Culture and Economics: On Values,Economics and International Business

In his Idea of Justice, Amartya Sen compares the two basic approaches to evaluating institutions, transcendental institutionalism and realization-focused comparisons. Referring to Adam Smith's Impartial Spectator, he argues in favor of the latter and proposes the principle of open impartiality. However, this cannot solve the tension between universalism and contextualization of values that Sen has inherited from Smith. Based on recent Hegel scholarship, we argue that some of the difficulties can be resolved, considering the role Smith played in the development of Hegel's thinking. Hegel's concept of recognition plays an essential role in establishing the possibility of impartiality both on the level of consciousness and on the level of institutional intersubjectivity. Hegel's critique of Kant's formalist ethics (also considered as transcendental institutionalism by Sen) and his analysis of the civil society in the Philosophy of Right, especially his focus on associations and Estates, can serve as a model for making Sen's focus on public discourse theoretically more concise and pragmatically feasible. Hegel shows that universalistic attitudes can only emerge in specific institutional contexts.     

Hayek,Mach, and the re-ordering of mind

This paper argues that Friedrich A. v. Hayek's theory of mind and the relation between mental and physical events, most systematically presented in his 1952 book, The Sensory Order, is indebted to Ernst Mach's theory, and, in particular, to his Analysis of Sensations, above and beyond what Hayek himself along with multiple admirers of his work ever cared to admit. By highlighting a number of important similarities between Mach's and Hayek's theories of the psychical/phenomenal and physical world/order, the paper aims to show that key aspects of Hayek's theory of mind can be traced to Mach's theoretical foundations. The paper further argues that some of the criticisms Hayek levels against Mach concern nonessential points, arise from the uncritical acceptance of common misinterpretations of Mach's theory, or are plainly wrong.     

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.     

Eriksson on Critical Realism: a rejoinder

Abstract

In this response to Andrew Mearman I argue that his critique suffers from a series of misrepresentations of my paper. For example, Mearman generalizes my arguments about Keynes to be about Critical Realism (CR), and he challenges my criticism of Tony Lawson's arguments by claiming that I have misrepresented CR. In fact the text of my 1998 paper does not support Mearman's claims. Furthermore, since (i) the principal aim of my paper was to question the interpretation of Keynes as a realist, and (ii) Mearman does not present any arguments suggesting how CR in its current form would refute my conclusions, his criticism must be judged doubly misdirected.     

Needed: A more rich,textured and nuanced view of the role of geography in international politics

The following comments divide into three sections. The first section questions Professor Spiegel's use of the traditional space vs. cyberspace dichotomy and the high‐technology/nationalistic/transitional states trichotomy as conceptual devices well‐suited ‘to illustrate the complexity of the new era’ (115). Contra Spiegel, I argue that the dynamic and multi‐faceted complexity characteristic of contemporary world affairs can not be readily captured by such crude analytical tools. The second section refers to what is omitted or missing in the Spiegel's article. Here, I question whether best‐known authors (such as Thomas Friedman, Robert Kaplan and Samuel Huntington) are also those best‐suited to assess the current state of IR geographical knowledge. I answer in the negative and call attention to the work of some lesser‐known scholars whose works reflect the beginning of serious reflection on the changing role of geography in international politics. Finally, I conclude by reiterating the need for sustained dialogues and collaborations between the spatial and the political disciplines.     

Polanyi and Post-neoliberalism in the Global South: Dilemmas of Re-embedding the Economy

Although Karl Polanyi Studied a different epoch and focused on Europe, his ideas have inspired an outpouring of studies on contemporary problems and prospects in the neoliberal era. The bulk of these studies pertain to industrial countries or global economic issues. However, the human, environmental and financial impact of market deregulation is arguably more devastating in the ‘developing’ countries than in the core. A question thus arises: do Polanyi's reflections on progressive alternatives to liberalism clarify contemporary debates on development alternatives in the Global South? I contend that democratic socialism – Polanyi's preferred remedy to the ‘demolition’ of society and nature occasioned by market civilisation – is problematical in light of what we have learned from the twentieth century, but his framework for evaluating alternatives – featuring the re-embedding of economy in society – remains as powerful as ever, I support this argument with an exploration of socialism and social democracy – as well as community – based alternatives arising from ‘reciprocity’. Each possibility raises distinctive dilemmas, as an analysis of cases reveals.     

Preference Evolution,Two-Speed Dynamics,and Rapid Social Change

We present a dynamic analysis of the evolution of preferences in a strategic environment. In our model, each player's behavior depends on both the game's payoffs and his idiosyncratic biases, but only the game's payoffs determine his evolutionary success. Dynamics run at two speeds at once; while natural selection slowly reshapes the distribution of preferences, players quickly learn to behave as their preferences dictate. We establish the existence and uniqueness of the paired trajectories of society's preferences and behavior. While aggregate behavior adjusts smoothly in equilibration games, in coordination games aggregate behavior can jump discretely in an instant of evolutionary time. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: C72, C73.     

Contrived desires,affluence, and welfare: J.K. Galbraith's Pigovian redistribution argument reconsidered

I argue that John Kenneth Galbraith's theory of the “dependence effect” in The Affluent Society provides a way to rescue A.C. Pigou's argument for wealth redistribution from a powerful objection. The objection is based on the unprovability of statements making interpersonal comparisons of utility. Galbraith's dependence effect theory allows him to present a version of the Pigovian argument that requires no such statements to be made. I argue that Galbraith's main piece of advocacy in The Affluent Society was for income redistribution, despite the fact that he claimed to be in favour of greater spending in the public sector rather than redistribution as such. I then show how my reading of the dependence effect theory helps to defend it against objections from Hayek and Rothbard. I end by discussing what improvements in economics a proper test of the theory would require and showing how my reading of it helps to reveal the ongoing importance of The Affluent Society to the understanding of political economy.     

Measurement,incentives and constraintsin Stigler's economics of science *

Abstract

George J. Stigler's seminal role as one of the founders of the economics of science is summarized and evaluated. His main contribution rests in his asking an array of important questions and arguing persuasively for the application of empirical, and especially statistical, techniques to the answering of those questions. He asks whether and how science progresses; whether a scientist's biography is important in understanding his science; what characteristics of a scientist are most complementary to success in science; and how the professionalization of science redirects the attention of scientists more toward internal puzzle-solving, and less toward applied relevance.     

IMPROVING EQUALITY OF OPPORTUNITY: NEW INSIGHTS FROM BIG DATA

Children's chances of earning more than their parents have fallen from 90% to 50% over the past half century in America. How can we restore the American Dream of upward mobility for our children? In this talk, Raj Chetty discusses recent work that he and his colleagues at Opportunity Insights have done addressing this question. Among other topics, Professor Chetty covers how and why children's chances of climbing the income ladder vary across neighborhoods, how race still matters for economic mobility in the U.S. today, and the relationship between equality of opportunity, innovation, and growth. (JEL I3, H4, D9)     

Vibert's European union: A United Nations or a United States?

In his book, Europe: A Constitution for the Millennium, Frank Vibert explores every major issue that will arise in the design of a constitution for a European political union. Can the theoretical constructs of constitutional economics be used to aid in the practical design of a European constitution? This is what Vibert attempts to do in his book. This review contains a more detailed discussion and analysis of a few of Vibert's main theses. In particular, it focuses, on several key issues that will be the major determinants of whether the European Union will achieve lasting success.     

Thoreau's economic philosophy

Abstract

This paper provides an encompassing portrayal of Thoreau's economic thought. It is analyzed against the background of the history of economic thought and the economic thinking of his time. Thoreau's economic thought is an extensive examination of the ideas of classical political economy, and particularly of Jean-Baptiste Say, and it is a fundamental critique thereof. Thoreau recognizes that some aspects and foundations of the modern conception of the economy lead to an alienation of the human being from itself as well as to an alienation from nature. I demonstrate that this critique is a result of Thoreau's specific approach to the economy, which, based on his particular understanding of the human being and his philosophy of nature, seeks the meaning of the economy for human life and for nature. In this philosophical approach, which I characterize as an economic philosophy, Thoreau's deeper defiance of classical political economy and his original place within the history of economic thought are grounded. It leads Thoreau to an alternative conception of an economy of moderation, which is identified and described in detail. I conclude with considerations on the potential meaning of Thoreau's thought for current economic research.     

Disequilibrium as the origin,originality, and challenges of Clower's microfoundations of monetary theory

Abstract

Robert W. Clower's article “A Reconsideration of the Microfoundations of Monetary Theory” (1967) deeply influenced the course of modern monetary economics. On the one hand, it questioned Don Patinkin's (1956) project to integrate monetary and Walrasian value theory. On the other hand, it was the fountainhead of the cash-in-advance models à la Robert J. Lucas (1980), one of the most widely used approaches to monetary theory since the 1980s. Despite this influence, Clower's project to integrate monetary and value theory remains an enigma. My paper intends to resolve it. This is a difficult task since Clower never completed the monetary theory outlined in his 1967 article. To overcome this difficulty, I characterise the intellectual context from which Clower's contribution emerged and have recourse to a reconstruction of his project. This reconstruction is based on the analysis of published and unpublished materials, written by Clower before and after the 1967 article. It is argued that Clower sought to elaborate a disequilibrium monetary theory whilst retaining the two pillars of Patinkin's integration, i.e., the introduction of money into utility functions and the real-balance effect. I trace the origins, account for the originality, and discuss the challenges of this project.     

Civilisations and Their Discontents: Political Geography and Geopolitics in the Huntington Thesis

This article considers the place of political geography and geopolitics in Samuel Huntington's celebrated work Clash of Civilizations. It is argued that Huntington's engagement with geography is fundamentally ambivalent. On the one hand, he frames his entire analysis as a form of what he calls political geography, and he invokes geographical factors in various ways throughout the entire text. At the same time, however, he explicitly discounts the significance of space or territory in the civilisational framework that he depicts. An analysis of Huntington's inconsistency in this regard contributes to a broader critique of his overall premises, logic, and conclusions. Beyond this, it provides insight into the uncertain position of geography more broadly in contemporary discourses of international relations and international security. Ultimately, I suggest that the ambivalences in the Clash of Civilizations are indicative of certain ‘fault lines’ — to borrow from Huntington's own lexicon — that have been characteristic for the American security imagination across much of the twentieth century.     

Zermelo and the Early History of Game Theory

In the modern literature on game theory there are several versions of what is known as Zermelo's theorem. It is shown that most of these modern statements of Zermelo's theorem bear only a partial relationship to what Zermelo really did. We also give a short survey and discussion of the closely related but almost unknown work by König (1927, Acta Sci. Math. Szeged, 3, 121–130) and Kálmar (1928/29, Acta Sci. Math. Szeged, 4, 65–85). Their papers extend and considerably generalize Zermelo's approach. A translation of Zermelo's paper is included in the Appendix. Journal of Economic Literature Classification Numbers: B19; C70; C72.     

Changes in carbon intensity in China: Empirical findings from 1980–2003

China experienced sustainable, rapid economic growth over the period 1980–2003 but, at the same time, energy-related carbon intensity showed a downward trend. It begs the question, therefore, what factors were driving this decline in carbon intensity and will this decline be maintained in future? Moreover, what measures can be adopted to ensure a continual decline in carbon intensity? These questions led to increased research in the factors governing CO₂ emission in China. This paper quantifies the driving force behind China's primary energy-related carbon intensity and measures the material production sectors' final energy-related carbon intensity. Our results show that the overwhelming contributor to the decline of energy-related carbon intensity was the reduction in real energy intensity. However, policies that focus only on the decline in energy intensity are insufficient to further decrease carbon intensity. The change of primary energy mix can improve the decline of carbon intensity. This should focus on the material production sectors' development strategies and final energy use. Greater emphasis should be given to secondary industry, which needs national and regional governments' policy support.     

A body without a voice: A literary approach to Linguet's opposition to the physiocrats over the free trade in grain

Abstract

Linguet was a critic of the physiocrats and of what he perceived as the disastrous consequences the liberalisation of the trade in grain on the people. Linguet's rhetorical use of the voice of the people is studied here through its rhetorical device and its fantasmatic and ideological echoes. With his dramatised and polyphonic style Linguet quotes many different protagonists, but he chooses to neuter the people's voice on the rare occasions when it is heard. Despite this rather conventional suppression of the people's voice, Linguet's claims to be a spokesman or advocate of the people are quite convincing. Through his detailed and hyperbolic depiction of the physical suffering of starving people, Linguet shines a light on one of the blind spots of the Physiocratic doctrine which sees no damage in economic prosperity.     

Foucault,Weber and the history of the economic subject

Abstract

The present paper begins with a presentation of Foucault's lectures on economic issues. Departing from his previous views on government, Foucault offered a new approach to eighteenth-century liberalism and neo-liberalism, interpreting these political theories in terms of what he called biopolitics. Then the paper endeavours to demonstrate that the line of reasoning pursued by Foucault coincides with that found in Weber's sociology of religion. In as much as Weber studies the relation between the religious and the economic, the paper draws a parallel between the Weberian concept of ‘life conduct’ and the concept of ‘technique of the self’ advanced by Foucault in order to study the moral foundation of the economic agent.     

Karl Haushofer and geopolitics — the history of a German mythos

This essay attempts to reassess the writings of Karl Haushofer, a German professor of geopolitics during the period of the Third Reich. However, this examination is not to be another historical reflection. Instead it approaches the question what different kinds of historical reflections on Karl Haushofer as a person and his geopolitics were made in Germany and how they influenced the further geopolitical research. The different interpretations of Haushofer are examined in the form of a discourse analytic study. It shows that the different judgments concerning his work are open to diverse political interpretations.     

Trade Unions Face a New Western Capitalist Society

Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen was hostile to work in economic theory that is based on the notion of a continuum of agents. In this essay, I use this hostility as a point of departure for an exploration of his views concerning representation, language and theory as they pertain to what he saw as economic science. In particular, I view his methodological stance to the "doing of economics," as expressed primarily in his epistemological writings, in the light of Richard Wollheim's reflections on "art and its objects."