The ‘science-as-market’ analogy: a constitutional economics perspective

The ‘science-as-market’ analogy has been used in support of the notion that in science just as in markets competition works as an effective instrument for reconciling the self-interested ambitions of individual agents with the social function that science and markets are supposed to serve. This paper examines the analogy from a constitutional economics perspective, drawing attention to the role that the rules of the constitution of the ‘game of science’ as well as the ‘market game’ play in conditioning the ways in which competition works in the two realms.     

The ‘new economics’ and policies for financial stability

The purpose of this paper is to consider the policy implications of the ‘new economics’. The focus will be on financial stability as an objective of policy within a more general framework of policies. The theoretical framework upon which we base our policy conclusions is summarised to provide understandings of the operation of the economy and the need for policy interventions, before the main policy implications, the focus of this paper, are discussed. In doing so we argue that an important policy dimension, which has been ignored in the past, is financial stability, a new focus of monetary policy amongst other implications. The theoretical framework upon which we base our policy conclusions tries to avoid the problems encountered by the previously dominant paradigm ‘New Consensus in Macroeconomics’. It represents in this sense ‘new thinking in economics’.     

The history of economics as economics?

Abstract

This paper critically evaluates the current decline of the relationship between economics and the history of economics, and proposes a framework called the panorama-cum-scenario model for the practice of the history of economics. Starting with the Hegelian thesis that the history of economics is economics itself, the paper argues that such a relationship is necessary but not sufficient because the history of economics is a metatheory addressed to economic theory. The history of economics needs a panoramic view of the subject and a scenario for the construction, interpretation, and evaluation of the system of economics. The panorama-cum-scenario model enables us to work on the history of economics not only by historical and rational reconstruction but also by global reconstruction. Nietzsche's anti-Hegelian viewpoint and Heidegger's hermeneutical standpoint are useful for identifying the role of historical research in developing economic knowledge based on the panorama-cum-scenario model. Several approaches to the history of economics are examined in light of the panorama-cum-scenario model. Schumpeter's history of economics is interpreted as an example of the panorama-cum-scenario model.     

Is ‘new’ behavioral economics ‘mainstream’?

When comparing ‘new’ and ‘old’ behavioral economics (BE), many argue that ‘new’ BE has close ties with what is often called ‘mainstream’ economics. The aim of this paper is to reframe the ‘old’ vs. ‘new’ BE debate and investigate the nature of the relationship between psychologists, behavioral economists, and ‘mainstream’ economists. This will lead us to develop the concept of ‘space of interaction’, building on Galison’s metaphor of ‘trading zones’, to emphasize the role of outsiders, strategic thinking, and negotiation in ‘new’ BE. By discussing some often implicit arguments in an otherwise disconnected literature, we seek to bring new arguments to the discussions through a careful study of those relationships in the history of ‘new’ BE and its more recent developments. Leaving aside the orthodox/heterodox contrast and comparative approaches, we hope to provide a different account of the changes in ‘new’ BE and its relationship with the ‘mainstream’.     

The political economics of investment Utopia: public–private partnerships for urban infrastructure finance

This article explores the policy disconnect between the pursuit of private investment return and the public desire for enhanced social value from public–private partnership (P3) investments in urban infrastructure. Investors view infrastructure finance as an opportunity for relatively safe, high-return investing. But infrastructure-financing architecture to achieve high private returns frequently clashes with financing models that sustain long-term social benefits. The full implications of relational tensions in the structuring of P3s are analyzed. The principal policy conclusion is that, because of these tensions, the use of P3s for this purpose should be restricted.     

The life cycle of scholars and papers in economics – the ‘citation death tax’

The information content of academic citations is a subject to debate. This article views premature death as a tragic ‘natural experiment’, outlining a methodology identifying the ‘citation death tax’ – the impact of the death of productive economists on the patterns of their citations. We rely on a sample of 428 papers written by 16 well-known economists who died well before retirement, during the period 1975 to 1997. The news is mixed: for half of the sample, we identify a large and significant ‘citation death tax’ for the average paper written by these scholars. For these authors, the estimated average missing citations per paper attributed to premature death ranges from 40% to 140% (the overall average is about 90%), and the annual costs of lost citations per paper are in the range 3–14%. Hence, a paper written 10 years before the author's death avoids a citation cost that varies between 30% and 140%. For the other half of the sample, there is no citation death tax; and for two Nobel Prize-calibre scholars in this second group, Black and Tversky, citations took off over time, reflecting the growing recognitions of their seminal works.     

The evolution of IT innovations in Swedish organizations: a Darwinian critique of ‘Lamarckian’ institutional economics

Fundamental correspondence and analogies between the evolution of technological and biological innovations call for an ‘innovation Darwinian’, ‘universal Darwinian’ or ‘memetic’ approach to understanding technology innovation. Neo-institutional, in fact pseudo-Lamarckian evolutionary economic theory, represented by North, Nelson and Winter, Freeman and others, is criticized. Pseudo-Lamarckian (“by volition”) evolution is explained and analyzed on Darwinian grounds (as intentional and artificial selection), as is Schumpeter’s definitions of creative and imitative innovation. Data from a web survey among Swedish public and private organizations in 1999 are studied. Data show that Darwinian co-evolutionary interaction between producers and users or clients provide essential conditions and stronger influence on creative IT innovations than both ‘Lamarckian’ strategies and competition.

The reason for ‘The Reason of Rules’

This paper is an attempt to locate the writing of the book, The Reason of Rules, in its intellectual and temporal setting. The object is to capture something of the ambitions of the book and to assess its limitations as perceived three decades after its writing. It includes some personal reflections on the experience of Buchanan as a co-author.     

Islamic economics versus market economics： The concept of taxations

Taxation plays a major role in both market economics and Islamic economics. The difference is that in market economics, the tax system has evolved throughout the centuries in order to address the constant change in market-based societies. In Islamic economics, however, the tax system bases on the writings of the Qur＇an and the principles of shariah. As a result, it did not flourish as the needs of Islamic society changed. Therefore, governments in Islamic countries that seek to follow Islamic law are facing major economic challenges. Recently, some Islamic scholars have asserted that Islamic governments can go beyond the explicit instructions of the Qur＇an and impose taxes as needed. They justify their arguments based on the interpretation of Qur＇anic verses. This paper briefly compares both rationality and the methods of taxation in both market economics and Islamic economics, and further elaborates on the shortcomings of the original Islamic tax laws.     

Research,teaching, and ‘other’: what determines job placement of economics Ph.D.s?

This article examines job placement for Economics Ph.D.s seeking junior-level positions using a data set constructed from job candidate vitas, public websites, and queries to programme directors. Based upon multinomial logit estimation, being from highly ranked graduate institutions and having high quality publications has a significantly positive effect on placement at a top 20 academic institution or Doctoral-level institution. Teaching experience – as a teaching assistant (TA) or independent instructor – has a significantly positive effect on placement, but only for institutions ranked below the top 60, Masters and Baccalaureate institutions, and non-tenure track academic positions. We find little evidence on the effect of teaching in tenure track hires for departments with Doctoral programmes or mid-tier prestige. Moreover, teaching experience has a significantly negative effect on placement in the top group of academic institutions in Economics.     

Positive public economics: reinterpreting ‘optimal’ policies

The standard positive/normative divide fails to capture the way economists use ‘optimal’ taxation models. This paper argues that the better way to understand public economics is through a three-part division between positive, normative, and instrumental models. An instrumental model is about means and ends. Once this additional dimension is acknowledged, one can see that ‘optimal’ taxation models are closely connected to what are generally seen as purely positive models. I argue that economists have been using similar standards to assess ‘optimal’ taxation models as they use to assess positive models. Recent advances in optimal taxation theory have embraced the positive aspects of models, even about social welfare functions, something that is generally classified as a normative.     

The basic theory of industrial ecological economics

There is a great difference between the new type industrialization road in China and the road of industrialization first, then informatization and at last ecologization in western developed countries. Industrial eco-economics is one of the critical branches of eco-economics. It is a subject of objective law of structural upgrading, functional optimization and highly efficient running of industrial eco-economic system, which is combined with industrial economic system and eco-system under the condition of intellectual economy and circular economy combinations. Meanwhile, it is a relatively weak subject in the research field of eco-economics in China for the time being. Taking the practice road of new type industrialization needs the guidance of industrial eco-economics. The modern industrial eco-economics in the 21st century must be adapted to the need of new type road of industrialization in China. The paper analyzes the status quo of research and the main contents of industrial eco-economics and tries to study some key theories of the branch subject.     

Robots and us: towards an economics of the ‘Good Life’

(Expected) adverse effects of the ‘ICT Revolution’ on work and opportunities for individuals to use and develop their capacities give a new impetus to the debate on the societal implications of technology and raise questions regarding the ‘responsibility’ of research and innovation (RRI) and the possibility of achieving ‘inclusive and sustainable society’. However, missing in this debate is an examination of a possible conflict between the quest for ‘inclusive and sustainable society’ and conventional economic principles guiding capital allocation (including the funding of research and innovation). We propose that such conflict can be resolved by re-examining the nature and purpose of capital, and by recognising mainstream economics’ utilitarian foundations as an unduly restrictive subset of a wider Aristotelian understanding of choice.     

‘Everyone Creates One's Own Borders’: The Dutch–German Borderland as Representation

When examining the internal borders of the European Union in the context of their purportedly official demise following European integration, structural obstacles to cross-border interaction are normally taken into consideration while ignoring borders in people's minds. Approaching this lacuna, the author proposes to understand borders as being constituted by imaginations and representations, and as undergoing a constant reconfiguring through social relations. This article explores the meanings of the Dutch–German border expressed in popular representations that commonly employ national stereotypes. Against the background of ‘popular geopolitics’, and applying semiotics as methodology, the author presents a theatre play on the Dutch–German border as a complex but popular representation. Analysis of the theatre play also focuses on its audiences and the reception of the play by children. This permits to address people's readings of popular representations in order to approach the question of why borders persist in people's lives.     

Austrian economics and development: The case of Sudha Shenoy’s analysis

The aim of this paper is to describe Sudha Shenoy’s use of Menger, Mises, and Hayek (she explicitly called them ‘the older Austrians’) to explain development and growth. Her aim was to show that the application of Austrian economics, based on the notions of capital structure and division of labor, embedded in a specific legal framework (common law), historically promoted development and growth (as in early modern England); and can promote development and growth in underdeveloped countries (her specific focus was India). Shenoy also claimed that any policymaking as well as government’s intervention are either useless or dangerous, having two main dysfunctional effects, which are often interrelated; namely, make development slower (or even stop it), and increase corruption.