Was Vilfredo Pareto Really a ‘Precursor’ of Fascism.?

A bstract . Vilfredo Pareto has been labelled a fascist and 'a precursor of fascism' largely because he welcomed the advent of fascism in Italy and was honored by the new regime. Some have seen in his sociological works the foundations of fascism. This is not correct. Even fascist writers did not find much merit in these works, and definitely condemned his economic theories. A s a political thinker he remained a radical libertarian till the end, and continued to express serious reservations about fascism, and to voice opposition to its basic policies. This is evident from his correspondence with his close friends. There are strong reasons to believe that, had he lived long enough, Pareto would have revolted against fascism.     

Assessing the New Synthesis of Economics and Sociology

A bstract In this essay, the emergence of the New Synthesis of economics and sociology is explored and analyzed in the context of the classical writings in economic sociology (Old Synthesis). The aim is not to provide an exhaustive survey, but rather a selective assessment that introduces readers to the most important questions, answers, and contributions of this emerging and important specialized literature. The essay seeks to i) translate faithfully the internal logic of this active specialty field into a language and problematic that can be appreciated by non-specialists, ii) identify central assumptions and themes in the New Synthesis writings that seem particularly promising for the appreciation of contemporary economic happenings, and iii) indicate opportunities for the development of further theoretical richness by incorporating Old Synthesis approaches.     

The Changing Relationship Between Economic Sociology and Institutional Economics

A bstract In his early work. Talcott Parsons severely criticized Old Institutional Economists like Thorstein Veblen and Clarence Ayres. Parsons'main objection was that institutional economics had a misconceived view on the scope of economics: institutions, being the embodiment of values, were the proper subject of sociology rather than economics. By arguing for a clear-cut division of labor between economics and sociology. Parsons legitimated the divide between the two disciplines that came into being in the years to follow. Recently however, the relationship between economic-sociology and institutional economics has changed dramatically. New Economic Sociology (advocated by scholars like Mark Granovetter and Richard Swedberig) rejects the division of labor proposed by Parsons. By-providing substitutes rather than just complements to economics, it tries to counter economic imperialism. This creates significant similarities between New Economic Sociology, Old Institutional Economics and the recent return of institutionalism in economic theory. However, the quest for a division of labor between economics and sociology remains unfinished.     

On the Origins of The American Journal of Economics and Sociology: Its Purposes and Objectives

This essay, written with the help of his devoted wife, Mrs. Dorothy Burnham Lissner, was prepared at the request of the current editor of the AJES. This essay was written during the fall of 1999. On September 10, Mrs. Lissner informed me that, “The early history of the Journal is all done. . . . I hope it is satisfactory . . . Will and I worked very hard on it. Long hours. . . . so I decided to interview him and take down what he said or have him answer on tape. Then I put everything together on the computer, almost like an article. He [Will Lissner] has checked it and thinks it's perfect, that we can do no better” (correspendence of D. B. Lissner with L. Moss, 9/10/99). This is the last known writing of Will Lissner and summarizes his aims, goals, and ambitions for this Journal nearly six decades after its founding. Had Will had more time, this essay would have been the first of a series of reflections on this history of this Journal.     

The New Economic Sociology of Prices: An Analysis Inspired by the Austrian School of Economics

The new economic sociology includes some reference studies on the sociology of prices. They have not until now been studied by economists, and this article attempts to fill that gap by offering a detailed analysis, inspired by the Austrian School of Economics, of their object and approach. We first show that, from a theoretical point of view, the explanations advanced by these sociologists are based implicitly on basic models of economics, such as the “law of supply and demand” and the “law of costs,” and that they cannot therefore replace economic explanations of prices. Secondly, from a methodological point of view, these studies are based on field surveys that provide concrete information on certain markets but they lose sight of an aspect that is fundamental to the Austrian School, the interdependence of prices in different markets. And when this interdependence is taken into account, namely, in the case of the relationship between cost and price, the causal link postulated by sociologists goes from cost to price when Austrian economists argue that it goes in the opposite direction.     

The Economists of Tomorrow: The Case for Assertive Pluralism in Economics Education

This article presents the case for “assertive pluralism” in economics education and proposes how to achieve it, illustrating the point with reference to the U.K. Subject Benchmark Statement in Economics (SBSE). It proposes a revision of the benchmark, prioritizing the role of controversy in the teaching of economics, combined with pluralistic principles that uphold and guarantee critical and independent thinking. This reform is a necessary response to what Colander et al. (2009 ) term the “systemic failure” of economics—the inability of the profession, taken as a whole, to anticipate and understand the financial crash and recession of 2008. Failure on this scale testifies to a more deep‐seated weakness in economics than commonly recognized. It arises from what Turner ( Tett 2009 ) terms the regulatory capture of the economics profession by narrow financial interests. The public, and the economics profession, require specific protection against the pressures that have produced this systemic failure. This requires a rethink of the relation of economics to society, founded on a rejection of the idea that the function of economics is to provide a single, unequivocal solution to every problem of policy. Instead, the article explains, good economics should be constrained to evaluate the full range of relevant solutions to any given policy issue, leaving the decisionmakers accountable for the decisions they make on which solution to adopt.     

案例教学在我院《公共经济学》教学中的应用

城市学院的办学特色在于应用型人才的培养,而案例教学正能满足培养应用型人才的需要。公共经济学作为公共管理学科中的重要课程,是典型的以实践教学为主要手段的学科。本文正是作者在《公共经济学》教学中案例教学的实践探讨。     

Economics,Darwinism, and the Case of Disciplinary Imports

The problem of causality in economics is still contended by various epistemological alternatives. The article builds on the received view of Darwinism in economics and examines the way in which economics and biology find common ground in concepts and assumptions that reflect causal commonalities of the natural and the social world. We claim that the role the contingent pattern plays in understanding socioeconomic change provides reasons to concede corrections to a rule‐based causal mechanism. The article concludes on the merits of advancing the ontological equivalent of interdisciplinary studies as one possible standard in reference to which to judge the epistemic adequacy of any import.     

An Analysis of Authors and Institutions Contributing to The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 1981–1993

A bstract . An analysis of academic participation in The American Journal of Economics and Sociology shows that the journal is a major outlet for comprehensive schools which emphasiize undergraduate programs, but others, including large research schools, are well represented. Although the AJES has encouraged interdisciplinary research in the social sciences from its inception, economists are the major contributors. Seventeen foreign countries, forty-five states, and the District of Columbia are represented in the AJES with Eastern, Midwestern, and Western states being the most prominent.     

The size distribution of cities: An examination of the Pareto law and primacy

This paper examines the Pareto and primacy measures of the size distribution of cities. The mean Pareto exponent for a sample of 44 countries is 1.136, somewhat greater than the exponent of one implied by the rank-size rule. We find that value of the Pareto exponent is quite sensitive to the definition of the city and the choice of city sample size. The significance of non-linear terms in variants of the Pareto distribution also indicate that the rank-size rule is only a first approximation to a complete characterization of the size distribution of cities within a country. The relatively low correlation between primacy and Pareto measures confirms the need for a variety of measures of city size distributions. This paper also suggests that large cities are growing faster than small cities in most of the countries in our sample. This is indicated by the positive coefficient on the first non-linear term introduced into the Pareto equation. Finally, variations in the Pareto exponent and measures of primacy are partly explained by economic, demographic, and geographic factors.     

Making the Country Work for the City: Von Thünen's Ideas in Geography, Agricultural Economics and the Sociology of Agriculture

Geography, as the discipline responsible for describing the organization of space, has developed several ways of dealing with the phenomenon of the central city and its surrounding hinterlands. One of the most prominent of models used is von Thünen's Isolated State, a predictive model of how rural hinterlands organize agricultural production in relation to an urban center. Despite today's globalized food provisioning system, there are still some agricultural commodities that remain in U.S. city hinterlands. The most prominent of these is milk. The spatial organization of dairying is therefore a topic in which von Thünen's notions of centrality are still pertinent. In addition, outside of geography, his ideas had a significant effect on the agricultural economists who formulated dairy marketing policy. This paper will examine von Thünen and notions of centrality in the formulation of dairy policy in the United States. His contribution has been very important to agricultural economists and agricultural geographers but less important to sociologists of agriculture, who see the spatial organization of food production around cities due as much to contingent, local political outcomes as to law-like notions of centrality. Comparative historical method in sociology has been particularly useful in determining the role of predictive models and contingency in determining the spatial organization of milksheds.     

基于制度经济学视角分析产业集群组织内部企业边界

产业集群内的企业在利润最大化的驱使下不断增加企业边界,在企业内部的生产成本和交易成本的制约下不断缩小企业边界在这两种相反效应的共同作用下,企业边界将达到边际收益等于边际成本时的规模,企业实现利润最大化。企业生产边际成本要包含企业内部交易成本。     

人力资源管理中的帕累托定律

人力资源管理是组织管理中的重要内容,文章提出运用帕累托定律进行核心人力资源的管理以带动整个组织的成员,力求以最小投入得到最大产出。