Rationality, political economy, and fiscal responsibility: wrestling with tragedy on the fiscal commons

The continuing budget deficits and accumulating public debt that commonly plagues western democracies reflects a clash between two rationalities regarding human governance: one of private property and its conventions and one of common property and its procedural framework. Democratic budgeting creates a form of fiscal commons whose governance is subject to the tragic outcomes depicted by Garret Hardin (in Science 162:1243?C1248, 1968). To be sure, tragedy can be avoided as Elinor Ostrom (1990) explains, but only to the extent that the fiscal commons is governed in a manner consonant with Antonio De Viti de Marco??s (1936) model of the cooperative state. While the tragedy of the commons that results from this tectonic clash is an inherent feature of democratic political economy, that tragedy can nonetheless be limited through reasserting the conventions and institutions of a constitution of liberty.     

TELECOMMUNICATIONS, FACTOR SUBSTITUTION AND ECONOMIC GROWTH

De La Grandville (1989) suggests that large elasticities of substitution between factor inputs and a change in relative prices might (i) explain historical economic growth in developing countries and (ii) account for the varying growth among sectors within economies undergoing technological change. Yuhn (1991) supports de La Grandvilles first hypothesis in his finding that Korea's economic growth relative to the United States, over a given interval, could be explained by the higher elasticities of substitution between labor and capital in Korea relative to those of the United States. This paper explores de La Grandville's second hypothesis with respect to telecommunications.     

States as Ecologies of Political Enterprises

This paper seeks to overcome an antinomy within the theory of political economy: while market outcomes are treated as resulting from polycentric competition, political outcomes are treated as resulting from hierarchic planning. We seek to overcome this antinomy by treating political outcomes as likewise resulting from polycentric competition, taking due account of relevant institutional differences. For example, a parliamentary assembly is treated as an extra-ordinary form of investment bank that intermediates between the sponsors of enterprises and those within the citizenry who have means to support those enterprises. What results is a theory in which political programs emerge in largely bottom-up fashion through complex networks of transactions. Much of the inspiration for this paper arises from the Italian School of Public Finance, particularly Mazzola, Montemartini, Pantaleoni and de Viti de Marco.     

When Italian economics “Was Second to None”. Luigi Einaudi and the Turin School of Economics

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the work of a group of economists that was an important expression of a fertile season of Italian economics, in the period from the mid-1890s to the end of 1930s, which developed around the figure of Luigi Einaudi, and earlier, around that of his master Cognetti de Martiis. This School expressed a range of thought of high value in the political and economic sphere. In the economic field, the School established a fertile relation between historical–empirical work and economic theory; in the political field it investigated the relation between freedom and economic order.     

司马迁的因俗以治思想及其现实镜鉴?

作为一种非正式制度,习俗在国家的社会经济发展和治理中起着非常重要的作用,在我国的古代社会尤其如此。司马迁较早注意到了俗与治的内在关联,但学术界忽视了其在司马迁经济思想中的重要地位。文章对司马迁的经济思想谱系中“俗”与“治”两大重要范畴进行了关联阐述,介绍了司马迁“因俗以治”治道思想的源流和主张,并结合现代经济学理论对其进行延伸与扩展,探讨其现实意义。研究发现：(1)司马迁的治道思想兼容了道家与儒家的无为而治思想的不同侧面,而其“善因论”的要义正在于“俗之所欲,因而予之”。(2)因俗以治的核心是因循人“生有欲”和“皆为利”的本性及民间习俗来因地制宜、因时制宜地立俗施事,以达至“事少而功多”的理想治理效果。(3)由于司马迁的经济思想带有浓厚的经验色彩和朴素性质,而且中国古代社会缺乏良好的市场环境,因此其在近代以前始终未得到重视和采纳。(4)司马迁“因俗以治”思想给现代国家治理带来了众多启示：一是要尊重风俗习惯并加以因势利导;二是要注重习俗等非正式制度与正式制度的兼容;三是要让好的习俗成为一种稳态均衡而固定下来并延续下去。文章不仅是对司马迁经济思想研究的丰富和拓展,而且对中国国家治理能力的提升也提供了有益的历史借鉴。     

Jean Antoine Chaptal: from chemistry to political economy

The article studies to which extent the economic ideas of Jean Antoine Chaptal were conditioned by his education and knowledge as a chemist. Chaptal's life and activities and the main elements of his economic thought as expressed in his written works suggest certain relationships between his education as scientist, doctor and chemist, and his economic thought. Chaptal's place in the history of economic thought is discussed, especially those opinions that define him as a neo-mercantilist, or as an economist of the nation in the pure industrialist sense. But on a closer analysis, Chaptal can be defined as an industrialist physiocrat as a result of his training.     

On the ‘Origins’ of Sraffa’s Production Equations: A Reply to de Vivo

In this rejoinder to de Vivo’s comment on Gehrke and Kurz (2018, ‘Sraffa’s constructive and interpretive work, and Marx.’ Review of Political Economy) we first ask what could possibly be meant by seeking to identify the ‘origins’ of Sraffa’s production equations. We then show that in his comment de Vivo has abandoned his original view, according to which the magnitudes in Sraffa’s ‘first equations’ are to be interpreted in Marxian (labour) value terms, without advising the reader. In addition, we show that his ‘new’ view is not supported by evidence from Sraffa’s papers. De Vivo misconstrues several propositions of Sraffa and misunderstands his ‘reduction method’ by means of which the values of commodities are reduced to some basic product or to labour. The criticisms de Vivo levels at the interpretation advocated by us are without any foundation.     

中国近代研究经济思想史的方法论特点:以梁启超为例

梁启超是中国近代最早较为系统地研究中国古代经济思想的人。他的相关论著以西方经济理论为参照,为中国经济思想史学科的建立创造了条件。他的研究存在着观点跳跃和逻辑矛盾的现象,这种现象在此后中国经济思想的发展过程中仍然延续。文章在方法论的层面,从传统文化的角度对此进行了新的解析。     

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.     

郑观应经济思想研究综述

中国近代著名文学家、思想家和实业家郑观应(1842—1922)在其名著《盛世危言》中提出其经济思想的核心部分——商战思想,即发展中国的资本主义工商业,以商业竞争为手段,通过国际市场上竞争实力的比拼,最终战胜外来经济侵略。对其经济思想特别是商战思想研究从总论性研究和专门性研究两个方面入手进行归纳。     

Understanding Social Market Economy,Francesco Forte and His Interpretation

The social thought which emerges from Francesco Forte’s economic writings proves to be mainly inspired by methodological individualism, though interpreted through a peculiar “personalistic” key. We will analyze the peculiar traits of his thought and the specific contribution that Forte gave to the understanding of a specific economic theory based on the doctrine of “Ordoliberalism” or the “Freiburg School.” In our work, we will show how Forte proposes an interpretation of that doctrine, according to two of his main points of reference in economic and philosophical thought: Luigi Einaudi and Antonio Rosmini Serbati. Finally, we will present an important aspect of Forte’s work: his institutional analysis in the light of the particular civil philosophy expressed by Christian social teaching.     

和谐与大同:中国古代两种经济发展思路

在中国历史上,出现过两种构建理想社会的经济思路:一为基于和谐理念的经济多样性主张;另一为取消私有制的大同社会模式。这两种思路体现了不同的哲学方法,因而提出的政策建议也相异,二者的社会影响和历史作用更不能同日而语。文章的分析表明,在现代市场经济日益显示出和谐价值的当今,传统的乌托邦思想仍然有回潮的可能。     

奠基时期中国经济思想史研究的成就与地位

文章将1897-1949年间的中国经济思想史研究作为该学科的奠基时期。鉴于奠基时期的学术研究对后续研究的重要影响,以及学术界对该阶段研究的不足和对其评价肯定得不够充分,文章从学术史研究的角度出发,围绕研究成果、学术争鸣、学术价值以及研究特点等方面系统地阐述了奠基时期中国经济思想史研究的主要贡献与历史地位,并对经济思想史学科的发展提出了一些针对性的建议。     

论马克思经济学视野中的人的自由全面发展的思想

马克思关于人的自由全面发展的学说是在其经济学研究中逐步成熟的。在早期经济学研究中,他的关于人的自由全面发展的学说具有浓厚的社会理想性质。随着科学唯物史观的确立,在《资本论》及其手稿中,揭示了社会经济形态的发展和由此而决定的人类自身的发展是一种自然历史过程,阐述了共产主义阶段人的自由全面发展的内容及其赖以实现的必要前提,提出了个人的自由全面发展和人类理想社会形式的现实途径。     

How Rousseau read Hume’s Political Discourses: hints of unexpected agreement in their views of money and luxury

Despite mounting scholarship on the Rousseau–Smith connection, the possibility of overlap between the Humean and Rousseauian views of commercial society has not been explored. This is due to opposing views held by these two thinkers on this issue. However, Rousseau in the Confessions recorded a brief, but shrewd impressions on Hume’s Political Discourses, which he held before meeting Hume. In these comments, Rousseau, unlike his other French contemporaries, noted some republican aspects lurking in Hume’s political and economic essays. Moreover, after his two Discourses, Rousseau composed several other important works in which he revealed his more ‘mature’ economic arguments. Careful readings of these textual clues indicate that, in striking parallel with Hume, Rousseau conducts a thought experiment on the drastic change in the quantity of money and elaborates on the significance of industry and a certain type of luxury. Our purpose here is not to prove that Hume’s Political Discourses directly influenced Rousseau’s later writings, but to measure the extent to which Rousseau could share the Scot’s economic ideas by considering that the former may well have read the latter.     

Changing knowledge in the early economic thought of Michael Polanyi

How did Polanyi, a middleman between Keynes and Hayek, see economics education as a way to save the challenged liberal economic system of the 1930s? The first part of the article explores how experts and non-experts were engaged in making and disseminating economic knowledge, what role perception had in these engagements, and how such practices contributed to a kind of mental division of labor in the early economic thought of Michael Polanyi. The second part reconstructs Polanyi’s endeavors to show how the visual presentation of social matters could foster these engagement practices and the construction of economic knowledge. The third part points out that top-down and bottom-up approaches were both present in Polanyi’s economic thought and explains why the latter is evolutionary in a sense that it is based on changing knowledge in cognitive, behavioral, social and technical domains. The fourth part discusses how public understanding of economic ideas connected interactional expertise and boundary work in Polanyi’s account, and how he was engaged in developing both as part of his social agenda. The article concludes by showing how Polanyi positioned his growth theory and social agenda to save liberal economic thought and our civilization.     

The concept of “lawfulness” in economic matters. Reading Ibn Rushd (Averroes)

Abstract

In the Middle Ages the major concept through which economic matters are analysed and evaluated is the “lawful”, in Arabic jâ’iz, concept. It claims to establish whether a gain, a profit, a contract is lawful or not: that is the main question theologians examine when they are addressing the issue of appreciating any economic fact. In our study, we analyse the criteria of the “lawfulness” as found in the economic parts of Ibn Rushd's work entitled Bidâyat al-mujtahid wa nihâyat al-muqta?id (English translation: The Distinguished Jurist's Primer). Our thesis is inspired essentially by Raymond De Roover's studies on the economic thought in the Middle Ages. De Roover shows that the criteria for lawfulness are to be found in the nature of the contract between partners: a gain is lawful if the contract which generates it is lawful. Our study essentially consists in a text analysis.     

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.     

The Hayekian Puzzle: Spontaneous Order and the Business Cycle

In his early years, F. A. Hayek focused his research on the theory of capital and the business cycle. Later he turned to social philosophy and the theory of a spontaneous economic order. The two phases, it is argued in this paper, correspond to two basically incompatible research programs—general equilibrium theory vs. a theory of adapting, collective learning, and expectation formation. Hayek never reconsidered business cycle theory in the light of his later thought. The paper asks why and discusses what role cyclical fluctuations in aggregate economic activity may have to be play in the theory of spontaneous economic order.     

Friedrich List and the Imperial origins of the national economy

This essay offers a critical reexamination of the works of Friedrich List by placing them in the context of nineteenth-century imperial economies. I argue that List's theory of the national economy is characterised by a major ambivalence, as it incorporates both imperial and anti-imperial elements. On the one hand, List pitted his national principle against the British imperialism of free trade and the relations of dependency it heralded for late developers like Germany. On the other hand, his economic nationalism aimed less at dismantling imperial core–periphery relations as a whole than at reproducing these relations domestically and expanding them globally. I explain this ambivalence with reference to List's designation of imperial Britain as the prime example of successful economic development and a model to be emulated by late industrialisers. List thereby fashioned his ideas on national development out of the historical experience of an empire whereby he internalised its economic logic and discourse of the civilising mission. Consequently, List's national economy culminated in an early vision of the global north–south relations, in which the global industrial-financial core would expand to include France, Germany and the USA, while the rest of the world would be reduced to quasi-colonial agrarian hinterlands.