Michio Morishima
- Published in print:
- 1969
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198281641
- eISBN:
- 9780191596667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198281641.003.0013
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
Chapter 10 was concerned with the Final State Turnpike Theorem on the assumptions that consumption of each good per worker is fixed throughout the planning period and that the authorities try to ...
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Chapter 10 was concerned with the Final State Turnpike Theorem on the assumptions that consumption of each good per worker is fixed throughout the planning period and that the authorities try to maximize the stocks of goods that they can bestow, at the horizon, upon the future citizens; this chapter looks at a Second Turnpike Theorem. The partial optimization for the sake of the future should more properly be superseded by a general mutual optimization, so that the benefits from the properties initially available are shared between the people living in the planning period and those after that; this would inevitably cause confrontation with one of the hardest problems of economics—the interpersonal and intertemporal comparisons of utilities. In this chapter, attempts to solve the crux of the problem are abandoned and the other extreme is addressed: the conditions are derived for Ramsey optimality as distinct from DOSSO efficiency, i.e. optimization is in favour of the people in the planning period, and the satisfaction of the future residents is pegged at a certain level, of which the present residents approve. Among all feasible programmes that leave, at the end of the planning period, necessary amounts of goods for the future residents, the question is whether the people living choose a single one that is most preferable from their own point of view, i.e. there is a switch over of ideology from abstinence for the future to satisfaction in the transient life. The different sections of the chapter include discussion of: two norms of optimum growth—the Golden Balanced Growth path and the Consumption Turnpike; the existence of the Consumption Turnpike; the Silvery Rule of Accumulation’ the singular case where there is no discrimination between the living and the coming people; the Consumption Turnpike Theorem—the cases of the subjective time‐preference factor not being greater than the growth factor of the population, and of the former being greater than the latter; and an example of a cyclic Ramsey‐optimum growth.Less
Chapter 10 was concerned with the Final State Turnpike Theorem on the assumptions that consumption of each good per worker is fixed throughout the planning period and that the authorities try to maximize the stocks of goods that they can bestow, at the horizon, upon the future citizens; this chapter looks at a Second Turnpike Theorem. The partial optimization for the sake of the future should more properly be superseded by a general mutual optimization, so that the benefits from the properties initially available are shared between the people living in the planning period and those after that; this would inevitably cause confrontation with one of the hardest problems of economics—the interpersonal and intertemporal comparisons of utilities. In this chapter, attempts to solve the crux of the problem are abandoned and the other extreme is addressed: the conditions are derived for Ramsey optimality as distinct from DOSSO efficiency, i.e. optimization is in favour of the people in the planning period, and the satisfaction of the future residents is pegged at a certain level, of which the present residents approve. Among all feasible programmes that leave, at the end of the planning period, necessary amounts of goods for the future residents, the question is whether the people living choose a single one that is most preferable from their own point of view, i.e. there is a switch over of ideology from abstinence for the future to satisfaction in the transient life. The different sections of the chapter include discussion of: two norms of optimum growth—the Golden Balanced Growth path and the Consumption Turnpike; the existence of the Consumption Turnpike; the Silvery Rule of Accumulation’ the singular case where there is no discrimination between the living and the coming people; the Consumption Turnpike Theorem—the cases of the subjective time‐preference factor not being greater than the growth factor of the population, and of the former being greater than the latter; and an example of a cyclic Ramsey‐optimum growth.
Matthew P. Drennan
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300209587
- eISBN:
- 9780300216349
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300209587.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
Traces the development of the economic theory of consumption from Malthus and Ricardo to Keynes and Milton Friedman. The arguments of critics of the prevailing Friedman–Modigliani–Brumberg paradigm ...
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Traces the development of the economic theory of consumption from Malthus and Ricardo to Keynes and Milton Friedman. The arguments of critics of the prevailing Friedman–Modigliani–Brumberg paradigm are presented, leading to the outline of a theory to replace it. In the existing paradigm, there is no place for income distribution. Consequently, public policy analysis of the Great Recession leaves out of consideration a major cause of the Great Recession and the slow recovery.Less
Traces the development of the economic theory of consumption from Malthus and Ricardo to Keynes and Milton Friedman. The arguments of critics of the prevailing Friedman–Modigliani–Brumberg paradigm are presented, leading to the outline of a theory to replace it. In the existing paradigm, there is no place for income distribution. Consequently, public policy analysis of the Great Recession leaves out of consideration a major cause of the Great Recession and the slow recovery.
Matthew P Drennan
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300209587
- eISBN:
- 9780300216349
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300209587.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
This book tells two stories. First, it shows that rising income inequality played a major role in causing the financial crisis and Great Recession of 2008-2009. While others have argued that rising, ...
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This book tells two stories. First, it shows that rising income inequality played a major role in causing the financial crisis and Great Recession of 2008-2009. While others have argued that rising, indeed surging, household debt in the 1990s and 2000s contributed to the financial collapse, none have related rising household debt to the dramatic rise in income inequality. The rise in household debt was not the result of a rash of luxury, but instead was the effort to maintain consumption despite stagnant incomes. Part of that effort is reflected in the unprecedented drop in the rate of saving from around 10 percent to near zero. It is also reflected in the sharp rise of relative spending on three necessities of a middle class lifestyle -- housing, education, and health. Some of that jump in relative spending was brought about by steep price increases. Their prices were bid up by those whose incomes had skyrocketed. Thus to the usual suspects causing the recession–unsustainable residential mortgage debt, low interest rates, predatory lending and the housing price bubble–income inequality must be included. The second story is that mainstream economists have misunderstood the causes of the recession because they have adhered to a macroeconomic theory that ignores the role of income distribution. Mainstream economic theory maintains that inequality has no impact on macroeconomic outcomes. That view is incorrect and led most economists to ignore the serious consequences of rising inequality, despite the striking parallel with the Great Depression.Less
This book tells two stories. First, it shows that rising income inequality played a major role in causing the financial crisis and Great Recession of 2008-2009. While others have argued that rising, indeed surging, household debt in the 1990s and 2000s contributed to the financial collapse, none have related rising household debt to the dramatic rise in income inequality. The rise in household debt was not the result of a rash of luxury, but instead was the effort to maintain consumption despite stagnant incomes. Part of that effort is reflected in the unprecedented drop in the rate of saving from around 10 percent to near zero. It is also reflected in the sharp rise of relative spending on three necessities of a middle class lifestyle -- housing, education, and health. Some of that jump in relative spending was brought about by steep price increases. Their prices were bid up by those whose incomes had skyrocketed. Thus to the usual suspects causing the recession–unsustainable residential mortgage debt, low interest rates, predatory lending and the housing price bubble–income inequality must be included. The second story is that mainstream economists have misunderstood the causes of the recession because they have adhered to a macroeconomic theory that ignores the role of income distribution. Mainstream economic theory maintains that inequality has no impact on macroeconomic outcomes. That view is incorrect and led most economists to ignore the serious consequences of rising inequality, despite the striking parallel with the Great Depression.
Matthew P. Drennan
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780300209587
- eISBN:
- 9780300216349
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Yale University Press
- DOI:
- 10.12987/yale/9780300209587.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Public Policy
Rising income inequality has had deleterious effects upon household debt and saving. The overhang of debt and revived saving by households post 2007 will be a drag on economic expansion for some ...
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Rising income inequality has had deleterious effects upon household debt and saving. The overhang of debt and revived saving by households post 2007 will be a drag on economic expansion for some years. The adverse aftereffects of the Great Recession will be much longer than those of the recent past. One thing is clear: the cause of the Great Recession is mostly not economic—it is mostly political. So the solution, if ever devised, will be mostly political. Another financial and economic crash just as bad or worse than the last might focus Congress on correcting causes of income inequality. I present a plea for a more fact-based economics than an authority-based economics. Why have today’s economists failed to jettison the mainstream theory of consumption in the face of so much evidence to the contrary?Less
Rising income inequality has had deleterious effects upon household debt and saving. The overhang of debt and revived saving by households post 2007 will be a drag on economic expansion for some years. The adverse aftereffects of the Great Recession will be much longer than those of the recent past. One thing is clear: the cause of the Great Recession is mostly not economic—it is mostly political. So the solution, if ever devised, will be mostly political. Another financial and economic crash just as bad or worse than the last might focus Congress on correcting causes of income inequality. I present a plea for a more fact-based economics than an authority-based economics. Why have today’s economists failed to jettison the mainstream theory of consumption in the face of so much evidence to the contrary?
Michio Morishima
- Published in print:
- 1969
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198281641
- eISBN:
- 9780191596667
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198281641.003.0016
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
The problem of optimum savings has been discussed by Ramsey on the assumption of a constant population and later by a number of economists on the more general assumption that the labour force expands ...
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The problem of optimum savings has been discussed by Ramsey on the assumption of a constant population and later by a number of economists on the more general assumption that the labour force expands at a constant exogenously fixed rate; different rates of population growth lead to different solutions; i.e. the path of optimum capital accumulation is relative to the population growth. In contrast, Meade and others have been concerned with the problem of optimum population, assuming among other things that at any given time the economy is provided with a given rate of savings as well as a given stock of capital equipment to be used; it follows that the path of optimum population is relative to capital accumulation. It is evident that these two partial optimization procedures should be synthesized so as to give a genuine supreme path, which is optimum with respect to both capital and population. This final chapter generalizes the Ramsey–Meade problem in that direction and shows that two kinds of long‐run paths—efficient and optimum paths—will under some conditions converge to the Golden Growth path when the time horizon of the paths becomes infinite; the two long‐run tendencies that are derived may be regarded as extensions of those discussed in the chapters entitled First and Second Turnpike Theorems. The different sections of the chapter discuss: the generalized Ramsey–Meade problem; the finding that the Golden Equilibrium rate of growth is greater than the Silvery Equilibrium rate; the Average Final State Turnpike Theorem; the strong superadditivity of processes—a sufficient condition for strong convergence; the tendency towards the ‘top facet’ as the general rule; cyclic phenomena; the Average Consumption Turnpike Theorem and its proof; and aversion to fluctuation in consumption.Less
The problem of optimum savings has been discussed by Ramsey on the assumption of a constant population and later by a number of economists on the more general assumption that the labour force expands at a constant exogenously fixed rate; different rates of population growth lead to different solutions; i.e. the path of optimum capital accumulation is relative to the population growth. In contrast, Meade and others have been concerned with the problem of optimum population, assuming among other things that at any given time the economy is provided with a given rate of savings as well as a given stock of capital equipment to be used; it follows that the path of optimum population is relative to capital accumulation. It is evident that these two partial optimization procedures should be synthesized so as to give a genuine supreme path, which is optimum with respect to both capital and population. This final chapter generalizes the Ramsey–Meade problem in that direction and shows that two kinds of long‐run paths—efficient and optimum paths—will under some conditions converge to the Golden Growth path when the time horizon of the paths becomes infinite; the two long‐run tendencies that are derived may be regarded as extensions of those discussed in the chapters entitled First and Second Turnpike Theorems. The different sections of the chapter discuss: the generalized Ramsey–Meade problem; the finding that the Golden Equilibrium rate of growth is greater than the Silvery Equilibrium rate; the Average Final State Turnpike Theorem; the strong superadditivity of processes—a sufficient condition for strong convergence; the tendency towards the ‘top facet’ as the general rule; cyclic phenomena; the Average Consumption Turnpike Theorem and its proof; and aversion to fluctuation in consumption.
Máire ní Fhlathúin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780748640683
- eISBN:
- 9781474415996
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748640683.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, 19th-century and Victorian Literature
The book traces the development of British Indian literature from the early days of the nineteenth century to the end of the Victorian period. Previously unstudied poems and essays drawn from the ...
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The book traces the development of British Indian literature from the early days of the nineteenth century to the end of the Victorian period. Previously unstudied poems and essays drawn from the thriving periodicals culture of British India are examined alongside novels and travel-writing by authors including Philip Meadows Taylor, Emma Roberts and Rudyard Kipling, and the historical narratives of James Tod. Opening with an overview and discussion of the literary marketplace of the early nineteenth century, it moves on to the analysis of key moments, events and concerns of Victorian India, including the legacy of the Hastings impeachment, the Indian ‘Mutiny’, the sati controversy, and the rise of Bengal nationalism. These are re-assessed within their literary and political contexts, emphasising the engagement of British writers with canonical British literature (Scott, Byron) as well as the mythology and historiography of India and their own responses to their immediate surroundings. The book examines representations of the experience of being in India, in chapters on the poetry and prose of exile, and the dynamics of consumption. It also analyses colonial representations of the landscape and societies of India itself, in chapters on the figure of the bandit / hero, female agency and self-sacrifice, and the use of historiography to enlist indigenous narratives in the project of Empire.Less
The book traces the development of British Indian literature from the early days of the nineteenth century to the end of the Victorian period. Previously unstudied poems and essays drawn from the thriving periodicals culture of British India are examined alongside novels and travel-writing by authors including Philip Meadows Taylor, Emma Roberts and Rudyard Kipling, and the historical narratives of James Tod. Opening with an overview and discussion of the literary marketplace of the early nineteenth century, it moves on to the analysis of key moments, events and concerns of Victorian India, including the legacy of the Hastings impeachment, the Indian ‘Mutiny’, the sati controversy, and the rise of Bengal nationalism. These are re-assessed within their literary and political contexts, emphasising the engagement of British writers with canonical British literature (Scott, Byron) as well as the mythology and historiography of India and their own responses to their immediate surroundings. The book examines representations of the experience of being in India, in chapters on the poetry and prose of exile, and the dynamics of consumption. It also analyses colonial representations of the landscape and societies of India itself, in chapters on the figure of the bandit / hero, female agency and self-sacrifice, and the use of historiography to enlist indigenous narratives in the project of Empire.
Allison Abra
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- January 2018
- ISBN:
- 9781784994334
- eISBN:
- 9781526128218
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9781784994334.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Social History
Dancing in the English style explores the development, experience, and cultural representation of popular dance in Britain from the end of the First World War to the early 1950s. It describes the ...
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Dancing in the English style explores the development, experience, and cultural representation of popular dance in Britain from the end of the First World War to the early 1950s. It describes the rise of modern ballroom dancing as Britain’s predominant popular style, as well as the opening of hundreds of affordable dancing schools and purpose-built dance halls around the country. It focuses in particular on the relationship between two emerging commercial producers – the dance profession and dance hall industry – and the consumers who formed the dancing public. Together these groups negotiated the creation of a ‘national’ dancing style and experience, which constructed, circulated, and commodified ideas about national identity. At the same time, the book emphasizes the global, exploring the impact of international cultural products on national identity construction, the complexities of Americanisation, and Britain’s place in a transnational system of production and consumption that forged the dances of the Jazz Age.Less
Dancing in the English style explores the development, experience, and cultural representation of popular dance in Britain from the end of the First World War to the early 1950s. It describes the rise of modern ballroom dancing as Britain’s predominant popular style, as well as the opening of hundreds of affordable dancing schools and purpose-built dance halls around the country. It focuses in particular on the relationship between two emerging commercial producers – the dance profession and dance hall industry – and the consumers who formed the dancing public. Together these groups negotiated the creation of a ‘national’ dancing style and experience, which constructed, circulated, and commodified ideas about national identity. At the same time, the book emphasizes the global, exploring the impact of international cultural products on national identity construction, the complexities of Americanisation, and Britain’s place in a transnational system of production and consumption that forged the dances of the Jazz Age.
Kelly Erby
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780816691302
- eISBN:
- 9781452955353
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816691302.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
Restaurant Republic examines the nascent restaurant landscape in Boston in its entirety, from the most plebian of eateries to the extremely elite and refined. Focusing on the rise of commercial ...
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Restaurant Republic examines the nascent restaurant landscape in Boston in its entirety, from the most plebian of eateries to the extremely elite and refined. Focusing on the rise of commercial dining in one specific city provides the opportunity to systematically explore the varied networks of public dining venues that catered to distinct groups of Americans. The story of why Americans embraced dining out and the wide variety of ways in which they began to do so is an important one. Restaurants were a major part of a growing trend in urban public venues dedicated to consumer leisure in the nineteenth century. Along with theatres, department stores, and hotels, restaurants provided a public stage at a time when, still fresh from their revolution, Americans were eager to enter into the public sphere and define themselves as a people. But perhaps more than these other public commercial spaces, restaurants were also sharply differentiated. Thus, the study of restaurant dining in this period provides an opportunity to cast new light on how Americans attempted to balance the revolutionary ideal of egalitarianism against a growing capitalist consumer culture that both reflected and contributed to social hierarchy.Less
Restaurant Republic examines the nascent restaurant landscape in Boston in its entirety, from the most plebian of eateries to the extremely elite and refined. Focusing on the rise of commercial dining in one specific city provides the opportunity to systematically explore the varied networks of public dining venues that catered to distinct groups of Americans. The story of why Americans embraced dining out and the wide variety of ways in which they began to do so is an important one. Restaurants were a major part of a growing trend in urban public venues dedicated to consumer leisure in the nineteenth century. Along with theatres, department stores, and hotels, restaurants provided a public stage at a time when, still fresh from their revolution, Americans were eager to enter into the public sphere and define themselves as a people. But perhaps more than these other public commercial spaces, restaurants were also sharply differentiated. Thus, the study of restaurant dining in this period provides an opportunity to cast new light on how Americans attempted to balance the revolutionary ideal of egalitarianism against a growing capitalist consumer culture that both reflected and contributed to social hierarchy.
Assaf Razin
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262028592
- eISBN:
- 9780262327701
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262028592.003.0011
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, International
The benchmark New Keynesian model comprises three globalization features:1. International labor mobility: both inward and outward movements of labor. The presumption is that labor flows tend to ...
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The benchmark New Keynesian model comprises three globalization features:1. International labor mobility: both inward and outward movements of labor. The presumption is that labor flows tend to mitigate wage demands because they introduce a substitution between domestic and foreign labor. 2. International trade in goods. The presumption is that trade leads to specialization in domestic production and diversification in domestic consumption. Therefore, trade tends to weaken the link between domestic production and domestic consumption. As a result, the effect of the fluctuations of domestic production on inflation is also weakened by the presence of international trade in goods. 3. Financial integration with the rest of the world. International trade in financial assets allows households to smooth their consumption over time and over states of nature. Such a model may be used to simulate monetary policies during The Great Moderation from 1985 to 2007.Less
The benchmark New Keynesian model comprises three globalization features:1. International labor mobility: both inward and outward movements of labor. The presumption is that labor flows tend to mitigate wage demands because they introduce a substitution between domestic and foreign labor. 2. International trade in goods. The presumption is that trade leads to specialization in domestic production and diversification in domestic consumption. Therefore, trade tends to weaken the link between domestic production and domestic consumption. As a result, the effect of the fluctuations of domestic production on inflation is also weakened by the presence of international trade in goods. 3. Financial integration with the rest of the world. International trade in financial assets allows households to smooth their consumption over time and over states of nature. Such a model may be used to simulate monetary policies during The Great Moderation from 1985 to 2007.
Carl Riskin
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780197265673
- eISBN:
- 9780191771903
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- British Academy
- DOI:
- 10.5871/bacad/9780197265673.003.0002
- Subject:
- Society and Culture, Asian Studies
China, like India, presents a case of growth with increasing income inequality. In China this has gone hand in hand with a number of serious structural imbalances. It is clear that China’s problems ...
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China, like India, presents a case of growth with increasing income inequality. In China this has gone hand in hand with a number of serious structural imbalances. It is clear that China’s problems of growing inequality and of structural imbalance are closely linked. The forces that produced imbalance also enlarged inequality. Both imbalance and inequality are byproducts of a growth model dominated by a combination of surplus labour, on one hand, and government policies that have repressed consumption and hindered employment growth, on the other. While the government has tried without much success to alter this growth model, rebalancethe economy and reduce economic disparities, two recent developments have had a major impact: First, China began to encounter shortages of labour. Second, the stimulus package launched to counter the 2008 recession itself affected the rebalancing objective in complex and conflicting ways.Less
China, like India, presents a case of growth with increasing income inequality. In China this has gone hand in hand with a number of serious structural imbalances. It is clear that China’s problems of growing inequality and of structural imbalance are closely linked. The forces that produced imbalance also enlarged inequality. Both imbalance and inequality are byproducts of a growth model dominated by a combination of surplus labour, on one hand, and government policies that have repressed consumption and hindered employment growth, on the other. While the government has tried without much success to alter this growth model, rebalancethe economy and reduce economic disparities, two recent developments have had a major impact: First, China began to encounter shortages of labour. Second, the stimulus package launched to counter the 2008 recession itself affected the rebalancing objective in complex and conflicting ways.
Kelly Erby
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- May 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780816691302
- eISBN:
- 9781452955353
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Minnesota Press
- DOI:
- 10.5749/minnesota/9780816691302.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, Cultural History
In the epilogue of Restaurant Republic, the author traces the story of commercial dining in Boston into the early twentieth century and reviews the major points of the previous chapters. The findings ...
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In the epilogue of Restaurant Republic, the author traces the story of commercial dining in Boston into the early twentieth century and reviews the major points of the previous chapters. The findings will be useful to those interested in exploring relationships between food, culture, and identity in other cities, as well as in our own time.Less
In the epilogue of Restaurant Republic, the author traces the story of commercial dining in Boston into the early twentieth century and reviews the major points of the previous chapters. The findings will be useful to those interested in exploring relationships between food, culture, and identity in other cities, as well as in our own time.
Frank Robert H.
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- January 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780262027670
- eISBN:
- 9780262325387
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262027670.003.0016
- Subject:
- Psychology, Cognitive Neuroscience
Consumption does not occur in a social vacuum. The spending of others in the community establishes frames of reference that strongly shape the spending patterns of each individual. This is a normal ...
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Consumption does not occur in a social vacuum. The spending of others in the community establishes frames of reference that strongly shape the spending patterns of each individual. This is a normal and inescapable fact of the human condition. In recent decades, virtually all significant income gains accrued to those who already had the highest incomes. This group responded to these gains the same way that all others respond to income growth—by spending more. This higher spending at the top shifted the frames of reference that shape the judgments of those just below, causing them to spend more as well—and so on, all the way down the income ladder. In many cases, the resulting expenditure cascades have made it more costly for middle-income families to achieve basic goals. Negative externalities from consumption are thus much like negative externalities stemming from noise, smoke, or other forms of pollution. To ignore that simple fact when designing of our laws and institutions is to pass up clear opportunities for everyone to lead more fulfilling livesLess
Consumption does not occur in a social vacuum. The spending of others in the community establishes frames of reference that strongly shape the spending patterns of each individual. This is a normal and inescapable fact of the human condition. In recent decades, virtually all significant income gains accrued to those who already had the highest incomes. This group responded to these gains the same way that all others respond to income growth—by spending more. This higher spending at the top shifted the frames of reference that shape the judgments of those just below, causing them to spend more as well—and so on, all the way down the income ladder. In many cases, the resulting expenditure cascades have made it more costly for middle-income families to achieve basic goals. Negative externalities from consumption are thus much like negative externalities stemming from noise, smoke, or other forms of pollution. To ignore that simple fact when designing of our laws and institutions is to pass up clear opportunities for everyone to lead more fulfilling lives
Yannis Stavrakakis
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748619801
- eISBN:
- 9780748672073
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748619801.001.0001
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
In recent years psychoanalysis – especially Lacanian theory – has been gradually acknowledged as a vital resource in the ongoing re-orientation of contemporary political theory and analysis. Of ...
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In recent years psychoanalysis – especially Lacanian theory – has been gradually acknowledged as a vital resource in the ongoing re-orientation of contemporary political theory and analysis. Of particular note is that the work of Jacques Lacan is increasingly being used by major political philosophers associated with the Left. This indicates the dynamic emergence of a new theoretico-political horizon: that of the ‘Lacanian Left’. The Lacanian Left systematically follows and discusses this emergence and draws its implications for concrete political analysis.It offers: An accessible mapping of its main contours. A detailed examination of the points of convergence and divergence between the major figures active within or at the periphery of this terrain, including Slavoj Zizek, Ernesto Laclau, Alain Badiou and Cornelius Castoriadis. A critical evaluation of their respective arguments on social construction and the political, affectivity and discourse, ethics and social change, negativity and positivity.Engaging with the role of affect and emotion in political life through the central Lacanian notion of ‘enjoyment’, The Lacanian Left puts forward innovative analyses of political power and authority, nationalism, European identity, consumerism and advertising culture, de-democratisation and post-democracy. It is of value to everyone interested in exploring the potential of psychoanalysis to reinvigorate political theory, critical political analysis and democratic politics.Less
In recent years psychoanalysis – especially Lacanian theory – has been gradually acknowledged as a vital resource in the ongoing re-orientation of contemporary political theory and analysis. Of particular note is that the work of Jacques Lacan is increasingly being used by major political philosophers associated with the Left. This indicates the dynamic emergence of a new theoretico-political horizon: that of the ‘Lacanian Left’. The Lacanian Left systematically follows and discusses this emergence and draws its implications for concrete political analysis.It offers: An accessible mapping of its main contours. A detailed examination of the points of convergence and divergence between the major figures active within or at the periphery of this terrain, including Slavoj Zizek, Ernesto Laclau, Alain Badiou and Cornelius Castoriadis. A critical evaluation of their respective arguments on social construction and the political, affectivity and discourse, ethics and social change, negativity and positivity.Engaging with the role of affect and emotion in political life through the central Lacanian notion of ‘enjoyment’, The Lacanian Left puts forward innovative analyses of political power and authority, nationalism, European identity, consumerism and advertising culture, de-democratisation and post-democracy. It is of value to everyone interested in exploring the potential of psychoanalysis to reinvigorate political theory, critical political analysis and democratic politics.
Gay Hawkins, Emily Potter, and Kane Race
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780262029414
- eISBN:
- 9780262329521
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- The MIT Press
- DOI:
- 10.7551/mitpress/9780262029414.001.0001
- Subject:
- Environmental Science, Environmental Studies
This book investigates the rapid growth of bottled water markets over the last twenty years. Its driving question is: how did water become a market thing, no longer a common resource but a commercial ...
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This book investigates the rapid growth of bottled water markets over the last twenty years. Its driving question is: how did water become a market thing, no longer a common resource but a commercial product, in industry parlance a ‘fast moving consumer good’? Plastic Water goes beyond the usual political and environmental critiques of bottled water to investigate its multiplicity, examining the bottle of water’s simultaneous existence as, among other things, a product, personal health resource, accumulating waste matter and focus of public concern and issue politics. The book is divided into three sections. In section one, ‘The Event of Bottled Water’, three key factors in the historical and practical development of markets are examined: the development of the PET bottle, a mundane packaging material that transformed the beverages industry; the intensification of branding; and the rise of ‘hydration science’ and popular information about the need to constantly sip. Section two ‘Bottle Practices’ looks at what bottles do in the world, tracing drinking and disposal practices in three Asian cities, Bangkok, Chennai and Hanoi, with unreliable access to safe water. Section three, ‘Ethical Drinking’, investigates campaigns to contest bottled water markets and corporate responses. The rise of bottled water as an issue triggered an enormous variety of public activism aimed at ‘saying no’ to the bottle and defending public supplies and the humble tap. This sophisticated market contestation led to various responses from beverage corporations including attempts to redeem bottled water and link it to various causes.Less
This book investigates the rapid growth of bottled water markets over the last twenty years. Its driving question is: how did water become a market thing, no longer a common resource but a commercial product, in industry parlance a ‘fast moving consumer good’? Plastic Water goes beyond the usual political and environmental critiques of bottled water to investigate its multiplicity, examining the bottle of water’s simultaneous existence as, among other things, a product, personal health resource, accumulating waste matter and focus of public concern and issue politics. The book is divided into three sections. In section one, ‘The Event of Bottled Water’, three key factors in the historical and practical development of markets are examined: the development of the PET bottle, a mundane packaging material that transformed the beverages industry; the intensification of branding; and the rise of ‘hydration science’ and popular information about the need to constantly sip. Section two ‘Bottle Practices’ looks at what bottles do in the world, tracing drinking and disposal practices in three Asian cities, Bangkok, Chennai and Hanoi, with unreliable access to safe water. Section three, ‘Ethical Drinking’, investigates campaigns to contest bottled water markets and corporate responses. The rise of bottled water as an issue triggered an enormous variety of public activism aimed at ‘saying no’ to the bottle and defending public supplies and the humble tap. This sophisticated market contestation led to various responses from beverage corporations including attempts to redeem bottled water and link it to various causes.
Julie M. Weise
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469624969
- eISBN:
- 9781469624983
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469624969.003.0005
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
Chapter Five traces the dreams, migrations, and eventual collision of two groups: middle-class white exurban homeowners and immigrant families from a globalized Mexico. It sets the stage by ...
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Chapter Five traces the dreams, migrations, and eventual collision of two groups: middle-class white exurban homeowners and immigrant families from a globalized Mexico. It sets the stage by discussing the 1990s boom in Mexican immigration to Charlotte, showing how the business-driven “Charlotte Way” of racial moderation encouraged a welcoming attitude towards the initial arrival of a mostly-male Latino workforce. But soon, employment and housing opportunities drew entire Mexican families to places like Union County on Charlotte’s fringe while a more affordable middle-class lifestyle attracted white homeowners to those same spaces. As the two groups encountered each other, Latinos’ perceived consumption of public services—particularly seats in school classrooms—ran afoul of white middle-class families’ belief that they had an exclusive claim to partake of the services their tax dollars funded. This chapter draws on oral history interviews and written accounts to understand the desires that brought Latino immigrants to the exurbs as well as the politics that disparaged them once there. In so doing, it argues that exurbs—not the particularities of Southern history—provide the key to understanding the South’s anti-immigrant turn in the early twenty-first century.Less
Chapter Five traces the dreams, migrations, and eventual collision of two groups: middle-class white exurban homeowners and immigrant families from a globalized Mexico. It sets the stage by discussing the 1990s boom in Mexican immigration to Charlotte, showing how the business-driven “Charlotte Way” of racial moderation encouraged a welcoming attitude towards the initial arrival of a mostly-male Latino workforce. But soon, employment and housing opportunities drew entire Mexican families to places like Union County on Charlotte’s fringe while a more affordable middle-class lifestyle attracted white homeowners to those same spaces. As the two groups encountered each other, Latinos’ perceived consumption of public services—particularly seats in school classrooms—ran afoul of white middle-class families’ belief that they had an exclusive claim to partake of the services their tax dollars funded. This chapter draws on oral history interviews and written accounts to understand the desires that brought Latino immigrants to the exurbs as well as the politics that disparaged them once there. In so doing, it argues that exurbs—not the particularities of Southern history—provide the key to understanding the South’s anti-immigrant turn in the early twenty-first century.
Michelle Chase
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- May 2016
- ISBN:
- 9781469625003
- eISBN:
- 9781469625027
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of North Carolina Press
- DOI:
- 10.5149/northcarolina/9781469625003.003.0002
- Subject:
- History, Latin American History
This chapter examines the very earliest forms of oppositional activity that emerged in the wake of Fulgencio Batista’s coup. Focusing on the often-ignored period of 1952 to 1955, the chapter ...
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This chapter examines the very earliest forms of oppositional activity that emerged in the wake of Fulgencio Batista’s coup. Focusing on the often-ignored period of 1952 to 1955, the chapter demonstrates that a vibrant, inclusive, and creative urban civic opposition movement was in the making. This movement developed a wide repertoire of public protest actions that included both women and men and often took place in consumer or leisure-oriented spaces such as movie theaters, department stores, and commercial thoroughfares. But the rise of state violence and the turn to armed opposition fostered a gendered division of labor in the anti-Batista movement. Many men henceforth sought to join the urban underground or the rebel army, while many women remained active in organizing, strategizing, or propaganda efforts.Less
This chapter examines the very earliest forms of oppositional activity that emerged in the wake of Fulgencio Batista’s coup. Focusing on the often-ignored period of 1952 to 1955, the chapter demonstrates that a vibrant, inclusive, and creative urban civic opposition movement was in the making. This movement developed a wide repertoire of public protest actions that included both women and men and often took place in consumer or leisure-oriented spaces such as movie theaters, department stores, and commercial thoroughfares. But the rise of state violence and the turn to armed opposition fostered a gendered division of labor in the anti-Batista movement. Many men henceforth sought to join the urban underground or the rebel army, while many women remained active in organizing, strategizing, or propaganda efforts.
Melanie Tebbutt
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780719066139
- eISBN:
- 9781781704097
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Manchester University Press
- DOI:
- 10.7228/manchester/9780719066139.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, Social History
Chapter 3 compares and contrasts anxieties and concerns which surrounded the clothed and unclothed male body. Male bodies had a powerful cultural resonance after the war, in rehabilitative ...
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Chapter 3 compares and contrasts anxieties and concerns which surrounded the clothed and unclothed male body. Male bodies had a powerful cultural resonance after the war, in rehabilitative initiatives and emerging consumer industries. By the 1930s, the physical power of the masses, from the Bolshevik Revolution to images of crowds at play, was informing a national iconography of controlled and disciplined youth, very visible in newsreel footage from the 1930s of the Scouts, BB, boys' clubs, and totalitarian youth movements in Germany and Italy. At an individual level, young men's physical sense of self was coming under the growing influence of visual forms and commercial leisure trends, bringing working-class young men into contact with new models of personal behaviour and social interaction which made many sensitive to style, fashion and appearance. This chapter examines how working-class young men mediated the feminised connotations of consumption in negotiating these new physical images and ways of performing masculinity.Less
Chapter 3 compares and contrasts anxieties and concerns which surrounded the clothed and unclothed male body. Male bodies had a powerful cultural resonance after the war, in rehabilitative initiatives and emerging consumer industries. By the 1930s, the physical power of the masses, from the Bolshevik Revolution to images of crowds at play, was informing a national iconography of controlled and disciplined youth, very visible in newsreel footage from the 1930s of the Scouts, BB, boys' clubs, and totalitarian youth movements in Germany and Italy. At an individual level, young men's physical sense of self was coming under the growing influence of visual forms and commercial leisure trends, bringing working-class young men into contact with new models of personal behaviour and social interaction which made many sensitive to style, fashion and appearance. This chapter examines how working-class young men mediated the feminised connotations of consumption in negotiating these new physical images and ways of performing masculinity.
Brenda Assael
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- August 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198817604
- eISBN:
- 9780191859106
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198817604.001.0001
- Subject:
- History, British and Irish Modern History, Cultural History
This book offers the first scholarly treatment of the history of public eating in London in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The quotidian nature of taking a meal in public during the working day or ...
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This book offers the first scholarly treatment of the history of public eating in London in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The quotidian nature of taking a meal in public during the working day or evening should not be allowed to obscure the significance of the restaurant (defined broadly, to encompass not merely the prestigious West End restaurant, but also the modest refreshment room, and even the street cart) as a critical component in the creation of modern metropolitan culture. The story of the London restaurant between the 1840s and the First World War serves as an exemplary site for mapping the expansion of commercial leisure, the increasing significance of the service sector, the introduction of technology, the democratization of the public sphere, changing gender roles, and the impact of immigration. The book incorporates what I term ‘gastro-cosmopolitanism’ to highlight the existence of an international, heterogeneous, and even hybrid, culture in London in this period that requires us to think, not merely beyond the nation, but beyond empire. The restaurant also had an important role in contemporary debates about public health and the (sometimes conflicting, but no less often complementary) prerogatives of commerce, moral improvement, and liberal governance. This book considers the restaurant as a business and a place of employment, as well as an important site for the emergence of new forms of metropolitan experience and identity. While focused on London, it illustrates the complex ways in which cultural and commercial forces were intertwined in modern Britain, and demonstrates the rewards of writing histories which recognize the interplay between broad, global forces and highly localized spaces.Less
This book offers the first scholarly treatment of the history of public eating in London in the Victorian and Edwardian eras. The quotidian nature of taking a meal in public during the working day or evening should not be allowed to obscure the significance of the restaurant (defined broadly, to encompass not merely the prestigious West End restaurant, but also the modest refreshment room, and even the street cart) as a critical component in the creation of modern metropolitan culture. The story of the London restaurant between the 1840s and the First World War serves as an exemplary site for mapping the expansion of commercial leisure, the increasing significance of the service sector, the introduction of technology, the democratization of the public sphere, changing gender roles, and the impact of immigration. The book incorporates what I term ‘gastro-cosmopolitanism’ to highlight the existence of an international, heterogeneous, and even hybrid, culture in London in this period that requires us to think, not merely beyond the nation, but beyond empire. The restaurant also had an important role in contemporary debates about public health and the (sometimes conflicting, but no less often complementary) prerogatives of commerce, moral improvement, and liberal governance. This book considers the restaurant as a business and a place of employment, as well as an important site for the emergence of new forms of metropolitan experience and identity. While focused on London, it illustrates the complex ways in which cultural and commercial forces were intertwined in modern Britain, and demonstrates the rewards of writing histories which recognize the interplay between broad, global forces and highly localized spaces.
Yannis Stavrakakis
- Published in print:
- 2007
- Published Online:
- September 2012
- ISBN:
- 9780748619801
- eISBN:
- 9780748672073
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748619801.003.0009
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The enjoyment factor is not only important in explaining why certain discourses stick for long historical periods and others fail to attract; it also underlies successful projects of social, cultural ...
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The enjoyment factor is not only important in explaining why certain discourses stick for long historical periods and others fail to attract; it also underlies successful projects of social, cultural and political change. A manipulation of enjoyment of this sort lies behind the enormous success of consumerism and the capacity of advertising discourse to hegemonise modern culture. It is commonplace today to argue that advertising and branding constitute hegemonic discursive tropes in late modernity. It is, moreover, the case that advertising discourse and political marketing are increasingly colonising the political space, which leads to a de-democratisation of liberal democratic institutions. At the same time, however, it is also obvious that up until now the critique of consumerism and advertising has failed to reach a degree of sophistication and rigour that would enhance its effectiveness and social relevance. An encounter with certain Lacanian insights can benefit enormously the whole field of the analysis and critique of consumerism and advertising. Most importantly, it can illuminate the profound socio-political implications of consumer culture, whose hegemony seems to mark the passage from a society of prohibition to a society of commanded enjoyment.Less
The enjoyment factor is not only important in explaining why certain discourses stick for long historical periods and others fail to attract; it also underlies successful projects of social, cultural and political change. A manipulation of enjoyment of this sort lies behind the enormous success of consumerism and the capacity of advertising discourse to hegemonise modern culture. It is commonplace today to argue that advertising and branding constitute hegemonic discursive tropes in late modernity. It is, moreover, the case that advertising discourse and political marketing are increasingly colonising the political space, which leads to a de-democratisation of liberal democratic institutions. At the same time, however, it is also obvious that up until now the critique of consumerism and advertising has failed to reach a degree of sophistication and rigour that would enhance its effectiveness and social relevance. An encounter with certain Lacanian insights can benefit enormously the whole field of the analysis and critique of consumerism and advertising. Most importantly, it can illuminate the profound socio-political implications of consumer culture, whose hegemony seems to mark the passage from a society of prohibition to a society of commanded enjoyment.
Claus Munk
- Published in print:
- 2013
- Published Online:
- May 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780199585496
- eISBN:
- 9780191751790
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199585496.003.0008
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Econometrics
This chapter combines the general results on state-price deflators from Ch. 4 with the relation between state-price deflators and individuals’ marginal rate of substitution developed in Ch. 6. This ...
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This chapter combines the general results on state-price deflators from Ch. 4 with the relation between state-price deflators and individuals’ marginal rate of substitution developed in Ch. 6. This combination leads to a link between asset prices and expected returns on one side and the optimal consumption of individuals on the other side. If a representative individual exists (Ch. 7), the link holds for aggregate consumption. Based on some approximations or an assumption of CRRA utility and lognormal consumption, the so-called Consumption-based CAPM or CCAPM is derived and interpreted. However, the basic CRRA-lognormal version of the CCAPM is shown to be unable to match a number of stylized empirical asset pricing facts and thus leaves a number of puzzles, such as the equity premium puzzle and the risk-free rate puzzle. Finally, some potential problems with such empirical tests of the CCAPM are discussed.Less
This chapter combines the general results on state-price deflators from Ch. 4 with the relation between state-price deflators and individuals’ marginal rate of substitution developed in Ch. 6. This combination leads to a link between asset prices and expected returns on one side and the optimal consumption of individuals on the other side. If a representative individual exists (Ch. 7), the link holds for aggregate consumption. Based on some approximations or an assumption of CRRA utility and lognormal consumption, the so-called Consumption-based CAPM or CCAPM is derived and interpreted. However, the basic CRRA-lognormal version of the CCAPM is shown to be unable to match a number of stylized empirical asset pricing facts and thus leaves a number of puzzles, such as the equity premium puzzle and the risk-free rate puzzle. Finally, some potential problems with such empirical tests of the CCAPM are discussed.
