Poverty, Population, Development in Historical Perspective

SUMMARY The object of the paper is to place the present issues of world poverty, development, demographic change into proper historical perspective, considering the specificities of present times concerning economic and demographic developments, as well as the international relations associated with them. Some speculations concerning possible long run developments conclude the pape RIASSUNTO Scopo dell' articolo è di porre in adeguata prospettiva storica le questioni globali relative a povertà, sviluppo e crescita demografica, considerando le specifiche circostanze del tempo presente concernenti gli sviluppi economici e demografici, così come le relazioni internazionali a questi associati. Alcune considerazioni sui possibili sviluppi futuri di lungo periodo concludono il lavoro

Poverty, Population, Inequality, and Development: the Historical Perspective

Seen in historical perspective the main economic predicaments of the present world (such as poverty, inequality, backwardness) appear in a somewhat different light than in many current discussions, especially by sociologists, radical economists and political scientists. In the present paper the achievements of the modern age, and in particular of the post- World War II period, are considered in the perspective of economic and demographic history, and in their connection with the systems of production and of international relations. Some considerations concerning future possible developments conclude the paper.poverty, population, development, distribution, globalization

Poverty, Population, Inequality, and Development: the Historical Perspective

Seen in historical perspective the main economic predicaments of the present world (such as poverty, inequality, backwardness) appear in a somewhat different light than in many current discussions, especially by sociologists, radical economists and political scientists. In the present paper the achievements of the modern age, and in particular of the post- World War II period, are considered in the perspective of economic and demographic history, and in their connection with the systems of production and of international relations. Some considerations concerning future possible developments conclude the paper.poverty, population, development, distribution, globalization

COORDINATION, COOPERATION, AND THE EXTENDED COASEAN APPROACH TO ECONOMIC POLICY

The Coasean way to deal with the cooperation failure that is implicit in Pareto inefficiency is to remove or lessen the obstacles to cooperation through the attribution of property rights and the elimination or reduction of transaction costs. The relevance of this approach is however undermined by some intrinsic difficulties to its application in a real world context, such as those arising from the number and indeterminacy of the interested parties, as well as from the free rider problem. A way to extend the Coasean approach taking into account those real life limitations is to consider the local authorities as representatives of the interest of their local constituencies and, through the provision of an adequate institutional framework, to enhance the opportunities for cooperation through voluntary agreements involving private and public parties. Thus the extent of cooperation could be widened, as opposite to traditional remedial actions relying on non- contractual, or direct entrepreneurial action by the state. With the reduction in the appeal of direct and coercive action by the state a number of institutions emphasising the contractual cooperation between public and private parties have effectively grown of importance, as wide apart as the township and village enterprises in China, or the “programmazione negoziata” in Italy. In the final part of the paper the lattercoase theorem, economic policy, transition, property rights, cooperation, coordination

KALECKI'S THEORY OF INCOME DETERMINATION: A RECONSTRUCTION AND AN ASSESSMENT

The paper considers the legacy for modern macroeconomics of Kalecki’s theory of income determination. The latter is reconstructed in its analytical constituent parts referring in detail to the original sources. The critical appraisal of its historical relevance is made from the vantage point of the specific strain of contemporary New-Keynesian macroeconomics that is also based, after a long historical gap, on imperfectly competitive microeconomic foundations. Important elements of Kalecki’s theoretical construction have been a lasting, even if usually unacknowledged, legacy to the toolkit of modern macroeconomics.kalecki, macroeconomics, imperfect competition, income determination, microeconomic foundations

THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM AS AN END OR AS A MEANS AND THE FUTURE OF SOCIALISM AND CAPITALISM: AN EVOLUTIONARY VIEWPOINT

After the demise of “real” socialism and the decline of “western” socialism, socialism can be salvaged as a social preference system oriented towards equality and social justice, to be implemented without systemic constraints in the organizational and institutional sense. At the same time there is a case for maintaining an institutional framework allowing different forms of economic organization, capitalist and non- capitalist, to compete on equal footing, in an evolutionary perspective, thus allowing the second to develop if proven efficient. Another way for a spontaneous extension of the domain of socialism could derive from the socialization of consumption, if the consumption of public goods continues to make up a growing component of real consumption.socialism, capitalism, third sector, socialization of consumption

Stakeholders vs. shareholders in corporate governance

The paper is divided in two coordinate parts. The first considers in general the issue of stockholders vs. stakeholders oriented governance systems and their relative merits and demerits. The second part deals specifically with the issue of the principal-agent problem in a stakeholder context.Stakeholders; Corporate Governance; Varieties of Capitalism

Technical Progress and Long-Run Growth

The types of technical progress referred to in the theory of economic growth are passed in review and their relations studied in detail. Light is also shed on the dependence of the long-run rate of growth, in the presence of a constant rate of saving, on the type of technical progress taking place in the economy, both in the most general case and in that of an aggregate C.E.S. production function; what happens in this respect in the case when technical progress is Harrod neutral is well known, the same cannot be said of the case when technical progress is not Harrod neutral.economic growth, technical progress classifications, long-run growth, neoclassical growth model

Long-Term Unemployment in the Varieties of Capitalism

This paper considers how the different varieties of capitalism affect the rate of long-term unemployment. The liberal market variety, where employment protection is the lowest, presents lower rates of long-term unemployment than the continental European, or the Mediterranean varieties. In the latter both employment protection and long-term unemployment are the highest and labour market participation the lowest. But the social-democratic Scandinavian variety gets the best of both worlds: low rates of long-term unemployment, high rates of labour participation, lower degree of inequality, together with relatively high levels of employment protection. Low rates of long-term unemployment and high levels of labour participation are also produced by the far-Eastern Asian variety, but at the cost of a markedly dualistic labour market structure