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Neoclassical economics has established itself as the discipline of rational choice. Consequently, under methodological individualism and in the context of consumption, an agent's choice is based on the ordering of preferences determined exogenously, disregarding any emotional, biological influences, or factors from socio-economic dynamics. Therefore, this paper aims to present an alternative framework for the decision-making of economic individuals at a theoretical and formal-mathematical level, grounded in the principles of evolutionary economics and complex adaptive systems. It is argued that the process of making choices in consumption is inherent to social dynamics. From an individual-holistic perspective, the mechanism motivating action can be characterized as an evolutionary algorithm that integrates biological, historical, cultural, social class, and market competition influences as endogenous elements in determining choice and consumption behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

n order to analyze the configuration and transformations of tax systems in Latin America, it is essential to know how taxpayers perceive taxes. This article revisits the discussions on economic elites and tax systems in the region in order to explore the tax perceptions of the economic elite in the province of Córdoba, Argentina. Using a positional approach that defines elites according to institutional positions, 23 interviews were conducted with businessmen and businesswomen from Córdoba who participated in the campaign “Córdoba, here we are.” It is highlighted that they occupy heterogeneous positions in the productive structure but hold homogeneous perceptions regarding taxes. In turn, moral and economic critiques of the tax system by businesspeople are identified. The former are expressed from a position of moral representation of businesspeople, while the latter are based on notions of neoclassical expert knowledge and circulate as common sense among the interviewees. It is concluded that moral objections reflect the scope of the agency of the business sector, as the capacity of the business sector to say and be heard on social and political issues. It is also argued that economic critiques express the limits of business sector agency, since the adoption of technical-economic schemes as common sense hinders the thematization of facts, experiences, and subjects outside the concepts of neoclassical economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the foundations that characterize fully constituted sciences, the article questions the scientific status of economics and discusses why various paradigms coexist within it, whose theoretical and methodological foundations conflict. The first part reviews the cycles of the predominant theoretical currents and analyzes the scientific rigor of the main paradigms; in particular, it examines the inconsistencies and ambiguities of the neoclassical paradigm, which, despite being currently assumed to be dominant, is far from satisfying the basic demands of scientific work. In the second part, the confluence of the different theoretical bodies is discussed, and the class, political, and ideological component of each one is contrasted. To meet the demands imposed by the advancement of economics as a scientific discipline, it must be assumed that economic theories are not politically neutral; that, beyond the preaching of pseudo-neutrality that usually masks apologetic desires, it is necessary to recognize the close relationship that exists between class interests, objectivity, and scientific work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we develop the idea of the Sraffian Supermultiplier, presenting it as an alternative to traditional neoclassical thought about economic growth and economic policy. Thus, a brief introduction is made about the importance of economic growth for classical economists, followed by the development of Harrod's model and the different solutions that have raised for sorting the problem of instability. Finally, we present the supermultiplier model of Serrano together with international empirical evidence that supports it and some proposals of economic policy are made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The essay describes the impact of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (eclac) of Prebisch and company, in economic studies in the region, which were very dominated by the neoclassical approach. Then, it points out that the program of transformations that was deduced from the eclac ideology failed due to the quasi-disappearance of those who should have been its driving social agents (classes). It summarizes the impact of neoliberalism: high exploitation, high waste, and stagnation. And it examines the contributions of the new eclac, those that recover the critical edge and relevance of the classic eclac. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sraffa rescues the classical analysis and puts it in discussion with mainstream theory. The thesis of this paper is that his ontological analysis, specified in the market snapshot, allows us to understand Sraffa's theoretical position and, in turn, is a method to assess his traditional interpretations as well as the new perspectives arising from the reading of his drafts. Its position is not entirely precise, so it is necessary to include conventions, which open the way to institutional analysis. Finally, starting from the contrast with other interpretations, it proposes to defend the coherence between the vision of the world and the ideas developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay shows the influence of Max Weber on Frank Knight's interest in combining economic theory and comparative economic history. In the interwar period -when the teaching of economics had a pluralistic character-Knight opposed institutionalism and defended the scientific status of neoclassical theory, but his readings of Weber Knight led him to regard equilibrium and perfect competition as "ideal types," constructs useful for theorizing but never observed in reality. They help to identify the central elements, but the study of how they change is not the object of theory. One must then turn to history, in which changes do not resemble equilibria. In the postwar period a new scientific standard appeared, which redefined the discipline and relegated Knight's work to the non-scientific realm of "social philosophy". [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forecasts by economists of the economic damage from climate change have been notably sanguine, compared to warnings by scientists about damage to the biosphere. This is because economists made their own predictions of damages, using three spurious methods: assuming that about 90% of GDP will be unaffected by climate change, because it happens indoors; using the relationship between temperature and GDP today as a proxy for the impact of global warming over time; and using surveys that diluted extreme warnings from scientists with optimistic expectations from economists. Nordhaus has misrepresented the scientific literature to justify the using a smooth function to describe the damage to GDP from climate change. Correcting for these errors makes it feasible that the economic damages from climate change are at least an order of magnitude worse than forecast by economists, and may be so great as to threaten the survival of human civilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we show the historical development of different conceptions of political economy, criticizing the hegemonic pretention of neoclassical economics, and highlighting what we call the "new political economy": the study of the social, political and moral constitution of the economy in history. We describe this interpretation's current disciplinary insertion in political science, and offer two analytical keys to orient future investigations. Finally, we survey recent works in Latin America that echo this interpretation, especially the revisions of the 'political economy of policy reform' literature and the widening of studies on varieties of capitalism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article offers an analysis of the notion of liberal-Marshallian citizenship in the light of the impact that neoliberalization processes have. We describe an approach to the hypothesis that neoliberalism does not allow the realization of the notion of Liberal-Marshallian citizenship due to the dispossession of social rights, indebtedness and growing precariousness of work, and wealth concentration. For that, it addresses two levels of analysis: a conceptual one, about the notion of citizenship, focused on the liberal idea; and, a second, which identifies the determinations of contemporary dependent capitalism and the limits of the kind of citizenship that can be built within those parameters in a neoliberal context. Methodologically, the article tries to develop a heuristic interpretation of the work of several authors, as primary and secondary sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the discussion on the most appropriate method for measuring productivity. It takes into account the TFP, the productivity of capital, and labor productivity, as well as its interpretations, scope, and relations. Additionally, it analyzes the impacts of this discussion on the evolution of the Colombian minimum wage over the period 2001-2016. Finally, it discusses the relationship between the growth of productivity and the distribution of income between capital and labor, proposing a critique of the neoclassical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Behavioral economics" attempts to incorporate insights from other social sciences, especially psychology, in order to enrich the standard economic model. The interest in the psychology of human behavior returns economics to its earliest roots. Adam Smith talked about such key concepts as loss aversion, overconfidence and self-control. Nevertheless, the modern version of behavioral economics introduced in the 1980s met with resistance by some economists, who preferred to retain the standard neo-classical model. They introduced several arguments for why psychology could safely be ignored. In this essay I show that these arguments have been rejected, both theoretically and empirically, so it is time to move on. The new approach should include two different kinds of theories: normative models that characterize the optimal solution to specific problems and descriptive models that capture how humans actually behave. The latter theories will incorporate some variables I call supposedly irrelevant factors, which can improve the explanatory power of economic models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unemployment in Latin America fell substantially in 2000-2013, which, from the standpoint of conventional theory, would be the outcome of reforms designed to make the labor market more flexible. On the other hand, a post-keynesian perspective would maintain that a dropping unemployment rate is due to rising capital accumulation. This paper aims to determine which of these theoretical visions is supported by the empirical evidence. The panel data results suggest that capital accumulation is the variable that explains the majority of the behavior of unemployment. The policy recommendation based on this evidence is to keep investment growing via instruments that stimulate effective demand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the outflows of the foreign-born population resident in Spain; specifically, it examines the variations in the probability of emigrating and the intensity of self-selection during the different phases of the economic cycle. In order to do this, survival analysis models were calculated using data from the Spanish Labour Force Survey between 2005 and 2010. The results show, on the one hand, an increase in the probability of emigrating from the start of the recession; and on the other hand, that the probability of emigrating is higher among immigrants with worse employment outcomes and a poorer educational background, as suggested by Neo-classical Economics. However, the effect of unemployment and of the deficit in human capital has been decreasing since 2008. That is, during the recession, negative self-selection is reduced compared to the period of economic growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The New Classical Revolution has been told as the story of a sudden and unstoppable assault on the Keynesian paradigm that attained immediate unanimity among macroeconomists due to its irresistible scientific method. After following the citation network of the seven articles on macroeconomic policy chosen by Lucas and Sargent, plus Lucas (1976) and Lucas 8c Sargent (1978), we found that the lines of fracture, associated to Keynesianism and the Northeastern-Midwest divide of Economics departments, stood between 1976 and 2013. Those who cited Lucas hardly cited Fischer (1977), and vice versa. The network was always divided into two, three, and more components, occupying changing fractions of the total structure, and reflecting separate influences and divergent citation patterns and generations. The Revolution happened first in Chicago, Minnesota and Carnegie- Mellon, expanding thereafter to other countries via disciples, but never attaining a total dominance over the profession at large. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic thought evolved over the past two centuries to focus on individual behavior as the basis for all economic activity. Some heterodox economists have pointed to the importance of group behavior and the influence of organizations on economic activity, but the neoclassical paradigm, with the rational isolated individual as its main actor, prevails in mainstream economics. This paper presents a "sociology of economics" to explain why the prevailing paradigm of economics does not allow seeing and studying group behavior. Drawing on the work of Pierre Bourdieu, the paper details the habitus, the system of beliefs and the symbolic violence against those who question them. Also, it highlights the support of commercial and financial interests to the dominant culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se presenta una serie de resúmenes en inglés y español para los artículos en este número, incluyendo uno sobre los modelos teoréticos económicos, uno sobre la filosofía económica del neoclasicismo y uno sobre la integración vertical.

Se presenta una introducción en que el autor comenta sobre los artículos en este número, incluyendo uno sobre los modelos teoréticos económicos, uno sobre la filosofía económica del neoclasicismo y uno sobre la integración vertical.

El artículo discurre sobre las teorías económicas conocidas como el neoclasicismo y el clásico. El autor comenta sobre el concepto del institucionalismo en la filosofía económica y describe la influencia de las escuelas históricas de la economía en la teoría económica moderna. También se considera la evolución del pensamiento económico.

Contemporary economic theories, the Keynesian, Austrian or Neoclassic, are characterized by their conceptions of the economic agent. As can be easily shown, the philosophical foundations for these conceptions are contradictory with Social Catholic Teaching (CST). Fundamentally, this is the reason why those theories are unable to judge properly, and in its entirety, the economic judgments of CST. In this paper, we explore the possibility of an alternative economic theory based on an anthropological conception closer to philosophical Thomism. The work of Martin Rhonheimer or Cianfranco Basti can be considered a suitable updating of Thomistic thought that can be used for our purposes of building an alternative conception of the economic agent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents evidence that macroeconomic accounting models helped to anticipate the credit crisis and economic recession, whereas equilibrium models, ubiquitous in mainstream policy and research, did not. This study traces the intellectual pedigree of the accounting approach as an alternative to neo-classical economics, and the postwar rise and decline of flow-of-funds models in policy use. The paper includes contemporary case studies of both types of models, and considers why the accounting approach has remained outside mainstream economics. Finally, it provides constructive recommendations for revising financial stability evaluation methods, and advocates an 'accounting of economics'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se presenta un resumen de varios artículos publicados en la revista "American Economic Review" incluyendo "Producción, costos de información y organización económica" de Armen A. Alchian y Harold Demsetz (1972), "Incertidumbre y economía del bienestar de la atención médica" de Kenneth J. Arrow (1963) y "La deuda nacional en un modelo de crecimiento neoclásico" de Peter A. Diamond (1965).

Since its beginnings, and more clearly since the mid 1800, Economics has been resting on the assumption that economic agents make rational decisions, maximizing their utility or well-being according to their own preferences and interests. The economic order resulting from that plurality of rational decisions is regarded as an efficient and Pareto-optimum one. Several authors have questioned the validity of those assumptions, and this has entailed a gradual transformation of the assumptions. This paper discusses the problems faced by the idea of a fully rational Homo economicus, the adjustments and defensive measures adopted by various tendencies within Economics to overcome those problems and counter various related theoretical and methodological criticisms. The paper also discusses more recent conceptions of economic reality that are at variance with the traditional view, especially those linked to behavioural, institutional and evolutionary Economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Generally speaking, classical economists broached the study of businessmen and entrepreneurs timidly and, although they focused their analysis on the figure of the capitalist, they set the bases for later developments. Several neoclassical economists have contributed to developing this theory but the figure of the businessman or entrepreneur as a professional was basically born with the appreciations made by Menger. This article synthesizes the main contributions to the entrepreneur theory made by some of the most representative neoclassical economists, among whom we highlight Thünen, Mangoldt, John Bates Clark, Marshall, Knight, and Schumpeter. Each one of the above-mentioned authors analyzed, in his own manner, the entrepreneur's role and defined his or her function within the production process, to enable explaining his or her obtaining a kind of income different from the income generated by traditionally accepted production factors. Thus, this article shows that neoclassical theory did indeed contribute to the study of entrepreneurship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decade, the concept of social capital has been widely accepted by academics, advisors and government officials, who have attributed to it virtuous effects on economic and social development. However, theoretical and applied literature gives many different meanings to the concept of social capital, leading to methodological difficulties. Thus, the concept of social capital is merely the entrance to a theoretical structure under construction, whose components and 'materials' come from different approaches. From a mainstream economics approach, the New Institutionalism offers important elements for the construction of this theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows how some of the most important concepts of the New Institutional Economics (NIE) can be expressed in terms of Implementation Theory (IT). First, it explains some of the expressions used by the NIE, such as institutions, transaction costs, property rights and methodological individualism. Afterwards, it gives a wide definition of the IT in order to establish correspondences between both theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Se presenta una introducción en la que el autor comenta sobre los artículos en este número incluyendo uno sobre el Banco Mundial, uno sobre la económica neoclásica y uno sobre la distribución del ingreso.