Henry George's Theory of State's Agenda: The Origins of His Ideas on Economic Policy in Adam Smith's Moral Theory

Abstract . The tension between Henry George's reformism and his laissezfaire liberalism was resolved through a system of natural liberty George derived from the relation between Adam Smith's ethics and economics. Crucial for George's nonutilitarian philosophy of government was the interdependence between the moral sense (sympathy) and the prevailing socioeconomic order. In the appropriate institutional environment, the role of the government was diminished since the pervasive moral sense insured justice by monitoring the individual's pursuit of economic self-interest. In contrast, a defective socio economic order required government intervention. For example, land monopoly and the maldistribution of income undermined the role of sympathy, promoted excessive self interest and the breakdown of the system of natural liberty. Government action through the single tax eliminated the “fear of want,” restored an operative moral sense and guaranteed justice in society. Under these conditions, government can provide additional services for a growing society without being susceptible to “corrupt and tyrannous” behavior.     

Speculation in the Oil Market

The run‐up in oil prices since 2004 coincided with growing investment in commodity markets and increased price co‐movement among different commodities. We assess whether speculation in the oil market played a role in driving this salient empirical pattern. We identify oil shocks from a large dataset using a dynamic factor model. This method is motivated by the fact that a small‐scale vector autoregression is not informationally sufficient to identify the shocks. The main results are as follows. (i) While global demand shocks account for the largest share of oil price fluctuations, speculative shocks are the second most important driver. (ii) The increase in oil prices over the last decade is mainly driven by the strength of global demand. However, speculation played a significant role in the oil price increase between 2004 and 2008 and its subsequent collapse. (iii) The co‐movement between oil prices and the prices of other commodities is mainly explained by global demand shocks. Our results support the view that the recent oil price increase is mainly driven by the strength of global demand but that the financialization process of commodity markets also played a role. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Supervisors as information producers: Do stress tests reduce bank opaqueness?

Supervisory stress tests assess the impact of an adverse macroeconomic scenario on the profitability and capitalisation of a large number of banks. The results of such stress test exercises have recently been disclosed to the public in an attempt to restore confidence and to curb bank opaqueness by helping investors distinguish between sound and fragile institutions. In an unprecedented effort for transparency, the 2011 European Union stress test lead to the release of some 3400 data points for each of the 90 participating banks. This makes it an ideal setting to investigate a number of hypotheses on the information role of the stress tests.     

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.     

Technology and the firm

The globalization of the economy is a process driven by the enterprise. As enterprises form networks of alliances they tend to create huge oligopolistic structures on a global scale. Although these global enterprises are not subject to national norms, it is evident that a new alliance is growing up between the enterprise and the state. In the context of fierce international competition, enterprises need the support of the state, which is able to ensure that its 'national champions' enjoy optimum conditions for development; in return, successful enterprises are the state's best guarantee of national independence. But through this alliance the enterprise has acquired a totally new legitimacy, approaching that formerly reserved for the state, while the state finds itself engaged in global economic competition, which lacks adequate regulatory procedures. There is also a growing disassociation between globalized economic power on one hand, and political power conjned within national borders, on the other. There is a need to formulate a new regulatory framework, in order to overcome a situation where actors representing particular interests impose their own rules on actors representing the public interest. Such a framework would encourage the emergence of a transnational civilian society able to mobilize itself in the face of global economic, technological and environmental problems.     

Globalization of techmological innovation

This paper focuses on strategies and opportunities for European and global development offered bythe globalization of technological innovation (GTI). The author clarifies the concept of GTI by examining eight main aspects of this phenomenon. Focus then turns to Europe as it moves towards integration under the Single European Act. The question of Europe's global position is addressed, and the opportunities prospects and issues raised by GTI for European societies are analysed. The strategic implications of GTI for Durope are examined, and three main options for European (and global) development are presented.     

Monetary Policy with Sectoral Trade‐Offs

We formulate a two‐sector New Keynesian economy featuring sectoral heterogeneity along three dimensions: price stickiness, consumption goods durability, and the usage of input materials in production. These factors affect both inter‐sectoral and intra‐sectoral stabilization. We examine the welfare properties of simple rules that react to alternative measures of final goods price inflation. Due to factor demand linkages, the cost of production in one sector is influenced by price‐setting in the other sector. Therefore, measures of aggregate inflation weighting sectoral prices based on their relative stickiness do not allow one to keep track of the effective speeds of sectoral price adjustment.     

Proximity Services in Belgium: An Analysis of Public and Nonprofit Relations

In this paper, we analyze the interaction between nonprofit organizations (NPOs) and government with regard to the provision of proximity services. Given the characteristics of these services and the organizational features specific to each sector, we argue that the relationship between the public and the nonprofit sectors is necessary but rather complex. We illustrate our analysis with some empirical evidence collected by the CERISIS-UCL in 1996 for the city of Charleroi (Belgium). This survey shows that NPOs are the major producers of proximity services but are, on average, largely subsidized by government. Public intervention is also significant in the production of these services but is the most striking in their financing. These results evoke the existence of a multifaceted interaction between the public and nonprofit sectors, that we try to understand in this paper. Our analysis highlights that the tension between the current focus of public policies on job creation for the low-skilled unemployed and the service-based mission of most NPOs might generate inappropriate responses to the needs of the community. It also suggests that this conflict of objectives, given the current organization of proximity services, is likely to threaten the autonomy and originality of the nonprofit sector.     

Are Euro Area Small Cap Stocks an Asset Class? Evidence from Mean‐Variance Spanning Tests

In this paper we perform regression‐based tests for mean‐variance spanning in order to detect the effect of investing in euro area small capitalisation stocks on the minimum variance frontier, and apply different measures to assess the extent of diversification gains. Empirical analysis shows that euro area small and mid cap stocks, as classified by size quartile and quintile rankings, arise as truly autonomous asset classes. This result is robust to different methodologies used to form size‐based portfolios, and holds relative to both euro area large cap stocks and other international asset classes, US small capitalisation stocks included.     

Risk premia and seasonality in commodity futures

We develop and estimate a multifactor affine model of commodity futures that allows for stochastic seasonality. We document the existence of stochastic seasonal fluctuations in commodity futures and that properly accounting for the cost‐of‐carry curve requires at least three factors. We estimate the model using data on heating oil futures and analyze the contribution of the factors to risk premia. Correctly specifying seasonality as stochastic is important to avoid erroneously assigning those fluctuations to other risk factors. We also estimate a nonlinear version of the model that imposes the zero lower bound on interest rates and find similar results.