Has science ever been normal? On the need and impossibility of a sustainability science

In this article, I develop a constructive critique of ‘post-normal science’ by challenging the underlying conception of ‘normal science’. Invoking Bruno Latour's constructivist approach, I change focus from a representationalist understanding to a practice-inspired account of science in which the composition of a matter of fact necessarily implies a politically significant differentiation between internalities and externalities. Contending that science has never been normal in that it has always already been political, I further elaborate on this political dimension by connecting Latour's concepts of matters of fact and matters of concern with Rudolf Boehm's distinction between logical and topical truth. Whereas logical truth is a measure of the validity of matters of fact, topical truth is a measure of the relevance and adequacy of scientific knowledge regarding a particular matter of concern. This allows me to argue that any attempt to install a new ‘post-normal science’ with a higher topical truth vis-à-vis sustainability issues neglects the irreducible political moment situated at the point of determining who and what we should be concerned about. Finally, I draw on the notion of ‘forms of life’ to suggest a ‘politics of the imaginable’ that takes socio-material practices as primary matters of a concern for sustainability.     

A Reappraisal of the Virtues of Private Sector Employment Programmes*

This paper evaluates the employment effects of active labour market programmes for Danish welfare benefit recipients, focusing on private sector employment (PSE) programmes. Using a latent variable model that allows for heterogeneous treatment effects among observationally identical persons, we estimate commonly defined mean treatment effects and the distribution of treatment effects. We find no significant mean treatment effect of PSE programme participation as compared to participation in other programmes for PSE programme participants. However, we find substantial heterogeneity in the treatment effects, and those most likely to participate in PSE programmes are those who benefit the least from such programmes.     

The Trade‐Off between Foreign Direct Investments and Exports: The Role of Multiple Dimensions of Distance

To serve foreign markets, firms can either export or set up a local subsidiary through horizontal foreign direct investment (FDI). The conventional proximity–concentration theory suggests that FDI substitutes for trade if distance between countries is large, while exports become more important if scale economies in production are large. This paper investigates empirically the effect of different dimensions of distance on the choice between exports and FDI. We find that different dimensions of distance affect exports and FDI differently. There is clear evidence of a proximity–concentration trade‐off in geographical terms: the share of FDI sales in total foreign sales increases with geographical distance. The positive relation between import tariffs and FDI intensity provides further evidence for a trade‐off resulting from trade costs. On the other hand, the share of FDI decreases with language differences and cultural and institutional barriers. The latter dimensions of distance thus affect FDI more strongly than exports.     

Dynamic Spanning in the Consumption-Based Capital Asset Pricing Model

Under the assumptions of the Consumption-based Capital AssetPricing Model (CCAPM), Pareto optimal consumption allocationsare characterized by each agent's consumption process beingadapted to the filtration generated by the aggregate consumptionprocess of the economy. The wealth processes of the agents,however, are adapted to the finer filtration generated by aggregateconsumption and the conditional distribution of future aggregateconsumption. Therefore, in order to achieve pareto optimal consumptionallocations, a sufficiently varied set of assets must existsuch that any wealth process adapted to this finer filtrationcan be implemented by dynamically trading in that set of assets.We provide sufficient conditions for the existence of such aset of assets based on dynamically trading contingent claimson aggregate consumption. In addition, we give sufficient conditionsfor the existence of equilibria in a dynamically effectivelycomplete market in which agents are only able to trade in contingentclaims on aggregate consumption, the market portfolio of firms,and a (numeraire) zero-coupon bond. We demonstrate the roleof short- and long-term contingent claims on aggregate consumptionfor the implementation of Pareto optimal allocations inthe presenceof short- and long-term risks. In addition, in the presenceof personal risks, we demonstrate the role of insurance contracts.JEL Classification: G13.     

THE FUTURE OF EEC DAIRY EXPORTS TO THE LESS-DEVELOPED COUNTRIES: AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS OF LONG-RANGE PROJECTIONS AND MODEL STUDIES

From recent projection studies it can be concluded that future dairy exports by the EEC to the Less Developed Countries (LDCs) will increase. The self-sufficiency ratio for dairy products in the EEC will increase because of strong, technologically induced, growth of production potential. On the one hand, surplus production in the EEC will be difficult to curtail as the unfavourable conditions of the general economy will impede outmigration of inputs. Import demand, on the other hand, is projected to increase as many populations will be moving into stages of higher growth of income. Thus, input restrictions of agriculture in industrialised countries may be unnecessary. In this paper some agricultural economic aspects of the implied trade relationships are discussed. It is concluded that LDCs are not likely to benefit from gains of trade as predicted by theory of free trade and international specialisation. From projections by model studies, however, no consensus emerged. Projection and model studies seem hardly suited to provide insight in the effects of international trade under conditions of imperfect competition.     

Theorie und Empirie steigender Lebenserwartung, Nachreservierung und „Umverteilung“ in der privaten Rentenversicherung

An unexpected increase in life expectancy has implications for private pensions (annuities). These can be offset by reducing pension payments, cross-subsidization of the pension payments, risk-taking of insurance companies or combining these policies. An empirical study of the German market for annuities shows that most of the companies under investigation dealt with the problem of an unexpected increase of life expectation in the 90ies by significant cross-subsidization of the pension payments from young policy holders. This paper discusses the implications such policies can have when the importance of private pensions increases in the future.     

Investment Under Monetary Uncertainty: A Panel Data Investigation

There is a presumption in the literature that price or exchange rate uncertainty, or uncertainty in the monetary conditions underlying them, will have a negative effect on investment. Some argue that this negative effect will be extended by imperfect competition. However, models of irreversible investment show that the situation is more complicated than that. In these models, investment expenditures are affected by the scrapping price available on world markets and also by the opportunity cost of waiting rather than investing. The impact of uncertainty is therefore going to depend on the type of industry and hence on the industrial structure of the economy concerned. In addition, it may depend on the persistence of any price misalignments away from competitive equilibrium. In this paper, we put these theoretical predictions to the test. We estimate investment equations for 13 different industries using data for nine OECD countries over the period 1970–2000. We find that the impact of price uncertainty is negative or insignificant in all but one case whereas the impact of (nominal) exchange rate uncertainty is negative in only six cases, positive in four cases, and insignificant in three others. In addition, there are conflicting effects from the real exchange rate. The net effect depends on whether the source of the uncertainty is in domestic markets or in foreign markets.