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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Myerson, Roger B. (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | Roger B. Myerson delivered his Prize Lecture on 8 December 2007 at Aula Magna, Stockholm University. He was introduced by Professor Jorgen Weibull, Chairman of the Economics Prize Committee. |
| Keywords: | Mechanism Design; |
| JEL: | D02 |
| Date: | 2007–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:2007_006&r=hpe |
| By: | Maskin, Eric S. (Institute for Advanced Studies) |
| Abstract: | Eric S. Maskin delivered his Prize Lecture on 8 December 2007 at Aula Magna, Stockholm University. He was introduced by Professor Jorgen Weibull, Chairman of the Economics Prize Committee. |
| Keywords: | Mechanism Design; |
| JEL: | D02 |
| Date: | 2007–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:2007_004&r=hpe |
| By: | Maskin, Eric S. (Institute for Advanced Studies); Myerson, Roger B. (University of Chicago) |
| Abstract: | Interview with the Laureates in Economics Eric S. Maskin and Roger B. Myerson, 6 December 2007. The interviewer is Adam Smith, Editor-in-Chief of Nobelprize.org. |
| Keywords: | Mechanism Design; |
| JEL: | D02 |
| Date: | 2007–12–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:2007_005&r=hpe |
| By: | Hurwicz, Leonid (University of Minnesota) |
| Abstract: | A pre-recorded version of Leonid Hurwicz' Prize Lecture was presented on 8 December 2007 at Aula Magna, Stockholm University. The lecture was introduced by Professor Jorgen Weibull, Chairman of the Economics Prize Committee. |
| Keywords: | Mechanism design; |
| JEL: | D02 |
| Date: | 2007–12–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:nobelp:2007_003&r=hpe |
| By: | Sabina Alkire and Angus Ritchie |
| Abstract: | For economic ideas to take root and change history, a number of ingredients need to be present, ranging from individual agents to policy implementation. This paper identifies certain strategic levers that underlay the success of free market economists in promoting their approach in academia, society, and government. How did these economists move from a marginalized position where they could not publish or receive tenure and where their students were not hired at other leading universities, to a position of dominance? In particular, it examines the impact of F.A. Hayek, and of such institutions as the Mont Pelerin Society, the Institute for Economic Affairs (IEA) in Britain, and the funding arrangements. The paper draws on the wealth of secondary literature regarding the spread of free market economic ideas, particularly in the US, Latin America, and the UK, to identify five strategic activities and methods of transmission that were central to their advance, and will be relevant to others. |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qeh:ophiwp:ophiwp007&r=hpe |
| By: | Al Campbell |
| Abstract: | This short paper will argue the following 8 points. This paper will- 1) as a background to what this paper will consider, accept both that planning is an inherent and essential aspect of socialism, and that not only the details but the very basic nature of the planning that will be appropriate in today’s world for supporting (various) transitions to socialism has to be created; 2) focus on just one of many questions that need to be resolved concerning the appropriate basic structure of today’s socialist planning, the question of the role of markets in planning for socialism; 3) discuss the essential nature of capitalist markets in relation to shaping their participants in ways appropriate for capitalism (any mode of production creates its own presuppositions), and therefore in ways inappropriate for either living under socialism or effecting the transition from capitalism to socialism ; 4) review Marx and Engels’ position that immediately after the seizure of power by a workers’ government capitalist commodity production and capitalist markets will still exist; 5) review Marx and Engels’ position that the transition to socialism will involve a withering away of both capitalist markets and commodity production, and that under socialism these will already both be transcended; 6) then argue, closely based on Marx and Engels’ writings, that under socialism there will necessarily be markets, albeit markets of a different nature that I will call “socialist markets” (and I will carefully indicate their fundamental difference from capitalist markets); 7) then argue that notwithstanding that socialist markets are both necessary for socialism and different from capitalist markets, they will still represent barriers to the transition from socialism to communism; 8) finally discuss what will be necessary for the transcendence of socialist markets which is a necessity for completing the transition to a communist mode of production, which Marx indeed saw as a society without markets. |
| Keywords: | Socialism, Communism, Transcending Markets |
| Date: | 2008–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uta:papers:2008_09&r=hpe |
| By: | Emma Samman |
| Abstract: | This article sets out a proposal to measure psychological and subjective states of wellbeing in individual and household surveys. In particular, it proposes a short list of seven indicators, and a module containing the relevant questions needed to construct them. The indicators address both eudaimonic and hedonic criteria, and cover four aspects of wellbeing: 1) meaning in life; 2) psychological wellbeing – following self-determination theory, this includes the three “basic psychological needs” of autonomy, competence and relatedness; 3) domain-specific and overall life satisfaction; and 4) happiness. The article recommends that further research explore the connections between these indicators, as well as their relationship with objective measures of disadvantage. While reaffirming that perceptual states should not be treated as aims of government policy, it is argued that they may provide a richer understanding of peoples’ values and behavior – and therefore that further research on the subject could deepen our understanding of capability poverty. |
| Date: | 2007–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:qeh:ophiwp:ophiwp006&r=hpe |
| By: | Julian Christ (Universität Hohenheim) |
| Abstract: | The systems of innovation (SI) approach has been established and extended during the last two decades. Although elementary goals and progress have been reached through seminal contributions by Freeman (1987), Lundvall (1992) or Nelson (1993), in designing a generic approach, displaying the dynamics of collaboration, networking and interactive learning, criticism has been raised that systems of innovation are still “undertheorized”. The objective of this paper is to describe briefly the historical evolution of the SI concept within the academic literature and the policy sphere. This review primarily attempts to highlight some of the most important contributions that strongly assisted to the framework, by providing more consistency and a more theory- oriented perspective. Consequently, the system concept itself seems to be a kind of “boundary object”. Within both, the academic and the policy field, different levels of conceptualization have been challenged and advanced in the course of time. These conceptualizations basically differ in their scale of analysis, taking geographical perspectives, technologies or sectoral classifications as foci for theorizing and empirical research. Despite these substantial levels of research, the SI framework is increasingly challenged, analyzed and extended in the context of globalization. As a result, regarding the openness and flexibility of the SI approach, this paper particularly tries to focus on the difficulties of contemporary research in defining functional and spatial boundaries in theory and empirical research. Agglomeration tendencies, knowledge externalities and localized learning are primarily based upon the concepts of knowledge diffusion, tacit knowledge and proximity. In spite of that, ICT and global business linkages foster inter-regional and trans-border knowledge flows. Thus, knowledge diffusion is also related to international and global “pipelines” that could support, strengthen and reinforce localized learning. |
| Keywords: | National, Sectoral, Technological and Regional Systems of Innovation, Geography of Innovation, Knowledge Externalities, Localized Knowledge Spillovers, Knowledge Diffusion, Tacit Knowledge |
| JEL: | O1 O3 R0 R1 D8 B5 |
| Date: | 2007–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:old:wpaper:y:2007:i:25:p:1-46&r=hpe |
| By: | Jim Engle-Warnick; Sonia Laszlo |
| Abstract: | What is the best compensation package to offer employees? How should choice among investments in pension plans be structured? Should a government use auctions to sell natural resources? Is it possible to design a market to reduce non-point source pollution in Quebec’s watersheds? What holds people back from trying technologies that are completely new to them? <br> Over the last two decades a revolution has occurred in the advancement of our ability to answer questions such as these. This revolution is called experimental economics. Experimental economics is the use of a controlled laboratory environment to understand decisions people make. In an economics experiment, people make decisions in a laboratory. They are paid according to the outcome of their decisions, and their decisions are analyzed to determine the effect of an institutional or environmental change that is being tested.<br> Through the analysis of behaviour in controlled economics experiments, much has been learned about behaviour when outcomes are uncertain: for example, new notions about preferences toward risk and consumption over time have been developed. Much has also been learned about how people behave in strategic environments: for example, bidding behaviour in auctions is better understood, and the strategies people use as they learn how to trust each other have been observed. <br> The purpose of this report is to describe the methodology of experimental economics and to detail its major uses. We will focus on the ability to measure behaviours in a wide variety of situations important to organizations. We will show, with examples from our own work, how feedback between the laboratory and the field can result in new understanding of decisions in an effort to affect the cycle of poverty in a developing country in fundamentally new ways. <P> What is the best compensation package to offer employees? How should choice among investments in pension plans be structured? Should a government use auctions to sell natural resources? Is it possible to design a market to reduce non-point source pollution in Quebec’s watersheds? What holds people back from trying technologies that are completely new to them? <br> Over the last two decades a revolution has occurred in the advancement of our ability to answer questions such as these. This revolution is called experimental economics. Experimental economics is the use of a controlled laboratory environment to understand decisions people make. In an economics experiment, people make decisions in a laboratory. They are paid according to the outcome of their decisions, and their decisions are analyzed to determine the effect of an institutional or environmental change that is being tested.<br> Through the analysis of behaviour in controlled economics experiments, much has been learned about behaviour when outcomes are uncertain: for example, new notions about preferences toward risk and consumption over time have been developed. Much has also been learned about how people behave in strategic environments: for example, bidding behaviour in auctions is better understood, and the strategies people use as they learn how to trust each other have been observed. <br> The purpose of this report is to describe the methodology of experimental economics and to detail its major uses. We will focus on the ability to measure behaviours in a wide variety of situations important to organizations. We will show, with examples from our own work, how feedback between the laboratory and the field can result in new understanding of decisions in an effort to affect the cycle of poverty in a developing country in fundamentally new ways. |
| Date: | 2008–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cir:cirbur:2008rb-01&r=hpe |
| By: | Pillai N., Vijayamohanan |
| Abstract: | Unfortunately our communists in general and their academic lackeys are still in the habit of the mere memorising and repetition of formulas, like “old Bolsheviks”, some under the mesmerism of Lenin’s Two Tasks of Social Democracy and some, Trosky’s Results and Prospects. This note is hoped to demystify the issues at stake. |
| Keywords: | Economicism; democratic revolution; building capitalism; stage of revolution |
| JEL: | B51 |
| Date: | 2008–03–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8496&r=hpe |
| By: | David L. Anderson (Queen's University); John Tressler (University of Waikato) |
| Abstract: | This paper considers the research productivity of New Zealand based economics departments over the period 2000 to 2006. It examines journal based research output across departments and individuals using six output measures. We show that Otago and Canterbury performed consistently well over the period, with Otago generally the highest ranked department. The measures used place different emphasis on ‘quality’ versus ‘quantity’. Which measure is used has a significant influence on the rankings of Auckland, Victoria and Waikato. The controversy surrounding the inclusion of ‘visitors’ and the influence of research stars is considered. Rankings of the leading individual researchers are provided. |
| Keywords: | economics departments; university rankings; research output; economics research |
| JEL: | A19 C81 J24 |
| Date: | 2008–04–23 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:wai:econwp:08/05&r=hpe |
| By: | Muhammad Shahbaz, Shahbaz; Naveed Aamir, Naveed |
| Abstract: | There is not much research on welfare-economics from human wellbeing (happiness) side, the main reason is that this is qualitative and subjective phenomenon & not so easy to capture for measurement. In the present endvour, we tried to capture it (happiness) from the opposite side of poverty index. We employed modified ARDL technique for long run friendship between Poor’s happiness and some macroeconomic influencing factors; short run dynamic behavior is scrutinized through ECM. The findings about Poor’s happiness and its determinants show that happiness of poor individuals is highly influenced from macroeconomics shocks prevailed in the economy. Economic growth or rise in GDP per capita declines the level of Poor’s happiness due to upper-echelon phenomenon in long span of time in Pakistan. Inflation influences the purchasing power of poor segments of population and definitely affects the happiness negatively in both the periods. Enhancement in remittances seems to push happiness or Poor’s welfare levels upward significantly. Increase in indirect taxes especially sales taxes associated with low levels of happiness of poor individuals in a small developing economy like Pakistan. Trade-openness improves happiness rankings of poor segments of population through its direct & indirect channels. Finally, a low level of happiness is associated with low urbanization in short span of time. |
| Keywords: | Happiness; modified ARDL Co-integration |
| JEL: | I31 C22 |
| Date: | 2007–10–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:8483&r=hpe |
| By: | Jose M. Vidal-Sanz |
| Abstract: | In this paper several definitions of probabilistic causation are considered, and their main drawbacks discussed. Current notions of probabilistic causality have symmetry limitations (e.g. correlation and statistical dependence are symmetric notions). To avoid the symmetry problem, non-reciprocal causality is often defined in terms of dynamic asymmetry. But these notions are likely to consider spurious regularities. In this paper we present a definition of causality that does non have symmetry inconsistences. It is a natural extension of propositional causality in formal logics, and it can be easily analyzed with statistical inference. The modeling problems are also discussed using empirical processes. |
| Keywords: | Causality, Empirical Processes and Classification Theory, 62M30, 62M15, 62G20 |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cte:wbrepe:wb081702&r=hpe |
| By: | Jan Kregel |
| Abstract: | Over the last two centuries in Latin America a Washington Consensus development strategy based on integration in the global trading system has dominated both domestic demand management and industrialization "from within." This paper assesses the performance of each from the point of view of the impact of external conditions, and the validity of its underlying theory. It concludes by noting that replacing the Consensus will require not only reform of the international financial architecture but also a return to the integrated policy framework represented in the Havana Charter. |
| Date: | 2008–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lev:wrkpap:wp_533&r=hpe |