Scholars In Economics Research Articles

The Market as Negotiation

Our economic system counts on markets to allocate most of our societal resources. The law often treats markets as discrete entities, with a native intelligence and structure that provides clear answers to questions about prices and terms. In reality, of course, markets are much messier—they are agglomerations of negotiations by individual parties. Despite theoretical and empirical work on markets and on negotiation, legal scholars have largely overlooked the connection between the two areas in considering how markets are constructed and regulated. This Article brings together scholarship in law, economics, sociology, and psychology to better understand the role that negotiation plays in different types of marketplaces. Establishing the concept of negotiation variance, we create a preliminary taxonomy of factors that shape such variance and examine the differences between markets as to the effects that negotiation can have on transactions. In markets with high negotiation variance, parties can use their negotiation effectiveness to get much better deals. Although the law has not generally recognized negotiation’s role in markets explicitly, judges and policymakers have at times taken negotiation variance into account implicitly, making exceptions to standard doctrines to accommodate unbalanced outcomes. The Article examines the doctrines of common-law contract that reflect an understanding of negotiation’s impact, as well as exploring three particular markets where high-variance negotiation has a significant role: lawsuit settlements, corporate control, and employment. These examples show how the law takes negotiation variance into account and illustrates the challenges in developing a response to individual negotiation differences across markets.

A Research Agenda for the Future of Ecological Economics by Emerging Scholars

As a discipline, ecological economics is at a turning point and there is a need to develop a new research agenda for ecological economics that will contribute to the creation and adoption of new economic institutions. There are still considerable environmental issues and a new generation of scholars ready to tackle them. In this paper and Special Issue, we highlight the voices of emerging scholars in ecological economics who put social justice squarely at the center of ecological economic research. The papers in this issue remain true to the central focus of economic downscaling while calling for greater emphasis on culture and society. We acknowledge that methodological and intellectual pluralism inherently entail tensions but strive to find shared normative foundations to collectively work toward socio-ecological transformations. In this editorial, we emphasize the need for further attention to social aspects of ecological economics and evolutionary approaches to further strengthen cooperation.

Paradigms and the political economy of ecopolitical projects: Green growth and degrowth compared

Competing ecopolitical projects seek to deliver answers to one of the most central questions of our time: how can the escalating climate crisis be halted? The paper asks how we may meaningfully compare ecopolitical projects that originate in fundamentally different conceptions of the type of change necessary to reach a sustainable organization of society? Using Peter Hall's paradigm approach as a starting point, the paper employs extant political economy scholarship to develop a framework that sets out four key dimensions that work as points of comparison between ecopolitical projects. The framework is applied in a comparison of the competing ecopolitical projects of green growth and degrowth to elucidate the ways in which these projects differ profoundly in terms of the extensiveness of change they envision, the actors they consider pivotal for sustainability transitions, their scientific basis and their distributional consequences.

The NY Billionaire Mark-to-Market Tax Act: Revenue, Economic, and Constitutional Analysis

As legal and economic scholars from across the nation, we write to express our support for the New York Billionaire Mark-to-Market Tax Act ( S8277A / A10414 ) — the surest and fastest way to fill New York state’s ballooning deficit and ensure safety and security for all its residents. This report consists of revenue, economic, and constitutional analysis of the New York Billionaire Mark-to-Market Tax Act, by the authors, as well as a cover letter to NY Governor Cuomo, Speaker Stewart-Cousins, and Speaker Heastie, also written by the authors, and signed onto by all of: Amitava Dutt, Notre Dame University, Professor of Economics Brian Galle, Georgetown University, Professor of Law Calvin Johnson, University of Texas-Austin, Professor of Law Cristobal Young, Cornell University, Professor of Sociology Daniel Hemel, University of Chicago, Professor of Law Daniel Markovits, Yale University, Professor of Law Daniel Shaviro, New York University, Professor of Law David Abraham, University of Miami, Professor of Law David Hasen, University of Florida, Professor of Law Edward Wolff, New York University, Professor of Economics Erin Scharff, Arizona State University, Professor of Law Ethan Kaplan, University of Maryland, Professor of Economics Gabriel Mathy, American University, Professor of Economics Gabriel Zucman, University of California Berkeley, Professor of Economics Gerald Epstein, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Professor of Economics Gladriel Shobe, Brigham Young University, Professor of Law Goldburn Maynard Jr., Indiana University, Professor of Law Hal Salzman, Rutgers University, Professor of Public Policy Herbert Gintis, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Professor of Economics Irene Hueter, Columbia University, Professor of Statistics James Boyce, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Professor of Economics Jay Soled, Rutgers University, Professor of Taxation Jennifer Bird-Pollan, University of Kentucky, Professor of Law John Brooks, Georgetown University, Professor of Law Julie Nelson, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Professor of Economics Kathleen Delaney Thomas, University of North Carolina, Professor of Law L. Randall Wray, Bard College, Professor of Economics Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute, Economist Lawrence Peter King, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Professor of Economics Linda J. Bilmes, Harvard University, Professor of Public Policy Manoj Viswanathan, University of California Hastings, Professor of Law Mark Setterfield, The New School For Social Research, Professor of Economics Marlene Kim, University of Massachusetts-Boston, Professor of Economics Maurice Stucke, University of Tennessee, Professor of Law Mitchell Kane, New York University, Professor of Law Neil Buchanan, University of Florida, Professor of Law Patricia Cain, Santa Clara University, Professor of Law Peter Skott, University of Massachusett-Amherst, Professor of Economics Phillip Moss, University of Massachusetts-Lowell, Professor of Economics Sanjukta Paul, Wayne State University, Professor of Law Steven Fazzari, Washington University in St. Louis, Professor of Economics Talha Syed, University of California Berkeley, Professor of Law Thomas Herndon, Loyola Marymount University, Professor of Economics Thomas Masterson, Bard College, Professor of Economics Thomas Piketty, Paris School of Economics, Professor of Economics Vamsicharan Vakulabharanam, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Professor of Economics William Lazonick, University of Massachusetts, Professor of Economics

Governing through non‐enforcement: Regulatory forbearance as industrial policy in advanced economies

AbstractPolitical economy scholarship generally assumes that governments are interested in enforcing economic regulations. Cases of non‐enforcement are predominantly studied in the context of developing countries and are chiefly associated with states' deficient institutional capacity. This article casts doubts on these assumptions by showing how governments in advanced democracies manipulate the regulatory regime and generate selective non‐enforcement of economic regulations to shape markets at their discretion. We argue that regulatory forbearance becomes an attractive form of industrial policy when governments are prevented from intervening discretionally in markets due to legal obstacles, which they cannot overcome; or when the productive structure of the country makes alternative forms of intervention unviable. Drawing on the study of tax non‐enforcement in two most‐different cases of strong and weak state capacity such as Germany and Italy, the article theorizes three techniques through which governments manipulate regulatory regimes: legal and organizational sabotage and shirking. By shedding light on the economic logic of forbearance, the article points at non‐enforcement as an overlooked mode of regulatory governance and suggests the need to inquire further into governments' strategic agency behind regulatory regimes.

The Impact of ICT and FDI as Drivers to Economic Growth In ASEAN-8 Countries: A Panel Regression Analysis

Over the last few years, information and communication technology (ICT) has become a key catalyst for economic growth. The durability of this technology is demonstrated by the rapid proliferation of the Internet, mobile phones and cellular networks across the globe. However, among economic scholars, the question of exactly how the spread of ICT affects economic development and FDI, especially in ASEAN countries with differences in levels of income, remains unanswered. The aim of this study was essentially to explore the relationship between ICT dissemination, FDI and economic growth in ASEAN-8 countries. By using data from 2003 to 2017, the panel regression analysis was used to evaluate these relationships. The results showed that the dissemination of ICT and FDI are important and they have a positive effect on the ASEAN-8 countries’ economic development.

Does economics have an ‘Africa problem’?

There has been increasing interest on the apparent underrepresentation of African-based scholars in economics scholarship on Africa. Much of this debate, however, proceeds with little by way of evidence in demonstrating whether such an underrepresentation actually exists in the first place. In this paper, I look at the patterns of authorship over the period 2005–2015 in ‘leading’ economics journals that publish regularly on Africa. I find that, on average, only 25 per cent of the journal articles published on Africa had at-least one African-based author over this period. Further, I find that whereas the journals I consider dedicate about 30 per cent of their content on Africa, only 3 per cent of their editorial boards are based on the continent. These patterns likely account for the dismal state of the discipline’s knowledge about the continent.

Multisided platform research over the past three decades: a bibliometric analysis

Over the past 30 years, numerous scholars in economics and management have studied a phenomenon we now refer to as 'platforms' - digital businesses that link multiple market sides and generate network effects within and across those market actors. In this literature review, we discuss the different definitions of the term 'platform' and explain the results of a bibliometric analysis of 578 peer-reviewed articles published on this topic during the past three decades. Based on a study of keywords, we organise the research into seven streams (strategy, architecture, governance, business model and customer relations, multi-platform bundles, ecosystem participants, and technological innovation) and three levels of analysis (business, corporate, and ecosystem). We conclude with some statistical summaries and comments.

Próspera: Partnering for Economic Development in Honduras

Erick A. Brimen's vision was on the verge of reality. As CEO of Prospera LLC, an economic development platform based in Washington, DC, he had devoted years to fostering efforts to bring economic development and stability to a small region in Honduras. He had worked with government officials, scholars of economics and law, and local residents to develop a zone for employment and economic development (in Spanish, zona de empleo y desarrollo economico, or ZEDE). ZEDEs were similar to special economic zones (SEZs), which typically relied on tax and industry incentives to attract foreign direct investment. ZEDEs took it one step further. Through changes to the Honduran Constitution, ZEDEs had semiautonomous governance that allowed them to establish their own laws, taxes, courts, utilities, infrastructure, and even security forces. For Brimen, the governance model was key to reducing risk in the investment. And it offered a way to address what he and many others believed was the fundamental issue that kept people in poverty—the lack of better-paying jobs. At last, Prospera ZEDE's public launch was scheduled for May 2020, as Prospera prepared to close with investors for series A funding. The funding would support its first major project within the ZEDE, called Prospera Village.Yet just as Prospera was about to close on the series A funding, the COVID-19 pandemic arrived. In addition to the human tragedy, supply chains were severed and markets reacted. Investors were nervous as businesses looked to relocate or diversify supply chains out of Asia. How would investors respond to this innovative business model in a developing economy during this time of uncertainty? Excerpt UVA-F-1980 Jun. 10, 2021 Prospera: Partnering for Economic Development in Honduras Break a paradigm—the world changes. —Erick A. Brimen . . .

Lawmaking Without Law: How Overreliance on Economics Fails Financial Regulation

This article examines a fundamental failure of process in lawmaking: the overreliance of lawmakers on economists and economic scholarship when designing and implementing financial regulation, to the virtual exclusion of lawyers and legal scholarship. This overreliance leads to regulation that often is based on theoretical models and assumptions that are poorly informed by experience and may not withstand real-world testing. The article examines how to improve financial regulation by better integrating legal scholarship and lawyerly insights into the lawmaking process. Among other things, that will require law professors to gain the attention, and earn the respect, of lawmakers by writing more reality-based articles and publishing them not only in traditional law reviews but also in more accessible formats and policy-oriented forums.

Do Unions Still Matter for Redistribution? Evidence from Canada’s Provinces

We examine the relationship between union power and redistribution in Canada’s ten provinces between 1986 and 2014. Subnational jurisdictions are thus the focus of research questions that have previously been addressed at the international level. Multilevel models with time-series cross-sectional data are used to estimate the long-term association between union density and redistribution through provincial transfer payments and income taxes. We found that higher union density correlates with considerably more redistribution over the long term but not over the short term. This finding is confirmed by three distinct measures of inequality and poverty reduction, an indication that it is quite robust. The association is significant for the entire study period and for its second half. This finding is consistent with power resource theory in its original form, but not with more recent work in that area or with comparative political economy scholarship, which generally now neglects or downplays the impact of organized labour on social and economic policy outcomes. Our findings suggest a need to re-assess the diminished interest of recent researchers in the political influence of organized labour. It will also interest scholars in other countries where tax and transfer systems are decentralized, and where the impact of organized labour on such measures has been understudied at the subnational level. Additionally, we show that unionized voters in Canada are more favourably disposed than their non-unionized counterparts toward redistribution and toward pro-redistribution political parties. Unions may consequently affect redistribution in part by socializing their members to favour it. This possibility is advanced with preliminary data in this paper. We argue that further scholarly attention is both required and deserved on this subject in Canada and elsewhere.

Tax Law, Inequality, and Redistribution: Recent and Possible Future Developments

The current age of inequality is also an age of extensive tax and related public economics scholarship about inequality. Three prominent aspects of recent research especially stand out. The first concerns empirical measurement of economic inequality, as it has changed over time. The second concerns different mechanisms for taxing the rich, such as through the taxation of income, wealth, consumption, or gratuitous transfers. The third concerns new uses of the tax system to address poverty. Each of these research areas can, should, and undoubtedly will continue to develop. I will suggest, however, that two further sets of issues raised by inequality demand greater attention than they have heretofore received. The first is normative inquiry regarding why, when, how, and to what extent inequality matters, moving beyond the economic literature’s often predominant focus on declining marginal utility. The second is better connecting the analysis of purely economic inequality to that of its other dimensions, such as racial and ethnic inequality. In both areas, given tax law’s institutional focus, a key aim should be to offer policymakers potentially usable guidance, by suggesting what practical implications a particular normative view (and/or particular empirical findings) might have.

New Puzzles in International Tax Agreements

The G-7’s “global minimum tax” accord—followed by a new version of the OECD’s “Two Pillar Solution” and its endorsement by the G-20—is accepted by many as evidence for international tax cooperation. But recent policy discussions offer no answer to a basic question: What can countries cooperate to achieve? This Article shows that the answers provided by proponents of the new international tax agreement are alarmingly ad hoc, misleading, and incoherent. Scholarship on corporate taxation has also long failed to identify potentials for international cooperation. The more successful international agreements purport to be, in other words, the more puzzling they become. I first examine three rationales recently identified for collective action. The first alleges a transformation in the services trade that supposedly undermines premises of traditional international tax design. The second emphasizes the international community’s need to appease the United States and prevent the latter from starting trade wars. Both make unusual and untenable factual and normative assumptions. A third rationale seems more familiar—countries should cooperate to end tax competition and multinational companies’ tax avoidance—but is at odds with both economic theory and the actual content of the OECD’s proposal. Theoretically, ending tax competitions—whether for productive capital or for corporate headquarters—cannot create gains for all countries. And in terms of policy content, the OECD proposal can more plausibly be read as limiting, rather than enhancing, governments’ capacities to tax MNCs. Older and more basic puzzles in theories of international taxation—concerning source-country taxation, residence countries’ unilateral relief from double taxation, and bilateral tax treaties—compound these new puzzles. Arguably, these puzzles have led tax scholars to abandon a basic social scientific template for explaining cooperation. Indeed, much of economic scholarship takes international tax institutions as exogenously given. I contrast this state of affairs with economic theories of trade agreements—in particular, with the way the “terms-of-trade” theory rationalizes the GATT/WTO regime. To emulate the success of the “terms-of-trade” theory, I argue, certain assumptions that have long prevailed in discourses about international taxation may need to be jettisoned. Only a more fundamental reconceptualization of the subject matter of international taxation can shed light on the true past and future grounds for international tax cooperation.

حقیقة البتکوین وحکم التعامل به (دراسة فقهیة مقارنة)

ملخص البحث: تناول البحث بيان تعريف البتکوين ونشأته وکيفية الحصول عليه ومميزاته وعيوبه وخصائصه، ثم بين البحث مدي قبول التعامل بالبتکوين وحدوده کنوعا من أنواع النقود علي مستوي الدول والأفراد، لوجود خلاف بين علماء القانون والاقتصاد والنقود في توصيفه، وهل هو نقدا أم سلعة ؟ ثم تناول البحث الأحکام الشرعية المتعلقة بأحکام النقود في الفقه الإسلامي، کالمختص بإصدار النقود، ومدي جريان علة الثمنية في الذهب والفضة والفلوس کنقود لتخريج أحکام البتکوين عليها، وقد تبين في البحث عدم جواز التعامل بالبتکوين کنقد للأسباب التي وردت في البحث، بل إن بعض العلماء قال إن البتکوين لا يصلح کسلعة لما فيه من ضررا وغش وتدليس، الأمر الذى جعل دور الإفتاء الإسلامية وعلي رأسها دار الإفتاء المصرية يفتون بحرمة وعدم جواز التعامل بأي عملة اقترابية وعلي رأسها البتکوين، إلا أن المتعاملين به کنقد يجري بينهم أحکام الربا والصرف وسائر الأحکام کما يجب عليهم إخراج الزکاة منه، وأوصي البحث بإجتماع علماء النقود والاقتصاد تحت مظلة الأمم المتحدة لوضع ضوابط لهذه العملة الجديدة تبين فيها نظام إصدارها وتحديد سعرها بالنسبة لکل دولة، وتکون هذه الضوابط ملزمة لکافة الدول لمنع زيادة الأنشطة الإرهابية والإجرامية. Abstract: The research dealt with the definition of Bitcoin, its origin, how to obtain it, its advantages, disadvantages and characteristics. Then the research showed the extent of acceptability of dealing in Bitcoin and its limits as a type of money at the level of countries and individual, because there is a disagreement between scholars of law, economics and money regarding its description, and if it is cash or commodity? After that the research dealt with the legal rulings related to the provisions of money in Islamic jurisprudence such as the one concerned with issuing money, and the extent of the suitability of the pricelessness of the value of money in gold, silver and money as money to produce the provisions of Bitcoin on it. The research has shown that it is not permissible to deal with Bitcoin as cash for the reasons mentioned in the research. Indeed, some scholars said that Bitcoin is not suitable as a commodity because of its harm, fraud and deception, which made the role of Islamic Fatwa, on top of which is the Egyptian Fatwa House, issuing fatwas with the forbiddance and the impermissibility of dealing in any approximate currency, on top of which is Bitcoin. Yet, all those who deal with it as cash have the provisions of usury and exchange and all other provisions applied. They must pay zakat from it and I recommend the research meeting of monetarists and economists under the umbrella of the United Nations to set controls for this new currency in which the system of issuance and determination of its price for each country is indicated. These controls are binding on all countries to prevent the increase in terrorist and criminal activities

Faktor Penentu Harga dalam Tinjauan Pemikiran Ekonomi Islam

Price is one of the vital factors in economic studies, either at a micro or macro level. In general term, the concept of price can be found in primary (Al Qur’an and Sunnah) and secondary such as tafsir, fiqh, kalam, philosophy and history. Therefore, this study aims to find out the concept of price determinants developed by earlier Islamic economics scholars and compare it with the price theory in modern economics, which refers to Western economic thought. This study using a qualitative methodology using library research and content analysis. The results are the price determinant in the Islamic economy are according to the agreement of Islamic scholar based on demand and supply then shapes the price and volume of transactions. The other factors influencing the price mechanism are inventory, geography or places, consumption time, quality of goods, quantity and cost. The differences with the western economic view lie in the worldview aspect or the world view in understanding the price concept.

The Diversity of Economic Nationalism

ABSTRACT The growing political salience of economic nationalism after the 2008 financial crisis has strengthened arguments made in pre-crisis political economy (PE) scholarship about the enduring importance of this ideology and the need for more study of the economic significance of nationalism and national identities. Scholarship on this topic suffers, however, from some blindspots that inhibit understanding of the two most systemically important strands of this ideology in recent years: those associated with American populist conservatism and Chinese developmentalism. Both can be described as neomercantilist forms of economic nationalism, a form most commonly identified with the ideas of Friedrich List. But List’s ideas are much less useful for understanding them than the distinctive ideas of two other historical thinkers – Henry Carey and Sun Yat-sen – who have been quite neglected in PE scholarship on economic nationalism. These empirical blindspots are related to two deeper conceptual ones: insufficient recognition of the diverse origins and content of neomercantilist economic nationalism and, in the case of Sun’s neglect, the Western-centric nature of PE’s intellectual history. If these blindspots can be overcome, PE scholars will be better positioned to interpret these – and other – diverse varieties of contemporary economic nationalism.

Big data and big techs: understanding the value of information in platform capitalism

One of the major challenges that result from the digital transformation occurring in our societies bears on its impact on the organization and regulation of the economy. This leads to a dramatic change to the economic institutions of capitalism—into what could be defined as platform capitalism—that rests on a fundamental dilemma between ‘decentralization’ on the one side and ‘concentration’ on the other. This is the main puzzle that the emergence of a big data driven economy is actually offering to law and economics scholars and to policy makers. This paper introduces to some of the major aspects of this dilemma.

Driven to Debt: Social Reproduction and (Auto)Mobility in Los Angeles

Since the financial crisis of 2008, subprime lending in the United States has flourished in auto loan markets. This article charts, for the first time, some of the contours of this underresearched part of the subprime landscape. In so doing, it makes two contributions. First, it widens and resituates debates about subprime lending by building on a suite of feminist political economic scholarship to argue that the sites, practices, and agents of social reproduction provide an essential—and largely neglected—perspective on the endurance and deepening of subprime markets. Second, the article leverages the intrinsically geographical, place-bound nature of social reproduction to provide a more holistic treatment of the financialization of everyday life. The article uses (auto)mobility as a novel vantage point from which to connect hitherto disparate social science literatures on financialization, transportation planning, welfare, and urban form. Drawing on secondary data and qualitative fieldwork in Los Angeles, the research explores the proliferation of subprime auto lending and the gendered, raced, and classed inequalities in mobility that mediate everyday life—the daily commute, the school run, the grocery shopping trip—and the demand for subprime debt.

The Determinants of Islamic Banks’ Stock Prices: Evidence from the GCC Countries

Islamic banks’ stock is a new interesting material to be discussed among Islamic economics scholars. The majority of Islamic banks’ stocks presents in the middle-east countries, especially those which are joining as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Samples in this study were 10 Islamic banks in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries with secondary data from their financial report. A panel data regression analysis was employed to seek the influence of all observed variables (ROA, ROE, and ICSR (zakat)) as the determinant factors toward Islamic banks’ stock prices. The study found that all the independent variables simultaneously have an impact on Islamic banks’ stock prices in that area. The study also found that the variable of ROA has a negative significant impact, the variable of ROE has a positive significant impact, and ICSR (zakat) has an insignificant impact on Islamic banks’ stock prices in the GCC countries. This study suggested all Islamic banks globally to consider investors’ sentiment on Islamic banks’ financial condition before entering the Islamic capital market

Adam Smith and the poor: A textual analysis

Scholars of classical economics have largely rejected the popular view of Adam Smith as an apologist for big business indifferent to the plight of the poor. To test and ultimately vindicate this consensus, I attempt to tabulate all mentions of the poor in Smith's published works in which their well-being is under discussion. For each such appearance I assess his attitude toward such well-being, as well as where his sympathies lie should there be a conflict between the poor on one side and the rich and powerful on the other. The textual search strongly supports the idea that Smith was indeed partial to workers and the poor, although this judgment requires that the reader enter into Smith's patterns of thought about property rights, economic growth, and the system of natural liberty.