Roy C. Smith and Ingo Walter
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2006
- ISBN:
- 9780195171679
- eISBN:
- 9780199783618
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195171675.003.0009
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Microeconomics
The US regulatory framework has evolved since the 1930s, aiming to protect investors from abuse and exploitation. However, this regulation could only restrict specific, identified transactions and ...
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The US regulatory framework has evolved since the 1930s, aiming to protect investors from abuse and exploitation. However, this regulation could only restrict specific, identified transactions and practices. If not so restricted, a business practice was considered permissible. Every few years, a dynamic market environment will tend to produce new practices and transactions, and in time the regulatory machinery catches up and declares some of them impermissible. When a major episode of misconduct occurs, the regulatory machine accelerates and catches up quickly. When this happens, sudden and sometimes retroactive changes in the “ground rules” are declared that inevitably catch a number of practitioners off guard.Less
The US regulatory framework has evolved since the 1930s, aiming to protect investors from abuse and exploitation. However, this regulation could only restrict specific, identified transactions and practices. If not so restricted, a business practice was considered permissible. Every few years, a dynamic market environment will tend to produce new practices and transactions, and in time the regulatory machinery catches up and declares some of them impermissible. When a major episode of misconduct occurs, the regulatory machine accelerates and catches up quickly. When this happens, sudden and sometimes retroactive changes in the “ground rules” are declared that inevitably catch a number of practitioners off guard.
Paul Stoneman
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- May 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780199572489
- eISBN:
- 9780191722257
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199572489.003.0008
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Innovation
This chapter considers alternative models of the demand for (diffusion of) soft innovations. From the several models, the list of factors shown to be important in the innovation process includes the ...
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This chapter considers alternative models of the demand for (diffusion of) soft innovations. From the several models, the list of factors shown to be important in the innovation process includes the level and, particularly, changes in costs of generating and developing innovations, fixed costs of production, variable production costs, the number of suppliers, the allocation of buyers' preferences, buyers' knowledge bases, buyers price, and technology expectations and the nature of the product. The theoretical analysis in Chapters 7 and 8 also jointly shows that there is no guarantee that free markets will produce a welfare optimal outcome. The outcome may involve either too much or too little variety and innovation. The market failure thus identified can come from a number of sources. One general source is that there are positive or negative externalities in the market that drive a wedge between private and social incentives. Other factors such as creative destruction effects and the standing on shoulders effects also have a role to play.Less
This chapter considers alternative models of the demand for (diffusion of) soft innovations. From the several models, the list of factors shown to be important in the innovation process includes the level and, particularly, changes in costs of generating and developing innovations, fixed costs of production, variable production costs, the number of suppliers, the allocation of buyers' preferences, buyers' knowledge bases, buyers price, and technology expectations and the nature of the product. The theoretical analysis in Chapters 7 and 8 also jointly shows that there is no guarantee that free markets will produce a welfare optimal outcome. The outcome may involve either too much or too little variety and innovation. The market failure thus identified can come from a number of sources. One general source is that there are positive or negative externalities in the market that drive a wedge between private and social incentives. Other factors such as creative destruction effects and the standing on shoulders effects also have a role to play.
Martin Ruef
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691162775
- eISBN:
- 9781400852642
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691162775.003.0002
- Subject:
- Sociology, Politics, Social Movements and Social Change
This chapter studies the extent to which the Freedmen Bureau's effort to reinstate plantation labor for former slaves in the mid-1860s was associated with changes in the valuation of black labor. ...
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This chapter studies the extent to which the Freedmen Bureau's effort to reinstate plantation labor for former slaves in the mid-1860s was associated with changes in the valuation of black labor. Despite similarities in coercion and the organization of labor, the valuation of wage labor under the bureau was linked to human capital investments and statistical discrimination in ways that were fundamentally different from the valuations observed in appraisals, purchases, and hires within the antebellum slave market. This shift in the logic of valuation produced uncertainty among bureau agents, employers, and former bondsmen and women themselves as to how black workers would be compensated within the emerging free labor market of the American South.Less
This chapter studies the extent to which the Freedmen Bureau's effort to reinstate plantation labor for former slaves in the mid-1860s was associated with changes in the valuation of black labor. Despite similarities in coercion and the organization of labor, the valuation of wage labor under the bureau was linked to human capital investments and statistical discrimination in ways that were fundamentally different from the valuations observed in appraisals, purchases, and hires within the antebellum slave market. This shift in the logic of valuation produced uncertainty among bureau agents, employers, and former bondsmen and women themselves as to how black workers would be compensated within the emerging free labor market of the American South.
Neil Gilbert
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- April 2004
- ISBN:
- 9780195140743
- eISBN:
- 9780199834921
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0195140745.003.0008
- Subject:
- Political Science, Comparative Politics
On the basis of the analysis of the changes in the welfare state over the last decade of the twentieth century described in the book, the occurrence of a paradigm shift is identified. The relative ...
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On the basis of the analysis of the changes in the welfare state over the last decade of the twentieth century described in the book, the occurrence of a paradigm shift is identified. The relative stances of the Left and Right on the changes in the welfare state, and the role of the free market in shaping the future course of welfare are discussed. The dangers of the enabling state as a handmaiden to the market are noted, and approaches to creating a healthier balance between the enabling state and market forces, and reviving the public sphere to some extent, are outlined.Less
On the basis of the analysis of the changes in the welfare state over the last decade of the twentieth century described in the book, the occurrence of a paradigm shift is identified. The relative stances of the Left and Right on the changes in the welfare state, and the role of the free market in shaping the future course of welfare are discussed. The dangers of the enabling state as a handmaiden to the market are noted, and approaches to creating a healthier balance between the enabling state and market forces, and reviving the public sphere to some extent, are outlined.
Russell Hardin
- Published in print:
- 1999
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780198290841
- eISBN:
- 9780191599415
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0198290845.003.0006
- Subject:
- Political Science, Political Theory
The US Constitution embodied a limited degree of laissez faire, enough to give capitalism at least an advantage over any other economic organization of the society if Adam Smith's theory is roughly ...
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The US Constitution embodied a limited degree of laissez faire, enough to give capitalism at least an advantage over any other economic organization of the society if Adam Smith's theory is roughly right. What capitalism mainly needed was free markets, and the US Constitution went very far toward providing that interstate commerce would not be trammeled by the states acting for narrow interests against farmers and producers in other states. In the conflicts between commerce, small farming, and plantation agrarianism, nearly neutral government was good for the longer‐run workability of the constitution and its government. The fundamentally important issue in the design of constitutions is to enable rather than hinder economic transitions that are not well understood in advance. When the economies of eastern socialist regimes ceased to benefit from centrally controlled mobilization to do what was already well done elsewhere, their Communist governments were an obstacle to developing in other ways and, in particular, to making the transition to market economies.Less
The US Constitution embodied a limited degree of laissez faire, enough to give capitalism at least an advantage over any other economic organization of the society if Adam Smith's theory is roughly right. What capitalism mainly needed was free markets, and the US Constitution went very far toward providing that interstate commerce would not be trammeled by the states acting for narrow interests against farmers and producers in other states. In the conflicts between commerce, small farming, and plantation agrarianism, nearly neutral government was good for the longer‐run workability of the constitution and its government. The fundamentally important issue in the design of constitutions is to enable rather than hinder economic transitions that are not well understood in advance. When the economies of eastern socialist regimes ceased to benefit from centrally controlled mobilization to do what was already well done elsewhere, their Communist governments were an obstacle to developing in other ways and, in particular, to making the transition to market economies.
Daniel Stedman Jones
- Published in print:
- 2014
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691161013
- eISBN:
- 9781400851836
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691161013.003.0004
- Subject:
- History, American History: 20th Century
This chapter talks about how a distinct neoliberal worldview was built on the foundations of the critique of New Deal liberalism and social democracy synthesized in the writings of Ludwig von Mises, ...
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This chapter talks about how a distinct neoliberal worldview was built on the foundations of the critique of New Deal liberalism and social democracy synthesized in the writings of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Karl Popper. The adrenaline generated by the neoliberal movement and its ideas in the Conservative and Republican parties radically changed the political and economic life of both the United States and Great Britain. The chapter also shows how neoliberal ideas developed a sharper focus and an icy coherence. Neither Milton Friedman's intelligent loquaciousness nor Ronald Reagan's warm sentiments could disguise a philosophy that was built on a cold and abstract individualism, yet the vision was still very much a utopian one, centered on a fantasy of the perfect free market.Less
This chapter talks about how a distinct neoliberal worldview was built on the foundations of the critique of New Deal liberalism and social democracy synthesized in the writings of Ludwig von Mises, Friedrich Hayek, and Karl Popper. The adrenaline generated by the neoliberal movement and its ideas in the Conservative and Republican parties radically changed the political and economic life of both the United States and Great Britain. The chapter also shows how neoliberal ideas developed a sharper focus and an icy coherence. Neither Milton Friedman's intelligent loquaciousness nor Ronald Reagan's warm sentiments could disguise a philosophy that was built on a cold and abstract individualism, yet the vision was still very much a utopian one, centered on a fantasy of the perfect free market.
Jamie Peck
- Published in print:
- 2010
- Published Online:
- January 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780199580576
- eISBN:
- 9780191595240
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199580576.001.0001
- Subject:
- Business and Management, Political Economy
Amongst intellectuals and activists, neoliberalism has become a potent signifier for the kind of free-market thinking that has dominated politics for the past three decades. Forever associated with ...
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Amongst intellectuals and activists, neoliberalism has become a potent signifier for the kind of free-market thinking that has dominated politics for the past three decades. Forever associated with the conviction politics of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the free-market project has since become synonymous with the ‘Washington Consensus’ on international development policy and the phenomenon of corporate globalization, where it has come to mean privatization, deregulation, and the opening up of new markets. But beyond its utility as a protest slogan as a shorthand signifier for the political-economic Zeitgeist, what do we know about where neoliberalism came from and how it spread? Who are the neoliberals, and why do they studiously avoid the label? This book presents a radical critique of the free-market project, from its origins in the first half of the 20th century through to its near-death experience in the recent global economic crisis, from the utopian dreams of Friedrich von Hayek, through the dogmatic theories of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School, to the hope and hubris of Obamanomics. The book traces how neoliberalism went from crank science to common sense in the period between the Great Depression and the age of Obama. It is an exploration of the antisocial life of the free-market project, examined in its cradles of invention and in its zones of extension and contestation. In the process, the book elaborates (and puts to work) an understanding of neoliberalism as an adaptive, unevenly developed regulatory project.Less
Amongst intellectuals and activists, neoliberalism has become a potent signifier for the kind of free-market thinking that has dominated politics for the past three decades. Forever associated with the conviction politics of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher, the free-market project has since become synonymous with the ‘Washington Consensus’ on international development policy and the phenomenon of corporate globalization, where it has come to mean privatization, deregulation, and the opening up of new markets. But beyond its utility as a protest slogan as a shorthand signifier for the political-economic Zeitgeist, what do we know about where neoliberalism came from and how it spread? Who are the neoliberals, and why do they studiously avoid the label? This book presents a radical critique of the free-market project, from its origins in the first half of the 20th century through to its near-death experience in the recent global economic crisis, from the utopian dreams of Friedrich von Hayek, through the dogmatic theories of Milton Friedman and the Chicago School, to the hope and hubris of Obamanomics. The book traces how neoliberalism went from crank science to common sense in the period between the Great Depression and the age of Obama. It is an exploration of the antisocial life of the free-market project, examined in its cradles of invention and in its zones of extension and contestation. In the process, the book elaborates (and puts to work) an understanding of neoliberalism as an adaptive, unevenly developed regulatory project.
Louis Putterman
- Published in print:
- 1993
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780195078725
- eISBN:
- 9780199854950
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195078725.001.0001
- Subject:
- Economics and Finance, Development, Growth, and Environmental
This book is a detailed study of rural reform in China. After the death of Mao, and with the ascendency of Deng Xiaoping in 1978, China began a programme of agricultural reform intended to increase ...
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This book is a detailed study of rural reform in China. After the death of Mao, and with the ascendency of Deng Xiaoping in 1978, China began a programme of agricultural reform intended to increase productivity. Three major changes moved the agricultural sector from a centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one. First was the replacement of collective teams by farming by households. Second, an increase in free markets for rural products, and an increase in state prices for farm products, and the partial elimination of the two-tier price system. Third were changes in the economic structure that facilitated greater productivity and a 250% increase in average real rural incomes between 1979 and 1986. This book is unique in that it studies a single township (Dahe in Hebei Province) in depth over the two periods, thus providing data about the effects of reform at village level.Less
This book is a detailed study of rural reform in China. After the death of Mao, and with the ascendency of Deng Xiaoping in 1978, China began a programme of agricultural reform intended to increase productivity. Three major changes moved the agricultural sector from a centrally planned system to a more market-oriented one. First was the replacement of collective teams by farming by households. Second, an increase in free markets for rural products, and an increase in state prices for farm products, and the partial elimination of the two-tier price system. Third were changes in the economic structure that facilitated greater productivity and a 250% increase in average real rural incomes between 1979 and 1986. This book is unique in that it studies a single township (Dahe in Hebei Province) in depth over the two periods, thus providing data about the effects of reform at village level.
Jason G. Ralph
- Published in print:
- 2000
- Published Online:
- November 2003
- ISBN:
- 9780199240975
- eISBN:
- 9780191598999
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/0199240973.003.0010
- Subject:
- Political Science, International Relations and Politics
Explores the gap between rhetoric and practice in the American policy of promoting democracy. It attributes it to the US, promoting two inconsistent goals at the same time: democratization and free ...
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Explores the gap between rhetoric and practice in the American policy of promoting democracy. It attributes it to the US, promoting two inconsistent goals at the same time: democratization and free market capitalism. This is not because the US responds only to corporate interests. Instead, this policy mix stems from America's image of its own success: at the time of its foundation, democratic development was compatible with economic individualism due to extraordinary socio–economic circumstances. However, given the contemporary socio–economic circumstances of new democracies, it would be more appropriate to promote social democracy rather than liberal democracy.Less
Explores the gap between rhetoric and practice in the American policy of promoting democracy. It attributes it to the US, promoting two inconsistent goals at the same time: democratization and free market capitalism. This is not because the US responds only to corporate interests. Instead, this policy mix stems from America's image of its own success: at the time of its foundation, democratic development was compatible with economic individualism due to extraordinary socio–economic circumstances. However, given the contemporary socio–economic circumstances of new democracies, it would be more appropriate to promote social democracy rather than liberal democracy.
John Tomasi
- Published in print:
- 2012
- Published Online:
- October 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780691144467
- eISBN:
- 9781400842391
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Princeton University Press
- DOI:
- 10.23943/princeton/9780691144467.003.0008
- Subject:
- Philosophy, Political Philosophy
This chapter defends a “market democratic” interpretation of justice as fairness that it calls free market fairness, with a particular focus on institutions. The discussion encompasses the difference ...
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This chapter defends a “market democratic” interpretation of justice as fairness that it calls free market fairness, with a particular focus on institutions. The discussion encompasses the difference principle, fair equality of opportunity, fair value of political liberties, and the rest of the first principle guarantee of basic liberties. Market democracy is explored in light of some secondary considerations of justice: the just savings principle, environmental justice, and duties of international aid. The chapter also examines how free market fairness interprets the component of justice as fairness in question and how that interpretation compares to John Rawls' social democratic interpretation. Finally, it asks whether market democratic regimes can satisfy the distributional requirements of free market fairness.Less
This chapter defends a “market democratic” interpretation of justice as fairness that it calls free market fairness, with a particular focus on institutions. The discussion encompasses the difference principle, fair equality of opportunity, fair value of political liberties, and the rest of the first principle guarantee of basic liberties. Market democracy is explored in light of some secondary considerations of justice: the just savings principle, environmental justice, and duties of international aid. The chapter also examines how free market fairness interprets the component of justice as fairness in question and how that interpretation compares to John Rawls' social democratic interpretation. Finally, it asks whether market democratic regimes can satisfy the distributional requirements of free market fairness.
