scholarly journals The Intellectual Legacy of Progressive Economics: A Review Essay of Thomas C. Leonard's Illiberal Reformers

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 1064-1083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marshall I. Steinbaum ◽  
Bernard A. Weisberger

Thomas Leonard's 2016 book Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics, and American Economics in the Progressive Era argues that exclusionary views on eugenics, race, immigration, and gender taint the intellectual legacy of progressive economics and economists. This review essay reconsiders that legacy and places it in the context within which it developed. While the early generations of scholars who founded the economics profession in the United States and trained in its departments did indeed hold and express retrograde views on those subjects, those views were common to a broad swath of the intellectual elite of that era, including the progressives' staunchest opponents inside and outside academia. Moreover, Leonard anachronistically intermingles a contemporary critique of early-twentieth-century progressive economics and the progressive movement writ large, serving to decontextualize those disputes—a flaw that is amplified by the book's unsystematic approach to reconstructing the views and writing it attacks. Notwithstanding the history Leonard presents, economists working now nonetheless owe their progressive forebears for contributions that have become newly relevant: the “credibility revolution,” the influence of economic research on policy and program design, the prestige of economists working in and providing advice to government agencies and policy makers, and the academic freedom economists enjoy in modern research-oriented universities are all a part of that legacy. (JEL A11, B15, D82, J15, N31, N32)

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (20) ◽  
pp. 8407
Author(s):  
Anastasia Zabaniotou ◽  
Christine Syrgiannis ◽  
Daniela Gasperin ◽  
Arnoldo José de Hoyos Guevera ◽  
Ivani Fazenda ◽  
...  

Economic and environmental interventions in the Anthropocene have created disruptions that are threatening the capacity of socio-ecological systems to recover from adversities and to be able to maintain key functions for preserving resilience. The authors of this paper underscore the benefits of a workshop-based methodology for developing a vision and an approach to the inner processes of creation that can be used to increase resilience, to cope with societal vulnerabilities and to develop the tools for future planning at local, regional and global scales. Diverse areas of discourse ranging from climate science and sustainability, to psychoanalysis, linguistics and eco-philosophy, contributed meaningfully to the transdisciplinary approach for enhancing resilience. A framework is proposed that can be used throughout society, that integrates the importance of human subjectivity and the variability of human contexts, especially gender, in shaping human experiences and responses to climate change impacts and challenges such as the covid-19 pandemic. Within the domain of socio-economic research, the authors challenge researchers and policy makers to expand future perspectives of resilience through the proposed systemic resilience vision. Movement towards transformative thinking and actions requires inner exploration and visualization of desirable futures for integrating ecological, social, cultural, ethical, and economic dimensions as agencies for catalyzing the transition to livable, sustainable, equitable, ethical, and resilient societies.


1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-185 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Dianne Martin ◽  
Rachelle S. Heller ◽  
Emad Mahmoud

For a decade significant resources in the United States have been expended to put computers in the schools. Many school districts are now taking stock of the effects of this computerization as they prepare strategic plans for the school reform of the next decade. Similarly, recent events in Eastern Europe are bringing about massive school reform, and the role that the computer could play in reform efforts is being carefully considered. As plans for increased use of computer technology are made, it is important for policy makers, educators and researchers to understand how children relate to the new technologies. In this study the attitudes of eight to twelve year old American and Soviet children toward computers were examined by comparing their responses to attitude statements and their drawings of computer users. Although some significant differences by country and gender were found, the attitudes of the children from both countries were found to be very similar and mostly positive. One of the greatest differences found was in the level of parental use of computers. A majority of Soviet parents were not computer users, whereas a majority of American parents were computer users. The most significant gender differences occurred in the drawings of computer users with most boys drawing males and most girls drawing females as computer users.


Author(s):  
Emily Q. Ahonen ◽  
Steven E. Lacey

Environmental, occupational, and public health in the United States are practiced across a fragmented system that makes work across those areas more difficult. A large proportion of currently active environmental and occupational health professionals, advocates, policy makers, and activists are nearing retirement age, while some of our major health challenges are heavily influenced by aspects of environment. Concurrently, programs that educate undergraduate college students in environmental health are faced with multiple, often competing demands which can impede progressive movement toward dynamic curricula for the needs of the twenty-first century. We describe our use of developmental evaluation to negotiate these challenges in our specific undergraduate education program, with the dual aims of drawing attention to developmental evaluation as a useful tool for people involved in environmental and occupational health advocacy, policy-making, activism, research, or education for change, as well as to promote discussion about how best to educate the next generation of environmental public health students.


Author(s):  
Karen Pfeifer

This chapter first reviews the reasons for the weak links between the fields of economics and Middle East studies (MES) in the United States. It then examines the growth of the economics profession and its work in the Middle East and the shaping of this work by international and regional organizations, especially the Middle East Economic Association and the Economic Research Forum for the Arab World, Turkey, and Iran. It concludes by considering the contested boundaries between economics and MES and how the political uprisings of 2011 were both affected by and affect the work of economists in the region, as painful economic reality and the contest of economic ideas quietly underlay the louder and more dramatic political turmoil of 2011–13.


Author(s):  
Dinh Thi Thanh Van ◽  
Nguyen Thuc Trang

Financial inclusion and startup are two topics, which recently get attention of academic researchers and policy makers in Vietnam. One of the important factors for setting up a successful startup is the financial capability of the owners. Therefore, financial inclusion has a strong correlation with startup establishment. This article tested the effects of several factors in financial index (findex) developed by World Bank on startup establishment in some OECD countries. The result showed that borrowing from friends and relatives along with from credit institutions and opening a debit account at banks have  significant impacts on startup establishment in these countries. Finally, the article presented several recommendations for policy makers to stimulate the startup growth in Vietnam in the next time. Key words startup, financial inclusion, startup establishment References 1. Colman Msoka (2015), “Financial inclusion and microfinance in Tanzania”, Inclusive growth: Tanzania Country Report2. Endeavor-GEM, 2011, “High-Impact Entrepreneurship Global Report”3. Eric Ries, 2012, “The Lean Startup” book”, http://www.stpia.ir/files/The%20Lean%20Startup%20.pdf 4. European Startup Monitor, 2015, “European Startup Monitor 2015”, http://europeanstartupmonitor.com/fileadmin/presse/download/esm_2015.pdf 5. Jennifer Dahlin Ivarsson (2014), “Mobile-banking and entrepreneurship: Is there a link? A case study on South Africa”, Nationalekonomiska Institutionen, Box 7082, ISSN 0283 – 15896. Maher Al-Mahouq (2010), “Success factors of small and medium-sized enterprises(SMEs): The case of Jordan”, Anadol University jourmal of social sciences, Cilt/Vol.: 10 – Say/No:1-16 (2010)7. Mohammed S.Chowdhury (2013), “Success factors of entrepreneurs of small and medium sized enterprises: Evidence from Banladesh”, Business and Economic Research, ISSN 2162 – 4860, 2013, Vol.3, No.2.8. OECD, 2015, “Entrepreneurship at a Glance 2015”9. Roman Angela, 2011, “SME’s sector access to finance: An overview”10. Yao Wang, 2014, “What are the biggest obstacles to growth of SMEs in developing countries? An empirical evidence from an enterprise survey”, JED 210 Paper


1987 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 97-106
Author(s):  
J. J. Vasconcelos

Hater resource managers in semi-arid regions are faced with some unique problems. The wide variations in precipitation and stream flows in semi-arid regions increase man's dependence on the ground water resource for an ample and reliable supply of water. Proper management of the ground water resource is absolutely essential to the economic well being of semi-arid regions. Historians have discovered the remains of vanished advanced civilizations based on irrigated agriculture which were ignorant of the importance of proper ground water resource management. In the United States a great deal of effort is presently being expended in the study and control of toxic discharges to the ground water resource. What many public policy makers fail to understand is that the potential loss to society resulting from the mineralization of the ground water resource is potentially much greater than the loss caused by toxic wastes discharges, particularly in developing countries. Appropriations for ground water resource management studies in developed countries such as the United States are presently much less than those for toxic wastes management and should be increased. It is the reponsibility of the water resource professional to emphasize to public policy makers the importance of ground water resource management. Applications of ground water resource management models in the semi-arid Central Valley of California are presented. The results demonstrate the need for proper ground water resource management practices in semi-arid regions and the use of ground water management models as a valuable tool for the water resource manager.


Author(s):  
Danny M. Adkison ◽  
Lisa McNair Palmer

In 1907, William Jennings Bryan described the proposed constitution for Oklahoma as “the best constitution in the United States today.” An enduring characteristic of Oklahoma’s constitution has been its faith in direct democracy and its root in Progressive Era politics. This book traces the historical formation and constitutional development of the state of Oklahoma. It provides commentary and analysis on the intent, politics, social and economic pressures, and the legal decisions that shaped and enhanced the Oklahoma constitution since it was adopted in 1907. The text gives a broad understanding of state constitutional law within the context of Oklahoma’s constitutional evolution.


Author(s):  
Timnit Gebru

This chapter discusses the role of race and gender in artificial intelligence (AI). The rapid permeation of AI into society has not been accompanied by a thorough investigation of the sociopolitical issues that cause certain groups of people to be harmed rather than advantaged by it. For instance, recent studies have shown that commercial automated facial analysis systems have much higher error rates for dark-skinned women, while having minimal errors on light-skinned men. Moreover, a 2016 ProPublica investigation uncovered that machine learning–based tools that assess crime recidivism rates in the United States are biased against African Americans. Other studies show that natural language–processing tools trained on news articles exhibit societal biases. While many technical solutions have been proposed to alleviate bias in machine learning systems, a holistic and multifaceted approach must be taken. This includes standardization bodies determining what types of systems can be used in which scenarios, making sure that automated decision tools are created by people from diverse backgrounds, and understanding the historical and political factors that disadvantage certain groups who are subjected to these tools.


Author(s):  
Ellen Carol DuBois

The United States was a pioneer in the development of women’s rights ideas and activism. Far-seeing women, determined to find an active and equal place in the nation’s political affairs, pushed long and hard to realize America’s democratic promise. Over three-quarters of a century, women’s rights and suffrage leaders steadily agitated their cause through a shifting American political landscape, from the careful innovations of the early national period, through the expansive involvements of antebellum politics, into the dramatic shifts of revolution and reaction in the post–Civil War years, up to the modernization of the Progressive Era. The meaning and content of “womanhood,” the sign under which these campaigns were conducted, also shifted. Labor, class, and especially race inclusions and exclusions were contentious dimensions of the American women’s rights movement, as they were of American liberal democracy in general.


Author(s):  
Rebecca S. Bigler ◽  
Lynn S. Liben

Morality and gender are intersecting realms of human thought and behavior. Reasoning and action at their intersection (e.g., views of women’s rights legislation) carry important consequences for societies, communities, and individual lives. In this chapter, the authors argue that children’s developing views of morality and gender reciprocally shape one another in important and underexplored ways. The chapter begins with a brief history of psychological theory and research at the intersection of morality and gender and suggests reasons for the historical failure to view gender attitudes through moral lenses. The authors then describe reasons for expecting morality to play an important role in shaping children’s developing gender attitudes and, reciprocally, for gender attitudes to play an important role in shaping children’s developing moral values. The authors next illustrate the importance and relevance of these ideas by discussing two topics at the center of contentious debate in the United States concerning ethical policy and practice: treatment of gender nonconformity and gender-segregated schooling. The chapter concludes with suggestions for future research.


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