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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2025–06–23
twelve papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Charlène Arnaud (AGIR - AGroécologie, Innovations, teRritoires - Toulouse INP - Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) - UT - Université de Toulouse - INP - PURPAN - Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan - Toulouse INP - Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) - UT - Université de Toulouse - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, LGTO - Laboratoire de Gestion et des Transitions Organisationnelles - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse); Célia Auquier (LGTO - Laboratoire de Gestion et des Transitions Organisationnelles - UT3 - Université Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier - UT - Université de Toulouse, AGIR - AGroécologie, Innovations, teRritoires - Toulouse INP - Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) - UT - Université de Toulouse - INP - PURPAN - Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan - Toulouse INP - Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) - UT - Université de Toulouse - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Pascale Chateau Terrisse (AGIR - AGroécologie, Innovations, teRritoires - Toulouse INP - Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) - UT - Université de Toulouse - INP - PURPAN - Ecole d'Ingénieurs de Purpan - Toulouse INP - Institut National Polytechnique (Toulouse) - UT - Université de Toulouse - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement) |
| Abstract: | This article is an introduction to the special issue entitled: "Creating alternatives within cooperatives." The aim of this issue is to show what takes place and what is at stake in these cooperative spaces that foster critique and alternative practices. Our aim is to provide a framework for thinking about the issues involved in creating alternatives within cooperative organizations. To do this, we begin by returning to the concept of creating a critical alternative to the Capitalocene. We use this concept to position cooperatives within a critique of capitalism as alternative organizations to this dominant system. We also take the time to define the notion of fabrication in its dual material and ideological sense. To do this, we integrate recent developments in critical currents around two terms: "alternative organizing" and "prefigurative alternative organizing." In the second part, we return to the issues, modalities, and practices through which the alternative takes shape, at two different levels of analysis: the organization and the territory. |
| Abstract: | Cet article constitue une introduction au numéro spécial intitulé « La fabrique de l'alternative dans les coopératives » dont l'objectif est de donner à voir ce qui se passe, ce qui se joue dans ces espaces coopératifs porteurs de critique et d'alternative. Nous souhaitons ainsi poser un cadre de réflexion qui permet d'interroger les enjeux de la fabrique de l'alternative au sein d'organisations coopératives. Pour ce faire, nous revenons dans une première partie sur la fabrique d'une alternative critique au Capitalocène. Nous revendiquons ce concept pour insérer les coopératives dans une critique du capitalisme en tant qu'organisations alternatives à ce système dominant. Nous prenons également le temps de définir la notion de fabrique dans sa double acception matérielle et idéelle. Pour ce faire, nous intégrons les développements récents menés dans les courants critiques autour de deux termes anglais, celui d'« alternative organizing » et celui de « prefigurative alternative organizing ». Dans une deuxième partie nous revenons sur les enjeux, les modalités et les pratiques à travers lesquelles l'alternative se traduit, à deux échelles d'analyse différentes : l'organisation et le territoire. |
| Keywords: | Alternative Organizations, Capitalism, Constructing alternative, Tensions, Territory, Coopératives, organisations alternatives, capitalisme, fabrique, tensions, territoire Cooperatives |
| Date: | 2025–03–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05069314 |
| By: | Apostolidis, Paul |
| Keywords: | critical theory; capitalism; work; employment; labour; Amazon |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2024–12–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128205 |
| By: | Lukas Starchl (University of Graz, Austria) |
| Abstract: | Ludwig Mises' interest in large-scale problems concerning the institutional framework and social as well as economic requirements for a well-functioning economy, makes Mises' writings on supranational governance particularly interesting. Based on a reading of his German language publications and archival material, this paper analyzes the development of Ludwig Mises' ideas of supranational governance in his time in Vienna and locates them in the broader historical and intellectual context. The paper focuses on two particularly important elements of that project. First, his steadily vanishing trust in a narrowly defined popular enlightenment, to be understood as his trust in the peoples' capacity to grasp the perceived infallibility of liberal economics and consequently the harmony of interest across all individuals. The second element, inextricably linked to the first one, is his perspective on democracy and its role in the political framework of a global capitalist order. |
| Keywords: | Ludwig Mises, Supranational Governance, Democracy and Economics, Global Capitalism, Nationalism and Economics |
| JEL: | B13 B25 B53 P16 F15 F55 |
| Date: | 2025–06 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grz:wpaper:2025-07 |
| By: | Lucia Stephanie B. Sibala; Novy Aila B. Rivas; Giovanna Fae R. Oguis |
| Abstract: | The study investigates the coffee value chain dynamics in Davao del Sur using an agent-based model. Three main factors driving interactions among key players were identified: trust, risk, and transaction costs. The model was constructed using NetLogo 6.3.0, and data from a survey questionnaire collected three data points from BACOFA members. Five cases were explored, with each scenario simulated 1000 times. Findings suggest that producers often sell to the market rather than the cooperative due to higher prices. However, producers tend to prioritize trust in buyers and their risk attitude, leading to increased sales to the cooperative. The producer's risk attitude significantly influences their decision-making, affecting performance outcomes such as loans, demand, and price changes. All three factors play a role and exert varying impacts on the value chain. So, the stakeholders' decisions on prioritizing factors in improving relationships depend on their priorities. Nonetheless, simulations show that establishing a harmonious system benefiting all parties is possible. However, achieving this requires adjustments to demand, pricing, trust, and risk attitudes of key players, which may not align with the preferences of some parties in reality. |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.05797 |
| By: | Immediato, Generoso |
| Abstract: | We must reconsider our relationship with machines as artificial intelligence evolves from task-based support to autonomous or assisted generation. Generation is not creation. Human intelligence–our only known model –is the sole benchmark for evaluating AI. Yet, we lack rigorous comparison standards because we do not fully understand the internal mechanisms of human intelligence. Perhaps it is more appropriate to speak of AI in simplified terms–as something that, under certain conditions, emulates what we commonly perceive as intelligent behavior. But even that remains uncertain. To call a circuit board “intelligent, ” in my view, is merely an exercise in measuring how well emulation mimics what we recognize as intelligence, based solely on the only model we know: our own. Let us not forget that we still lack a universally accepted definition of intelligence, let alone a definition of thinking, or even a deeper understanding of the complex nature of consciousness. Let us also remember that over the last 80 years of computing and automation, the dominant discipline for solving problems has not been AI, but engineering. Engineering provides the methodologies, mental models, and validation frameworks we use to design and deploy systems. AI extends this legacy — and at the same time, disrupts it, introducing new epistemic and ethical challenges that cannot be resolved solely through efficiency. This manifesto examines why and how AI must evolve in tandem with human cognition, roles, and ethics. It argues that AI demands more than technical or economic scrutiny—it calls for a philosophical revolution in understanding intelligence, responsibility, and human-machine interaction. At the heart of this transition lies the need to articulate a new intellectual discipline: the Philosophy of the Machines. In a world increasingly divided between the celebration of individual agency amplified by AI tools and the calls for stricter regulatory frameworks to govern “machine autonomy”, the Philosophy of the Machines proposes a third way: a foundational philosophical inquiry into how machines reshape the conditions of thinking, acting, and ethical responsibility itself. This is not a technical manual, nor a speculative vision. It is a conceptual framework designed to reframe the logic of AI adoption, shifting from defining efficiency, value, and oversight to allocating agency in automated systems. The Δ–η–ζ model introduced here is not a turnkey tool but a thinking scaffold — a way to build more realistic, ethical, and human-aligned business cases for AI and GenAI. This manifesto aims to open the debate: • What kind of intelligence are we building? • What kind of humans must we become in response? • And how do we share responsibility with systems we no longer fully control? This manifesto is neither techno-optimistic nor purely regulatory; it is ontological, epistemological, and systemic, offering a new intellectual framework for the Age of Artificial Agents. This manifesto invites reflection on these questions not as an academic exercise, but as a call to reshape the human condition in the age of artificial agents. |
| Date: | 2025–04–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:n9asz_v1 |
| By: | Crawford, Ben; Whyte, David |
| Abstract: | Considering that the transition to a low-carbon economy will not be secured by mutual agreement but requires coordinated industrial organizing, this article builds upon eco-socialist critiques to identify the concrete dimensions of the underlying solidarity between workers and the rest of nature as reflected in workers’ struggles. Specifically, we argue that industrial organization in opposition to labour precarity and work intensification is fundamental to both achieving sustainable work and mitigating environmental harms to workers’ bodies. This argument presents a basis for a common response to the transition to a low-carbon economy across the labour movement and for cross-sectoral climate demands in bargaining. |
| Keywords: | climate change; just transition; trade unions; climate organizing; climate bargaining; collective bargaining |
| JEL: | R14 J01 |
| Date: | 2025–04–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:128229 |
| By: | Soukayna El Ouali (IRG - Institut de Recherche en Gestion - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - Université Gustave Eiffel) |
| Abstract: | This article explores efforts to institutionalize social responsibility within higher education institutions, based on a qualitative study conducted with fourteen French universities and grandes écoles with the DD&RS label (sustainable development and social and environmental responsibility). Through content analysis of interviews, this research reveals the dynamic nature of the institutional work required for effective USR integration, encompassing structural, conceptual, operational, relational, emotional, and extra-institutional elements. The study highlights the pivotal role of relational and emotional work in overcoming resistance to change, as well as the importance of extra-institutional work in enhancing the visibility of social responsibility initiatives. By offering an integrated vision of institutional commitment to USR, this article contributes to rethinking strategies for integrating social responsibility into higher education institutions. |
| Abstract: | Cet article explore les efforts d'institutionnalisation de la responsabilité sociale au sein des établissements d'enseignement supérieur en s'appuyant sur une étude qualitative menée auprès de 14 universités et grandes écoles françaises labellisées Développement durable et responsabilité sociétale et environnementale (DD&RSE). À travers l'analyse de contenu des entretiens, cette recherche dévoile la nature dynamique du travail institutionnel requis pour une intégration efficace de la RSU, englobant les dimensions structurelles, conceptuelles, opérationnelles, relationnelles, émotionnelles et extra-institutionnelles. La recherche met en lumière le rôle pivot du travail relationnel et émotionnel pour surmonter les résistances au changement, ainsi que l'importance du travail extra-institutionnel dans l'amélioration de la visibilité des initiatives de responsabilité sociale. En proposant une vision intégrée de l'engagement institutionnel envers la RSU, cet article contribue à repenser les stratégies d'intégration de la responsabilité sociale dans les établissements du supérieur. |
| Keywords: | Higher education, SDSR, Social responsibility, USR, institutional work, Enseignement supérieur, label DD&, RS, responsabilité sociale, RSU, travail institutionnel, Sciences Sociales |
| Date: | 2024–09–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05077207 |
| By: | Takeshima, Hiroyuki; Kyle, Jordan; Kosec, Katrina; Raghunathan, Kalyani |
| Abstract: | Expanding women’s voice and agency (VA) within governance and decision-making has increasingly been recognized as necessary for promoting women’s welfare, community development, and inclusive food systems. VA are critical components of gender equality, in addition to access to resources and economic opportunities. While agency relates to an individual’s ability to make meaningful choices (our specific focus is on choices made beyond the household), voice within community governance and decision-making relates to an individual’s ability to play a public role in decision-making processes that affect one’s life. Exercising VA within community governance and decision-making involves having a meaningful say in the public sphere. Women’s VA within communities may strengthen resilience, increase women’s access to essential resources, improve women’s decision-making power in various domains including the household, and facilitate broader social networks for women. Sustainable Development Goal five on gender equality specifically targets the full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership for women at all levels of political life. However, gender gaps in VA are persistent. These gaps can be further aggravated by adverse external shocks, such as climate uncertainty and conflicts, which can impact resources, capital, and economic opportunities and which are often disproportionately harmful to women. |
| Keywords: | decision making; gender; governance; politics; women; gender gap; climate change; India; Asia; Southern Asia; Africa; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2024–08–15 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:polbrf:151738 |
| By: | Valiente, Regina; Heckert, Jessica; Paz, Florencia; Cabnal, Edwin |
| Abstract: | Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls is reflected across policy priorities at global and national levels. Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG 5) seeks to achieve gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Moreover, the Government of Guatemala, through the Presi-dential Secretariat for Women (SEPREM), has supported these priorities through the National Policy for the Promotion and Comprehensive Development of Women and the Equality of Opportunities Plan 2008-2023, particularly under its Equitable Economic and Productive Development policy line, which gives the agenda a thematic focus on women’s economic empowerment. Both policy instruments are designed to guide public institutions in achieving the goals that have been set by the Council of Minis-ters of Women of Central America and the Dominican Republic (COMMCA). Economic empowerment is one of the main lines of policy action under the Regional Policy on Gender Equality and Equity of SICA (PRIEG/SICA). As such, women’s economic empowerment is being prioritized at the national level in Guatemala, and also at the regional level across Central America and the Dominican Republic. La igualdad de género y el empoderamiento de las mujeres y niñas se ve reflejado en distintas prioridades de políticas a nivel global y local. El Objetivo de Desarrollo Sostenible 5 busca lograr la igualdad de género y empoderar a todas las mujeres y niñas. De forma correspondiente, el Gobierno de Guatemala por medio de la Secretaría Presidencial de la Mujer (Seprem) ha impulsado el tema, tanto a través de la Política Nacional de Promoción y Desarrollo Integral de las Mujeres y su Plan de Oportunidades PNPDIM-PEO 2008-2023, dentro el Eje de Desarrollo Económico y Productivo con equidad; así como también en la agenda temática de empoderamiento económico de las mujeres. Ambos instrumentos son orientadores de las instituciones públicas, a la vez que, dentro de las acciones que se han coordinado desde el Consejo de Ministras de la Mujer de Centroamérica y República Dominicana (COMMCA), el empoderamiento económico es uno de los ejes de la Política Regional de Igualdad y Equidad de Género del SICA (PRIEG/SICA). Así, el empoderamiento económico de las mujeres es una prioridad a nivel nacional en Guatemala, pero también a nivel regional. |
| Keywords: | gender equality; women's empowerment; policies; development; economic aspects; women; sustainable development goals; capacity development; Guatemala; Latin America; Central America; Northern America |
| Date: | 2024–01–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:fpr:prnote:137514 |
| By: | Johannes Buchner |
| Abstract: | The goal of these notes is to make the concept of "pseudo goodwin cycles" mathematically more precise. At first the title seems like a contradiction to have a wage-led model and still find goodwin cycles in it, but the point we try to make in the paper is that those are only `pseudo-goodwin' cycles, and not real goodwin cycles. |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.23513 |
| By: | Hana Krakovsk\'a; Rudolf Hanel |
| Abstract: | Asymmetric evolutionary games, such as the Ultimatum Game, provide keys to understanding the emergence of fairness in social species. Building on this framework, we explore the evolution of social value systems and the operational role that social status plays in hierarchically organised societies. Within the asymmetric Ultimatum Game paradigm, where "proposers" suggest terms for resource distribution, and "responders" accept or reject these terms, we examine the assignment of roles between players under a subjective social order. This order is grounded in an emergent status hierarchy based on observable player attributes (such as age and wealth). The underlying rules for constructing such a hierarchy stabilise over time by inheritance and family ties. Despite their subjective nature these (often sub-conscious) value systems have operative meaning in controlling access of individuals to resources and decision making. We demonstrate these effects using a simple but sufficiently complex model with dynamical population size and network structure, where division of resources (prey) is carried out according to the principles of the Ultimatum Game. We focus on the emerging proposer and responder thresholds under distinct social hierarchies and interaction networks and discuss them in relation to the extensive body of Ultimatum Game experiments conducted across a wide range of cultural contexts. We observe the emergence of diverse sharing norms, ranging from unfair to highly generous, alongside the development of various social norms. |
| Date: | 2025–05 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2505.07060 |
| By: | Germà Bel (GiM-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.); Joël Bühler (GiM-IREA, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain.) |
| Abstract: | We study how the privatisation of urban water is being challenged in Catalonia, which has a high proportion of private management and a high degree of monopolisation in the water contract market, compared to Spain. We use detailed and up-to-date municipal data to study the dynamics of monopolisation and remunicipalisation. We find that remunicipalisation, rather than potential competition for contracts, is a remedy against monopolisation. Inter-municipal cooperation in Catalonia facilitated the implementation of remunicipalisation in smaller municipalities. In addition, we analyse the democratisation of water management following remunicipalisation and find that progress was modest, both in Catalonia and in Spain. |
| Keywords: | Privatisation; Monopolisation; Remunicipalisation; Cooperation; Democratisation; Commons. JEL classification: B50, D42, H42, L33. |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ira:wpaper:202503 |