|
on Heterodox Microeconomics |
|
Issue of 2019‒05‒13
twenty-two papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Quentin Couix (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Despite his early contribution to the rise of mathematics in economics, Georgescu-Roegen's later methodological criticism of models has received little attention from historians and philosophers of economics. This paper attempts to fill this gap following two lines. First, I examine his explicitly methodological claims and connect them with related topics in economic methodology. Building on the distinction between dialectical and arithmomorphic concepts, I characterise his approach to theory-making as a three steps process of idealisation, isolation and arithmetisation. In this framework, models perform two functions, checking for logical consistency and facilitating understanding, which can be related to the idea of modelling as theorising. I then confront these general principles with Georgescu-Roegen's flow-fund model of production. I use the methodology as a reading grid of this theory, while examining its limits and complementary principles in practice. This shows a great deal of consistency, where idealisation provides conceptual foundations, isolation determines the relevant problems, and models are built according to structural consistency. The two functions of models are then illustrated by the logical derivation of older principles formulated by Babbage and Smith, and the understanding of the different organisational patterns of production. But some slightly different functions also appear when specific configurations of the model enable to check the conceptual consistency of other theories, or the understanding provided by the model contributes to the formation of new concepts. Hence, the consistency and the complementarity between Georgescu-Roegen's methodology and practice of theory-making provide interesting insights and a useful background for further investigations. |
| Abstract: | Malgré l'importante contribution de Georgescu-Roegen à l'économie mathématique, sa critique méthodologique ultérieure des modèles a reçu peu d'attention de la philosophie économique. Cet article comble ce vide en examinant en premier lieu sa méthodologie explicite et en la reliant à la littérature. Partant de la distinction entre les concepts dialectiques et arithmomorphiques, je caractérise son rapport à l'élaboration théorique comme un processus en trois étapes d'idéalisation, d'isolement et d'arithmétisation. Dans ce cadre, les modèles remplissent deux fonctions, de validation de la cohérence logique et de facilitation de la compréhension. Je confronte ensuite ces principes au modèle flux-fonds de production de Georgescu-Roegen. Sa méthodologie sert de grille de lecture de la théorie, qui révèle en retour limites et principes complémentaires. L'idéalisation fournit les fondements conceptuels, l'isolement délimite les problèmes pertinents, et la cohérence structurelle est rigoureusement respectée, tandis que les deux fonctions des modèles sont illustrées par la dérivation de principes antérieurs et la compréhension des modes d'organisation. Mais d'autres fonctions apparaissent : la validation de la cohérence conceptuelle et la contribution à la formation de nouveaux concepts. Par conséquent, la méthodologie de Georgescu-Roegen et sa pratique de la théorie fournissent un point de vue utile pour mieux comprendre sa pensée. |
| Keywords: | methodology,philosophy,models,flow-fund,production function,input-output,Georgescu-Roegen,méthodologie,philosophie,modèles,flux-fond,fonction de production,entrée-sortie,substitution |
| Date: | 2018–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01854031&r=all |
| By: | Faber, Malte; Frick, Marc |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to contribute to an innovative agenda in the field of Environmental Economics. The paper focusses on a conceptual and political perspective on the interactions between nature and economy. Section 1 states that Environmental Economics has to consider three fields: nature, justice and the role of time. To operationalize this claim, we introduce fundamental concepts such as entropy, joint production, ignorance, evolution, absolute scarcity, responsibility and homo politicus and explain them in Section 2. These concepts are applied in Section 3 using a historical example, namely the soda-chlorine industry, extending over a period of about three centuries. The lessons taken from this economic, environmental and political evolution are outlined in Section 4. In Section 5, we apply the concept of responsibility to address political aspects dealt with when examining the interplay between nature and economy. In our outlook in Section 6, we argue that these concepts and further concepts do not form a hierarchically structured system. Instead they are conceived as a network of interdependent concepts that reference each other but also remain categorically distinct from one another. |
| Date: | 2019–02–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:awi:wpaper:659&r=all |
| By: | Lionel Maurel (InSHS - CNRS - Institut des Sciences Humaines et Sociales - CNRS - INS1640); Mathieu O'Neil; Steve Colins |
| Abstract: | The question of the economic models needed to guarantee the sustainability of the Commons is a perennial one, and a multitude of proposals have been put forward to conceive articulations with the market. But with this essay I want to explore another track—that of the recognition of a ‘social right to contribution', by relying in particular on ideas found in a book published by the Économistes Atterrés (Appalled Economists), ‘Changer d'avenir : réinventer le travail et le modèle économique' (‘Changing the Future: Reinventing Work and the Economic Model'). This book contains several references to the Commons, mobilized for example to revitalise our understanding of public services or the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). It also includes original proposals that link the reform of the social protection system and the Commons. Here, the Appalled Economists are inspired by ideas stemming from from legal scholar Alain Supiot (Professor at the College of France and specialist in social law issues) in the late 1990s. It seems to me that these theses have not yet received all the attention they deserve, even though they make it possible to envisage the recognition of a form of ‘right to work in the commons'. |
| Keywords: | social rights,commons,work |
| Date: | 2019–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02089242&r=all |
| By: | Olivier Petit (CLERSE - Centre Lillois d’Études et de Recherches Sociologiques et Économiques - UMR 8019 - Université de Lille - ULCO - Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | L'économie écologique est un champ qui a émergé, il y a une trentaine d'années, du rapprochement de travaux d'économistes et d'écologues. Il a connu depuis un formidable essor sur le plan du volume de publications et de sa notoriété. Dans un premier texte qui présente une recension de trois ouvrages parus en 2015 et 2017, Olivier Petit nous montre que ce champ est traversé d'importantes controverses sur la manière de traiter des enjeux de soutenabilité et des rapports entre science et société. Parmi les différents courants de pensée qui le structurent, la socioéconomie écologique apparaît comme la tentative la plus poussée d'instaurer un dialogue entre les sciences de l'environnement, l'économie et les autres sciences sociales. Encore que..., nous laisse entendre Gildas Renou. Dans un second texte, il interpelle, en effet, les auteurs d'un de ces ouvrages promoteurs de cette socioéconomie écologique. Tout en soulignant les grandes qualités pédagogiques de ce livre, il dénonce le « Yalta épistémologique » entre économie et sociologie qui y est tracé à travers une division du travail qui conduirait à ce que l'économie traite de la valeur et les sciences sociales des valeurs. Il appelle à battre en brèche cette partition scientifique afin que la socioéconomie écologique puisse jouer pleinement son rôle en matière de compréhension des rapports que tissent les sociétés avec leur environnement. La Rédaction Résumé-L'objectif de ce texte est de proposer, à partir d'une lecture croisée de trois ouvrages récents relevant de la socioéconomie écologique, une analyse des fondements et des thématiques principales de ce champ d'étude en cours d'émergence. Après avoir brièvement présenté l'architecture générale de chacun de ces trois livres, nous revenons sur la distinction opérée entre les nouveaux économistes des ressources, les nouveaux pragmatistes de l'environnement et les tenants de la socioéconomie écologique, pour en relever les clivages principaux. Nous développons ensuite la perspective empruntée par ce dernier courant, en exposant ses fondements ontologiques, épistémologiques et méthodologiques, puis en déclinant, à partir d'un certain nombre de thèmes structurants, les principaux enjeux et débats actuellement à l'oeuvre dans ce domaine. Mots-clés : économie écologique / économistes socioécologiques / nouveaux économistes des ressources / nouveaux pragmatistes de l'environnement / enjeux théoriques / débats méthodologiques Abstract-An emerging field: social ecological economics. Cross-comparison of three recent books. This paper is based on the critical reading and cross-comparison of three recent books published in the field of social ecological economics. We first start by briefly presenting the general architecture and main goals of the three books. We then highlight the main differences in the approaches developed by new resource economists, new environmental pragmatists and social ecological economists. Finally, we present in greater detail the perspective developed by social ecological economists, from an ontological, epistemological and methodological viewpoint. This perspective involves several topics that structure the debates and currently ongoing controversies in the field of ecological economics. |
| Date: | 2018–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02099237&r=all |
| By: | Vassilis Droucopoulos (Emeritus Professor of the Department of Economics of the University of Athens.) |
| Abstract: | It is my intention to address, primarily within the scope of mainstream macroeconomic theory, three of the questions making up the main theme of the conference, namely: “How a very problematic theory continues to survive and dominate both the policy and the academic scene. What are the processes in the economy and the society that sustain its dominance? What is the condition of the economic Orthodoxy (particularly under its current form of the New Macroeconomic Consensus, that is the hybrid of mild neoliberalism with conservative New Keynesianism)?”. A good many orthodox economists hold the view that there is no necessity for a paradigm shift. On the contrary, a mere “evolution towards a more pluralistic discipline” would suffice. Hence the title of my talk. |
| Keywords: | Economic Pluralism, Macroeconomic Theory |
| JEL: | A20 B40 B50 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:abe:wpaper:0001&r=all |
| By: | Takanori Minamikawa (Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia (ERINA)) |
| Abstract: | Since the Open Door Policy was implemented in 1978, China economy has maintained a high economic growth. During this period, although the reform of state-owned enterprises and the introduction of foreign direct investments might cause the change of the industrial structure, the common recognition, about how those factor has changed Chinese industrial structure, has not been obtained. This paper applied information geometric decomposition to Input-Output tables of China in the period 1981 to 2010, and extracted the factors of the technological changes in the whole industry in China. This paper examines the different of evaluation of industrial structure between input coefficient index and information geometry approach. Furthermore based on the factors, two industrial sophistication indicators, which are about degree of Mechanization and degree of ICT introducing, respectively are constructed. The empirical results suggests that the degree of mechanization and included ICT has different characteristics for each other. Regarding mechanization, the mechanized manufacturing sectors showed increases in sophistication in the 1980s and 2000s; however, mechanized tertiary sectors showed increases in sophistication in the 1990s. Regarding ICT input, while manufacturing sectors showed a high level of sophistication in ICT input in the 2000s, tertiary sectors showed a high level of sophistication in ICT input in the 1990s. |
| Keywords: | Input-Output tables, Industrial structure, RAS method, Foreign Direct Investment, Innovation |
| Date: | 2018–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:eri:dpaper:1801-2e&r=all |
| By: | Claude Gamel (LEST - Laboratoire d'économie et de sociologie du travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Debates among Liberals on social justice have played a major role in current discussion on basic income (or universal benefit). In this paper, the notion is considered on the basis of the "economics of liberal egalitarianism", for which the anchor point is to be found in Rawls' philosophical works. Although this author certainly does not support basic income, he still provides an appropriate general framework to consider it, in particular through the hierarchy of his principles of justice (I). At the third level of this hierarchy, the interpretation of the "principle of difference" appeared controversial concerning the treatment of "Malibu surfers", through which Van Parijs can have defended the unconditional nature of basic income (II). There remains the transition from the philosophy to the economics of basic income, which allows considering it as a precise alternative of negative income tax. At this stage, a rereading of Friedman's intuition on this topic results in seeing basic income as a "universal tax credit" (III). We conclude with some prospective remarks on a possible implementation of this conception of basic income in the case of liberal democracies and of France as well (IV). |
| Abstract: | Les débats entre libéraux sur la justice sociale ont beaucoup alimenté la réflexion contemporaine sur le revenu de base (ou allocation universelle). Cette notion est présentée ici comme relevant de « l'économie de l'égalitarisme libéral », dont le point d'ancrage se situe dans l'œuvre philosophique de Rawls. Celui-ci n'est certes pas partisan de l'allocation universelle, mais sa pensée offre néanmoins un cadre général adéquat pour l'étudier, en particulier par la hiérarchie des principes de justice qu'il défend (I). Au troisième niveau de cette hiérarchie, l'interprétation à donner au « principe de différence » a suscité la controverse des « surfeurs de Malibu », par laquelle Van Parijs a pu défendre le caractère inconditionnel de l'allocation universelle (II). Reste alors à passer de la philosophie à l'économie du revenu de base, en montrant comment ce dernier peut être considéré comme une variante précise d'impôt négatif sur le revenu. A ce stade, une relecture de l'intuition de Friedman sur la question aboutit à considérer l'allocation universelle comme un « crédit d'impôt universel » (III). En conclusion, pour les démocraties libérales et dans le cas de la France, sont esquissées quelques observations prospectives sur une éventuelle application d'une telle conception du revenu de base (IV). |
| Keywords: | unconditional nature,universal tax credit.,liberalism,basic income,crédit d’impôt universel.,inconditionnalité,libéralisme,revenu de base |
| Date: | 2019–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02111455&r=all |
| By: | Ishkanian, Armine |
| Abstract: | This article examines how activism against austerity is organized and manifested in London. Given that anti-austerity activists are addressing issues related to social welfare, we examine whether there are alliances between the activists and voluntary organizations (VOs) that are working in that field. Examining the challenges involved in creating and sustaining alliances, we argue that the regulatory context alone is an insufficient explanation as to why activist–VO alliances are difficult to establish and maintain. We contend that more significantly, it is VOs’ and activists’ divergent and at times irreconcilable stances, which we refer to as the consensus and dissensus stances, respectively, which impede activist–VO alliances, beyond episodic interactions, from developing. |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2017–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:78243&r=all |
| By: | Jones Sam; Tvedten Inge |
| Abstract: | This paper reflects on the relationship between economic (quantitative) and anthropological (qualitative) approaches to the analysis of poverty in developing countries. Drawing on detailed evidence from Mozambique, we argue that different research approaches do not merely see the same poverty from different angles; rather, they tend to conceptualize poverty differently.These different views can be traced to alternative philosophical positions along three axes—the ontological character of poverty; its generative mechanisms; and epistemological priorities. The quantitative analysis provides an indispensable numerical snapshot of trends in consumption and its broad correlates over time (e.g. via poverty profiles). In contrast, anthropological work focuses on lived experiences of poverty, which is rooted in a view of poverty as a process of social marginalization.While the policy implications of an economic approach focus on overall economic development and enhancing inputs at the household level, a relational view of poverty suggests the need to address counter-productive relations of power and to carefully target interventions at the poorest. Clarifying the specific philosophical commitments invoked in different forms of poverty research can shed light on the different kinds of research questions they are able to address. |
| Keywords: | Poverty analysis,Poverty measurement |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-75&r=all |
| By: | Cahen-Fourot, Louison; Campiglio, Emanuele; Dawkins, Elena; Godin, Antoine; Kemp-Benedict, Eric |
| Abstract: | Herman Daly's view of the economy as an "inverted pyramid" sitting on top of essential raw material inputs is compelling, but not readily visible in monetary data, as the contribution of primary sectors to value added is typically low. This article argues that "forward linkages", a classical development theory concept capturing the relevance of a sector for downstream activities, is a more appropriate measure to identify key sectors. Using Input-Output (IO) data from eighteen European countries, we identify mining as the sector with the highest average forward linkages, and confirm the consistency of this result across countries via cluster analysis. By treating IO tables as the adjacency matrix of a directed network, we then build and visualise national inverted pyramid networks, and analyse their structure. Our approach highlights the key importance of natural resources in providing the necessary inputs to modern European economies. |
| Keywords: | inverted pyramid; input-output; networks; forward linkages; natural resources |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wiw:wus045:6943&r=all |
| By: | Stefano Lucarelli (UniBG - Università degli studi di Bergamo); Alfonso Giuliani (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Hervé Baron (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The paper argues that Vergangenheit und Zukunft der Sozialwissenschaften (The Past and Future of the Social Sciences), a contribution not always well understood in the literature, is important to an understanding of Schumpeter's concept of development as applied to the field of the social sciences. To this end, it addresses three key questions. First, can the book be taken as a starting point to reconstruct a Schumpeterian theory of scientific development? Second, is Vergangenheit und Zukunft merely ‘a brief outline of what first became the Epochen [der Dogmen- und Methodengeschichte] and finally the History of Economic Analysis', as Elizabeth Boody Schumpeter wrote in her Editor's Introduction (July 1952) to the latter work (p. XXXII), or should it be read as a complement to Epochen and perhaps the History? Third, is the eminent Japanese scholar Shionoya right to claim that Schumpeter's work pursued the ambitious goal of developing a ‘comprehensive sociology'? |
| Keywords: | method,scientific development,Schumpeter,social sciences |
| Date: | 2019–03–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02063397&r=all |
| By: | Rémi Yin (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Fabrice Etilé (PSE - Paris School of Economics, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Concepts and results from the psychological research on identity may providebetterunder- standing of the formation and dynamics of economic preferences.In this perspective,weproposea French translation ofthe Aspectof Identity (AIQ-IV) psychometric questionnaire, which measures the orientation of subjective identity along personal, relational, public, and collective dimensions (Cheek and Briggs 1982; Cheekand Briggs 2013). The psychometric validation study checks the internal consistency,as well as the four-dimensional factorial structure, of the questionnaire in a representative sample of French young adults (N=1,118). Exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses of item responses reveala four-factor structure that corresponds to the personal, relational, public, and collective aspects of identity. Individual responses are found to be stable overtime. In addition,whilebeingcorrelatedwithsimilar psychological constructs (Self-esteem, Social Self- esteem, Self-consciousness), dimensions of the AIQ also predicts risk, time, and social preferences as measured by Likert scales and hypothetica lchoices. |
| Keywords: | Individual identity,Aspects of identity,Economic preferences,Psychometric,French Validation |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02057130&r=all |
| By: | C. R. da Cunha; R. da Silva |
| Abstract: | Bitcoin is a digital financial asset that is devoid of a central authority. This makes it distinct from traditional financial assets in a number of ways. For instance, the total number of tokens is limited and it has not explicit use value. Nonetheless, little is know whether it obeys the same stylized facts found in traditional financial assets. Here we test bitcoin for a set of these stylized facts and conclude that it behaves statistically as most of other assets. For instance, it exhibits aggregational Gaussianity and fluctuation scaling. Moreover, we show by an analogy with natural occurring quakes that bitcoin obeys both the Omori and Gutenberg-Richter laws. Finally, we show that the global persistence, originally defined for spin systems, presents a power law behavior with exponent similar to that found in stock markets. |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1905.03211&r=all |
| By: | Chieu Trinh; Nguyen Tam |
| Abstract: | Slack resources are usually identified as an endogenous motivation for firms’ innovation. Still, it is crucial to assess the importance of slack in supporting innovation, especially in different institutional contexts.Therefore, the paper investigates the relationship by exploring a longitudinal dataset of 15,589 observations from about 2,500 surveyed manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Viet Nam. The analysis reveals that slack resources promote innovation in different ways.While the financial slack harms the efforts of introducing innovation, the presence of human resource slack encourages firms to engage more in innovation activities resulting in the introduction of new products or business processes.We further found that for firms located in a more favourable business environment the impact of human resource slack on innovation is less pronounced whereas the negative impact of financial slack is lessened. The above results enrich the current literature on the relationship between slack and innovation within an institutional context in emerging economies. |
| Keywords: | Slack,SMEs,Stewardship theory,Institutional economics,Behavioural Theory,Innovation,Institutional economics theory |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-78&r=all |
| By: | McArthur, Daniel; Reeves, Aaron |
| Abstract: | Recessions appear to coincide with an increasingly stigmatising presentation of poverty in parts of the media. Previous research on the connection between high unemployment and media discourse has often relied on case studies of periods when stigmatising rhetoric about the poor was increasing. We build on earlier work on how economic context affects media representations of poverty by creating a unique dataset that measures how often stigmatising descriptions of the poor are used in five centrist and right-wing British newspapers between 1896 and 2000. Our results suggest stigmatising rhetoric about the poor increases when unemployment rises, except at the peak of very deep recessions (e.g. the 1930s and 1980s). This pattern is consistent with the idea that newspapers deploy deeply embedded Malthusian explanations for poverty when those ideas resonate with the economic context, and so this stigmatising rhetoric of recessions is likely to recur during future economic crises. |
| Keywords: | poverty; print media; recession; stigma; unemployment |
| JEL: | N0 |
| Date: | 2019–04–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:100546&r=all |
| By: | Davies Rob; van Seventer Dirk; Kwaramba Marko |
| Abstract: | This paper documents the construction of a Social Accounting Matrix (SAM) for Zimbabwe in 2013. The SAM was built using National Accounts data from the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZIMSTAT), including balance of payment data, government finance data, and highly aggregated industry-level production accounts.Detailed data on industry and service sectors were obtained from ZIMSTAT surveys. For some activities, unpublished but recent supply and use data on disaggregated industries were combined with data from older sources. These sources include a 2011/12 ZIMSTAT household survey, trade data, the Central Government Budget, and output and price data from private farming organizations.The SAM provides a detailed representation of Zimbabwe’s economy with 36 activities and 48 commodities. The SAM disaggregates labour into skilled and unskilled labour and separates households into rural and urban households. Despite shortcomings in the underlying data, it is hoped that this initial attempt at constructing a SAM representing the economy of Zimbabwe after land reform will stimulate further work aimed at improving it. 2013 Social Accounting Matrix for Zimbabwe |
| Keywords: | national accounts,Social Accounting Matrix,Supply table,Use table |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-139&r=all |
| By: | Philippe Batifoulier (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Nicolas Da Silva (CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - USPC - Université Sorbonne Paris Cité - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Mehrdad Vahabi (ROSES - Réformes et Ouverture des Systèmes Economiques post-Socialistes - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we argue that the welfare state is an outcome of modern mass (total) warfare. The total war economy requires the participation of all citizens, erasing the difference between the military and citizens. Consequently, the war economy benefits from supporting the civilian population. The total war effect explains why a predatory state undertakes welfare programs. This is one of the contributions of the present paper. While welfare state is closely related to total warfare, social welfare is not. Fraternal social welfare in the United States preceded the New Deal and the rise of welfare state. Similarly, the French welfare system was born as citizen welfare and not state welfare. In fact, welfare programs were initiated in 1871 during the Paris Commune by workers under the name of la sociale, and it was established as a self-managed citizen welfare in 1945 before being displaced by government welfare programs. A second contribution of this paper is to explore the reap-propriating effect or the way self-managed citizen welfare was transformed into a welfare state through a three stage process of reforms in 1946, 1967, and 1996. |
| Keywords: | Welfare state,Total war effect,Citizen welfare,La Sociale,Predatory state,State reappropriation effect |
| Date: | 2019–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02073247&r=all |
| By: | Hempel, Corinna; Will, Sabine; Zander, Katrin |
| Abstract: | The transformation from our fossil-based economy to a more sustainable, bio-based economy demands a broad societal acceptance. Therefore, it is essential to learn more about people’s opinions, attitudes and doubts. Based on a Q study about the societal perspectives concerning bioeconomy in general, focus group discussions with a more specific focus on aspects of consumption were carried out. The participants debate in an area of tension between sufficiency strategies and the development of innovative technologies. The discussions were followed by a representative online survey in Germany which took on insights from the first two explorative studies and yielded quantifiable results. It becomes apparent that there are distinct perspectives which are very similar in their attitudes towards a bioeconomy, but that there is much heterogeneity in the society as a whole with regard to the assessment and feasibility of different actions for the protection of nature and resources. A lot of people feel badly informed and find it difficult to take the “right” decisions. They ask for support from politics which is assigned considerable responsibility for the development of a bioeconomy. Nevertheless, there is a very fine line between the demand for support and the feeling of paternalism through the state. The acceptance of different state measures is a field which needs to be further explored. |
| Keywords: | Consumer/Household Economics, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy |
| Date: | 2019–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:jhimwp:288294&r=all |
| By: | Josue Mathieu |
| Abstract: | The PhD dissertation studies the construction of trade protection in the United States and the European Union. It focuses in particular on measures of contingent protection, comprising anti-dumping duties, countervailing duties and safeguards. The dissertation adopts a constructivist approach based on narrative analysis: broadening the conventional scope of political economy research on trade, the analysis combines the study of narratives with the concept of ‘discourse coalition’. The period under investigation spans over the period 2010-2014, covering the Obama Administration and the mandate of European Commissioner for trade Karel De Gucht. Adopting a comparative approach of the US and EU trade policy, the dissertation provides a detailed analysis of the US administration’s and the European Commission’s discourses on trade protection, and includes an analysis of a large array of other actors’ alternative, or competing constructions of contingent protection. The dissertation demonstrates that a specific type of unilateral enforcement plays an underestimated role in the construction of contingent protection. It also emphasizes that policy actors consider contingent protection as necessary to convince people that the trading system is fair; the research proposes the concept of ‘discursive embedded liberalism’ to account for this specific construction of trade protection. The research underlines elements of continuity and change, showing that many elements of the current crisis within the international trade regime were already in the making in the period under investigation. |
| Keywords: | international trade; unfair trade; dumping; subsidies; European Union; US trade policy; trade policy |
| Date: | 2019–03–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/284624&r=all |
| By: | Kuhu Joshi; Chaitanya K. Joshi |
| Abstract: | Women belonging to the socially disadvantaged caste-groups in India have historically been engaged in labour-intensive, blue-collar work. We study whether there has been any change in the ability to predict a woman's work-status and work-type based on her caste by interpreting machine learning models using feature attribution. We find that caste is now a less important determinant of work for the younger generation of women compared to the older generation. Moreover, younger women from disadvantaged castes are now more likely to be working in white-collar jobs. |
| Date: | 2019–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1905.03092&r=all |
| By: | Luis Chirosa (Universidad de Granada, Spain); Juan A. Rubio-Mondéjar (Universidad Pablo de Olavide, Spain); Josean Garrués-Irurzun (Universidad de Granada, Spain) |
| Abstract: | Literature has highlighted the key role of business schools in spreading US management in Europe after the Second World War, but has not found how to quantify its impact on the economy. With such purpose, this article examines the relations between the two main Spanish private business schools, IESE and ESADE, and the national corporate elite. By combining an institutional approach and social networks analysis, it shows the incidence of business schools on the board of directors of the largest Spanish corporations during the second half of the 20th century, and explains their role as centers for elite reproduction. |
| Keywords: | Business Schools,Business Elite, Managerial Capitalism, Corporate Network, Interlocking Directorates |
| JEL: | N14 O12 L1 M5 |
| Date: | 2019–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ahe:dtaehe:1907&r=all |
| By: | Isabelle Guérin (CESSMA UMRD 245 - Centre d'études en sciences sociales sur les mondes africains, américains et asiatiques - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Inalco - Institut National des Langues et Civilisations Orientales - UPD7 - Université Paris Diderot - Paris 7); Govindan Venkatasubramanian (IFP - Institut Français de Pondichéry - MEAE - Ministère de l'Europe et des Affaires étrangères - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Santosh Kumar (Independant researcher) |
| Abstract: | Economic anthropology has long advocated a broader vision of savings than the vision proposed by economists. This article extends this redefinitional effort by examining ceremonial gifts in India and arguing that they are a specific form of savings. Rural households, including those at the bottom of the pyramid, do save, in the sense of storing, accumulating and circulating value. But this takes place via particular forms of mediation that allow savers to forge or maintain social and emotional relations, to keep control over value-what matters in people's lives-and over spaces and their own future. We propose terming these practices relational and reproductive saving, insofar as their main objective is to sustain life across generations. By contrast, trying to encourage saving via bank mediation may dispossess populations of control over their wealth, their socialization, their territories and their time. In an increasingly financialised world of evermore aggressive policies to push people into financial inclusion, the social, symbolic, cultural and political aspects of diverse forms of financial mediation deserve our full attention. |
| Date: | 2019–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:ird-02112848&r=all |