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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2025–01–27
seventeen papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Rémy Herrera (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This article intends to return to Marx's theory of the State to show that this author left us numerous and fruitful elements, the analyzes of which deserve to be meditated on today. From the conception of the State as an alienated expression of civil society to that of the organization of the dominant class, then from that of the apparatus or machine to that of the lever of the revolution, Marx's interpretation has evolved to become more complex, and enriched. We should also know how to situate this State at the heart of the dynamic of capital accumulation, in particular through its role relative to money, itself located between value and profit, but also in its interventions in colonial and commercial policies. Finally, the article insists on the fact that capitalism is today in an impasse and doomed, its State being experiencing more and more difficulties in the face of the deep contradictions of this system. This is the reason why Marxism still remains an essential theoretical reference. |
| Keywords: | Marxian theory, State, capitalism, crisis, revolution |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04796811 |
| By: | Rémy Herrera (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This article analyzes the evolutions of Marx's positions on colonization. It first emphasizes the invariant of his reflections: the denunciation of colonial violence. We initially find an interpretation of colonization as a process of modernization, then as a dynamic of "destruction-regeneration, " linked to the "unification of the world." The author identifies above all the successive inflections of Marx's – resolutely critical – thought about colonial and national issues, the non-linear character of history, and the differentiation of social formations. |
| Abstract: | Cet article analyse les évolutions des positions de Marx à propos de la colonisation. Il souligne tout d'abord l'invariant de ces réflexions : la dénonciation de la violence coloniale. Au départ, on trouve une interprétation de la colonisation comme processus de modernisation, puis comme dynamique de destruction-régénération, liée à l'« unification du monde ». L'auteur identifie spécialement les inflexions successives de la pensée de Marx résolument critique -, au sujet des questions coloniale et nationale, du caractère non linéaire de l'histoire, mais aussi de la différenciation des formations sociales. |
| Keywords: | Marxism, capitalism, colonization, destruction-regeneration, non linearity, social formations, Marxisme capitalisme colonisation violence destruction-régénération nonlinéarité formations sociales Marxism capitalism colonization violence destruction-regeneration non linearity social formations Classification JEL : B14 B51 N10, Marxisme, capitalisme, colonisation, violence, destruction-régénération, nonlinéarité, Formations sociales |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04796804 |
| By: | Francisco J. Bellido (NOVA - Universidade Nova de Lisboa = NOVA University Lisbon) |
| Abstract: | According to methodological individualism any scientific explanation in the social sciences should have recourse to individual beliefs, wishes, intentions and actions. This article sets forth two practical reasons to endorse a clear-cut, classical version of methodological individualism as a research programme in the social sciences. The first one is that methodological individualism should lead to fundamental heuristic hypotheses. The second reason is that methodological individualism has the epistemological strength of producing statements open to logical refutation. The present article questions highly sophisticated accounts of methodological individualism. It suggests instead four tenets to be a valid research programme in the social sciences underscoring an intuitive language to analyze social phenomena. By doing so, it reviews some distinctive features of methodological individualism: Max Weber's ideal types, Joseph Schumpeter's notion of given behaviour, Friedrich Hayek's concept of individual action and Jon Elster's account of explanatory mechanisms. |
| Keywords: | methodological individualism, research programme, social sciences, social phenomena, explanatory mechanisms |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04446410 |
| By: | N. J. Chater; R. S. MacKay |
| Abstract: | An axiomatic approach to macroeconomics based on the mathematical structure of thermodynamics is presented. It deduces relations between aggregate properties of an economy, concerning quantities and flows of goods and money, prices and the value of money, without any recourse to microeconomic foundations about the preferences and actions of individual economic agents. The approach has three important payoffs. 1) it provides a new and solid foundation for aspects of standard macroeconomic theory such as the existence of market prices, the value of money, the meaning of inflation, the symmetry and negative-definiteness of the macro-Slutsky matrix, and the Le Chatelier-Samuelson principle, without relying on implausibly strong rationality assumptions over individual microeconomic agents. 2) the approach generates new results, including implications for money flow and trade when two or more economies are put in contact, in terms of new concepts such as economic entropy, economic temperature, goods' values and money capacity. Some of these are related to standard economic concepts (eg marginal utility of money, market prices). Yet our approach derives them at a purely macroeconomic level and gives them a meaning independent of usual restrictions. Others of the concepts, such as economic entropy and temperature, have no direct counterparts in standard economics, but they have important economic interpretations and implications, as aggregate utility and the inverse marginal aggregate utility of money, respectively. 3) this analysis promises to open up new frontiers in macroeconomics by building a bridge to ideas from non-equilibrium thermodynamics. More broadly, we hope that the economic analogue of entropy (governing the possible transitions between states of economic systems) may prove to be as fruitful for the social sciences as entropy has been in the natural sciences. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2412.00886 |
| By: | Christian Flamant (AFD - Agence française de développement) |
| Abstract: | The labor theory of value has been rejected by Morishima on the grounds that it would be incompatible with joint production, which would create negative labor values. This article starts by recalling the various definitions of joint production, as well as the way they relate to the real world. For Morishima, the labor theory of value is a particular case of Sraffa's theory of production prices; it is recalled that in Sraffa's treatment of joint production the occurrence of negative multipliers and therefore of negative quantities comes from the construction of a standard commodity. Morishima extends this demonstration to labor values in the case of joint production, but the article shows that his example of giving negative labor values is absurd. Finally, using a method initially developed by statisticians to deal with joint production and simple matrix calculations, it is demonstrated that it is perfectly possible to obtain positive labor values in a theoretical but realistic model of joint production. |
| Keywords: | labor value, joint production, system of national accounts, input-output accounts |
| Date: | 2023–04–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04796268 |
| By: | Jonas Grangeray (Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, CEPN - Centre d'Economie de l'Université Paris Nord - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord) |
| Abstract: | What is Modern Monetary theory (MMT)? Just vulgar and dangerous "money printing" economics as many of its critics claim? By articulating it with with circuitist and horizontalist post-keynesian theories, we demonstrate that MMT is not "money printing" economics and that the development of a neo chartalist perspective, based on an in-depth description of interbank transactions and their interactions with monetary and fiscal policies, highlights the central bank stabilization of the interest rate in face of treasury securities issues. In the United States, this stabilization requires a coordination between the Fed and the treasury. |
| Abstract: | Qu'est-ce que la Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) ? Juste une vulgaire et dangereuse économie de la « planche à billets » comme l'affirme nombre de ses critiques ? En l'articulant avec les théories post-keynésiennes circuitiste et horizontaliste, nous démontrons que la MMT n'est pas une économie de la « planche à billets » et que le développement d'une perspective néo-chartaliste, s'appuyant sur une description approfondie des opérations interbancaires et de leurs interactions avec les politiques monétaire et budgétaire, met en évidence la stabilisation du taux d'intérêt opérée par la banque centrale face aux émissions de titres du trésor. Aux États-Unis, cette stabilisation nécessite une coordination entre la Fed et le trésor. |
| Keywords: | Modern monetary theory, monetization, interest rate, endogenous money, theory of the monetary circuit, horizontalism, Théorie monétaire moderne, monétisation, taux d'intérêt, monnaie endogène, théorie du circuit monétaire, horizontalisme |
| Date: | 2024–01–31 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04812626 |
| By: | Mark Setterfield (Department of Economics, New School For Social Research, USA) |
| Abstract: | Two salient features of the canonical Kaleckian growth model are the Keynesian stability condition and the paradox of costs. Both of these features are controversial. Harrodians contest the Keynesian stability condition on the grounds that it understates the reaction of investment spending to variations in the capacity utilization rate. Meanwhile, neo-Goodwinians argue that the demand regime is profit-led. A third salient feature of the Kaleckian model, following the contributions of Joan Robinson, is its assumption that the parameters of the investment function are conditioned by animal spirits. This paper shows that the treatment of animal spirits can affect both of the first two salient features of the Kaleckian model mentioned above. Specifically, it is shown that allowing for variation in animal spirits can: reconcile the Keynesian stability condition with the observation that there is a greater reaction of investment spending than saving to variation in the rate of capacity utilization; and complicate the effects of distribution on growth in an otherwise intrinsically wage-led economy. |
| Keywords: | Animal spirits, Keynesian stability condition, paradox of costs, wage-led growth, shifting equilibrium, pseudo-instability |
| JEL: | E11 E12 E22 E25 O41 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:new:wpaper:2501 |
| By: | Virginie Gouverneur (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar) |
| Abstract: | Some commentators state that Marshall conceptualizes well-being primarily in terms of the consumer's and producer's surpluses, whose interdependence with moral character rests on the ability of markets to produce their effects on character spontaneously. The purpose of the present article is to show that evolutionary faith is not really enough to remove the tension between the economic and moral dimensions of Marshall's definition of well-being. Marshall understands that progress would not happen without assigning a special role to families and women in cultivating family affections as an essential means of harmonizing these two dimensions. To prove this point, the article examines several economic texts written before Marshall's major economic treatise, Principles of Economics, the first edition of which appeared in 1890. These texts have received little consideration in the existing literature about Marshall's treatment of the role of women in society. Yet they prefigure and allow a better understanding of the theory later expounded in Principles, apprehended here as the fruit of a long process of maturation that continues throughout revisions made in the successive editions of the book. |
| Keywords: | Alfred Marshall, family environment, role of women, well-being, progress |
| Date: | 2023–07–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04790314 |
| By: | Marco Pangallo; R. Maria del Rio-Chanona |
| Abstract: | Economic agent-based models (ABMs) are becoming more and more data-driven, establishing themselves as increasingly valuable tools for economic research and policymaking. We propose to classify the extent to which an ABM is data-driven based on whether agent-level quantities are initialized from real-world micro-data and whether the ABM's dynamics track empirical time series. This paper discusses how making ABMs data-driven helps overcome limitations of traditional ABMs and makes ABMs a stronger alternative to equilibrium models. We review state-of-the-art methods in parameter calibration, initialization, and data assimilation, and then present successful applications that have generated new scientific knowledge and informed policy decisions. This paper serves as a manifesto for data-driven ABMs, introducing a definition and classification and outlining the state of the field, and as a guide for those new to the field. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2412.16591 |
| By: | Henrekson, Magnus (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Johansson, Dan (Örebro University School of Business, Örebro, Sweden) |
| Abstract: | The neo-Schumpeterian growth models, which appeared in the early 1990s, have ostensibly reintroduced the entrepreneur into mainstream growth theory. However, we show that by ignoring genuine uncertainty and by assuming that profits follow an objectively true and ex ante known probability distribution, the entrepreneur is made redundant. Thus, the theory fails to exhaustively explain innovation, the role of ownership competence, profits, the function of financial markets, wealth and income distribution, and, ultimately, economic growth. These shortcomings risk leading to erroneous or overly narrow policy conclusions by overestimating the importance of supporting R&D investments. Rather, the presence of genuine uncertainty forms a fundamental theoretical basis for the importance of new venture creation as a source of innovation-driven growth; entrepreneurs must establish and expand firms to capture the subjectively perceived profit opportunities. Therefore, tax policy is decisive for the commercialization and dissemination of innovations by providing incentives to uncertainty-bearing, not only for entrepreneurs, but also for intrapreneurs and financiers taking an active part in the governance and development of firms based on innovations characterized by genuine uncertainty. Furthermore, taxation can distort the evolutionary selection of innovations and firms, for instance, by taxing owners and firms differently. |
| Keywords: | Creative destruction; Economic growth; Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurship policy; Innovation; Judgment; Knightian uncertainty |
| JEL: | B40 O10 O30 |
| Date: | 2025–01–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1514 |
| By: | Mafongoun Dodji Moïse (Université de Douala); Gbaguidi Léandre (UP - Université de Parakou = University of Parakou); Biboum Altante Désirée (Université de Douala) |
| Abstract: | This article aims to identify strategic management practices based on the coopetition strategy between farmers who cohabit in Togolese agricultural cooperative societies (SCAs). Few studies are interested in the factors that push companies in the social and solidarity economy to use coopetition practices. In addition, there is little work on the forms of coopetition adopted by this type of organisation, particularly in the agricultural sector in the countries of the South. It is therefore a question of shedding light on the coopetition practices adopted in the specific context of Togo. The qualitative research method was adopted. This approach enabled thirty-two (32) farmers to be interviewed. The interviews took place in thirteen (13) SCAs located in the maritime region. Thematic discourse analysis enabled us to group the interventions into three themes. The results show that the practice of coopetition in SCAs translates into a competitive approach of differentiation and a cooperative approach based on organisational learning. Key words: Coopetition; agricultural cooperative; strategic management. |
| Abstract: | L'objectif de cet article consiste à identifier les pratiques de management stratégiques basées sur la stratégie de coopétition entre agriculteurs qui cohabitent dans les sociétés coopératives agricole (SCA) togolaises. Peu de recherches s'intéressent en effet, aux facteurs qui poussent les entreprises relevant de l'économie sociale et solidaire à recourir aux pratiques de coopétition. En outre, les travaux s'avèrent rares quant aux formes de coopétition adoptées par ce type d'organisations notamment agricoles dans les pays du sud. Il s'agit donc d'apporter un éclairage sur les pratiques de coopétition adoptées dans le contexte spécifique du Togo. La méthode de recherche qualitative a été adoptée. Cette approche a permis de rencontrer trente-deux agriculteurs. Les entretiens se sont déroulés auprès de treize SCA situées en région maritime. L'analyse thématique des discours met en exergue trois thèmes à partir des interventions recueillies. Les résultats montrent que la pratique de coopétition dans les SCA se traduit par une approche concurrentielle de différenciation et une approche de coopération fondée sur l'apprentissage organisationnel. |
| Keywords: | Coopetition, agricultural cooperative, strategic management, Coopétition, coopérative agricole, management stratégique, Coopétition coopérative agricole management stratégique Coopétition agricultural cooperative strategic management, management stratégique Coopétition |
| Date: | 2024–06–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04665888 |
| By: | Jean-Philippe Bouchaud (Capital Fund Management & Acad\'emie des Sciences) |
| Abstract: | We argue that establishing the phase diagram of Agent Based Models (ABM) is a crucial first step, together with a qualitative understanding of how collective phenomena come about, before any calibration or more quantitative predictions are attempted. Computer-aided *gedanken* experiments are by themselves of genuine value: if we are not able to make sense of emergent phenomena in a world in which we set all the rules, how can we expect to be successful in the real world? ABMs indeed often reveal the existence of Black Swans/Dark Corners i.e. discontinuity lines beyond which runaway instabilities appear, whereas most classical economic/finance models are blind to such scenarii. Testing for the overall robustness of the phase diagram against changes in heuristic rules is a way to ascertain the plausibility of such scenarii. Furthermore, exploring the phase diagrams of ABM in high dimensions should benefit enormously from the identification of ``stiff'' and ``sloppy'' directions in parameter space. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2412.11259 |
| By: | Sophie Agulhon (CERGAM - Centre d'Études et de Recherche en Gestion d'Aix-Marseille - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - UTLN - Université de Toulon, LED - Laboratoire d'Economie Dionysien - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis); Thomas Michael Mueller (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - UNS - Université Nice Sophia Antipolis (1965 - 2019) - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UniCA - Université Côte d'Azur) |
| Abstract: | What people often mean by getting rid of conflict is getting rid of diversity, and it is of the utmost importance that these should not be considered the same. (Follett 1924) Scientific Management is usually studied for what it brought to factories, production and the organization of work: yet, it did much more. Our contribution focuses on how Taylor's ideas were adapted to domestic occupation by overlapping with another forgotten movement promoting household efficiency and primarily led by women: Home Economics and its sanitary science. Drawing on the methodology of intellectual history, we examine the pioneering writings of Ellen Richards, Mary Talbot, Charlotte Perkins Gilman, and Christine Frederick and see how they promoted female vindications and emancipation. If Scientific Management is criticized for its alienating effects, its spillovers were also partially positive during the Progressive Era. Indeed, Scientific Management was envisioned as a normative guide to a new model of society and, surprisingly, as a tool for emancipation and empowerment, meant to provide women with a mean of social liberation and legitimization. Furthermore, the social movements that characterized the Progressive Era became crucial to tackling democratic issues through an empirical lens. Engaging in some of Critical Management Studies major themes, this contribution to management history aims to produce novel insight on Scientific Management and its contribution to domestic work and women' identity in the early 20th century. |
| Keywords: | empowerment, feminism, history, Home Economics, Scientific Managementwomen |
| Date: | 2024–12–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04833735 |
| By: | Rémy Herrera (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The texts collected here and made available to Spanish-speaking readers constitute a body of work of immense theoretical and practical value. Although they are not the complete works of Isabel Monal - her writings would not fit into a single volume, far from it - what they do offer a glimpse of is an invaluable body of work. I shall endeavour to explain, briefly, how the availability of these works on Marx and Marxism represents an opportunity and a considerable contribution for us all, but also to relate them to and put them in dialogue with other major writings by the author, in particular those she devoted to José Martí and Cuba, in order to show their general organisation and their profound coherence. |
| Date: | 2024–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04796790 |
| By: | Cléo Chassonnery-Zaïgouche (UNIBO - Alma Mater Studiorum Università di Bologna = University of Bologna); Aurélien Goutsmedt (ISPOLE - UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain, F.R.S.-FNRS, UCL - U.C. Louvain) |
| Abstract: | Over a period of 12 years, Barbara Bergmann developed several models of the labour market using microsimulation, eventually integrated in a "Transactions Model" of the entire US economy, built with Robert Bennett and published in 1986. The paper reconstructs the history of this modelling enterprise in the context of the debates on the micro-foundations of macroeconomics and the role of macroeconomic expertise from the 1970s to the late 1980s. It shows how her focus on the distributional effects of policies was central to the criticism of macroeconomic modelling and how both her epistemological and political positions were marginalised in the 1980s. |
| Abstract: | Sur une période de douze ans, Barbara Bergmann a développé plusieurs modèles du marché du travail en utilisant la microsimulation, finalement intégrés dans un "Transactions Model" de l'ensemble de l'économie américaine, construit avec Robert Bennett et publié en 1986. L'article reconstruit l'histoire de cette entreprise de modélisation dans le contexte des débats sur les fondements microéconomiques de la macroéconomie et le rôle de l'expertise macroéconomique depuis la stagflation des années 1970 jusqu'à la fin des années 1980. Il montre comment un élément politique - l'accent mis sur les effets distributifs des politiques - a été au cœur de sa critique de la modélisation macroéconomique et comment ses positions épistémiques et politiques ont été de plus en plus marginalisées dans les années 1980. |
| Keywords: | microsimulation, Microfoundations, Expertise, Models and simulations |
| Date: | 2024–12–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04208686 |
| By: | Mikko Ketokivi (IE Business School, IE University); Sebastien M Fosse (Clermont School of Business/CleRMa); Peter Kawalek (Loughborough University) |
| Abstract: | Abstract How do scholars formulate arguments about economic inequality? What is the role of empirical analysis? In what ways, if any, is the debate informed by ethical considerations? In this paper, we address these questions by evaluating one of the main arguments in Thomas Piketty's 2014 book Capital in the Twenty-First Century , along with its endorsements and rebuttals. Applying Stephen Toulmin's model of arguments to Piketty unearths a complex argument structure that must be understood for an evaluation to be possible. Of particular importance are the warrants that Piketty used to justify his conclusions from the empirical material. Our analysis revealed that the most influential rebuttals were targeted not at Piketty's empirical inferences but the way he used these inferences to justify his claims. We also found value judgments to be an essential part of the justification process, making Piketty's claims ultimately embedded in ethical considerations. We conclude that value judgments are intrinsic to scholarly arguments not only in economic inequality debates but also more broadly. |
| Keywords: | Argument structure Economic inequality Ethical embeddedness, Argument structure, Economic inequality, Ethical embeddedness |
| Date: | 2024–05–21 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04739363 |
| By: | Jake J. Xia |
| Abstract: | This study investigates the emergence of power-law and other concentrated distributions through a feedback loop model in crowd interactions. Agents act by their response functions to observations and external forces, while observations change by the aggregated actions of all agents, weighted by their respective influence, i.e. power or wealth. Agents wealth dynamically adjust based on the alignment between an agents actions and observation outcomes: agents gain wealth when their actions align with observed trends and lose wealth otherwise. A reward function, that describes the change of agents wealth at each time step, manifests the differences of response functions of agents to observations. When all agents responses are set to zero and feedback loop is broken, agents wealth follow a normal or lognormal distribution. Otherwise, this response-reward iterative feedback mechanism results in concentrated wealth distributions, characterized by a small number of dominant agents and the marginalization of the majority. Contrasted to past studies, such concentration is not limited only to asymptotic behavior at the upper tail for large variables, nor does it require the reward function to be linear to agents previous wealth as formulated in random growth model and network preferential attachment. Probability density functions for various distributions are more visually distinguishable for small values at the lower tail. In application of this model, key differences in income and wealth distributions in the US vs Japan are attributed to different response functions of agents in the two countries. The model applicability extends beyond social systems to other many-body systems with analogous feedback mechanisms, where power-law distributions represent a rare subset of general concentrated outcomes. |
| Date: | 2024–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2412.12393 |