatory power of behavioural economics, compared with that of classical rational choice theory, to account for successful interventions. After completing this analysis, the paper moves to some of the normative issues raised by Thaler and Sunstein. Their thought-provoking claim that liberalism and paternalism can be reconciled within one and the same doctrine of social ethics - libertarian paternalism – has been subjected to thorough philosophical criticism. Rather than following this abstract line, the paper takes the shortcut of arguing that Thaler and Sunstein lose their best defence of libertarian paternalism after the nudge concepts are disentangled. They had effectively based their case on the view that slight interventions could have powerful effects through a clever use of bounded rationality, and it has been shown that the latter is not really at work in the interventions they consider. The paper finally concludes that the three nudge concepts are worth pursuing, though independently of each other, and in particular that the third one, which involves correcting the pitfalls of bounded rationality, should receive sustained attention from policy analysts. |
| Keywords: | nudge; liberal paternalism; policy analysis; law and economics; behavioural economics; rational choice theory; Thaler and Sunstein |
| JEL: | D03 D18 D70 K32 K39 M38 |
| Date: | 2014–10–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:1067&r=hme |
| By: | Pieter H.M. RUYS (Law Department of the Polytechnic Institute of Oporto/ISCAP/CECEJ, CIRIEC-Portugal, Portugal) |
| Abstract: | One of the main unresolved issues is the way on which a social enterprise can be embedded in a market economy. That problem is approached here by offering a sound foundation for social-economic modeling with private, non-profit and public sectors.An enterprise, being a nexus of relations, is described and analyzed as an operator, an Actor, which governs the interaction between its relational production factors. Each factor consists of characteristic relational capacities that together determine the identity of an enterprise. By going to the limit of these capacities, and by treating behavioral and positional concepts on an equal footing, one arrives at a generic perspectives structure that orients an enterprise, or any other actor, towards its future. The operator’s generic goal is to enhance its relational capacity, based on improvements of the realizations of the perspectives in terms of values and resources. By endowing this structure with institutional characteristics, an Institutional Design Map is constructed. By ordering institutional factors with in layers with increasing sophistication, market behavior by ‘Econ’s can be distinguished from relational behavior by ‘Human’s, using the terminology introduced by Kahneman. Combining the two, private, social, and public enterprises are identified and conditions for their performance are derived. These enterprises are embedded in an institutional framework, the social economy. A blueprint is presented in which questions as: who owns, who supervises, and who finances social enterprises, are discussed. The introduction of an actor as the basic building stone for the social sciences is based on the mathematical tools, such as projective and convex geometry; it offers as a magnifier glass many opportunities for analysis and can be applied to a great variety of concepts, from micro entrepreneurial behavior to properties macroeconomic systems. |
| Keywords: | Institutional Design, Ordering Values, Multilayered Rule rationality, Cooperatives; Sector Policy. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:crc:wpaper:1413&r=hme |
| By: | Roger E. Backhouse; Beatrice Cherrier |
| Abstract: | Abstract: This paper conjectures that economics has changed profoundly since the 1970s and that these changes involve a new understanding of the relationship between theoretical and applied work. Drawing on an analysis of John Bates Clark medal winners, it is suggested that the discipline became more applied, applied work be ing accorded a higher st atus in relation to pure theory than was previously the case. Discussing new types of applied work, the changing context of applied work, and new sites for applied work, the paper outlines a research agenda that will test the conjecture that there has been a changed understanding of the nature of applied work and hence of economics itself. |
| Keywords: | Applied economics, theory, Clark Medal, JEL codes, core, policy, computation, data, econometrics |
| JEL: | A10 B20 B40 C00 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hec:heccee:2014-15&r=hme |
| By: | Patrick McGovern |
| Abstract: | Despite significant achievements in empirical research, considerable unease exists about the lack of conceptual and theoretical debate within the sociology of work. One potentially significant problem is the uncritical use of concepts that have their origins in Marxism and purport to explain the essential features of the employment relationship. Using evidence from a systematic review of four highly ranked British journals I chart the growing influence of the concept of contradiction, notably within the labour process perspective where it has become a key concept, especially in relation to the problem of labour control. In spite of its popularity, I argue that the concept contains two sets of flaws. The first set, which relate to its utility as a concept, include problems of logic, differentiation and operationalization. The second set relate to the substantive use of the concept, especially its dependence on supporting assumptions, and its expectation of social change. The article concludes by calling for a moratorium on further usage. |
| Keywords: | concept redundancy; concept stretching; contradiction; labour control; labour process; Marxism; qualitative research |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2014–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:45188&r=hme |
| By: | Mehrpouya , Afshin |
| Abstract: | Meaning work is a key category of institutional work, which aims at maintaining or changing of field-level meanings. Mobilizing institutional analysis of field level change processes and the social movement framing literature, this study conceptualizes the types of meaning work that actor at the boundary of a social movement and the incumbent field undertake in the process of “mainstreaming”. Mainstreaming in this paper is defined as a process whereby a social movement succeeds in diffusing its norms, values or practices across the wider incumbent field. During the past few decades, socially responsible investment (SRI) has shifted from being a marginal, religious, mostly US-based movement to an influential international movement, which has succeeded in mobilizing a large number of incumbent investors and financial organizations. Based on a multi-stage qualitative analysis of the SRI field during the past 50 years, this study first establishes the structural changes that define a field undergoing mainstreaming. It then introduces propositions regarding links between these field-level changes and the meaning work that actors at the boundary between a social movement and the incumbent field undertake. |
| Keywords: | field; social movements; framing; institutions; socially responsible investment; meaning |
| Date: | 2014–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ebg:heccah:1061&r=hme |
| By: | Meier zu Selhausen, Felix; Weisdorf, Jacob |
| Abstract: | The colonial legacy of African underdevelopment is widely debated but hard to document. We use occupational statistics from Protestant marriage registers of historical Kampala to investigate the hypothesis that African gender inequality and female disempowerment are rooted in colonial times. We find that the arrival of Europeans in Uganda ignited a century-long transformation of Kampala involving a gender Kuznets curve. Men rapidly acquired literacy and quickly found their way into white-collar (high-status) employment in the wage economy built by the Europeans. Women took somewhat longer to obtain literacy and considerably longer to enter into white-collar and waged work. This led to increased gender inequality during the first half of the colonial period. But gender inequality gradually declined during the latter half of the colonial era, and after Uganda’s independence in 1962 its level was not significantly different from that of pre-colonial times. Our data also support Boserup’s view that gender inequality was rooted in indigenous social norms: daughters of African men who worked in the traditional, informal economy were less well educated, less frequently employed in formal work, and more often subjected to marital gender inequality than daughters of men employed in the modernized, formal economy created by the Europeans. |
| Keywords: | Africa; church books; colonialism; development; female disempowerment; gender discrimination; gender inequality; missionaries; Uganda |
| JEL: | J12 J16 N37 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:10333&r=hme |
| By: | Kosnik, Lea-Rachel |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the results of a text based exploratory study of over 20,000 academic articles published in seven top research journals from 1960-2010. The goal is to investigate the general research foci of economists over the last fifty years, how (if at all) they have changed over time, and what trends (if any) can be discerned from a broad body of the top academic research in the field. Of the 19 JEL-code based fields studied in the literature, most have retained a constant level of attention over the time period of this study, however, a notable exception is that of macroeconomics which has undergone a significantly diminishing level of research attention in the last couple of decades, across all the journals under study; at the same time, the "microfoundations" of macroeconomic papers appears to be increasing. Other results are also presented. |
| Keywords: | text analysis,economics research,research diversity,topic analysis |
| JEL: | A11 B4 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:20154&r=hme |
| By: | Schnellenbach, Jan |
| Abstract: | Das Konzept des sogenannten "liberalen" oder "libertären" Paternalismus wird in der akademischen Debatte zunehmend kontrovers diskutiert und findet gleichzeitig immer mehr das Interesse politischer Praktiker. Dieser Beitrag argumentiert, dass es sich beim neuen Paternalismus nicht um ein liberales Konzept handelt. Zunächst wird in einer kurzen theoriegeschichtlichen Zusammenfassung gezeigt, welchen Weg die Ökonomik von traditionellen homo oeconomicus zur modernen Verhaltensökonomik zurückgelegt hat und wieso aus dieser heutigen Perspektive die Frage nach der Effizienz paternalistischer Interventionen naheliegend ist. Darauf aufbauend werden grundsätzliche Probleme paternalistischer Ansätze diskutiert und es wird gezeigt, dass diese Ansätze mit zwei fundamentalen Eigenschaften einer liberalen Politik nicht vereinbar sind, nämlich dem Respekt für die Autonomie heterogener Individuen und der Offenheit für ökonomischen und gesellschaftlichen Wandel. |
| Abstract: | The concept of libertarian paternalism is already the subject of an increasingly intense academic debate. At the same time, it is gaining popularity among political practitioners. This paper argues that, contrary to its own claims, libertarian paternalism conflicts with basic principles of classical liberalism. The paper starts with a short summary of the development economics has taken from classical homo economicus to modern behavioral economics, and goes on to show why the search for efficient paternalist interventions is seemingly plausible from the perspective of behavioral economics. The argument continues with a discussion of some fundamental problems of libertarian paternalism, and it is shown that paternalism, also of the libertarian kind, is conflicting with two tenets of classical liberalism: autonomy of heterogeneous individuals and openness for long-term processes of economic and societal change. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:aluord:1501&r=hme |
| By: | Ardjan Gazheli; Miklós Antal; Jeroen van den Bergh |
| Abstract: | In this paper we present a sector-based approach to investigate whether green growth – combining economic growth with environmental sustainability – is feasible. Our approach considers the relation between on the one hand carbon dioxide emissions per dollar of output (what we will call carbon intensity) and on the other growth in economic output and labor productivity, at the level of production sectors. Carbon intensity (CI) is calculated in two ways: as direct CO2 emissions from each sector, which can be seen to immediately result from the processes in the respective sector; and as total, direct plus indirect, emissions, by using environmentally-extended input-output tables. The analysis covers Denmark, Germany and Spain for the period 1995-2007. We calculate correlations over time between sectoral CIs and a range of economic indicators: sectoral total and relative output, final demand, value added, and so-called output and valued-added productivity indicators, and their change. The findings are similar for the two types of CI indicators. The bad news for green growth is that relatively clean sectors do not seem to be more productive than dirtier ones, and neither show higher productivity growth. Sectors associated with high carbon intensity grew more in absolute terms than those with low carbon intensity. The share of these sectors increased suggesting that green growth requires a very rapid pace of decarbonization, or the economy as a whole to shrink. Longer-term sectoral growth on the other hand, as expressed by a change in value added, does not seem to be positively correlated with carbon intensity. |
| Keywords: | CO2 emissions, Climate change, Green growth, Labor productivity, Production sectors, World Input-output Database |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feu:wfewop:y:2015:m:1:d:0:i:81&r=hme |
| By: | Humphries, Jane (Oxford University); Weisdorf, Jacob (Odense and CEPR) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents two wage series for unskilled English women workers from 1260 to 1850, the first based on daily wages and the second on the remuneration per day implied in annual service contracts. These two series are compared and the series for women’s daily wages is also compared with evidence for men, revealing interesting trends in the gender gap. These comparisons inform several recent debates first whether or not “the golden age of the English peasantry” included women; and, second whether or not protoindustrialization and early industrialization provided women with greater opportunities. Our contributions to these debates have implications for wider analyses of growth and wellbeing. For example, historians have argued that the rise in wages that followed the Black Death enticed female servants to delay marriage so contributing to a European Marriage Pattern, a demographic regime believed to enable modern economic growth. However, our findings suggest that servants did not benefit much in the post-plague era and so offers little in support of a ‘girl-powered’ economic breakthrough in England. Similarly, historians have hypothesized that high wages in the eighteenth century explain the labour-saving technological changes which kick-started the industrial revolution and, recently, that women shared in these high wages. Again our findings suggest a less rosy scenario with women who were unable to commit to full-time work losing ground relative to men and to their less constrained peers; such women fell increasingly adrift from any High Wage Economy. |
| Keywords: | Black Death; England; gender wage gap; industrial revolution; wages; women. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:2015&r=hme |
| By: | Herzner, Alexander |
| Abstract: | Der Shared Value Ansatz ist ein aktueller Versuch eine Brücke zwischen Unternehmertum und unternehmerischer Verantwortung zu bilden. Dabei stellt sich die Frage, in welchem Verhältnis Nachhaltigkeit und Ökonomie stehen. Dieser Beitrag diskutiert dieses Verhältnis und sucht eine Antwort auf das Grundprinzip für Nachhaltigkeit und Ökonomie. |
| Abstract: | The Shared Value approach is a current test to bridge the gap between business and corporate responsibility. The question behind is about the relationship of sustainability and economics. This paper discuss the principles of sustainability and economics to find the relationship. |
| Keywords: | Ökonomie,Nachhaltigkeit,Verantwortung,Sustainability |
| JEL: | A12 A13 M14 Q01 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hawdps:46&r=hme |
| By: | Yeva Nersisyan |
| Abstract: | Before the global financial crisis, the assistance of a lender of last resort was traditionally thought to be limited to commercial banks. During the crisis, however, the Federal Reserve created a number of facilities to support brokers and dealers, money market mutual funds, the commercial paper market, the mortgage-backed securities market, the triparty repo market, et cetera. In this paper, we argue that the elimination of specialized banking through the eventual repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act (GSA) has played an important role in the leakage of the public subsidy intended for commercial banks to nonbank financial institutions. In a specialized financial system, which the GSA had helped create, the use of the lender-of-last-resort safety net could be more comfortably limited to commercial banks. However, the elimination of GSA restrictions on bank-permissible activities has contributed to the rise of a financial system where the lines between regulated and protected banks and the so-called shadow banking system have become blurred. The existence of the shadow banking universe, which is directly or indirectly guaranteed by banks, has made it practically impossible to confine the safety to the regulated banking system. In this context, reforming the lender-of-last-resort institution requires fundamental changes within the financial system itself. |
| Keywords: | Banks; Central Banking; Deregulation; Federal Reserve; Financial Crises; Glass-Steagall Act; Lender of Last Resort; Minsky; Regulation; Securitization; Shadow Banking |
| JEL: | B50 E50 E58 G10 G18 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_829&r=hme |
| By: | Nikos Nikiforakis (Department of Economics, The University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia; CNRS, Groupe dAnalyse et de Théorie Economique, 93, Chemin des Mouilles, 69130 Ecully, France; Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods, Kurt Schumacher Strasse 10, 53113 Bonn, Germany); Jörg Oechssler (Department of Economics, University of Heidelberg, Bergheimer Str. 58, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany); Anwar Shah (School of Economics, Quaid-I-Azam University, 45320 Islamabad, Pakistan) |
| Abstract: | The power to coerce workers is important for the e¢ cient operation of hierarchically structured organizations. However, this power can also be used by managers to exploit their subordinates for their own benefit. We examine the relationship between the power to coerce and exploitation in a laboratory experiment where a senior and a junior player interact repeatedly for a finite number of periods. We find that senior players try repeatedly to use their power to exploit junior workers. These attempts are successful only when junior workers have incomplete information about how their e¤ort impacts on the earnings of senior players, but not when they have complete information. Evidence from an incentive-compatible questionnaire indicates that the social acceptability of exploitation depends on whether the junior worker can detect she is being exploited. We also show how a history of exploitation affects future interactions. |
| Keywords: | coercion, exploitation, disobedience, hierarchy, social norms |
| JEL: | C91 C72 D74 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1434&r=hme |
| By: | Javier Iguíñiz Echeverría (Departamento de Economía - Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú) |
| Abstract: | Los términos inclusión social, y su opuesto, exclusión social, tienen muchos significados y dimensiones. Este artículo consta de una parte conceptual y una aplicada. La primera muestra una visión general de las distintas facetas de la inclusión poniendo el acento en su acepción relacional, y la segunda escoge, entre la infinidad de inclusiones posibles, algunas específicas para mostrar de manera sencilla la potencialidad y utilidad práctica del enfoque que proponemos. Para aplicar el enfoque, hemos escogido presentar resultados provenientes de investigación sobre diversos países surgida recientemente y basada en los National Transfers Accounts, sobre la importancia relativa de varias inclusiones bastante inmediatas que son decisivas para la vida humana, como son las que ocurren entre los individuos en sus familias, en las empresas y en las relaciones que se establecen al interior de las programas sociales del Estado. En la parte final de esta parte destacaremos especialmente la inclusión en relaciones familiares comparando distintos países del mundo y explorando sus efectos redistributivos a nivel de país. De este modo, nos aproximamos de manera inicial a los efectos macroeconómicos de descomponer el “hogar” y estudiar sus relaciones internas. JEL Classification-JEL: |
| Keywords: | Inclusion social, inclusion economica, desarrollo economico |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pcp:pucwps:wp00386&r=hme |
| By: | Saul Estrin; Ute Stephan; Sunčica Vujić |
| Abstract: | Based upon unique survey data collected using respondent driven sampling methods, we investigate whether there is a gender pay gap among social entrepreneurs in the UK. We find that women as social entrepreneurs earn 29% less than their male colleagues, above the average UK gender pay gap of 19%. We estimate the adjusted pay gap to be about 23% after controlling for a range of demographic, human capital and job characteristics, as well as personal preferences and values. These differences are hard to explain by discrimination since these CEOs set their own pay. Income may not be the only aim in an entrepreneurial career, so we also look at job satisfaction to proxy for nonmonetary returns. We find female social entrepreneurs to be more satisfied with their job as a CEO of a social enterprise than their male counterparts. This result holds even when we control for the salary generated through the social enterprise. Our results extend research in labour economics on the gender pay gap as well as entrepreneurship research on women’s entrepreneurship to the novel context of social enterprise. It provides the first evidence for a “contented female social entrepreneur” paradox. |
| Keywords: | Social entrepreneur; gender pay gap; social enterprise; earnings; job satisfaction |
| JEL: | J28 J31 J71 L32 |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:60606&r=hme |
| By: | Piritta Sorsa |
| Abstract: | Economic participation of women in the labour force or as entrepreneurs is low compared to peers and has declined over the past decades despite strong growth. The gap with men is over 50%--the largest among key emerging markets. Participation declines with higher education achievements and family incomes. The reasons are complex: socioeconomic and cultural factors are important - family status increases if women stay home, house work has become more attractive than poorly paid market work as husband’s incomes have risen; and safety concerns and poor infrastructure keep women from market work. Nevertheless, high unemployment among educated women and revealed preference for work in surveys indicate that many women would work if conditions improved. Availability of jobs is also an issue as the high growth has not created enough jobs for men and especially for women. <P>Specific gender policies will be needed to enlarge economic opportunities for women and to overcome socioeconomic and cultural barriers. This paper analyses the determinants of low female economic participation and recommends policies for raising it. The paper also estimates long-term growth effects of raising participation with selected policies. More and better jobs for women in India could raise growth by about 2 percentage points a year over time. This Working Paper relates to the 2014 OECD Economic Survey of India (http://www.oecd.org/eco/surveys/economic-survey-india.htm).<P>Rehausser la participation des femmes à l'économie en Inde : Un nouveau moteur de croissance<BR>L’activité économique des femmes, dans la main-d’oeuvre ou comme entrepreneurs, est faible au regard de pays comparables et a diminué ces dix dernières années, malgré une solide croissance. L’écart par rapport au taux d’activité des hommes est supérieur à 50 %, soit le plus élevé parmi les principales économies émergentes. L’activité des femmes diminue à mesure que leur niveau d’instruction et les revenus du ménage augmentent. Les raisons sont complexes et les facteurs socioéconomiques et culturels y jouent un rôle important : en effet, la famille jouit d’un meilleur statut si la femme reste à la maison ; le revenu du mari ayant augmenté, le travail domestique est devenu plus intéressant qu’un travail marchand peu rémunéré ; enfin, des questions de sécurité et la médiocrité des infrastructures empêchent les femmes de travailler. Pour autant, le fort chômage des femmes très diplômées et les préférences professionnelles qu’elles révèlent dans certaines enquêtes indiquent que bon nombre travailleraient si les conditions le permettaient. L’offre d’emplois est également problématique puisque la forte croissance n’a pas créé suffisamment d’emplois pour les hommes et singulièrement, pour les femmes.<P> Des politiques spécifiques en faveur de l’égalité hommes-femmes seront nécessaires pour offrir plus d’opportunités économiques aux femmes et surmonter les obstacles socioéconomiques et culturels. Le présent chapitre analyse les déterminants du faible taux d’activité féminin et recommande des mesures pour l’améliorer. Par ailleurs, il examine les effets sur la croissance à long terme d’une augmentation de l’activité féminine à l’aide de certaines mesures. La création d’emplois plus nombreux et de meilleure qualité pour les femmes en Inde pourrait permettre de gagner deux points de croissance par an au fil du temps. Ce Document de travail se rapporte à l’Étude économique de l’OCDE de l'Inde, 2014 (http://www.oecd.org/fr/economie/etude-e conomique-inde.htm). |
| Keywords: | gender, India, female economic participation, gender equality, égalité des sexes, Inde, participation économique des femmes |
| JEL: | J16 J18 J21 J22 J71 J82 J83 |
| Date: | 2015–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:ecoaaa:1185-en&r=hme |
| By: | Antoinette Kriel; Sara Randall; Ernestina Coast; Bernadene de Clercq |
| Abstract: | The way in which ‘the household’ is defined and operationalised in surveys and census data collection has long been criticised as unable to adequately capture the complexities of the social units within which people live. In a South African national survey on household wealth (HWS) a definition of the household was used to rep-resent the ways in which South African households arrange themselves financially. Here we report on a qualitative study in which 36 households originally included in the HWS were re-interviewed to collect detailed data on household financial links and dependencies. Households with more complex structures, which represent the majority of household types in South Africa, were very poorly represented, and possible reasons for this are explored. We analyse and discuss the HWS research process in the light of the findings of this study, and propose ways to improve large-scale survey design and data collection, drawing on perspectives from multiple disciplines. |
| Keywords: | quantitative household survey concepts; organisational and structural complexity; representativeness |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:59737&r=hme |
| By: | Gaël Giraud (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | This paper discusses the thesis put forward by Piketty (2014a) stressing the risk of an explosion of wealth inequality because capital accumulates faster than labor income in several countries, especially in the U.US. Although the overall empirical conclusion on the rise of inequalities is indisputable, I point out that the economic modeling underlying this approach exhibits several important shortcomings. Moreover, there are more effective policy recommendations to fight against inequality than the one highlighted in the book —namely, a world-wide global tax on capital. |
| Keywords: | Capital, capitalism, inequality, Kaldor, Solow, capital tax. |
| JEL: | B22 B4 H20 N10 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:14096&r=hme |
| By: | Pauline Grosjean (School of Economics, Australian School of Business, the University of New South Wales); Rose Khattar (School of Economics, Australian School of Business, the University of New South Wales) |
| Abstract: | We document the implications of missing women in the short and long run. We exploit a natural historical experiment, which sent large numbers of male convicts and far fewer female convicts to Australia in the 18th and 19th century. In areas with higher sex ratios, women historically married more, worked less, and were less likely to occupy high-rank occupations. Today, people have more conservative attitudes towards women working, women are still less likely to have high-ranking occupations and earn a lower wage income. We document the role of vertical cultural transmission and of marriage homogamy in sustaining cultural persistence. |
| Keywords: | Culture, gender roles, sex ratio, natural experiment, Australia |
| JEL: | I31 N37 J16 |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2014-29b&r=hme |
| By: | Tiziana Leone; K. S. James; Sabu S. Padmadas |
| Abstract: | To quantify the economic burden of maternal health care services on Indian households and examine the levels of expenditure incurred in public and private health care institutions at the national, state and community levels. Cross-sectional population data from the 2004 National Sample Survey Organisation were used, which considered 9,643 households for the analysis where at least one woman received maternal health care services during the year preceding the survey. Multilevel linear regression techniques were used to estimate the effect of household, cluster and state characteristics on the proportion of maternal health care expenditures over total household expenditures. Over 80 % of households reported paying for maternal health care services, with those using private care facilities paying almost 4 times more than those using public facilities. Multilevel analyses show evidence of high burden of maternal health care expenditures, which varied significantly across states according to the level of health care utilisation, and with considerable heterogeneity at the household and community levels. Maternal health care services in India are offered free at the point of delivery, yet many families face significant out-of-pocket expenditures. The recent governmental policy interventions to encourage institutional births by providing nominal financial assistance is a welcome step but this might not help to compensate mothers for other indirect expenditures, especially those living in rural areas and poorer communities who are increasingly seeking care in private facilities. |
| Keywords: | economic burden; household; maternal health care; out-of-pocket expenditures; public-private |
| JEL: | I11 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:47281&r=hme |
| By: | Kavusan, K. (Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management) |
| Abstract: | As a result of the surging rate of technological innovation in the last decades, firms in high-technology industries increasingly rely on alliances to tap into external knowledge sources and to develop new products and services. While alliances are of vital importance to many firms to develop new capabilities, they also inflict substantial economic costs to firms engaging in these activities, making effective design and management of alliance strategies crucial. Nevertheless, empirical evidence about the specific strategies for firms to benefit from alliances as well as about how firms make alliance formation decisions remains inconclusive. To address these issues, the three studies in this dissertation explore the antecedents and consequences of capability development through alliances in high-technology industries. By illuminating the antecedents and outcomes of different knowledge utilization strategies in alliances, the findings of this dissertation aim to improve the understanding and management of strategic alliances and provide actionable guidelines to managers and other corporate stakeholders in shaping the corporate development strategies of their firms. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tiu:tiutis:8eb736a5-b217-4718-ac13-d8b9759eab74&r=hme |
| By: | Marco Francesconi; Robert A. Pollak; Domenico Tabasso |
| Abstract: | Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS), we make two contributions to the literature on end-of-life transfers. First, we show that unequal bequests are much more common than generally recognized, with one-third of parents with wills planning to divide their estates unequally among their children. These plans for unequal division are particularly concentrated in complex families, that is, families with stepchildren and families with genetic children with whom the parent has had no contact (e.g., children from previous marriages). We find that in complex families past and current contact between parents and children reduces or eliminates unequal bequests. Second, although the literature focuses on the bequest intentions of parents who have made wills, we find that many elderly Americans have not made wills. Although the probability of having a will increases with age, 30 percent of HRS respondents aged 70 and over have no wills. Of HRS respondents who died between 1995 and 2010, 38 percent died intestate (i.e., without wills). Thus, focusing exclusively on the bequest intentions of parents who have made wills provides an incomplete and misleading picture of end-of-life transfers. |
| Keywords: | Bequests, intergenerational transfers, altruism, exchange, evolutionary motives, family structure |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gen:geneem:15013&r=hme |
| By: | Alexander; Yecenia Zambrano |
| Abstract: | A partir de la reconstrucción de la experiencia de los actores vinculados a la cooperativa de lecheros, este trabajo, busca resaltar el aporte del cooperativismo al desarrollo rural mediante un ejercicio participativo, de reflexión y aprendizaje conjunto. Es una investigación cualitativa – descriptiva que se apoya en la aplicación de entrevistas semi-estructuradas dirigidas a algunos asociados y jóvenes pertenecientes a la Cooperativa de Lecheros de Guatavita -COLEGA, en la realización de talleres en grupos y entrevistas a los actores indirectos de la experiencia vinculados a la cooperativa ubicada en el municipio de Guatavita, Colombia. El eje de la sistematización es la identificación de las lecciones aprendidas durante la experiencia, orientadas a contribuir a la sostenibilidad de la misma y servir de referencia a otras cooperativas. Entre los factores de éxito encontrados, destacan la unión y la confianza entre los miembros de la cooperativa y como aspecto a fortalecer se identificó la necesidad de garantizar la continuidad de las actividades que se vienen realizando por la gerencia. Se resaltan las aportaciones en cuanto a desarrollo humano y calidad de vida en la comunidad, teniendo en cuenta aspectos como la vinculación de los jóvenes que se sustenta y evidencia en una base sólida de generación de confianza y administración transparente, en el tejido social creado a partir de la resolución de problemas e intereses colectivos que responde al bienestar, la inclusión social y el desarrollo rural. |
| Keywords: | Desarrollo localSistematización de experienciasDesarrollo humanoCalidad de vida |
| JEL: | O10 O13 Q01 |
| Date: | 2015–01–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000137:012427&r=hme |
| By: | L. Rachel Ngai; Barbara Petrongolo |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the role of the rise of services in the narrowing of gender gaps in hours and wages in recent decades. We document the between-industry component of the rise in female work for the U.S., and propose a model economy with goods, services and home production, in which women have a comparative advantage in producing market and home services. The rise of services, driven by structural transformation and marketization of home production, acts as a gender-biased demand shift raising women's relative wages and market hours. Quantitatively, the model accounts for an important share of the observed trends. |
| Keywords: | gender gaps; structural transformation; marketization |
| JEL: | E24 J16 J22 |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:58152&r=hme |
| By: | Stephen B. Kaplan (Department of Economics/Institute for International Economic Policy, George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | How do economic crisis a§ect national-level policy choices? Are technocratic advisors more likely to enter government during periods of severe economic volatility? If so, how does such governance a§ect economic policymaking and social responsiveness? In this paper, I evaluate the role of technocratic advisors on Latin American reforms. Building on the political psy- chology literature, I argue that collective crisis memories in technocratic communities have a disproportionate inaÌuence on elite-level policymaking. Employing an originally constructed data index, the Index of Economic Advisors, I conduct a large-N cross-national test from 1960-2011 to examine whether economic crises lead to more technocrats serving in presidential cabinets, and Önd that crises often professionalize presidential teams. The statistical results also show that technocratsiÌgovernance approaches are conditioned by the nature of past shocks. An in- aÌationary crisis history makes budget austerity more likely. DeaÌationary spirals have been far less common in Latin America, but comparative case study evidence of Argentina in the early 2000s shows that these shocks often catalyze sustained Öscal expansion. This investigation has signiÖcant implications for the study of democracy and development. Technocratic governance might help provide economic stability following crises, but an enduring political focus on past crises can limit policy aÌexibility and social responsiveness. |
| Keywords: | Political Economy, Development, Austerity, Latin America, Economic Crises, Political Psychology, Technocrats, Fiscal Policy, Macroeconomic Policy |
| JEL: | B22 E31 E60 E62 E65 H30 H60 N16 O54 O57 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2014-18&r=hme |
| By: | Emmanuel O. Nwosu; Anthony Orji; Vivian Nwangwu; Chioma Nwangwu |
| Abstract: | This research investigates whether women entrepreneurs in small and medium-sized enterprise (SMEs) in Nigeria are marginalised in formal credit markets compared to their male counterparts. The study also investigates the impact of credit access on the performance of enterprises. The study uses Nigerian Enterprise Surveys data from 2010 to construct a direct measure of credit constraints in order to address the objectives. A probit credit constraint model was estimated, and nonlinear decomposition methods as well as propensity score matching methods were employed in the analyses. Our results did not show significant discrimination against women in formal credit markets in Nigeria. The results reveal that firms that are not credit constrained in the formal credit market perform measurably better in terms of output, output per worker and the decision to invest/expand, compared to firms that are constrained. Our results also show that access to formal credit by small and medium enterprises in Nigeria is still very low. The policy implications, among others, are that government and monetary authorities should support credit expansion policies for medium and small enterprises by creating an enabling environment for financial intermediation in Nigeria. Also, intervention funds targeted specifically at medium and micro enterprises would help to ease credit constraints. |
| Keywords: | gender, discrimination, credit, constraint, performance, access |
| JEL: | O16 O17 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2015-01&r=hme |