古今之间的哲学与政治——Manha C．Nussbaum访谈录

纳斯鲍姆是当代最有影响的思想家之一。作为一名杰出的古典学家,她在访谈中就古希腊悲剧和哲学中的多元主义、哲学与民主的关系提出了自己的积极评判,并对施特劳斯学派表达了哲学上的不满;作为在情感研究方面颇富造诣的哲学家,她对理性与情感的二分以及我们如何反思启蒙提出了自己的独特见解;作为可行能力思路中的代表性政治哲学家,她批评罗尔斯所承续和推进的契约论传统,并阐述了可行能力思路视野中的社会正义理想;作为极富声名的公共知识分子,她就战争、博雅教育等问题表达了自己的鲜明主张。     

Joan Robinson on Marx

This paper examines Joan Robinson's writings on Marx in order, first, to elucidate the nature of her interpretation of Marx, and, secondly, to consider the significance of Marx for her own research agenda. By focusing on the topics of value theory, effective demand and accumulation, the paper argues that Robinson's numerous criticisms of Marx are best viewed as being constructive, rather than destructive. She not only drew upon Marx for inspiration, but also endeavoured to pull Marx back into a position of prominence within economics so that his contributions can be put to use by those seeking to augment our understanding of capitalism.     

LEARNING, EXTERNALITIES, AND THE SALE OF INVENTIONS TO FIRMS WITH CORRELATED VALUATIONS

I examine how an inventor's ability to learn affects the bargaining outcome when she attempts to sell a discovery to one of two oligopolistically competitive firms with correlated and private valuations. It is shown that learning gives the inventor an incentive to lower her proposed price to the first firm approached since being rejected would cause her to be pessimistic when dealing with the second firm. At the same time, however, the inventor would like to raise her proposed price since this pessimism is weaker if she is rejected upon making a high proposal. Another incentive to raise the proposal comes from the fact that learning increases the first firm's willingness to pay for the invention. Computational results suggest that the first effect dominates and thus the inventor lowers her proposal in the first round. When dealing with the second firm, it is shown that learning results in a lower equilibrium proposal and contracting with more types. Moreover, it is shown that the cost of lowering the proposed price outweighs the benefit of contracting with more types so that learning in general reduces the continuation value associated with contracting in the second round.     

Joan Robinson's disillusion with economics

In her last public comments on the state of economics, Joan Robinson made some extraordinary remarks that conveyed profound pessimism and theoretical nihilism. To account for the bleakness of Robinson's later views on economics and economic policy this article examines her last decade. These years were marked by an array of reverses to the causes she espoused. While ill health and a propensity to be provocative coloured her disposition, her comment about economic theory disintegrating in her hands was not made casually; it was, rather, an acknowledgement that her project to integrate Keynes with the classical surplus theory had failed. This acknowledgement crystallised into her rejection of the long-period equilibrium interpretation of Keynes's theory of unemployment. At the end of her life Robinson was willing only to embrace the more traditional short-period Keynesian model grounded in uncertainty and expectations.     

Marx and Ricardo on machinery: a critical note

This article critically discusses the important and relevant—not to mention controversial— views of Ricardo and Marx on the impact of machinery on labor productivity, the organization of production and the wages and employment prospects of the working class during the capitalism of their day. First, the article turns to Ricardo’s assessment of the introduction of machinery and its likely effects on the laborer and the rate of profit and accumulation—one which went through a substantial revision (and reversal) between the first and third editions of his Principles of Political Economy and Taxation. Then, we discuss Marx’s own critical analysis of the historical development of machinery and its impact on the labor process, the so-called “compensation principle,” and how the rising organic composition of capital ostensibly generates a “redundant or surplus-population” during the course of capitalist development. We highlight Marx’s intellectual debt to Ricardo, John Barton (and George Ramsay) insofar as his theory of technological unemployment is concerned. Lastly, the article summarizes the views of Ricardo and Marx and offers some concluding remarks.     

Technical progress in Joan Robinson's view: an attempt at systematisation and formalisation

This paper deals with Joan Robinson's contributions to the issue of technical progress and her attempts at treating this subject in accordance with the Keynesian theory of employment and income distribution, mainly in the long run. The paper aims to review this aspect of her work and to establish a systematisation and a formalisation of her approach. At the same time, the paper exposes the problems she faced—but did not always solve. Looking through her main contributions, the paper concludes that she used different criteria for the classification of innovations and that they depended on the specific situations described by the models in which she used the classification.     

Messy conversations and the willingness to be disturbed

We all long for a sense of community in our professional lives where we can bring our spirit, passion, and whole selves to work. When we work in environments of tribal warfare and clans carrying out subversive activities, we will choose to leave our souls at home to protect them from the toxicity of the work environment. For anyone who has been cared for by nurses who have left their soul at home, you have experienced the outcome of negative environments that cannot have effective conversations. Recently a nurse told about her experience of realizing one day that she had the right to be happy at work so that she could more effectively take care of her 5-year-old daughter when she returned home. When she saw this as a right, she made a decision to leave her organization and look for a place that valued conversations and harmony rather than aggression and lack of trust. The only way to improve the world is through relationships, and conversations are the prelude to creating that change. Having the courage to reach out and start the dialogue knowing full well that it might be very messy is the only way to end the fragmentation and loss of community we experience in our organizations. Wheatley (2002) describes the experience of "...sacred as a feeling that I belong here" (p. 133). In the process of conversations, we can explore and appreciate our differences but also feel more connected and one with each other as a result of having the courage to converse. When we see each other as equals, we also free ourselves to open up to new learning and relationships which can lead to excellence in clinical outcomes. It's all about the courage of conversations.$     

Demonstrating group selection: A comment on Janet Landa’s ‘The bioeconomics of homogenous middleman groups as adaptive units’

Janet Landa provides an impressive historical tour of the development of her theory of homogeneous middlemen groups (HMGs), and how she arrived at the group selection approach. Despite her claim that the case studies she presents provide evidence for group selection in human societies, we argue that such a conclusion is premature. We suggest that an evolutionary explanation of HGMs will be strengthened by greater attention to the details of the selective process.     

《资本论》与马克思的科学财富观

如果不是拘泥于传统的固定思维,而是以科学的思想方法认识马克思的《资本论》,那么,我们也可以说《资本论》还是一部关于社会财富观的科学论著。综观该书各卷及其他一系列经典文献,我们可以看到,马克思对于社会财富的考察是多方面的,具有很宽的视域和极丰富的内容。具体来说,主要包括物质财富、精神财富、自由活动时间以及人本身(即人的知识、智慧、经验与才能)等诸种形式及其相关内容,构成了他关于社会财富的一个完整的科学体系。在现时期我们研究马克思的科学财富观会给我们以新的启示,因而具有非常重要的现实意义。     

Marx's critique of “eternal” political economy: how Mill is alien to Marx's attacks

Marx deplored political economy's claims to establish “eternal” – or “natural” – laws. This paper seeks to defend John Stuart Mill from his critique. It argues that, contrary to what Marx alleged, these two economists have a great deal more in common on this topic than is frequently realised. Both on the theoretical level and on the political one, Mill's views about the relativity of capitalism seem very close to Marx's. This paper also suggests that Marx may have ignored Mill's insistence on the relativity of economic theories because it may have challenged his own “scientific socialism”.     

Pricing, learning, and strategic behavior in a single-sale model

Summary. We analyze an infinite horizon model where a seller who owns an indivisible unit of a good for sale has incomplete information about the state of the world that determines not only the demand she faces but also her own valuation for the good. Over time, she randomly meets potential buyers who may have incentives to manipulate her learning process strategically. We show that i) the seller's incentives to post a high price and to experiment are not necessarily monotonic in the information conveyed by a buyer's rejection; and ii) as the discount factors tend to one, there are equilibria where the seller always ends up selling the good at an ex-post individually rational price. Received: January 6, 1999; revised version: July 15, 2000     

The new views on demographic transition: a reassessment of Malthus's and Marx's approach to population

The purpose of this paper is to examine the divergence of views of Marx and Malthus regarding the family and the labour market. The paper analyses the divergences between them, as well as their common features. The main divergence is the way in which the two see the interaction between man and nature. We show that their divergence of views, and the specific difference in perception of the two thinkers regarding the place of children in the family over time, is related to the alternate ways of modelling demographic transition today. We analyse the debate between these two lines of reasoning by means of a formal model that differentiate between the two views.     

马克思价值形成理论的新探索

马克思价值形成理论的缺陷是活劳动范畴的非历史性。马克思完成从本质上认识活劳动如何形成价值时,活劳动范畴达到了思维的抽象便停止了,没有把活劳动从抽象再上升到具体,这就造成了马克思价值形成理论缺乏能够与现实的具体相对应的关于活劳动的思维的具体,解释停留在本质上而对现实缺乏解释力。创立马克思价值形成理论的第四个原理,即劳动价值形成方式原理,将活劳动从抽象上升到具体,揭示活劳动的历史性,用以从形式上说明活劳动如何形成价值。     

MARX@200

ABSTRACT

The article begins by outlining the philosophic anthropology that Marx derived from his reading of Hegel. We continue by arguing that this formed the basis of his materialist conception of history and his analysis of the political economy of the capitalist mode of production, with particular reference being made to Marx’s theory of value and his account of the economic contradictions of the capitalist system. We then discuss his views on the nature of post-capitalist society, concluding with a critical but broadly positive account of the relevance of his ideas to modern capitalism. Marx, we suggest, should not be regarded as a purely 19th-century thinker, as some recent biographers have maintained.     

On re-reading Joan Robinson's ‘On re-reading Marx’

This paper offers some reflections inspired by a re-reading of Joan Robinson's On Re-reading Marx on the 50th anniversary of its initial publication. Robinson wrote the pamphlet in the light of Sraffa's Introduction to Ricardo's Works and Correspondence, which suggested to her that the concept of the rate of profit was essentially the same in Ricardo, Marx, Marshall and Keynes. In addition to the connections among Ricardo, Marx, Marshall and Keynes, Robinson also addresses the issues of equilibrium and time, and the dogmatism of Marxism.     

SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION IN AGENCY CONTRACTS*

We study how a principal uses her subjective evaluation of the agent's performance in an incentive contract. It is shown that the subjective evaluation can be used either 1) when there is no other information about the agent's performance and the principal is able to discard money, or 2) when the principal chooses between wage payment based on subjective evaluation by foregoing objective evaluation, and the one based only on the objective evaluation and when the subjective evaluation is sufficiently accurate. The principal pays a high fixed wage when her rating at the subjective evaluation is above a certain level. On the other hand, when it is below that level, she either pays a low fixed wage or obtains objective evaluation and pays based on its outcome.     

Revealed preferences and aspirations in warm glow theory

In warm glow models, an agent may prefer one alternative but aspire to choose another. The agent chooses her aspiration if she gets a sufficiently large warm glow payoff for acting as she aspires. This basic framework is widely used in models of turnout in elections and contributions to public goods, but is often criticized for being ad hoc. In this paper, we provide choice-theoretic foundations for warm glow theory. We characterize the empirical content of warm glow theory, show how to infer the core elements of the model from data and show that it is possible to predict behavior even when preferences and aspirations are not revealed. Our results provide support for assumptions often made in the literature and suggest new applications for warm glow models.     

Exponential discounting bias

We address intertemporal utility maximization under a general discount function that nests the exponential discounting and the quasi-hyperbolic discounting cases as particular specifications. Under the suggested framework, the representative agent adopts, at some initial date, an optimal behavior that shapes her consumption trajectory over time. This agent desires to take a constant discount rate to approach the optimization problem, but bounded rationality, under the form of a present bias, deviates the individual from the intended goal. As a result, decreasing impatience will end up dominating the agent’s behavior. The individual will not be aware of her own time inconsistency and, therefore, she will not revise her plans as time elapses, what makes the problem relatively simple to address from a computational point of view. The general discounting framework is used to approach a standard optimal growth model in discrete time. Transitional dynamics and stability properties of the corresponding dynamic setup are studied. An extension of the standard utility maximization model to the case of habit persistence is also considered.     

正确理解马克思的劳动二重性理论

马克思把《资本论》建立在唯物史观的基础上，发现了生产商品的劳动分裂为二重性，生产产品的劳动不分裂为二重性；马克思把具体劳动和抽象劳动区分开；马克思揭明生产商品的劳动不是在交换过程中而是在生产过程中分裂为二重性；马克思所发现的劳动二重性是物质商品生产的劳动二重性，非物质生产的劳动被排除在外。