scholarly journals Journal of the History of Economic Thought Preprints - Antonio De Viti De Marco, the principle of minimum means, and political competition

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amedeo Fossati ◽  
Marcello Montefiori
Keyword(s):  
Public Debt ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Tax Incidence ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common ◽  
State Factor

In contrast to the common maxims for good taxation, De Viti de Marco revolutionized public finance studies by placing collective economic activity within a theoretical framework, and trying to explain concrete fiscal phenomena, such as tax incidence or public debt. The polar cases of cooperative and monopolistic states and the state-factor of production are usually considered a characteristic of such a framework. Here, we remark that De Viti’s theory of the cooperative state appears grounded only on the principles of minimum means and of political competition, and on the assumption that individual income is a proxy of individual consumption of general public services. Thus, it appears that the characteristics might be unessential to the real core of his theoretical framework. Moreover, we claim that his theoretical framework was not actually applied in his explanation of concrete fiscal phenomena. Finally, we remark that he seldom employed marginal tools in his Principî.

ANTONIO DE VITI DE MARCO, THE PRINCIPLE OF MINIMUM MEANS, AND POLITICAL COMPETITION

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 237-253
Author(s):  
Amedeo Fossati ◽  
Marcello Montefiori
Keyword(s):  
Public Finance ◽  
Public Debt ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
General Public ◽  
Political Competition ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Tax Incidence ◽  
Individual Income ◽  
The Common ◽  
State Factor

In contrast to the common maxims for good taxation, Antonio De Viti de Marco revolutionized public finance studies by placing collective economic activity within a theoretical framework and trying to explain concrete fiscal phenomena such as tax incidence or public debt. The polar cases of cooperative and monopolistic states and the state factor of production are usually considered characteristics of such a framework. Here, we remark that De Viti’s theory of the cooperative state appears grounded only on the principles of minimum means and of political competition, and on the assumption that individual income is a proxy of individual consumption of general public services. Thus, it appears that the characteristics might be inessential to the real core of his theoretical framework. Moreover, we claim that his theoretical framework was not actually applied in his explanation of concrete fiscal phenomena. Finally, we remark that he seldom employed marginal tools in his Principî.

scholarly journals Is history of economic thought a "serious" subject?

2008 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 107 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria Cristina Marcuzzo
Keyword(s):  
Research Methods ◽  
Theoretical Framework ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Contextual Analysis ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Textual Exegesis ◽  
The Past ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the nature of research methods in the history of economic thought. In reviewing the "techniques" which are involved in the discipline, four broader categories are identified: a) textual exegesis; b) "rational reconstructions"; c) "contextual analysis"; and d) "historical narrative". After examining these different styles of doing history of economic thought, the paper addresses the question of its appraisal, namely what is good history of economic thought. Moreover, it is argued that there is a distinction to be made between doing economics and doing history of economic thought. The latter requires the greatest possible respect for contexts and texts, both published and unpublished; the former entails constructing a theoretical framework that is in some respects freer, not bound by derivation, from the authors. Finally, the paper draws upon Econlit records to assess what has been done in the subject in the last two decades in order to frame some considerations on how the past may impinge on the future.

scholarly journals Journal of the History of Economic Thought Preprints - Keynes, Public Debt and the Complex of Interest Rates

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anthony Aspromourgos
Keyword(s):  
Interest Rates ◽  
Term Structure ◽  
Public Debt ◽  
Public Investment ◽  
Private Investment ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
John Maynard Keynes ◽  
History Of ◽  
Debt Market

John Maynard Keynes consistently offered qualified endorsement of Abba Lerner’s “functional finance” doctrine – the qualifications particularly turning on Keynes’s attentiveness to policy management of the psychology of the debt market. This article examines Keynes’s understanding of the possible influence of public debt on interest rates, from 1930 forward. With the multiplier a mechanism whereby debt-financed public investment generates matching private saving (net of private investment) plus public saving, it becomes possible for Keynes to conclude that increasing public debt need not place upward pressure on the level of interest rates, so long as policy can successfully manage the psychology of the debt market. This particularly concerns long interest rates and hence, the term structure of rates. His theory of the term structure enables Keynes’s conviction that policy can manage and shape long rates. The conclusion considers also whether Keynes’s caution concerning public debt and interest rates retains relevance today.

scholarly journals Journal of the History of Economic Thought Preprints - Monetary Theory and Cameralist Economic Management, c. 1500-1900 A.D.

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp Rössner
Keyword(s):  
Economic Development ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Monetary Theory ◽  
Clear Understanding ◽  
Economic Management ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

More than England and other states the German principalities were, in the preindustrial period, hampered by silver outflow and persistent pressures on the balance of payments which led to idiosyncratic models and strategies of economic development usually but not entirely helpfully called “Cameralism”. It is less well understood how Cameralism as a policy of order and development and monetary theory went together. The present paper will attempt a sketch of these working mechanisms as well as provide a few angles for new perspectives and future research. A first section after the brief introduction studies general issues of development in relation to balance of payment constraints (II), followed by the discourses on whether the domestic currency ought to remain stable in terms of intrinsic (silver) value (III), or whether it may be debased so as to raise domestic exports and competitiveness (IV). Both options were considered, at times and by varying actors, as valid strategies of promoting economic development, especially export-led growth, although most contemporaries viewed coin debasement as harmful to the economy. A fifth section discusses an alternative to the aforementioned strategies, by raising effective monetary mass through increasing velocity. Since the middle ages and into the nineteenth century the German economic tradition had a clear understanding of how velocity could be managed and the common weal stimulated by an increase in “vivacity” of circulation (V). Upon hindsight it appears that we find here a powerful programme towards promoting economic development and Europe’s rise towards capitalism. A conclusion will offer some thoughts for further research (VI).

How Homo economicus lost her mind and how we can revive her

2018 ◽  
Vol 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter DeScioli
Keyword(s):  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Homo Economicus ◽  
Economic Theories ◽  
Target Article ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Mind ◽  
And Behavior

AbstractThe target article by Boyer & Petersen (B&P) contributes a vital message: that people have folk economic theories that shape their thoughts and behavior in the marketplace. This message is all the more important because, in the history of economic thought, Homo economicus was increasingly stripped of mental capacities. Intuitive theories can help restore the mind of Homo economicus.

Essays of a “comparatively progressive” economist (On the 150th birth anniversary of Vladimir Geleznoff)

2019 ◽  
pp. 135-145
Author(s):  
Viktor A. Popov
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
Political Economy ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
The Political ◽  
Russian History ◽  
Working Ability ◽  
Intellectual Inquiry ◽  
History Of

Deep comprehension of the advanced economic theory, the talent of lecturer enforced by the outstanding working ability forwarded Vladimir Geleznoff scarcely at the end of his thirties to prepare the publication of “The essays of the political economy” (1898). The subsequent publishing success (8 editions in Russia, the 1918­-year edition in Germany) sufficiently demonstrates that Geleznoff well succeded in meeting the intellectual inquiry of the cross­road epoch of the Russian history and by that taking the worthful place in the history of economic thought in Russia. Being an acknowledged historian of science V. Geleznoff was the first and up to now one of the few to demonstrate the worldwide community of economists the theoretically saturated view of Russian economic thought in its most fruitful period (end of XIX — first quarter of XX century).

Thorstein Veblen: A View from the 21st Century

2007 ◽  
pp. 73-85 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Nureev
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Institutional Economics ◽  
Economic Thought ◽  
History Of Economic Thought ◽  
Thorstein Veblen ◽  
History Of

The article provides a description of T. Veblen’s views, showing his place in the history of economic thought. The author analyzes the context of Veblen’s life and work and considers different aspects of his theoretical legacy. Special attention is paid to the discussion of Veblen’s role in the development of institutional economics. The author describes in detail the main trends in the development of institutionalism after Veblen.

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