Darwinian paradigm,cultural evolution and human purposes: on F.A. Hayek’s evolutionary view of the market

The claim that the Darwinian paradigm of blind-variation-and-selective-retention can be generalized from the biological to the socio-cultural realm has often been questioned because of the critical role played by human purposeful design in the process of cultural evolution. In light of the issue of how human purposes and evolutionary forces interact in socio-economic processes the paper examines F.A. Hayek’s arguments on the “extended order” of the market (capitalism), in particular with regard to their policy implications. Its focus is on the tension that exists in Hayek’s work between a rational liberal and an agnostic evolutionary perspective. A re-construction of his arguments is suggested that allows for a reconciliation of these seemingly contradictory views.     

A note on the difference between human and non-human productive factors: Comments on ‘Love, war, and culture: An institutional approach to human evolution’

In this article, Professor Pagano views human relations as generally ‘(…) influenced by the prevailing features of the goods (private, public and positional) that have characterized production in different stages of the history.’ In my comment, I focus on the distinction between human and non-human productive factors. Because of their obvious relationship, some of the considerations that follow from such a distinction are already—explicitly or otherwise—in the target article’s argument; those that are not, especially with regard to the cultural determinant of value, could be easily integrated into it.     

Peer pressure,social spillovers,and reciprocity: an experimental analysis

This study examines whether reciprocity is affected by what others know and do. Two types of social effects are investigated within the framework of a modified investment game. On the one hand, we assess the role played by the awareness that own choices are observed by another trustee—i.e., peer pressure. On the other hand, we measure the interaction between trustees’ choices—i.e., social spillovers. We find that peer pressure fosters reciprocity and, to a lesser extent, so do social spillovers.     

Is H.A. Simon a theoretician of decentralized planning? A comparison with F.A. Hayek on planning,market, and organizations

Herbert A. Simon acknowledged Friedrich A. Hayek as a founder of the notion of bounded rationality; yet Simon considered Hayek’s perspective incomplete, and, more in general, their views on market mechanisms, planning, and organization exhibit considerable differences. The comparison between these authors sheds light on Simon’s interpretation of planning, which emerges within his theory of organization (and not in traditional debates on socialism). Contrary to Hayek, he maintained that planning, in specific circumstances, is more advantageous than the market; and in both administration and organization, it involves a decentralized structure based on near independent sub-units. Decentralization of decisions also appears in social planning, which evolves through continuous interactions among planners (i.e., agents and institutions), and it is a process connoted by the absence of “fixed goals”. Finally, Simon defined modern economies more in terms of “organizational economies” than in those of “market economies” and this highlights a further difference with respect to the Austrian economist. This leads to analysis of the nature of organizations as hierarchical and “near-decomposable” structures, which refers to Simon’s theory of complexity and gives an epistemological explanation to the relation between centralization and decentralization.     

Entry and industry evolution: the UK car industry, 1958—83

This paper models entry and the subsequent changes in market structure in three segments of the UK car industry, 1958–83. The entry equation emerges from a dynamic optimization model which allows for the costs of acquiring market share. The model is used to explore the hypothesis that the market penetration of entrants in this industry was facilitated by a post-entry advertising war which the incumbent firms lost. The basic hypothesis under examination is that advertising both facilitates and restricts entry, but that it does so in a way that varies systematically over time. The data are consistent with this view, showing that high advertising shares readily translate into high market shares, but that the escalation of industry advertising caused by entry can make high advertising entry strategies increasingly costly over time.     

Purchasing Power Parity: A Time Series Analysis of the U.S. and Mexico, 1995–2007

This paper presents indirect evidence that absolute purchasing power parity (PPP) may hold in the long-run between Mexico and the U.S., but due to data limitations, the relationship could not be tested directly. Thus it is not clear if absolute PPP holds in the long run between the U.S. and Mexico. Given that relative PPP is a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for absolute PPP to hold, this study tests the relationship between the change in the log of the exchange rate, and the changes in the log of the U.S. producer price index (PPI) and the Mexican PPI. Here, the absence of relative PPP would indicate that absolute PPP could not hold. Given that all the relevant variables in first difference log are stationary, PPP in its relative form holds and OLS can be applied directly in a VAR model setting, viz., treating all variables initially as potentially endogenous. The estimates indicate one-way Granger causality from the percentage change in the exchange rate to the percentage change in the Mexican price level, which is not an implausible result for an emerging nation such as Mexico which imports a significant fraction of (dollar denominated) intermediate products and capital inputs.     

Bilateral capital flows and the exchange rate: The case of the U.S.A. vis-à-vis Canada,France, West Germany and the U.K.

After a preliminary test (with generally negative results) of the interest parity assumption, an eclectic portfolio adjustment approach, which determines an exchange pressures variable (under a régime of a managed float) is constructed, for bilateral comparisons between the United States and its major trading partners taken individually. This approach to bilateral capital flows and managed exchange rate determination appears to function reasonably well, as judged by the empirical results. Interestingly, factors specific to individual exchange markets appear to play important roles in explaining bilateral capital flows and cross exchange rates, which would not occur in a Walrasian world, with global market clearing.     

Sex on the brain: some comments on ‘love, war and cultures: An institutional approach to human evolution’

Ugo Pagano provides a stimulating account of the grand sweep of human existence on this planet, relying on a few carefully-chosen analytic tools, including the role of sexual selection, brain size, public versus positional goods, and complementarities. But in his telegraphic narrative the compressed language is sometimes misleading or functionalist. Some of the details and current controversies get lost. This comment identifies some of the problems and urges that we should look more closely at the detailed mechanisms involved.     

A remark on R.S. Pindyck: “Irreversibilities and the timing of environmental policy”

This note adresses R.S. Pindyck: “Irreversibilities and the timing of environmental policy”, Resource and Energy Economics, 22 (2000) 233–259: For the case of quadratic environmental cost, it is shown that the value function is not as claimed, nor of the suggested form. The solution in the case of linear environmental cost is affirmed with a complete proof. An additional expression is corrected.     

Is it all about competence? The human capital of U.S. presidents and economic performance

This paper explores the extent to which human capital improves the economic policy competence of US presidents. Several recent studies have used international data to test similar hypotheses. However, international studies suffer from a variety of comparability issues, not all of which can be avoided through fixed effects and error correction. The US results developed in this paper suggest that both career paths and education have significant effects on a president’s economic policy judgment, particularly in the period after the Civil War. However, the paper also suggests that more than good economic management skills are required to win national elections.     

Innovation,structural change and demand evolution: does demand saturate?

In this paper the exploration of the interaction mechanisms between the evolution of demand and the overall process of differentiation of the economic system is pursued in a twofold way: (i) the question is asked whether demand indeed saturates and whether such saturation is required for an ongoing economic development; (ii) the impact of the income distribution on the evolution of demand and thus on economic development is investigated. To study the existence and impact of demand saturation, Engel curves are calculated under different conditions. To study the impact of income distribution, TEVECON distinguishes within the population of the economic system two social classes, which differ in their level and quality of education, and thus for their human capital and wages.     

U.S.-China Economic and Political Relations: Youths’ Perceptions

This paper is a study of the perceptions of young adults in the U.S. and China on the relations between the two nations. We conducted a case study by distributing a 17 question survey to 201 American undergraduate students (NYC) and 164 Chinese undergraduate students (Shanghai). The questions probed their views of U.S. and China’s economic and political systems, the future economic growth and political power in the world of the two nations, and the future political and economic relations between the two powers. The results of our study reveal a number of important perceptions that both U.S. and Chinese students have, some being similar and others being in sharp contrast. Most students in both countries view future political and economic relations between the U.S. and China predominantly as cooperative but only based on each nation’s self-interests. Both Chinese and American students agree that China is gaining political strength and economic influence among the advanced and the emerging nations of the world. While most of the U.S. students believe that China has been and will continue to grow at a much faster rate than the U.S., Chinese students are more likely to believe that this rate of growth is unsustainable. The results from our survey are compared and contrasted to the findings of national surveys for both countries. We believe that the study provides valuable insights into the similarities and differences in viewpoints of the next generation of adults in both nations about future U.S.-China relations.     

Comparative Study on Venture Capital among U.S.A., Japan and China

This essay, through comparing venture capital in China＇s modernization with U.S.A., Japan, summarizes the different characteristics of venture capital of the United States and Japan, and thinks that China＇s present modernization, as a flag of developing countries, has already entered middle period of industrialization, according to the experience of U.S.A., Japan and reality of China. The technological progress mode has already been changed from technology import to technological innovation stage at this time. In order to encourage innovations, we must develop venture capital in a more effective manner. The national conditions have determined the technology import of China, which must start with a high points, this is the most important condition of target to choose. The venture capital of China in system transitional period should use U.S.A.＇s experience for reference even more on the capital source to pay close attention to the capital sources of the government and bank. Once the government guides and starts the market, the folk capital will show the natural instinct of the capital automatically Risk investment is the embodiment capitalized personality spirit, in order to dispose such ambitious culture. We need the reform of the system as well as dispose risk investor＇s stratum at present.