The Marxian schemes of reproduction and the theory of effective demand

The paper deals with some theoretical and analytical issuesraised by a recent book by Trigg on Marx's schemes of reproduction.The paper presents a generalized model of expanded reproductionand concentrates on the attempt to develop Marx's schemes alongKeynesian lines. Trigg tries to develop a Keynesian interpretationof the schemes without significant changes to Marx's originalapproach; the paper argues that the abandonment of some of Marx'shypotheses, in particular that of free competition, is necessaryto allows us to provide a Marxian determination of underemploymentequilibria and to use a Marxian version of the Keynesian conceptof multiplier. In considering Marx's and Keynes's analyses ofcapitalist economies, the paper also emphasizes their similaritieswith respect to the importance of money and the capitalists'liquidity preference in the process of reproduction and growth.     

Human capital theory and social capital theory on sports management

This paper analyzes sports managers' earnings and blends traditional aspects of management derived from human capital theory with new aspects derived from social capital theory. It captures the integrative and relational aspects of sports management. In 2000, the authors carried out a questionnaire in the Madeira Island. Data about the amateur sports managers were then taken from it. Results obtained verify that sports managers' earnings are function of both types of theoretical determinants posited by the human capital theory and the social capital theory. The authors conclude that both issues are determinants of sports managers' earnings.     

The theory of capital utilization and the putty-rubber production function

This paper extends the theory of optimal shift-work to the presumably realistic case in which the ex post elasticity of substitution between labor and capital services is neither zero nor equal to the ex ante elasticity. The paper considers both the CES and the VES as candidates for the ex post function, and gives reasons for preferring the latter. The introduction of ex post substitutability where none existed before is found to increase the profitability of shift-work.     

Value and capital: Austrian capital theory,retrospect and Prospect

The time is right for a reexamination of Austrian capital-theory. We attempt to capture the essence of Carl Menger’s approach to capital, highlighting the important distinction between goods and the valuable services they yield (implying that goods are valuable only because they yield valuable services) and highlighting also the importance of money in facilitating exchange and production and in providing the means to value them. We look at the capital-theory of Böhm-Bawerk and suggest that, in many respects, this was a wrong turn, although it did set in motion valuable efforts to clarify the importance of the heterogeneity of productive-resources and their growing complexity over time. We examine the production-function, micro and macro, and show that it is logically untenable and useless as an instrument for empirical investigation, and that this has been known for decades. Of the Austrians after Menger, only Mises followed Irving Fisher in focusing on valuation. He did so in the context of explaining the importance of calculation. Mises’s approach to capital has been insufficiently understood and appreciated. By way of conclusion we draw from our considerations to provide a research agenda in Austrian capital theory.     

A theory of capital gains taxation and business turnover

We present a theory concerning the realization of capital gains where ownership and control are linked as in Holmes and Schmitz (J. Pol. Econ. 103: 1005–1038, 1995). The model developed is a version of a Lucas-tree economy in which the productivity of a technology depends on the ownership of the technology. The existence and uniqueness of equilibrium follow from the Contraction Mapping Theorem. The theory implies that impediments to asset trading, such as capital gains taxation, negatively affect production efficiency. Moreover, we calibrate the model economy to U.S. data on small-business turnover and find that indexing deductions for inflation is capable of increasing capital-gains tax revenues. We thank an anonymous referee for helpful comments, and well as Tom Holmes, Ed Prescott, Jim Schmitz and Neil Wallace for insightful conversations. Cavalcanti is grateful for financial support from CNPq, as well as the hospitality from the University of Toronto during his visiting appointment at the Department of Economics in 2006. Erosa acknowledges the support from the Institute for Policy Analysis at the University of Toronto and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.     

A broad utilitarian theory of value and moral value

Never before has the American business community been challenged to justify and support its ethical standards as today. Hearings before government agencies, attacks by public interest groups, and emphasis on consumer interests have raised serious questions concerning the moral code of industry, the social responsibility of the business community, and what lies ahead for the business firm as it behaved in the past. Somehow much of the public believes that corporate responsibility has been compromised, and that regard for profits has become a way of life that overlooks humane and societal considerations. Management must recognize that it is invested with a definite ethical and moral, as well as legal, responsibility to demonstrate the highest traits of business leadership in its stewardship role. Anything short of such a standard may be catastrophic for the future of the American enterprise system.     

Biological capital theory: a question and a conjecture

A community possesses an empty tract of land, good only for growing trees of a particular type. What is the optimal pattern of planting and harvesting? If utility is convex in consumption it is optimal to plant and harvest periodically. If the utility function is strictly concave our numerical analyses suggest that the forest approaches a balanced state in which the rate of timber production is uniform.     

The dynamic impact of intellectual capital on firm value: evidence from China

We examine the dynamic relationship between intellectual capital (measured by human capital and organizational capital) and firm value of Chinese listed firms. We do causality identification using system GMM and IV estimation, and find no significant relation between human capital and firm value, but organizational capital positively affects firm value with a lag. Our findings are robust to firms with different property rights, of different sizes, or in different industries, with the only exception of capital-intensive firms, in which human capital has a significant influence on firm value. The results imply that the improvement of organizational system plays a more important role in raising the value of a firm in a typical developing country, like China.     

A Marxian model of enclosures

A model is constructed which provides a coherent and logically consistent framework for analyzing the enclosure movement. The relation between the implications of our model and the standard literature on the causes and consequences of enclosures is examined in some detail. We attempt to show that Marx's analysis of ‘so-called primitive accumulation’ can be given an interpretation that is more reasonable, logically consistent, and empirically sound than is commonly acknowledged.     

The internationalisation of research and development by multinational enterprises and the transfer sciences

Overseas R&D in multinational enterprises responds to demand side and supply side factors. On the demand side laboratories can help to adapt or develop products for particular markets. However, since these markets may now be much wider than one country, where a laboratory doing such product development is located may also be influenced by where the best scientific inputs are available (i.e. supply-side factors). Also overseas R&D labs may do basic or applied research not related to current market needs or production conditions. The location of this is even more likely to be influenced by countries' scientific capabilities and capacities. The paper investigates the configuration of these influences on overseas R&D, and especially the role and implications of the supply-side factors.I would like to thank Marina Papanastassiou for permission to use material from her database and for valuable discussion of many of the issues dealt with in this paper.     

Replacement and the rental value of capital equipment subject to obsolescence

For a vintage model of capital equipment expressions for the implicit rental value and the optimal replacement policy are derived from the hypothesis of profit maximization. These will give unique solutions independent of product market conditions provided that two particular sequences converge to the same limit. The replacement rules of Terborgh, Smith, and Brems are shown to be special cases of this general model and also to depend on the particular convergence property of the sequences. The relationship of certain payoff period criteria to the optimal policy is also discussed.     

Examining the theory of capital structure: signal factor hypothesis

The aim of this study was to explore how various levels of information asymmetry affect the capital structure of listed companies in Taiwan and China. Regression results over the past few decades have indicated that the trade-off theory lacks explanatory power, bringing into question the accuracy of the static trade-off theory and the existence of an optimal capital structure. On the other hand, the financial decisions of companies do not always appear consistent with the pecking order theory. Building on the research of Chou et al. (2011), this study sought to verify the signal factor hypothesis, which combines the trade-off theory with the pecking order theory.

This study was the first one to employ the panel KPSS test with sharp drifts, developed by Chang and Ranjbar (2012), as well as the Fourier function to verify that an optimal capital structure does exist for companies with more symmetric information, thereby establishing the trade-off theory. Firms with information asymmetry show adverse selection costs, which supports the pecking order theory and rejects the existence of an optimal capital structure.