Cognitive Capitalism as a Financial Economy of Production

The structural changes that occurred in the last 30 years have substantially modified the capitalistic organization of society, both at national and international level. A new regime of accumulation devoid of a stable mode of regulation and centred on financial valorisation of new socio-economic growth perspectives has been consolidating. Conditions imposed by financial markets in order to create the shareholder's value consisted of promoting downsizing, reengineering, outsourcing and M&A processes. The flexibilization of labour force and precarization of existence has thus been the result of the established valorization norm. But why should the corporate restructuring sustain the enterprise value by creating income stock ? The definition of a new regime of accumulation involves a research on the criteria of valorisation and the prevailing technological paradigm. The main changes of new capitalism concern mainly two spheres: the role played by knowledge in the new technological paradigm and valorisation process and the importance of finance. The dominant technological paradigm and the role played by knowledge within it are not enough to explain the evolution of the accumulation regime. It is needed to introduce further elements necessary to explain the expectations that sustain the investment choices made by capitalists; these are the conventions or collective beliefs. Then, after describing the main features of the accumulation paradigm that many scholars have not hesitated to name as Cognitive Capitalism , we shall attempt to provide a theoretical framework of it intended as a financial economy of production. We shall therefore proceed to the reformulation of the schemes of monetary circuit (Graziani 2003).

Cognitive Capitalism as a Financial Economy of Production

The structural changes that occurred in the last 30 years have substantially modified the capitalistic organization of society, both at national and international level. In order to understand the evolution of social and economic systems it is necessary to focus on the relations of production, that is on those social relationships that explain the valorisation process. Since the economic crisis of the 1970's until the late 1990's the structure of production in the developed countries has been characterised by the development of highly flexible forms of production. The organizational revolution that occurred within production activity has been achieved through introducing new information technologies and restructuring of production within increasingly wider territories. A new regime of accumulation devoid of a stable mode of regulation and centred on financial valorisation of new socio-economic growth perspectives has been consolidating. Conditions imposed by financial markets in order to create the shareholder's value consisted of promoting downsizing, reengineering, outsourcing and Merger & Acquisitions processes. The flexibilization of labour force and precarization of existence has thus been the result of the established valorization norm. But why should the corporate restructuring sustain the enterprise value by creating income stock ? In order to answer this question it is necessary to analyse the importance of knowledge in the production process. For this purpose, we shall use some categories of the so called French Regulation School. The definition of a new regime of accumulation involves a research on the criteria of valorisation and the prevailing technological paradigm. The main changes of new capitalism concern mainly two spheres: the role played by knowledge in the new technological paradigm and valorisation process and the importance of finance. The dominant technological paradigm and the role played by knowledge within it are not enough to explain the evolution of the accumulation regime. It is needed to introduce further elements necessary to explain the expectations that sustain the investment choices made by capitalists; these are the conventions or collective beliefs. Then, after describing the main features of the accumulation paradigm that many scholars have named as Cognitive Capitalism , we shall attempt to provide a theoretical framework of it intended as a financial economy of production. We shall therefore proceed to the reformulation of the schemes of monetary circuit.Cognitive Capitalism; French Regulation School; Monetary Circuit; Knowledge; Crisis; Financial Convention.

A model of Cognitive Capitalism: a preliminary analysis

The aim of this paper is to present a first theoretical macro-modelling of cognitive capitalism, by utilizing the French regulation theory approach. With regard to the supply side analysis, we shall emphasize the role played by productivity dynamics: it is mainly affected by two types of dynamics: scale economics, based on learning processes and network activity. Turning to demand-side aspects, aggregate demand takes in account also the role played by distribution effects of financial markets, which operates as a distorsive income multiplier. As, on the one side, it depends upon the trade-off between learning processes diffusion and intellectual property rights and, on the other, upon income polarization (due to precariousness and limited access to capital gains) and demand growth stability. The stability of the system cannot be guaranteed. The need for new rules concerning income distribution process (i.e. basic income policy) will be taken in consideration.Cognitive Capitalism, Knowledge, Learning Processes, Network Economies, General Intellect, Capital Gains, Basic Income

Basic income sustainability and productivity growth in cognitive capitalism: a first theoretical framework

This paper aims at proposing a first theoretical framework for studying the basic income sustainability. We consider the basic income not only as a tool of a policy to improve living standards and social well-being but, mostly, as the essential requisite to introduce a new stable compromise between capital and labour. Following the French Regulation School approach, we assert that the social compromise between capital and labour is founded on the redistribution of the productivity gains. Therefore we try to trace living standards and social well being problems back to their origins, i.e. the productivity growth. We think that describing the dynamics of productivity means understanding the main features of the contemporary capitalistic production. We first present a survey about BI in economic literature. We then focus on the socio-economic transformation of western countries and propose the term cognitive capitalism (CC) to describe the economic system after the Fordism paradigm crisis, highlighting the strong links between the exploitation of knowledge and the accumulation of surplus. Therefore we investigate the presence of a new type of Kaldor-Verdoorn law in cognitive capitalism (a virtuous circle among BI, increasing productivity - via knowledge and network externalities - output and employment). As a result, we first point out the ambiguous growth circle of the contemporary capitalism. Secondly we highlight that BI is compatible with the new way of accumulation, based on the exploitation of dynamic scale economies. BI increases productivity, through network (externalities) and learning processes and, at the same time, demand, via consumption level. This double result is not always guaranteed. It depends, on one side, on how much BI positively affects productivity, and the greater this probability, the lower the role played by intellectual property rights and the higher the diffusion of network economies (general intellect and social cooperation); on the other side, it depends on the way BI is financed. These results also depend on the assumption of closed economy, in which financial markets play no role at all.basic income, productivity, cognitive capitalism, crisis, Regulation School; Fordism; Post-fordism; knowledge; learning; externalities;, Kaldor-Verdoorn law; general intellect

Environment, epigenetics and neurodegeneration: Focus on nutrition in Alzheimer's disease

Many different environmental factors (nutrients, pollutants, chemicals, physical activity, lifestyle, physical and mental stress) can modulate epigenetic markers in the developing and adult organism. Epigenetics, in turn, can cause and is associated with several neurodegenerative and aging-dependent human diseases. Alzheimer's disease certainly represents one of the most relevant neurodegenerative disorders due to its incidence and its huge socio-economic impact. Therefore, it is easy to understand why recent literature focuses on the epigenetic modifications associated with Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. One of the most intriguing and, at the same time, worrying evidence is that even "mild" environmental factors (such as behavioral or physical stress) as well as the under-threshold exposure to pollutants and chemicals, can be effective. Finally, even mild nutrients disequilibria can result in long-lasting and functional alterations of many epigenetic markers, although they don't have an immediate acute effect. Therefore, we will probably have to re-define the current risk threshold for many factors, molecules and stresses. Among the many different environmental factors affecting the epigenome, nutrition represents one of the most investigated fields; the reasons are probably that each person interacts with nutrients and that, in turn, nutrients can modulate at molecular level the epigenetic biochemical pathways. The role that nutrition can exert in modulating epigenetic modifications in Alzheimer's disease will be discussed with particular emphasis on the role of B vitamins and DNA methylation

TECNOLOGIA RFID ED ANALISI SETTORIALE DELL'IMPATTO SUI PROCESSI AZIENDALI

Le tecnologie di autoidentificazione RFId hanno da diversi anni iniziato a farsi strada in molti settori produttivi nella gestione della supply chain, dei magazzini, delle relazioni tra aziende, dei fornitori e dei trasporti. La spesa mondiale in RFId è prevista crescere dai 300 milioni di dollari del 2004 a 2,8 miliardi di dollari nel prossimo 2009 . Le analisi sui risultati delle implementazioni già esecutive e dei progetti pilota hanno fino ad oggi sottolineato il carattere dirompente della tecnologia in termini di benefici di costo, gestione della produzione e della supply chain. Il termine RFId (Radio Frequency Identification) nasce dall’utilizzo della tecnologia radio e dalla funzione di identificazione automatica. Un sistema consiste tradizionalmente in un transponder per lo scambio e l’immagazzinamento dei dati, un’antenna per comunicare ed un controller per gestire la comunicazione tra l’antenna e l’infrastruttura. Il transponder, solitamente fissato all’oggetto da monitorare, è un ricetrasmettitore che invia un segnale radio in risposta a un comando ricevuto da una stazione remota. Il segnale di comando, o di interrogazione, è necessario per determinare la trasmissione del segnale di ritorno del transponder. Nella sua forma più semplice la tecnologia RFId è utilizzata come sostituto diretto del codice a barre, offrendo i vantaggi di una precisione di lettura del 100%, di una capacità di sopravvivere in ambienti ostili e l’eliminazione della necessità della visibilità diretta per la lettura. Nelle applicazioni più avanzate può essere utilizzata come una memoria dati elettronica dinamica in grado di combinarsi più o meno indipendentemente col sistema di elaborazione centrale, fino alla creazione di oggetti “intelligenti” in grado di interagire con l’ambiente circostante. L’estrema flessibilità della tecnologia ne permette l’utilizzo in contesti settoriali e funzionali molto diversi. Allo stato dell’arte esistono settori, come può essere quello automotive, in cui già da diversi anni i sistemi RFId sono stati integrati all’interno di determinati processi aziendali e in cui è in atto uno sviluppo di allargamento dell’esperienza maturata ad applicazioni che escano dai confini aziendali per cogliere i vantaggi in termini di gestione globale della supply chain. Altri settori, come può essere invece quello della Grande Distribuzione Organizzata (GDO), si affacciano solamente adesso all’implementazione di soluzioni di identificazione automatica a radiofrequenza, sfruttando le opportunità offerte dall’avanzamento tecnologico e spinti dal ruolo di guida e di propulsione assunto da giganti come Wall-Mart e il Dipartimento della Difesa USA. In altri settori, spinti all’adozione di sistemi di autoidentificazione dall’esigenza di adeguamento a normative di tracciabilità, sono allo studio progetti sperimentali che stanno dimostrando le potenzialità di vantaggi anche in termini di leve di business

Labour Market, Bioeconomy and Basic Income

By treating labor like any other tradable good, orthodox economic models ignore various features that define the specificity of the labor market (disponibility, solvability, alienation). Taking into account such features, as the new situation generated by the emergence of cognitive capitalism forces us to do, requires a major change in paradigm. In the new “bio-economic” paradigm, classical distinctions between production and reproduction, consumption and production, leisure and work tend to vanish, while labor increasingly appears as a common good. The most important input being life itself, a just retribution of productive forces must now include a retribution for living, i.e., a universal, unconditional and guaranteed basic income.Bioeconomy, Production, Basic Income, Cognitive Capitalism

A Financialized Monetary Economy of Production

The monetary theory of production offers a systemic approach to describe systemic crises, but, faced with contemporary capitalism, it needs to be modified. In accordance with the Schumpeterian perspective, we adopt a framework that points to both the monetary nature of and qualitative changes in the capitalist system. The low level of wages, and the consequent underconsumption, is not the unique cause of the 2007–9 crisis. Not only has financialization changed the behavior of consumer-savers, but investment has also changed. The overfinanced leverage that was an important characteristic of the crisis may be better understood historically with the emergence of the 1990s’ technological paradigm. The crisis stems mainly from overinvestment in new technologies. Particularly during the 1990s, the emerging industrial technology favored its own sort of financing. The financialization of the monetary economy of production can be better explained if we understand the shift to a new technological paradigm as a general outlook on the productive problems faced by firms, whereby the relevance of the so-called immaterial production takes on greater importance. To describe this dynamic, we present two different analytical forms of the monetary economy of production: the first one represents the new economy scenario, and the second one represents the financialized monetary circuit during the real estate bubble

Keeping a foot in both camps: Sustainability, city branding and boundary spanners

This study critically examines sustainable development (SD) within the contemporary practices of city branding, a prominent business philosophy that underpins market-led development strategies of urban areas. In pursuing uniqueness, different cities often seem to hint at the very same themes of differentiation, and this reflects the tendency to embrace pre-given sets of place-development discourses. This work casts a critical perspective on SD as one of the global passe-partout themes that has become particularly prominent in contemporary city-brand management practices. In particular, the theory-practice gap in city branding for SD is emphasized and interpreted through the lens of glocalization theories. This viewpoint identifies responsibilized boundary spanners as agents located between the global and local levels that act as mediators in multi-stakeholder networks, ultimately fostering capacities to implement collective actions in city-branding practices

Involvement of sperm acetylated histones and the nuclear isoform of Glutathione peroxidase 4 in fertilization

We previously demonstrated that the nuclear form of Glutathione peroxidase 4 (nGPx4) has a peculiar distribution in sperm head, being localized to nuclear matrix and acrosome and that sperm lacking nGPx4 are more prone to decondensation in vitro. In this study we have hypothesized that sperm retained acetylated histones and nGPx4 are implicated in paternal chromatin decondensation and male pronucleus formation at fertilization. Indeed, significant higher amounts of acetylated histone H4 and acetylated histone H3 were observed by both immunofluorescence and western blotting in nGPx4-KO sperm vs WT ones. In vitro fertilization of zona pellucida- deprived oocytes by WT sperm in the presence of trichostatin (TSA) also demonstrated that paternal histone acetylation was inversely related to the timing of sperm nucleus decondensation at fertilization. In contrast, TSA had no effect on nGPx4-KO sperm, indicating they had a maximal level of histone acetylation. Moreover the paternally imprinted gene Igf2/H19 was hypomethylated in KO sperm compared to WT ones. The lack of nGPx4 negatively affected male fertility, causing a marked decrease in total pups and pregnancies with delivery, a significant reduction in pronuclei (PN) embryos in in vitro fertilization assays and an approximately 2 h delay in egg fertilization in vivo. Because the zona pellucida binding and fusion to oolemma of nGPx4-KO and WT sperm were similar, the subfertility of nGPx4 sperm reflected a decreased sperm progression through egg cumulus/zona pellucida, pinpointing a defective acrosome in line with acrosomal nGPx4 localization. We conclude that paternal acetylated histones and acrosomal nGPx4 are directly involved in fertilization