Search

The action required to stem the environmental and social implications of climate change depends crucially on how humankind shapes technology, economy, lifestyle and policy. With transport CO2 emissions accounting for about a quarter of the total, we examine the contribution of CO2 output by scientific travel. Thankfully for the reputation of the scientific community, CO2 emissions associated with the trips required to present a paper at a scientific conference account for just 0.003% of the yearly total. However, with CO2 emissions for a single conference trip amounting to 7% of an average individual’s total CO2 emissions, scientists should lead by example by demonstrating leadership in addressing the issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The recent expansion of tree plantations is the most important agrarian change in many parts of Brazil. This article uses the results of extensive field research to analyse the different ways paper and pulp companies assure their land base for eucalyptus plantations. The mechanisms of land access have changed little over the decades, amounting to a process of primitive accumulation which seems to be controlled by the ways the pulp industry influences land markets and prices, the strength of any resistance, and particularly the government support enjoyed by industry. Many paper and steel companies, either directly or indirectly, are increasingly relying on eucalyptus plantations, with negative impacts in many places. The expansion of tree monocultures with rural exclusion is characteristic of the wider phenomenon of land grab which is driven by the dominating financial logic of current capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop a daily-frequency measure of economic and policy uncertainty for Chile, employing information obtained from Twitter accounts using web scraping techniques and following closely the methodology proposed by Baker et al. (2016). Our proposed measure, called DEPUC, aims to capture the level of general disagreement -a proxy for economic and policy uncertainty-in topics such as the economy, economic policies, uncertainty about particular events, and Chile's conjuncture situation. The index, available from 2012 onwards, shows significant hikes that coincide with several local and international episodes that provoked extraordinary levels of uncertainty in Chile, especially after the events around the civil protests in mid-October 2019 and the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in mid-March 2020. An empirical exercise reveals that the proposed measure is a significant determinant of the nominal exchange rate dynamics, especially when this variable's magnitude is high and a week after the shock occurs. On the contrary, when the exchange rate is low, the impact of uncertainty on this variable is quantitatively smaller for any forecasting horizon. These features, and others discussed in the paper, highlight the usefulness of the proposed metric as an additional indicator that policymakers can incorporate into their monitoring toolkit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the development of the market economy, agricultural trade has become more and more significant for the development of the agricultural economy, which has triggered people's further thinking and exploration on the impact of agricultural trade on agricultural carbon emissions. This paper takes the measurement of trade implied carbon as the carbon dioxide emission index under the impact of agricultural trade and analyzes the impact of trade implied carbon and implied carbon balance on carbon emission. Taking the impact of Sino-US agricultural trade as an empirical background, this paper measures the impact of environmental changes in agricultural trade opening on China's agricultural development and its carbon emissions, so as to predict changes in China's regional agricultural carbon emissions performance. After calculation, it is found that the scale of China's exports has decreased by 0.089%, which is lower than the decline of 0.361% in the United States. The trade conflict has a significant impact on China's import and export structure. Under the scenario of mutual tariffs on agricultural products, China's exports to the United States are expected to decrease by 6.28%, while China's imports from the United States decreased by 13.02%. The Sino-US agricultural trade dispute will reduce China's carbon emissions by 0.013% and the United States' carbon emissions by 0.024%, which is related to the negative impact on the economy. Improving the performance of agricultural carbon emissions is not only the need for the green and sustainable development of the agricultural economy but also conducive to improving the international competitiveness of agricultural products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at identifying the current main economic thought influencing the EU Cohesion Policy. Postulates and assumptions on how economic growth spreads spatially in key EU policy framework documents are discussed and compared to different economic theories. Strategic EU documents increasingly foster the urban dimension, and focus resources on cities at the expense of cohesive regional development. The findings indicate large overlaps with Perroux' 'growth pole theory'. However, several of the key assumptions of growth pole theory are not met in the new context of post-industrial globalized service economy, which is fundamentally different from its original use. This is a troublesome finding when seen from a strategic planning perspective. Current implications for regional policy and planning boil down to the cardinal question of supporting urban areas and/or peripheries. Taking the strategic EU policy documents and their trajectories in economic thought into consideration, this paper confirms that regional development focuses on cities. Yet, it suggests a new perspective on an urban-centred EU Cohesion Policy, one that normatively requests the 'responsibility' of cities towards their hinterland, instead of fostering a further dissociation of cities from their hinterland. This suggests a reorientation towards supporting the linkages between urban areas and peripheries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduces a series of articles on economics and other related topics.

This paper questions the conventional scholarly view that early Chinese economic thought simply conceived of farming and commerce as mutually opposing forces. It argues that during Western Han times there existed a significant distance between court rhetoric and economic reality and suggests that, in reading official discourse, one should be cautious not to emphasize the economic over the political. The paper re-examines a series of well-known court memorials and concludes that few questioned the ethics of how wealth should be generated as long as political control could be maintained and the Han court was on the receiving end of it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the Mnangagwa government's economic policies in Zimbabwe. It looks at its 'new' dispensation economic policies, passed off as creating a middle-income economy by 2030. The study suggests that these policies, encapsulated in the 'open for business' rhetoric, were designed to create an image of political and economic reform. However, efforts to mask the ZANU-PF government's unmistakable authoritarian traits failed. It is increasingly apparent that there is no significant departure in economic policies from the previous Mugabe regime. Zimbabwe's crisis endures as the technocrats fail to resolve the monetary crisis and the economy continues to collapse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds upon the renowned media reports-based “Economic policy uncertainty” (EPU) index and analyzes its Granger-causal interrelationships with consumer confidence and aggregate economic activity. Employing a heterogeneous panel Granger causality test on data from 13 world countries, the authors find that: (1) the analyzed countries are quite heterogeneous in terms of the found causality patterns; (2) the EPU index does not Granger-cause the overall economic activity in the vast majority of the analyzed economies; (3) consumer confidence is confirmed as a significant predictor of aggregate output in all countries; (4) news media uncertainty and consumer confidence largely represent two distinct psychological transmission channels. The evidence presented in this paper suggests that consumer confidence (i.e. first moment, expectation) is considerably more important for the aggregate economic activity than economic uncertainty (i.e. second moment, variance). Two robustness checks are provided (an alternative lag structure of the Granger causality test, and the usage of monthly (industrial production) instead of quarterly (GDP) economic activity data). The obtained inferences are quite robust to both model alternations. Additionally, the leading characteristics of EPU index are found to be less pronounced than those of GARCH uncertainty and forecast disagreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An old methodological obstacle confronts the use of Life Satisfaction surveys in Happiness Studies: a problem that economists recognize by the name of (the impossibility of) interpersonal comparisons of satisfaction/utility. But the recent implementation of insights from happiness studies into policy making transforms an originally theoretical obstacle into a real-world problematic, providing substantial motivation for engaging with this issue. Just this problem is highlighted by recent critics of happiness surveys. This paper locates the problem currently facing happiness studies at the intersection of two traditions or two histories: that of economic methodology and that of psychological methodology. Three dominant approaches to the issue revealed through these histories are identified: ‘the skeptical approach’, ‘the pragmatic approach’, and ‘the ethical-normative approach’. The paper works to bring together the two disciplinary histories and evaluate the three approaches in order to frame a suitable interpretation of inter-personal comparisons in happiness studies. The implications of this are twofold: it contributes to the legitimation of happiness studies, suggesting an answer to its critics, while, at the same time casting the status of its building blocks under a different light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urgency of the problem stated in the paper is due to the fact that a service enterprise employee's qualitative and quantitative parameters have a major influence on the entity's functioning nature, especially in terms of ensuring its stable and long- term sustainable development. The theoretical and practical significance of various scientists and scientific schools positions' in-depth review on the problems under consideration seems topical. The purpose of the paper is to justify an innovative method for evaluating corporate social and economic policy from the standpoint of a reproductive approach adapted to the Russian economic reality conditions. The method of comparative analysis, generalization and systematization of facts, methods of factorial, graphical, financial analysis are used in the paper. The argument is built in the paper to support the human potential concept improvement, author's theses are put forward on the innovative methods application in socio-economic policy, an algorithm for applying the innovative method with the calculated component is disclosed. The paper materials are of practical value for government bodies when developing and implementing federal and regional innovation development programs, developing innovative infrastructure, stimulating innovative activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how economic ideas have been shaped throughout history and the influence of these on the formulation of economic policy. We collect both quantitative and qualitative data from economists who are originally from the Middle East and North Africa region or working on the region. We find that economists and their ideas are more likely to be influenced by multiple schools of thought than adhere to one school. This multiplicity spills over into the type of solutions proposed to economic problems and thus policy implications. One of the main recommendations of this study is that there is a need for the development of economics and economists to recognize the impact of political and social issues that are not easy to grasp through modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although social scientists have been investigating the nature and impact of job satisfaction for many decades, economists only started to investigate job satisfaction systematically in the late 1980′s. Almost from the first systematic studies of job satisfaction by economists, the research potential of the notion of pay level comparisons was realized. The idea of pay level comparisons in job satisfaction has proven particularly useful also because it has important implications for a number of standard theoretical and economic policy results. However, the inclusion of the variable of comparison wage in job satisfaction and the resulting supporting empirical findings, are in sharp contrast to the orthodox approach, given that in mainstream economic theory an individuals' utility is usually assumed to be a function of absolute income only. Despite the important theoretical and policy implications, mainstream economic theory has not paid much heed to the job satisfaction conceptual formulations and empirical findings. The paper argues that there are methodological reasons for this state of affairs which seem to be linked to the subjective well-being research in general, and to the job satisfaction literature in particular. A strong mistrust against the method of stated preferences and the still inherent methodological bias against the integration of psychological findings, are suggested as the two prime reasons. Although a few prominent figures in job satisfaction research have realized the mainstream methodological attitude, it is necessary that job satisfaction specialists should consider more seriously the methodological limitations of traditional mainstream economics that relate to their research field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Post-WWII political forces wanted to dismantle most of the state-owned enterprises. • Saraceno sketches out a pragmatic approach to economic policy-making. • He provides valuable insights on economic growth in a mixed economy. • Economic policy should merge the political sphere and the managerial one. • Competence, accountability, civicness are useful reference also in today's debate on the role of the entrepreneurial state. This paper aims to depict, through the interweaving of facts and theories, the debate in Italy on economic growth policies and on the consolidation of a mixed economy. By identifying and analysing significant phases, we will show that the theme of structural growth and economic development covers a broad temporal spectrum and reveals different positions on state capitalism. Pasquale Saraceno (1903–1991) was a key figure in shaping many of the significant phases of Italian economic policy, especially in the post-WWII period. He played a central role and provided important insights in the debates on the role of public companies and the emergence of a state-led market economy in the economic development process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary Fiscal decentralization as an instrument to reduce poverty is an open debate that still takes place with little and contradictory empirical evidence regarding whether or not it has served the poor. This paper focuses on analyzing the impact of municipalities’ per capita property tax revenues on multidimensional poverty in the Colombian case. This locally raised tax is used as an indicator of the state capacity that municipalities exercise when fiscal decentralization takes place. To estimate its impact on poverty, we control for the possible endogeneity biases that might affect this relationship while taking into account that multidimensional poverty exhibits strong spatial correlation among Colombian municipalities. We find statistically significant results that demonstrate a causal and diminishing effect of property tax revenues on the poverty headcount ratio and gap. We also find that this effect has substantial spillovers across municipalities. The findings of the paper highlight the need to strengthen subnational revenue systems through policy designs to increase locally raised revenues. We simulate four different counterfactual scenarios to evaluate the potential effect of alternative policy designs on multidimensional poverty. The results of these policy scenarios demonstrate that spatially differentiated policy schemes have greater effectiveness in reducing multidimensional poverty than geographically mute designs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An idea that which zones are the main disturbed areas in mining cities and what are the exact impacts in space concerns re-use and optimal allocation of land. Current research mostly concludes that mining activities impact land use greatly, but there is no definite spatial range of disturbance. To find out the exact range, this paper sets up 12 gradients composed of mineral locations and 11 surrounding gradients with an interval of 3 km. And the “D-C-S” (Disturbance-Continuity- Sustainability) framework was then established to evaluate land use characteristics, including 9 indices in the three layers of disturbance, continuity and sustainability. Here, this paper adopted two approaches − transverse land use profiles and anomalous economic points − to test out the understanding of land use characteristics in mining cities. Our findings show that the areas surrounding mineral locations possibly play a more important role in land use structure and functions, designated to 0–9 km, especially 3–6 km away from mineral locations, where land needs more concerns about optimal allocation for future policy-making to improve the pattern, function and continuity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the dissemination of German economist Adolph Wagner's ideas in Brazil. It shows that his monetary thinking, inspired by Thomas Tooke and the Banking School, as well as his ideas on public finance, particularly the law of increasing state spending, were assimilated by two Brazilian economic thinkers: Rui Barbosa and Vieira Souto. The way these policymakers incorporated Wagner's ideas into their texts and the arguments with which they chose to engage show the kind of economic discourse they were shaping in Brazil. This analysis reveals the different functions that the original ideas could perform in another national context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper combines a Granger causality test and a VAR model to investigate the relationships among oil price shocks, global economic policy uncertainty (GEPU), and China’s industrial economic growth. Based on monthly data from 2000 to 2017, we reveal that GEPU and world oil prices jointly Granger cause China's industrial economic growth; world oil prices have a positive effect on China's industrial economic growth, while GEPU has a negative effect. Further analyses investigate the asymmetry effect of oil prices and find that the negative component shows a more significant impact on China's industrial economic growth. The results are robust to different oil price and EPU proxies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper proposes a dualist view that economics exhibits the properties of both moral science and value-neutral approach, regardless of the normative-positive distinction. Our argumentation is derived from the understanding that, analytically, economics is a broadly-defined rational choice theory. As implied by this claim, on the one hand, economics behaves as a moral science for two main reasons: all economic theories and policy discussions are necessarily based on moral premises about means-end considerations; economics as an analytical approach can be and has been applied to explanations of a wide range of moral phenomena. On the other hand, since economists -- without being informed of some ethical presuppositions of higher order -- cannot deal with the comparisons among different value criteria, their approach remains neutral regarding judgmental positions, which should be given a priori to make economic enquiries possible. Ultimately, by this view we reconcile morality with value neutrality in economics, without slicing the discipline into two distinctive branches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since Weber's articulate conceptualisation of the nexus between religion and economics, these phenomena have been examined through various academic viewpoints. While some take religion as a determining factor of economic performance, others argue that it is the economy that influences religiosity. This paper focuses on the manifestation of religion and economics in the political sphere regarding the case of Turkey's Justice and Development Party (AKP). After discussing the literature on the relations between religion and economics, it scrutinises the AKP period, considering three specific pillars: (a) the early years of the AKP in which Western economic policies were implemented as a continuation of the Kemal Derviş period; (b) between 2008 and 2015, when the idea 'we can do as well' maintained the centre stage; and (c) 2015 and onwards, when the Islamist influence on economic policy became highly apparent, particularly regarding interest rates. This study argues that the AKP changed politically in terms of Islamic influence upon the economic sphere, however this remains at the discursive level for the time being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphical abstract Highlights • Technology cost and utility rate structure are key drivers of economic viability of solar and storage systems. • Solar-plus-storage systems are more often economical under time of use and demand charge rates. • Savings from storage-only projects come mainly from demand charge reductions; solar combined with storage also provides energy charge savings. • Savings from solar with storage is largely independent of building load variability, likely due to the energy cost reductions from the solar. Abstract This paper explores the economics of solar-plus-storage projects for commercial-scale, behind-the-meter applications. It provides insight into the near-term and future solar-plus-storage market opportunities across the U.S. We explore the impacts of location, building load profile, technology cost, utility rate structure, and policies on solar-plus-storage economic viability, and identify which factors are most significant to project economics. While savings from storage-only projects are largely derived from demand charge reductions, solar combined with storage also provides significant energy charge savings. A common assumption is that load profiles with peaks are likely candidates for savings from storage, due to the opportunity for demand charge reduction. Our results indicate that potential for savings from combining solar with storage is independent of building load variability, likely due to the energy cost reductions from the solar. Systems are more often economical under time of use and demand charge rates, particularly when demand charges are >$10 per kilowatt. Where systems were found to be economical, expected lifetime savings averaged between 7%–10%, with savings of 30% in numerous cases. Near term markets exist for solar-plus-storage in locations such as California and New York. As technology prices drop, the number of building types that can benefit increase, and additional markets appear in Colorado, New Mexico, and Alaska. All data from the study and interactive modeling results are available at: https://openei.org/wiki/Solar+Storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In British economic thinking, the Commonwealth is often considered as a valuable trade network undergirded with familial connections, shared history, and common values. Such rhetoric has made a recent resurgence in post-Brexit Britain as Britain disengages with a European Union based economic bloc and searches for closer association with other economic groups, including the Commonwealth. This paper explores the historical dimensions of British economic policy towards the Commonwealth, particularly during the Depression of the 1930s and World Wars, when Commonwealth economic cooperation was at its closest. By examining the historical roots of British economic engagement with the Commonwealth, this article looks at how British policy shifted according to the strictures of domestic needs and colonial economics. The self-serving, yet negotiated nature of  such policies has echoes not only in today’s rhetoric, but also in terms of imperial nostalgia, and the durability of colonial economic structures and theories in the recesses of the British ‘official mind’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction and Aims: Alcohol pricing is an effective prevention policy. This paper compares the 10 Canadian provinces on three research-based alcohol pricing policies-minimum pricing, pricing by alcohol content and maintaining prices relative to inflation.Design and Methods: The selection of these three policies was based on systematic reviews and seminal research papers. Provincial data for 2012 were obtained from Statistics Canada and relevant provincial ministries, subsequently sent to provincial authorities for verification, and then scored by team members.Results: All provinces, except for Alberta, have minimum prices for at least one beverage type sold in off-premise outlets. All provinces, except for British Columbia and Quebec, have separate (and higher) minimum pricing for on-premise establishments. Regarding pricing on alcohol content, western and central provinces typically scored higher than provinces in Eastern Canada. Generally, minimum prices were lower than the recommended $1.50 per standard drink for off-premise outlets and $3.00 per standard drink in on-premise venues. Seven of 10 provinces scored 60% or higher compared to the ideal on indexing prices to inflation. Prices for a representative basket of alcohol products in Ontario and Quebec have lagged significantly behind inflation since 2006.Discussion and Conclusions: While examples of evidence-based alcohol pricing policies can be found in every jurisdiction in Canada, significant inter-provincial variation leaves substantial unrealised potential for further reducing alcohol-related harm and costs. This comparative assessment of alcohol price policies provides clear indications of how individual provinces could adjust their pricing policies and practices to improve public health and safety. [Giesbrecht N, Wettlaufer A, Thomas G, Stockwell T, Thompson K, April N, Asbridge M, Cukier S, Mann R, McAllister J, Murie A, Pauley C, Plamondon L, Vallance K. Pricing of alcohol in Canada: A comparison of provincial policies and harm-reduction opportunities. Drug Alcohol Rev 2016;35:289-297]. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peace is a basic human need but, unfortunately, in parts of the world, violence is a major cause of suffering for the inhabitants. Further, trouble in one country causes instability throughout the region. The history of Afghanistan is full of instability and, for the past few decades, the volatile situation has adversely affected its neighbours, especially Pakistan and China. In the post-NATO drawdown, Afghanistan's security is at stake, which is alarming for the whole region. This study is an attempt to analyse this situation, particularly regarding how a comprehensive peace education process can help promote regional security. The last part of the paper, which focuses mainly on mechanisms to initiate a peace education process, is the outcome of a ten-year-long field survey in which a large number of people were interviewed. The paper argues that, in addition to various other measures, there is an urgent need to initiate a comprehensive and integrated system of peace education in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and China via a network of peace education centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper re-examines the issue of the determinants of economic growth in the countries of the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States (OECS) in the period 1980-2011. It answers two questions. What are the determinants of economic growth in the countries of the OECS? What are the sizes of their short-run and longrun impacts? To this end, the paper uses the cointegration autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach at the country level to draw conclusions concerning each country individually and the region as a whole. External debt, natural increase rate, and private consumption are found to negatively affect economic growth in the region in the short and long runs, and trade openness and foreign direct investment (FDI) positively impact economic growth. Overall, long-run impacts are far bigger than the corresponding short-run impacts. Natural disasters have negative impacts on economic growth, but only in a handful of countries. The negative impact of budget deficit shows up in one country with a complete data set. These results have policy implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a discourse analytical understanding of the political economy. The term “crisis” is an important label in recent discussion in political economy. Yet the genuine discursive dimension of “the crisis” and the multiple linguistic layers of the crisis discourse remains an open issue. Design/methodology/approach – Realist perspectives usually believe in an external reality of crises independent of the language construction; in contrast, constructivist perspectives argue that a crisis is always the result of a socio-linguistic construction process. This contribution follows a critical-constructivist perspective, thereby taking into account powerful discursive actors which are able to “declare” a state in the world as a “crisis”. Findings – From a discourse analytical point of view, this paper examines the rules and logics of crisis management policy, arguing that a new politico-academic elite has appeared which is beyond the classical distinction between “Keynesians” and “neo-liberals”. By taking a position in the discourse of the recent debate on financial regulation, these new elite might be able to manage the crisis for a particular time, as they are constructed as “moderating actors” through academic and political discourses. Research limitations/implications – From a practical point of view, this analysis cannot offer economic solutions; from an analytical viewpoint, it will not give insights into discursive contexts. Practical implications – This analysis helps to understand current debates on economic policy and to improve the communicative efficiency of the participants. Originality/value – This paper combines a discourse analysis with a governmentality perspective and applies this analytical tool onto a political and economic topic currently prevailing in the global political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the position of Thomas Tooke (1774-1858) on the issues at the centre of the Bullionist controversies, which occurred during the restriction of cash payments by the Bank of England in the period 1797-1821. It shows that Tooke was a strong supporter of resumption and the gold standard, but that from the beginning, his monetary thought significantly differed from that of the Bullionists. The paper shows that Tooke's explanation of price inflation and the depreciation of the paper currency as well as his assessment of the Bank of England largely supported the position of the anti-Bullionists against the Bullionists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper is to clarify on the evidence of primary material how Keynes transformed his theory from the Tract to the Treatise. Keynes went on working along the lines of the Tract theory until around April 1926, subsequently adopting the Transaction Approach up until September 1927. The paper stresses the importance of the three TOC between September 1927 and September 1928 as pointing the way towards the Treatise's fundamental equations - the breakthrough opening the way to the Treatise. The second fundamental equation, the TM supply function and the natural rate of interest had made their appearance by April 1930. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic downturn that began in 2007-2008 was blamed by some commentators on neoliberalism and pro-business policies. So we might expect U. S. state and local governments to have responded with policy changes affecting their neoliberal economic development strategies. Based on this assumption, this paper is a theoretically informed examination of recent high-profile bidding wars in Wisconsin. The highest profile example was in 2009 when General Motors chose a plant in Michigan over Wisconsin and Tennessee for a new small car line. Wisconsin's Commerce Secretary characterized Michigan's $1.2 billion incentive offer as 'absolutely crazy' (compared with his state's $409 million offer!). My main research question is how have Wisconsin state and local governments adjusted their neoliberal economic development efforts in these bidding wars given the recent economic downturn and weak economy? This paper uses the largest incentive offers in Wisconsin during the tenure of the current and previous state governors within the context of ten themes drawn from the literature to problematize the neoliberal policy of bidding for big business. It concludes by considering the implications for economic development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major parts of teams deployed in contemporary organisations to some extent possess the attributes of virtuality. In this context, at high levels of virtuality, team requirements become quite different from those of face-to-face teams. Thus, evaluating virtuality in teams is a key prerequisite for assessing its requirements and defining the applicable managerial policies. Nonetheless, the concept of virtuality in teams has remained elusive within the extant literature. To address this, this paper deploys a qualitative meta-analysis to synthesise the relevant findings drawing upon an exhaustive review of the literature. The study conceptualises the phenomenon of virtuality through proposing a conceptual framework for evaluating the level of virtuality in teams. This paper contributes to the field by offering further insight into the concept of virtuality and directs future investigations by providing the ground for validating the presented conceptual model. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper advances a structural inter-temporal model of labour supply that is able to simulate the dynamics of labour supply in a continuous setting and addresses two main drawbacks of most existing models. The first limitation is the inability to incorporate individual heterogeneity as every agent is sharing the same parameters of the utility function. The second one is the strong assumption that individuals make decisions in a world of perfect certainty. Essentially, this paper offers an extension of marginal-utility-of-wealth-constant labour supply functions known as “Frisch functions” under certainty and uncertainty with homogenous and heterogeneous preferences. The lifetime models based on the fixed effect vector decomposition yield the most stable simulation results, under both certain and uncertain future wage assumptions. Due to its improved accuracy and stability, this lifetime labour supply model is particularly suitable for enhancing the performance of the life cycle simulation models, thus providing a better reference for policymaking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is based on an investigation of the Sraffa Archives and tries to characterise Piero Sraffa's approach to business cycles and economic policy. It includes two parts. The first part of the paper shows the importance of economic institutions and social conventions in Sraffa's contribution to economics and their relation with social conflicts. The second part of the paper shows how this importance permits to understand better business cycles and economic policy but also indirectly contributes to a re-interpretation of Sraffa's contribution to economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines growth in Southern economies arising from FDI from both Southern and Northern economies. We explore local conditions that are necessary for growth. A system GMM estimator is used to distinguish between South-South and North-South FDI flows. The highly skilled labour and strong property rights protection required to achieve growth from Northern FDI are not necessary local conditions for achieving growth from Southern FDI. It is strong law and order that emerges as a critical necessary condition associated with positive growth following Southern FDI. The results indicate a distinctive impact of local conditions in activating growth from FDI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In light of behavioral findings regarding inconsistent individual decision-making, economists have begun to re-conceptualize the notion of welfare. One prominent account is the preference purification approach (PP), which attempts to reconstruct preferences from choice data based on a normative understanding of neoclassical rationality. Using Buchanan’s notion of creative choice, this paper criticizes PP’s epistemic, ontological, and psychological assumptions. It identifies PP as a static position that assumes the satisfaction of given ‘true preferences’ as the normative standard for welfare. However, following Buchanan, choice should be understood dynamically as a process whereby preferences constantly regenerate. Accordingly, the meaning of welfare emerges from an ongoing quest for individual self-constitution. If this holds true, then rationality axioms cannot serve as a priori normative standards. Instead, creative imagination and learning processes must remain central to any understanding of welfare in economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper briefly discusses some issues approached in the study 'A comment on the law of supply and demand' by M. Northrup Buechner, published in this issue of J Phil Econ. The way of discussing is logical-theoretical, without bringing into attention empirical data. Even less than that, only a few of the issues debated in the original study are examined, namely those issues which appeared to this author as both the most problematic and susceptible to drive the future discussion in the matter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Asian story of miraculous growth and poverty reduction has reinforced mainstream views of development that equate high and sustained economic growth with progress in human wellbeing. But understanding development only in terms of economic growth is not sufficient. This paper offers a different perspective on possible effects of Laos’s transition from a subsistence-oriented economy to a market-oriented economy. We used a multidimensional poverty approach with panel data for the years between 2003 and 2013. Findings suggest that benefits were not equally distributed: 50 per cent of people moved in and out of poverty, and the other half was either non-poor (37%) or always poor (13%). [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An accurate estimation of GDP for sub-state divisions is needed for studies on the overall size and growth of smaller economies, assessment of the industrial composition by subdivisions and the impact of economic policies, among other reasons. In this paper, I review two popular methods to infer GDP in counties, both of which rely heavily on payroll, without controlling for labor productivity differences between subdivisions. By considering labor productivity heterogeneity across counties, I propose a new methodology that appears to provide a better map of the GDP of counties. For forecasting, my approach uses payroll statistics, but to a lesser extent. The new method is tested with data from Puerto Rico, a suitable jurisdiction given its significant heterogeneity between counties. I am able to map changes in economic geography associated with changes in the state's economic structure. Like many other jurisdictions, Puerto Rico has undergone a deindustrialization process that ended up concentrating GDP in one geographical cluster. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a context where the economic strains are challenging European policies as well as the very fabric of governmental contributions to public life, innovation and efficacy of public policy in research are called upon to support growth in Europe and to sustain employment and entrepreneurial capacities. Governments need evidence that the investments in space, while providing strategic tools to implement sovereign policies, create jobs and build the competitive European economy of the future. This is particularly true when the decisions at stake have a potential bearing on the future of the European space sector for at least the next 30 years, as it has been the case for the ESA Council at ministerial level meeting in December 2014. On that occasion, Ministers took the decision to start the development of a new Ariane 6 launcher and Vega evolutions having a critical bearing on the Member States’ strategic industrial capabilities and on the sustainability of the European guaranteed access to space. Given the importance of the subject, and following similar studies undertaken in the past for e.g. the Ariane 1–4 programme, the Agency has requested an independent consulting team to perform a dedicated study to assess ex-post the direct, indirect and induced socio-economic impacts of the Ariane 5 programme (mid-term evaluation) and of the Vega programme (early evaluation) globally, at European level, and within the economies and industries of each ESA Member State. This paper presents the assessment of the socio-economic impacts allowing the evaluation of the return on public investments in launchers through ESA in a wider perspective, going beyond the purely economic terms. The scope of the assessment covered in total approximately 25 ESA programmatic and activity lines and 30,000 commitments from 1986 to end 2012. In the framework of the study, the economic impact of the European launcher programmes is measured through a GDP impact defined as the straight economic activity deriving from the injection of Participating States funding channelled through ESA into the space upstream (manufacturing) industry, and through a cumulative assessment of the enabled revenues (catalytic impacts) arising from Ariane 5 and Vega operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Chinese political economy is a dynamic entity constituted by multiple developmental trajectories. Recent debates on two seemingly divergent 'models' in the subnational regions of Chongqing and Guangdong have foregrounded the potential contradictions of this dynamism. While existing research has attempted to evaluate these trajectories as outcomes of elite politics or ideological incommensurability, an overlooked but no less important aspect is the connections between these trajectories, Mao-era regulatory policies and the post-1978 system of reciprocal accountability. Synthesizing empirical materials from policy documents, academic commentaries, statistical data and interviews with planners from China, this paper provides a critical evaluation of these connections. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]