Fighting austerity: Why after 80 years the General Theory is still relevant today,

The guiding spirit of the Keynesian Revolution is that full employment is a goal which can be pursued not by following the free market rules, but by reshaping them by means of public intervention. This message was widely accepted for thirty years as from the end of the Second World War by all the advanced countries which actively engaged in full employment and welfare policies, and subsequently abandoned with the neo-liberal Restoration which saw the dogmas of individualism and de-regulation prevailing. In reclaiming the topical importance of the General Theory, we should take into consideration the changed circumstances of today’s world when compared to those of twenty – let alone eighty – years ago, although there are notable similarities between the Great Depression of the 1930s – Keynes’s world – and our contemporary crisis. However, his prescription for a better society is still relevant: it lies in setting rules and limitations in the market arena, not letting individual self-interest prevail, and putting some governing bodies in charge of filling the gap when deficient aggregate demand occurs, so that the acquisition of material goods and the fruition of the enjoyments of life be not a privilege of the few but the conquest of civilization

Money and Markets:Introduction

In the history of economic thought the relationship between money and market has been interpreted from two contrasting points of view. On the one hand, money is seen as an instrument created by individuals to overcome the difficulties involved in barter, its basic function being as a medium of exchange, while the other view has it that money developed before the market and that its principal function is that of a standard of value. Evidently, therefore, in the former case the unit of account function is seen to have emerged from a practice (exchange of goods and services) based on the advantages to be had for individuals seeking to maximise their utility, while in the latter case money emerges as a rule adopted by members of the community (the political authorities promoting it and ensuring it be respected) which pre-dates the market. As in the case of money, also for the market two approaches have come into confrontation in the course of the history of economic thought. With the first the market is seen as a column bearing the economies characterised by private property and freedom of enterprise. It represents the means by which members of society democratically come to decisions about the use of resources and distribution of income. In the second approach, on the other hand, the market is seen as the means by which decisions on the use of resources and distribution of income, once taken by the groups enjoying economic command, are passed on to the other members of society to be implemented. In the first case the market lies at the heart of the system and serves to prevent the enjoyment of privileges and position rents by some members of society excluding others, while in the second it merely plays a supporting role for the existing patterns of power.Money, markets, alternative theories

John Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Investor

John Maynard Keynes: The Economist as Investor Abstract Keynes the investor has recently attracted the attention of several scholars and quite a few articles have come out in the last five years. A description of Keynes’s dealings has emerged, assessing his performance as an investor as superior but not as stellar as had previously been believed. However, overall evaluation of Keynes’s performance is still lacking. This paper contributes to this growing literature by filling some of the gaps, especially in relation to Keynes’s investment philosophy and economic theory, and by undertaking a more comprehensive review of the available evidence, drawing on some unpublished sources which have not as yet been fully exploite

Victoria Chick (1936-2023)

Questo articolo ripercorre il tentativo di Chick, durato tutta la vita, di smascherare ciò che è stato ed è tuttora distorto nell’interpretazione e nell’applicazione della Teoria Generale. Per semplicità, ho elencato alcune delle distorsioni su cui Chick, insieme ad altri, ha richiamato l’attenzione nel corso degli anni. L’elenco non vuole essere esaustivo e alcune distorsioni sono correlate tra loro, ma spero che il mio catalogo catturi la maggior parte delle questioni che sono state al centro del dibattito e del confronto con la Teoria Generale che ha impegnato Chick per tutta la sua vita

Speculation and regulation in commodity markets: The Keynesian approach in theory and practice

The eleven papers collected in this volume present the results of the research activity undertaken by the participants in the project -The return to Keynes. Speculation and stabilization policies: money and commodities- financed by the Italian Ministry of Education (PRIN 2008). They focus on four main areas of investigation: Keynes’s ideas on speculation, case studies of Keynes speculative activity in selected commodity markets, measures of commodity price volatility and proposals for stabilizing commodity prices in the context of a wider macroeconomic framework. The main conclusions are that: i) there are strong links between fluctuations in prices of primary commodities and agricultural products on the one hand, and financial crisis and structural trade imbalances on the other; ii) in the absence of buffer stocks for commodities and with insurance against price volatility based only on market mechanisms the system is doomed to instability; iii) any policies aiming at stabilizing commodity prices and currencies must go hand in hand with reform of the international monetary system. These conclusions support the view that the original proposals put forward by Keynes are still a valid basis for reforms to cope with the current crisis

Speculation and regulation in commodity markets: The Keynesian approach in theory and practice

The eleven papers collected in this volume present the results of the research activity undertaken by the participants in the project -The return to Keynes. Speculation and stabilization policies: money and commodities- financed by the Italian Ministry of Education (PRIN 2008). They focus on four main areas of investigation: Keynes’s ideas on speculation, case studies of Keynes speculative activity in selected commodity markets, measures of commodity price volatility and proposals for stabilizing commodity prices in the context of a wider macroeconomic framework. The main conclusions are that: i) there are strong links between fluctuations in prices of primary commodities and agricultural products on the one hand, and financial crisis and structural trade imbalances on the other; ii) in the absence of buffer stocks for commodities and with insurance against price volatility based only on market mechanisms the system is doomed to instability; iii) any policies aiming at stabilizing commodity prices and currencies must go hand in hand with reform of the international monetary system. These conclusions support the view that the original proposals put forward by Keynes are still a valid basis for reforms to cope with the current crisis

CONHECIMENTO ORGANIZACIONAL SOBRE EVASÃO A PARTIR DO MODELO DE DADOS DO PINGIFES

O estudo de evasão no Brasil tem sido conduzido, na maioria dos casos, de forma individualizada em diferentes iniciativas institucionais ou de pesquisa. O Ministério de Educação, embora realize anualmente coleta dos principais dados do ensino superior, ainda não disponibiliza ferramentas de apoio à análises de indicadores de evasão no ensino superior. Nem mesmo uma formulação de cálculo padrão que permita análises comparativas. O presente trabalho, de característica exploratória e abordagem quantitativa, tem por objetivo analisar a evasão de uma instituição federal de ensino superior a partir do modelo de dados do PingIFES, um sistema de coleta de dados que o Ministério da Educação utiliza no cálculo do índice de distribuição de recursos às Instituições Federais de Ensino Superior. Com um estudo de caso no período de 2000 a 2011, e que considera diferentes formas de ingresso, demonstra-se que a partir do modelo de dados do PingIFES o conhecimento organizacional sobre evasão pode ser extraído de forma sistemática e que esta metodologia potencializa, além de comparações no âmbito das universidades federais, uma melhor gestão do conhecimento organizacional, pois habilita a consolidação de serviços de tecnologia da informação para apoio aos coordenadores de curso e gestores

A SATISFAÇÃO DOS ALUNOS DE EDUCAÇÃO A DISTÂNCIA: UM ESTUDO DE CASO APLICADO EM NÍVEL DE GRADUAÇÃO E PÓS-GRADUAÇÃO DE UMA UNIVERSIDADE FEDERAL

As Instituições de Ensino Superior no Brasil (IES), com base em uma política pública de incentivos à Educação a Distância (EaD), juntamente com as facilidades disponibilizadas pelas Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação (TICs), têm realizado investimentos significativos nessa modalidade de ensino. Nesse sentido, essa pesquisa se propõe a identificar e confirmar fatores que explicam a satisfação dos alunos EaD. A estratégia metodológica adotada é norteada por um estudo de caso descritivo e quantitativo do tipo survey. Um questionário, estruturado em dimensões e itens, foi aplicado nos alunos EaD de graduação e pós-graduação de uma IES Federal. A aplicação do questionário resultou em uma amostra de 1.103 respondentes. Sobre a amostra, foram aplicadas técnicas de análise multivariada para identificar a relação entre as variáveis (itens) envolvidas. Para tal, uma técnica escolhida foi análise fatorial exploratória, a qual permitiu analisar as dimensões originalmente propostas, reduzir o número de itens das dimensões e identificar possíveis constructos relevantes. O modelo inicial continha sete dimensões e 63 itens que, após o processamento da fatorial exploratória, resultou em 49 itens. Após as análises foi estatisticamente possível, validar o modelo conceitual inicial de satisfação dos alunos Ea

Victoria Chick (1936–2023), a Restless Challenger to Mainstream Economics: An Appreciation

In this article on Victoria (Vicky) Chick (1936–2023), we intend to cover the main research areas into which Chick devoted her life’s work. We categorise the contributions into three broad fields. First, her work on Keynes’s General Theory and the message that economists have taken from it since its publication. Chick wrote extensively on the many misinterpretations of the General Theory that have clouded its message. Instead, through her writings, she offered an alternative perspective and interpretative line that became central to the post-Keynesian school of thought. Second, her work on Keynes gave her the starting point for her novel understanding on the monetary nature of the economy and was the inspiration in the development of the banking stages of history approach that shows the evolutionary nature of banking theory and practice. Finally, the way in which The General Theory built its argument and the misinterpretation that many mainstream economists took from it led Chick to develop her methodological approach on open and closed systems of analysis and the importance of developing judgement as part of teaching in economics

Cancer cell detection and invasion depth estimation in brightfield images

The study of cancer cell invasion under the effect of differentconditions is fundamental for the understanding ofthe cancer invasion mechanism and to test possible therapiesfor its regulation. To simulate invasion across tissuebasement membrane, biologists established in vitro assayswith cancer cells invading extracellular matrix components.However, analysis of such assays is manual, being timeconsumingand error-prone, which motivates an objectiveand automated analysis tool.Towards automating such analysis we present a methodologyto detect cells in 3D matrix cell assays and correctlyestimate their invasion, measured by the depth of the penetrationin the gel. Detection is based on the sliding bandfilter, by evaluating the gradient convergence and not intensity.As such it can detect low contrast cells which otherwisewould be lost. For cell depth estimation we present a focusestimator based on the convergence gradients magnitude.The final cell detections precision and recall are of 0.896and 0.910 respectively, and the average error in the cellsposition estimate is of 0.41µm, 0.37µm and 3.7µm in thex, y and z directions, respectively