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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2017‒03‒19
seventeen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Giorgos Galanis (University of Warwick, and Goldsmiths, University of London); Roberto Veneziani (Queen Mary University of London); Naoki Yoshihara (University of Massachusetts Amherst, Hitotsubashi University, and Kochi University of Technology) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a formal dynamic analysis of exploitation, class inequalities and profits. A stylised model of a capitalist economy with two classes - workers and capitalists - is considered which extends Roemer [21, 22]. First, a dynamic generalisation of a key Marxian insight is provided by proving that the profitability of capitalist production is synonimous with the existence of exploitation. Second, it is shown that, in a competitive environment, asset inequalities are fundamental for the emergence of exploitation, but they are not sufficient for its persistence, both in equilibria with accumulation and growth, and, perhaps more surprisingly, in stationary intertemporal equilibrium paths. Finally, it is shown that labour-saving technical progress may yield persistent exploitation by ensuring the persistent abundance of labour. |
| Keywords: | Dynamics, Accumulation, Exploitation, Classes |
| JEL: | E11 D51 D63 C61 B24 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp814&r=hme |
| By: | Gräbner, Claudius; Kapeller, Jakop |
| Abstract: | This paper focuses on the complementarity between original institutional economics, Mario Bunge’s framework of systemism, and the formal tools developed by complexity economists, especially in the context of agent-based modeling. Thereby, we assert that original institutional economics might profit from exploiting this complementarity. |
| Keywords: | Aggregation, Original Institutionalism, Systemism, Agent-Based Computational Economics, Complexity |
| JEL: | B41 B52 C63 |
| Date: | 2015–06–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77334&r=hme |
| By: | Mariacristina Rossi; Eva Sierminska |
| Abstract: | In this paper we shall examine homeownership trends over the past 3 to 4 decades and discuss differences related to the homeownership gap for women and men, with a focus on most recent trends. We shall compare differences in the US to those in countries with different institutional structures and shall pay particular attention to differences across family types. Our estimation techniques will allow us to discuss the role of determinants from a gender perspective. We find that single women are better off than single men without children and a reverse trend exists in families with children. The general negative effect for women remains for younger cohorts in the face of risking homeownership. The latest crisis did not change the general long-running trend of the homeownership gap except for the US and France. The findings of this paper could provide an international perspective on differential homeownership rates among women and men, across countries and over time. Given that the value of one’s own home (home equity) is the largest financial reserve in a household’s wealth portfolio, it is important to have a better understanding of the differences resulting from gender and family types. |
| Keywords: | Housing, Wealth, Gender, homeownership, time trends |
| JEL: | D1 D3 R2 J1 |
| Date: | 2015–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lis:liswps:654&r=hme |
| By: | Ragui Assaad (University of Minnesota); Hanan Nazier; Rasha Ramadan |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the contextual and community-level determinants of multidimensional women’s empowerment in Egypt, while accounting for the usual individual and household level factors typically included in studies of women’s empowerment. The paper analyzes two dimensions of women’s empowerment: the decision-making and the mobility dimensions by means of two indices constructed from various survey questions relating to these dimensions. We use data from the Population Census of 2006 and the Demographic Health Survey of 2008 to construct community and governorate-level contextual variables to complement the individual-level data we obtain from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey of 2012 (ELMPS 2012). In line with the literature, the determinants that are relevant to the decision-making and mobility dimensions of women’s empowerment turned out to be quite different, confirming that “empowerment” is a multi- dimensional phenomenon, with women relatively empowered in some aspects of their lives but not in others. Moreover, our results show that context plays an important role in determining women’s empowerment in Egypt after controlling for a variety of individual and household-level characteristics. These results highlight the importance of viewing women’s empowerment, and hence development as social and normative transformations rather than as just resulting from shifts in individual conditions, attitudes and behaviors. Thus, empowering Egyptian women will require changing community norms and values about gender relations rather than simply providing greater educational and employment opportunities for women. |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:959&r=hme |
| By: | Amitava Krishna Dutt (University of Notre Dame, and FLACSO); Roberto Veneziani (Queen Mary University of London) |
| Abstract: | A simple classical-Marxian model of growth and distribution is developed in which education transforms low-skilled workers into high-skilled ones and in which high-skilled workers save and hold capital, therefore receiving both high-skilled wages and profit income. We analyze the implications for class divisions, growth and distribution, of the transformation of the modern capitalist economy from one in which the main class division is between capitalists who own capital and workers who only receive wage income into one in which education and human capital play a major role. We show than an expansion in education can have a positive effect on growth but by altering the distribution of income rather than by fostering technological change, and that it yields some changes in income distribution and the class structure of the capitalist economy, but need not alter its fundamental features. |
| Keywords: | Education, Human capital, Workers' savings, Growth, Distribution |
| JEL: | E2 E11 O41 I24 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp816&r=hme |
| By: | Catherine Macdonald |
| Abstract: | In recognizing that women’s participation and gender equity is a precondition for the achievement of acceptable development outcomes, extractives industry companies are increasingly making public commitments to integrating gender equality, inclusion, and women’s economic empowerment into aspects of their operations. This paper reviews recent literature on gender and the extractives industries and then considers the following questions that emerged from the scholarship. How is gender understood in the extractives sector and has this changed over time? What are the gendered impacts of the extractives industries? Are women passive victims of the sector rather than active participants or even resisters to industrial expansion? What is the nature of extractives-associated sex-work and gender-based violence in various settings? In addition, the paper presents available information on women’s participation in the extractives industry, both formal and informal, and how these differ, and evaluates industry efforts towards achieving improved gender balance and equity in the sector. |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2017-52&r=hme |
| By: | Susana Martínez-Restrepo; Johanna Yancari; Laura Ramos Jaimes |
| Abstract: | In this think piece, we discuss our experience implementing quantitative and qualitative instruments, including subjective measures, to assess economic empowerment among poor women in Colombia and Peru. We conclude that in these specific cases, the instruments used to measure empowerment through subjective dimensions do not work for poor women. The difficulty these women have in understanding abstract concepts, their cultural definitions of decision making showed us that researchers should adopt different strategies when measuring subjective empowerment among poor women. This think piece is part of a larger research project aimed at comparing the pros and cons of existing methodologies to measure women’s economic empowerment in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. |
| Keywords: | Mujeres, Empoderamiento de la Mujer, Participación de la Mujer, Pobreza, Desarrollo Económico, Colombia, Perú |
| JEL: | I32 I38 J16 O15 |
| Date: | 2016–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000124:015447&r=hme |
| By: | Figari, Francesco; Narazani, Edlira |
| Abstract: | It is widely recognized that childcare has important pedagogical, economic and social effects on both children and parents. This paper is the first attempt to estimate a joint structural model of female labour supply and childcare behaviour applied to Italy in order to analyse the effects of relaxing the existing constraints in terms of childcare availability and costs by considering public, private and informal childcare. Results suggest that Italian households might alter their childcare and labour supply behaviours substantially if the coverage rate of formal childcare increases to reach the European targets. Overall, increasing child care coverage is estimated to be more effective in enhancing labour incentives than decreasing existing child care costs, at the same budgetary cost. |
| Date: | 2017–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:emodwp:em2-17&r=hme |
| By: | Álvaro Martín Moreno Rivas |
| Abstract: | ¿Cuáles son las condiciones necesarias para liderar un proceso de crecimiento sostenido y de cambio estructural que permita reducir las desigualdades en el largo plazo y que respondan eficazmente a las demandas de los sectores populares y de las víctimas del conflicto armado? Este trabajo busca hacer un modesto esfuerzo en este sentido, con el fin de abrir las discusiones en la sociedad colombiana, para ir más allá del llamado “momento uribista-santista”. Solo en un escenario en el cual los conflictos distributivos sean resueltos mediante procesos de negociación entre las partes, reconociendo las tensiones y los intereses de las clases, será posible transitar hacia un modelo democrático de crecimiento incluyente que penalice los comportamientos predatorios y nepotistas, sustentados en “instituciones políticas y económicas extractivas” |
| Keywords: | Desarrollo Económico, modelos de crecimiento heterodoxo, desigualdad |
| JEL: | O11 B51 E11 E12 |
| Date: | 2017–03–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000178:015426&r=hme |
| By: | Nelly El-Mallakh (Centre d’Economie de la Sorbonne, Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne); Mathilde Maurel; Biagio Speciale |
| Abstract: | We analyze the effects of the 2011 Egyptian protests on the relative labor market conditions of women using panel information from the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS). We construct our measure of intensity of the protests – the governorate-level number of “martyrs” (i.e., demonstrators who died during the protests) - using unique information from the Statistical Database of the Egyptian Revolution. We find that the 2011 protests have reduced the gender gap in labor force participation by increasing women’s unemployment and private sector employment. The political change has mostly affected the relative labor market outcomes of women in households at the bottom of the pre-revolution income distribution. We link these findings to the literature showing how a relevant shock to the labor division between women and men may have long run consequences on the role of women in society. |
| Date: | 2015–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:957&r=hme |
| By: | Stephan Kaplan (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | Given their powerful position in presidential cabinets, technocrats are an important transmission mechanism for explaining economic policy choices, but have received less attention compared to other wellestablished channels such as elections or democratic tenure. I incorporate the role of technocratic advisors into a domestic policymaking framework. Specifcally, I contend that left governments tend to appoint technocrats, or ministers with mainstream economics training, to signal their commitment to sound governance to the electorate. This partisan technocratic pattern, however, is conditioned by a country’s place in its business cycle. During periods of high growth, left governments are more likely to align with their partisan preferences and appoint heterodox advisors that drift from scal discipline. Employing an originally constructed data index, the Index of Economic Advisors, I conduct a statistical test of 16 Latin American countries from 1960 to 2011, finding partisan shifts in technocratic appointments and fiscal governance that are conditioned by national business cycles. |
| Keywords: | economic policy, technocrats, partisanship, heterodox, fiscal policy, inflation |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2016-28&r=hme |
| By: | Anthony Yezer (George Washington University) |
| Abstract: | Given their powerful position in presidential cabinets, technocrats are an important transmission mechanism for explaining economic policy choices, but have received less attention compared to other wellestablished channels such as elections or democratic tenure. I incorporate the role of technocratic advisors into a domestic policymaking framework. Specifcally, I contend that left governments tend to appoint technocrats, or ministers with mainstream economics training, to signal their commitment to sound governance to the electorate. This partisan technocratic pattern, however, is conditioned by a country’s place in its business cycle. During periods of high growth, left governments are more likely to align with their partisan preferences and appoint heterodox advisors that drift from scal discipline. Employing an originally constructed data index, the Index of Economic Advisors, I conduct a statistical test of 16 Latin American countries from 1960 to 2011, finding partisan shifts in technocratic appointments and fiscal governance that are conditioned by national business cycles. |
| Keywords: | Foreclosure, Specifcation error, Loan-to-value ratio, Externalities |
| JEL: | R23 R30 R31 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2016-29&r=hme |
| By: | Luis Bértola (Programa de Historia Económica y Social, Facultad de Ciencias Sociales, Universidad de la República) |
| Abstract: | This working paper discusses Piketty´s already famous book. It remarks some of the strong sides of the book, before critically discussing some aspects. It is argued that Piketty could have benefitted by using other theories of capital, different than the neoclassical one adopted. The note also places Piketty´s limited contribution, as seen in a more comprehensive context, in which international relations and reversal causality between growth and distribution are considered. The notes ends by pointing to the fact that Piketty presents modern development´s main stylized fact in a wrong way, because he is too narrowly focused on the developed regions |
| Keywords: | Desigualdad, periferia, capital |
| JEL: | N01 N36 B25 F63 O54 |
| Date: | 2016–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ude:doctra:47&r=hme |
| By: | David Cobham (Heriot-Watt University); Abdallah Zouache |
| Abstract: | This paper analyzes the economic factors that lie behind the upheavals commonly known as the ‘Arab Spring,’ and the economic policy opportunities that a genuine Arab Spring might open up. The evidence suggests that the upheavals were unlikely to have been responses to economic downturns resulting from the global financial crisis, and more likely to have been influenced by the longer term performance of the Arab countries, which has been characterized by relatively slow economic growth as well as failure to move away from authoritarian political systems. The principles of Islamic economics have not provided the basis for a distinctive set of economic policies for new governments. The actual economic programs of some major Islamist political parties turn out to be typically centrist, not very well-developed, but not very different from the policies which non-Islamist (and non-authoritarian) parties might propose. The paper concludes by appealing for more research on specific economic policies that post-Arab spring reformist governments could implement. |
| Date: | 2015–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:975&r=hme |
| By: | Amitava Krishna Dutt (University of Notre Dame, and FLACSO); Roberto Veneziani (Queen Mary University of London) |
| Abstract: | We develop a classical macroeconomic model to examine the growth and distributional consequences of education. Contrary to the received wisdom, we show that human capital accumulation is not necessarily growth-inducing and inequality-reducing. Expansive education policies may foster growth and reduce earning inequalities between workers, but only by transferring income from workers to capitalists. Further, the overall effect of an increase in education depends on the actual characteristics of the educational system and on the nature of labor market relations. We argue that the model can shed light on some recent stylized facts on growth, distribution and education for the US. |
| Keywords: | Education, Growth, Distribution |
| JEL: | O41 I24 E25 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp815&r=hme |
| By: | Jian Gao; Tao Zhou |
| Abstract: | China has experienced an outstanding economic expansion during the past decades, however, literature on non-monetary metrics that reveal the status of China's regional economic development are still lacking. In this paper, we fill this gap by quantifying the economic complexity of China's provinces through analyzing 25 years' firm data. First, we estimate the regional Economic Complexity Index (ECI), and show that the overall time evolution of provinces' ECI is relatively stable and slow. Then, after linking ECI to the economic development and the income inequality, we find that the predictive power of ECI is positive for the former but negative for the latter. Next, we compare different measures of economic diversity and explore their relationships with monetary macroeconomic indicators. Results show that ECI and Fitness are comparative and they have better predictive power than other benchmark measures like entropy. Further multivariate regressions suggest the robustness of our results after controlling other socioeconomic factors. Our work moves forward a step towards better understanding China's regional economic development and non-monetary macroeconomic indicators. |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1703.01292&r=hme |
| By: | Simon Mohun (Queen Mary University of London); Roberto Veneziani (Queen Mary University of London) |
| Abstract: | This paper tries to clarify the logical structure of the relationship between labour values and prices from an axiomatic perspective. The famous 'transformation problem' is interpreted as an impossibility result for a specific interpretation of value theory based on specific assumptions and definitions. A comprehensive review of recent literature is provided, which shows that there are various theoretically relevant and logically consistent alternative interpretations based on different assumptions and definitions. |
| Keywords: | Value, Prices, Transformation problem |
| JEL: | B51 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qmw:qmwecw:wp813&r=hme |