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on History and Philosophy of Economics |
| By: | Aurélien Goutsmedt (ISPOLE - UCLouvain - Université Catholique de Louvain = Catholic University of Louvain, F.R.S.-FNRS, ICHEC - Brussels Management School [Bruxelles]); Francesco Sergi (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); Juan Acosta (Univalle - Universidad del Valle [Cali]) |
| Abstract: | What do economists do in central banks? Why do central banks hire economists? This book investigates the evolving role of economists and economic knowledge within central banks, arguing that their current centrality is neither self-evident nor historically inevitable. While the presence and influence of economists in central banks today may seem natural, this book shows that it is the result of a complex, gradual, and uneven historical process shaped by institutional structures, disciplinary transformations, and shifting relationships between science and policy. Drawing on a rich but dispersed body of literature, the book traces how economists progressively gained authority through the establishment of statistics departments, the adoption of macroeconometric models, and the emergence of a shared cognitive infrastructure between academia and central banks. Rather than focusing on individuals or doctrines, it examines general trends and institutional shifts across a series of national case studies to show how central banks function as boundary organizations, at the intersection of policy and science. |
| Date: | 2026–10–01 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-05083645 |
| By: | Sergio Cesaratto |
| Abstract: | These notes compare the interpretations of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) and fully funded (FF) pension systems and proposals of reform provided by alternative economic theories. After outlining the debate on the intra-temporal or intertemporal nature of PAYG, we will focus on the issues of pension reforms aimed at expanding the funded pillar. We will particularly discuss the issue of the transition from PAYG to funded systems. Mainstream support for reforms has often been based on comparing the rates of return on contributions from the two systems. Criticism of the funded pillar has often been heard from heterodox economists being based on the relative higher risk of capitalization. However, both points of view neglect the issue of transition, as if the choice were in the abstract between PAYG and the FF pillar. In this sense, twenty years ago Cesaratto (2005) contributed to fill a severe gap both in conventional and in post-Keynesian analyses. Other innovative contributions will be noted in passing, such as the outline of a classical surplus-theory of the social state and of the role of public pension-spending in demand-led output theories. |
| Keywords: | Pension reforms, Pay-as-you-go, Fully Funded schemes, Neoclassical theory, Classical-Keynesian approach Jel Classification:E11, E12, E22, H55, E24 |
| Date: | 2026–10 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:948 |
| By: | Cuevas, Pilar (Universidad de Sevilla); Hamermesh, Daniel (University of Texas at Austin); Sevilla, Almudena (London School of Economics) |
| Abstract: | We describe a classroom-tested method for winnowing economic ideas so that research proceeds only on those that are likely to pay off—in publications and scholarly influence. The method distinguishes projects—and the eventual scholarly articles—that are both original and important—the sine qua non to make something worth working on. We discuss how the research should be written up to be intelligible and publishable, stressing the importance of attention-grabbing titles and abstracts. We offer examples of bad and good-writing in the English language—the medium of scholarly exchange in the economics profession—and how students react to them. |
| Keywords: | economics education, teaching economics, graduate education, research training, academic writing, economics pedagogy |
| JEL: | A23 B41 A11 |
| Date: | 2026–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18948 |
| By: | Buchner, Johannes |
| Abstract: | Die dramatischen ökonomischen Folgen des Klimawandels werden in dem in weiten Teilen der Wirt-schaftswissenschaft vorherrschenden neoklassischen Paradigma fundamental unterschätzt. Das hat auch mathematische Gründe, da dort Gleichgewichtsmodelle dominieren, die für die nichtlineare Struktur des Klimasystems ungeeignet sind. Wir schlagen daher eine "kritische mathematische Ökono-mie" vor, um einen solchen Missbrauch mathematischer Modelle zu kritisieren, bessere Modelle zu entwickeln, und auch über den Kapitalismus hinausweisende Wirtschaftsweisen mit Methoden aus der Mathematik und Informatik zu unterstützen. Es geht dabei insbesondere um die Möglichkeit und Not-wendigkeit einer ökologischen und demokratischen Wirtschaftsplanung, auch mit Blick auf aktuelle KI-Entwicklungen. Wir betrachten sowohl technische Möglichkeiten als auch die Ambivalenz von KI aus progressiver Sicht genauer (inkl. verschiedener grundlegender Definitionen, was "KI" genau bedeutet), mit einem Fokus auf Nachhaltigkeit, Kreislaufwirtschaft und Wirtschaftsdemokratie. |
| Abstract: | The dramatic economic consequences of climate change are fundamentally underestimated by the neoclassical paradigm that prevails in much of economic science. There are also mathematical reasons for this, as equilibrium models dominate in this field, and these models are unsuitable for the nonlinear structure of the climate system. We therefore propose a "critical mathematical economics" to critique such misuse of mathematical models, develop better models, and support economic systems that go beyond capitalism using methods from mathematics and computer science. In particular, this concerns the possibility and necessity of ecological and democratic economic planning, also in light of current AI developments. We take a closer look at both the technical possibilities and the ambivalence of AI from a progressive perspective (including various fundamental definitions of what "AI" actually means), with a focus on sustainability, the circular economy, and economic democracy. |
| Keywords: | democratic economic planning, , circular economy, mathematical economics, nonequilibrium climate modelling, AI |
| JEL: | A12 C02 Q54 Q57 P21 P41 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:esprep:344040 |
| By: | Nicolitsas, Daphne |
| Abstract: | Strike activity across advanced economies declined steadily from the 1970s onwards, but since 2020 there is a break in the trend as disruptive disputes in transport and other sectors are returning to the headlines. This chapter reviews the economics of strikes and labour conflict. It begins by defining collective disputes and the three dimensions of strike activity - incidence, size and duration - reviewing the institutional rules that govern the right to strike across the G7 and documenting long-run trends and cyclical patterns. It then sets out the principal theoretical models: Hicks's account of strikes as bargaining failures, the Ashenfelter-Johnson model, asymmetric information models, and the joint cost approach. A survey of the empirical literature follows, covering the cyclicality of strike activity, the costs of strikes, and the influence of regulation. The chapter argues that the recent uptick calls for fresh empirical work, since existing evidence rests largely on data from earlier decades. |
| Keywords: | strike activity, cyclicality, bargaining, contracts |
| JEL: | J52 J51 J83 |
| Date: | 2026 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:glodps:1824 |