Issues in Macroeconomics

This is a study of the nature of internal diversity within liberal and collaborative market economies. Based on large scale comparative survey data, we assess the extent to which specific clusters of practices are associated with specific varieties of capitalism. Given that recent literature has pointed to internal diversity within specific national contexts, we explore the nature of internal diversity within both liberal and collaborative market economies, and what makes each variety of capitalism distinct. We find that more than one cluster of practices is indeed likely to be encountered in a particular national context, but that this diversity was bounded: only a limited number of alternative paradigms are likely to emerge and persist. The survey findings not only shed light on the nature of this internal diversity, but also reveal the fact that liberal and collaborative markets remain distinct, with the rights accruing to employees being more deeply embedded in a wide cross section of firms within the latter.     

Wall Street and Vine: Hollywood's View of Business

American films have long presented a negative view of business. This article is the first comprehensive and in‐depth analysis of filmmakers' attitude toward business. It shows that it is not business that filmmakers dislike but rather the control of firms by profit‐maximizing capitalists. The article argues that this dislike stems from filmmakers' resentment of capitalists' constraints on their artistic vision. Filmmakers' portrayal of business is significant because films have persuasive power that tips the political balance toward business regulation. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

影响资本主义在中国发展之因素探析

有关＂资本主义＂未能在中国得以发展问题的研究一直是学术界的热点,但至今众说纷纭,甚至有人将资本主义的帽子硬戴在古代中国的头上。应结合先前各种学术流派的观点,从自然条件、人文条件和历史条件等方面分析资本主义在中国不可能得到发展的原因。     

America's “exceptional” transition to capitalism: A counter view

This paper is a response to part two of Rob Bryer's (RB) analysis of the development of capitalism in the US, focusing on the second half of the 19th century when the nation was transformed into the world's largest industrial power. We argue that RB's view that America became a capitalist economy only post-1900 is counterintuitive given the scale of output, the rate of acceleration, and the accumulation and concentration of capital prior to that date.     

Capitalism and democracy at a crossroads: the civilizational dimension

This paper evaluates Schumpeter's grand vision as reflected in his Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, and elaborates it in conjunction with the so-called “globalization” trends characteristic of the wake of the twenty-first century. In addition to the evolutionary nature of his methodology, the institutionalist dimension of Schumpeter's definitions are brought to light. A case is made for a fundamental process of “uncreative destruction” as far as the institutional setup of the economy is concerned. The contention of this paper is that there is ample support in Schumpeterian analysis for a counterpoint to the liberal thesis that envisages the worldwide spread of individualism, market economies, and democratic forms of government.     

The functions of the family in the great society

Criticisms by Hodgson and others that Hayek and other Austrianscannot offer a theory of the family are responded to with adiscussion of the functions of the family in a market society.The family can be understood as a bridge between what Hayekterms ‘organisations’, or face-to-face social institutionsand ‘orders’, or the anonymous social institutionsof the Great Society. The family's necessary role is then linkedto familiar Hayekian themes of knowledge and incentives. Familieshelp us to learn the explicit and tacit social rules necessaryfor functioning in the wider world, and families are uniquelypositioned to do so, because it is those closest to us who havethe knowledge and incentives necessary to provide that learning.     

John Stuart Mill's Theory Of Justice

John Stuart Mill has traditionally been portrayed as self-contradictory and failing to construct a unified social theory. Recent scholarship, however, has challenged this view, finding Mill's work to be creatively synthetic in bridging the antinomies inherent in liberal democratic thought. This revisionist interpretation of Mill is advanced by an understanding of his theory of justice and its role in shaping his policy positions on issues such as welfare, education, voting rights, property rights, taxation, government intervention, and the future of capitalism.     

Theoretical foundations of sustainable economic welfare indicators — ISEW and political economy of the disembedded system

The conceptual foundations of the Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare (ISEW) are surveyed and critiqued. It is argued that the three underlying theories of community, psychic income, and social welfare economics supply certain theoretical foundations for the ISEW. The focal point of the theories is to evaluate the positives and negatives of economic growth, with the hope of achieving a practical measure of sustainable economic welfare. However, they are not as well developed as they should be: the three theories have partial, underdeveloped explanations of the benefits (services) and costs (disservices) generated in the system. The theoretical particulars of ISEW abstract from the workings of the capitalist system, because the ISEW advocates have not specified a society in the socioeconomic system which we currently have. Specifically, there is no underlying linked systems view of the disembedded economy — where the exchange economy tends to dominate other aspects of culture. Without a systematic understanding of the political economy of capitalism, the ISEW is potentially flawed in design. Therefore, there is a need to search for a critical approach to sustainable economic welfare. As a point of departure, it is better to have a political economy theory. The political economy of the disembedded system provides an alternative theoretical approach to ISEW.     

Convergences with Schumpeter: An essay Hirschman has yet to write

The paper explores the contributions of Joseph Schumpeter and Albert Hirschman to our understanding of the dynamics of modern democratic capitalist economies and suggests that much of their respective work displays intellectual overlap and complementarity. It is primarily focused upon the role of economic and political processes as forces of change and adjustment and the necessary degree of built-in inertia required to permit orderly rather than chaotic responses.