Distributional Conflicts Research Articles

Accounting and Assessment of Transaction Costs in the Grain Subcomplex

The article proposes a methodology for estimating transaction costs in the grain sub-complex. Their classification has been supplemented in terms of expanding the component cost items by type, which allows a more objective assessment of their level. The regularities of the formation of transaction costs in the grain subcomplex are determined, and the dependence of their size on the scale of activity and location of the organization is substantiated. It has been established that transaction costs in the grain subcomplex are quite high and account for 19-32 % of all costs. They arise in connection with ensuring coordination between market actors and resolving distributive conflicts. It is proved that the level of transaction costs is influenced by the scale of production, the location of the enterprise relative to infrastructure facilities and the level of its development.

Distributive Conflict, High Inflation, and Stabilization Programs in a Small Open Economy Framework: The Case of Argentina in the 1980s

ABSTRACT The debates between demand-pull and cost-push theories of inflation have shaped stabilization programs since the 1923 German hyperinflation. This article combines elements from the modern revival of the Classical tradition of value and distribution and the Latin American Structuralist Approach to analyse the political economy behind Argentina's high-inflation regime and stabilization policies from 1983 to 1989. Our main hypothesis is that exchange rate dynamics play a crucial role in stabilizing distributive configurations and price dynamics in a small open economy with conflicting claims. High external debt, persistent devaluation expectations, and exchange rate policies imposed by international creditors to safeguard the economy's repayment capacity are identified as the primary causes behind the failure of stabilization attempts in Argentina during the late 1980s.

Environmental conflicts in the mass media: insight from the media representation of ecological distributive conflicts (EDCs) in Italy

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing prominence of local ecological-distributive conflicts (EDCs) as subjects of social science research in recent decades, interaction between the media and territorial conflict has remained overlooked, still requiring further investigation. Indeed, there is currently a lack of systematic, up-to-date analysis of the relationship between the media and ecological-distributive protests that goes beyond the investigation of NIMBY narratives to provide a general overview of territorial protest representations and their implications for conflict. Based on the application of Political Claims Analysis to the national newspaper, la Repubblica, and its reporting of six Italian local EDCs, this article aims to discuss the ambivalent representations of territorial protest in the media, while also highlighting the implications of different narrative patterns for the values and perspectives embedded in public opinion. The twofold aim is to investigate the media’s narrative strategies with regard to local protests and their evolution throughout the mobilizations and to assess how the cultural context influences the likelihood that different messages will gain support. This investigation is crucial not only for filling the existing gap regarding the relationship between media and the ongoing spread of EDCs in Italy, but also for grasping broader dynamics concerning media management of environmental conflict, something that is becoming increasingly relevant to both the political and media spheres.

Inflation, distributional conflict and just transition

Inflation, distributional conflict and just transition

Inflation and income distribution in Brazil from a Kaleckian perspective*

This article shows that income inequality and inflation in Brazil are multidimensional phenomena linked to the unemployment rate and to the foreign sector. Consequently, the relationship between inflation and income distribution depends on the source of inflationary pressures, as evident in the 2000 to 2020 period. This reflects significant differences in the dynamics of inflation in the tradable and non-tradable goods sectors and is consistent with the Kaleckian framework. Yet, a missing inequality puzzle is identified, suggesting that changes in the Industry sector’s relation with the foreign sector altered some of the relationships analyzed. The article also investigates the influence of the foreign sector on the intensity of the domestic distributive conflict in Brazil and discusses some implications of an intensified distributive conflict in terms of policies and regulations that alter the bargaining power of workers.

The politics of accountability in global sustainable commodity governance: Dilemmas of institutional competition and convergence

AbstractThe accountability of market‐driven sustainability governance has long been controversial, reflecting the deeply political processes through which accountability contests shape governance transformations. Drawing on illustrative examples from internationally traded agro‐commodity sectors in the critical case of Indonesia, this paper examines the contested processes of accountability that have accompanied a recent period of institutional change in sustainability governance. Amidst rising critiques of global certification, there has been a parallel expansion of governance approaches that prioritise capability development over regulatory enforcement and engage more intensively with governments in commodity‐producing countries. As alternative governance models gain influence, tensions between competing governance stakeholders and agendas are mirrored and amplified through parallel accountability contests, in which distributional conflicts between global and local stakeholders are intensified by pressures to adopt contentious systems of compliance verification. While accountability gaps associated with contrasting institutional models produce strong pressures for partial institutional convergence, such convergence coexists with new forms of institutional fragmentation, as competition between global and national certification expands to encompass competition with localised capacity‐building and jurisdictional approaches. Analysis highlights the often‐neglected role of accountability politics in shaping institutional change, while raising pressing questions about the distributional implications of contemporary shifts away from global certification governance models.

Accumulation by contamination: Worldwide cost-shifting strategies of capital in waste management

With this article, we propose an analytical and conceptual tool to illuminate connections between capital development and environmental injustices. The research examines how capital-driven industrial policies foster changes in social metabolisms and cause new socio-environmental impacts, leading to ecological distribution conflicts. It also explores why diverse actors mobilise and resist these changes. Building on Kapp’s ecological economics theory of social costs and David Harvey’s concept of accumulation by dispossession, we highlight the role of capital accumulation in environmental injustices through cost-shifting strategies, terming it “Accumulation by Contamination” (AbC). In this context, AbC refers to the process wherein capital socialises the costs of contamination, degrading the means of existence and bodies of human beings who oppose these processes of capital valorisation and engage in environmental conflicts. We make a compelling case for AbC by exploring waste-related conflicts at various industrial developmental stages. Waste, viewed as a ’common bad,’ emerges as a strategic realm for capitalists seeking to expand the scale and scope of accumulation. The intricacies of waste management, its market potential, and guaranteed profitability through subsidies and processes of financialisation attract significant investments globally. Quantitative and qualitative waste management assessments demonstrate that waste policies often favour businesses, leading to cost-shifting of waste management to society (in Naples, Italy; and Delhi, in India) and the dispossession of waste-pickers (in Delhi). More broadly, we emphasise the importance of integrating ecological economics and Marxist critical geography to address environmental challenges. We also analytically study the diverse actors responding to various capital strategies, fostering transformative political actions for a sustainable future. Climate change is arguably the most significant waste disposal conflict due to excessive carbon dioxide production, representing a quintessential example of Accumulation by Contamination (AbC).

Cost-Push and Conflict Inflation: A Discussion of the Italian Case

ABSTRACT This study contributes to the ongoing discussion surrounding the recent surge in inflation. It presents an analytical framework and empirically examines inflation trends in Italy. The primary aim is to identify the underlying causes, distributive repercussions, and mechanisms through which inflation is propagated. We adopt a cost-push and distributive conflict perspective on current inflation. Within this perspective, some contributions argue for profit-driven inflation, while others dispute this interpretation, emphasizing that increases in the profit share, amid rising import costs do not necessarily imply heightened overall profitability. To clarify these issues, the paper puts forth an analytical framework that shows how escalating import costs can affect profit shares and set in motion a period of inflation propagation, even in the absence of a wage-price spiral. Turning attention to the Italian context, the study utilizes descriptive statistics, sectoral data, and simple simulations to gain insights into the drivers of inflation and its distributive consequences. Additionally, a local projections analysis is deployed to uncover the nature and timing of the propagation process. The paper concludes with some policy implications based on the findings.

The political ecologies of "green" extractivism(s): An introduction

What is so-called 'green' extractivism and where did it come from? The introduction to this Special Section examines the origins and implications of the concept, linking it to a long history of exploitation, dispossession and (neo)colonialism under the guise of green-washing notions such as 'sustainable development.' Conducting an in-depth literature review, we first revisit the concept of extractivism, exploring its origins, development and analytical purchase. We link extractivism to 'extra-action,' implying taking more than what is viable for ecosystems and argue for a supply-web oriented, rather than a point of extraction-focused understanding. Subsequently, we examine key theoretical frameworks in political ecology that paved the way to the study of 'green' extractivism, notably Ecological Distribution Conflicts (which we argue could better be labeled Ecological Destruction Conflicts) and green grabbing. Based on this, we discuss the core features of green extractivism, which are twofold: (1) the use of socioecological and climate crises to reinforce existing or generate new markets and profit-generation opportunities; and (2) the mobilization of claims of ecological sustainability and 'carbon neutrality' to legitimize and rationalize extraction. After outlining the Special Section contributions, we end by considering gaps in existing scholarship on green extractivism and suggest ways forward.

Verteilungskonflikte: Wie wird der gesellschaftliche Zusammenhalt gesichert?

Abstract Inequality can be observed in many areas, such as income and wealth, in the labour market, in terms of educational opportunities, and at the regional level. People are increasingly concerned that they will be among the losers of society in the upcoming (green and digital) transformation. In this situation, distribution conflicts can arise that weaken social cohesion. The following questions arise in this context: How has inequality developed? What effects can inequality have and how can it be countered in order to strengthen social cohesion?

Sellers' Inflation and Distributive Conflict: Lessons from the Post-COVID Recovery

ABSTRACT The paper offers a post-Keynesian explanation of the soaring inflation experienced during the post-COVID recovery, coherent both at the microeconomic and macroeconomic levels. The microeconomic argument is rooted on the premise that price-making firms consider both their costs and their desired share of profits when setting prices. To defend profit margins in the aftermath of the pandemic, the initial cost-push shock was passed to consumers through higher prices; in a second phase, some firms, particularly in more highly concentrated and systemically significant sectors, benefited from the post-pandemic permissive pricing environment to increase their price mark-ups, leading to temporary profit-fueled inflation following the cost-push shock. This microeconomic explanation is compatible with the macroeconomic notion of a stable inflation barrier. For a given quantity of real output, it is shown that if profit earners defend their share of income following a cost-push, this will produce a one-time price increase, with inflation becoming more persistent if the target adapts endogenously — i.e., if the aggregate mark-up changes. The paper contrasts the notion of a wage-price spiral with that of a profit-price sink, arguing that sellers' inflation is a real — albeit temporary phenomenon.

‘The sovereign cloud’ in Europe: diverging nation state preferences and disputed institutional competences in the context of limited technological capabilities

ABSTRACT In the wake of the pervasive digitalisation of industry, the disruption of global supply chains during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a geopolitical race for the development of artificial intelligence models, the European Union has pivoted towards promoting ‘digital sovereignty’ across the technological stack. The paper looks more specifically at the cloud layer and analyses the draft European Union Cloud Services Scheme (EUCS) launched by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity in December 2020. While EUCS is a highly technical scheme, the attempt to include digital sovereignty provisions in it provoked unexpected controversies around who pushes for ‘digital sovereignty’, why, and how feasible it is. The paper argues, first, that distributive conflicts between member states have led to strong objections towards including digital sovereignty provisions in EUCS. Second, diverging national preferences have also played out in horizontal inter-institutional conflicts around competences between the European Commission and the European Parliament. All in all, the paper makes a novel empirical contribution by studying the overlooked case of EUCS. Theoretically, it bridges the growing literature on digital sovereignty with classic theories of EU integration to identify key factors hindering the translation of digital sovereignty discourses into policy within a broader context of limited technological capabilities.

Conflict fuels inflation but the tinder lies elsewhere: Eclectic structuralist thoughts in a developing economy context

AbstractDeveloping country inflation is in the headlines again. Mainstream macroeconomics typically ignores the role of conflict while non‐mainstream work tends to ignore macroeconomic constraints. This paper revisits the issue employing a dependent economy framework with eclectic characteristics. Specifically, I explore the mechanisms that propagate both real and monetary sources of inflation in the presence of real wage resistance and distributional conflict. The analysis shows that the inability to pay for subsidies with taxes or bond issuance in a stylized developing economy could create a situation where a relatively small shock leads to sustained and accelerating inflation and a wage‐price spiral, thanks to conflicting claims on income. Subsidies to protect consumers from external price shocks could, similarly, leave a country vulnerable to accelerating wage‐price spirals as the stabilizing relative price effects of a declining foreign asset position are dampened. Distributional conflict thus plays the role of sustainer rather than the primum mobile. Price controls could, in theory, better enable inflation management if these do not result in redistribution toward spenders. Such controls, however, create other trade‐offs for countries facing balance‐of‐payments fragility.

The spatial and scalar politics of a just energy transition in Illinois

Illinois passed the Energy Transition Act (i.e., the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act or CEJA) in 2021, which established clean energy mandates with an emphasis on social equity. We examine CEJA and related policies to understand the politics of Illinois' energy transition. While CEJA has been praised as an approach to a just transition, critics argue that it exacerbated Illinois' rural-urban dichotomy by distributing benefits to urban areas defined as ‘environmental justice communities’ and tangible costs, in the form of clean energy infrastructure, to rural communities. We demonstrate that, leading up to and in response, 1) local governments deployed measures to oppose renewable energy development and 2) the state, in turn, scaled authority for energy governance upward to inhibit opposition. By framing reduced participation as necessary for just climate action, Illinois undermined procedural forms of justice viewed as critical to a just transition and reinforced energy as a partisan political issue. This case illustrates how a narrow definition of justice can contribute to distributive conflict in the energy transition and identifies a need for more inclusive strategies to manage such conflict.

Conflict Inflation and the Role of Monetary Policy

ABSTRACT The aim of this study is twofold: on the one hand, to provide evidence of the positive association between the inflation rate and the labor share in the US; on the other, to show that monetary policy slows inflation by depressing the labor share. With the help of Bayesian econometrics, the paper shows evidence of a conflict Phillips curve. Furthermore, a structural vector autoregressive model reveals the detrimental effects of interest rate hikes on the labor share. Together, these results mean the monetary policy of administered interest rates resolves the class conflict in favor of capital to control inflation. Scrutiny of the US monetary policy development and a model of a controlled predator-prey system prepare the way for the empirical sections. Finally, the paper concludes that controlling the distributive conflict matters for impinging on inflation and that the Fed might follow alternative monetary rules to cease being the third party participating in the distributive conflict.

‘We’re not right-wing or racist but…’: Far-right myth and distributive conflict in asylum seeker related protest in the Republic of Ireland, November 2022–July 2023

The Republic of Ireland has seen numerous protests around asylum seeker accommodation since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, with noted involvement of the far right. But what are protestors actually demanding? And how do they feel about far-right involvement in such protests? This article is based on quotes found in 144 media articles, published between November 2022 and July 2023, from people protesting in support of and against asylum seeker accommodation in the State. It finds that among those protesting against such accommodation, complaints about security, access to services and lack of consultation predominate. Nevertheless, many such protestors repeat common far-right racist and xenophobic tropes while simultaneously distancing themselves from the far right. Similarly, those supporting asylum seeker accommodation reject the far right while recognising the validity of many of the structural and political complaints of those who protest against asylum seekers. Based on this analysis, we suggest that such apparently dichotomous thinking among protestors deserves further research scrutiny, particularly, with regard to difficulties in disentangling far-right-inspired racist and xenophobic tropes from legitimate grievances around structural and resource issues.

Inflation regimes and hyperinflation: a Post-Keynesian/structuralist typology

Abstract The article proposes a typology of inflation regimes based on the Post-Keynesian and structuralist literature. We identify three separate regimes: the low, moderate and high inflation regimes. Hyperinflation is also defined and described. Each regime presents different characteristics. We identify the key role played by the distributive conflict between workers and capitalists in all the regimes, the role played by the indexation of wages on domestic prices in the moderate and high inflation regimes and the specific roles played by the widespread indexation on a short-term basis in the high inflation regime. Hyperinflation is explained by self-fulfilling prophecies about exchange rate variations and by the rejection of the domestic currency.

Conflicts in real-world labs ‐ Perspectives of critical and ambivalent residents on a temporary public space redesign project in Berlin

Real-world labs make the mobility transition tangible for residents. However, these experiences are not always positive, and often local conflicts arise. Based on in-depth interviews, the authors show that perceived procedural unfairness as well as the redistribution of space are the main drivers of a sceptical attitude towards redesign projects.Real-world labs (RwLs) are often used to explore and foster the mobility transition. Many RwLs dealing with mobility transition temporarily reallocate public spaces from motorized to active transport or to leisure activities. While some residents accept and enjoy the changes, others react with scepticism, rejection, or protest. This can lead to conflicts. Controversial perceptions and conflicts among residents make a permanent redesign rather challenging for the administration and the politicians. In this paper the authors investigate the related conflict types and counterarguments by studying the case of a temporary redesign of an intersection in Berlin. Based on in-depth interviews, they untangle procedural, distributional, and identity conflicts which might underlie the critical and ambivalent perceptions of residents. An abundance of conflict issues pertaining to procedural and distributional conflicts are revealed and emphasize the role of the RwL process.

The Political Economy of Exchange Rates and Export-Led Industrialization in South Korea*

ABSTRACT South Korea’s economic trajectory has been one of the most successful stories of post-war catch-up industrialization. The Korean developmental state has used various tools, including the exchange rate, to become an export powerhouse in the twenty-first century. However, the export-led growth strategy has had a distributive conflict with Korea’s working class. Based on post-Keynesian and structuralist economics, this paper assesses the political economy of exchange rate depreciation and export-led industrialization in South Korea. I show that exports as a share of GDP have constantly risen to become the most important growth engine in the Korean economy. This long-term trend, however, has coincided with a decline in the labor income share in South Korea. I formulate the structuralist macroeconomic model to explain dynamics of real wages, real exchange rates, exports, and output. I finally use a vector autoregression (VAR) analysis to show that exchange rate depreciations during modern South Korea (1989Q1–2023Q1) are inflationary and contractionary in the short run. Currency depreciations have ambiguous effects on exports, but they clearly reduce output gaps. On the other hand, an increase in nominal wages is expansionary or varies positively with output gaps.

Industrial democracy between neocapitalism and postfordism. The political and intellectual trajectory of Bruno Trentin (1926-2007)

During his long political trajectory Bruno Trentin (1926-2007) never ceased to question the relationship between work and democracy. The Italian intellectual and trade union leader denounced the domination of the «productivist ideology» of scientific management over the entire social and political Left. According to this ideology, trade union action was reduced to the animation of distributive conflict, while the political struggle was played out outside the economic sphere, through the conquest of the state. Contrary to this vision, the 1960s were the source of a new self-management political culture, born of the encounter between the Marxist, Christian and libertarian traditions of the labour movement, which aimed to make workers and their unions «political subjects» in their own right by gaining real decision-making power over the organisation of work. The decline of Fordism offers an opportunity for a new "contract" in which work can achieve its political recognition and autonomy within the workplace and not from outside. It is from this history that Trentin draws to defend the actuality of a project of liberation from subordinate «work». In this article I reinscribe Trentin's reflections in the long history of his career as an intellectual, trade unionist and political activist, as well as in the controversies and the impasses that have shaped his life and the history whole Italian and European labour movement during the twentieth century.