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on Post Keynesian Economics |
| By: | FitzRoy, Felix (University of St. Andrews); Spencer, David (University of Leeds) |
| Abstract: | This review of UK economic policy responses to the Covid-19 crisis identifies serious problems with existing measures. We describe alternative policies which could alleviate hardship, protect business from destruction in the growing depression, facilitate recovery with full employment in a Green New Deal, and redistribute income and power with economic democracy in the workplace. Only such policies can ensure high quality work for all, the natural rights of self-determination at work, and equitable sharing of the surplus that is produced by all employees as intentional agents. The proposed reforms are opposed by the strong vested interests which currently hold most power, so mobilising popular support and achieving real change will require a long struggle, just as attaining political democracy a century ago did. |
| Keywords: | COVID-19, policy response, better recovery, economic democracy |
| JEL: | H J L |
| Date: | 2020–06 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izapps:pp160&r=all |
| By: | Giovanni Dosi; Lucrezia Fanti; Maria Enrica Virgillito |
| Abstract: | The explosion of the pandemic has been optimistically considered as the ''last straw that breaks the camel's back''. At the time of writing, after three months since its out- burst, we can hardly find any sign of a ''broken camel'': indeed, it could have been the opportunity to collectively question the current regime of production and appro- priation, exclusion and marketization characterizing this phase of unjust ''rentified capitalism'', but the route taken has largely seen a frightening combination of ''business as usual'' on the production side and pervasive forms of social control, limitations of individual and collective rights and the perpetuation of a false dichotomy between economic and health security. This pandemic, which under decent public health provisions might have been a controlled disease, is producing the most severe crisis after the Great Depression and has been used to implement forms of massive social control hardly conceivable in ''advanced democracies''. Butterfly effects are well-known in complexity sciences. However, social scientists have still difficulties in understanding how a grain can make the sandcastle fall down. On the contrary, we are now under the actual risk of starting a ''new normal'' without dealing with the deep routes and origins of this crisis, with the dominant intellectual discourse pushing for maintaining and indeed reinforcing the status quo, established power and social blocks. This myopic strategy might end up in collectively disruptive socio-political transformations. |
| Keywords: | Social fabric; Pandemics; Inequalities; Lockdown; Social Injustice. |
| Date: | 2020–05–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ssa:lemwps:2020/14&r=all |
| By: | Carlo Vercellone (CEMTI - Centre d'études sur les médias, les technologies et l'internationalisation - UP8 - Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis) |
| Abstract: | Cognitive capitalism and the informational revolution have gone hand in hand with a blurring of the boundaries between work and leisure time. At the heart of this evolution is the rise of platform capitalism, and in particular the "merchantable gratuitousness" platforms, like Google and Facebook, which have now taken first place in the ranking of world firms in terms of stock market capitalisation and profitability. Their profit model is based on the logic of multi-sided markets and combines the sale of online advertising and the extraction of user data. The users thus represent both the product and the producers of the main raw material underlying the organisation of the advertising market for merchantable gratuitousness platforms. This is called Free Digital Labor. This concept refers to the activity, apparently both gratuitous and self-governing, performed, often unknowingly, by a multitude of individuals on the internet for the benefit of big internet oligopolies and data industries. The Free Digital Labor thesis is highly controversial. It is often rejected by means of three main arguments: 1. it would be, not labor, but the intangible capital of the algorithm which, through an automated process, would extract and create most of the value; 2. the Free Digital Labor would escape not only the canonical criteria of wage labor, but also the anthropological definition of labor as a conscious and voluntary goal-oriented activity; 3. the free services proposed by the platforms would be remuneration in kind, excluding any relationship of exploitation. Our contribution aims to clarify the terms of this debate and to respond to these objections through a historical and theoretical analysis of the changes in the capital-labor relationship that occurred under the aegis of platform capitalism. |
| Abstract: | Le capitalisme cognitif et la révolution informationnelle sont allés de pair avec un effritement des frontières entre temps de travail et temps libre. Au centre de cette évolution se trouve l'essor du capitalisme des plateformes et notamment des plateformes de la « gratuité marchande » qui, à l'image de Google et Facebook, ont désormais conquis le premières places dans le classement des firmes mondiales en termes de capitalisation boursières et de rentabilité. Leur modèle de profit repose sur la logique des marchés multi-versants et associe la vente de la publicité en ligne et l'extraction des données des usagers. Ces derniers représentent ainsi à la fois le produit et les producteurs de la principale matière première à la base de l'organisation du marché publicitaire des plateformes de la gratuité marchande. C'est ce que l'on nomme le Free Digital Labor. Par ce concept on désigne le travail à la fois gratuit et apparemment libre qu'une multitude d'individus effectue sur internet, souvent inconsciemment, au profit des grands oligopoles du numérique et des data industries. La thèse du Free Digital Labor suscite une vive controverse. Elle est souvent rejetée au moyen de trois principaux arguments : ce serait, non le travail, mais le capital immatériel de l'algorithme qui, par un processus automatisé, extrairait et créerait l'essentiel de la valeur ; le Free Digital Labor échapperait non seulement aux critères canoniques du travail salarié, mais aussi à la définition anthropologique du travail vu comme une activité consciente et volontaire orientée vers un but ; les services gratuits offerts par les plateformes correspondraient à une rémunération en nature excluant tout rapport d'exploitation. Notre contribution se propose d'élucider les termes de ce débat et de répondre à ces objections par une analyse historique et théorique des mutations du rapport capital/travail intervenues sous l'égide du capitalisme des plateformes. ABSTRACT. Cognitive capitalism and the informational revolution have gone hand in hand with a blurring of the boundaries between work and leisure time. At the heart of this evolution is the rise of platform capitalism, and in particular the "merchantable gratuitousness" platforms, like Google and Facebook, which have now taken first place in the ranking of world firms in terms of stock market capitalisation and profitability. Their profit model is based on the logic of multi-sided markets and combines the sale of online advertising and the extraction of user data. The users thus represent both the product and the producers of the main raw material underlying the organisation of the advertising market for merchantable gratuitousness platforms. This is called Free Digital Labor. This concept refers to the activity, apparently both gratuitous and self-governing, performed, often unknowingly, by a multitude of individuals on the internet for the benefit of big internet oligopolies and data industries. The Free Digital Labor thesis is highly controversial. It is often rejected by means of three main arguments: 1. it would be, not labor, but the intangible capital of the algorithm which, through an automated process, would extract and create most of the value; 2. the Free Digital Labor would escape not only the canonical criteria of wage labor, but also the anthropological definition of labor as a conscious and voluntary goal-oriented activity; 3. the free services proposed by the platforms would be remuneration in kind, excluding any relationship of exploitation. Our contribution aims to clarify the terms of this debate and to respond to these objections through a historical and theoretical analysis of the changes in the capital-labor relationship that occurred under the aegis of platform capitalism. |
| Keywords: | Karl Marx KEYWORDS cognitive capitalism,Algorithmes,Free Digital Labor,platform capitalism,multi-sided markets,data,Algorithms,Free Digital Labour,Karl Marx,MOTS-CLES capitalisme cognitif,capitalisme des plateformes,marches multi-versants,données |
| Date: | 2020–04–13 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02554288&r=all |
| By: | Olivier Damette (BETA - Bureau d'Économie Théorique et Appliquée - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - UL - Université de Lorraine - UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg); Stéphane Goutte (Cemotev - Centre d'études sur la mondialisation, les conflits, les territoires et les vulnérabilités - UVSQ - Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines) |
| Abstract: | We investigate, for the first time, the empirical drivers of the Covid-19 crosscountry mortality rates at a macroeconomic level. The intensity of the pandemic (number of infected people), the demographic structure (proportion of people age 65 or above) and the openness degree (number of tourists arrivals) seem to be significant predictors in addition to health infrastructures (number of hospital beds, physicians). We also find that the subprime crisis and the austerity policies conducted in certain countries, by reducing the public health expenditures in the last ten years and altering the adaptation capacity of the health system, have probably intensified the tragic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic. Pollution seems to have only played a marginal role as well as control strategies (travel restrictions, testing policy). We do not find consistent effects against the Covid-19 virus due to past exposal to other types of epidemics like Malaria or Tuberculosis. |
| Keywords: | Covid-19 pandemic,fatalities,macroeconomic drivers,health infrastructure,health spending,Covid-19 control strategies,pollution,immunity,austerity policies |
| Date: | 2020–05–26 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:wpaper:halshs-02620834&r=all |
| By: | Hanappi, Hardy |
| Abstract: | This paper is a reaction on the last four global crisis of the human species: the global financial crisis, the migration crisis, the climate crisis, and the corona crisis. It argues that a global crisis needs a revolution in global governance necessitating a global change of the mode of production. In part 1 essential features - a vision - of a world we want to live in are proposed, while in part 2 an update of the dynamics of global class structures is used to identify coalitions for the global revolution needed to get closer to that vision. |
| Keywords: | Global crisis, Global political economy |
| JEL: | B41 B51 B52 F6 |
| Date: | 2020–05–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:100482&r=all |
| By: | Jean-Michel Servet (IHEID - Institut de hautes études internationales et du développement - University of Geneva [Switzerland]); Bruno Tinel (CES - Centre d'économie de la Sorbonne - UP1 - Université Panthéon-Sorbonne - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) |
| Abstract: | One-sentence summary : Randomized controlled trials by behavioural economists pretend to be pragmatic and only interested in what really works to solve practical problems but in reality they have notorious normative and ideological aspects. Key points: Behavioural RCTs ignore contexts and composition effects and reflect the biases of those who perform assessments. Behavioural randomizers presume without demonstrating that market exchanges are the most effective form of regulation for societies in all situations of social life. The positive or negative incentives ("nudges") offered by behavioural economics aim to normalize the behaviour of consumers, users, employees or small/independent producers. They are part of a set of power devices by which individual behaviours are shaped and forced, without their knowledge, to conform to dominant class interests. |
| Date: | 2020–05 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-02562758&r=all |
| By: | Olivier E. Malay (IRES & Hoover Chair of Economic and Social Ethics, University of Louvain (UCLouvain)) |
| Abstract: | In the past decades, new indicators have been developed to provide alternatives to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at the macro level, and to financial indicators at the business level (businesses’ social and environmental indicators). However, these new indicators are poorly articulated between the business and the macro level. This paper aims to discuss the different possibilities of articulation that exist and outline a framework for a better micro-macro articulation. Firstly, we draw from the example of GDP and traditional business indicators by analysing the way they are articulated. Secondly, we review how sets of alternative indicators aim to articulate the macro and micro level by analysing indicators constructed around Gross National Happiness (GNH) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This research shows that two specific types of articulation exist between indicators at different levels, one referred to as the ‘accounting’ type and the other called the ‘conceptual’ type. Their strengths and limits will be discussed, as well as how they can be combined. Finally, recommendations will be provided on how to best articulate beyond GDP and business level indicators. |
| Keywords: | Sustainability indicators; Beyond GDP indicators; Business indicators; Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR); Micro macro articulation; Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Gross National Happiness (GNH) |
| JEL: | E0 M41 N10 N40 Q56 |
| Date: | 2020–04–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ctl:louvir:2020014&r=all |
| By: | Maria Bastante-Ceca (UPV - Universitat Politecnica de Valencia); Jose Fuentes-Bargues (UPV - Universitat Politecnica de Valencia); Florin Mihai (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași [Romania]); Corneliu Iatu (Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iași [Romania]); Levente Hufnagel (Szent István University) |
| Abstract: | Since the second half of the twentieth century, the big processes of globalization of the economy, coupled with the development of new technologies and the increase of the population, have led to the emergence of major environmental problems whose importance transcends beyond the limits of the countries, in a manner that we could say that they are global impacts. These problems include, among others, the ozone layer depletion, the climate change due to the greenhouse gas emission, or the depletion of natural resources. Industry, as well as modern societies, must face this challenge, changing their consumption patterns, increasing product life, banishing the concept of "use and throw away," and changing from the traditional production systems to a more sustainable one. |
| Keywords: | sustainable development,circular economy,SDGS,sustainabilty |
| Date: | 2020–02–12 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:hal:journl:hal-02561092&r=all |