Bernard Mandeville's vision of the social utility of pride and greed

Abstract

In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, pride and greed were hailed for their capacity to tame man's unruly passions and induce cooperation. Both narratives concur in the work of Mandeville. How, and to what extent, does the Mandevillean alliance of pride and greed account for social cooperation? Seeking to gratify his pride in a socially acceptable manner by accumulating wealth, man unintentionally creates the conditions that promote cooperation. Nevertheless, society remains the scene of conflicting forces. Social cooperation is unstable in being sought for reasons of gain in the zero-sum struggle for distinction.     

Electricity Tariff Changes and Consumer Sentiment on Household Consumption Expenditure in Malaysia

Purpose

This study investigates the impact of the current electricity tariff, represented by optimized tariff calculation, on Malaysian household’s consumption across different levels of income.

Design/methodology/approach

The input-output (IO) model has vastly been used in many energy economics literature that presented the matrix of production between various sectors in an economy. This study aggregated the 124 subsectors in IO Price Table 2015 into 12 groups of consumption of goods and services based on Household Expenditure Survey 2019 (HES 2019) to meet the study’ objectives.

Findings

This study found that in all simulations, high-income earners would be highly affected by the tariff changes. The lower the increment level in electricity tariff rate, the lower the magnitude would be on the changes of household expenditure level.

Research limitations/implications

Optimization in electricity tariff consumptions can pattern the Malaysian household’s consumption across different levels of income efficiently.

Practical implications

Useful to all consumer in the Malaysia economic business sector to predict their energy consumption up to optimum level.

Social implications

The study’s findings can benefit the society in optimiza their electricity consumption since everyone requires the energy for basic needs in their life.

     

A Kantian critique of neoclassical law and economics

Abstract

This paper outlines a critique of neoclassical law and economics based on the ethics of Immanuel Kant, focusing on four central topics: efficiency as the sole evaluative criterion for policy-making, hypothetical compensation in Kaldor–Hicks efficiency, the instrumental nature of rights and the assumption of reciprocal causation, and the role of punishment to both society and the individual. This overview addresses issues of concern not just to Kantians, but to anyone dissatisfied with the utilitarian foundations of law and economics and the amoral view of law upon which it is based.     

中国传统文化对构建和谐社会的借鉴作用

构建社会主义和谐社会包括人与自然、人与人、人与社会的和谐。文章分别从自然观和"天人合一"思想、伦理道德、价值取向等三个方面,分析了中国传统文化的优秀部分对处理好人与自然、人与人、人与社会关系的借鉴作用及其对构建社会主义和谐社会的启发。     

论后劳教时代的社会与刑事立法之应对——关于犯罪化问题的研究

后劳教时代,正处于风险社会的鼎盛期,后劳教时代社会冲突加剧,群体性事件增多,它是仇恨犯罪多发的时代,也是失范的时代。因而对危害社会的行为适时予以犯罪化处理,是社会发展的需要。后劳教时代,疏而多漏的刑事法网难以有效预防和制止越来越多的严重侵害社会的行为。迫切需要予以大力度的犯罪化处理,以有效保护法益、保护社会、保障人权、保障社会的健康和谐发展。     

社会保险法适用标准的细化问题探析

社会保险法所限定的给付义务、给付标准与给付行为本身就是保障公民从国家和社会获得物质帮助的权利实现的法律依据.而《社会保险法》只是在各保险子系统的原则性、概括性内容方面进行“骨架立法”.依据社会保险法所确定的基本原则进行细化标准的建立和可操作性下立法的制定是令社会保险法律体系“骨肉丰满”的重要环节.社会保险标准细化是应对复杂的社会保险法律关系的必要补充.社会保险法的执行需要标准细化从而对自由裁量权进行约束.同时,社会保险标准细化与重视社会保险程序是一个硬币的两面,也是社会保障权利得到救济的重要保障.社会保险法细化还要注意细化立法的授权立法问题以及社会保险权案件的司法诉讼问题.     

Defining and Defending a Progressive Market Square: Bringing Institutionalist Development Discourse in Line with the Reality of Post-Soviet Transition Experiences

Abstract:

This article is a response to two crucial ideas about progressive institutional change: the first is J. Fagg Foster’s principle of “minimal social dislocation,” which asserts that socio-economic changes should be implemented gradually, to avoid unraveling the social fabric of the community; the second is Karl Polanyi’s principles of redistribution of rights and powers by relevant authorities and reciprocity, a symmetrical and highly personalized exchange system, which is likewise a protective mechanism that society employs against anonymity and disintegration brought about by unregulated market. Using lessons learned in the thirty-year transition to market in post-Soviet countries, this article argues that to commence progressive institutional change in the honesty- and transparency-resistant cultures of former Soviet states, impersonal exchange and impartial rule of law must be given far greater weight than personalization of contacts and continuation of cultural traditions.     

Modelling the lifetime economic consequences of glaucoma in France

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the lifetime economic consequences of glaucoma in France.

Methods: A Markov model estimated the average discounted outcome and cost of glaucoma treatment over a patient's lifetime. Clinical states were defined as first- to fourth-line drugs, no treatment, laser therapy, surgery, blindness and death. After each failure (always after the fourth-line drug) patients could receive either laser treatment or surgery followed by no treatment, or a new treatment. A societal perspective was adopted. Sensitivity analyses were performed.

Results: Discounted medical costs were €7,322 for ocular hypertension treatment (OHT) and €8,488 for a glaucoma patient. Social costs of OHT and glaucoma patients exceeded medical costs. First-line use of the most effective drug would reduce medical and social costs. Societal willingness to pay for the vision benefit would equal the medical costs. Treatment initiated with the most effective drug is a cost saving strategy.

Conclusions: Public health decisions in glaucoma treatment should take a broad economic view embracing the lifetime duration of the disease. There is still a place both within and outside the healthcare system for therapeutic innovations with important economic consequences that bring high added value to patients.     

Capital advantages: could colleges and universities located in Beijing City win more national social science fund projects?

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the relationship between the distance a college/university from Beijing city and the number of the National Social Science Fund projects it undertakes. We find that geographical location of a college/university is closely related to the number of National Social Science Fund projects it undertakes, and per hundred kilometres far away from Beijing city will result in a decrease of the number of projects by 0.24–0.50. In addition, colleges and universities located in Beijing city have significant advantages over those located in other places with more projects of 1.74–5.68. It is also shown that, for colleges and universities, especially for those top 100, the availability of high-speed railway to Beijing city significantly increases the probability of winning the National Social Science Fund projects.     

How did it all begin? Adam Smith on the early and rude state of society and the age of hunters

Abstract

Scholars tend to examine Smith's historical approach as a whole from the perspective of the four stages theory. This leads to a neglect of Smith's ability to use history in different ways as his different purposes require. This article distinguishes Smith's recourse to primitive society with respect to his purposes in Wealth of Nations and in Lectures on Jurisprudence. In the former, Smith analyses the capitalist economy, thereby laying emphasis on capital and the division of labour in his account of wealth. In the latter, he explains the evolution of institutions in order to challenge contractarian accounts of government.     

Legal institutionalism: Capitalism and the constitutive role of law

Social scientists have paid insufficient attention to the role of law in constituting the economic institutions of capitalism. Part of this neglect emanates for inadequate conceptions of the nature of law itself. Spontaneous conceptions of law and property rights that downplay the role of the state are criticized here, because they typically assume relatively small numbers of agents and underplay the complexity and uncertainty in developed capitalist systems. In developed capitalist economies, law is sustained through interaction between private agents, courts and the legislative apparatus. Law is also a key institution for overcoming contracting uncertainties. It is furthermore a part of the power structure of society, and a major means by which power is exercised. This argument is illustrated by considering institutions such as property and the firm. Complex systems of law have played a crucial role in capitalist development and are also vital for developing economies.     

Smith's theory of actions and the moral significance of unintended consequences

Abstract

An important clue to the ambiguity in Smith's attitudes towards commercial society may lie in his disaffection with natural distributions; with distributions based on unintended consequences. The absence of proportionality between motives and outcomes dooms the morality of commercial society, not the mere absence of an ethical dimension to human character. Through the analysis of actions, we find correspondence between the three economic states of the Wealth of Nations and the three social states of the Theory of Moral Sentiments. Thus, re-distribution is important in the moral evaluation of commercial systems. Unintended consequences are neither a source of moral strength nor a safeguard against injustice.     

Innovative performance effects of institutional quality: an empirical investigation from the Triad

ABSTRACT

Using data for a set of 823 R&D-intense manufacturing firms within the Triad and the Quality of Government (QoG) dataset over the 2002–2010 period, this article investigates the effects of institutional quality upon firms’ inefficiency, through the application of a Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA). Empirical evidence, which is robust to alternative specifications of the technology employed and different lag structures in R&D activities, reveals that improvements in the quality of institutions significantly reduce firms’ inefficiency and suggests that, among the set of relevant institutional factors considered, a pre-eminent role is found for the rule of law.     

From the laws of human nature to capital accumulation: James Mill's analysis of the states of society in the Elements of Political Economy

Abstract

James Mill's Elements of Political Economy is usually treated as a textbook of Ricardian political economy. Although this might be justified, there is a passage in this Ricardian textbook that is not Ricardian. The passage deals with Mill's analysis of the states of society, in which he underlines the laws of human nature conducive to capital accumulation. This paper investigates such states.     

Economic Policy and the Progressive Idea

Abstract

Recent events in different countries suggest that institutional change is discontinuous and may lead to abrupt change. A specific case is shifts in social consensus. The article focuses on the latter. It argues that people make sense of their lives in relation to how they situate themselves within society. Their identities depend on the degree to which they are capable consciously to conduct their lives. Undesired economic change may disrupt previous identities and cause cognitive dissonance. At the collective level, it may trigger in-group versus out-group dynamics that provide a fictitious identity and either reinforce the status quo or suddenly subvert it.

Neoliberalism caused such undesired changes. A progressive alternative cannot rely just on convincing people that a change in conventional economic measures is desirable. It requires a recovery of people’s active and conscious self-identification. This involves overcoming their forced adaptation to the status quo through participation and collective action     

Will the MEGA2 edition be a watershed in interpreting Marx?

Abstract

The MEGA² edition is a watershed in interpreting important aspects of Marx’s oeuvre, but not all of them. It provides hints as to why Marx failed to complete his magnum opus, Capital, and informs about his doubts regarding the “law of motion” of capitalism centred on the “law of the falling tendency of the rate of profit” he was keen to establish.     

Book Review

Mark H. Maier. The Data Game: Controversies in Social Science Statistics, 3rd ed. Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 1999. 332 pp.     

Terrorism and the closure of society: A social-impact projection

A social-impact projection of terrorism in the United States is presented in the ligth of recent conceptual and methodological developments. The projections proper explore the effect of a terrorist climate on: demography,security, and the cost of living, letter and spirit of the law, paramilitary groups, and mental health. It is suggested that the most effective way of halting terrorism rests in the formula of “mass times velocity equals impact.” This entails a swift and massive application of force that leaves society vulnerable to militarization, the possibility of a “garrison state,” and an overall closure of society in general.     

The Front and the Line: The Paradox of South American Frontiers Applied to the Bolivian Case

The article examines possibilities to study security in a globalized world. It argues that in order to do so it will remain a futile exercise to opt for one of the many competing conceptualizations of security, but that rather the very variety of these conceptualizations can be read as reflecting an all‐pervasiveness of risks as a structural feature of contemporary world society. Following Ulrich Beck, the paper first introduces the idea of a world risk society emerging in a process of ‘reflective modernization’. It then shows how various recent reconceptualizations of security at least partly express this very process and are thus linked, in spite of substantial differences amongst themselves. Finally, turning again to some issues raised by contemporary theories of society, it argues that in fact security might be a hollow reference point in analytical as well as in practical terms and. invites to consider whether multifaceted strategies of insurance have not come to replace attempts to achieve security in a globalized world.