SCALES OF TIME AND THE ANTICIPATION OF THE FUTURE: GIBBON, SMITH, PLAYFAIR

2014 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 697-718 ◽  
Author(s):  
JONATHAN SACHS
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Time Series ◽  
Business Cycle ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Line Graph ◽  
Temporal Scale ◽  
Economic Decline ◽  
The Future ◽  
Relative Decline ◽  
Pie Chart

This essay shows how Adam Smith addressed concerns about economic decline not only by proposing quantifiable categories through which relative decline could be measured, but also by characterizing the century as the proper timescale in which such quantities could be observed. What sometimes appears up close to be a process of decline and fall, Smith suggested, could, with a shift to a more distant long view, be explained instead as part of a normal business cycle. William Playfair then used Smith's emphasis on quantification to develop elaborate graphic techniques—what we now call the time-series line graph and the pie chart—to visualize more easily the patterns Smith sought to identify. Collectively, the reordering of temporal scale by Smith and Playfair helps us to rethink not only discourses of decline, but also our understanding of the temporalities of political economy as a problem of historical distance that needs to be thought about beyond temporal terms.

Adam Smith and Rousseau

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Key Concepts ◽  
History And Literature ◽  
Edinburgh Review

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith are two of the foremost thinkers of the European Enlightenment, thinkers who made seminal contributions to moral and political philosophy and who shaped some of the key concepts of modern political economy. Among Smith’s first published works was a letter to the Edinburgh Review where he discusses Rousseau’s Discourse on the Origin of Inequality. Smith continued to engage with Rousseau’s work and to explore many shared themes such as sympathy, political economy, sentiment, and inequality. This collection brings together an international and interdisciplinary group of Adam Smith and Rousseau scholars to provide an exploration of the key shared concerns of these two great thinkers in politics, philosophy, economics, history, and literature.

Reforming the Labour Market in Good and Bad Times

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Britta Gehrke ◽  
Enzo Weber
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Business Cycle ◽  
Labour Market ◽  
Markov Switching ◽  
Matching Theory ◽  
Market Reforms ◽  
Structural Reforms ◽  
Labour Market Reforms ◽  
Short Run ◽  
The Business Cycle

This chapter discusses how the effects of structural labour market reforms depend on whether the economy is in expansion or recession. Based on an empirical time series model with Markov switching that draws on search and matching theory, we propose a novel identification of reform outcomes and distinguish the effects of structural reforms that increase the flexibility of the labour market in distinct phases of the business cycle. We find in applications to Germany and Spain that reforms which are implemented in recessions have weaker expansionary effects in the short run. For policymakers, these results emphasize the costs of introducing labour market reforms in recessions.

Comparative Political Economy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Georg Menz
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Adam Smith ◽  
Industrial Relations ◽  
Welfare States ◽  
Comparative Political Economy ◽  
Technological Parameters ◽  
Private Debt

This new and comprehensive volume invites the reader on a tour of the exciting subfield of comparative political economy. The book provides an in-depth account of the theoretical debates surrounding different models of capitalism. Tracing the origins of the field back to Adam Smith and the French Physiocrats, the development of the study of models of political-economic governance is laid out and reviewed. Comparative Political Economy (CPE) sets itself apart from International Political Economy (IPE), focusing on domestic economic and political institutions that compose in combination diverse models of political economy. Drawing on evidence from the US, the UK, France, Germany, Sweden, and Japan, the volume affords detailed coverage of the systems of industrial relations, finance, welfare states, and the economic role of the state. There is also a chapter that charts the politics of public and private debt. Much of the focus in CPE has rested on ideas, interests, and institutions, but the subfield ought to take the role of culture more seriously. This book offers suggestions for doing so. It is intended as an introduction to the field for postgraduate students, yet it also offers new insights and fresh inspiration for established scholars. The Varieties of Capitalism approach seems to have reached an impasse, but it could be rejuvenated by exploring the composite elements of different models and what makes them hang together. Rapidly changing technological parameters, new and more recent environmental challenges, demographic change, and immigration will all affect the governance of the various political economy models throughout the OECD. The final section of the book analyses how these impending challenges will reconfigure and threaten to destabilize established national systems of capitalism.

FISCAL PESSIMISM IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: TOCQUEVILLE'S CROSS REVISITED

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
Isabel Cepeda ◽  
Pedro Fraile Balbín
Keyword(s):  
Economic Growth ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Income Redistribution ◽  
Government Control ◽  
Economic Decision ◽  
Modern School ◽  
Economic Decision Making ◽  
The Future

ABSTRACT This paper explores Alexis de Tocqueville's thought on fiscal political economy as a forerunner of the modern school of preference falsification and rational irrationality in economic decision making. A good part of the literature has misrepresented Tocqueville as an unconditional optimist regarding the future of fiscal moderation under democracy. Yet, although he initially shared the cautious optimism of most classical economists with respect to taxes under extended suffrage, Tocqueville's view turned more pessimistic in the second volume of his Democracy in America. Universal enfranchisement and democratic governments would lead to higher taxes, more intense income redistribution and government control. Under democracy, the continuous search for unconditional equality would eventually jeopardise liberty and economic growth.

Analyses and anticipating the future trend of accidents in an electricity distribution company of Iran: A time series analysis

Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Shirin Nasrollah Nejhad ◽  
Tayebeh Ilaghinezhad Bardsiri ◽  
Maryam feiz arefi ◽  
Amin babaei poya ◽  
Ehsan mazloumi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Time Series ◽  
Time Series Analysis ◽  
Occupational Injuries ◽  
Model Management ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Electricity Distribution ◽  
Temporary Workers ◽  
Series Analysis ◽  
The Future ◽  
Distribution Company

BACKGROUND: Many work-related fatalities happen every year in electricity distribution companies. This study was conducted to model accidents using the time series analysis and survey descriptive factors of injuries in an electricity distribution company in Tehran, Iran. METHODS: Data related to 2010 to 2017 were collected from the database of the safety department. Time Series and trend analysis were used for data analyzing and anticipating the accidents up to 2022. RESULT: Most of the accidents occurred in summer. Workers’ negligence was the reason for 75%of deaths. Employment type and type of injuries had a significant relationship (p <  0.05). CONCLUSION: The anticipating model indicated occupational injuries are going to have an increase in the future. A high rate of accidents in summer maybe because of the warm weather or insufficient skills in temporary workers. Temporary workers have no chance to work in a year like permanent workers, therefore acquisition experiences may be less in them. Based on the estimating model, Management should pay attention to those sectors of the company where most of the risky activities take place. Also, training programs and using personal protective equipment can help to protect workers in hazardous conditions.

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