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on Post Keynesian Economics |
| By: | Francesco Ruggeri; Riccardo Pariboni; Giuliano Toshiro Yajima |
| Abstract: | Divergent trends in income and consumption inequality - with the first increasing substantially more than the latter - are an established stylized fact for the US economy of the last decades. The same time span experienced also a steady increase in household debt, plausibly not independently from the patterns in income distribution and consumption just mentioned. In this article we develop a stock-flow model that tries to replicate some of these dynamics. We emphasize the role played by changing behavioural attitudes towards consumption and demand for loans by households, by introducing an emulation mechanism that links a given quintile’s households desired consumption with the realized consumption of the immediately superior quintile. Furthermore, we leverage the data availability for consumption, income and wealth for quintiles of income distribution to estimate empirically those attitudes. The model, albeit simple and essential in its nature, is able to show the Janus-like faces of households’ debt and emphasizes the predator-prey-like dynamics implied by a debt-let process, in which fresh borrowing increases aggregate demand and output, which feeds the ability to borrow and consume more; at the same time, the stock of accumulated debt “preys†on income due to the contractionary forces of the repayment mechanism. Through a simple and stylized representation of the multiple interactions between income distribution, consumption and debt, we also formalize and highlight how the benefits of a process of debt-led growth are asymmetrically distributed and reinforce the same detrimental tendencies in income distribution that led to the emergence of debt as a necessary engine of growth. |
| Keywords: | Stock-Flow Consistent Model; Personal Income Inequality; Emulation; Debt Jel Classification: E12, E21, D31 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:usi:wpaper:929 |
| By: | Biagio Bossone |
| Abstract: | This article extends the analytical framework developed in forthcoming The Critical Role of ‘Conventional Beliefs’ in Economics (Bossone, 2026 forthcoming) by applying it to the concept of the natural interest rate, or r^*. It shows that this is not pinned down by preferences and technology, but rather a belief-contingent variable, shaped by prevailing expectations regimes. When agents coordinate around pessimistic views of future demand or policy ineffectiveness, the economy can settle into rational low-growth, low-rate equilibria, and vice versa when their views are optimistic. These belief-driven dynamics generate multiple equilibria, endogenous liquidity traps, and hysteresis, even in the absence of structural frictions. As macroeconomic parameters become belief-sensitive, traditional filtering methods fail to identify r^* reliably across regimes, leading to systematic policy miscalibration. The coexistence of multiple belief-consistent natural rates implies a new form of policy multiplicity: rules coherent within one belief regime may be inconsistent with another. These results challenge the structural interpretation of r^*and call for credibility-sensitive policy frameworks capable of coordinating expectations in belief-dependent environments. |
| Keywords: | Natural interest rate (r-star); Belief regime; Shock persistence; Policy multiplicity; Equilibria |
| JEL: | D84 E32 E43 E52 E61 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pke:wpaper:pkwp2520 |
| By: | Ananiades, Eduardo; Antunes, Daví |
| Abstract: | The improvements in artificial intelligence (AI) and data processing technologies have renewed the question posed by John M. Keynes in Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren. Particularly regarding the expectation of human emancipation from material survival as a result of technological progress, the possibility of seeking purpose and fulfillment is revived. However, new technologies have driven the economy towards an ontological reduction that subordinates the human being to abstract economic relations, reducing labor and work to exchange-value. Hence, labour ceases to be a process aimed at satisfying concrete needs and becomes, instead, an economic function restricted to the market and production. This paper is organized into two primary sections. The first provides a diagnosis of the U.S. labor market, which is characterized by an increasing polarization between high- and low-skill occupations, alongside a narrow labour structure of typical middle-class jobs. The segmentation of the labor market takes shape as the manufacturing sector loses its centrality and the service sector becomes more significant to the U.S. economy. This dynamic unfolds as financial deregulation and neoliberal policies shift economic structures toward speculative wealth accumulation, diminishing industrial job opportunities and polarizing the labor market into highly skilled, well-paid roles and precarious, low-skilled positions. The second section examines how AI technologies have transformed the tasks performed by certain jobs and the hierarchical and economic interaction within firms, altering the qualification requirements, especially for corporate-level jobs. The competition for high- and low-skill occupations intensifies. In the first case, the demand for constant updating of technical competencies and knowledge to complement AI systems increases. For low-skill occupations, fierce competition takes place due to the simplification of tasks, allowing less-skilled workers to perform the same functions. Therefore, the integration of AI into the labor market exacerbates wage disparities and affects opportunities both across and within different segments of the working class, increasing the demand for highly skilled workers while simultaneously reducing opportunities for those in low-skilled positions. |
| Keywords: | United States — 21st Century, Artificial Intelligence and Technological Transformation, Labor Market, Labor Market Polarization, 4.0 Technologies — Impacts on the Labor Market |
| JEL: | J21 J24 O33 |
| Date: | 2025–01–23 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:125898 |
| By: | Ioan-Gheorghe Rotaru (Timotheus Brethren Theological Institute of Bucharest, Romania) |
| Abstract: | This paper explores the enduring influence of John Locke, one of the best-known and most influential thinkers in European history. He is widely regarded as a man ahead of his time, whose ideas remain highly relevant in our world today. Locke’s ideas about politics, knowledge, religion, and education helped shape the way we live in free societies today, where we value things like the equality of all people before the law, the right to own property, personal freedom, and the ability to believe and speak as we choose. He is considered one of the architects of modern culture and the Enlightenment, and his reflections and philosophical work were the result of the social, critical, and philosophical upheavals of his time. |
| Keywords: | John Locke, Philosophical Thought, Ideas, Philosophical Work |
| Date: | 2025–04 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:smo:raiswp:0514 |
| By: | María Edo (Universidad de San Andrés and CONICET); Mariana Marchionni (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP and CONICET); María Florencia Pinto (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP); Mariana Viollaz (CEDLAS-IIE-FCE-UNLP and IZA) |
| Abstract: | The aim of this paper is to document the situation of women and the gender gaps in the economics profession across the full range of academic tiers, focused in Argentina. We conduct a comprehensive examination of the representation of women in Economics at various academic levels, from undergraduate programs to faculty and research positions. The analysis is based on several sources, including administrative national databases, administrative data coming from universities and other academic institutions, and microdata obtained from those institutions or through Web scraping. We assess gender differences in career trajectories, academic performance, access to research opportunities in the country and participation in relevant networks. By shedding light on the specific challenges faced by women in Economics in Argentina, we aim to inform policy recommendations and interventions that can promote gender equality and create a more inclusive and diverse economics profession. |
| JEL: | J16 I23 O30 A20 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:dls:wpaper:0355 |
| By: | Gries, Thomas (University of Paderborn); Naudé, Wim (RWTH Aachen University) |
| Abstract: | We present a model of economic growth that bridges Green Growth and Degrowth perspectives. The model demonstrates that a minimum physical per capita consumption level can be maintained without recourse to tech-optimism, and moreover with degrowth in material resource throughput - respecting planetary boundaries. We critically discuss the assumptions necessary for this result, explore relaxing these, and illustrate that eventually a full transition to renewable energy and materials will be needed to sustain consumption levels in a post-growth economy. We identify areas for future growth modelling, emphasising that these require genuine interdisciplinary cooperation. |
| Keywords: | post-growth, degrowth, economic growth, green growth, sustainability |
| JEL: | O44 Q32 Q56 Q55 |
| Date: | 2025–09 |
| URL: | https://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp18110 |