Marx and Sen on incentives and justice: Implications for innovation and development

The most crucial obstacle to equitable innovation and development is the tension between profit incentives and social justice. In the egalitarian tradition of social and political thought, there have been a number of theorists preoccupied with this tension. Among them Marx and Sen stand out as the most influential figures. This article evaluates their approaches and examines implications for technological innovation and economic development. The argument is that Marx’s needs based approach is relational and therefore provides a radical resolution to the incentive –justice tension. By contrast, Sen’s approach is informational and therefore provides a policy solution to this tension. Both approaches imply that innovation and development can become more equitable through public action. However, in the case of Marx, public action assumes conflict between social classes; it aims at changing capitalist social relations and eliminating unjust exploitation. In the case of Sen, public action assumes consent between individuals; it aims at reforming public policy and eliminating capability deprivation

Nonlinear models to predict nitrogen mineralization in an Oxisol Modelos não lineares para predizer a mineralização de nitogênio num latossolo

This work was carried out to evaluate the statistical properties of eight nonlinear models used to predict nitrogen mineralization in soils of the Southern Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The parameter estimations for nonlinear models with and without structure of autoregressive errors was made by the least squares method. First, a structure of second order autoregressive errors, AR(2) was considered for all nonlinear models and then the significance of the autocorrelation parameters was verified. Among the models, the Juma presented an autocorrelation of second order, and the model of Broadbent presented one of first order. In summary, these models presented significant autocorrelation parameters. To estimate the parameters of nonlinear models, the SAS procedure MODEL was used (SAS). The comparison of the models was made by measuring the fitted parameters: adjusted R-square, mean square error and mean predicted error. The Juma model with AR(2) best fitted for nitrogen mineralization without liming, followed by Cabrera, Stanford & Smith without autoregressive errors, for both with and without soil acidity correction.<br>Este trabalho teve por objetivo avaliar o grau do ajuste de oito modelos não lineares apresentados na literatura, utilizados para descrever a mineralização do nitrogênio em latossolo do sul de Minas Gerais incubado durante 28 semanas. A estimação dos parâmetros para os modelos de regressão não linear sem e com estrutura de erros autorregressivos foi feita pelo método de mínimos quadrados. A princípio, considerou-se para todos os modelos não lineares uma estrutura de erros autorregressivos de segunda ordem, AR(2) e, em seguida, verificou-se a significância dos parâmetros de autocorrelação. Apenas o modelo de Juma apresentou autocorrelação de segunda ordem, e o modelo de Broadbent apresentou autocorrelação de primeira ordem, ou seja, apenas estes modelos apresentaram parâmetros de autocorrelação significativos. Para estimação dos parâmetros dos modelos não lineares, utilizou-se o procedimento MODEL (SAS®). A comparação dos modelos foi feito por meio de critérios da qualidade do ajuste (coeficiente de determinação ajustado, quadrado médio do resíduo e erro de predição médio). O modelo de melhor ajuste foi o de Juma com AR(2), para a mineralização de N sem calagem, seguido pelos modelos de Cabrera, Stanford & Smith sem estrutura de erros autorregressivos, tanto para os dados com, quanto para aqueles obtidos sem a correção da acidez do solo

Studying Development and Explaining Policies

Development is an ideological project. It originated in the need to address the negative consequences of capitalism in metropolitan countries and was integral to the project of imperialism, whose legacy it bears. Development policies and development studies both confound the intention to develop with the process of development. Theorists of development and of state-directed development, and most of their critics, share dualist assumptions. They have been concerned to explain how to modernize backward and rural economies and to transfer resources to create modern industrial economies. They have drawn on and influenced commu nist, state-led and market-oriented development strategies.