|
on Heterodox Microeconomics |
|
Issue of 2015‒10‒10
fifteen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Christophe Lavialle (LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans - CNRS - UO - Université d'Orléans) |
| Abstract: | Le papier revient sur le débat autour du concept de chômage involontaire, et de son acceptabilité au sein de la science économique. Il montre que ce débat, tel qu'il a été recensé par De Vroey, et qui oppose fondamentalement Keynes et Lucas, renvoie à une série de questions épistémologiques sur le fonctionnement du langage de la science économique, et sa capacité à véhiculer de la connaissance. Ces questions relèvent, en amont de l'ancrage du langage dans le « réel » (de la manière dont le « réel » se révèle au scientifique), puis des limites éventuelles que le langage formel impose à notre intelligence du monde. Nous montrons alors que le discours canonique se fait orthodoxie lorsque, au nom de la primauté du langage, il revendique de ne pas faire place à des éléments dont l'intuition suggère qu'ils sont des éléments importants de la réalité des économies contemporaines, et qui apparaissent évidents dans le langage de l'homme ordinaire. Il semble finalement que les deux postures épistémologiques auxquelles ce débat renvoie, peuvent être arbitrées en prenant en compte la question centrale, en aval du langage, de la performativité du discours de la science économique et de l'efficacité pratique des politiques publiques que ses énoncés inspirent. |
| Keywords: | performativité,jeux de langage,chômage involontaire,Keynes,Lucas |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01203764&r=all |
| By: | Kato, Takao (Colgate University); Kodama, Naomi (Hitotsubashi University) |
| Abstract: | This paper uses unique firm-level panel data from Japan and provides new evidence on the possible impact on gender equality in the workplace of human resources management (HRM) practices. Specifically we consider a number of work-life balance (WLB) practices that are developed in part to enhance gender equality as well as performance-related pay (PRP) that is one of the most often discussed changes in the Japanese HRM system in recent years. Our fixed effect estimates indicate that daycare service assistance (onsite daycare services and daycare service allowances) has a gradual yet significant positive effect on the share of women in the firm's core labor force and the proportion of female directors. However, transition period part-time work is found to result in a decrease in the proportion of female directors (or exacerbating gender inequality in management). Turning to PRP, the fixed effect estimates suggest that a switch from the traditional wage system that rewards workers for their long-term skill development through on-the-job training within the firm to PRP that makes pay more sensitive to shorter-term performance will result in a fall in the proportion of female directors. We also find that the adverse effect on gender equality of PRP is fully mediated by having a more objective performance evaluation system; a more transparent decision making process; and a more systematic, explicit and formal training program. This finding can be interpreted as evidence pointing to gender discrimination in the workplace. In designing, developing and revising public policy instruments to achieve Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's ambitious policy goal of "increasing the share of women in leadership positions to at least 30% by 2020 in all fields in society," policy makers may need to pay particular attention to heterogeneous efficacy of specific WLB practices and the adverse effect of PRP as well as the mediating role played by management by objectives (MBO), information sharing, and systematic training program. |
| Keywords: | work-life balance, performance-related pay, pay for performance, HRM practices, gender equality, gender diversity, Japan |
| JEL: | M5 J16 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9379&r=all |
| By: | Ana Maria Takahashi (Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University); Shingo Takahashi (International University of University); Thomas Maloney (Department of Economics, University of Utah) |
| Abstract: | Using original survey data on Japanese academics in science and engineering, we examined the gender salary and promotion gaps. We found a 6% gender salary gap after controlling for ranks. This gap was unaffected when quality and quantity of publications were controlled for. In contrast, promotion gap disappeared when publication variables were controlled for. We failed to find negative effects of marriage and children on women's salary and promotion, though a positive sorting into motherhood could conceal such negative effects, and we provided suggestive evidence for this. Men and women are equally likely to move to other universities voluntarily, and the salary premiums from these job changes are the same for both genders, suggesting that outside job offers are not responsible for the gender salary gap. Finally, there are substantial gender differences in academic labor market dropout rates, which could lead to underestimation of the gender salary and promotion gaps. |
| JEL: | J7 |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iuj:wpaper:ems_2015_02&r=all |
| By: | Mariana Mazzucato (SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit), School of Business, Management & Economics, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9SL, U.K.); Caetano Penna (SPRU (Science Policy Research Unit), School of Business, Management & Economics, University of Sussex, Brighton, BN1 9SL, U.K.; Institute of Economics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the rise of state investment banks (SIBs) as lead funders of mission-oriented innovation in various countries’ agendas regarding smart (innovation-led) growth, and not just fixers of ‘market failures’. The market failure justification for public finance fails to capture the active mission-oriented role that such banks are playing in shaping and creating markets, rather than just fixing them. In tackling innovation priorities and shaping new markets, these banks are developing new financial tools that also help to reform the financial system from within, addressing issues of short-termism and financialisation. This paper documents and analyses the roles of such banks, building on the Neo-Schumpeterian work on mission-oriented policies (that is, policies that aim to address societal issues or challenges). The paper presents a rich analytical description of mission-oriented investments in two of the leading SIBs: Brazil’s BNDES and Germany’s KfW. We discuss the directionality of the investments, the various tools used, and the lessons to be learned for evaluating these tools outside of a market failure framework. |
| Keywords: | State investment banks, mission-oriented policy, societal challenges, public finance, financialisation, innovation |
| JEL: | G20 O16 O38 L52 P16 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sru:ssewps:2015-26&r=all |
| By: | Thomas Foster (DePaul University) |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the sexual abuse and exploitation of enslaved men in America. I am in the process of expanding into a book my published article, "Sexual Abuse of Black Men Under American Slavery," (Journal of the History of Sexuality). This paper will specifically focus on the issues of ideals of consent and choice as well as examples of force and coercion with regard to cross-status relationships (primarily between white women and enslaved men) as well as interactions between men. The primary sources for this paper include the WPA slave narratives as well as court records, and manuscript and published sources and accounts. Studying the sexual exploitation of enslaved men, contributes to the scholarship on gender and sexuality in early America, to our understanding of slavery and slave life, to literature on black masculinity, and also to literature examining historicisation of rape. |
| Keywords: | slavery, sexuality, sex, masculinity, gender, U.S history |
| JEL: | Y90 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2803382&r=all |
| By: | Athena Vongalis-Macrow (Deakin University) |
| Abstract: | This paper will draw on research that investigated the working environment and practices of mid-career female academics in order to critically explore the challenges and obstacles that may keep mid-career women ‘stuck’. The paper focuses on mid-level female academics as this career space is where most female academics will reach the limits of their academic careers? But is this a chosen career delimiter or can it be explained further in the way that women engage with their working environment and enact their working practices? The paper seeks to critically explore these two questions by discussing how gendered organisations are structured and enacted from the perspective of mid-career female academics. Seventy four mid-career academics across three Australian universities participated in a study of their workplace. The women responded to an extensive survey which asked questions about their leadership ambitions, networking, working environments and workplace practices. The paper will report on a section of the survey in which they were asked to identify obstacles to their career progress. The analysis of their answers is framed on a structure and agency analysis (Archer, 2000, Vongalis-Macrow, 2007) because this well rounded organisational theorizing allows for a understanding of both structural constraints and how actions interact with structures to reproduce constraints or create challenges when new actions are required. The prevalence of both structural constraints and actor obstacles suggests that in order to create change in gendered organisation, actions need to address both ‘people and parts’ of any organisation. |
| Keywords: | women, leadership, organisational change |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2803936&r=all |
| By: | Christian Bredemeier; Falko Juessen; Roland Winkler |
| Abstract: | In recessions, predominantly men lose their jobs, which has been described by the term ?man-cessions?. We analyze whether fiscal expansions bring men back into jobs. We show empirically that expansionary fiscal shocks predominantly raise the employment of women, which further destabilizes the gender composition of employment in recessions. Our results show that man-cessions are triggered by industry effects while the gender-specific employment effects of fiscal policy are driven by disproportionate employment changes in female-dominated occupations, specifically so-called ?pink-collar? occupations. We develop a business-cycle model that explains these occupational employment dynamics as a consequence of differences in the substitutability between capital and labor across occupations. |
| Keywords: | Fiscal Policy, Gender, Employment, Occupations |
| JEL: | J16 E62 E32 J21 |
| Date: | 2015–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kls:series:0083&r=all |
| By: | Senderski, Marcin |
| Abstract: | Utility has long been a debatable concept, with many competing interpretations. The Austrian school and the neoclassical school, however broad these categories may seem, have made the most substantial and, by the same token, the most contrasting contributions to the theory of value. The paper’s goal is not to adjudicate past arguments or observe the evolution of the theory, but rather to resolve contemporary misunderstandings. The references are made to such trouble spots as subjectivism vs. objectivism, cardinality vs. ordinality, and mathematical formalism vs. verbal formalism. Both schools entrenched themselves in their views long ago. Nevertheless, this paper shows that discussing utility on common ground and on the basis of shared presumptions is not necessarily the melody of the future. The paper is concluded with recommendations on how the current dissent may be attenuated. |
| Keywords: | Austria; Austrian school; economic thought; heterodox economics; neoclassical school; utility |
| JEL: | B41 B53 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67024&r=all |
| By: | Abdulkader Cassim Mahomedy |
| Abstract: | Rationalist thought has had a deep and lasting impact on modern civilisation. This influence has pervaded almost all facets of the socio-politico-economic and scientific domains of contemporary human experience. Religiously-oriented societies have, however, throughout their encounter with rationalism, generally struggled to reconcile some of their doctrines and practices with the principles espoused by rationalist philosophy. This strained relationship has always been particularly acute in the area of epistemology. The impasse in the development and growth of the emerging discipline of Islamic Economics clearly reflects this tension. In this paper (the first of a two-part series), I first describe some of the epistemological challenges in Islamic economics and then explain the need for its proponents to critically engage with these issues. I trace the roots of this problematique to the indelible influence of ancient Hellenist philosophy, which initially penetrated Christendom selectively, and later on, more substantively through the encounter of the Christian West with the Islamic World. It was during this second phase that European Christian scholarship had become fully exposed to the works of the Arab-Muslim philosopher-cum-scientists of the time, the likes of Avicenna and Averroes. Although of Greek origin, the predominantly rationalist nature of their writings and commentaries, in both philosophy and science, had planted the seeds of the rationalist/scientistic worldview that was to emerge only much later in Europe. After explaining how this occurred, I show how it created an insuperable tension between religious orthodoxy and the fledgling new philosophical outlook of the day, leading ultimately to a schism in the unicity of human intellection. The ensuing dualism has subsequently had a most profound impact on all aspects of human thought and praxis in the modern age, with grave implications for both humankind and its environment. How this latter aspect evolved will be fully examined and explained in a second part of this study which will be published in a subsequent issue of this series. |
| Keywords: | Occidental Rationalism: Its Early Impact on the Foundations of Modern Science |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rza:wpaper:543&r=all |
| By: | Eric Lombardot (PRISM - Pôle de recherche interdisciplinaire en sciences du management - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne); Ophélie Mugel (IRG - Institut de Recherche en Gestion - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée) |
| Abstract: | Le développement durable (DD) et la consommation responsable (CR) prennent une place croissante dans la vie des individus et modifient leurs représentations de l’alimentation. Pourtant, des résistances et des techniques de neutralisation limitent la transformation de ces attitudes et intentions favorables en comportements effectifs. L’objectif de cette recherche inscrite dans la grounded theory est de proposer un modèle explicatif des freins, notamment situationnels, à la transformation des intentions de CR en comportements effectifs, à travers une étude qualitative portant sur 64 individus. |
| Keywords: | consommation responsable, freins, alimentation, distribution, théorie de la neutralisation |
| Date: | 2015–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01206407&r=all |
| By: | Guillaume Allegre (OFCE) |
| Abstract: | Le fait que les inégalités aient un impact négatif sur la croissance est en train de s’imposer comme nouvelle opinion commune dans le débat public en économie. Le consensus à ce sujet a évolué rapidement. Plusieurs canaux théoriques liant inégalités et croissance peuvent être distingués : le canal de l’épargne et de l’investissement, le canal des incitations, le canal de l’économie politique, le canal de la cohésion sociale, et celui des imperfections du marché du crédit. Les canaux reliant inégalités et croissance semblent trop complexes pour pouvoir estimer de façon économétrique un impact causal plutôt qu’une corrélation. |
| Keywords: | Croissance; Inegalités; Redistribution |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/2mvml180i69jkpc35569ouu8hf&r=all |
| By: | Christophe Lavialle (LEO - Laboratoire d'économie d'Orleans - CNRS - UO - Université d'Orléans) |
| Abstract: | L’article s'intéresse à l'analyse des éléments de rhétorique convoqués par Friedman (1968) comme outils de persuasion dans sa critique de la courbe de Phillips et de l'usage accommodant des politiques monétaires. La référence à la « naturalité » du taux de chômage d'équilibre en est un premier, qui joue le rôle de preuve intrinsèque (entechnai) et établit la dimension pathétique de l'argumentaire. La définition de ce concept de taux de chômage « naturel » sur la base d'une analogie avec la définition du taux d'intérêt naturel chez Wicksell (1898), en est un second, qui joue le rôle de preuve extrinsèque (atechnai), et s'appuie à la fois sur le recours à l'autorité d'un Ancien (qui établit la portée éthique de la démonstration), et sur le procédé analogique en lui-même (qui construit la dimension logique du discours). L'article s'intéresse alors à décrypter le fonctionnement démonstratif de ces éléments, et à évaluer précisément la portée de ladémonstration logique de Friedman. Nous soulignons à cet égard les limites de l'analogie revendiquée par Friedman et les divergences dans la représentation qu’ont Friedman et Wicksell de l’économie monétaire, de la monnaie et des politiques monétaires. C'est aussi l’occasion, à la lumière de ces développements, de souligner les glissements que Friedman introduit, en usant de ces éléments de rhétorique, dans le contenu du débat macroéconomique. Au final, la rhétorique de Friedman apparaît comme une véritable « sophistique réactionnaire » au sens de Hirschmann (1991). |
| Keywords: | Friedman,taux naturel de chômage,politique monétaire,neutralité,rhétorique,analogie,Wicksell,Hayek,Keynes. |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01204655&r=all |
| By: | Javdani, Mohsen (University of British Columbia, Okanagan); McGee, Andrew (Simon Fraser University) |
| Abstract: | We estimate gender differences in internal promotion experiences for a representative sample of Canadian workers using linked employer-employee data. We find that women in Canada are 3 percentage points less likely to be promoted and have received fewer promotions than similar men, but these differences stem almost entirely from gender differences in industry and occupation. By contrast, women experience an estimated 2.9 percent less wage growth in the year of a promotion than similar men even after controlling for industry, occupation, and firm effects – though a significant "family gap" exists among women as single women and women without children experience essentially the same wage returns to promotion as men. |
| Keywords: | promotions, gender wage gap |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J62 J71 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp9380&r=all |
| By: | Harun Bal (Cukurova University); Nese Algan (Cukurova University); P Ozdemir (Cukurova Universiy) |
| Abstract: | There is widespread agreement among economist that society has became an organization through the institutions. However, there is not a consensus about definition of institutions and in which way institutions affect countries economic performance. With pioneering paper Acemo |
| Keywords: | instutions, social conflict |
| JEL: | B15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:2804538&r=all |
| By: | Konstantakis, Konstantinos; Michaelides, Panayotis G. |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to assess the interdependencies among the eight (8) main sectors of economic activity in the US economy, using quarterly data on output and labor fora period of fifteen years (1992-2006), just before the first signs of the global recession made their appearance. In this context, we set up a novel methodological framework which combines Input-Output (IO) analysis with state of the art Global Vector Autoregressive (GVAR) modeling. In addition, we use the IO matrices to provide a procedure in order to test for the existence of dominant sector(s) in the USA and estimate a GVAR model with dominant sector(s) and the exogenous variables of Global Credit and Global Trade acting as the transmission channels. Our results seem to suggest that the US economy has relatively limited connectivity, in terms of sectoral output and labor, among the various sectors. |
| Keywords: | GVAR, Input Output, US sectors, Weight Matrix |
| JEL: | C3 C6 C67 |
| Date: | 2014 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:67111&r=all |