Journal of Economic Issues articles from March 1997

Journal of Economic Issues archives from March 1997

Padded prowess: a Veblenian interpretation of the long hours of salaried workers.
March 1, 1997... It's Brooklyn, I know, but we hunt too. - Willy Loman, Death of a Salesman (Miller 1949) There is a widely perceived problem with the workweek in America. Juliet Schor [1991, 68-72] brought attention to this problem, noting that it is not...

A comparative analysis of cases of conflictual labor relations in the corn processing, steel, paper, and coal industries.
March 1, 1997... The role of strategic choice in firm responses to competitive pressures, the changing character of approaches to labor relations, and the effects of both of these on organizational performance have gained widespread attention in the globally...

Toward a demand-side cure for cost disease in the performing arts.
March 1, 1997... Any economic examination of the business of the performing arts inevitably must deal with the phenomenon known as "cost disease." This was first described by William Baumol and William Bowen [1965, 495-502; 1966, 161-172](1) and refers to an...

The modern free banking school: a review.
March 1, 1997... Why can't there be competition to government-produced fiat money? Why accept Federal Reserve notes as base money but not the notes issued by foreign countries or multinational banks? Do we really need central bank money as the currency for...

From "mom and pop" to Wal-Mart: the impact of the Consumer Goods Pricing Act of 1975 on the retail sector in the United States.
March 1, 1997... A leisurely drive through the suburban shopping districts of virtually any American city reveals the successful inroads that large mass merchandisers have made into the retail sector in the United States. At the same time, the once-thriving...

The return to barbarism. (economic transition in Southeastern Europe)
March 1, 1997... The collapse of communism in the Balkans does not appear to have brought an "end to history" [Fukuyama 1992]. Instead, it has produced a return to the sort of barbarism that Veblen argued was latent in late nineteenth century Germany [Veblen...

Habits of the Balkan Heart: Social Character and the Fall of Communism.
March 1, 1997... The collapse of communism in the Balkans does not appear to have brought an "end to history" [Fukuyama 1992]. Instead, it has produced a return to the sort of barbarism that Veblen argued was latent in late nineteenth century Germany [Veblen...

A note on the intellectual connection between Albert Einstein and Thorstein Veblen.
March 1, 1997... At the 1995 annual AFEE meetings in Washington, I presented a paper on the role of physics in early twentieth century institutional and neoclassical economics [Ganley 1995]. A secondary point of the paper was the suggestion that Albert Einstein...

On the new institutionalist story about the former socialist economies. (response to Peter M. Lichtenstein, Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 30, p. 243, March 1996)(includes reply)
March 1, 1997... Several recent articles in this journal have provided valuable appraisals of the New Institutional Economics (NIE). The paper by Peter M. Lichtenstein [1996] is among the most provocative of these articles. Lichtenstein critiques what he sees as...

A note on "In Defense of Minimum Wage." (response to Robert Prasch, Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 30, p. 391, 1996)(includes reply)
March 1, 1997... Robert E. Prasch, in his article "In Defense of the Minimum Wage" [1996], criticizes the "conventional wisdom" on the effects of a minimum wage. His arguments, which center on effective demand and economic growth, "transformational" growth, and...

Reflections on the minimum wage. (response to Robert Prasch, Journal of Economic Issues, vol. 30, p. 391, 1996)(includes reply)
March 1, 1997... Robert E. Prasch [1996, 391-397] argues that there are three constructive outcomes from a minimum wage increase: (1) higher minimums can raise aggregate demand, and hence productivity, because of a higher propensity to consume by low-income...

Planning as Persuasive Storytelling: The Rhetorical Construction of Chicago's Electric Future.
March 1, 1997... This book by Professor Throgmorton represents an ambitious research agenda that clearly took many years to bring to fruition. He demonstrates an impressive understanding of regional planning theory and practice and applies this knowledge to a...

Communication and the Transformation of Economics: Essays in Information, Public Policy and Political Economy.
March 1, 1997... This is a timely and useful collection of 12 papers, eight published between 1983 and 1995 (all but two since 1993), augmented by another four previously unpublished papers. Pursuing the theme of the "transformation of economics," the author...

Facing the Technological Challenge.
March 1, 1997... It is interesting to note that despite the growing interest in and acceptance of the importance of the technology factor in Third World development issues, it is still difficult to find good texts that cover these issues in a way that is...

Work and Welfare: The Social Cost of Labor in the History of Economic Thought.
March 1, 1997... This book surveys the concept of the social cost of labor in economic thought from Adam Smith to Ronald Coase. The social costs of labor refer to "the economic actions of employers with regard to wages and working conditions" that "have...

International Tourism.
March 1, 1997... International Tourism is very ambitious in that it identifies many complexities of an industry that is all too easily treated as non-complex. Of particular interest is the degree of public intervention both identified and encouraged by the...

Silent Revolution: The Rise of Market Economics in Latin America.
March 1, 1997... Duncan Green's Silent Revolution: The Rise of Market Economics in Latin America is an extremely useful and nuanced account of the creation of market-driven "neoliberal" economies throughout Latin America. The book is very much in the spirit of...

America Unequal.
March 1, 1997... The dramatic rise in income inequality in the 1980s in the United States is now an accepted fact. Starting in the early 1970s and accelerating in the 1980s, the rich have gotten richer and the poor have gotten poorer. At the same time, the...

Post Keynesian Economics: An Annotated Bibliography.
March 1, 1997... John King is Reader in Economics at La Trobe University, Australia. He has published important works in the area of Marxian economics, but more recently he has been focusing on biographies of Post Keynesian economists and others. This book is a...

Economic Analysis of Institutions and Systems.
March 1, 1997... Pejovich's volume reads as a collection of essays rather than as a book. The essays are divided into parts that examine institutions and property rights, property rights exchange and production, and the firm. The initial two chapters provide a...

Technology and Industrial Progress: The Foundations of Economic Progress.
March 1, 1997... This large tome on technology and industry contains more than 400 pages of text, 24 pages of references, and a 64-page index and covers a diverse range of material and topics from a variety of perspectives. The author focuses on technology and...