bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
¿Es éticamente aceptable la propiedad intelectual de los derechos de autor?
Authors: Paz Miguel Ángel Quintana 
Published: March 2021

We intend to analyze the plausibility of the two kind of ethical justi-fications that are most commonly used in order to defend the concept of an «intellectual property» of copyrights. Firstly, we will examine justifications of property based on natural law, like the one originally provided by John Locke. We will argue, with the help of authors like Lysander Spooner, that the same arguments that Locke uses for property in general are entirely appli-cable to intellectual property, although this is certainly a peculiar kind of property. Secondly, we will examine whether or not we can apply to inte-llectual property the same two arguments that Utilitarian authors use for justifying property in general: the «tragedy of the commons» argument and the scarcity argument. We will claim that the first one is fully pertinent here, and that the second one is not: but this is a problem of that kind of justifi-cation of property in general, and not a problem of intellectual property as such.
Key words: Intellectual property, copyright, Ethics, John Locke, Lysander Spoo-ner, Benjamin Tucker, plagiarism, Utilitarianism, iusnaturalism, natural law, commons, scarcity.
Código JEL: Z0.
Resumen: Se trata aquí de examinar cuán razonables resultan los dos tipos más frecuentes de justificaciones éticas que se suelen dar para abogar a favor de la existencia de una propiedad intelectual de los derechos de autor. En primer lugar, analizaremos las justificaciones de corte iusnaturalista, re-montables a John Locke. Defenderemos, con ayuda de autores como Lysan-der Spooner, que, aun cuando la propiedad intelectual es un tipo de propie-dad en cierto sentido distinto a aquella en la que Locke seguramente estaba pensando, aun así son plenamente pertinentes para ella los mismos argu-mentos que Locke ya adujo para las propiedad «material». En segundo lugar, consideraremos la aplicabilidad al caso de la propiedad intelectual de los dos argumentos utilitaristas que se suelen usar con miras a justificar la propiedad privada en general: el argumento de la «tragedia» de los bie-nes comunales y el de la escasez de recursos. Argüiremos que el primer tipo de argumento es plenamente aplicable al caso de la propiedad de dere-chos de autor; y que, aunque el segundo ciertamente no lo es, en todo caso ello no representa seguramente un problema para la propiedad intelectual, sino para la capacidad de ese argumento a la hora de dar cumplida cuen-ta de todos los tipos de propiedades existentes.
Palabras clave: Propiedad intelectual, derechos de autor, ética, John Locke, Lysander Spooner, Benjamin Tucker, plagio, utilitarismo, iusnaturalismo, dere-cho natural, bienes comunales, escasez.
Internal vs. external explanations: A new perspective on the history of economic thought
Authors: Block Walter , Westley Christopher , Padilla Alexandre 
Published: March 2021

The present paper is devoted to showing, via a reductio as absurdum argument, that all externalist explanations for truth in economics are false, but that if any are used, it should not be the democratic one utilized by Rosen (1997). Rather, even though it is equally fallacious, it should the one proposed in the present paper: the last publication in a debate indicates the substantive winner.
Key words: truth, economics, majority rule, democracy, debate, argument.
JEL classification: B0, B1, B2, B4.
Algunos antecedentes del liberalismo constitucional en España: El pensamiento político de la segunda escolástica
Authors: Rivas León Gómez 
Published: March 2021

The name «School of Salamanca» is refered to a group of theologians and Natural Law philosophers who taught in the University of Salamanca, following the inspiration of the great tomist Francisco de Vitoria. They developed some original theories on Political Thought, like the pactum translationis (or the delegated power to the kings from the civil society) and the right of resistance to tyranny. Theories that will revive at the times of the French invasion of Spain (1808-1812).
Key words: Scholastics, liberalism, School of Salamanca, 1812 Spanish Constitution.
JEL codes: B11.
Resumen: Tanto en lo referente a la teoría del contrato social, como a los fundamentos «democráticos» de la autoridad civil, las universidades españolas llevaban varios siglos enseñando unas doctrinas que luego pusieron de moda los teóricos del liberalismo (desde Locke hasta Rousseau); pero que, como sostendremos a continuación, ya habían sido expuestas desde la época de Vitoria y —sobre todo— Suárez, hasta las postrimerías del siglo XVIII. Y que resumidamente podemos expresar así: según las teorías escolásticas del pactum translationis, la autoridad civil recae directamente en el pueblo, quien la delega en el soberano. Al faltar éste, ese poder vuelve a la sociedad; que justamente sería la circunstancia histórica de 1808 con la invasión napoleónica de España y el surgimiento de unas Juntas a ambos lados del Atlántico, como garantes de la legitimidad gubernativa.
Palabras clave: Escolástica, liberalismo, Escuela de Salamanca, Cortes de Cádiz.
Códigos JEL: B11.
Risks and returns in hedge funds – econometric and austrian economic perspectives
Authors: Redpath Mónica Vinje 
Published: March 2021

Hedge funds and funds of hedge funds are some of the preferred ways to access capital market opportunities by institutional investors and high net worth individuals seeking vehicles of absolute return. Risks and returns are difficult to assess because of skewness and kurtosis so that traditional mean and variance analyses are inappropriate. I assess the possible implications of high leverage finance and financial innovations from an Austrian economic viewpoint on the basis of an econometric analysis of hedge fund risk adjusted returns and a historical consideration of asset price shocks in Thailand and Japan.
Key words: Hedge funds, leveraged finance, Austrian economics, monetary policy, risk.
JEL classification: B53, C01, E58, D53.
Stability of gold standard and its selected consequences: A reply to prof. Howden
Authors: Kvasnicka Michal 
Published: March 2021

Since I am naturally biased in favor of the gold standard, I was glad when I found that Prof. Howden (2008) exerted effort to uproot the thesis presented in my paper «Stability of Gold
ˆ
Standard and Its Selected Consequences» (Kvasnicka, 2007) that the price level could be very unstable under the gold standard if the overall monetary stock of gold is relatively small, and one of its consequences, that this instability makes an independent restitution of the gold standard in a small country unlikely. No one would be happier than me if he succeeded. However, I will claim here that his critique failed. To show why, I will first summarize major points of my former paper and then comment on Prof. Howden’s critique. Since Prof. Howden concentrates only on the feasibility of the restitution of the gold standard in the present world, I will not defend all the propositions made in my former paper, but will confine myself to the question whether a small country adopting the gold standard independently in the present world would or would not suffer from the price level instability and trade cycles caused by such a gold standard.
A brief note on economic recessions, banking reform and the future of capitalism
Authors: Soto Jesús Huerta de 
Published: March 2021

In my book «Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles» (1st Spanish Edition 1992, 2nd English Edition 2009) I present a detailed analysis of the Austrian Business Cycle Theory. Now I will concentrate on the financial crisis and the current worldwide economic recession as one of the most challenging problems we must now cope with and the way in which the Austrian Business Cycle Theory can help us to understand its causes and the best approach to economic recovery.
Having witnessed the intellectual and practical defeat of socialism specially during the last decades of the twentieth century, in my opinion one of the main challenges that still remains for the future of Capitalism is the urgent need to privatize money by dismantling the organ of central monetary planning: the Central Bank. In other words, real Socialism, represented by state money, Central banks and financial administrative regulations, is still in force in the monetary and credit sectors of the so called free market economies.
As a result of this fact we experience regularly in the area of money and credit all the negative consequences established by the Theorem of the Impossibility of Socialism discovered by those distinguished members of the Austrian School of Economics Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek.
Specifically, the central planners of state money are unable to know, to follow and to control the changes in both the demand and supply of money. Furthermore, the whole financial system is based on the legal privilege given by the state to private bankers to act with a fractional reserve ratio in relation with the demand deposits they receive from their clients. As a result of this privilege, private bankers are not true financial intermediaries, but are mainly creators of deposits materializing in credit expansions. These credit expansions are artificial and do not correspond to any previous increases in the voluntary savings of the citizens. In this way the current fractional reserve banking system, tends to worsen and amplify the systemic intertemporal distortions and investment misallocations that the macroeconomic planners working for central banks induce in the production structure of the whole real economy. These distortions manifest themselves in the stages of financial bubbles, economic boom, overall malinvestment and afterwards in the stages of financial crisis, deep economic recession and unemployment.
The bailout of Greece and the instability of the Eurozone
Authors: Bagus Philipp 
Published: March 2021

The euro has been sliding against the US dollar for weeks. Concerns about the public finances of eurozone countries Portugal, Ireland, Greece, and Spain, the so-called «PIGS,» have emerged in financial markets. Greece is facing the severest crisis, with its 10-year bond yield approaching 7%. The Greek government estimates its budget deficit at 12.7% of GDP in 2009. Gross government debts amount to 113% of its GDP. If the interest rate Greece has to pay for its debts keeps rising, the country may have to default on its obligations.
In an attempt to recoup confidence in the future of the country, the Greek government has announced a freeze on public salaries, a reduction in the number of public servants, and an increase in taxes on gas, tobacco, alcohol, and big real-estate properties. This should help to reduce the deficit to 8% in 2010. However, the markets do not trust this solution.
While the increase in taxes will cause new problems for the Greeks, other problems remain unaddressed: The huge public sector has not been substantially reduced. Wage rates remain uncompetitive as a result of strong labor unions.
Moreover, it is not clear if the government can stick to these small spending cuts, as there will be a general strike in February. In December 2008, Greece experienced riots against comparatively minor political reforms. As the majority of the population seems to be against spending cuts, the government may not be able to prevent the bankruptcy of the country.
For years, the Greek government has demonstrated rather thriftless spending behavior. This was exacerbated when Greece started to pay lower interest rates on government bonds by virtue of having entered the European Economic and Monetary Union.
Greece’s interest rates were subsidized due to an implicit guarantee from the strong members of the eurozone, who were expected to support weaker members in times of trouble. During the first years of the euro, interest rates on Greek bonds were thus reduced; they approached German bond yields. Greece spent wildly but paid interest rates like a much more conservative country. Meanwhile, the Greek economy and voting public adapted to government spending subsidized by low interest rates.
El mejor dinero posible: un comentario
Authors: Bagus Philipp 
Published: March 2021

Sánchez Martínez, L.C. (2009) acierta en varios argumentos de su artículo sobre el mejor dinero posible. Estamos de acuerdo que el dinero debería ser el resultado del acuerdo voluntario de los individuos, no debería ser impuesto por los gobiernos y que los ciudadanos deberían poder elegir la moneda más eficaz.
El autor entiende por dinero fiduciario un dinero «sin respal-do en bien tangible alguno» (p. 173). No estamos de acuerdo, en primer lugar, cuando se refiere a la aparición del dinero, en con-creto el hecho de que el dinero fiduciario podría surgir sin la ayuda del estado porque sería más eficiente. En segundo lugar, tampoco estamos de acuerdo con que el «dinero fiduciario pueda existir sin ningún tipo de respaldo estatal y ser el mejor dinero posible.» (p. 174).
Para justificar nuestro desacuerdo vamos primero a analizar como surge el dinero en el mercado libre. Después discutiremos cómo surgió el dinero fiduciario, cómo compite con el dinero mer-cancía y discutiremos los ejemplos que el autor considera como pruebas de la aparición de un dinero fiduciario. Finalmente ha-blaremos sobre la banca con reserva fraccionario que para Sánchez Martínez no implica ningún problema económico ni jurídico.
En una economía de trueque existe el problema de la doble co-incidencia de necesidades. El señor A tiene que valorar más lo que tiene el señor B y de lo que él carece y viceversa. Suponga-mos que A quiere un queso y tiene zapatos. Encuentra al señor B que tiene un queso pero lo que quiere son huevos. No habrá intercambio directo. Así las posibilidades de intercambio en una economía de trueque son muy reducidas, lo que restringe la di-visión del trabajo y así la productividad y el nivel de vida. Los medios de intercambio aparecen en una economía de trueque cuando unos individuos se dan cuenta de que unas mercancías son más frecuentemente intercambiadas que otras. Se venden más fácilmente. Ciertos empresarios demandan estas mercancías, no para usarlas como bien de consumo o factor de producción, sino para intercambiarlas a cambio de lo que necesitan de veras; es decir, las usan como medio de intercambio. Supongamos que A se da cuenta de que unas piezas de metal (plata) se intercambian más frecuentemente que otras. De esta manera cuando A vende su producto, en nuestro caso zapatos, no demanda lo que nece-sita directamente, queso, sino que demanda lo que se intercam-bia más frecuentemente: piezas de plata. Compra plata y la usa como medio de intercambio para comprar lo que necesita. El medio de intercambio tiene entonces dos demandas solapadas. Por una parte para usarlo como bien de consumo o factor de producción (joyería) y por otra como medio de intercambio. En la medida en que el empresario tiene éxito con su estrategia del cambio indi-recto, se refuerza el proceso. El señor A puede repetir su acción y otros individuos le imitan. Entonces cada vez más personas usan el medio de intercambio hasta que uno de ellos se convierte en el medio de intercambio común y generalmente aceptado. Surge así el dinero en un proceso cumulativo (Menger, 1871, 1892).
«Caritas in Veritate»: puntos para el diálogo entre la teoría económica y el Magisterio Social
Authors: Rato Antonio Pancorbo de 
Published: March 2021

As part of the great doctrinal event that Benedict XVI’s encyclical letter Caritas in Veritate represents, bringing to the fore the central role that love and truth, gift and gratuitousness should play in sound and comprehensive reflections over human action, this article addresses the unpopular task of highlighting those technical solutions —as proposed in the Encyclical— that might be questionable from the standpoint of economics. The article does not seek to correct these technical solutions. Rather, it intends only to elicit a fruitful discussion between economists and moralists on some specific points so that the two fields of knowledge may come together and offer guidelines for action that are not only morally sound, but also technically feasible.
Key words: Social Catholic thought, market structure, poverty, wellbeing, economic development.
JEL Classification: A10, B00, D40, E24, I30, O10.
Resumen: Dentro del gran evento doctrinal que representa la encíclica de Benedicto XVI, Caritas in Veritate, haciendo hincapié sobre el papel central que el amor y la verdad, el don y la gratuidad deben jugar en una reflexión completa sobre la acción humana, el presente artículo toma la tarea un tanto impopular de identificar aquellas soluciones técnicas que, tal y como se presentan en la Encíclica, pudieran ser discutibles desde el punto de vista de la teoría economía. El artículo no pretende corregir dichas soluciones técnicas, sino simplemente mencionarlas como puntos abiertos al debate entre economistas y moralistas para que entre ambos campos del saber se discutan y finalmente se propongan soluciones que no solo sean moralmente válidas, sino también técnicamente posibles.
Palabras clave: Doctrina social, pensamiento económico, estructura de mercado, formación de precios, bienestar, pobreza, desarrollo económico.
Clasificación JEL: A10, D40, E24, I30, O10.
Liberalismo económico y doctrina moral católica
Authors: Torres Rodrigo Hidalgo 
Published: March 2021

This article presents an analysis of the current tenets of the Social teachings of the Catholic Church and their possible compatibility with the free market theory and practice. According to the Author, the teachings of the Austrian School of Economics, around creative entrepreneurship and dynamic efficiency, can provide a new and fruitful nexus between the Catholic Church and the free market.
Key words: Catholic Social Doctrine, market, classical liberalism, entrepre-neurship, Austrian School.
JEL Classification: A10, D40, E24, I30, O10.
Resumen: En el presente trabajo se efectúa un repaso a la Doctrina Social de la Iglesia Católica (DSI) analizándose su posible compatibilidad con el liberalismo económico y proponiendo a la Escuela Austriaca de eco-nomía (con su énfasis en la creatividad y la función empresarial) como punto de encuentro más prometedor entre la moral católica y el mercado libre.
Palabras clave: Doctrina Social de la Iglesia, mercado, liberalismo, función empresarial, Escuela Austriaca.
Clasificación JEL: A10, D40, E24, I30, O10.
«Time preference and investment expenditure»: comment on Hülsmann
Authors: Méra Xavier 
Published: March 2021

Hülsmann (2008) argues that the neglect of time preference changes on the demand side of the time market renders Rothbard’s (1993) analysis incomplete in that it unduly portrays a rise in the volume of investment as a necessary counterpart to a fall in the pure interest rate. Focusing on the determinants of the demand for present goods, this paper shows that though Hülsmann’s strictures are essentially valid, Rothbard has actually explained why the direct impact of time preference changes should display themselves mostly on the supply side. However, the implications have been neglected both by Hülsmann and Rothbard. We explore these implications, demonstrating that the present demand schedule and the volume of investment should be considered as mostly independent from present time preferences and determined instead by past production decisions. We show how this approach allows for a more «dynamic» understanding of the time market and growth processes.
Key words: Time Preference, Investment Expenditure, Time Market, Structure of Production, Interest Rate, Growth Types, Austrian Macroeconomics.
JEL Classification: B53, E22, E23, E43, O11, O16, O40.
Resumen: Hülsmann (2008) argumenta que pasar por alto los cambios en la preferencia temporal del lado de la demanda en el mercado de tiempo hace incompleto el análisis de Rothbard (1993) al representar indebidamente un incremento en el volumen de inversión como contrapartida necesaria a una caída en la tasa de interés pura. Centrándose en los determinantes de la demanda para bienes presentes, este paper muestra que, siendo las críticas de Hülsmann esencialmente válidas, Rothbard realmente explicó por qué el impacto directo de los cambios en la preferencia temporal debería reflejarse fundamentalmente en el lado de la oferta. Sin embargo, las implicaciones derivadas de ello fueron ignoradas por Hülsmann y Rothbard. Las exploraremos, demostrando que la curva de demanda presente y el volumen de inversión deberían considerarse esencialmente independientes de las preferencias temporales presentes, estando determinadas realmente por decisiones pro-ductivas pasadas. Esta aproximación permite una comprensión más «diná-mica» del mercado de tiempo y los procesos de crecimiento.
Palabras clave: Preferencia temporal, gasto de inversión, mercado del tiempo, estructura de la producción, tipo de interés, tipos de crecimiento, macroeconomía austriaca.
Clasificación JEL: B53, E22, E23, E43, O11, O16, O40.
The Vatican’s Monetary Wisdom
Authors: Sirico Robert A. 
Published: March 2021

On Monday, the Vatican released an 18-page document titled «Toward Reforming the International Financial and Monetary Systems in the Context of a Global Public Authority.» Since then, it has been celebrated by advocates of bigger government the world over.
What’s ignored is that the document —released to stimulate debate, not offer official doctrine— embraces a sound economic theory concerning the cause of the world financial crisis: the breakdown of the postwar Bretton Woods monetary system and the unleashing of fiat currencies and central-bank printing presses.
Let’s look at a representative passage, while keeping in mind several important markers: 1971 was the year that the Nixon administration killed the gold standard, and along with it Bretton Woods and hard currencies; in the early 1980s, financial deregulation in many countries removed the last major barriers to virtually unlimited amounts of credit; and the 1990s was the decade when the drive to suppress interest rates became the common policy of central banks around the world. Since the 1990s, we have seen that money and credit instruments worldwide have grown more rapidly than revenue, even adjusting for current prices. From this came the formation of pockets of excessive liquidity and speculative bubbles which later turned into a series of solvency and confidence crises that have spread and followed one another over the years.
Eficiencia técnica, eficiencia económica y eficiencia dinámica
Authors: Cachanosky Iván 
Published: March 2021

How to determine how much and what to produce? This is one of the great unknowns in economics. This paper proposes to study the recipes offered by the conventional economics, the keynesian Economics, and the Austrian school of economics, questioning the use of assumptions and the mathematical tools. In addition, we will analyze the concept of dynamic efficiency, which provides a contribution to the debate. The importance of analyzing the various recipes focuses on highlight that the misuse of assumptions may lead to erroneous conclusions by very logical they seem.
Key words: Technical Efficiency, Economic Efficiency, Dynamic Efficiency, Production Possibilities Frontier, Indifference Curves.
JEL Classification: B10, B25, B41, C61, D24, D50, O12, O33.
Resumen: ¿Cómo determinar qué y cuánto producir? Esta es una de las gran-des incógnitas de la economía. El presente trabajo propone estudiar las rece-tas ofrecidas por la economía convencional, el keynesianismo y la Escuela Austriaca de Economía poniendo en tela de juicio el uso de los supuestos y de las herramientas matemáticas. Además, se analizará el con cepto de Eficiencia Dinámica, el cual brinda un aporte al debate. La importancia de analizar las distintas recetas se centra en resaltar que el uso erróneo de supues-tos pueda llevar a conclusiones equivocadas por muy lógicas que parezcan.
Palabras clave: Eficiencia Técnica, Eficiencia Económica, Eficiencia Dinámica, Frontera de Posibilidades de Producción, Curvas de Indiferencia.
Clasificación JEL: B10, B25, B41, C61, D24, D50, O12, O33.