The Journal of Socio-Economics articles from September 1997

The Journal of Socio-Economics archives from September 1997

Retail foreign exchange trading in Prague: are tourists rational?
September 1, 1997... For more than two centuries economic theory has been based on the core assumptions that economic agents maximize their self interest and that they are rational. These assumptions of avarice and ingenuity have sometimes made economics unpopular...

Self-interest and the common good: the impact of norms, selfishness and context in social policy opinions.
September 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION: SELF-INTEREST OR THE COMMON GOOD? The tension between the altruistic and ecoistic mode of human behavior is often exemplified by references to Adam Smith. In The Wealth of Nations, Smith (1976b [1776]) emphasized that we cannot...

Complementarity in the labor supply of husbands and wives.
September 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION The boundary between sociology and economics has become increasingly fluid, and this raises a number of new and important questions for sociologists (Swedberg, 1987, 1990, 1991; Etzioni, 1988; Kalleberg, 1995). Questions to be...

Self-control and loss aversion in intertemporal choice.
September 1, 1997... Several models of household saving behavior have been proposed during this century (e.g., Becker, 1976; Friedman, 1957; Keynes, 1936). As was discussed by Winner and Lewis (1995), one of the most general may be the life-cycle theory (Modigliani,...

Language usage and earnings among minorities: the case of the Arabs in Israel.
September 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION Language skills are an important form of human capital. Knowledge of the language of the country in which one resides broadens the spectrum of job opportunities and provides an access to information about benefit entitlement. A...

Competence-difficulty gaps, ethics and the new social welfare theory.
September 1, 1997... INTRODUCTION The "physics envy" shibboleth - that economists aspire to "do grand theory" in the manner of (Newtonian) physics - is a familiar theme (Caldwell, 1991, p. 9). Whatever the empirical content of the claim, this much is clear: The...

Global Civil Society and Global Environmental Governance: The Politics of Nature From Place to Planet.
September 1, 1997... Reviewed by John D. Aram, Case Western Reserve University This book adds to the considerable body of contemporary analysis that aims to understand today's global political, economic, and social milieu. Building on a long-term interest in...

Hands Off: Why the Government Is a Menace to Economic Health.
September 1, 1997... Reviewed by Michael J. Licari, SUNY at Binghamton The fact that the federal government is an active player in the national economy is taken for granted by many. The government taxes, spends, regulates, and performs other actions which in one...