Free Market Mechanisms Research Articles

Why can some countries perform better in resolving some social problems: A comparative study

This study explores the rationale why some countries fare better in resolving social problems such as poverty and the COVID-19 pandemic. The simple model introduces the term of resident viability and points out that the solution to a social problem with a large ratio of nonviable to viable residents requires the mobilisation of more societal resources, and the affordable price ratio of societal to individual resources is determined by country characteristics such as the cultural background, political regime, ideology towards the free-market mechanism, government efficiency and social trust. This study also makes between-country comparisons and conducts preliminary regression analyses with cross-country data, and all the results are consistent with the model predictions on the relationship between country characteristics and country performances in fighting poverty and handling the COVID-19 pandemic.

REFLECTIONS OF NEO LIBERAL POLICIES ON THE EDUCATION AREA AND THE TURKISH EDUCATION SYSTEM

Neoliberalism is an economic system that advocates the spread of the free market idea, private enterprise, separation from the public, production, consumption and trade independence. The tendency of advanced capitalist countries to search for different production styles and places where they can produce under cheap conditions has led to the existence of neoliberal policies. With the neoliberal economic method, individual initiatives are given priority, and individual economic activities can exist within the theoretical line created by free economic activities. Neoliberalism first emerged in the 1970s with the aim of determining the social structure in parallel with economic developments in a way that would serve the interests of capital. Neoliberal policies, which adopt the approach that it is impossible to ensure the continuity of the social state understanding, also have reflections on the field of education. In this direction, primarily in order to provide the philosophical understanding of the system, educational institutions have been adapted to market conditions and individuals who can adapt to the system have been trained. With the adaptation plans carried out by the World Bank and the IMF in the 1980s, neoliberal policies are beginning to be reflected in the field of education. In this process, first of all, the content of the education is designed in line with the needs of the system, then the changes related to the economic resource of the education are determined and finally the infrastructure arrangements are made. In line with neoliberal policies, the priority in the regulations regarding the field of education is to provide the education of individuals with the necessary knowledge and ability to act in line with the demands of the market. The materials to be used in education are also determined by the needs of the market. Neoliberal education policies, which determine the basic approach centered on human capital, aim to train manpower who can work from every education level in a market-centered manner. With the neoliberal transformations in education, the value of standardized knowledge leaves its place to standardized success. Thus, education turns into a profit-oriented commercial institution within the free market mechanism, equality of opportunity in education becomes impossible, polarization becomes inevitable and the social structure moves away from democracy. Evaluation of the changes that exist in all processes of education is important in terms of the integrity and existence of the social structure. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the reflections of neoliberal policies on education, which is an important instrument of social and individual regeneration, and on the Turkish Education System.

Does Free Market Mechanism Offer a Win-Win Situation to Wheat Consumers and the Government?

Wheat is the most important agricultural crop of Pakistan. It is grown by 80 percent of farmers and planted on about 22 million acres, which is approximately 40 percent of the country’s total cultivated land. Punjab plays a major role in wheat production by allocating 16.14 million acres (71.5 percent), followed by Sindh, KPK and Balochistan with almost same trends in production also (AMIS, 2020). Wheat also contributes 37 percent to both food energy and protein intakes. Being a staple food, it accounts 72 percent to the food basket of Pakistan, with the highest per capita consumption of 124 kg per person per annum in the world.

Business Freedom and Financial Development as Leading Determinants of Non-performing Assets: Evidence from the Indian Banking Sector

This study is an attempt to enrich the existing literature on the determinants of non-performing assets (NPAs) for the Indian banking sector by explicitly investigating the role of the Business Freedom sub-component of the Economic Freedom Index (EFI) and Financial Development (FD) along with the traditional bank-specific and macroeconomic determinants. The study estimated panel data models for 38 Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) from 2005-2020. The Fixed Effect Regression Model and Two-step System GMM approach were employed to perform the analysis. The results indicated that business freedom contributes to increased NPAs. It implied that the Indian banking sector could not be left to operate in a free market mechanism. Financial Development (FD) was found to have a negative relationship with the NPAs.

The urban expansion of Berlin, 1862–1900: Hobrecht’s Plan

This paper investigates the original intentions and modifications of Berlin’s 19th-century urban development plan, particularly the different spatial configurations at the local level. The creation, adaptation and long-term impacts of the Hobrecht Plan of Berlin are assessed for urban design and planning principles used for urban expansion between 1862 and 1900. The 1862 ‘Development Plan for the Environs of Berlin’ represents a cornerstone on which the inner city is built even to this day. Morphological analyses are used to describe design parameters and the associated design principles. The origins of ideas, spatial development and planning statements are examined in relation to each other based on written and drawn archival materials together with geographical information system-based plan analysis. Individual district plans and explanatory reports provide a basis for alternative interpretations of Hobrecht’s Berlin in 19th-century urban expansion planning. The example of Berlin illustrates the emergence and transition of 19th-century urban structures, as well as the design principles underpinning morphological aspects of street networks, public space systems and block patterns. This analysis serves as a reference in the history of European planning paradigms and urban planning models in general. It highlights the contribution of small-scale urban development with a focus on squares and local patterns. <em><strong>Practice relevance</strong></em> This study of the planning principles for public spaces and the specific urban design characteristics provides insights into the origins of the planning discipline, the structure of master plans, and processes of formation and transformation in urban neighbourhoods. A combination of city-wide and small-scale district approaches were used to plan Berlin’s expansion. This historical analysis shows that planning and schematic designs without state regulation compromised urban planning ideas and necessary planning parameters. The dependence on free market mechanisms lacked minimum standards and regulatory restrictions on building density. Small-scale urban designs were created to accommodate urban growth. Lessons on the balance and trade-offs between free market and regulated approaches to urban design are applicable to the expansion of cities today. Street patterns, block size, public green spaces (squares, boulevards, parks), building height and density require careful control and distribution. Failure to do so often results in poor urban conditions.

Green capitalism, climate change and the technological fix: A more-than-human assessment

Green capitalism is an approach that attempts to use free-market mechanisms to mitigate anthropogenic climate change. Its advocates argue that the market supplies the best means to innovate technological solutions that can compete with existing polluting practices. Using a relational, post-anthropocentric and materialist ontology, this article analyses the micropolitics underpinning the capitalist market economy in terms of production and market assemblages and the affective forces within them. This novel approach reveals previously overlooked more-than-human affects within these capitalist assemblages. These affects generate the unintended and inevitable consequences of a capitalist economic framework: growth, waste and inequalities. Based on this micropolitical assessment, the article uses the example of the electric car to conclude that green capitalism is inadequate to address the climate crisis, and offers an alternative approach.

Information Asymmetry and Card Debt Crisis in Taiwan

Abstract Following the Asian Financial Crisis, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan experienced card debt crisis in 2001, 2002 and 2005, respectively. Various countries have studied and tried to find the factors that lead to the card debt crisis, hoping that the proposed countermeasures can effectively solve the problem. However, these are only practical operations and observations. Therefore, through information asymmetry, this article constructs a model of card debt crisis from adverse selection and moral hazard, and theoretically provides the government or competent authority with a policy basis. This article employs document analysis, combined with qualitative and quantitative data, to test the research hypotheses. The verification result is supported regardless of hypotheses tests for adverse selection, or moral hazard and confirms that information asymmetry and market failure do exist in the Taiwan credit card market. The policy implication of the article is that the government or competent authority should stop the illusion of free market mechanism and have to be responsible for employing countermeasures to face the crisis. JEL classification numbers: G01,G21,G28. Keywords: Card debt crisis, Information asymmetry, Adverse selection, Moral hazard , Document analysis, Market failure.

Mediatised “Statist Neoliberalism” in Kenya during the Time of Covid-19: The Case of the Standard

The Covid-19 (acronym for the coronavirus disease of 2019) pandemic negatively affected the world economy akin to the global financial crisis of 2008, leading to the revival of the debate about neoliberal rationalities. Although many nations attempted to contain the pandemic through a public goods approach, the authors argue that these state interventions concealed neoliberalism by advancing its governmentalities. Further, they use Norman Fairclough's (1992) interdiscursivity to describe how in Kenya, The Standard newspaper's coverage of the government interventions was dialogical, euphemising neoliberalism through content that seemed to advocate state welfarism while advocating for the free market at the same time. The interdiscursive analysis was enriched by using Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe's (1985) concept of chains of equivalence and difference to explain the power relations behind the euphemisation of neoliberalism. The authors also argue that the invisible free-market mechanism becomes hegemonic when it takes over populist demands through the transformation of the chains of difference – the antagonism against neoliberalism – into chains of equivalence, the points of similarity between neoliberalism and people's welfare demands. For the current study, the authors selected articles on Covid-19 that appeared in the Standard, chiefly those written on policy issues and published during the early period of the pandemic. Two regular themes were analysed to illustrate the euphemisation of neoliberalism, namely, corruption watchdogism and unemployment narratives. The authors use interdiscursivity to illustrate how these two themes euphemise neoliberalism.

Study on the legal mechanism of local government epidemic management taking COVID-19 prevention and control as example

Living in the risk society described by the sociologist Baker, the free market mechanism cannot regulate the value of risk and choice, which requires the government to break away from the traditional concept of administrative law, integrate the risk theory, and establish an administrative legal system that ADAPTS to The Times. The emergence of COVID-19 is undoubtedly a major test of China's existing legal system for emergency management. This paper will take this epidemic as an example to explore the drawbacks of the current emergency management system in themodern risk era and study how to establish an effective emergency management legal system in the new era

Study of methods for state regulation of prices and costs of the health care system for medicines in the United Kingdom

Objective: analysis of state regulation of prices and costs for the purchase of medicines (drugs) in the United Kingdom (UK), and proposal development to improve the processes of state regulation of manufacturers’ marginal registered prices of medicines included in the list of vital and essential drugs approved in the Russian Federation.Material and methods. Analysis of the structure of state regulation of prices and costs for the procurement of drugs was carried out based on information contained in the regulatory legal documents of the UK Government, health services and technical regulation, and data provided in systematic reviews and articles.Results. A key feature of regulation in the UK is maximizing the efficiency of health care costs based on the principles of digitization, long-term planning and health technology assessment in pricing. Government regulation of costs is focused on the patent-protected drug segment. Providers of such medicines fall under the Voluntary or Statutory Scheme and are required to make payments in the form of a fixed percentage of sales to the Department of Health and Social Care. Certain drug segments are exempt from payments to stimulate innovative development of the pharmaceutical industry and accelerate market access for new therapies. As practice shows, the Voluntary Scheme is more profitable for most companies. Regulation in the segment of reproduced drugs is carried out by free-market mechanisms and the antimonopoly service.Conclusion. The analysis revealed the mechanisms and key features of the methods of state regulation of prices and costs of the health care system for the procurement of drugs, identified best practices that are promising for adaptation to improve the state regulation of prices in the Russian Federation.

Analisis Ekonomi Islam terhadap Distorsi Ekonomi dalam Transaksi Sekuritas pada Pasar Sekunder

The purpose of this study is to find out from the results of previous studies regarding market distortions in the process of securities transactions according to Islamic Economics in the secondary market. In this study using descriptive qualitative methods where the authors conducted this study using descriptive data in the form of words or literature reviews from previous studies. The data collection used by the author in this study is the publication of previous scientific journals related to the influence of foreign debt by the Indonesian state. The results of this study found that Islamic Economics requires a free market mechanism without any intervention. Fair and fair prices come from prices obtained based on the power of supply and demand. Islamic economics emphasizes that market mechanisms and price fixing need to be regulated to uphold market balance and economic justice by considering the interests of the parties involved in the market. Market distortion is a form of deviation that causes imbalances and injustices in the market which must be regulated by the government through intervention policies under its authority.

Pengaruh Teori Laissez Faire terhadap Mekanisme Pasar Adam Smith

This research is motivated by the existence of a relationship between Laissez Faire Theory and the free market mechanism. Laissez Faire theory is a leadership style in which the leader gives freedom to his subordinates to carry out their duties freely. Meanwhile, the free market mechanism is a market where sellers and buyers are given the freedom to carry out their trading activities, including determining the equilibrium price. Where in the free market mechanism this occurs without government intervention. Adam Smith wanted freedom to be given to everyone without government interference. The purpose of this study is to analyze the effect of Laissez Faire Theory on the free market mechanism. The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative method and the type of research used is literature, where the data collected is only obtained from written works and several books. The results of the study indicate that individual freedom makes the realization of the free market mechanism. Because of this individual freedom, individuals are free to use resources so as to create an urge to take risks and work hard. Individuals are free to determine the stage of production and the price level in a free market mechanism so as to create a price balance and obtain a profit that can meet needs.

Egyptian Youths and Economic Responsibility : Opportunities and Challenges A Field Study

The main objective of this study is to know the attitudes of the Egyptian youths towards their economic responsibility and their planning of their practical future in order to encounter the challenges of the global capitalist and its impact on the available opportunities in the labor market. The study aims at identifying the attitudes of the youths towards planning their practical future, revealing the types of the best Self- employment, and identifying the new labor market mechanisms available to them. It also aims at identifying the kinds of micro enterprises they prefer, and detecting the obstacles which encounter them. The study tried to provide a futuristic vision to implement micro-Enterprises. The study is based on the social survey method applied to a sample of 142 students from eleven governmental universities representing the rural sector and the urban one in the Egyptian society. The study also uses the comparative method in displaying and analyzing the data according to the class differences and the rural/urban differences using SPSS. The data were collected using a questionnaire, an attitudes scale and group interviews. In explaining their findings, the study depends on the world system perspective and the human capital. The field study has disclosed two dimensions responsible either for encouraging the youth into the labor market or preventing them from undertaking their economic responsibility; the available opportunities, and the challenges and risks. The findings show the young people's awareness of the free labor market mechanisms. In addition, the findings show the young people's choice of two types of enterprises; a national productive type and a western consumptive one.

MARKETING IN TIMES OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC: TACKLING SUPPLY CHAIN FRAGILITY THROUGH EU ECONOMIC AND REGULATORY POLICIES BASED ON 5G NETWORK IMPLEMENTATION AND BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGIES

The ongoing coronavirus pandemic - in juxtaposition with recurring evidence of the negative effects of global climate change - has stress tested the overwhelming majority of worldwide supply networks. The dire sanitary crisis has shown that free market mechanisms alone are not able to resuscitate the broken links of the global economic system, and thus the need for a novel mix of economic, regulatory, and technology-based government policies became more evident than ever. Against this backdrop and with an emphasis on the EU, the present paper gives an overview of the possible pathways for marketing to embrace the opportunities offered by 5G network implementation and blockchain technologies to tackle supply chain fragility.

GREEN ECONOMY DEVELOPMENT: METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH

The subject of this study is the principles, factors and features of the green economy as a complex multicomponent system. It was important to clarify the ontology of the term “development” and to propose a methodology for filling the meaning of this term with a specific scientific approach, which consisted in identifying factors that shape directed, natural (regular) and inevitable changes as mandatory elements of development in the philosophical sense of the latter. The article analyzes different approaches to the definition of green economy, which gave the authors a reason to propose their own perception of the green economy as a socio-eco-economic system, which should be simultaneous under directed, natural (regular) and inevitable changes to ensure its development. The authors dwelled on the characteristics of each of the three mandatory changes. Directed changes in the green economy as a system were considered through the prism of seventeen goals of sustainable development (defining those for which the green economy “works” directly), which form new requirements for key components of the economic system: production, exchange, distribution and consumption. Regular changes are characterized as those that correspond or do not contradict the basic economic laws of the post-industrial era and form the ecological basis for the competitiveness of the economy. Irreversibility of change is defined as justified regulatory measures of strict environmental and economic policy, based on the methodological, proven by scientists, the principle of regulation in a mixed economic system and the abandonment of free market mechanisms (which “does not work” to achieve sustainable development). The authors have proposed a system-hierarchical approach to ensuring intermediate principles of green economy development as a system (direction, regularity and irreversibility of changes) and their integral effect on the quality of sustainable development of the social system as a whole. Further directions of research of system principles of development of green economy have been defined as well.

Free market mechanism as a tool of economic authority in overcoming society and state institutions

The paper critically analyzes the negative consequences of free market orientation, as a key mechanism for organizing and regulating the economy, as a tool which by itself can meet the full range of social needs, including the development of scientific and technological progress, economic modernization, social justice, effective use of natural resource potential, preservation of natural environment, reproduction of labor force and ensuring the solution of other acute socio-economic problems. The mechanism of disorientation of economic interaction participants through imposing on society the ideas of economy liberalization is revealed, This mechanism keeps out of sight the technology of carrying out economic wars by the most powerful subjects of economic competitions for the purpose of conquest of the markets, actives or other resources contributing to the growth of social contrasts in society, as well as the concentration of money and power in the growing circle of participants in economic competition. It is determined that the goals and strategies of economic competitors are in conflict with the interests of society, because the means of realization of their aspirations are subjected to the law of energy conservation, but not to public morality or even existing laws, if there are no effective coercive mechanisms. The crucial role played by state institutions in the process of organizing economic entities in order to achieve socially significant goals and implement important strategies for society are investigated. The importance of the subjectivity of the state in the process of functioning and development of the economy is substantiated. The analysis of achieving positive results in the economy due to purposeful and systematic work of state institutions in the countries that have succeeded in ensuring stable development, reducing social contrasts, revolutionary transformations in their own economic complex, relying on effective organization of innovation in their countries is carried out.

Efficiency on the dynamic adjustment path in a financial market

The invisible hand of a perfectly competitive financial market refers to the self-regulating behavior of the market where if each consumer and producer of funds is allowed to freely make their own choices, the market settles at an efficient outcome which is beneficial to all the individual members of the society and hence to the society as a whole. Two well-known facets of the invisible hand are generally mentioned in the economics and finance literature - the first one is a static picture of a perfectly competitive market, i.e., a competitive market is efficient in an equilibrium; and the second one is that if the competitive market is disturbed from its equilibrium position, in the absence of a market failure and frictions, the market automatically settles at a new efficient equilibrium. This paper takes into account a third facet, i.e., how efficient is a perfectly competitive financial market on the dynamic adjustment path after an economic shock in the absence of all kinds of frictions and interest rate rigidities. We conclude that coordinated actions of economic agents can result in a level of economic efficiency on the dynamic adjustment path which is not achievable by a free market mechanism.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s12197-020-09523-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Accountability to Population Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Designing Health Care Delivery Within a Social Responsibility Framework.

Accountability to Population Health in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Designing Health Care Delivery Within a Social Responsibility Framework.

The Affordable Care Act and Recent Reforms: Policy Implications for Equitable Mental Health Care Delivery.

Controversy exists over how to ethically distribute health care resources and which factors should determine access to health care services. Although the US has traditionally used a market-based private insurance model that does not ensure universal coverage, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) in the United States aims to increase equitable access to health care by increasing the accessibility, affordability, and quality of health care services. This article evaluates the impact of the ACA on equitable mental health care delivery according to access factors that can hinder or facilitate the delivery of mental health services based on need. The ACA has successfully expanded coverage to millions of Americans and promoted coordination and access to mental health care; however, financial and non-financial access barriers to mental health care and access disparities remain. Reform efforts should not undervalue the gains that the ACA has made but should attempt to balance considerations of cost and increasing free-market mechanisms with decreasing remaining health care disparities.

The intrinsic fallacy of market mechanism and private property rights in alleviating the tragedy of the commons

ABSTRACT Economists’ solution to the tragedy of the commons relies on well-defined property rights and competitive market mechanism for limiting individuals’ self-serving, short-sighted actions that result in a dramatic depletion of the common resources. However, this solution implicates a serious threat in terms of sustainability. Recently, deterioration of genetic diversity reached alarming levels, mainly attributed to escalating economic pressure that obliges farmers to shift from local breeds towards more profitable and more productive industrial breeds. This study empirically examines the efficiency of the free market mechanism as a solution to the tragedy of the commons through a unique natural experiment in which a huge demand shock arises regarding sheep. Results robustly show that the free market mechanism can cope with even a very challenging demand shock through the adjustment of prices without any shortage of the commodity. However, this finding does not guarantee that such an outcome is sustainable over the very long term. Analysis of the growth rate of the local sheep breeds population and cross-breed sheep population shows that the trend is overwhelmingly in favour of cross-breeds, thus supporting concerns for a free market mechanism, intrinsically driving the extinction of local sheep breeds, an invaluable genetic resource.