|
on Heterodox Microeconomics |
|
Issue of 2023‒01‒16
seventeen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Joshua Henkel |
| Abstract: | This paper examines relations between economics and biology regarding the historical background of these disciplines. Though economics is a social science its emergence has strong links to the natural sciences, especially to physics. This methodological basis seems to be mostly forgotten in mainstream economics. Since this methodology is based on the same principles of universal natural laws, it should make the branches of economics and biology compatible. Merging biology and economics could have a strong impact on finding solutions to our modern world sustainability problems and avoiding the dangers of the entropic abyss. This is only possible if mainstream economics is more open to assimilate information from outside its own field. Unequivocally, the most straightforward impact of a collaboration of these disciplines would be a biobased economy, that would tackle many problems our resource intensive and unsustainable economic system is facing at the moment. |
| Keywords: | Sustainability, Culture, Collapse, Bio-economy |
| JEL: | A12 B52 Q01 Q57 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:atv:wpaper:2210&r=hme |
| By: | Claudius Graebner-Radkowitsch (Institute for Socio-Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria; ZOE Institute for future-fit Economies, Bonn, Germany; International lnstitute of Management and Economic Education, Europa-Universitaet Flennsburg, Germany); Birte Strunk |
| Abstract: | The goal of this paper is twofold: first, it assesses the current state of collaboration between institutionalist economics and the academic degrowth discourse on the topic of global inequalities. Since a systematic literature review of the current degrowth discourse shows that the level of such collaboration is limited, the second goal of the paper is to outline avenues through which institutionalist scholars could contribute to the current academic degrowth discourse. These include the provision of theories of institutional change, a methodological reflection of selected formal models, and substantive insights on the co-evolution of institutions and technological change. |
| Keywords: | degrowth; institutions; development; core-periphery relations; structuralism; dependency; planetary boundaries |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ico:wpaper:144&r=hme |
| By: | Francesco Lamperti; Andrea Roventini |
| Abstract: | Though climate physical and transition risks will likely affect socio-economic dynamics along any transition pathways, their unfolding is still poorly understood. This also affects the development of climate-change policies to achieve sustainable growth. In this paper, we discuss a series of results assessing the materiality of climate risks for economic and financial stability and alternative policy pathways by means of the Dystopian Schumpeter meeting Keynes (DSK) agent-based integrated assessment model. Our results suggest the emergence of tipping points wherein physical risks under unmitigated emissions will reduce long-run growth and spur financial and economic instability. Moreover, diverse types of climate shocks have a different impact on economic dynamics and on the chances of observing a transition to carbonless growth. While these results call for immediate and ambitious interventions, appropriate mitigation policies need to be designed. Our results show that carbon taxation is not the most suitable tool to achieve zero-emission growth given its huge economic costs. On the contrary, command-and-control regulation and innovation policies to foster green investments is the best policy mix to put the economy on a green growth pathway. Overall, our results contradict the standard tenets of cost-benefit climate economics and suggest the absence of any trade-off between decarbonization and growth. |
| Keywords: | climate policy; climate risks; macroeconomic dynamics; agent-based modelling. |
| Date: | 2022–12–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2022/39&r=hme |
| By: | Mohajan, Devajit; Mohajan, Haradhan |
| Abstract: | Grounded theory is an inductive methodological approach in social sciences and other related subjects. It generates theory about social processes, which are grounded in reality. Classic grounded theory is a unique inductive research approach with language, rules of rigor, procedures, and a final achievement, which is different from other research methods. The purpose of classic grounded theory is to theorize and facilitate an understanding of an effective knowledge, which is happening on the lives of people of the society. It represents grounded theory in a pure form, which emerges from the original work of Barney Galland Glaser (1930-2022) and Anselm Leonard Strauss (1916-1996) that is developed in 1967. It is the development of a theory from data with open ideas that comes from the data. This study tries to discuss a qualitative research design following a classic grounded theory approach through ontological, epistemological, and methodological assumptions of grounded theory. This study explores classic grounded theory approach including strengths and challenges of development in the social science. |
| Keywords: | Classic grounded theory, Glaser, qualitative research, social science |
| JEL: | A13 A14 D6 D71 O35 |
| Date: | 2022–10–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:115789&r=hme |
| By: | Gilles Campagnolo (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Sandye Gloria (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - COMUE UCA - COMUE Université Côte d'Azur (2015-2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UCA - Université Côte d'Azur); Heinz Kurz (Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz); Richard Sturn (Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz) |
| Abstract: | From different perspectives regarding the History of Economic Thought, the contributions to this roundtable highlight different aspects and levels of the modernity of the founder of the Austrian School of Economics, and of his importance for the development of social theory and the discipline of scientific economics. This is complemented by discussions of ambiguities and multiple meanings of modernity. |
| Keywords: | Austrian economics, Carl Menger, modern economics, modernity, enlightenment, complexity economics, subjectivism, value theory |
| Date: | 2022–08–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03895951&r=hme |
| By: | Giancarlo Ianulardo (University of Exeter Business School - University of Exeter); Aldo Stella (UNIPG - Università degli Studi di Perugia = University of Perugia) |
| Abstract: | In social sciences and, in particular, in economics the debate on the most adequate model of explanation of social phenomena has been centred around two models: Methodological Individualism and Holism. While Methodological Individualism claims to be the most rigorous attempt to explain social phenomena by reducing them to their ultimate components, Holism stresses the primacy of the social relation, outside of which individuals cannot be understood as analytical units. In the analysis, we will refer to the way the debate has influenced economics education too through the debate on microfoundations and the role of individual preferences. In synthesis, we aim to show that the two explanatory models, rather than being opposed, need to be integrated, because they need each other. But for this to be done, we need to reflect on the role that the concept of "relation" plays in our understanding of the social structure and of the dynamics that characterises it. Indeed, the holistic-systemic model, though privileging the relation, must acknowledge that the relation needs some ultimate elements (the individuals), which in turn are prioritised by methodological individualism. But these entities, the individuals, in order to be what they are, i.e., each a determinate identity, need each to be referred to other individuals, which are essential to determine the single determinate identity. This means that each individual needs the relation. To prevent a circular explanation, we claim that a correct methodology should understand both the individual and society in the light of the unity of sense that emerges at the end of the process, rather than focusing on its starting point. |
| Keywords: | Methodological Individualism, holism, systemism, relation, unity |
| Date: | 2022–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03771892&r=hme |
| By: | Fierro, Luca Eduardo; Giri, Federico; Russo, Alberto |
| Abstract: | We study how income inequality affects monetary policy through the inequality-household debt channel. We design a minimal macro Agent-Based model that replicates several stylized facts, including two novel ones: falling aggregate saving rate and decreasing bankruptcies during the household's debt boom phase. When inequality meets financial liberalization, a leaning against-the-wind strategy can preserve financial stability at the cost of high unemployment, whereas an accommodative strategy can dampen the fall of aggregate demand at the cost of larger leverage. We conclude that inequality may constrain the central bank, even when it is not explicitly targeted. |
| Keywords: | Inequality; Financial Fragility; Monetary Policy; Agent-Based Model |
| JEL: | E21 E25 E31 E52 G01 |
| Date: | 2022–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:115741&r=hme |
| By: | Luyao Zhang; Xinyu Tian |
| Abstract: | Cooperation is fundamental for human prosperity. Blockchain, as a trust machine, is a cooperative institution in cyberspace that supports cooperation through distributed trust with consensus protocols. While studies in computer science focus on fault tolerance problems with consensus algorithms, economic research utilizes incentive designs to analyze agent behaviors. To achieve cooperation on blockchains, emerging interdisciplinary research introduces rationality and game-theoretical solution concepts to study the equilibrium outcomes of various consensus protocols. However, existing studies do not consider the possibility for agents to learn from historical observations. Therefore, we abstract a general consensus protocol as a dynamic game environment, apply a solution concept of bounded rationality to model agent behavior, and resolve the initial conditions for three different stable equilibria. In our game, agents imitatively learn the global history in an evolutionary process toward equilibria, for which we evaluate the outcomes from both computing and economic perspectives in terms of safety, liveness, validity, and social welfare. Our research contributes to the literature across disciplines, including distributed consensus in computer science, game theory in economics on blockchain consensus, evolutionary game theory at the intersection of biology and economics, bounded rationality at the interplay between psychology and economics, and cooperative AI with joint insights into computing and social science. Finally, we discuss that future protocol design can better achieve the most desired outcomes of our honest stable equilibria by increasing the reward-punishment ratio and lowering both the cost-punishment ratio and the pivotality rate. |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2212.05357&r=hme |
| By: | Cars Hommes; Mario He; Sebastian Poledna; Melissa Siqueira; Yang Zhang |
| Abstract: | We develop a Canadian behavioral agent-based model (CANVAS) that utilizes Canadian micro- and macroeconomic data for forecasting and policy analysis. CANVAS represents a next-generation modelling effort, as it improves upon the previous generation of models in three dimensions: introducing household and firm heterogeneity, departing from rational expectations, and explicitly modelling the Canadian production network. This modelling capacity is achieved by harnessing large-scale Canadian micro- and macroeconomic datasets (of financial flows and national balance sheet accounts, input-output tables, government finance statistics, and the Labour Force Survey). By incorporating adaptive learning and heuristics, we equip the model to examine macroeconomic dynamics under significant uncertainty. We assess the out-of-sample forecasting performance of CANVAS against a benchmark vector auto-regressive (VAR) model and a DSGE model (Terms of Trade Economic Model, ToTEM). CANVAS advances several new frontiers of macroeconomic modelling for the Canadian economy. First, the detailed structure of the model allows for forecasting of the medium-run macroeconomic effects of the economy at the sector level. For instance, this structure allows us to assess the macroeconomic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. Second, the realistic agent behaviour in CANVAS makes the model an ideal candidate for evaluating the effects of multiple macroeconomic policies. Third, the enriched modelling of the financial market structure allows policy-makers to conduct stress testing and assess the implication of macroprudential policies in Canada. |
| Keywords: | Central bank research; Econometric and statistical methods; Economic models; Firms dynamics; Inflation and prices |
| JEL: | C D22 D83 E E17 |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bca:bocawp:22-51&r=hme |
| By: | Juan E. Jacobo |
| Abstract: | The article examines how institutions, automation, unemployment and income distribution interact in the context of a neoclassical growth model where profits are interpreted as a surplus over costs of production. Adjusting the model to the experience of the US economy, I show that joint variations in labor institutions and technology are required to provide reasonable explanations for the behavior of income shares, capital returns, unemployment, and the big ratios in macroeconomics. The model offers new perspectives on recent trends by showing that they can be analyzed by the interrelation between the profit-making capacity of capitalist economies and the political environment determining labor institutions. |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2211.14978&r=hme |
| By: | Nada Mustafa Ali (University of Massachusetts Boston); Sawsan Abdul Jalil (University of Khartoum, Sudan); Naglaa Abdulwahid (South Kordofan and a Farmer and a Member of SPLM-N Peace Delegation, Sudan); Mai Azzam (University of Bayreuth, Germany); Asja Abdelmoniem (Port Sudan Teaching Hospital, Sudan) |
| Abstract: | Women’s participation in Sudan’s 2018/2019 uprising has shed light on the social, economic, cultural, and political roles women played and continue to play in Sudan. This participation is n ot unusual given that women have always been active in Sudan’s politics and society and given an ancient history of women’s leadership and rule. An important outcome of the uprising is that it has (re)invigorated women’s and feminist activism and theorizi ng. It ushered a commitment, at least at the level of discourse, among many self identified feminists and women activists and organizations, to understanding and engaging with the theory of intersectionality. This paper, which uses an intersectional persp ective, draws on interdisciplinary, collaborative field research which took place in 2021 in three states in Sudan. The paper documents and analyses the experiences of self employed women street vendors in Khartoum and Port Sudan, and women farmers in Sou th Kordofan. The paper documents ways in which these groups of women contributed to sustaining protestors in Sudan during the uprising, and the ways they continue to sustain communities across Sudan, through a politics of care. The paper also analyses soc ial protection programs that the Transitional government which assumed power in 2019 introduced, particularly the Family Support Program. The visions and perspectives of marginalized communities, including women street vendors and farmers, should inform e fforts for social change and transformation. A policy brief which is partially based on the research that informs this paper, also prepared for the Economic Research Forum, makes further assess gender related policies during Sudan’s transition and makes re commendations on ways to achieve gender equality in Sudan. |
| Date: | 2022–09–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1574&r=hme |
| By: | Corinne Ollier Bessieux; Emmanuelle Negre (IRGO - Institut de Recherche en Gestion des Organisations - UB - Université de Bordeaux - Institut d'Administration des Entreprises (IAE) - Bordeaux); Marie-Anne Verdier |
| Abstract: | The purpose of this paper is to provide a critical review of the ‘accounting for people' literature and to suggest avenues for research that encourage this literature to take a radical emancipatory turn by using dialogic accounting. Our review covers the past five decades and concentrates on a corpus of 109 articles published in 22 accounting journals. Although the social agenda was initially central to the rise in the accounting for people literature, it was quickly supplanted by economic and financial objectives. The more recent focus on Human Capital (HC), driven by the emergence of a new spirit of capitalism, appears to have breathed new life into the accounting for people literature. However, the HC concept also (i) simplifies humans' subjective qualities by overquantification through a reification process that extends the sphere of commodification to humans and (ii) reinforces labor control processes. We highlight the need for future literature to move from the ‘accounting for people' approach to an ‘accounting with people' approach to really give a voice to humans, and outline the potential of dialogic HC accounts for achieving that aim. |
| Keywords: | Human Capital, Literature Review, Dialogic Accounting, Critical Accounting, Accounting For People |
| Date: | 2022–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03889478&r=hme |
| By: | Claudius Graebner-Radkowitsch (Institute for Socio-Economics, University of Duisburg-Essen, Germany; Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria; ZOE Institute for future-fit Economies, Bonn, Germany; International lnstitute of Management and Economic Education, Europa-Universitaet Flennsburg, Germany); Anna Hornykewycz (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria); Theresa Hager (Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores whether the EU’s new economic development model of ‘competitive sustainability’ could serve as a role model for ecologically sustaina-ble development models for advanced economies in general. To this end, we first discuss theoretically the interplay between ‘competitiveness’ and ‘sustaina-bility’ and identify several challenges for combining them. In delineating different interpretations of competitive sustainability, we emphasize that operationalizing the concept requires deliberate design of the institutions governing competition so that it can contribute to sustainability. We substantiate our claim by using in-put-output data to analyze whether the identified challenges are indeed relevant. We conclude that they are, and finally propose possible solutions. |
| Keywords: | competition; sustainability; development; Europe dependency; planetary boundaries |
| Date: | 2022–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ico:wpaper:143&r=hme |
| By: | Philippe Adair (University Paris-Est Créteil); Vladimir Hlasny (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia); Mariem Omrani (UNDP); Kareem Sharabi Rosshandler (The Economic Growth Pillar, West Asia-North Africa Institute) |
| Abstract: | First, youth inactivity, unemployment and informal employment are pervasive in the MENA labour markets. Using microdata from Labor Market Panel Surveys, and ERF COVID-19 MENA Monitors for six MENA countries, workers’ employment statuses are assessed separately by age group and gender. Second, the social and solidarity economy (SSE) includes both for profit and non-profit entities, cooperatives, associations and mutual. Their legal frameworks and economic impact, especially in terms of employment and GDP contribution are surveyed. Third, personal savings and grants remain the major funding sources of SSEs, which face structural deficiencies in the banking system and lack tailored financial products that the microfinance industry should overcome. Four, formalisation policies encapsulate distinct strategies, targets and impact assessment, wherein which the SSE including microfinance institutions plays a role in formalising both informal businesses and employees, as well as triggering job creation. |
| Date: | 2022–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:erg:wpaper:1604&r=hme |
| By: | Sam Jones; Enilde Francisco Sarmento; Dirk van Seventer; Finn Tarp |
| Abstract: | This study presents and discusses structural features of the Mozambique economy through the lens of a recently constructed 2019 social accounting matrix (SAM). This is an important reality check of the SAM construction process since it brings together various data sources that are not necessarily consistent with each other into a single framework. A number of dimensions are explored including industry composition and factor earnings, imports and exports, household income and expenditure and some labour market data. |
| Keywords: | Social Accounting Matrix, National accounts, Supply table, Use table, Balance of payments, Labour force survey, Income distribution |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp-2022-165&r=hme |
| By: | Gilles Campagnolo (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | How did Carl Menger read Aristotle? This debate is 'old hat' within Mengerian scholarship. Delving through the archives, new elements have been added by Emil Kauder and, more recently, by myself. Some issues raised by Ricardo Crespo are clarified in the following response. In an essay published in 2003, Crespo defended the idea that Menger is not an 'orthodox Aristotelian'. I retorted in a paper coauthored with Aurélien Lordon in 2011. Crespo resumed the exchange, summarized and modified his argument (Crespo 2022). This rejoinder aims at setting the record straight. |
| Keywords: | Aristotle Aristotelianism Austrian school of economics Menger (Carl) Methodenstreit (dispute over methods) methodology of economics, Aristotle, Aristotelianism, Austrian school of economics, Menger (Carl), Methodenstreit (dispute over methods), methodology of economics |
| Date: | 2022–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03896083&r=hme |
| By: | Friesen, Ina; Wisskirchen, Alma |
| Abstract: | In early 2022, Germany's development minister Svenja Schulze announced the adoption of a feminist development policy. With this announcement, Germany joins a growing group of governments that have adopted or declared the adoption of an explicitly feminist perspective in their external policies. Drawing on these governments' policies and the observations and recommendations by civil society and researchers, this Discussion Paper outlines ten key recommendations for Germany's first feminist development policy. The first three recommendations focus on the conceptual foundation of the policy and lay out the importance of 1) an inclusive definition of gender, 2) a clarification of the feminist approach and the policy's overall goal as well as 3) the need for an intersectional approach. The second set of recommendations concerns the implementation of the policy and stresses the importance of 4) a permanent cooperation with gender-focused and feminist organisations and 5) the necessity to increase funding for gender-related objectives in general and 6) for feminist organisations in particular. Further recommendations include 7) widening the range of sectors that target gender equality through a transformative approach and context-sensitive programming and by providing mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the implementation of the strategy's goals, objectives and activities. The last three recommendations emphasise institutional aspects and the importance of 8) creating an institutional environment that best supports gender equality within the development ministry and its main implementing organisations, 9) the necessity of a coherent feminist approach between the different ministries, and 10) the importance of addressing possible challenges the ministry might face in the implementation of its feminist development policy. |
| Keywords: | feminism, feminist development policy, gender, gender equality, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Mexico, Spain, France |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:diedps:172022&r=hme |