西方主流经济学的范式危机

长期以来倡导并践行西方主流经济学的美国发生了金融危机并影响着全球经济,更加凸显对当代西方主流经济学范式及其危机予以剖析的重要性。西方主流经济学的范式危机体现于"现象经济学"倾向、方法论的形式化、环境假定的绝对化、"价值中立"的先天不足,以及均衡分析和静态分析的有限性等方面。西方主流经济学的范式危机,预示着其进一步演化的转换方向。     

均衡范式:主流经济学的半机制

主流经济学的理论危机在于其均衡范式的危机,而均衡范式又是其“半机制”——片面强调经济中的负反馈而忽略正反馈机制——的必然结果,经济学的进一步发展需要重视正反馈的作用,并赋予正、负反馈以同等的重要性从而构建一个更一般化的理论,在这个理论中,目前的主流经济学将成为一个特例。     

The Research Assessment Exercise, the state and the dominance of mainstream economics in British universities

In previous research on the impact of the Research AssessmentExercise on heterodox economics and heterodox economists inthe UK, the author concluded that reliance on Diamond List journalsto rank departments would drive economic departments to discriminatepositively in terms of their hiring, promotion and researchstrategies in favour of mainstream economists and their research,in order to maintain or improve their ranking. As a consequence,the author predicted there would be no or only a token presenceof heterodox economists in an increasing number of departments.Whether the conclusions still hold and the predictions materialiseis the subject of the paper.     

Evolutionary economics goes mainstream: A review of the theory of learning in games

The Theory of Learning in Games by Fudenberg and Levine surveys a key branch of evolutionary economics from a mainstream perspective. Its publication provides an opportunity to reassess the prospects and goals for evolutionary economics.     

At the origin of post-war mainstream of economics: On pareto’s influence on economic theory

Allais (1968) maintained that Pareto’s influence on the development of economics was felt only after considerable delay and was confined to Italy and France. This paper provides a reconstruction of the intellectual dissemination of Pareto’s thought through Europe and the United States in the period 1900–1940, showing that it was influential in the period from c.1900 to the mid-1920s and that in the 1930s it was highly important in the foundation of mainstream post-war economic theory, although in a more elusive way than before.(JEL:B13, B16, B21, B23, B31)     

The economics of corruption

This paper considers the relationship between market structure and the incidence of corrupt dealings in the government contracting process. Three cases are analyzed. We first deal with a situation in which government preferences are well-defined and many firms compete for the contract; we then contrast this case with one in which government preferences are ‘vague’ and finally eliminate the competitive assumption to consider the case of bilateral monopoly. It is then possible to consider the extent to which various criminal sanctions will deter corruption and the degree to which criminal incentives can be reduced by revising contracting procedures and reorganizing market structures.     

对西方主流宏观经济学均衡假定的反思——从凯恩斯主义的投资恒等于储蓄说起

自从凯恩斯的《通论》出版以来,宏观经济学就逐渐成为一个比较系统而相对独立的学科,后人将凯恩斯的短期经济增长模型进一步长期化为外生和内生经济增长理论.纵观主流宏观经济学的理论构建,几乎都有一个共同的假设:市场能够自动实现均衡,但是,正是这个假设将西方主流宏观经济学引入了歧途.对于原凯恩斯主义、新古典综合派、新凯恩斯主义、哈罗德-多马的古典经济增长理论和索洛的新古典增长理论、新古典宏观经济学派而言,它都是一个难以回避的硬伤.     

The economics of korean unification

We simulate the impact of a customs union and an exchange rate unification of North and South Korea. Factor mobility and technological change are of critical importance. If factor markets do not integrate, the macroeconomic impact on South Korea of economic integration is relatively small, while the effects on North Korea are large. With factor market integration, there is a significant impact on the South Korean income and wealth distribution. If integration is accompanied by external capital inflows, there is a significnt appreciation of the real exchange rate with deleterious implications for the South Korean traded-goods sector.     

生态经济学的方法论

基于生态经济学和新古典经济学之间存在的历史渊源和理论差别,研究生态经济学的方法论,可以从其区别于新古典经济学方法的角度予以解析.生态经济学的方法论是多学科、多技术集成下的综合性方法,具有价值多元论、生态人假定、边际分析的替代性方法、不确定性的独特解决路径、市场价值和社会选择的严格区分、生产本质的新界定等特征.     

The economics of TV tune-in

TV tune-in, namely the preview of forthcoming programs, is an important type of TV advertising. We examine TV tune-in as a continuous variable. First, tune-in can increase profits when TV stations are sufficiently differentiated and the market is partially covered. Second, tune-in crowds out program quality. Third, tune-in lowers advertisement supply. Further, tune-in can increase profits in a partially covered market if firms are sufficiently differentiated. Otherwise, it leads to low profits. We also identify the effects of tune-in on consumer surplus and social welfare and suggest that tune-in should be prohibited whenever it lowers program quality and social welfare.     

The new institutional economics and its relevance to social economics

There has been a quiet revolution in economic theory, led by the New Institutionalists. Pioneered by Douglass C. North, this group argues that institutions are the main determinants of economic performance, yet neoclassical economics has no role for institutions. Contrary to many misconceptions, this theory of institutions can be integrated with neoclassical economics, leaving mainstream economic theory in tact, but broader and more relevant. The purpose of this article is twofold. First, the main arguments of the New Institutionalists are summarized. Second, the bridge between institutions and social economics is explored. The article concludes by arguing that the New Institutional approach is fruitful, and that the theory will gradually be integrated with neoclassical economics, until the two merge into a single body of theory.     

The origins of meso economics

The paper starts from Schumpeter’s proposition that entrepreneurs carry out innovations (the micro level), that swarms of followers imitate them (meso) and that, as a consequence, ‘creative destruction’ leads to economic development ‘from within’ (macro). It is argued that Schumpeter’s approach can be developed into a new—more general—micro-meso-macro framework in economics. Center stage is meso. Its essential characteristic is bimodality, meaning that one idea (the generic rule) can be physically actualized by many agents (a population). Ideas can relate to others, and, in this way, meso constitutes a structure component of a ‘deep’ invisible macro structure. Equally, the rule actualization process unfolds over time—modelled in the paper as a meso trajectory with three phases of rule origination, selective adoption and retention—and here meso represents a process component of a visible ‘surface’ structure. The macro measure with a view to the appropriateness of meso components is generic correspondence. At the level of ideas, its measure is order; at that of actual relative adoption frequencies, it is generic equilibrium. Economic development occurs at the deep level as transition from one generic rule to another, inducing a change of order, and, at the surface level, as the new rule is adopted, destroying an old equilibrium and establishing a new one.     

The nature of heterodox economics

Heterodoxy serves as an umbrella term to cover the coming togetherof separate projects or traditions. In answering the question,‘what distinguishes heterodoxy from the orthodoxy?’,the author argues that matters of ontology are central. In answeringthe question, ‘how are the various traditions that makeup the modern heterodoxy to be distinguished from each other?’,the author defends criteria other than varying commitments tospecific substantive theories, policy measures or techniques(or basic units) of analysis.