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on Heterodox Microeconomics |
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Issue of 2026–02–16
nine papers chosen by Carlo D’Ippoliti, Università degli Studi di Roma “La Sapienza” |
| By: | Nicolas B. Verger (DCU - Dublin City University [Dublin]); Raffi Duymedjian (EESC-GEM - Grenoble Ecole de Management); Vlad P Glăveanu (DCU - Dublin City University [Dublin]) |
| Abstract: | Meritocracy is often discussed as an issue of distributive justice – that is, as the fair allocation of resources. Capitalist organizations are frequently structured around meritocracy, rewarding people hierarchically according to their talent and hard work. Amid concerns that these organizations also contribute to sustaining the ecological crisis, how does meritocracy contribute to, or maintain, environmental damage? In this Connexion piece, we explore this issue. Our analysis identifies a dominant system embedded within capitalism, which we call the Meritocracy of Production. This system views the world primarily as a collection of exploitable resources, rewarding maximization, efficiency and innovative exploitation aimed at unlimited outputs, often justifying extensive resource extraction with little regard for socio-ecological consequences. By contrast, we discuss practices (e.g. bricolage, upcycling, low-tech) that exemplify a Meritocracy of Preservation. This alternative emphasizes sustainable co-existence and collective robustness, valuing dignified, respectful and interdependent relations within ecological and social environments. It rewards practices that sustainably contribute to co-habitation and co-existence. We argue these two meritocratic systems are ontologically equivalent, each offering distinct worldviews, narratives and modes of engagement with the world. People and organizations navigate tensions between these poles by borrowing discursive and representational elements from both systems. While these elements simultaneously influence everyday practices, capitalist organizations are heavily skewed toward the Meritocracy of Production, placing little emphasis on valuing efforts of dynamic preservation—that is, on amplifying the worth and dignity of multiple things-in-the-world, not as a return to a pristine past, but as their ongoing rearrangements to enable their cohabitation. Recognizing this interplay highlights the need to shift towards greater ecological balance and environmental responsibility. |
| Abstract: | La méritocratie est souvent abordée comme une question de justice distributive, c'est-à-dire comme une allocation équitable des ressources. Les organisations capitalistes sont fréquemment structurées autour de la méritocratie, récompensant les individus de manière hiérarchique en fonction de leur talent et de leur travail. Alors que ces organisations sont également mises en cause pour leur contribution au maintien de la crise écologique, comment la méritocratie participe-t-elle aux dommages environnementaux, ou les perpétue-t-elle ? Dans cet article de Connexion, nous explorons cette question. Notre analyse met en évidence un système dominant inscrit dans le capitalisme, que nous appelons la méritocratie de la production. Ce système considère le monde avant tout comme un ensemble de ressources exploitables et valorise la maximisation, l'efficacité et l'exploitation innovante orientées vers une production illimitée, justifiant souvent une extraction intensive des ressources sans réelle prise en compte des conséquences socio-écologiques. À l'inverse, nous examinons des pratiques (par exemple le bricolage, l'upcycling, le low-tech) qui illustrent une méritocratie de la préservation. Cette alternative met l'accent sur une coexistence durable et une robustesse collective, en valorisant des relations dignes, respectueuses et interdépendantes au sein des environnements écologiques et sociaux. Elle récompense les pratiques qui contribuent de manière durable à la cohabitation et à la coexistence. Nous soutenons que ces deux systèmes méritocratiques sont ontologiquement équivalents, chacun proposant des visions du monde, des récits et des modes d'engagement distincts avec celui-ci. Les individus et les organisations naviguent entre ces pôles en empruntant des éléments discursifs et représentationnels à chacun des deux systèmes. Bien que ces éléments influencent simultanément les pratiques quotidiennes, les organisations capitalistes restent fortement orientées vers la méritocratie de la production, accordant peu d'importance à la valorisation des efforts de préservation dynamique — c'est-à-dire à l'amplification de la valeur et de la dignité de multiples entités-au-monde, non pas comme un retour à un passé pristine, mais comme des réagencements continus permettant leur cohabitation. Reconnaître cette interaction met en lumière la nécessité d'un déplacement vers un plus grand équilibre écologique et une responsabilité environnementale accrue. |
| Keywords: | Creative preservation, creativity, ecology, innovation, meritocracy, post-growth, resource, resourcification, sustainability ORCID iDs |
| Date: | 2025–07–13 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:gemptp:hal-05422094 |
| By: | Thibault Mirabel (UPN - Université Paris Nanterre); Marco Lomuscio (UNIPR - Università degli studi di Parma = University of Parma) |
| Abstract: | This article examines why Italy has ten times more worker cooperatives than France. Since this rarity gap cannot be explained by higher death rates of French worker cooperatives in respect to Italian ones, we discuss the differences in barriers to worker cooperative entries in the two countries. We claim that such differences can hardly explain the difference of their rarity. Rather, we propose that the rarity gap of worker cooperatives between France and Italy is due to different institutional opportunity structures which raise the opportunity cost of French worker cooperatives relative to Italian ones. To do so, we perform a comparative institutional analysis, by hypothesising that substitution effects between institutions favouring worker cooperatives and those favouring workers' participation via alternative organisations could explain the worker-cooperative gap identified in the target countries. We stress that general institutions in favour of worker participation and workers' solidarity hinder the development of worker cooperatives, and that the prevalence of worker cooperatives in Italy is due to the hostile environment for worker participation. Our findings suggest that institutions favouring workers' participation can, paradoxically, limit the development of worker cooperatives by making them less attractive as means of economic participation relative to available alternative organizations. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneurship, opportunity cost, democracy JEL codes J54, institutions, worker cooperatives, L31, D02, J51, P13 |
| Date: | 2025–03–20 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05429435 |
| By: | Kokou Kouzouahin Somabe (UCL - Université catholique de Lille) |
| Abstract: | The scientific successes of the mathematization of his research approach, the physics has revolutionized the natural sciences with benefits a reference scientist status, in the community of scientist. Therefore, other disciplines like economics turn to the natural sciences, in their scientific approach. Furthermore, the epistemologists had the difficult to paint the scientific status of the economics, by referring to the natural science. From there, we notice a certain distancing from its political and normative approach, in this objective or approach to constituting an ‘physics economics'. For us, this isn't in according of the expectations of the specifical research on the phenomena economic, in the favor of justifying the authentic identity scientist of economics, which by its axiological foundation is political. After noting the socioeconomic and the environmental crises which experiences the world of economic, we discover that the economy of commons goods appears as an epistemological opportunity to redefine the real identity of the economy today. Our analysis epistemological approach of the economics isn't in the case to discredit the scientificity of the economics, but it's an objective critic look at the meaning of this science status, with considering the challenges and realities of the contemporary economics. |
| Abstract: | Grâce à ses succès scientifiques, la physique a révolutionné les sciences de la nature, qui bénéficient désormais d'un statut de référence au sein de la communauté scientifique. D'autres disciplines telles que l'économie se tournent vers les sciences de la nature, dans leur démarche scientifique. Toutefois, les épistémologues des sciences ont du mal à élaborer le statut scientifique de l'économie, en se référant aux sciences de la nature. Partant de là, l'on a assisté à un certain éloignement de l'économie de sa démarche politique et normative, dans le but de constituer 'une physique économique'. Ce qui, pour nous, ne semble pas répondre aux attentes d'une étude propre aux phénomènes économiques et ne permet pas de justifier une identité scientifique authentique de l'économie, qui, de par son fondement axiologique, est politique. Par le constat des crises socio-économiques et environnementales que connaît le monde économique, nous trouvons que l'économie des biens communs, constitue une opportunité à saisir pour redéfinir l'identité épistémologique réelle de l'économie, de nos jours. Notre démarche d'analyse épistémologique portée sur la science économique n'est nullement de jeter le discrédit sur la scientificité des sciences économiques, mais de jeter un regard critique sur la signification de cette scientificité aux regards des enjeux et réalités économiques contemporaines. |
| Keywords: | scientist, economics of commons, economic sciences, économie des biens communs epistemology, sciences économique, scientifique, épistémologie, épistémologie scientifique sciences économique économie des biens communs epistemology scientist economic sciences economics of commons, économie des biens communs. |
| Date: | 2025–09–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05359546 |
| By: | Clara Zanon Brenck (Cedeplar, Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil); Mark Setterfield (Department of Economics, New School for Social Research, USA) |
| Abstract: | The relationship between inequality and growth has long attracted the attention of Post-Keynesian economists. The Balance-of-Payments-Constrained Growth (BPCG) approach, however, emphasizes that in the long run it is the external constraint that ultimately pins down the growth rate. This paper contributes to that literature by developing a theoretical version of an Income Distribution Sensitive Thirlwall's Law, in which import income elasticities are decomposed by income group and the aggregate elasticity becomes a weighted average of group-specific elasticities. Changes in personal income distribution therefore modify the balance-of-payments-constrained equilibrium growth rate. Using Brazilian household microdata for 2018, we estimate income elasticities for ten income groups and convert them into import income elasticities. The results show that these elasticities vary systematically across the distribution and that more unequal income distributions are associated with a higher aggregate import income elasticity and a lower growth rate compatible with balance-of-payments equilibrium, underscoring the need to incorporate inequality directly into Thirlwall's law. |
| Keywords: | Inequality, income elasticities of demand for imports, Balance of Payments Constrained Growth, Thirlwall's law |
| JEL: | E12 F43 O41 O54 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:new:wpaper:2602 |
| By: | Juan Manuel Campana; Eckhard Hein |
| Abstract: | This article links different approaches to analysing demand and growth regimes with the structure of international trade. We apply the national income and financial accounting as well as the Sraffian supermultiplier demand-led growth decomposition approaches to analyse the growth regimes of two advanced economies (Germany and Spain) and five emerging economies (Argentina, Brazil, India, South Africa and Turkey) over the period 2000-2019. Our analysis shows that exports have become an increasingly important autonomous source of growth in most countries. However, structural changes in exports are uneven and reveal growing polarisation. We therefore identify a spectrum of export-led regimes and propose a classification typology based on technological content, economic complexity rankings, and the dominance of different autonomous demand components. The findings highlight the limitations of treating export-led growth as a homogeneous model or regime and underscore the importance of considering the country-specific structural characteristics that shape different export-led regimes. |
| Keywords: | accounting, economic growth, trade, structural change, political economy |
| JEL: | E11 F43 P51 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp2604 |
| By: | Patrice Bougette (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France); Frédéric Marty (CNRS, GREDEG, Université Côte d'Azur, France) |
| Abstract: | This article examines the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm that dominated U.S. antitrust policy until the 1970s, before being displaced by the Chicago School and, from the 1980s onwards, by Post-Chicago analysis, i.e., modern industrial organization. Long portrayed as indifferent to firms' conduct and to economic efficiency, structuralism has been subject to a persistent "black legend." This contribution reassesses that critique by examining: (i) the evolution of structuralism between the 1940s and the 1970s; (ii) the influence of a deconcentrationist perspective embedded in a particular legal interpretation of U.S. antitrust rules; (iii) the implications of the digital economy for contemporary analyses of market structures; and (iv) the SCP paradigm's legacy in Neo-Brandeisian and conservative antitrust thought. |
| Keywords: | Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) paradigm; Structuralism; U.S. antitrust; Chicago School; Post-Chicago industrial organization; Merger control; Digital markets; Neo-Brandeisian antitrust; Market structure; Structural remedies |
| JEL: | L10 L12 L13 L41 |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2026-03 |
| By: | Thibault Mirabel (EconomiX - EconomiX - UPN - Université Paris Nanterre - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | In this article the author analyzes the interaction effect of the sunk cost of physical capital and of human capital on the entry of worker-owned firms (WOFs) and conventional firms (CFs). The author estimates a logit model and uses a comprehensive dataset of new French firms in manufacturing sectors with proxies of sunk costs defined at the sector level. The results show that the likelihood of WOF entry is the highest when the sunk cost of human capital is dominant while the sunk cost of physical capital is negligible, as predicted by Kazuhiko Mikami and Satoru Tanaka in their 2010 article. The interaction effect between the types of sunk costs is stronger for worker buyouts than for newly created WOFs. These results are robust to different estimation methods and to endogeneity concerns. These results contribute to the general understanding of the rarity of WOFs in manufacturing sectors and are relevant to policy initiatives supporting cooperative modes of firm organization. |
| Keywords: | worker participation Cite, labor-management cooperation, human capital, employee ownership, Cooperatives, Cooperatives employee ownership human capital labor-management cooperation worker participation Cite |
| Date: | 2024–10–24 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05429434 |
| By: | Almaz Abebe; Shenglan Yuanb; Daniel Tesfay; James Brannan |
| Abstract: | This paper enhances the classical Solow model of economic growth by integrating L\'evy noise, a type of non-Gaussian stochastic perturbation, to capture the inherent uncertainties in economic systems. The extended model examines the impact of these random fluctuations on capital stock and output, revealing the role of jump-diffusion processes in long-term GDP fluctuations. Both continuous and discrete-time frameworks are analyzed to assess the implications for forecasting economic growth and understanding business cycles. The study compares deterministic and stochastic scenarios, providing insight into the stability of equilibrium points and the dynamics of economies subjected to random disturbances. Numerical simulations demonstrate how stochastic noise contributes to economic volatility, leading to abrupt shifts and bifurcations in growth trajectories. This research offers a comprehensive perspective on the influence of external shocks, presenting a more realistic depiction of economic development in uncertain environments. |
| Date: | 2026–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:2602.00090 |
| By: | Neves, Lorran Luiz de Oliveira (Universidade Federal Fluminense - UFF) |
| Abstract: | Este artigo investiga a crise epistemológica estrutural que atravessa as teorias econômicas, principalmente as contemporâneas na qual essa crise se agravou, tanto na ortodoxia quanto na heterodoxia. Argumenta que a incapacidade recorrente de prever, explicar ou evitar crises sistêmicas não decorre de falhas técnicas pontuais, mas de problemas metodológicos muito mais profundos, a começar pelo recurso frequente a meta-axiomas, o núcleo duro da metodologia econômica, e em torno desse núcleo duro uma segunda camada frequentemente orbitada por argumentos circulares, tudo isso dando base para as elaborações teóricas que então se diferenciam, ortodoxas e heterodoxas. Como parte dessa forma mais externa a matemática geralmente aparece como mais um recurso retórico à disposição da teorização. A análise se direciona em três direções: (i) o Teorema de Sonnenschein‑Mantel‑Debreu (SMD), cuja prova pode ser entendida como a impossibilidade lógica de derivar comportamento racional agregado a partir de preferências individuais racionais, e sua consequência na microfundamentação de teorias macroeconômicas, (ii) na Teoria Monetária Moderna (MMT) e (iii) na possibilidade ou não da planificação econômica na sociedade capitalista. Analisamos os limites de discursos modernos e realistas como o socialismo de mercado, a economia do projetamento e a nova economia do projetamento e como, em última instância, mesmos esses discursos mais modernos ainda carregam fundamentações baseadas em argumentações circulares e antigos meta-axiomas. Por fim, a partir disso, concluímos a impossibilidade da planificação econômica em uma sociedade capitalista, apesar desses discursos, argumentos e propostas e apesar da possibilidade de superação da sociedade capitalista e da planificação econômica não capitalista nesse processo. |
| Date: | 2026–01–30 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:cv5xk_v1 |