To understand the functions of the financial institutions within a capitalist system, one must understand the spirit of capitalism. This paper argues that the spirit is the pursuit of wealth without any moral or social restraints. Financial institutions represent an embodiment of this spirit. Furthermore, these institutions act in concert with social and political institutions and cannot be understood except within this context. Ultimately, the unrestrained pursuit of wealth leads to the collection of wealth in the hands of a small number of the rich and powerful. Sustaining such outcomes within a democratic society requires radical changes in social values. Neither the spirit, nor the social values associated with capitalist society are compatible with Islam. Islamic financial institutions attempt to modify the form of the institutions without affecting the spirit. Thus they end up performing the same functions as capitalist institutions and do not represent a genuine Islamic alternative.
{"title":"Objectives of Financial Institutions: Western and Islamic","authors":"A. Zaman","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2496960","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2496960","url":null,"abstract":"To understand the functions of the financial institutions within a capitalist system, one must understand the spirit of capitalism. This paper argues that the spirit is the pursuit of wealth without any moral or social restraints. Financial institutions represent an embodiment of this spirit. Furthermore, these institutions act in concert with social and political institutions and cannot be understood except within this context. Ultimately, the unrestrained pursuit of wealth leads to the collection of wealth in the hands of a small number of the rich and powerful. Sustaining such outcomes within a democratic society requires radical changes in social values. Neither the spirit, nor the social values associated with capitalist society are compatible with Islam. Islamic financial institutions attempt to modify the form of the institutions without affecting the spirit. Thus they end up performing the same functions as capitalist institutions and do not represent a genuine Islamic alternative.","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-16","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127046332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the first critical assessment of knowledge economy dynamic paths in Africa and the Middle East, but for a few exceptions, we find overwhelming support for diminishing cross-country disparities in knowledge-base-economy dimensions. The paper employs all the four components of the World Bank’s Knowledge Economy Index (KEI): economic incentives, innovation, education, and information infrastructure. The main finding suggests that sub-Saharan African (SSA) and the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries with low levels in KE dynamics and catching-up their counterparts of higher KE levels. We provide the speeds of integration and time necessary to achieve full (100%) integration. Policy implications are discussed.
{"title":"Trajectories in Knowledge Economy: Empirics from SSA and MENA Countries","authors":"S. Asongu, A. Andrés","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2741347","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2741347","url":null,"abstract":"In the first critical assessment of knowledge economy dynamic paths in Africa and the Middle East, but for a few exceptions, we find overwhelming support for diminishing cross-country disparities in knowledge-base-economy dimensions. The paper employs all the four components of the World Bank’s Knowledge Economy Index (KEI): economic incentives, innovation, education, and information infrastructure. The main finding suggests that sub-Saharan African (SSA) and the Middle East and North African (MENA) countries with low levels in KE dynamics and catching-up their counterparts of higher KE levels. We provide the speeds of integration and time necessary to achieve full (100%) integration. Policy implications are discussed.","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"394 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-12-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124547229","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
After quarter of a century, it is not a waste of time to reassess the effects of the transition process. Have we missed the purpose? The transition can be given scrutiny via different models, but also through the integration process which runs danger of falling into the pit of the constructivism. The transition was (or should have been) about moving from a hampered into an unhampered market society in the first place. It is obvious that we are far from there. That is why some international financial organisations such as IMF or EBRD seem to be changing their focus. Probably logically so, but the true question is whether the process and the policymaking is about letting an individual make decisions freely, or about reconstructing paternalism in different forms. The recent economic crisis does not help either. Reducing corruption and increasing transparency along with long haul education reforms that spur entrepreneurial spirit in order to make political and market reforms sustainable, may be a quest to seek the lost purpose of transition.
{"title":"On the Lost Purpose of Transition","authors":"Igor Lukšić","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2756398","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2756398","url":null,"abstract":"After quarter of a century, it is not a waste of time to reassess the effects of the transition process. Have we missed the purpose? The transition can be given scrutiny via different models, but also through the integration process which runs danger of falling into the pit of the constructivism. The transition was (or should have been) about moving from a hampered into an unhampered market society in the first place. It is obvious that we are far from there. That is why some international financial organisations such as IMF or EBRD seem to be changing their focus. Probably logically so, but the true question is whether the process and the policymaking is about letting an individual make decisions freely, or about reconstructing paternalism in different forms. The recent economic crisis does not help either. Reducing corruption and increasing transparency along with long haul education reforms that spur entrepreneurial spirit in order to make political and market reforms sustainable, may be a quest to seek the lost purpose of transition.","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"36 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128345436","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2015-11-01DOI: 10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780199811762.013.24
V. Storr
Economic sociology, the study of how economic phenomena affect and are affected by social forces, is a field that arguably dates back to classical economists and social thinkers such as Adam Smith. Arguably, however, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber did the most to systematize and outline the field (see Steiner 2010; Swedberg 2010). Durkheim ([1909] 1978), for instance, described economic sociology as the application of the sociological perspective to economic phenomena. Similarly, Weber (1949, 65) has suggested that the field ought to concern itself with pure economic phenomena along with economically conditioned phenomena. The new economic sociology, which builds on the writings of these earlier thinkers, begins with the observation that all economic action is embedded within a context of ongoing social relations and seeks to trace out the impact of these social structures on economic behavior and outcomes (Swedberg 1997, 165). As Granovetter (1985, 483-484) explains, while neoclassical economics tends to advance an undersocialized conception of economic actors and traditional sociology tends to advance an oversocialized conception of economic actors, the focus on embeddedness avoids presenting economic actors as social eunuchs or social automatons. The new economic sociology also advances the proposition that economic institutions are socially constructed; that is, they are brought into being through the social action of individuals and are given force as a result of the meanings that individuals come to ascribe to them (Swedberg 1997, 165; Granovetter 1992, 7).
{"title":"Contemporary Austrian Economics and the New Economic Sociology","authors":"V. Storr","doi":"10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780199811762.013.24","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/OXFORDHB/9780199811762.013.24","url":null,"abstract":"Economic sociology, the study of how economic phenomena affect and are affected by social forces, is a field that arguably dates back to classical economists and social thinkers such as Adam Smith. Arguably, however, Emile Durkheim and Max Weber did the most to systematize and outline the field (see Steiner 2010; Swedberg 2010). Durkheim ([1909] 1978), for instance, described economic sociology as the application of the sociological perspective to economic phenomena. Similarly, Weber (1949, 65) has suggested that the field ought to concern itself with pure economic phenomena along with economically conditioned phenomena. The new economic sociology, which builds on the writings of these earlier thinkers, begins with the observation that all economic action is embedded within a context of ongoing social relations and seeks to trace out the impact of these social structures on economic behavior and outcomes (Swedberg 1997, 165). As Granovetter (1985, 483-484) explains, while neoclassical economics tends to advance an undersocialized conception of economic actors and traditional sociology tends to advance an oversocialized conception of economic actors, the focus on embeddedness avoids presenting economic actors as social eunuchs or social automatons. The new economic sociology also advances the proposition that economic institutions are socially constructed; that is, they are brought into being through the social action of individuals and are given force as a result of the meanings that individuals come to ascribe to them (Swedberg 1997, 165; Granovetter 1992, 7).","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126310391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
For most economists the terms “Chicago economics” and “institutionalism” denote clearly antithetical approaches to the discipline. Various members of the modern “Chicago School” have made highly dismissive remarks concerning American institutionalism. Coase has commented that American institutionalists were anti-theoretical, and that “without a theory they had nothing to pass on except a mass of descriptive material waiting for a theory, or a fire” (Coase 1984, p. 230). Some of these attitudes have their roots in the interwar period, most obviously in Frank Knight’s bitingly critical attacks on the methodology and policy positions of institutionalist and advocates of the “social control” of business (Knight 1932). Nevertheless, what this presentation seeks to reveal is a much more complex interrelation between institutional and Chicago economics. To fully understand this relationship it is necessary to begin with the early years of the Chicago Department of Economics.
{"title":"Chicago and Institutional Economics","authors":"M. Rutherford","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2714082","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2714082","url":null,"abstract":"For most economists the terms “Chicago economics” and “institutionalism” denote clearly antithetical approaches to the discipline. Various members of the modern “Chicago School” have made highly dismissive remarks concerning American institutionalism. Coase has commented that American institutionalists were anti-theoretical, and that “without a theory they had nothing to pass on except a mass of descriptive material waiting for a theory, or a fire” (Coase 1984, p. 230). Some of these attitudes have their roots in the interwar period, most obviously in Frank Knight’s bitingly critical attacks on the methodology and policy positions of institutionalist and advocates of the “social control” of business (Knight 1932). Nevertheless, what this presentation seeks to reveal is a much more complex interrelation between institutional and Chicago economics. To fully understand this relationship it is necessary to begin with the early years of the Chicago Department of Economics.","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"12 2 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127051148","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The basic assumption of the paper is that numerous similarities exist between the patterns of economic growth and territorial capital growth. The rush economic growth and rush growth of territorial capital are compared empirically at Hungarian micro-regional level from 2004 until 2010. After normalizing the dataset, a very novel spatial econometric method is applied, called a penalty for bottleneck. The results show that the constant rush growth of territorial capital is as harmful as economic recession. On the other hand, the decrease of infrastructural and social capital caused the rush growth of territorial capital in this period. Moreover, the key findings of two case studies suggest that the balanced growth of territorial capital will be created by the falling social inequalities and increasing infrastructural capital.
{"title":"New Trajectories of the Hungarian Regional Development: Balanced and Rush Growth of Territorial Capital","authors":"G. Jona","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2665551","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2665551","url":null,"abstract":"The basic assumption of the paper is that numerous similarities exist between the patterns of economic growth and territorial capital growth. The rush economic growth and rush growth of territorial capital are compared empirically at Hungarian micro-regional level from 2004 until 2010. After normalizing the dataset, a very novel spatial econometric method is applied, called a penalty for bottleneck. The results show that the constant rush growth of territorial capital is as harmful as economic recession. On the other hand, the decrease of infrastructural and social capital caused the rush growth of territorial capital in this period. Moreover, the key findings of two case studies suggest that the balanced growth of territorial capital will be created by the falling social inequalities and increasing infrastructural capital.","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"29 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-09-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133642977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
To curtail the economic dependency of Macau on gaming industry, the Government of the Macau SAR identified the need to increase the economic diversification to achieve socioeconomic sustainability. This report is an effort to support this initiative by identifying industrial sectors that have the most potential to be developed in the short and long-term future. This project presents recommendations and strategies to develop these areas as part of the Pearl River Delta economic area initiatives.
{"title":"Macau's Business Clusters: Present and Future","authors":"J. C. Alves, Arturo E. Osorio","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2657263","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2657263","url":null,"abstract":"To curtail the economic dependency of Macau on gaming industry, the Government of the Macau SAR identified the need to increase the economic diversification to achieve socioeconomic sustainability. This report is an effort to support this initiative by identifying industrial sectors that have the most potential to be developed in the short and long-term future. This project presents recommendations and strategies to develop these areas as part of the Pearl River Delta economic area initiatives.","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"48 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-08-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127114637","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This paper revisits the important contribution of Hsieh (2003) to the analysis of the intertemporal allocation of household consumption. Using total expenditures to normalize income from the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend instead of family income and an extended sample of the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE), I show that log household spending on nondurables is excessively sensitive to the arrival of this predetermined cash flow, with a statistically significant elasticity between 11% and 16%. The previously estimated non-response can largely be attributed to attenuation bias introduced by substantial measurement error in self-reported before-tax family income, in particular over-reporting of very small values.
{"title":"Revisiting the Response of Household Spending to the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend Using CE Data","authors":"Lorenz Kueng","doi":"10.2139/ssrn.2634005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2634005","url":null,"abstract":"This paper revisits the important contribution of Hsieh (2003) to the analysis of the intertemporal allocation of household consumption. Using total expenditures to normalize income from the Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend instead of family income and an extended sample of the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE), I show that log household spending on nondurables is excessively sensitive to the arrival of this predetermined cash flow, with a statistically significant elasticity between 11% and 16%. The previously estimated non-response can largely be attributed to attenuation bias introduced by substantial measurement error in self-reported before-tax family income, in particular over-reporting of very small values.","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"40 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122086525","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Antarctic exploration always had strong scientific as well as political motives. This paper argues that commercial motivations more often than not, also were an interwoven part of the rationale of the expeditions. The paper analyses the commercial and economic motivation in early Antarctic exploration, by the explorers themselves as well as their sponsors (governments, private businessmen, scientific communities). It reviews the earliest expeditions that searched for the still unknown continent that was hoped to advance commerce and trade. The eventual discoveries did not reveal a prosperous continent in a traditional sense. The exploitable resources – seals and whales were instead found in the ocean, at the islands and around the continent. The paper reviews the earliest discoveries and plans to exploit those resources, and the origins of what was to become the first industries of the Antarctic region. The paper deals primarily with the period before the ‘Heroic Age’ when the focus of the explorers became the penetration of the Antarctic continent itself.
{"title":"Commercial and Economic Aspects of Antarctic Exploration -- From the Earliest Discoveries into the 19th Century.","authors":"B. Basberg","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2620571","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2620571","url":null,"abstract":"Antarctic exploration always had strong scientific as well as political motives. This paper argues that commercial motivations more often than not, also were an interwoven part of the rationale of the expeditions. The paper analyses the commercial and economic motivation in early Antarctic exploration, by the explorers themselves as well as their sponsors (governments, private businessmen, scientific communities). It reviews the earliest expeditions that searched for the still unknown continent that was hoped to advance commerce and trade. The eventual discoveries did not reveal a prosperous continent in a traditional sense. The exploitable resources – seals and whales were instead found in the ocean, at the islands and around the continent. The paper reviews the earliest discoveries and plans to exploit those resources, and the origins of what was to become the first industries of the Antarctic region. The paper deals primarily with the period before the ‘Heroic Age’ when the focus of the explorers became the penetration of the Antarctic continent itself.","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-06-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132577724","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In 2008, the Federal Reserve issued a monetary policy known as Quantitative Easing plan (“American Monetary Policy”), a plan for monetary easing as an attempt to block a deflation in the United States. This measure not only impacted the American economy, but also strongly affected the economy of Brazil and other countries, triggering negative effects to international commerce, to the balance of payments and to the international monetary system. Considering this scenario, this paper aims to launch the basis for the discussion of the side effects of the American Monetary Policy and the ways to mitigate such negative effects trough the law and theories of the International Relations.
{"title":"Law and International Relations: An Essay on Possible Theoretical Solutions for the Economic Consequences to Brazil Resulting from the Monetary Policy Adopted by the United States During the Height of the International Financial Crisis in 2008","authors":"Alexandre Coelho","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2623299","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2623299","url":null,"abstract":"In 2008, the Federal Reserve issued a monetary policy known as Quantitative Easing plan (“American Monetary Policy”), a plan for monetary easing as an attempt to block a deflation in the United States. This measure not only impacted the American economy, but also strongly affected the economy of Brazil and other countries, triggering negative effects to international commerce, to the balance of payments and to the international monetary system. Considering this scenario, this paper aims to launch the basis for the discussion of the side effects of the American Monetary Policy and the ways to mitigate such negative effects trough the law and theories of the International Relations.","PeriodicalId":305946,"journal":{"name":"AARN: Economic Systems (Sub-Topic)","volume":"222 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2015-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133433363","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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