scholarly journals Interest-Seeking as Sense-Making: Ideas and Business Interests in the New Deal

2011 ◽  
Vol 52 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-311 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sascha Münnich
Keyword(s):  
Welfare State ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Supportive Role ◽  
Social Security Act ◽  
The Cost ◽  
The New Deal

AbstractThis article addresses the question of how ideas and interests can be linked in policy analysis. The juxtaposition of the two concepts is criticized from a sociological point of view. Instead, ideas are a substantial element of interest formation. Cognitive and normative worldviews shape the transformation of objective socio-economic positions into subjective, situational action orientations. Interests can be traced back to the interplay between structural positions, situational problems and their idea-based interpretation.It is then shown how these conceptual arguments can bring forward a prominent debate in welfare state analysis: the role of business in the emergence of the American welfare state in the New Deal. While struggling with the question whether the supportive role of some business leaders in theSocial Security Actof 1935 reveals substantial interest changes or strategical adaption, both sides of the debate suffer from an objectivist concept of interest. This one-sided concept of interest comes at the cost of leaving open the question of why business interests changed in the direction of unemployment insurance and not in the direction of other feasible institutional options such as price regulation or public works. These options would also have provided a solution to the problem American employers were facing. Analysis of social reform discourses between 1911 and 1935 shows that the partial reorientation of business people cannot be sufficiently explained without taking into account the growing legitimacy of liberal- corporatist ideas among employers in the 1920s.

The Role of Polyculture in Sustainable Agricultural Development and Prevention of Land Degradation

2022 ◽  
pp. 132-153
Author(s):  
Milan Marković ◽  
Ivana Marjanović
Keyword(s):  
Land Degradation ◽  
Organic Agriculture ◽  
Agricultural Development ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Economic Viability ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Sufficient Food ◽  
Growing Population ◽  
Research Show

The aim of the chapter is to show the possible impact of policulture farming on some determinants of sustainable agricultural development, especially from the point of view of economic viability, biodiversity, and land degradation. Increasing the area under polyculture is one of the main solutions to the present environmental problems. The key constraints are economic pressures due to the question of the cost-effectiveness of such a mode of production and the need to provide sufficient food for a growing population, especially in developing countries. The results of the research show that policulture (organic agriculture) should be favored, while monoculture farming must be adequately directed and put in the function of achieving ecological goals of sustainable development as much as possible. In addition, on the example of European countries, it was assessed that there are good conditions for further “greening” of agriculture, bearing in mind the movement of the analyzed indicators.

The role of non-corporeal Actant theory in historical research

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-76
Author(s):  
Christopher M. Hartt ◽  
Albert J. Mills ◽  
Jean Helms Mills
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Historical Analysis ◽  
Vice President ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
Organization Studies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
Depth Analysis ◽  
The New Deal

Purpose This paper aims to study the role of non-corporeal Actant theory in historical research through a case study of the trajectory of the New Deal as one of the foremost institutions in the USA since its inception in the early 1930s. Design/methodology/approach The authors follow the trajectory of the New Deal through a focus on Vice President Henry A. Wallace. Drawing on ANTi-History, the authors view history as a powerful discourse for organizing understandings of the past and non-corporeal Actants as a key influence on making sense of (past) events. Findings The authors conclude that non-corporeal Actants influence the shaping of management and organization studies that serve paradoxically to obfuscate history and its relationship to the past. Research limitations/implications The authors drew on a series of published studies of Henry Wallace and archival material in the Roosevelt Library, but the study would benefit from an in-depth analysis of the Wallace archives. Practical implications The authors reveal the influences of non-corporeal Actants as a method for dealing with the past. The authors do this through the use of ANTi-History as a method of historical analysis. Social implications The past is an important source of understanding of the present and future; this innovative approach increases the potential to understand. Originality/value Decisions are often black boxes. Non-Corporeal Actants are a new tool with which to see the underlying inputs of choice.

Politics and Markets: Corporate Money in American National Elections

1986 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 287-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodore J. Eismeier ◽  
Philip H. Pollock
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
American Politics ◽  
Campaign Finance ◽  
The State ◽  
National Elections ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Business Influence ◽  
The New Deal

The current American debate about the relationship between business and government represents the most significant reopening of that issue since the New Deal. The debate is in part about government's role in the economy, but the issue of business's role in politics is being joined as well, joined in fact on several fronts. There are, of course, the polemics of corporations and their critics, in which business is cast alternately as victim and villain. The issue also divides more serious students of American politics and has fostered a wealth of theorizing about the role of the state. Finally, the issue of business influence pervades discussions about campaign finance.

The House and the Federal Role: A Computer Simulation of Roll-Call Voting

1968 ◽  
Vol 62 (2) ◽  
pp. 494-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J. Shapiro
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
New Deal ◽  
Republican Party ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
World War ◽  
White House ◽  
The Great Depression ◽  
Short Run ◽  
Post War ◽  
The New Deal

Much of the business of the U.S. Congress in the post war period has involved issues concerning the size and scope of activities of the federal government. The legislation in this area can be traced, for the most part, to measures which originated during the period of the New Deal in response to the Great Depression and to measures enacted during World War II to meet the short-run exigencies attendant to rapid economic and social mobilization. From the point of view of the expansion of the federal role, the Eisenhower years are of some moment. While they marked a lull in the expansionist trend witnessed under the Democratic presidencies of Roosevelt and Truman, their significance lies in the fact that despite the change in adminsitrations, there was no reversal of the policies begun during the Roosevelt years. While most of the Republican legislators were on record in opposition to the expansion of the federal role, the failure of the Republican Party to introduce and enact legislation to reverse the trend of federal expansion resulted in a new plateau of federal activity from which the congressional dialogue was to proceed during the Kennedy and Johnson Administrations.While the 87th Congress, meeting during Kennedy's first two years in the White House, did not enact the quantity of legislation expanding the federal role that Kennedy had called for in his inaugural, In the 88th Congress both parties supported a larger federal role to a greater extent than they had previously. In fact the first sessions of the 88th Congress as it bears on the federal role has been summed up as follows: “At no time did the majority of both parties reject a larger federal role.” (Congressional Quarterly Almanac, 1963, p. 724) With two exceptions, the statement holds true for the second session in 1964.

scholarly journals How Successful Was the New Deal? The Microeconomic Impact of New Deal Spending and Lending Policies in the 1930s

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 1435-1485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Price Fishback
Keyword(s):  
New Deal ◽  
Home Ownership ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Housing Prices ◽  
Geographic Location ◽  
Public Works ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Consumption Activity ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The New Deal

The New Deal during the 1930s was arguably the largest peace-time expansion in federal government activity in American history. Until recently, there had been very little quantitative testing of the microeconomic impact of the wide variety of New Deal programs. Over the past decade scholars have developed new panel databases for counties, cities, and states and then used panel data methods on them to examine the impact of New Deal spending and lending policies for the major New Deal programs. In most cases, the identification of the effect comes from changes across time within the same geographic location after controlling for national shocks to the economy. Many of the studies also use instrumental variable methods to control for endogeneity. The studies find that public works and relief spending had state income multipliers of around one, increased consumption activity, attracted internal migration, reduced crime rates, and lowered several types of mortality. The farm programs typically aided large farm owners but eliminated opportunities for share croppers, tenants, and farm workers. The Home Owners' Loan Corporation's purchases and refinancing of troubled mortgages staved off drops in housing prices and home ownership rates at relatively low ex post cost to taxpayers. The Reconstruction Finance Corporation's loans to banks and railroads appear to have had little positive impact, although the banks were aided when the RFC took ownership stakes. (JEL D72, E61, L52, N41, N42)

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document