Investment and rate of profit in a financial context: The French case

The growth regime which prevailed in France since the middle of the 1980s is characterised by a recovery of profitability without durable resumption of growth or accumulation of productive capital. The financialization of this growth regime can be read in firms' balance sheet structure with rising shares of equities. Following a Post-Keynesian framework, the main determinants of capital accumulation and finance are analysed and tested at the level of non financial companies for France from flow of funds national accounts. The arbitration which seems to prevail between real and financial accumulation could contribute to explain the insufficient recovery of investment. Regarding firms' liability structure, two alternative approaches are considered, one in terms of indebtedness norm, the other in terms of arbitration between financing by debt and issuing shares.Finance; investissement; comportemenet de portefeuille; régime de croissance

Equity and debt in a financialised economy: the French case

While many studies have been devoted to capital accumulation and rate of profit, the article empirically characterises the financialization at the level of firms' liability, i.e. at the level of debt and equity. In particular, the determinants of non financial firms' indebtedness and equity issuing will be analysed econometrically. The theoretical framework is mainly Post-Keynesian, with the founding role played by Minsky (1986) and with Stock Flow Consistent models proposed by Lavoie and Godley (2001), Godley and Lavoie (2007), Taylor (2004) and Dos Santos and Zezza (2008 )with their analysis of interactions between financial variables and investment. The article is based on the flow of funds accounts of INSEE which provide coherent data in flows and stocks over the period 1978-2007. Thanks to a precise account of financial assets and liabilities and capital gains, these data allow to implement a rigorous analysis of firms' financial behaviour at the macroeconomic level.finance; investment; portfolio behaviour; growth regime

Exchange Rate Misalignments at World and European Levels: a FEER Approach

Since the mid-1990s, we observe an increase of world current account imbalances. These imbalances have only been partially reduced since the burst of the crisis in 2007. They reflect, to some extent, exchange rate misalignments, an issue which has been frequently studied in the literature. However, these imbalances, which have reinforced in the 2000s, are also important inside the Euro area. This analysis cannot be reduced to simple estimates of euro misalignment at the world level because of the specific constraints that exist for each member of the Euro area. This article aims to examine to what extent the intra-European imbalances reflect exchange rate misalignments for each "national euro".Equilibrium Exchange Rate; Current Account Balance; Macroeconomic Balance

A Taxonomic Revision and Characterization of Sciuravus nitidus and S. undans (Rodentia; Sciuravidae), early to middle Eocene Rodents from the Bridger Formation, Green River Basin, Wyoming

New specimens from the Bridger Formation allow for a critical review of the alpha taxonomy and evolution of the two most abundant species of sciuravid rodents from the Early Eocene of the Green River Basin, Sciuravus nitidus and S. undans. Previously, the two species were considered to be synonymous, based on studies of the upper and/or lower dentitions. Specimens with nearly complete lower dentitions are studied for the first time and they reveal clear distinctions between the two species in the molar crown patterns, incisor shape, and mandible morphology. The key specimen, UM 101638, closely matched the type specimen of S. undans, YPM 13349, in molar dimensions and morphology for m1-2.https://digitalcommons.snc.edu/collaborative_presentations/1089/thumbnail.jp

Beyond the Neoliberal Imaginary: Investigating the Role of Critical Pedagogy in Higher Education

Abstract This thesis uses the qualitative case study approach to investigate the lived experience of three faculty members in higher education who identify themselves as critical pedagogues during an era of neoliberal restructuring. This research explores what the possibilities are for enacting critical pedagogies within a neoliberal climate of educational restructuring in higher education. Existing literature struggles to define neoliberalism as a result of globalization; further, present neoliberalization is penetrating all levels of social life and informing what many now accept as everyday thinking. The faculty members selected for this research each speaks to these struggles, while providing rich accounts of how neoliberalism challenges and concerns them; both, philosophically and pedagogically. This research highlights how at the start of the 21st Century a very compelling discourse on higher education is beginning to take place that seeks to inform how universities critically approach education and global education. This discourse reveals the concerns and potential for links in global higher education and future labour opportunities that are being created through the increasing mobility of people, markets, and knowledge. It also emphasizes the dire need for new ways in understanding how we envision higher education and global relations that are increasingly framed by neoliberal globalization. This discussion also brought to light how neoliberal trends have embedded themselves to such a degree in education it has created a mystique that might actually be a crisis of conscience; not politics, not economics. Keywords: Higher education, neoliberalism, critical pedagogy, democracy, cosmopolitanism, global education, social justice and equity

Du pollen aux paysages : nouvelles méthodologies pour reconstituer les paysages

International audienceLes données polliniques fossiles offrent la possibilité de reconstituer l'histoire de la végétation à différentes échelles spatio-temporelles. Récemment, des modèles de la relation pollen-végétation qui prennent en compte les processus de dispersion et de déposition des pollens ont été développés pour interpréter et convertir les assemblages polliniques en pourcentage de couverture de plantes, groupes de plantes ou composantes paysagères pour une échelle régionale (≥ 50 km) et locale (≤ 2 km) autour des points d'enregistrements. Des reconstitutions quantitatives du couvert végétal dans le passé sont nécessaires pour résoudre les questions de recherche actuelles dans les domaines de l'histoire des climats, de l'archéologie et de la conservation (entretien) des paysages. Dans un premier volet, cet article exposera les nouveaux concepts, outils développés par le réseau POLLANDCAL (POLlen LANDscape CALibration) pour reconstituer le couvert végétal régional et local à partir des données polliniques fossiles en utilisant deux modèles : REVEALS (Regional Estimates of Vegetation Abundance from Large Lakes) et LOVE (Local Vegetation Estimates). Puis, dans un deuxième volet, nous illustrerons la mise en place de cette démarche quantitative sur le massif jurassien et les premiers résultats obtenu

Modelling Transition And International Opening In Asia: The Case Of Vietnam With A Comparison With China And The "Asian Tigers"

This paper describes the multisectoral macroeconomic model of a small developing economy in transition, in order to highlight linkages between agriculture and the rest of the economy, and consequences of external opening up. Agriculture is a supply sector, sticky in the short range with market clearing by price adjustment. The non agricultural sector is demand-led, with imperfect competition (and hence sticky prices and indexed nominal wages). According to this dual theoretical pattern, labor market is segmented with an unlimited supply in the rural area. This part of labor force is employed in the agricultural sector and in the rural non agricultural one. Urban workers are employed in the non agricultural sector but may face unemployment. The wage gap between urban and ruralareas induces migration, according to a Harris Todaro mechanism. This framework is applied to the Vietnam case. A calibrated quantitative model performs a base line simulation from 1993 to 2010, following approximately the path designed by the Vietnamese government. Finally, this model is used to sketch various scenarios, among which traditional macroeconomic packages, structural reforms, and external shocks.Vietnam; multisectoral models; development; transition

Interest rates, eurobonds and intra-European exchange rate misalignments: the challenge of sustainable adjustments in the eurozone

The euro zone crisis illustrates the deficiencies of adjustment mechanisms in a monetary union characterized by a large heterogeneity. Exchange rate adjustments being impossible, they are very few alternative mechanisms. At the level of the whole euro zone the euro is close to its equilibrium parity. But the euro is strongly overvalued for Southern European countries, France included, and largely undervalued for Northern European countries, especially Germany. The paper gives a new evaluation of these exchange rate misalignments inside the euro zone, using a FEER approach, and examines the evolution of competitiveness. In a second step, we use a two-country SFC model of a monetary union with endogenous interest rates and eurobonds issuance. Three main results are obtained. Facing a competitiveness loss in southern countries due to exchange rates misalignments, increasing intra-European financing by banks of northern countries or other institutions could contribute to reduce the debt burden and induce a partial recovery but public debt would increase. Implementation of eurobonds as a tool to partly mutualize European sovereign debt would have a rather similar positive impact, but with a public debt limited to 60% of GDP. Furthermore, eurobonds could also be used to finance large European projects which could impulse a stronger recovery in the entire euro zone with stabilized current account imbalances. However, the settlement of a European Debt Agency in charge of the issuance of the eurobonds would face strong political obstacles

On the Determinants of Exchange Rate Misalignments

The literature on exchange rate misalignments is very extensive as well as the literature on exchange rate determinants. To our knowledge, however, no study has analyzed the determinants of exchange rate misalignments. As huge capital inflows have been pouring into emerging countries since the climax of the crisis, exchange rate misalignments are becoming a crucial issue for policy makers. For a large panel of emerging and industrialized countries and on the period 1982-2008, we identify, empirically, the main determinants of exchange rate misalignments obtained thanks to a FEER approach (Williamson, 1994). Our analysis put forward trade openness, financial openness and regional specialization as determinant variables of exchange rate misalignments

Temporal Dimension and Equilibrium Exchange Rate: a FEER / BEER Comparison

International audienceWe analyze, in a unified theoretical framework, the two main models for equilibrium exchange rate, namely, the BEER and the FEER approaches. In order to understand the interactions between them, we study in detail the temporal links between these two measures. Our results show that, in average, the BEER and the FEER are closely related. Yet, important differences can be observed for some countries and/or some periods of time. Therefore, we analyze some of the factors that may explain this disconnection, identifying several aspects which are able to alter the relation between the current account and the real effective exchange rate, and so, between the FEER and the BEER. Our analysis puts forward the structural changes in matter of competitiveness, the dynamics of foreign asset positions and valuation effects as explanations for the divergence