A new family-community social structure

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether a new family-community social structure of accumulation (FSSA) has emerged in the Unites States to contribute to long-wave growth and development through the early decades of the 21st century. Institutions that promote system-functions or public goods are required for sustainable growth and development. Three dimensions of the potential FSSA institutions are examined in this paper, within the context of the systemic circuit of social capital: (a) stability within families, (b) trust and association in the community, and (c) the degree of relative equality. Overall, the findings are that a new FSSA does not currently operate in the US because the emerging family type is not promoting sufficient stability, trust has diminished to low levels, and structural inequality has continued to rise. These factors have negatively impacted long-term economic performance through several transmission mechanisms, which are analyzed in the paper. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the combined ASE-AFEE sessions of the 2003 ASSA meetings. The author wishes to thank Jonathan Goldstein, Terry McDonough, Ron Stanfield and Patrick Welch for comments and encouragement on the earlier version.     

On the social structure of markets

Economic theorists have seldom discussed the social structuresbehind markets, even though market trading relies heavily onseller/buyer roles and personal relations among traders. Thispaper considers the structural basis of markets and proposesa layered approach which accommodates a wide range of competitiveand relational trade within a definition of markets that distinguishesthem from non-market exchange. Giving due regard to social structureslays bare the institutional character of markets and providesa rationale for case studies of how particular markets function.     

Reputation, group structure and social tensions

Social tensions impede social cohesion and public goods provision, and can be a driving force for more serious conflicts such as civil wars. Surprisingly, the emergence of social tensions has been studied only rarely in the literature. In the present contribution a game-theoretic model highlights how reputation concerns and the structure of group cleavages matter for the emergence of social tensions. In particular, the respective effects of ethnic fractionalization, polarization and segregation are analyzed. The differences between ethnicity and class, and the role of social mobility are also studied. The predictions of the model can account for recent empirical evidence.     

Government intervention and the structure of social capital

Over the past decade, policymakers and scholars have devoted increasing attention to the nature and role of social capital in the functioning of society. We examine the implications of government attempts to manipulate the existing structure of social capital to create homogeneity among agents. We find that these attempts can weaken, erode or destroy existing social capital. We conclude with policy implications regarding government efforts to create or manipulate social capital.     

Towards a new social input-output table: The dynamics of social groups and institutions

Input-output analysis has been very helpful to elaborate the 5 and 10 years sectoral forecasts which support the French medium-term economic policy. This analysis makes it possible to take into account the interdependences between the various sectors of the economy. This sort of analysis must be completed by another kind of analysis which is not based on the sectors of the economic activity but instead on the groups which characterize the French society in its present state of development. The relations between the groups set up on several plans, i.e., the economic, sociological, political and ideological plans. On the one hand, the behavior of each group depends on the characteristics proper to the groups, and, on the other hand, on its situation on the various plans, and mainly on the other groups. In this system of social accounting, which has still to be built up, the social groups play the part of the industries, the inputs are the modifications of the situation of each group and the outputs are the behavior of this group facing these modifications of its situation.This is the beginning of a research endeavor made particularly difficult by the great number of plans of interactions between the groups that have to be taken into account.     

关于我国社会结构调整的几点思考

在经济发展的基础上形成合理的社会结构,是国家实现现代化的重要目标。改革开放以来,中国的社会结构发生了深刻变化。这种变化主要是在经济结构调整和经济发展的推动下自然形成的,与中国社会主义现代化建设的要求还不相适应。应当通过社会体制的改革与社会政策的调整和创新,自觉推进社会结构的调整,培育形成一个合理的社会阶层结构,这是构建社会主义和谐社会的重要基础。     

浅析新农村的社会保障问题

社会保障是构建社会主义和谐社会的一项基础性制度建设,对调节收入分配、促进社会公平具有重要作用.本文从理论和实践的结合上,剖析了当前我国新农村建设中社会保障方面存在的根本性问题,同时对建设和完善符合我国国情的农村社会保障体系的发展思路进行了探讨.     

浅析新农村的社会保障问题

社会保障是构建社会主义和谐社会的一项基础性制度建设,对调节收入分配、促进社会公平具有重要作用。本文从理论和实践的结合上,剖析了当前我国新农村建设中社会保障方面存在的根本性问题,同时对建设和完善符合我国国情的农村社会保障体系的发展思路进行了探讨。     

Probability of idea acceptance in a technologically oriented social structure

An investigation is made of the probability of acceptance of unusually good research ideas communicated upward in a four-tier research hierarchy on the assumption that these ideas follow a Poisson distribution and a Markov random walk. Methods of improving the probability of acceptance of unusually good ideas are discussed.     

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.     

Demographic structure and growth: The effect of unfunded social security

This paper examines how demographics affect economic growth in an OLG model with unfunded social security. We derive two interesting results. First, the relationship between population growth and per capita output growth is hump shaped. Second, the relationship between life expectancy and per capita output growth is also hump shaped.     

The new organizational structure and its virtual functioning

"Virtuality" is initiating a change in organizations. It is necessary for companies to be managed flexibly and to respond to the changing needs of the environment. Some new concepts of understanding the organization, accompanied by current technological developments, may offer some opportunities and solutions to the various strategies. How does this new concept of organization with no presence, no physical attendance, and no material factors affect existing companies? This paper deals with questions such as: What is virtuality for companies? How does one manage a virtual company? What elements of virtuality need to be considered by traditional companies entering the new millennium? These questions will be reflected upon and analyzed from a theoretical framework. The framework will provide the basis for the design of an empirical study. The results of the study contribute to and give feedback on these initial questions.     

A framework for social security analysis

The public provision of pensions in the U.S. by means of the Social Security systems is examined relative to conventional arguments for public intervention. The system is analysed in terms of income redistribution, the provision of insurance where private markets are not efficient, and the compelling of saving by individuals.     

A positive theory of social security

In this paper I make two points. First, I argue that social security programs around the world link public pensions to retirement: people do not lose their pensions if they make a million dollars a year in the stock market, but they do confront marginal tax rates of up to 100 percent if they choose to work. Second, after arguing that most existing theories cannot explain this fact, I construct a positive theory that is consistent with it. The main idea is that pensions are a means to induce retirement—that is, to buy the elderly out of the labor force because aggregate output is higher if the elderly do not work. This is modeled through positive externalities in the average stock of human capital: because skills depreciate with age, the elderly have lower-than-average skill and, as a result, have a negative effect on the productivity of the young. When the difference between the skill level of the young and that of the old is large enough, aggregate output in an economy where the elderly do not work is higher. Retirement is desirable in this case, and social security transfers are the means by which such retirement is induced. The theory developed in this paper is also shown to be consistent with a number of other regularities documented in Section 1.     

A social contract approach to sustainability

This paper asks whether it is possible to derive a concern for future generations (“sustainability”) from an account of the firm as a social contract (SC) among its stakeholders. Two aspects of a leading SC model of the firm limit its usefulness for an analysis of sustainability. First, the stakeholders provide investments to the firm over time. Second, the relationship between contemporaries and future generations is marked by asymmetries of power and knowledge that need to be considered while reconstructing the SC today. I discuss three reformulations of the SC that are all, in principle, capable of introducing within the SC a concern for future generations. The first describes the contractors as heads of families. The second envisages a grand meeting of stakeholders of all generations. The third, which I find most defensible, views the SC as an ahistorical agreement reached behind a thick veil of ignorance. This agreement is based on John Rawls’s norm of reciprocity, whereby the stakeholders adopt today the decision they wish all previous (and future) generations had made regarding the rate of consumption of natural resources and emission of pollutants.