Transition has not always been a success story. In some cases failure was due to the introduction of topdown legislature, which was not always compatible with the existing informal rules of the game. In other cases transition was just a euphemism for a fight for power with little substantial change.Still, most Western analysts indulged in analysing all East-European economies according to a rather standard pattern. This paper explains this approach by referring to the need to maintain rentseeking policies (...) in the West, to create new rents in the East. Western governments complied with the constructivistic view willingly, especially in the EU area, for social engineering was instrumental in order to acquire and expand consensus on the principles of state interference.La transition n’a pas toujours été une réussite. Dans certains cas, les échecs ont été dus à l’ instauration d’un corps législatif directif souvent incompatible avec les règles de jeu informelles. Dans d’autres cas, la transition fut un simple euphémisme pour une lutte pour le pouvoir, peu susceptible de donner lieu à des changements significatifs.De plus, la plupart des chercheurs occidentaux ont analysé les économies de l’Europe de l’Est avec les outils du modèle néoclassique standard. L’auteur explique cette orientation en invoquant la volonté de maintenir les politiques de recherche de rente à l’Ouest, et d’en créer de nouvelles à l’Est. Les gouvernements occidentaux ont volontairement cédé à une vision constructiviste, notamment dans la zone de l’Union Européenne, car l’ingénierie sociale a été un instrument majeur dans la réalisation et l’extension du consensus autour des principes d’interventions étatiques. (shrink)

This volume of essays studies the problem of transition in economics from a historical perspective. It uses historical ideas and theories in a modern context to examine economic thought. It aims to show that social and historical context are important when considering economic transitions.

In almost all countries, the transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy caused high unemployment. The governments attempted to ease the changeover to a market economy for the unemployed by introducing several passive and active labour market policies. This paper first points out which effects were to be expected of such policies from the perspective of Austrian Economics. These theoretical hypotheses are then tested empirically. It turns out that the hypotheses deducted from Austrian Economics (...) theory are impressively corroborated by the empirical evidence.Dans presque tous les pays, la transition d’une économie centralement planifiée vers une économie de marché ont provoqué un chômage élevé. Les gouvernements ont essayé d’adoucir la transition vers une économie de marché pour les chômeurs en introduisant plusieurs politiques passives et actives sur le marché du travail. Tout d’abord, cet article souligne quels étaient les effets attendus de telles politiques à la lumière de l’économie autrichienne. Ces hypothèses théoriques sont ensuite testées de manière empirique. Il en ressort que les hypothèses déduites de la théorie économique autrichienne sont corroborées de manière significative par les preuves empiriques. (shrink)

Through case studies and examples of past and present development of energy sources, the story is told of the global energy industry. Energy, Economics, and Ethics wrestles with many of the difficult questions at the heart of the emerging global energy transition.

The present study analyzes the key drivers facilitating corporate social responsibility practices in large-scale organizations of North-West region of India. Further research is using Carroll’s model of CSR responsibility as a basis to develop a strategic framework that demonstrates transition from economic to holistic approach. Carroll’s CSR model focuses on four aspects: economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities. This research has been taken to understand whether there is a transition in Indian large-scale organizations from its primary focus on (...) economic responsibilities to legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities to adopt holistic approach. Results are indicative of the fact that Indian economy has given considerable importance to social responsibility practices, and clear transition can be observed from economic to holistic approach. (shrink)

In order to shed light on the issue of crony corruption in the context of economic transition, I focus on the puzzle of China's unique experience of economic transition characterized by the duality forms and effects of crony corruption underlying local corporatism in a dual-track (i.e., market and political tracks) transition. I argue that the duality of local corporatism derives from the duality of crony corruption. First, the early form of local corporatism as state-business public alliance is (...) embedded in informal crony corruption as positive for the purpose of wealth growth in the initial phase of economic transition with public and private interests aligned as compatible. Second, the later form of local corporatism as official-manager private collusion is embedded in quasi-formal crony corruption as negative for the purpose of wealth transfer in the later phase with public and private interests in conflict as incompatible. The duality of crony corruption in the two phases of economic transition is caused by the interplay between formal and informal factors and between economic and political factors. My contribution is twofold. First, I explain China's transition in terms of crony corruption underlying local corporatism. Second, I develop an integrated framework of crony corruption concerning its content, process, antecedent and consequence. (shrink)

The paper questions some of the premises in studying academic spin-offs in developed countries, claiming that when taken as characteristics of ‘academic spin-offs per se,’ they are of little help in understanding the phenomenon in the Eastern European countries during the transitional and post-transitional periods after 1989. It argues for the necessity of adopting a path-dependent approach, which takes into consideration the institutional and organisational specificities of local economies and research systems and their evolution, which strongly influence the patterns of (...) spin-off activity. The paper provides new findings and original arguments in support of Balazs’ seminal theses (Balazs 1995, 1996) about the emergence of academic spin-offs during the early transition. It reveals key economic and policy mechanisms bearing on academic entrepreneurship in Eastern Europe, such as the tensions between economic and political nomenclatures of former Communist Parties, where the dismantling or preservation of the power of political nomenclature resulted in different patterns of development—rapid reforms in the ‘first wave’ of EU accession countries or the establishment of rent-seeking and assets-stripping economies in countries like Bulgaria and Romania, making the transition period especially difficult. In the latter, a specific economic environment emerged, unknown in Western Europe and in the ‘champions’ of transition—such as suppression of the authentic entrepreneurship in a number of economic sectors, disintegration of corporate structures, etc. Thus, the paper reveals the common ground behind the two conflicting tendencies in post-socialist academic spin-offs, partially outlined in other research (Simeonova 1995; Pavlova 2000): as an authentic form of academic entrepreneurship grasping the opportunities opened up by the economic crisis and compensating failures in science and technology policy on the one hand, and as specific rent-seeking strategy draining valuable public assets on the other (the latter, in turn, boosting the negative attitudes in local scientific communities). The paper provides new findings about the evolution of the academic spin-offs in Bulgaria along the two polar trends and their positive and negative repercussions on parent research institutions. The results were achieved in the PROKNOW Project, EC 6th Framework Program. (shrink)

This article compares the ethical attitudes of Ukrainian business professionals with those of United States business professionals. A widely used survey instrument consisting of 16 hypothetical situations involving ethical dilemmas was employed to gather information on ethical attitudes in the two countries. On 13 of 16 vignettes, Ukrainian respondents demonstrated less stringent ethical attitudes than did their United States counterparts. Possible reasons for these differences are discussed, with primary emphasis on the transition from one economic system to another that (...) is underway in Ukraine. Comments from Ukrainian respondents are presented so as to give an indication of the thought processes behind the questionnaire responses. (shrink)

The article considers the connection between ethics, in particular Kant’s practical philosophy, and economics. The author examines historical reasons for Kant’s ethic not to have become part of the economic discourse and interprets modern business processes from Kant’s perspective. The article aims to demonstrate the possibilities of applying the philosophical instruments of Kant’s morals to concrete economic issues.

The ‘European Green Deal’ (EGD) is a set of communications from the European Commission that outlines EU roadmap to climate neutrality by 2050. The policy envisions that, with the facilitation of speedy and just ‘green transition’, the goals of environmental protection and economic development can be reconciled. This article offers a language-focused critical study of the EGD. After giving an overview of neoliberal ‘discourses of sustainability’ and explaining the notion of ‘interdiscursivity’ in CDS, it presents the results of a (...) close thematic analysis supported by keyword and concordance analysis of representations of ‘environment’ and ‘climate’ on the one hand, and ‘economy’ and ‘transition’ on the other. This study attends to salient language patterns and reveals how interdiscursive crossovers are established to normalise ‘sustainability’ as the contingency between environmental and economic orders of discourse. Also, it identifies the discursive strategies of nomination, predication, argumentation, perspectivisation and mitigation or intensification and shows how tensions between discourses are smoothened. This analysis of EGD’s ideological hybridity also sheds light onto how EU institutions are (self)authorised to lead actions on environmental challenges on behalf of European citizens. (shrink)

The conjoining of civic republicanism and green politics is a new but timely response to understanding and navigating a path through and beyond our turbulent times. A green republican analysis our contemporary condition–climate breakdown, rising inequality, the crisis of representative democracy–sees the structural and ideological imperative of endless economic growth as one root cause. From a green republican perspective economic growth has now passed a threshold where it has become a threat, both to the sustainability/longevity of the polity, but also (...) common goods and human flourishing. This paper identifies and analyses key components of the growth imperative, such as debt-based consumerism and non-democratic workplaces, as well as more widely discussed requirements of growth to externalise ecological and social costs, and growth’s dependence on cheap and secure sources of fossil resources. It argues that these components of growth pose serious risks to liberty as nondomination, the securing and protecting of common goods, rough equality and securing the ecological conditions for the republic. Therefore, these ‘green’ concerns should be also concerns for republicans. The paper looks at one recent strategy that has been proposed to help move societies beyond climate breakdown and carbon-addiction–namely the ‘Just Transition’ discourse and set of policy proposals. The paper offers a green republican account of the Just Transition strategy for a post-or low carbon economy in which equality, justice and democratic participation are central. (shrink)

In this paper, we take inspiration from original institutional economics (OIE) as an approach to study value change within the highly complex assembly of sociotechnical transformations that make up the energy transition. OIE is examined here as a suitable perspective, as it combines Dewey’s pragmatist philosophy and a methodological interactionist perspective on value change, behavior and institutions, with technology figuring as a transformational factor. This combination overcomes conceptual and methodological shortcomings of alternative accounts of values. We will present (...) the contours of an OIE based conceptual framework connecting nature, humans, technology, the economic process, society, culture and institutions and habits, valuation and behavior. We illustrate how to use this framework to examine and understand how environmental, ecologic, safety, economic, and social concerns about the energy transition are (re)framed as (new) values in the belief systems and habits of individuals and groups. Moreover, we will explore how that may give rise to collective action, via the institutionalization of such revised values in the procedures, arrangements, norms and incentives guiding transactions. As such, this approach allows us in a fine-grained manner to conceptually and theoretically understand the way in which values change in the energy-transition, as a complex interaction of technology development and social relations. (shrink)

Adaptive reuse embodies a significant transition in the evolution of urban landscapes, representing a paradigm shift from industrial or obsolete uses to vibrant, sustainable, and community-centric functions. This transformative process, deeply rooted in the principles of sustainable urban development, emphasizes the conservation of architectural heritage, environmental sustainability, and socio-economic revitalization. At the heart of adaptive reuse is the concept of sustainability, which challenges traditional notions of development and conservation by repurposing existing structures, thereby conserving resources, and reducing the carbon (...) footprint associated with new constructions. These initiatives align with broader sustainability goals, such as those outlined in the 2030 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), particularly those related to sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, and climate action. (shrink)

In the present context of intertwined and intensifying economic, environmental and climate challenges and crisis, we need to enlarge our thinking about food systems change. One way to do so is by considering intersections between our longstanding interdisciplinary interest in food and agriculture and new scholarship and practice centered on transitions to sustainability. The general idea of transition references change in a wide range of fields and contexts, and has gained prominence most recently as a way to discuss and (...) address sustainability challenges. To explore connections to food systems change, I highlight two broad approaches in the sustainability transitions research field. First is a multi-level perspective that examines sustainability innovation pathways and second is a social practices approach that illuminates the possibilities for shifts in normal everyday routines and practices. Taken together, these approaches offer different and useful ways to think about the dynamics, durability and significance of innovations in food and agriculture, and the part they play in transitions to sustainability. Numerous opportunities exist to forge more productive links between work on food systems change and the broad and growing sustainability transitions field. First, our research and practice insights about the importance of politics, governance, values and ethics in food and agriculture could help to strengthen the sustainability transitions field, which initially underplayed such questions. Second, the sustainability transitions field’s implicit systems sensibility and its futures orientation could help to widen the scope of inquiry and the contribution to policy and planning of research and practice on food systems change. (shrink)

Industrial food systems are being increasingly challenged by alternative food movements globally that advocate for better environmental, social, economic, and political outcomes as part of societal transitions to more sustainable food systems. At the heart of these transitions are local food producers operating within shorter food supply chains, their experiences, and their knowledge of ecologically sustainable food production, biodiversity and climate, and their communities. Despite their important contributions to the resilience of food systems, society and ecology, local food producers' experiences (...) and knowledges are often undervalued, ignored, or inaccurately reflected. This systematic literature review identifies the values, motivations, and concerns as key elements of the experiences of local food producers within short food supply chains across literature globally, their contributions to social-ecological resilience, and discusses how these experiences and contributions can influence transitions to sustainable food systems. Eighty-five research articles were distilled from 5 databases and thematic analysis revealed four major themes: (1) concerns for exploitative operating contexts and hidden labor expectations within short food supple chains, (2) local food producers’ value and need for social networks, (3) their environmental values, connections, and concerns, and (4) how they can value and be motivated by alternative models but are concerned by their economic viability. This review also observed an important paradox within local food producers’ experiences showing that whilst farming is a demanding profession and lifestyle, they can feel a deep fulfilment when they live and work in harmony with their values and motivations. This systematic review is significant for how it values and synthesizes the experiences of local food producers and the diverse personal, social, ecological, and economic contributions that local food production has for social-ecological resilience of communities. By better communicating these experiences and contributions to decision-makers, policy makers and planners, this research can have major implications for enabling societal transitions that are fairer and more just in ways that empower, protect, and privilege local food producers’ voices. (shrink)

This article pays tribute to Vuyani Vellem’s work on the relevance of Black theology of liberation post-1994 in South Africa. Firstly, this article provides a synopsis of the political and economic ‘transition’ of South Africa before and after democracy. Secondly, the article seeks to provide a candid ‘reflection’ on the BLT trajectory, especially its critique of white racial theology. Thirdly, the article attempts ‘rethinking’ the location of the Bible and the black interlocutor in the post-liberation context. Fourthly, the article (...) attempts to ‘reimagining’ the relevance of BLT post-1994 with a focus on proposed contemporary theologies.Contribution: The manuscript is responding to a special issue honouring the legacy and scholarship of the late Prof Vuyani Vellem who contributed immensely to Black Theology of Liberation in the South African context. The manuscript attempt to dialogue with Vellem on key issue that he raised, especially racial issues and the role of the recognition of the black interlocutor. The VukaniBathoTsohangBatho special issue is dedicated to this great son of the soil who distinguished himself through research in the area of BTL challenging issues affecting the majority of black people, issues like racism, land, unemployment and economic inequalities in South Africa. This manuscript engages with some of these issues hence its relevance to the journal. The manuscript argues that as long as social and economic injustices exist, Black Liberation Theology will remain relevant post 1994 dispensation. (shrink)

There are two fundamentally different approaches to innovation: incremental and radical. In Economics as Anatomy, G.M. Peter Swann argues that economics as a discipline needs both perspectives in order to create the maximum beneficial effect for the economy. Chapters explore how and why mainstream economics is very good at incremental innovation but seems uncomfortable with radical innovation. Swann argues that economics should follow the example of many other disciplines, transitioning from one field to a range of (...) semi-autonomous sub-disciplines. In this book, he compares the missing link in empirical economics to being the economic equivalent of anatomy, the basis of medical discourse. Working as a sequel to Swann's Putting Econometrics in its Place, this book will be a vital resource to those who are discontent with the state of mainstream economics, especially those actively seeking to promote change in the discipline. Students wishing to see progress in the teaching of economics will also benefit from this timely book. (shrink)

Worldviews affect everything people do, see, create and think. As a result, much more attention will have to be focused on worldviews if human survival and well?being are to be assured in the future. Making the transition from an economic worldview to a cultural worldview could prove timely as humanity prepares to confront one of the most difficult and demanding challenges in its history. Making this transition is necessary in order to shift the focus of attention from (...) class='Hi'>economics, economies, commodities, competition, specialization and the marketplace to culture, cultures, people, cooperation, holism, caring and sharing. Placing more emphasis on a cultural interpretation of history, cultural values, creation of a global federation of ?world cultures,? collective sharing of the cultural heritage of humankind and cultivation of culture's capacity for links and synthesis is the key to this. (shrink)

This is an Open Access book. In 2015, Industry 4.0 was announced with the rise of industrialization by the European Parliament, supporting policy, research, and infrastructure funding. In 2020, Industry 5.0 was launched as an evolution of Industry 4.0, towards societal and ecological values in a sustainable, human-centric, and resilient transition. In 2023, the IN4ACT research project team completed 4 years of research on the impact on these initiatives. Presentations reviewing the progress of management practices and economics led (...) to conversations about what’s next. The unanticipated rise in late 2022 of Generative AI technologies (e.g. ChatGPT, DALL-E) sparked dialogues with an extended circle of researchers on impacts not considered in 2015 or in 2020. This collection of chapters reflects multiple perspectives on research findings to 2023, prospects for 2024, and considerations on ways the techno-economic industrial revolutions may be reshaped into desirable futures respecting social and ecological concerns. (shrink)

Saudi Arabia in Transition is a collection of works by scholars from various backgrounds who have carried out in-depth research on one of the most obscure countries in terms of its cultural identity and political system. Since the Arab Uprising which started in 2011, countries in the Middle East have had to look into the mirror and reformulate their claim to legitimacy. While Saudi Arabia did not have the same revolutionist fervour as did its neighbours to the east and (...) west, it cannot escape pockets of rising dissent in its own community. While this book was published in 2015, it may provide important insights into how Saudi Arabia is changing, and more importantly, provide a background to help understand the direction and pace of reform that is undertaken by Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman who has been the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia since 2017. (shrink)

I dedicate this essay to the memory of the late Wolfgang Mommsen—the subject would have been congenial to him. It is one of a series of offshoots from a central project: a scholarly edition of Max Weber's Protestant Ethic with commentary. When I first told Prof. Mommsen of my plan in 1994 he looked me full in the face and gave a characteristic growl: “All that work!” Here was a man who knew what he was about. My thanks to Ross (...) McKibbin and Keith Tribe for reading this paper in draft. The article begins by examining Max Weber's relations with Lujo Brentano, much the most important “precursor” to Weber in the field of economics. In particular, Brentano conducted a form of parallel inquiry into the rise of ‘the spirit of capital’ in England 35 years before Weber looked for the origins of “spirit” of capitalism there, and the contrast between these two ideas casts much light both on Brentano and on Weber's Protestant Ethic. This personal history leads into a broader history of the transition in German economic thought between the 1860s – the formative decade for Brentano but also the era of Marx's Capital – and that of Weber's generation coming to maturity c.1890. Marx and Weber remain the two great canonical thinkers and original minds; but any authentic historical comparison between Marx and Weber must take in Brentano. The essence of the contrast between the generations is that between Weber's novel conception of an ethical ‘capitalism’, and the materialism and naturalism underpinning Brentano's and Marx's ‘capital’, although Weber and Brentano are alike as liberals, democrats and bourgeois. ☆ Some abbreviations for Weber: AfSS for Archiv für Sozialwissenschaft und Sozialpolitik; GARS for Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Religionssoziologie (Tübingen, 1920) vol. i; WL for Gesammelte Aufsätze zur Wissenschaftslehre (Tübingen, 1968); Grundriss for Grundriss zu den Vorlesungen über Allgemeine (“theoretische”) Nationalökonomie [1898], repr. Tübingen, 1990; MWG for Max Weber Gesamtausgabe ed. Horst Baier et al. (Tübingen, 1984); Briefe for letters by Weber in this edition; ‘Nachlaß Max Weber’ for unpublished letters from the Geheimes Staatsarchiv, Berlin-Dahlem, VI. HA Nachlaß Max Weber. Lebensbild for Marianne Weber, Max Weber: Ein Lebensbild (Tübingen, 1926); Zohn for idem, Max Weber. A Biography (New Brunswick, 1988) tr. Harry Zohn. For Brentano: Der wirtschaftende Mensch for Der wirtschaftende Mensch in der Geschichte (Leipzig, 1923); Konkrete Grundbedingungen for Konkrete Grundbedingungen der Volkswirtschaft (Leipzig, 1924); Der tätige Mensch for Der tätige Mensch und die Wissenschaft von der Wirtschaft (Marburg, 2006) ed. R. Bräu, H.G. Nutzinger. ‘Die Entwickelung der Wertlehre’ for ‘Die Entwickelung der Wertlehre’, Sitzungsberichte der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften. Philosophisch-philologische und historische Klassen. Jahrgang 1908, 3. Abhandlung (15 Feb. 1908), 1–84; ‘Theorie der Bedürfnisse’ for ‘Versuch einer Theorie der Bedürfmisse’, ibid., 10. Abhandlung (5 Dec. 1908), 1–79; ‘Die Malthussche Lehre’ for ‘Die Malthussche Lehre und die Bevölkerungsbewegung der letzten Decennien’ [1909], Abhandlungen der historischen Klasse der Königlich Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften XXIV (1906–1909), 565–625, 1*–39*. (shrink)

Economic performance in the first decade of independent Slovenia was satisfactory, and social costs of secession from Yugoslavia and of transition were rather low. The explanation of success can be found in very favorable initial position of the country and in chosen patterns of transition. Many essentials for market economy were being created during endless reforms long before 1989, and transition goals were relatively well defined. Proper mix of graduality, pragmatism and risk aversion regarding devastation of previous (...) institutions together with adaptability of former political elite to new circumstances created conditions for a rather successful transition.La situation économique durant la première décennie d’indépendance de la Slovénie aura été satisfaisante et les coûts de la sécession avec la Yougoslavie et ceux de la transition auront été relativement faibles. L’explication du succès se trouve peutêtre dans la position initiale très favorable du pays et dans les schémas de transition retenus. Beaucoup des conditions essentielles à l’existence d’une économie de marché étaient en train d’être instaurées dans le cadre d’interminables réformes menées avant 1989, et les objectifs de la transition étaient assez bien définis. Un savant dosage de gradualisme, de pragmatisme et d’aversion au risque par rapport à la destruction des institutions existant antérieurement, couplé à l’adaptabilité de l’ancienne élite politique aux nouvelles circonstances ont donné lieu aux conditions requises pour une transition plutôt réussie. (shrink)

Arts, Ecologies, Transitions provides in depth insights into how aesthetic relations and current artistic practices are fundamentally ecological and intrinsically connected to the world. As art is created in a given historic temporality, it presents specific modalities of productive and sensory relations to the world. With contributions from more than 45 researchers, this book tracks evolutions in the arts that demonstrate an awareness of the environmental, economic, social, and political crises. It proposes interdisciplinary approaches to art that clarify the multiple (...) relationships between art and ecology through an exploration of key concepts such as collapsonauts, degrowth, place, recycling, and walking art. All the artistic fields are addressed from visual arts, theatre, dance, music and sound art, cinema, photography, including those that are rarely represented in research such as digital creation or graphic design, to showcase the diversity of artistic practices in transition. Through original research this book presents ideas in an accessible format. It book will be of interest to students and researchers in the fields of environmental studies, ecology, geography, cultural studies, architecture, performance studies, visual arts, cinema, music and literature studies. (shrink)

Demographic transition faced by modern economies, including China, are among the most important long-term socio-economic challenges. In 2022, China observed its population decline for the first time since the early 1960s. The low fertility rate was of critical importance. The unprecedented one-child policy is quite commonly indicated as the main reason for the low fertility rate. However, the departure from this restrictive policy and the actions introduced under the two-child policy implemented from 2016, and then the three-child policy from (...) mid-2021, have not brought an improvement in fertility rates. The aim of the paper is to answer the following research questions: Should the decline and persistent low fertility rate in China be attributed solely or mainly to the unprecedented one-child policy, which was in force for over three decades? Fertility transition in China is the effect of several factors and depends largely on the studied period. In the 1970s and 1980s, the government’s family policy was a key determinant of the decline in fertility. However, contrary to the prevailing belief about the determining influence of the one-child policy, the first stage of the implementation of the birth control policy, the Wan, Xi, Shao program, had a greater impact. Since the 1990s, the low fertility rate has been mainly explained by the extraordinary socio-economic changes and rapidly increasing prosperity of the Chinese people. Since the beginning of the 21st century, cultural changes resulting mainly from the integration of the Chinese economy with the global system have been crucial. Cultural changes have affected reproductive behaviour, marriage patterns, marriage postponement, birth postponement, fertility, and family size in Chinese society, which is observed below-replacement fertility. China’s demographic future depends on the fertility trajectory. However, due to the size of the population, but also the position of the Chinese economy in the global economic system, Chinese demographic transition may also bring significant consequences for the global economy. (shrink)

William Stanley Jevons occupies a pivotal position in the history of economic thought, spanning the transition from classical to neo-classical economics and playing a key role in the Marginal Revolution. The breadth of Jevons's work is examined here which: * includes a detailed consideration of a wide range of his work-policy, theoretical, methodological, applied and empirical * relies on textual exegis * takes account of a wide range of secondary sources A new approach to the 'Jevonian revolution' is (...) adopted, which emphasizes the link between poverty and economics and focuses on the nature and meaning of rationality in Jevonian economics. (shrink)

At the heart of China's remarkable economic growth is a new economic system, which has emerged out of radical reforms in virtually all areas of economic activity. Understanding this system is the key to understanding the Chinese economy. This book, the culmination of many years of research in Hong Kong and China, is a comprehensive account of these systemic reforms, as well as of their transferability to other economies in transition. The starting-point of Dr Chai's analysis is a careful (...) examination of the structural elements of China's new economic system, focusing particularly on the decentralization of property rights in both the agricultural and industrial sectors. There follows a detailed analysis of changes in the functional elements of the system: its price and financial mechanisms. An assessment of the open-door policy also considers the twin impact of the liberalization of China's foreign trade and foreign investment regimes. Finally, China: Transition to a Market Economy highlights the increasingly important role of the non-state sector in facilitating economic growth and structural transformation. It will be essential reading for any student or researcher concerned with the Chinese economy, or with transition economies in general. (shrink)

In this article, we examine the continuity of harms and traumas experienced by women before, during and after war and other mass violence. We focus on women because of the particular challenges they face in accessing justice due to patriarchal structures and ongoing discrimination in the political, economic and social, as well as legal spheres, and because of the gendered nature of the crimes and harms they experience. We use the four key pillars of transitional justice identified by the United (...) Nations as a framework to analyse how these harms are addressed in the context of criminal prosecutions, truth commissions, reparations and institutional reform. We conclude that a gender-transformative approach to transitional justice that focuses on transforming psychosocial, socioeconomic and political power relations in society is needed in order to attain human rights for women and build a sustainable peace. (shrink)

The present is a moment of crisis and transition, both generally and specifically in “knowledge” and its institutions. Acknowledging this elicits the key questions: where are we? Where are we headed? What, if anything, can be done about this? And what can the “economics of science” contribute to this? This paper assumes a “cultural political economy of research & innovation” perspective to explore the current upheaval and transition in the system of academic knowledge production, at the confluence (...) of accelerating commercialisation and the seemingly opposing movement of “open science.” This perspective affords a characterisation of the core of the current crises as a crisis of moral economy; an issue to which a political economy of epistemic authority is in turn crucial. A “remoralizing” of knowledge production is thus a matter of key systemic importance, though it is important to understand such developments in power-strategic, and not explicitly moral, terms. Much of the current moves towards “open science” and “massively open online courses” can also then be seen as self-defeating developments that simply exacerbate the crisis of a viable “economy of science” and in no sense its solution. Their lasting significance, however, is more likely to lie precisely in their effects on the construction of a new moral economy of knowledge production. (shrink)

The shift from the conventional agri-food system to alternative practices is a challenging transition for agricultural producers, yet surprisingly under-studied. Little research has examined the social and cultural processes in rural communities that mobilize producers and construct and sustain producer-driven alternative food networks (AFNs). For AFNs to go beyond just offering “alternative foods” or “alternative networks” and to be constructed as “alternative economies”, this transformation in the producer community is indispensable. This paper presents a case study of a rural (...) cooperative in Shanxi, China. The discontent with both productivist agriculture and the social decay in communities motivated a group of women to engage in a decade-long process of social mobilization, cultural reconstruction, and learning by experimentation. Through this, they developed an alternative vision and successfully created a localized alternative socio-economic model, which I call “anti-productivism”. It prioritizes ecological sustainability, self-reliance, reciprocity, and cultural values over output maximization, productivity growth, commodity exchange, and monetary gains. This case contrasts sharply with the urban-initiated, consumer-driven AFNs studied in the China literature, which mostly just offered alternative foods but brought little change to the producer community. It shows that the alternative economy must be embedded in an alternative community united by strong social bonds and shared cultural values. (shrink)

Collectivisation, as a socio-innovation, is an incremental part of history that has much to teach on questions of asset commoning. Such notions can provide renewed perspectives in understanding today’s peer-to-peer (p2p) economy and its influence on housing ownership models, which are constituting new forms of domesticity. This study understands domesticity as processes of collectivisation and de-collectivisation, and questions its conceptualisation as universal and invariant. It compares the transitioning moments by which a new governing body is instituted within recent-historical Chinese-Asian contexts, (...) including mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore. These moments were often postcolonial, full of changes, uncertainty, crisis, and anticipation; these contexts were unprecedented in scale, density, and cultural collision; in common, these were junctures of socio-innovation in land distribution that fashioned different forms of citizenry. By looking at these instances of innovation with situated thinking and against their historical–cultural backgrounds, the findings in this study reflect on the design of socio-technological systems, the potential consequences of our design interventions, and what “innovation” may mean given the complexity of transitional challenges. Putting together cosmopolitan and vernacular histories, the historiography presented is a collage of card game narratives, archived posters, news headlines, statistical figures, and literature. This journey through events of socio-innovation from the twentieth century till recent decades reveals how the history of governance has always been a question of cultivating collective actions, one way or another, and today’s p2p economy is simultaneously collectivising and fractionalising such socio-economic exchanges in digital citizenry. (shrink)

Charles Peirce had significant interests in economics. He reworked the mathematical economic models of Cournot and Jevons in the 1870s. He conceived of the transitive axiom of consumer preferences in 1874. Peirce also developed a thesis of the cognitive efficiency of the human mind, abduction. He criticized Newcomb's economic writings. These forays into economics affected the six essays on pragmatism. These interests in economics are integrated with the meaning of the pragmatic maxim in Peirce's 1903 Harvard Lectures.

Broad comparisons of international relations across time—of the prospects for peace and of the possibilities for a new ethics for a connected world—typically focus on two dimensions: economic globalization and integration on the one hand, and the character of major interstate relations on the other. One of the most striking features of the pre-1914 world was precisely the coincidence of intensified globalization with a dramatic deterioration in major power relations, the downfall of concert-style approaches to international order, and the descent (...) into total war and ideological confrontation—what T. S. Eliot termed “the panorama of futility and anarchy which is contemporary history.” Today's optimists stress the degree to which globalization appears much more firmly institutionalized than it was a hundred years ago, the rather striking success of global economic governance in responding to the financial crisis of 2007–2008, and the longer-term trend within international society to move away from major-power war. Pessimists are less sure. They worry that we have had to re-learn just how unstable global capitalism can be, both in terms of the wrenching societal changes produced by economic success and of the political strains produced by slowdown and recession. And they point to the abiding or resurgent power of nationalism in all of the core countries in the system, the return of balance-of-power thinking, and the renewed salience of major power politics. (shrink)

Presents an account and technical assessment of Marx's economic analysis in Capital, with particular reference to the transformation and the surplus-value doctrine, the reproduction schemes, the falling real-wage and profit rates, and the trade cycle. The focus is on criticisms that Marx himself might have been expected to face in his day and age. In addition, it offers a chronological study of the evolution of that analysis from the early 1840s through three 'drafts': documents of the late 1840s, the Grundrisse (...) of 1857–1858, and the Economic Manuscripts of 1861–1863. It also provides three studies in application, focusing on Marx's 'evolutionary' orientation in his evaluation of the transition to communism and his rejection of 'egalitarianism' under both capitalist and communist regimes; his evolving perspective on the role of the industrial 'entrepreneur'; and his evolving appreciation of the prospects for welfare reform within capitalism. (shrink)

The economic crisis is also a crisis for economic theory. Most analyses of the evolution of the crisis invoke three themes, contagion, networks and trust, yet none of these play a major role in standard macroeconomic models. What is needed is a theory in which these aspects are central. The direct interaction between individuals, firms and banks does not simply produce imperfections in the functioning of the economy but is the very basis of the functioning of a modern economy. This (...) book suggests a way of analysing the economy which takes this point of view. The economy should be considered as a complex adaptive system in which the agents constantly react to, influence and are influenced by, the other individuals in the economy. In such systems which are familiar from statistical physics and biology for example, the behaviour of the aggregate cannot be deduced from the behaviour of the average, or "representative" individual. Just as the organised activity of an ants’ nest cannot be understood from the behaviour of a "representative ant" so macroeconomic phenomena should not be assimilated to those associated with the "representative agent". This book provides examples where this can clearly be seen. The examples range from Schelling’s model of segregation, to contributions to public goods, the evolution of buyer seller relations in fish markets, to financial models based on the foraging behaviour of ants. The message of the book is that coordination rather than efficiency is the central problem in economics. How do the myriads of individual choices and decisions come to be coordinated? How does the economy or a market, "self organise" and how does this sometimes result in major upheavals, or to use the phrase from physics, "phase transitions"? The sort of system described in this book is not in equilibrium in the standard sense, it is constantly changing and moving from state to state and its very structure is always being modified. The economy is not a ship sailing on a well-defined trajectory which occasionally gets knocked off course. It is more like the slime described in the book "emergence", constantly reorganising itself so as to slide collectively in directions which are neither understood nor necessarily desired by its components. (shrink)

This article argues that the (epi)genetic, cultural, symbolic, and environmental transmission channels are insufficient to explain the structure of modern human societies. Economic exchange of knowledge embodied in goods and services constitutes an additional transmission channel that makes more efficient use of limited human cognitive capacity. Economic exchange results in a gradual shift in societies from task-based division of labor to cognitive specialization. This shifts scarce cognitive resources away from production and into learning. It accelerates learning and reinforces the drive (...) towards specialization. Cognitive specialization may constitute another “major transition” towards a higher level of aggregation in human societies, with properties that differ from symbolic transmission. Collective control of individual market-based exchange is ensured by means of economic institutions that put a constraint on individual behavior. (shrink)

The study presented is the result of a field survey conducted in Latvia in 1991. The brief of this research was to trace the role of the ‘private’ farm sector that has begun to emerge in the wake of the transition from a central-command to a market-oriented economy. Thus a look at the legislative acts embodying the agrarian reform is ccompanied by an analysis of the recent developments in local production systems. The study of ‘production systems’, or that part (...) of economic analysis that comes under the rubric of ‘farm systems’, was employed here for the first time to analyze a Soviet-type economic system in transition. The first and second sections, which focus on the historical evolution of Latvia's agriculture and the economics underpinning it, range in compass from the ‘first’ agrarian reform to collectivization and on to the present situation. This is followed by a look at the current, or ‘third’, land reform initiative (section 3), particular emphasis being accorded the emergence of new production structures and the problems posed by the transformation of the old ones (sections 4 and 5). The next section includes a discussion of the links between the farms of the socialized sector and of the nascent private one (section 6). The concluding remarks provide a recapitulation of the study's main findings. (shrink)

The present volume is dedicated to the Wei Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties (220â "589 AD), which is generally regarded as one of the most fascinating phases in Chinese history. The collection opens new theoretical and methodological pathways in sinological studies, bringing to the forefront a new idea of intercultural encounters based upon a culture of recognition. It highlights the significance of transition in the making of Chinese culture and history, revises prevailing historical approaches in the study and (...) research of China and develops and enhances existing theories or methodologies in this specific area of research. The wide diversity of contributions to the present volume reflects the multifaceted potential for creativity and renewal of this period. The focus is upon the interaction of ideas, researches and perspectives concerning a broad scope of relevant and significant issues in contemporary sinology. In order to understand this diversity, a wide range of cultural, theoretical and historical aspects are considered. The book reveals a new image of the period, thereby undermining the absolute authority and putative objectivity of common historical sources and interpretations. It shows that this was a period rich with political, economic, cultural and theoretical achievements that would prove decisive for the future development of Chinese culture and society. (shrink)

Eco-communities are a potential model for the socio-technological transition to a post-carbon society. The debate over their economic sustainability has, however, been limited. This article aims to enhance the discussion by offering a conceptualization of the economic micro-system created in eco-communities. It uses the economic terms households and firms to discuss two ways in which the community economy is positioned and then goes on to explore the principles behind the non-market (non-monetary) activities of households and the not-only-for-profit activities of (...) firms as the basis of the eco-community economy. It concludes by pointing out that both can operate in parallel, with eco-communities producing non-market capital that can be used to develop not-only-for-profit activities which support the economic sustainability of the projects. (shrink)

The negative impacts of agriculture on the environment and the inequity that limits access to healthy food for the entire population impede sustainable development. This article reflects contributions to food security and alternatives for transitioning to sustainable food systems. It is concluded that food, as a human right, is a complex and transdisciplinary issue, which must be integrated as a transversal axis in the economic, social, environmental, governance, and cultural dimensions to contribute to sustainable development and therefore the convenience of (...) making the transition from the concept of food security to that of food sustainability. (shrink)