Henry George and the Classical Scientific Research Program: George's Modification of It and His Real Significance for Future Generations

Abstract . Henry George's revision of classical economics was based on a new “hard core” assumption linking efficiency, equity, and social welfare to a revised concept of property rights in land. However, rather than create new core supporting “protective belt” theories, George either accepted or, when necessary, modified existing classical theories especially those which threatened his new hard core, for example, classical “wages-fund” theory. Consequently, George's adaptation of the Ricardian “stationary state” model was less accurate than mainstream classical economics in its predictions concerning the behavior of the distributive shares of income over time, and the effects of technological change on economic growth and economic welfare. Without its own protective belt, George's classicism became a special case of classical economics whose value, nevertheless, existed in its effective criticism of classical property rights theory.     

Institutionalism versus Orthodoxy

A bstract . Orthodox economics has been quite effective in exploiting equilibrium methodology; equilibrium as a heuristic device, as a theoretical norm, and as a prototype of the scientific method. Also, orthodoxy has contrived the dichotomy of equilibrium-anti-equilibrium to depict institutional thought as being muddled and unscientific. Institutionalists have not successfully countered these attacks, nor have they adequately articulated a comprehensive methodological alternative to orthodoxy. Institutionalists have paid too much attention to the methodological components of institutionalism and have neglected the articulation of a guiding, overall methodology. It is proposed that institutionalists recast the methodological debate by expanding the arena from equilibrium-anti-equilibrium analysis to the broader context of closed versus open systems analysis. This would both help expose the methodological weaknesses of orthodox economics, and demonstrate the relevance and power of institutionalism for socioeconomic investigation.     

Value Freedom' and the Scope of Economic Inquiry: 1. Positivism's Standard View and the Political Economists

Abstract . According to what might well be regarded as the standard view among economic methodologists, the economist qua economist makes no value judgments concerning policy ends and their means of attainment. However, in restricting the proper aims of economic inquiry to epistemic goals only, the proponent of the standard view has neglected to ask why we seek to realize such goals; who needs economic knowledge?; for what?; what are people's fundamental needs, problems? In opposition to the standard view I argue that there is no good reason to exclude the promotion of human welfare, enhancement of the quality of human life, etc., sociologically, psychologically and philosophically defined, as well as analyzed from the viewpoint of economics, as legitimate goals of the economist in his professional capacity.     

The Keynesian Paradigm and Economic Policy

Abstract . Keynesian macroeconomic theory and the new theory of the hitherto neglected branch of political science, public administration, which were both independently introduced at about the same time in the New Deal period of the 1930s, complemented each other. Keynesian theory, emphasizing government fiscal policy and deficit spending as counterdepression, full-employment, and economic growth measures, became the generally accepted paradigm in economics and public finance. Public administration theory held that government agencies, motivated primarily by their own bureaucratic expansionary self-interest, would bring about an equilibrium of national interest. This provided the justification for agency initiative in stimulating and supporting the demands of interest and pressure groups whose regulation required increased agency activity. The theories and their outcome reflected the continuing decline of classical liberalism.     

The Roles of Intellectual Pedigrees in Economic Science

Abstract . Intellectual pedigrees, reviews of the intellectual history of a theory, perform important functions in economic science. The discipline of economics is comprised of numerous, competing Paradigm-schools. Therefore, both ‘normal and ‘revolutionary’ science occur continuously in economics. In normal science, pedigrees place current work in the context of an on going research program, demonstrate the “significance” of that work, influence the process of theory appraisal, and aid in establishing Professional consensus. J. M. Keynes' use of pedigrees in his General Theory illustrates their revolutionary functions. During revolutionary science, pedigrees establish the identity, legitimacy, relevancy and authority of one school of economists and seek to persuade nonmembers to convert their allegiance to its disciplinary matrix.     

Structural-Functional Dynamics in the Analysis of Socio-economic Systems: Development of the Approach to Understanding the Processes of Systemic Change

Theory can be equated with analogy. Both attempt to convey the unfamiliar and/or the complex through use of more familiar and/or simple constructs. The theoretical analogies of “modern” economics have been by and large patterned after a prestigious and powerful Newtonian model, i.e. they have been of the mechanical genre. It has been argued, however, that models of a biological, or evolutionary, nature would be more appropriate to analyzing economic processes and systems. This article is the first of two aimed at suggesting a form for such an evolutionary model. In this article, the analytical concepts of structure and function and their interrelationships are discussed as they apply to non-human biological systems. Resulting feedback effects which produce dynamic change are placed within the context of the evolutionary model of stratified stability. This model explains developmental change as always tending toward more complex but more stable levels of structure, and thus unidirectional. However, the process of societal change is non-teleological in that the particular path of change is not deterministic.     

Culture in Neoinstitutional Economics: An Integration of Myrdal and Galbraith into the Veblen-Ayres Matrix

A bstract . Neoinstitutional economics , exemplified in this instance by the contributions of Gunnaar Myrdal and John K. Galbraith , exhibits a basic proclivity toward fragmentation. It is argued that a further advance of the Veblen-Ayres general theory of economic development will serve as the foundation to reverse such centrifugal tendencies and provide a basis for integration and synthesis. The key conceptual framework for analysis and theory resides in culture and its evolution. The core of culture is transformed through the processes of economic development fed by the dynamics of technological change. In a modified Veblen- Ayres matrix, social institutions are assumed to be integral to the organic whole of technology. Given further modifications of mainstream institutional economics contained in the "dichotomy of useful knowledge" and the "wheel of economic development," it is suggested that the cultural approaches of Myrdal and Galbraith might then be integrated into the culture-analysis of economic evolution inherent in mainstream institutional economics     

The Current State of Institutional Economics: The Movement's Limited Impact on the Conventional Science Is Ascribed to Disunity, Disinterest in General Theory

A bstract . The current state of institutional economics is far from being satisfactory. Leading institutionalists have not taken an active role in the institutionalist movement. Also the institutionalists have displayed little unity in either their theoretical or policy positions. They have become engrossed in the analysis of limited issues rather than in an exposition of the theoretical foundations of their economics. An evaluation of the four main groups of institutionalists reveals that their impact on conventional theoretical and applied economics has been very limited. If the institutionalist movement is to improve its status, leading institutionalists will have to support this movement more actively; and more attention will have to be paid to the movement's theoretical Underpinning. Also the institutionalists will have to develop a more unified policy position which can receive the support of a widespread constituency. Failing to move along these lines can only have the result of continuing institutionalism's low status.     

Work and Welfare in Economics:

Abstract . Today's conventional economics typically ignores the impact of alternative forms of work organization upon the welfare of the worker. In effect, its methodology is concerned with the welfare of the individual as a consumer, but not with the welfare of the individual as a worker. Hence, welfare conclusions of economics are subject to challenge on grounds of being incomplete. Whether the worker is alienated or achieves self-fulfillment, etc., stands in no necessary relationship to either the formal lines of enterprise ownership, political ideology or form of economic system. Questions of authority and power in work organizations and the workplace conditions affecting the worker on the job transcend them.     

The Theoretical Background of Henry George's Value Theory*

Abstract . Henry George intended that his last work. The Science of Political Economy, (which his untimely death left unfinished), should recast economics in a new mold. He argued that if economics is the science of the nature of wealth and the laws of its production and distribution and if in present society there is some deep and widespread wrong in its distribution, if not in its producton, it is the office of an honest science to disclose that. He therefore sought a philosophical basis for an investigation into the nature of wealth which led him into an investigation of the idea of value. These investigations were preceded by an attempt to set out a philosophy of science with respect to one of the sciences, economics.     

Radical Individualism vs. Institutionalism, I The Division of Institutionalists into 'Humanists' and 'Behaviorists'

A bstract . David Seckler has filled an important gap in the methodological literature of economics by providing a "radical individualist" critique of American institutionalism (1). Seckler argues that institutionalists have been unable to develop a coherent methodology because of their ambivalence on the issue of " free will versus determinism." Thorstein Veblen, he says, entertained both "humanistic" and "behavioristic" hypotheses in his explanations of human behavior and, consequently, descended into obscurantism. The institutionalist literature in general reflects these contradictory methodological tendencies; for example, John R. Commons was a "humanist" , whereas Clarence Ayres was a "behaviorist." Seckler's critique is not, however, persuasive. He fails to recognize the difficulties inherent in the philosophical dualisms posited by "radical individualism," and he employs them credulously in his critique of institutionalism. Equally damaging to his argument is his failure to give adequate consideration to the meaning and significance of the "institutional dichotomy" in institutional analysis.     

Alvin Harvey Hansen: Economic Growth and a More Perfect Society: The Economist's Role in Defining the Stagnation Thesis and in Popularizing Keynesianism

Abstract . Alvin H. Hansen was one of the leading American economists from the 1930s to the 1960s. He was largely responsible for the popularization of Keynesian economics in the United States and Canada. He was responsible for the development of the secular stagnation thesis which explained 19th century American economic growth in terms of population growth, the frontier, and technology. The diminishing of these factors explained the decrease in the American economic growth rate in the 20th Century. Hansen's policy conclusions to prevent stagnation were Keynesian in nature and, as a result, Hansen was an early advocate of active fiscal policy in the United States. He differed with Terborgh.     

The Role of Roles in Risk Management Change: The Case of an Italian Bank

This paper explores the role of roles (i.e. groups of actors characterised by the same functional tasks within an organisation), and of their interactions, within processes of change in risk management (RM). By combining insights from the literature on RM and from institutional studies, this paper suggests that change in RM can be interpreted as a process that involves both enabling and precipitating dynamics [Greenwood, R., & Hinings, C. R. (1996). Understanding radical organizational change: Bringing together the old and the new institutionalism. The Academy of Management Review, 21, 1022–1054. doi:10.5465/AMR.1996.9704071862] between different roles. Aiming to address these dynamics empirically, we rely on a longitudinal case study of an Italian bank. The study shows that the interactions between roles were dependent on their respective specific interests, the different institutional templates they supported, and the shifts in power for control over relevant information. These dynamics both affected and were affected by the change in the template-in-use within the bank and allowed a sort of RM ideal (i.e. the search for more RM) to persist over evolving templates.     

Forensic Economics and the Wrongful Death of a Household Producer: Current Practices, Methodological Biases and Alternative Solutions of Losses

Abstract . A new frontier in forensic economics has emerged: expert testimony on the loss of earning capacity due to the wrongful death of a household producer not in the labor force. Forensic economics—the application of economic analysis by an expert witness—in this area is at an early stage of development. While several methods have been developed for estimating the value of household production, one method, in negligence cases, dominates in the courtroom: replacement cost. Reliance upon a single methodology seems unwise in light of the newness and complexity of research in the area of household production. There are promising alternative methods which could be used. Opportunity cost, family profile and value of service flows methodologies are good candidates. Potentially, the use of alternative methodologies could help provide a consistency check on the reasonableness of any one particular methodology. Presently, several constraints frustrate the task of refining the state of forensic economics in this area. However, progress can be made by, among other things, subjecting forensic economics in these cases to more thorough unbaised professional review such as is common in an older area, antitrust cases.     

Organizational Issues in Worker Ownership

Abstract . In the United States the issue of worker control is currently receiving increased attention. Nevertheless, before this view of work and the workplace can be successfully implemented, the standard (hierarchical) image of organizational order must be rethought. Communicative competence, as discussed by Jürgen Habermas, is offered as a theoretical alternative to social ontological realism for developing a workplace that is compatible with worker control. This theoretical shift is necessary to avoid organizational domination of the worker and to develop a workplace that embodies, instead of restricts, human action. For if human action does not orient the workplace, worker control does not exist.     

Sacred alliance or pact with the devil? How and why social enterprises collaborate with mainstream businesses in the fair trade sector*

Abstract

This paper uses institutional theory to highlight different patterns of cross-sector collaboration from the perspective of social enterprises. Specifically, it explores how and why social enterprises interact with mainstream businesses and to what extent their collaboration patterns reflect a vision of how their social mission should be implemented and institutionalized. The empirical analysis is derived from a qualitative study of ‘fair trade’ – a hybrid model created by social enterprises and using market mechanisms to support small-scale producers in developing countries and to advocate for changes in international trading practices. The findings highlight three strategies used by fair trade social enterprises to manage their interactions with mainstream businesses: sector solidarity, selective engagement, and active appropriation. This paper suggests that each strategy is motivated by a different vision of how best to articulate the social mission of fair trade via specific types of collaborations. It also notes how each vision has a distinct pattern of institutionalization at the field level. This paper adds to the emergent literatures on social enterprise and social entrepreneurship, fair trade, cross-sector collaboration and hybrid organizing.     

Henry George and Europe: Ireland, the First Target of His Efforts to Spread His Doctrines Internationally, Disappointed Him

Abstract . Henry George made several crusading forays into the British Empire at the time of its zenith. But the first, to Ireland, proved a disappointment. George saw Ireland as an object lesson in the land question and at first It was uppermost in the minds of the 600,000 tenant farmers. But the 20,000 landlords agreed to an amelioration, and for decades, republicanism replaced land reform in Irish social history. George misread the temper of the times; he saw Ireland's political future better served by becoming a self-governing unit of a league of British nations. “Integration” was the trend of the times, the American social philosopher insisted. Ireland (with the exception of Ulster) became a dominion in 1921 but it withdrew from the British Commonwealth in 1949 to become a sovereign republic. George was not wholly wrong in emphasizing economics over politics. In 1955 Ireland, now Eire, entered the United Nations where it wielded influence all out of proportion to its resources and economic development became its over-riding issue.     

The Male-Female Comparable Worth Debate: Alternative Economics Perspectives on an Issue That Cuts Across the Social Sciences

Abstract . Writers and speakers on the “comparable worth” or “pay equity” issue refer to “the economic view” but there is no such consensus. Three major paradigms exist in labor economics, the neoclassical, the “radical” or Marxian or Neomarxian, and the institutional Each differs in philosophical orientation, employs different analytical methods, and leads to different policy implications. On the issue of pay equity for women their views are contrasted; differences center on how successfully the market extends full options of choice. The analysis indicates that incremental advances in the direction of pay equity are to be expected, given present incentives in the private sector and less economic constraints in the public sector, provided women continue economic, legal, and political pressure. Surveying The Literature on the comparable worth or pay equity debate, one often encounters reference to the economic view. In reality however, three major paradigms exist in labor economics today; the prevailing neoclassical paradigm, the radical or Marxian view, and the institutional approach. While the three can be viewed as sharing common objectives (to describe, to predict, and to prescribe) they approach issues from different philosophical frameworks, employ different analytical tools, and lead to very different policy implications. Examining the pay equity issue from the perspectives of the three paradigms suggests different insights into the issue than that usually labelled the economic view.     

Why Everyone Should Read George's 'Progress and Poverty': On the Classic's Centenary, the Specialists Find This 19th Century Best Seller Still Very Timely

Abstract . When one urges that everyone read a classic, Progress and Poverty, now on the centenary of its publication, it is not only because in a democracy the voting citizen decides basic questions of economic policy, but because it appeals to the moral sense of economics students as well as other social scientists. Is it not important that legislation affecting living standards and culture be just, as well as scientifically sound? And that economists, along with other social scientists, master communication technique as Henry George did, so that they can share the fruits of their investigations? Part of the ability to get something done about what is perceived as a problem must rest on the ability to communicate, As Joseph Schumpeter showed, George's proposal that the economic rent of land be collected in lieu of taxes that burden labor and capital was economically sound and his criticism of a tax system that penalizes industry and thrift and rewards speculation is now “obvious wisdom,”     

Henry George and the Institution of Private Property in Land: A Property Rights Approach

Abstract . Conflicting statements concerning whether the implementation of Henry George's single tax proposal would destroy the institution of private property in land have appeared in the literatures of economics and other disciplines. A number of writers have implied that the taxation of Ricardian rent is equivalent to land nationalization. In the main, followers of George have denied that the single tax would abolish private property in land. Their claim is based on the fact that land titles would remain in private hands under the single tax. Since the whole question of private property is beset with ideological difficulties, a property rights approach is applied to this issue in an attempt to resolve the controversy. The conclusions are that the actual implementation of George's system would not destroy private property in land and that it is incorrect to equate the single tax with land nationalization.