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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | van den Hauwe, Ludwig |
| Abstract: | Hayek´s methodological outlook at the time he engaged in business cycle research was actually closer to praxeological apriorism than to Popperian falsificationism. A consideration of the Duhem thesis highlights the fact that even from a mainstream methodological perspective falsificationism is more problematic than is often realized. Even if the praxeological and mainstream lines of argumentation reject the Popperian emphasis on falsification for different reasons and from a different background, the prospects for falsificationism in economic methodology seem rather bleak. |
| Keywords: | General methodology; falsificationism; Popper; Hayek; Duhem; Duhemian Argument; Testing of Theories; Meaning and Interpretation of Econometric Results; Correlation and Causality; |
| JEL: | E0 B4 C1 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:6067&r=hpe |
| By: | Coccia Mario (Ceris - Institute for Economic Research on Firms and Growth, Moncalieri (TO), Italy) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the origins of the Economics of innovation describing the economic thought of the economists in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth centuries. In this period and in particular during the Industrial Revolution the economists argue the main effects of inventions and machines for consumers and entrepreneurs such as reduction of price, change of labour, improvement of international competition, rise of salaries, unemployment, economic growth and wealth of nations. Their discussions which are relevant, put forward the basis of the modern discipline of the Economics of innovation. |
| Keywords: | Invention, Innovation, Machines, Art (technology), Classical economists, Socialist |
| JEL: | B11 B12 B31 B50 |
| Date: | 2007–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:csc:cerisp:200701&r=hpe |
| By: | C. Cordes |
| Abstract: | This paper incorporates aspects of humans’ evolved cognition into a formal model of cultural evolution and scrutinizes their interactions with population-level processes. It is shown how the biased transmission of different kinds of behavior via cultural learning processes influences agents’ consumption behavior. Thereby, the model’s learning dynamics are capable of generating typical Veblenian consumption dynamics. Based on these insights, the paper then scrutinizes on the role of humans’ biological heritage and Darwinian concepts in the development of economic theories in general. Moreover, the relation of the ontological basis of biological and cultural evolution is addressed. |
| Keywords: | Conspicuous consumption, Economic theory development, Evolutionary economics, Darwinism, Cultural evolution Length 31 pages |
| JEL: | A12 B41 B52 C60 D11 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2007-13&r=hpe |
| By: | Werner Güth (Max Planck Institute of Economics, Strategic Interaction Group, Jena, Germany) |
| Abstract: | Economic theory has evolved without paying proper attention to behavioral approaches, especially to social, economic, and cognitive psychology. This has recently changed by including behavioral economics courses in many doctoral study programs. Although this new development is most welcome, the typical topics of the behavioral economics courses are not truly behavioral. More specifically, we question whether eoclassical repairs or game fitting exercises as well as more or less mechanic adaptation processes qualify as behavioral approaches. To avoid criticizing without offering alternatives, we suggest some truly behavioral concepts, especially the satisficing approach. |
| Keywords: | (Un)Bounded rationality, Satisficing, Learning, Experimental and Behavioral Economics |
| JEL: | A11 B41 B52 C72 C91 |
| Date: | 2007–12–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:jrp:jrpwrp:2007-099&r=hpe |
| By: | Jérôme Maucourant (Triangle : action, discours, pensée politique et économique - CNRS : UMR5206 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - Ecole Normale Supérieure Lettres et Sciences Humaines - Institut d'Études Politiques de Lyon) |
| Abstract: | "L’hypothèse de l’article est la suivante : il n’est pas possible de parler rigoureusement d’un concept de « marché » en science économique, car ce concept est en réalité une notion floue, au mieux ambivalente. En revanche, le recours à d’autres sciences sociales, comme l’histoire et la sociologie, peuvent aider à la construction d’un concept de marché. Ainsi, le travail de Karl Polanyi et les travaux d’historiens contemporains, notamment ceux d’Alain Guéry, semblent utiles pour mieux distinguer le marché propre à la « société de marché » au sens de Polanyi des marchés caractéristiques des économies archaïques ou d’Ancien régime. L’histoire des idées et la réhabilitation du travail de Montchrestien, contre le jugement hâtif de Schumpeter, est mobilisée pour illustrer l’hypothèse de l’article. Il est enfin suggéré que ni l’approche en terme d’équilibre général, ni les travaux d’Israël Kirzner n’ont eu de valeur heuristique en ce qui concerne la présente problématique." |
| Keywords: | Karl Polanyi ; concept de marché; société de marché ; Alain Guéry |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00190874_v1&r=hpe |
| By: | Glavan, Bogdan |
| Abstract: | Development policy has been energized in the last decades by a number of contributions emphasizing a new positive role the state can and should play in fostering economic growth. The central pillar of this literature is Michael Porter and his theory of clusters. This paper intends to provide a refutation of the idea that coordination failures as manifested in the inability of clusters to emerge can serve as a ground for government intervention. It uses mainly Porter, Rodrik and Rodriguez-Clare thesis as an example of this approach and criticizes the claim that coordination externalities prevent the market process to allocate resources optimally |
| Keywords: | coordination failure; cluster theory; development economics |
| JEL: | O10 L10 L50 |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:6033&r=hpe |
| By: | Cockshott, W. Paul |
| Abstract: | An article that reviews the work of Kantorovich in the light of von Mises claim that rational calculations were impossible without markets. It gives a tutorial introduction to the use of Kantorovich's methods, compares his approach to that of Dantzig. An assesment is given of the extent to which new interior point methods of linear programming strengthen or weaken Kantorovich's claims. |
| Keywords: | Kantorovich; Linear-programming; von-Mises |
| JEL: | C63 P2 B24 B25 |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:6063&r=hpe |
| By: | Abdelaziz Berkane (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR6227 - Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis) |
| Abstract: | L’apprentissage est devenu un thème de recherche essentiel en économie depuis quelques années. Cet intérêt découle d’une insatisfaction à maintenir, sans la fonder, l’hypothèse de rationalité parfaite, qui a longtemps structurée l’approche la plus courante du comportement économique individuel. De nouvelles voies de recherche tendent ainsi à se développer, commandées par la reconnaissance de la nécessité de disposer sur le plan analytique d’un concept pertinent d’agent économique pour un traitement satisfaisant de ce thème de l’apprentissage. L’objet de cette contribution est de montrer que dans la continuité des travaux de C.Menger sur l’origine des institutions sociales, les auteurs constitutifs de la tradition théorique autrichienne, mobilisent, dans leurs explications du fonctionnement du marché ou de la dynamique économique, une théorie particulière de la connaissance ou du moins, dans la mesure où l’on ne peut pas parler d’une théorie constituée, une conception particulière de la connaissance. Cette conception, en mettant l’accent d’une part, sur l’importance de la nature tacite de la connaissance, et d’autre part, sur la distinction entre l’information et la connaissance, permet d'envisager sur le plan analytique une forme particulière d'apprentissage qui passe par l'interaction sociale. |
| Keywords: | Ecole aurichienne; Connaissance ; Apprentissage |
| Date: | 2007–11–24 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00191164_v1&r=hpe |
| By: | Abdelaziz Berkane (GREDEG - Groupe de Recherche en Droit, Economie et Gestion - CNRS : UMR6227 - Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis) |
| Abstract: | Les écrits sociologiques mais également économiques de Schumpeter sont traversés par l’idée d’une science sociale unifiée, basée sur un élargissement d’analyse du phénomène de développement économique à un processus plus global de changement social. La sociologie économique, définie comme théorie des institutions, est selon Schumpeter la méthode pour appréhender un tel processus. Cette perspective plus large participe, selon l’auteur, au développement de la théorie économique. Cet article montre comment une telle perspective permet l’approfondissement de la théorie de l’innovation, en inscrivant en particulier l’analyse de l’entrepreneur dans une analyse plus générale du leadership social. |
| Keywords: | entrepreneur ; innovation ; sociologie économique |
| Date: | 2007–05–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:papers:halshs-00192543_v1&r=hpe |
| By: | Pierre-Cyrille Hautcoeur; Nadine Levratto |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we try to measure the impact of the changes in French bankruptcy law in the 19th century focusing on the behaviour of economic agents as users of bankruptcy law for the sake of finding the best solution to their economic problems. Debtors used bankruptcy law in order to minimize their debt level when facing difficulties in servicing it, but they had to convince their creditors and/or the courts of their good faith, and faced the adverse effects of bankruptcy on their reputation and on the smooth functioning of their business. Creditors used bankruptcy law in order to force their debtors to pay, if they could. Judges - who in the French system of specialized commercial courts were elected entrepreneurs - applied the law within a specific economic context (both a specific local context and at a specific moment in the business cycle) which could affect them. The first part of the paper presents the evolution of French bankruptcy law during the 19th century in its historical context. The second part briefly describes the theoretical model we use in order to understand the choices facing debtors and creditors in the face of financial distress. The last part proposes some major stylized facts concerning bankruptcies during that period (based on contemporary official statistics) and tries to understand their relationship with the legal evolution described before. |
| Date: | 2007 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pse:psecon:2007-29&r=hpe |
| By: | Chaney, Paul; Faccio, Mara; Parsley, David |
| Abstract: | Recent studies have documented systematic exchanges of favors between politicians and firms, and that connected firms, on average gain from political ties. Since these ties are often to a top manager or large shareholder, agency problems are likely more severe for politically connected firms. Moreover, in the case of political ties, the costs of lower quality disclosures may be mitigated. Empirically, we find that the quality of earnings reported by politically connected firms is significantly poorer than that of similar non-connected companies. Additionally, among connected firms, those that have stronger political ties have the poorest accruals quality. This evidence suggests that managers of connected firms appear to be less sensitive to market pressures to increase the quality of information. This choice seems to be justified in that lower quality reported earnings is associated with higher cost of debt only for the non-politically connected firms in the sample. |
| JEL: | G3 |
| Date: | 2007–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:6040&r=hpe |