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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2017‒03‒26
25 papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Cedrini, Mario; Magda, Fontana (University of Turin) |
| Abstract: | There is considerable discussion on so-called ‘mainstream pluralism’, that is, on the co-presence of a variety of research programmes in today’s mainstream economics that: 1. significantly deviate from the neoclassical core; 2. are pursued by different, often separate communities of researchers; 3. have their origins outside economics. The literature tends to regard mainstream pluralism as a transitory state towards a new, post-neoclassical, mainstream. This paper advances a new interpretation: it suggests that the changing and fragmented state of mainstream economics is likely to persist over time under the impact of specialization (as a self-reinforcing mechanism) and the creation of new specialties and approaches, also through collaboration with researchers from other disciplines. |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uto:dipeco:201706&r=hme |
| By: | Pascal Seppecher (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Isabelle Salle (Utrecht School of Economics - Utrecht University [Utrecht]); Marc Lavoie (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This paper studies coordination between firms in a multi-sectoral macroeconomic model with endogenous business cycles. Firms are both in competition and interdependent, and set their prices with a markup over unit costs. Markups are heterogeneous and evolve under market pressure. We observe a systematic coordination within firms in each sector, and between each sector. The resulting pattern of relative prices are consistent with the labor theory of value. Those emerging features are robust to technology shocks. |
| Keywords: | General interdependence, Pricing, Agent-based modeling |
| Date: | 2017–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cepnwp:hal-01486597&r=hme |
| By: | Supriya Garikipati; Isabelle Guérin; Susan S.J. Johnson; Ariane Szafarz |
| Abstract: | This special collection examines the claim that microfinance promotes gender equality. The focus is on three areas of the debate: first, the question of how successful microfinance has been in empowering women; second, whether and how negative gender discrimination operates within the sector; third, how power relations within and beyond the household shape the context and outcomes of microfinance initiatives. The papers in this collection demonstrate the divergence of circumstances and emphasise the need to go beyond the past searches for a simple narrative regarding the impact of microfinance. Rather, as the sector evolves and is incorporated into the mainstream financial system, the challenge ahead for researchers is to marshal the evidence on gendered dynamics to ensure that the gains made are built on through deeper understanding of why impact outcomes and processes differ and use this to inform new initiatives to further gender equality. |
| Keywords: | microfinance; gender; women's empowerment; discrimination; household economics; power relations |
| JEL: | O16 J16 G21 B54 D63 I32 |
| Date: | 2017–03–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sol:wpaper:2013/248454&r=hme |
| By: | Susana Martínez-Restrepo; Johanna Yancari; Laura Ramos Jaimes |
| Abstract: | Currently, 9.1 per cent of Colombia’s population lives in extreme poverty. Poverty is more prevalent in rural areas, where it reaches 19.1 per cent (DANE 2012). In Colombia women are more affected by extreme poverty than men, which can be explained by gender gaps in the labour market. While female labour force participation in urban areas is 57.8 per cent, male labour force participation is almost 17 percentage points higher at 74.5 per cent. Among the extremely poor population, only 31.9 per cent of women in urban areas participate in the labour market. Job informality among extremely poor women can reach as high as 90 per cent (DANE 2013). How then can we help women living in extreme poverty achieve greater economic empowerment? A diagnostic study revealed that the most vulnerable population was not benefiting from government services created to improve their socio-economic conditions. This was due to a lack of information, a lack of identification and a lack of empowerment, as well as distance to the supply of services (Nunez and Cuesta 2006). Furthermore, evidence from Chile Solidario also suggests that extremely poor families lack the fundamental organisational skills for their own development; therefore, more than financial support, they also need psychosocial support (Galasso 2011). Armed with this evidence, Colombia created Red UNIDOS (previously Red JUNTOS) in 2009 as the government strategy to alleviate extreme poverty. |
| Keywords: | Mujeres Desplazadas y en Extrema Pobreza, Pobreza, Mujeres, Mercado de Trabajo, Protección Social, Red UNIDOS, Extrema Pobreza, Colombia |
| JEL: | D12 J30 J46 I32 I38 |
| Date: | 2015–09–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000124:015413&r=hme |
| By: | Tesfatsion, Leigh |
| Abstract: | Real-world economies are open-ended dynamic systems consisting of heterogeneous interacting participants. Human participants are decision-makers who strategically take into account the past actions and potential future actions of other participants. All participants are forced to be locally constructive, meaning their actions at any given time must be based on their local states; and participant actions at any given time affect future local states. Taken together, these properties imply real-world economies are locally-constructive sequential games. This study discusses a modeling approach, agent-based computational economics (ACE), that permits researchers to study economic systems from this point of view. ACE modeling principles and objectives are first concisely presented. The remainder of the study then highlights challenging issues and edgier explorations that ACE researchers are currently pursuing. |
| Date: | 2017–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:isu:genstf:201703080800001022&r=hme |
| By: | Reham Rizk (British University in Egypt); Hala Abou-Ali |
| Abstract: | The paper attempts to quantify the impact of informal employment on women’s contribution to the household budget. It further pinpoints the socio-economic factors that affect women’s struggle to meet their household needs. Using the Egyptian Labor Market Panel Survey 2012, the analysis reveals that informality decreases women’s contribution to the household budget by 31%. Moreover, women’s educational level, household size, and husband’s education, among other factors, shape women’s involvement in the household budget. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:910&r=hme |
| By: | Davide Fiaschi; Elisa Giuliani; Nicola Salvati |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we develop a family of indexes to measure the social irresponsibility of firms. We define corporate social irresponsibility (CSIR) on the basis of firms' alleged involvement in human rights abuses. After a critical appraisal of the existing CSIR raw data and measures/indexes, we take a M-quantile regression approach to develop a family of CSIR indexes that overcome the limitations of existing measures. We apply our methodology to a sample of 380 large publicly-listed firms, observed over the period 2004-2012. Our analysis develops a family of CSIR indexes robust to firms' media exposure, size and industry specificities, and provides a measure of their accuracy. . |
| Keywords: | Corporate Social Irresponsibility (CSIR), M-quantile regression, CSIR index. |
| JEL: | C14 C21 O40 O50 |
| Date: | 2016–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pie:dsedps:2016/209&r=hme |
| By: | Havas, Attila |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews recent economic theorising on innovation from the angle of analysing social innovations (SI). It is structured as follows: Some of the basic notions used in innovation analyses are considered in section 2, focusing on the subject, objectives and levels of change. Section 3 reviews how innovation is understood in particular models of innovation and analysed by various schools of economics highlighting the types of actors and knowledge perceived as relevant in these various approaches. The notion of innovation systems (national, regional, sectoral, and technological ones) and its analytical and policy relevance is explored in section 4. Lessons relevant for analysing social innovation are drawn at the end of each sub-section, and the most important of those are reiterated in the concluding section. |
| Keywords: | Types of business innovations; Innovation in mainstream economics; Evolutionary economics of innovation; Linear, networked, and interactive learning models of innovation; Types of dynamics; Innovation systems (national, regional, sectoral, technological); Social innovation; The "dark side" of innovation |
| JEL: | B52 O30 O31 O33 O35 O38 O39 |
| Date: | 2016–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:77385&r=hme |
| By: | Rania Salem (University of Toronto); Yuk Fai Cheong; Kristin VanderEnde; Kathryn M. Yount |
| Abstract: | Whether work is performed for household members’ consumption (subsistence work) or for sale to others (market work), it may be an enabling resource for women’s agency, or their capacity to define and act upon their goals. The present paper asks: Do women who engage in market work have higher agency in the three domains of economic decision-making, freedom of movement, and equitable gender role attitudes, compared to those who engage in subsistence work and those who do not work? To address this question, we leverage data from a probability sample of ever-married women in rural Egypt. We use latent-variable structural equation models with propensity score matching to estimate the influence of women’s work on three domains of their agency. We find no effect on gender attitudes or decision-making. However, women’s subsistence and market work are associated with increasingly higher factor means for freedom of movement, compared to not working. |
| Date: | 2015–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:922&r=hme |
| By: | Mona Said (American University in Cairo) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the pattern of wages and wage inequality in Egypt over the period 1988-2012, a time of substantial economic and political changes, including the recent global financial crises and the January 25th 2011 revolution. This analysis is based on four nationally representative labor market surveys: the special round of the Egyptian Labor Force Sample Survey (LFSS) carried out in October 1988, the 1998 Egypt Labor Market Survey (ELMS), and the 2006 and 2012 rounds of the Egypt Labor Market Panel Survey (ELMPS). The analysis in the paper proceeds as follows. Section 2 introduces the main stylized facts and structural features of real wage and inequality in the Egyptian labor market during the recent liberalization episodes. Section 3 describes the wage determination model used in calculating wage differentials and returns to education. Section 4 discusses the wage estimation results, while focusing on public-private and gender wage gaps and changes in returns to education over the past decade. Finally, section 5 concludes and draws implications for the reform of the labor market in the wake of the financial crisis. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:912&r=hme |
| By: | Philippe Batifoulier (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Denis Abecassis (EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Nicolas Da Silva (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Victor Duchesne (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Léonard Moulin (INED - Institut national d'études démographiques) |
| Abstract: | La dépense publique est dénigrée. Le débat public l’assimile à des mots comme « dette », « déficit », « gabegie », « trou (de la Sécu) », « fraude », etc.. On cherche à convaincre qu’il n’est pas d’autre orientation politique que de la réduire. Cette conception s’est naturalisée et appelle des politiques restrictives. Elle s’appuie sur des chiffres qui forgent un consensus médiatique. Pourtant, il n’existe aucun consensus scientifique pour affirmer qu’un niveau de 57 % du PIB de dépense publique en France serait trop. On laisse entendre, ce qui est faux, que la dépense publique goberait 57 % du PIB, ne laissant que 43 % à la dépense privée (qui en représente en réalité 265 %). Le comptage par rapport au PIB relève d’une convention statistique qui oriente l’opinion car ni la dépense publique ni la dépense privée ne sont des composantes du PIB. L’affirmation que « La dépense publique en France ne cesse d’augmenter » est inexacte, elle baisse à certaines périodes (1995-2007), mais augmente à d’autres (après la crise des subprimes). La critique de la dépense publique est ancienne (voir les débats de 1949 sur la Sécurité sociale), avec les mêmes arguments échangés depuis cette période. Le niveau de dépense publique n’est pas un problème technique mais relève d’un choix de société. Les ménages, qui sont les premiers bénéficiaires de la dépense publique (salaires versés en contrepartie de la production des fonctionnaires, prestations sociales en nature et en espèce, etc.), comme les entreprises, également bénéficiaires de la dépense publique (solvabilisation des ménages, marchés publics, etc.), résistent aux baisses qui leur porte préjudice. S’il convient de rechercher toutes sources d’économie et de mettre en concurrence la dépense publique et la dépense privée dans des secteurs où la réduction voulue de la dépense publique ne supprime pas les besoins, la baisse arbitraire de certaines dépenses publiques anémie l’activité économique et provoque un appauvrissement collectif et une dégradation du service public. Il en est ainsi de la réduction du nombre de fonctionnaires (policiers, enseignants, ect.), mais aussi des baisses de commandes envers les entreprises, etc. Parce qu’elle est directement connectée aux besoins prioritaires de la population, la dépense publique est constitutive du bien être individuel et collectif, et concourt à la cohésion sociale. Ainsi, l’évaluation du bien-être non plus par le PIB mais par l’état de santé, critère primordial aux yeux des populations, montre que, pour les pays qui s’y sont soumis, la réduction des dépenses publiques détériore l’état de santé. De même, en alimentant les inégalités, la contraction de la dépense publique joue un rôle négatif sur la santé. La dépense publique produit donc du PIB, et elle produit également de la santé et du bien-être. En matière de santé comme d’enseignement supérieur, avec des mécanismes différents, la baisse de la dépense publique invite les individus à se tourner vers le secteur privé. C’est le cas de deux secteurs fondamentaux comme la santé et l’éducation qui connaissent une pluralité de processus de privatisations (en termes de financement et de délivrance des biens et services. Ces privatisations conduisent notamment à une hausse de la dépense publique que l’on cherche pourtant à réduire. Ce paradoxe s’explique par une hausse de la dépense privée plus élevée que la dépense publique qu’elle remplace. Lorsque la Sécurité sociale se retire, les prix ne sont plus maîtrisés et les frais de gestion des acteurs privés sont bien plus élevés que ceux de la Sécurité sociale. L’exemple des frais d’inscription à l’université relève de la même logique dispendieuse car l’augmentation des frais d’inscription conduit à une baisse des subventions publiques et à une explosion de la dette étudiante appelant une consolidation par l’argent public (Royaume-Uni, USA,…).. Remplacer la dépense publique par la dépense privée est à la fois plus inégalitaire — les effets d’éviction sont accrus — et plus coûteux, aussi bien pour la dépense et la dette privée (1200 milliards de $ de dette étudiante aux USA) que pour la dépense publique. Si toute dépense publique n’est pas bonne en soi, il n’existe pas de motifs sérieux pour baisser la dépense publique lorsque celle-ci répond à un besoin de la population |
| Keywords: | santé,Dépense publique, éducation |
| Date: | 2016–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cepnwp:hal-01421197&r=hme |
| By: | Ranjitha G P (Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode); Anandakuttan B Unnithan (Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode) |
| Abstract: | Gender roles and their stereotyped behavior is influenced by various factors, both external and internal during the course of an individual’s life. But, the identity of being an ideal woman, is blamed to be triggered majorly by marketing. It seems to create an identity benchmark in the society, generating compliance pressure in women to the identity standards. These efforts to adhere to the ideal woman benchmark is reflected in their consumption. But, do women really rejoice being the one, or do they regret for? To explore this, we conducted 20 in-depth interviews, which were initially informal, and further an incremental structured depth interviews the study identified the conditioning factors of identity construction process of being an ideal woman, perception of beauty and femininity, the conflict between relative and unique identities of women, women’s avoidance/need to be in relationships with men, and their transition from a private self to public self. The study also brings out the implications of being an ideal woman to marketing, consumer research and advertising. |
| Keywords: | Identity, Ideal Woman, Advertising, Marketing |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iik:wpaper:217&r=hme |
| By: | Ramón García Fernández (Universidade Federal do ABC-UFABC); Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | Brazilian academic economics has been traditionally characterized by its openness to different strands of economic theory. In contrast to the standards prevailing in most of Europe and North America, economics in Brazil can be justly described as pluralistic, with competing schools of thought enjoying relatively secure institutional positions. One of the reasons frequently ascribed for this outcome is the role played by ANPEC, the Brazilian economics association, in mediating conflicts among graduate programs affiliated to different research traditions. A crucial episode in this respect took place in the early 1970s, when the recently born association chose to adopt an inclusive stance towards its membership, welcoming the filiation of the strongly heterodox program at the University of Campinas (Unicamp) even against threats of withdrawal from one of its most prestigious members, the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV). Using a host of primary sources related to the early years of Brazilian academic economics, the paper uncovers the processthat led ANPEC, with strong support from the Ford Foundation, to adopt an inclusive and ‘pluralistic’ attitude, and how it related to the political context prevailing in Brazil during the 1970s. |
| Keywords: | pluralism, ANPEC, FGV, Unicamp, Ford Foundation, sociology of the economics profession. |
| JEL: | B20 A14 A23 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td545&r=hme |
| By: | Kausik Gangopadhyay (Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode); Kousik Guhathakurta (Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode) |
| Abstract: | The housing asset bubble and mortgage crisis of 2007-08 in the US market poses a challenge to understanding of market and hypotheses related to market efficiency. The contribution of our paper is bifold. First, we present a survey of the existing literature which explains the housing asset bubble. We have emphasized on agent based modeling approaches in this context. The second part of the paper frames an economic model to demonstrate the power of irrational “exuberance hypothesis”, a term coined by Robert J Shiller. Using a felicity function based framework, this shows that the power of irrational expectation in bringing about an artificial and unintended boost in demand for investment of housing asset. |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iik:wpaper:129&r=hme |
| By: | Eduardo da Motta e Albuquerque (Cedeplar-UFMG) |
| Abstract: | This paper evaluates contemporary Russia's variety of capitalism. This variety of capitalism - peripheric, state-led, oligarchic and with managed democracy - resulted from a transition based on shock terapies. The choice of the type of transition was conditioned by the nature of the crisis of the command economy in the 1980s. This crisis was a result of inner contradictions of the command economy built between 1929 and 1953. This command economy generated a limited catch up process, industrialized the economy with great human cost, delivering a relatively backward economy with strong military capabilities. This paper reviews four issues: the nature of the economic system between 1929 and 1985, the critical point that ended the command economy in late 1980s, the type of transition and the main features of the variety of capitalism that emerged as a consequence of those processes. |
| Keywords: | Russia, command economy, types of transition, variety of capitalism |
| JEL: | P0 P2 P5 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cdp:texdis:td541&r=hme |
| By: | Carlos Sáenz-Royo (LEE and Department of Economics, Universitat Jaume I, Castellón, Spain) |
| Abstract: | This study meditates about mental heuristic rules as a representation of bounded rationality in individual decision making. The heuristic process presented here represents simultaneously limited computational capacity, the capacity to determine relevant information in complex contexts around beliefs, and time as an endogenous part of decision. The mathematical model of this heuristic rule correlates to the fallibility of the agent depending on the relative outcome of the alternatives in exogenous terms; the availability of only part of the information regarding the alternatives concert by beliefs; and the amount of time the decision maker is willing to spend on a decision based on previous experience and knowing that there is a tradeoff between time and fallibility. The resulting mathematical model can be applied to many disciplines like such as opinion models, game theory, the comparison of systems of distribution of authority, and fields that utilize the technique of agent-based models (ABM) that use individual behavior to study the macroscopic results of interactions. |
| Keywords: | Bounded rationality, individual decisions making, heuristic, fallibility, modelling decisions, ABM. |
| JEL: | A14 C00 D03 Z13 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jau:wpaper:2017/04&r=hme |
| By: | Ellis Scharfenaker (Department of Economics, University of Missouri Kansas City); Duncan Foley (Department of Economics, New School for Social Research) |
| Abstract: | Many problems in empirical economic analysis involve systems in which the quantal actions of a large number of participants determine the distribution of some social outcome. In many of these cases key model variables are un- observed. From the statistical perspective, when observed variables depend non-trivially on unobserved variables the joint distribution of the variables of interest is underdetermined and the model is ill-posed due to incomplete information. In this paper we examine the class of models de ned by a joint distribution of discrete individual actions and an outcome variable, where one of the variables is unobserved, so that the joint distribution is underdetermined. We derive a general maximum entropy based method to infer the underdetermined joint distribution in this class of models. We apply this method to the classical Smithian theory of competition where firms' profit rates are observed but the entry and exit decisions that determine the distribution of profit rates is unobserved. |
| Keywords: | Quantal response, maximum entropy, Information-theoretic quantitative methods, incomplete information, link function, profit rate distribution |
| JEL: | C10 C18 C70 C79 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:new:wpaper:1710&r=hme |
| By: | T. T. Chen; B. Zheng; Y. Li; X. F. Jiang |
| Abstract: | Agent-based modeling is a powerful simulation technique to understand the collective behavior and microscopic interaction in complex financial systems. Recently, the concept for determining the key parameters of the agent-based models from empirical data instead of setting them artificially was suggested. We first review several agent-based models and the new approaches to determine the key model parameters from historical market data. Based on the agents' behaviors with heterogenous personal preferences and interactions, these models are successful to explain the microscopic origination of the temporal and spatial correlations of the financial markets. We then present a novel paradigm combining the big-data analysis with the agent-based modeling. Specifically, from internet query and stock market data, we extract the information driving forces, and develop an agent-based model to simulate the dynamic behaviors of the complex financial systems. |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1703.06840&r=hme |
| By: | Leonardo dos Santos Pinheiro; Flavio Codeco COelho |
| Abstract: | This work develops an agent-based model for the study of how the leverage through the use of repurchase agreements can function as a mechanism for the propagation and amplification of financial shocks in a financial system. Based on the analysis of financial intermediaries in the repo and interbank lending markets during the 2007-08 financial crisis we develop a model that can be used to simulate the dynamics of financial contagion. |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1703.07513&r=hme |
| By: | William D. Nordhaus (Cowles Foundation, Yale University) |
| Abstract: | Many areas of the natural and social sciences involve complex systems that link together multiple sectors. Integrated assessment models (IAMs) are approaches that integrate knowledge from two or more domains into a single framework, and these are particularly important for climate change. One of the earliest IAMs for climate change was the DICE/RICE family of models, first published in Nordhaus (1992), with the latest version in Nordhaus (2017, 2017a). A difficulty in assessing IAMs is the inability to use standard statistical tests because of the lack of a probabilistic structure. In the absence of statistical tests, the present study examines the extent of revisions of the DICE model over its quarter-century history. The study find that the major revisions have come primarily from the economic aspects of the model, whereas the environmental changes have been much smaller. Particularly sharp revisions have occurred for global output, damages, and the social cost of carbon. These results indicate that the economic projections are the least precise parts of IAMs and deserve much greater study than has been the case up to now, especially careful studies of long-run economic growth (to 2100 and beyond). |
| Keywords: | Climate change, Integrated assessment models, DICE model, Revisions |
| JEL: | Q5 Q54 H4 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cwl:cwldpp:2084&r=hme |
| By: | Nadir Altinok (University of Lorraine); Abdurrahman Aydemir |
| Abstract: | The gender gap in education against females becomes smaller as the level of development increases and turns in their favor in developed countries. Through analysis of regional variation in the gender gap within Turkey, which displays a similar pattern to the cross-country pattern, this paper studies the factors that lead to the emergence of a gender gap against females. The data for student achievement and aspirations for further education during compulsory school show that females are just as well prepared and motivated for further education as their male counterparts across regions with very different levels of development. Despite this fact, large gaps arise in high school registration and completion in less developed regions, but not in developed ones. We find that larger sibship size is the main driver of gender gaps in less developed regions. While social norms have a negative influence on female education beyond compulsory school, they play a relatively small role in the emergence of gender gaps. These results are consistent with the fact that resource-constrained families give priority to males for further education, leading to the emergence of education gender gaps. |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:934&r=hme |
| By: | Rania Salem (University of Toronto) |
| Abstract: | The literature on gender and the Arab “Spring” has documented the role of female activists in the uprisings and analyzed the implications of Islamists’ electoral successes for women. However, little is known about how ordinary women have experienced the changes that accompanied the uprisings and how this compares with men’s experiences. The removal of authoritarian rulers may have improved satisfaction with public institutions or decreased perceived corruption, but for some the uprisings may have resulted in higher perceived or reported crime and deeper material hardship. This paper analyzes gender differences between Tunisians’ and Egyptians’ perceptions of prevailing economic and political circumstances using nationally-representative samples surveyed before, during, and after the uprisings of the Arab “Spring.” Descriptive results indicate that Egyptians’ ratings of three indices of economic conditions are lower overall, although Tunisians perceive a steeper deterioration in economic circumstances in the post-uprising period. In both countries, these economic losses have not been compensated for by political gains, as measured by four indices. While women and men’s economic and political attitudes follow a similar trajectory in each country, there are clear differences per the gender of the respondent, particularly when it comes to political attitudes. This gender difference is largely confirmed by multivariate analysis. Women are more likely than men to report favorable economic conditions in both countries. In the realm of politics, Egyptian and Tunisian women express greater dissatisfaction with law and order and with national institutions. At the same time, men perceive higher levels of corruption than do women in both countries. |
| Date: | 2015–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:913&r=hme |
| By: | Shireen AlAzzawi (Santa Clara University) |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates whether there is feminization of poverty in Egypt and examines the determinants of poverty by household type. Furthermore, it decomposes the poverty differential between the various household types into a component due to endowments and another due to the return to these endowments. The paper uses data from five Household Income, Expenditure and Consumption Surveys, that span a period of far-reaching economic, social and political changes, from 1999 to 2013. Results suggest that female headed households are indeed poorer than male headed households over the period. They are, however, less poor than married couple households. Initially, endowments were more important in explaining the poverty differentials between the various family types, however in more recent years the returns to these endowments, or the treatment effect, became the dominant factor. This suggests the need for policies to ensure more equitable returns to endowments for the poor. |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:931&r=hme |
| By: | Aziz Jaafar (Bangor University); M. Shahid Ebrahim; Fatma A. Omar; Murizah Osman Salleh |
| Abstract: | Securitization enhances liquidity of debt contracts. However, its structural deficiency at origination has led to the freezing of its secondary market and failure of institutions holding the collateral. This paper builds on key cultural (i.e., Islamic) rulings to rectify flaws entrenched in securitized debt stemming from asymmetric information and agency issues. These injunctions help in the efficient underwriting of debt contracts across the globe to: (i) redeem its ‘toxicity’; (ii) guarantee liquidity; (iii) alleviate fragility of the financial system;and (iv) promote economic growth.Finally, this study promotes a rethink of the current ‘Islamic’ financial system from a narrow literalist juridical perspective to one that is grounded in financial economics |
| Keywords: | Agency cost, collateral, debt default, financial fragility, Islamic injunctions. |
| JEL: | D53 G10 G20 G28 O16 Z12 |
| Date: | 2016–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bng:wpaper:16001&r=hme |
| By: | Andrea Morrison; Ron Boschma |
| Abstract: | This paper investigates the spatial evolution of the Italian motor cycle industry during the period 1893-1993. We find support for both the heritage theory of Klepper and the agglomeration thesis of Marshall. Indeed, being a spinoff company or an experienced firm enhanced the survival rates, but we also found a positive effect of being located in the Motor Valley cluster in Emilia Romagna. Interestingly, this beneficial effect of a cluster could not be found outside the Emilia Romagna region. This might indicate the importance of a favourable local institutional environment, as propagated by the Emilian district literature. |
| Keywords: | spinoff dynamics, agglomeration economies, clusters, industrial districts, Emilian model, evolutionary economic geography |
| JEL: | B15 B52 O18 R11 |
| Date: | 2017–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:1707&r=hme |