|
on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay (Centre Walras-Pareto - UNIL - Université de Lausanne, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | The ancient Greek conception of oikonomia is often dismissed as irrelevant for making sense of the contemporary economic world. In this paper, I emphasise a tread that runs through the history of economic thought connecting the oikos to modern public economics. By conceptualising the public economy as a public household, Richard A. Musgrave (1910-2007) set foot in a long tradition of analogy between the practically oriented household and the state. Despite continuous references to the domestic model by major economists throughout the centuries, the analogy has clashed with liberal values associated with the public sphere since the eighteenth century. Musgrave's conceptualization of public expenditures represents one episode of this continuing tension. His defence of merit goods, in particular, was rejected by many American economists in the 1960s because it was perceived as a paternalistic intervention by the state. I suggest that the accusation of paternalism should not come as a surprise once the ‘domestic' elements in Musgrave's conceptualisation of the public sector are highlighted. I develop three points of the analogy in Musgrave's public household (the communal basis, a central direction, and consumption to satisfy needs) which echo recurring patterns of thought about the state. |
| Abstract: | On admet souvent que la définition originale de l'économie - oikonomia : les lois de la gestion domestique - n'est pas pertinente pour le monde économique moderne. Dans cet article, je tisse un fil dans l'histoire de la pensée économique qui connecte l'oikos à l'économie publique moderne. En conceptualisant l'économie publique comme un ménage (household), Richard A. Musgrave (1910-2007) s'inscrit, en partie sans le savoir, dans une longue tradition d'analogie entre le ménage et l'État. Malgré les références continuelles au modèle domestique par des économistes et des penseurs politiques à travers les siècles, l'analogie se heurte aux valeurs libérales associées à la sphère publique depuis le XVIIe siècle. La théorisation des dépenses publiques de Musgrave représente un épisode de cette tension continuelle. C'est le cas en particulier de son concept de besoin méritoire (besoin sous tutelle) qui a été rejeté par plusieurs économistes américains dans les années 1960, parce qu'il légitimait des interventions paternalistes de l'État. Or, l'accusation de paternalisme n'est guère surprenante lorsqu'on met au jour les éléments ‘domestiques' de la conceptualisation musgravienne du secteur public. Je développe trois points de l'analogie présents dans la conceptualisation du ménage public de Musgrave (la base communautaire, une direction centrale, la consommation pour satisfaire des besoins) qui font écho à des modes de conceptualisation de l'État récurrents dans la pensée politique et économique occidentale. |
| Keywords: | public household,paternalism,liberalism,merit wants,merit goods,besoins méritoires,ménage public,paternalisme,biens méritoites,Richard A. Musgrave |
| Date: | 2017–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01560189&r=all |
| By: | Brodbeck, Karl-Heinz |
| Abstract: | Der Begriff "Arbeit" hat im Marx'schen Werk einen deutlichen Wandel vollzogen. In seiner Frühphilosophie verband Marx eine Aufhebung der Arbeit mit dem Übergang zu einer kommunistischen Gesellschaft. Mit der Ausarbeitung seines Hauptwerkes "Das Kapital" sagte er dagegen, dass Arbeit eine "ewige Naturbedingung" menschlicher Existenz sei, die nur ihre Form verändern könne. In seiner späteren Theorie der Arbeit findet sich zudem ein immanenter Widerspruch: Marx entgeht, dass sich der Begriff der Arbeit nicht von der Form der Vergesellschaftung durch die menschliche Sprache trennen lässt. Unter Rückgriff auf zeitgenössische Autoren von Marx können diese Versäumnisse der Theorie aufgedeckt und "Arbeit" neu interpretiert werden. |
| Keywords: | Marx'sche Frühschriften,geistige und körperliche Arbeit,Sprache und Gesellschaft,Arbeit und Technologie,Andrew Ure,Philosophie der Maschinerie |
| JEL: | B14 B24 J01 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cuswps:oek44&r=all |
| By: | Ötsch, Walter; Graupe, Silja |
| Abstract: | Das Paper gibt einen Überblick über das Leben und die Bedeutung von Walter Lippmann, der in der ersten Hälfte des 20. Jahrhunderts einer der bedeutendsten Journalisten der USA war. Lippmann hat sich auch an Propagandaaktivitäten im Ersten Weltkrieg beteiligt und aufgrund dieser Erfahrung u.a. 1922 das Buch Public Opinion publiziert. Dieses Buch wird hier zusammenfassend beschrieben und in seiner Bedeutung eingeschätzt. Dies wird dann einem weiteren Buch von Lippmann Buch, nämlich The Good Society aus dem Jahre 1937, gegenübergestellt - das letztere Buch gab Anlass zum so genannten Walter Lippmann Colloque 1938 in Paris, das als die erste internationale Veranstaltung des Neoliberalismus gilt. Lippmanns Manipulationsideen werden verglichen mit denen, die Friedrich August von Hayek aus Anlass der Gründung der Mont Pèlerin Society , die als Nachfolgeorganisation des Walter Lippmann Colloque gilt: Lippmann hat vor Manipulation gewarnt, die Demokratie sei damit gefährdet. Demgegenüber wollte sich Hayek der Manipulation "der Massen" bedienen, nur so könne "die Zivilisation" gerettet werden. |
| Keywords: | Manipulation,Propaganda,Stereotype,innere Bilder,Beeinflussung des Unbewussten,Massendemokratie,Neoliberalismus,ökonomische Bildung,Marktfundamentalismus,Public Relation,Spin |
| JEL: | A11 A12 A14 A21 B25 P16 Z13 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cuswps:oek39&r=all |
| By: | Ricardo Robledo Hernández |
| Abstract: | Social conflictivity and the chance to sustain collective actions confronting antagonic interests grew at the end of the First World War. After briefly presenting the international context of “fin d’ époque” to place the frame of conflictivity, a reading of the most famous work of Juan Diaz del Moral is put forward. This reading differs slightly from the one used more commonly to interpret the social conflictivity between 1918 and 1920. In the first place, this conflictivity is contextualized within the frame of inequality created by the First World War. Even though the number of casualties is not the only argument for the violence of a collective action, an estimate recount is offered. Diaz del Moral often boasted himself of having been a direct witness of these events in order to disqualify other versions of them. The present work questions the impartiality of the person who believes himself to be close to the facts. Finally, the main ideas of his agrarist vision are presented. They are an exception in the Spanish agrarist thought, especially due to the panglossian vision of social conflicts. The following are debatable thesis: the general agricultural progress in the countryside, the spreading of small properties and the raising in the standard of living of salary earners. |
| Keywords: | agrarian conflict, Juan Díaz del Moral, Bolshevik Triennium, agrarian reformism |
| JEL: | N44 O15 R15 |
| Date: | 2019–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:seh:wpaper:1901&r=all |
| By: | Stewart Frances |
| Abstract: | This paper reviews the main methodological innovations in Asian Drama. It considers whether Myrdal’s perspectives have been adopted by development analysts, and where fresh thinking is needed, particularly in the light of changes occurring in the half-century since he wrote Asian Drama.The paper concludes that many of his ideas have been accepted, especially among heterodox economists, some themselves putting forward similar arguments. Mainstream economics has, in general, been the least responsive, and renewed emphasis is needed—especially with regard to the effects of positionality on concepts, theories, and policies; and on the inappropriateness of some advanced country economic concepts.In Asian Drama, Myrdal fails to consider that some concepts are inappropriate for the analysis of advanced economies, too. The critical need to take into account environmental considerations in the 21st century provides an additional reason for seeking alternative frameworks for everywhere, whether North or South. |
| Keywords: | Gunnar Myrdal,Institutions |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-109&r=all |
| By: | Kanbur Ravi |
| Abstract: | This paper attempts to understand Asian Drama in the context of the development debates of its time, and in terms of the sensibilities that Gunnar Myrdal—the brilliant economic theorist and philosopher of knowledge, and Swedish politician—brought to the conceptualization of the problems and prospects of development.The paper covers: (1) what Gunnar Myrdal brought to the analysis of development from his long, varied, and distinguished academic and practitioner career; (2) the development terrain in the mid-twentieth century; and (3) how Asian Drama lay on that terrain and in the remaining years of Gunnar Myrdal’s continued eventful life.The two central questions posed in the paper are: (1) How did Gunnar Myrdal’s broad experience and perspective influence Asian Drama? (2) How did Asian Drama influence the development debate? |
| Keywords: | States and elites,Elites,Gunnar Myrdal |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-102&r=all |
| By: | Khan Mushtaq |
| Abstract: | The role of institutions in Asian development has been intensely contested since Myrdal’s Asian Drama, with later contributions from institutional economics and developmental state theory.Despite much progress, the dominant approaches do not agree about the institutions that matter nor do they explain why similar institutions delivered such different results across countries.Cultural norms and informal institutions clearly matter but the appropriate norms did not already exist in successful countries; they evolved over time. The distribution of holding power across different types of organizations, the ‘political settlement’, can explain the diversity of experiences and help to develop more effective policy. |
| Keywords: | Norms,Organizations,Political settlements,Development,Industrial policy,Institutions |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-132&r=all |
| By: | Basu Kaushik |
| Abstract: | This paper is a short history of the Indian economy since 1968.India today is a changed country from what it was half a century ago, when Myrdal published his Asian Drama. The stranglehold of low growth has been broken, its population below the poverty line has fallen markedly, and India has joined the pantheon of major players globally.This paper analyses the economic policies and the politics behind this transformation; and uses that as a backdrop to take stock of the huge challenges that lie ahead. |
| Keywords: | Growth,Gunnar Myrdal,Political economy,Technological innovations,Corruption |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-124&r=all |
| By: | Thorbecke Erik |
| Abstract: | This paper is essentially autobiographical and describes Erik Thorbecke’s journey through the history of development economics between the 1950s and the present.The paper consists of four parts. First, an introduction reviews briefly his professional career as a development economist and his research interactions with major contributors to the discipline. The next three parts review critically his contributions to research on and training in, respectively, (i) the ongoing process of African development; (ii) income distribution, inequality, and poverty; and (iii) economic structure, interdependence, and quantitative development analysis. |
| Keywords: | Development doctrine,Economic structure,Inequality,Poverty |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-138&r=all |
| By: | Aurélien Goutsmedt (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne, Chaire Energie & Prospérité - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - X - École polytechnique - ENSAE ParisTech - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - Institut Louis Bachelier) |
| Abstract: | The article studies the 1978 macroeconomics conference titled "After the Phillips Curve", where Lucas and Sargent presented their fierce attack against structural macroeconometric models, "After Keynesian Macroeconomics". The article aims at enlarging the comprehension of changes in macroeconomics in the 1970s. It shows: 1) that Lucas and Sargent dit not tackle directly the issue of the explanation of stagflation; 2) but that the struggle between different methodological stances in the conference cannot be separated from the way macroeconomists interpreted stagflation; 3) that it was not an opposition between being in favor or against microfounded models, but rather on the way we build microfoundations; 4) finally that the study of the 1978 conference opens the doors for scrutinizing the evolution of institution macroeconometric models of the 1970s which were not totally overthrown by Lucas and Sargent's arguments. |
| Keywords: | History of macroeconomics,Keynesian economics,Microfoundations,Structural Macroeconometric Models |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01625188&r=all |
| By: | Quentin Couix (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | This paper proposes a historical and epistemological account of one of the key controversy between natural resources economics and ecological economics, lasting from early 1970s to the end of 1990s. It shows that the theoretical disagreement on the scope of the economy's dependence to natural resources, such as energy and minerals, has deep methodological roots. On one hand, Solow's and Stiglitz's works are built on a "model-based methodology", where the model precedes and supports the conceptual foundations of the theory and in particular the assumption of "unbounded resources productivity". On the other hand, Georgescu-Roegen's counter-assumption of "thermodynamic limits to production", later revived by Daly, rest on a methodology of "interdisciplinary consistency" which considers thermodynamics as a relevant scientific referent for economic theory. While antagonistic, these two methodologies face similar issues regarding the conceptual foundations that arise from them, which is a source of confusion and of the difficult dialogue between paradigms. |
| Keywords: | natural resources,thermodynamics,growth,sustainability,model,theory,methodology |
| Date: | 2018–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01702401&r=all |
| By: | Aurélien Goutsmedt (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne, Chaire Energie & Prospérité - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - X - École polytechnique - ENSAE ParisTech - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - Institut Louis Bachelier); Erich Pinzón-Fuchs (Universidad de los Andes [Bogota]); Matthieu Renault (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne); Francesco Sergi (University of Bristol [Bristol]) |
| Abstract: | We illustrate how the Lucas Critique was called into question by Keynesian macroeconomists during the 1970s and 1980s. Our claim is that Keynesians' reactions were carried out from a pragmatic approach, which addressed the empirical and practical relevance of the Critique. Keynesians rejected the Critique as a general principle with no relevance for concrete macroeconometric practice; their rejection relied on econometric investigations and contextual analysis of the U.S. 1970s stagflation and its aftermath. Keynesians argued that the parameters of their models remained stable across this period, and that simpler ways to account for stagflation (such as the introduction of supply shocks into their models) provided better alternatives to improve policy evaluation. |
| Keywords: | History of macroeconomics,Lucas Critique,Keynesian macroeconometrics,Stagflation |
| Date: | 2017–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01625169&r=all |
| By: | Nicolas Jacquemet (PSE - Paris School of Economics, CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Fabrice Le Lec (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | La méthode expérimentale a profondément influencé les développements récents de la sciencé economique. L'utilisation d'expériences, et son caractère quasi-systématiquè a partir des années 1990, a permis de développer uné evaluation empiriquè a la fois des hypothèses sur lesquelles repose l'analyse théorique (par exemple : combien d'acteurs sont nécessaires nécessairesà donner du sensàsensà la notion d'atomicité, qui se traduit empiriquement par des agents qui se comportent comme preneurs de prix ? Quel horizon temporel réplique la notion de jeu infiniment répété, dont la conséquence essentielle est de rendre les décisions contemporaines indépendantes desévénementsdesévénements futurs ?), mais aussi des prédictions de modèles spécifiques (l'´ equilibre offre-demande sur un marché, la formation des prix et l'allocation d'un bien dans le cadre d'une enchère). L'´ economie expérimentale a ainsi mis enévidenceenévidence la pertinence et la validité de certaines approches théoriques, malgré des hypothèses souvent très fortes sur les comportements individuels et sociaux, mais aussi leurs limites dans un certain nombre d'autres situations. Les deux lauréats du " Prix Nobel d'´ economie " (ou Prix de la Banque deSù ede en mémoire d'Alfred Nobel) dont la distinction fut explicitement motivée par leurs contributions expérimentales, illustrent parfaitement cette tension : les travaux de Vernon Smith montrent que, pour certaines institutions d'´ echanges bien définies, les marchés fonctionnent demanì ere très cohérente avec la théorie de la concurrence pure et parfaite, alors même que la plupart des hypothèses sous-jacentesàjacentesà cette théorie sont, au mieux, modérément satisfaites. A contrario, Daniel Kahneman, co-lauréat la même année, reçoit le prix pour la mise enévidenceenévidence de biais cognitifs et d'une tendance des individusàindividusà s'´ ecarter des canons de la rationalité mis en avant dans les modèles microéconomiques. Sur la base de cette tension et en lien trèstrèsétroit avec l'´ economie expérimentale, s'est développé un nouveau champ de recherche, l'´ economie comportementale, dont l'objectif est d'enrichir et amender l'approche théorique des décisions individuelles et sociales sur la base de régularités psy-chologiques. Il s'agit d'incorporer aux modèles canoniques les motivations non-monétaires et les inclinations moinségo¨ıstesmoinségo¨moinségo¨ıstes des individus, ou les raccourcis cognitifs sur lesquels ils peuvent se fonder, pour prendre leurs décisions ou encore d'´ eventuelles incohérences de com-portement. Les résultats de l'´ economie expérimentale, du moins les plus robustes et les plus souvent répliqués, ne font plusgù ere l'objet de débat au sein de la discipline, et l'approche comportementale s'est quantàquantà elle progressivement diffuséè a tous les champs de l'analyséanalysé economique. |
| Date: | 2017–09–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01613845&r=all |
| By: | Marc Fleurbaey (Woodrow Wilson School and Center for Human Values - Princeton University); Stéphane Zuber (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, PSE - Paris School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | Utilitarianism is a prominent approach to social justice that has played a central role in economic theory. A key issue for utilitarianism is to define how utilities should be measured and compared. This paper draws on Harsanyi's approach (Harsanyi, 1955) to derive utilities from choices in risky situations. We introduce a new normalization of utilities that ensures that: 1) a transfer from a rich to a poor is welfare enhancing, and 2) populations with more risk averse people have lower welfare. We propose normative principles that reflect these fairness requirements and characterize fair utilitarianism. We also study some implications of fair utilitarianism for risk sharing and collective risk aversion. |
| Keywords: | Fairness,social risk,utilitarianism |
| Date: | 2017–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-01441070&r=all |
| By: | Shikhar Sarin (Boise State University); Christophe Haon (GEM - Grenoble Ecole de Management - Grenoble École de Management (GEM), IREGE - Institut de Recherche en Gestion et en Economie - USMB [Université de Savoie] [Université de Chambéry] - Université Savoie Mont Blanc); Mustapha Belkhouja (MTS - Management Technologique et Strategique - Grenoble École de Management (GEM)) |
| Abstract: | This essay takes a longitudinal look at the knowledge flow patterns between major technology and innovation man- agement (TIM) journals and the effect on their impact factors. We analyze the flow of 29,776 citations from 4171 articles published in the top six dedicated TIM journals between 1999 and 2013. Findings indicate one subset of journals becoming more firmly rooted in the TIM domain, while the others becoming increasingly insulated from it. JPIM displays peculiar knowledge flow patterns, suggesting a broadening of its knowledge base and impact. Our bibliometric analysis provides one of the most comprehensive and detailed year-by-year looks at the intradomain knowledge exchange patterns over a 15-year period. |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-01705065&r=all |
| By: | Akyeampong, Emmanuel (African Economic History Network) |
| Abstract: | Ralph Austen in African Economic History (1987) noted how few African countries explicitly choose capitalism on independence, and for those who did it was a default model or a residual pattern. ‘African socialism’ was popular in the early decades of independence and pursued by several countries, including Ghana, Guinea, Senegal and Tanzania, the cases considered in this paper. The term had multiple meanings, and its advocates were quick to stress that they were not communist, and some said they were not even Marxist. This paper explores the argument that African socialism was a search for an indigenous model of economic development for a generation that was justifiably ambivalent about capitalism, but wary of being put in the communist camp in the Cold War era. Importantly, advocates of African socialism often proposed bold and transformative visions for their countries. These visions might be worth revisiting, devoid of the paradigm of socialism. |
| Keywords: | Socialism; capitalism; independence; Africa; economic history |
| JEL: | N17 N27 N47 |
| Date: | 2017–11–14 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:afekhi:2017_036&r=all |
| By: | Mueller Daniel; Sander Renes |
| Abstract: | We elicit distributional fairness ideals of impartial spectators using an incentivized elici- tation in a large and heterogeneous sample of the German population. We document several empirical facts: i) egalitarianism is the predominant ideal; ii) females are more egalitarian than men; iii) men are relatively more efficiency minded; iv) left-leaning voters are more likely to be egalitarians whereas right-leaning voters are more likely to be efficiency minded; and v) young and highly-educated participants hold different fairness ideals than the rest of the population. Moreover, we show that the fairness ideals predict preferences for redistribution and interven- tion by the government, as well as actual charitable giving, even after controlling for a range of covariates. Hence, our paper contributes to our understanding of the underpinnings of voting behavior and ideological preferences, as well the literature that links lab and field behavior. |
| Keywords: | Distributional fairness, impartial spectator, representative sample, po- litical attitudes, voting behavior, lab to field |
| JEL: | C90 D31 D63 |
| Date: | 2019–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:inn:wpaper:2019-08&r=all |
| By: | Carbonnier Gilles |
| Abstract: | This paper introduces the origins and scope of humanitarian economics, a vibrant field of study and practice that deals with the economics and political economy of war, disaster, and humanitarian action.To illustrate the field’s scientific and policy relevance, the paper draws on various examples and highlights the potential of humanitarian economics to better understand and address some of today’s thorniest humanitarian challenges. Finally, the paper calls for novel interdisciplinary, cross-sector collaborations to push a pressing research agenda forward. |
| Keywords: | political economy of aid,war economics,disaster economics,Humanitarianism |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:wp2018-54&r=all |
| By: | Wohlrabe, Klaus; Bornmann, Lutz |
| Abstract: | In this article, we revisit the analysis of Laband and Tollison (2006) who documented that articles with two authors in alphabetical order are cited much more often than non-alphabetized papers with two authors in the American Economic Review and the American Journal of Agricultural Economics. Using more than 120,000 multi-authored articles from the Web of Science economics subject category, we demonstrate first that the alphabetization rate in economics has declined somewhat over the last decade. Second, we find no statistically significant relationship between alphabetized co-authorship and citations in economics (the coefficients are very small). Third, we show that the likelihood of non-alphabetized co-authorship increases the more authors an article has. |
| Keywords: | alphabetization, co-authorship, citations, Web of Science |
| JEL: | A12 A14 |
| Date: | 2019–05–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:93836&r=all |
| By: | Pühringer, Stephan; Bäuerle, Lukas |
| Abstract: | The global financial crisis (GFC) led to increasing distrust in economic research and the economics profession, in the process of which the current state of economics and economic education in particular were heavily criticized. Against this background we conducted a study with undergraduate students of economics in order to capture their view of economic education. The paper is based on the Documentary Method, a qualitative empirical method, which combines maximum openness with regard to the collection of empirical material coupled with maximum rigor in analysis. The empirical findings show that students enter economics curricula with (1) epistemic, (2) practical or (3) moral/political motivations for understanding and dealing with real-world problems but end up remarkably disappointed after going through the mathematical and methods-orientated introductory courses. The findings further indicate that students develop strategies to cope with their disappointment - all of them relating to their original motivation. The theoretical contextualization of the empirical findings is based on the psychological concept of cognitive dissonance. |
| Keywords: | Economic education,real-world orientation,cognitive dissonance,Global Financial Crisis,qualitative social research,Documentary Method |
| JEL: | A10 A11 A12 A20 B49 |
| Date: | 2018 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:cuswps:oek37&r=all |
| By: | Cappelen, Alexander W. (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration); Mollerstrom, Johanna; Reme, Bjørn-Atle; Tungodden, Bertil (Dept. of Economics, Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration) |
| Abstract: | The meritocratic fairness ideal implies that inequalities in earnings are regarded as fair only when they reflect differences in performance. Consequently, implementation of the meritocratic fairness ideal requires complete information about individual performances, but in practice, such information is often not available. We study redistributive behavior in the common, but previously understudied, situation where there is uncertainty about whether inequality is reflecting performance or luck. We show theoretically that meritocrats in such situations can become very egalitarian in their behavior, and that the degree to which this happens depends on how they trade off the probability of making mistakes and the size of mistakes that they risk making when redistributing under uncertainty. Our laboratory experiments show, in line with our model, that uncertainty about the source of inequality provides a strong egalitarian pull on the behavior of meritocrats. In addition, the external validity of our framework, and the results from the laboratory, are supported in two general population surveys conducted in the United States and Norway. |
| Keywords: | inequality; fairness; redistribution; responsibility; performance; luck; experiment; survey. |
| JEL: | C91 D63 D81 H23 |
| Date: | 2019–04–29 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:nhheco:2019_009&r=all |