Structural change driven by institutions: Thorstein Veblen revised

none1noopenguglielmo forges davanzatiFORGES DAVANZATI, Guglielm

La Teoria del Salario Corporativo in Guglielmo Masci

Questo saggio si propone di offrire una ricostruzione del dibattito sulla questione sociale nell’ambito della teoria economica corporativa. L’attenzione viene concentrata sul contributo di Guglielmo Masci, autorevole esponente di questo indirizzo di ricerca all’Università di Napoli, con particolare attenzione agli aspetti analitici connessi alla sua teoria del salario corporativo

Introduction

Article consultable sur : http://ejess.revuesonline.com/gratuit/EJESS26_1-2_02-Introduction.pdfInternational audienceVeblen’s contribution to economic theory has received renewed interest (see, among others, Tilman, 2003), with particular reference to two distinct aspects. First, his approach to institutions – defined as a “special method of life and of human relations” (Veblen, [1889] 1975, 188) – has been re-proposed within the so-called new Institutionalism, with the aim of presenting a theory of economic behaviour (where instincts, habits, customs and transaction costs play a pivotal role) opposed to the mainstream “rational choice” view (see Hodgson, 1988). Second, attention has been devoted to his arguments on “conspicuous consumption” and emulation as well as the relation between consumption by the “leisure class” and the process of income distribution (see, among others, Bowles and Park, 2007). There is no doubt that Veblen provides significant economic and sociological categories which can also be useful in interpreting current macroeconomic dynamics, and that his theories on the functioning of the firm and on the path of income distribution are still relevant in the current context of global crisis. This special issue collects contributions of historians of economic thought, economists and sociologists specifically inte rested in using Veblen’s theories to interpret current phenomena. Marc-André Gagnon and Dimitri della Faille in “Thorstein Veblen, économiste iconoclaste” discuss the complexity of Veblenian thought, finding connections between biographical aspects of the American economist and the theoretical elements that characterize his works. In the central part of the article the authors analyze the theory of society’s socio-economic evolution and Veblen’s institutional theory highlighting the complex relationship that his thought has with the theory of evolution of C. Darwin and of H. Spencer. The article concludes with the lines of research that Veblen’s thought has left in inheritance to contemporary scholars. The contribution of John F. Henry sheds light on Thorstein Veblen’s political orientation. In the first section of “The political orientation of Thorstein Veblen” Henry provides a reconstruction of the Veblenian view on the functioning of a capitalist system, based on predatory exploitation by a ruling class over the working class, with selfless public welfare being interpreted as a political position close to Marx. In the second and final section of the article, the author shows that although Veblen did not consider himself Marxist and never openly declared his political position, he sympathized with the Bolshevik revolution and specifically observed the role of the soviet technician as a possible tool to overcome the inefficiency, waste and parasitism of the capitalist system. In conclusion the author points out the “marked similarity between the general theory of Marx and Veblen.

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ITIl saggio si propone di fonire una ricostruzione analitica della teoria monetaria keynesiana così come esposta nel Trattato sulla moneta del 1930. Si verificano, a tal fine, elementi di affinità con la teoria monetaria neoclassica del periodo e soprattutto rilevanti elementi di “eterodossia” rispetto alle tesi dominanti in quel periodo. In particolare si conferma che, anche prima della Teoria Generale, Keynes sottolineava la superiore efficacia delle politiche fiscali rispetto alle politiche monetarie al fine di accrescere l’occupazione.ENThe idea that the banking system creates money ex nihilo, so that “loans make deposits”, can be regarded as a key concept of Keynes’s theory of money and banking, and it is a cornerstone of the contemporary monetary theory of production. Starting from this assumption, this paper aims at providing a critical reconstruction of Keynes’s view on the links existing between public expenditure, interest rate, wages and employment. The paper will mainly focus on Keynes’s Treatise on Money, on the basis of a “continuist” interpretation of Keynes’s thought

High wages, credit rationing and unemployment an a monetary economy

EnThe aim of this paper is to analyse the theoretical links between a policy of high wages and the level of employment in the theoretical framework of the monetary theory of production (MTP). The ‘high wage effect’ will be assumed to be operating, i.e. a rise in wages via external intervention, by temporarily reducing the rate of profits, induces firms to react via technical advancement, which, in turn, increases the quantity and the quality of capital and hence the level of employment. Credit rationing will also be taken into consideration. Insofar as high wages increase profits, smaller firms facing credit rationing make lower profits than bigger firms, thus resulting in a potential process of raising the industrial concentration ratio. The bankruptcies of the smaller firms generate a greater demand to the benefit of the bigger firms, thus giving rise to a theoretical solution of the so-called paradox of profits

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This paper dealt with Sismondi’s theory of economic crisis. An analytical reconstruction has been provided, based on a preliminary reconstruction of his method

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Don Tonino Bello è stata una delle figure più carismatiche della Chiesa italiana della seconda metà del Novecento. Il saggio si propone di ricostruirne gli aspetti essenziali delle sue riflessioni sull’economia italiana, sul processo di integrazione dell’Europa e sulle disuguaglianze nella distribuzione della ricchezza.Don Tonino Bello was one of the most charismatic figures of the Italian Church of the second half of the twentieth century. This essay aims to reconstruct the essential aspects of his reflections on the Italian economy, on the process of integration of Europe and on inequalities in the distribution of wealth. Keywords: Italian economy, inequalities, integration. Parole chiave: Economia italiana, disuguaglianze, integrazione.