rising inequality as a cause of the present crisis the article argues that the economic imbalances that caused the present crisis should be thought of as the outcome of the interaction of the effects of financial deregulation with the macroeconomic effects of rising inequality in this sense rising inequality should be regarded as a root cause of the present crisis i identify four channels by which it has contributed to the crisis first rising inequality creates a downwards pressure on aggregate demand since poorer income groups have high marginal propensities to consume second international financial deregulation has allowed countries to run larger current account deficits and for longer time periods thus in reaction to potentially stagnant demand two growth models have emerged a debt led model and an export led model third in the debt led growth models higher inequality has led to higher household debt as working class families have tried to keep up with social consumption norms despite stagnating or falling real wages fourth rising inequality has increased the propensity to speculate as richer households tend to hold riskier financial assets than other groups the rise of hedge funds and of subprime derivatives in particular has been linked to rise of the super rich

regulation of a spatial externality refuges versus tax for managing pest resistance we examine regulations for managing pest resistance to pesticide varieties in a temporally and spatially explicit framework we compare the performance of the epa s mandatory refuges and a tax or subsidy on the pesticide variety under several biological assumptions on pest mobility and the heterogeneity of farmers pest vulnerability we find that only the tax or subsidy restores efficiency if pest mobility is perfect within the area if pest mobility is imperfect and when farmers face identical pest vulnerability only the refuge might restore efficiency with simulations we illustrate that complex outcomes may arise for intermediate levels of pest mobility and farmers heterogeneity our results shed light on the choice of regulatory instruments for common pool resource regulations where spatial localization matters

the role of intangible assets in explaining the investment profit puzzle starting around the early 2000s and especially after the 2008 crisis the rate of capital accumulation for us nonfinancial corporations has slowed down despite relatively high profitability indicating a weakening of the link between profitability and investment while the literature mostly focuses on financialisation and globalisation as the reasons behind this slowdown i suggest adding another layer to these explanations and argue that in conjunction with financialisation and globalisation we need to pay attention to the increased use of intangible assets by nonfinancial corporations in the last two decades intangibles such as brand names trademarks patents and copyrights play a role in the widening of the profit investment gap as the use of these assets enables firms to increase market power and profitability without necessarily generating a corresponding increase in fixed capital investment after discussing the ways nonfinancial corporations use intangible assets i look at large corporations in the usa and find the following i the ratio of intangible assets to the capital stock increased in general this increase is highest for firms in high technology healthcare nondurables and telecommunications ii industries with higher intangible asset ratios have lower investment to profit ratios iii industries with higher intangible asset ratios have higher markups and profitability iv the composition of the nonfinancial corporate sector has changed and the weight of high technology and healthcare firms has increased but this increase did not correspond to an equal increase in their investment share the decline in the investment share of durables nondurables and machinery is matched by an increase in the investment share of location specific industries with low intangible asset use most notably firms in energy extraction in general these firms have steadier markups and higher investment to profit ratios v yet intangible intensive industries profitability has increased faster than their share of investment or total assets all in all these findings are in line with the suggestion that the increased use of intangible assets enables firms to have high profitability without a corresponding increase in investment

demand pull and technology push public support for eco innovation the case of the biofuels sector the purpose of this paper is to explore the differentiated impact of demand pull and technology push policies in shaping technological patterns in the biofuels sector the empirical analysis is based on a novel and original database biopat containing patents in the field of biofuels selected using appropriate keywords and classified according to the technological content of the invention our results generally show that technological capabilities and environmental regulation spur innovative activities in the biofuels sector both demand pull and technology push factors are found to be important drivers of innovation in the biofuels sector however technology exploitation activities in first generation technologies are found to be mainly driven by quantity and price based demand pull policies on the contrary the pace of technology exploration efforts in advanced generation biofuels is shown to react positively to price based demand pull incentives but also to technology push policy the clear diversity in the impact of different public support instruments provides new insights which fuel discussion on the optimal policy mix debate and offers new elements for the design of future policy strategies

surplus distribution from the introduction of a biotechnology innovation we examine the distribution of welfare from the introduction of bt cotton in the united states in 1996 the welfare framework explicitly recognizes that research protected by intellectual property rights generates monopoly profits and makes it possible to partition these rents among consumers farmers and the innovating input firms we calculate a total increase in world surplus of 240 3 million for 1996 of this total the largest share 59 went to u s farmers the gene developer monsanto received the next largest share 21 followed by u s consumers 9 the rest of the world 6 and the germplasm supplier delta and pine land company 5

intellectual property rights and the welfare effects of agricultural r d the profound changes that have affected agriculture in modern times are perhaps best illustrated by the evolution of production techniques due to mechanization new chemical inputs such as herbicides pesticides and fertilizers genetic selection of crops and animals new crop varieties and countless other technical and organizational improvements these innovations have allowed a generalized increase in physical output while at the same time agriculture has suffered a massive exodus of labor forces towards the non farm sectors indeed a stylized fact of developed countries post war growth is that productivity in agriculture has grown faster than in other sectors jorgenson and gollop 1992 this remarkable record naturally begs the question of what is at its root and a view that commands considerable consensus is that agricultural productivity growth is due to past investments in scientific research and development r d

profitability in india s organized manufacturing sector the role of technology distribution and demand using aggregate data from the annual survey of industries we analyze profitability in india s organized manufacturing sector from 1982 83 to 2012 13 over the whole period of analysis the rate of profit grew at about 1 per annum primarily driven by a rising share of profits we use visual inspection to identify five shorter run profitability regimes 1982 91 1991 96 1996 2001 2001 07 and 2007 12 profit rate decomposition analysis shows that both technological factors and aggregate demand have been important determinants of changes in profitability in these shorter periods

technology distribution and the rate of profit in the us economy understanding the current crisis this paper offers a synoptic account of the state of the debate among marxist scholars regarding the current structural crisis of capitalism identifies two broad streams within the literature dealing in turn with aggregate demand and profitability problems and proceeds to concentrate on an analysis of issues surrounding the profitability problem in two steps first evidence on profitability trends for the non farm non financial corporate business the non financial corporate business and the corporate business sectors in post war usa are summarised a broad range of profit rate measures are covered and data from both the us bureau of economic analysis nipa and fixed assets tables and the federal reserve flow of funds account are used second the underlying drivers of profitability in terms of technology and distribution are investigated the profitability analysis is used to offer some hypotheses about the current structural crisis copyright oxford university press

rates of return on capital across the world are they converging this article estimates levels and identifies trends in the profitability of capital in a broad sample of developed developing and post communist transition economies making up over 80 of global output the underlying distributional and efficiency determinants of profitability are considered in the marxian analytical framework for the period of 1995 2007 leading to the great recession our estimates indicate a trend towards convergence of national profit rates largely driven by the convergence of profitability in developing and transition economies during this period the level of profit rates in all groups of countries experienced growth with the global capital weighted rate of profit increasing by approximately 50 the main contributor to this growth in all groups of countries was the increase in average productivity of capital measured by output capital ratio in developed and transition economies the increase in profit shares of national income and the decline in the relative price of capital goods also contributed to profitability growth in the same period for developing countries profit shares and relative prices were relatively stable

lead markets and regulation a framework for analyzing the international diffusion of environmental innovations abstract environmental regulations are often intended to stimulate the generation and adoption of eco efficient innovations an important argument in the public debate is also the creation of new markets for environmentally benign products processes and services in other countries and the generation as a result of export opportunities for the pioneering country lead markets research on lead markets has not however focused on environmental innovations to date we therefore extend the lead market model to environmental innovations and take particular account of the peculiarities of such innovations in particular the public good character of environmental benefits and the role of regulations this approach is applied to two case studies wind energy and fuel efficient passenger cars in both cases the innovation was initially adopted in one country other countries subsequently adopted the same innovation design favored by the lead market which in turn developed into a large exporter in the wind generation and car industries respectively we discuss the regulations employed and the reasons for the international success of the innovations induced by them our findings demonstrate that when supported by global demand or regulatory trends strict regulation results in the creation of lead markets finally we provide recommendations on how our model could be used for further research and in the development of a coordinated environmental and innovation policy

risk and the value of bt corn a conceptual model is developed to evaluate the effect of bt corn on risk results highlight the importance of distinguishing between marginal and aggregate risk effects and demonstrate that the effect of bt corn on risk depends crucially on the price paid for the technology empirical results show that depending on the price bt corn can be marginally risk increasing or decreasing and can either increase or decrease corn acreage also depending on the price bt corn can provide a risk benefit to farmers even when bt corn is risk increasing bt corn is genetically engineered to produce a protein found in the soil bacterium bacillus thuringiensis bt the protein is toxic to lepidopterous insects such as the european

the costs and benefits of refuge requirements the case of bt cotton abstract refuge requirements have been the primary regulatory tool to delay pest resistance to bt crops this paper presents a simple method to estimate the annual cost of refuges to producers applying it to bt cotton it also examines broader welfare impacts estimating how bt cotton acreage restrictions affect producer surplus consumer surplus seed supplier profits and commodity program outlays the implications of grower adoption behavior partial adoption aggregate adoption and refuge choice for regulatory costs are examined empirical examples illustrate how providing multiple refuge options significantly reduces regulatory costs

turnover time and the organic composition of capital this article argues that marx s key concepts of the organic and value compositions of capital depend on his concept of the turnover time of variable capital methods are given for measuring these three indicators which are applied to the us national accounts from 1947 onwards the results show unambiguous tendencies for the organic and value compositions of capital to rise and for the turnover time of variable capital to fall this is consistent with marx s predictions in capital and his explanation for the tendency of the rate of profit to fall

characterizing the policy mix and its impact on eco innovation a patent analysis of energy efficient technologies abstract this paper provides an empirical investigation of the role played by selected characteristics of the policy mix in inducing innovation in energy efficiency technologies an original dataset covering 23 oecd countries over the period 1990 2010 combines the full set of policies in the energy efficiency domain for the residential sector with data on patents applied over the same period in this specific technological sector the econometric results suggest that when the policy mix is characterised by a more balanced use in demand pull and technology push instruments its positive effects on eco innovation tend to be greater moreover a more comprehensive policy mix is shown to be able to enhance innovation activities for the generation of new energy efficient technologies however the simple addition of an indiscriminate number of simultaneous policy instruments may reduce policy mix effectiveness finally the empirical findings confirm previous evidence on the importance of policy spillover effects and suggest that policy similarity between countries may represent an important aspect to be accounted for in policy mix design

profit growth in boom and bust the great recession and the great depression in comparative perspective the great recession of 2007 2009 and the great depression of the 1930s were triggered by the collapse of asset price bubbles however preexisting structural imbalances in the us economy were the reason why the burst of speculative bubbles induced a general economic collapse this article argues that the imbalance created by the combination of stagnant labor earnings and surging corporate profits not only played a leading role in the run up to the downturns but also was chiefly responsible for the slow recoveries on the one hand the relative stagnation of labor income represented a key factor behind rising income inequality and a potential drag on consumption which was temporarily alleviated by credit expansion hence the rising household debt levels eventually became unsustainable on the other hand rising corporate profits created an overhang of idle money eager to lend itself to speculative ventures which played a key role in fueling the stock market bubble of the 1920s and the housing bubble of the 2000s the article further argues that despite various superficial and deeper similarities between the circumstances surrounding the great recession and the great depression some fundamental differences in the structure of the us economy then and now suggest vastly different future prospects for american capitalism

impact of bt cotton in china abstract a sample of 283 cotton farmers in northern china was surveyed in december 1999 farmers that used cotton engineered to produce the bacillus thuringiensis bt toxin substantially reduced the use of pesticide without reducing the output ha or quality of cotton this resulted in substantial economic benefits for small farmers consumers did not benefit directly farmers obtained the major share of benefits and because of weak intellectual property rights very little went back to government research institutes or foreign firms that developed these varieties farmers using bt cotton reported fewer pesticide poisonings than those using conventional cotton

how can we explain the persistence of the great recession a balanced stability approach the great recession gr brings about a stalemate in macroeconomics on the one hand while describing the immediate effects of the gr standard models fail to account for its persistence on the other heterodox approaches do not regain consensus as they fail to devise an alternative method for capturing the deep causes of the gr that account for its persistence in a systematic way this paper fills this gap by proposing a new framework called balanced stability approach unlike standard macro which takes stability for granted it provides a balanced assessment of stability considering both threats and opportunities for phenomena such as the so called new economy ne on a par on these grounds the paper draws the conclusion that the persistence of the gr is due to a low level of aggregate demand rooted in the structural changes generated by the ne

realization and accumulation in a marxian model of the circuit of capital abstract a mathematical model of marx s circuit of capital is presented whose elements the composition of capital the rate of surplus value the rate of capitalization of surplus value and production sales and financial time lags are measurable from the accounts of capitalist firms the model is solved for exponential paths a solution with a positive rate of accumulation generally exists on paths with positive rates of accumulation and positive time lags in the recommital of realized value to production an expansion of credit is required to permit the sale of commodities a model of demand pull inflation is incorporated in the framework

quantitative empirical research in marxist political economy a selective review this paper surveys quantitative empirical research in some key areas of marxist political economy following an introductory section on the value controversy the paper surveys quantitative empirical research on the following topics a marxist national accounts b classical marxist theory of relative prices c probabilistic political economy d profitability analysis and e classical marxian theories of growth and technical change i end by highlighting two important puzzles in the extant literature

impact of bt cotton on pesticide poisoning in smallholder agriculture a panel data analysis while substantial research on the productivity and profit effects of bt cotton has been carried out recently the economic evaluation of positive and negative externalities has received much less attention here we focus on farmer health impacts resulting from bt related changes in chemical pesticide use previous studies have documented that bt cotton has reduced the problem of pesticide poisoning in developing countries but they have failed to account for unobserved heterogeneity between technology adopters and non adopters we use unique panel survey data from india to estimate unbiased effects and their developments over time bt cotton has reduced pesticide applications by 50 with the largest reductions of 70 occurring in the most toxic types of chemicals results of fixed effects poisson models confirm that bt has notably reduced the incidence of acute pesticide poisoning among cotton growers these effects have become more pronounced with increasing technology adoption rates bt cotton now helps to avoid several million cases of pesticide poisoning in india every year which also entails sizeable health cost savings