nep-hpe New Economics Papers
on History and Philosophy of Economics
Issue of 2020‒04‒27
nine papers chosen by
Erik Thomson
University of Manitoba

  1. A Rational Theory of Producer’s Equilibrium in Fifteen Principles By Jael, Paul
  2. What Is Science? An Evidence for False Foundation of Economics and Scientific Disciplines for the Nature and Humanity Well Being By Kayak, Murat
  3. What's right with the neoclassical legacy? Allais' response By Olivier Baguelin
  4. Axiomatizations of Dutta-Ray's egalitarian solution on the domain of convex games By Calleja, Pedro; Llerena, Francesc; Sudhölter, Peter
  5. A propos de la notion de pratique en sciences de gestion - du "practice turn" By Yvon Pesqueux
  6. Inequality as entitlements over labour By Segal, Paul
  7. Feeling good or feeling better? By Alberto Prati; Claudia Senik
  8. What Makes Work Meaningful and Why Economists Should Care about It By Nikolova, Milena; Cnossen, Femke
  9. A Comprehensive History of Regression Discontinuity Designs: An Empirical Survey of the last 60 Years By Villamizar-Villegas, Mauricio; Pinzón-Puerto, Freddy A.; Ruiz-Sánchez, María Alejandra

  1. By: Jael, Paul
    Abstract: The marginalist theory of producer’s equilibrium has been a cornerstone of mainstream economics for a long time. This theory has been challenged more than once in the twentieth century, without losing its predominance. A lot of critics and many ideas have been ventured. My conclusion is that there is room and there is a need for alternative microeconomics. Approaching heterodox microeconomics may seem entering a labyrinth. For this reason, I propose a presentation of my conception about producer’s equilibrium in a structured and concise way: fifteen principles in a logical and instructive order. The principles are founded on a hypothesis shared by neoclassical economics: rationality of agents. Each behaviour must be compatible with the pursuit of self-interest.
    Keywords: market structure; competition; pricing
    JEL: D21 D40
    Date: 2020–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:99456&r=all
  2. By: Kayak, Murat
    Abstract: A better earth is possible for nature and humanity well being with cooperative advantage, as I introduced in prior study. I move providing an evidence for false foundation of economics and scientific disciplines. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, as the oldest professional journal of economics, by Oxford Academic of Oxford University, journal is Edited at Harvard University's Department of Economics, has introduced Religion & Economics Collection with an introduction starts with three questions, Does Religion affect economic growth and happiness? 2. How do societies form moral systems? 3. Do Catholic schools make a difference? Starting with this collection questions; purpose of this study is to provide an evidence for false foundation of economics and scientific disciplines. A better earth is possible with cooperation. First, this study provide an evidence for false foundation of economics, and second provides an evidence for false foundation of scientific disciplines. This study provides evidence that relativity is false. I sincerely invite scientists and philosophers to pay attention on this study.
    Date: 2020–04–02
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:osfxxx:jwfup&r=all
  3. By: Olivier Baguelin (EUREQUA - Equipe Universitaire de Recherche en Economie Quantitative - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)
    Abstract: Most important economic problems such as coordinating individual activities or providing correct incentives arise "far" from economic equilibrium; this is especially true within a context of general interdependence. And yet, the walrasian General equilibrium theory, as dominant legatee of neoclassical economics, is only coherent in the close neighborhood of some equilibrium (Foley, 2010). The marshallian approach is an appealing alternative to deal with "general disequilibrium" situations while incorporating neoclassical concepts. The trouble is that it betrays part of the neoclassical legacy when questioning an ordinal interpretation of utility. This paper draws the attention on Allais' General theory of surpluses (1981) as a valuable platform to coherently arrange fundamental neoclassical achievements. It offers a basic but integrative analytical framework: not only does it accommodate disequilibrium situations but it allows connections to such an important development in economic theory as the institutional approach.
    Keywords: surplus,loss,general equilibrium,transaction costs JEL codes: D3,D5,D6
    Date: 2020–04–13
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-02541406&r=all
  4. By: Calleja, Pedro (Departament de Matemàtica Econòmica, Financera i Actuarial); Llerena, Francesc (Departament de Gestió d'Empreses); Sudhölter, Peter (Department of Business and Economics)
    Abstract: We show that on the domain of convex games, Dutta-Ray's egalitarian solution is characterized by core selection, aggregate monotonicity, and bounded richness, a new property requiring that the poorest players cannot be made richer within the core. Replacing "poorest" by "poorer" allows to eliminate aggregate monotonicity. Moreover, strengthening core selection into bilateral consistency à la Davis and Maschler, and Pareto optimality into individual rationality and bilateral consistency à la Hart and Mas-Colell, we obtain alternative and stylized axiomatic approaches.
    Keywords: Dutta-Rays egalitarian solution; axiomatizations; convex TU game
    JEL: C71
    Date: 2020–04–16
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:sdueko:2020_004&r=all
  5. By: Yvon Pesqueux (CNAM - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM], LIRSA - Laboratoire interdisciplinaire de recherche en sciences de l'action - CNAM - Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers [CNAM])
    Abstract: A propos de la notion de « pratique » en sciences de gestion-du « practice turn » Résumé Ce texte est organisé de la manière suivante. Après une introduction qui positionne la notion de « pratique », il aborde successivement : la notion de best practice, celle de « routine organisationnelle », la tension « pratique-pratiques », la question de sa définition, la notion de pratique selon P. R. Schatzki, la distinction « practice-practicing-practising » puis une conclusion.
    Date: 2020–04–15
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02543739&r=all
  6. By: Segal, Paul
    Abstract: The modern study of economic inequality is based on the distribution of entitlements over goods and services. But social commentators at least since Rousseau have been concerned with a different aspect of economic inequality: that it implies that one person is entitled to command another person for their own personal ends. I call this inequality as entitlements over labour. I propose to measure entitlements over labour by calculating the extent to which top income groups can afford to buy the labour of others for the purpose of their personal consumption. Unlike standard inequality measures, this measure is not welfarist, but instead has its normative basis in relations of domination, hierarchy and social status between people. I estimate entitlements over labour in three high-inequality and two low-inequality countries and argue that inequality as entitlements over labour is socially and politically salient, capturing a side of inequality neglected by standard measures.
    Keywords: inequality; income distribution; socio-economics; elites; hierarchy
    JEL: D31
    Date: 2020–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:104083&r=all
  7. By: Alberto Prati (AMSE - Aix-Marseille Sciences Economiques - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - AMU - Aix Marseille Université - ECM - École Centrale de Marseille - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Claudia Senik (PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS Paris - École normale supérieure - Paris - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PSE - Paris School of Economics, UP4 - Université Paris-Sorbonne)
    Abstract: Can people remember correctly their past well-being? We study three national surveys of the British, German and French population, where more than 50,000 European citizens were asked questions about their current and past life satisfaction. We uncover systematic biases in recalled subjective well-being: on average, people tend to overstate the improvement in their well-being over time and to understate their past happiness. But this aggregate figure hides a deep asymmetry: while happy people recall the evolution of their life to be better than it was, unhappy ones tend to exaggerate its worsening. It thus seems that feeling happy today implies feeling better than yesterday. These results offer an explanation of why happy people are more optimistic, perceive risks to be lower and are more open to new experiences.
    Keywords: life satisfaction,remembered utility,memory biases,intra-personal comparisons
    Date: 2020–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02545228&r=all
  8. By: Nikolova, Milena (University of Groningen); Cnossen, Femke (University of Groningen)
    Abstract: We demonstrate why meaningful work, i.e. job-related activities that individuals view as purposeful and worthwhile, matters to labour economists. Building on self-determination theory, which specifies the roles of autonomy, competence, and relatedness as preconditions for motivation, we are the first to explore the determinants of work meaningfulness. Specifically, using three waves of the European Working Conditions Survey, we show that autonomy, competence, and relatedness explain about 60 percent of the variation in work meaningfulness perceptions. Meanwhile, extrinsic factors, such as income, benefits, and performance pay, are relatively unimportant. Meaningful work also predicts absenteeism, skills training, and retirement intentions, which highlights the concept's economic significance. We provide new insights that could help organise the future of work in a meaningful and dignifying way and propose concrete avenues for future research on meaningful work in economics.
    Keywords: meaningful work, motivation, non-monetary benefits of work, labour economics, labour market outcomes, self-determination theory
    JEL: J01 J30 J32 J81 I30 I31 M50
    Date: 2020–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp13112&r=all
  9. By: Villamizar-Villegas, Mauricio; Pinzón-Puerto, Freddy A.; Ruiz-Sánchez, María Alejandra
    Abstract: In this paper we detail the entire Regression Discontinuity Design (RDD) history, including its origins in the 1960's, and its two main waves of formalization in the 1970's and 2000's, both of which are rarely acknowledged in the literature. Also, we dissect the empirical work into fuzzy and sharp designs and provide some intuition as to why some rule-based criteria produce imperfect compliance. Finally, we break the literature down by economic field, highlighting the main outcomes, treatments, and running variables employed. Overall, we see some topics in economics gaining importance through time, like the cases of: health, finance, crime, environment, and political economy. In particular, we highlight applications in finance as the most novel. Nonetheless, we recognize that the field of education stands out as the uncontested RDD champion through time, with the greatest number of empirical applications.
    Keywords: Regression Discontinuity Design; Fuzzy and Sharp Designs; Empirical Survey; RDD Formalization
    JEL: B23 C14 C21 C31 C52
    Date: 2020–04
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rie:riecdt:38&r=all

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