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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Martina Cioni; Giovani Federico; Michelangelo Vasta |
| Abstract: | Since the early years of the 21st century, economists have started to look for the historical roots of current economic outcomes. In this article we deal with this new approach (called persistence studies), as represented by the 75 articles published in ten leading economics journals. We outline the key features (issues, period, geographical area of interest, etc.) of this articles and we discuss their citational record, in comparison with the (much more numerous) economic history articles in the same journals. We also explore the affiliation and training of the 121 authors of persistence studies, highlighting the role of some Boston institutions as the cradle of the new approach. |
| Keywords: | persistence studies, economic history, citational success, top journals |
| JEL: | A11 A12 B4 N01 |
| Date: | 2021–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:859&r= |
| By: | Cartelier, Jean |
| Abstract: | RESUMEN: La teoría económica ya no tiene el respaldo de los economistas académicos ni de otros intelectuales. Hay muchas razones para este descrédito, pero ellas tienen que ver principalmente con la reducción del área de investigación, como consecuencia de una necesidad cada vez mayor de coherencia y de la voluntad de probar empíricamente algunos supuestos fundamentales que borra la frontera tradicional entre las disciplinas. El desarrollo de técnicas de procesamiento de datos cuantitativos y la naturaleza de las preguntas planteadas, hace que muchos estudios empíricos hagan parte tanto de la economía como de la sociología. Este declive de la teoría económica se refiere principalmente al paradigma dominante, el cual dio a los economistas, simultáneamente, el tipo de problemas a resolver (existencia y optimalidad de los equilibrios) y las herramientas para hacerlo (modelos matemáticos que asocian comportamientos racionales y condiciones de equilibrio). Ese declive tiene poco que ver con el paradigma dominado que Schumpeter llama análisis monetario y que se opone a la teoría del valor. Ilustrado por Steuart en siglo XVIII y por Keynes en el siglo XX, este análisis monetario se caracteriza por otras cuestiones (viabilidad en lugar de equilibrio) y otras representaciones de la economía (matrices de pagos en lugar de matrices de exceso de demanda). ABSTRACT: Economic theory is has lost most of its attractiveness amongst academic economists. Multiple reasons may explain that discredit but two seem of special interest: most severe requirements about logical consistency and questions to be solved have contributed to shrink the field of economic theory while a strong desire to confront assumptions with reality have blurred the frontier between economics and social sciences. The remarkable development of quantitative techniques (big data) and the type of questions on the agenda have made empirical economics and empirical sociology almost impossible to distinguish. The neglect of economic theory is more evident for the dominant paradigm than for the dominate one, called monetary analysis by Schumpeter who opposed it to real or value analysis. Illustrated by Steuart in 18th century and Keynes in the 20th century, monetary analysis deals with different questions (viability rather than equilibrium) and resorts to different tools (payment matrices rather than excess demands). |
| Keywords: | Teoría, postulados, empirismo, análisis monetario |
| JEL: | A10 A11 A12 B10 B20 |
| Date: | 2021–01–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000196:019617&r= |
| By: | Benetti, Carlo |
| Abstract: | RESUMEN: El 16 de abril de 2015 el Colegio Académico de la Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (México), concedió a Carlo Benetti el título de Doctor Honoris Causa. El presente es su discurso en la ceremonia de remisión del diploma el 19 de junio de 2015. El profesor Benetti destacada la necesidad de mantener la enseñanza de la teoría económica contenida en las distintas escuelas de pensamiento. De esta manera, la historia del pensamiento económico aparece como un complemento indispensable de la investigación teórica actual. Así mismo, Benetti sintetiza los resultados de su propia investigación teórica, los cuales giran en torno a dos cuestiones: un análisis monetario y el estudio del desequilibrio económico. ABSTRACT: On April 16, 2015, the Colegio Académico of Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (México) granted to Carlo Benetti the title of Doctor Honoris Causa. This is his speech at the ceremony on June 19, 2015. Professor Benetti highlighted the need to keep the teaching of economic theory contained in the various schools of thought. In this way, the history of economic thought appears as an indispensable complement to current theoretical research. Likewise, Benetti synthesizes the results of his own theoretical research, which revolve around two questions: a monetary analysis and the study of economic disequilibrium. |
| Keywords: | Teoría económica, historia del pensamiento económico, análisis monetario, desequilibrio económico |
| JEL: | A10 A20 B00 |
| Date: | 2021–09–02 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:col:000196:019621&r= |
| By: | Jon D. Wisman |
| Abstract: | Understanding the role of ideology is of fundamental importance for understanding social dynamics since the rise of the state 5,500 years ago. Yet this importance has not received adequate attention from social scientists and historians. Even when addressed, it most often has suffered from imprecise meaning and a failure to clearly specify why it is effective. Following the usage by Marx, this article defines ideology as an instrument of exploitation which enables the stronger to persuade the weaker to support behavior and institutions that are counter to their interests. Exploitation exists because humans are biologically driven to compete for status which provides them with reproductive advantage. What ultimately drives competition among all species is the struggle to send one’s unique set of genes into posterity. The biological ancestors of all currently living beings did so successfully. This article surveys how this biologically driven struggle eventually led to weapons and social organization that enabled the stronger to subjugate and exploit the weaker. Ideology evolved as religion was transformed to justify this exploitation by depicting it as in accord with cosmic forces. Ideology provided a more efficient means of maintaining exploitation than violence. With the rise of capitalism, secular doctrines, and especially political economy and then economics, joined and eventually mostly replaced religion in serving as ideology justifying exploitation. |
| Keywords: | Ideology, exploitation, inequality, legitimation, religion |
| JEL: | B15 N40 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2021 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:2021-03&r= |
| By: | Bruno S. Frey |
| Abstract: | Nowadays, academic journals of high standing rarely accept a conceptual idea in a paper not instantly accompanied by econometric estimates. The idea would almost certainly get rejected. Empirical validation based on past statistical data has produced an unfortunate backward orientation in economics. While one can learn from the past, this approach fails when the underlying conditions strongly change. The paper suggests various possibilities to overcome the intense publication pressure in so-called top journals and the overemphasis on instant empirical evidence. Academia is, however, unlikely to adapt. As economics is too backward oriented, other disciplines or cranks may well dominate future economic policy. |
| JEL: | A10 A11 B40 C10 C80 |
| Date: | 2021–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cra:wpaper:2021-32&r= |
| By: | Claude Diebolt (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - UL - Université de Lorraine - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); Michael Haupert |
| Date: | 2021–08–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03345558&r= |
| By: | María Julia Acosta (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Departamento de Sociología.); Soledad Nión (Universidad de la República (Uruguay). Facultad de Ciencias Sociales. Departamento de Sociología) |
| Abstract: | This document is focused on the process of participation of the first women economists in the development of the disciplinary field of Economics in Uruguay. It explores the reasons for making decisions about the career and entering to Faculty, as well as the characteristics and meaning of their experiences during the career, occupational insertion and subsequent professional development. In-depth interviews were conducted with a focus close to life stories. The findings show the relevance of the family of origin -particular female figures who stimulated the completion of a university career-, the availability of networks to be able to settle in the capital city when they came from the rest of the country, and the difficulties they had to overcome the care of the elderly. It also shows the existence of compatibilization mechanisms of job career with family life (couple and children). In the reconstruction of the stories, male teachers appear facilitating job insertion. The latter was linked mainly to management, implementation and development of organizations and statistical agencies, stimulated by men who were at the forefront of politics. In this sense, these women played a very relevant role as an operational and management “arm” that allowed the institutional and political development of various organizations. |
| Keywords: | economy, women, presiion, discipline |
| JEL: | A14 J16 |
| Date: | 2021–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulr:wpaper:dt-13-21&r= |
| By: | Demeze-Jouatsa, Ghislain-Herman (Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University); Pongou, Roland (Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University); Tondji, Jean-Baptiste (Center for Mathematical Economics, Bielefeld University) |
| Abstract: | Frequent violations of fair principles in real-life settings raise the fundamental question of whether such principles can guarantee the existence of a self-enforcing equilibrium in a free economy. We show that elementary principles of distributive justice guarantee that a pure-strategy Nash equilibrium exists in a finite economy where agents freely (and non- cooperatively) choose their inputs and derive utility from their pay. Chief among these principles is that: 1) your pay should not depend on your name; and 2) a more productive agent should not earn less. When these principles are violated, an equilibrium may not exist. Moreover, we uncover an intuitive condition|technological monotonicity|that guarantees equilibrium uniqueness and efficiency. We generalize our findings to economies with social justice and inclusion, implemented in the form of progressive taxation and redistribution, and guaranteeing a basic income to unproductive agents. Our analysis uncovers a new class of strategic form games by incorporating normative principles into non-cooperative game theory. Our results rely on no particular assumptions, and our setup is entirely non- parametric. Illustrations of the theory include applications to exchange economies, surplus distribution in a firm, contagion and self-enforcing lockdown in a networked economy, and bias in the academic peer-review system. |
| Keywords: | Market justice, Social justice, Inclusion, Ethics, Discrimination, Self-enforcing contracts, Fairness in non-cooperative games, Pure strategy Nash equilibrium, Efficiency |
| Date: | 2021–09–16 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:bie:wpaper:653&r= |