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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Bradley, Richard; Thoma, Johanna |
| Abstract: | As readers of this journal can attest to, although philosophers and economists are somewhat used to talking to and learning from each other, it tends to be the subset of philosophers working in decision theory, philosophy of science, and particular areas of ethics and political philosophy that contribute to our interdisciplinary field of research. The book that is the subject of this review symposium, Anna Mahtani’s The Objects of Credence (Oxford University Press, 2024), is a wonderful exemplar of what can be learned when a different branch of philosophy is brought to bear on central questions in this field. Both philosophers and economists talk about and work with credences, or degrees of belief, all the time. These are usually modelled as probabilities, which are in turn usually thought of as attaching to propositions. But it has long been argued by philosophers of language that propositions cannot be the objects of credence. Mahtani’s book is an investigation into all that begins to unravel once we accept this insight. The results have profound implications both for rational choice modelling and for welfare economics. |
| JEL: | J1 |
| Date: | 2024–03–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:122708&r=hpe |
| By: | Hui, Nena; Kambhampati, Uma |
| Abstract: | Abolition of slavery in British Colonies led to the facilitation of Indian indentured migration by the British Government. This form of migration came about when the discourse of economic freedom and individual liberty strongly resonated in British political-economy circles, following the work of Adam Smith and J S Mill. We analyse how unfreedom in indentured labour was rationalised when the rhetoric of freedom was essential to the dominant intellectual milieu. We consider why free labour was deemed unfeasible in the plantation colonies. We also consider the constraints that asymmetric information and unequal bargaining posed to freedom within the institution of indenture. We conclude that indenture represented an uneasy compromise between the problems of slavery and the unattainable goal of free labour. |
| Date: | 2024–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:32nxv&r=hpe |
| By: | Hetzel, Robert L.; Humphrey, Thomas M.; Tavlas, George S. |
| Abstract: | Carl Snyder was one of the most prominent U.S. monetary economists of the 1920s and 1930s. His pioneering work on constructing the empirical counterparts of the terms in the equation of exchange led him to formulate a four percent monetary growth rule. Snyder is especially apposite because he was on the staff of the New York Federal Reserve Bank. Despite his pioneering empirical work and his position as an insider, why did Snyder fail to effectively challenge the dominant real bills views of the Federal Reserve (Fed)? A short answer is that he did not possess a convincing version of the quantity theory that attributed the Great Depression to a contraction in the money stock produced by the Fed as opposed to the dominant real bills view attributing it to the collapse of speculative excess. |
| Date: | 2024–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:5xqt9&r=hpe |
| By: | Bellanca, Nicolo' |
| Abstract: | These writings examine Claudio Napoleoni's reflection on the problems of Marxist theory of value. While the first one focuses on the notion of economic exploitation, the second dwells on the concept of alienation. Both discuss how these explorations seek to delineate a horizon of human emancipation. The third essay finally argues that Napoleoni's Marxist contributions are not separate from those, more concrete, concerning the Italian economy. During the Sixties, his reassessment of the concepts of productive labor and rent allows him to argue that the social and political hegemony of redistributive coalitions constitutes Italy's major structural weakness and the most important cause of inequalities and lack of inclusion. |
| Keywords: | Marxist theory of value; Claudio Napoleoni; Hanna Arendt; Alienation; Economic exploitation; Productive labour; Political economy; Italian economy |
| JEL: | B24 D72 E11 |
| Date: | 2024–04–19 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:120759&r=hpe |
| By: | H. Spencer Banzhaf; Randall Walsh |
| Abstract: | Like today, one hundred years ago air pollution was a matter of grave concern in the world's most polluted cities. In the wake of its famous 1908-9 social survey, the City of Pittsburgh commissioned an "Economic Survey of Pittsburgh" from John T. Holdsworth, a prominent institutional economist at the University of Pittsburgh. Although wide ranging, the report opened by stating that "The first fundamental need in Pittsburgh is the eradication of smoke." This report was followed by a series of Smoke Investigations, in which, astonishingly, jars were placed around the city and the ash weighed monthly. In one application, Holdsworth's assistant, John J. O'Connor, estimated the economic costs from smoke. Arguably the first damage-cost study, O'Connor's work challenges our understanding of what counts as "economic" in the progressive era. |
| JEL: | B1 Q5 |
| Date: | 2024–04 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:nbr:nberwo:32328&r=hpe |
| By: | Ponthiere, Gregory; Stevens, Nicolas |
| Abstract: | Dewatripont and Tirole (2024) defend the morality of markets on the ground of an irrelevance result: the social production of moral actions is independent from competitive pressure on markets. No matter how strong competitive pressure is, markets perform well in diffusing signals about moral values and in coordinating suppliers of moral actions. In this comment, we argue, on the contrary, that markets lead to a double crowding out of moral values: first, imperfect transmission of moral values on markets leads to an underproduction of moral actions despite the presence of highly ethical suppliers; second, competitive pressure on markets favors the eviction of highly ethical suppliers by less ethical suppliers. |
| Keywords: | competition, markets, morality, crowding out |
| JEL: | D21 D6 |
| Date: | 2024 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1433&r=hpe |
| By: | Alberti, Manfredi; Asso, Pier Francesco |
| Abstract: | Recent studies have revalued Hazel Kyrk for her original works on consumption and the critique of neoclassical demand theory. Kyrk’s A Theory of Consumption (1923), opened up new perspectives for understanding the nature of consumption and revalued home economics as a central part of the economist agenda, taking distance from the first generation of home economists. This paper focuses on Kyrk’s post-1923 scientific production and professional activities. Our main purpose is to show her contributions to the quantitative foundations of consumption together with her attempt to feed contemporary research on consumers’ behaviour with pragmatism, policy advice and field knowledge. We selected specific issues: the education of consumers through information and a strategy of “critical consumption”; the analysis of strategic industries; the well-being of American families; the importance of “invisible” objects (non-market activities) and their statistical processing. |
| Date: | 2024–04–20 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:osf:socarx:2uqya&r=hpe |