|
on Heterodox Microeconomics |
|
Issue of 2025–05–19
twenty-one papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Stanley, Isaac |
| Abstract: | This paper, building on recent contributions from Cesaratto and Di Bucchianico, explores the possibilities offered by an ‘anthropological economics’. De L’Estoile has highlighted economic anthropology’s problematic tendency to self-define in opposition to the study of ‘modern’ economy, and the risks of depoliticisation engendered by a reliance on the category of the ‘economic’. As an alternative, he proposes an anthropology of oikonomia — the practices and imaginaries through which people ‘govern the house’ (oikos), and strive for a ‘good life’. But does grappling with oikonomia require moving beyond the ‘economic’ altogether? An ‘anthropological economics’ approach may provide a pathway through these problems. Synthesising elements of substantivism and the classical surplus approach, ‘anthropological economics’ aims to illuminate the ways in which political, social and moral practices and ideas shape distribution. At its heart, then, is an inquiry into the relationship of oikonomia and production — of oikos and surplus. For illustration, the paper considers applications of an anthropological economics approach to two important topics: capitalist penetration in (post)colonial contexts, and crises of social reproduction in post-industrial societies. It concludes by considering the relevance of anthropological economics to the broader struggle for a ‘human economy’, directed towards human wellbeing rather than merely material abundance. |
| Keywords: | economic anthropology; surplus approach; Sraffa; capitalist penetration; social reproduction |
| JEL: | B51 B54 F54 Z13 |
| Date: | 2025–02–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127135 |
| By: | Ellis Scharfenaker; Bruno Theodosio; Duncan K. Foley |
| Abstract: | Adam Smith's inquiry into the emergence and stability of the self-organization of the division of labor in commodity exchange is considered using statistical equilibrium methods from statistical physics. We develop a statistical equilibrium model of the distribution of independent direct producers in a hub-and-spoke framework that predicts both the center of gravity of producers across lines of production as well as the endogenous fluctuations between lines of production that arise from Smith's concept of "perfect liberty". The ergodic distribution of producers implies a long-run balancing of "advantages to disadvantages" across lines of employment and gravitation of market prices around Smith's natural prices. |
| Keywords: | Competition, Hub-and-spoke, Value theory, Classical Political Economy, Statistical equilibrium JEL Classification: |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uta:papers:2024-04 |
| By: | Jean Cartelier (EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This essay takes seriously the commonplace idea that money is the language of economics. A critical examination of what the scholarly political economy of money can shed light on this notion. The nominal nature of money has not been taken into account by theories of value that presuppose only goods—real analysis—nor its corollary, namely that wealth in our societies is a nominal magnitude. An ancient tradition, called monetary analysis or nominal analysis, has made money its fundamental postulate. It is exemplified in the modern era by Keynes and deserves to be rehabilitated. The fact that money is nominal and that payments record nominal quantities in accounting suggests the hypothesis that it is part of human language. This is what is demonstrated in this essay, with the immediate and important consequence that rehabilitated nominal analysis finds itself quite naturally inserted into the social sciences. Multidisciplinarity finds a transdisciplinary theoretical foundation in the thesis that money is one of the many manifestations of the unique capacity of the human species. Certain consequences are drawn from this new paradigm concerning both the "imaginary institution of society" and the way in which we can conceive of the relationships our societies maintain with their environment. |
| Abstract: | Il s'agit de prendre au sérieux l'idée banale selon laquelle la monnaie est le langage de l'économie. L'examen critique de ce que l'économie politique savante de la monnaie permet d'en éclairer la notion. Le caractère nominal de la monnaie n'a pas été pris en compte par les théories de la valeur qui présupposent seulement des biens – l'analyse réelle – ni son corollaire, à savoir que la richesse est dans nos sociétés une grandeur nominale. Une tradition ancienne, appelée analyse monétaire ou analyse nominale, a fait de la monnaie son postulat fondamental. Elle est illustrée à l'époque moderne par Keynes et mérite d'être réhabilitée. Que la monnaie soit nominale et que les paiements inscrivent des grandeurs nominales dans les comptabilités suggère l'hypothèse qu'elle relève du langage humain. C'est ce qui est montré dans cet essai avec la conséquence immédiate et importante que l'analyse nominale réhabilitée se trouve tout naturellement insérée dans les sciences sociales. La pluridisciplinarité trouve dans la thèse de la monnaie comme étant l'une des nombreuses manifestations de la capacité particulière de l'espèce humaine un fondement théorique transdisciplinaire. Certaines conséquences sont tirées de ce nouveau paradigme concernant tant « l'institution imaginaire de la société » que la façon dont on peut concevoir les relations que nos sociétés entretiennent avec leur environnement. |
| Date: | 2025–04–08 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-05024728 |
| By: | Widmer, Elisabeth Theresia |
| Abstract: | Unlike Johann Benjamin Erhard’s views on art, right, revolution, and structural misrecognition, his discussion of economic injustice, here understood as the lawful economic oppression of one’s end-setting human nature, has garnered little attention. To begin filling this gap, I focus on central passages from his 1795 book On the Right of the People to a Revolution wherein Erhard discusses two cases of economic injustice. By reconstructing these claims within his Kantian perfectionist framework, I pursue two goals. First, I seek to demonstrate that his fundamental ‘duty to oneself’ lays out a comprehensive framework for duties grounding moral obligations to remedy economic practices. My second aim is to utilize this framework to explain how he defends a natural law position that views the legal system as both a remedy for and an ideological tool of economic oppression. I argue that this twofold perspective is a strength of Erhard’s theory as it allows for the detection of oppressive economic structures without letting go of a principle of external freedom from where coercive juridical laws can be derived. |
| Keywords: | perfectionism; perfect and imperfect duties; capitalism; Marxism |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2025–02–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127477 |
| By: | Klüh, Ulrich; Naji, Ilias |
| Abstract: | What defines the role of public savings banks("Sparkassen") in tackling the socio-ecological challenges related to planetary boundaries, such as climate change and loss of biodiversity? A clear answer to this question is still lacking, in spite of that fact that the German Sparkassen have recently become more ambitious with respect to their role in the sustainability transformation. Taking these recent developments into account, we provide a qualitative empirical analysis of the institutional logics that shape the savings banks' response to repeated calls to deepen their involvement in ecological sustainability efforts. We argue that the lack of transformative potential that many observers have criticized is due to a specific combination of institutional logics, that emphasize compliance, competitiveness and controlling activities. Moreover, savings banks appear to be following a strategy of conservative transformation, consistent with the approaches they have followed in recent decades, to survive in a climate hostile to public ownership of financial institutions and relationship banking. We observe tendencies to make climate finance a vehicle to become relationship-orientated again, and identify the obstacles standing in the way of such a twist. |
| Keywords: | Savings Banks, Climate Finance, Sustainability, Institutional Logics, Financialization |
| JEL: | B15 B25 B26 B52 E02 E58 N2 |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:znwudp:316457 |
| By: | Nadine Richez-Battesti (LEST - Laboratoire d'Economie et de Sociologie du Travail - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Xabier Itçaina (CED - Centre Émile Durkheim - IEP Bordeaux - Sciences Po Bordeaux - Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux - UB - Université de Bordeaux - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Laurent Fraisse |
| Abstract: | Over the last few decades, the ecosystemic approach to the social and solidarity economy (SSE) has gained ground on two fronts: firstly, in the field of collective and public action, and secondly, in academia. This dissemination, or even naturalization, of the ecosystemic approach raises a number of questions. Without rejecting its use, we argue for a sociohistorical and processual approach to SSE ecosystems, considering that while certain territorial dynamics of the SSE may, under certain conditions, accede to an ecosystemic dimension, it is always historically situated, temporary and contingent insofar as it results from power relations and past compromises between actors occupying various positions in heterogeneous fields (economic, bureaucratic, scientific). We will base our discussion on the case of the Territorial Clusters for Economic Cooperation (Pôles territoriaux de coopération économique) in France. |
| Abstract: | L'approche écosystémique de l'économie sociale et solidaire (ESS) a fait l'objet ces dernières décennies d'une double montée en régime, d'abord dans le champ de l'action collective et de l'action publique et ensuite dans le champ académique. Cette diffusion, voire cette naturalisation, de l'approche écosystémique soulève son lot d'interrogations. Sans en rejeter l'usage, nous plaidons pour une approche sociohistorique et processuelle des écosystèmes de l'ESS, en considérant que si certaines dynamiques territoriales de l'ESS peuvent accéder, dans certaines conditions, à une dimension écosystémique, celle-ci est toujours historiquement située, temporaire et contingente dans la mesure où elle résulte des rapports de force et des compromis passés entre des acteurs occupant des positions diverses dans des champs hétérogènes (économique, bureaucratique, scientifique). Nous appuierons cette discussion sur le cas du dispositif des Pôles territoriaux de coopération économique (PTCE) en France. |
| Keywords: | Territorial Clusters for Economic Cooperation, territorial regulations, case studies, études de cas / ecosystem, social and solidarity economy, écosystème, économie sociale et solidaire, Pôles territoriaux de coopération économique, régulations territoriales |
| Date: | 2025–03–17 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-05020354 |
| By: | Dario Crisci; Sebastian E. Ferrando; Konrad Gajewski |
| Abstract: | An agent-based modelling methodology for the joint price evolution of two stocks is put forward. The method models future multidimensional price trajectories reflecting how a class of agents rebalance their portfolios in an operational way by reacting to how stocks' charts unfold. Prices are expressed in units of a third stock that acts as numeraire. The methodology is robust, in particular, it does not depend on any prior probability or analytical assumptions and it is based on constructing scenarios/trajectories. A main ingredient is a superhedging interpretation that provides relative superhedging prices between the two modelled stocks. The operational nature of the methodology gives objective conditions for the validity of the model and so implies realistic risk-rewards profiles for the agent's operations. Superhedging computations are performed with a dynamic programming algorithm deployed on a graph data structure. Null subsets of the trajectory space are directly related to arbitrage opportunities (i.e. there is no need for probabilistic considerations) that may emerge during the trajectory set construction. It follows that the superhedging algorithm handles null sets in a rigorous and intuitive way. Superhedging and underhedging bounds are kept relevant to the investor by means of a worst case pruning method and, as an alternative, a theory supported pruning that relies on a new notion of small arbitrage. |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2503.18165 |
| By: | Gough, Ian |
| Abstract: | This paper outlines a conceptual framework for a sufficiency economy, defining sufficiency as the space between a generalizable notion of human wellbeing and ungeneralisable excess. It assumes an objective and universal concept of human needs to define a ‘floor’ and the concept of planetary boundaries to define a ‘ceiling’. This is set up as an alternative to the dominant preference satisfaction theory of value. It begins with a brief survey of the potential contributions of sufficientarianism and limitarianism to this endeavor before outlining a theory of objective, universal human need. This recognizes the contextual variable nature of need satisfiers and the distinct methodology required to adjudicate necessities. It then turns to the planetary boundaries literature and utilizes a sequence of causal and normative reasoning to derive an operational ceiling and the concept of ungeneralisable luxuries. The final section addresses how the concepts of floors and ceilings might be operationalized via forms of dialogic democracy but noting the absence of any such institutions at the global level. Its policy conclusion is that a safe climate cannot be achieved through supply-side mitigation alone, and that fair demand-side mitigation necessarily requires a clear distinction between necessities and unnecessary luxuries, between which (hopefully) lies a space of sufficiency. |
| Keywords: | sufficiency; value theory; human needs; plentary boundaries; floors; ceilings; demand-side mitigation; sufficientarianism; limitarianism |
| JEL: | Q50 I30 |
| Date: | 2023–10–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:120465 |
| By: | Engelbert Stockhammer |
| Abstract: | One of Tom Palley’s many contributions has been on developing Minsky’s theory of financial cycles and propose empirical tests for cycles with a central role for household debt (Palley 1994, 2011). Minsky developed a rich theoretical argument, but there is no canonical Minsky model. One feature that sets Minsky’s approach apart from mainstream models of financial instability is that it features endogenous cycles. Such models need an overshooting and a dampening force. Most of Minsky’s original writings were centered on business debt, with investment as the overshooting and business debt as the dampening force. In the Global Financial Crisis, however, household debt played the key role. This paper suggests that Minksy models can be grouped along two axes: whether the core cycle mechanisms is a real expenditures-debt interaction cycle or a speculative asset price cycle; and whether the indebted sector is businesses or households. Thus there are types of Minsky models. After reviewing empirical evidence the paper concludes that two are empirically particularly relevant: first, corporate debt seems to follow business investment-business debt interaction cycle; second for household debt speculative house price dynamics are the key driver and momentum trader-fundamentalist models help to understand these housing cycles. |
| Keywords: | financial cycles, Minsky models, household debt, house price cycles |
| JEL: | E12 E50 G01 |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp2513 |
| By: | Rudiger von Arnim; Luis Felipe Eick |
| Abstract: | Barbosa-Filho and Taylor (2006) propose a theoretical model with the Goodwin mechanism (profit-led economic activity and profit-squeeze distribution of income) that generates the Goodwin pattern (a counter-clockwise cycle in activity-labor share space), which fits data well. Stockhammer and Michell (2017) investigate a three-dimensional model in output, labor share and firms' debt, and demonstrate that the inclusion of the financial linkage produces the Goodwin pattern in simulations even if demand is not profit-led (or weakly wage-led). This paper extends neo-Goodwinian theory to include the valuation ratio q. In two different models, we corroborate that the Goodwin pattern can indeed arise in simulations without profit-led demand when a financial linkage is present. Further, the Keynesian distributive cycle theory we build on clearly distinguishes between short run (usually profit-led) cycles, and a long run (potentially wage-led) steady state. In the two models discussed here, redistribution has no steady state effects. |
| Keywords: | Goodwinian theory; cyclical growth, growth and distribution. JEL Classification: E12, E25, E32, J50. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uta:papers:2025-02 |
| By: | Bumned Soodchomshom |
| Abstract: | We propose a field-theoretic framework that models money-debt dynamics in economic systems through a direct analogy to particle-hole creation in condensed matter physics. In this formulation, issuing credit generates a symmetric pair-money as a particle-like excitation and debt as its hole-like counterpart-embedded within a monetary vacuum field. The model is formalized via a second-quantized Hamiltonian that incorporates time-dependent perturbations to represent real-world effects such as interest and profit, which drive asymmetry and systemic imbalance. This framework successfully captures both macroeconomic phenomena, including quantitative easing (QE) and gold-backed monetary regimes, and microeconomic credit creation, under a unified quantum-like formalism. In particular, QE is interpreted as generating entangled-like pairs of currency and bonds, exhibiting systemic correlations akin to nonlocal quantum interactions. Asset-backed systems, on the other hand, are modeled as coherent superpositions that collapse upon use. This approach provides physicists with a rigorous and intuitive toolset to analyze economic behavior using many-body theory, laying the groundwork for a new class of models in econophysics and interdisciplinary field analysis. |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2504.12340 |
| By: | Max Sina Knicker (X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, LadHyX - Laboratoire d'hydrodynamique - X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Karl Naumann-Woleske (X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris); Jean-Philippe Bouchaud (Académie des sciences [Paris, France], X - École polytechnique - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, CFM - Capital Fund Management); Francesco Zamponi (UNIROMA - Università degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza" = Sapienza University [Rome], Systèmes Désordonnés et Applications - LPENS - Laboratoire de physique de l'ENS - ENS Paris - SU - Sorbonne Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPCité - Université Paris Cité - Département de Physique de l'ENS-PSL - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres) |
| Abstract: | The economic shocks that followed the COVID-19 pandemic have brought to light the difficulty, both for academics and policy makers, of describing and predicting the dynamics of inflation. This paper offers an alternative modelling approach. We study the 2020-2023 period within the well-studied Mark-0 Agent-Based Model, in which economic agents act and react according to plausible behavioural rules. We include a mechanism through which trust of economic agents in the Central Bank can de-anchor. We investigate the influence of regulatory policies on inflationary dynamics resulting from three exogenous shocks, calibrated on those that followed the COVID-19 pandemic: a production/consumption shock due to COVID-related lockdowns, a supply-chain shock, and an energy price shock exacerbated by the Russian invasion of Ukraine. By exploring the impact of these shocks under different assumptions about monetary policy efficacy and transmission channels, we review various explanations for the resurgence of inflation in the United States, including demand-pull, cost-push, and profit-driven factors. Our main results are four-fold: (i) without appropriate fiscal policy, the shocked economy can take years to recover, or even tip over into a deep recession; (ii) the response to policy is non-monotonic, leading to a narrow window of ''optimal'' policy responses due to the trade-off between inflation and unemployment; (iii) the success of monetary policy in curbing inflation is primarily due to expectation anchoring, rather than to direct impact of interest rate hikes; (iv) the two most sensitive model parameters are those describing wage and price indexation. The results of our study have implications for Central Bank decision-making, and offers an easy-to-use tool that may help anticipate the consequences of different monetary and fiscal policies. |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04238133 |
| By: | Carolina Castaldi; Milad Abbasiharofteh; Sergio Petralia |
| Abstract: | The sustainability transition is high on the European agenda, with an emerging understanding that focusing on green technologies is not enough to achieve disruptive sustainability. An overall green transformation of current systems of production and consumption also requires market formation processes whereby green markets become viable economic opportunities for regions to specialize in. In this study, we draw on insights from evolutionary economic geography and geography of transitions to understand how regions develop green market specializations. To do so, we investigate two key sets of factors. First, we consider the evolutionary capability development process whereby new specializations emerge from existing related regional capabilities, in a path-dependent way. Second, we account for green public procurement initiatives to capture path-creation efforts in the form of deliberate regional policy directed towards green market formation. Our empirical analysis focuses on European regions in the period 2000-2020. We employ original trademark-based metrics to capture regional specializations in green markets and combine them with patent data to construct relatedness linkages between technologies and markets. Our results reveal that only a few regions have been able to develop specializations in green markets. We find that both prior capabilities in related technological domains and markets are positively associated with the emergence of these regional specializations. In addition, we also find that green public procurement is positively associated with the emergence of regional green market specializations. Our findings bear relevance for policy and research alike. |
| Keywords: | sustainability; regions; green markets; relatedness; public procurement; trademarks; patents |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:egu:wpaper:2512 |
| By: | Velez-Torres, Irene; Chiavaroli, Chiara |
| Abstract: | While consistent evidence proves that rural women derive important socio-economic benefits from participating in the coca value chain, the extent to which drug economies and antinarcotic policies challenge or reproduce structures of gendered exclusion, particularly in relation to land and labor, remains unclear. This paper examines the intersection of gender, land access disparities, and labor dynamics within coca-producing units, drawing on long-term ethnographic fieldwork in two major coca-producing regions in Colombia. By unpacking these interactions, we contribute a gendered lens to the political ecologies of coca production and antinarcotic policies. |
| Keywords: | gender; political ecology; dispossession; drug policy; substitution programs |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2025–04–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127617 |
| By: | Hassan, Wesam Adel |
| Abstract: | This article examines cryptocurrency trading in Turkey, focusing on the ‘gamblification’ of this emerging market. Based on 18 months of ethnographic research (2021-2022) conducted during an economic crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the research reveals how Turks engaged with cryptocurrencies are considering the structural parallels between trading and gambling. The article also incorporates the perspective of Turkey's Directorate for Religious Affairs (Diyanet), which has declared cryptocurrency trading impermissible, highlighting the tension between contemporary financial practices and traditional Islamic frameworks. The article links the perception of cryptocurrency trading as a modern game of chance, as articulated by research participants, to Turkey's economic instability and their technological shift from traditional state-regulated games of chance (lotteries, betting on sports, and horse racing) to cryptocurrency trading. My ethnographic method brings new empirical data and qualitative analysis to understand the cultural and religious dynamics shaping this emergent financial phenomenon in the under-studied context of Turkey. I argue that cryptocurrency adoption in Turkey is driven by more than economic necessity; it reflects a cultural transformation valuing modernity and innovation. Many Turks view cryptocurrency as a viable alternative to traditional financial systems and a representation of the future of money. This shift signifies a departure from conventional monetary practices and reflects a collective idealisation of the future of finance. The article thus illuminates how Turkish individuals navigate risk and speculation during economic crises, demonstrating their adaptability in engaging with non-monetary financial markets. |
| Keywords: | cryptocurrency; gambling; Turkey; trading; Islam |
| JEL: | F3 G3 J1 |
| Date: | 2025–03–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127631 |
| By: | Jose Barrales-Ruiz; Ivan Mendieta-Muñoz; Codrina Rada; Rudiger von Arnim |
| Abstract: | The literature on the empirical linkages between economic growth (or other measures of macroeconomic performance) and the functional distribution of income is copious on the short run. The sustained and simultaneous decline in average rates of real GDP growth and the labor share of income in the US in recent decades has led to renewed interest in the long run, in light of the hypothesis of inequality-induced secular stagnation. This paper employs a vector error correction model with time-varying parameters and stochastic volatility to estimate the long run interaction between real GDP growth, labor share and the unemployment rate. Our key result indicates that a lower labor share is associated with a decline in the growth rate - economic growth is wage-led in the long run. |
| Keywords: | Growth and distribution; stagnation; demand regime. JEL Classification: C32, E12, E25, E32, O40. |
| Date: | 2025 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uta:papers:2025-03 |
| By: | Capucine Pierrel (UMR AMAP - Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - IRD [Occitanie] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier); Adrien Nguyen-Huu (CEE-M - Centre d'Economie de l'Environnement - Montpellier - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - Institut Agro Montpellier - Institut Agro - Institut national d'enseignement supérieur pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier); Cédric Gaucherel (UMR AMAP - Botanique et Modélisation de l'Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations - Cirad - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - IRD [Occitanie] - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - UM - Université de Montpellier) |
| Abstract: | Fifty years after the publication of Limits to Growth (LtG), its scenarios predicting global socio-economic collapse are still relevant. In this study, we extracted key components and processes from the LtG narratives to construct a simple qualitative model based on solely 13 variables and 40 qualitative rules. Our modeling framework enables the computation of all possible system trajectories (scenarios) within a single output once the model is accepted. By retracing all scenarios presented in LtG, our model uncovered highly interconnected trajectories leading to either sustainability or collapse. Through this work, we demonstrate that the co-authors of LtG successfully tackled the challenge of exhaustively representing all conceivable trajectories for the global system based on their core assumptions. Furthermore, our study paves the way for exploring alternative scenarios by applying this comprehensive, yet straightforward framework to newly acquired knowledge. |
| Keywords: | Earth system, World3, prospective scenario, structural analysis, discrete-event, limits to growth |
| Date: | 2025–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05023744 |
| By: | Luyao Zhang |
| Abstract: | Large language models (LLMs) are transforming global decision-making and societal systems by processing diverse data at unprecedented scales. However, their potential to homogenize human values poses critical risks, similar to biodiversity loss undermining ecological resilience. Rooted in the ancient Greek concept of ethos, meaning both individual character and the shared moral fabric of communities, EthosGPT draws on a tradition that spans from Aristotle's virtue ethics to Adam Smith's moral sentiments as the ethical foundation of economic cooperation. These traditions underscore the vital role of value diversity in fostering social trust, institutional legitimacy, and long-term prosperity. EthosGPT addresses the challenge of value homogenization by introducing an open-source framework for mapping and evaluating LLMs within a global scale of human values. Using international survey data on cultural indices, prompt-based assessments, and comparative statistical analyses, EthosGPT reveals both the adaptability and biases of LLMs across regions and cultures. It offers actionable insights for developing inclusive LLMs, such as diversifying training data and preserving endangered cultural heritage to ensure representation in AI systems. These contributions align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities), SDG 11.4 (Cultural Heritage Preservation), and SDG 16 (Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions). Through interdisciplinary collaboration, EthosGPT promotes AI systems that are both technically robust and ethically inclusive, advancing value plurality as a cornerstone for sustainable and equitable futures. |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2504.09861 |
| By: | Nina Bo\v{c}kov\'a; Barbora Voln\'a; Mirko Dohnal |
| Abstract: | This paper addresses gender-related aspects of innovation processes in Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Classical analytical and statistical approaches often struggle with the high complexity and insufficient data typical of gender-related innovation studies. We propose a trend-based modelling framework that requires minimal information and uses non-numerical quantifiers: increasing, constant, and decreasing. This approach enables the analysis of ten-dimensional models including variables such as Gender, Product Innovation, Process Innovation, and High-Risk Tolerance. Using trend-based artificial intelligence methods, we identify 13 distinct scenarios and all possible transitions between them. This allows for the evaluation of queries like: Can exports increase while gender parameters remain constant? Two versions of the GASI trend model are presented: the original and an expert-modified version addressing critiques related to scenario transitions. The final model confirms stability and supports the assumption that "no tree grows to heaven." Trend-based modelling offers a practical, interpretable alternative for complex, data-scarce systems. |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2504.08493 |
| By: | Gil-Hernández, Carlos J.; Salas-Rojo, Pedro; Vidal, Guillem; Villani, Davide |
| Abstract: | Wealth is a central determinant of life chances and intergenerational status persistence in modern societies. Despite increasing attention, sociologists traditionally overlooked its role in class-based economic disparities, while most economists focused on the elites’ accumulation. This article combines sociological and economic perspectives to test whether big occupational classes, the most standardised and operationalisable approach, depict the wealth distribution. Drawing from the Luxembourg Wealth Study (2002–2018) in five European countries, we explore (1) how wealth is distributed and stratified by big occupational classes over time and cross-nationally and (2) to what extent classes account for aggregate wealth inequality trends compared with income. Unlike bold claims on class 'death' or 'decomposition', inequality of outcomes in wealth accumulation is firmly rooted across big occupational classes in contemporary capitalism, potentially harming social mobility in future generations. Still, occupational classes better capture between-group income inequality and stratification than wealth, emphasising the importance of economic resources beyond labour market attachment. Against the backdrop of previous research and our findings, we discuss the role of wealth in contemporary class analysis. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2025–02–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127479 |
| By: | Taha, Mai |
| Abstract: | While the Palestinian home has been a target of relentless demolition and displacement, it has historically also been a place of care, culture, labour, and resistance. Indeed, the home is always becoming, constantly remade with every demolition and every displacement. The home embodies these contradictions: both a crime scene and a revolutionary space; a site of colonial surveillance and destruction, and a grounding site of labour and reconstruction. To engage with these tensions, I return to the revolution of 1936–9 against the British Mandate, a snapshot in the long and ongoing Palestinian revolution. But instead of only looking for revolutionaries in the barricades and the mountains, I look for them in the kitchens, in the bedrooms and in the living rooms. In that sense, I propose that the production of the home space is itself a conceptual site of theorization for what can be called insurgent social reproduction. |
| Keywords: | gender; home; labour; Palestine; revolution; settler colonialism; social reproduction |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2025–04–12 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:127315 |