Scottish Economic Thought and the High Wage Economy: Hume, Smith and MCCulloch on Wages and Work Motivation

This article examines the work of Hume, Smith and McCulloch on wages and work motivation, and finds a clear and detailed case made for high wages within Scottish political economy. This analysis, through Hume and Smith, is based on key aspects of Scottish Enlightenment thought, and represents the culmination of the liberalization of thought regarding labour which developed in the eighteenth century. McCulloch, whose work on wages, incentives and motivation is more detailed and interesting than that of his 'post-Smithian' classical colleagues, is shown to be, in this area at least, clearly in the Scottish tradition.     

The Political Economy of Frank Knight: Classical Liberalism from Chicago

Frank Knight, the founder of the Chicago School, isa leading twentieth century political economist who remains barelyknown in political science circles. The article surveys the politicaleconomy element in his work in the context of the classicalliberal tradition from the Scottish Enlightenment to Hayek. Itis argued that in the major compartments of Knight's politicaleconomy—his psychological assumptions of actor behaviour,his perspective on the nature of liberalism, his attention tothe maintenance of order by way of traditions and morals—herenews classical [as opposed to other versions of] liberalismin modern times. The final section deals with Knight's thoughtson political democracy which, it is contended, complement hisclassical liberalism.     

Constitutional Interpretation: Burke and Buchanan and their 18th Century Intellectual Roots

There is a respectable tradition of Burkean constitutional interpretation in legal scholarship whereas Edmund Burke is a relatively neglected figure in constitutional political economy. A comparison of the constitutional interpretations of constitutional political economy and Burkean legal scholarship provides a potentially fruitful outcome for both. This is particularly so given the 18th century intellectual roots of each. An examination of the Burkean tradition demonstrates why it is methodologically inductive, evolutionary and pessimistic, compared to the deductive, individualistic and optimistic approach of the Smithian tradition of constitutional political economy. Interestingly, these sharp distinctions in method produce similar results.

Public choice as political philosophy

Moral philosophy as it emerged from the Scottish Enlightenment spawned the social sciences in general and the field of political economy in particular. The latter field itself went on to splinter into two. James Buchanan, however, walked us back from our tendency to over-specialize and recovered the field of political economy as it was done in its classical heyday.     

Freedom and the Strong State: On German Ordoliberalism

Ordoliberalism is the theory behind the German social market economy. Its theoretical stance developed in the context of the economic crisis and political turmoil of the Weimar Republic in the late 1920s. It is premised on the strong state as the locus of liberal governance, and holds that economic freedom derives from political authority. In the context of the crisis of neoliberal political economy and austerity, and debates about the resurgence of the state vis-à-vis the economy, the article introduces the ordoliberal argument that the free economy presupposes the exercise of strong state authority, and that economic liberty is a practice of liberal governance. This practice is fundamentally one of social policy to secure the sociological and ethical preconditions of free markets. The study of ordoliberalism brings to the fore a tradition of a state-centric neoliberalism, one that says that economic freedom is ordered freedom, one that argues that the strong state is the political form of free markets, and one that conceives of competition and enterprise as a political task.     

Hilferding on derivatives

Abstract

Rudolf Hilferding has always been regarded as a leading Marxist scholar. His theoretical intervention is still considered to be benchmark in Political Economy. Nevertheless, Hilferding's approach to derivatives has been left untouched. The aim of this paper is precisely to fill this gap in the literature. Hilferding realised that the development of the stock exchange was indeed parallel to another important event: the emergence of standardised derivative exchanges; he underlined their economic significance for the organisation of capitalism. In spite of how one appraises the final outcome of his analysis, the intention to incorporate futures markets in his general approach and to analyse them using Marxian theoretical categories is quite exceptional in the long tradition of political economy.     

Thoreau's economic philosophy

Abstract

This paper provides an encompassing portrayal of Thoreau's economic thought. It is analyzed against the background of the history of economic thought and the economic thinking of his time. Thoreau's economic thought is an extensive examination of the ideas of classical political economy, and particularly of Jean-Baptiste Say, and it is a fundamental critique thereof. Thoreau recognizes that some aspects and foundations of the modern conception of the economy lead to an alienation of the human being from itself as well as to an alienation from nature. I demonstrate that this critique is a result of Thoreau's specific approach to the economy, which, based on his particular understanding of the human being and his philosophy of nature, seeks the meaning of the economy for human life and for nature. In this philosophical approach, which I characterize as an economic philosophy, Thoreau's deeper defiance of classical political economy and his original place within the history of economic thought are grounded. It leads Thoreau to an alternative conception of an economy of moderation, which is identified and described in detail. I conclude with considerations on the potential meaning of Thoreau's thought for current economic research.     

Steuart's position on economic progress

This paper attempts to understan James Steuart's position on economic progress in terms of the Hayekian version of the natural law tradition and the civic–humanist approach. It is argued that the latter paradigm offers a more relevant framework. Particular attention is to Steuar's preoccupation with ‘frugality’ in connection with his treatment of the stages of trade and his position is contrasted with that of Hume. Without denying Steuart's link with the Scottish Historical School, the mercantilist aspect of his outlook is emphasized.     

Modern Politics as a Trust Scheme and Its Relevance to Modern Banking

The trust is, by definition, a hybrid between rights in rem and rights in personam. It is also an English legal concept that distinguishes the English common law from the Roman law tradition of continental Europe. The trust is largely absent in the classical writings of Karl Marx and Max Weber on the origins and nature of capitalism. This essay demonstrates that the trust is central to an adequate understanding of capitalism — including the capitalist institutions of modern banking, corporations, and representative democracy — and demonstrates that modern banking and politics are mirror images of each other. Before capitalism, credit economies created institutions to protect debtors or often revived the social order by cancelling debts. The capitalist credit economy, by contrast, considers strict debt obligations a supreme moral good and a way of securing social order. It creates a political scheme to ensure that debt obligations are strictly fulfilled. This essay argues that this scheme is a trust. The trust turns the debts of individuals, whose death can cancel their debt obligations, into the debts of imaginary groups such as the modern state, whose identities and obligations are permanently maintained by replaceable trustees. The essay further holds that without the politics of the trust, modern banking could not have developed.     

A Theory of Civil Conflict and Democracy in Rentier States*

The effects of resource rents on the political equilibrium have been studied in two main types of models. The first tradition uses models of conflict, and studies how resource rents affect the intensity and duration of civil conflict. The second tradition uses political economy models, where resource rents affect the political equilibrium due to changes in the costs and benefits of buying votes. Although they provide considerable insight, these traditions have little to say about when democracy emerges, and about when conflict emerges. In this paper, by integrating the earlier model traditions, we suggest the simplest possible framework we can think of to study the choice between conflict and democracy. We show how factors such as resource rents, the extent of electoral competition, and productivity affect economic and political equilibria.     

Comparative political economy when anarchism is on the table

Scott’s (2009) research on stateless Southeast Asia describes behavioral patterns amidst indigenous peoples that parallel certain contemporary social phenomena, especially, prohibition and military occupation. Unintended consequences caused by government are continuously interpreted to reaffirm the rationale for interventionism. Governments’ role in social processes involving violence is presumed necessary and sufficient. As a result of conceptual biases, non-governmental processes such as markets and civil society are ignored as sources for potential solutions to complex social problems. Comparative political economy should take more seriously models developed by the tradition of constitutional political economy and classical liberalism wherein the state is recognized as a significant threat to social order.     

Gustav Schmoller's Historico-Ethical Political Economy : ethics,politics and economics in the younger German Historical School, 1860-1917

Gustav Schmoller, the head of the younger Historical School of political economy in Imperial Germany, was characterized as the man who had brought about the ‘decisive turn’ towards Sozialpolitik and had given it a scientific basis. His holistic understanding of political economy became a tradition among German administrative bureaucracy. His economic doctorine must have been seen in the context of a comprehensive social theory linking an idealist statism with an ethical evolutionism against the background of an historicist world view. The paper critically discusses how Schmoller wanted to force these competing streams of thought and their influences among his contemporaries into a developmental model that would harmonize the radical social changes of his day.     

Henry Sidgwick,moral order,and utilitarianism

Abstract

Henry Sidgwick is today remembered as a later nineteenth-century moral philosopher who struggled with his Christian faith, having difficulty reconciling this with an emergent modern and secular philosophy. In this paper, it is suggested that the only accurate part of this statement relates to the century in which Henry Sidgwick lived. It is argued that modern readers lack sensitivity to questions of faith and religiosity that were commonplace in the later nineteenth century, and that to have doubts in an Anglican faith did not necessarily imply any weakening of Christian faith. Furthermore, a misreading of Sidgwick as a moral philosopher in the modern sense neglects Sidgwick's central role in a Moral Sciences Tripos that included logic and political economy. Only after Marshall extracted political economy and political science from the Moral Sciences Tripos in 1903 did that Tripos become the foundation for a new Philosophy Tripos, and it is an error to read that later configuration back into the Tripos that Sidgwick led from 1883 to 1900.     

The usury debate,the sustainability debate,and the call for a moral economy

This article attempts to contribute ethical to perspectives on sustainability initiatives by comparing the relationship between economy and society in the usury debate in early modern England and the sustainability debate in the late 20th century. This comparison highlights is the changing relationship between economy and society has been a self-conscious and hotly debated struggle among various groups at various times in history. The article concludes that if sustainability is going to be a viable ethical project, it may have to reclaim access to social and political relations which have been increasingly privatized in market economy throughout the modern period.     

Beyond Regulation: Towards a Cultural Political Economy of Complexity and Emergence

Drawing on and contributing to materialist state theory, the regulation approach and institutional economics for more than three decades, Bob Jessop can certainly be considered one of the foremost Marxist political economists of our time. Recently, he has taken on board the cultural turn in social analysis by developing a highly original cultural political economy of the knowledge-based economy. As a contribution to the further development of a cultural political economy that is sensitive to the cultural dimensions of social life while retaining an emphasis on capital accumulation and state regulation, this article directs attention to the limits of Jessop's approach and suggests possible amendments to the theory. In particular, the article highlights the need to move beyond a concern with regulation towards a cultural political economy of complexity and emergence.     

POLITICAL PREDATION AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

We analyze a game between citizens and governments, whose type (benevolent or predatory) is unknown to the public. Opportunistic governments mix between predation and restraint. As long as restraint is observed, political expectations improve, people enter the modern sector, and the economy grows. Once there is predation, the reputation of the government is ruined and the economy collapses. If citizens are unable to overthrow this government, the collapse is durable. Otherwise, a new government is drawn and the economy can rebound. Consistent with stylized facts, equilibrium political and economic histories are random, unstable, and exhibit long-term divergence.     

Adam Smith's Conceptualization of Power,Markets, and Politics

This paper argues that Adam Smith is a/the "founding father figure" of modern social/political economy as well as economics. Smith wrote extensively and insightfully on the subject of power , and thereby class and stratafication in society. This paper explicates four main types of power relations in Smith's analysis, notably drawing on the Wealth of Nations : wealth power, monopoly power, employer power, and political power. Smith's focus on power helps to differentiate his broader vision and rich discourse from that of many contemporary neoclassical writers and sharpens our appreciation for his contributions to social and political economy.     

A reading of the Spanish Constitution (1978)

The object of this paper is to examine the Spanish Constitution (1978) using the perspective of modern consitutional political economy. This exercise is an interesting one for two reasons: first it provides a kind of test for the usefulness of the c.p.e. approach and the insights the application of that approach yields; second, it provides an opportunity for a wider readership of a document that is of considerable interest in its own right. We gratefully acknowledge the support of the Comite Conjunto Hispano-Norteamericano para Asuntas Educativos y Culturales, the Servei de Formacio Permanent of the University of Valencia and the Institucio Valenciana d'Estudis i Investigacio. We are grateful to Pedro Puy Fraga, Javier Salinas and an anonymous referee for useful comments.     

经济改革与经济学转型

我国的经济改革是在传统计划体制背景下启动的,也是在一定的改革意识引领下发生的,但在传统政治经济学框架内形成的改革理论具有一定的局限性。改革开放以来,经济学者运用现代经济学方法对中国经济进行分析,获得了有价值的成果。但是,我国经济学理论的转型还没有完成。为了深化市场经济的改革,如何科学地认识市场经济,怎样在经济学理论研究中体现现代精神,都需要在范式转型的前提下继续进行探索。     

习近平加强党对经济工作集中统一领导思想研究

加强党对经济工作集中统一领导是习近平经济思想的重要组成部分,政治与经济辩证统一理论是思想基础,以人民为中心是根本立场,党的领导是社会主义市场经济的本质特征,国家经济治理体系是重要抓手,马克思主义政治经济学是坚持和发展马克思主义的必修课,加强党的政治、制度、作风和能力建设是政治保证.该思想为加强党对经济工作集中统一领导、...