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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2022‒04‒18
fourteen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Royle, Camilla |
| Abstract: | In this essay, I address the question of how Marxism influences our thought and action as radical intellectuals by focusing on Friedrich Engels’ work, Dialectics of Nature, the way it has been taken up in critical environmental studies and how Engels’ thinking has influenced me. In later life, Engels made important contributions on topics that are distinct from Marx's economic work. He attempted to apply dialectical methods to the “natural sciences” and he also used his knowledge of anthropology to produce a study of the historical origins of private property and women's oppression. In both cases he has been accused of adopting a positivist approach that lacks the emphasis on human agency found in Marx. Here, I challenge this view by showing how Engels’ work has been of use to practicing scientists – particularly to Richard Levins and Richard Lewontin in their book The Dialectical Biologist. I further argue that this understanding of dialectics is fully commensurable and actually advances an approach to Marxism that is based on human self-emancipation. As an undergraduate biology student these scientists inspired me with their approach to their subject as well as their activism. The essay concludes with some brief thoughts on the importance and limitations of adopting a Marxist method when considering socio-environmental change. |
| Keywords: | biology; dialectics; environment; friedrich Engels; Karl Marx |
| JEL: | B14 B24 P2 P3 |
| Date: | 2021–11–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:114326&r= |
| By: | Pietrzak, Michał; Ziętara, Wojciech |
| Abstract: | The aim of this article is to present the need for a view of a family farm that is complementary to neoclassical economics and outline the framework concepts on which the future systems theory of family farms could be based. The article is a conceptual overview. The paper presents the development of economics and organization of farms. It was emphasized that in addition to the analytical approach, which today fits into the neoclassical mainstream of economic thought, the organic approach, which is related to the contemporary systems approach, was also important in the discipline. The authors presented two trends considered to be the foundation of the target theory of family farms: systems thinking and new institutional economics. An outline of the concept of a new approach to family farms is presented as a systemic whole connecting the family and its household involved in agricultural production, with the possibility of reducing internal transaction costs (agency costs) being an important attribute of this whole. Family farms still remain the predominant form of agricultural activity in Poland, Europe, and other continents. The family nature of the entities creates their specificity both in terms of goals and behaviors, which is difficult to reduce to the neoclassical model of firm, which seeks to maximize profits. What is needed is a holistic, systems approach complementary to the predominant neoclassical approach, considering close relations between the family and the agricultural production unit. |
| Keywords: | Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Consumer/Household Economics |
| Date: | 2022–03–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ags:iafepa:320082&r= |
| By: | Rainer Lippert (Departement d'économie - université de Mannheim) |
| Abstract: | In diesem Artikel wird die klassische Interpretation der Arbeitswerttheorie analysiert und eine zeitgemäße Interpretation vorgestellt. Es wird gezeigt, dass die Wertbildung, wie Marx sie beschreibt, vom Grundgedanken her richtig ist – der Wert basiert auf der Arbeit von Arbeitskräften. Doch im Detail weist sie Fehler auf. Das betrifft insbesondere den Ort der Wertbildung, den Marx in der Produktionssphäre lokalisiert. Es wird gezeigt, dass der Wert als ein gesellschaftliches Verhältnis zwischen Tauschpartnern erst auf dem Markt gebildet wird und nicht vorher geschöpft werden kann. Erst auf dem Markt wird der Wert den Tauschgütern zugeordnet. Es wird begründet, dass nur die Voraussetzungen für Wertbeziehungen und Werte produziert werden können – von Menschen, Maschinen und Teilen der Natur. Dazu muss die bekannte Wertformel von Marx präzisiert werden. Der Wert wird als gesellschaftlich relevante Anerkennung von Aufwendungen beschrieben und grafisch dargestellt. |
| Keywords: | Marx,Wert,Mehrwert,Werttheorie,Arbeitswerttheorie,Markt JEL-Klassifikation: A1,A19,E00,E11,E40,G10,P20,P22,value,surplus value,value theory,Labor Theory of Value |
| Date: | 2022–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03592387&r= |
| By: | Samuel Jaramillo |
| Abstract: | Este texto se inscribe en los debates suscitados por el nuevo y creciente interés por las tesis económicas de Carlos Marx y, en especial, por su Teoría del Valor Trabajo. La noción que anima este texto sostiene que las múltiples objeciones que se han formulado sobre ella en realidad apuntan a versiones y formalizaciones que corresponden más a las elaboraciones de Ricardo. Marx consideraba que su versión sobre la teoría del valor no solo era distinta, sino mucho más avanzada y rigurosa que la de su predecesor. En este texto se plantea que las nuevas exploraciones sobre la teoría del valor, muy prometedoras para una interpretación crítica del capitalismo, se apoyan de manera decisiva en reinterpretaciones de Marx en las que se rescatan elementos de su reflexión que han sido eliminados por pensadores posteriores, tanto partidarios como contradictores, y su elaboración y desarrollo para épocas presentes. El texto consiste en una reconstrucción sucinta los principales hitos de la Teoría del Valor Trabajo, interpretados desde esta óptica, lo que suscita versiones diferentes a las más extendidas. Así se examinan las formulaciones de esta teoría elaboradas por Smith, Ricardo y Marx. Se analizan desde una perspectiva actual los cuestionamientos planteados alrededor del debate sobre la Transformación de Valores en Precios principalmente por Bortkiewicz y más tarde por Sraffa y la Escuela Neoricardiana. Se incluye una reflexión sobre las concepciones al respecto dominantes en el marxismo del siglo XX, que aquí se sostiene que de facto están más cercanas a Ricardo que a Marx. Se examinan dos corrientes neo-marxistas contemporáneas, la "Nueva Aproximación" y los "secuencialistas" (del Sistema Temporal Único) que pretenden precisamente elaborar nuevos desarrollos a partir de reinterpretaciones de las tesis de Marx. El texto termina con la presentación de algunos planteamientos originales que tienen esta misma perspectiva, que se apoyan parcialmente en las fromulaciones neomarxistas, pero también en re-elaboraciones de distintos momentos de esta tradición y que apuntan a la formulación de una Teoría del Valor Trabajo Abstracto. |
| Keywords: | teoría del valor trabajo, marxismo, economía marxista |
| JEL: | B51 |
| Date: | 2022–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:020029&r= |
| By: | Paloma Villagómez-Ornelas; Luis Monroy-Gómez-Franco |
| Abstract: | This paper argues that explaining both the level and the changes in the inequality of the distribution of economic resources in society requires complementing explanations based on human capital theory with insights from social stratification theory. The integration of both allows explaining horizontal inequalities and explaining the aggregate levels of economic inequality in a society. We exemplify the potential of this integration through a reinterpretation of the literature on economic inequalities in Mexico during the XXIst century. This reinterpretation focuses on how institutions stratify the access to the different components of human capital and how said components are valued in the labour market. We argue that a complete understanding of distributional dynamics in societies with persistent inequalities can be achieved through this interdisciplinary exercise. |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:auk:ecosoc:2021_03&r= |
| By: | Marina Luz GARCÍA |
| Abstract: | This article examines female Uber drivers’ labour trajectories, paying attention to the way in which gender-based occupational segregation is reproduced and/or challenged in the context of the platform. It also asks how female drivers balance between paid labour and care responsibilities. The analysis focuses on the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on platform female drivers work-life balance. The article uses qualitative interviews with Uber female drivers, finding that the entry of female drivers into Uber comes with a significant challenge to the gender division of labour. With respect to the Argentinian context, their participation defies the idea that occupations involving driving or circulating in public spaces are inappropriate for women. However, these women’s conquests finds strong limits. In particular, the daily efforts to reconcile paid work (and its implications in terms of earnings levels and health) together with domestic care activities expose the omnipresent nature of a gender order that still needs to be systematically questioned and confronted. |
| Keywords: | Argentine |
| JEL: | Q |
| Date: | 2022–03–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:avg:wpaper:fr13728&r= |
| By: | Sievertsen, Hans Henrik (University of Bristol); Smith, Sarah (University of Bristol) |
| Abstract: | Women's voices are likely to be even more absent from economic debates than headline figures on female under-representation suggest. Focusing on a panel of leading economists we find that men are more willing than women to express an opinion and are more certain and more confident in their opinions, including in areas where both are experts. Women make up 21 per cent of the panel but 19 per cent of the opinions expressed and 14 per cent of strong opinions. We discuss implications for the economics profession and for promoting a genuine diversity of views. |
| Keywords: | gender, economics profession |
| JEL: | A11 J16 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp15133&r= |
| By: | Samuel Jaramillo |
| Abstract: | Mediante un modelo numérico sencillo, se examina el impacto de la irrupción de agentes capitalistas en una economía mercantil simple. Se analiza la liquidación de esta última por los primeros a través de la competencia y también el papel que sigue jugando la economía mercantil simple, incluso de manera virtual, en la operación del capitalismo. Uno de estos aspectos, entre otros, es que funciona como un regulador del límite inferior de la magnitud del salario, algo en lo que el marxismo ortodoxo encuentra dificultades para precisar. Se intenta reproducir grandes tendencias históricas, como la caída inicial del nivel de vida de los asalariados con respecto a su operación como agentes mercantiles simples en una primera fase y, en una segunda etapa, el aumento posterior de la capacidad de consumo, a pesar de la persistencia de la explotación y la subordinación de los asalariados al capital. Se utiliza la Teoría Marxista del Valor con elementos de las versiones de la "Nueva Aproximación" y la Teoría del Valor Trabajo Abstracto. |
| Keywords: | economía marxista; teoría del valor trabajo; economía mercantil simple;formas de producción |
| JEL: | B51 |
| Date: | 2022–03–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000089:020030&r= |
| By: | Kurt, Ozan Ekin |
| Abstract: | The aim of this empirical study is to examine the effects of interest rates on rates of capacity utilization, accumulation and profit in France within the framework of a post-Kaleckian monetary model. The model adopted in the analysis was developed by Hein & Schoder (2011) and is based on endogenous money supply and exogenous interest. The real long-term interest rate shapes the functional distribution of income and, at a given debt-capital ratio, it both directly and indirectly influences the equilibrium rates of capacity utilization, accumulation and profit. We estimated the model using SUR (Seemingly Unrelated Equations) method for the period 1993-2019. Our findings indicate that an increase in the real long-term interest rate has a negative impact on the equilibrium rates of capacity utilization, capital accumulation and profit rates in the French economy. This result implies that this economy is characterized by a “normal regime”, which is in line with the findings of previous research on the US and Germany. Different econometric specifications of the model equations enforce the robustness of our findings that point that an increase in the real long-term interest rate has a considerable negative effect on the equilibrium rate of capacity utilization, while the effects on capital accumulation and profit are relatively low but still negative. |
| Keywords: | interest rates,monetary policy,functional income distribution,capacity utilization,capital accumulation,profit rates,post-Keynesian economics |
| JEL: | E12 E21 E22 E25 E43 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:251003&r= |
| By: | Nicola Gagliardi; Benoit Mahy; François Rycx |
| Abstract: | This article provides an overview of the economic literature regarding the impact of firms' position in global value chains on workers' wages and the gender pay gap. Particular attention is devoted to empirical results obtained for the Belgian economy. The latter suggest that workers earn significantly higher wages when employed in relatively more upstream firms. Nevertheless, such gains are found to be very unequally shared. Male top-earners are the main beneficiaries, whereas women, irrespective of their earnings, appear to be unfairly rewarded. |
| Keywords: | Gender; Global value chains; Upstreamness; Wages |
| Date: | 2020–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/310135&r= |
| By: | Fiala, Nathan; Neubauer, Florian; Peters, Jörg |
| Abstract: | Reanalyses of empirical studies and replications in new contexts are important for scientific progress. Journals in economics increasingly require authors to provide data and code alongside published papers, but how much does the economics profession indeed replicate? This paper summarizes existing replication definitions and reviews how much economists replicate other scholars' work. We argue that in order to counter incentive problems potentially leading to a replication crisis, replications in the spirit of Merton's 'organized skepticism' are needed - what we call 'policing replications'. We review leading economics journals to show that policing replications are rare and conclude that more incentives to replicate are needed to reap the fruits of rising transparency standards. |
| Keywords: | Replication,research transparency,generalizability |
| JEL: | A11 C18 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:rwirep:939&r= |
| By: | João Ferreira do Amaral |
| Abstract: | This paper develops concepts and theoretical models that can prove useful for the study of technological revolutions both from the point of view of economic growth theory and of economic history. The basic concepts are innovative capital, technological wave and technological revolution and a comparison is made with other concepts such as industrial revolution and social revolution in the Marxian sense. |
| Keywords: | economic growth; digital revolution; technological progress; innovation. |
| JEL: | E10 E11 E22 N10 O30 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ise:remwps:wp02202022&r= |
| By: | Elise S. Brezis (Bar-Ilan University) |
| Abstract: | What is ethics and how is it related to the legal system and to economics? Are there ethical values in Jewish Law, and could it be that we find in the writing of Hazal [the sages] an interest in job turnover? The purpose of this paper is to answer to those questions by focusing on a specific element of our economic life: the revolving door. |
| Keywords: | corruption; ethics; legal system; revolving door; social norms. |
| JEL: | H10 H70 O11 O43 |
| Date: | 2022–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:biu:wpaper:2022-03&r= |
| By: | Bruno Lefevre; Louis Wiart |
| Abstract: | Cet article propose de caractériser les formes de conflits qui opposent, particulièrement depuis 2018 en France, des collectifs de citoyens et militants à des projets de localisation d’activités industrielles relevant des secteurs économiques des plateformes numériques et des complexes de loisirs. Nous situons ces projets dans le cadre de stratégies privées et publiques de développement territorial pensées selon le paradigme de l’économie créative. Nous avons identifié quinze conflits contemporains sur le territoire national relatifs à des projets de construction de sites logistiques pour le e-commerce ou de complexes de loisirs présentés comme ayant une dimension culturelle et créative. Nous avons articulé une analyse socio-sémiotique d’un corpus d’articles de presse et de communiqués institutionnels relatifs à ces conflits avec la réalisation d’une trentaine d’entretiens auprès des acteurs locaux concernés. Nous montrerons dans un premier temps que ces conflits consistent en une opposition entre différentes perceptions et conceptions des espaces, à différentes échelles ;à ce titre, ils relèvent d’une géopolitique locale pour la maîtrise des territoires. Au-delà de singularités locales, ces phénomènes ont en commun de confronter un ensemble de pratiques établies au sein des institutions publiques et privées à d’autres paradigmes du développement socio-économique des territoires, revendiqués par les opposants à ces projets. Ces conflits portent à la fois sur des valeurs et croyances que les opposants jugent « dépassées » ou incompatibles avec les grands enjeux sociétaux contemporains (environnement, inégalités sociales, fiscalité) et sur les modalités mêmes de la gestion des décisions publiques. À une logique du contrat Public/Privé, souvent couvert par le secret et qui tend à invisibiliser les spécificités socio-économiques locales au profit d’une harmonisation mondiale, est ainsi opposé un processus de construction de biens communs, qui repose sur l’articulation de multiples échelles spatiales. Après avoir caractérisé les formes d’organisation et d’action des acteurs concernés par ces conflits, nous proposons une modélisation de ces phénomènes de politisation multiscalaires à partir de contestations ancrées localement. |
| Keywords: | Economie créative; Territorialisation; Conflits; Développement socio-économique; Biens communs |
| Date: | 2021–12–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulb:ulbeco:2013/340414&r= |