Stages of Development, Economic Policies and a New World Economic Order

This paper summarizes theoretical arguments, empirical evidence, and econometric findings to support the statement that rational economic policies depend qualitatively on stages of development that are defined by productivity and institutional indicators of a country. We consider the impact of industrial policies, speed of foreign exchange reserves accumulation, technology transfers and immigration policies, as well as FDI and liberalization of capital flows, on rate of economic growth. It is argued that the impact may be positive or negative; in many cases a threshold combination of GDP per capita and institutional quality indicators may be found to separate two different outcomes. A precondition of economic success is the timely switching of economic policies to avoid both types of mistakes: excessive inertia or premature use of instruments that are effective for more advance countries only. The stage of development theory implies that international financial institutions (including IMF, WB, and EBRD) should work out a list of differentiated prescriptions that may be efficiently followed by countries with different levels of institutional and technological development, and so the system of assistance to developing countries could be improved. This and some other elements of "a New World Economic Order" are discussed in the paper.Stages of development; economic growth

A New Educational Model for Criminality Prevention

Solon said that, in order to be free, a citizen had to study; education was the ground of democracy and in Athens there was no illiterate citizen. The education was both of the body as well as of the soul in a natural continuity... Plato was even aware that in all that there was, there was a core of “dissension” (entropie) that sooner or later led to the fall. He tried to set a fortress model that would minimize the effects of this core of destruction. In the dialogue entitled „Republica”, he pointed out that it was in the power of man to minimize the evil and to build a harmonious fortress that would prevent the destruction. The idea of harmony, which is to be found also in music and mathematics, is extended also to the relations between people.

Charles Goodhart's Contributions to the History of Monetary Institutions

Our paper examines Charles Goodhart's work on the history of monetary institutions: central bank operations under the gold standard, their behaviour in relation to the financial system in which they functioned, including their responses to banking crises, and their performance as lenders of last resort. Although we differ with Charles on some of the conclusions that he has reached, we pay tribute to his importance in shaping the discussion by economists over a thirty-year span on questions related to the functioning of banks, their customers, and the historic central banks that evolved from serving government to serving banks.

The Tragedy of Capitalism

A review of contemporary capitalism, and the debt-based money system, with a consideration of various monetary reform proposals within the context of a changing monetary realit

Do Currency Regimes Matter in the 21st Century? An Overview

This paper selectively reviews the recent literature on currency regimes in Europe, the Americas, and East Asia. We argue that, given the global interdependence among today's economies, currency regimes should always be evaluated in relation to monetary policy, fiscal policy, structural policies, and the working of financial markets. Thus, currency regimes do matter and are a relevant concern for policymakers.

Social sciences in crisis : on the proposed elimination of the discussion section

The social sciences are facing numerous crises including those related to replication, theory, and applicability. We highlight that these crises imply epistemic malfunctions and affect science communication negatively. Several potential solutions have already been proposed, ranging from statistical improvements to changes in norms of scientific conduct. In this paper, we propose a structural solution: the elimination of the discussion section from social science research papers. We point out that discussion sections allow for an inappropriate narrativization of research that disguises actual results and enables the misstatement of true limitations. We go on to claim that removing this section and outsourcing it to other publications provides several epistemic advantages such as a division of academic labour, adversarial modes of progress, and a better alignment of the personal aims of scientists with the aims of science. After responding to several objections, we conclude that the potential benefits of moving away from the traditional model of academic papers outweigh the costs and have the potential to play a part in addressing the crises in the social sciences alongside other reforms. As such, we take our paper as proffering a further potential solution that should be applied complimentarily with other reform movements such as Open Science and hope that our paper can start a debate on this or similar proposals.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

H.P. MINSKY AND POLICIES TO COUNTERVAIL CRISES

The paper examines Minsky’s reflections on policies designed to act as a countervailing force against crises by fostering “responsible” Big Government, in which the role of the State is profoundly revised and directed towards full and stable non-inflationary employment, and also enabled to sustain consumption and economic growth over time. The aim of this study is to assess the effectiveness of State-established structural direct job creation programs, enacted during severe recessions as a means of achieving full employment without disruptive consequences such as price instability, inefficiency of the public apparatus, unsustainable public and foreign debts. In-depth investigation of Minsky’s perspective highlights that well-focused full employment programs are important to counter inadequacy of effective demand; but if they are to be feasible and financially sustainable they must also improve the productivity of individuals and economic systems in the medium term.crises, policies, Big Government, ELR programs.

Deposit Insurance in Theory and Practice

Bank stability and systemic stability are old issues in banking. There have been many financial crises in economic history, and the painful consequences of those crises have again and again raised questions concerning how to avoid them and how to protect depositors against losses.