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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2015‒12‒12
seventeen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Cimoli, Mario; Porcile, Gabriel (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | The microfoundations of economic models are a hotly debated topic in the literature. The debate is important because microfoundations —the ways in which agents decide and behave— have implications that go beyond a specific firm, market or activity; they strongly condition macroeconomic outcomes. This document addresses the classical problems of rationality, uncertainty and institutions: when there is Keynes-Knight uncertainty and rationality is bounded, decision making adopts the form of conventional rules or heuristics. The hyper-rational representative agent of the rational expectations world could generate highly misleading outcomes in macro models. Section 2 applies this discussion to the study of technical change and to innovation and diffusion of technology in the international system, which transform the patterns of specialization. Section 3 discusses the forces that may trap a country in a low-growth trap and the crucial role of institutions in escaping from this trap. |
| Date: | 2015–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col026:37758&r=hme |
| By: | Guillermo Escudé (CONICET - Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas - University of Buenos Aires) |
| Abstract: | This essay develops the rudiments of a historical-analytical approach to hierarchical control in human societies. We question the adequacy of mainstream economic theory in two fundamental aspects: a) the absence of an explicit class structure and consequent interclass conflicts of interest, and b) the benevolent government or social planner approach to policy decisions. We begin with an anthropological view of the genesis of the state and class society and construct a series of simple models inspired in different phases of human development in which producers and governors face the same consumption-toil trade-off as the workers (slaves, serfs, or wage workers) at the bottom of the class hierarchy. Public goods and bads play a fundamental role in the functioning of society and in the power structure that sustains it. In most of the models the consumption-toil decision is present for all the classes involved. In the case of classes that organize production (whether in civil society or in the state sector) the planning, organizing, commanding and controlling (POCC) labor of members of the higher rank contributes to the production function along with the labor of the members of the lower rank. The fi nal model is a stylized representation of capitalism, with three large classes: wage workers, capitalist entrepreneurs, and governors, and is based on an extension of the monopolistic competition model. The essay ends with a disquisition on the concept of exploitation. |
| Keywords: | Public goods, Social classes, Class conflict. |
| Date: | 2014–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01233851&r=hme |
| By: | Lavy, Victor (University of Warwick, Hebrew University and NBER); Sand, Edith (Bank of Israel) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we estimate the effect of primary school teachers’ gender biases on boys’ and girls’ academic achievements during middle and high school and on the choice of advanced level courses in math and sciences during high school. For identification, we rely on the random assignments of teachers and students to classes in primary schools. Our results suggest that teachers’ biases favoring boys have an asymmetric effect by gender-positive effect on boys’ achievements and negative effect on girls’. Such gender biases also impact students’ enrollment in advanced level math courses in high school—boys positively and girls negatively. These results suggest that teachers’ biased behavior at early stage of schooling have long run implications for occupational choices and earnings at adulthood, because enrollment in advanced courses in math and science in high school is a prerequisite for post-secondary schooling in engineering, computer science and so on. This impact is heterogeneous, being larger for children from families where the father is more educated than the mother and larger on girls from low socioeconomic background |
| Keywords: | JEL Classification: |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cge:wacage:254&r=hme |
| By: | Helmsing, A.H.J.; Knorringa, P.; Gomez Gonzalez, D. |
| Abstract: | In this paper we aim to contribute to the literature on social entrepreneurship by nuancing both existing micro-level characterizations as well as its presumed macro level societal impacts. Moreover, we explore connections between the micro and macro levels of analysis to see which types of social entrepreneurs are more likely to achieve what kinds of societal impacts. We present findings from an illustrative sample of 28 interviews with Dutch social entrepreneurs working in International Development. At the micro level, our qualitative findings do not support a perception of social entrepreneurs – often found in the Anglo Saxon literature - as heroic ‘lone rangers’ who ‘go it alone’ and with ‘dogged determination’ fight for a self-defined social cause. Instead, most social entrepreneurs in our study are acutely aware of the need to cooperate with other stakeholders and often use existing ‘off the shelf’ social causes and theories of change, even when they do develop innovative ways to try and achieve these goals. At the macro level, two starkly contrasting views exist on the possible societal impacts of social entrepreneurs. The first is an, often implicit, extension of the ‘lone-ranger’ perception of social entrepreneurs as people who ‘change the world’ or at least significantly contribute to social and economic transformation. At the other end of the spectrum in the literature we find those who argue that social entrepreneurs are potentially counterproductive to international development interventions as their social mission is not the result of a ‘collective deliberative process’, their activities are likely to displace NGO and/or government interventions and might even give governments an excuse to not intervene and ignore deeper levels of political contestation and societal inequalities. The paper is structured as follows. We first explain the rise in social entrepreneurship in international development, and we introduce the central assumptions in the literature on how social entrepreneurs define their social mission and on their likely societal impact. Next we present our data to show that our interviews do not support existing assumptions about the characteristics of social entrepreneurs nor about their possible societal impacts. Finally, we explore the usefulness of the typology proposed by Zahra et al, and we conclude that this typology indeed helps to further systematize a more nuanced understanding of the characteristics and likely roles of social entrepreneurs. |
| Keywords: | Dutch social entrepreneurs, international development, social enterprise, social entrepreneurship |
| Date: | 2015–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ems:euriss:79163&r=hme |
| By: | - (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this report is to understand the rationality that underpins public and business policies for promoting the IT and SIS industries and to determine whether they incorporate gender equality and/or provide incentives for women’s participation. The report also explores how this group of women is symbolically constructed within the firms, what issues are emphasized by the women themselves and what solutions or resources they propose for overcoming the problems. It then contrasts this discourse and intervention with the experiences, visions and demands of women leaders in the SIS sector. For this purpose, the policies, programmes and best practices of Europe are analysed and compared with instruments currently in place in Latin America and the Caribbean, in terms of their specific characteristics and degree of progress. Special attention is given to the cases of Argentina, Costa Rica and Colombia. |
| Date: | 2014–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:37459&r=hme |
| By: | Lara Martínez, María Cecilia (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | A la hora de comparar niveles de productividad entre países se requiere hallar una conversión adecuada para expresar los valores en una misma moneda. Este trabajo ofrece la aplicación de una metodología denominada industry of origin a través de la cual se pueden obtener factores de conversión que superan los problemas de usar tipo de cambio o paridades de poderes de compra. Dichos factores de conversión se basan en información de censos económicos de los países involucrados, y con la cual se estiman ratios de precios productor. La potencialidad del enfoque industry of origin se halla en su análisis a nivel sectorial de forma comparada de la productividad, por lo tanto, el mismo podría ser un insumo atractivo para los estudios vinculados al cambio estructural. Esta metodología fue aplicada en este caso para el sector manufacturero de Uruguay y Estados Unidos en el año 1988. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:36630&r=hme |
| By: | Schmidt, Vivien A. (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | En el presente documento se utiliza institucionalismo discursivo para analizar el contenido ideacional de los pactos sociales de protección social como el proceso discursivo de su construcción y comunicación en contextos diferentes. En ese proceso se explora una amplia gama de ejemplos empíricos sobre la transformación de los regímenes de protección social desde los años ochenta en respuesta a las presiones de la globalización y la europeización, con un enfoque especial en los pactos sociales que surgieron con posterioridad a la crisis de la deuda soberana de la zona del euro. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col041:35902&r=hme |
| By: | Aguirre, Rosario; Ferrari, Fernanda (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | El presente estudio tiene como objetivo principal analizar el surgimiento del cuidado como problema público y su inclusión en la agenda social, política y gubernamental en el Uruguay. Se enmarca en el proyecto “Pactos sociales para una protección social más inclusiva” que lleva a cabo la División de Desarrollo Social de la CEPAL con el apoyo de la Agencia Alemana de Cooperación Internacional (GIZ) y se ha ejecutado en coordinación con la Dirección Nacional de Políticas Sociales del Ministerio de Desarrollo Social (MIDES) del Uruguay. Dicho proyecto plantea la interrogante de cómo construir, en contextos democráticos, consensos amplios que permitan establecer y mantener sistemas de protección social más inclusivos. Responder esta pregunta supone analizar los acuerdos, negociaciones y alianzas que fijan rutas de políticas públicas en los países de la región. Lo anterior también implica descifrar las tensiones que se producen entre las lógicas de corto plazo de los actores políticos y las políticas de Estado de largo aliento que requieren continuidad en el tiempo. El proyecto busca poner a disposición y compartir herramientas analíticas y procesos de diálogo social y político que propicien avances hacia una protección social más inclusiva que incluya reformas sectoriales y sistemas nacionales de cuidado. |
| Date: | 2014–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col041:36721&r=hme |
| By: | Falivene, Graciela; Costa, Patricia; Artusi, José Antonio (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | Se presentan los resultados de una investigación en la que se aplican indicadores de sostenibilidad urbana a una muestra estratificada de 12 ejemplos sobre 64 casos de intervenciones públicas en vivienda en la ciudad de Concepción del Uruguay, República Argentina. Se clasifican y seleccionan las intervenciones de acuerdo a las siguientes variables: localización, infraestructura, accesibilidad, tamaño del conjunto, tipologías, actor que define la localización de la parcela sobre la que se construye y existencia o no de una organización comunitaria preexistente. La aplicación de indicadores de sostenibilidad urbana a los proyectos de vivienda social permite evaluar las condiciones actuales y proponer mejoras a través de pautas de diseño multidimensionales, utilizadas en la elaboración de directrices para la formulación de proyectos de vivienda a nivel local. Se proponen criterios de sostenibilidad urbana para la elaboración de políticas integrales y necesariamente complementarias de suelo y vivienda social. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:36654&r=hme |
| By: | Gautié, Jérôme |
| Abstract: | L'actualité renouvelée des controverses autour du salaire minimum invite à resituer celles-ci dans une histoire longue qui commence à la fin du XIXème siècle. Cette histoire est abordée ici en articulant trois niveaux d'analyse. Les deux premiers portent respectivement sur l'étude des contenus empiriques et théoriques des controverses économiques, et sur celle de leurs enjeux méthodologiques et même, au-delà, épistémologiques. Un troisième niveau d'analyse, selon une approche de sociologie historique des sciences, vise à recontextualiser les débats économiques en tenant compte des modes d'articulation de la sphère académique à trois autres sphères : la sphère politique, la sphère administrative, et la sphère de la société civile et du monde économique et social. A partir de l'expérience des Etats-Unis, de la France et du Royaume-Uni (et de son Commonwealth), trois grandes périodes sont distinguées - autour de la première guerre mondiale, des années 1940 aux années 1980, et, enfin, du milieu des années 1990 à nos jours. Au-delà de la question du salaire minimum, l'histoire de ces débats éclaire sur l'évolution de l'économie du travail au cours de cette période, et, dans une certaine mesure, sur celle de la science économique dans son ensemble. |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1518&r=hme |
| By: | Dias, Taisa; Cario, Silvio (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | A história de várias sociedades evidencia que uma perspectiva unidimensional de desenvolvimento foi responsável pela construção social, dada a direção desse processo por parte do mercado. Com o objetivo de avançar no debate sobre a relação entre Estado, sociedade e desenvolvimento, o artigo discute, numa perspectiva histórica, as razões que levaram à desintegração dos sistemas sociais, as evidências da fragilidade do ideário liberal e o pensamento desenvolvimentista forjado a partir da crise do liberalismo. Tal discussão leva a conclusão de que a relação direta entre a situação de alguns países e o nível de emprego de recursos estratégicos depois da II Guerra Mundial reascendeu a importância da intervenção estatal, fortalecendo o pensamento de que o Estado deve coordenar as relações que se dão a partir de um projeto que tem a industrialização como forma de acumulação de capital, mas também como meio para a diminuição das desigualdades sociais. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:36636&r=hme |
| By: | Stuart, Sheila (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | individuals spend their time, on a daily or weekly basis, is time-use surveys. These surveys take many different forms to collect vital information which can be used to estimate not only the value of paid and unpaid work, but also the composition of the labour force. The time-use survey is the only available tool for measuring unpaid care work and is also a more cost effective method of collecting timely and accurate data on the gender division of labour within households and the interdependence of the paid and unpaid work undertaken by women and men. This data can be used to enhance the formulation of evidence based policies for pro-poor growth towards the achievement of gender equality and poverty reduction. While many countries in other regions, including Latin America have undertaken national timeuse surveys, the Caribbean remains the only region yet to carry out a full scale survey. This is deemed to be another one of the major data gap in statistical systems in the Caribbean, where the valuation of unpaid work is statistically invisible. This is a serious omission because it means that unpaid work, particularly unpaid care work, despite its important contribution to economic and social development, is not reflected in the economic statistics used for policy making —namely the national accounts and the official labour market statistics. While definitions of care work vary, it can be described as a category of work which includes activities carried out in the service of others, deemed crucial for human well being and economic development (Razavi, 2007). Care work is often differentiated from other types of work because it is intrinsically linked to labour undertaken out of a sense of duty, responsibility and love/affection, that is, it is often viewed as an emotionally driven occupation. The unpaid care work performed primarily by women, underpins all societies, contributing to well-being, social development and economic growth. Care work, whether paid or unpaid provides vital services to assist with the development of capabilities in human beings. It involves a variety of domestic tasks, such as the preparation of food, cleaning, washing and ironing of clothes, the collection of water and fuel for cooking, as well as, the care of mostly dependant family members, including children, older persons and persons with disabilities. Care work is not only carried out immediate households, or for dependants, but also within communities. It is estimated that if unpaid care work were assigned a monetary value it would constitute between 10 and 39 per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, it is generally unrecognised and under-valued by policymakers and legislators. |
| Date: | 2014–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col033:36619&r=hme |
| By: | Calvo, Juan José (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | El presente documento busca aportar elementos para la construcción de una política social en el contexto del cambio climático en América Latina. En efecto, uno de los aspectos centrales del cambio climático es su impacto desigual tanto por países como en la población. El cambio climático se caracteriza por una asimetría fundamental en donde los países con una mayor contribución histórica en emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero son los que sufren las menores consecuencias de las transformaciones climáticas. Además, esta desigualdad a nivel global y nacional se amplifica por las diferencias en capacidad y recursos para aplicar medidas de adapatación que minimicen los daños. |
| Date: | 2014–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:37609&r=hme |
| By: | Rossetti, Magdalena (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | El presente artículo, surge de la necesidad de realizar un diagnóstico de la situación de la segregación escolar en América Latina y el Caribe. La información utilizada para la construcción de este documento, fue extraído desde la bibliografía disponible, como también a partir de entrevistas realizadas a expertos de la región. Este documento, en primera instancia, busca definir el concepto de segregación escolar y relacionarlo con la segregación residencial, fenómeno que cobra gran importancia en la región. Además, se buscan las posibles causas, identificando las tres más importantes: 1) El efecto de las tendencias demográficas y la segregación residencial, 2) la elección del establecimiento educativo por parte de los padres, y 3) la selección de los alumnos por parte de los establecimientos educativos. Luego, se observan las principales consecuencias de la segregación escolar, en dos niveles, principalmente; los efectos en los aprendizajes de los niños, y los efectos a largo plazo en las realidades nacionales y regionales. Ya en el tercer apartado del presente documento, se revisan los estudios realizados a nivel internacional, haciendo una distinción entre Estados Unidos y Europa, y, por otro lado, América Latina. Se profundiza la realidad de la región en el cuarto apartado, donde se revisan los sistemas educativos y la relación de estos con la segregación escolar, de distintos países tales como Argentina, Brasil, Colombia, Costa Rica, México, Venezuela, Guatemala, Uruguay, Jamaica, y Trinidad y Tobago. Finalmente, y a modo de conclusión, se realiza una revisión de recomendaciones que apuntan a la disminución de la segregación escolar. |
| Date: | 2014–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col041:36837&r=hme |
| By: | Zuñiga, Isabel (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | Chile ha logrado indicadores de crecimiento superiores a los de la región, sin embargo, sus beneficios no se han distribuido de manera equitativa en toda su población y las personas en situación de discapacidad forman parte del grupo menos favorecido. El Programa de Gobierno 2014-2018 de Michel Bachelet, consciente de esta situación, propuso dentro de sus objetivos avanzar hacia la inclusión laboral de personas en situación de discapacidad y, para lograrlo, ofreció como estrategia la implementación de un programa de capacitación en oficios para 20.000 personas en situación de discapacidad. La responsabilidad del diseño y ejecución del programa recayó en el Servicio Nacional de Empleo (SENCE), y el presente informe corresponde una propuesta de largo plazo para su diseño. La propuesta incluye los bienes y servicios que deberían ser parte de la oferta del programa, así como los procesos que deberían ser ejecutados por SENCE para ejecutarlo. |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:39364&r=hme |
| By: | Caroli, Eve; Weber-Baghdiguian, Lexane |
| Abstract: | We investigate the role of social norms in accounting for differences in self-reported health as reported by men and women. Using the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS, 2010), we first replicate the standard result that women report worse health than men, whatever the health outcome we consider – i.e. general self-assessed health, well-being but also more specific symptoms such as hearing problems, skin problems, backache, muscular pain in upper or lower limbs, headache and eyestrain, stomach ache, respiratory difficulties, depression and anxiety, fatigue and insomnia. We then proxy social norms by the gender structure of the workplace environment and study how the latter affects self-reported health for men and women separately. Our findings indicate that individuals in workplaces where women are a majority tend to report worse health than individuals employed in mixed-gender work environments, be they men or women. The opposite holds for individuals in workplaces where men are a majority: men tend to report fewer health problems than when employed in mixed-gender environments and the same goes for women – although the effects are not significant at conventional levels. These results are robust to controlling for a large array of working condition indicators, which allows us to rule out that the poorer health status reported by individuals working in female-dominated environments could be due to worse job quality. We interpret this evidence as suggesting that social norms associated with specific gender environments play an important role in explaining differences in health-reporting behaviours across sex, at least in the workplace. |
| Keywords: | health, gender, social norms, job quality |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpm:docweb:1517&r=hme |
| By: | Kühn, Daniela D.; Kühn, Igor (Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) United Nations) |
| Abstract: | A distinção entre o processo socioeconômico identificado como o de crescimento e aquele caracterizado como de desenvolvimento tem sido um dos enfoques principais na discussão em torno de políticas capazes de promover um deles (ou ambos) na sociedade. A distinção principal, sugerida na Abordagem das Capacitações, refere-se à identificação de meios e fins. A partir dessa percepção, a proposta deste trabalho é tratar essa distinção para perceber a condição ambiental a que as pessoas estão submetidas. A partir da caracterização da distinção ente meios (segurança ambiental) e fins (condição ambiental), considerados aqui como intitulamentos ambientais, o trabalho apresenta situações identificadas nos estados brasileiros. Entre os resultados, pode-se destacar a preocupação com alterações ambientais ocorridos nos recursos hídricos, importante fonte energética brasileira, bem como a heterogeneidade das alterações ambientais percebidas no país. Por fim, discute-se apossibilidade de alteração de quadros ambientais considerados ruins a partir da realização de políticas públicas. |
| Date: | 2014–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col022:36714&r=hme |