Western Economics Research Articles

The Principle of Greatest Happiness in Western Economic Thought and its Relation to Buddhist Economics

Western economic thinkers in the 19th century rediscovered the principle of greatest happiness (PGH). However, as Eastern philosophical and religious thinking shows it was part of common knowledge in Buddhism and Hinduism over the past millennia. PGH did not have the same agenda as later on utilitarism of John Stanley Jevons, with the utility maximization principle (UMP) of individuals disconnected from the rest of the society. The UMP was more an outcome of a fusion between moral ethical thinking as a social phenomenon with the Newtonian principles of mechanics based on differential calculus. The huge success of natural sciences in the 19th century during the industrial revolution was too tempting not to imitate its methodologies and concepts in the social sciences as social physics (SP). This kind of approach still has many followers unsurprisingly in the natural science community nowadays. The paper studies these interconnections between these different strands of Western thinking which lead after a century to the neoclassical paradigm in economics which took the UMP as its foundation for economic analysis. Richard Layard, an English labour economist, pointed out among others by empirical research that wellbeing or happiness is not significantly correlated with an ever increasing material wealth. Here might emerge a bridge between Buddhist economics and the recent rediscovery of the PGH in modern Western economics. The paper will close with the suggestion of some first possible corrections necessary for UMP to obtain a PGH consistent with the current challenges to the global society.

On the economic analysis paradigm of historical materialism

唯物史观的经济分析范式具有体现唯物史观特征的基本框架， 作为自觉运用的科学分析方法， 它是经济领域的客观辩证法在头脑中的反映， 包括运用马克思主义经济学范畴、原理的分析功能和把握唯物史观分析路径的辩证法要素这两个方面；与西方经济学分析方法对比， 唯物史观经济分析方法具有显著的科学特征和优势， 其理论创新是由唯物史观的科学性质决定的。 The economic analysis paradigm of historical materialism is marked by a basic framework that embodies the distinctive features of historical materialism. As a consciously applied scientific method of analysis it is a reflection in the mind of the objective dialectics of the economic realm, consisting of applying the analytical functions of Marxist economic categories and principles and grasping the dialectical elements in the analytical approach of historical materialism. Compared with the analytical method of Western economics, the economic analytical method of historical materialism is markedly more scientific and advantageous. It is innovative in theoretical terms due to the scientific nature of historical materialism.

Jingji xue: the history of the introduction of Western economic ideas into China, 1850-1950

Based on solid research, Jingji Xue presents how Economics, as a thought as well as an intellectual discipline, had been introduced to China. It identifies the Chinese who studied Economics in the West and evaluates their roles in teaching, research, and publication in China. Particularly, it describes and examines the activities of Kang Youwei, Liang Qichao, Sun Yat-sen, and Yan Fu et al in transmitting and interpreting Western Economics. The evolution of Economics programme in leading universities in China is also discussed.

Western economics versus Buddhist economics

The paper explores Buddhist economics as a major alternative to the Western economic mindset. Buddhism is centred on want negation and purification of the human character. Buddhist economics, developed by Schumacher, Payutto, Welford and others, challenges the basic principles of modern Western economics: (1) profit-maximisation, (2) cultivating desires, (3) introducing markets, (4) instrumental use of the world, and (5) self-interest-based ethics. Buddhist economics proposes alternative principles such as minimising suffering, simplifying desires, non-violence, genuine care, and generosity. It is suggested that Buddhist economics is not a system but a strategy, which can be applied in any economic setting.

A critical and phenomenological genealogy of the question of the real in Western economics and management

PurposeThis paper aims to answer the following question: where does our capacity for epoche, for decentration, for suspending representations come from? This question is an important one if we accept, as phenomenology does, that this is how we can find the meaning of our life and our actions.Design/methodology/approachIn order to answer this question the paper undertakes a critical genealogy of what those in the Western world consider to be the real, stressing how much Western thought overestimates the reality of what can be seen, measured, and calculated, and underestimates the experience of interiority by silencing the real dynamic of development of each person's lives.FindingsFollowing on from Michel Henry's phenomenology the paper shows how epoche, decentring is precisely about paying attention to this very real dynamic of development of life with others. Suspending for a while the representations and calculations and allowing people to be guided by such dynamic is therefore totally justified. Moreover, because it is fully embodied, this dynamic gives us the power and strength to engage in reasonable and responsible action. Two experiences recounted by managers illustrate this point.Originality/valueThe paper shows that phenomenological epoche is not about speculation, it is not idealism, but a totally realistic, practicable choice.

Buddhist economics ancient teachings revisited

The views and values of Buddhist economics play a growing role in the present discourse on 'green' economics. These ancient teachings represent an alternative paradigm and holistic concept of economic action opposed to the reductionist mainstream economics. In this paper, the main content and assumptions of Buddhist economics as laid down in the canonical scriptures are introduced and contrasted with those of western economics. The Buddhist concept of happiness, and of economic action in general, the recommendations on right livelihood as well as the corresponding notions about the source of wealth, its proper use and distribution are reviewed and discussed. It is shown that these ancient teachings share many common facets with the ecological movement and its approach to economics. Particular attention is given to review the actual impact of Buddhist economic ethics on the social and economic history of Asian Buddhist countries.

Environment as the Stage for Economic Actors

The relative importance of economics and environment in debate may soon be reversed due to the influence of three factors. Firstly, in the global economy it is hard to hide the unwanted products of economic processes. Secondly, huge advances in science will reduce the imperfect knowledge of markets, making some monitoring and analyzing tools show the design of sensible and equitable livelihood in communities, which is more important than the motivation of maximising profits for some individuals or firms. Thirdly, China, as the last major player on the planet to take on economic growth, comes from traditions fundamentally different from those economies that have experienced the Industrial Revolution previously. Its challenges with sustainability and environmental conservation predate Western economics by millennia, and it is implementing policies domestically and starting to work on the world stage that acknowledges that the surroundings are the host for any economic and socio-political system.

Western Economics is Toxic: Can We Learn from the Cubans

Western Economics is Toxic: Can We Learn from the Cubans

Japanese spirit, Western economics: the continuing salience of economic nationalism in Japan

Japan is arguably the single most important country in the International Political Economy (IPE) literature on economic nationalism. The spectacular success that the Japanese state has enjoyed, both during the Meiji period in the late 19th century and during the high growth decades of the Cold War, in promoting economic development has made the country the most effective advertisement for economic nationalism since interest in the concept began to re-emerge in the early 1970s. The precise mix of policies that Japan has employed in spurring economic growth is, of course, the subject of scholarly debate. However, there is widespread agreement that mechanisms like industrial targeting, directed lending, protection and subsidies for infant industries, efforts to procure and indigenise technology, and state control over finance have been central to Japan’s success. While Alice Amsden coined the phrase ‘getting the prices wrong’ to describe South Korea’s industrial policy, the willingness of the Japanese state to change price incentives in the economy has been a key part of the country’s economic nationalism. 1 During the 1980s Japan was touted as a model not only for the rest of Asia, where various states made efforts to emulate Japanese policies, 2 but even for the United States itself. At a more theoretical level, much of the discussion about economic nationalism in IPE took Japanese policies as paradigmatic. Given that Japan’s economic success has had so much to do with both the study and the advocacy of economic nationalism, it is not surprising that the country’s prolonged doldrums during the 1990s have encouraged critics of nationalist economics. Japan’s ‘lost decade’, and the 1997 Asian financial crisis which laid low many other states ostensibly following the Japanese model, have widely been seen as decisive refutations of economic nationalist policies. Indeed, with the Asian crisis following on the heels of the collapse of the Soviet Union, liberal economists (particularly in the USA) were quick to argue that both communist and nationalist economics had been discredited and that liberalism was now the only game in town. Whatever usefulness Japan’s nationalist economic policies may have had in earlier decades, they were hopelessly

Overcoming Greed: An Eastern Christian Perspective

Overcoming Greed:An Eastern Christian Perspective1 Valerie A. Karras As an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I have chosen to approach the topic of "overcoming greed" from an Eastern Christian perspective, relying particularly on the writings of some of the early theologians of the Greek East. It is not coincidental either that laissez-faire capitalism arose in the Western Christian world, or that the first strongholds of communism developed in Eastern European, traditionally Orthodox, countries. Both phenomena speak to an intrinsic difference in the way in which human beings are conceived as relating to the world and to each other, both personally and communally.The traditional Eastern Christian model of the human person as not simply caretaker of creation, but fundamentally as a mediator uniting all aspects of creation in humanity's own nature,2 has led historically to a general lack of interest in exploiting creation (in fact, the worst environmental problems in the Orthodox world occurred in countries after they came under totalitarian communist domination). Similarly, the Eastern Orthodox emphasis on the relational, and even communal, nature of salvation created an environment hostile to the individualist, exploitative model upon which modern Western economics has been founded (this has been rapidly changing in post-communist Eastern European countries and Russia, however). The Eastern Church identifies this phenomenon of exploitative and abusive relationships toward nature and other persons as a consequence of the fallen condition of humanity, that is, humanity as it currently exists, in a state where our natural communion with God has been ruptured. In this context, Christianity in general and Eastern Christianity in particular recognize greed as one of the passions (equivalent to what Buddhism describes as "cravings") that are part of our fallen human nature, a consequence of our separation from God. Some of the passions are primarily physical in nature, others emotional or psychic, but in fact virtually all passions are a combination of the two. Greed, a passion of both soul and body that is endemic to our current existence, is typical of this understanding. There are two aspects to the vice of greed: (1) the emotional or spiritual dimension, that is, the acquisitive lust that usually betokens either a deep-seated insecurity or, worse, a desire for power and control; and (2) the [End Page 47] external, physical manifestations of greed in the actual acquisition of things, often to the detriment or exploitation of others. Eastern Christian writings attempt to work on both dimensions of the passion of greed, especially the spiritual, while often distinguishing between greed (a moral vice) and wealth (an amoral condition). This article will focus on two early church theologians, Clement of Alexandria and John Chrysostom. In particular, it will focus on their biblical exegeses of two pertinent New Testament passages: Jesus' conversation with a young righteous scholar of the Mosaic Law and the parable of Lazarus and the rich man, respectively. Finally, I will suggest that, for Orthodox Christians, an important key to overcoming greed is disciplined asceticism, to be practiced by all persons and not simply by monks and nuns. Asceticism—the exercise of control over the passions through fasting, prayer, chastity (understood differently for married and unmarried persons), and almsgiving—is the vehicle by which to cultivate an attitude of apatheia or passionlessness, the Christian equivalent of the Buddhist ideal of detachment. Clement was a philosopher-theologian who headed the great Christian catechetical school in Alexandria in the late second century C.E. In his treatise Who IstheRich ManWhoWill Be Saved? 3 Clement mused on the spiritual and soteriological dimensions of greed by reflecting on Jesus' encounter with the wealthy young "lawyer," that is, scholar of the Mosaic Law, who questioned Jesus on how to acquire eternal life. In his response, the young man showed himself righteous in his adherence to the demands of the law, but ultimately unwilling to commit all of himself by giving away his property, even though Jesus said that it was the price to inherit eternal life. Clement pondered whether it were therefore possible for anyone wealthy to be saved, given Jesus' declaration that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man...

The Rustler: A Tale of Love and War in Wyoming by Frances McElrath

3 1 4 WAL 3 8 . 3 F a l l 2 0 0 3 original, independent thinking. These strengths are complemented by the clar­ ity and coherence of his prose and by what I’ll call his overall tonal sensitivity or fair-mindedness in addressing the strengths and weaknesses of critical approaches in the field. While his discussion of, say, Welch’s Winter in the Blood in the context of the “blood/land/memory complex” tends to dilute its textural density, his methodology particularly reaps dividends when he draws out the veiled, strategic oppositional rhetoric in texts immediately after World War II. In addition to such local strengths of analysis and clear framing of the argu­ mentative stakes, Allen’s method also potentially offers a way through the con­ temporary skirmishes being fiercely waged between those attuned to a globaliz­ ing, pan-ethnic approach and those advocating absolutist, local definitions of ethnic or racial identity. This is a noteworthy book that deserves wide reading. The Rustler: A Tale of Love and War in Wyoming. By Frances McElrath. With an introduction by Victoria Lamont. L incoln: U n iversity o f N ebraska Press, 2002. 193 pages, $19.95. Reviewed by Nicole Tonkovich U niversity of C alifornia, San D iego In 1902, the events of the Johnson County War, ten years after its occur­ rence, were fictionalized in two novels. One, Owen Wister’s The Virginian became the fountainhead of a century of imaginative writing about the West; the other, Frances McElrath’s The Rustler— promoted as a tale full of adventure, love, and suspense— sank into oblivion. One hundred years later, McElrath’s novel is once again available. Read through contemporary eyes, The Rustler sheds new light on Wister’s novel and its literary progeny. It exposes the complexities of western economics underlying the phenomenon of rustling and emphasizes the centrality of women— as settlers, as objects of exchange, as writers, and as centrally important ideological relays— in the turn-of-the-century West. Written by Easterners transplanted to Wyoming, the retrospective narra­ tive of each of these eerily similar novels follows the fortunes of an upwardly mobile cowboy in a corporatizing West. The virtue of the cowboy-hero is assayed in relation to cattle rustling. Each protagonist pursues a love affair with an upper-class, eastern schoolteacher who is the key to his social advancement. The differences between the two novels, however, are far more suggestive. Unlike The Virginian, The Rustler makes unbranded cattle, both as economic resources and as figures of other patrimonies, central to the plot. While the Virginian rises into the managerial ranks by his willingness to prosecute rustling, even when it is done by his closest friend, The Rustler's hero, Jim, embraces cattle-thieving as a socially justified act, marking the resistance of the cowboy-laborer to the domination of the western cattle market by effete eastern businessmen. Whereas The Virginian reports the lynching of Steve as a B o o k R e v i e w s 3 1 5 tastefully muted offstage incident, The Rustler emphasizes the violent out­ comes of rustling on those who practice it, as well as their families. The Rustler features a cast of mavericks, human as well as bovine, includ­ ing Mavvy, a heroic orphan girl; Tips, a child-cowboy adopted by Jim; Hazel, a newly orphaned elite woman unsure of her inheritance; and Jim, who has fled an abusive childhood home for life on the range. Unlike The Virginian’s marriage plot, which promises to reunite the divided postbellum nation in the open spaces of the West, The Rustler’s denouement is fragmented. The epony­ mous Jim dies a slow and excruciating death, the result of vigilante justice, nursed by the repentant Hazel, whose dissembling flirtation is at least partly the cause of his flawed decisions. Horace, Hazel’s erstwhile eastern suitor, mar­ ries Mavvy instead. Hazel ultimately refuses to be rounded up and branded as any man’s wife, choosing to devote her life to educating and bettering the social position of the children of Jim’s band of rustlers. Victoria Lamont, who first brought this novel to the attention of western...

Eastern Europe as a Laboratory for Economic Knowledge: The Transnational Roots of Neoliberalism

Using Latour's concepts of “actor‐network�” and “translation,” the authors show that neoliberalism's success in Eastern Europe is best analyzed not as an institutional form diffused along the nodes of a network, but as itself an actor‐network based on a particular �translation strategy� that construes socialism as a laboratory of economic knowledge. They argue that socialism was made into a laboratory of economic knowledge during the socialist calculation debate of the 1920s and 1930s. An extensive debate during the Cold War is also documented and shows that a transnational network continued to be organized around attempts to connect the results obtained in the socialist laboratory with debates and struggles in Western economics. Finally, the drafting of transition blueprints in postcommunist Eastern Europe after 1989, with the participation of American economists, is shown to be a continuation of this transnational network.

Journal Pricing and Mergers: A Portfolio Approach

Despite their influence on the careers of economists, the production and pricing of scholarly journals have received scant attention from the profession. By contrast, the issue of journal quality and scholarly research productivity have been studied in far greater detail (a search in the EconLit database using the term “journal” generates several dozen papers on this topic). Although there may be a number of reasons for this “imbalance,” it is likely that the tenure process, combined with the low (if not zero) effective cost of journals on campuses have influenced our research agenda. In other words, while professors worry about their job security (publish well, or perish), others—their librarians—are charged with maintaining “free” access to all relevant journals. Of course, this pattern is observed not just in economics but across academic disciplines. In recent years, however, easy access to journals has been threatened. Beset by persistent journal price inflation (especially in the socalled STM fields, or science, technology, and medicine) and stagnant budgets, many university libraries have been forced to reallocate dollars from monographs to journals, to postpone the purchase of new journal titles, and in some cases, to cancel titles. As a consequence, libraries often relied on interlibrary loans to satisfy faculty demands. This situation and its possible causes has been studied at great length in the library science literature. With few exceptions, a consensus has evolved there which focuses on the growing importance of commercial publishers in the market for scholarly journals: Over the past decade or more, commercial firms have aggressively raised prices at a rate disproportionate to any increase in costs or quality. This appears to be especially true for the largest commercial firms. Although the analysis underlying these conclusions is generally not of the multivariate sort, it is suggestive enough to warrant further investigation. * School of Economics, Georgia Institute of Technology, 781 Marietta Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30318 (e-mail: mark.mccabe@econ.gatech.edu). I would like to thank many of my former colleagues at the Department of Justice, including Craig Conrath, Renata Hesse, Aaron Hoag, Russ Pittman, David Reitman, Dan Rubinfeld, and Greg Werden, as well as Jonathan Baker, Cory Capps, George Deltas, Luke Froeb, Jeffrey Mackie-Mason, Roger Noll, Dan O’Brien, Richard Quandt, Lars-Hendrik Roller, Steve Salop and Margaret Slade; seminar participants at the Federal Trade Commission, Georgia Tech, North Carolina State University, SUNY Stony Brook, and Wissenschaft Zentrum Berlin; and participants at the meetings of the American Economic Association, the European Association of Research in Industrial Economics, the Southern Economics Association, and Western Economics Association. The Association of Research Libraries and its members, the National Library of Medicine, the Georgia Tech Library, and the Georgia Tech Foundation have provided invaluable assistance. Expert data support was provided by a large group of individuals, including Deena Bernstein, Claude Briggs, Pat Finn, Doug Heslep, and Steve Stiglitz. Finally, I would like to thank the dozens of librarians and publishers who have provided me with important insights. 1 The exceptions are Janusz A. Ordover and Robert D. Willig (1978), Lisa Lieberman et al. (1992), George A. Chressanthis and June D. Chressanthis (1994), McCabe (2000), and Theodore C. Bergstrom (2001) . Ordover and Willig model the pricing of a single title to institutional and individual subscribers; Bergstrom’s paper discusses the differences between commercial and nonprofit economics journals. The other three papers are discussed below. 2 Increasingly, journals are available in both print and digital versions, and for some new titles only a digital format is available. See Carol Tenopir and Donald King (2000 Ch. 15). Starting in 1998, commercial publishers began placing their content online. Although major research libraries have generally responded by adding digital access, this shift is still in its early stages, especially in cases where library collections are more specialized, e.g., the typical biomedical library. For this reason, as well as the fact that more than two-thirds of the sample period occurred in a print-only environment, the emphasis of this paper is on the behavior of publishers and libraries in a print environment. The economic implications of digital access are considered briefly at the conclusion of the paper and are a subject of ongoing research. 3 See Martha Kyrillidou (1999). 4 See Tenopir and King (2000 Ch. 13), for a review of this literature. An alternative explanation for journal price inflation has been offered by Lieberman et al. (1992). They argue that entry by new titles over time has lowered circulation for existing journals, forcing the latter to raise prices to cover fixed costs.

Western Theories and the Exploitation of West Africa since the Slave Trade Era

Much of the literature on development issues in West Africa has been dominated by the impact of the interaction between this region and the West, specifically Western Europe and North America. While scholars disagree sharply on the nature of the impact, what is perhaps beyond dispute is that the West has dictated the pattern of the interaction since the era of the slave trade, with the result that the benefits have been disproportionate. This situation was facilitated in large measure by the military and technological superiority of the West over West Africa. In another sense, iniquitous as the slave trade was, philosophical explanations were proffered to justify it, while it ensured the economic development of the West. With the obsolescence of the slave trade in the late 18th century following the industrial revolution in Europe, new theories were propounded which painted the slave trade as evil and immoral. West African Kings and merchants who wanted to continue the trade were compelled to change to the 'legitimate' trade as defined in Western economics of the period. It is argued that the same trend has continued till this era of neo-liberalism. The task of this paper is to show how Western economics and the knowledge it engenders have facilitated the exploitation of West Africa since the era of the slave trade. It also discusses the task before African scholars in their application of Western theories to the African cultural milieu. (The Journal of Cultural Studies: 2001 3(1): 90-98)

Reforming Undergraduate Instruction in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine

The authors deal with the restructuring of undergraduate economics instruction at Moscow State University (MSU) since 1989. They examine how closely the reforms at MSU are mirrored by changes at Belarus State University in Minsk and at Kiev State University. They also consider, and often offer an “insider's” perspective on, several issues related to curriculum reform that go beyond what can be determined from published curriculum guides. Specifically, they consider such issues as the training and retraining of faculty members who teach courses in these departments, the use of translated Western textbooks versus locally developed textbooks, and problems that arise in departments where some faculty members teach Western economics but others continue to teach Soviet-style economics.

Ten Years After 'The Road to a Free Economy': The Author's Self-Evaluation

The book discussed several topics; the paper presents an evaluation of two issues only. As for ownership reform, there were alternative strategies suggested at that time. Strategy A recommended organic development: creating favorable conditions for bottom-up development of new entries; sale of state-owned firms, avoiding give-away schemes; and hardening the budget constraint. Strategy B proposed accelerated privatization, putting the emphasis on quick elimination of state-ownership. The main instrument was to give away state property (e.g. via a voucher-scheme), and shifting ownership into the hands of managers. Road suggested Strategy A, but the majority of the Western economics profession supported Strategy B. Experience seems to show the superiority of Strategy A. The author is less satisfied with the suggestions presented in the book for a stabilization program. The main weakness was the one-sided attention paid to short-term adjustment measures without sufficient elaboration of the profound institutional changes needed for sustainable stability.

A Comment on Katzner’s “Western Economics and the Economy of Japan”

(2000). A Comment on Katzner’s “Western Economics and the Economy of Japan”. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics: Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 647-651.

Reply to Thiruvadanthai

In his comment on my paper Western economics and the Economy of Japan (Katzner, 1999), Thiruvadanthai raises three issues of considerable importance for economic analysis. The first concerns the significance of the relationship between the cultural background of the investigators and the culture in which the object of the investigators' analysis is set. The second has to do with the meaning of the term rationality or rational behavior as it used in economics. And the third, which relates, in a fundamental way, to the purpose of economic analysis itself, is about the meaning and role of explanation in economics. I disagree with the position taken by Thiruvadanthai, or implicit in his discussion, on each of these issues and, in what follows, will try to set out the reasons why.

Western Economics and the Economy of Japan

(1999). Western Economics and the Economy of Japan. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics: Vol. 21, No. 3, pp. 503-521.

Reconciling the Chinese and Western Theory Worlds in an Era of Western Development Fatigue (A Comment

Not very long ago, the Fudan University Economics Institute and the Shanghai bonds and securities journal jointly held a conference on the development of Chinese economics, to which eminent Beijing economic thinkers such as Yu Guangyuan also came. One of the conference's topics was whether Western economics theory could be applied to China at all. All schools of Western economics, including the Marxist ones, seemed preoccupied after all with the study of market economies, yet there was no clear family resemblance between this category and China. Some conference participants argued that the Chinese would have to develop their own economic theory. Other participants shrank from this, preferring the position that Western economic theory was still one of the treasures of human development, even if most of its practitioners criticized Marxist theory without knowing anything about it. For them the answer remained of learning how to apply Western theory most appropriately to Chinese circumstances.