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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2016‒05‒21
twenty papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Jon D. Wisman |
| Abstract: | Thorstein Veblen's theory of conspicuous consumption is one of his most powerful contributions to social science. Conspicuous consumption is undertaken in an attempt to maintain or increase social standing. But why do humans seek to acquire status through their consumption practices? Or more fundamentally, why do they seek status? Veblen does not present it as grounded in an instinct such as his instincts of parental bent, workmanship or idle curiosity, although he claims that "the propensity for emulation is probably the strongest and most alert and persistent of the economic motives proper… a pervading trait of human nature." But why? Had he read Darwin, or read him more carefully, he would have picked up on Darwin's concept of sexual selection and recognized it as the driving force behind conspicuous consumption as well as much other behavior intended to favorably impress others, if not the driving force behind all of his instincts. Sexual selection is a form of natural selection that works through mate selection as opposed to physical survival. How much an individual can consume signals an ability to command resources essential for successfully raising children. This article adds the Darwinian depth that Veblen missed to his important concept of conspicuous consumption, and in doing so adds clarity to humanity's prospects. |
| Keywords: | Darwin, sexual selection, status, inequality, evolution |
| JEL: | B15 B52 D11 P47 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:2016-03&r=hme |
| By: | Juan David García |
| Abstract: | En 1900 Popayán había perdido el empuje que la había caracterizado como centro económico del occidente del país el siglo anterior, esta desaceleración económica vino acompañada de otras particularidades como su afinidad con el partido conservador y la iglesia, lo cual ayudó a configurar un movimiento obrero especial, de poco alcance y visibilidad nacional, y muy ligado a corrientes políticas. El objetivo del presente texto es determinar la conexión de la iglesia y la prensa en la configuración del movimiento obrero en Popayán. El periodo de análisis es la primera mitad del siglo XX, no sólo por acotar el tema, sino también porque es un periodo pionero en cuestión sindical. |
| Keywords: | Movimiento Obrero, Popayán, Iglesia, Prensa, Corriente Política. |
| JEL: | J51 J52 J58 |
| Date: | 2016–05–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000176:014557&r=hme |
| By: | Dünhaupt, Petra |
| Abstract: | Since the 1980s, the financial sector and its role have increased significantly. This development is often referred to as financialization. Authors working in the heterodox tradition have raised the question whether the changing role of finance manifests a new era in the history of capitalism. The present article first provides some general discussion on the term financialization and presents some stylized facts which highlight the rise of finance. Then, it proceeds by briefly reviewing the main arguments in the Marxian framework that proposedly lead to crisis. Next, two schools of thought in the Marxian tradition are reviewed which consider financialization as the latest stage of capitalism. They highlight the contradictions imposed by financialization that disrupt the growth process and also stress the fragilities imposed by the new growth regime. The two approaches introduced here are the Social Structure of Accumulation Theory and Monthly Review School. The subsequent part proceeds with the Post-Keynesian theory, first introducing potential destabilizing factors before discussing financialization and the finance-led growth regime. The last section provides a comparative summary. While the basic narrative in all approaches considered here is quite similar, major differences stem from the relationship between neoliberalism and financialization and, moreover, from the question of whether financialization can be considered cause or effect. |
| Keywords: | Financialization,Crisis,Periods of Capitalism,Heterodox Economics |
| JEL: | E02 E11 E12 P16 P51 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:ipewps:672016&r=hme |
| By: | Agnès Festré (GREDEG CNRS; University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France); Pierre Garrouste (GREDEG CNRS; University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we argue that Hayek’s expectations approach can be better understood by taking account of the interplay between two related complex systems: the complex system of cognition and the complex system of behavioral rules of action. The former is located at the individual level and concerns the way human beings perceive the physical world as and well as their fellow men. The second one concerns how human beings behave (essentially how they follow rules) and form expectations based on the properties of their cognitive systems, such that the system of rules to which they adhere provides higher order regularities which preserve their existence over time, that is, the existence of societies. The article is organized as follows. Section 1 provides a detailed description of these complex systems and emphasizes their differences. Section 2 deals with the interplay between these two systems, and discusses the consequences of forming expectations. Section 3 sums up the paper’s main arguments. |
| Keywords: | Hayek, emergence, complexity, knowledge, expectations |
| JEL: | B25 B4 B53 D84 |
| Date: | 2016–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2016-13&r=hme |
| By: | Basu,Kaushik |
| Abstract: | There is a growing appreciation in economics that people have emotional vulnerabilities, commitments to social norms, and systematic irrationalities, which impact their decision making and choice in the marketplace. The flip side of this is that human beings are susceptible to being manipulated by unscrupulous agents who are single-minded about marketing their services and wares. This paper reviews George Akerlof and Robert Shiller's book, Phishing for Phools: The Economics of Manipulation and Deception, alongside other writings in the field, and discusses how this research agenda can be taken forward. The paper shows how this new research can shed light on the ubiquity of corruption in so many societies, and proposes ideas for controlling corruption. |
| Keywords: | Debt Markets,Economic Theory&Research,Access to Finance,Labor Policies,Markets and Market Access |
| Date: | 2016–04–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:7653&r=hme |
| By: | Sabina Alkire and Suman Seth |
| Abstract: | A reduction in overall poverty may not necessarily improve the situations of the poorest. In order to pay particular attention to the poorest, it is crucial to distinguish them from the moderately poor population. In income poverty measurement, this distinction is made by defining a more stringent poverty cutoff. In this paper, we explore such mechanisms to distinguish subsets of the poor in a multidimensional counting framework, under the practical assumption that many variables for assessing deprivations are ordinal. We examine two approaches that capture two distinct forms of stringent multidimensional poverty: one uses a more stringent vector of deprivation cutoffs, and the other, a more stringent cross-dimensional poverty cutoff. To explore the distinction between these two approaches empirically, we examine the evolution of multidimensional poverty in Nepal. Our findings show crucial differences between these two approaches. |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qeh:ophiwp:ophiwp099.pdf&r=hme |
| By: | Göcen, Serdar |
| Abstract: | In this article, the implications of the theory of ignorance developed by Hayek to economic theory and policy will be examined. The theory of ignorance appeared especially in the second period of Hayek’s career and has been applied to the field of economics, politics, and law. Accordingly, people do not have knowledge about the institutions they’ve got today, knowledge which other people have, their actions and the results of them. This kind of knowledge cannot exist as cumulative and the amount of it cannot be enhanced by technological developments. Hence, developing theories, making plans and practices as if we have complete knowledge will not conclude as we desire. This study will discuss and sum up Hayek’s criticizes on market perception, the assumption of perfectly competitive market, and equilibrium analysis of mainstream economics, his contributions to the possibility of economic calculation in socialism and central planning, and recent development in information theory of mainstream economics. |
| Keywords: | bilgisizlik, Hayek, denge analizi, iktisadi planlama ignorance, Hayek, equilibrium analysis, economic planning |
| JEL: | B13 B25 B41 B53 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:66811&r=hme |
| By: | Irit Keynan (College for Academic Studies) |
| Abstract: | The practice of political neoliberalism, and how it often contradicts its own basic premise of free market and individual liberty from government intervention, have vastly been studied. Scholars have exemplified this inconsistency, in the support by neoliberal republicans in the US of conservative policies such as limiting the rights of the gay and lesbian community, opposing "Planned Parenthood", and calling for state intervention in order to limit entrance of foreign workers. This paper adds to the critical analysis of neoliberalism by questioning the theory itself, and its basic claim of promoting the individual’s right for liberty. Upon deconstructing and carefully examining the idea of liberty in the neoliberal concept, this paper suggests that neoliberalism intentionally denies individual liberty from the majority while deliberately secures liberty and financial success in the hands of the privileged few. These undemocratic ideas, the paper contends, are not "collateral damage", but embedded in the theory. |
| Keywords: | Neoliberalism; human rights; liberty; free market; equality, democracy |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:3606259&r=hme |
| By: | Situngkir, Hokky |
| Abstract: | A city park has been built from the organic urban settlement in the Cikapundung River, Bandung, Indonesia. While the aim for the development is the revitalization of the river for being unhealthy from the waste coming from the settlement. A study on how Indonesian people, in general, treating water source, like river, lake, and ocean is revisited. Throwing waste into the river has actually become paradox with the collective mental understanding about water among Indonesians. Two scenarios of agent-based simulation is presented, to see the dynamics of organic settlement and life of the city park after being opened for public. The simulation is delivered upon the imagery of landscape taken from the satellite and drone. While experience for presented problems gives insights, the computational social laboratory also awaits for further theoretical explorations and endeavors to sharpen good policymaking. |
| Keywords: | agent-based model, computational social science, settlement, slum, river, water, waste management, indonesia |
| JEL: | C63 C88 I31 Q1 Q25 Q53 Q57 R28 Z13 Z18 |
| Date: | 2016–04–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:71078&r=hme |
| By: | Sylvia Chant |
| Abstract: | This paper traces the mounting interest in, and visibility of, girls and young women in development policy, especially since the turn of the 21st century when a ‘Smart Economics’ rationale for promoting gender equality and female empowerment has become ever more prominent and explicit.‘Smart Economics’, which is strongly associated with an increased influence of corporate stakeholders, frequently through public-private partnerships, stresses a ‘business case’ for investing in women for developmental (read economic) efficiency, with investment in younger generations of women being touted as more efficient still. The latter is encapsulated in the term ‘Smarter Economics’, with the Nike Foundation’s ‘Girl Effect’ being a showcase example. In this, and similar, initiatives linked with neoliberal development, ‘investing in girls’ appears to be driven not only by imperatives of ‘female empowerment’, but also to realise more general dividends for future economic growth and poverty alleviation. Yet while it may well be that girls and young women have benefited from their rapid relocation from the sidelines towards the centre of development discourse and planning, major questions remain as to whose voices are prioritised, and whose agendas are primarily served by the current shift from ‘Smart’ to ‘Smarter Economics’. |
| Keywords: | Smart economics’; girls in development policy; gender inequality; girl effect; corporate stakeholders; neoliberal development |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:66231&r=hme |
| By: | Joachim Merz (LEUPHANA Universität Lüneburg); Tim Rathjen (LEUPHANA Universität Lüneburg) |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurs and freelancers, the self-employed, commonly are characterized as not only to be relatively rich in income but also as to be rich in time because of their time-sovereignty in principle. Our introducing study scrutinises these results and notions about the well-being situation of self-employed persons not only by asking about traditional single income poverty but also by considering time poverty within the framework of a new interdependent multidimensional (IMD) poverty concept. The German Socio-economic panel with satisfaction data serves as the data base for the population wide evaluation of the substitution/compensation between genuine, personal leisure time and income. The available detailed Time Use Surveys of 1991/92 and 2001/2 of the Federal Statistics Office provide the data to quantify the multidimensional poverty in all the IMD poverty regimes. Important result: self-employed with regard to single income poverty, single time poverty and interdependent multidimensional time and income poverty in both years are much more affected by time and income poverty than all other active persons defining the working poor. A significant proportion of non-income-poor but time poor of the active population are not able to compensate their time deficit even by an above poverty income. These people are neglected so far within the poverty and well-being discussion, the discussion about the “working poor” and in the discussion about time squeeze and time pressure in general and in particular for the self-employed as entrepreneurs and freelancers. |
| Keywords: | Liberal professions (Freie Berufe), entrepreneurs, self-employed, interdependent multidimensional time and income poverty, time and income substitution, extended economic well-being, satisfaction/happiness, CES welfare function estimation, working poor, German Socio-Economic Panel, German Time Use Surveys 1991/02 and 2001/02. |
| JEL: | D31 D13 J22 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inq:inqwps:ecineq2016-400&r=hme |
| By: | Maryam Firoozi; Michel Magnan; Steve Fortin |
| Abstract: | The diversity of boards of directors (or lack of thereof) is currently attracting significant attention from regulators and institutional investors all over the world, with some jurisdictions either imposing conditions (e.g., quotas on gender diversity) or requesting disclosure of measures taken to enhance diversity. Diversity is seen as providing boards with access to a wider pool of competencies, experiences and perspectives, which should be beneficial to board effectiveness. In this study, we investigate how a firm’s financial reporting quality relates to two dimensions of board diversity: geography and gender. Geographical diversity reflects directors’ geographical location relative to corporate headquarters. Our results show that financial reporting quality, as measured by the level of abnormal accruals and restatements, is lower for firms with independent directors who are geographically spread out than for firms with less geographically diverse boards. In addition, firms with more geographic diversified audit committee members have lower financial reporting quality. Moreover, we do not find any significant relationship between board gender diversity and financial reporting quality. Our findings hold after controlling for endogeneity and also alternate explanations. These findings suggest that firm-specific effects from board diversity do differ and are conditional upon the facet of the diversity being considered. Our results also indicate that regulators may need to take a more comprehensive approach if they push for board diversity. Depuis quelques années, la diversité des conseils d’administration (ou l’absence de diversité) constituent une préoccupation de plusieurs autorités réglementaires ou politiques, lesquelles sont parfois intervenues en imposant des conditions (p.ex., quotas) ou en requérant une divulgation exhaustive des mesures entreprises afin d’accroître la diversité d’un conseil. Cet intérêt pour la diversité découle de la prémisse qu’elle donne accès pour un conseil à un plus grand bassin de compétences, d’expériences et de perspectives, lequel amener celui-ci à être plus performant. Dans cette étude, nous examinons comment la qualité de la divulgation financière d’une entreprise est reliée à deux facettes de la diversité : géographique et de genre. La diversité géographique découle de la proximité (ou distance) entre la résidence d’un administrateur et l’endroit où est situé le siège administratif de l’entreprise. Nos résultats indiquent que les entreprises ayant une plus grande proportion d’administrateurs indépendants résidant loin du siège administratif de l’entreprise affichent des résultats financiers de moins bonne qualité, tel que capté par les accruals discrétionnaires et la fréquence des redressements comptables. En outre, il semble que la diversité de genre n’a pas d’effet sur la qualité des résultats financiers. Différentes analyses de sensibilité donnent des résultats similaires. Somme toute, il semble qu’il soit nécessaire de voir la diversité de manière plus globale car son effet est conditionné par la facette analysée. En outre, les pressions des instances de réglementation afin d’augmenter la diversité devraient tenir compte de sa nature multi-dimensionnelle. |
| Keywords: | Board of Directors, Geographical Diversity, Gender Diversity, Financial Reporting Quality, conseil d’administration, diversité géographique, diversité de genre, qualité des résultats financiers |
| Date: | 2016–05–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirwor:2016s-27&r=hme |
| By: | KOTAGIRI Yasuhiko |
| Abstract: | The advance of liberalist reforms in public-private relationships has greatly expanded the role of third-sector organizations as representatives of the public. Although literature on third-sector organizations has grown substantially, the issue of how the strengthening of such relationships affects third-sector organizations' autonomy has not been fully explored. This paper assesses third-sector organizations' autonomy, particularly their financial autonomy. The Herfindahl-Hirschman Index is used to measure the diversity of revenue sources and applies it to a national sample of third-sector organizations. Furthermore, factors impacting the diversity of revenue sources are demonstrated. The results find that financially large organizations have a greater dependence on single revenue sources. Moreover, they suggest that third-sector organizations in general are becoming more dependent on single revenue sources. Designing systems that will enable third-sector organizations to preserve their autonomy should be made a priority. |
| Date: | 2016–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eti:rdpsjp:16040&r=hme |
| By: | Bassi, Vittorio; Huck, Steffen; Rasul, Imran |
| Abstract: | Multiple sources of funding are becoming increasingly important for charitable organizations. Donations from corporate donors for example account for 25-35% of charitable income for the largest US charities, across charitable sectors. This note presents some tentative first evidence from a natural field experiment to shed light on how different types of potential donors: individuals, corporates and aristocratically titled individuals, respond to the same fundraising drive. Each donor type was randomly assigned to treatments varying in two dimensions: (i) whether information was conveyed about the existence of an anonymous lead donor; (ii) how individual donations would be matched by the anonymous lead donor. We find that aristocrats are significantly more likely to respond and that corporates give significantly more than individuals. Treatment effects moreover suggest that (proportional) matching is to be avoided for corporate donors. |
| Keywords: | agency problems,charitable giving,corporate donors,aristocratic donors,field experiment |
| JEL: | C93 D12 D64 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:wzbeoc:spii2016304&r=hme |
| By: | Nicolai Suppa |
| Abstract: | This paper compares Germany's official income-based poverty measure with a multidimensional poverty index based on the Alkire-Foster method. For their comparative assessment, I employ the capability approach as a conceptual framework. I find both measures agree on certain aspects, such as socio-demographic risk factors. However, I also document a substantial mismatch in who is deemed poor, which seems to originate from inherent, conceptual features of the measures. More generally, the results also suggest additional individual income reduces multidimensional poverty, if only at a decreasing rate. Examining regional variations, I find that the measures do not agree about trends in poverty and that there is no clear-cut link between aggregate income and multidimensional poverty. I conclude that, despite some basic agreement, the choice of poverty measure makes a difference, with properly designed multidimensional poverty indices having the advantage of better reflecting human well-being. |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qeh:ophiwp:ophiwp103_1.pdf&r=hme |
| By: | Pascal Seppecher (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - Université Paris 13 - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Isabelle Salle (CeNDEF - Center for Nonlinear Dynamics in Economics and Finance - Universiteit van Amsterdam, Utrecht School of Economics - Utrecht University [Utrecht]); Dany Lang (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - Université Paris 13 - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (USPC) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes to model market mechanisms as a collective learning process for firms in a complex adaptive system, namely Jamel, an agent-based, stock-flow consistent macroeconomic model. Inspired by Alchian's (1950) " blanketing shotgun process " idea, our learning model is an ever-adapting process that puts a significant weight on exploration vis-à-vis exploitation. We show that decentralized market selection allows firms to collectively adapt their overall debt strategies to the changes in the macroeconomic environment so that the system sustains itself, but at the cost of recurrent deep downturns. We conclude that, in complex evolving economies, market processes do not lead to the selection of optimal behaviors, as the characterization of successful behaviors itself constantly evolves as a result of the market conditions that these behaviors contribute to shape. Heterogeneity in behavior remains essential to adaptation in such an ever-changing environment. We come to an evolutionary characterization of a crisis, as the point where the evolution of the macroeconomic system becomes faster than the adaptation capabilities of the agents that populate it, and the so far selected performing behaviors suddenly cease to be, and become instead undesirable. |
| Keywords: | Evolutionary Economics,Learning,Firm adaptation |
| Date: | 2016–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cepnwp:hal-01314335&r=hme |
| By: | Kimberly V. Smith; Claire Dye; Elizabeth Cook; Kristina Rosinsky; Mindy Scott |
| Abstract: | Gender Matters program, an innovative comprehensive sexuality education curriculum that aims to reduce teen pregnancy and associated sexual risk behaviors. |
| Keywords: | teen pregnancy, sex education, adolescents, PPA |
| JEL: | I |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mpr:mprres:e888cd4c0f4849c4b73d8f087758599a&r=hme |
| By: | - |
| Keywords: | SOCIEDAD CIVIL, DERECHOS ECONOMICOS, SOCIALES Y CULTURALES, POLITICA ECONOMICA, MACROECONOMIA, CIVIL SOCIETY, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS, ECONOMIC POLICY, MACROECONOMICS |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecr:col093:40080&r=hme |
| By: | Mattia Guerini (Institute of Economics, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy); Alessio Moneta (Institute of Economics, Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a new method to empirically validate simulation models that generate artificial time series data comparable with real-world data. The approach is based on comparing structures of vector autoregression models that are estimated from both artificial and real-world data by means of causal search algorithms. This relatively simple procedure is able to tackle both the problem of confronting theoretical simulation models with the data and the problem of comparing different models in terms of their empirical reliability. The paper also provides an application of the validation procedure to the Dosi et al. (2015) macro-model. |
| Keywords: | Models validation; Agent-Based models; Causality; Structural Vector Autoregressions |
| JEL: | C32 C52 E37 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:thk:wpaper:42&r=hme |
| By: | Marco Biagetti; Sergio Scicchitano |
| Abstract: | In this article we apply a two stage approach in order to investigate whether a stronger sex discrimination exists the higher the job position is. This analysis is carried out by separating the Italian labor market among supervisors and non supervisors. Once the selection terms are accounted for through a multinomial logit, amongst non supervisors both the wage gap and the discriminatory component rise, while amongst supervisors they considerably decrease and become not significant. Thus, the stronger negative process of selection amongst Italian female managers can lead to consider that segment of the labor market unfair. |
| Keywords: | gender wage gap, discrimination, sample selection, Italy, Oaxaca/Blinder decomposition |
| JEL: | J16 J31 J71 J24 |
| Date: | 2016–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:itt:wpaper:2016-2&r=hme |