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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2015‒06‒27
23 papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Iqbal A. Syed (School of Economics and CAER, UNSW Business School, UNSW) |
| Abstract: | This paper develops an algorithm, called the sales spotter, which identifies the sale prices in the transaction price series provided in point-of-sale data. The goal of the sales spotter is to identify the maximum number of sale prices while minimizing the incorrect attribution of non-sale price reductions to sale prices. The spotter is developed and the values of its parameters are selected by analysing around 7.5 million agged sales in a US supermarket scanner data. At the optimal values of the parameters, the spotter identifies 84% of authentic agged sale weeks in the data. |
| Keywords: | Keynes, post-Keynesians, methodology, path dependency, economic policy |
| JEL: | E30 M37 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2015-13&r=hme |
| By: | J. -F. Mercure; H. Pollitt; A. M. Bassi; J. E Vi\~nuales; N. R. Edwards |
| Abstract: | Policy-makers currently face unprecedented challenges and uncertainty when taking decisions that simultaneously affect economic development, technology and the environment. It is not clear to policy-makers how to reconcile economic policy supporting growth with climate change mitigation, and it is not clear how effective policies are likely to be. This paper argues that informing policy-making using conventional equilibrium or optimisation modelling of technology and economics is not fine-grained enough to capture the complexities of real-world human behaviour and its diversity, leaving a wide uncertainty gap for policy-making. We suggest that the use of a dynamical methodology involving complexity science coupled to behavioural science with sophisticated uncertainty analysis can provide appropriate tools to better understand policy issues in sectors that involve a high degree of interaction (collective effects) or differentiation (agent heterogeneity/diversity) between agents. We argue that a better representation in models of these complex feedbacks between three critical interrelated areas could enable a paradigm shift for our understanding of how these aspects work together: technological change, the macroeconomy, and the natural environment. We identify four areas of environmental policy where the high degree of agent interactions and/or behavioural diversity makes their analysis impractical/inconsistent. These are (1) the effectiveness of policy for emissions reductions in consumer based sectors (2) the analysis of green growth, (3) cascading uncertainty across models and (4) cross-sectoral impacts of sector specific policies (e.g. biofuels). We suggest how a wider adoption of this approach could lead to a step change in our ability to address the complex policy problems raised by sustainability transitions. |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1506.07432&r=hme |
| By: | Grillitsch, Markus (CIRCLE, Lund University); Asheim, Björn (CIRCLE, Lund University; UiS Business School/Centre for Innovation Research, University of Stavanger; BI Norwegian Business School, Oslo) |
| Abstract: | The literature on cluster evolution suggests that heterogeneity of firm capabilities and openness of network structures are essential for the renewal of mature and declining clusters. This paper argues that the regional and institutional context in which clusters are embedded plays an important role for the renewal of clusters. It elaborates how the integration of institutional variety can stimulate the combination of different types of knowledge, learning and modes of innovation, thereby promoting cluster renewal. The conceptual argument is illustrated with a case study of the maritime cluster in Møre and Romsdal, Norway, which is one of the globally leading clusters in this industry. We find that key actors and policy play an important role in integrating institutional variety. Additionally, the case shows that institutional variety and the integration thereof can be a driving force for cluster renewal even in specialized and semi-peripheral locations. |
| Keywords: | cluster policy; institutions; path-renewal; path-creation; manufacturing; periphery |
| JEL: | B52 O10 O30 R30 R50 |
| Date: | 2015–06–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:lucirc:2015_021&r=hme |
| By: | Vermeulen, Ben; Pyka, Andreas |
| Abstract: | Ever since the emergence of economics as a distinct scientific discipline, policy makers have turned to economic models to guide policy interventions. If policy makers seek to enhance growth of an open capitalist economy, they have to take into account, firstly, the uncertainties, inefficiencies, and market failures faced by the agents in the economy, and, secondly, the activities, network structure, and interactions in the innovation & production system. The authors discuss ins-and-outs of developing and using (encompassing and empirically calibrated) agent-based models for (i) abductive theorizing about causes for empirical realities, and (ii) evaluating effects of policy interventions. To ensure that derived policies are suitable to intervene in the real world and not just the stylization of it, they discuss validity and operationalization of agent-based models as well as interpretation of simulation results. |
| Keywords: | decision making,uncertainty,rationality,agent-based model,policy instrument,innovation economics,Schumpeter |
| JEL: | B52 C63 D81 O32 P10 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ifwedp:201545&r=hme |
| By: | Krumm, Raimund; Volkert, Jürgen |
| Abstract: | Ziel dieses GeNECA-Diskussionspapiers ist eine Analyse der Realisierbarkeit intra- und intergenerativer Gerechtigkeit aus ökonomischer Perspektive sowie hierauf aufbauender inhaltlicher und methodischer Schlussfolgerungen. Hierzu erörtern wir im zweiten Kapitel zunächst Kontext und Bedeutung des öffentlichen Vernunftgebrauchs ('public reasoning') im Rahmen demokratischer Institutionen und Prozesse für die Verwirklichung intra- und intergenerativer Gerechtigkeit. Im Anschluss daran skizzieren wir in Kapitel 3 in notwendigerweise knapper Form Grundzüge von John Rawls Theorie der Gerechtigkeit als Fairness, die wir im weiteren Verlauf als Referenzkonzeption für Gerechtigkeitsurteile heranziehen. Verletzungen intra- und intergenerativer Gerechtigkeit sind nicht selten Ergebnis politischer Wettbewerbsprozesse. Mehr als der Capability-Ansatz hat sich die ökonomische Public Choice-Theorie, über die wir in Kapitel 3 ebenfalls einen kurzen Überblick geben, mit Anreizen, Akteuren und Ergebnissen des politischen Wettbewerbs auseinandergesetzt. Hierauf aufbauend erörtern wir in Kapitel 4 Untersuchungen, Vorgehensweisen und Ergebnisse des Public Choice-Ansatzes zu Fragen intragenerativer Gerechtigkeit von finanzieller Umverteilungspolitik, Bildungspolitik sowie Umweltpolitik. In Kapitel 5 diskutieren wir sodann Public Choice-Analysen und besondere Herausforderungen intergenerativer Gerechtigkeit. Besondere Berücksichtigung finden dabei die Budgetpolitik und Staatsverschuldung sowie die Umweltpolitik. Im weiteren, abschließenden Hauptkapitel 6 fassen wir die zentralen Positionen und Ergebnisse der Public Choice-Theorie zunächst noch einmal zusammen (6.1). Deutlich wird, dass die Realisierung intra- und intergenerativer Gerechtigkeit aus der Public Choice-Perspektive höchst unwahrscheinlich ist. Ein Grund hierfür ist einerseits die Stärke dieses Ansatzes, im Sinne eines worst-case-Szenarios Politikversagen identifizieren und analysieren zu können. Eine weitere Ursache liegt allerdings andererseits in methodischen und normativen Probleme und Grenzen vieler, insbesondere „klassischer“, Public Choice-Studien. Teilweise widersprechen beispielsweise bedeutende reale Entwicklungen, nicht zuletzt in Fragen intra- und intergenerativer Gerechtigkeit, den Grundannahmen und –vorhersagen der klassischen Public Choice-Theorie. Wir zeigen, dass wesentliche methodische und normative Probleme des Public Choice-Ansatzes mittels einer komplementären Ergänzung durch die umfassendere Konzeption der Motivationsgrundlagen im Capability-Ansatz überwunden werden können. So erscheint es sinnvoll, wie es einzelne Public-Choice-Vertreter bereits praktizieren, den Public Choice-Ansatz über das Selbstinteresse hinaus durch weitere denkbare Motivationsarten zu ergänzen, so etwa durch persönliche Commitments und Verpflichtungen. Jedoch stellen sich am Ende sowohl für die Public Choice-Forschung als auch für den Capability-Ansatz offene Fragen zur empirischen Relevanz der jeweiligen impliziten Annahmen über die Motive gesellschaftlicher Akteure im politischen Prozess. Die Klärung dieses empirischen Forschungsbedarfs zu den Grundannahmen beider Konzeptionen ist Gegenstand eines weiteren GeNECA-Discussion Papers (vgl. Seckler, Volkert und Krumm 2015). |
| Abstract: | The aim of this GeNECA discussion paper is to analyze the feasibility of intra- and intergenerational justice from an economic perspective and to draw conclusions regarding the findings and methods of the existing economic studies. To achieve these goals, we reconsider contents and importance of public reasoning driven democratic institutions and processes for realizing intra- and intergenerational justice in the second chapter. Thereafter, in chapter 3, we sketch the foundations of John Rawls' "Theory of Justice as Fairness" in a necessarily brief overview. We adopt Rawls' theory as a reference for identifying and analyzing issues of justice or injustice throughout our paper. Violations of intra- or intergenerational justice often result of political competition processes. In the past the capability approach has remained rather silent about political institutions and processes. The economic public choice approach, which we briefly introduce in chapter 3, has analyzed much more intensively the incentives, actors and results of political competition. Based on this, we discuss public choice studies, approaches and findings related to intragenerational justice in chapter 4 with a focus on financial redistribution, educational and environmental policies. In chapter 5 we reconsider public choice analyses and major challenges of intergenerational justice. In doing so, we specifically refer to fiscal policy and state debts as well as to environmental policy. In chapter 6, the final of our main chapters, we first recapitulate our main findings on the positions and results of public choice (6.1). We sketch why public choice researchers argue that major steps towards intra- or intergenerational justice remain rather unlikely. On the one hand, a major cause of this skepticism is the strength of the public choice approach as an abundant source of worst case scenarios which are well suited to diagnose and analyze state failure. However, a further underlying reason of the pessimistic public choice view lies in methodological as well as normative problems and challenges of many, notably “classic”, public choice studies. In quite a few major cases, some of which are particularly related to issues of intra- and intergenerational justice, real world developments are at odds with the assumptions as well as with predictions of the public choice theory. We argue that major methodological and normative challenges of the public choice assumptions can be overcome by complementing them with the more comprehensive motivational concepts established by the capability approach. For instance, it is recommendable to extend the public choice theory’s motivational assumption of self-interest to a broader framework which also includes personal commitments and obligations. Nevertheless, at the end of the day, public choice as well as capability research will have to clarify the empirical relevance of any narrow or broad assumptions about the motivation of social actors in the political process. A further GeNECA-discussion paper (Seckler, Volkert and Krumm 2015) aims at contributing to this need for empirical research on the underlying motivational assumptions of the public choice and of the capability approach. |
| Keywords: | Intra- und intergenerative Gerechtigkeit,Nachhaltige Entwicklung,Public Choice,Capability-Ansatz,Umweltpolitik,Soziale Sicherheit,Umverteilung |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ufzdps:112015&r=hme |
| By: | Riphahn, Regina T. (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg); Schwientek, Caroline (University of Erlangen-Nuremberg) |
| Abstract: | We study the mechanisms that are associated with the gender education gap and its reversal in Germany. We focus on three outcomes, graduation from upper secondary school, any tertiary education, and tertiary degree. Neither individual and family background nor labor market characteristics appear to be strongly associated with the gender education gap. There is some evidence that the gender gap in upper secondary education reflects the rising share of single parent households which impacts boys' attainment more than girls'. The gender education gap in tertiary education is correlated with the development of class sizes and social norms. |
| Keywords: | educational attainment, wage premium, gender gap |
| JEL: | I21 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9117&r=hme |
| By: | McHugh, Neil (Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland, UK); Biosca, Olga (Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland, UK); Donaldson, Cam (Yunus Centre for Social Business and Health, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, Scotland, UK) |
| Abstract: | Background There is a growing need to identify upstream public health interventions as an alternative means of acting on health. Microfinance has been portrayed in this regard in public health journals. Furthermore, microfinance has spread to more-advanced economies where it offers potential as an alternative means of acting on persistent and growing health inequalities. However recent considerations establish that randomised controlled trials (RCTs) represent the ‘gold standard’ in impact evaluation of microcredit. Discussion In seeking to evidence ‘microcredit as a public health initiative’ in a Western context we question the notion of trials as the apparent gold standard for microcredit evaluations by comparing this approach to developments in thinking about study design for complex public health interventions. This field has moved onto a more eclectic approach to study design for complex interventions with recognition given to insights drawn from non-randomised study designs and qualitative studies. Furthermore, we consider ethical issues currently missing from the global debate on impact assessment, raised by the notion of mounting microcredit RCTs in Western contexts. These issues relate to equipoise and the screening devices used for randomisation and raise the question of whether it would ethically be possible to conduct a microcredit RCT in a Western context. Summary RCTs represent an attempt to improve the internal validity of microfinance impact evaluations. However, questions remain regarding the appropriateness of adopting this method to the exclusion of other important sources of evidence. Thus while microfinance may hold potential in the field of public health, the sector may first have to heed methodological lessons from public health to enhance its evidence base. |
| Keywords: | 2015-01 |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:yun:hewpse:201501&r=hme |
| By: | Geiger, Niels |
| Abstract: | This paper is devoted to the question of operationalising the development of behavioural economics, focussing on trends in the academic literature. The main research goal is to provide a quantitative assessment in order to answer the question of whether or not behavioural economics has gained in relative importance in the past few years. After an introduction and a short summary of the history of behavioural economics, several studies are laid out and evaluated. The results generally confirm the story as it is usually told in the literature, and add some notable additional insights. |
| Keywords: | behavioural economics,bounded rationality,culturomics |
| JEL: | D03 E61 E65 |
| Date: | 2014–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hohpro:442015&r=hme |
| By: | Geoffrey C. Harcourt (School of Economics, UNSW Business School, UNSW) |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2015-11&r=hme |
| By: | Anna Klabunde (Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany) |
| Abstract: | This report contains the model description for a prototype model of migration decision making which is based on the theory of planned behavior. It makes use of empirically estimated demographic transition rates and is thus, to our knowledge, the first decision model of migration which is embedded in the life course. Moreover, it is, other than most agent-based models, a continous time model which makes heavy use of survival theory and competing risks. The model description follows the ODD+D (``Overview, Design Concepts, Details + Decisions'') protocol as suggested in Müller et al. (2013). |
| Keywords: | Senegal, migration |
| JEL: | J1 Z0 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dem:wpaper:wp-2015-002&r=hme |
| By: | Vicent Alcantara (Departament d’Economia Aplicada, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) |
| Abstract: | Taking into account the relationship between the eigenvalue of the matrix of technical coefficients and the rate of growth in a simple Leontief model, a measure of the sensitivity of the coefficients of such matrix is proposed. This allows to determine the importance of the impact of changes in the different coefficients on the rate of production growth of the system. Moreover, an extension of this approach to the analysis of the growth of other variables linked to production is proposed. |
| Keywords: | Growth, input–output model, coefficients sensitivity, elasticities |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uab:wprdea:wpdea1504&r=hme |
| By: | Valeria Cirillo; Marcella Corsi; Carlo D'Ippoliti |
| Abstract: | The aim of this work is to combine the analysis of social classes in Europe on the basis of the functional distribution of incomes with a gender perspective at household level. Building on a Classical political economy approach, we aim to explore the link between households’ sources of income (rents, profits, wages and State transfers) and income changes during the crisis. Furthermore, we emphasize the role of gender with concern to the amount of income received. The empirical investigation is carried out on the European Union Statistics onIncome and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) database, covering 620,017 households in 27 EU countries for three years (2007, 2010, 2012). Over the period 2007-2012, at household level, incomes have been differently affected by the crisis. Labour incomes have been hit hardest than capital incomes, mostly in GIPSI countries. Men-headed households have benefited from capital growth more thanwomen-headed households, characterized by lower amounts of wages, capitals and State transfers. |
| Keywords: | Gender; class; crisis |
| Date: | 2015–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/200768&r=hme |
| By: | Anne Boring (OFCE-PRESAGE- Sciences Po & LEDa-DIAL) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses a unique database from a French university to analyze gender biases in student evaluations of teachers (SETs). The results of generalized ordered logit regressions and xed-eects models suggest that male teachers tend to receive higher SET scores because of students' gender biases. Male students in particular express a strong bias in their favor: male students are approximately 30% more likely to give an excellent overall satisfaction score to male teachers compared to female teachers. The dierent teaching dimensions that students value in men and women tend to correspond to gender stereotypes. The teaching dimensions for which students perceive a comparative advantage for women (such as course preparation and organization) tend to be more time-consuming for the teacher, compared to the teaching dimensions that students value more in men (such as class leadership skills). Men are perceived as being more knowledgeable (male gender stereotype) and obtain higher SET scores than women, but students appear to learn as much from women as from men, suggesting that female teachers are as knowledgeable as men. Finally, I nd that if women increased students' continuous assessment grades by 7.5% compared to the grades given by their male colleagues, they could obtain similar overall satisfaction scores as men. Yet, women do not act on this incentive (men and women give similar continuous assessment grades), suggesting that female teachers are unaware of students' gender biases. These biases have strong negative consequences for female academics, who may spend more time on teaching to try to obtain high SET scores, reducing time available for research. The results suggest that better teaching is not necessarily measured by SETs. |
| Keywords: | Incentives, Teaching effectiveness, student evaluations of teaching, gender biases and stereotypes |
| JEL: | A22 I23 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fce:doctra:1513&r=hme |
| By: | Charalambos Tsekeris; Nikos Kaberis; Maria Pinguli |
| Abstract: | The current Greek crisis is not only financial or economic, but also political, and touches on deeply entrenched social and cultural values and processes. Obviously, the Greek society is in a fluid and prolonged state of suffering, precariousness, and transition. But the same applies to the Greek self that confronts the strong and painful dismantling of dominant sociocultural structures, narratives and imaginaries. The central aim of the present work is to demonstrate and discuss the complex relationship between self-suffering and such dismantling, from an interpretive phenomenological standpoint, with special reference to health professionals, members of the Greek middle class. In this regard, the paper elaborates on the analytical basis of the four main imaginaries of Metapolitefsi, namely the imaginaries of the boss, of economic growth, of occupational stability, and of representative civil democracy. The conclusion arguably calls for the reflexive embracement of diffused uncertainty, as well as for the critical exploitation of emergent biographical risks. |
| Keywords: | economic crisis; self-suffering; uncertainty; middle class; Greece |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:62362&r=hme |
| By: | María Magdalena Camou (Programa de Historia Económica y Social, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | The topic of this paper is to explore Latin America’s backwardness in the incorporation of women to the labour market. The collected data allows advancing in the reconstruction of the main disaggregated gender indicators of performance in education, income and life expectancy for a group of Latin American countries (Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Peru, México and Venezuela) along the XX century. The evidence shows that Latin America has already achieved gender equality in the results for Education and Life Expectancy in most countries. Nevertheless, the main gap between the sexes is in the labour market, both in the participation rate and in wages. Our preliminary results show a marked relationship between women’s activity rate and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita, but this is not enough to explain variations between countries |
| Keywords: | gender inequality, labour market, gender education gap, Gender Development Index |
| JEL: | N36 O1 |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:doctra:38&r=hme |
| By: | Boll, Christina; Hüning, Hendrik; Leppin, Julian; Puckelwald, Johannes |
| Abstract: | In a simulation-based study with data from the German Socio-Economic Panel Study (SOEP), we analyze the effects of the newly introduced statutory minimum wage of 8.50 Euro per working hour in Germany on the gender wage gap. In our first scenario where we abstain from employment effects, the pay differential is reduced by 2.5 percentage points from 19.6 % to 17.1 %, due to a reduction of the sticky-floor effect at the bottom of the wage distribution. In more realistic scenarios where we incorporate minimum wage effects on labor demand, a further reduction of the pay gap by 0.2 pp (1.2 pp) in case of a monopsonistic (neoclassical) labor market is achieved. However, this comes at the cost of job losses by which women are more strongly affected than men. The magnitude of job losses ranges between 0.2 % and 3.0 % of all employees. It is higher in a neoclassical market setting and positively related to the assumed wage elasticity. |
| Keywords: | minimum wage,labor demand,wage elasticity,gender pay gap,monopsony |
| JEL: | J31 J23 J16 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:hwwirp:163&r=hme |
| By: | Trevor Evans (Institute for International Political Economy, Berline School of Economics and Law) |
| Abstract: | This study examines the development of the US economy since the prolonged recession in the early 1980s. This period was characterised by a serious weakening in the bargaining position of waged workers and a major expansion of the financial sector. Most of the economic gains accrued to top earners and economic growth became increasingly dependent on the expansion of credit. This precarious constellation led to short recessions in 1990 and again in 2001, but then in 2007 and 2008 the failure of highly complex financial securities led to the most serious financial crisis since 1929. The study reviews the development of profitability, income distribution and other key macroeconomic variables in the period leading up to, during and immediately after the crisis. It then identifies the main channels by which the crisis was transmitted from the US to other advanced capitalist economies and concludes with a brief review of the policy measures introduced by the US government in response to the crisis. |
| Keywords: | United States, finanace-led capitalism, financial crisis |
| JEL: | E25 E32 E44 E58 E65 F44 G01 |
| Date: | 2015–05–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fes:fstudy:fstudy32&r=hme |
| By: | Martin, Albert |
| Abstract: | Das Konzept der Nachhaltigkeit beinhaltet viele Gegensätze in Form von Widersprüchen, Konflikten, Dilemmata, Paradoxa und double-bind-Kommunikationen. Um diese Gegensätze zu bewältigen bedarf es deren vorheriger Identifikation. Die Beschreibung von Gegensätzen der Nachhaltigkeit sind Ziele des folgenden Arbeitspapiers. Eine Literaturrecherche offenbart, dass verschiedene Begriffe, die dem Term "Gegensatz" nahe stehen, verwendet werden. Diese verschiedenen Begriffe für Entgegensetzungen, wie Polarität und Dualismus, Widerspruch und Gegensatz, Paradox und Antinomie, Dilemma und Aporie sowie double-bind und Konflikt, werden in dem Arbeitspapier erläutert und systematisiert. Diese Systematik dient dann als Ausgangspunkt für eine weitere Literaturrecherche zu Gegensätzen der Nachhaltigkeit und zu deren Klassifizierung. Ergebnis des Arbeitspapiers ist zum einen ein konzeptioneller Rahmen zu Begriffen für Entgegensetzungen und zum anderen die Anwendung des konzeptionellen Rahmens auf Gegensätze der Nachhaltigkeit. Diese Anwendung kann als inhaltlicher Ansatzpunkt für die Bewältigung der beschriebenen Gegensätze der Nachhaltigkeit sowie als Ausgangspunkt für das Expansive Lernen im Rahmen von Nachhaltigkeit genutzt werden. Expansives Lernen anhand von Gegensätzen der Nachhaltigkeit soll in einem kommenden Projekt der Professur für Innovationsforschung und Technologiemanagement der TU Chemnitz erforscht werden. |
| Abstract: | The concept of sustainability is characterized by a lot of oppositions in terms of contradictions, conflicts, dilemmas, paradoxes and double binds in communication. There is a need to identify these oppositions in order to cope with them. The aim of the paper is to describe these oppositions of sustainability. The literature research revealed various terms which are associated with the term of "opposition". In a first step, I define and classify the terms of "polarity" and "dualism", "contradiction" and "contrariety", "paradox" and "antinomy", "dilemma" and "aporia", "double bind" and "conflict". Based on this I use this classification of oppositions as a starting point for a further literature research on practical examples of oppositions of sustainability. The results of the working paper are a conceptual framework associated with "opposition" as well as its application on oppositions of sustainability. This application can be used as a basis for the overcoming of oppositions of sustainability as well as a starting point for the approach of expansive learning in the context of sustainability. Expansive Learning on the basis of oppositions of sustainability will be researched in a forthcoming project of the Professorship for Innovation Research and Technology Management of TU Chemnitz. |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:tucitm:41&r=hme |
| By: | Nuno Teles (Centre for Social Studies, University of Coimbra, Portugal) |
| Abstract: | The study analyses the evolution of water provision in Portugal. It argues that the Portuguese water system of provision is deeply marked by the process of financialisation of the Portuguese economy, leading to high levels of private indebtedness that sustained a neoliberal agenda until the crisis of 2008-09. The history of the neoliberal transformation of water provision in Portugal is examined, paying particular attention to the progress achieved and the transformations occurring in its business model and finances, including the role of different agents in these processes. The neoliberal transformation of the Portuguese system of water provision is then set against the effects of the recent economic crisis. It concludes that the recent progress in the water SoP has been interrupted through a halt in investment and pressure for higher tariffs which, in a context of declining disposable income, intensifies social vulnerability. |
| Keywords: | Financialisation, Water provision, Portugal |
| JEL: | H4 G28 L95 H63 Q25 F34 |
| Date: | 2015–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fes:wpaper:wpaper102&r=hme |
| By: | Alcazar-Valdivia, Lorena (Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE)); Espinoza, Karen (Grupo de Análisis para el Desarrollo (GRADE)) |
| Abstract: | Este estudio apunta a identificar el impacto de Programa Nacional de Apoyo Directo a los Más Pobres (Juntos) en el bienestar de las madres beneficiarias, específicamente en el proceso de empoderamiento que puede desarrollarse a raíz de las características que el programa tiene. Para ello, se combinan métodos cuantitativos y cualitativos; se hace uso de la información disponible en encuestas de hogares —ENDES y Niños del Milenio— y se llevan a cabo entrevistas en profundidad y grupos focales con beneficiarias y otros actores clave en ocho comunidades. Durante la primera etapa de investigación, se encuentra que Juntos tiene efectos diferenciados de acuerdo a la dimensión de empoderamiento que se mide. A través de ambas metodologías, se encuentran impactos positivos en la capacidad de negociación de las mujeres, debido a que les permite involucrarse más en las decisiones sobre los recursos del hogar; sin embargo, las mejoras son parciales y parecen ser más claras donde existen menos límites puestos por el contexto rural y de pobreza. Estos impactos son menos marcados en contextos donde las mujeres enfrentan más limitaciones para desenvolverse debido a su lengua nativa y en los que existen menor acceso a la educación formal. Queda pendiente continuar la segunda etapa del análisis cuantitativo y ampliar el trabajo de campo cualitativo, que complemente las limitaciones de cada tipo de herramientas y permita realizar un análisis conjunto. |
| Keywords: | Programas de ayuda, AID programmes, Juntos, Mujeres, Women, Peru |
| JEL: | I29 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gad:avance:0019&r=hme |
| By: | Neil Hart (Industrial Relations Research Centre, UNSW); Peter Kriesler (School of Economics, UNSW Business School, UNSW) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a brief introduction to post-Keynesian economics. Post-Keynesians are sceptical of the usefulness of the equilibrium method, and favour an approach based on path-determined models with, due to the influence of uncertainty on economic decisions, an important role assigned to money, institutions and rules of thumb. As there are no forces within capitalist economies which can guarantee full employment, government intervention is important. While monetary policy is seen as a rather blunt instrument, fiscal policy is perceived to be much more potent than it is in the mainstream. However, there are inherent limits to the achievement of sustained full employment in capitalist economies. |
| Keywords: | Keynes, post-Keynesians, methodology, path dependency, economic policy |
| JEL: | B2 B41 B5 D4 D5 E6 |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:swe:wpaper:2015-12&r=hme |
| By: | Milazzo,Annamaria; Van De Walle,Dominique |
| Abstract: | This paper is motivated by two stylized facts about poverty in Africa: female-headed households tend to be poorer, and poverty has been falling in the aggregate since the 1990s. These facts raise two questions: How have female-headed households fared? And what role have they played in Africa's impressive recent aggregate growth and poverty reduction? Using data covering the entire region, the paper reexamines the current prevalence and characteristics of female-headed households, and asks whether their prevalence has been rising over time, what factors have been associated with such changes since the mid-1990s, and whether poverty has fallen equi-proportionately for male- and female-headed households. Rising gross domestic product has dampened rising female headship. However, other subtle transformations occurring across Africa?changes in marriage behavior, family formation, health, and education?have put upward pressure on female headship, with the result that the share of female-headed households has been growing. This has been happening alongside declining aggregate poverty incidence. However, rather than being left behind, female-headed households have generally seen faster poverty reduction. As a whole, this group has contributed almost as much to the reduction in poverty as male-headed households, despite the smaller share of female-headed households in the population. |
| Keywords: | Housing&Human Habitats,Population Policies,Regional Economic Development,Rural Poverty Reduction |
| Date: | 2015–06–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7331&r=hme |
| By: | Ai-Thu Dang (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS) |
| Abstract: | John Rawls's remarks on race are sparse in his writings. However, three key moments in his conceptual apparatus wherein racial issues appear explicitly can be be highlighted: (1) the status of race as a feature of the veil of ignorance; (2) racial minorities, the least advantaged, and the difference principle; and (3) the role of arguments made by antebellum abolitionist dissidents and Martin Luther King, Jr., in favor of racial equality in his reformulation of his notion of public reason. I show that the introduction of race poses difficulties for Rawls in his theory of justice. I also propose an explanation of why Rawls does not address issues of racial justice more explicitly and in-depth. However, because Rawls himself explained his relative silence on racial justice, I discuss its relevance. I contend that Rawls's conception of justice as fairness as a form of political liberalism is indebted to a strong principle of equal citizenship for all individuals that is blind to race and ethnicity, so his theoretical apparatus addresses the issue of legal racial discrimination or institutional racism. Nevertheless, it fails to address the problem of systemic racial discrimination. |
| Abstract: | Il n'existe pas de développements systématiques dans les écrits de John Rawls sur la question des inégalités raciales ou fondées sur l'origine ethnique, mais seulement des remarques parcellaires et répétitives sur ce sujet. On peut toutefois repérer trois moments clés dans la construction théorique de Rawls où les questions de justice raciale sont introduites : le statut de la race et le voile d'ignorance ; les minorités raciales, les plus mal lotis de la société et le principe de différence ; le rôle des arguments religieux avancés par les abolitionnistes américains et par Martin Luther King en faveur de l'égalité raciale dans la reformulation par Rawls de sa conception de la raison publique. Je montre que l'introduction des questions de justice raciale déstabilise le cadre théorique de Rawls et soulève des questions dont il est lui-même conscient. Je discute de l'explication donnée par Rawls pour justifier son relatif silence et je montre que ses principes de justice permettent de lutter contre la discrimination directe mais ne permettent pas de répondre au défi de la discrimination systémique. |
| Date: | 2015–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-01163932&r=hme |