Changing knowledge in the early economic thought of Michael Polanyi

How did Polanyi, a middleman between Keynes and Hayek, see economics education as a way to save the challenged liberal economic system of the 1930s? The first part of the article explores how experts and non-experts were engaged in making and disseminating economic knowledge, what role perception had in these engagements, and how such practices contributed to a kind of mental division of labor in the early economic thought of Michael Polanyi. The second part reconstructs Polanyi’s endeavors to show how the visual presentation of social matters could foster these engagement practices and the construction of economic knowledge. The third part points out that top-down and bottom-up approaches were both present in Polanyi’s economic thought and explains why the latter is evolutionary in a sense that it is based on changing knowledge in cognitive, behavioral, social and technical domains. The fourth part discusses how public understanding of economic ideas connected interactional expertise and boundary work in Polanyi’s account, and how he was engaged in developing both as part of his social agenda. The article concludes by showing how Polanyi positioned his growth theory and social agenda to save liberal economic thought and our civilization.     

On Impatience, Economic Growth and the Environmental Kuznets Curve: A Dynamic Analysis of Resource Management

The paper presents a dynamic analysis of natural resource management and investigates some key factors that affect optimal management and resource conservation.Using a recursive specification of time preferences, we show how endogenous discounting and impatience can affect the motivation for both capital investments and environmental preservation. We examine the relationships between economic growth and environmental quality. Endogenous discounting provides new insights in the economic dynamics underlying the environmental Kuznets curve. By treating growth as endogenous, we examine how externalities and economic growth interact with each other. We investigate how economic development can contribute to an increased demand for environmental preservation. As an important new result, we also show how poverty can contribute to environmental degradation.     

Economic emergence: An evolutionary economic perspective

The standard neoclassical approach to economic theorising excludes, by definition, economic emergence and the related phenomenon of entrepreneurship. We explore how the most economic of human behaviours, entrepreneurship, came to be largely excluded from mainstream economic theory. In contrast, we report that evolutionary economists have acknowledged the importance of understanding emergence and we explore the advances that have been made in this regard. We go on to argue that evolutionary economics can make further progress by taking a more ‘naturalistic’ approach to economic evolution. This requires that economic analysis be fully embedded in complex economic system theory and that associated understandings as to how humans react to states of uncertainty be explicitly dealt with. We argue that ‘knowledge,’ because of the existence of uncertainty is, to a large degree ‘conjectural’ and, thus, is closely linked to our emotional states. Our economic behaviour is also influenced by the reality that we, and the systems that we create, are dissipative structures. Thus, we introduce the notions of ‘energy gradients’ and ‘knowledge gradients’ as essential concepts in understanding economic emergence and resultant economic growth.     

Empirical validation of Metcalfe’s law: How Internet usage patterns have changed over time

Few doubt that Digital Information Networks (DINs) such as the Internet constitute the basis of a new technology-driven economic era. A large body of literature tries to understand and quantify the value of DINs to help policy makers justify investments in new or improved infrastructures. The prevailing methodological approach is to depict DINs as an observable production input changing the uncertainty regarding the performance of an economic system. In such context, the value of DINs is typically measured with regression techniques between the penetration rate of DINs and economic growth. This approach provides too little insight on the actual causality between DINs and economic value. We recently developed a framework that identified 13 different ways (“capabilities”) how users convert information into economic value. In this article, we show how a simple quadratic relation (Metcalfe’s law) can be used to quantify how adequate these capabilities are in converting the ability to access information into economic value. To our knowledge, this is the first time that Metcalfe’s law is empirically validated as such.     

Prior Commitment and Uncertainty in Complex Economic Systems: Reinstating History in the Core of Economic Analysis

Conventional ‘neoclassical’ economics is very useful in understanding how prices are determined but less so as a general basis for understanding the economic behaviour we observe. What is not taken into account is that economic systems are dissipative structures that are complex, but incompletely connected, networks of rules. It is explained why a degree of prior commitment in decision‐making is inevitable in complex economic systems and the implications of this are examined. It is argued that economic analysis must begin with the reality that choices are made in relation to pre‐existing commitments, both with regard to economic structures built in the past and to prevailing systems of belief, when deciding what to do in a future characterised by uncertainty. It is explained how conventional economic incentives can be dealt with in such a complex historical context building upon the neoclassical perspective of Alfred Marshall over a century ago. It is argued that econometric modelling remains viable and useful in understanding behaviour in complex economic systems. It is shown how we can design and interpret time series econometric modelling from a complex systems perspective.     

新结构经济学为经济发展开出正确药方了吗？——一个主体分析和过程视角的考察

经济持续发展历来是各个国家追求的主要目标之一,其中围绕政府干预以及如何消除这一外生变量成为经济增长和发展理论的焦点。认为不应再执著于政府是否应当发挥作用,而应沿着另一个方向,即政府在经济发展过程发挥何种作用,以及如何发挥作用进行探索。新结构经济学即是在此思路下,从比较优势和产业结构变迁的微观角度提供了一种经济动态发展的分析框架,并为政府干预制订了增长甄别和因势利导的可操作性步骤。但从主体分析和过程视角出发,新结构经济学仍然面临将政府变量内生化的困境。     

Vested Interests and the Common People in Developing Countries: Understanding Oppressive Societies and Their Effects

The standard economic model of how economies work is that activities are essentially productive. This is not a correct view of reality. The principal difficulty is that there is economic activity that is unproductive and harmful (from the point of view of those being harmed). This is a central feature of the economic organization of these societies, and creates poverty. The first section of the article discusses the concept of harm. The second section describes how societies are run on this basic set of principles: Take and maintain control of the government and other aspects of society, and use the power of government to obtain income. The third section of the article describes how this system harms the common people. Topics include corruption, misappropriation of natural resources, conflict and other harm engendered by the struggle for control, the influence on present society of the past operation of harmful economic systems, and discrimination as well as other “barriers to entry.”     

企业环境行为的经济分析

企业既是环境污染的主要制造者.也是环境保护的主战场.如何激励企业采取合理的环境行为来认知和承担自身造成的"负外部性",协调经济发展与环境保护之间的关系.是当前社会关注的焦点.本文对企业面对来自政府、公众、市场等方面的压力时采取的环境行为进行了经济学分析,识别影响企业改善环境行为的关键因素,为政府制订有效的环境政策提供决策支持.     

国防支出与经济增长关系的战略选择——一个数理模型的分析与模拟

国防支出与经济增长之间的关系到底如何、怎样安排国防支出才能有利于国防和经济建设,这是国防经济学必须回答的基本问题。文章在一系列假设前提下,构建了一个简单的数学模型,描述了经济总量制约国防支出、国防支出又反作用于经济增长的内在机理,并通过数字模拟比较了三种国防支出战略对于经济增长和国防资本积累的不同影响,对现实中的很多问题给予了解释,得出了一些有意义的结论。     

Inverting the Classroom: A Gateway to Creating an Inclusive Learning Environment

Asserting that “elementary teachers are going to become increasingly involved with economic concepts, and that economic education at the elementary level is at an important developmental state,” Professor Ramsett explains how economics can be included in the elementary school curriculum without taking other subject matter out, and suggests approaches to the training of elementary teachers. He describes some innovative techniques being used at North Dakota's New School of Behavioral Studies, illustrates methods for motivating pupils, shows how economic concepts can be related to other subjects (such as arithmetic), and calls for cooperation between educators and liberal arts faculties in preparing the elementary teacher.     

经济学运用数学的条件

经济学与数学的结合,既给经济学研究带来了巨大的变化与发展,也制造了经济学研究当中的一些误区和陷阱。所以,如何正确地看待经济学研究当中数学的功效,如何正确地运用数学来工具解决经济学问题,就成为当务之急。笔者从经济学运用数学的基本思路入手,抓住经济学运用数学的两个条件,重点分析了经济学与数学在语言上和逻辑上应该满足什么样的条件才能使运用得以实现。我们的分析结果是:经济学与数学在语言上可以自由转换、在逻辑上保持强弱一致,是经济学运用数学的两个必要条件。     

Behavioral Objectives and Student Learning Contracts in the Teaching of Economics

The authors present a series of writing assignments that teaches students how to evaluate and critique the written economic work of others. The foundation text is McCloskey's (2000) Economical Writing. The students' dialogues with McCloskey, with each other, and with the authors of the pieces they evaluate sharpen their understanding of, and ability to use, language as an instrument of economic thought. Interviews with former students identify specific benefits from the student perspective of this approach. The authors show how the assignment series can be modified in several ways and how the general approach, as well as the foundation text, can be used in different economics courses.     

地方经济发展与企业资本结构选择——来自我国上市公司的经验证据

本文选择1994～2004我国上市公司数据为研究样本,检验地方经济发展以及地方经济发展因素与公司内因素的交互作用如何影响企业资本结构。本文发现,人均居民消费水平越高,企业资产负债率越高;人均GDP较高的地区,人均居民消费水平对资产负债率影响较小,企业资产负债率较高;企业非债务税盾越大,人均GDP对其资产负债率影响越小;城乡储蓄年度余额越高的地区,企业资产负债率越高;随着地区人均GDP的提高,城乡储蓄对企业资产负债率的影响减小;资本形成总额越高、企业资产负债率越高。     

Insurance and Giffen's paradox

The letter gives a brief account of how insurance appears as an inferior good in standard economic analysis. It is argued that this result is due to unrealistic assumptions about how insurance premiums are calculated.     

广州港经济发展及其与城市经济的互动关系研究

以广州港为例,适当选取了一定的城市经济指标和港口经济指标,在系统分析广州港经济发展的基础上,借助相关分析与回归分析等定量分析方法,从广州港对广州城市经济的影响和广州城市经济对广州港发展的反馈两个方面,对广州港与广州城市经济发展的互动关系进行了系统的研究,旨在为广州的发展和建设提供一定的理论借鉴和依据。     

经济全球化,知识化对全球可持续发展的影响

２１世纪将是知识经济占主导地位的世纪,创造知识和应用知识的能力与效率将成为影响一个国家综合国力和国际竞争力的决定性因素。同时,２１世纪将是信息、知识和文化的时代,经济全球化、社会全球化的进程将明显加快,人类的未来和可持续发展的实现也将更加依赖于全球社会经济文化的融合及其发展。本文首先探讨了经济全球化的背景,进而分析了知识经济的特征。在此基础上探讨了经济全球化、知识化对全球可持续发展的影响。     

DOES THE KYOTO PROTOCOL COST TOO MUCH AND CREATE UNBREAKABLE BARRIERS FOR ECONOMIC GROWTH?

We look to the literature on short-term cost models, long-term models based on endogenous growth, and long-term models that assume induced technical change, in order to demonstrate the current understanding of costs, which is the focus of the debate on abating climate change. Using these insights as well as other results—like the role of ancillary benefits and the lack of a relationship between decarbonization and economic growth—our contribution to this debate will be to help policy makers understand how economic analyses are conducted and how they should be used in the subsequent political discussions. (JEL Q52, Q54, Q58 )     

Theological visions in economics and religion

Professional economists and religious thinkers have generally not communicated effectively over the past two centuries, largely because the two groups tend to think about social systems from the perspective of incompatible “theological visions.” A theological vision is an encompassing set of presuppositions about how the social world functions and (implicitly) how it ought to function. The dominant theological vision among economists asserts that economic systems, while the product of purposive actions by individuals, are not the product of any design. Religious thinkers reflecting on economic systems tend to assume, by contrast, that whatever results from economic interactions has been willed by some individuals or groups. The modal economist assigns the economic system a kind of autonomy, which the religious thinker will be inclined to regard as almost idolatrous. Dialogue capable of bridging this gap will require the kind of close attention to other people's arguments that is rare outside of very small discussion groups.     

Understanding the role of economic transition in enlarging energy price elasticity

Evidence of energy price elasticity would allow for a better understanding of economic, distributional and environmental consequences of varying energy prices. We document the previously unnoticed causal relationship between energy price elasticity and economic transition by modelling energy price elasticity as endogenous to the economic system. The central message is that economic transition promotes incentives and flexibility of micro‐units to sufficiently use price signals. Three potential mechanisms are proposed and tested for economic transition affecting the energy price elasticity. The findings provide implications for energy price policies because it reveals how energy consumers respond to energy price changes alongside economic transition.