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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Nicolas Camilotto (Université Côte d'Azur, CNRS, GREDEG, France) |
| Abstract: | This paper provides a life-cycle analysis of the Trust Game, using its trajectory as a lens to clarify the boundaries between experimental and behavioral economics. We first trace its 1995 creation by Berg et al. as a challenge to calculative trust paradigms. A bibliometric study then maps its diffusion, revealing two divergent paths in economics: one, rooted in experimental economics, prioritizes measurement; the other, in behavioral economics, theory-testing. These paths differ in methods and validity standards, constituting an epistemic divide that illuminates the fields’ evolving relationship. |
| Keywords: | trust; trust game; experimental economics; behavioral economics |
| JEL: | B2 B4 C9 |
| Date: | 2026–03 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:gre:wpaper:2026-11 |
| By: | Xue, Melanie |
| Abstract: | This article explores the intellectual underpinnings of Qing fiscal conservatism, tracing its ideological roots to late Ming thinkers such as Wang Yangming, Huang Zongxi, and Gu Yanwu. These figures contributed to a tradition of governance that emphasized moral responsibility and institutional reform, which influenced the Qing dynasty’s efforts to protect the agrarian class from excessive taxation. By situating Qing fiscal conservatism within a broader historical and philosophical framework, this article offers additional perspectives on the relationship between ideology, governance, and law in late imperial China. |
| JEL: | N15 N10 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ehl:lserod:137830 |
| By: | Franz Dietrich (Centre d'Economie de la Sorbonne, Paris School of Economics, CNRS) |
| Abstract: | Economists routinely measure individual welfare by (von-Neumann-Morgenstern) utility, for instance when analysing welfare intensity, social welfare, or welfare inequality. Is this welfare measure justified? Natural working hypotheses turn out to imply a different measure. It overcomes familiar problems of utility, by faithfully capturing non-ordinal information, such as welfare intensity - despite still resting on purely ordinal evidence, such as revealed preferences or self-reported welfare comparisons. Social welfare analysis changes when based on this new individual welfare measure rather than utility. For instance, Harsanyi's 'utilitarian theorem' now supports prioritarianism. We compare the standard utility-based versions of utilitarianism and prioritarianism with new versions based on our welfare measure. We show that utility is a hybrid object determined by two rival influences: welfare and the attitude to intrinsic risk, i.e., to risk in welfare. A new version of Harsanyi's theorem shows that Harsanyi makes the questionable implicit assumption that society is neutral to intrinsic risk, overruling people's risk attitudes. We thus propose risk-impartial utilitarianism, which adopts people's (average) risk attitude |
| Keywords: | welfare; utility; risk attitude; social welfare; utilitarianism; Harsanyi-Sen debate; Harsanyi's Theorem; Bernoulli's hypothesis |
| JEL: | D00 D60 D63 D69 D70 D80 |
| Date: | 2025–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:mse:cesdoc:25003rrr |
| By: | Alice Nicole Sindzingre (ACT - Analyse des Crises et Transitions - LABEX ICCA - UP13 - Université Paris 13 - Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3 - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UPCité - Université Paris Cité - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord - Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, LAM - Les Afriques dans le monde - IEP Bordeaux - Sciences Po Bordeaux - Institut d'études politiques de Bordeaux - IRD - Institut de Recherche pour le Développement - Institut d'Études Politiques [IEP] - Bordeaux - UBM - Université Bordeaux Montaigne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | The word 'development' inherently conveys teleological connotations -a progression from an 'unachieved' state of affairs towards a desirable one ('being developed'). It is argued that, paradoxically, this concept, its meanings (its epistemology), and its uses (in empirical reality) do not display an evolutionary path where phenomena converge towards a dynamic ('development'), or where its successive paradigms exhibit path-dependency (an improved adequation to reality). Instead, the concept is subject to fissiparity and dilution as it is used by numerous disciplines, and as it has been shaped more by 'external' geopolitical events than by reflections on its epistemological validity, and by institutions that do not prioritise the advancement of knowledge. Furthermore, the object of economic 'development' has dissolved, with groups of countries fluctuating over time. the concept hence exhibits fissiparous dynamics more than teleological connotations and is not driven by the quest for an improved fit of its meanings to reality. |
| Keywords: | Sub-Saharan Africa, epistemology of economics, Economic development, Economic development; epistemology of economics; Sub-Saharan Africa |
| Date: | 2025–12–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05571516 |
| By: | Roland Bénabou (Princeton University); Jean Tirole (TSE-R - Toulouse School of Economics - UT Capitole - Université Toulouse Capitole - Comue de Toulouse - Communauté d'universités et établissements de Toulouse - 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, IAST - Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse) |
| Abstract: | We analyze how private decisions and optimal public policies are shaped by personal and societal preferences, material incentives, and social norms. We show how honor and stigma interact with incentives and derive optimal taxation. We then analyze the expressive role of law as embodying society's values and identify when it calls for a weakening or a strengthening of incentives. The law should be softened when it signals agents' general willingness to contribute to the public good and toughened when it signals social externalities. We also shed light on norms-based interventions, societies' resistance to economists' messages, and the avoidance of cruel and unusual punishments. |
| Keywords: | Expressive law, Social norms, Incentives, Motivation |
| Date: | 2026–02 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05577272 |
| By: | Quentin Belot Couloumies (UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes, UGA INP IAE - Grenoble Institut d'Administration des Entreprises - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes - Grenoble INP - Institut polytechnique de Grenoble - Grenoble Institute of Technology - UGA - Université Grenoble Alpes) |
| Abstract: | This article explores the transformation of French capitalism in the 1970s by examining budgetary control practices at PSA (Peugeot SA). Drawing on internal archives and interviews with former executives, it analyses how state-led planning, élite networks, and corporate restructuring shaped a hybrid model of management control. Rather than a straightforward ‘Americanisation', the system that emerged combined long-term planning logics with increasing financial discipline. The case illustrates how budgetary tools became instruments of organisational control and financial rationalisation, reconfigured through engineering expertise, internal experimentation, and institutional entrenchment. This study contributes to the socio-historical analysis of accounting change and offers insights into the evolving architecture of post-war French capitalism. |
| Abstract: | Cet article explore la transformation du capitalisme français dans les années 1970 en examinant les pratiques de contrôle budgétaire chez PSA (Peugeot SA). S'appuyant sur des archives internes et des entretiens avec d'anciens dirigeants, il analyse comment la planification étatique, les réseaux d'élite et la restructuration du groupe ont façonné un modèle hybride de contrôle de gestion. Loin d'une simple « américanisation », le système qui en a résulté combinait des logiques de planification à long terme avec une discipline financière croissante à court terme. Ce cas illustre comment les outils budgétaires sont devenus des instruments de contrôle organisationnel et de rationalisation financière, reconfigurés grâce à l'expertise en ingénierie, à l'expérimentation interne et à l'ancrage institutionnel. Cette étude contribue à l'analyse socio-historique de l'évolution de la comptabilité et offre un éclairage sur l'architecture en mutation du capitalisme français d'après-guerre. |
| Keywords: | Budgetary control, Accounting History, Management Control, French Business System, Peugeot, Financial Performance, Accounting History Management Control Budget Financial Performance Peugeot |
| Date: | 2025–11–11 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04911538 |