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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2019‒07‒22
twenty papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Magali Boespflug (CE.RE.GE - CEntre de REcherche en GEstion - ULR - Université de La Rochelle - IAE Poitiers - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Poitiers - Université de Poitiers - Université de Poitiers); Bruno Mazières (CREOP - Centre de Recherches sur l'Entreprise, les Organisations et le Patrimoine - IR SHS UNILIM - Institut Sciences de l'Homme et de la Société - UNILIM - Université de Limoges) |
| Abstract: | Purpose This research aims at explaining how consumer cooperatives have been pioneers of modern distribution in France. These companies issued from the 19 th century socialist utopia provided the basis for both modern marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) principles. Using an historical approach, we will introduce the different cooperative innovations that were finally adopted by the main actors of the French distribution sector. The case: French consumer cooperatives The choice of this specific type of company has been motivated by different reasons. First, it is a very old form of distribution. Indeed, even if it has been developed on a larger scale and on a sustainable way by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers in England during the 19 th century, the very first one was developed in Lyon (France) in 1835 by the "Canuts" [silk industry workers]. This form of cooperative originated in social movements led by unsatisfied customers. Then, its legal status is original for a consumer cooperative belongs to its customers (the so-called members or co-operators) in charge of marketing goods at a fair price and ensuring the sustainability of the cooperative. Lastly, consumer cooperatives have been leaders of the French distribution sector from the 19 th century to the 1980s. Methodology Data collection was based on both primary and secondary sources. Relevant information was taken from literature about the cooperative sector and the French distribution industry. We also had access to the archives of Coop Atlantique (the most important remaining French consumer cooperative) and public archives. This documentary research work was completed by several semi-directive individual interviews and focus groups with different consumer cooperative stakeholders, such as customers, co-operators, employees, and managers (active and retired). We also organized and were part of seminars on cooperatives , which gave us the opportunity to interact with both professional (co-operative managers or members of cooperative federations) and academic (researchers in History, Economy, Marketing and Semiology) stakeholders. Consumer cooperatives as pioneers We were able to identify two fields in which French consumer cooperatives could be considered as pioneers in France: marketing practices and societal orientation. Consumer cooperatives as pioneers in marketing practices Consumer cooperatives are behind numerous marketing innovations regarding price, product, distribution or promotion policies. In terms of price, a first idea came directly from the roots of consumer cooperatives. Indeed, first members were workers unable to buy food items made too expensive by the industrialization of France and its effect on the reduction of food-crop production. |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02145751&r=all |
| By: | Carlo Milana |
| Abstract: | The possibility of re-switching of techniques in Piero Sraffa's intersectoral model, namely the returning capital-intensive techniques with monotonic changes in the profit rate, is traditionally considered as a paradox putting at stake the viability of the neoclassical theory of production. It is argued here that this phenomenon can be rationalized within the neoclassical paradigm. Sectoral interdependencies can give rise to non-monotonic effects of progressive variations in income distribution on relative prices. The re-switching of techniques is, therefore, the result of cost-minimizing technical choices facing returning ranks of relative input prices in full consistency with the neoclassical perspective. |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1907.01189&r=all |
| By: | Sin, Isabelle; Stillman, Steven; Fabling, Richard |
| Abstract: | As in other OECD countries, women in New Zealand earn substantially less than men with similar observable characteristics. In this paper, we use a decade of annual wage and productivity data from New Zealand’s Linked Employer-Employee Database to examine different explanations for this gender wage gap. Sorting by gender at either the industry or firm level explains less than one-fifth of the overall wage gap. Gender differences in productivity within firms also explain little of the difference seen in wages. The relationships between the gender wage-productivity gap and both age and tenure are inconsistent with statistical discrimination being an important explanatory factor for the remaining differences in wages. Relating across industry and over time variation in the gender wage-productivity gap to industry-year variation in worker skills, and product market and labour market competition, we find evidence that is consistent with taste discrimination being important for explaining the overall gender wage gap. Explanations based on gender differences in bargaining power are less consistent with our findings. |
| Keywords: | Labor and Human Capital |
| Date: | 2017–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:motuwp:290511&r=all |
| By: | Laliotis, Dimitrios; Buesa, Alejandro; Leber, Miha; Población García, Francisco Javier |
| Abstract: | We assess the effects of regulatory caps in the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio using agent-based models (ABMs). Our approach builds upon a straightforward ABM where we model the interactions of sellers, buyers and banks within a computational framework that enables the application of LTV caps. The results are first presented using simulated data and then we calibrate the probability distributions based on actual European data from the HFCS survey. The results suggest that this approach can be viewed as a useful alternative to the existing analytical frameworks for assessing the impact of macroprudential measures, mainly due to the very few assumptions the method relies upon and the ability to easily incorporate additional and more complex features related to the behavioral response of borrowers to such measures. JEL Classification: D14, D31, E50, R21 |
| Keywords: | borrower-based measures, HFCS survey, house prices, macroprudential policy |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ecb:ecbwps:20192294&r=all |
| By: | Donovan Platt |
| Abstract: | Recent advances in computing power and the potential to make more realistic assumptions due to increased flexibility have led to the increased prevalence of simulation models in economics. While models of this class, and particularly agent-based models, are able to replicate a number of empirically-observed stylised facts not easily recovered by more traditional alternatives, such models remain notoriously difficult to estimate due to their lack of tractable likelihood functions. While the estimation literature continues to grow, existing attempts have approached the problem primarily from a frequentist perspective, with the Bayesian estimation literature remaining comparatively less developed. For this reason, we introduce a Bayesian estimation protocol that makes use of deep neural networks to construct an approximation to the likelihood, which we then benchmark against a prominent alternative from the existing literature. Overall, we find that our proposed methodology consistently results in more accurate estimates in a variety of settings, including the estimation of financial heterogeneous agent models and the identification of changes in dynamics occurring in models incorporating structural breaks. |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1906.04522&r=all |
| By: | Guglielmo Chodi (Department of Social Sciences and Economics, Sapienza University of Rome (IT).) |
| Abstract: | Over the last century, and several times until recently, mainstream economics has been criticized from different viewpoints. Most of the critiques highlighted the weakness of its methodological and logical structure, not to mention its inadequate capacity of tackling with the new problems posed by globalization. However, mainstream economics has always shown itself strong enough as to stand up victoriously most of the times, notwithstanding those critiques, which quite often turned out to be even devastating from the logical point of view. The object of my report will be mainly focused on highlighting one of the most important reason for which mainstream economics should be considered altogether inadequate for tackling with many problems of the real world. And that reason essentially lies in the very fact that mainstream economics has since long put any ethical aspect completely outside its basic framework. One the most important consequences of that operation has been that of rendering economic theory perilously free of any value-judgment and therefore uncontaminated by any possible social and political change in society, even by the most significant ones. The report will then briefly reconstruct the most significant steps through which that process was accomplished, by bringing about, at the same time, the severe drawbacks of that futile attempt of rendering economics neutral in its analysis and its policy prescriptions. |
| Keywords: | Ethics, Classical Political Economy, Orthodox Economic Theory, Robbins, Sraffa. |
| JEL: | A11 A12 A13 B1 B2 B5 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:saq:wpaper:7/19&r=all |
| By: | Putra, Adhitya |
| Abstract: | Abstract A country is seen as successful or not, in solving the economic problems of its own country can be seen from the country's macro and micro-economy. Macroeconomics is a study of activities that discuss the economy of a country. One of the macroeconomic indicators used to see/measure a country's economic stability is inflation. Changes in this indicator will have an impact on the dynamics of economic growth. In an economic perspective, inflation is a monetary phenomenon in a country where inflation fluctuations tend to result in economic turmoil. Inflation is a phenomenon where the general price level increases continuously. The price increase of just one or two items cannot be said to be inflation unless the increase extends or results in an increase in prices for other goods. Both the conventional economic system and the Islamic economic system, the roles of both demand and supply are emphasized in pricing. In fact, Islamic scholars are aware of centuries that the importance of demand and supply caused inflation. From the problems above this study uses qualitative methods to describe the related problems and is reinforced with secondary data in the form of journals, books, and related articles. |
| Keywords: | Keyword: Inflation, Islamic Economy, Conventional Economy |
| JEL: | D2 D3 E3 E63 |
| Date: | 2019–07–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:94791&r=all |
| By: | Taylor, Lori L. (Texas A&M University); Cortes, Kalena E. (Texas A&M University); Hearn, Travis C. (Texas A&M University) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents on three new styled facts: first, schools of public affairs hire many economists; second, those economists are disproportionately female; and third, salaries in schools of public affairs are, on average, lower than salaries in mainline departments of economics. We seek to understand the linkage, if any, among these facts. We assembled a unique database of over 2,150 faculty salary profiles from the top 50 Schools of Public Affairs in the United States as well as the corresponding Economics and Political Science departments. For each faculty member we obtained salary data to analyze the relationship between scholarly discipline, department placement, gender, and annual salary compensation. We found substantial pay differences based on departmental affiliation, significant differences in citation records between male and female faculty in schools of public affairs, and no evidence that the public affairs discount could be explained by compositional differences with respect to gender, experience or scholarly citations. |
| Keywords: | hedonic wage models, faculty sorting, compensating differentials |
| JEL: | J01 J16 J30 J31 |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12443&r=all |
| By: | Blandine Rolland (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar, CERDACC - Centre Européen de recherche sur le Risque, le Droit des Accidents Collectifs et des Catastrophes - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar, ADERSE); Gérald Majou de La Debutrie (CGE - Conférence des grandes écoles) |
| Abstract: | Social responsibility of universities is now implemented in many private or public universities. It is now high time to take stock on these experiments and reflect on them. First of all, Social Responsibility of Universities draws on goals inspired by philosophical and epistemological underpinnings that lead to stewardship and service to students and all other stakeholders. In addition, coherence in the socially responsible practices should be sought. Action plans have to be structured in universities and be long term oriented. Eventually, it is proposed to go beyond rules and regulations. A second essential to the survival of the profession is to integrate digital within firms and adopt a new management process in order to make the uberization of law a competitive advantage. Transformation and innovation are required to answer the uberization of law. |
| Abstract: | La Responsabilité Sociale des Universités constitue une démarche que de nombreux éta-blissements d'enseignement supérieur, tant publics que privés, se sont appropriée. Le temps semble venu de prendre du recul et de réfléchir à la portée de cette démarche. D'abord la RSU repose sur une finalité assise sur des considérations philosophiques et épistémologiques fortes qui tendent à mettre les établissements au service de l'homme, des étudiants et au-delà de toutes leurs parties prenantes. Ensuite la recherche d'une cohérence dans les pratiques de RSU est une nécessité. Cette démarche doit se struc-turer dans les établissements et surtout doit s'inscrire dans un temps long. Enfin il est proposé d'aller au-delà du strict cadre réglementaire. Social responsibility of universities is now implemented in many private or public universities. It is now high time to take stock on these experiments and reflect on them. First of all, Social Responsibility of Universities draws on goals inspired by philosophical and epistemological underpinnings that lead to stewardship and service to students and all other stakeholders. In addition, coherence in the socially responsible practices should be sought. Action plans have to be structured in universities and be long term oriented. Eventually, it is proposed to go beyond rules and regulations. |
| Keywords: | Uberization,collaborative economy and law market,digital revolution and legal profession,Ubérisation,Economie collaborative,Legaltechs |
| Date: | 2018–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02158721&r=all |
| By: | Seyyedmilad Talebzadehhosseini; Steven R. Scheinert; Amirarsalan Rajabi; Mostafa Saeidi; Ivan Garibay |
| Abstract: | Existing research argues that countries increase their production baskets based on the available capabilities, adding products which require similar capabilities to those already produced, a process referred to as path dependency. Expansions to include goods that use divergent capabilities from those currently in the economy requires a structural change in available capabilities. Structural changes in existing capabilities contributes to countries economic growth and development. Economic development increases environmental risks from higher consumption of energy and natural resources. Managing that risk is critical and a transition to a green economy can help. The main objective of this research is to determine if structural changes or path dependency drives the expansion in production of green economy products. We consider a dataset with 138 countries over the period of 2008 to 2017, with a focus on specific case study examples, including all countries in the world and China. The results of this research show countries increased their green production baskets based on their available capabilities following path dependency as well as by expanding to products that path dependency does not predict. This suggests that, while path dependency may explain some expansion in green economies, additional theories are needed to fully explain observed green economic expansion. |
| Date: | 2019–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1906.05269&r=all |
| By: | Hillberry, Russell; David Hummels |
| Abstract: | Fields of academic inquiry differ in their preferred forms of output, in the ways in which knowledge is accumulated and stored, and so in the ways that academic influence is measured. We compare Tom Hertel’s research record to other international economists of his generation in order to illustrate the unique breadth and influence of his work, and of the GTAP project broadly. We then provide an analytical framework that helps explain the evolution of the field of international economics from a tool-use standpoint. This framework helps us to assess the academic productivity gains from creating the GTAP model and consortium. It also provides a possible answer to a significant puzzle: why is GTAP increasingly influential in the physical and biological sciences, but less so within the international economics community? |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gta:workpp:5674&r=all |
| By: | Yuki M. Asano; Jakob J. Kolb; Jobst Heitzig; J. Doyne Farmer |
| Abstract: | Standard macroeconomic models assume that households are rational in the sense that they are perfect utility maximizers, and explain economic dynamics in terms of shocks that drive the economy away from the stead-state. Here we build on a standard macroeconomic model in which a single rational representative household makes a savings decision of how much to consume or invest. In our model households are myopic boundedly rational heterogeneous agents embedded in a social network. From time to time each household updates its savings rate by copying the savings rate of its neighbor with the highest consumption. If the updating time is short, the economy is stuck in a poverty trap, but for longer updating times economic output approaches its optimal value, and we observe a critical transition to an economy with irregular endogenous oscillations in economic output, resembling a business cycle. In this regime households divide into two groups: Poor households with low savings rates and rich households with high savings rates. Thus inequality and economic dynamics both occur spontaneously as a consequence of imperfect household decision making. Our work here supports an alternative program of research that substitutes utility maximization for behaviorally grounded decision making. |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1907.02155&r=all |
| By: | Philippe de Vreyer (DIAL - Développement, institutions et analyses de long terme, LEDa - Laboratoire d'Economie de Dauphine - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Université Paris-Dauphine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Sylvie Lambert (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, PSE - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Intra-household inequalities have long been a source of concern for policy design, but there is very little evidence. The current practice of ignoring inequality within households could lead to an underestimation of both overall inequality and poverty levels, as well as to the misclassification of some individuals as regards to their poverty status. Using a novel survey for Senegal in which consumption data were collected at a disaggregated level, this paper quantifies these various effects. In total, two opposing effects, one on mean and one on inequality, compensate each other in terms of the overall poverty rate, but individual poverty statuses are affected. Intra-household consumption inequalities accounts for 14% of inequality in Senegal. We uncover the fact that household structure and organization are key correlates of intra-household inequality and individual risk of poverty. |
| Keywords: | Inequality,Poverty,Household sruveys,Intra-household allocation,Senegal |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:psewpa:halshs-02177745&r=all |
| By: | Álvaro Moreno Rivas; Gonzalo Cómbita Mora; Andrés Felipe Mora Cortés |
| Abstract: | Este capítulo presenta las virtudes, requerimientos, vigencia y potencialidades de una política de desarrollo industrial para Colombia. Inicialmente se señalan los pasos necesarios para implementar una política de desarrollo industrial exitosa. Expone este trabajo, además, los enfoques teóricos que sustentan un modelo heterodoxo de política industrial. Entre ellos se destacan las propuestas de Young-Currie-Kaldor, que muestran el vínculo de esta política con el crecimiento acelerado e inclusivo en términos de generación de empleo y mejoras en la distribución del ingreso. A lo largo del documento se presentan las evidencias empíricas de países que muestran las mencionadas potencialidades de la política industrial. El artículo explica cómo Colombia puede responder al objetivo de una paz estable y duradera a partir de una estrategia de crecimiento económico inclusivo que busque el pleno empleo como objetivo fundamental y que, sustentada en una mayor diversificación, complejidad y sofisticación de su estructura productiva, permita avanzar hacia la construcción de una sociedad más igualitaria. *** This chapter presents the virtues, requirements, validity and potential of an industrial policy for Colombia. The article shows how to implement a successful industrial policy and exposes the theoretical approaches behind a heterodox model of industrial policy. Among them is possible to point out the proposals of Young-Currie-Kaldor that show the link between industrial policy, accelerated economic growth, employment and income distribution. The document presents evidence of countries that have exhibited the potential of industrial policy. It also explains how to achieve the objectives of peacebuilding and social justice in Colombia based on an inclusive and full employment model of economic growth. To achieve those goals, a model of economic development based on a greater diversification, complexity and sophistication of the economic structure is necessary. |
| Keywords: | política industrial moderna, crecimiento económico, igualdad, Colombia |
| JEL: | O11 O14 O15 O25 O40 |
| Date: | 2019–07–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000178:017332&r=all |
| By: | Giancarlo Bertocco (University of Insubria (IT)); Andrea Kalajzić |
| Abstract: | Recently, Dosi and his co-authors have developed a ‘Keynes+Schumpeter’ model which “endogenously generates self-sustained growth patterns together with persistent economic fluctuations ...”. The aim of this work is twofold. First, to show that the K+S model developed by Dosi and his co-authors does not allow to explain the instability that characterizes a capitalist economy. This limitation is due to the fact that the model overlooks some key elements of Schumpeter’s analysis. The second objective is to show that a solid K+S model can be built starting from the elements of Schumpeter’s theory neglected by Dosi and his co-authors. |
| Keywords: | bank money, innovations, crisis |
| JEL: | O11 O16 O42 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp1916&r=all |
| By: | Mujahidin, Muhamad |
| Abstract: | This article describes how the opportunities and challenges of FinTech Sharia in the face of the industrial revolution 4.0. By using a negation approach, this study concludes that FinTech Sharia which is the development of technological innovations that are in accordance with sharia provisions and becomes a solution to avoid interest transactions. The synergy between the Islamic financial sector and information technology innovation should also be a challenge as well as an opportunity for all actors in the Islamic finance industry to catch up with the conventional financial industry. |
| Keywords: | Financial Technology, FinTech, FinTech Sharia, Islamic Finance |
| JEL: | A10 E40 G21 G23 G30 O14 O32 |
| Date: | 2019–07–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:94844&r=all |
| By: | Paolo Bartesaghi; Michele Benzi; Gian Paolo Clemente; Rosanna Grassi; Ernesto Estrada |
| Abstract: | Node centrality is one of the most important and widely used concepts in the study of complex networks. Here, we extend the paradigm of node centrality in financial and economic networks to consider the changes of node "importance" produced not only by the variation of the topology of the system but also as a consequence of the external levels of risk to which the network as a whole is submitted. Starting from the "Susceptible-Infected" (SI) model of epidemics and its relation to the communicability functions of networks we develop a series of risk-dependent centralities for nodes in (financial and economic) networks. We analyze here some of the most important mathematical properties of these risk-dependent centrality measures. In particular, we study the newly observed phenomenon of ranking interlacement, by means of which two entities may interlace their ranking positions in terms of risk in the network as a consequence of the change in the external conditions only, i.e., without any change in the topology. We test the risk-dependent centralities by studying two real-world systems: the network generated by collecting assets of the S\&P 100 and the corporate board network of the US top companies, according to Forbes in 1999. We found that a high position in the ranking of the analyzed financial companies according to their risk-dependent centrality corresponds to companies more sensitive to the external market variations during the periods of crisis. |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1907.07908&r=all |
| By: | Virgile Chassagnon (CREG - Centre de recherche en économie de Grenoble - UPMF - Université Pierre Mendès France - Grenoble 2 - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes) |
| Abstract: | Dans cette communication l'auteur essaie de montrer comment une contribution universitaire, sur laquelle il travaille désormais depuis dix ans, peut aider à proposer une évaluation objective –temporaire car il manque encore de certains éléments législatifs– sur la partie "réforme de l'entreprise" de la Loi PACTE, notamment à l'aune de cette proposition que constitue la "société à mission". L'idée est de montrer comment l'approche de la Théorie de la firme comme entité fondée sur le pouvoir (TFEP) peut aider dans l'appréciation de cette loi. |
| Keywords: | Loi Pacte,réforme,entreprise,bien commun,gouvernance,théorie de la firme |
| Date: | 2019–05–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02137982&r=all |
| By: | Bernhelm Booss-Bavnbek; Rasmus Kristoffer Pedersen; Ulf R{\o}rb{\ae}k Pedersen |
| Abstract: | We address dfferences between characteristic times in climate change and show the universal emergence of multiple time scales in material sciences, biomedicine and economics. |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1907.01902&r=all |
| By: | Susanto Basu |
| Abstract: | A number of recent papers have argued that US firms exert increasing market power, as measured by their markups of price over marginal cost. I review three of the main approaches to estimating economy-wide markups and show that all are based on the hypothesis of firm cost-minimization. Yet different assumptions and methods of implementation lead to quite different conclusions regarding the levels and trends of markups. I survey the literature critically, and argue that some of the startling findings of steeply-rising markups are difficult to reconcile with other evidence and with aggregate data. Existing methods cannot determine whether markups have been stable or whether they have risen modestly over the past several decades. Even relatively small increases in markups are consistent with significant changes in aggregate outcomes, such as the observed decline in labor’s share of national income. |
| JEL: | E23 E32 L11 L16 |
| Date: | 2019–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:26057&r=all |