scholarly journals Institutions

1991 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Douglass C North
Keyword(s):  
Economic Activity ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Institutional Evolution ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Incentive Structure ◽  
The Past ◽  
Political Economic

Institutions are the humanly devised constraints that structure political, economic, and social interaction. They consist of both informal constraints (sanctions, taboos, customs, traditions, and codes of conduct), and formal rules (constitutions, laws, property rights). Throughout history, institutions have been devised by human beings to create order and reduce uncertainty in exchange. Together with the standard constraints of economics they define the choice set and therefore determine transaction and production costs and hence the profitability and feasibility of engaging in economic activity. They evolve incrementally, connecting the past with the present and the future; history in consequence is largely a story of institutional evolution in which the historical performance of economies can only be understood as a part of a sequential story. Institutions provide the incentive structure of an economy; as that structure evolves, it shapes the direction of economic change towards growth, stagnation, or decline. In this essay, I intend to elaborate on the role of institutions in the performance of economies and illustrate my analysis from economic history.

scholarly journals Mnemicity vs. Temporality: Distinguishing between components of episodic representations

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Mahr
Keyword(s):  
Temporal Orientation ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Episodic Simulation ◽  
The Future ◽  
Event Simulations

Human beings regularly 'mentally travel' to past and future times in memory and imagination. In theory, whether an event is remembered or imagined (its ‘mnemicity’) underspecifies whether it is oriented towards the past or the future (its ‘temporality’). However, it remains unclear to what extent the temporal orientation of such episodic simulations is cognitively represented separately from their status as memories or imagination. To address this question, we investigated whether episodic simulations are more easily distinguishable in memory by virtue of their temporal orientation or their mnemicity. In three experiments (N = 360), participants were asked to generate and later recall events differing along the lines of temporal orientation (past/future) and mnemicity (remembered/imagined). Across all of our experiments, we consistently found that participants were more likely to confuse in recall event simulations that shared the same temporal orientation rather than the same mnemicity. These results show that the temporal orientation of episodic representations can be cognitively represented separately from their mnemicity and have implications for debates about the role of temporality in episodic simulation.

scholarly journals Symposium: ‘The BRICS, Global Governance, and Challenges for South–South Cooperation in a Post-Western World’

2021 ◽  
pp. 019251212110522
Author(s):  
Niall Duggan ◽  
Bas Hooijmaaijers ◽  
Marek Rewizorski ◽  
Ekaterina Arapova
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Emerging Markets ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Western World ◽  
The Past ◽  
Power Shift ◽  
Global Power ◽  
The Moment ◽  
Political Economic

Over the past decades, the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries have experienced significant economic growth. However, their political voices in global governance have not grown on par with their economic surge. The contributions to the symposium ‘The BRICS, Global Governance, and Challenges for South–South Cooperation in a Post-Western World’ argue there is a quest for emerging markets and developing countries to play a more significant role in global governance. There is a widening gap between the actual role of emerging markets and developing countries in the global system and their ability to participate in that system. However, for the moment, various domestic and international political-economic challenges limit this quest. To understand why this is the case, one should understand the BRICS phenomenon in the broader context of the global power shift towards the Global South.

More Lessons to Learn: Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology and Alternative Archives of Social Experience

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-146
Author(s):  
Andreas Langenohl
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
International Political Economy ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
Liberal Democratic ◽  
History Of ◽  
The One ◽  
Historical Trajectory ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
Alternative Archives

Abstract Thomas Piketty’s Capital and Ideology has been written with the intention to offer lessons from the historical trajectory of economic redistribution in societies the world over. Thereby, the book suggests learning from the political-economic history of ‘social-democratic’ policies and societal arrangements. While the data presented speak to the plausibility of looking at social democracy, as understood by Piketty, as an archive for learning about the effects of redistribution mechanisms, I argue that the book, or future interventions might profit from integrating alternative archives. On the one hand, its current line of argumentation tends to underestimate the significance of power relations in the international political economy that continued after formal decolonization, and thus form the flip side of social democracy’s success in Europe and North America. On the other hand, the role of the polity might be imagined in a different and more empowering way, not just-as in Piketty-as an elite-liberal democratic governance institution; for instance, it would be interesting to explore the archive of the French solidaristes movement more deeply than Piketty does, as well as much more recent interventions in economic anthropology that deal with ‘economic citizenship’ in the Global South.

Anthropology Meets History

2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 20-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Giordano
Keyword(s):  
Social Resource ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
Or Groups ◽  
The Future ◽  
Per Se

This article analyses the difficult relation between anthropology and history. The point, therefore, is to show how anthropology conceptualises the past differently from history as a discipline. Beginning with the differences between anthropology and history in terms of the concept of time, the article highlights that while for history time is concrete, objective and exogenous to human beings, for anthropology it is characterised by its being condensed, collectively subjective and endogenous. By analyzing actual examples, the article shows that the anthropologist is not interested in the past per se, but rather in the past as a dimension of the present. Accordingly, actualised, revised and manipulated history as well as the role of the past in the present need to be taken into account. Consequently, history and the past have their own specific efficiency because they are also a form of knowledge and social resource mobilised by single individuals or groups to find their bearings and act accordingly in the present and likewise to plan the future.

scholarly journals The Role of Banks in Shaping the Community of Firms (Theories and Russian History)

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-36
Author(s):  
Andrei Yudanov
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Decisive Role ◽  
Negative Influence ◽  
State Regulation ◽  
Russian History ◽  
National Community ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Russian Empire ◽  
Industry Relations

The paper is devoted to industrialization, which was the turning point of Russia's economic history, and to the resulting formation of the modern type national community of companies. From the perspective of the economic theory, the role of banks in the formation of a community of firms in the Russian Empire is considered in the article. The synthesis of two classical concepts is proposed: the decisive role of banks in public approval of innovation (Joseph Alois Schumpeter) and «the mission of banks» in the industrialization of backward states (Alexander Gerschenkron). It is concluded that not only German (as Gerschenkron believed), but also Russian banks fulfilled the historical mission of creating the large industry. On the other hand, under the direct influence of banks in Tsarist Russia a disharmonious community of firms was formed. It was characterized by hypertrophied large industry, underdeveloped small and medium-sized businesses as well as by the lack of an innovative sector. The responsibility of the banks is also enormous for syndicating Russian industry, which prevented the transformation of large Russian enterprises into efficient mass producers. In general, it is obvious that there is a strong and, at the same time, ambivalent (both positive and negative) influence of banks on the formation of the national community of firms. It seems that the past experience points to the need for state regulation of institutional bank-industry relations in our time.

scholarly journals Some Questions About Evaluating the Role Transport Factor in Economic History the North-West of Russia in the Late XIX – early XX century

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-111
Author(s):  
Sergey V. Kuznetsov ◽  
Nikolay M. Mezhevich ◽  
Vladimir M. Razumovsky
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Reference Points ◽  
Economic Space ◽  
North West ◽  
Saint Petersburg ◽  
The North ◽  
The City

Introduction. At present, the understanding that the solution of economic problems facing Russia cannot be based on standard economic approaches and models. It is gradually becoming obvious that attention to the spatial and historical features of the development of the Russian economy has not only academic interest, but also quite obvious practical significance. This can be proved on historical, or more precisely, historical and economic material. In fact, the theory of logic, taken broadly, is based on this. The development of transport and versatile tool to reduce the adverse impacts of space on the eco-economy, physical space turns into economic. The lack of transport connectivity of territories devalues the space of the economy (economic space) to a physical or geographical space. The purpose of the article is to show the role of the city of Saint Petersburg in the economic space of the North-West (understood as Saint Petersburg, Saint Petersburg, Novgorod, Pskov provinces) and Russia as a whole, through the development of railway transport in a concrete historical way. Materials and Methods. The historical method is used as the main method. In Russia, the spatial analysis method is almost mandatory, and it is also applied in this article. This method has been widely used in economic history, particularly in the study of transport. At the same time, we recognize the existence of research methods and techniques that are not suitable for this work, for example, the practice of economic and demographic analysis, especially in the neo-Malthusian version. The authors involve in the analysis the works of Russian and foreign scientists on the topic of the article. Results. The article shows the role of the city of Saint Petersburg as an economic and transport center taken in historical dynamics. The role of an important but single transport center in the economic development of Russia is revealed. The thesis is proved that the optimal choice of reference points for economic development has a positive impact on the development of the economic space of the entire country. Discussion and Conclusion. The article proves that the spatial scale of Russia contributes to the fact that the financial results of economic activity can be localized at a significant distance from the place of economic activity.

scholarly journals La historia económica en el Seminario de Historia Rural Andina

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 31
Author(s):  
Alejandro Salinas Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Theoretical Orientation ◽  
Rural History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Siglo Xx ◽  
Three Phases

<p>Este artículo analiza el rol del Seminario de Historia Rural Andina y de Pablo Macera en la formulación de los criterios teóricos y metodológicos que guiaron los primeros trabajos de la moderna historia económica peruana de la segunda mitad del siglo XX. Se distinguen tres etapas en el continuo proceso de producción bibliográfica del SHRA (1966-1978, 1979-2000 y 2001-2015) destacando las perspectivas de los investigadores actuantes al interior de cada una de estas en el marco de los debates historiográficos ocurridos durante los últimos cincuenta años.</p><p> </p><p><strong>The Peruvian economical history and the role of the Seminario de Historia Rural Andina </strong></p><p>This article analyses the role of the Seminario de Historia Rural Andina and of Pablo Macera designing methodological and theoretical criteria guiding the first research efforts of modern Peruvian economical history in the second half of the XX Century. Such research has been divided into three phases: 1966-1978; 1979-2000; and 2001-2015. Each phase is marked by specific characteristics of the theoretical orientation of the investigators in the context of the history debates that have occurred in the past five decades.</p><p>Keywords: Peru; historiography; economic history; Seminar of Andean Rural History; Pablo Macera.</p>

scholarly journals AGENTS IN THE PROCESS OF INCULTURATION: FRIEND OR FOE?

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Okelloh Ogera
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Approach ◽  
Church Leaders ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
The Past ◽  
The People ◽  
Simple Question ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Church

Purpose: This article looks at the role played by agents: the people responsible for articulating and implementing inculturation in Africa. The article asks the simple question of are these agents useful or a hindrance in the process of inculturation? The article begins by identifying these agents then discusses the challenges they face in the process of inculturation. The article concludes by giving a way forward and that is an integrated approach in inculturation.Methodology: This study will review the available literature on the subject with a view to examining what previous research says concerning the role of the agents, that is human beings, in the process of inculturation. This was done with the main objective of examining the challenges that he agents of inculturation face, and concluding by exploring an integrated approach to inculturation, where all the agents are brought on board. Findings: This study found out that if inculturation is to truly take root in African Christianity, it must bring on board all actors, not just Church leaders, and trained theologians, but also the laity. All these actors also need to overcome some of the challenges that have hindered the prospects of inculturation which include but not limited to fear of syncretism, lack of enthusiasm by some Church leaders, answering the question of culture in a post-modern and globalized world.Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: This paper will offer unique contributions to policies and practices governing the attempts to make the Church in Africa truly African by proposing a re-evaluation of the way inculturation has been carried out in the past. This has tended to be spearheaded by professional theologians and some church leaders, neglecting the biggest constituency in the entire process, and that is the consumer of inculturational processes; the laity.

The Role of Past in the Simulation of Autobiographical Future Episodes

2010 ◽  
Vol 57 (6) ◽  
pp. 419-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nadia Gamboz ◽  
Maria A. Brandimonte ◽  
Stefania De Vito
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
Episodic Memory ◽  
Recognition Task ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
Future Events ◽  
Delayed Recognition

Human beings’ ability to envisage the future has been recently assumed to rely on the reconstructive nature of episodic memory ( Schacter & Addis, 2007 ). In the present research, young adults mentally reexperienced and preexperienced temporally close and distant autobiographical episodes, and rated their phenomenal characteristics as well as their novelty. Additionally, they performed a delayed recognition task including remember-know judgments on new, old-remember, and old-imagine words. Results showed that past and future temporally close episodes included more phenomenal details than distant episodes, in line with earlier studies. However, future events were occasionally rated as already occurred in the past. Furthermore, in the recognition task, participants falsely attributed old-imagine words to remembered episodes. While partially in line with previous results, these findings call for a more subtle analysis in order to discriminate representations of past episodes from true future events simulations.

Sugarcane RD&E: over managed and underperforming?

2017 ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
Frederik Botha
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Systems Approach ◽  
New Technology ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Production Costs ◽  
Common Denominator ◽  
Team Members ◽  
The Past ◽  
Development Institutions

In general, few productivity improvements in sugarcane have occurred during the past three decades. At the same time, production costs have increased and production statistics reflect decreased yields globally. In comparison to the ‘golden years’ of new technology and improved germplasm in the second half of the previous century, little more than optimisation of existing practises has emerged from the past two decades. Given the slowdown in new technology delivery, it is not surprising that many industries have placed more scrutiny on how they manage their Research & Development institutions and investments. The result of this ‘slowdown’ has created a perception that poor management of research projects and programs by scientists is at the core of the problem. This has led to the introduction of ‘real’ managers with the subsequent management of R&D as if it is a ‘normal’ production and sales business through well established ‘business models’. Strong emphasis has been placed on project selection, project management and minimising risk. Research, especially in the discovery phase, is a very high-risk endeavour and a high proportion of all projects fail. Institutions that have a low appetite for risk quickly run out of new technology innovation. Because of the inability to predict, a discovery project cannot easily accommodate management issues such as budgeting, milestone definition and timeframes. Managers generally prefer D and Extension over R because of the higher predictability and lower perceived failure rate. The key to proper management of R&D is a recognition that researchers and managers operate under very different codes of conduct. If this is not properly managed, then conflict between researchers and the rest of the business follows. It has become customary to view RD&E as a unit following a ‘systems’ approach. Despite obvious advantages of this approach, it often fails to recognise the most significant shortfall(s) in the value chain. This practice can unnecessarily inflate the cost, slow project progress and is dependent on consensus that tends to favour the lowest common denominator or more vocal team members. Consensus and innovation tend to be opposing objectives, as innovation requires thinking with an ‘outside the box’ mindset. Consequently, innovation can be stifled using this approach. Peer review is a great tool to measure progress in projects and selecting projects for development. It is not suited for selection of new innovative ideas. With no obvious improvement in technology delivery and adoption, it is timely to ask whether the current approaches are achieving their objectives. In addressing this question it is important to look at the global evolution of R&D models and modern trends in highly innovative businesses. Instead of trying to ensure that every research project entering the technology funnel delivers a product, a greater emphasis is needed to create an innovative environment where all role players are focussed on key strategic objectives, and all research results are seen as key learnings for future deployment.

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