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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Antoinette Baujard (GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - École Normale Supérieure (ENS) - Lyon) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the Paretian Watershed and the fundamental theorems of welfare economics. It distinguishes the British approach (à la Kaldor-Hicks) from the American approach (à la Bergson-Samuelson) to new welfare economics. It develops the more recent domains of happiness economics, the comparative approach by Amartya Sen, and the theory of fair allocation by Marc Fleurbaey. |
| Keywords: | Welfare economics ; Kaldor-Hicks ; Social Welfare Function ; Pareto ; comparative approach ; happiness economics ; fair allocation |
| Date: | 2013–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00906907&r=hpe |
| By: | Kakarot-Handtke, Egmont |
| Abstract: | Steve Keen has debunked a good part of standard economics. However, he has left standing the theory of profit. This is unfortunate, because the theory of profit is the pivot of all of theoretical economics. This tightly focused paper clarifies the factual relation of profit and income, which should be helpful to put Keen’s alternative to the standard approach on sound foundations. |
| Keywords: | new framework of concepts; structure-centric; consumption economy; Profit Law; market clearing; budget balancing; error detection; four quadrant scheme |
| JEL: | B59 |
| Date: | 2013–11–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51659&r=hpe |
| By: | Ivan Boldyrev (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow/Humboldt University, Berlin.); Olessia Kirtchik (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we address the story of developments in general equilibrium theory (GET) in the USSR during the 1970s through the lens of a single biography. The Soviet advances in mathematical economics, only fragmentarily known in the West, give an occasion to reflect on the extension of the Walrasian paradigm to non-market societies, as well as on the ideological effects of GET and its interpretations in a Soviet context. Our contribution is focused on the development of general equilibrium theorizing in the work of Victor Meerovich Polterovich (b. 1937) who has been one of the leading figures in mathematical economics and general equilibrium theory in the USSR and post-Soviet Russia. His papers on the abstract models of exchange, dynamic general equilibrium and optimal growth theory, excess demand correspondences, monotonicity of demand functions, and disequilibrium theory were for the large part published in English and gained considerable attention within the field. We reconstruct the political and ideological basis of the general equilibrium concept and show how abstract mathematical models reflected the discursive shift from optimal centralized planning to various forms of decentralization. We argue that the Soviet work on general equilibrium was a part of the global development of mathematical economics but was not integrated into it institutionally |
| Keywords: | general equilibrium theory, mathematical economics, history of recent economics, Soviet economics, decentralization, planning |
| JEL: | B16 B21 B23 B31 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:14hum2013&r=hpe |
| By: | Kirill Chepurin (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia). Department of Philosophy. Lecturer) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, I explore a peculiar triad found in Hegel’s later anthropological thought: individuality, intensity, and daimon (or fate), the latter identified with what Hegel calls one’s “intensive form of individuality.” In his notion of the soul’s intensity, Hegel is reconceptualizing Kant’s idea of intensity of the soul towards an anthropological theory of individuality and the individual unconscious. Within this individual intensive “nucleus,” Kern, one’s “fate,” Schicksal, is enclosed, directing a human individual towards his “sphere” within Gemeinwesen, the free community of spirit |
| Keywords: | G.W.F. Hegel, philosophical anthropology, God, intensity |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:18hum2013&r=hpe |
| By: | Antoinette Baujard (GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - École Normale Supérieure (ENS) - Lyon) |
| Abstract: | This paper briefly presents the life of Abram Bergson (Burk). It summarizes its most important contributions to economic theory : microeconomics, welfare economics, comparative economics and sovietology. The role of value judgments in the construction of social indexes or in the comparison of systems is especially highlighted. |
| Keywords: | Bergson; Burk; Welfare economics; Sovietology |
| Date: | 2013–11–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00907159&r=hpe |
| By: | Bjerkholt, Olav (Dept. of Economics, University of Oslo) |
| Abstract: | The article reviews the early history of the Cowles Commission, its close and intertwined relations with the Econometric Society (ES), and the influence and guidance of Ragnar Frisch. It provides much detail on the three rounds of choosing a research director, in 1937-38, in 1939 and at the end of 1942. Haavelmo’s work in the early 1940s came to play a major role for the econometric research at the Cowles Commission under Jacob Marschak as research director 1943-48. The article points to the importance of Abraham Wald and Jacob Marschak for the success of Haavelmo’s venture and its influence and tells the story of how it came about that Haavelmo’s ideas were adopted, applied and disseminated by the Cowles Commission. Thus the mention of Trygve Haavelmo in the title is referring also to his econometric ideas. The ideas themselves and their further evolvement at the CC have been a dominating theme in the history of econometrics literature, e.g. Hildreth (1986), Epstein (1987), Morgan (1990), Qin (1993) and Christ (1994). The article discusses the recruitment, the inner workings and various other concerns of the Cowles econometricians, from Marxism to Black Magic. It recounts at some length the efforts made by Marschak to recruit Abraham Wald to the University of Chicago and the Cowles Commission. The article can be read as a sequel to Bjerkholt (2005, 2007). |
| Keywords: | Trygve Haavelmo; Cowles Commission for Research in Economics |
| JEL: | B23 |
| Date: | 2013–11–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:osloec:2013_026&r=hpe |
| By: | Pavel Sokolov (Pavel Sokolov is research assistant at Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities and lecturer at the Faculty of History, Higher School of Economics, Moscow.) |
| Abstract: | The article deals with the syncretic construction of fact which took shape in Early Modern Times at an intersection of biblical exegesis, political science, esthetics, historiography and natural sciences epistemology. The study attempts a comparative analysis of Giambattista Vico’s ‘new science’ and John Toland’s ‘travesty philosophy’, outlining shared reference points and structural similarities in their political epistemology: procedure of the authorization of facts, modal implications of the fact, economy of political dissimulation |
| Keywords: | history of humanities, objectivity, historical fact, scienza nuova, esthetics of originality, Newtonian exegesis, ragion di Stato. |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:25hum2013&r=hpe |
| By: | BLINOV, Sergey |
| Abstract: | The article describes “the theory of devaluation of values” developed by the author. In accordance with this theory, economic growth takes place using two inter-connected phenomena: a) reduction in time necessary for “the set of benefits (goods) currently consumed” to be produced, on the one hand (first form of values devaluation) and b) using the free time to produce additional benefits (goods), as a result of which a new set of benefits is created, a new “living standard” (second form of values devaluation), on the other hand. The theory allows the fallacy of identifying utility with wealth to be proved, for example, the article shows that “marginal utility” is equivalent to the “degree of poverty". The importance of time is stressed, as well as the interconnection between the free time in natural economy and savings in modern money economy. The theory allows one to take a new view of the economic history, the theory of economic growth, the theory of international trade. |
| Keywords: | value, productivity, time, marginal utility, wealth, economic growth |
| JEL: | D01 D60 E40 O10 |
| Date: | 2013–11–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:51534&r=hpe |
| By: | Petr Rezvykh (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia), Poletayev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities) |
| Abstract: | Using a discussion on the significance of Ancient Greek ordinances between F.W.J. Schelling and Count S.S. Uvarov as an example, this article analyses the complex interaction between theological, philosophical, religious, and political factors in the reception of Schelling’s philosophical ideas in Russia in the XIX century. |
| Keywords: | F.W.J. Schelling, S.S. Uvarov, romanticism, mythology, ordinances, Russian philosophy, history of humanities. |
| JEL: | Z12 Z19 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:24hum2013&r=hpe |
| By: | Gollier, Christian; Hammitt, James; Treich, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | As in any research field, risk theory has its important questions, results, and paradoxes, as well as its seminal papers and key authors. Louis Eeckhoudt has been a key author in the field of risk theory. To celebrate his many contributions and continue the development of theories of decision making under risk, the Toulouse School of Economics hosted “Risk and choice: A conference in honor of Louis Eeckhoudt” July 12- 13, 2012. This paper presents some of Eeckhoudt’s main contributions to the literature, and provides some illustrations of the remarkable research saga in risk theory over the last 50 years since Pratt’s (1964) characterization of risk aversion under expected utility. |
| Keywords: | Risk aversion, prudence, risk, self-protection, insurance, portfolio choice, expected utility. |
| JEL: | D81 |
| Date: | 2013–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:27727&r=hpe |
| By: | Ivan Boldyrev (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow/Humboldt University, Berlin.); Martin Kragh (Stockholm School of Economics/Uppsala Centre for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Uppsala University) |
| Abstract: | Research within the history of economic thought has focused only little on the development of economics under dictatorship. This paper attempts to show how a country with a relatively large and internationally established community of social scientists in the 1920s, the Soviet Union, was subjected to repression. We tell this story through the case of Isaak Il’ich Rubin, a prominent Russian economist and historian of economic thought, who in the late 1920s was denounced by rival scholars and repressed by the political system. By focusing not only on his life and work, but also that of his opponents and institutional clashes, we show how the decline of a social science tradition in Russia and the USSR emerged as a process over time. We analyze the complex interplay of ideas, scholars and their institutional context, and conclude that subsequent repression was arbitrary, suggesting that no clear survival or career strategy existed in the Stalinist system due to a situation of fundamental uncertainty. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how the Stalinization of Soviet social sciences occurred as a process over time. |
| Keywords: | Marxology, Soviet economic thought, political persecution, Stalinism. |
| JEL: | B24 B31 P26 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:17hum2013&r=hpe |
| By: | Fabio Petri |
| Abstract: | Neoclassical capital-labour substitution correctly understood is unable to prove a tendency toward the full employment of resources because it leaves investment indeterminate if the full employment of labour is not assumed to start with; then Say's Law loses plausibility because of the inevitable presence of accelerator-type influences on investment, even neglecting the inconsistencies of neoclassical capital theory; and wage decreases cause a decrease of investment, undermining the 'neoclassical synthesis' criticism of Keynes. The way a negatively interest-elastic investment function is obtained by Romer without assuming the full employment of labour, that is through adjustment costs, relies on several grave mistakes. The recent DSGE models which directly assume that investment equals savings are not supported by general equilibrium theory because the latter theory is admitted by the specialists not to be a positive theory, nor can those models rely on the neoclassical synthesis or monetarism because of the critique of this paper (besides the capital critique), so they must be discarded too. |
| JEL: | E2 B5 |
| Date: | 2013–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:687&r=hpe |
| By: | Nejat Anbarci; Nick Feltovich; Mehmet Y. Gurdal |
| Abstract: | We introduce the contractor game , related to the ultimatum game (UG). The proposer makes an offer , and simultaneously sends a cheap talk message , indicating (possibly falsely) the amount of the offer. The responder observes the message with certainty and the offer with probability p before accepting or rejecting the offer. We theoretically examine versions with p = 0 and p = 0.5 along with the UG, played by some standard economic agents and others who are averse to inequity, lies and lying. The equilibria yield intuitive predictions, which are supported by our experimental results. Offers are higher when they might be seen by the responder. Messages over–state offers, but less so when the offer might be seen. Responders are more likely to accept an unseen offer if it might have been seen. When offers are seen, responders reward truthful messages, rather than punishing lies, compared to when no message is sent. |
| Keywords: | ultimatum game, messages, lies, truth–telling, other–regarding behaviour |
| JEL: | C72 C78 D82 |
| Date: | 2013–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dkn:econwp:eco_2013_7&r=hpe |
| By: | David I. Stern; Frank Jotzo; Leo Dobes |
| Abstract: | We review the historical literature on the economics of climate change with a focus on the evolution of the literature from some of the early classic papers to the latest contributions. We divide the paper into three main sections: trends in greenhouse gas emissions, mitigation, and adaptation. |
| Keywords: | Economics, climate change, emissions trends, mitigation, adaptation |
| JEL: | Q54 |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:een:ccepwp:1307&r=hpe |
| By: | Antoinette Baujard (GATE Lyon Saint-Etienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - CNRS : UMR5824 - Université Lumière - Lyon II - École Normale Supérieure (ENS) - Lyon) |
| Abstract: | This paper presents the different utilitarian approaches to ethics. It stresses the influence of utilitarianism in economics in general and in welfare economics in particular. The key idea of the paper to explain the evolution from classical utilitarianism to preferences utilitarianism and towards post-welfarist approaches is the following. Utility is defi-ned normatively and positively. This generates some serious tensions. Utilitarianism needs to evolve to go beyond this ethical tension. Another idea defended in this paper is that the solutions developed by utilitarianism to solve the ethical issue eventually reinforces operational problems. This raises a legitimacy issue as whether the intervention of utilitarian economists in public decision are likely to be normatively transparent. |
| Keywords: | Utilitarianism; Welfarism; Hedonism; Preference, Utility |
| Date: | 2013–11–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-00906899&r=hpe |
| By: | Ron Aboodi |
| Abstract: | Are good people motivated to behave in accordance the moral truth whatever it is? Michael Smith, who has named this motivation the de-dicto moral motivation, famously criticized it. According to Smith, good people are instead motivated directly by more concrete moral concerns, such as “the well-being of their fellows, people getting what they deserve, justice, equality, and the like”. Here I argue for the non-Smithian view that good people have (also) a de-dicto moral motivation. The argument runs roughly as follows: given that good people tend to behave appropriately, and that in some situations it is appropriate to reevaluate one’s underived moral beliefs, good people tend to seriously reevaluate underived moral beliefs sometimes. Theories of motivation have to account for this fact (a point overlooked by Smith and his respondents). What motivates a good person to pay attention to evidence that is contrary to her underived moral beliefs? What does she aim for in reevaluating those beliefs? I argue that the view that good people are motivated to act morally de-dicto is in a better position to explain the relevant facts about good people’s reevaluation of underived moral beliefs. |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:huj:dispap:dp651&r=hpe |
| By: | Marco Faillo; Alessandra Smerilli; Robert Sugden |
| Abstract: | Level-k and team reasoning theories, among others, have been used to explain experimental evidence on coordination games. Both theories succeed in explaining some results and both fail in explaining other results. Sometimes it is impossible to discriminate between them. For this reason we propose an experiment with pie games, similar to the ones used by Crawford et al. (2008). We observe subjects playing a series of coordination games, with different configurations of equality and Pareto-dominance, for which it is possible to provide clear predictions derived from both team reasoning and a particular cognitive hierarchy model: level-k theory. In line with previous experimental results, we find that each theory fails to predict observed behaviour in some games. However, because of the design of our experiment, we can go deeper into the matter. Our results show that Pareto dominance, fairness and uniqueness are good predictors for coordination choices. Secondly, we find mixed evidence about level-k and team reasoning theories. In particular team reasoning theory fails to predict choices when they picks out a solution which is Pareto dominated and not compensated by grater equality; Level-k theory fails in games in which it predicts the choice of one of not unique slices, and the unique choice is more equal than the alternative choices. This could represent a step forward to investigate the presence of team reasoning or level-k in coordinating behaviour |
| Keywords: | Coordination games, Focal points, Team reasoning, Level-k theory |
| JEL: | C72 C91 A13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:trn:utwpce:1306&r=hpe |
| By: | Itai Arieli; Robert J. Aumann |
| Abstract: | The logic of backward induction (BI) in perfect information (PI) games has been intensely scrutinized for the past quarter century. A major development came in 2002, when P. Battigalli and M. Sinischalchi (BS) showed that an outcome of a PI game is consistent with common strong belief of utility maximization if and only if it is the BI outcome. Both BS's formulation, and their proof, are complex and deep. We show that the result continues to hold when utility maximization is replaced by a rationality condition that is even more compelling; more important, the formulation and proof become far more transparent, accessible, and self-contained. |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:huj:dispap:dp652&r=hpe |
| By: | Kirill Chepurin (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia). Department of Philosophy. Lecturer) |
| Abstract: | This paper traces the way Quentin Meillassoux’s metaphysics of the absolute and his thought on contingency and the future coming of God both follows Hegel’s notion of ‘Geist,’ in an unexpected manner, and creates an impasse that only a certain return to Hegel’s ontoanthropology can overcome. The challenge which Hegel accepts and Meillassoux takes up is to make thinkable the possibility for the secular to bring forth absolute newness and the event of the absolute – moreover, for Hegel, anthropologically, we are Geist, we are contingency, the possibility of being-otherwise incarnate |
| Keywords: | G.W.F. Hegel, Quentin Meillassoux, philosophy of religion, absolute, God, secular, messianism |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:16hum2013&r=hpe |
| By: | Vladimir Porus (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia), Faculty of Philosophy) |
| Abstract: | Social epistemology is a set of attempts to assign a philosophical meaning to sociological studies of cognitive processes within their social context. These attempts are being made through competition of philosophical interpretations. The choice of interpretation is governed by the desire to bring value orientations of science in line with the challenges from a changing cultural-historical environment. Robert Merton’s “normative ethos of scientists” is reviewed here as an illustration to this thesis |
| Keywords: | Social epistemology, sociology of science, philosophy of science, culture, values, ethos, interpretation, truth |
| JEL: | Z10 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:19hum2013&r=hpe |
| By: | Sergey Matveev (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia). The Poletaev Institute for Theoretical and Historical Studies in the Humanities (IGITI). Research assistant) |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the “middle class” concept based on Francois Guizot’s memoirs. It is presented here as the results of his research and political activities. The author pays much attention to the historical and intellectual context, as well as the concept’s genetic relationship with the preceding and consequent traditions in its development |
| Keywords: | Francois Guizot, sociology of class, middle class, memoirs, Restoration period, doctrinaires, history of ideas |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:36hum2013&r=hpe |
| By: | Spahn, Peter |
| Abstract: | Economists in the public are accused of propagating highly professional, but unrealistic theories that mislead market agents and policy makers to place too much confidence in rational behaviour and market equilibrium. The paper analyses to what extent the US banking crisis and the euro crisis can be ascribed to fallacious assessments and recommendations on the part of economic theory. In the first case, myopic financial market theory and practice had neglected systemic repercussions of micro bank trading patterns. The euro crisis emerged from the neglect of undergraduate economic wisdom of necessary adjustment mechanisms in a currency union. Economists hopefully misinterpreted current account deficits as a sign of structural change. -- |
| Keywords: | Efficient Market Hypothesis,rational behaviour,banking crisis,New Keynesian model,intertemporal optimisation,euro crisis |
| JEL: | F33 G20 N10 N20 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:fziddp:832013&r=hpe |
| By: | Ron W Nielsen |
| Abstract: | The fundamental concepts of the Unified Growth Theory, the three stages of growth (Malthusian Regime, Post-Malthusian Regime and Modern Growth Regime) are contradicted by data. The three stages of growth did not exist and the Industrial Revolution had no effect on the world economic growth and on the growth of human population. Whatever the Unified Growth Theory is describing it is not describing the economic growth and the growth of human population. |
| Date: | 2013–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1311.5511&r=hpe |
| By: | Cingolani, Luciana (UNU-MERIT / MGSoG) |
| Abstract: | What is state capacity and how does it affect development? The concept of state capacity acquired centrality during the late seventies and eighties, sponsored by a rather compact set of scholarly works. It later permeated through several disciplines and has now earned a place within the many governance dimensions affecting economic performance. The present article aims to provide a historical account of the evolution and usage of the state capacity concept, along with its various operationalizations. It examines in particular: a) the growing distance in the usage of the concept by different disciplinary and thematic fields; b) the process of `branching out' of the concept from restricted to more multidimensional definitions; c) the problems with construct validity and concept stretching, and d) the generalized lack of clarity that exists regarding the institutional sources of state capacity. |
| Keywords: | state capacity, statebuilding, fiscal performance, bureaucracies, neopatrimonialism |
| JEL: | D73 D74 H10 H20 O43 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unm:unumer:2013053&r=hpe |
| By: | Alexander Mikhailovsky (National Research University Higher School of Economics (HSE)) |
| Abstract: | This paper is concerned with one of the most prominent examples of German intellectual history at the beginning of the 20th century, the George circle. The study identifies three principles which are crucial for the “political theology” of the George circle – the principle of covenant, the principle of the charismatic leader and the principle of dominance and service. The main hypothesis is that the George circle was an ideologically integrated group of intellectuals who sought to reform politics by means of aesthetics, and influenced the language and ideology of the “conservative revolution” in Weimar Germany |
| Keywords: | political theology, Stefan George, George circle, Friedrich Gundolf, Friedrich Wolters, dominance and service, aestheticization of the political, conservative revolution. |
| JEL: | Z |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:26hum2013&r=hpe |
| By: | Sergio Currarini (University of Leicester, Universita' di Venezia and Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change); Marco A. Marini (Department of Computer, Control and Management Engineering, Universita' degli Studi di Roma "La Sapienza") |
| Abstract: | In this paper we review a number of coalitional solution concepts for the analysis of cartel and merger stability in oligopoly. We show that, although so far the industrial organization and the cooperative game-theoretic literature have proceeded somehow independently on this topic, the two approaches are highly inter-connected. We first consider the basic problem of the stability of the whole industry association of firms under oligopoly and, for this purpose, we introduce the concept of core in oligopoly games. We show that different assumptions on the behaviour as well as on the timing of the coalitions of firms yield very different results on the set of allocations which are core-stable. We then consider the stability of associations of firms organized in coalition structures different from the grand coalition. To this end, various coalition formation games recently introduced by the so called endogenous coalition formation literature are critically reviewed. Again, different assumptions concerning the timing and the behaviour of firms are shown to yield a wide range of different results. We conclude by reviewing some recent extensions of the coalitional analysis to oligopolistic markets with heterogeneous firms and incomplete information. |
| Keywords: | Cooperative Games, Coalitions, Mergers, Cartels, Core, Games with Ex- ternalities, Endogenous Coalition Formation |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aeg:report:2013-15&r=hpe |
| By: | Alexander Tatarko (National Research University Higher School of Economics, Russia (Moscow)); Peter Schmidt (National Research University Higher School of Economics (Moscow, Russia). International Laboratory of Socio-Cultural research, The Co-Head; Giessen University, Germany) |
| Abstract: | The objective of this research was to assess the mechanism through which the individual level components of social capital, that is, individuals‘ levels of trust, tolerance and civic identity affect their economic behavior. The sample of the study included 634 respondents aged 20 to 59. A structural equation model relating social capital with economic attitudes was specified and tested controlling for age, gender and education. We found that higher levels of individual social capital were associated with adverse monetary attitudes. Attitudes toward money as a means of influence and protection and the desire to accumulate it reflect a personal sense of dependency on money and lead to constant concern about it. A greater social capital, by providing social support that serves as an alternative source of security, influence, and protection, may reduce this dependence on money. An important finding of our research has been that the component of social capital that correlated most frequently and strongly with monetary attitudes, was civic identity. Generally, based on our findings we propose that the negative association between monetary attitudes and individual level social capital suggests that, when social capital decreases, people try to compensate by accumulating financial capital. |
| Keywords: | social capital, trust, monetary attitudes, social cohesion, civic identity. |
| JEL: | Z13 |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hig:wpaper:07/soc/2013&r=hpe |
| By: | Gadea-Blanco, Pedro; Giménez-Gómez, José-Manuel; Marco-Gil, María del Carmen |
| Abstract: | It is well known that, in distributions problems, fairness rarely leads to a single viewpoint (see, for instance, Young (1994)). In this context, this paper provides interesting bases that support the simple and commonly observed behavior of reaching intermediate agreements when two prominent distribution proposals highlight a discrepancy in sharing resources. Specifi cally, we formalize such a conflicting situation by associating it with a `natural' cooperative game, called bifocal distribution game, to show that both the Nucleolus (Schmeidler (1969)) and the Shapley value (Shapley (1953a)) agree on recommending the average of the two focal proposals. Furthermore, we analyze the interpretation of the previous result by means of axiomatic arguments. Keywords: Distribution problems, Cooperative games, Axiomatic analysis, Nucleolus, Shapley value. JEL Classi fication Numbers: C71, D63, D71. |
| Keywords: | Jocs cooperatius, Economia del benestar, Elecció social, 33 - Economia, |
| Date: | 2013 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:urv:wpaper:2072/220217&r=hpe |
| By: | CARMO DOS SANTOS, CA |
| Abstract: | This thesis looks at three important aspects of the well-being of individuals. The first chapter looks at earnings and tries to estimate earnings over the life course accounting for selection. It does so by being silent a priori about the relative productivity of those who stay out of work and instead lets the data speak. Data suggest that nonworkers are not always worse than workers, and it also suggests cohort effects are also important when lifecycle profiles do not follow the same people over the whole age range. This chapter also provides an economic model which partly explains how higher productivity individuals may leave the market earlier than low productivity ones. The second chapter looks at another dimension of well-being over the life course. It estimates age-happiness profiles and it focusses more specifically on the identification of linear age effects, in a life satisfaction equation which also includes linear cohort and period effects. As in the first chapter, this chapter also accounts for selective attrition. It finds that cohort effects and selection are important and an adequate account of them changes the age effect on happiness quite substantially. The third chapter looks at domestic violence and tries to find a measure of the cost it has for victims. This is an under-researched area in Economics due to the challenges it presents to the discipline: it questions some of the assumptions often made in the literature about cooperation and efficiency in households; it cannot be easily (if at all) inferred from market behaviour; and data are quite sensitive to gather. We have used a data set designed in the UK, which culminates happiness and income data, and find that costs of violence are often larger than what most households would be able to compensate victims for. |
| Date: | 2013–04–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ner:ucllon:http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1395999/&r=hpe |