bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Income Inequality in some Western Countries: Patterns and Trends
Authors: Roberti Paolo
Published: January 2008

This article is concerned with pre‐tax total income distribution in 18 “western” countries. Its objective is a tentative comparison among national income distributions and the study of trends since the 1950s. Similar issues have recently been analysed in a number of studies. This analysis differs from them in three main respects. Firstly, it refers to a group of nations which excludes developing countries. In spite of substantial differences in political and socio‐economic structures in this group of countries, processes of income distribution have a great degree of similarity. Income statistics are then more “homogeneous” and their comparison more meaningful than in studies covering developed and developing nations. Secondly, the article differs in the methodology it uses. Other studies have relied on “strict comparisons” of income statistics, for example they have compared values of coefficients of inequality and of income shares. In this article “loose classification”, for example categorisation of countries into groups (see following section), is used as a means of comparing income distributions. This makes it possible to allow, within limits, for the fact that the value of the data can be different from the one which is observed, even when statistics seem “fairly” accurate and comparable. Thirdly, the possible influence of the data source on each country's position is examined by considering a plurality of sources whenever possible. Intentionally, this article does not include discussion of most of the problems which exist in the field of income distribution—including those concerning coverage and reliability of data. It is expected that the reader keeps them and their various caveats well in mind when evaluating the empirical evidence which is presented. The explanation of differences in income distribution structures is outside the scope of this article.
Youth Unemployment: An International Perspective
Authors: Fyfe John
Published: January 2008

This article will examine youth unemployment experience in a number of countries and the different measures that have been adopted to alleviate them in some way. We begin by stressing the dangers in trying to make international comparisons of unemployment by discussing briefly the shortcomings of the available data. Notwithstanding such deficiencies an assessment is made of the situation across a number of countries and the possible causal factors are briefly considered. Finally, in the light of this analysis some of the measures that have been taken in different countries to deal with the problem are described and particular features and measures of special interest to the debate about future policies directed towards improving the employment opportunities for young persons are discussed.
Social Economics: A Place in the Sun
Authors: Ron Stanfield J.
Published: January 2008

There is a substantial body of practitioners within the American economics community whose interests, methods, and outlook differ from the mainstream. Elsewhere, we have labelled this dissenting tradition social economics and attempted to exemplify its scope and method. The social economics perspective is underdeveloped. The purpose here is to open discussion on a strategy to remedy this neglect of social economics. This is obviously a tentative enterprise and the actions we discuss are offered more for purposes of discussion than as policy proposals.
An Evaluation of Job Creation in Germany
Authors: Hanby Victor J. , Jackson Michael P.
Published: January 2008

The growing awareness in the past few years of the increasingly acute nature of unemployment levels throughout industrial society has been reflected in the adoption by a variety of countries of a number of special work creation schemes for social groups experiencing particular difficulties in finding and sustaining employment. While cynical commentators in individual countries have dismissed in varying degrees such programmes as being essentially synonymous with the special employment measures of the Great Depression, there seems little obvious justification or merit in identifying, for example, Job Creation in Britain with the former Public Works Programme; the Neighbourhood Youth Corps, Emergency Employment Act and the more recent Comprehensive Employment and Training Act in the US with the New Deal Public Relief Acts or the “ArbeitsBeschaffungsMassnahmen” in Germany with the ReichsArbeitDienst. While the new schemes may at their weakest moments reflect a superficial similarity with aspects of such older programmes, there is little doubt that, in the main, job creation measures of whatever type, which have been introduced since the early 1970s, differ in scope, orientation and intention from their traditional public works predecessors. Such an interpretation seems not only to be supported by the fact that countries which introduced such schemes some years ago, are continually updating, revising and refining the structure and conditions of their programme and evaluating their performance in meeting the needs of the client groups but that such early experiences and their subsequent restructurings constitute examples of particular manpower policy initiatives which continue to be followed as operating models for countries newly embarking on programmes of a similar type.
Comparative Growth Rates: A Note
Authors: Gabor André
Published: January 2008

During Stalin's lifetime and even for some years after his death in 1953, in fact until Khrushchev's denunciation of “Stalinism” in a secret session of the Soviet Communist Party held in February 1956 was allowed to become public knowledge later that year, the economists of the socialist camp were hard put to justify the official policy which aimed at constantly increasing the share of investment in the output of the Soviet Union.
The State of Economic Research in the Soviet Union
Authors: Gabor André
Published: January 2008

Western economists have for long been under the impression that research into economic problems is stagnating in the Soviet Union. This view is now confirmed by the address which Academician V. Dyatchenko delivered at the 1955 national conference of the heads of the departments of the social sciences of the universities and schools of technology of the Soviet Union, in which he summarised the present state of research activities, and outlined the tasks to which Soviet economists should turn their efforts.
The Measurement of Freedom
Authors: Gabor André
Published: January 2008

Philosophers and political theorists have presented us with a dazzling variety of views on freedom but, after more than two thousand years of discussion, general agreement as to the correct meaning of the concept appears to be as far off as ever. What Abraham Lincoln said almost a century ago is still true: the world has never had a good definition of the word liberty.
Necessary and Contingent Aspects of Technical Practice
Authors: Kitwood Tom
Published: January 2008

Ever since technology has become recognisable as a major social force, its achievements have been questioned by romantics, fearful that valued traditions might be lost for ever. However, during the last twenty years or so a different kind of controversy has been gathering momentum. The central issue is the alleged ethical and political neutrality of technical practice, especially in the highly industrialised societies. As yet the debate has been only poorly reflected, if at all, in economic theory; and few economists, in their professional capacity, have taken an explicit standpoint in relation to it. Yet the whole matter is highly relevant to the new directions which economics might take, particularly those aspects which pertain to technological planning and policy.
Values and Modes of Rationality in Economic Science
Authors: Wisman J.D.
Published: January 2008

Virtually since its birth 200 years ago, modern economic thinking has been plagued by the question of what role to assign to values in economic theory and research. The dominant stance, initially set forth by Nassau Senior and rigorously reiterated and sophisticated by J. S. Mill, J. M. Keynes, Lionel Robbins, J. A. Schumpeter and M. Friedman, has been that scientific economics and ethical questions must be kept unambiguously separate. Scientific or positive economics deals with questions of fact or “is” questions, while normative economics deals with value or “ought” questions. As scientists, economists must content themselves with the analysis of positive issues. Values are viewed as beyond the purview of science, and consequently they must be taken as given, determined by social processes in which the economist might participate only as citizen. That this is the dominant understanding of what an appropriate stance toward values must be is attested to by its appearance in the preface or introductory chapter of most mainstream economics textbooks.
A Note on Some Socio‐Economic Perspectives on the Quality of Working Life
Authors: Macarov David
Published: January 2008

In arguing that the traditional mechanistic approach of economists to the production process, with its accompanying assumption of a maximising calculus, should make more room for qualitative workplace considerations, Keith Newton (“Some Socio‐Economic Perspectives on the Quality of Working Life”, International Journal of Social Economics, Vol. 3, 1978, pp. 179–87) in effect, adds asocial aspect to the economics of the Quality of Working Life field. This is a welcome and important perspective.
Wages Councils, The Equal Pay Act and Retail Distribution
Authors: Robinson Olive , Wallace John
Published: January 2008

The purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which implementation of the Equal Pay Act 1970 in retail distribution has been influenced by the wages regulation orders of the industry's Wages Councils. In concentrating on machinery for determining statutory minimum levels of remuneration (SMR) it is recognised that there are obvious dangers in ignoring the role played by collective bargaining, and of drawing conclusions about pay which are unrelated to total earnings. In particular branches of retailing, notably in co‐operative societies and amongst multiple organisations, pay and other conditions of employment are negotiated almost entirely by the Union of Shop, Distributive and Allied Workers (USDAW). The general image of retail employment nevertheless remains one of low pay. Negotiated pay structures provide minimum rates which are low in comparison with those in most other industries, and the coverage of trade union recognition and negotiation has not achieved a level sufficient to question the need for statutory minimum wages regulation in the industry as a whole. It will be shown that retail Wages Councils place severe restrictions in the way of progress towards equal treatment of men and women by fixing SMRs bearing a minimal relationship to men's total earnings — an argument which may be applied with only slight modification to the functioning of the industry's main collective agreements, in which the lowest‐paid occupations are those held almost entirely by women.
Racial Minority Group Unemployment: Trends and Characteristics
Authors: Showler Brian
Published: January 2008

This contribution seeks to examine the nature of registered unemployment in Britain amongst racial minority group workers as defined for the purposes of the Department of Employment's statistics, namely those born in the New Commonwealth Countries or whose parents were born there. Some preliminary analysis was published by the Department of Employment in 1975 and more recently by Shah. This paper seeks to up‐date and develop these findings further, with particular reference to the impact of the economic cycle upon the level and characteristics of racial minority group unemployment.
Age Limits on Job Vacancies
Authors: Jolly James , Creigh Stephen , Mingay Alan
Published: January 2008

The United States has attempted to remove the comparative disadvantage of people over 40 in the labour market by legislation against any age discrimination in the employment of people aged between 40 and 70, including the prohibition of age qualifications in job advertisements. This paper discusses the main provisions of the American Age Discrimination in Employment Act (1967 and 1973) and then goes on to consider the extent of age discrimination in Britain by analysing a sample of age qualified vacancies notified to the British public employment service.
Comprehensive versus Piecemeal Approaches to Environmental Control
Authors: Lowe Julian , Lewis David
Published: January 2008

In many countries the existence of a comprehensive approach to environmental control through the auspices of a unified control agency is accepted. In the United States, for instance, the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has received substantial support. Allen Kneese remarked that “while anyone who has observed the Washington scene for any period of time has just cause to be skeptical of the efficiency of reorganisation, one can still recognise the convincing rationale of this one”. In the United Kingdom a rather ageing and as yet unacted‐upon report of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution also proposed a “unified pollution inspectorate”, although some may consider that to be something of a misnomer for what may appear in reality to be an expanded Alkali Inspectorate. In a somewhat myopic way the Royal Commission saw HMPI (as it chose to call its unified pollution inspectorate) as an organisational change designed to bring State expertise on process technology to the aid of private and public firms who had potential and actual environmental problems. There is an almost implied value judgement that concentration of action “within the factory fence” must in some way be the optimal manner in which to deal with pollution. In contrast the approach of the EPA has appeared genuinely to encompass the aims of a truly unified control ideal, paying considerable attention to benefit evaluation, integrated environmental quality studies, control technology, control costs and their incidence.
The Pareto Optimum: Reconcilable with Social Thought?
Authors: McKee Arnold F.
Published: January 2008

The Pareto optimum is usually described as a production or an exchange situation, or some combination, where no further improvement can be made to the position of one participant without harming that of another, and movements toward it are termed “efficient”. Perhaps most economists take the opening premise, that good is what the individual wants, in guarded fashion and view the technical demonstration of improvements in exchange and production situations as curious devices which nevertheless offer people with different philosophies of the good a rigorous method for agreeing on what is better. Now, it is my purpose in this article to argue that the substance and techniques of Pareto‐type reasoning cannot be reconciled withsocialas opposed to individualistic thought; and to sustain this view I shall (i) recall the substance of Pareto's argument (ii) outline several key objections to it (iii) examine the meaning of “social”, and (iv) criticise versions of altruism offered by Hockman and Rodgers and Becker.
Theoretical Approaches to Segmented Labour Markets
Authors: Loveridge Raymond , Mok Albert
Published: January 2008

In neo‐classical economic theory labour is a commodity and the ultimate value of the employer's services is determined by the sales value of the product of these services: the cost of supply reflects both the disutility of work for the recruit and his equalisation of net advantages between jobs. For modern labour economists the assumption that entrepreneurs require identical inputs of labour and the new recruits will therefore possess similar skills (the conditions of free competition) is an unrealistic one. Hence segmental labour market theory has grown out of the need to explain differences betweensharedneeds and commonalitieswithineach group of consumers (employers) on the one hand and suppliers (employees) on the other. In this way it has been possible to carry on assuming the existence of perfect competition on both sides of the market within the boundaries of labour markets thus defined.
What is the Alternative for the West? Neither Capitalism nor Socialism but “Social Liberalism”
Authors: Rugina Anghel N.
Published: January 2008

André Gide's prophetic words during an interview at Karlsbad in 1933: “Hitler represents a delay in the progress of humanity. There will be another peaceful Revolution in Spirit — different from Capitalism, Socialism‐Communism and Fascism — which will guide the development of humanity to its right destination.”
Social Economics: A Budding Scientific Research Programme?
Authors: Stephens R.J.
Published: January 2008

The term “social economics” has been in currency ever since J.S. Mill coined the phrase to cover the inductive study of the groups and social unions that man forms, guided by the principle of social altruism, to conduct his economic relationships. Although Mill rejected this approach in favour of deductive, self‐interested political economy, others, notably Wieser, J.M. Clark and Weber, have all tried to enact their versions of social economics in the centre stage. Even though Weber's theories became prominent in sociology, and both Clark and Wieser have their disciples, the study and theoretical development of social economics has remained at the periphery, making little impact upon the unswaying hold of the neo‐classical microeconomic orthodoxy.
Malthus Revisited — Population, Poverty and Pollution
Authors: Maitra Priyatosh
Published: January 2008

In a letter written on 24 January, 1865 to Schewitzer, Marx, commenting on the work of Proudhon, observed: “Take, for instance, Malthus's book on population. In its first edition it was nothing but a sensational pamphlet … and yet what a stimulus was produced by this libel on the human race.”
Karl Marx, the Social Theorist
Authors: O'Brien John C.
Published: January 2008

The purpose of this article is expository in the main; critical to a lesser degree. It will attempt to show how Karl Marx, enraged by the imperfections and inhumanity of the capitalist society, “fought” for its supersession by the communist society on which he dwelt so fondly, that society which would emerge from the womb of a dying capitalism. It asks such questions as these: Is it possible to create the truly human society envisaged by Marx? Is perfection of man and society a mere will‐o'‐the‐wisp? A brief analysis, therefore, of the imperfections of capitalism is undertaken for the purpose of revealing the evils which Marx sought to eliminate by revolution of the most violent sort. In this sense, the nature of man under capitalism is analysed. Marx found the breed wanting, in a word, dehumanised. An attempt is, therefore, made to discuss the new man of Marxism, man's own creation, and the traits of that new man, one freed at last from the alienating effects of private property, division of labour, money, and religion. Another question that springs to mind is this: how does Marx propose to transcend alienation?
Heinrich Pesch's Solidarism and Boris Ischboldin's Scientific Reformism
Authors: Ederer Rupert J.
Published: January 2008

Professor Boris Ischboldin has devoted a lifetime of productive scholarship to economic science. By virtue of his native gifts and a highly cultured background he has attained to a breadth of scholarship which is reminiscent of that giant of modern economics, Joseph Schumpeter. Ischboldin's linguistic skills have enabled him to acquire an uncommon familiarity with the works of economists that is truly international in scope, and that is one factor which prompts me to compare him with Schumpeter. Among the results of his efforts are an approach to, or school of, economics which he chooses to call the School of Economic Synthesis. It involves, among other things, a synthesis of various approaches to analysing economic realities—approaches whose various practitioners often tended to regard their own as the one correct and only legitimate method. In less skillful hands, or perhaps because of less charitable hearts, diversity often resulted in a kind of tension that was not always creative, as well as a mutual exclusiveness and even scholastic in‐tolerance which put an unneeded burden on the progress of the science. With Professor Ischboldin and the co‐founder of the School of Economic Synthesis, Arthur Spiethoff, variety became instead the basis for complementary creativity! Thus, such disparate figures as David Ricardo and Wesley Mitchell, or Leon Walras and John Commons find themselves embraced into a single schema that Ischboldin calls, “a theory of economic laws and methodology”.
The Economics of Social Measurement Processes
Authors: Endres Anthony M.
Published: January 2008

Indicators of economic and social phenomena can be useful descriptive and analytical inputs for public policy. The “social indicators movement” has emerged in the last decade and is devoted to the measurement of widely‐ranging dimensions of human welfare. For the most part, questions of systematic measurement for public policy are explored here. Drawing initially on some traditions of measurement in economics, the principal aim is to provide a broad theoretical frame of reference for policy indicator design. Questions of indicator development necessarily involve ideas of suitability or validity of indicators designed for a purpose. Approaches to indicator design for the purpose of enhancing collective decision‐making—including formal model building approaches—are subsumed as special cases once a more general theory is espoused in sections II and III.
Economic Man, Socio‐economic Man and Homo‐economicus Humanus
Authors: Nitsch Thomas O.
Published: January 2008

In my original efforts, I designated and depicted no less than nine “men” of economics. Essentially, I contended, as man has always tended to create God in his own image and likeness, so economists have fashioned man largely in their discipline's perceived nature and scope. These generic homines economici, that is, have thus been and perhaps cannot really be other than economists' “men”, and the study thereof provides accordingly a meaningful alternative approach to the history, nature and scope of economics itself.
Wages and Employment: Some Analytical Aspects of Income Distribution Policies in Less Developed Countries
Authors: Sen Somnath
Published: January 2008

Income distribution policies have been one of the most important issues that policy makers in less developed countries (LDCs) have had to face over the last decade. There has been a great revival of interest about the different aspects of distributing the national income, even irrespective of its size. Growth per se is still considered to be important, but without appropriate links with suitable distributive measures, loses much of its charismatic appeal. Further, the interconnections between growth and distribution have been stressed in recent policy literature, particularly the beneficial effects that a more egalitarian income stream may have in raising the national product.
ELL (The Equivalent Length of Life); or, Another Attempt at Measuring Development
Authors: Silber Jacques
Published: January 2008

The pursuit of an adequate measure of development which would easily allow international comparisons has certainly been one of the main research interests of development specialists in the past ten years. Numerous proposals have been made but there seems to be quite a large consensus on the two minimal conditions that an ideal development index should fulfill: firstly, it should measure results and not inputs; secondly, it should be sensitive to the distribution of the benefits of development among the population.
Classical Economists and the Corporation
Authors: Dugger William M.
Published: January 2008

The purpose of this article is to explain why economists have neglected the corporation in their theorising. Adam Smith is the founder of mainstream economic theory. In Smith's eighteenth‐century world most things were produced by individuals or by family firms. Smith naturally took the individual entrepreneur as his theoretical unit of analysis, and Smith's theory was at least adequate for the times. But even though the economies of the English‐speaking world have evolved beyond the free enterprise of competing individual capitalists to the current system of corporate capitalism, economic theory has remained much the same. While the American economy is now composed mainly of huge corporate units of production, mainstream economic theory is still referring to “individual” producers. Other social sciences focus a great deal of attention on organisational and individual behaviour within the corporate form of organising economic activity. The work of sociologist Rosabeth Moss Kanter and of psychologist Michael Maccoby are excellent recent examples. Yet economics, at least the mainstream of the discipline, focuses upon the behaviour of individual entrepreneurs rather than corporate managers. In short, orthodox economic theory lacks a serious treatment of the corporation.
Dissent from Value, Preference and Choice Theory in Economics
Authors: Tisdell C.A.
Published: January 2008

In this essay, I intend to consider the way in which some economists treat the values and preferences of decision‐makers, components which play an important role in economic models of choice and welfare and the dissent of some economists from the conventional treatment.
Socio‐Economic Determinants of UK Alcohol Consumption, 1956–79
Authors: Duncan Kitchin Paul
Published: January 2008

This note considers UK pure alcohol consumption per head as a function of real disposable income, real prices, the numbers of retail outlets, the level of television and press advertising, the number of deaths in the population, inflation, unemployment and economic prospects. The technique used is ordinary least squares regression with the variables in first difference form, in order to minimise serial correlation. Annual data for 1956–79 is used. For detailed definitions of the variables used see McGuinness and Kitchin.
Insurance and Investment in Islamic Perspective
Authors: Alam Choudhury Masudul
Published: January 2008

The institution of insurance in one form or the other is as old as man himself. The first type of insurance was of the nature of sharing risk of life in agroup and this form of insurance is surmised to have appeared sometime between the age of savagery and barbarism. In the Arabic peninsula, which in much later years was to become the seat of Islam, insurance in its earliest form was looked upon as pay‐ment of blood money by a group to lighten the loss of a member of the group. This was a form of mutuality in pre‐Islamic tribal Arabia.
Employment Security and World Peace: An Autobiographical Splinter
Authors: Rohrlich George F.
Published: January 2008

The celebration of our high school graduation was an enjoyable, almost sentimental affair. Being able to razz one's teachers and show off by drinking in public contributed to the good feeling of the evening. A canvass of night clubs—more from the outside than the inside, but well into the small hours—ended that memorable day in June 1932 for the newest crop of graduates of the number one public high school of Vienna, Austria. Next came the summer vacation; then, at long last, (the junior and senior years of high‐school routine with its grade‐school discipline had seemed to drag on endlessly), the much vaunted “academic freedom” of university life.
Social Security in the United States—An Ongoing Debate
Authors: Haber William
Published: January 2008

Social security is one of the most significant political‐economic issues in America. It is loaded with controversy and is of deep concern to millions of Americans, both the elderly, who have been receiving benefits since they became payable in the late 1930s, and also younger people, who are deeply concerned and troubled about two problems. The first has to do with the increasing costs, that is, the amount of the so‐called “contributions” being required in order to finance social security. Their second worry grows out of their decreasing confidence in the social security system. Will benefits be available to them when they reach age 65? Is the system sound? Is it bankrupt? If not now, is it likely to go broke?
The Institutional Crisis of the Corporate‐Welfare State
Authors: Stanfield J.R.
Published: January 2008

The initial response to the crisis of the corporate‐welfare state is nativistic: “Give us that old time religion”. In almost every democratic industrial society, retrenchment has become the primary motive of social economic policy. In the name of nineteenth‐century economic wisdom, the inter‐war and post‐war commitment to human development, collective goals, and social justice is being abandoned. In this article I examine the current institutional crisis in an attempt to show that it is rooted in the holdover of an outmoded ideology and culture that has as its concomitant result a profound ideological lacuna. The implication of my argument is that it is not the last half‐century's social economic goals that should be abandoned but rather the nineteenth century folkways and folklore that frustrate their achievement and advocate their abandonment.
Towards a Comprehensive Compensation Programme
Authors: Baglini Norman A.
Published: January 2008

The recent experience with “toxic torts” — litigation involving those who are suffering slowly emerging injuries and diseases caused by exposure to hazardous substances such as asbestos — has underlined the need for a change in the tort liability system. The burden of asbestos lawsuits prompted UNR Industries of Chicago, the Manville Corporation (the nation's largest asbestos manufacturer), and others to file for protection under federal bankruptcy laws. Some 16,000 lawsuits were reported pending against Manville amounting to between $2 billion and $5 billion in potential liabilities. Several hundred firms are facing similar claims, and according to the Asbestos Compensation Coalition, from 400 to 500 new lawsuits are filed each month against asbestos manufacturers. The magnitude of this problem threatens the viability of the property and liability insurance business and raises the questions about the effectiveness of the present tort liability system in assuring adequate compensation to accident victims.
George Rohrlich's Social Economics
Authors: Thanawala Kishor
Published: January 2008

It is a pleasure and a privilege to participate in this special session to honour George F. Rohrlich, social economist. It is with a sense of humility that I accept this pleasant undertaking. George Rohrlich has taught, written, helped others to write, published, helped others to publish and edited works on different aspects of social economics. I attempt here to put together a few observation on the nature of social economics as revealed in his writings. This attempt is by its very nature a modest one. For, how can one do justice to the work of a man who has to his credit a dozen major works (books or monographs) and almost five dozen other writings (articles, papers, notes) not all of them in English? I do not, therefore, even pretend to take a comprehensive view of Rohrlich, the social economist.
Development of Solidarist Economics in the US
Authors: Waters William R.
Published: January 2008

Schumpeter explained how capitalism has changed in such essential ways that it is evolving into a new kind of economic system. It is not entirely clear, however, what the nature of this new system will be. It will probably be centralist socialism, says Schumpeter, because the observable tendencies point in that direction, as does the logic of the historical situation. Yet, it could be guild socialism dominated by unions. He did not know and we do not know. It is even possible that the new social reorganisation could be one that is not socialist at all.
Forestry or a National Park: A New Zealand Case Study
Authors: Stephens R.J.
Published: January 2008

Tourism is a growth industry, and is being fostered as a means of providing regional economic development, new employment opportunities, a more diversified economy, and of increasing foreign exchange earnings. The basis for increasing both internal and international tourist flows is primarily New Zealand's natural attractions of land forms, flora and fauna. Tourist patterns reflect this, with a heavy concentration of visitors to National Parks and other areas noted as scenic attractions.
Some Aspects of the Social Economics of John Maynard Keynes
Authors: Jensen Hans E.
Published: January 2008

Kendall P. Cochran has claimed that John Maynard Keynes “developed a theory that would try ‘to account for things as they are’. In so doing he became another important social economist.
Human Liberation: Workplace Reform as the Next Step in Social Evolution
Authors: Dugger William M.
Published: January 2008

Human liberation requires an affluent, egalitarian, and democratic society in which man is free from domination by nature's caprice and, in all spheres of life, free from domination by other men. The industrial revolution and technological advances of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries held great promise for human liberation. The burden of toil and drudgery and the domination of man by nature's caprice began lifting in Europe and in some of her colonies. Human safety and security came within reach because poverty was being eliminated. Liberation on the material plane was at hand. However, at the closing of the twentieth century, the liberation process has been slowed down, if not thwarted. In most of the third world, not even the burden of toil and drudgery and the domination of man by a capricious nature have been lifted. In the affluent United States, on the other hand, material security and safety is widespread, but it still does not reach the lowest stratum. Domination by nature through human poverty continues in the affluent West even though it could be eliminated. Nevertheless, in the West, domination by nature is no longer an insurmountable physical datum.
Contending Perspectives on the Nature of Soviet Economic Society
Authors: Elliott John E.
Published: January 2008

According to the traditional Soviet view, the Soviet economic society, based essentially on governmental and collective farm property and overall national planning, is “socialist”, and has been so since Stalin's proclamation to that effect in the 1930s. Most Western observers, Marxist and non‐Marxist, recognise these two socio‐institutional features of the Soviet politico‐economic system and ascribe substantial importance to them. Beyond this point, interpretations differ considerably. Five alternative views may be distinguished. These contending perspectives argue that Soviet economic society is:
Heinrich Pesch, SJ, 1854–1926: Social Economist in a Cassock
Authors: Mueller Franz H.
Published: January 2008

In all probability, there are today only four persons — all social scientists — who have personally known Father Heinrich Pesch, the eminent German economist of the Jesuit Order, viz., Oswald von Nell‐Breuning, SJ, who, 93 years old, still is amazingly active as lecturer and writer, the Rev. Dr. mult. L. H. Adolf Geck (1898), retired, yet still engaged in social research, Rev. Joh. Messner (1891), Professor Emeritus of the University of Vienna, whom illness has recently incapacitated, and the author of this article (1900), who thinks himself fortunate to have gained — during his years of study at the University of Berlin — Pesch's paternal friendship.
Modelling Labour Demand: The Role of Economics
Authors: Bosworth Derek , Dawkins Peter
Published: January 2008

The principal aim of this article is to provide some insights into the role of economics in modelling labour demands. The impression that we have built up over time is that, while many of the existing economic theories have a considerable amount to offer in understanding the demand for labour, these theories are still in their infancy. They are generated almost entirely from within the subject rather than in co‐operation with other disciplines, and they are often tested at a macro level using econometric techniques rather than at the micro level using case study material. While much of the statistical testing at an aggregate level has been useful in confirming (and even on occasion refuting) the existing body of theory, many of the more interesting theoretical break‐throughs in economics generally have resulted from detailed knowledge of the researcher about the operation of particular firms.
Work, the Family and the Home: A More Egalitarian Future?
Authors: Finch Janet
Published: January 2008

This article is about the relationship between paid work and family life for both women and men; in particular, about the hopes — indeed, the expectations — of many people that the division of labour between men and women in both spheres will be more egalitarian in the future.
Love and Work: Complementary Aspects of Personal Identity
Authors: Daniell Diana
Published: January 2008

Freud suggested that mental health depends on the capacity to love and to work. The complementary nature of these aspects of identity is examined and illustrated by case material from couples in marital therapy. It is argued that the work task and its milieu can support, or fail to support, personal development, as can a marriage. When alternatives are available, the choice of occupation, as of marital partner, is related to conscious and unconscious images of the self. Loss of work can be analogous to loss of love with implications for a person's sense of identity and marriage.
What is Social Economics?
Authors: Thanawala Kishor
Published: January 2008

Is there such a field as social economics? Let us begin by providing some justification (the sceptics may call this rationalisation) for asking the question. The very fact that we are gathered here in Fresno ought to be a reassurance that, indeed, there does exist such a field. But this reassurance amounts to little more than a Descartian feeling of, “I think, therefore I am”. Some people question implicitly or explicitly whether there is such a field of enquiry called social economics. If you think this statement needs empirical support, consider the following:
The Economist and Moral Values
Authors: Armour Leslie
Published: January 2008

It is easy to show that economists are involved in questions with moral aspects. It is harder to show that any of the involvements arise within economic theories and harder still to show that the problems are capable of being dealt with by extensions of those theories. In this article, I shall try to show how and in what ways economists inevitably become involved in certain moral questions, and to do so in a way which will suggest how they might be tackled within what might reasonably be regarded as economic theories.
The Brotherhood Ideal in Western Civilisation
Authors: Niedercorn John H. , Lichman Barbara
Published: January 2008

Although much lip service is paid to brotherhood in this country by preachers, teachers and politicians, the concept remains poorly understood. For the purposes of this article, the brotherhood ideal is defined broadly as behaviour among adult male human beings of the same generation, belonging to the same extended family, and living in a community, that ensures maximum well being and survivability of the entire family or community. In other words, it is behaviour that maximises the social welfare function of the entire family or community. A sisterhood ideal can be defined analogously, and group‐enhancing behaviour by family members of both sexes might be termed the brotherhood‐sisterhood ideal. Since this behaviour is learned gradually as the individual matures, it can be described as voluntary in the sense that it is not imposed by a legal authority external to the family.
Corporate Management and Orthopraxis — Is Synergy Possible?
Authors: Grau Joseph A.
Published: January 2008

“Synergy” in the title of this article is used in the root generic sense of “work together”. I am not really looking for something greater than the parts to emerge from the conjunction of corporate management and orthopraxis — although I would be delighted if it were to come about. In point of sober realism, I would settle for functional co‐existence of business process and serious concern for social justice. Put baldly, the title question could be rephrased to read:
The Dual Nature of the Nuclear Arms Quandary
Authors: Rohrlich George F.
Published: January 2008

As this article is being cast into final — or possibly just semi‐final form, there lies under my eyes The Brookings Review, Summer 1983, which displays on its front cover the following quotation from one of the articles it contains, titled “Arms and the Art of Compromise” by John Steinbrunner. It reads, in part, as follows:
Defence Policy: Objectives, Weapons and Ethics
Authors: Schubert Walt
Published: January 2008

This article is primarily concerned with nuclear armament and its relationship to the social economy. Nuclear armament is only a part, though clearly an important part, of the defence issue. The article begins with an introduction to the defence problem. It then moves on to the issue of ethical conduct and defence policy. The article then concludes with an analysis of the problems created by the relationship of defence decision makers to the anti‐nuclear arms movement.
Crime Trends — East and West
Authors: Peterson Richard E. , Seo K.K.
Published: January 2008

London, Stockholm and Sydney 1840–1970 Ted Robert Gurr of Northeastern University studied the trend of common crime in England (London), Sweden (Stockholm) and Australia (Sydney) over the period from 1840 to 1970. Common crime includes crimes of aggression (murder, attempted murder, wounding and assault) and crimes of acquisition (burglary, robbery, larceny, receiving stolen goods, fraud, embezzlement and forgery).
Market Forces, Privatisation and Prisons: A Polar Case for Government Policy
Authors: Roper Brian A.
Published: January 2008

It has, until recently, been usual to argue that the small group of pure public goods is made up of defence and “law and order” and that these are inviolably the true province of governments. These pure public goods are defined as being both non‐excludable in supply and non‐rival in consumption, that is, they must be equally available to everyone and one individual's consumption of them must not affect the benefit accruing to any other individual. Peston and others have, however, demonstrated a general definitional confusion in the literature and it is increasingly being argued that “law and order” is a mixed or quasi‐public good and that the fact that it has historically been publicly provided does not necessarily imply that it is, in principle, a public good. In the same vein Blaug, has also argued that education, health care as well as internal law and order are all examples of quasi‐public goods. In the case of pure public goods we may be able to establish the marginal cost schedule but it may be very difficult to determine the marginal benefit schedule, without which we cannot identify the optimal level of public goods provision.
Value Analysis in Talmudic Literature in the Light of Modern Economics
Authors: Ohrenstein Roman A.
Published: January 2008

It is by now a foregone conclusion that the Talmudic sages possessed a remarkable knowledge and understanding of highly sophisticated economic laws and practices. In fact, as far back as 1911, the eminent economist and scholar, Werner Sombart, had expressed his deep admiration for their high degree of economic sophistication and keen insight when he wrote:
Business Regulation and Price Control in Talmudic Economics
Authors: Gershfield Edward M.
Published: January 2008

Rulers from as long ago as ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia have tried to control various aspects of their economies, whether to ensure adequate supplies of basic commodities in times of war or famine, or to protect the power and incomes of the rulers themselves. There have been various ancient price edicts, which have had some effectiveness, at least during the lifetimes of their promulgators, principally because they referred to products which were largely produced under the direct control of the state. It was obvious even to the most ancient observers that radical changes in the equilibrium between buyers and sellers, such as those caused by sudden shortages in times of war or natural disaster and their attendant famines, gave opportunities to those in possession of goods necessary for the maintenance of life itself, to raise their prices and “profiteer” thereby. The same phenomenon was the reason for the frequent attempts to set ceilings on interest rates, which, in an era when almost all loans were for personal consumption rather than for commercial or investment purposes, had the effect of wiping out financially the borrowers who could not repay their loans in time, which in turn led to serfdom and slavery. Such crises were frequently the occasions for appeals to rulers to protect the population from such exploitation. It was undoubtedly against such a background that the Jews of Talmudic times interpreted the biblical rules against “oppression” to mean a total prohibition of the taking of interest, and limits on “overcharging”, as will be discussed below. In the Greco‐Roman world the idea of control of prices was a result partly of philosophical inquiry into general economic theory, and partly the desire of moralists to prevent the “injustice” of some people gaining “immoderate” profits at the expense of others. Plato saw the desire of merchants for “unbounded” gain rather than “reasonable” profit as a dangerous social evil resulting from the acquisitive nature of man. In his ideal conception, the state ought to set prices in accordance with the cost of production plus fair reward for the seller's efforts (i.e., profit), and to have these standards enforced by market overseers. Such officials, generally called agoranomoi, actually existed in a number of Greek states, but were more often concerned with regulating weights and measures and maintaining orderliness in the market place rather than with controlling prices.
Economics: A Moral Science Because Persons Matter More Than Things
Authors: O'Boyle Edward J.
Published: January 2008

Conventional economics typically defines the science in terms of such concepts as production, distribution, consumption, resources, goods, services, wealth, prices and efficiency. These terms focus attention primarily on things, making it easier to argue that since those things are quantifiable economics is a positive, higher‐order science.
Ethical Norms in American Society: A Critique
Authors: O'Brien John C.
Published: January 2008

History in the Western world is replete with uproars over the intervention of ministers of religion in the affairs of the state. It is said by many that the Church should concern itself with the souls of men. Political matters are beyond its purview and outside its competence. For its part, the Church claims the right for the sake of its flock to intervene in political matters involving ethical principles. It is this sort of spiritual development which the Church is here trying both to preserve and advance that Solzhenitsyn had in mind when he spoke of man's task here on earth.