The Fanciful World of Clio

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Boldizzoni
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Multiple Equilibria ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Rational Choice Theory ◽  
Choice Theory ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Contemporary Western Society

Cliometrics has evolved into a literary genre having little to do with numbers in the sense of econometric testing, though a lot to do with the deductive stance of the new institutional economics and of rational choice theory. At times these two approaches, which are not completely compatible, coexist even in the same author's work, giving rise to a sort of analytic schizophrenia. This chapter analyzes the recent developments in economic history. From the standpoint of methodology, it shows the confusion between history and path dependence or presence of “multiple equilibria” in a predetermined deductive schema. It argues that underlying these trends is an ideological slant, whether conscious or unconscious, aimed at exalting values such as individualism and materialism, which are typical of certain segments of contemporary Western society, and at projecting them unduly onto the past.

Innovation, institutions and development: a critical review and grounded heterodox economic analysis of late-industrialising contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (2) ◽  
pp. 391-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keston K Perry
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Path Dependence ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Capitalist Development ◽  
Productivity Improvement ◽  
Capitalist System ◽  
Transition Costs ◽  
Historical Factors

Abstract This paper critically reviews dominant approaches to the economics of innovation in contemporary developing societies, namely new institutional economics (NIE) and National Innovation Systems (NIS). Both traditions explain capitalist development in late-industrialising countries using underlying assumptions and logics of advanced industrialised societies with respect to transaction costs, path dependence, the nature and structure of institutions and economic history. At their core, both approaches proffer ideal-type institutions as an essentialist route to technological and productivity improvement akin to a staged theory of development. The NIS framework became dominant in scholarly and policy circles but has neglected the implication that the concept was developed at the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development during the emergence of first-stage neoliberalism. NIE has become an essential analytical toolkit of mainstream economists and international organisations promoting competitiveness in developing countries. Analyses of the economic performance of developing countries have thus diverged from structural perspectives on development, attributing instead lacklustre technological deepening to certain national features, institutional gaps or linkage failures. The paper exposes narrow assumptions and illustrates that the ‘transition costs’ that arise from new socio-institutional configurations during the development process induces firms and other actors to compete for rents. Conversely, power asymmetries, historical factors and constraining forces in the global capitalist system generate unevenness in productive forces and technological progress. The paper proposes a political economy of technological change that considers the structural, technical and socio-political interdependencies and tensions that underpin transformative policies to improve technological, coordination and collective capabilities in the economic system.

The Political Economy of Italy's Decline

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea Lorenzo Capussela
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Tax Evasion ◽  
Social Order ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Multiple Equilibria ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Coordination Games ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Accountability ◽  
Private Goods

This book offers an interpretation of Italy’s decline, which began two decades before the Great Recession. It argues that its deeper roots lie in the political economy of growth. This interpretation is illustrated through a discussion of Italy’s political and economic history since its unification, in 1861. The emphasis is placed on the country’s convergence to the productivity frontier and TFP performance, and on the evolution of its social order and institutions. The lens through which its history is reviewed, to illuminate the origins and evolution of the current constraints to growth, is drawn from institutional economics and Schumpeterian growth theory. It is exemplified by analysing two alternative reactions to the insufficient provision of public goods: an opportunistic one—employing tax evasion, corruption, or clientelism as means to appropriate private goods—and one based on enforcing political accountability. From the perspective of ordinary citizens and firms such social dilemmas can typically be modelled as coordination games, which have multiple equilibria. Self-interested rationality can thus lead to a spiral, in which several mutually reinforcing vicious circles lead society onto an inefficient equilibrium characterized by low political accountability and weak rule of law. The book follows the gradual setting in of this spiral, despite an ambitious attempt at institutional reform, in 1962–4, and its resumption after a severe endogenous shock, in 1992–4. It concludes that innovative ideas can overcome the constraints posed by that spiral, and ease the country’s shift onto a fairer and more efficient equilibrium.

scholarly journals Alzheimer’s and the Dementia of God

2010 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-253
Author(s):  
Peter Kevern
Keyword(s):  
Personal Identity ◽  
Social Recognition ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Western Society ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
Secular World ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Dialectical Relationship ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Contemporary Western Society

AbstractRecent developments in the theory and practice of care for persons with dementia have reopened questions, traditionally explored by theologians, to do with the nature of personal identity and its dialectical relationship to social recognition. This new perspective on classical theological questions serves as a potential theological resource in contemporary western society, where God appears to have withdrawn from the prevailing public discourses. In this article, I explore the analogical potential of imagery of a ‘dementing God’, as a way to describe the contemporary experience of western Christians, to develop appropriate responses to the current climate in public theology and to continue to talk of God in public, while respecting Bonhoeffer’s desire to celebrate a secular world in which humanity may ‘come of age’.

New Institutional Economics and economic history

2002 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 9-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Ankarloo
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Classical Economics

New Institutional Economics (NIE) has been celebrated as a path-breaking approach to the understanding of capitalism. This article advances a conceptual critique of NIE approaches to economic history. The author suggests that NIE cannot solve the underlying tension, that its economics remains ahistorical, and that when history, social relations and realism are invoked, the economics disappears, being replaced by various cultural and state-centred explanations. Therefore NIE is not so much a research programme in progress, but rather an indication of the degeneration of the tools of neo-classical economics.

City and Reciprocity: The Role of Cultural Beliefs in the Roman Economy

2012 ◽  
Vol 67 (04) ◽  
pp. 599-627 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koenraad Verboven
Keyword(s):  
Roman Empire ◽  
Political Culture ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Cultural Beliefs ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Political Elite ◽  
Roman Law ◽  
Roman Economy

Over the past decade, the New Institutional Economics have become a popular model for analyzing ancient economic history. However, the notion of cultural beliefs, which plays a central role in Douglass North’s recent work and Avner Greif’s analysis of institutional change, has been largely ignored. This article argues that a neo-institutional approach taking this notion into account offers a better means of understanding how ideology and moral values influenced the ancient economy than the Finleyan model. Rather than acting as a deterministic constraint on human behavior, cultural beliefs help to orient decision making and allow one to anticipate the (re)actions of others. This article explores two key sets of norms and values in Roman culture that profoundly marked the economy’s institutional framework. The first focused on reciprocity, which supported social networks beyond the confines of the familia-freedmen group and underlay the development of contract and agency law. The second was based on citizenship, which shaped political culture by creating individual rights and obligations that the political elite was given the authority to enforce in order to secure and stimulate both private and common interests. This resulted in Roman law and the distribution of justice. Ideologically, the Roman Empire presented itself as a meta-city that incorporated local communities, which were in turn gradually transformed to fit the civitas model. Both sets of beliefs lowered transaction costs without threatening the preeminent position of local and imperial aristocracies. Toward the end of the second century CE, local communities weakened as the imperial administration grew stronger, causing local and regional aristocracies to turn to the imperial court and army for status, influence, and power. The ideology of citizenship as the guiding principle of political culture gave way to that of the sacred emperor, who guaranteed divine justice and order.

Introduction

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Teller
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Social Status ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Cultural Factors ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Financial Success ◽  
The Family ◽  
History Of

The book makes three main interventions. First is the use of Jewish economic history to understand both the development of Jewish society and its relations with the surrounding world. The methodology of New institutional economics, emphasizing the connection between economic and cultural factors, is employed. Second is the study of the Jews’ economic roles in the specific context of magnate estates in eighteenth-century Poland-Lithuania. In this late feudal setting, Jews achieved enormous financial success, which they translated into improved social status and even power. This process is at the heart of the analysis here. Third is the history of the Radziwiłł family and its estates in Lithuania. From a low point at the beginning of the period, the family reached the pinnacle of its power at the end. This rise was based on increased estate incomes, the importance for which of Jewish economic activity is examined here.

The Private Credit Market, the Bibliotheke Enkteseon, and Public Services in Roman Egypt

2012 ◽  
Vol 67 (04) ◽  
pp. 629-659 ◽  
Author(s):  
François Lerouxel
Keyword(s):  
Economic History ◽  
Public Services ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Credit Market ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Roman Egypt ◽  
History Of ◽  
Private Credit ◽  
Positive Effect

This article examines the history of the private credit market in Roman Egypt between 30 BCE and approximately 170 CE. After examining how the notion of the market and the New Institutional Economics are employed with regard to ancient economic history, it explains the positive effect that systems of drafting and registering contracts had on the private credit market and, in particular, the role of the bibliotheke enkteseon, created by the Roman administration between 68 and 72. The article concludes with an explanation of how this institution was created by analyzing the interaction between the private credit market and the way public services were financed in the Roman world.

scholarly journals New Institutional Economics’ Perspective on Wealth and Poverty of Nations. Concise Review and General Remarks on Acemoglu and Robinson’s Concept

2015 ◽  
Vol 62 (s1) ◽  
pp. 11-18
Author(s):  
Joanna Dzionek-Kozłowska ◽  
Rafał Matera
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Economic Analysis ◽  
Economic History ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
New Institutional Economics ◽  
Political Processes ◽  
Concise Review ◽  
The People ◽  
Open Discussion ◽  
The Common

Abstract Many thinkers made attempts to explain differences in economic development between countries, and point out what should be done to foster development. We review briefly some spectacular theories focused on these fundamental problems. We use the tools of economic analysis and the methods characteristic especially for institutional economics and economic history. However, the paper’s central aim is to analyse and assess one of the newest voices in that still open discussion coming from Acemoglu and Robinson and presented in their “Why Nation Failed? The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty”. Their book is brimmed with compelling illustrations, which we acknowledge as its strongest point. While the accuracy and coherence of their generalisations leave much to be desired. The analysis of those examples let to infer that the most important element encouraging or hampering economic development is the common participation of the people in economic and political processes.

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