Panayotis G. Michaelides, John G. Milios, Angelos Vouldis and Spyros Lapatsioras
Joseph Alois Schumpeter's ideas are in the discussion agenda of various economists working in different theoretical traditions. However, several aspects of his work remain…
Abstract
Purpose
Joseph Alois Schumpeter's ideas are in the discussion agenda of various economists working in different theoretical traditions. However, several aspects of his work remain unexplored. In particular, the origin of his ideas in the context of the then prevalent economic theories of the German‐speaking camp, have not been widely discussed. The purpose of this paper is claim that the elaborations of certain German‐speaking heterodox economists and/or schools of economic thought may be traced in Schumpeter's oeuvre.
Design/methodology/approach
The influence of the German Historical School and specifically of Gustav von Schmoller, Max Weber and Werner Sombart on typical Schumpeterian themes is examined. In a similar vein, it is argued that Schumpeter's analysis presents striking similarities with the works of the Austro‐Marxist Economist Rudolf‐Hilferding and the Austrian Social Democrat Emil Lederer.
Findings
In this context, certain Schumpeterian insights appear less original.
Originality/value
Conclusively, it may be inferred that a deeper understanding of Schumpeterian economic analysis presupposes an acquaintance with certain heterodox theoretical traditions of the German‐speaking world.
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Theofanis Papageorgiou, Panayotis G. Michaelides and John G. Milios
The purpose of this paper is to deal with questions of instability and economic crises, deriving theoretical arguments from Marx's and Schumpeter's works and presenting relevant…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to deal with questions of instability and economic crises, deriving theoretical arguments from Marx's and Schumpeter's works and presenting relevant empirical evidence for the case of the US food manufacturing sector.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper attempts to interpret the economic fluctuations in the US food sector and find causal relationships between the crucial variables dictated by Schumpeterian and Marxian theory, such as technological change, output and profitability. In this context, a number of relevant techniques have been used, such as de‐trending, cointegration analysis, white noise tests, periodograms, cross‐correlations and Granger causality tests.
Findings
Most economic variables in the food manufacturing sector exhibit a similar pattern characterized by periodicities exhibiting a short‐term cycle, a mid‐term cycle and a long‐term cycle. Also, the economic variables investigated follow patterns which are consistent with the total economy. Furthermore, a relatively rapid transmission of technology in the economy takes place along with bidirectional causality between technology and output/profitability, which can be interpreted as indicating an ambivalent relationship in the flow of cause and effect. These findings give credit to certain aspects of the Schumpeterian and Marxist theories of economic crises, respectively.
Originality/value
This paper contributes to the literature in the following ways: first, it introduces a relevant methodological framework building on Schumpeterian and Marxist insights. Second, it uses several variables to study the economic fluctuations instead of delimiting its analysis, for instance, to industrial output. Third, the results are discussed in a broader political economy context, related to the US economy, as a whole.
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Abstract
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This chapter examines the relationship between finance capital and the transformation of the state in Rudolf Hilferding’s thought. Hilferding defines finance capital as the fusion…
Abstract
This chapter examines the relationship between finance capital and the transformation of the state in Rudolf Hilferding’s thought. Hilferding defines finance capital as the fusion of banking and industry, a situation that presupposes a high degree of development of capitalist relations. Finance capital prompts a transformation of the state economic functions. This chapter considers the transformation of the state and its consequent ability to deal with crises of finance capital era. It also highlights Hilferding’s pioneering contribution in sketching the bases for the great contemporary theories of State intervention in crises regulation.
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This piece takes issue with the deployment of Trotsky’s idea of uneven and combined development (UCD) in the Anglophone discipline of International Relations (IR). It argues that…
Abstract
This piece takes issue with the deployment of Trotsky’s idea of uneven and combined development (UCD) in the Anglophone discipline of International Relations (IR). It argues that this strand of thought makes a theory out of what is really a theorem (a deduction from an axiom), whilst forgetting about the original, actual theory of which it was part, Leon Trotsky’s theory of permanent revolution. IR U&CD, marketed in the discipline as International Historical Sociology (IHS), posits ‘the international’ as the field to which ‘the theory’ must be applied in order to open it up to social theorisation. This is analogous to the late-19th-century subjective turn in social science in which reality is presented as unfathomable, and rationality is merely subjective, an attribute of individual ‘actors’. ‘The international’ in this sense may be compared to ‘the market’ in neoclassical economics. Although it presents itself as Marxist, the U&CD/IHS project was part of a regressive conjuncture in Anglo-American, mainstream IR, as transpires from its attempt to position itself close to the ‘English School’ in IR. I conclude with a variation on Trotsky’s original theory, applying it to the ‘permanent counterrevolution’, of which the current war on terror is the latest stage.
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We explore the simultaneous influence of activist organizations and corporations on institutional change. Focusing on protests, campaign contributions, and lobbyists as the…
Abstract
We explore the simultaneous influence of activist organizations and corporations on institutional change. Focusing on protests, campaign contributions, and lobbyists as the strategies used by activist organizations and corporations to influence institutional change, we study the dynamics between movements and counter-movements and their influence on the probability of institutional change. In the context of the US tobacco industry, the results shed light on the effectiveness of these strategies and uncover potential moderators of this relationship. Overall, we demonstrate the simultaneous and asymmetric effects of activist organizations and corporations that use conspicuous and inconspicuous strategies to change institutions.
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Ioannis Katselidis, Angelos Vouldis and Panayotis G. Michaelides
This paper aims to analyze Emil Lederer's and Sumner Slichter's theses on the concept of technological unemployment.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze Emil Lederer's and Sumner Slichter's theses on the concept of technological unemployment.
Design/methodology/approach
Given the presence of core elements of both economists' visions in the famous Debate on Technological Unemployment (1928‐1933), it is surprising that so little attention has been paid to their works. This paper makes an attempt to interpret certain parts of Emil Lederer's oeuvre in association with the writings of Sumner Slichter based on a careful examination of their writings and their theoretical investigations.
Findings
The writings of both economists seem to converge to similar views. Analytically, they both attempted to explain the inability of the economic system to readjust and absorb the unemployed workers. Moreover, both economists disputed the assertion of Say's law that full equilibrium would be assured by the functioning of market forces. In contrast to other economists, they both attached increased significance to the supply side of the economy and in particular to the role of technical change. Furthermore, it seems that both authors were in favor of restrained technological change, which would be absorbed smoothly from the economic system. Another interesting aspect of both economists' investigations is their respective theoretical shift around 1930, which could be attributed to the disastrous consequences of the Great Depression. The paper concludes that, despite some differences between Lederer and Slichter, the parallels are impressive.
Originality/value
Most aspects of Slichter and Lederer's works remain unexplored. Thus, the connection between them may be very useful for promoting dialogue between different schools or strands of thought.
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The purpose of this paper is to incorporate historical theories of political economy as means better to clarify and classify contemporary state police and private policing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to incorporate historical theories of political economy as means better to clarify and classify contemporary state police and private policing practices.
Design/methodology/approach
A diverse historical investigation of largely, non‐traditional public police history was conducted by utilizing a selective variety of social, political, and economic sources.
Findings
The paper finds that several theoretical features of eighteenth and nineteenth century Marxian, classical, and neoclassical political economy have contributed in defining the origins of contemporary American public police and private policing practices. Born from these perspectives, public goods theories frameworks, in conjunction with Wilson's police officer job function typologies in Varieties of Police Behavior, more clearly illustrate the current political and economically defined state supported police relative to private market arrangements.
Research limitations/implications
This research describes the positioning of this mixed economy in theoretical fashion, but does not provide contemporary private sector market growths or publicly supplied police trends that are a suitable next step for further research.
Practical implications
The public “monopoly” of state supported police is largely rejected. More interdisciplinary research approaches should be pursued in the twenty‐first century that better reflect the American political and economic realities of public and private forms of policing.
Originality/value
This paper is highly original when considering the paucity of theory utilized in describing simultaneous state and private policing scenarios.