Cambridge Journal of Economics - current issue

Socio-economic evolution and Darwinism in Thorstein Veblen: a critical appraisal

Liagouras, G. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:48 PDT

The paper questions the idea that a biology-based perspective, and more specifically Darwinian population thinking, constitutes a real alternative for the study of the evolution of social systems. This is done through a critical appraisal of the work of Thorstein Veblen. Even though Veblen's account of the evolution of humankind makes the notion of natural selection practically redundant, his remaining attachment to Darwinism created two other serious tensions for him. First, his attachment to the Darwinian scheme of ‘descent with modification’ kept him from devising a systematic theory of the different socio-economic systems he studied. This shortcoming is more evident in his analysis of capitalism, which not only lacks an elaborated theory but also contradicts his initial evolutionary programme. Second, by postulating that human history is a question of cultural change, Veblen was tempted to conflate social structures, institutions and habits of thought.

A Sraffian critique of the classical notion of centre of gravitation

Dupertuis, M.-S., Sinha, A. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:48 PDT

In this paper we use insights from Sraffa's classic, Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities, to argue that the classical notion of ‘centre of gravitation’ is not a sound concept. The market mechanics of labour allocation through price signals and quantity adjustments, given effectual demands, do not lead to a ‘centre of gravitation’. We work out all such possible market mechanisms, including the specific classical case, and show that the ‘centre of gravitation’ is a non-attractive point in all cases.

The revealed preferences of high technology acquirers: An analysis of the innovation characteristics of their targets

Desyllas, P., Hughes, A. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:48 PDT

This paper investigates whether acquisitions involving public high technology firms are best understood in terms of acquirers taking over firms with ‘superior’ innovation performance to access their assets, or acquiring firms with ‘inferior’ innovation performance to turn them around. Innovation performance is proxied by R&D-intensity (R&D expenditure over assets), patent-intensity (patents per US$million of assets), i.e. the R&D productivity of a firm's assets, and the patent stock, i.e. the accumulated R&D output. We find substantial overlaps between target and non-acquired firm characteristics. Nevertheless targets have a relatively high R&D-intensity and a large patent stock, which is consistent with acquirers targeting firms with a superior innovation performance. However, these targets have significantly lower pre-acquisition patent-intensity and hence a lower R&D productivity. The targets are also experiencing weak financial performance. Our results are consistent with a selection process in which acquirers seek out firms that have a superior past innovation performance, but that are failing in terms of recent R&D productivity and financial performance. A comparison of the performance of the targets with their acquirers reinforces this conclusion.

Between political economy and postcolonial theory: first encounters

Kayatekin, S. A. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:48 PDT

Post-Keynesianism without modernity

Danby, C. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:48 PDT

A robust and critical post-Keynesianism can be specified on the basis of time, uncertainty, and the investigation of the institutions that structure material life, without presupposing what those institutions are. This paper criticises the inclusion in influential presentations of the axiomatic foundation of post-Keynesianism of propositions about government and money that presuppose a particular ensemble of institutions. That ensemble corresponds to the ideal-type called modernity. Without modernity post-Keynesianism gains logical parsimony and breadth of application; the paper discusses non-modernist writers in the tradition that includes J. M. Keynes, K. N. Raj, Celso Furtado and Juan Noyola.

Social analysis and the capabilities approach: a limit to Martha Nussbaum's universalist ethics

Charusheela, S. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:48 PDT

Postcolonial theorists critique modernist universalisms for legitimating structural power. Responding to these critiques, Martha Nussbaum argues that abandoning universalism leads to ethical relativism. Adapting Amartya Sen's capabilities approach, she has proposed a modified universalism that draws on cross-cultural conversations as a non-ethnocentric basis for universal judgment and intervention. This paper takes as its point of departure Nussbaum's (mis)reading of a critique by Nkiru Nzegwu. Working from that conversational failure, the paper identifies the social analysis Nussbaum deploys as a point of ethnocentric breakdown in her universalist approach.

Economics, postcolonial theory and the problem of culture: institutional analysis and hybridity

Zein-Elabdin, E. O. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:48 PDT

Postcolonial theory has not yet made an impact in economics. This may be explained by the different treatment of culture in each field. In postcolonial theory, culture serves as a central analytical category. In economics, despite increased attention in recent history, general approaches to culture continue to underestimate its role in economic behaviour and decision making. Borrowing some insights from postcolonial theory, this paper calls for further attention to culture in economics. It is argued that such a turn improves current understanding of contemporary economic phenomena, and allows subaltern cultures (currently theorised as less developed) to equally participate in the global construction of social meaning and economic well being. It is further argued that incorporating the postcolonial idea of hybridity into the institutional economic approach holds the most promise for theorising contemporary postcolonial economies. This argument is illustrated by examining some hybrid economic patterns within Africa.

Global order and the new economic policy in India: the (post)colonial formation of the small-scale sector

Chakrabarti, A., Chaudhury, A., Cullenberg, S. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:48 PDT

Using a class focused Marxist approach, we elucidate the adopted position of Indian small-scale sector as a devalued other within the adopted development paradigm that accords primacy to Capital and West. In the background of this understanding of small-scale sector, we demonstrate how the New Economic Policy in the era of globalization could be theorized as a tool to obtain the (post) colonial hegemony of capital over the small-scale sector.

Ambivalence of class subjectivity: the sharecroppers of the post-bellum southern USA

Kayatekin, S. A. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:48 PDT

The paper argues that the economic literature on sharecropping uses a modernist notion of subjectivity that fails to explain the complexity of economic behaviour or the social context in which agency is formed. I look at the case of economic subjectivity of southern sharecropping tenants in the post-bellum USA, using non-determinist Marxist class analysis together with the concept of subjectivity drawing from postcolonial theory, in particular the work of Homi Bhabha. I argue that this alternative approach to economic subjectivity, which posits an ambivalent, or contradictory subjectivity provides us with a better analytical grasp of economic agency and a better explanation of the perpetuation or demise of a productive form such as sharecropping.

The great crash of 2008 and the reform of economics

Hodgson, G. M. — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:49 PDT

The 2008 economic crash led to remarkable shifts of opinion among world leaders. Does this crisis create favourable conditions for the reform and revitalisation of economics itself—from a subject dominated by mathematical techniques to a discipline more oriented to understanding real-world institutions and actors? And why were warnings of financial collapse not heeded? Recent shortcomings are partly related to the global triumph of market individualist ideology and partly to the exaggerated roles of modelling and quantification. These failures of economics are partly peculiar to the discipline and also a result of other wider institutional and cultural forces.

The Editors would like to thank the following people who have acted as referees during the academic year 2008-2009

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:49 PDT

Index to Volume 33

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:07:49 PDT