"Self-Interest Ennobled": The Family in German Political Economy

2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 641-675
Author(s):  
M. R. Van Zee
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Family

Familistic welfare capitalism in crisis: social reproduction and anti-social policy in Greece

2013 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 204-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodoros Papadopoulos ◽  
Antonios Roumpakis
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Reproduction ◽  
Sovereign Debt ◽  
Debt Crisis ◽  
Sovereign Debt Crisis ◽  
Welfare Capitalism ◽  
New Approach ◽  
The Family ◽  
Expanded Concept

Familistic welfare capitalism is a model of national political economy prevalent in many regions in the world (Southern Europe, Latin America, and Asia), where the family plays a double role as the key provider of welfare and a key agent in the model's socio-economic and political reproduction. The article offers a new approach to the study this model by adopting an expanded concept of social reproduction to capture its historical evolution, using Greece as a case study. Our empirical analysis of austerity measures on employment and pensions demonstrates, how, in the Greek case, a crisis of social reproduction of the traditional form of familistic welfare capitalism was already underway prior to the well-known sovereign-debt crisis. And further we show how the adoption of austerity measures and pro-market reforms is deepening this crisis by severely undermining the key pillars of familial welfare security while rapidly transforming the model into a political economy of generalised insecurity.

Why Don't Trade Preferences Reflect Economic Self-Interest?

2017 ◽  
Vol 71 (S1) ◽  
pp. S85-S108 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sungmin Rho ◽  
Michael Tomz
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Explanatory Power ◽  
Economic Consequences ◽  
Policy Preferences ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Distributional Cues ◽  
Trade Preferences ◽  
Opposing Effects ◽  
Personal Interests

AbstractThe dominant approach to the study of international political economy assumes that the policy preferences of individuals and groups reflect economic self-interest. Recent research has called this assumption into question by suggesting that voters do not have economically self-interested preferences about trade policy. We investigate one potential explanation for this puzzling finding: economic ignorance. We show that most voters do not understand the economic consequences of protectionism. We then use experiments to study how voters would respond if they had more information about how trade barriers affect the distribution of income. We find that distributional cues generate two opposing effects: they make people more likely to express self-serving policy preferences, but they also make people more sensitive to the interests of others. In our study both reactions were evident, but selfish responses outweighed altruistic ones. Thus, if people knew more about the distributional effects of trade, the correlation between personal interests and policy preferences would tighten. By showing how the explanatory power of economic self-interest depends on beliefs about causality, this research provides a foundation for more realistic, behaviorally informed theories of international political economy.

THE CORPORATION AND THE FAMILY IN THE RESOURCES INDUSTRY — CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY TOWARDS THE 21ST CENTURY

1987 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 46
Author(s):  
D.S. Crowe
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Corporate Responsibility ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Administrative Staff ◽  
Private Lives ◽  
Efficient Management ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Family ◽  
The Impact

The changing sociological scene places greater emphasis today on self-fulfilment psychology and individual expectations, often at the expense of responsibility in relationships. This, coupled with greater demands on staff (especially on managers of corporations) places, at times, unrealistic demands on normally stable relationships, particularly in a marriage. The result is increased family tension, often resulting in marriage breakdown with significant scarring of partners and children; those individuals, so affected, suffer reduced productivity in their work roles.As we approach the 21st century, there is emphasis, in the management of corporations, on innovation and cost efficiency, thus placing greater pressure on individual staff.This paper takes the position that corporations, in their own self-interest and in the interest of staff, need to assess the impact of their current policies on not only their staff but also on staff families. While maintaining that it remains the single responsibility of individuals to make decisions on managing, effectively, their corporate/private lives, the author supports the proposal of others (Evans and Bartolome, 1980) that corporations' policies should help, not hinder, the process.Corporations which continue to ignore these considerations will incur long term consequences with significant impact on productivity and efficient management, aside from possible disastrous impact on their staff and families.Corporations in Australia are taking steps to address this situation but much more needs to be done. This was highlighted in the March 1985 'Middle Management' course with its associated Spouses Programme presented jointly by Australian Mineral Foundation and The Australian Administrative Staff College.Effective communication is at the heart of the matter, but no amount of training on this subject will bear fruit unless there is an associated commitment by executives to improve the effectiveness of their communication process, both in their corporate and family roles.

The Political Economy of Trade Policy

1989 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 119-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert E Baldwin
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
International Trade ◽  
Trade Policy ◽  
Machine Tools ◽  
Political Influence ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Political ◽  
Public Officials ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Social Concerns

International trade seems to be a subject where the advice of economists is routinely disregarded. Economists are nearly unanimous in their general opposition to protectionism, but the increase in U.S. protection in recent years in such sectors as automobiles, steel, textiles and apparel, machine tools, footwear and semiconductors demonstrates that economists lack political influence on trade policy. Two broad approaches have been developed to analyze the political economics of trade policy and the processes that generate protectionism. One approach emphasizes the economic self-interest of the political participants, while the other stresses the importance of the broad social concerns of voters and public officials. This paper outlines the nature of the two approaches, indicating how they can explain the above anomalies and other trade policy behavior, and concludes with observations about integrating the two frameworks, conducting further research, and making policy based on the analysis.

"She Was My Kind of Scientist"

2019 ◽  
pp. 12-22
Author(s):  
Lise Vogel
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Review Essay ◽  
The Political ◽  
Women's Liberation ◽  
Family Household ◽  
The North ◽  
Women’S Liberation ◽  
Unpaid Labor ◽  
Lightning Bolt ◽  
The Family

In the late 1960s, the North American women's liberation movement was reaching a highpoint of activity, its militancy complemented by a flourishing literature. This was the environment into which Margaret Benston's 1969 Monthly Review essay, "The Political Economy of Women's Liberation," struck like a lightning bolt. At the time, many in the movement were describing women's situation in terms of sociological roles, functions, and structures—reproduction, socialization, psychology, sexuality, and the like. In contrast, Benston proposed an analysis in Marxist terms of women's unpaid labor in the family household. In this way, she definitively shifted the framework for discussion of women's oppression onto the terrain of Marxist political economy.

The Political Economy of EU-funds: Evidence from Poland

2017 ◽  
Vol 237 (3) ◽  
pp. 191-224 ◽  
Author(s):  
Monika Banaszewska ◽  
Ivo Bischoff
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Empirical Study ◽  
Local Politics ◽  
The Political ◽  
Minor Role ◽  
Regional Government ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
Per Capita ◽  
Primary Focus ◽  
A Minor

Abstract We provide an empirical study analysing the distribution of EU funds among 2478 Polish municipalities in the period 2007–2011. EU funds are found to be concentrated in smaller municipalities and economically weak sub-regions, and do not increase in the municipalities’ fiscal capacity. Our primary focus rests on the question whether regional governments follow their own political self-interest when allocating EU funds even though national parties only play a minor role in Polish local politics and thus the conventional logic of supporting aligned governments does not apply. Difference-in-difference estimations show that the answer is affirmative: Municipalities whose voters are aligned with the regional government receive more EU funds per capita than non-aligned municipalities. Furthermore, we find support for the swing-district hypothesis: EU funds per capita decrease in the vote-share differential between the two leading parties.

scholarly journals Sibling Interaction and Symbolic Capital: Toward a Theory of Political Micro-economy

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chad Nilep
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Language Socialization ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
Dominant Position ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Sibling Interaction ◽  
Sibling Interactions ◽  
The Family ◽  
Linguistic Behavior ◽  
Older Siblings

Older siblings play a role in their younger siblings’ language socialization by ratifying or rejecting linguistic behavior. In addition, older siblings may engage in a struggle to maintain their dominant position in the family hierarchy. This struggle is seen through the lens of language and political economy as a struggle for symbolic capital. Bilingual adolescent sibling interactions are analyzed as expressions both of identity and of symbolic power. This paper draws a theory of political micro-economy, which relates face-to-face interaction to larger structures of political economy through a process of fractal recursivity.

scholarly journals Commons Praxis: Toward a Critical Political Economy of the Digital Commons

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 290-305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin J Birkinbine
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Private Property ◽  
Profit Maximization ◽  
Analytical Framework ◽  
Market Mechanisms ◽  
Organisational Form ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Digital Commons ◽  
Self Interest ◽  
The Commons

The concept of the commons has provided a useful framework for understanding a wide range of resources and cultural activities associated with the creation of value outside of the traditional market mechanisms under capitalism (i.e., private property, rational self-interest, and profit maximization).  However, these communities often continue to intersect with capital and the state attempts to appropriate their resources. Recent scholarship has sought to unpack some of the contradictions inherent in the claims made about the revolutionary potential of the commons by offering conceptual frameworks for assessing commons-based projects.  This paper builds upon this research by developing a two-pronged argument.  First, by drawing examples from the free software movement, I argue that critical political economy provides the most useful analytical framework for understanding the contradictions inherent in the relationship between capital and the commons. Second, I argue for a commons praxis that attempts to overcome some of these contradictions.  Within this discussion, I build on the notion of ‘boundary commoning’ to understand organisational form, and I develop the concept of ‘subversive commoning’ for understanding various forms of commoning that seek to undermine the capitalist logics of the digital commons.

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