Journal of Economic Issues articles from September 2007

Journal of Economic Issues archives from September 2007

The impact of foreign direct investment, financial crises and organizational culture on managers' views as to the finance-growth Nexus.
September 1, 2007... Numerous theoretical models argue that financial institutions can facilitate the creation of economic growth through three main channels--by mobilizing savings, by allocating savings to the most productive investments, (1) and by facilitating...

Effective central bank communication under uncertainty.(Survey)
September 1, 2007... In the last 20 years or so, central banks around the world have become increasingly more transparent. This trend has coincided with the move toward greater central bank independence. This coincidence is no accident, as transparency is often...

The impact of workers' compensation experience-rating on discriminatory hiring practices.
September 1, 2007... The widespread adoption of experience-rating has been a major trend in workers' compensation systems for over a decade (O'Grady 1999). Under this approach, a firm's insurance premium rate for its industry or class is adjusted upwards or...

Competition, selection and Rock and Roll: the economics of payola and authenticity.
September 1, 2007... Understanding the way in which value of a product is determined is a prerequisite for understanding the way in which firms compete. To compete successfully one's products have to be valued and recognized as valuable. This is the starting point...

U.S. decline in the context of formal education and in situ learning.
September 1, 2007... A substantial literature links the level of formal education to the level or rate of growth of national income. For some observers, education as a path to development is so straightforward as to elicit the question "Why Isn't the Whole World...

Charter schools in Arizona: does being a for-profit institution make a difference?
September 1, 2007... The need to improve the public education system in the United States has almost always been a source of debate among policymakers and the general public. Although not everyone agrees on the extent to which public schools are in need of reform,...

The role of "instincts" in the development of corporate cultures.
September 1, 2007... Since their emergence during the second half of the nineteenth century, Darwin-inspired, instinct-based theories of human agency have delivered the psychological foundations of American Institutionalism (see e.g., Dorfman 1963; Rutherford 2000;...

Policymaking and learning actors, or is a 'double movement' in cognition possible?
September 1, 2007... "The image not only makes society, society continually remakes the image." (Boulding 1956, 64) The aim of this paper is to draw on the insights of two major scholars--Karl Polanyi and Herbert A. Simon--to discuss the nature of public...

Karl Polanyi and return of the "primitive" in institutional economics.
September 1, 2007... In the wake of the neoliberal policies of the 1980s, a new wave of interest has grown in Karl Polanyi's work as a source of inspiration for a new theoretical and social countermovement. Within this context, Polanyi's work has been gradually...

Professor Lester and the neoclassicals: the 'marginalist controversy' and the postwar academic debate over minimum wage legislation: 1945-1950.
September 1, 2007... Study of wage data and the actual processes of wage determination indicates that psychological, social, and historical factors--such as the social outlook and generosity of the management, community attitudes and mores, tradition of the...

Toward an Evolutionary Economics: the 'Theory of the Individual' in Thorstein Veblen and Joseph Schumpeter.
September 1, 2007... The intellectual energy driving the mainstream vision of economics has clearly diminished, yet a widely accepted alternative has failed to arise. It seems that fewer and fewer economists believe in a version of homo-economicas where individuals...

Veblen and the problem of rationality.
September 1, 2007... Despite the substantial body of literature interpreting the works of Thorstein Veblen, his theory of rationality is rarely discussed. Analyzing his theory of rationality is not just important for understanding the nature of his critical stance...

Do conservative governments make a difference in fiscal policy? Evidence from the U.S. and the U.K.(Notes and Communications)
September 1, 2007... In a recent paper, Ott, Belova, and Dolgopolov (2003) examined the effects of partisan politics on monetary policy for the United States and the United Kingdom (UK). They actually tested Secretary Simon's (1980) question "Do conservative...

The Economics of Microfinance.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... The Economics of Microfinance by Beatriz Armendariz de Aghion and Jonathan Morduch. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press. 2005. ISBN: 0-262-01216-2, $45.00 352 pages. The most common story about what we now think of as microfinance...

Institutional Reforms: The Case of Colombia.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Institutional Reforms: The Case of Colombia, edited by Alberto Alesina. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 2005. Paperback: ISBN 0 262 51182 7, $35.00. 420 pages. Even by the standards of a troubled region, Colombia has fared poorly in recent...

Credit Markets for the Poor.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Credit Markets for the Poor, edited by Patrick Bolton and Howard Rosenthal. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. 2005. Hardcover: ISBN 0871541327, $47.50. 304 pages. Nearly 40 million Americans are classified poor today. Worldwide there are...

Sufficient Reason: Volitional Pragmatism and the Meaning of Economic Institutions.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Sufficient Reason: Volitional Pragmatism and the Meaning of Economic Institutions, by Daniel W. Bromley. Princeton: Princeton University Press. 2006. Hardcover: ISBN-13:978 0 691 12419 3, $35.256 pages. Daniel Bromley's new book,...

Alan Greenspan: The Oracle Behind the Curtain.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Alan Greenspan: The Oracle Behind the Curtain, by E. Ray Canterbery. Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Co. 2006. Cloth, ISBN 9812566066, $38.00. 193 pages. Despite his somber appearance and impenetrable syntax, former Federal Reserve...

Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective, by Ha-Joon Chang. London: Anthem Press. 2003. Paper, ISBN: 1 84331 027 9, $29.95, 187 pages. A Fine Institutionalist: A Novel Idea Ha-Joon Chang is an...

A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and "Low Mechanicks.".(Book review)
September 1, 2007... A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and "Low Mechanicks," by Clifford D. Conner. New York: Nation Books. 2005. Paper, ISBN: 1 562025 748 2, $17.95. 554 pages, xiii. Science and technology are of central importance to the...

The Evolution of Creditary Structures and Controls.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... The Evolution of Creditary Structures and Controls, by Geoffrey W. Gardiner. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2006. Hardcover: ISBN 1 4039 8753 X, price US$ 90.00. 304 pages. This book is part of a growing literature on what is known as the...

Judge and Jury: American Tort Law on Trial.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Judge and Jury: American Tort Law on Trial, edited by Eric Helland and Alexander Tabarrok. Oakland, CA: The Independent Institute. 2006. Paper: ISBN 0945999992. $15.95. 168 pages. Predicated on a narrow conception of the scope of the tort...

Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Utility: Happiness in Philosophical and Economic Thought.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Utility: Happiness in Philosophical and Economic Thought, by Anthony and Charles Kenny. Exeter: Imprint Academic. 2006. Paper: ISBN 1845400526, 17.95 [pounds sterling], $ 34.90. 227 pages. The authors,...

Poverty, Work, and Freedom: Political Economy and the Moral Order.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Poverty, Work, and Freedom: Political Economy and the Moral Order, by David P. Levine and S. Abu Turab Rizvi. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2005. Hardcover: ISBN-10: 0521848261, $65.00. 172 pages. In this book, the authors have...

Vienna & Chicago: Friends or Foes? A Tale of Two Schools of Free-Market Economics.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Vienna & Chicago: Friends or Foes? A Tale of Two Schools of Free-Market Economics, by Mark Skousen. Washington, D.C.: Capital Press. 2005. Paper, ISBN 0 895 26029 8, $24.95. 306 pages. This is an instructive and frustrating book. I read it...

Marxian Reproduction Schema: Money and Aggregate Demand in a Capitalist Economy.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... Marxian Reproduction Schema: Money and Aggregate Demand in a Capitalist Economy, by Andrew B. Trigg. Ahingdon, UK and New York, USA. Routledge. 2006. Hardback: ISBN-10 0-415-33669-4, 60.00 [pounds sterling]. 130 pages. This is an ambitious...

The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank and Their Borrowers.(Book review)
September 1, 2007... The Globalizers: The IMF, the World" Bank and Their Borrowers, by Ngaire Woods. New York: Cornell University Press. 2006. Hardcover: ISBN 978 0 8014 4424 1, $29.95. 153 pages. The discussion on globalization has become polarized, both...