The curious destiny of a heterodoxy: The Austrian economic tradition

The Austrian School has had a curious destiny: while contributing many concepts to contemporary economic theory, it is either ignored or criticised by much of modern economic literature. This article discusses possible reasons for this institutional sidelining and the main futures of a renewal of Austrian thought.

Applying economic methodology to the war on terrorism

The application of economic methodology to the problem of terrorism is discussed. Theoretical and empirical results are discussed with particular focus on the September 11 attack and the retaliatory response by the United States. Economists have relied on the rational agent model to derive testable hypotheses regarding the behavior of terrorists. The rational agent model postulates that terrorists respond to incentives, including media publicity, and the model predicts that when the net marginal benefit from one type of terrorist activity is diminished, terrorists will substitute into alternative modes of terrorism. Empirical results demonstrating that such substitutions indeed occur are discussed. Therefore, policy designed to reduce a particular form of terrorism, such as increased airport security to prevent airplane hijackings, may simply result in terrorists choosing alternative modes of terrorism. Empirical evidence demonstrating that terrorism is cyclical in nature is also discussed. Evidence on substitution and cycles suggests that following temporary reduction in terrorist activity after retaliation against terrorists and their infrastructure, terrorists are able to successfully regroup and attack using alternative means. Therefore, the current US focus on fighting terrorism on all fronts and over the long haul is the correct approach.     

'Let your science be human': Hume's economic methodology

This essay examines David Hume's economic methodology. The authorcharacterises Hume's understanding of human actions as interactionism.Its key point is that interactions generate the disinterestedview of ‘the spectator’ in the human mind. Humeapplies this idea of the disinterested spectator to the positionof social scientists in understanding social phenomena. ThusHume's approach to social science can be regarded as interpretive.The author also points out the difference between Hume's methodin social science and historical study. Considering this difference,the author argues that we should refer to Hume's social theoryrather than historical works in order to understand his economicmethodology.     

多元、一元之间--对文明冲突论与文明对话论的道教回应

道教有过历史上成功对待多元宗教的经历,其态度是一个现代处理宗教间关系的典范。道教将真理与对真理的言述剥离开来,又将真理看作整体性的,任何的认知都有局限,从而对真理的解释历来都表现为多元性质,这样也就将自己从独断论中解脱出来了。这在当今世界多极化的情形下处理与别的文化和宗教的关系,是一个重要的思想资源。     

Kriging methodology for regional economic analysis: Estimating the housing price in Albacete

Because of the socioeconomic importance of the housing subsector in the local, regional, and national economy and its implications for housing policy, this paper attempts to analyze the spatial behavior of the free housing price in the city of Albacete. To achieve this aim, the authors have used the models and estimators imported from geology called kriging. To do this, it is necessary to know the spatial dependence structure of the process, which is shown in the variogram.     

Rhetoric vs realism in economic methodology: a critical assessment of recent contributions

This paper reviews the relatively new debate on rhetoric andrealism in economic methodology, concentrating on its main exponents:Deirdre McCloskey on the side of rhetoric, Tony Lawson as theadvocate of critical realism, and Uskali Mäki, arguingfor a combination of rhetoric and realism. The review highlightsa blind spot in the debate, namely the opportunity to rethinkcritically the project of epistemology.     

Rigor in Economics means Pluralism

Abstract

The two books under review could not be more different in terms of their main subject matter and writing style, but their central message is exactly the same: only a pluralist economics is scientifically rigorous and explanatorily honest and fruitful. Both books underpin this important point in their own ways. While Fullbrook draws on a wide range of history of thought in economics, philosophy and the sciences, his epistemological argument is relatively easy to grasp and full of catch phrases. Marchionatti and Cedrini on the other hand review the century long methodological dispute between economists and economic anthropologists. Their treatment of these debates is very detailed. So, it can be a bit of a struggle at times to follow the intricacies of the defensive arguments used by anthropologists in their battles against imperial attacks by economists. However, by providing an outline of the basic arguments at the start and a concluding summary at the end of most of their chapters the authors make these debates very comprehensive while offering a very thorough historical comparative overview of economic imperialism and the defences of its anthropological opponents. In critiquing its philosophical foundation, Fullbrook argues convincingly that the mainstream narrative in economics is ideologically biased and conceptually too narrow to investigate economic behaviour based on social bonds, inter-subjectivity and real freedom. To allow for such analysis, he concludes, we will need to move towards true pluralism of methods in economics.     

A methodology for science and technology planning based upon economic scenarios and Delphi techniques : The case of Mexican agroindustry

A methodology for S & T planning using Delphi panels, matrix analysis, and linear programming techniques is described. It is applied to Mexican agroindustry, thus defining priority areas, overall strategies, and policy instruments. The implications of this methodology for planning processes in underdeveloped countries are discussed.     

经济全球化与我国对外经贸的发展

经济全球化发展的趋势 ９０年代以来,经济全球化以不可阻挡的强大力量向世界的每一个角落和各国经济生活的各个领域延伸。随着经济全球化的不断深入,世界各国经济都被纳入到统一的世界经济体系之中,各国经济相互渗透和相互依存已成为当今时代的一个重要特征。 经济全球化作为当代世界经济发展的一个根本特征,其意义是显而易见的。由于形成了全球市场,各国可以拥有更广阔的发展空间,可以突破单个国家市场规模和资源禀赋等方面的限制,在全球范围进行资源的优化配置,从而也就能带来更高的效益。由于经济全球化是建立在信息革命的基础上…     

Heterogeneous capital, economic growth, and economic development

This paper asks how much does physical capital contribute to economic growth. It postulates that capital is heterogeneous because of embodied progress, and it structures the inquiry to account for differences in economic development. Embedded in data that cover 120 nations over 41 years are 35 derived capital stock series, whose characteristics include average ages stratified by development state. Growth accountancy proceeds by regression analysis cast in a production function context and repeated for each capital type. Those results help to establish the growth contributions of labor quantity and quality and capital quantity and quality. They also bear on neoclassical convergence.     

Trends in hours and economic growth

We study the substitutions between home and market production over long periods of time. We use the results to get predictions about long-run trends in aggregate market hours of work and about employment shifts across economic sectors, driven by uneven TFP growth in market and home production. The model can rationalize the observed falling or U-shaped pattern for aggregate market hours, the complete marketization of home production in agriculture and manufacturing, and the shift from agriculture and manufacturing to services. We find support for the model's predictions in long-run US data.     

A Case Study of Pluralism in Economics: The Heterodox Glass Ceiling in Italy

ABSTRACT

Quantitative measures of supposed scientific ‘quality’ (or ‘impact’) based on bibliometric indicators are used as the primary or exclusive tools of research evaluation in a growing number of countries. The negative impact of this method of evaluation on pluralism in economic teaching and research has been documented in Italy, France, Australia and the United Kingdom. We provide new evidence for Italy by investigating the CVs and publications of all candidates for the ‘national scientific qualification’, which is needed to access all tenured Italian academic positions. With respect to past evidence, we focus on the homologation of research topics and methods as well as the delegitimization of particular publication outlets. Our analysis has relevant implications internationally. First, research evaluation aimed at identifying ‘excellence’ often boils down to (as in the case of Italy) the adoption of rankings of supposedly top journals, which systematically discriminate against heterodox journals. Second, the legitimacy of academic research published in the form of books and book chapters must be reclaimed. Third, heterodox economists risk discrimination not so much because of their methods or policy recommendations, but because of the topics and research fields they investigate.     

Vision,Value, and Pluralism: A Comment on Analytical Political Economy

The choice of value theory reflects one’s vision of how markets function within a capitalist market economy. This choice is crucial for understanding how pluralism will play a part in prompting a paradigm shift within the discipline of economics. What is lacking in recent discussions of pluralism is how the various theories of value and distribution relate to each other. Uniting heterodox economists in this way will support the development of criteria for teaching and research, both of which facilitate a paradigm shift. A consensus would avoid the methodological issues associated with analytical political economy which advocates mathematical modeling and applications for unifying the schools of thought.

This article suggests a way to relate the theories of value and distribution, as reflective of the differences in vision of how markets function within a capitalist market economy and discusses a few of the challenges for creating a consensus.     

The Polish economic collapse: Contributing factors and economic costs

The rapid expansion of industrial output in Poland during the 1970s came to an abrupt halt during the latter part of the decade. This paper examines the factors contributing to the economic collapse and measures the economic costs in terms of foregone output. The basic results indicate that, although a decline in hard-currency imports and labor-hours worked were substantial contributing factors, most of the decline in output is accounted for by factors such as planning, managerial difficulties, or political unrest. In addition the gap between actual and potential industrial output reached more than 35%.     

Resource constraint,sustainable economic growth pattern and transformation of economic system in China

Over the past 20 years, China has made spectacular achievements in economic growth as well as in thetransformation of economic growth pattern. Industrial structure is being updated, and technology is playing a more andmore important role in economic development. The energy and resource consumption in many industries and enterprisesare reducing. However, we should realize that there are still many problems in changing the economic growth pattern,such as high input, high consumption, high discharge, inharmony, recycling difficulty, and low efficiency, which havegreatly impaired and restrict Chinese economic development. Therefore, the fundamental change of the economic growthpattern is inevitable. Based on the analysis on the status quo and the exploit of resources, this paper suggests that thetransformation from unsustainable to sustainable growth is the only choice in changing the economic growth pattern. Inaddition, the transformation should not completely rely on the fundamental effects of market mechanism. We should makefull use of the power of governments to speed up the transformation of economic system.     

经济法与政府经济管理行为之法律机制

政府对于经济的作用,在我们国家表现得尤为突出.在市场经济体制改革被正式提出之前,政府是中国经济运行的绝对的中枢,它决定着中国经济的启动、运行、刹车的全过程,直到今天,我们的经济仍然无法摆脱历史的惯性.     

Pluralism(s) in economics: lessons from complexity and innovation. A review paper

My analysis focuses on two main observations. First, many competing schools of thoughts are currently present in economics with no predominant paradigm. We are experiencing an era of pluralism (Davis J Econ Methodol 14(3):275–290, 2007, Camb J Econ 32:249–366, 2008; Colander 2000; Colander et al. J Polit Econ 16(4):485–499, 2004). The term ‘pluralism’ is extremely interesting since, as I will show, it has different dimensions to it. These offer insights into interpreting the tangled universe of the economics. Second, there is a progressive intertwining of innovation economics with complexity economics, which I argue provides an instance of the above-described shift toward pluralism.