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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2020‒01‒20
23 papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Rotta, Tomas |
| Abstract: | In this paper I develop an innovative evolutionary framework to integrate Keynes’ short-run principle of effective demand and the formation of long-run prices of production in Classical Political Economy. At the intersection of Keynes, Marx, and Kalecki, my evolutionary framework integrates effective demand, functional income distribution, profit rate equalization, technological diffusion, and the gravitation towards prices of production. My approach bridges two gaps at once: the absence of the short-run principle of effective demand in Classical Political Economy; and the absence of technological diffusion, profit rate equalization, and the formation of long-run prices of production in Keynes and Kalecki. To formalize the feedback effects between individual decisions taken at the micro level and the unintended social outcomes at the macro level I develop a simple model using replicator dynamics from evolutionary Game Theory. My approach offers a better understanding of how effective demand determines the rate of exploitation, the equalization of profit rates, and the convergence of market prices towards prices of production. |
| Keywords: | Effective Demand, Prices of Production, Marx, Keynes, Kalecki |
| JEL: | B51 C73 D20 |
| Date: | 2020–01–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:97910&r=all |
| By: | Kim, Minseong |
| Abstract: | This comment paper briefly goes over what ergodicity economics in Peters (2019) is about, why economists reject ergodicity economics and what we can get out of this dispute. 1) The core arguments of ergodicity economics rely on constructing an ergodic observable, and thus relies on a justification of why an observable needs to be ergodic. 2) The modern foundation of expected utility theory is about revealed preference theory, and thus criticisms of economics solely based on cardinal utility are heavily misguided. 3) The real question thus lies on whether revealed preference theory really captures actual utility of an agent. |
| Date: | 2019–12–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:7gm8a&r=all |
| By: | Jael, Paul |
| Abstract: | The equality between factor pay and marginal product is a major component of the neoclassical paradigm. The paper begins with a brief historical review of this principle. Follows a questioning about the relevance of this law as an argument in the social debates: does marginal product represent the very contribution of the agent and if so, is it a legitimate reference for the setting of remuneration? Our answer to the first part of the question is irresolute; to the second, it is negative. But most of the article is devoted to analysing the economic realism of the said law, both empirically and theoretically. We review some statistical studies present in the literature, with particular attention for the debate regarding the regressions of Cobb and Douglas. Evidence does not strengthen the neoclassical law of retribution. The paper analyses the factors that hinder either the determinateness of marginal product or the equalisation between it and factor's remuneration. Are analysed: - the restrictions inherent in the law of marginal productivity: constant returns to scale and perfect competition - an alternative explanation of interest: the Austrian theory - incentive wage theories: efficiency wage and tournament theory. The article then considers the particular case of the CEO's remuneration. |
| Keywords: | marginal productivity; income distribution; wage; interest; profit; production function |
| JEL: | B21 D33 |
| Date: | 2019–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:97968&r=all |
| By: | Agnès Festré (Université Côte d'Azur, France; GREDEG CNRS) |
| Abstract: | This paper analyses Michael Polanyi’s vision of economics. We stress two major features: first, the radical opposition to central planning and his defence of self-organization as a superior mechanism for coordinating individual plans that he shared with Hayek; second, the strong support for state interventionism in order to fight unemployment and limit income inequalities that he borrowed from Keynes. Polanyi blended these two apparently contradictory influences and provided an original institutionalist approach, which has unfortunately been underrated in the economics literature. We argue that this approach is consistent with Polanyi’s intellectual background and more specifically, his view on tacit knowledge and his critical approach of liberalism. |
| Keywords: | Michael Polanyi, Hayek, Keynes, spontaneous order, State intervention, liberalism, tacit knowledge, public liberty |
| JEL: | B25 B31 B41 |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2019-41&r=all |
| By: | Molla, Rafiqul Islam; Alam, Md. Mahmudul (Universiti Utara Malaysia); Bashar, M. A.; Alam, A. S .A. Ferdous |
| Abstract: | Entrepreneurship is indispensable for progress of human civilization and effectively exploring and exploiting existing and potential resources for wellbeing of humanity. Modern economics operates basically through two major modes of entrepreneurships: the market/private sector economics relying on commercial entrepreneurships (self-interest- centric) and the state/public sector economics relying on state entrepreneurships (public-wellbeing-centric). However, both have, individually and jointly, failed to ensure economics‟ fundamental goal of wellbeing for human societies. In response, a community wellbeing-centric social enterprise economics (third sector), which features cooperatives and not-for-profit social enterprises in the name of foundations, trusts/awqāf, social businesses, and similar undertakings, has emerged as a make-up strategy to meet the minimum unmet requirements for social wellbeing. However, there is a strongly felt belief that this community wellbeing-centric social enterprise economics needs to be broadened and mainstreamed in order to include entirely charitable institutions, predominantly not-for-profit operations, and predominantly for-profit businesses but blended with provision of social welfare programs like corporate social responsibility, etc., for its emancipation as a major economic system to be able to play a leading role for ensuring desirable economic growth and development. Islamic entrepreneurship, which is basically a community-centric mode of business initiative, is closely related to social entrepreneurship. It is an antidote to the problem of intolerable economic and social dualism and a natural strategy against all forms of capitalist exploitation to control world resources, like, in the past, through European colonialism, and now, through American-led state terrorism. It is the natural guard against economic inequity, wealth concentration, and social divides. Based on its potential and using examples from Bangladesh and Malaysia, we argue that the Islamic style social entrepreneurship, which is operationally a profession for a mission, is intellectually and operationally superior and more efficient for effectively widening and mainstreaming community-centric social enterprise economics to ensure development with equity and social justice. The paper aims to put forward social enterprise economics (third sector) for dialogue and research in the context of effective functioning of modern economies ensuring community wellbeing. |
| Date: | 2019–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:r286g&r=all |
| By: | Shephard, Karen; Hamoudi, Haider Ala |
| Abstract: | "48 Virginia Journal of International Law 249 (2008)Despite its currently conservative character, the modern practice of Islamic finance lies on a bedrock of social, cultural and economic revolution. Examination of these revolutionary origins and their attendant jurisprudential implications reveal much about the schizophrenia plaguing Islamic finance today, of a largely formalist practice repeating the functional aims of the early revolutionaries and falsely understood by substantial portions of the wider Muslim community to be achieving such aims. Though the revolution has not come to pass, some of the comparatively radical functional approaches conceived in the context of the anticipated upheaval, and in particular those of the Iraqi Shi'i jurist Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr, deserve reconsideration and refinement as a means through which to reformulate the entire practice of Islamic finance in a manner that realizes more completely the aspirations of the broader Muslim community in its call for uniquely Islamic forms of human association in Muslim societies. Sadr's revolutionary goals are very much consistent with the rhetoric that proponents of Islamic finance and economics use to justify their practice. Yet Sadr, unlike his contemporaries, developed a functional theory of jurisprudence that relied on particular, acknowledged ideological understandings of foundational text that was intended precisely to achieve the articulated goals. Moreover, Sadr relied on a loose network of Shi'i jurists, largely based in Najaf, Iraq, known as the marja'iyya, to provide a more objective form of legitimacy to his ideas. Under Shi'i doctrine, the marja'iyya is responsible under Shi'i doctrine for deriving the rules of the shari'a. To Sadr, the marja'iyya as an institution could establish legitimate, neutral and definable bounds to interpretation that distinguish it from purely individualized, subjective political argument. These parameters would undoubtedly reflect ever changing ideological and ethical understandings of the foundational texts of Revelation. Nevertheless, within that framework, objective, disciplining rules would emerge to constrain individualized subjectivity on the part of any single jurist engaged in the process of interpretation. Some of the particularities of Sadr's economic and jurisprudential philosophy are grounded in his Shi'i context, but the broader lesson to be learned continues to resonate. While the dreams of economic revolution may have long faded, the absolute necessity of a jurisprudential revolution has not. Sadr's idea of a transformed and transforming jurisprudence, bounded by objective and neutral rules on interpretive process, imposed through the consensus of an interpretive community responsible for redefining the foundational texts from time to time, is instrumental to the development of a sensible and functional Islamic system based entirely in Islamic doctrine and responsive to the needs of the community." |
| Date: | 2018–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:lawarx:bu6e8&r=all |
| By: | Shephard, Karen; Hamoudi, Haider Ala |
| Abstract: | "40 Cornell International Law Journal 89 (2007)Though it is advertised and promoted as the bulwark of an alternative economic system based on populist Muslim notions of social justice and fairness, Islamic finance as a practice has failed to meet these objectives. The causes of that failure and the question of whether alternative approaches are possible are the subject of this Article. The failure of Islamic finance to provide that which it promotes is the direct consequence of the application of an Islamic logic driven interpretive system through which rules are derived, which its adherents claim was formalized and systematized by the early jurist Muhammad Ibn Idris Al-Shafi'i. The system bears remarkable resemblance to the jurisprudential theories of Christopher Columbus Langdell in that particular cases (the reports of Muhammad, or hadith) are selected and then expanded into fundamental principles, or at least fundamental rules, through a doctrine known as qiyas, or analogical reasoning. The result is a financial system characterized by an incoherent web of rules, convenient and specific blindness respecting those rules in particular contexts, and deceptive and obfuscatory measures intended to lend the entire affair a patina of legitimacy as Islamic. Social justice and fairness are not significant components of the system. A principled alternative interpretive system, however, does seem possible so long as it remains within particular parameters, among them faithful adherence to Qur'anic verse, substantial respect for the hadith and sufficient systematization and methodological rigor to avoid what some Islamic jurists call subjectivity, or lack of interpretive control. Specifically, the Article engages and expands upon the ideas of Abdul Razzaq Sanhuri and Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr as potential avenues for reform that lie within these parameters. For the full text of the Article, please see 40 Cornell International Law Review 89 (2007)." |
| Date: | 2018–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:lawarx:9yeb7&r=all |
| By: | Shafaat Saleem (Institute of Ismaili Studies, London) |
| Abstract: | Paper aims to explore the interactions between two different yet, linked aspects of the society; religion and development. The central idea of this paper is to look at how Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) draw on ideas and practices of development and religion, to carry out their social welfare activities and projects. Paper will be an attempt to explore the meaning, mission and trends of Faith Based Organizations (FBOs) and their characteristics, in terms of their nature, scale and affiliations with political or religious institutions in the contextual setting of Karachi. The paper examines the emerging role of faith/religion in community development, as a counterpoint to modernization programs and projects based on Western models. It argues that FBOs occupy vantage positions over ?non religious? or mainstream organizations, in terms of recruiting staff/volunteers and funding, due to their affiliations with religion. However, although FBOs receive international recognition, stakeholders often tend to overlook the ?conservative approaches? adopted by these organizations. The conservative approaches adopted by FBOs often contradict the mainstream discourse of development. Thus, paper sheds light upon the role of religion in transforming and appropriating the mainstream development discourses and practices. Thesis attempts to attain answers to research questions by employing qualitative methods of research. It focuses upon a case study of AKF, a welfare wing of Jamat-e-Islami, which is inspired by Islamic religious ideologies. It explores the organizational characteristics and its functioning, while contextualizing it in the broader theoretical framework of the subject. |
| Keywords: | Faith Based Organizations, Development, Al-Khidmat, Charity, Modernity |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:9911020&r=all |
| By: | Coskun, Huseyin |
| Abstract: | In this article, a new mathematical method for static analysis of compartmental systems is developed in the context of ecology. The method is based on the novel system and subsystem partitioning methodologies through which compartmental systems are decomposed to the utmost level. That is, the distribution of environmental inputs and intercompartmental system flows, as well as the organization of the associated storages generated by these flows within the system is determined individually and separately. Moreover, the transient and the static direct, indirect, acyclic, cycling, and transfer (diact) flows and associated storages transmitted along a given flow path or from one compartment, directly or indirectly, to any other are analytically characterized, systematically classified, and mathematically formulated. A quantitative technique for the categorization of interspecific interactions and the determination of their strength within food webs is also developed based on the diact transactions. The proposed methodology allows for both input- and output-oriented analyses of static ecological networks. The input- and output-oriented analyses are introduced within the proposed mathematical framework and their duality is demonstrated. Major flow- and stock-related concepts and quantities of the current static network analyses are also integrated with the proposed measures and indices within this unifying framework. This comprehensive methodology enables a holistic view and analysis of ecological systems. |
| Date: | 2018–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:zqxc5&r=all |
| By: | Sebastian Linde; Brandon Norton; Ralph Siebert |
| Abstract: | This paper provides insights into the determinants of bargaining power and how they affect drug prices. Our data show that drug prices vary across buyers and time periods. We estimate a structural bargaining model where drug suppliers and buyers engage in bilateral bargaining over drug prices. Our estimation results show that drug buyers hold, on average, 55% of the bargaining power. We also find that bargaining power can imply a range of drug prices. Differences in bargaining power explains large price heterogeneities across buyers, drug classes, and time periods. Additionally, of the drug price variation that is explained by bargaining power, differences across buyers rather than changes over time are more important. We examine buyer and seller characteristics that determine bargaining power and evaluate how changes in these bargaining power determinants affect bargaining power and prices. We find that transaction-specific determinants (such as transaction volume) and business relationships between buyers and sellers (such as buyer’s loyalty and multiple drug purchases from the same seller) exert the strongest effects on improving buyer bargaining power and reducing drug prices. For example, an 10% increase in transaction volume, buyer’s loyalty, and multiple drug purchases strengthens buyer’s bargaining power and results in a drug price reduction of 12%. |
| Keywords: | bargaining power, determinants of bargaining power, drug prices, drug price variation, business relationship between buyers and sellers |
| JEL: | L10 |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_7988&r=all |
| By: | Kitchin, Rob (National University of Ireland Maynooth) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers, following David Harvey (1973), how to produce a genuinely humanizing smart urbanism. It does so through utilising a future-orientated lens to sketch out the kinds of work required to reimagine, reframe and remake smart cities. I argue that, on the one hand, there is a need to produce an alternative ‘future present’ that shifts the anticipatory logics of smart cities to that of addressing persistent inequalities, prejudice, and discrimination, and is rooted in notions of fairness, equity, ethics and democracy. On the other hand, there is a need to disrupt the ‘present future’ of neoliberal smart urbanism, moving beyond minimal politics to enact sustained strategic, public-led interventions designed to create more-inclusive smart city initiatives. Both tactics require producing a deeply normative vision for smart cities that is rooted in ideas of citizenship, social justice, the public good, and the right to the city that needs to be developed in conjunction with citizens. |
| Date: | 2018–10–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:5jkx4&r=all |
| By: | Alam, Md. Mahmudul (Universiti Utara Malaysia); Akbar, Chowdhury Shahed |
| Abstract: | Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) is founded on the theory of expected rationality but the theory of behavioural finance concludes that stock market investors are quasi-rational. Therefore, under the capitalistic system, the efficient markets have already failed to protect the rights of investors that have led to chronic capital market crashes and failure to achieve efficiency, justice, fairness, accountability, fair distribution of benefits, and a rational behaviour among investors. However, recently, Islamic financial institutions and markets have been emerging, which stand on the Shariah provision – the guided way to behave rationally or guided rationality. Based on the empirical experiences and evidences of both market systems, this paper discusses and compares the performances of the markets under the theoretical arguments of “rationality”, “quasi-rationality”, and “guided rationality”. This paper suggests that capital market based on guided rationality under the Islamic System can be a better alternative over the conventional market system. |
| Date: | 2019–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:83ekv&r=all |
| By: | Martynov, Arkady |
| Abstract: | The author presents an approach to the comparison of fundamental institutional changes in China and Russia attributed to the after socialist countries. Proceeding from the analysis, the trend of the institutional divergence between China and Russia considered in the nineties later changed to the trend of convergence. A unifying feature of the both economies concludes in the prevailing institutions of state capitalism in combination with the at-tributes of socialized market. In the current moment, there are discrepancies with respect to fundamental institu-tional changes between two countries, which may result in the emergence of new divergence trend. |
| Keywords: | after socialist countries, state capitalism, socialized market, convergence, divergence |
| JEL: | O57 P00 P52 |
| Date: | 2019–11–27 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:97692&r=all |
| By: | Tamas Gerocs (Institute of World Economics, Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences); Andras Pinkasz (Hungarian Central Statistical Office) |
| Abstract: | For several decades, the German automotive industry has been under mounting pressure to reorganize its production processes and its modes of value-chain governance. In this paper, we analyze the effects this restructuring has had on the economic development of the Central and Eastern European countries that have specialized in automotive production during the capitalist transition. We focus on two global market forces: the standardization of the production of electric engines and the changing patterns of international trade regulation, mostly under the German neo-mercantilist trade regime. Our hypothesis is that structures of dependent development are reproduced by the forms of vertical specialization that have emerged in the automotive industry in these countries. To prove this, we combine the theory of global value chains with Vernon’s product life-cycle theory. |
| Keywords: | core-periphery, dependent development, global automotive value chains, product life cycle, relocation, vertical specialization |
| JEL: | B5 F6 F4 L6 P1 N1 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iwe:workpr:253&r=all |
| By: | Shephard, Karen; Hamoudi, Haider Ala |
| Abstract: | "5 William & Mary Business Law Review 105 (2014)The purpose of this Article is to explore, and explain the stubborn persistence of, a central paradox that is endemic to the retail Islamic bank as it operates in the United States. The paradox is that retail Islamic banking in the United States is impossible, and yet it remains highly desired. It is impossible because the principles that are supposed to underlie the practice of Islamic finance deal with the trading of assets and the equitable sharing of risks, profits and losses among bank, depositor and portfolio investment. It is true that much of this can be, and is, circumvented through artifice. However, federal rules that prohibit outright any possibility of loss, such as requirements that deposits be insured against loss, plainly constitute core violations of the shari'a. At the same time, these same federal rules for deposit insurance and similar prohibitions against banks holding extensive amounts of particularly risky assets such as real property are central features of modern banking regulation, which is designed to minimize risk sharing, not support it. It is unimaginable that regulators will create exceptions to, or somehow significantly amend, the modern financial regulatory system in the radical fashion necessary so as to accommodate Islamic finance. Yet notwithstanding such impossibility, Islamic banking is also highly desired in that there is a preoccupation with finding a way to enhance the very limited Islamic commercial banking opportunities that exist in the United States. Law review articles, government issued policy reports, trade publications and Islamic finance outlets themselves have discussed and in some cases advanced such initiatives at one time or another. If this is so, then why such interest in Islamic retail banking? Why the endless repetition of a charade, where one side pretends to care about accommodation, and the other to accommodate, when it is perfectly clear that on the clear plains of doctrine, the two sides cannot possibly, sensibly meet? The reason is that the bank, and the accommodation of it within the U.S. regulatory sphere, is a powerful symbol for the accommodation of the broader, pious Muslim public. The pious Muslim eager to see an Islamic bank open in her neighborhood is at best only partly interested in adherence to religious doctrine. The Islamic bank is more importantly a reflection of a broader recognition of her space in the broader American fabric. Her religion is not only recognized, but her financial practices respected and indeed legitimized by the relevant, American legal and regulatory regime. She is, in this sense, comfortable being both thoroughly American and thoroughly Muslim. As for American regulators and most policymakers, being part of the nation's elite, instinctually preferring messages of inclusion to those that appear xenophobic or intolerant, they are predisposed to help find a way to accommodate this broad Muslim desire. Hence they engage in dialogue to demonstrate that the government is determined to help to find space for the pious Muslim in the United States, respectful of the pious Muslim's religious commitments and aware of the Muslim's ability to function both as Muslim and as American simultaneously. There are broader lessons to be gleaned from this story that pertain to global Islamic finance that are touched upon in the Article's conclusion. In particular, it is no secret that Islamic finance has failed to live up to its ideals of realizing a financial system that is more attuned to fairness and social justice than its conventional counterpart. Instead, it functions as a form of mimicry of conventional vehicles using a series of artifices. Yet despite this, and despite prognostications of doom if the practice does not change its ways, it continues to enjoy explosive growth. As with the case in the United States, Islamic finance does not seem willing or able to function in the way intended, and yet it remains highly desired. As with the United States, the reasons involve considerations beyond the legal; specifically in the global case, the desire of Muslim states to demonstrate some sort of fealty to the shari'a at minimal cost. Finally, as with the United States, the only sensible way that Islamic finance could possibly move forward to satisfy these demands is by remaining the narrow, largely compliant practice that it is. Anything else would either be illegal (if attempted in the United States) or deemed too radical to support (if advanced as a genuine alternative to conventional finance in the Muslim world)." |
| Date: | 2018–09–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:lawarx:dne6b&r=all |
| By: | Francesco Lamperti (Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - Paris 1 (UP1)); Mauro Napoletano (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques); Andrea Roventini (Observatoire français des conjonctures économiques) |
| Abstract: | The paper compares the effects of market-based (M-B) and command-and-control (C&C) climate policies on the direction of technical change and the prevention of environmental disasters. Drawing on a model of endogenous growth and directed technical change, we show that M-B policies (carbon taxes and subsidies toward clean sectors) suffer from path dependence and exhibit bounded window of opportunities: delays in their implementation make them ineffective both in redirecting technical change, (i.e. triggering a transition toward clean energy) and in avoiding environmental catastrophes. On the contrary, we find that C&C interventions are favored by path dependence and guarantee policy effectiveness irrespectively of the timing of their introduction. As the hypothesis of path dependence in technological change has received vast empirical support and it is a key feature of many models of growth, we argue that C&C policies should be seen as a valuable and non-equivalent alternative to M-B interventions. |
| Date: | 2019–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/14g286e42n8bl9is6h16b18kes&r=all |
| By: | Loyiso Luvalo (University of South Africa) |
| Abstract: | South Africa still shows signs of being a very patriarchal society, according to literature and this somehow leads to instances where rights of women and children are trampled on because of male-favouring environment. This seems to be the case despite the constitution and current laws that are prohibiting discrimination on grounds of one?s gender. Applying Ubuntu philosophy, on how patriarchy can be a remedy in today?s society as opposed to perpetuating ignorance of both women and children?s rights. The paper draws on the Eastern Cape?s chapter of South Africa?s National Research Foundation (NRF) - funded ?Archaeology of Ubuntu?s study to explore the notion of Ubuntu as a moral concept. Archaeology of Ubuntu study regards community elders, as the custodians of African epistemologies, who should be consulted while still alive because once they die all the wisdom and knowledge of cultures get lost with them. In this paper, it is argued that through Ubuntu philosophy, patriarchy in the olden days did not mean ignoring of rights of women and children. The paper finds that isiXhosa speaking elders through Ubuntu philosophy, patriarchy enabled caring of the vulnerable in the society, which are women, children and the elderly. Therefore, the conclusion is that Ubuntu philosophy can still be applied in remedying the ever-increasing incidents of trampling of women and children?s right in a patriarchal South African society. |
| Keywords: | Ubuntu,patriachy,human rights, education and gender equality |
| JEL: | D63 |
| Date: | 2019–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:iacpro:9911687&r=all |
| By: | Coskun, Huseyin |
| Abstract: | A new mathematical method for the static analysis of ecological systems has recently been developed by the author and was presented in a separate article. Based on this methodology, multiple new ecological system measures and indices of matrix, vector, and scalar types are systematically introduced in the present paper. These mathematical system analysis tools are quantitative ecological indicators that monitor the flow distribution and storage organization, quantify the direct, indirect, acyclic, cycling, and transfer (diact) effects and utilities of one compartment-- directly or indirectly--on another, and determine the residence times and compartmental activity levels. Major flow- and stock-related concepts and quantities of the current static network analyses are also integrated with the proposed measures and indices within this novel and unifying mathematical framework. This comprehensive framework enables a holistic view and analysis of static ecological systems. A quantitative technique for the classification and characterization of interspecific interactions and the determination of their strength within food webs is also developed. The proposed methodology allows for both input- and output-oriented analyses of ecological networks. The holistic perspective of the proposed methodology is extended further from the input-oriented to the output-oriented analysis. The proposed system measures and indices, thus, extract detailed information about ecosystems's characteristics, as well as their functions, properties, behaviors, and various other system attributes that are potentially hidden in and even obscured by data. |
| Date: | 2018–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:g4xzt&r=all |
| By: | Vuong, Quan-Hoang |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a new academic discipline of computational entrepreneurship, which centers on: i) An exponentially growing (and less expensive) computing power, to the extent that almost everybody in a modern society can own and use that; ii) Omnipresent high-speed Internet connectivity, wired or wireless, representing our modern day’s economic connectomics; iii) Growing concern of exploiting “serendipity” for a strategic commercial advantage; and, iv) Growing capabilities of lay people in performing calculations for their informed decisions in taking fast-moving entrepreneurial opportunities. Computational entrepreneurship has slowly become a new mode of operation for business ventures, and will likely bring the academic discipline of entrepreneurship back to mainstream economics. |
| Date: | 2018–12–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:kqbmg&r=all |
| By: | Jaime Eduardo González Díaz; Víctor Alberto Díaz Plaza; Miriam Consuelo Martin León |
| Abstract: | Este trabajo tiene como propósito plantear una propuesta de desarrollo económico alternativa para el caso colombiano, como respuestas a los efectos negativos de las políticas del consenso de Washington. Este estudio es producto de una investigación descriptiva, de diseño documental, que realizo una revisión de literatura alrededor de la temática propuesta. La crítica a la mano invisible señala que existen barreras y obstáculos que hacen que el crecimiento sea bastante menos progresivo que antes. Todo esto demuestra que el modelo monetarista neoliberal; mejora la eficiencia, más no la equidad. Una alternativa frente a esta realidad es la propuesta Prebishiana del cambio estructural en tres etapas: agrícola, industrial de baja sofisticación, e industrial de alta sofisticación. Todo lo anterior, conlleva a la participación e intervención directa del estado; con lo cual se rompe completamente con la mano invisible, por lo menos en las etapas iníciales de desarrollo. En Colombia no hemos sido ni plenamente agrícolas, tampoco hemos tenido una industrialización plena, y aun así estamos mediocremente insertos en la globalización y la sociedad del conocimiento. Es decir, se ha dado una industrialización incompleta relativamente funcional. Por todo esto se propone un modelo de los tres ejes simultáneos. En este conviven lo agrario, lo industrial y las nuevas tecnologías; en procura de un cambio estructural moderado. |
| Keywords: | Consenso de Washington, Desarrollo, Industrialización, Neoliberalismo |
| Date: | 2019–01–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000552:017112&r=all |
| By: | Coskun, Huseyin |
| Abstract: | This article develops a new mathematical method for holistic analysis of nonlinear dynamic compartmental systems in the context of ecology. The method is based on the novel dynamic system and subsystem partitioning methodologies through which compartmental systems are decomposed to the utmost level. The dynamic system and subsystem partitioning enable tracking the evolution of the initial stocks, environmental inputs, and intercompartmental system flows, as well as the associated storages derived from these stocks, inputs, and flows individually and separately within the system. Moreover, the transient and the dynamic direct, indirect, acyclic, cycling, and transfer (diact) flows and associated storages transmitted along a given flow path or from one compartment, directly or indirectly, to any other are analytically characterized, systematically classified, and mathematically formulated. Further, the article develops a dynamic technique based on the diact transactions for the quantitative classification of interspecific interactions and the determination of their strength within food webs. Major concepts and quantities of the current static network analyses are also extended to nonlinear dynamic settings and integrated with the proposed dynamic measures and indices within the proposed unifying mathematical framework. Therefore, the proposed methodology enables a holistic view and analysis of ecological systems. We consider that this methodology brings a novel complex system theory to the service of urgent and challenging environmental problems of the day and has the potential to lead the way to a more formalistic ecological science. |
| Date: | 2018–11–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:35xkb&r=all |
| By: | James J. Heckman (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | This paper examines the case for randomized controlled trials in economics. I revisit my previous paper--"Randomization and Social Policy Evaluation"--and update its message. I present a brief summary of the history of randomization in economics. I identify two waves of enthusiasm for the method as "Two Awakenings" because of the near-religious zeal associated with each wave. The First Wave substantially contributed to the development of microeconometrics because of the flawed nature of the experimental evidence. The Second Wave has improved experimental designs to avoid some of the technical statistical issues identified by econometricians in the wake of the First Wave. However, the deep conceptual issues about parameters estimated, and the economic interpretation and the policy relevance of the experimental results have not been addressed in the Second Wave. |
| Keywords: | field experiments, randomized control trials |
| JEL: | C93 |
| Date: | 2020–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hka:wpaper:2020-001&r=all |
| By: | Kamaluddin, Amrizah; Hadi, Nabawiyah Abdul; Alam, Md. Mahmudul (Universiti Utara Malaysia); Adil, Mohamed Azam Mohamed |
| Abstract: | This study examines the social collateral model for Islamic microfinance in Malaysia. Using qualitative instruments on academics and officers of microfinance institutions as the sample study, this study identifies the components that should be included in the social collateral model for Islamic microfinance. Based on interviews and focus group discussions, this study found that similar to the conventional microfinance, the Islamic microfinance also include social capital, group pressure, entrepreneurship skills, and culture as the components of the social collateral model. In addition, this study found that religiosity represents another important component of the social collateral model for Islamic microfinance |
| Date: | 2019–02–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:ya8ft&r=all |