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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2019‒03‒11
seventeen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Andrea Coveri (Department of Economics, Society & Politics, Università di Urbino Carlo Bo); Mario Pianta (Scuola Normale Superiore, Florence) |
| Abstract: | In the last four decades, an increasingly skewed income distribution has favored capital at the expense of labour and has been coupled with ever growing inequalities. Merging a Neo-Schumpeterian approach to innovation with a Post-Keynesian theoretical framework, this work contributes to the analysis of the structural determinants of functional income distribution. Building on Pianta and Tancioni (2008), we propose a simultaneous model on wage and profit dynamics identifying technological change, offshoring strategies and role of trade unions as key factors which shape the power relations between capital and labour. On the empirical ground, we perform an industry-level analysis extending and improving the Sectoral Innovation Database (SID), which accounts for 38 manufacturing and service sectors for six major European countries (France, Germany, Italy,Netherlands, Spain and United Kindgom) from 1994 to 2014. We find that, despite the structural asymmetries between industries’ patterns of evolution, labour productivity growth and product innovation have a positive impact on both distributive components, while a rather negative effect of process innovation on wages is detected. Offshoring processes generally emerge as profit-enhancing while represent a reliable firms’ weapon to reduce labour costs, although a remarkable heterogeneity arises when the technological nature of offshoring strategies is accounted for; finally, union density tends to be positively associated with wage dynamics, suggesting the relevance of labour market institutions in conditioning the patterns of income distribution. |
| Keywords: | Distribution, innovation, offshoring, union density, Europe, industries. |
| JEL: | F12 F15 J31 J51 L16 L6 L8 O33 O52 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urb:wpaper:19_01&r=all |
| By: | Alain Raybaut (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper focusses on a first episode in the renewal of nonlinear economic dynamics in France that develops at Cepremap in the late 70s and the early 80s. These contributions refer to the non-Walrasian perspective and the Keynes-Kaldor tradition building on emerging mathematical advances on bifurcation theory and chaotic dynamics of mappings on the interval, developed notably at the same time by French scholars in dynamical systems. These developments contribute directly to further and systematic investigations, albeit within the different analytical framework of the OLG model, on endogenous cycles and complex dynamics. |
| Keywords: | Endogenous business cycle theory, Nonlinear dynamics, Non-Walrasian and Kaldorian macrodynamics |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2019-07&r=all |
| By: | Max K\"ohler; Stefan Sperlich; Jisu Yoon |
| Abstract: | Various papers demonstrate the importance of inequality, poverty and the size of the middle class for economic growth. When explaining why these measures of the income distribution are added to the growth regression, it is often mentioned that poor people behave different which may translate to the economy as a whole. However, simply adding explanatory variables does not reflect this behavior. By a varying coefficient model we show that the returns to growth differ a lot depending on poverty and inequality. Furthermore, we investigate how these returns differ for the poorer and for the richer part of the societies. We argue that the differences in the coefficients impede, on the one hand, that the means coefficients are informative, and, on the other hand, challenge the credibility of the economic interpretation. In short, we show that, when estimating mean coefficients without accounting for poverty and inequality, the estimation is likely to suffer from a serious endogeneity bias. |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1903.02390&r=all |
| By: | Florent Bédécarrats (AFD Paris, France); Isabelle Guérin (IRD CESSMA); Solène Morvant-Roux (School of Social Sciences UNIGE-G3S, University of Geneva); François Roubaud (IRD, UMR DIAL, PSL, Université Paris-Dauphine) |
| Abstract: | Comment expliquer le succès académique d’une étude randomisée dont la validité, tant interne qu’externe, est pourtant très problématique ? Prenant l’exemple d’une étude menée par le laboratoire J-PAL sur le microcrédit rural marocain, cet article mobilise les outils analytiques de la statistique, de l’économie politique et de la sociologie des sciences pour répondre à cette question. Il décrit l’ensemble de la chaîne de production de l’étude, depuis l’échantillonnage jusqu’à la publication et la dissémination des résultats, en passant par la collecte de données, la saisie et le recodage, les estimations et les interprétations. Il met en évidence une stratégie particulièrement offensive qui permet aux chercheurs de J-PAL de faire table rase du passé, y compris en s’affranchissant d’une « culture de la donnée », de refuser la critique et de contourner les règles de base de l’exercice scientifique tout au long du processus de recherche. Bien au-delà de J-PAL, nos analyses questionnent la supposée supériorité des méthodes randomisées tout en reflétant un malaise grandissant au sein du champ académique, qui parvient de moins en moins à faire respecter les règles de base de l’éthique et de la déontologie scientifique._______english_______How can we explain the academic success of a randomized study whose validity, both internal and external, is very problematic? Drawing on a study conducted on Moroccan rural microcredit by J-PAL, this article uses analytical tools from statistics, political economy and sociology of science to answer this question. It describes the entire study production chain, from sampling, data collection, data entry and recoding, estimates and interpretations to publication and dissemination of results. It highlights a particularly aggressive strategy carried out throughout the study process and in the field of research. This allows J-PAL researchers to put the past behind them, including by freeing themselves from a "data culture", rejecting criticism and bypassing the basic rules of scientific exercise throughout the research process. Well beyond J-PAL, our analyses question the supposed superiority of randomized methods while reflecting a growing unease within the academic field, which is less and less successful in enforcing the basic rules of ethics and scientific deontology. |
| Keywords: | Randomized Control Trial (RCT), microcrédit, Réplication, Maroc, validité interne, validité externe, sociologie des sciences, microcredit, Replication, Morocco, internal validity, internal validity, sociology of sciences. |
| JEL: | A11 A14 B41 C18 C93 N27 O16 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dia:wpaper:dt201904&r=all |
| By: | Claudius Graebner (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria) |
| Abstract: | What determines the realisticness of a model? It is argued that to come up with an account of model realisticness that can answer this question, one has to make strong philosophical commitments to an account of representation, an account of model-world comparisons as well as the ontology of models and their targets. Without such commitments it is not feasible to determine the realisticness of a model. Since all these areas are subject to ongoing philosophical debate, it is not feasible to come up with a unique and all-encompassing account. Based on this observation, one account of model realisticness, which is based on an antirealist fictional view of models, a commitment to realism about mathematical objects, and the DEKI account of representation, is introduced and discussed. The account aligns well with the practice of applied scientists, who regularly apply validation techniques to assess the realisticness of models. This practice can nicely be accommodated for in the proposed account, and it suggests a number of promising avenues for further philosophical inquiry. |
| Keywords: | Models, epistemology, fictionalism, representation, model-world comparisons |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ico:wpaper:90&r=all |
| By: | Jelena Zarkovic Rakic; Marko Vladisavljevic; Jorge Davalos |
| Abstract: | Recent empirical evidence, largely based on descriptive analyses, suggests that women’s wages and employment are more likely to be affected by government austerity measures because women constitute a majority of the public-sector labor force. Employing panel data from the 2014 and 2015 Labour Force Survey as pre- and post-treatment periods, we provide an econometric assessment of the effects of a 10% public-sector wage cut in Serbia that was introduced at the beginning of 2015. Wage cuts mandated by austerity measures increased the likelihood that younger and older women workers would transition into unemployment and inactivity, while no such effect was identified for men. On the other hand, evidence of heterogeneous compliance with the wage cut across public subsectors. State-owned enterprises, a subsector dominated by men, exhibited lower compliance with wage cuts compared to the state-sector, which is dominated by women. The difference in compliance prevented wage cuts from having the positive effect they could have had on the gender wage gap. |
| Keywords: | gender, labor market transition, wages, austerity, Serbia |
| JEL: | J16 J21 J31 J45 H61 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lvl:pmmacr:2019-02&r=all |
| By: | Nicolas Brisset (Université Côte d'Azur, France; GREDEG CNRS); Dorian Jullien (Université Côte d'Azur, France; GREDEG CNRS) |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is to provide a methodological perspective on economic models that accounts for some sociological dimensions of economics, in two senses. Firstly, we are interested in how modeling is an activity that is constrained by the (implicit and explicit) rules underlying the accumulation of academic prestige within economics and at the same time can be a means to change these rules. Secondly, we are interested in how, for a given model, this dynamic can be influenced by the use(s) of that model outside of economics. We first provide a restatement of Brisset’s (2018) original contribution. We then put this clarified methodological perspective to work on a new case study, i.e., on the dual models at the frontier between behavioral and standard economics. |
| Keywords: | Models, financial economics, behavioral economics, economic methodology, sociology of economics |
| JEL: | B41 B26 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2019-09&r=all |
| By: | Michalis Nikiforos |
| Abstract: | The paper builds on the concept of (shifting) involvements, originally proposed by Albert Hirschman (2002 [1982]). However, unlike Hirschman, the concept is framed in class terms. A model is presented where income distribution is determined by the involvement of the two classes, capitalists and workers. Higher involvement by capitalists and lower involvement by workers tends to increase the profit share and vice versa. In turn, shifts in involvements are induced by the potential effect of a change in distribution on economic activity and past levels of distribution. On the other hand, as the profit share increases, the economy tends to become more wage led. The dynamics of the resulting model are interesting. The more the two classes prioritize the increase of their income share over economic activity, the more possible it is that the economy is unstable. Under the stable configuration, the most likely outcome is Polanyian predator-prey cycles, which can explain some interesting historical episodes during the 20th century. Finally, the paper discusses the possibility of conflict and cooperation within each of the distribution-led regimes. |
| Keywords: | Shifting Involvements; Hirschman; Wage Led; Profit Led; Predator-Prey |
| JEL: | E11 E12 E21 E22 E32 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_924&r=all |
| By: | Heise, Arne |
| Abstract: | There has long been a discussion about the employment impact of minimum wages and this discussion has recently been renewed with the introduction of an economy-wide, binding minimum wage in Germany in 2015. In traditional reasoning, based on the allocation-based approach of modern labour market economics, it has been suggested that the impact is clearly negative on the assumption of a competitive labour market and clearly positive on the assumption of a monopsony-based labour market. |
| Keywords: | Minimum Wage, post-Keynesianism, Labour Market Theory |
| JEL: | B5 J31 |
| Date: | 2018–10–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92483&r=all |
| By: | Sara Moricz |
| Abstract: | Norms are challenging to define and measure, but this paper takes advantage of text data and the recent development in machine learning to create an encompassing measure of norms. An LSTM neural network is trained to detect gendered language. The network functions as a tool to create a measure on how gender norms changes in relation to the Metoo movement on Swedish Twitter. This paper shows that gender norms on average are less salient half a year after the date of the first appearance of the hashtag #Metoo. Previous literature suggests that gender norms change over generations, but the current result suggests that norms can change in the short run. |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1903.00690&r=all |
| By: | Gentile, Natacha |
| Abstract: | El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar la participación en el trabajo doméstico de jóvenes provenientes de distintos sectores socioeconómicos, entendiendo al mismo como un conjunto de actividades no remuneradas realizadas para prestar servicios para uso final propio en el hogar. Para cumplir con este objetivo utilizaremos información proveniente de la Encuesta a Jóvenes a nivel local (EJoL-2014), un relevamiento que incluyó entrevistas a 530 a personas de entre 18 y 24 años provenientes de distintos sectores sociales de Mar del Plata y Batán, varones y mujeres, que trabajaban y no trabajaban y estudiaban en la educación formal y no lo hacían al momento del relevamiento. Respecto a la información que utilizaremos aquí destacamos que la EJoL-2014 identificó a las actividades domésticas bajo dos modalidades: por un lado las actividades de cuidado de personas que viven en el hogar incluyendo también el acompañamiento a la escuela o desde la escuela de niños en edad escolar y por otro los denominados quehaceres domésticos asociados a tareas de limpieza en el hogar; cocción de alimentos; realización de compras o mandados; reparación realización de tareas de construcción o arreglo en el hogar, etc. En ambos casos la indagación fue exploratoria y se orientó a recabar información sobre la realización o no de esas actividades durante la última semana. La finalidad de esta presentación que enmarcamos en una línea de trabajo más amplia orientada a repensar las políticas públicas de inclusión juvenil a nivel local tiene que ver con ofrecer elementos de discusión y análisis preliminar que nos permitan mejorar el diseño y la implementación de políticas públicas de inclusión juvenil. |
| Keywords: | Jóvenes; Juventud; Trabajo Doméstico; Mar del Plata; Batán; |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nmp:nuland:3046&r=all |
| By: | Yobe, C.; Ferrer, S.; Mudhara, M. |
| Abstract: | The SA government has favored cooperatives over other types of corporate entities in its programmes for rural development. This study examines financial efficiency and its determinants for 387 agricultural cooperatives in SA using a two-stage double bootstrap approach. Bias-corrected Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) efficiency estimates are obtained in the first-stage for the agricultural cooperatives. Next, a Double Bootstrapped Truncated Regression model was estimated to obtain bias-corrected scores. The model was designed to obtain DEA scores for financial efficiency. First-stage results indicate that many agricultural cooperatives are relatively inefficient. Results of the second-stage analysis identified significant determinants of efficiency as age of cooperatives, size, gender of management, governance indicators and training. Governance indicators negatively influencing efficiency indicate institutions that prioritize non-financial goals and consequently compromise on governance quality. The deviation from institutional control mechanisms most likely emerges in a weak institutional environment. Various types of training influenced financial efficiency meaning that an understanding of training needs across institutions is crucial for equipping and empowering cooperatives towards financial efficiency. The study shows that the design and implementation of suitable training programs are prerequisites for addressing financial efficiency of agricultural cooperatives. Key words: Agricultural cooperatives, Data envelopment analysis, Financial efficiency, Two-stage double bootstrap method, South Africa JEL codes: Q10, Q12, Q13 |
| Keywords: | Agricultural Finance |
| Date: | 2018–09–25 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:aeas18:284757&r=all |
| By: | Claude Ménard (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, LKYSPP - Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore) |
| Abstract: | This contribution is about the ‘progressive research program', as Imre Lakatos would have called it, initiated by New Institutional Economics. After a short reminder of the ‘golden triangle' of concepts and tools introduced by the founders (Coase, North, Ostrom, Williamson) and their followers, the paper turns to a quick overview of the attainments of this paradigm along its dominant branches: organization theory and institutional analysis. The emphasis is on the new paths opening up, with a focus on two key issues: hybrid arrangements, which may well be the prevailing organization of transactions in developed market economies; and intermediate, ‘meso-institutions', which likely provide the missing link between the general rules framing socioeconomic activities and the actors operating within these rules. The underlying argument is that whatever happens to the label ‘NIE', this research program will remain with us for a long time ahead. |
| Abstract: | Este artigo trata do "programa de pesquisa" – conforme Imre Lakatos o chamaria – iniciado pela Nova Economia Institucional (NEI). Após um breve resumo do "triângulo de ouro" de ferramentas teóricas e conceitos introduzidos pelos fundadores da NEI e seus seguidores, o trabalho apresenta uma visão geral das conquistas do paradigma em suas correntes dominantes: teoria da organização e análise institucional. Ênfase é dada a novas avenidas de pesquisa, com foco em dois temas-chave: arranjos híbridos, que possivelmente constituem a principal maneira de organização de transações em economias de mercado desenvolvidas; e "meso-instituições" intermediárias, que provavelmente fornecem a ligação não identificada entre as regras gerais que influenciam atividades socioeconômicas e os atores que operam com base em tais regras. O argumento central é o seguinte: independentemente do que ocorrer com a etiqueta "NEI", este programa de pesquisa permanecerá entre nós por um longo período adiante. |
| Keywords: | New institutional economomics,Organization theory,Institutional analysis |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:hal-02046659&r=all |
| By: | Gallegati, Mauro; Giammetti, Raffaele; Russo, Alberto |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the first detailed and holistic description of the European production network (EPN) and provides different rankings of the most 'systemically important' industries involved in Brexit. Employing techniques of complex networks analysis and Input-Output traditional tools, the study identifies those industries that are key in the complex structure of the UK-EU trade relationships. The method developed would help policy-makers to better understand which tariff would have a more distortive impact, which export sector should be pushed, which imports should be safeguarded. Such information may have foremost importance in the negotiations between the UK and EU. Our findings suggest that Brexit would be not just a problem for the UK, as it is often portrayed, but any form of Brexit could propagate affecting the global production system. Further, by inspecting industries centrality within the EPN, we find that the UK could be less exposed to trade barriers than EU countries. |
| Keywords: | Brexit, trade barriers, tariffs, key sector, centrality measures, input-output analysis, production networks, value chains. |
| JEL: | C67 F13 F14 R11 |
| Date: | 2019–03–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92559&r=all |
| By: | Esteban Cruz Hidalgo (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain); Francisco Manuel Parejo Moruno (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain); José Francisco Rangel Preciado (Universidad de Extremadura, Spain) |
| Abstract: | En la Génesis del dinero Marx expone sin éxito la postulación del equivalente general, una laguna en su teoría del valor que ha motivado considerable literatura. En este documento de trabajo planteamos una alternativa al método dialéctico para explicar el surgimiento y naturaleza del dinero, la cual presenta cierta coherencia con algunas observaciones históricas respecto al mismo realizadas por el propio Marx. La integración con la Teoría del Dinero del Estado nos permite interpretar la teoría laboral del valor como una teoría monetaria del valor-trabajo, acorde con las relaciones y dinámicas capitalistas. A través de las nociones de la forma de valor y el concepto de trabajo abstracto, analizaremos cómo la teoría laboral del valor es esencial para comprender el pleno empleo con estabilidad de precios en un sistema de producción fragmentado, caracterizado por las quiebras empresariales y el papel jugado por los bancos privados en la endogeneidad de la oferta monetaria. Finalmente, sugerimos el mecanismo del Trabajo Garantizado como estabilizador del valor de la moneda, mitigando los efectos de la financiarización de la economía y las apuestas fallidas de los bancos. |
| Keywords: | Teoría Laboral del Valor, Financiarización, Teoría Monetaria Moderna, Teoría Marxista, Chartalismo, Trabajo Garantizado |
| JEL: | B24 B25 E02 P16 |
| Date: | 2019–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:1905&r=all |
| By: | Philip Ulrich (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research); Dr. Ulrike Lehr (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research); Dr. Christian Lutz (GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research) |
| Abstract: | Die Energiewende hat eine Vielzahl von wirtschaftlichen Auswirkungen. Versteht man sie als Summe aller Maßnahmen, Instrumente und Strategien der Bundesregierung zur sicheren, umweltverträglichen und bezahlbaren Bereitstellung von Energie seit 2000, so hatte sie erheblichen Einfluss auf die Energiepreise, den Energieträgermix, den Ausbau erneuerbarer Energien und die Zunahme der Energieeffizienz in den meisten Nachfragebereichen. Lutz et al. (2018) kommen in ihrem Bericht zu den gesamtwirtschaftlichen Wirkungen der Energiewende zu dem Schluss, dass „der Vergleich der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Ergebnisse der beiden Szenarien „mit und ohne“ Energiewende, EWS und KFS, im Modell PANTA RHEI durchgehend positive Effekte der Energiewende insgesamt [zeigt]“. Wie aber verteilt sich dieses vielversprechende Ergebnis auf die Bundesländer? Welches Bundesland hat mehr von den positiven Effekten der Energiewende und warum? Zur Beantwortung gilt es, die speziellen Strukturen der Bundesländer, die auf charakteristische Weise auf die Energiewende reagieren, zu identifizieren und datengestützt aufzubereiten. Mit dem in der vorliegenden Untersuchung vorgeschlagenen methodischen Ansatz lassen sich die Auswirkungen der Energiewende von der Bundesebene auf die Bundesländer projizieren. Damit dies über ein einfaches Aufteilen der Effekte hinausgeht, ist eine Vielzahl an Annahmen, wirtschaftsstrukturellen Überlegungen und bundeslandspezifischen Daten notwendig. Die GWS verfügt über ein auf Bundesländer regionalisiertes ökonomisches Modell (LÄNDER, vgl. Anhang), das die Modelle wie PANTA RHEI auf Bundesebene ergänzt. Es basiert auf einer Fülle regionaler Daten wie den Volkswirtschaftlichen Gesamtrechnungen der Länder. Eine Auswertung der bundesweiten Szenarien mittels dieses Instrumentariums gibt einen Einblick in die strukturellen Wirkungen der Energiewende in den Bundesländern. Um die Energiewende in ihren Wirkungen auf Bundeslandebene besser zu verstehen, werden ihre beiden wichtigsten Säulen herausgegriffen und getrennt untersucht. Am Beispiel der Gebäudesanierung und der Stromerzeugungsinfrastruktur eines Bundeslandes werden die wirtschaftlichen Reaktionen auf Veränderungen durch die Energiewende aufgezeigt und untersucht. |
| Keywords: | Gesamtwirtschaft, Energiewende, Bundesländer |
| JEL: | Q43 Q48 R5 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gws:report:18-5&r=all |
| By: | Lambert, Thomas |
| Abstract: | In the field of philosophy of mind, the concepts of rational behavior, rational choice theory, and instrumental rationality (the “practical reasoning” version of rationality) are important in trying to make statements and conclusions about human thinking and behavior in general. Rational choice theory is also considered a normative but not a descriptive or positive theory. Much of economic theory is based on the principle that economic agents usually or always behave rationally in maximizing the benefits and/or minimizing the costs of their decisions. Developments in behavioral economics over the last several decades have begun to question this principle with much of the questioning about rationality and rational behavior centering on whether individuals can correctly and adequately assess probabilities and risk/reward. The inability to correctly assess risk/reward limits rational behavior and can yield sub-optimal outcomes for economic agents. This exploratory paper examines the linkages between schooling in a capitalist society and limits on rationality in a monopoly capital economic system. |
| Keywords: | behavioral economics, capitalist schooling, monopoly capital, rationality, rational choice |
| JEL: | B51 I24 |
| Date: | 2019–03–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:92594&r=all |