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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Susumu Cato (Institute of Social Science, the University of Tokyo, 7-3-1, Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0033, Japan.); Adrien Lutz (Univ Lyon, UJM Saint-Etienne, GATE UMR 5824, F-42023 Saint- Etienne, France) |
| Abstract: | Kenneth Arrow is a founder of the social choice theory as well as a main developer of modern theories of market economies. Moral obligations and social norms are at the core of Arrow's ethical considerations to understand and overcome his well-known impossibility theorem of preference aggregation. Interestingly, he thinks that moral obligations and social norms are very important to overcome failures of market economies. Also, he proposed some interaction between public policies and evolution of social norms. Here, we can find a consistent and systematic thinking of Arrow's ethical considerations, which might be overlooked in spite of its importance. We believe that Arrow has political philosophy (or a theory of justice), which is quite useful to understand recent developments of behavioral economics and theories of non-market economies. Arrow's thought is totally different from Amartya Sen and John Rawls, which are dominant in modern theories of justice. Arrow's approach can shed some new lights on the subject of social justice. |
| Keywords: | Efficiency, Equity, Social justice, Moral obligation, Social choice, Communitarianism |
| JEL: | B22 D62 D63 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1841&r=all |
| By: | Antoine Missemer (CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, CIRED - Centre International de Recherche sur l'Environnement et le Développement - CIRAD - Centre de Coopération Internationale en Recherche Agronomique pour le Développement - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AgroParisTech - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The interest of economists in fossil fuel exhaustion dates back to the mid-19th century, when, in Great Britain, W. Stanley Jevons published his 1865 essay on coal. In the subsequent decades, fossil fuels were considered with ambivalence: sometimes as a new theoretical and practical priority, sometimes as a secondary issue to be studied in standard frameworks. This paper explores, through the example of the mining rent, how fossil fuels were (partially) incorporated into economic theory at the time. It also explains why the original British view was finally relegated to the background in the early 20th century, when American economists took part in the discussions. |
| Keywords: | marginalism,Jevons,mining rent,history of economic thought,fossil fuels |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01793364&r=all |
| By: | Michel Bellet (Univ Lyon, UJM Saint-Etienne, GATE UMR 5824, F-42023 Saint- Etienne, France); Adrien Lutz (Univ Lyon, UJM Saint-Etienne, GATE UMR 5824, F-42023 Saint- Etienne, France) |
| Abstract: | There are three slogans in the history of Socialism that are very close in wording, namely, the famous Cabet-Blanc-Marx slogan: From each according to his ability; To each according to his needs; the earlier Saint-Simon–Pecqueur slogan: To each according to his ability; To each according to his works; and the later slogan in Stalin’s 1936 Soviet Constitution: From each according to his ability; To each according to his work. We trace the earliest occurrences of these slogans and their biblical sources and we show how the progression from one slogan to the next casts light on the development of early socialist thought. |
| Keywords: | socialism, utopian socialism, bible, Christianity, slogans |
| JEL: | B14 N00 Z12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1840&r=all |
| By: | Eszter Czibor; David Jimenez-Gomez; John List |
| Abstract: | What was once broadly viewed as an impossibility - learning from experimental data in economics - has now become commonplace. Governmental bodies, think tanks, and corporations around the world employ teams of experimental researchers to answer their most pressing questions. For their part, in the past two decades academics have begun to more actively partner with organizations to generate data via field experimentation. While this revolution in evidence-based approaches has served to deepen the economic science, recently a credibility crisis has caused even the most ardent experimental proponents to pause. This study takes a step back from the burgeoning experimental literature and introduces 12 actions that might help to alleviate this credibility crisis and raise experimental economics to an even higher level. In this way, we view our "12 action wish list" as discussion points to enrich the field. |
| Date: | 2019 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:feb:artefa:00648&r=all |
| By: | Luc Boven (UNC at Chapel Hill, Department of Philosophy, Caldwell Hall, CB# 3125, 240 East Cameron, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3125); Adrien Lutz (Univ Lyon, UJM Saint-Etienne, GATE UMR 5824, F-42023 Saint- Etienne, France) |
| Abstract: | There are three slogans in the history of Socialism that are very close in wording, namely, the famous Cabet-Blanc-Marx slogan: From each according to his ability; To each according to his needs; the earlier Saint-Simon–Pecqueur slogan: To each according to his ability; To each according to his works; and the later slogan in Stalin’s 1936 Soviet Constitution: From each according to his ability; To each according to his work. We trace the earliest occurrences of these slogans and their biblical sources and we show how the progression from one slogan to the next casts light on the development of early socialist thought. |
| Keywords: | socialism, utopian socialism, bible, Christianity, slogans |
| JEL: | B14 N00 Z12 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gat:wpaper:1839&r=all |
| By: | Philippe Mongin (CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Mikaël Cozic (LIS - Lettres, Idées, Savoir - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12, IHPST - Institut d'Histoire et de Philosophie des Sciences et des Techniques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - DEC - Département d'Etudes Cognitives - ENS Paris - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | Nudge is a concept of policy intervention that originates in Thaler and Sunstein's (2008) popular eponymous book. Following their own hints, we distinguish three properties of nudge interventions: they redirect individual choices by only slightly altering choice conditions (here nudge 1), they use rationality failures instrumentally (here nudge 2), and they alleviate the unfavourable effects of these failures (here nudge 3). We explore each property in semantic detail and show that no entailment relation holds between them. This calls into question the theoretical unity of nudge, as intended by Thaler and Sunstein and most followers. We eventually recommend pursuing each property separately, both in policy research and at the foundational level. We particularly emphasize the need of reconsidering the respective roles of decision theory and behavioural economics to delineate nudge 2 correctly. The paper differs from most of the literature in focusing on the definitional rather than the normative problems of nudge. |
| Keywords: | behavioural economics,Kahneman and Tversky,Thaler and Sunstein,policy analysis,liberal paternalism,nudge,rationality,decision biases,decision theory |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01950716&r=all |
| By: | Lundberg, Shelly (University of California, Santa Barbara); Stearns, Jenna (University of California, Davis) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we first document trends in the gender composition of academic economists over the past 25 years, the extent to which these trends encompass the most elite departments, and how women's representation across fields of study within economics has changed. We then review the recent literature on other dimensions of women's relative position in the discipline, including research productivity and income, and assess evidence on the barriers that female economists face in publishing, promotion, and tenure. While underlying gender differences can directly affect the relative productivity of men and women, due to either differential constraints or preferences, productivity gaps do not fully explain the gender disparity in promotion rates in economics. Furthermore, the progress of women has stalled relative to that in other disciplines in the past two decades. We propose that differential assessment of men and women is one important factor in explaining this stalled progress, reflected in gendered institutional policies and apparent implicit bias in promotion and editorial review processes. |
| Keywords: | gender, economics, promotion, tenure, publishing |
| JEL: | J16 J71 J21 |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11974&r=all |
| By: | Yves De Curraize (LIPHA - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire d'Etude du Politique Hannah Arendt Paris-Est - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12); Sylvie Thoron (LIPHA - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire d'Etude du Politique Hannah Arendt Paris-Est - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12) |
| Abstract: | Apparue dans l'immédiat après-guerre, voire dans les années 1930, la pratique des expériences en économie a connu un essor important depuis les années 1970, et une consécration plus récente dans les années 2000 à travers l'attribution de prix Nobel en économie expérimentale, ainsi que la reconnaissance des travaux d'Esther Duflo. Dans cet article nous nous intéressons aux deux méthodologies les plus couramment utilisées : celles qui entrent dans la catégorie de l'économie expérimentale et les expériences aléatoires contrôlées (EAC). Partageant le même principe de base qui est de « provoquer une observation dans le but d'étudier certains phénomènes », elles n'en diffèrent pas moins par leur origine et leur statut épistémologique. D'une part l'économie expérimentale, tournée vers la théorie, trouve ses origines dans une tentative réfutationniste dans les années 1970. D'autre part les EAC, tournées vers l'évaluation des politiques publiques, viennent d'une recherche de confirmation. Nous montrons par contre que l'influence conjointe des deux méthodologies a ensuite ébranlé la conception de l'économie comme science inexacte et séparée (Hausman 1992). Economie expérimentale et EAC ont oeuvré pour que l'économie devienne une discipline moins généraliste et plus contextualisée. Elles ont aussi obligé les chercheurs, expérimentalistes, randomistes et théoriciens à repenser la définition du domaine de l'économie. Quand certains s'efforcent de le préciser, d'autres tentent de l'élargir, selon différentes conceptions de l'interdisciplinarité. Par contre, il semble que les différentes méthodologies expérimentales ne remettent que peu en question la théorie de la rationalité comme référence normative. |
| Keywords: | confirmationnisme,épistémologie,économie expérimentale,expériences aléatoires contrôlées,expériences de laboratoire,expériences de terrain,réfutationnisme |
| Date: | 2018–12–28 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-01966636&r=all |
| By: | Pierre Bernhard (BIOCORE - Biological control of artificial ecosystems - CRISAM - Inria Sophia Antipolis - Méditerranée - Inria - Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - LOV - Laboratoire d'océanographie de Villefranche - INSU - CNRS - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers - Sorbonne Université - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Marc Deschamps (CRESE - Centre de REcherches sur les Stratégies Economiques (EA 3190) - UBFC - Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté [COMUE] - UFC - Université de Franche-Comté) |
| Abstract: | Arrow's (im)possibility theorem is one of the most famous and important contri- butions in economics. It concerns the difficulty to aggregate a set of individual preferences, given as rankings of a set of available alternatives, into a unique social preferences ranking via a social welfare function, or into a unique social choice. Arrow proves that in a specific framework, it is impossible to find a social welfare function which simultaneously satisfies four conditions: universal domain, weak Pareto principle, independence of irrelevant alternatives, and no dictator. Our no- tice presents this theorem, one of its proofs, and, we hope, invites the reader to discover social choice theory |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01941037&r=all |
| By: | Baccaro, Lucio; Pontusson, Jonas |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a historical overview of comparative political economy as an interdisciplinary field of study anchored in political science and focused on advanced capitalist states. We argue that this field of inquiry has reached an impasse and that a more sustained engagement with macroeconomics provides a way forward. Against this backdrop, we review two distinct traditions of macroeconomics - New Keynesian and Post-Keynesian macroeconomics - and discuss their relative merits as vehicles for renewing the research agenda of comparative political economy. |
| Keywords: | comparative capitalisms,comparative political economy,growth models,macro-economics,varieties of capitalism,Makroökonomie,Spielarten des Kapitalismus,Vergleichende Kapitalismusforschung,Vergleichende Politische Ökonomie,Wachstumsmodelle |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:mpifgd:1810&r=all |
| By: | Naldi, Nerio (La Sapienza University of Rome) |
| Abstract: | The paper investigates the origins of the equations which form the structure of Piero Sraffa’s Production of Commodities by means of Commodities. Following an interpretation first developed by Pierangelo Garegnani in a paper that highlighted the importance of a manuscript headed ‘Notes Lon-don, Summer 1927 (Physical Real Costs etc.)’, we single out new evidence relevant to the reconstruction of the path which led Sraffa to conceive his equations. In particular, we stress how Sraffa came to pay special attention to the case of a subsistence economy (‘a community that produces just what is sufficient to keep it going’) and how this led him to shift his attention from the idea of reducing heterogeneous physical costs to an ‘absolutely necessary commodity’ to the determination of exchange ratios by the solution of systems of simultaneous equations. |
| Keywords: | Sraffa; Piero Sraffa Papers; Production of Commodities; costs; relative prices |
| JEL: | B24 B31 B51 |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ris:sraffa:0033&r=all |
| By: | Antoinette Baujard (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Adrien Lutz (GATE Lyon Saint-Étienne - Groupe d'analyse et de théorie économique - ENS Lyon - École normale supérieure - Lyon - UL2 - Université Lumière - Lyon 2 - UCBL - Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 - Université de Lyon - UJM - Université Jean Monnet [Saint-Étienne] - Université de Lyon - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | "To each according to his ability, to each ability according to his works" constitutes the founding slogan of the Saint-Simonian doctrine (1825-1832). A century and a half would pass before Sen and Nussbaum developed their capability approaches, designed to consider issues of human development and quality of life. Given the prominence of capability approaches in the context of modern theories of justice, and perhaps also due to the natural analogy between the words 'capacité', 'ability', and 'capability', there is a clear tendency in the literature to analyse the Saint-Simonians' contributions to justice based on the assumption that there is a conceptual link between the terms capability and ability. This paper claims, however, that the elision of these terms is unjustified, and is a source more of confusion than of enlightenment. A capability is an evaluative space for justice, while an ability is a property of individuals. The former is defined essentially in the domain of consumption and individual accomplishment, while the latter is clearly seen as a contribution to the theory of efficient production. Finally, these differences reveal a contrast in the focus values: the ability approach insists on efficiency, while the capability approach focuses on agency. |
| Keywords: | Social justice,Capability,Ability,Sen,Saint-Simonianism |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-01963252&r=all |
| By: | Galina Martea (PhD member of the Romanian-American Academy of Sciences) |
| Abstract: | The presence of the human being in the value system, as an identity and social personality, is the action that produces positive effects in the development of a society. In turn, society, a complementary identity in the existence of people, is that component that defines and motivates the importance of actions based on the ideas and decisions made by the individual. Thus, the human being promotes its content within the system of values, and society becomes accomplice both in man's existence and in the existence of values. Respectively, through his actions, the individual develops their own society and, at the same time, creates their image in evolutionary processes. Correspondingly, human actions are made available to society, them being a beneficial support in improving living conditions, in developing the level of culture and education, in preserving and supplementing spiritual values founded by humankind over time, etc. Thus, the social welfare element identifies a country, a community, based on its own system of values. And through its own system of values, the individual and their society are manifested, and each of them continually complements themselves, aiming at new things, evolutionary and full of essence. Thus, through the human intellect, the development process of society is constantly being developed and perfected, and the value, as a priority substance, maintains its verticality through the evolutionary processes of civilization and the process of identifying its own personality. |
| Keywords: | system of values, individual, society, identity, development, existence |
| Date: | 2018–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:jpaper:012gm&r=all |
| By: | Noll, Bernd |
| Abstract: | [Vorbemerkung] Der 21. Juni 1948 steht für die Währungsreform im westlichen Teil Nachkriegsdeutschlands. Damals gab es noch keine Bundesrepublik, und die Sowjetisch besetzte Zone wurde nicht einbezogen. Es war auch keine Reform deutscher Politiker oder Behörden, sondern eine Aktion, die maßgeblich auf Entscheidung und unter Federführung der amerikanischen Besatzungsmacht erfolgte. Warum also an diesem Ereignis anknüpfen bei einer Tagung zum Thema „70 Jahre Soziale Marktwirtschaft“? Nun, es soll gezeigt werden, dass dies eine Reform von erheblicher wirtschaftspolitischer Bedeutung für die Etablierung einer marktwirtschaftlichen Ordnung war. Es war aber mehr als das! Es war für viele Zeitgenossen ein Tag mit großer symbolischer Wirkung und hoher psychologischer Wirkmächtigkeit. Der 21.Juni 1948 wurde von der Bevölkerung als entscheidender Tag des Neubeginns wahrgenommen, nicht - wie man meinen könnte - der Tag der Verkündigung des Grundgesetzes am 23. Mai 1949 und auch nicht die Konstituierung des Bundestags am 7. September 1949. Die Währungsreform war schließlich auch aus Sicht der Siegermächte des 2. Weltkrieges ein wichtiger Schritt. Die UdSSR antwortete mit der Blockade Westberlins, wo die neue DM ebenfalls eingeführt worden war. Die Währungsreform griff also über das Geschehen in Deutschland hinaus, denn sie vertiefte die Spaltung zwischen Ost und West, war damit zugleich ein wichtiger Baustein für die sich etablierende westliche Nachkriegsordnung. [...] |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:pfobei:169&r=all |
| By: | Gilbert Giacomoni (IRG - Institut de Recherche en Gestion - UPEM - Université Paris-Est Marne-la-Vallée - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12, AgroParisTech) |
| Date: | 2018–06–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01941661&r=all |
| By: | Jakhotiya, Girish |
| Abstract: | An overemphasis on GDP and GDP-related parameters has neglected the measurement of ‘versatile development’ of a nation. The present design and application of all the development related parameters serve a limited purpose of using common medicine for all types of patients. A Development Index of a nation should also be a measurement of sustainability of economic growth and inclusivity for the downtrodden communities. As an index, it should look at the ‘relative status’ of a nation. This is essential to attach suitable weightages to the various components of an index, suited to the socio-economic condition of a nation. This paper attempts to rework on the Development Index, to make it a versatile tool to measure an all-round development of a nation. The illustration presented in this paper is based on a broad study of the overall status of the economies of a few influential countries. While doing so the index is presented through its ten components capturing maximum possible dimensions of a nation’s development. |
| Keywords: | Development Index, sustainability, versatility, inclusivity, equity, GDP, economic status |
| JEL: | E6 O2 |
| Date: | 2018–12–22 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:90783&r=all |
| By: | Chen, Daniel L. |
| Abstract: | Predictive judicial analytics holds the promise of increasing efficiency and fairness of law. Judicial analytics can assess extra-legal factors that influence decisions. Behavioral anomalies in judicial decision-making offer an intuitive understanding of feature relevance, which can then be used for debiasing the law. A conceptual distinction between inter-judge disparities in predictions and interjudge disparities in prediction accuracy suggests another normatively relevant criterion with regards to fairness. Predictive analytics can also be used in the first step of causal inference, where the features employed in the first step are exogenous to the case. Machine learning thus offers an approach to assess bias in the law and evaluate theories about the potential consequences of legal change. |
| Keywords: | Judicial Analytics; Causal Inference; Behavioral Judging |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tse:wpaper:33147&r=all |
| By: | Pablo Schenone |
| Abstract: | We propose a decision-theoretic model akin to Savage (1972) that is useful for defining causal effects. Within this framework, we define what it means for a decision maker (DM) to act as if the relation between the two variables is causal. Next, we provide axioms on preferences and show that these axioms are equivalent to the existence of a (unique) Directed Acyclic Graph (DAG) that represents the DM's preference. The notion of representation has two components: the graph factorizes the conditional independence properties of the DM's subjective beliefs, and arrows point from cause to effect. Finally, we explore the connection between our representation and models used in the statistical causality literature (for example, Pearl (1995)). |
| Date: | 2018–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:arx:papers:1812.07414&r=all |