The Economics of Social Interactions: An Interdisciplinary Ground for Social Scientists?

Social interaction models, i.e. the changing sequence of actions between individuals who modify their behavior under the influence of their peers, have rarely enjoyed as high a profile in economic analysis as they do today. However, the literature growth has not been accompanied by a process of academic consolidation. The difficulties encountered in research are largely but not entirely the result of data constraints. The main argument of this article is that the source of problems may be traceable to the lack of a complementary approach between economics and other disciplines. The difficulties presented by the deficit in academic exchange among social scientists are compounded by the current analytical framework, which still concentrates on the fundamental, but mutually exclusive, traditions of thought: homo oeconomicus and homo sociologicus. In spotlighting these ideas, this article reviews the economic body of literature on social interactions and their effect on individual unemployment status. Two directions in current research are analyzed: the impact of social (work) norms on unemployment and the role of social networks in the job search process. The theoretical and methodological challenges encountered in research suggest that the future of social interactions models might be found at the crossroads of economics and other social sciences.     

Managing complex adaptive systems — A co-evolutionary perspective on natural resource management

The overexploitation of natural resources and the increasing number of social conflicts following from their unsustainable use point to a wide gap between the objectives of sustainability and current resource management practices. One of the reasons for the difficulties to close this gap is that for evolving complex systems like natural and socio-economic systems, sustainability cannot be a static objective. Instead sustainable development is an open evolutionary process of improving the management of social-ecological systems, through better understanding and knowledge. Therefore, natural resource management systems need to be able to deal with different temporal, spatial and social scales, nested hierarchies, irreducible uncertainty, multidimensional interactions and emergent properties. The co-evolutionary perspective outlined in this paper serves as heuristic device to map the interactions settled in the networks between the resource base, social institutions and the behaviour of individual actors. For this purpose we draw on ideas from complex adaptive systems theory, evolutionary theory and evolutionary economics. Finally, we outline a research agenda for a co-evolutionary approach for natural resource management systems.     

An Institutional Explanation for Economists’ Theoretical and Methodological Choices

Scientific research in general and economics research in particular is a social act. More specifically, schools of economic thought as well as associations, research groups and conferences are expressions of social organizations within the realm of economics. Historically, studies investigating the methodologies used in economics have focused on the strengths of these social organizations. This study aims to analyze the key roles played by individuals within social organizations in building and reinforcing economics and, in turn, their influence on these individuals. To achieve this goal, we use an institutionalist approach in a broad sense. We show how economics as an academic environment can be presented as an institutional entanglement and how an institutionalist approach can enhance an understanding of why economists adopt a particular theoretical and methodological perspective. It is argued that habits, observations and cognitive abilities should be seriously considered to understand the logic and decision making of economic researchers. We discuss also the importance of forming groups in the process of institutionalizing elements relevant to an economic researcher’s logic and decision making and present an interpretation of mainstream economics in terms of the analytical approach of our study.     

Commodity Prices and the New Inflation

The intention of the article is to explore trends in economics and sociology, as well as other science disciplines, like history, psychology and anthropology, and investigate the interdisciplinary exchanges that have taken place, leading to convergences and divergences between academic subjects. The “imperialism of economics” is increasingly approaching traditional academic fields of history, psychology, and sociology. However, the article concludes that sociology’s public reputation may have declined, while simultaneously economics is shifting its attention to the social dimension of economic behavior and moving toward the other social sciences; a process which has been coined “social-scienciation.” The argument is that those developments can also be seen as chances to upgrade the social sciences “around” economics. The described process also aligns with recent talk about a need for interdisciplinary studies when this article adopts a different take on the issues of interdisciplinarity and embeddedness.     

试论经济学与哲学的联盟

经济学与哲学是社会科学的两大基础学科。长期以来,在我们的经济学研究和哲学研究中,存在着一种经济学家拒斥哲学、哲学家漠视经济学的倾向。随着社会主义市场经济体制的进一步完善和全面建设小康社会的不断推进,客观上需要宏扬经济学的哲学传统,强化哲学在经济学中的应用,缔结经济学与哲学之间的联盟,以使哲学走出"困境",经济学实现真正繁荣,从而更好地为从根本上解决我国目前经济社会发展中面临的许多重大问题提供强有力的智力支持。     

分工演进、社会资本与产业集群--对产业集群的形成与发展机理的一个解释

新兴古典经济学文献认为,经济的发展是一个分工演进的过程.通过实证案例,我们认为集群的形成与发展同样是一个分工演进的过程.然而,分工的深化又受到交易效率的制约.于是,我们探讨了集群特有的社会资本对于提高交易效率、从而推动分工演进、促进集群发展这一作用的过程.因此,地方政府可以通过创造鼓励诚信、鼓励合作的制度环境,便于社会资本的积累,以促进集群的形成与发展.     

Heterodox Economics and its Critics

Heterodox economics has its critics. Most of the criticisms are friendly comments and analysis directed towards improving heterodox economic theory. However, the critics and their criticisms that are the concern of this article are the ones that challenge the existence of heterodox economic theory and the community of heterodox economists as manifested through their graduate programs, conferences, journals and identity. These critics observe that the academic status quo in economics, as manifested in its department and journal rankings, rules of academic engagement, and its institutions and organizations, favor mainstream economics and that it is unlikely to change in the future. Consequently, they argue that heterodox economists can survive only if they become more like mainstream economists. With focus on assimilation, the critics direct their criticisms towards the social characteristics of the heterodox community and to the personal characteristics of heterodox economists. This article is a response to the critics.     

Pushing the boundaries of climate economics: critical issues to consider in climate policy analysis

Climate policy choices are influenced by the economics literature which analyses the costs and benefits of alternative strategies for climate action. This literature, in turn, rests on a series of choices about: the values and assumptions underlying the economic analysis; the methodologies for treating dynamics, technological change, risk and uncertainty; and the assumed interactions between economic systems, society and the environment, including institutional constraints on climate policy. We identify and discuss such critical issues, pushing at the boundaries of current climate economics research. New thinking in this area is gathering pace in response to the limitations of traditional economic approaches, and their assumptions on economic behaviour, ecological properties, and socio-technical responses. We place a particular emphasis on the role of induced technological change and institutional setups in shaping cost-effective climate action that also promotes economic development and the alleviation of poverty.     

Explorations - Introduction: Towards Lesbian,Gay, and Bisexual Perspectives in Economics: Why and How They May Make a Difference

The economics profession has only recently begun to include research on lesbians and gay men, but we argue that a lesbian economics has long existed, with documentation of anti-lesbian discrimination, discussion of its private and social costs, and practical work for change. This tradition, along with the newer traditions built upon work with gay men and bisexual people, provides a basis for feminists to expand work in economics on lesbian and gay issues. The articles in the symposium propose ideas for future research, for learning from other disciplines, and for creating a more welcoming academic climate.     

“老龄健康”的经济学研究

"老龄健康"问题是社会发展进程中面临的重大议题,其相关领域的研究已构成各国国家战略的重要组成部分。经济学和其他学科参与研究"老龄健康"问题之前,"老龄健康"问题更多地被作为医学概念,但是,随着经济学和其他学科的交叉与融合,决策者和研究者逐渐认识到跨学科研究的价值,越来越多的学者开始从经济学视角对"老龄健康"问题展开新的探索。关于社会经济、行为、环境、遗传因素及其交互作用与老龄健康关系的跨学科研究,逐渐成为近20年来这一研究领域的主要内容。本文将从宏观和微观两个层面,说明经济学家对"老龄健康"相关领域研究的逻辑、方法、内容、贡献和重点,通过对"老龄健康"经济学研究的讨论,希望对中国经济学科研究领域的拓展和老龄化问题的解决提供有价值的参考。     

“双一流”建设与经济学发展的中国贡献?

作为社会科学的“皇冠”,经济学的学科建设在中国“双一流”建设中,尤其在世界一流学科建设中具有重要意义,也将对中国全面深化改革以实现国家治理现代化提供重要的现实指导。文章首先分析了世界一流经济学科建设之于“双一流”战略导向的契合度,然后探讨了中国的世界一流经济学科建设所面临的难点及其突破点,进而阐述了中国可从哪些方面为经济学的发展和创新做出贡献。研究认为,打造中国的世界一流经济学科需要按照国际同行学术标准进行评价,所研究的问题(包括中国问题)应该是国际同行关注的问题,从而需要从完善学科分类评价体系、加强原创性研究和高层次人才集聚等方面加以突破。与此同时,针对经济学在中国的发展和创新,研究指出,对于中国传统经济思想的历史禀赋和现代价值的挖掘、具有原创性的理论研究和方法论研究创新以及基于中国经济改革发展实践的理论提炼升华,是中国经济学界可以且应该做出重要贡献的三个方向。     

金融危机下的资本主义将何去何从

2008年全球金融危机爆发以来,世界主要资本主义国家出现了经济增长停滞、失业率畸高、贫富差距扩大等现象,经济与社会的困境引发了西方学术界对资本主义经济、社会,乃至政治发展模式的反思,企图通过反思找到引发危机的真正原因,并促进资本主义的自我调整和完善。一方面,我们应该看到,金融危机反映了资本主义制度致命的缺陷,其根源就在于资本主义基本矛盾,只要资本主义制度存在,危机的爆发将是不可避免的;另一方面,我们也应意识到,仅凭这一场危机就断言资本主义从此将退出历史舞台,恐怕还为时过早。     

A Pathway Forwards for the Social Capital Metaphor

A major topic in economics is the analysis of a broad class of phenomena associated with interpersonal relationships, a topic that originally grew from theories of “social capital.” While the concept has been instrumental in bringing increased attention to social effects on economic outcomes, it has increasingly been replaced with approaches that consider instead networks and discrete interactions rather than aggregate measures of social capital. This has been an analytical improvement, but a great deal of work remains to bring empirical validity and relevancy to social network analysis. This paper presents two important approaches for achieving this, statistical analysis and agent-based modeling, and discusses their benefits, limitations, and complementary nature. Rather than waiting for either approach to achieve an ambiguous quality of maturity, integrating statistical analysis with simulation models of networks must begin now to push the frontiers of social network analysis forward.     

Does past unemployment experience explain the transition happiness gap?

The profound economic and political changes of the 1990s had detrimental social effects in many domains of life in post-socialist countries, including diminishing life expectancy and growing unhappiness. Despite economic improvements in the second decade of transition, research has documented that happiness lagged behind. We test whether past unemployment experience can explain this ”transition happiness gap in the context of Ukraine”, a country with a painful delayed transition from planned to market economy. We analyze unique longitudinal data for the period 2003–2012. Current unemployment substantially reduces subjective wellbeing, and the effect is roughly 50% larger for men than for women. The effect of past unemployment is significant, but small in magnitude compared to the effect of current unemployment. However, it does correspond to around 8% of the “transition happiness gap” found by Guriev and Melnikov (2017), suggesting that past unemployment experience can be considered as a partial explanation.     

社会创业导向、跨界搜索与社会企业绩效：市场环境的调节作用

作为社会企业重要战略选择,社会创业导向能够促进跨界搜索以获取灵感和动力,从而推动社会企业双元绩效提升。因此,基于组织搜索理论,遵循“态度—行为—结果”研究范式,将市场环境引入社会企业创业导向、跨界搜索与社会企业双元绩效关系模型,基于问卷数据验证社会创业导向对社会企业双元绩效的作用机制及外部影响。结果表明：①社会创业导向对社会企业经济和社会绩效具有积极影响;②跨界搜索在社会创业导向与社会企业经济和社会绩效间起部分中介作用;③市场环境作为关键外部环境因素,正向调节社会创业导向与跨界搜索的关系以及跨界搜索与社会企业经济绩效的关系,负向调节跨界搜索与社会企业社会绩效的关系。因此,整个模型能够回答社会创业导向如何推动社会企业双元绩效增长问题。此外,市场环境的技术动态性和需求不确定性促使市场逻辑在社会企业跨界搜索行为中占据主导地位,因而社会企业需要高度重视自身使命和价值共创,促进经济效益和社会价值实现。     

The Emptiness of Peasant “Rationality”: “Demirationality” as an Alternative

This article discusses consumption as a social process that is part of social provisioning and is in an evolutionary interplay with other social processes. The analysis provides grounds for a context-specific research that explores consumption in the context of a culture-nature life process, and draws on material from various disciplines. The article seeks to contribute to the literature on social provisioning as an organizing concept in heterodox economics. The first section explains what is meant by social process and delineates its elements. The second section formulates a categorization of social processes, and locates a consumption process within a system of culture-nature life processes. The rest of the article delineates the elements of the consumption process, providing illustrations based on literature from various disciplines. Specifically, the third section discusses consumption activities. The fourth section discusses institutions and systems of provision of goods and services. The fifth section applies the concept of habits of life and thought to the consumption process. Finally, the article concludes that the formulated analysis transcends dualisms such as social-economic, cultural-material, society-nature, and micro-macro, and draws implications for heterodox economics.     

Does past unemployment experience explain the transition happiness gap?

The profound economic and political changes of the 1990s had detrimental social effects in many domains of life in post-socialist countries, including diminishing life expectancy and growing unhappiness. Despite economic improvements in the second decade of transition, research has documented that happiness lagged behind. We test whether past unemployment experience can explain this “transition happiness gap in the context of Ukraine”, a country with a painful delayed transition from planned to market economy. We analyze unique longitudinal data for the period 2003–2012. Current unemployment substantially reduces subjective wellbeing, and the effect is roughly 50% larger for men than for women. The effect of past unemployment is significant, but small in magnitude compared to the effect of current unemployment. However, it does correspond to around 8% of the ‘’transition happiness gap” found by Guriev and Melnikov (2017), suggesting that past unemployment experience can be considered as a partial explanation.     

马克思经济学发现经济危机的社会哲学观和研究方法论——兼论马克思经济学和现代主流经济学的认知差异

马克思经济学比现代主流经济学更容易发现经济危机,主要源于两个基本特征:一是在社会哲学观上坚持矛盾冲突论,从而发现个人理性与集体理性之间的不一致性;二是在研究方法论上采用平均主义分析,从而更适合使用统计材料和历史材料来考察宏观经济的周期性波动。正因如此,马克思经济学能够充分认识到自由市场经济内含的冲突性,并从收入分配角度揭示了经济危机的内在根源;相应地,解决经济危机的根本措施就是,改变不合理的收入分配制度。     

Slavery,profitability, and the market process

The economic interpretations of the slave economies of the New World, as well as those social interpretations which adopt the neoclassical economic model but leave the economics out, assume everything they must prove. By retreating from the political economy from which their own methods derive, they ignore the extent to which the economic process permeates the society. They ignore, that is, the interaction between economics, narrowly defined, and the social relations of production on the one hand and state power on the other.The author would like to thank the Institute for Humane Studies at George Mason University and the Ludwig von Mises Institute for financial support of this research. Audrey Davidson, Robert Ekelund, Gerald Gunderson, David Laband, Randall Parker, Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., Richard Steckel, and Keith Watson provided useful comments and suggestions. Special thanks to Eugene Genovese, Robert Higgs, Murray Rothbard, and three anonymous referees for their comments.     

Linking material and energy flow analyses and social theory

The paper explores the potential of Habermas' theory of communicative action to alter the social reflexivity of material and energy flow analysis. With his social macro theory Habermas has provided an alternative, critical justification for social theory that can be distinguished from economic libertarianism and from political liberalism. Implicitly, most flow approaches draw from these theoretical traditions rather than from discourse theory. There are several types of material and energy flow analyses. While these concepts basically share a system theoretical view, they lack a specific interdisciplinary perspective that ties the fundamental insight of flows to disciplinary scientific development. Instead of simply expanding micro-models to the social macro-dimension social theory suggests infusing the very notion of flows to the progress of disciplines. With regard to the functional integration of society, material and energy flow analyses can rely on the paradigm of ecological economics and at the same time progress the debate between strong and weak sustainability within the paradigm. However, placing economics at the centre of their functional analyses may still ignore the broader social integration of society, depending on their pre-analytic outline of research and the methods used.