Search results for "Positive economics"
showing 10 items of 144 documents
Adaptive strategies of territory formation
2003
How do territorial animals gain ownership of an area? Early modelling has considered the evolution of fighting when the winner can claim the right to the resource. Recently, alternative hypotheses have been offered where repeated interactions lead to division of space through 'nagging' instead of one decisive fight. However, these models assume that animals avoid areas in which they have taken part in aggressive interactions, but do not consider whether avoidance itself is adaptive. We aim to bridge this gap between mechanistic and adaptive explanations, by presenting a game-theory model where individuals choose whether to return to an area after a fight with a specific outcome (win, loss, …
From arctic lemmings to adaptive dynamics: Charles Elton's legacy in population ecology.
2001
We shall examine the impact of Charles S. Elton's 1924 article on periodic fluctuations in animal populations on the development of modern population ecology. We argue that his impact has been substantial and that during the past 75 years of research on multi-annual periodic fluctuations in numbers of voles, lemmings, hares, lynx and game animals he has contributed much to the contemporary understanding of the causes and consequences of population regulation. Elton was convinced that the cause of the regular fluctuations was climatic variation. To support this conclusion, he examined long-term population data then available. Despite his firm belief in a climatic cause of the self-repeating …
The Role the Static Maximization Approach Plays in Neoclassical Analyses
1994
This is an article on the methodology of economic thought. The critical assessment of the neoclassical research programme contained here basically comes from the contributions of J.M. Buchanan, Nobel prize winner in Economics 1986. These comments are aimed at pointing out the role that the static maximization approach plays in neoclassical analyses since L. Robbins and P. Samuelson’s influential contributions came about after World War II. Just to complement this basic purpose, I present in section 4 the alternative methodological foundations J.M. Buchanan proposes and uses to replace the static maximization approach when building public choice analyses and I sketch in section 5 several pe…
From Neo-Functional Peace to a Logic of Spillover in EU External Policy: A Response to Visoka and Doyle
2017
In their recently published JCMS article, Gezim Visoka and John Doyle have proposed the concept of ‘neofunctional peace’ as a means to conceptualize the EU's peacemaking practices in the case of the EU-facilitated Belgrade-Pristina dialogue. This article challenges the ‘neo-functional peace’ on conceptual and empirical grounds. We critically discuss Visoka and Doyle's (2016) reading of neofunctionalism and question parts of their empirical evidence given for the existence of a ‘neo-functional peace’. Going beyond a mere critique of the article by Visoka and Doyle and arguing that the authors may not have fully exploited neofunctionalism's potential for theorizing EU external policy, we stip…
The measurement of populist attitudes: Testing cross-national scales using item response theory
2019
Recent research in the populism literature has devoted considerable efforts to the conceptualisation and examination of populism on the individual level, that is, populist attitudes. Despite rapid progress in the field, questions of adequate measurement and empirical evaluation of measures of populist attitudes remain scarce. Seeking to remedy these shortcomings, we apply a cross-national measurement model, using item response theory, to six established and two new populist indicators. Drawing on a cross-national survey (nine European countries, n = 18,368), we engage in a four-folded analysis. First, we examine the commonly used 6-item populism scale. Second, we expand the measurement wit…
Multiple job holding, societal change, and individual careers: Contributions to the chaos theory of careers
2020
The chaos theory of careers was applied to identify the connections between multiple jobholders’ careers and societal change. Multiple job holding is a form of employment that consists of two or more overlapping jobs. Six interviews with men born in the 1960s in Finnish North Karelia, whose multiple job holding included agricultural and forestry work, were analyzed. Our results showed that multiple job holding career development has societal connections and that the experiences of multiple job holding varied across individuals. Moreover, multiple job holding experiences and further career development endeavors were influenced by whether the multiple job holding career developed in line wit…
Differences and similaritites between corporate governance principles in Islamic banks and Conventional banks
2017
Abstract The purpose of this paper is to present the some differences and similarities between corporate governance principles in Islamic banks and conventional banks by paradigmatic diversification. Since Corporate governance in Islamic banks is a social phenomenon in Islamic societies, the paper uses social theory paradigms (functionalist, interpretive, radical humanist and radical structuralist) to compare between corporate governance in Islamic banks and conventional banks. This paper demonstrates that mainstream corporate corporate governance theories are not a law of nature but a social construct.
Corporate Governance Theories: From Micro Theories to National Systems Theories
2004
The objective of this article is to conduct a survey of the different corporate governance theories. In the first part, we present the micro theories by opposing the disciplinary view to the knowledge-based view. The second part deals with the macro or national systems theories. We separate the theories based on appropriation of the organizational rent from those attributing a dominant role to production. This survey highlights that the financial view of corporate governance is a very particular case and presents many limits.
Does Patriotic Vigilance Make Any Sense in the Transnational Arena? A Cosmopolitan Alternative to the Globalization Paradox
2017
We address the issue of the relevance in the transnational arena of the concept of patriotic vigilance, as expressed by French Minister Arnaud Montebourg in 2014. Firstly, we examine the globalization paradox with its underpinnings in the literature and its illustration through the recent Alstom saga. Secondly, we review the idea of a paradigm shift in world monetary affairs signaled by the recent crisis. Finally, drawing on Kant’s ideas on cosmopolitism, we sketch out an alternative to the globalization paradox.
An Avenue to Social Equilibrium
2021
The purpose of the second part of the third part of the book is to show how the theory translates into reality. That is why the most important factors studied in the first and second parts of the book are concluded in this chapter. The first part of the chapter is addressed to examine the personal characteristics and motivation of the social entrepreneur, that is, it is focused on the micro approach. The second part is addressed to analyze the institutional context, that is, it comprehends the macro approach. Based on this, the chapter shows the stages followed by social entrepreneurs to shift the context. The legitimation process is the base of this shift.