Embedded economics: The irrelevance of Christian fictive domestic economy

When reading the New Testament, the modern historically-minded interpreter would do well to keep in view that early Christian traditions emerged in the advanced agrarian societies of the first-century, eastern Mediterranean. In these societies, kinship and political institutions, roles, and norms determined economic and religious institutional behavior. That is, religious and economic structures were always embedded in either the kin group or the political group. Hence, to understand the “economic” assumptions and behaviors described in the New Testament, the interpreter must develop scenarios that fit the document’s historical and social context; the alternative is a necessarily anachronistic and ethnocentric reading. This essay articulates some basic perspectives entailed in historically and culturally sensitive interpretations of Old Testament and New Testament passages dealing with “economics”. The methodology employed here is a broadly based “social scientific criticism,” focusing on reading theory and cultural anthropology.     

Ill-behaviour of transformation-frontiers with environmental quality versus pollution

If one looks at environmental quality N as a renewable natural resource (with its own natural dynamics) which is changed by emissions Z, then one gets a better understanding of the shape of the damage function. In the case of a logistic growth dynamics one obtains a well-shaped transformation frontier N(Z), even in a two-species natural dynamics. For a more general natural interaction in the framework of a prey-predator model one obtains the possibilities of a cusp catastrophe which makes the transformation frontier N(Z) ill-shaped for the standard arguments of economists and their most favoured environmental policy instruments.     

CAPITAL GAINS TAXATION, GROWTH, AND FAIRNESS

The question at the heart of the capital gains tax debate is whether taxing some people at a different rate than others having the same income is appropriate. Those who justify such a preference base their arguments on the concepts of economic efficiency and fairness. However, recent experience with capital gains tax decreases and increases strongly suggests that a change in the current law would yield little or no benefit. The burden of proof should rest on those who would violate the basic principle of equal tax rates on incomes from whatever source.     

Rewards Available to Currency Futures Speculators: Compensation for Risk or Evidence of Inefficient Pricing?

Filter, channel and moving-average trading rules are compared with rules which use ARIMA price forecasts, by evaluating their ex ante performance for currency futures transactions from December 1981 to November 1987. All of the trading rules are profitable. Market efficiency is discussed Monte Carlo results strongly suggest that the trading profits are too large to be explained by the elusive, time-varying risk premium sought in forward market literature     

The ETS in China and Europe: dynamics,policy options and global sustainability perspectives

The Emission Trading Schemes of China and Europe show that China’s envisaged national ETS could bring a major contribution in the international approach against global warming; new perspectives on the use of composite sustainability indicators are also highlighted. China’s regional pilot schemes will converge to a (more) uniform price of emission allowances. As China is a major economic and political actor in the world economy, China’s progress with ETS is important. At the same time, China’s progress in the field of green international competitiveness – standing for a positive revealed comparative advantage in environmentally friendly goods – in the period 2000–2015 is considerable and the improved positioning of China in the EIIW-vita sustainability indicator shows considerable technological dynamics in Asia. The European ETS is working, but it suffers from the rather low price of emission allowances. The long-term time horizon of 2050 in the EU climate policy is rather ambitious and it is unclear whether or not a consistent G20 approach can be achieved – with the EU, China, Japan and the US cooperating amongst each other. There is a lack of a specialized climate stabilization institution in the world economy, the traditional anchoring of climate policy in the UN weakens the practical pressure for efficient cooperation since the UN is very heterogeneous in terms of per capita income and GHG emissions per unit of GDP; G20 might be an institution that is suitable for effective policy cooperation. More initiatives in the field of recycling could be useful.     

Governing the Palm-Oil Sector through Finance: The Changing Roles of the Indonesian State

By analysing the different roles of the Indonesian state in arranging finance schemes for palm-oil development since 1945, this article aims to answer two questions: What are these roles? And to what extent have they prioritised or balanced economic growth, social equity, and environmental protection? We conclude that the state has never been absent from the palm-oil industry but has had different and changing financing roles that are historically contingent and shaped by the evolving economic and political landscape. Furthermore, these roles reflect Indonesia’s priorities of achieving economic growth through palm-oil development, furthering social equity, and, recently, promoting environmental sustainability.     

Sexual Identity,Same‐Sex Relationships,and Labour Market Dynamics: New Evidence from Longitudinal Data in Australia

Using newly collected data on sexual identity from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia Survey, this study examines the relationship between sexual identity and labour market outcomes. Our findings show that gay males are: (i) less likely to be continuously employed than their heterosexual counterparts, and (ii) face an annual earnings penalty of 16–21%. There are also important differences in earnings dynamics for men who transition into (or out of) same‐sex versus opposite‐sex live‐in relationships. Individual fixed effects estimates show that opposite‐sex partnerships are associated with increased earnings for men, while same‐sex partnerships are associated with small declines in earnings that are statistically indistinguishable from zero. For women, we find evidence of an earnings premium for lesbians, driven largely by increased labour supply on the intensive margin.