nep-pke New Economics Papers
on Post Keynesian Economics
Issue of 2008‒11‒18
eight papers chosen by
Karl Petrick
University of the West Indies

  1. Southern Engines of Global Growth: Very Long Cycles or Short Spurts? By Desai, Meghnad
  2. Cost-Determined and Demand-Determined Prices: Lessons for the Industrialised World from Development Economics By Ghosh, Dipak; Ruziev, Kobil
  3. Sustainable Development in a Post Keynesian Perspective: Return to Basics of Ecodevelopment (In French) By Eric BERR ( (GREThA-GRES)
  4. The College Wage Premium and the Expansion of Higher Education in the UK By Francis Green
  5. Peace, War and International Security: Economic Theories (trial entry) By J Paul Dunne; Fanny Coulomb
  6. Measuring Corporate Environmental Justice Performance By Michael A. Ash; James K. Boyce
  7. In what sense do firms evolve? By Bart Nooteboom
  8. Entrepreneurial Ventures and the Developmental State: Lessons Date the Advanced Economies By Lazonick, William

  1. By: Desai, Meghnad
    Abstract: This article views the four economies of the South in a long run his-Daterical perspective of 1500-2000. It contrasts the his-Datery and the initial endowments of the two Northern hemisphere economies China and India which are land scarce and labour abundant with the two Southern hemisphere economies Brazil and South Africa which are land abundant and labour scarce. It argues for different strategies for future growth and discusses impediments which may come in the paths of these four economies in the near future.
    Keywords: China, India, Brazil, South Africa, development, his-Datery
    Date: 2008
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:dp2008-02&r=pke
  2. By: Ghosh, Dipak; Ruziev, Kobil
    Abstract: In labour surplus developing countries a strategy based on the application of the Keynesian multiplier to generate employment is constrained by the availability of resources. In some of Keynes's writings in general and those on the post-War employment and commodity policy in particular it seems that Keynes himself became aware of the limitation of the savings investment multiplier in generating and maintaining full employment in industrialized economies. The paper argues that the time has now arrived for the economic policy makers to wake up to the limitations of expansionary fiscal and monetary policy alone to combat the current downturn in economic activities.
    Keywords: wage goods; Commod Control; employment; fix-price; flex-price; Bretton Woods
    Date: 2008–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:stl:stledp:2008-22&r=pke
  3. By: Eric BERR ( (GREThA-GRES)
    Abstract: While sustainable development is a unanimously accepted watchword today, we wish to show that the post Keynesian school, even if it did not emphasize on environmental issues and, generally speaking, on sustainable development as such, has tools that make it relevant on this topic. Indeed, post Keynesian sustainable development can be close to Sachs’ ecodevelopment, which is inspired by Kalecki. Thus, post Keynesianism and ecodevelopment share the same position related to economic growth. They meet, via the concept of radical uncertainty, on the importance of the precautionary principle. If the implications of the principle of effective demand seem to oppose them, these divergences can be easily overcome.
    Keywords: sustainable development, ecodevelopment, Kalecki, Keynes, Sachs, post Keynesian
    JEL: B30 B59 E12 O11
    Date: 2008
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:grs:wpegrs:2008-18&r=pke
  4. By: Francis Green
    Abstract: I considerthe concept of employment insecurity and provide new evidence for 1997 and 2005 for many countries with widely differing institutional contexts and at varying stages of development. There are no grounds for accepting that workplaces were going through a sea-change in employment insecurity. Workers in transitional economies and developing economies worried the most about insecurity. Perceived insecurity tended to be greater for women, for less-educated and for older workers. However, these patterns vary across country groups, in ways that are only sometimes explicable in terms of their known institutional characteristics. In general, subjective employment insecurity tracks the unemployment rate.
    Keywords: precarious work; job insecurity; gender; job quality; unemployment
    JEL: J6 J16
    Date: 2008–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ukc:ukcedp:0810&r=pke
  5. By: J Paul Dunne (School of Economics, University of the West of England, Bristol); Fanny Coulomb (University Pierre Mendes, Grenoble.)
    Abstract: This paper considers the economic theories that are relevant for the study of peace war and international security . It presents different levels of generality, starting with the big questions of international security, which are usually the domain of international relations, before moving to general economic theoretical perspectives and then focusing on some specific developments in economics and security. More specifically it reviews the economics of security, distinguishing neoclassical theories, Keynesian and institutional, Marxist, and monopoly capital, before discussing the issues involved in the debate between the schools of thought. The economics of conflict is then considered, starting with the approach economists have taken –mainly neoclassical, before considering more general political economy perspectives.
    Keywords: Economics; Peace; war; security;
    JEL: H56 B20
    Date: 2008–01
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uwe:dqmpap:0801&r=pke
  6. By: Michael A. Ash (University of Massachusetts Amherst); James K. Boyce (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
    Abstract: Measures of corporate environmental justice performance can be a valuable tool in efforts to promote corporate social responsibility and to document systematic patterns of environmental injustice. This paper develops such a measure based on the extent to which toxic air emissions from industrial facilities disproportionately impact racial and ethnic minorities and low-income people. Applying the measure to 100 major corporate air polluters in the United States, we find wide variation in the extent of disproportional exposures. In a number of cases, minorities bear more than half of the total human health impacts from the firm's industrial air pollution.
    Keywords: Corporate social responsibility; corporate environmental performance; environmental justice; air pollution
    JEL: M14 Q52 Q56
    Date: 2008–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ums:papers:2008-16&r=pke
  7. By: Bart Nooteboom
    Abstract: Does evolutionary theory help, for a theory of the firm, or, more widely, a theory of organization? In this paper I argue that it does, to some but also limited extent. Evolutionary theories of economies, and of culture, have acquired considerable following, but have also been subject to considerable criticism. Most criticism has been aimed at inappropriate biological analogies, but recently it has been claimed that a 'universal Darwinism', purged of all such mistaken analogy, is both useful and viable. Why should we try to preserve evolutionary theory, and will such theory stand up to sustained critical analysis? How useful is it for theory of the firm? Evolutionary theory appears to be the most adequate theory around for solving the problem of agency and structure, avoiding both an overly rational, managerial 'strategic choice' view of organizations and a 'contingency' view of organizations as fully determined by their environment. Whether universal Darwinism stands up to critical analysis remains to be seen. Here, the focus is on evolutionary theory of organization and of knowledge. Use is made of a constructivist 'embodied cognition' view of cognition and of elements of a cognitive theory of the firm.
    Keywords: Length 33 pages
    Date: 2008–11
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:esi:evopap:2008-12&r=pke
  8. By: Lazonick, William
    Abstract: A basic intellectual challenge for those concerned with the poverty of nations is -Date come -Date grips with the nature and causes of the wealth of the world?s wealthier nations. One might then be in a position -Date inform the poorer nations how they might achieve similar outcomes. This paper is organized around what I call ?the theory of innovative enterprise?, a perspective derived Date the his-Daterical and comparative study of the development of the advanced economies. The theory of innovative enterprise provides the essential analytical link between entrepreneurship and development. Section 2 offers, as a point of departure, a contrast between entrepreneurship in rich and poor nations. Section 3 outlines the theory of the innovating firm in which entrepreneurship has a role -Date play. Section 4 identifies the roles of entrepreneurship in new firm formation in terms of the types of strategy, organization, and finance that innovation requires, and emphasizes the ?disappearance? of entrepreneurship with the growth of the firm. In Section 5 I argue that, in the advanced economies, successful entrepreneurship in knowledge intensive industries has depended heavily upon a combination of business allocation of resources -Date innovative investment strategies, and government investment in the knowledge base, state sponsored protection of markets and intellectual property rights, and state subsidies -Date support these business strategies. One cannot understand national economic development without understanding the role of the developmental state. At the same time, the specific agenda and ultimate success of the developmental state cannot be unders-Dateod in abstraction Date the dynamics of innovative enterprise. It is through the interaction of the innovative enterprise and the developmental state that entrepreneurial activity inserts itself in-Date the economic system -Date contribute -Date the process of economic development.
    Keywords: entrepreneurship, innovative enterprise, developmental state
    Date: 2008
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:unu:wpaper:dp2008-01&r=pke

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