Search

The conflict between institutionalism and neoclassicism in the 20th century has been investigated by scholars over the years. Many of them believe that in the postwar period, neoclassicism triumphed while institutionalism largely disappeared. The present chapter takes a very different view. The late 20th century represents a broad synthesis of neoclassical and institutional themes in a methodology we call pragmatic empiricism. That approach combines the mathematical model building and theoretical formalism of neoclassical economics with the institutional economist's data-driven statistical analysis and concern for developing institutional forms. We use as a case study the history of American locational economics from the 1930s to the present. The mixing of institutional and neoclassical themes is quite evident in the work of three young scholars at Harvard who effectively initiated American locational economics. In the postwar period, we find a series of outstanding, well-published papers that capture the spirit of the "founders." These papers do use more modeling, but they also focus on major institutional developments. A broader review of locational works is consistent with the pragmatic empiricism label. The history of locational economics supports the claim that institutionalism, far from disappearing, continues to provide fundamental questions and techniques for modern pragmatic empiricism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of the regulatory state during the Gilded Age was closely associated with the development of institutionalist ideas in American academia. In their analysis of the emergent regulatory environment, institutionalists like John Commons operated with a fundamentally marginalist theory of value and distribution. This engagement is a central explanation for the ultimate ascendancy of neoclassical economics, and the limitations of the regulatory environment that emerged in the Progressive Era. The eventual rise of the Chicago School and its deregulatory ambitions did constitute a rupture, but one achieved without rejecting preceding conceptions of competition and value. The substantial compatibility of the view of markets underlying both the regulatory and deregulatory periods is stressed, casting doubt about the transformative potential of the resurgent regulatory impulse in the New Gilded Age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to introduce the factor of emotional intelligence (EI) into the calculus of neoclassical analysis under precautionary saving aiming at stabilizing consumption in the case of an exogenous output shock.Design/methodology/approach The introduction of EI differentiates individual firms in handling production uncertainty and individual consumers in coping with consumption uncertainty, but the source of uncertainty is exogenous and affects all the same; there are no idiosyncratic risks and uncertainties. This in conjunction with the median-voter-theory like approach to agent heterogeneity prompted by EI, replicates the result that aggregates quantitative predictions are almost indistinguishable from their representative agent counterpart in life cycle models of precautionary saving.Findings EI corroborates stabilization greatly but only the introduction of a monetary authority would fully stabilize the system by injecting or withdrawing money depending on the state of the economy. Money becomes centrally issued and it would be destabilizing if it was accompanied by central and/or commercial bank seigniorage. Median EI is found to coincide with homo economicus' rationality. These results point to the importance of preserving the institutional character of capitalism as a free enterprise but also a competitive system under a government in the service of the private sector.Originality/value Methodologically, this paper acknowledges the mutual interdependence between human action and social structure in the liberal setting in which free enterprise is a socioeconomic process that identifies value through exchange under the sociopolitical process of democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This chapter conducts a systematic comparison of behavioral economics's challenges to the standard accounts of economic behaviors within three dimensions: under risk, over time, and regarding other people. A new perspective on two underlying methodological issues, i.e., inter-disciplinarity and the positive/normative distinction, is proposed by following the entanglement thesis of Hilary Putnam, Vivian Walsh, and Amartya Sen. This thesis holds that facts, values, and conventions have inter-dependent meanings in science which can be understood by scrutinizing formal and ordinary language uses. The goal is to provide a broad and self-contained picture of how behavioral economics is changing the mainstream of economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present essay re-examines the scope of Sraffa's critique of Marshall's supply curves that the former developed in his 1925 and 1926 articles showing that neoclassical supply curves derived from non-proportional returns are not robust both in the short and in the long run. After examining what a short-run and a long-run equilibrium means both for the original Sraffa's articles and for Marshall's pioneer contribution, the chapter discusses the common procedure in conventional economics to introduce the limitations to the growth of the firm. The argument of the chapter will be based on the 1920s articles as well as on the 'Lectures on Advanced Theory of Value' delivered in 1928-1931 by Sraffa at Cambridge University, now publicly available online by the Wren library, Trinity College, Cambridge. For shortrun analysis, it must be assumed that the number of firms is fixed. This assumption entails serious problems with regards to the notions of competition and competitive behaviour. For long-run analysis, the sources of increasing costs are problems of management and control. However, this idea is untenable both on logical and empirical grounds. We argue that contemporary mainstream microeconomic treatment of costs and supply in the context of perfect competition still presents several problems. These problems, rather than being superficial, lie at the root of the supply and demand approach of value and distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to present and explore the deleterious socioeconomic consequence of six interrelated trends upon the sustainability of the personal portion of America’s social contract.Design/methodology/approach Neoclassical economic growth theory is used to frame the discussion of the trends in significant variables. This paper is a general review and draws on widely available data and academic insights of scholars.Findings This detailed examination leads to rejection of ergodicity and concludes that the existing social contract is unrealizable and unsustainable in present form for all but a shrinking minority of citizens.Research limitations/implications The conclusion is robust but tentative since the trends reviewed are not fixed and may deviate from existing trend lines given undetermined government policies and unforeseeable technological developments.Originality/value The paper examines the origins and implications of six adverse systemic trends, highlighting the fact that existing policy prescriptions lack understanding of – and/or scale to comprehensively address – a growing existential threat to the Liberal Tradition’s entrenched social contract. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose The evolution of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) was nurtured by economists and accountants loyal to the philosophical basis of what is often referred to as “Western” market economies, being classical and neoclassical contracting theories. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate how a particular Asian cultural attribute (guānxì ) impacts on the efficacy of fair value measurement.Design/methodology/approach Using a literature review and research of studies of the adoption of IFRS in China, studies of both guānxì and fair value in Chinese accounting research, this study unbundles Williamson’s governance structure and contracting theory to examine how guānxì is positioned orthogonally to fair value (market-oriented valuation) principles for financial reporting. This is followed by a case study of the events surrounding the collapse of China Medical Technologies.Findings Guānxì is integral to Asian economies and economic transactions. Resulting conditions, characterised by relational contracting, may not meet the qualitative characteristics of neutrality and faithful representation in fair value measurement of assets and liabilities. The same may be true when insider or “trusted party transaction” values prevail for large ticket transactions among entities in any jurisdiction.Research limitations/implications Future research on the impact of guānxì may be constrained by its often hidden, and yet dynamic, character; and the varieties of its manifestations.Originality/value This study highlights how difficult it may be to achieve both comparability and relevance in the asset and liability recognition and measurement rules in Asian (and possibly also other) economies adopting accounting principles that are developed in a Western context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – Statistical indicators, such as human health, are important for designing government policies, as well as for influencing the functioning of economic markets. However, there is often a discrepancy between statistical measures and the citizens’ prevalent feelings. In order to produce more relevant indicators of social progress, governments are currently shifting their measurement emphasis from objective to subjective measures. While the philosophical tradition of hedonic psychology views individuals as the best judges of their own conditions, little empirical evidence shows that individually reported health scores provide accurate information about a population’s health status. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate if subjective health questions contain genuine information about the status of human health, and are meaningful at an aggregated level. Design/methodology/approach – Subjective health data are extracted from the 2012/2013 European Social Survey (28 European countries plus Israel, n=54,427). Objective health data are based on the 2012 World Bank statistics for life expectancy at birth. The author check if aggregated subjective health correlates with life expectancy at country level, and can reliably be compared across countries. Findings – The findings support the idea of including subjective data into country statistics of social progress. Because of substantial between-country differences, social development programs should be devised individually for each country. Originality/value – By showing that subjective health measures can reliably contribute to the quantification of social progress, the author offer a bridge between objective neoclassical economics and subjective hedonic psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to use a neoclassical factor pricing approach to carbon emissions, and consider whether the productivity of carbon emissions differs in Sub-Saharan Africa relative to the rest of the world. Design/methodology/approach – Allowing for possible cross-country dependency and correlation in the effects of the factors of production on the level of gross domestic product per capita, the authors estimate the parameters of a cross-country net production function with carbon emissions as an input. Findings – While there is a “Sub-Saharan Africa effect” whereby carbon emissions are less productive as an input relative to the rest of the world; practically it is equally productive relative to all other countries suggesting a unfavorable distributional impact if Sub-Saharan Africa were to implement carbon emissions reductions consistent with the Kyoto Protocol. Research limitations/implications – If global warming is not anthropogenic or caused by carbon emissions, the parameter estimates do not inform an optimal and equitable carbon emissions policy based upon Sub-Saharan Africans reducing their short-run living standards. Practical implications – Fair and equitable global carbon emissions policies should aim to treat Sub-Saharan African countries in proportion to their carbon emissions, and not unfairly impose emissions constraints on them equal to that of countries in the industrialized west. Social implications – As Sub-Saharan Africa has a disproportionate number of individuals in the world living on less than one dollar a day, the results suggest “Black Africa” may not be able to afford being a “Green Africa.” Originality/value – The results are the first to quantify the effects of carbon emissions restrictions on output and their distributional implications for Sub-Saharan Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the provisions of both the neoclassical economics and new institutional economics theses and assesses the implications of their methodologies for property market analysis. Design/methodology/approach – This research is based on secondary literature review and desk-based study. Findings – It is argued that new institutional economics, grounded on firmer foundations of human behaviour, offers an analytical approach to the study of the property market which emphasizes the institutionally contingent nature of real estate exchange, thus placing real estate within its socio-economic context. Originality/value – In-depth examination and juxtaposition of the provisions, assumptions, philosophical orientations and limitations of these main traditions of economic thought towards the achievement of a representative study of the workings of the property market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This editorial builds on the distinction between soft and hard economics and discusses dominant explanations for the development challenges of Sub-Sahara African (SSA) countries. It also seeks to offer a backdrop for the papers in the present volume of AJEMS. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – It is based on a review of a selection of literature that highlights the dominant perspectives in neoclassical economics and competing streams of research that provide alternative perspectives. Findings – The review suggests the emergence of a competing paradigm that focuses attention on the human factor in economic growth process – i.e. the development of human capability as a foundation of sustainable inclusive growth. The competing streams of research seem to co-exist today, but there are potentials for paradigmatic criss-crossing in future research. Originality/value – It provides directions for future research into issues of economic growth and poverty alleviation in SSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – This paper aims to offer a cultural understanding of investor faith in stock picking despite overwhelming evidence questioning its efficacy. Why, in the face of very widely communicated findings calling into question the advice and assistance offered by financial professionals to help them pick stocks or manage their mutual funds, do so many people persist in these practices? The authors believe that the best way to understand investor faith in the efficacy of stock picking is through teleinvestmentevangelists such as Jim Cramer, whose fusion of celebrity and religion taps into the ritualistic elements of investment that usually lie hidden. Drawing from media, religious and cultural studies theory, the authors flesh out the dynamics of the teleinvestmentevangelist as a powerful character, the understanding of which provides insights on the pre-modern meanings that inhere in mediated global capital. Design/methodology/approach – This conceptual work draws on theoretical perspectives and qualitative experiences of everyday investors to explain why the entire field of stock picking remains so robust and captivating in the face of ample evidence that calls into question the validity of the entire phenomenon. Findings – This paper derives and introduces the hypothetical figure of the “Teleinvestmentevangelist” in an attempt to weave dimensions of celebrity, ritual and religion together to explain investors undeterred faith in the ability to pick individual stocks and “beat the market”. Research limitations/implications – The primary research implication of this paper is that it exhibits the continued value of integrating interdisciplinary perspectives for understanding investing experience beyond more limited views undergirded by neoclassical economics. One challenge of the paper is that it attempts to merge three disparate perspectives that have not typically been integrated and applied to financial phenomena. Practical implications – One practical implication of this paper is that it provides a perspective and vocabulary that enables us to understand financial experiences more fully and reflect on these understandings more critically. Social implications – Armed with a richer understanding of financial and investing experience, individual investors can better appreciate fundamental cultural misrecognitions that potentially culminate in symbolic violence whereby certain groups of investors are systematically disadvantaged. Originality/value – The originality of this paper lies in its synthesis of disparate literature bases and application of this synthesis to the financial and investing world. Not only are the individual theoretical perspectives rarely consulted vis-à-vis investing experience but also is their synthesis particularly unique and original in the context of financial and investing phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The paper aims to describe the behind-the-scenes strategy and processes that fund managers use to make investment decisions. Design/methodology/approach – The research involved semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with 34 fund managers in Istanbul, London, Melbourne and New York during 2012. Results describe their approach, and tie it back to theoretical explanations. Findings – Large investors make limited use of neoclassical finance theory. They believe that securities markets trend over the short term, mean revert over the long term, and have upward sloping demand curves. They rely on qualitative techniques, think of security prices rather than returns, acknowledge constraints by their employer and clients, are heavily socialised and see no limitation from using similar approaches to competitors. Originality/value – This is the first interview-based evaluation of global manager techniques since the market crash after 2008, and provides an innovative depiction of actual processes followed by institutional investors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- In France, as in other countries, the idea of installing rooftop photovoltaic (PV) panels in private homes is based on an incentive scheme (tax advantages, feed-in tariffs, etc.) inspired by neoclassical economic theory. In the case of electricity producers in Reunion Island, unlike economists, we argue that producers' calculations involve decision-making criteria which go further than any simple evaluation of economic costs and benefits. Methodology/approach -- Our approach is based on concepts of economic anthropology and on observations and semi-structured interviews conducted in the homes of the producers. Findings -- This ethnographic method allowed us to examine economic rationalities which revealed the anticipation of an energy landscape that will be subject to issues relating to the environment, access to electricity, evolution in the local electricity market, and household budget management. In this context, producers' representations of solar power and of processes for commoditizing and decommoditizing the electricity produced (sold on the network/"free" when consumed) make compatible preservation of the environment and social norms of consumption. Implications -- This paper focuses on PV energy producers (who have been the object of very little research) and thus provides input for existing reflection on the diversity of economic rationalities. Such insight is important for understanding how people respond to policy appeals for PV panels. Anthropology therefore has an important role to play in the debate on energy transition. This conclusion paves the way for similar research in other contexts (of a non-insular nature in particular) which would allow for a promising comparative anthropological approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The modern concept of labor hoarding emerged in early 1960s, and soon became a standard part of mainstream economists' explanation of the working of labor markets. The concept represents the convergence of three important elements: an empirical finding that labor productivity was procyclical; a framing of this finding as a "puzzle" or anomaly for the basic neoclassical theory of the firm, and a proposed resolution of the puzzle based on optimizing behavior of the firm in the presence of costs of hiring, firing, and training workers. This paper recounts the history of each of these elements, and how they were woven together into the labor hoarding concept. Each history involves people associated with various research traditions and motivated by an array of questions, many of which were unrelated to the questions that the modern labor hoarding concept was ultimately created to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an initial attempt to discuss the American institutionalist movement as it changed and developed after 1945. Institutionalism in the inter-war period was a relatively coherent movement held together by a set of general methodological, theoretical, and ideological commitments (Rutherford, 2011). Although institutionalism always had its critics, it came under increased attack in the 1940s, and faced challenges from Keynesian economics, a revived neoclassicism, econometrics, and from new methodological approaches derived from various versions of positivism. The institutionalist response to these criticisms, and particularly the criticism that institutionalism "lacked theory," is to be found in a variety of attempts to redefine institutionalism in new theoretical or methodological terms. Perhaps the most important of these is to be found in Clarence Ayres' The Theory of Economic Progress (1944), although there were many others. These developments were accompanied by a significant amount of debate, disagreement, and uncertainty over future directions. Some of this is reflected in the early history of The Association for Evolutionary Economics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The authors considered three regional trading agreements (RTAs): European Union (EU-25), ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), and South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) to test the hypothesis that poor members within a RTA catch rich members and thereby follow the path of income convergence. Of particular interest is to test whether partial openness (i.e. formation of RTAs) or openness or political conditions are conducive to economic growth among the member countries of RTAs. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – The authors used pooled datasets from three different RTAs, namely the EU-25, the AFTA, and the SAFTA. Taking five years average for all variables, starting from 1961 to 1965 and extending to 2001-2005, the authors tested the hypothesis that the growth rate of per capita GDP is negatively related to the initial level of per capita GDP. Constructing a dynamic behavioral equation and forming the reduced form equation, the authors calculated the s-convergence, and both conditional and unconditional convergence. Findings – The authors found that both the EU-25 and the AFTA exhibit s-convergence, and both conditional and unconditional convergence, while the reverse evidence was observed in the case of the SAFTA. However, the speed of convergence of the AFTA was found to be much higher than that of the EU-25. Originality/value – Formation of RTA by countries should be considered as an essential condition to achieve sustained economic growth. In addition, political rights, trade openness, and more importantly benevolence of the member countries within the RTA must be shown to sustain economic growth and convergence; otherwise with the passage of time, divergence among the RTA members will be evident. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to present a provocative view of what Peter Drucker would be writing about today in his self-described role as a social ecologist. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses Drucker's qualitative framework to ask what changes that contravene conventional wisdom have already happened, whether they are relevant and meaningful and what opportunities they present. Findings – The paper suggest that the concepts of ecological rationality and embodied cognition form the basis for a new framework to challenge the hegemony of the existing concepts of rationality based on frameworks drawn from neoclassical economics. Practical implications – The primary implication is that an ecological framework of "both ... and" is needed to embrace and contain the "either/or" of economics. This will sweep the liberal and fine arts back into management, render the concept and role of power in organizations discussable and place ethics, prudence and judgement at the centre of the management challenge. Originality/value – The paper presents a provocative perspective that, if valid, with be extremely disruptive of the current Western management paradigm. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to argue for an explicit foundation of market exchange on person-to-person relationships as an alternative to the foundation on person-to-goods relationship underlying the exchange model inherited from neoclassical economics and classical contract law and used in a large significant share of marketing studies. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides a unifying theoretical framework to the analysis of transactions and relationships that links institutional approaches from economics, sociology, and law. Findings – Relational contract theory provides a common ground for phenomena studied by both traditional exchange-based and relationship marketing approaches. Relational contract theory conceives all types of market exchange as based on person-to-person relationships and provides an anchor for institutional, social and economic approaches in marketing. Research limitations/implications – The concept of transaction provides a common foundation for the analysis of marketing phenomena that holds in diverse environments, including arms-length transactions and close-linked relationships. It provides an interface between marketing theory on the one hand and institutional, social and economic disciplines on the other. Practical implications – Contracts specify how the parties to a transaction can realize action options opened up by property rights arrangements. Contracting strategy is the vital backbone of an industrial service strategy. Sound design of business models starts with the identification of the optimal owner of a resource, i.e. the actor who is in the best position to manage uncertainties or take on responsibilities associated with resource use. Originality/value – This is the first investigation of a contractual foundation of marketing theory. It embeds the concept of exchange in an institutional framework and adapts it to the evolving business reality shaped by co-operating firms and the rising share of services in value creation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the compatibility of Rawls's account of justice with neoclassical economic theory, upon which Rawls relies strongly. Design/methodology/approach – This question is approached via a comparison of the implicit account of society and social relations adopted in Rawl's work with that that can be perceived to underly neoclassical economic theory. The purpose of this comparison is to assess how compatible these social visions are. Findings – It is argued that neoclassical economic theory presupposes a social structure and a social reality that is radically less cooperative than that which underpins Rawls's theory of justice. Rawls presupposes a world in which cooperation is necessary – a specialised world – whereas the equilibrium requirements of neoclassical theory run into severe technical difficulties in such a context, with the result that they are assumed away via a series of theoretical contrivances, along with the role for cooperation that is central to Rawls's theory. Research limitations/implications – The paper illustrates clearly the pitfalls associated with uncritical reliance in one discipline on theoretical frameworks imported from another. Where there is debate concerning the fundamental bases of theory, a form of sensitivity analysis must be performed to ensure that the final argument does not demand too much of, or become excessively tied to, the imported framework. Originality/value – The paper provides the beginnings of such a sensitivity analysis on the Rawlsian project and its relationship to economic theory, and shows that the field is open for a reconstitution of the liberal theory of justice on grounds other than its traditional ally, the exchange paradigm as represented by neoclassical theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – In this paper the aim is to show how the translation of a logical positivist epistemology into neoclassical economics has had profound methodological consequences which over-determine an inability to predict cusps and their associated crises.Design/methodology/approach – Based on a review of epistemological and methodological literature, it is argued that the financial crises of the past 20 years ought to initiate a questioning of the epistemological foundations of the discipline.Findings – As an alternative, it is suggested that an economics methodology informed by critical realism would increase the probability of a timely prediction of crises.Originality/value – The paper de-emphasises falsification as a key criterion for assessing the quality of knowledge, provides more space for non-quantified reflections on relationships, a thicker model of human agency, a well-specified model of collective human economic behaviour as well as an endogenous possibility of dramatic change within the economic domain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - This paper seeks to provide an Aristotelian alternative to the neo-classical paradigm for the development of sustainable business research and a preliminary explanation of how to implement the assumptions on the shopfloor. Design/methodology/approach - The paper presents a conceptual exploration and comparison of sustainable business, Aristotle's view of society and intra-societal relations, and the neo-classical model. Findings - The paper shows how sustainable business research is supported by elements of the Aristotelian model and how this is not the case with the neo-classical paradigm. Practical implications for corporate governance strategies are detailed. Originality/value - This paper shows how Aristotelian philosophy may provide a rationale for the normative claims of sustainable business research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the negative effect of market failures in the society. It states that the neoclassical models for the Chicago and Australia Schools of free market economics infused and guided U.S. government policy and enforcement in the past three decades. Thus, it leads to severe cut backs in regulation of banking and investment industries. It notes that Wall Street had repeated market bubbles and collapses showed in by subprime meltdown in 2008. According to Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, they are in a state of shocked disbelief, after the sudden economic collapse.

Purpose - Henry George was acclaimed by the general public and disdained by the professional economists, largely for the same reasons. For the general public, progress, and poverty seemed to go to the heart of the matter, treating economics as a question of justice. But for the professionals, George was often regarded as a dangerous radical, even though he reasoned within the tradition of Smith, Ricardo, and Mill. However, he conducted his studies at the precise moment of the marginalized revolution, just as the profession was undergoing a transition from political economy to economics. For the former, economic science was embedded in particular political and cultural systems, while the latter aspired to be a pure science with its own mathematics. While some of the marginalized, such as Walras and Marshall, could maintain a commitment to justice, many others found the whole question superfluous. The purpose of this paper is to argue, however, that without some notion of justice, and especially justice in property relations, a complete description of an economy is impossible. Design/methodology/approach - The paper examines three issues: the relation between. distributive and corrective justice, the relation between normative and positive science, and the. relation between equity and equilibrium. Findings - The paper finds that, without some notion of equity, equilibrium is unattainable. And this relation can be shown to be present in the very starting conditions of neoclassical formulations, which initial conditions are, alas, too often forgotten. Originality/value - The paper provides an intriguing view of the neoclassicists' different stance in regard to justice, pointing out that William Stanley Jevons, for example, explicitly states that "feelings" of justice are "more or less extraneous to a theory of economics," and expands upon this argument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to establish a historical context for the often maligned capital theory of Henry George within a North American frontier tradition that includes John Rae. Design/methodology/approach - Modern discussions of rapid technological and institutional change provide a framework for detailed re-examination of the capital theories of Rae and George, whose critics were largely constrained by a rigid neoclassical perspective. Findings - Both Rae and George presented capital theories, defined as explanations of the supply of and demand for capital resulting in a determinate capital stock. Both writers stress elements that were not emphasized in neoclassical capital theory, most notably that the capital stock can increase rapidly under certain conditions; increases in knowledge, inventions,, technical and technological changes, and scale are more important than mere accumulation of capital; high rates of return combined with rapid technical obsolescence and physical deterioration provide the opportunity for rapid changes in the form of the capital stock, and; the ephemeral nature, and hence potential mobility, of capital implies that security of property is essential for economic growth. Research limitations/implications - The focus On two writers leads to the question of how widespread their ideas were in nineteenth century North America. Practical implications - The rapidly changing technology and institutions that Rae and George observed place their theories closer to some modern trends in the study of economic development than to the literature of neoclassical capital theory. Originality/value - George's grasp of economic theory deserves greater respect than it has often received in the economics literature when his work is considered in its historical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the editor discusses various reports within the issue on topics including neoclassicism, heterodox economy, and research assessments.

The article presents a manuscript that attempts to construct a general theory of economics. The manuscript offers information on a novel paradigm with a set of novel structural elements, and a complex relationship between the paradigm and more mainstream neoclassical theory. The novel paradigm presents five key dimensions include efficiency, scarcity, custom, sovereignty, and futurity. The manuscript describes the relationships of the variables as antecedent and consequent in relation to the others.

Purpose – The reader of Alfred Marshall writings confronts a variety of businessmen portraits that coexist along his epoch. The purpose of this paper is to describe Marshall's understanding of the capitalist-owner concept, the way in which access to capital determined the emerging role played by entrepreneurs, the differences between entrepreneurs and managers in order to expose the characteristics that defined managerial activities. Design/methodology/approach – A chronological review of Marshall writings revealed that the evolution of his ideas about entrepreneurship is associated to the role played by businessmen as capital owner, risk bearer, innovator, or administrator. Findings – Marshall's analysis is useful to explain: the problem that arises in the firm when property (capital owner) and control (manager) are separated (the principal-agent relationship); why directors of today's firms are required to embody qualities as administrators (passive superintendents) and innovators (active entrepreneurs); and how to sort out the conflict that occurs in many family firms when the founder (entrepreneur) is unable to cope with the managerial complexities associated to growth (the Marshallian "cycle life" of business and entrepreneurs). Originality/value – Schumpeter is widely regarded in the economic literature as the one that developed the modern vision of businessmen as a risk bearer. We contend that this vision was already described by Marshall, as well as the distinction between the innovator (entrepreneur) and the orderly administrator of business (manager). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how sunk costs in extractive industries determine regional economic development outcomes. An important feature of investments in extractive industries is that they are primarily sunk, which gives rise to the phenomena of ghost towns and idle capital and human resources. Once such investments are made, their salvage value for alternate uses in situ or in other locales is less than the costs of transferring them. The potential of extractive activities to produce development outcomes that are highly problematic, reaches beyond those captured by the notion of Innisian path dependency. Sunk costs fundamentally determine both the investment behavior of firms and the organization and performance of industries in ways that can vary from neoclassical models of competitive markets with resource mobility. In particular terms, a high degree of sunk costs can lead to lower investment levels, or paradoxically even higher, than optimal levels which are predicted by conventional models.

Examines neoclassical-economic writing on equitable allocation of resources. Inquiry of an inclination of the economic approach to a right of access to social services; Fairness and inefficiency of equal access to all goods and services; Consideration of medical care.

Compares Neoclassical and Biblical Christian approaches to analyzing personal choice. Analysis of characteristics of the Neoclassical rational choice model; Definition of reductionism; Realism of underlying assumptions.

Members of the Austrian school held particular views on capital. In this essay the development of Austrian theorising on capital is assessed and contrasted with what has been presented as the Neoclassical view. So far as this subject is concerned it was Böhm-Bawerk, among the older members of the Austrian school, who became widely known as the main contributor (partly because some of his work was translated early). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reviews recent developments in feminist economic thought and suggests how the approach taken by a group of feminist economists towards reforming economics may be applicable to reform of the discipline of accounting. The author opines that the consideration of feminist critique of economics should be of interest to accountants for several reasons. The main reason is that, at least in the U.S., the discipline of accounting is largely based on neoclassical economic models, theories and practices. This is particularly true of financial accounting research based on financial economic models. The article explains that much of accounting, underpinned by neoclassical economics, fails to recognize the plurality of human concerns. The author notes that the dissemination of critical accounting has been slow, a tardiness that some critics attribute to its failure to develop a single best critical theory. In contrast, it is argued that various critical accountings should be seen as complementary. It is suggested that this approach would encourage a rich conversation and at the same time help to identify terrains for engagement.

The article focuses on economies of time in social theory. This study examines three approaches to the study of time in the social sciences with the purpose of clarifying some of the theoretical issues that are most relevant to the discussion of a new economy of time. Two of these are Marxism and neoclassical economics of time allocation, which are directly concerned with a critique and a theorization of the possibility of alternatives. The third approach, represented by a diverse group of classical and contemporary theorists. Time allocation theory is a poor basis for exploring the possibilities of a new economy of time. Democratic and pluralistic revision of time economy requires utilizing many of the techniques of time rationalization, while developing the institutional practices and everyday arts of defining limits, disinvesting psychic energies and recovering loss of devalued forms of time affluence.

Aims to provide a comparative analytical critique of the moral underpinnings of the neo-classical tradition. Framework of Catholic socio-economic doctrine; Comparison between Catholic economic doctrine and neoclassical economics.

Discusses the influence of pragmatism on neoclassical economic thinking. Cosmology, axiology, and the methodology of pragmatism; Ways in which aspects of pragmatism manifest in neoclassical thought; Unresolved tension that exist within the pragmatist's view.