The pro-poorness, growth and inequality nexus: Some findings from a simulation study

A widely accepted criterion for pro-poorness of an income growth pattern is that it should reduce a (chosen) measure of poverty by more than if all incomes were growing equiproportionately. Inequality reduction is not generally seen as either necessary or sufficient for pro-poorness. As shown in Lambert (2010), in order to conduct nuanced investigation of the pro-poorness, growth and inequality nexus, one needs at least a 3-parameter model of the income distribution. In this paper, we explore in detail the properties of inequality reduction and pro-poorness, using the Watts poverty index and Gini inequality index, when income growth takes place within each of the following models: the displaced lognormal, Singh-Maddala and Dagum distributions. We show by simulation, using empirically relevant parameter estimates, that distributional change preserving the form of each of these income distributions is, in the main, either pro-poor and inequality reducing, or pro-rich and inequality exacerbating. Instances of pro-rich and inequality reducing change do occur, but we find no evidence that distributional change could be both pro-poor and inequality exacerbating.poverty, growth, pro-poorness, income distribution.

Paul Baran’s Economic Surplus Concept, the Baran Ratio, and the Decline of Feudalism

In his book, the Political Economy of Growth (1957), and in an article he wrote several years earlier (1953), the economist Paul A. Baran noted how in an economic system characterized by a hierarchy of classes and where economic and political power are concentrated in the top class of such a system, the amount of output and income above what is consumed by most people (e.g., food, clothing, housing, public safety, education) mostly goes to the top class. This extra amount is what he called the economic surplus, a form of savings or income left over after consumption. In a feudalistic system, there is little incentive to use the proceeds of this type of surplus to buy more tools and equipment for more production of output and income. The lord or baron has little incentive to lend or give serfs money because he may not benefit from any increased productivity by them. It is with capitalism that such incentives to re-invest in production become important. This paper uses recently published and estimated historical data to illustrate Baran’s observations and thoughts on feudalism. It is shown that during the 13th and 14th centuries in England that the economic surplus declined, and this decline helps to explain the “crisis of feudalism” that started in the 13th century. It is not until several centuries later when capitalism becomes the dominant economic system that the economic surplus begins to rise on a consistent basis probably due to the reinvestment of a portion of the surplus into productive activities and a greater ratio of capital income to rental income and a greater ratio of investment to economic surplus. However, and somewhat surprisingly, by the 19th Century the surplus still does not attain levels reached in the 13th Century

Steered mixture-of-experts for light field images and video : representation and coding

Research in light field (LF) processing has heavily increased over the last decade. This is largely driven by the desire to achieve the same level of immersion and navigational freedom for camera-captured scenes as it is currently available for CGI content. Standardization organizations such as MPEG and JPEG continue to follow conventional coding paradigms in which viewpoints are discretely represented on 2-D regular grids. These grids are then further decorrelated through hybrid DPCM/transform techniques. However, these 2-D regular grids are less suited for high-dimensional data, such as LFs. We propose a novel coding framework for higher-dimensional image modalities, called Steered Mixture-of-Experts (SMoE). Coherent areas in the higher-dimensional space are represented by single higher-dimensional entities, called kernels. These kernels hold spatially localized information about light rays at any angle arriving at a certain region. The global model consists thus of a set of kernels which define a continuous approximation of the underlying plenoptic function. We introduce the theory of SMoE and illustrate its application for 2-D images, 4-D LF images, and 5-D LF video. We also propose an efficient coding strategy to convert the model parameters into a bitstream. Even without provisions for high-frequency information, the proposed method performs comparable to the state of the art for low-to-mid range bitrates with respect to subjective visual quality of 4-D LF images. In case of 5-D LF video, we observe superior decorrelation and coding performance with coding gains of a factor of 4x in bitrate for the same quality. At least equally important is the fact that our method inherently has desired functionality for LF rendering which is lacking in other state-of-the-art techniques: (1) full zero-delay random access, (2) light-weight pixel-parallel view reconstruction, and (3) intrinsic view interpolation and super-resolution

Bankers as Immoral? The Parallels between Aquinas’s Views on Usury and Marxian Views of Banking and Credit

Throughout history, the performance, practices and ethics of bankers and banking in general have received mixed reviews in both popular and scholarly writings. Early writings by philosophers, clerics, and scribes played a crucial role in the perceptions of banking and banking occupations. Thomas Aquinas’s thoughts and writings were greatly influenced by the Romans’ and Aristotle’s opinions on usury and the charging of interest, and Aquinas was in a position to have his opinions implemented in policy and practice. Marx noted how banking and credit were used to expand the production and sales of a capitalistic economy beyond certain limits, although his focus was mostly on credit extended to businesses. At the same time, he wrote about how the credit system could lead to economic crises as well as to the concentration and centralization of capital. While lending is motivated by profit, and while households are not coerced into borrowing money, the justice of a system which exploits workers and at the same time encourages them to borrow money in order to maintain a certain standard of living can be viewed as unfair and immoral. The value of goods, according to Aquinas and Marx, should mostly reflect the value of labor embodied in them, and for that reason, labor should be compensated fully for its work. For these reasons, Aquinas and Marxian economists offer somewhat similar views on both the labor theory of value as well as on the morality of certain banking practices. If credit and the banking system also bring about crisis and the greater concentration and centralization of capital, then the morality of these outcomes also needs to be examined

Short Term versus Long Term Effects of the Louisville Enterprise Zone Incentives: A Response to Zhang

Zhang (2019) has written that variations in research design have led to conflicting or mixed reviews of many local economic development policies that are based on the enterprise zone concept. She mentions a study and an article (Lambert 1997, Lambert and Coomes 2001) on the Louisville, Kentucky enterprise zone (EZ) and implies the time horizon used to evaluate it was too short. This research note points out that the Louisville EZ went through multiple transformations and expansions over its history from 1983 to 2003, and as noted in the first of two studies, the original zone showed virtually no progress from 1983 to 1990. Several other unpublished papers pointed out the same results when the original EZ and other parts of the expanded EZ were analyzed up to the last years of the 20th Century. Finally, this paper argues that and provides reasons for the methodology employed by Lambert and Coomes (2001) is a superior way of analyzing the Louisville EZ when compared to the methods employed by Zhang (2015). The main reason why Zhang (2015) shows success in the EZ is because she evaluates it in its final form in the late 1990s after it had annexed many sections of Jefferson County which were not as nearly economically disadvantaged as the original Louisville EZ established in 1983

Paul Baran’s Economic Surplus Concept, the Baran Ratio, and the Decline of Feudalism

In his book, the Political Economy of Growth (1957), and in an article he wrote several years earlier (1953), the economist Paul A. Baran noted how in an economic system characterized by a hierarchy of classes and where economic and political power are concentrated in the top class of such a system, the amount of output and income above what is consumed by most people (e.g., food, clothing, housing, public safety, education) mostly goes to the top class. This extra amount is what he called the economic surplus, a form of savings or income left over after consumption. In a feudalistic system, there is little incentive to use the proceeds of this type of surplus to buy more tools and equipment for more production of output and income. The lord or baron has little incentive to lend or give serfs money because he may not benefit from any increased productivity by them. It is with capitalism that such incentives to re-invest in production become important. This paper uses recently published and estimated historical data to illustrate Baran’s observations and thoughts on feudalism. It is shown that during the 13th and 14th centuries in England that the economic surplus declined, and this decline helps to explain the “crisis of feudalism” that started in the 13th century. It is not until several centuries later when capitalism becomes the dominant economic system that the economic surplus begins to rise on a consistent basis probably due to the reinvestment of a portion of the surplus into productive activities and a greater ratio of capital income to rental income and a greater ratio of investment to economic surplus. However, and somewhat surprisingly, by the 19th Century the surplus still does not attain levels reached in the 13th Century

Rationality and capitalist schooling

Abstract. In the field of philosophy of mind, the concepts of rational behavior, rational choice theory, and instrumental rationality (the “practical reasoning” version of rationality) are important in trying to make statements and conclusions about human thinking and behavior in general. Rational choice theory is also considered a normative but not a descriptive or positive theory.  Much of economic theory is based on the principle that economic agents usually or always behave rationally in maximizing the benefits and/or minimizing the costs of their decisions.  Developments in behavioral economics over the last several decades have begun to question this principle with much of the questioning about rationality and rational behavior centering on whether individuals can correctly and adequately assess probabilities and risk/reward.  The inability to correctly assess risk/reward limits rational behavior and can yield sub-optimal outcomes for economic agents.  This exploratory paper examines the linkages between schooling in a capitalist society and limits on rationality in a monopoly capital economic system.Keywords. Behavioral economics, Capitalist schooling, Monopoly capital, Rationality, Rational choice.JEL. B51, I24

The Limits of Antitrust in the 21st Century

Antitrust is having a moment. Commentators and policymakers, both progressive and conservative, are calling for increased antitrust enforcement to address all manner of social ills. From technology platforms\u27 power over speech and encroachments on user privacy to wage stagnation in more concentrated labor markets, to competition softening from ever-larger index funds, to growing income inequality, reduced innovation, and threats to democracy itself - the list of maladies for which antitrust has been proposed as a remedy goes on and on. This Article revisits The Limits of Antitrust in light of the current antitrust moment. Part I describes the central components of Easterbrook\u27s 1984 proposal and considers, for each, whether and how it should be revised in light of subsequent market developments and advances in economic learning. Part I concludes that Easterbrook\u27s overarching prescription for maximizing antitrust\u27s effectiveness remains fundamentally sound but that his view about the relative harms from overand under-enforcement, as well as some of the specific screening mechanisms he proposed for optimizing antitrust\u27s effectiveness, require some adjustment. Part II then builds upon Easterbrook\u27s approach by proposing four new screening mechanisms that could assist twenty-first century courts and enforcers in ensuring that antitrust secures as much social welfare as possible, given its intrinsic limitations. The proposed screening mechanisms would limit antitrust intervention to situations in which the complained of conduct (1) causes or threatens harm to consumers, (2) extends market power, (3) is unlikely to be addressed by other bodies of law or privately ordered solutions, and (4) does not involve a remedy requiring a great deal of information or endowing government officials with substantial discretionary authority

The Economic Impact of Horse Racing Tracks and Historical Horse Racing in Kentucky

The Commonwealth of Kentucky currently has 5 thoroughbred racing tracks and 3 harness racing tracks (Mint Julep Louisville 2021). As Table 1 below shows[1], the industry employees roughly 6,000 people (direct jobs), and these jobs annually support another 1,500 jobs or so throughout the state. These 1,500 jobs are jobs that are provided by the suppliers to the horse race tracks (indirect jobs) and jobs that are created by the spending of the race track employees and the employees of suppliers on food, housing, transportation, and clothing by vendors and retailers throughout the state (induced jobs). The direct jobs generate in 2019 dollars around $170 million in payroll, and these in turn support another$69 million in payroll among race track suppliers and other businesses in the state. With regard to state domestic product, the tracks create over a half-billion dollars in output while their suppliers and supported businesses contribute another $223 million in domestic product. As of 2021, Kentucky state gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to be$190 billion

The Economic Impact of Buying and Redeveloping Ellis Park by Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs’ acquisition of Ellis Park Racing and Gaming in Henderson, Kentucky reflects the growing number of mergers across the US among racetracks, racetracks and casinos, and casinos with other casinos. Some years back, Ellis racetrack closed for one year due to declining profitability, yet after new ownership took over and a gaming center was added, it began a rebound in earnings (Courier and Press 2008). The $75 million that Churchill Downs plans to spend to transform Ellis Park (Schulz 2022) will have a much bigger impact than the construction, revamping, and expansion of park facilities. This is in addition to the current economic impact that the existing park has on the Evansville, Indiana Metro Area