|
on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Bernard Gazier (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This text aims at identifying and discussing the content and present meaning of Blaise Pascal's contribution to the understanding of justice in economic matters: which inequalities in terms of wealth, status and power are acceptable or not in a country or a community? Such a project faces a difficulty and a paradox. The difficulty is that economics as a separate discipline does not exist in Pascal's times; the paradox lies in the fact that while Pascal was politically conservative, his heirs in the XXth century converge in a strongly critical stance against capitalism and established order. Our analysis proceeds in three steps. In the first step, we briefly situate Pascal's approach in its historical context, by comparing it to the views of other authors of his time who are considered as forerunners of political economy. In this second, we discuss the content of the legacy as identified and used in the XXth century, by comparing Pascal's statements on justice to the conceptions of his heirs, in order to pinpoint convergences and divergences. The last step adopts an epistemologic and genealogic stance. We take into consideration the long-term changes in knowledge modalities leading to the "human sciences" and among them to "positive" and "normative" economics, in order to set and discuss the meaning of the references to Blaise Pascal in contemporary debates on economic and social justice. |
| Abstract: | Cette contribution a pour objet le contenu et l'actualité des apports de Blaise Pascal à la compréhension de la justice économique : quelles inégalités de richesse, de statuts et de pouvoirs sont admissibles ou non dans un pays, une communauté ? Elle affronte une difficulté et un paradoxe : d'une part l'économie en tant que discipline n'existe pas à l'époque de Pascal, et d'autre part l'orientation conservatrice de Pascal contraste avec celle de sa postérité au XXe siècle, rassemblant des auteurs qui convergent sur la critique du capitalisme et de l'ordre établi. Nous procéderons en trois étapes. La première situe historiquement la démarche de Pascal sur la justice, en la confrontant brièvement aux conceptions d'auteurs de son époque formulant les prémices de l'économie politique. La seconde étape interroge directement les contenus des filiations revendiquées au XXe siècle, en confrontant les énoncés de Pascal sur la justice à ceux de ses successeurs, pour établir les éventuelles convergences et divergences. La troisième étape esquisse une mise en perspective épistémologique et généalogique. Elle introduit les mutations successives des savoirs donnant lieu au déploiement des " sciences humaines " et parmi elles l'économie positive et normative, afin d'inscrire et de questionner le sens des références à Pascal dans les débats contemporains sur la justice économique et sociale. |
| Keywords: | Blaise Pascal, social justice, normative economics, justice sociale, économie normative |
| Date: | 2024–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:cesptp:halshs-04526422&r=hpe |
| By: | Janssen, Maarten; Knuuttila, Tarja; Morgan, Mary S. |
| Abstract: | This comment on 'Economic theories and their Dueling interpretations' questions the descriptive adequacy of the ‘sociology of economics' proposed by Gilboa, Postlewaite, Samuelson, and Schmeidler (GPSS) (2022). We ask whether economists still perceive the role of microeconomic theory as central as do GPSS. In particular, is present-day economics unified by the principles of maximising, subject to constraints and equilibrium analysis? We argue that this is not the case. GPSS’ appeal to the interpretative flexibility of economic theories appears apologetic, especially the suggestion that theories and models, which once were considered positive descriptions or predictive instruments, are now cast as analytical or methodological exercises. We conclude on a more constructive note, drawing from the recent philosophical discussion of modelling which, quite paradoxically, grants highly idealized and simplified models a more important role than GPSS appear to allow. |
| Keywords: | interpretation; theories; models; economics; microeconomics; Horizon 2020 (Grant Agreement No 818772) |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2024–03–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122588&r=hpe |
| By: | Francesco Sabato Massimo (CSO - Centre de sociologie des organisations (Sciences Po, CNRS) - Sciences Po - Sciences Po - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | During his long political trajectory Bruno Trentin (1926-2007) never ceased to question the relationship between work and democracy. The Italian intellectual and trade union leader denounced the domination of the «productivist ideology» of scientific management over the entire social and political Left. According to this ideology, trade union action was reduced to the animation of distributive conflict, while the political struggle was played out outside the economic sphere, through the conquest of the state. Contrary to this vision, the 1960s were the source of a new self-management political culture, born of the encounter between the Marxist, Christian and libertarian traditions of the labour movement, which aimed to make workers and their unions «political subjects» in their own right by gaining real decision-making power over the organisation of work. The decline of Fordism offers an opportunity for a new "contract" in which work can achieve its political recognition and autonomy within the workplace and not from outside. It is from this history that Trentin draws to defend the actuality of a project of liberation from subordinate «work». In this article I reinscribe Trentin's reflections in the long history of his career as an intellectual, trade unionist and political activist, as well as in the controversies and the impasses that have shaped his life and the history whole Italian and European labour movement during the twentieth century. |
| Keywords: | Organisational democracy, Unions and labour history, Industrial relations, Neocapitalism, Postfordism, Italian and European Left, Democrazia organizzativa, Storia del sindacato e del lavoro, Relazioni industriali, Neocapitalismo, Postfordismo, Sinistra italiana ed europea |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04512692&r=hpe |
| By: | Julien Duval (CESSP - Centre européen de sociologie et de science politique - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | This article deals with a French TV program that was launched in the late 1980s and that is devoted to the economic dimensions of life. It became very popular and still exists today. This article proposes an analysis of this unprecedented success in France, through diversified and complementary perspectives. It aims to characterize the novelty of the program. The article relates the appearance of the program to various broader transformations of the relations between the economic and journalistic fields that occurred in France in the 1980s and 1990s. It focuses on the charismatic leader who created the program and hosted it for the first fifteen years of its existence: he was a former business school student, representing a completely new profile of a journalist at the time. The appearance of the program is then shown to be inextricably linked to the emergence of private TV channels in France at the end of the 1980s. It then proposes an analysis of the style and content of the program, trying to characterize the vision of economic life conveyed by the program. |
| Keywords: | economics, France, journalism, television |
| Date: | 2023–08–17 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04267613&r=hpe |
| By: | Simon Hupfel (Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar, BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - AgroParisTech - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) - Université de Haute-Alsace (UHA) Mulhouse - Colmar - UL - Université de Lorraine - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement); 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 - Université Paris-Saclay - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The term "Lauderdale paradox" has been used by ecological economists since the late 1980s. It refers to the idea, developed by the Earl of Lauderdale in 1804, according to which private riches -- the sum-total of the exchangeable value of goods -- and public wealth -- the sum-total of the use value of goods -- vary in opposite directions. The Lauderdale paradox has been used in ecological economics in relation to the valuation of ecosystem services, and also in connection to some branches of political ecology, especially eco-Marxism. Based on a careful reading of Lauderdale's work, taking into account his political context, this article shows that some of the recent interpretations of the Lauderdale paradox, especially regarding wealth indicators, deserve to be qualified in the light of the original meaning of Lauderdale's words. Other aspects of Lauderdale's reflections that could be sources of inspiration for today's research programs in ecological economics are also emphasized: the extension of environmental accounting to human capital, the study of commodification and decommodification processes in a comprehensive anthropological perspective, and the specification of the characteristics of a steady-state economy. |
| Keywords: | Commodification, Environmental accounting, Steady state, Public good, Commons, Contrived scarcity, History of economic thought |
| Date: | 2023 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04213171&r=hpe |
| By: | Sheila Dow (Department of Economics, University of Victoria) |
| Abstract: | The uncertainty which has characterised the financial crisis has encouraged renewed attention to uncertainty in economics. Yet, not only is uncertainty seen as unpalatable in financial markets and economic life more generally, it also poses challenges for economists to the extent that uncertainty is absent from most of mainstream theory. The purpose of this paper is to consider the reasons for this in terms of attitudes to uncertainty and the coping mechanisms which society develops to deal with uncertainty. The causes, nature and consequences of uncertainty are therefore reviewed, both in the economy and among economists. This is followed by a review of mechanisms for bringing order to uncertainty. It is argued that the coping mechanism of uncertainty-denial can be counterproductive where it arises from a closed-system understanding of uncertainty as being exogenous and inevitably anathema. But an open-system understanding sees uncertainty as more integral to economic life. Further it allows for uncertainty which, as the counterpart of creativity, can be seen in some circumstances in a positive light. It is concluded that economists could profitably consider embracing uncertainty by tailoring our methodologies and theories to address uncertainty. In this way we can tailor policy to reducing uncertainty in the economy and also reduce our own uncertainty |
| Keywords: | uncertainty, open systems, financial behaviour |
| Date: | 2024–03–21 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:vic:vicddp:1204&r=hpe |
| By: | Jon D. Wisman |
| Abstract: | Ever since exploitation and extreme inequality became possible with the rise of the state, ideology serving the interests of elites has almost always persuaded non-elites that the prevailing social order is also in their best interest. This ideology was first expressed in religion that evolved to depict extremely unequal social conditions as in accord with sacred 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 justifying inequality. Since the late eighteenth century, laissez faire has been the dominant expression of this ideology. Only once, due to the extreme hardship of the Great Depression, has it been sufficiently delegitimated such that public policies were enacted that reduced inequality and significantly improved the quality of life for non-elites. However, laissez-faire ideology resurged to dominance in the 1970s, resulting in policies over the next half century that have led to exploding inequality. The fact that this ideology survived intact the Great Recession following the financial crisis of 2008 poses the question of whether it can again be adequately delegitimated. Yet there is urgency that this occurs prior to the death of democracy and thus capability of avoiding ecological Armageddon. This chapter suggests that only an adequately attractive alternative social vision to that of laissez-faire capitalism might delegitimate laissez-faire ideology. It concludes with a brief sketch of such a vision. |
| Keywords: | Ideology, exploitation, inequality, legitimation, material progress vision |
| JEL: | B15 N40 Z12 Z13 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:amu:wpaper:2024-02&r=hpe |
| By: | Berggren, Niclas (Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN)); Bjørnskov , Christian (Aarhus University, Denmark, and) |
| Abstract: | Academic freedom is a cornerstone of modern academic life. It is not only implied by basic liberal principles but also contributes to scientific progress and economic growth. It is therefore important to better understand what affects how free scholarly pursuits are, and to that end, we ask whether economic freedom can help explain variation in academic freedom across countries. In our case, relating the Economic Freedom of the World index and its five areas to V-Dem’s index of academic freedom and its five areas reveals that the rule of law is positively and robustly related to academic freedom in all its forms. This suggests that the rule of law, in its general and broad sense, can arguably serve as a guarantor of academic freedom. Where the rule of law is weakened, academic freedom can be at risk. There are some indications that regulatory freedom is similarly related to academic freedom, but less robustly so, maybe indicating that interventionism in one policy area (economics) can breed interventionism in another (academia). |
| Keywords: | Freedom; Markets; Rule of law; Legal system; Academic freedom |
| JEL: | D72 I23 K40 |
| Date: | 2024–04–15 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hhs:iuiwop:1486&r=hpe |
| By: | Amélie Blot Lefevre Matte (DRM - Dauphine Recherches en Management - Université Paris Dauphine-PSL - PSL - Université Paris sciences et lettres - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | American pragmatism is at the heart of my research. The discovery I made of Mary Parker Follett several years ago quickly convinced me to join the pragmatist research philosophy, because pragmatism provides an ethical basis to guide the ways in which we can develop together (Brinkmann, 2017). Then my meeting with Philippe Lorino confirmed it to me by providing concrete answers to my questions. Being in the second year of a thesis in management, I have already decided to work on a thesis by articles. You will see in this document that the structure of my thesis is already defined and that I have also already collected consistent data and writing a first article about "velocity" in project management. As Simpson & den Hond (2022) argue by saying that pragmatism is very relevant in changing environments, I for my part also found that the pragmatic approach that I developed allowed me to make a very interesting. It allowed me to put the notion of "consideration" at the heart of my study –"consideration" not to be confused with recognition. It was by being immersed in an audit firm that I was able to observe its management system to identify the flaws that push employees to leave and make it difficult to recruit talent. It was by developing a pragmatist approach in my analysis that I realized that the components of the management system in place did not form a balanced whole in terms of "consideration". Today, I need to share my field experience with other pragmatist researchers to explore the potential of pragmatism as a practical philosophy within the components of a management system. I want to refine my understanding of the contingency and fallibility of knowledge and the continuous learning of human action. I am therefore very interested in collectively experimenting with exercises to develop awareness of our senses, movements, interventions, thoughts, ideas, actions... to be consciously part of worlds on-the-move (Simpson & Revsbæk, 2022). |
| Keywords: | Pragmatism, velocity, performance management, responsible management, management as practice, audit firm |
| Date: | 2023–07 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04505113&r=hpe |
| By: | Aurélien Goutsmedt (UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain, FNRS - Fonds National de la Recherche Scientifique [Bruxelles]); Francesco Sergi (UPE - Université Paris-Est, LIPHA - Laboratoire Interdisciplinaire d'étude du Politique Hannah Arendt Paris-Est - UPEC UP12 - Université Paris-Est Créteil Val-de-Marne - Paris 12 - Université Gustave Eiffel); Béatrice Cherrier (ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique, X - École polytechnique, CREST - Centre de Recherche en Économie et Statistique - ENSAI - Ecole Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Analyse de l'Information [Bruz] - X - École polytechnique - ENSAE Paris - École Nationale de la Statistique et de l'Administration Économique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique); François Claveau (UdeS - Université de Sherbrooke, CIRST - Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie - UdeM - Université de Montréal - UQAM - Université du Québec à Montréal = University of Québec in Montréal); Clément Fontan (Université Saint-Louis - Bruxelles, UCL - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain); Juan Acosta (Univalle - Universidad del Valle [Cali]) |
| Abstract: | Why do policymakers and economists within a policymaking institution choose to throw away a model and to develop an alternative one? Why do they choose to stick to an existing model? This article contributes to the literature on the history and philosophy of modelling by answering these questions. It delves into the dynamics of persistence, change, and building practices of macroeconomic modelling, using the case of forecasting models at the Bank of England (1974-2014). Based on archives and interviews, we document the multiple factors at play in model building and model change. We identify three sets of factors: the agency of modellers, institutional factors, and the material factor. Our investigation shows the diversity of explanations behind the decision to change a model: each time, model replacement resulted from a different combination of the three types of factors. |
| Keywords: | Central bank, Forecasting, Macroeconomic modeling, Bank of England, Models |
| Date: | 2024–01–31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04181871&r=hpe |