The Methodological and the Ethical Context of Positive Economics: Comment on McKenzie

This article employs the number of rule recipients in order to explain the transformation of some customs into laws. The publication of rules may mark the reaching of the threshold number beyond which the spontaneous rule leaves room for the State intervention. In addition, the publication resolves a couple of questions that Hayek left unresolved. Examples are provided from ancient merchant customs and contemporary international law.     

Kenneth Boulding's Theories of Evolutionary Economics and Organizational Change: A Reconstruction

I identify a discrepancy between Kenneth Boulding's wide-ranging contributions to evolutionary economics and his professed ecological approach to it. I argue that Boulding has undersold his true contributions to evolutionary economics by trying to embed them into the ecological approach. I endeavor to overcome this discrepancy by differentiating between two types of evolutionary change analyzed in Boulding's writings: ecological change and civilizational change. In contrast to ecological change, civilizational change entails the possibility for the evolving system to overstrain the carrying capacity of the environment, thus suggesting the precarious relationship between civilizational complexity and sustainability. This argument sheds new light on Boulding's theory of “social organizers,” such as exchange, threat, and the integrative system. Boulding's understanding of civilizational change envisages the key role of threat and exchange in enabling civilizational complexity, while the integrative system is called upon to make this complexity sustainable.     

Bringing Social Structure Back into Economics: On Critical Realism and Hayek's Scientism Essay

This paper offers a critique of the critical realist (CR) interpretation of Friedrich Hayek's famous essay Scientism and the Study of Society presented in Tony Lawson's recent Economics and Reality. It is argued, contrary to Lawson's reading, that Hayek's social structures (1) do have an existence over and above the conceptions of the individual actors and (2) serve as a precondition for human action on the lines proposed by CR. Some links are made between Hayek's essay and the theory of social reality recently proposed by John Searle, and some comparisons drawn with CR.     

Consecrating Capitalism: The United States Prosperity Gospel and Neoliberalism

Neoliberalism relies on optimism. Without faith in meritocracy—unwavering belief that rewards will eventually and justly come to those who work hard enough—support for the capitalist system and belief in neoliberalism would unravel. How that optimism is perpetuated in the face of persistent income inequality and exploitation within the workplace requires an examination of those cultural institutions which reinforce and reproduce optimism over practical experience. This research focuses on one particular religious institution of the United States—the Prosperity Gospel.

The Prosperity Gospel is a modern, neoliberal variation of Pentecostalism that is premised on the belief that a Biblical covenant between the individual believer and God guarantees that believer blessings of health and wealth, provided she demonstrates adequate faith. Accordingly, for those who are less adept at navigating the business world, financial success is still available for those believers who can dedicate themselves with the same frenzied ambition to the spiritual world. The Prosperity Gospel thus supports and sustains neoliberalism; the Prosperity Gospel is an institution which provides ref-uge to individuals from the exigencies of the market as well as a social practice which reinforces individual responsibility and fault. The Prosperity Gospel is the spiritual articulation of neoliberalism as well as a reinforcing institution.     

Thinking Like a Trader: The Impact of Neoliberal Doctrine on Habits of Thought

Neoliberalism has come out of the financial crisis unscathed. Moreover, it has further asserted its dominance over geopolitical discourse and ideology worldwide. I contend that neoliberal supremacy in the policy arena and upon domestic and international institutions has been largely uncontested because it has penetrated all aspects of life to the extent that it now represents what Thorstein Veblen referred to as “the modern point of view.” Understanding the global power of neoliberalism requires examining not only its well-established hegemony over institutions as social constructs, but also its impact on habits of thought as mental constructs. From a Veblenian perspective, I argue that the neoliberal doctrine generates habits of thought which legitimize the transformation of a marketoriented economy into a full-fledged market society. The impact of the normalization of the neoliberal mode of behavior may, in the end, worsen the fracture between nation and state and unravel the fabric of society by justifying fully detached, emotion-free, and self-centered actions that crowd-out pro-social behaviors and challenge any social conception of the common good.     

新自由主义经济学中的政府观及其启示

新自由主义经济学各流派是现代经济学丛林中的奇葩。在充分肯定市场作用的前提下,具有各不相同的政府观。了解和认识新自由主义经济学各流派的政府观,并进行系统比较和总结,对中国在全球化背景下形成和构建政府观具有极其重要的意义。     

Thinking Like an Economist: The Neoliberal Politics of the Economics Textbook

This article surveys 10 introductory economics textbooks to examine whether and how economics contributed to the rise of neoliberalism. It defines neoliberalism as a political rationality characterized by market constructivism. In contrast with conventional liberal approaches that view limited government as legitimized by the failure of naturalist markets, neoliberalism constructs the market as norm and means of government. Economics textbooks overall have a liberal outlook, as exemplified by Samuelson's classic, however, with three liberal subgenres: the imperfect market view, the free market view, and an institutionalist view. While the introductory textbook cannot be construed as an instruction manual for neoliberalism, the article nevertheless identifies two important neoliberal moments: the discussion of market-based forms of government and the rise of a new genre of principles textbook that urges students to “think like an economist.” The article concludes with novel insights on how economics may have contributed to the spread of neoliberalism.     

The 2016 Veblen-Commons Award Recipient: Daniel W. Bromley: Institutional Economics

Institutional economics remains impaired by a lack of agreement as to the meaning of the concept “institution.” At the practical level, this conceptual muddle prevents progress in the crucial task of helping problematic states in Africa, parts of South Asia, and the Middle East. Thousands of refugees seeking to enter Europe are a reminder of the tragic consequences of dysfunctional states. Standard international development programs — emphasizing economic growth and fighting poverty — are counter-productive because they fail to address the underlying institutional incoherence in fragile states. They are flawed because they focus on symptoms rather than reasons. A focus on the reasons for current dysfunctional states would bring attention to the defective institutional architecture — legal relations — that prevents the emergence of economic coherence where dysfunction now reigns. We must help countries craft economic institutions that will improve livelihoods. But conceptual coherence about institutions must first emerge from the academy.     

A Characteristics Approach to the Evaluation of Economics Software Packages

Using the Bloom taxonomy of learning, the authors identify elements of student and instructor interest and then develop characteristics that are useful in analytically evaluating software packages for instruction in economics. They illustrate the technique with the extensively used software package Running the British Economy.     

The State,Public Policy and Heterodox Economics: An Introduction

While most heterodox economists endorse some amount of policy activism, there is no unified conception of the state and public policy in heterodox economics. To help clarify the similarities and differences within heterodoxy – and between heterodox and mainstream economics – a panel addressing this subject was convened in 2007 at the Annual Meeting of the Association for Institutional Thought. This article introduces the essays prepared for that symposium. They include an examination of the position of Marx and Engels, a clarification of the institutionalist views of Veblen and Commons, an outline of the perspective of Post Keynesian Institutionalism, and an account of some essential contributions of Classical Pragmatism (a major school of thought within the philosophy of science). The collection advances what Robert Heilbroner called “the worldly philosophy” by seeking to understand the role of the state in a world where institutions, defined broadly as social habits, adjust to other institutions.

Economic Power and the Firm in New Institutional Economics: Two Conflicting Problems

The objective of this study has been to undertake an analysis of the economic and institutional determining factors of fiscal pressure in a group of European countries with different levels of economic development, recent history, or level of cooperation and integration among them. We have used a panel of data from 40 countries and a time period of eleven years. Apart from the variables generally used, we have introduced additional ones such as governing party ideology, rate of economic freedom of Euro-area countries, together with another set of institutional variables. Results obtained show that the purely economic model improves when institutional and geopolitical variables are included and, in this way, it is possible to see which countries governed by the left, belonging to the Euro-area or having been members of the Soviet block, and with economic freedom, are more liable to increase fiscal pressure.     

The Role of Economics: Creating the Sustainable Rational Agent

How are consumption decisions made? Does demand drive supply, does supply drive demand, or is it a mixture of both? Do consumption decisions implicitly include our values or are our decisions made with an assumption that what we are consuming has already factored in the long-term best interests of human health and environmental well-being? These basic questions are often unaddressed in the introductory study of economics. Instead, assumptions related to consumption and production behavior, demand, and supply are embedded as representative of consumer and producer behavioral norms, typically with minimal discussion. Could implicit assumptions promote observable behavior rather than be indicative of it? If so, could increasing awareness of the role of embedded values in demand and supply influence behaviors of consumers and producers and thereby alter economic outcomes? These questions were addressed as part of an introductory economics course case study. The purpose of the study was to raise awareness of the implications of individual purchasing decisions and to specifically initiate students in self-evaluation of their individual values and the values embedded in their individual consumption behavior. The results of the study promote the view that increasing awareness of the holistic impact of consumption behavior may be a significant catalyst to promoting sustainability.     

The Role of Economics in Interdisciplinary and Problem-Oriented Programs

Although research on the teaching of economics beyond the introductory course appears to be increasing, it is still rare. This study is one of the few that deals with the intermediate level. Ault and Rutman used a three-part test (one part of which was made up of an essay question) in measuring student knowledge before and after instruction in intermediate theory. They compared an experimental group being taught through a problem-centered format (in combination with the usual lecture-discussion approach) with a control group getting only the lecture-discussion treatment. The experimental students did no better than the control students, but the authors discuss several variables that might help to explain these results.     

Environmental Degradation and Population Movements: The Role of Property Rights

This study examines the linkages between environmental degradation (viewed primarily as deforestation and land degradation) and the movement of population from one region to another within a developing country. The hypothesis postulated is that the link between population and environmental degradation is mediated by the nature of property rights in land. This hypothesis is examined with the help of two alternative methodologies. Firstly, a simultaneous equations model using data for the arid and semi-arid region of Western India illustrates that outmigration from the region is largely the consequence of push factors such as environmental degradation and decrease in common land. Alternatively, micro experiments in environmental protection and the creation of common property rights on open access land in the same region indicate that the association between migrational change, creation of common property rights and participation indices is high. It can be concluded that once property rights are well defined with the help of appropriate institutional arrangements, labour moves towards the creation of common assets and an improvement in the environment takes place. Out migration is prevented and higher levels of population are supported by the same resources. The authors wish to thank Ms. Seema Bathla and Dr. Suresh Sharma for assistance in documentation, data collection and analysis.     

The Future European Labor Supply: The Critical Role of the Family

The European employment strategy initiated in 1997 is critically dependent upon the further integration of women into the labor market. The European Union has set a specific target employment rate for women of 60 percent by 2010 and is also committed to providing more and better child care facilities. This gender focus is reinforced by the requirement for gender mainstreaming in all aspects of European employment policy. There is an implied Europe-wide, universal policy of encouraging female labor-market participation and reducing the care work performed by domestic labor. However, the European Commission continues to have limited competence in areas of family, social, and welfare policy. As a result, these common employment objectives for women are thus being pursued against a background of quite different systems of social, family, welfare, and indeed labor-market organization. These systems have different economic and employment implications, such that the outcomes of the common European employment strategy will also be highly variable.     

语言的经济学分析:一个综述

本文对语言经济学这门新兴交叉学科的产生与兴起、研究现状及其学科定位等进行了总结和评述。语言经济学孕育于民族主义问题之中,发端于加拿大的官方语言问题,它的兴起成就于人力资本理论和教育经济学。语言经济学有广义与狭义之分。广义上,语言经济学采用经济学的理论、方法及工具,把语言和言语行为当作普遍存在的社会和经济现象来加以研究;狭义上,语言与劳动收入关系研究、语言政策与语言规划的经济学分析、语言动态发展的经济学分析以及博弈论在语言学中的应用等构成了当前语言经济学研究的主要内容。伴随着经济的全球化,语言经济学的重要性正在提升,一方面,语言经济学为语言学的相关研究提供了新的视角和思路,带来新的分析工具;另一方面,它也正在为经济学自身提供新的研究话题。     

The Challenge of Radical Political Economics

The aim of this paper is to develop a theoretical framework for the study and integration of financial innovation in the institutional structures that support the operation of the monetary system. The background of the analysis comes from original institutional economics (Bush and Tool 2003 Bush, Paul Dale and Marc R. Tool. “Foundational Concepts for Institutionalist Policy Making.” In Institutional Analysis and Economic Policy, edited by Paul D. Bush and Marc R. Tool, pp. 1–46. Dordrecht, Germany: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2003.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]; Foster [1942] 1981 Foster, J. Fagg. “John Dewey and Economic Value.” Journal of Economic Issues 15, 4 ([1942] 1981): 871–879. [Google Scholar], [1949] 1981 Foster, J. Fagg. “The Relation Between Theory of Value and Economic Analysis.” Journal of Economic Issues 15, 4 ([1949] 1981): 899–905. [Google Scholar]; Veblen [1914] 1964 Veblen, Thorstein. The Instinct of Workmanship and the State of the Industrial Arts. New York, NY: Augustus M. Kelley, [1914] 1964. [Google Scholar], [1889] 1996 Veblen, Thorstein. The Theory of the Leisure Clash. London: Dover, [1889] 1996. [Google Scholar]), the state theory of money (Ingham 2004 Ingham, Geoffrey. The Nature of Money. London: Polity, 2004. [Google Scholar]; Papadopoulos 2009 Papadopoulos, Georgios. “Between Rules and Power: Money as an Institution Sanctioned by Political Authority.” Journal of Economic Issues 43, 4 (2009): 951–969.[Taylor &; Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]), and a specific account of social ontology based on constitutive and normative rules as well as the notion of collective intentionality (Searle 2005 Searle, John. “What Is an Institution?” Journal of Institutional Economics 1, 1 (2005):1–22.[Crossref] , [Google Scholar], 2010 Searle, John. Making the Social World. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2010. [Google Scholar]). The aim is a dynamic framework for the analysis of the institutional evolution of money, whereby institutional change comes from technology, and the state acts both as regulator of the institutional adjustment and guarantor of the stability and the efficiency of the monetary system. In that sense, the framework outlines the context and principles for the government regulation of financial innovation.     

西方可持续性经济学研究的主要理论问题及其评价

可持续性经济学是20世纪60年代以来在西方经济学界逐渐形成并发展起来的一门新兴的、交叉型和应用型经济学科。尽管西方经济学界对可持续性经济学从概念、特征、研究范畴、研究方法和制度背景等诸多方面并没有形成一个统一而明确的认识,但可持续性经济学的有关理论已成为可持续发展实践的基础和重要指导。通过对西方可持续性经济学研究的主要理论问题进行梳理与评价,一方面可以揭示西方在该学科领域一些关键理论问题上的研究进展,另一方面也为我国构建具有中国特色、适合中国国情的可持续性经济学的理论和实践提供借鉴。     

Teaching College Economics in the High Schools: The Role of Concurrent Enrollment Programs

The authors examine concurrent enrollment programs (CEP) as an effective means of teaching college economics in high school. They describe the establishment of the National Alliance of Concurrent Enrollment Partnerships to set national standards for CEP. They also investigate the performance of high school students taking the Syracuse University one-semester micro/macro principles of economics course through its CEP, Project Advance, on the Test of Economic Literacy. CEP students average nearly 1 percentage point higher than do the advanced placement/honors economics group and score considerably better in fundamentals and international economics. By cognitive levels, CEP students score over 4 percentage points in the knowledge area and exhibit better performance on application questions.