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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Pierre Dockès (Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - [CNRS : UMR5206][IEP LYON] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines]) |
| Abstract: | Pourquoi des hommes aux intérêts certes opposés, mais qui ont en commun de considérer la guerre comme une solution dramatique et la paix comme la bonne solution collective n'arrivent-ils pas à cette dernière solution, si ce n'est en se soumettant à une autorité qui le leur impose ? Pourquoi des individus apparemment rationnels, c'est-à-dire supposés capables de mettre en place des moyens cohérents pour obtenir "un bien apparent", ne peuvent-ils aboutir, en se rencontrant, en négociant, à des accords par consentement mutuel et qui tiennent car satisfaisants pour chacun et pour tous, et tout au moins à éviter la solution la pire ? En des termes plus contemporains cette question caractéristique de la pensée de Hobbes peut s'énoncer ainsi : pourquoi la coordination entre des hommes qui ont intérêt à sa réussite échoue-t-elle tragiquement ? ... |
| Keywords: | coordination ; contrat social ; Etat ; individualisme ; rationalité ; Hobbes |
| Date: | 2007–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00138311_v1&r=hpe |
| By: | Farley Grubb (Department of Economics,University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | Paper money has often been controversial and misunderstood. Why it has value, why that value changes over time, how it influences economic activity, who should be allowed to make it, how its use and creation should be controlled, and whether it should exist at all—are questions that have perplexed the public, vexed politicians, and puzzled economic experts. Knowing how, when, and why paper money first became commonplace in America and the nature of the institutions propagating it, can help us better comprehend paper money’s role in society. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) dealt often with this topic and his writings can teach us much about it. |
| Keywords: | Monetary Policy, Economic History |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:07-01.&r=hpe |
| By: | Flandreau, Marc |
| Abstract: | This paper studies the evolution of monetary policy targets over the course of the past 200 years. We argue that policy targets are set as part of an assignment procedure that is intended to address both time consistency and monitoring problems. As a result, central banks, after having been assigned to target the exchange rate in the 19th century, are now entrusted with targeting the rate of inflation. Critical advances in the measurement of inflation have proved decisive in bringing about this radical transformation. |
| Keywords: | central banks; exchange rates; inflation; monetary policy targets |
| JEL: | E1 E3 E5 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cpr:ceprdp:6252&r=hpe |
| By: | Pierre Dockès (Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - [CNRS : UMR5206][IEP LYON] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines]) |
| Abstract: | Selon Léon Walras, il est possible de définir la société idéale et, dans l'avenir, celle-ci se réalisera nécessairement. Cependant, un problème majeur se pose. L'Idéal social doit être conforme à la vérité pure, vérité économique pure et vérité morale pure, et il doit être à la fois un Idéal de justice et un Idéal d'intérêt. Quelle relation entre ces Idéaux ? Y-a-t-il harmonie ou antinomie ? S'ils ne sont pas un, s'ils sont pluriels, comment se concilient-ils ? L'Idéal social apparaît comme le résultat d'une synthèse, et même de synthèses... |
| Keywords: | Léon Walras ; idéal social ; idéal politique ; idéal scientifique ; économie politique ; science sociale |
| Date: | 2007–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00138312_v1&r=hpe |
| By: | Pierre Dockès (Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - [CNRS : UMR5206][IEP LYON] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines]); Jean-Pierre Potier (Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - [CNRS : UMR5206][IEP LYON] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines]) |
| Abstract: | On a trop tendance encore aujourd'hui à assimiler la « libre concurrence » chez Léon Walras et la « concurrence pure et parfaite » comme structure de marché de la vulgate néo-classique. Nous chercherons à montrer dans cette étude que chez Walras, la libre concurrence, quel que soit le niveau auquel on l'appréhende (certains marchés concrets, marché type réel, marché type idéal), est essentiellement un comportement spécifique et naturel d'individus rationnels et libres, et disposant d'institutions leur permettant d'exercer pleinement ces libertés. Elle découle de trois libertés : celle de proposer les prix à l'enchère et au rabais, celle de faire varier sa production selon les situations de bénéfice ou de perte, celle d'entrer ou de sortir du marché. Trois libertés, qui produisent un comportement naturel, mais qui doivent pouvoir s'exercer pleinement, d'où l'existence de deux règles suivantes : <br /> - les échangistes doivent rendre publiques leurs propositions en les criant, <br /> - les processus d'enchères et rabais doivent être terminés et le prix d'équilibre atteint, avant qu'il y ait des transactions effectives. <br /><br />Notre étude comprendra deux sections.<br /> <br />La première section, La concurrence et la méthode walrasienne, met en relation la méthode de l'auteur des Eléments et les divers niveaux auxquels il appréhende la concurrence et les marchés concurrentiels. La deuxième section, Marché, concurrence et libre concurrence absolue, examine comment Walras prend en compte les marchés concrets, construit son marché type réel et passe ensuite au marché type idéal. On peut ainsi caractériser la concurrence walrasienne par opposition aux conceptions standard. |
| Keywords: | représentations du marché ; Léon Walras ; libre-concurrence ; marchés concurrentiels ; marché type idéal |
| Date: | 2007–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00138352_v1&r=hpe |
| By: | YOKOYAMA, Kazuki |
| Abstract: | This paper measures that the Bank of Japan adopted the too-big-to-fail doctrine against the panic of 1927. The results at this paper imply that supported banks had higher closure risk or occupied key positions in the local loan-markets. And this paper finds that the Bank of Japan bailed out solvent banks if they had political importance. |
| Keywords: | lender of last resort (LLR); too big to fail; the panic of 1927; bank closure. |
| JEL: | G28 G21 N25 |
| Date: | 2007–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:2768&r=hpe |
| By: | Jérôme Maucourant (Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - [CNRS : UMR5206][IEP LYON] - [Université Lumière - Lyon II] - [Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines]) |
| Abstract: | Relire K. Polanyi nous affranchit d'une double illusion. Selon la première, l'homme est essentiellement un atome utilitaire exploitant les gains supposés de l'échange, cette vieille « fable du troc » n'étant pas remise en cause par l'économie des « coûts de transaction ». La seconde illusion, construction hétérodoxe voulant s'affranchir de cette fable, attribue à la monnaie les traits d'une institution aussi transhistorique qu'universelle. Certes, de nombreux phénomènes qualifiés de « troc » sont en réalité issus de la destruction d'ordres monétaires. D'ailleurs,<br />K. Polanyi, commentant Aristote, montrait déjà que le dogme de la naturalité du troc est une projection des a priori de la société de marché. Mais, ceci ne signifie pas que la monnaie soit « souveraine » : seules les communautés politiques sont souveraines, seule la réciprocité, au sens de l'école maussienne, est un universel, le troc pouvant être « enchâssé » dans l'économie. |
| Keywords: | monnaie ; institution; troc; commerce; échange; réciprocité |
| Date: | 2007–04–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00138358_v1&r=hpe |
| By: | Christoph M. Schmidt (RWI Essen, Ruhr University Bochum and IZA) |
| Abstract: | Arguably, one of the most important developments in the field of applied economics during the last decades has been the emergence of systematic policy evaluation, with its distinct focus on the establishment of causality. By contrast to the natural sciences, the objects of our scientific interest typically exert some influence on their treatment status under the policy to be evaluated and on their economic outcomes. Thus, economic policy advice can only be successful, if it is based on an appropriate study design, experimental or observational. It will strive in societies that provide liberal access to data, accept the merits of randomized assignment and guard the independence of research institutions. |
| Keywords: | policy evaluation, applied economics, causality, policy advice |
| JEL: | A11 C01 H50 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp2700&r=hpe |
| By: | Levy, Daniel |
| Abstract: | The price system, the adjustment of prices to changes in market conditions, is the primary mechanism by which markets function and by which the three most basic questions get answered: what to produce, how much to produce and for whom to produce. To the behaviour of price and price system, therefore, have fundamental implications for many key issues in microeconomics and industrial organization, as well as in macroeconomics and monetary economics. In microeconomics, managerial economics, and industrial organization, economists focus on the price system efficiency. In macroeconomics and monetary economics, economists focus on the extent to which nominal prices fail to adjust to changes in market conditions. Nominal price rigidities play particularly important role in modern monetary economics and in the conduct of monetary policy because of their ability to explain short-run monetary non-neutrality. The behaviour of prices, and in particular the extent of their rigidity and flexibility, therefore, is of central importance in economics. This introductory essay briefly summarizes the eight studies of price rigidity that are included in this special issue. |
| Keywords: | Price Rigidity; Price Flexibility; Cost of Price Adjustment; Menu Cost; Managerial and Customer Cost of Price Adjustment; New Keynesian Economics; Price System |
| JEL: | E31 E50 M30 D21 D40 M20 L11 E12 E52 L16 |
| Date: | 2007–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:2761&r=hpe |
| By: | Marco Faillo; Lorenzo Sacconi |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpde:0704&r=hpe |
| By: | Konow, James |
| Abstract: | A popular sentiment is that fairness is inexorably subjective and incapable of being determined by objective standards. This study, on the other hand, seeks to establish evidence on unbiased justice and to propose and demonstrate a general approach for measuring impartial views empirically. Most normative justice theories associate impartiality with limited information and with consensus, i.e., a high level of agreement about what is right. In both the normative and positive literature, information is usually seen as the raw material for self-serving bias and disagreement. In contrast, this paper proposes a type of impartiality that is associated with a high level of information. The crucial distinction is the emphasis here on the views of impartial spectators, rather than implicated stakeholders. I describe the quasi-spectator method, i.e., an empirical means to approximate the views of impartial spectators that is based on a direct relationship between information and consensus, whereby consensus refers to the level of agreement among actual evaluators of real world situations. Results of surveys provide evidence on quasi-spectator views and support this approach as a means to elicit moral preferences. By establishing a relationship between consensus and impartiality, this paper seeks to help lay an empirical foundation for welfare analysis, social choice theory and practical policy applications. |
| Keywords: | Justice; fairness; impartial spectator |
| JEL: | D61 A12 D63 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:2730&r=hpe |
| By: | John W. Dawson |
| Abstract: | The initial publication of the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World index prompted an explosion of empirical research on the institutions-growth relationship. To date, little of this research has appeared in the top economics journals. Subsequently, a number of empirical growth studies using alternative sources of data on institutions have appeared in top journals. This paper explores the two tracks of empirical research on the institutions-growth relationship—one track that recognizes all the relevant literature, and one that seems wanting in that respect. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:apl:wpaper:07-04&r=hpe |
| By: | Jérôme Blanc (LEFI - Laboratoire d'économie de la firme et des institutions - [Université Lumière - Lyon II]) |
| Abstract: | Ce texte propose un cadre conceptuel visant à rendre compte de façon compréhensive de la souveraineté monétaire, à partir de deux niveaux de conceptualisation. A un niveau primaire on pose quatre invariants constitutifs de la souveraineté monétaire. A un niveau supérieur en interviennent les variantes. On examine ces variantes dans le contexte de la seconde moitié du XXe siècle. On met en avant l'émergence et la stabilité de l'une d'elles, le principe d'exclusivité monétaire nationale. |
| Keywords: | Monnaie; souveraineté monétaire; exclusivité monétaire nationale |
| Date: | 2007–04–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00142162_v1&r=hpe |
| By: | Jörg Baten; Jan Luiten van Zanden |
| Abstract: | Endogenous growth theory suggests that human capital formation plays a significant role for the ‘wealth and poverty of nations.’ In contrast to previous studies which denied the role of human capital as a crucial determinant of for really long-term growth, we confirm its importance. Indicators of human capital like literacy rates are lacking for the period of 1450-1913; hence, we use per capita book production as a proxy for advanced literacy skills. This study explains how, and to what extent, growth disparities are a function of human capital formation. |
| Keywords: | Book Produktion, Economic Growth, Human Capital |
| JEL: | O14 O40 N10 |
| Date: | 2007–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1030&r=hpe |
| By: | Nikita Kuksin |
| Abstract: | Adopting a non-probabilistic formulation of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis, this paper looks at its relationship to general equilibrium theory. Shannon's entropy allows us to show that arbitrage-free prices maximise the economy-wide amount of information, thereby bringing the two concepts together. |
| Keywords: | arbitrage, entropy, information, efficient markets |
| JEL: | D89 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hwe:certdp:0701&r=hpe |
| By: | LE BRETON, Michel; ORTUNO-ORTIN, Ignacio; WEBER, Shlomo |
| JEL: | C71 D71 Z1 |
| Date: | 2006–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ide:wpaper:6451&r=hpe |
| By: | BENABOU, Roland; TIROLE, Jean |
| JEL: | D81 D91 Z13 |
| Date: | 2006–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ide:wpaper:6625&r=hpe |
| By: | Hasan, Zubair |
| Abstract: | Abstract This paper examines the debate on the meaning of sustainable development and the policy implications of different approaches from an Islamic perspective. It integrates mainstream and Islamic positions on the subject and argues that to whatever definition of sustainable development one might subscribe, eventually, each ends in an environmental concern. This paper attempts to show that the continuous increase in output of goods and services worldwide imposes a trade off between material prosperity on the one hand and pollution poisoning of human beings on the other. It engages in the intensifying debate about how the benefits of the former and the negative impact of the latter could be more evenly distributed. The paper takes inspiration from the maqasid (objectives) of the Shari’ah and verses of the holy Qur’an that indicate a way out of this impasse. It holds that the worldview differences of secularism and Islam are the basic reason of divergence between their approaches to development. It argues that the Islamic approach is more agreeable to environmental protection and concludes that issues surrounding sustainable development have moral, ethical, social, and political complexities and that economics or economists alone cannot resolve the problem. |
| Keywords: | Sustainable; Development; Islamic perspective; Policy concerns |
| JEL: | Q56 Q5 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:2784&r=hpe |
| By: | Konow, James; Earley, Joseph |
| Abstract: | The “Hedonistic Paradox” states that homo economicus, or someone who seeks happiness for him- or herself, will not find it, but the person who helps others will. This study examines two questions in connection with happiness and generosity. First, do more generous people, as identified in dictator experiments, report on average greater happiness, or subjective well-being (SWB), as measured by responses to various questionnaires? Second, if the answer is affirmative, what is the causal relationship between generosity and happiness? We find a favorable correlation between generosity and happiness (i.e., SWB is directly related to several measures of happiness and inversely related to unhappiness) and examine various possible explanations, including that material well-being causes both happiness and generosity. The evidence from this experiment, however, indicates that a tertiary personality variable, sometimes called psychological well-being, is the primary cause of both happiness and greater generosity. In contrast to field studies, the experimental method of this inquiry permits anonymity measures designed to minimize subject misrepresentation of intrinsic generosity (e.g., due to social approval motives) and of actual happiness (e.g., because of social desirability biases) and produces a rich data set with multiple measures of subjective, psychological and material well-being. The results of this and other studies raise the question of whether greater attention should be paid to the potential benefits (beyond solely the material ones) of policies that promote charitable donations, volunteerism, service education, and, more generally, community involvement, political action, and social institutions that foster psychological well-being. |
| Keywords: | Happiness; Subjective well-being; Altruism; Generosity; Psychological well-being; Eudaimonia |
| JEL: | D64 C91 |
| Date: | 2007–03 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:2728&r=hpe |
| By: | SAINT-PAUL, Gilles |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ide:wpaper:6755&r=hpe |
| By: | Paul G. Hare |
| Abstract: | There are diverse ideas about governance around the world, and this paper studies them through the following questions: (a) what does the available evidence tell us about the political and institutional requirements for sustained economic growth? (b) What do we need from the state to secure growth? (c) How do a country's internal characteristics support or impede its growth? (d) How does the external environment of a country influence its economic growth prospects? These elements are then put together into a model of growth, from which we derive conclusions about governance arrangements. Thus the paper outlines a simple framework within which to think about the political economy of growth that can be summed up in five points: good government, with secure political conditions; credible macroeconomic stability; savings and investment high enough to sustain adequate growth; openness to the world economy; and the discipline of external engagement. It then argues that the growth model needs to be underpinned by suitable governance arrangements, and suggests that good governance has two main elements, each quite complex in practice, namely: protection of property rights, and accountability of government. |
| Keywords: | political economy, global economy, economic growth, governance, macroeconomic stability, property rights |
| JEL: | O43 H11 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hwe:certdp:0702&r=hpe |
| By: | Burton A. Abrams (Department of Economics,University of Delaware) |
| Abstract: | Evidence from the Nixon tapes, now available to researchers, shows that President Richard Nixon pressured the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Arthur Burns, to engage in expansionary monetary policies in the run up to the 1972 election. This paper quotes the relevant conversations from the Nixon tapes. Questions remain as to whether Burns followed an expansionary policy in an already-inflationary environment out of conviction or because of political pressure. |
| Date: | 2006 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dlw:wpaper:06-04&r=hpe |