Economic Democracy: Solution or New Challenge ∗

Abstract Kaleckians and partisans of the capital monopoly approach have argued that additional outlays on unproductive labor increase economic activity under three conditions: investment is sensitive to realized rates of capacity utilization; savings out of wages and salaries are assumed away; prices are fixed by a markup over unit direct costs. The present model examines what happens when the last hypothesis is modified, i.e., when megacorps are assumed to fix prices on the basis of total unit costs, more specifically on the basis of target-return pricing procedures. Because higher costs are shifted on to productive labor, through higher prices and a reduction in their real wages, additional unproductive outlays may have a negative impact on economic activity. It turns out, in addition, that one must carefully distinguish between unproductive labor outlays and unproductive capital outlays when firms are assumed to shift these additional costs to consumers, on the basis of target-return pricing procedures.     

Globalization, Democracy, and Citizens' Sovereignty: Can Competition Among Governments Enhance Democracy? 1

This paper examines the claim that the forces of globalization and of the ensuing competition among jurisdictions subvert the ability of democratic governments to act in the interest of their citizens. Against this claim it is argued that competition among jurisdictions can, on the contrary, enhance the capacity of democratic governments to serve the common interests of their constituents by limiting the scope for rent-seeking and by functioning as a discovery process.     

Democracy and climate change policies: Is history important?

This paper argues that it is countries' historical experience with democracy, the democratic capital stock, rather than current levels of democracy that determines current climate change policies. Empirical evidence using data starting as far back as year 1800 for 87 countries, which together are responsible for 93.7% of global carbon emissions, suggests that the democratic capital stock has an important and robust effect on climate change policies. A history of executive constraints is particularly important. The current level of democracy does not play a role once democratic capital has been accounted for.     

Firm Organization,Technology And Performance: An Empirical Study ∗

The purpose of the study is to characterize different styles of work organization in French firms and their current changes and to link them to the use of specific technologies and to firms performance. The data which are used arc of two kinds: a labor force survey (1 470 blue collar) and a business survey (7 089 firms). We show that two main variables create differences among firms' organization devices: the intensity of communication within the workshop and the level of autonomy of workers (facing technological and hierarchical constraints). The use of advanced technologies and the skill of the labor force are positively linked to both organizational variables. Therefore. ‘Communicating organization’ and organizational innovation seem to aim at creating conditions for individual and collective learning on new technologies. They also enhance the ability of the firm to adapt to changing market conditions through technological innovation and inventory reduction, These views are supported by econometric estimation.     

Capitalism,Territory and “Marxist Geopolitics”

This response traces the importance of ideas and politics versus economic determinism in developing a critical approach to geopolitics particularly in questioning the necessary relationship between territory and capitalism. From this perspective, and contra to “Marxist geopolitics,” spatial-political form does not follow from economic function. To argue so leads to an intellectual and political dead end.     

Toward ‘Wisely Managed’ Capitalism: Post-Keynesian Institutionalism and the Creative State

Post-Keynesian Institutionalism (PKI), a synthesis of post Keynesian and institutional economics, emerged in the USA as a strand of evolutionary economics in the early 1980s and has attracted increasing attention in recent years. This article examines milestones in the development of PKI, devoting particular attention to the tradition’s conception of the role of the state. The first section identifies antecedents to PKI in the writings of John R. Commons and John Maynard Keynes. The second describes how PKI emerged against the backdrop of increasing dissatisfaction with neoclassical Keynesianism in the era of stagflation. The third summarizes the subsequent contributions of Hyman P. Minsky, whose work was a model of PKI in the 1980s and 1990s. The final two sections outline PKI’s contemporary characteristics and identify elements of an agenda for future research. PKI has always been about achieving a more humane form of capitalism, which requires the state to play a creative role in shaping economic life.

Slonimsky's view on Antoine-Augustin Cournot∗

Abstract

In 1878 the Russian Liudvig Zinov'sevich Slonimsky published a lengthy article on the mathematization of economics. To defend the legacy of applying mathematics in the study of economics, he made ample uses of both von Thünen and Cournot's works. The article published in Russian and in the Russian Vestnik Evropy (Journal of Europe) has passed virtually ignored by economists. This notes gives a complete account of Slonimsky's references to Cournot's work.     

Intersubjective probability and economics ∗

The aim of this article is to analyse the role of probability and uncertainty in economics. A distinction is made between interpretations of probability in which probability is regarded as objectivei.e., a property of the external world, and those in which probability is regarded as epistemologicali.e., as a measure of belief, or rational belief, or knowledge. A new epistemological interpretation, the intersubjective is introduced and then applied to three examples from economics. Two of these are micro - namely pricing under conditions of oligopoly, and collective wage bargaining. The third is macro - namely the question of levels of investment in the light of long-term expectation. To analyse these examples, the article introduces the concept of strategically relevant uncertaintyThe article concludes by arguing in general terms that the objective interpretation of probability is appropriate for the natural sciences, while the epistemological one is appropriate for economics.     

Inflation pressure and price intervention: an ominous combination∗

Of the debate regarding the new round of surging inflation in China, structural opinion interprets inflation as a problem of structural price growth, mainly brought about by a price hike for selected commodities as a result of exogenous shocks from different sectors. In line with the explanation, various measures aiming to control prices have been implemented recently. On the basis of basic economic principles and empirical evidence drawn from four cases, this essay argues that price intervention policies are counter-productive in bringing inflation down.     

Frank Knight and pragmatism∗

Abstract

One of many controversies surrounding the work of Frank Knight involves the question of whether, or to what degree, his ideas were consistent with those of American pragmatism. Substantive textual evidence can be found to support almost any simple answer to the question. This paper argues that while Knight was quite (often aggressively) opposed to a particular set of pragmatic ideas alive in the scholarly and social debates of his day, this fact says more about Knight's historical context than it does about the broader relationship between his philosophical position and pragmatism. Knight was opposed to the social control pragmatism of his day, but at the same time his general philosophical position has much in common with the features of the pragmatic tradition that are most emphasized in the recent philosophical literature.     

Sex on the brain: some comments on ‘love, war and cultures: An institutional approach to human evolution’

Ugo Pagano provides a stimulating account of the grand sweep of human existence on this planet, relying on a few carefully-chosen analytic tools, including the role of sexual selection, brain size, public versus positional goods, and complementarities. But in his telegraphic narrative the compressed language is sometimes misleading or functionalist. Some of the details and current controversies get lost. This comment identifies some of the problems and urges that we should look more closely at the detailed mechanisms involved.     

An Empirical Study on the Relationship between Diversification and Corporate Performance

Based on the earlier work, this paper re-examines the relationship between diversification and corporate performance and finds a statistically significant U-shape relationship in the Chinese market. The result is tested and confirmed for robustness by controlling for the firm size, age and indusu＇y effects. The findings do not support the notion that diversification is a return-reducing strategy and the understanding in the western economic and financial literature about diversification performance may not be automatically applicable to the case of China.     

An Analysis on China＇s Trade Structure and Carbon Emissions

通过投入产出SKYLINE分析法,探讨了中国进出口贸易在国际分工中的二氧化碳排放问题,研究结果显示2007年中国贸易结构在国际分工中具有污染逆差特征。分行业看,净出口二氧化碳排放比例排在前八位的产业部门分别是纺织业、纺织服装鞋帽皮革羽绒及其制品业、木材加工及家具制造业、通信设备计算机及其他电子设备制造业、金属制品业、工艺品及其他制造业、造纸印刷及文教体育用品制造业、电气机械及器材制造业。     

Financial repression and economic development: towards a post-Keynesian alternative ∗

The Shaw–McKinnon framework, the foundation of mainstream thinking on the role of financial markets and institutions in economic development and the basis for policy-making in many LDCs for the last 18 years, is shown to be flawed when viewed in a post-Keynesian perspective. Three interrelated aspects of post-Keynesian theory are used to challenge the financial liberalization models and to posit an alternative post-Keynesian perspective on the role of financial institutions and markets in economic development. These aspects are: (1) the finance-investment-saving-funding circuit; (2) the financial fragility hypothesis; and (3) the evolution of institutions and conventions in an uncertain world.