Comments on Four Papers on Economics and Human Heterogeneity

A bstract .   These comments focus on some issues raised in the papers by Dimand, Peart and Levy, Cot, and Leonard. These papers are fascinating, but not without weaknesses. It is argued that Dimand's presentation of what he calls the "general principle" of classical economics is misconceived. There is a confusion in this paper between the classical view of equal capacity and the much newer concept of equally rational actual performance. Peart and Levy discuss the idea of unequal capacity for pleasure in Edgeworth, but do not draw a link back to the idea in J. S. Mill of different qualities of pleasure. Cot and Leonard provide informative accounts of the American eugenic movement and its links to progressivism, but with an insufficient degree of distinction between the various positions and agendas that were concerned.     

The Vanity of the Economist: A Comment on Peart and Levy's The “Vanity of the Philosopher”*

Abstract . In the Vanity of the Philosopher, Sandra Peart and David Levy reconsider “postclassical” economics from the vantage point of Adam Smith's “analytical” egalitarianism. Analytical egalitarianism is assumed, not proved; and Peart and Levy's criticisms of many 19^th‐ and early 20^th‐century economists, as well as eugenics in general, depend on equivocating between analytical and substantive egalitarianism. They fail to provide a non–question‐begging critique of eugenics.     

In the Shadows of Vanity: Religion and the Debate Over Hierarchy

A bstract .   Sandra Peart and David Levy emphasize the role of economists in their excellent history of the debate between philosophers and scientists and economists and evangelicals over race and hierarchy in 19^th-century Britain. Evangelical Christians have a role as allies with economists, and also Jews, but as a racial rather than a religious group. Religion, which has much to say about what it means to be human, remains in the shadows of Peart and Levy's account. The purpose of this paper is to make a start at casting light on the role of religion in the debate over race and hierarchy in 19^th-century England.     

The Talmudic Doctrine of "The Benefit of a Pleasure": Psychological Well-Being in Talmudic Literature

A bstract .   In this article, we attempt to analyze the Talmudic notion of well-being in the light of modern hedonic psychology. First, we examine the thoughts of Hebrew "wisdom" and Greek " sophia " concerning the phenomenon of happiness. We then discuss the Talmudic doctrine of "optimality," a concept similar to that of the Pareto improvement. This is followed by a discourse deemed to be of extraordinary significance—the idea of "mutual benefit," which may be described as "super optimum." Thereafter, the doctrine of the "Benefit of a Pleasure" is demonstrated to be a "pleasure-measure" of reciprocal and nonreciprocal happiness. Finally, it is argued, that although Plato, according to Professor Lowry, detailed precise "trade-offs" between degrees of pleasure, pain, and time, it was applied to "moral values" only, whereas the Talmudists posited the existence of a "psychoeconomic" category, in which pleasure itself is equated with money.     

The Political Economy of Confucian Harmony: A Xunzian Vision

A global market economy of pure instrumental rationality now poses a growing threat, jeopardizing common citizenship, the capacity for human flourishing, and harmony between humans and nature. Growing skepticism about the sustainability of market capitalism and its moral legitimacy propels us to search for a new economic model in which humans are no longer held hostage to the unbridled pursuit of self‐interest and limitless possession at the expense of the well‐being of others and nature and that attempts to overcome the old conflict between capitalism and socialism. We can call this alternative model “moral economy,” an economic system that reconciles private interests with the public good broadly construed. In this article I reconstruct the Confucian ideal of moral economy by paying close attention to Xunzi's ethical and political thought. Xunzi, one of the key classical Confucians, stipulates the threshold of sufficiency by extending the ruler's care to the most destitute of society as well as giving moral priority to their basic needs without dismissing the foundational importance of individual merit and contribution. Rejecting both pure economic meritocracy and dogmatic egalitarianism, Xunzian Confucianism aims to create a political economy of harmony where various distributive values (need, equality, and merit, among other things) each have their own place.     

The “Vanity of the Philosopher”: Analytical Egalitarianism,Associationist Psychology,and Eugenic Remaking?

A bstract .   These comments explore the relationship between analytical egalitarianism, race-blind theorizing, and associationist psychology. Associationist psychology, though making an implicit appearance in Vanity , was central to the egalitarian analysis provided by James Mill and John Stuart Mill. Indeed, associationist considerations lay at the heart of Mill's race-blind analysis of cottier tenure, and his exchange with Thomas Carlyle over the "Negro Question." These comments also note some intriguing comparisons between the debate over eugenics and the debate over socialist calculation.     

When Did Equality Become a Noneconomic Objective?

A bstract .   This brief survey begins with a suggested procedure for determining whether a given economist viewed a particular goal as an economic or noneconomic objective. Roughly speaking, the approach rests on whether that economist attempted a serious analysis of the tradeoffs between the goal in question and some measure of value. In this view, noneconomic objectives, for any school, include all those objectives that, while recognized as potentially legitimate, are not analyzed in terms of commensurable value measures. Three points to notice about the definition: (1) For any economist, economic objectives should be distinguished from a class of intermediate goods valued largely for their predicted positive impact on production; (2) Some objectives may be altogether dismissed by a school, either as beyond the expertise of economic analysis or as downright harmful; (3) Simply acknowledging the existence of a "cost" to achieving a goal leaves that goal as noneconomic since no attempt at valuation has been made.
The paper goes on to sketch three viewpoints toward income equality—that of the classical school as summarized in the work of J. S. Mill, that of the early neoclassicists as represented by Marshall and Pigou, and that of the "new welfare economics" as developed by Kaldor and Hicks. The classical economists valued the relief of poverty, but explicitly attacked anything but the most basic redistributional efforts because of expected dire effects on production. The early neoclassicists built equality implicitly into a utilitarian social welfare function. The "new welfare economics" doubted economists' ability to assess the value of equality, although perhaps not their ability to measure its opportunity cost. Thus the basic argument: both the classicists and the early neoclassicists saw equality as an economic objective, while the new welfare economics was largely built on denying this status to equality.     

A “quota silo” or positive equality reach? The equality impact of gender quotas on corporate boards in Norway

10 years after its implementation, we explore the equality reach of the 40% Norwegian gender quota regulation for boards of public limited companies (PLCs) using a multi‐strategy approach (administrative data and interviews with women directors) to capture interrelated macro and meso changes. We employ Acker's (2006) inequality regimes as our analytical framework, augmented by the “equality reach” concept. We found strong compliance with the 40% Quota. However, there was little evidence of voluntary spillover to limited companies as envisaged by Quota proponents; instead Quota coverage reduced as some PLCs changed status to avoid the Quota requirement. We reveal that positive equality reach in one of the most equal countries in the world is confined to a PLC “quota silo,” which has shrunk over the life of the Quota. Moreover, we suggest that PLC high levels of compliance may be a defensive strategy seen as necessary in the regulatory/high sanction context of the Quota. We demonstrate the need for further political and organisational interventions to improve equality reach beyond the quota silo. We also show the value of the equality reach concept for research on equality interventions and warn of the dangers of an intervention leading to an equality silo.     

Some Theoretical coordinates of radical Liberalism

Abstract . The term radical liberalism is frequently used to describe a particular branch of liberal social theory. However, a great deal of ambiguity normally surrounds the use of this term. A working definition of radical liberalism can be constructed by first isolating the key principles of liberalism These are individualism, private property, and political democracy. The initial impulse of radical liberalism comes from its critique of these principles. In particular, radical liberals see a contradiction between political democracy, which extends human rights, and private property, which abridges human rights. Finally, radical liberalism can best be defined to represent six theoretical propositions: pluralism, developmental (as opposed to possessive) individualism, solidarity, egalitarianism, participatory democracy, and social transformation.     

Keeping Land in Capital Theory: Ricardo, Faustmann, Wicksell, and George

A bstract .   Most economists today live in a two-factor world: There is just labor and capital. Land, so central to classical political economy, has been swallowed into capital and "disappeared." This paper surveys some of the better historical treatments of land and capital, their interrelations, and how they support modern Georgists and Greens who want land to reappear.     

Does environmental innovation make us happy? An empirical investigation

The aim of this paper is to provide an efficient framework to study the relationship between happiness and eco-innovation, measured by eco-efficiency, considered as a subset of the wider question concerning the relationship between happiness and innovation. The conceptual background describes how happiness can be linked to environmental innovations, drawing potential relations among happiness, environment and innovations. An analytical model derives the relationship between happiness and eco-efficiency from a generic utility function. The empirical focus is on the effects of environmental innovation on population well-being for ten European countries over the period 1981–2011. Environmental innovation is measured by an eco-efficiency indicator (the percentage of total energy from combustible renewables and waste). Results from a panel data model show a positive correlation between eco-efficiency and happiness, linking countries' general well-being to environmental conditions, the pace at which they adopt eco-innovations, and the relative efficacy of the latter.     

Corporate Social Responsibility: Three Key Approaches

abstract    Corporate social responsibility remains an embryonic and contestable concept. This paper assesses three key approaches and offers a perspective gauging little prospect of theoretical synthesis. Ethical responsibility theory advocates strong corporate self-restraint and altruism duties and expansive public policy strengthening stakeholder rights. Economic responsibility theory advocates market wealth creation subject only to minimalist public policy and perhaps customary business ethics. These two viewpoints embed competing moral frameworks and political philosophies. Any theoretical synthesis must discover some subset of ethical principles yielding corporate competitive advantage. Corporate citizenship language invokes a political metaphor providing neither true intermediate positioning nor theoretical synthesis. Two conflicting interpretations abandon responsibility language without adopting the economic viewpoint. An instrumental citizenship interpretation expands philanthropy as a strategic lever for increasing corporate reputation and market opportunities while retaining managerial discretion. An ideal citizenship interpretation restates ethical responsibility into voluntarism language intended to influence managerial discretion concerning universal human rights.     

From Cardinal to Ordinal Utility Theory

A bstract .   This paper examines the transition from cardinal to ordinal utility. We begin with the egalitarian utilitarianism of J. S. Mill and Herbert Spencer, in which everyone was supposed to count as one. That is their phrase to explain how the happiness of existing people was to be maximized. We compare Spencer's goal with Darwin's goal of the "general good," in which the number of perfect people was to be maximized. Spencer's goal was egalitarian, while Darwin's entailed biological perfection or hierarchy. We consider Edgeworth's hedonic calculus, in which the notion of hierarchy enters economics. For Edgeworth, agents have differential capacities for happiness. Throughout, we consider normative aspects of Darwin's work, in particular Darwin's challenge to the early utilitarianism of Mill and Spencer. We suggest that the Paretian principle returns utilitarianism to its egalitarian roots.     

Social Classes in Classical and Marxist Political Economy

The notion social class attains a well-defined theoretical content in the works of the classical political economists, who defined classes on the basis of the specific income form that each category of people (class) obtains. This approach to class constitutes a first form of a 'friendly merger' between political economy and sociology. When combined with the classical labor value theory, it has led to a theory of class exploitation of the laboring class by the capitalist class. As economic theory became increasingly apologetic after the 'Marginalist Revolution' (setting itself the aim of justifying capitalism), the theory of class has been totally banished from the corpus of 'modern (neoclassical) economic science.' This paper claims that the scientific elements inherent in classical political economy's class theory were preserved by the Marxist class theory, which further revolutionized the classical approach, creating a new, purely non-economistic and non-mechanistic 'relationist' class theory, and forming thus a vivid economic-sociological approach to social classes. On the basis of the Marxist approach, complex problems concerning the class structure of contemporary societies can be tackled.     

公共服务对城市居民幸福感的影响

利用2005年和2015年中国社会综合调查(CGSS)数据,分析了公共服务对城市居民幸福感的影响。结果显示:公共服务对城市居民的幸福感有显著的正向影响,且其影响随时间的推移而增强。其中,社会保障类公共服务的正面作用相对更加明显。公共服务产生幸福增进效应的可能渠道包括机会均等性的提高、居民社会经济状况的改善,以及居民生活环境的优化。     

1 From a State of War to Perpetual Peace

A bstract .   This essay examines current debates in political philosophy regarding the problems of war and peace and of human rights protection. Two contrasting approaches are analyzed: one represented by "democratic peace" theories, and the other by the movement for a cosmopolitan order. At the heart of both approaches are conflicting interpretations of Kant's political philosophy, especially his project of "perpetual peace." An analysis of M. Doyle's recent conception of "liberal democratic peace" shows the flaws in his justification of the tendency of liberal states to be war-prone toward nonliberal states. Alternatively, the development of Kant's ideas in the theories of "discourse ethics" (K. O. Apel and J. Habermas) and "cosmopolitan democracy" confirms the relevance of Kant's cosmopolitan ideal to current discussions about peace and human rights. The analysis also affirms that the true solution to the problems of securing peace and protecting human rights can only be achieved by peaceful means, based on international law with the United Nations as its legitimate political representation.     

Henry George's Political Critics

A bstract .   Twelve political criticisms of George were paramount after he formed his own political party in 1887: (1) his refusal to join with other reformers to link his proposals with theirs, or to absorb theirs into his own campaign; (2) his singular focus on ground rent to the exclusion of other forms of monopoly income, such as that of the railroads, oil and mining trusts; (3) his almost unconditional support of capital, even against labor; (4) his economic individualism rejecting a strong role for government; (5) his opposition to public ownership or subsidy of basic infrastructure; (6) his refusal to acknowledge interest-bearing debt as the twin form of rentier income alongside ground rent; (7) the scant emphasis he placed on urban land and owner-occupied land; (8) his endorsement of the Democratic Party's free-trade platform; (9) his rejection of an academic platform to elaborate rent theory; (10) the narrowness of his theorizing beyond the land question; (11) the alliance of his followers with the right wing of the political spectrum; and (12) the hope that full taxation of ground rent could be achieved gradually rather than requiring a radical confrontation involving a struggle over control of government.     

Menger, Jevons, and Walras Un-homogenized, De-homogenized, and Homogenized: A Comment on Peart

Abstract . Response to Sandra J, Peart, “Jevons and Menger Re-homogenized?: Jaffé After 20 Years,” 1998. The American Journal of Economics and Sociology 57(July): 307-325.     

创新煤矿企业政工人才选拔与使用方法

政工人才是企业未来发展的根基。新时期,企业政工工作面临诸多考验,如何正确把握政工人才选拔与使用的大方向,提高政工人才管理质量,是摆在企业面前的重要课题。本文基于这一研究课题,从全局着眼,具体探讨企业政工人才选与使用的方法,旨在打造一支高素质的政工队伍,为企业的未来发展夯实人才基础。     

The Political Uses of Some Economic Ideas: The Trade‐Off Between Efficiency and Equality

The notion of a trade‐off between efficiency and equality is pervasive in many disciplines across the social sciences. Moreover, an imprecise notion of this well‐known dilemma is an integral part of the discourse of politicians and policy‐makers. The scientific status of the idea of a trade‐off between efficiency and equality is, however, a matter of contention. Philosophical dissections of the idea have already deflated the analytical cogency of most of its versions, while the economic literature trying to assess the empirical relation between growth and equality has shown contradicting results. This article, by focusing on the role this idea plays both in the discourse and strategy of social‐democratic parties, and in the social science explanations of their trajectories, argues that the pervasiveness of the notion of the trade‐off between efficiency and equality is best explained in terms of the political functions it can fulfill.