The Economic Problem of Happiness: Keynes on Happiness and Economics

By stressing the substantial continuity of vision between John Maynard Keynes’s early unpublished essays and his more mature writings, the paper discusses Keynes’s ethics and focuses on his thoughts about happiness. In particular, we emphasize the anti-utilitarianism of Keynes’s vision and his belief that material wealth is but a precondition to enjoy the possibilities of a good life, and direct attention to problems of incommensurability raised by the multidimensional nature of happiness as considered by Keynes. We then argue that the rediscovery of Keynes’s legacy in this respect may be a precious counterweight to the most controversial aspects of today’s happiness research.     

Keynes and a post-Keynesian controversy over the effect of debt on income expansion

The paper considers arguments of Robertson (1938) and Asimakopulos (1983) that the Keynesian multiplier expansion of output may be constrained by debt implicitly incurred in the financing of autonomous investment necessary to start the multiplier process. The task of this essay is to show that within the ‘short-period’ and static analytical framework of Keynes, this line of reasoning regarding the adverse effects of debt on multiplier-induced expansions of output is unwarranted. Nevertheless it is concluded that if the Keynesian framework is abandoned in favour of a dynamic framework in the manner of a steady trend rate of growth - a choice dependent on how one conceives of the economy, as inherently static or dynamic - then such arguments have troubling implications. In particular, the dependence of Keynes's approach on credit and hence debt forges links between ‘short-periods' whose distinctness from one another is crucial to Keynes's result.     

Foreign investment, reparations and the proposal for an international bank: notes on the lectures of J M Keynes in Geneva, July 1929

Keynes's lectures to the Geneva School of International Studiesprovide substance to the intellectual linkages between the Cambridgedon and economists working in international economic agenciesduring the inter-war period. Keynes was keenly sought afteras a policy adviser; as the notes to these lectures indicate,he provided his audience with theoretical insights into thepressing issues of the day - reparations and the transfer problem,the economic foundations of the Dawes and Young Plans, and proposalsfor an international bank.     

不同货币理论:诸利率学派分歧之源浅探

不同学派利率理论问题的分歧,根源于其所依据的货币理论的不同。“古典”学派的实物利率理论源于其“两分法”货币理论;凯恩斯的纯货币利率理论源于其缺乏微观基础的货币经济理论;马克思以其科学的货币理论为依据,给予其资本利率理论以深刻的内涵。     

Toward the crisis: a Kaleckian-Keynesian interpretation of the instability of growth and capital accumulation in Brazil

This article examines theoretically and empirically the instability of Brazilian investment and growth for the past couple of decades, highlighting the evolution that led to the current crisis. A theoretical discussion highlights the importance of Kaleckian and Keynesian approaches in understanding the semi-stagnation of the Brazilian economy since the 1990s. Empirical evidence shows that investment has increased until 2013, but not to the point of getting the economy back on the track of high growth rates and higher investment-GDP ratios. The econometric findings are compatible with the theoretical underpinnings of investment activity based on Keynes and Kalecki and suggest the existence of room for activist policies in Brazil in order to stimulate economic activity.     

基于创新型企业的风险投资发展对策探析

二十世纪90年代以来,以高新技术产业为主导的知识经济浪潮席卷全球,推动了风险投资的发展;技术创新作为企业创新的重要内容,是国内企业迎接全球经济一体化,提高核心竞争力的必然选择。笔者在回顾国内外风险投资理论研究成果的基础上,基于我国经济社会发展现状,就若干风险投资研究的前沿领域,从公司治理、价值评估、运作与退出机制、宏观环境等方面,讨论了风险投资的发展对策。     

The effect of capital requirement regulation on the transmission of monetary policy: evidence from Austria

This paper analyzes the role of banks’ regulatory capitalization in the transmission of monetary policy. We use a confidential dataset for Austrian banks spanning from the first quarter of 1997 to the fourth quarter of 2003. We find evidence that Austrian banks react in an asymmetric way to monetary policy depending on their regulatory excess capitalization, i.e. low capitalized banks react more restrictively to a monetary tightening than their highly capitalized peers.

转型经济中劳动力迁移对非农就业的影响——中国农户调查数据的分析

基于2009年中国农村金融调查数据,本文建立多项Logit就业选择模型,识别劳动力迁移对返乡农民工非农就业的影响,并利用2008年9月之后返乡农民工样本考察劳动力迁移的潜在内生性及可能导致的估计偏误.本文发现:由于内生性的存在,导致劳动力迁移效应被高估约8.5个百分点.相比从未迁移的农村劳动力,劳动力迁移促使农民工返乡后更多地受雇于非农工作,而对自主创业的影响不大.在中国转型经济中,农村剩余劳动力向城市迁移后提高了非农产业技能,为农村非农产业的发展积累了人力资本.返乡农民工具有更多的金融资本和人力资本,将在中国独特的城市化建设中起到重要作用.     

政府生产性支出对产出-资本比的影响——基于中国经验的研究

在国际学术界,尽管有许多经济学家在宏观经济模型框架下研究政府支出对经济增长的影响,但是很少有人从理论和实证角度研究政府支出对产出-资本比的影响,而产出-资本比的提高对发展中国家经济增长至关重要。本文利用政府提供公共物品生产函数,分析政府生产性支出的增加对税前和税后产出-资本比的影响,认为存在着一个能使产出-资本比最大化的最优政府生产性支出规模。在此基础上,本文进行的实证研究结果表明:(1)在我国国家财政生产性支出中,财政基本建设支出与产出-资本比弱正相关,而教育支出和科学研究支出与产出-资本比强正相关;(2)在我国地方财政生产性支出中,财政基本建设支出和产出-资本比弱负相关,财政教育支出和产出-资本比强正相关,而财政科学研究支出与税后产出-资本比强负相关。     

A note on the statistical verification of Marx: comment on Cockshott and Cottrell

This Note questions the statistical validity of the analysesof the relationship between the rate of profit and the organiccomposition across industries.     

The long-run impact of human capital on innovation and economic development in the regions of Europe

ABSTRACT

Human capital is supposed to be an important factor for innovation and economic development. However, the long-run impact of human capital on current innovation and economic development is still a black box, in particular at the regional level. Therefore, this paper makes the link between the past and the present. Using a large new dataset on regional human capital and other factors in the 19^th and 20^th century, we find that past regional human capital is a key factor explaining current regional disparities in innovation and economic development.     

On the origin and the literal meaning of monopsony: a note

An examination of the history and etymology of monopsony as a market structure reveals that in the original sense monopsony means a single buyer of food supplies in general, rather than a single buyer of fish as it has been previously asserted. Thus, the proposed interpretation of monopsony deprives it from any derogatory implications, restoring the term to its original meaning.     

Why the structure of capital and the useful lives of its components matter: A test based on a model of Austrian descent

This paper centers on the structure of capital and the useful lives of its components by considering an economy with two representative firms, one producing a necessity and another producing a luxury. This difference determines their reinvestment opportunities. Therefore, while the one applies replacement, the other adopts scrapping. However, as these capital policies lead to different service lives, the analysis confronts the issues raised by Miller (Review of Income and Wealth 29:284–296, 1982, Review of Income and Wealth 36:67–82, 1990) and deals with them by drawing on Haavelmo’s (A study in the theory of investment, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1960) suggestions regarding the aggregation of capital. Among other findings, it turns out that the simulation results are highly robust, thus demonstrating that real-world implications may be even stronger than strictly suggested by the model.

信任、制度环境与盈余信息含量——基于中国资本市场的经验研究

投资决策是一种信任决策,会计信息是投资决策的重要依据,良好的制度环境能够增进投资者对代理人提供的会计信息的信任,因此能够提高会计信息的投资有用性。本文主要研究投资者对代理人的信任水平对盈余信息含量的影响,并检验制度环境对盈余信息含量的影响路径。研究表明,投资者对代理人越信任,盈余信息含量越高;良好的制度环境能够提高盈余信息含量,但是这种影响是通过投资者对代理人的信任而间接实现的,当控制了信任水平之后,制度环境的影响随之消失。本文的研究有助于加深人们对制度环境如何影响会计信息有用性的理解。     

风险投资介入、投资策略与企业异质R&D创新——基于创业新兴指数样本公司的实证研究

利用创业新兴指数样本公司,实证考察了风险投资介入及其投资策略对企业异质研发创新的影响。结果表明:我国风险投资介入并未对企业异质研发创新产生显著影响;风险投资持股比重增大能显著促进公司常规式研发创新,而对探索式研发创新无显著促进效果;联合投资策略能够促进公司常规式研发创新,而对公司探索式研发创新的促进作用并不显著;单独投资策略对公司异质研发创新的促进作用不明显。这表明,我国风险投资对战略性新兴产业常规式创新具有一定的促进作用,但对探索式创新的促进效果不明显。     

The effect of higher capital requirements on bank lending: the capital surplus matters

Empirica - The existing literature has displayed mixed results in terms of the relationship between tighter bank capital regulation and lending, which may be due to poor approximation of capital...     

Keynes and Wagner on government expenditures and economic development: the case of a developing economy

This paper investigates the Keynesian view and the Wagner’s Law on the role of public expenditure on economic growth for Malaysia (1970–2004). The empirical results using the Auto-Regression Distributed Lag (ARDL) model and the ‘bounds test’ (Pesaran et al. in J Appl Econ 16:289–326, 2001) showed evidence of a long run relationship between total expenditures (including expenditures on defense, education, development and agriculture) and Gross National Product. The results also show that with the structural break in 1998, the long run causality is bi-directional for GNP and expenditures on administration and health, supporting both Keynes view and Wagner’s Law. For all other expenditure categories the long run causality runs from GNP to the expenditures, which supports Wagner’s Law. An erratum to this article can be found at     

资本市场效率视角:中国虚拟经济规模适度性研究

虚拟经济与实体经济有着千丝万缕的联系，其发展规模是否适度影响着实体经济的发展是否健康。通过从资本市场效率的角度探讨检验虚拟经济是否适度的方法，并对中国资本市场进行实证分析，发现中国资本市场效率不高，虚拟经济规模呈非适度性，究其原因须作进一步分析。     

The effects of the Paris climate agreement on stock markets: evidence from the German stock market

We investigate the effects of the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement on the German stock market by considering the impact of 20 announcements pertaining to the Agreement on 17 industries. The event study methodology is used for this purpose, together with several robustness tests, such as the nonparametric rank test and non-parametric conditional distribution approach. The change in systematic risk following the announcements is captured by using various risk models. In general, we find that the Paris Climate Agreement is achieving its objectives in the short run. Our results show that the announcements affected polluting industries in terms of risk and return. Furthermore, we observe two distinct diamond risk structures when (1) Conference of the Parties (COP) 21 took place, and (2) the Agreement came into force.