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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Pierre Januard (PHARE - Philosophie, Histoire et Analyse des Représentations Économiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne) |
| Abstract: | In De emptione et venditione ad tempus, a brief early letter on forward selling, Thomas Aquinas presents a risk of usury inherent in the intertemporal dimension of exchange, but inherent also in licit expenses such as transport, and illicit ones such as borrowing costs or expenses incurred without attention or unwisely, which the merchant may or may not pass on via the price. These expenses appear as risks which are described here for the case of forward sale, but are properly inherent to any commercial activity. While transport is a part of the merchant's activity and represents the paradigm of licit risk, imprudence characterises two stages of failure in his management, namely negligence and mismanagement, and hence leads to illicit risk. |
| Keywords: | Thomas Aquinas, risks, expenses, transport, Prudence |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-03559035&r=hpe |
| By: | Weber, Cameron |
| Abstract: | In this research I compare and contrast the class-struggle social theory of industrielisme in the writings of the French liberals around the Le Censeur Européen (1817-1819) with that of Karl Marx’s historical materialism. There are many similarities. Both use concepts of historical development and path-dependency, productive and unproductive labor, of exploitation, and of the necessary primacy of the market under capitalism to bring human freedom. Using Theories of Surplus Value (1860) and available correspondence I show that Marx knew about and respected the French liberal historians and political economists, especially Turgot and Augustin Thierry. It would be conjecture to say that Marx “turned” the original French liberal class struggle, that of free and productive man as exploited by the unproductive state, into his own labor as exploited by capital but we do find and present evidence to this effect. |
| Keywords: | Political Economy, Karl Marx, Turgot, French Liberals, Class Struggle, Capitalism, Path Dependency, Exploitation |
| JEL: | B12 B14 D31 P16 P32 Z13 |
| Date: | 2023–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:115897&r=hpe |
| By: | Giacomo Gabbuti |
| Abstract: | In summer 1923, pursuant to the 'full powers' granted him by the Parliament to balance the budget, Alberto De Stefani - appointed in October 1922 as Mussolini's Treasury Minister - announced the abolition of inheritance tax. The most iconic act of Fascist 'financial restauration' of 1922-25, the abolition was never proposed before its sudden implementation. Admittedly against ‘the universal tendencies of the times, ' it provoked surprise and interest, in the country and abroad, but was overlooked by historians. By combining surviving archival evidence, international and Italian media, and a wide survey of other printed sources, the paper offers the first historical reconstruction of this episode - one that clarifies better than other the 'laissez-faire' nature of early Fascism. This new evidence reveals the lobbying activity carried on by pressure groups such as the bankers' association, and a young, proactive association of notaries. The debate surrounding the abolition, and the relevance attributed to it by Fascists before the 1924 election, qualify the episode as an early case of 'middle-class politics'. Indeed, within the recent historiographical revaluation of the early phase of Mussolini's power, the paper argues for the importance of 1920s fiscal policies in coalizing economic elites with the middle classes. |
| Keywords: | inheritance tax; Fascist Italy; interwar Europe; fiscal policy. |
| Date: | 2023–01–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2023/04&r=hpe |
| By: | Elliott Ash (Unknown); Daniel L. Chen (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT1 - Université Toulouse 1 Capitole - Université Fédérale Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); Suresh Naidu (Unknown) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a quantitative analysis of the eects of the early law and economics movement on the U.S. judiciary. Using the universe of published opinions in U.S. Circuit Courts and 1 million District Court criminal sentencing decisions linked to judge identity, we estimate the eect of attendance in the controversial Manne economics training program, an intensive course attended by almost half of federal judges between 1976 and 1999. After attending economics training, participating judges use more economics language, render more conservative verdicts in economics cases, rule against regulatory/taxation agencies more often, and impose longer criminal sentences. These results are robust to adjusting for a wide variety of covariates that predict the timing of attendance. Non-Manne judges randomly exposed to Manne peers on previous cases increase their use of economics language in subsequent opinions, suggesting economics ideas diused throughout the judiciary. |
| Keywords: | Judicial Decision-Making, Ideology, Intellectual History |
| Date: | 2022–12–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:hal-03899739&r=hpe |
| By: | Ilan Noy; Shakked Noy |
| Abstract: | “Longtermism” is the view that the impacts of our actions on the very long-term future deserve prominent consideration in decision-making. We discuss the primary barrier that prevents academic economists from contributing to longtermist research: an overly rigid preference for methodological “hardness” (Akerlof, 2020). Hardness bias prevents economists from engaging in methodologically pluralistic, interdisciplinary, qualitative, and other kinds of research, including most potential longtermist research. We unpack hardness bias, discuss its roots, illustrate how it prevents economists from engaging in longtermist research, and try to present a positive vision of the kinds of longtermist research economists could engage in if hardness norms were relaxed. |
| Keywords: | economic methodology, longtermism, academic economics, methodological hardness |
| JEL: | B40 |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ces:ceswps:_10160&r=hpe |
| By: | Claude Diebolt |
| Abstract: | Il y a mille et une façons d’aimer l’histoire ; souvent, pour le simple plaisir que procure une compréhension du passé. Pourtant, les économistes en exigent davantage encore : ils aspirent à expliquer, à lui extorquer un enseignement applicable au présent, de surcroît doté d’un pouvoir presque divin, celui d’être en mesure de guider la politique économique et sociale à venir. Lorsque j’ai commencé à étudier l’économie il y a près de quarante ans de cela, l’histoire de la pensée économique était en plein essor. Aujourd’hui, elle est, au mieux, en sommeil, au pire, elle disparaît des cours d’économie. La principale raison de la méfiance à l’égard de ce domaine de spécialité réside certainement dans le fait que la discipline issue de la rencontre entre l’histoire, la philosophie et l’économie est aujourd’hui peu visible et attire peu d’étudiants. Dans une large mesure, j’ai le sentiment que le défi de l’histoire de la pensée économique est désormais de revenir de manière plus systématique sur les grandes questions contemporaines et, ce faisant, de montrer comment l’approche historique peut être utilisée avec avantage pour mieux éclairer, par analogie et sans paralogismes, nombre de questionnements actuels. Bref, il semble important de relancer l’histoire de la pensée économique, aussi afin de participer à l’élaboration de réponses collectives aux enjeux du 21ème siècle. Ce chapitre introductif est un plaidoyer en faveur de ces principes et une très modeste partie du processus lui-même. Il présente une entrée en matière, forcément sélective, à l’histoire des cycles économiques. |
| Keywords: | Cliométrie, cycles économiques, histoire de la pensée économique. |
| JEL: | A2 B N |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ulp:sbbeta:2023-03&r=hpe |
| By: | Marie Daou (MRE - Montpellier Recherche en Economie - UM - Université de Montpellier); Alain Marciano (MRE - Montpellier Recherche en Economie - UM - Université de Montpellier) |
| Date: | 2022 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-03876905&r=hpe |