This is the archive of Economics: The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal covering all papers, articles and comments published from the e-journals start till August 2020. From September 2020 on, the journal is owned by the publisher De Gruyter. For further information please see here.
Economics was launched in March 2007 by the Kiel Institute for World Economy (IfW-Kiel) in cooperation with the ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics with former IfW-Kiel president Dennis Snower as founding editor. The vision was to follow the examples of e-journals in natural sciences and to provide an online-only journal dedicated to publishing high quality original research across all areas of economics regarding academic publishing as a cooperative enterprise between authors, editors, referees, and readers.
Articles in Economics are Economics Discussion Papers – mostly revised versions – that have been accepted for publication as journal articles as result of the open peer review process. In the ongoing open assessment of published articles registered readers are asked to take part in the evaluation process by uploading comments.
ISSN: 1864-6042
Impact factor: 1.098 (2019) (Journal Citation Reports®, Clarivate Analytics, 2020)
The Economics Discussion Paper series contains all papers that have either been accepted or rejected from publication as journal articles.
ISSN 1867-8009
Listed in RePEc: IDEAS / EconPapers
Surveys and Overviews aim to integrate the analysis and lessons from various fields of economics with the aim of providing new insights, that are not accessible from any particular sub-discipline of economics. The contributions may include survey and review articles, provided that the broad perspective is maintained. They are addressed to a general audience interested in economic issues.
Economics Policy Papers are concerned with the economic analysis of current policy issues. The analysis is rigorous, from a theoretical and empirical perspective, but the articles are written in nontechnical language appropriate for a broad spectrum of economic decision makers and participants in economic policy discussion.
Global Solutions Papers contain recommendations or visions for policy makers that deal with major global challenges. Recommendations are concrete proposals for policies or actions that policy makers can implement. Visions help policy makers think about appropriate ways of thinking about and approaching policy making and enable policy makers to communicate these approaches to the public. The articles are research-based and are written in nontechnical language appropriate for a broad spectrum of readers, including economic decision makers and participants in economic policy discussion.
Global Solutions Papers are reviewed only by an e-journal´s co-editor and/or by one outside reviewer at the editor's discretion. Apart from this, they undergo the regular open peer review process as all papers in the e-journal.
Replications are an important public good to the economics community, and as such, they tend to be under-valued. By opening a replications section in our open access, open assessment journal, we hope to make it easier for authors to provide this important public good.
Editor: Phoebe Koundiri, Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece
The realization that actions taken today can have long-term consequences, presents a new challenge to decision makers in assessing the desirability of policies and projects, a challenge summarized as the goal of ‘sustainable development’. The use of the classical net present value (NPV) rule to assess the economic efficiency of policies with costs and benefits that accrue in the long term is problematic. The welfare of future generations barely influences the outcome of such a rule when constant socially efficient discount rates are used for all time. The deleterious effects of exponential discounting ensure that projects that benefit generations in the far distant future at the cost of those in the present are less likely to be seen as efficient, even if the benefits are substantial in future value terms. From the perspective of social choice, the present yields a dictatorship over the future. This is illustrated in the conclusion of the Copenhagen Consensus in which different public investment projects have been examined by a panel of prestigious economists. Using standard cost-benefit analysis, they ranked projects with distant benefits (e.g. global warming) at the lowest level of priority compared to programs yielding almost immediate benefits (e.g. fighting malaria and AIDS, and providing sanitation in developing countries).
Many countries (for example, France and the UK) have recently decided to reduce their discount rate, and to use smaller rates to discount costs and benefits occurring in the distant future. This tends to favor the distant future compared to projects with benefits occurring in the shorter term. Moreover, recent economic literature proposes the use of a discount rate which declines with time, according to some predetermined trajectory. In comparison with the use of a constant discount rate, using a declining discount rate raises the weight attached to the welfare of future generations. This special issue answers the following questions. What trajectory of interest rates is consistent with the goal of sustainable development and what are the policy implications of applying this optimal trajectory on climate change policy.
Phoebe Koundiri Editor´s IntroductionEditor: Masanao Aoki, University of California, and Hiroshi Yoshikawa, University of Tokyo
Having sound “micro foundations for macroeconomics” has been long taken as building sophisticated optimization of an individual economic agent into a macro model. Thus, the “micro-founded” macroeconomics today begins with optimization of the representative consumer. In stark contrast to this main-stream approach in economics, it is widely recognized in natural sciences such as physics, chemistry, biology, and ecology, that a different approach is necessary when we analyze macro system consisting of a large number of micro units. The guiding principle there is that precise behavior of micro unit is irrelevant; we must resort to statistical approach to macro system as a whole. Why not in macroeconomics? The co-editors of the special issue advocated this idea in their book entitled Reconstructing Macroeconomics, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
We solicit papers that are intrinsically probabilistic, that is, based broadly on the principle of statistical physics. Key words such as power-law (Pareto-Zipf-Gibrat law), and econophysics may give you some idea.
We are particularly interested in knowing implications of the new stochastic approach, for macroeconomics, and how such approach is fruitfully integrated to macroeconomics. These are, however, just suggestions. Any other papers that incorporate significant probabilistic components are welcome.
Masanao Aoki and Hiroshi Yoshikawa Editor´s IntroductionEditor: Sheri Markose, University of Essex
Retaining the objectives of the 2011 Global Economic Symposium Panel on Coping with Systemic Risk, the Special Issue invites contributions that are prepared to 'think outside the box' in terms of providing solutions to monitoring and managing systemic risk. On taking a distinct view that systemic risk from excessive leverage is a negative externality analogous to environmental pollution, long term regulatory and institutional solutions are those that mitigate the misalignment between incentives at the individual level and system-wide stability. Financial or macro-economic instability come from excessive supply of private and/or public debt with both of them having a monetary counterpart. Without natural constraints on IOUs, except the willingness of counterparties to hold them, history is replete with attempts to place external constraints on money supply and debt. We are relearning that systemic risk in monetary and financial systems is inherent to a fractional monetary system, in which innovation-driven private credit creation is one for which tax payer is liable and central banks remain responsible.
Editor: Katharine Rockett, University of Essex
When a society becomes knowledge-based, it faces challenges on a variety of levels. How and why knowledge is produced and shared, where it is produced, how knowledge spillovers affect new knowledge creation and parameters of use, changes in strategic decision making in knowledge-based environments and how public policy can and should adapt all are crucial issues.
The special issue aims to provide empirical and theoretical analyses of issues relating to transition, geography, and competition policy in the knowledge-based economy. Surveys of the literature are welcomed along with original pieces of research. Topics can include but are not limited to management concerns, strategic decisions-making, innovation leadership, public policy issues including integration and corporate social responsibility, and macroeconomic trends. Work that incorporates interdisciplinary concerns along with economic modelling is welcome.
Editor: Martin Paldam, Aarhus University, Denmark
Meta-analysis is a quantitative survey of a literature that reports estimates of the same parameter. In economics it is highly needed as the typical literature publishes a wide range of results, which often differ significantly. Also, economists often work in fields that are highly politicized and where sponsors have strong interest. The meta-technique has developed tools to handle this situation, by estimating the best meta-average and by revealing biases. However, most of the tools are less than one decade old and they are still undergoing testing. The special issue Meta-Analysis in Theory and Practice aims at publishing both methodology and actual meta-studies.
Editor: Satya R. Chakravarty, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata
The theory of distributional analysis has recently witnessed the growth of several new branches and new results in traditional measurement problems. Some of these new branches are measurement of multidimensional inequality and poverty, measurement of polarization, measurement of vulnerability and health inequality measurement. New developments include inverse stochastic dominance, unit constancy, measuring chronic poverty, measuring inequality and poverty when needs differ and path independence. In order to make the frontiers of research in these areas more advanced, this special issue of the journal invites contributions on related topics.
Editor: Katarina Juselius, University of Copenhagen
Econometrics is often used passively to provide the economist with some parameter estimates in a model which from the outset is assumed to be empirically relevant. In this sense, econometrics is used to illustrate what we believe is true rather than to finnd out whether our chosen model needs to be modified or changed altogether. The econometric analyses of this special issue should take its departure from the latter more critical approach. We would like to encourage submissions of papers addressing questions like whether a specific economic model is empirically relevant in general or, more specifically, in a more specific context, such as in open, closed, deregulated, underdeveloped, mature economies, etc. For example, are models which were useful in the seventies still relevant in the more globalized world of today? If not, can we use the econometric analysis to find out why this is the case and to suggest modifications of the theory model? We encourage papers that make a significant contribution to the discussion of macroeconomics and reality, for example, by assessing the empirical relevance of influential papers, or the robustness of policy conclusions to econometric misspecification and the ceteris paribus clause, or by comparing different expectations's schemes, such as the relevance of forward versus backward expectations and of model consistent rational expectations versus imperfect/incomplete knowledge expectations, etc.
Editor: T.Huw Edwards, Loughborough University, and Jan Van Hove, KU Leuven
The study of the economics of border and distance effects has developed steadily since Tinbergen (1962) introduced the notion of gravity into trade in an empirical way. Subsequent theoretical underpinnings by Anderson (1979), Bergstrand (1989) and Anderson and Van Wincoop (2003) have transformed this from a purely empirical approach into one which integrates econometrics and theory, while estimated or calibrated border and distance costs remain central to the study of global and regional integration, non-tariff barriers and the roles of legal, cultural, historical and sociopolitical ties in determining both trade and the transmission of economic growth internationally.
At the same time, more recent (following Melitz, 2003) empirical and theoretical work on fixed versus variable trade costs and the margins of trade have been extending our understanding of these effects, while, at the same time, parallels are emerging with the growing field of spatial econometrics.
This special issue brings together contributions related to distance and border
effects in economics. Researchers are invited to submit theoretical, empirical
or methodological papers. In particular, we welcome papers related to the
following topics:
• The volume and values of bilateral trade
• Margins of trade
• Market competitiveness and firm competition
• The gains and costs of regional integration
• Trade, Innovation and technological spillovers
• Macroeconomic integration and convergence
Editor: Paul Ormerod, University College London and Volterra Partners, London, UK, and David Tuckett, University College London, UK
Should we build a high-speed rail link? When should we expect a motorway system to reach saturation? What will be the local effects of a global trade agreement? When should we restrict credit to prevent a bubble? How can we spot emerging risk and take action to prevent it? When should we abandon particular flood defences? When should the EU permit marketing of particular GM crops, if at all? How should countries respond to epidemics in other countries? Decisions of this sort involve complex judgments. They are a few typical examples from the inbox of challenges requiring decisions from government, business and society in a globalised world that is more rapidly interconnected and inter-dependent than ever before. The expected outcomes of such decisions are both highly consequential for the development of any economy and deeply uncertain. For about 60 years decision science (particularly in economics and judgement and decision making research in psychology) has fostered the development of top-down dual process models (including risk models) in which decision-makers can be modelled as calculating machines, optimising subjective expected utility under constraints. Can we think of other ways of proceeding and still produce rigorous models capable of empirically validated prediction? Contributions addressing how decision-making under radical uncertainty can be studied with a view to incorporating it better into economic thinking are invited from workers in any discipline. Ideally, contributions should not exceed 8,000 words (or word equivalent) in length, though longer ones will not be rejected on these grounds.
Editor: Joachim Wagner, Leuphana University Lueneburg and CESIS, KTH, Stockholm
The study of causes and consequences of various forms of international firm activities is a very active sub-field of international economics. Micro-economic models of internationally active heterogeneous firms guide micro-econometric studies that use data at the firm level to investigate empirically the testable implications of these models. Stylized facts uncovered by looking at the micro data help theorists to build formal models based on assumptions that are not at odds with the real world.
To further stimulate the discussions in this field, Economics–The Open-Access,
Open Assessment E-Journal is planning to publish a special issue with papers
that use firm-level data for empirical analyses of recent topics that include,
but are by no means limited to,
• the links between R+D and international firm activities
• the extensive margins of trade, its causes and consequences for firm performance
• international activities of multi-product firms
• exports, imports and profitability
• quality of exported and imported goods and firm performance
• application of new micro-econometric methods to the analysis of international firm activities
Editor: Mauro Gallegati, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy; Alberto Russo, Università Politecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy
The recent crisis has brought out the weakness of mainstream (NK-DSGE) models that were not able to anticipate it nor to understand its underlying causes. Admittedly, this is not a fair assessment in that even the possibility of an extended crisis has been expelled from dominant models, perhaps based on the idea that the “central problem of depression-prevention has been solved” as maintained by Lucas in 2003. And it is impossible to study the characteristics of a large crisis if this event is not considered in the model by construction. The big mistake then was to think that the “state of macro” was good, as assessed by Blanchard in 2008. However, once the damages of the crisis became undeniable many modifications have been introduced in the dominant paradigm, especially financial frictions of various species, though these may resemble the epicycles of a Ptolemaic system. Now, does economics need a Copernican-like revolution? The answer that the majority of economists would provide is negative, being the consensus that present models can be conveniently improved to include, for instance, heterogeneous agents and income/wealth distribution dynamics. We will see if this incremental effort can be the right answer to the difficulties of economists in anticipating and managing large crises. A radical alternative is based on agent-based modelling (ABM), a methodology addressed to study the economy as a complex adaptive system in which collective behaviour emerges from the interaction among heterogeneous boundedly rational agents. As also partly recognized by the mainstream, agents’ heterogeneity is an essential feature of the economic system in which individual variables (for instance, personal income or firms’ revenues) are often distributed as power laws. The other fundamental ingredient is interaction, not only that mediated by the price system (that is indirect interaction), but the direct connection in a network of agents’ interlinkages, as in the case of financial contagion and bankruptcy chains. The last years have seen a flourishing of ABMs which demonstrate that this approach is growing and it is considered as a valid alternative by many and many researchers around the world (including some central banks, as for instance the BoE). ABMs of various types have already demonstrated that this approach is able to reproduce complex dynamics, as technological evolution or business cycles, based on (relatively) simple individual behavioural rules (a first attempt was the Schelling’s segregation model). The integration between ABM and the Stock-Flow Consistent (SFC) modelling has further improved macroeconomic models, highlighting the role of underlying economic theories, with a particular emphasis on the Post-Keynesian approach. The recent attempts to study policy issues and environmental sustainability enrich this approach and contribute to build an effective alternative to mainstream models. This special issue is aimed at collecting recent contributions in the ABM field, focussed on various topics, thus making an additional step towards a concrete approach to study the economy as a complex system and the role of policy in managing its evolution.
Editor: Dennis Snower, Kiel Institute for the World Economy
Global Governance has become an exciting issue in the current public debate. It is obvious that in many areas, the existing international economic systems need to be reformed in response to the new challenges posed by current political, social and environmental changes in the World Economy. As a response to these developments, we plan to provide a Special Issue "Global Governance: Challenges and Proposals for Reform" in the Policy Papers section of Economics. We especially encourage the submission of papers that go beyond the mere analysis of recent developments and the identification of shortcomings of the present system, and provide concrete proposals for a reform. The proposals could address a reform of existing institutional arrangements, or the creation of new arrangements. Papers are supposed to be policy-oriented.
Editor: Wilfried Rickels, Kiel Institute for the World Economy, Germany; Jan Börner, University of Bonn, Germany; Adolf Kloke-Lesch, Sustainable Development Solution Network Germany; and Guido Schmidt-Traub, Sustainable Development Solution Network
Humankind is on an unsustainable path. The present patterns of global development threaten societal cohesion, undermine prosperity, and consume natural resources and services faster than they regenerate and thus exert unsustainable pressure on climate, ecosystems, and biodiversity. The universal 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by world leaders at the United Nations in September 2015, may present a turning point towards the design of more sustainable national and international policies in which all countries both rich or poor, can take part. The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a complex system comprising 169 targets and currently about 230 indicators. The Agenda emphasizes that the interlinkages and integrated nature of the SDGs are of crucial importance in ensuring that the purpose of the new Agenda is realized. As countries are gearing up to design and implement policies towards attaining the SDGs, these interlinkages are becoming highly relevant. Moreover, possible trade-offs have to be dealt with and synergies will be challenging to achieve. Sufficient and coordinated action requires national and international policy frameworks with adequate assessment, monitoring, and evaluation procedures. Comprehensive research to transparently reveal interlinkages, potential trade-offs and synergies between the various goals and targets is crucial to guide policy and facilitate civil society as well as business engagement. Accordingly, analytical models and practical tools are needed to i) identify interlinkages, ii) assess trade-offs, iii) identify priority action, and iv) promote synergies by adopting multi-purpose solutions.
We invite disciplinary (in particular from the field of economics and political
science) and interdisciplinary research articles and commentaries to address
these needs by focusing on:
• conceptual and theoretical analyses of SDG interlinkages, potential trade-offs and synergies,
• qualitative and quantitative assessment of potential trade-offs among SDGs and related policies,
• applications of data dimensionality reduction methods and/or structure revealing methods to measure SDG goals,
• evaluations and case-studies of sub-national, national, regional, and international action towards achieving SDG, and
• assessment of the compatibility and synergies with existing domestic and international policies, agreements, and initiatives (e.g. WTO, EU-regulations, G20) with the SGDs.
Furthermore, we would like in particular invite contributions with focus on SDG 17 (Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development) which address the role of finance, technology, capacity building, trade or achieving sustainable development. In other words, this invitation represents a call for transformative international cooperation. In this regard, we also invite contributors to move beyond traditional North-South- and South-South-cooperation patterns and include transformative ways of North-North-cooperation.
Editor: Inmaculada Martínez-Zarzoso, University of Göttingen, Germany
One of the political priorities of the European Union is to become more competitive vis-à-vis other economic areas. The ability to reduce behind-the-border barriers for goods and services, as well as the ability to develop new infrastructures, or even the ability to reap the benefits of the enlarged internal market, have a direct influence on the development of European competitiveness. The special issue aims to provide empirical and theoretical analyses of issues relating to comparative advantage, trade costs, logistics, production networks and bilateral trade flows. Surveys of the literature are welcomed along with original pieces of research. Topics can include but are not limited to measurement of trade facilitation, economic integration effects, and trade policy issues including rules of origin and product standards. Submissions that focus on country studies or deal with experiences outside Europe are also welcome.
Editor: Thomas Lux, University of Kiel, and Marco Raberto, Reykjavik University
We invite authors to submit papers for the Special Issue on
“Managing Financial Instability in Capitalistic Economies”. This
special issue follows the MAFIN09 workshop on the same topic
held in Reykjavik, September 3rd-5th 2009, but is open also to
contributions not presented in it.
Special Issue Purpose
The special issue aims to present new modeling paradigms in financial economics
able to understand the causes and the dynamics of financial and economic crises
and to devise proper economic policies for recovering a capitalist economy from
a deep recession due to a credit crunch or a collapse in assets values.
Background
The current financial and banking crisis and the subsequent severe economic recession have dramatically demonstrated the importance of financial and credit markets in modern economies. According to mainstream approaches to economics, the structure of financial liabilities only has limited influence on aggregate economic activity. Capitalist economies are viewed as essentially stable and tending towards steady growth; and the investment-finance linkage is considered at the most as an amplifying mechanism of shocks exogenous to the economy. A different, unduly neglected strand of research emphasizes the role of the investment-finance link not just as a propagator of exogenous shocks but as the main source of financial instability and business cycles. In this tradition, endogenous boom-and-bust cycles might be due to excessive risk taking and overinvestment during good times. While this approach has long been dormant because of its abandonment of complete rationality of agents, the crisis has brought to the fore the importance of such explanations for ongoing events. On the theoretical side, recent developments in statistical equilibrium approaches to economics, alongside with the emergence of behavioral and agent-based models, have indicated the way to overcome the limitation of traditional equilibrium-based analytical models characterized by fully rational representative agents.
Editor: Bianca Biagi, Economics Department (DEIR) & CRENoS, University of Sassari, Italy and Manuela Pulina, TOMTE, University of Bolzano, CRENoS, Italy
The goal of this special session is to have an in-depth exploration of the complexities surrounding tourism and the externalites produced by this economic activity within the local community. As a result of their specific characteristics, the dynamics and evolution of externalities in tourism destinations are different from the developed and industrialized countries, as well as their life cycle. The impact of externalities, either positive or negative, change according to the destination (cities, metropolitan areas, towns or villages). In particular, Island economies face special challenges in achieving sustainable tourism. There still remains a lack of research on tourism externalities issues in the literature. This special issue aims to explore tourism externalities in developing and developed economies, islands, cities, metropolitan areas, towns and villages. The paper must clearly highlight the link between tourism and the positive (or negative) externality that this activity generates at a local, regional or national level. Both theoretical and empirical papers are welcome. The abstract should clearly indicate: Aim; Design/methodology/approach; Findings; Practical implications; Originality/value.
Editor: Juliette Milgram Baleix, University of Granada, Spain; AEEFI; Carmen Díaz Roldán, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain; AEEFI and Instituto de Economía Internacional
This special issue offers a broad overview of recent developments in international economics and finance, arising out of the contributions to the XX Conference on International Economics organized by the Spanish Association of International Economics and Finance (AEEFI) and the University of Granada (Spain). The articles aim to cover recent research in areas such as international trade and factor movements, open macroeconomics, financial flows, and migration and the labour market, or any area in the field of international economics. The final objective is twofold: to introduce the most recent developments in international economics and to offer results that could be useful for international policy recommendations.
Editor: Máximo Camacho, University of Murcia, Spain; Carmen Díaz-Mora, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Spain
Call for papers:
This Special Issue is designed to bring together some of the recent cutting edge research in the area of Applied Economics. The editors would like to invite papers from a wide range of areas, such as Applied Econometrics, Applied Macroeconomics, Applied Microeconomics, Economic Development & Growth, Economic History, Finance, Health, Education & Welfare, Industrial Economics-Empirics, International Economics, Labour Economics & Demography, Public Economics, Housing and Real Estate, Regional & Urban Economics/Economic Geography and Tourism Economics.
Conference:
To further stimulate the discussion on these topics, the Free Economics Association (ALdE – Asociación Libre de Economía) organizes the annual APPLIED ECONOMICS MEETINGS (AEM). The XIX Applied Economic Meeting will be held in Seville (Spain) on June 9–10, 2016 (http://encuentros.alde.es/en). Manuscripts for the XIX AEM should be submitted electronically before March 1st, 2016 at:
https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/conference/conference.cgi?action=login&db_name=XIXEEA
Submissions for the Special Issue:
The Guest Editors invite:
a) Authors participating in the XIX AEAM to submit their papers to this Special Issue. It is strongly recommended that Conference papers identify in the submission process.
b) Other authors whose papers are not submitted to the AEM.
The submission procedure is available at
http://www.economics-ejournal.org/submission/submit-article.
All manuscripts for this Special Issue should be submitted electronically at
https://editorialexpress.com/cgi-bin/e-editor/e-submit_v7.cgi?dbase=economics.
Editor: Taisei Kaizoji and Mauro Politi, International Christian University, Tokyo, Thomas Lux, University of Kiel
We invite authors to submit papers for the Special Issue on “Quantitative Finance and Economics”. This special issue follows the "First Unconventional Workshop on Quantitative Finance and Economics" held at the International Christian University in Tokyo the 21st–23th of February 2011 (http://firstworkshop.mezoka.com/), but is open also to contributions not presented in it.
The special issue aims to present ideas around open problems and recent
frontiers in quantitative finance and economics. Topics may include traditional
as well as innovative quantitative finance and economics fields. Researchers
and scholars from an interdisciplinary background are specially welcome.
Preciselly, topics may include:
• Statistical and probabilistic methods in economics and finance
• Multiscaling analysis and modeling
• Market microstructure modeling
• Financial and economical networks
• Agent-based models in economics and finance
• Markets as complex adaptive systems
• Crisis forecasting
Editor: Marina Bianchi (University of Cassino and Southern Lazio), Peter Earl (University of Queensland), Sergio Nisticò (University of Cassino and Southern Lazio), Maurizio Pugno (University of Cassino and Southern Lazio)
Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, microeconomic theory underwent a parallel and, in some sense, contradictory, development. On the one hand, a great variety of models flourished, based on the axiomatic foundations of (intertemporal) general equilibrium theory; on the other hand, research on decision theory started to reveal that the same foundations of traditional microeconomics, namely the notions of equilibrium and rationality, were extremely shaky. Starting with the findings implicit in Allais’s paradox, a vast array of experimental studies later revealed that much decision-making was only quasi-rational and guided by simple heuristics (Kahneman and Tversky, Thaler, and many others). This literature mainly emphasized the anomalies of rational choice, implying that the traditional economic model was not general. The enormous interest and impact that this new approach has had on economic thinking clearly helped also to break the boundaries between economics and psychology that the axiomatic approach had erected. An additional and fruitful attempt of cross-fertilization between the two disciplines is Tibor Scitovsky’s The Joyless Economy, first published in 1976. To mark the tenth anniversary of Tibor Scitovsky’s death, in June 2012 the Creativity and Motivations Economic Research Center of the University of Cassino hosted an International Conference entitled “How to Bring Joy into Economics”. Thanks mostly to his acquaintance with a new body of experimental research in psychology, Scitovsky extended the challenge to established microeconomic theory by pointing out the gap between the traditional approach to choice and individuals’ demand for novelty as a source of satisfaction. The aim of this special issue is to gather new contributions on whether, how and to what extent economists should expand their understanding of economic rationality by integrating elements of thinking familiar to psychologists, in particular, when curiosity and uncertainty towards innovative consumption activities, rather than the ‘passive’ satisfaction of given needs, is the main objective of choice theory.
Editor: W. Robert Reed, University of Canterbury, New Zealand
The last several years have seen increased interest in replications in economics. This was highlighted by the most recent meetings of the American Economic Association, which included three sessions on replications (see here, here, and here). Interestingly, there is still no generally acceptable procedure for how to do a replication. This is related to the fact that there is no standard for determining whether a replication study “confirms” or “disconfirms” an original study. This special issue is designed to highlight alternative approaches to doing replications, while also identifying core principles to follow when carrying out a replication. Contributors to the special issue will each select an influential economics article that has not previously been replicated, with each contributor selecting a unique article. Each paper will discuss how they would go about "replicating" their chosen article, and what criteria they would use to determine if the replication study "confirmed" or "disconfirmed" the original study. Note that papers submitted to this special issue will not actually do a replication. They will select a study that they think would be a good candidate for replication; and then they would discuss, in some detail, how they would carry out the replication. In other words, they would lay out a replication plan. Submitted papers will consist of four parts: (i) a general discussion of principles about how one should do a replication, (ii) an explanation of why the “candidate” paper was selected for replication, (iii) a replication plan that applies these principles to the “candidate” article, and (iv) a discussion of how to interpret the results of the replication (e.g., how does one know when the replication study “replicates” the original study). The contributions to the special issue are intended to be short papers, approximately Economics Letters-length (though there would not be a length limit placed on the papers). The goal is to get a fairly large number of short papers providing different approaches on how to replicate. These would be published by the journal at the same time, so as to maintain independence across papers and approaches. Once the final set of articles are published, a summary document will be produced, the intent of which is to provide something of a set of guidelines for future replication studies. Before beginning on a paper, authors should first check with the editor (W. Robert Reed, bob.reed@canterbury.ac.nz) to make sure that the paper they plan to replicate is suitable and not selected by another author.
Editor: Dennis Snower, Sebastian Braun, and Wolfgang Lechthaler, Kiel Institute for the World Economy
There is broad agreement both among economists and policy makers that the globalisation process will harm some groups in society while benefiting others. A particular source of anxiety is the deteriorated labour market performance of the losers of globalisation, be it in form of higher unemployment, lower wages or both. Consequently, globalisation creates major challenges to welfare states, with their objectives to provide social insurance, redistribution and lifecycle transfers. Surprisingly, however, there exists very little academic research about the optimal way to compensate those who lose from globalisation. This lack of research is all the more surprising, as the support for the globalisation process at large will dwindle, and an ensuing escalation of trade protectionism may even reverse the process, if the welfare state does not enable a majority of voters to reap the benefits of globalisation. The aim of the special issue is to solicit and publish papers that identify the challenges of the globalisation process for the labour market and / or analyse how welfares states can respond to these challenges. We therefore encourage submissions on topics of relevance for this special issue from the areas of labour economics, international trade, and public economics
Editor: Silvano Cincotti and Marco Raberto, University of Genova, Italy, and Simone Alfarano, University Jaume I, Castellon, Spain
We invite authors to submit papers for the special issue on
"Economic Perspectives Challenging Financialization, Inequality
and Crises". This special issue follows the MAFIN 2012 workshop
(http://mafin2012.dime.unige.it) held in Genova (Italy), on
September 19–21, 2012, but is open also to contributions not
presented in the workshop.
The special issue aims to present new modeling perspectives in financial economics able to understand the role of the financial sector in determining economic stability, innovation and growth, to devise policies for preventing a major financial crisis and to improve resilience of the economy.
In particular, we welcome contributions on the following topics:
Financialization and inequality
Financial innovation, systemic risk and macroprudential regulation
Debt and asset bubbles, deleveraging and business cycles
Euro sovereign debt crisis
Functional finance and modern monetary theory
Models of financing innovation and growth
Unorthodox methodological approaches will be appreciated, e.g. agent-based modeling and simulation, flow-of-fund analyses and stock-flow consistent modelling, networks economics, statistical equilibrium techniques, institutional and evolutionary economics perspectives, data mining techniques.
Editor: Ronald MacDonald, University of Glasgow
This special issue is designed to bring together some of the recent cutting edge research in the area of International Money and Finance (IMF). Both theoretical and empirical papers will be considered and the topic of the paper should clearly fall within the scope of IMF. Examples of topics of special interest are: the economics of exchange rates (such as equilibrium exchange rates and exchange rate forecasting), tests of the efficient markets hypothesis in forward and futures markest; the determination of capital movements; globalisation issues; open economy macro issues, such as developments in the New Open Economy Macroeconomics; and Transition economies and the International Monetary System.
Editor: Robert Kopp, U.S Department of Energy, Washington, DC, Richard Tol, Department of Economics, University of Sussex, and Stephanie Waldhoff, Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
The social cost of carbon—the marginal external costs resulting from enhanced climate change due to carbon dioxide emissions—is an important concept in environmental policy. It is closely related to the Pigou tax, the price that should apply to emissions if the aim is to maximise global welfare. The social cost of carbon could therefore theoretically inform assessment of the desirable intensity of climate policy, and it plays a crucial role in any cost-benefit analysis of emission abatement initiatives. There are two major challenges to estimating the social cost of carbon. First, everything about climate change and its impacts is uncertain. This is partly because climate change is primarily a problem in the future; and partly because both the human and natural components of the Earth system—and thus both the drivers and the impacts of global climate change—are complex and only partially understood. Second, any assessment of the seriousness of climate change requires value judgements about the relative importance of temporal impacts: those that occur now and in the future; spatial impacts: those that impact people near and far across the globe; and the risk aversion of society for uncertain impacts: the more severe damages that may occur less likely, but still plausible, futures. The aim of this special issue is to revisit the social cost of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. The special issue is open to new estimates of its size, its composition, and its sensitivity to assumptions; to novel discussions of the conceptual and theoretical issues in estimating the social cost of carbon; and to assessments of its potential use in regulation and policy.
Editor: Shenggen Fan and Jerry Nelson, International Food Policy Research Institute, Washington, DC
Climate change adds to the challenges to achieve sustainable food security arising from population and income growth. Because food production is critically dependent on local temperature and precipitation conditions, any changes require farmers to adapt their practices locally. At the same time, agriculture is currently responsible for about one-third of total emissions which could continue to increase unless low-emission agricultural development strategies are implemented around the world. Programs and policies to foster adjustment must be developed nationally and implemented on farm. But most analyses of the food security and climate change have been at the regional level (East Africa, South Asia, etc.). Therefore submissions to the special issue should mainly present original national-level research for, e.g., Brazil, Russia, India, Indonesia, China, South Africa, and the US – the most important countries from the perspective of dealing with climate change and food security globally.
Editor: Philipp Harms, Johannes Gutenberg-University, Mainz Germany; Konstantin Wacker, University of Groningen, The Netherlands
This special issue aims to foster the understanding of the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) and multinational corporations (MNCs) in the world economy from a multi-disciplinary perspective. Special emphasis will be given to research that deals with the interactions of FDI/MNCs with politics, institutions, distributional aspects, and perceptions towards globalization. However, submissions dealing with FDI and MNCs from alternative perspectives are also encouraged.
Editor: Gianni De Fraja, University of Leicester and Universita' di Roma "Tor Vergata"
The optimal scale of supply of education services is very small, as witnessed by the observation that all levels of education are provided, except at most in very small countries, by a myriad of separate organisations, be they schools or universities. On the other hand there are several special features of the supply of education which make this industry different from the textbook competitive industry. The rationing role of price is severely restrained, supply by state-owned and state run supply is vast, but not exclusive, with private suppliers fiercely competitive and very different in nature and behaviour from government ones. In addition, the set of laws and rules that supplier must adhere to is much larger than in other sectors. There are also severe geographical constraints to competition, as users of the service cannot move freely from supplier to supplier. Consumption is compulsory, and (mostly) the beneficiaries do not pay for the services; the characteristics of users affect heavily the quality of the service received, and so on. Papers are invited for the special issue to study any aspect of the interaction between suppliers or types of supplier in the education industry. Topics covered could therefore be, but are clearly not limited to, the peer group effect in school; the role of government or private rankings of universities; the role of the governance of institutions, private or public, religious or for-profit; the role of prices; the effect on overall economic growth of the organisation of the education sector, in regard for example, to measurable characteristics of the supply side of the education sector, to differences in rate of (private or social) return; the provision of incentives to suppliers and consumers in the market. Please notice: O2 will award a prize of 5,000 euros for an article in the field of health, education, and welfare. Articles published in the special issue will be considered for the prize.
Topical and timely short pieces published at irregular intervals and reviewed by the editor and/or one outside reviewer at the editor's discretion. May include editorials, letters to the editor, news items, and policy discussions
