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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2024‒01‒15
fifteen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Vahabi, Mehrdad; Klebaner, Samuel |
| Abstract: | On the occasion of the release of his latest book (Vahabi 2023), Mehrdad Vahabi, a University Professor and director of CEPN, reflects on several theoretical dimensions of his work during an interview. Firstly, Mehrdad Vahabi revisits his definition of predation, explaining how this concept forms the cornerstone of his theoretical framework. Predation is not considered as a rational behavior but rather as a social relationship, instituted through which several dimensions of power are transmitted. Next, in contrast to the regulation theory, he puts forth a critique of the State as a predatory institution. The State is not seen as a neutral field or a mere instrument serving the dominant class, but rather as an institution that, through its ability to levy taxes, establishes a predatory relationship with its subjects. Importantly, his approach allows for the assessment of the value of assets in the eyes of the State, providing an interesting analytical framework to explain economic policy choices. Thirdly, Mehrdad Vahabi develops the idea that the analysis of institutional change should better account for conflict, with compromise being a form of domination revealing the predatory nature of the State. Finally, he discusses political capitalism and critiques socialism, offering some ingredients for a society without predation that still needs to be built in the current world. |
| Keywords: | French Regulation school; predation, conflict, institutional change, State, socialism, political capitalism |
| JEL: | B52 P16 |
| Date: | 2023–12–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:119567&r=hme |
| By: | Richiardi, Matteo; Bronka, Patryk; van de Ven, Justin |
| Abstract: | In this chapter we focus on the commonalities and differences between agent-based and dynamic microsimulation analytical approaches. Starting from a shared history, we discuss how the two literatures quickly diverged. Discussion concludes with evidence of some recent convergence between agent-based and dynamic microsimulation methods, and emerging opportunities for mutual reinforcement of the two methodologies. |
| Date: | 2023–12–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ese:cempwp:cempa8-23&r=hme |
| By: | Wladimir Ostrovsky |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the utility of agent-based simulations in realistically modelling market structures and sheds light on the nuances of optimal dealer strategies. It underscores the contrast between conclusions drawn from probabilistic modelling and agent-based simulations, but also highlights the importance of employing a realistic test bed to analyse intricate dynamics. This is achieved by extending the agent-based model for auction markets by \cite{Chiarella.2008} to include liquidity providers. By constantly and passively quoting, the dealers influence their own wealth but also have ramifications on the market as a whole and the other participating agents. Through synthetic market simulations, the optimal behaviour of different dealer strategies and their consequences on market dynamics are examined. The analysis reveals that dealers exhibiting greater risk aversion tend to yield better performance outcomes. The choice of quote sizes by dealers is strategy-dependent: one strategy demonstrates enhanced performance with larger quote sizes, whereas the other strategy show a better results with smaller ones. Increasing quote size shows positive influence on the market in terms of volatility and kurtosis with both dealer strategies. However, the impact stemming from larger risk aversion is mixed. While one of the dealer strategies shows no discernible effect, the other strategy results in mixed outcomes, encompassing both positive and negative effects. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2312.05943&r=hme |
| By: | Marcin Rzeszutek (Faculty of Psychology, University of Warsaw, Poland); Jorgen Vitting Andersen (CNRS, Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne); Adam Szyszka (Warsaw School of Economics, Collegium of World Economy, Warsaw, Poland); Szymon Talaga (The Robert Zajonc Institute for Social Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland) |
| Abstract: | This study aims at connecting the behavioral corporate finance (micro level) perspective and complexity theory along with agent-based modelling in order to analyze the impact of selected behavioral managerial factors on aggregated data related to the financial market stability (macro level). Specifically, we want to explore whether subjective well-being (SWB) of corporate managers (CEOs) impacted their business decisions during the Covid-19 pandemic, and how it may be related to volatility of stock prices and the issue of financial stability during this critical period. Our study is based on a survey of 255 managers of companies listed on the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Poland over the period . Using the results of this survey, we build an agent-based model (ABM) calibrated for the specific case of Poland to investigate how decision making of CEOs, stemming from their SWB, influence the stock prices and selected financial market dynamics indicators. The results of our study indicate that the excess volatility of stock prices may be a function of changes of SWB of managers, which in turn could lead to some crashes on the macro level with respect to financial stability |
| Keywords: | subjective well-being; CEO; Covid-19; agent-based model |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:23017&r=hme |
| By: | Yan Leng; Yuan Yuan |
| Abstract: | The advances of Large Language Models (LLMs) are expanding their utility in both academic research and practical applications. Recent social science research has explored the use of these "black-box" LLM agents for simulating complex social systems and potentially substituting human subjects in experiments. Our study delves into this emerging domain, investigating the extent to which LLMs exhibit key social interaction principles, such as social learning, social preference, and cooperative behavior, in their interactions with humans and other agents. We develop a novel framework for our study, wherein classical laboratory experiments involving human subjects are adapted to use LLM agents. This approach involves step-by-step reasoning that mirrors human cognitive processes and zero-shot learning to assess the innate preferences of LLMs. Our analysis of LLM agents' behavior includes both the primary effects and an in-depth examination of the underlying mechanisms. Focusing on GPT-4, the state-of-the-art LLM, our analyses suggest that LLM agents appear to exhibit a range of human-like social behaviors such as distributional and reciprocity preferences, responsiveness to group identity cues, engagement in indirect reciprocity, and social learning capabilities. However, our analysis also reveals notable differences: LLMs demonstrate a pronounced fairness preference, weaker positive reciprocity, and a more calculating approach in social learning compared to humans. These insights indicate that while LLMs hold great promise for applications in social science research, such as in laboratory experiments and agent-based modeling, the subtle behavioral differences between LLM agents and humans warrant further investigation. Careful examination and development of protocols in evaluating the social behaviors of LLMs are necessary before directly applying these models to emulate human behavior. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2312.15198&r=hme |
| By: | Egorova, Natalia; Kozerskaya, Natalia |
| Abstract: | The article is dedicated to the memory of the outstanding Russian scientist and social and political figure Mikhail Yakovlevich Lemeshev, whose life and work were dedicated to serving science and the people. The work highlights the scientific activity of M. Ya. Lemeshev as an outstanding world-class economist who laid the fundamental theoretical foundations of environmental economics and the development of the human community in harmony with the environment. |
| Keywords: | Economy of environmental management, ecological habitat, ecological-economic social metasystem |
| JEL: | J18 Q57 |
| Date: | 2023–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:119436&r=hme |
| By: | Hiroyuki TOSA (Graduate School of International Cooperation Studies, Kobe University) |
| Abstract: | For purposes of examining how to reformulate human security in the age of planetary crisis, this article is divided into eight sections. Following the introduction (section 1) describing the notion of Anthropocene, section 2 reviews recent revival of deep ecological thought: non-human turn in the context of Anthropocene. Section 3 discusses non-anthropocentrism and its limits by focusing on tacit anthropomorphism and introduces the concept of weak anthropocentrism. While going beyond simple deconstruction of nature/culture dichotomy, section 4 examines intertwined relations between ecological imbalance and social imbalance in the Patriarchal Capitalocene and section 5 examines racism: neuro-political fragmentation in Plantationocene. Section 6 introduces care-sensitive ethics for alleviating planetary crisis and the next section scrutinizes the implications of a crisis of care by looking at the way in which neoliberal capitalism guzzles care work from social reproductive sphere as well as extract wealth from natural sphere to sustain its accumulation. A final section: conclusion suggests the possibility of an ideal of total liberation framework for enhancing our practical capabilities to achieve the solidarity in a more-than-human world. |
| Keywords: | human security, posthuman, more-than-human, Anthropocene, Plantationocene, total liberation framework |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:kcs:wpaper:41&r=hme |
| By: | HRADEC Jiri (European Commission - JRC); OSTLAENDER Nicole; BERNINI Alba |
| Abstract: | The research investigates how large language models (LLMs) emerge as reservoirs of a vast array of human experiences, behaviours, and emotions. Building upon prior work of the JRC on synthetic populations , it presents a complete step-by-step guide on how to use LLMs to create highly realistic modelling scenarios and complex societies of autonomous emotional AI agents. This technique is aligned with agent-based modelling (ABM) and facilitates quantitative evaluation. The report describes how the agents were instantiated using LLMs, enriched with personality traits using the ABC-EBDI model, equipped with short- and long-term memory, and access to detailed knowledge of their environment. This setting of embodied reasoning significantly improved the agents' problem-solving capabilities and when subjected to various scenarios, the LLM-driven agents exhibited behaviours mirroring human-like reasoning and emotions, inter-agent patterns and realistic conversations, including elements that mirrored critical thinking. These LLM-driven agents can serve as believable proxies for human behaviour in simulated environments presenting vast implications for future research and policy applications, including studying impacts of different policy scenarios. This bears the opportunity to combine the narrative-based world of foresight scenarios with the advantages of quantitative modelling |
| Date: | 2023–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc135070&r=hme |
| By: | Takeshi Kato |
| Abstract: | Reducing wealth inequality and disparity is a global challenge. The economic system is mainly divided into (1) gift and reciprocity, (2) power and redistribution, (3) market exchange, and (4) mutual aid without reciprocal obligations. The current inequality stems from a capitalist economy consisting of (2) and (3). To sublimate (1), which is the human economy, to (4), the concept of a "mixbiotic society" has been proposed in the philosophical realm. This is a society in which free and diverse individuals, "I, " mix with each other, recognize their respective "fundamental incapability" and sublimate them into "WE" solidarity. The economy in this society must have moral responsibility as a coadventurer and consideration for vulnerability to risk. Therefore, I focus on two factors of mind perception: moral responsibility and risk vulnerability, and propose a novel model of wealth distribution following an econophysical approach. Specifically, I developed a joint-venture model, a redistribution model in the joint-venture model, and a "WE economy" model. A simulation comparison of a combination of the joint ventures and redistribution with the WE economies reveals that WE economies are effective in reducing inequality and resilient in normalizing wealth distribution as advantages, and susceptible to free riders as disadvantages. However, this disadvantage can be compensated for by fostering consensus and fellowship, and by complementing it with joint ventures. This study essentially presents the effectiveness of moral responsibility, the complementarity between the WE economy and the joint economy, and the direction of the economy toward reducing inequality. Future challenges are to develop the WE economy model based on real economic analysis and psychology, as well as to promote WE economy fieldwork for worker coops and platform cooperatives to realize a desirable mixbiotic society. |
| Date: | 2023–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2312.06927&r=hme |
| By: | Carlos Bianchi (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Fernando Isabella (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Anaclara Martinis (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía); Santiago Picasso (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Económicas y de Administración. Instituto de Economía) |
| Abstract: | This work analyses trajectories of structural change of countries trapped in middle-income trap (MIT) in a comprehensive manner from both the supply and the demand sides. First, it provides evidence that there is a regular trapping mechanism determined by the interaction between external demand constraints and the level of complexity of the economies. External constraint operates since MIT countries depend on exogenous prices to grow. Meanwhile, that constraint relaxes as the complexity of production increases. Second, this paper uses indicators of economic complexity and proposes a novel identification of the countries’ trajectories. A typology of the varieties of MIT is built according to the level of complexity of country economies and the relatedness between their current productive structure and more complex goods. It shows that having reached certain levels, further increases in supply complexity require a deepening of structural change through unrelated diversification. |
| Keywords: | middle-income trap, structural change, external restriction, economic complexity |
| JEL: | O14 O40 L16 |
| Date: | 2023–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-16-23&r=hme |
| By: | Durr-e-Nayab (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad); Nabila Kanwal (Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad) |
| Abstract: | In the intricate web of household dynamics in Pakistan, the often overlooked yet vital role of unpaid care work, predominantly carried by women, becomes the focal point of this study conducted in Pakistan. Everyday tasks like cooking, cleaning, and caregiving, vital for societal well-being, are frequently sidelined by traditional economic definitions. This disproportionate burden on women affects their engagement in paid employment, education, and personal leisure. While these activities are indispensable for sustainable economic growth, their non-monetized nature has led to their dismissal as ‘non-economic’ work. The time-intensive nature of these responsibilities’ further limits women’s participation in other pursuits. The division of household chores, particularly along gender lines, has broader implications for economic, social, and educational outcomes. |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pid:pviewp:2023:42&r=hme |
| By: | Harker, Arturo (Universidad de los Andes); Casey, Sara (Columbia University); Samari, Goleen (Columbia University); Nabulsi, Dana (Harvard University) |
| Abstract: | La pandemia por COVID-19 ha intensificado las desigualdades de género preexistentes, los sentimientos sociales nocivos y otros factores de riesgo que conducen a un aumento en la violencia doméstica, incluida la violencia contra la pareja (VCP) y la violencia contra los niños (VCN). Las mujeres, las niñas y los niños desplazados ya se enfrentaban a un mayor riesgo de violencia doméstica debido a la interrupción de las redes y comunidades de apoyo social, al cambio de las normas de género y las dinámicas familiares y a la limitación de la privacidad en los refugios superpoblados y de las oportunidades económicas y de alimentación. Las respuestas a la COVID-19 han exacerbado estos factores de riesgo y reducido el acceso a los canales de protección preventiva preexistentes en contextos de desplazamiento. Este informe de conocimiento explora las estrategias de prevención y respuesta a la violencia para las comunidades desplazadas en el contexto de la COVID-19, donde los prestadores de servicios también se ven limitados en su alcance y capacidad para responder a la violencia doméstica. |
| Keywords: | Violencia doméstica; COVID-19: desplazamiento forzado; comunidades desplazadas |
| JEL: | A14 B54 B55 D01 D02 D04 E65 |
| Date: | 2023–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000547:020991&r=hme |
| By: | García, Sandra (Universidad de los Andes); Majerowicz, Stephanie (Universidad de los Andes); Maldonado, Darío (Universidad de los Andes) |
| Abstract: | Uno de los retos más complejos que enfrenta el sistema educativo en Colombia es lograr trayectorias educativas completas: asegurar que cualquier persona pueda tener acceso a una oferta educativa acorde con sus propios intereses, que le permita desarrollar competencias que sean certificadas o tituladas de forma que el sector productivo entienda lo que esa persona puede hacer, o que le permitan desempeñar el oficio o actividad que desee ejercer. |
| Keywords: | Jóvenes a la U; Bogotá; educación superior; Bogotá; evaluación de impacto |
| JEL: | B55 C10 C40 C42 D00 |
| Date: | 2023–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000547:021001&r=hme |
| By: | Lucumí, Diego (Universidad de los Andes); Daza, Elizabeth (Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social); Trujillo-Uribe, Laura (Universidad de los Andes); Quiasua, Diana (Universidad de los Andes); Valenzuela, Laura (Universidad de los Andes); Araque, Andrés (ESE Salud del Tundama de Duitama); Tello-Hoyos, Kelly (Secretaría de Salud del Cauca); Veira-Andrade, Martha (Secretaría de Salud de Boyacá) |
| Abstract: | El 12 de agosto del 2021 se llevó a cabo un simposio como parte del proyecto Capacidad Organizacional Local para la Prevención de la Enfermedad Cardiovascular en Colombia (Colprecardio), en la Escuela de Gobierno Alberto Lleras Camargo de la Universidad de los Andes. Este documento recoge la participación de funcionarios de las secretarías de Salud del Cauca y Boyacá, del Ministerio de Salud y Protección Social, de egresadas de la Maestría en Salud Pública de la Universidad de los Andes y del director del proyecto. |
| Keywords: | Capacidad Organizacional Local para la Prevención de la Enfermedad Cardiovascular en Colombia; salud pública; políticas públicas |
| JEL: | A14 B55 D00 D02 D04 E61 |
| Date: | 2023–12–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000547:021000&r=hme |
| By: | Narváez, Liliana (Universidad de la Sabana); Diaz, Yadira (Universidad de los Andes) |
| Abstract: | La pandemia del COVID-19 confirmó su primer caso en Colombia el 6 de marzo de 2020. Desde la llegada del virus al país, tanto el Gobierno nacional como los gobiernos locales han tomado una serie de medidas de aislamiento para la prevención de la pandemia. El 18 de marzo Bogotá inició un simulacro de aislamiento que fue seguido por confinamiento obligatorio en todo el territorio nacional (Decreto 457 de 2020). A la fecha se tiene previsto que culmine el 1° de julio. Durante este aislamiento preventivo, el Gobierno nacional y las principales entidades territoriales han puesto en marcha una serie de medidas de asistencia social que buscan contrarrestar los efectos económicos que la cuarentena inflige sobre la población pobre y vulnerable. Dentro de las diferentes políticas implementadas se contemplan transferencias monetarias y ayudas en especie. Mientras que las estrategias de cobertura nacional se centran exclusivamente en transferencias monetarias, los programas locales han preferido una estrategia mixta de entregas. Sumando medidas, tanto nacionales como de las principales ciudades del país, se espera que cerca de 8, 2 millones de hogares colombianos reciban transferencias monetarias. Si estas trasferencias se logran focalizar, asegurando una única familia por transferencia, podrían llegar a representar más de 50 % de los hogares colombianos. Asimismo, alrededor de 2, 1 millones de hogares recibirán transferencias en especie en forma de mercados o bonos canjeables. Dando un balance a la fecha, tanto el esfuerzo nacional como el territorial ha sido significativo; sin embargo, es importante preguntarse: ¿cómo podemos mejorar los esfuerzos de asistencia para reducir el impacto económico de la pandemia en la población más pobre y vulnerable? Esta nota presenta parte de la evidencia nacional e internacional más relevante al respecto, analiza la focalización y tamaño de las transferencias monetarias a la luz de la Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares (GEIH) y presenta recomendaciones para el contexto específico colombiano. |
| Keywords: | Transferencias monetarias condicionadas; COVID-19; Bogotá; Colombia; Gran Encuesta Integrada de Hogares |
| JEL: | B21 B41 B55 C51 C52 |
| Date: | 2023–12–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000547:020987&r=hme |