Suchergebnisse

Doppelrezension zu Stephan Lessenich ("Neben uns die Sintflut") und Wolfgang Streeck ("How will capitalism end?"). Wolfgang Streecks "How will Capitalism end?" und Stephan Lessenichs "Neben uns die Sintflut" sind zwei weitgehend komplementaere Werke, die sich aus unterschiedlichen Perspektiven mit dem Zustand des gegenwaertigen Kapitalismus befassen. Beide versuchen die Widerspruechlichkeit aktueller Konstellationen aufzuzeigen, wobei Streeck vor allem auf den Konflikt zwischen kapitalistischer Wettbewerbsorientierung und demokratischer Selbstbestimmung fokussiert, waehrend Lessenich nachweist, wie der westliche Lebensstil systematisch auf der Entrechtung und Entwuerdigung von Menschen in anderen Teilen der Welt beruht. Zusammengenommen bildet die Lessenichsche "Externalisierung" ein wesentliches Ventil um die von Streeck artikulierte Frustration über sinkendes Wachstum, steigende Ungleichheit und unwirksame demokratische Prozesse zu kompensieren. Und genau diese Abhaengigkeit von der "Externalisierung", die wir zum Erhalt unseres sozialen Gefueges und oekonomischen Wohlstands benoetigen, macht uns letztlich zur "Externalisierungsgesellschaft".

AbstractRoughly 50 years ago, the eminent German philosopher and social scientist Hans Albert presented a critique of 'Model-Platonism' in economics to describe essential elements of the 'neoclassical style of economic reasoning'. Specifically, Albert advanced a series of epistemological arguments to illustrate conceptual shortcomings in neoclassical theory, which may be utilized to immunize the latter against conflicting empirical evidence. This article summarizes Albert's main arguments and illustrates his most important insights by using simple propositional logic. Based on these findings, a clarification and definition of 'Model-Platonism' is offered and the applicability of the Model-Platonism-critique to current developments in mainstream economics is assessed. Finally, two possible extensions of Albert's argument, the concepts ofoscillating informational contentandaxiomatic variation, are illustrated with respect to their potential for immunization against critique.

AbstractThis article reviews strategic suggestions for heterodox economic journals and heterodox economists relating to quantitative indexing. It contains a critique of Thomson Scientifics "Journal Impact Factor" as well as an integrated discussion of general strategic guidelines and specific strategic suggestions accounting for the special paradigmatic position of heterodox economics.

This article investigates citations metrics as an institutional phenomenon from two perspectives: first it tries to articulate the role of citation metrics within a Gramscian framework; second it compares citation patterns from orthodox and heterodox economic journals to gain insights on the current economic discourse. Complementary to this general question the role of the Review of Radical Political Economics within citation metrics will be discussed. JEL classification: A14, B50, B51

Taking survey data of household wealth as our major example, this short article discusses some of the issues applied researchers are facing when fitting (Type I) Pareto distributions to complex survey data. The contribution of this article is threefold. First, we show how the ordering of the data vector is related to alternative definitions of the empirical CCDF. Second, we provide an intuitive reinterpretation of the bias-corrected estimator developed by Gabaix and Ibragimov (2011), in terms of the alternative definitions of the empirical CCDF, which allows us to generalize their result to the case of complex survey data. Third, we provide computational formulas for standard Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) and Cramer-von Mises (CvM) goodness- of-fit tests for complex survey data. Taken together the article provides a concise and hopefully useful presentation of the fundamentals of Pareto tail- fitting with complex survey data.

This paper analyzes the performative impact of the European Commission's model for estimating 'potential output', which is used as a yardstick for measuring the 'structural budget balance' of EU countries and, hence, is crucial for coordinating European fiscal policies. In pre-crisis years, potential output estimates amplified the build-up of private debt, housing bubbles and macroeconomic imbalances. After the financial crisis, they were revised downwards, which increased fiscal consolidation pressures. By focusing on the euro area's economies during 1999-2014, we identify two performative aspects of the potential output model. First, the political implications of the model led to a pro- cyclical feedback loop, reinforcing general economic developments. Second, the model has contributed to national lock-ins on path dependent debt trajectories, fueling 'structural polarization' between core and periphery.

While the development of scientific theories and measurement concepts has always been strongly intertwined, model-based measurements, specified as parameters in a statistical model, have been receiving increasing attention over the last decades. In this paper, we analyze the ontological and epistemological characteristics of such a model-based measurement device in an economics context. Specifically, our analysis focuses on the European Commission's model for estimating 'potential output' and 'natural unemployment', which is employed to facilitate the coordination of fiscal policies across the European Union. We find that the model's estimates strongly reflect the ontological and epistemological preconceptions underlying its design. Thereby, we point to a series of decisive differences in the realms of engineering and economics when it comes to the actual implementation of measurement techniques as well as the application and interpretation of measurement outcomes.

Der vorliegende Beitrag skizziert ueberblicksartig nationale und internationale Verteilungstendenzen im Kapitalismus und wirft einen kursorischen Blick auf die diesen Trends zugrunde liegenden Mechanismen. Sowohl auf der Ebene der Nationalstaaten als auch auf internationaler Ebene hat die Ungleichheit in den letzten Jahrzehnten eines globalisierten Finanzkapitalismus deutlich zugenommen. Hinter dieser Entwicklung stehende Mechanismen sind der inhaerente Zusammenhang zwischen oekonomischem Kapital und gesellschaftlicher Machtverteilung, der Umstand, dass große Vermoegen in der Regel auch groessere Zuwaechse verzeichnen sowie die zunehmende Mobilitaet von Kapital und der damit verbundene abnehmende wirtschaftspolitische Einfluss von Staaten. Mittel um dieser Entwicklung entgegen zu steuern sind neben den typischen nationalstaatlichen Umverteilungsmassnahmen vor allem eine Rueckkehr zur Vollbeschaeftigungspolitik und eine kritische Reflexion ungehemmter Freihandelspolitik.

Abstract:We applaud the effort of Schubert and Cordes (2013, this journal) to contribute a model describing the social mediation of preferences and to apply their results to the more general context of economic welfare. Although we consider this topic to be of utmost importance and interest, we have found a problem in Schubert and Cordes' argument that renders their statements in Section 3 invalid. After providing some basic intuition on the problem at hand, we present a short proof showing that the assumptions of the model always lead to a stable society. We also report on an interesting non-linear segregation effect that can occur within the Schubert-Cordes model.