Search results for "Veblen"

Lawrence Kelso Frank's Proto Ayresian Dichotomy: A Note

2003

This paper explores Lawrence Kelso Frank's contribution to the evolution of the so called Veblenian dichotomy. According to this apprach, peculiar to the institutional framework of every economic system is an absolute and irreconcilable tension between the dynamic and progressive force of technology on the one side, and the static and conservative structure of ceremony and institutions on the other. The first section examines Frank's adoption of behavioristic psychology in connection with the main changes which were taking place in the American social sciences during the first decades of the twentieth century. The second section describes Frank's theory of institutional change, emphasizing …

STUDYING INSTITUTIONAL ECONOMICS AT CHICAGO IN THE 1930S: THE CASE OF ARTHUR BLOOMFIELD

2013

Introduction to Part VI

2018

This last set of essays leaves the terrain of Gottingen, even though its tradition still looms large in the background. Here I present an assortment of mathematical people, some of whom are likely to be known to many readers. The scene now shifts somewhat abruptly to figures in North America during the last century, though usually with an eye cast toward their links with Europe. Curiosity about the roots of research mathematics in the United States – an important chapter in the larger story of American higher education – was a major factor that influenced my early interest in the German universities, particularly Gottingen’s Georgia Augusta. One can hardly exaggerate the strength of that un…

Catching-up to foreign technology? Evidence on the “Veblen–Gerschenkron” effect of foreign investments

2006

Abstract The presence of foreign multinational enterprises may benefit local economies. In particular, highly productive foreign-owned firms may promote the technological catch-up of local firms. This channel of spillovers is defined as the “Veblen–Gerschenkron” effect of foreign direct investment and is analyzed in this article. Rather than the overall concentration of foreign-owned plants in a region or sector, it is their productivity advantage that determines the positive effect on domestic firms in geographical and technological proximity. We test this hypothesis using new firm-level data for German and Italian manufacturing firms during the 1990s. These two countries are particularly …

Non-Desarguian geometries and the foundations of geometry from David Hilbert to Ruth Moufang

2004

Abstract In this work, we study the development of non-Desarguian geometry from David Hilbert to Ruth Moufang. We will see that a geometric model became a complicated interrelation between algebra and geometry.

Human Nature and Economic Institutions: Instinct Psychology, Behaviorism, and the Development of American Institutionalism

2004

Recent articles have explored from different perspectives the psychological foundations of American institutionalism from its beginning to the interwar years (Hodgson 1999; Lewin 1996; Rutherford 2000a, 2000b; Asso and Fiorito 2003). Other authors had previously dwelled upon the same topic in their writings on the originsand development of the social sciences in the United States (Curti 1980; Degler 1991; Ross 1991). All have a common starting point: the emergence during the second half of the nineteenth century of instinct-based theories of human agency. Although various thinkers had already acknowledged the role of impulses and proclivities, it was not until Darwin's introduction of biolo…

Politica industriale ed evoluzione dei settori industriali: alcune implicazioni di evolutionary economics

2012

The debate on state aids to firms and in general the debate on the state role on industrial policy lasts fro a long time. It is endless, because lack not only rigorous empirical evidence of the measure effectiveness, but also a non-organic theory of the subject. A first theoretical discrimination between in-dustrial policies on structure and performance allow us to make some pre-liminary considerations and following implications of research. If the former aimed at changing the genotype, such as the policies that have fostered sus-tainable development based on creation and spread of knowledge, the latter are limited, on the other side, to phenotypic changes characterized by short-term and ma…

Consumption, Sociology of

2001

The sociology of consumption is as old as sociology itself. Its methodological roots lie in the first surveys, which focused on food consumption and were conducted in the middle of the nineteenth century. The aim was to define the level of minimum wage that was high enough to sustain the reproduction of the labor force. However, the prevailing, genuinely sociological approach to consumption is related strongly to the classical period of sociology, when Marx formulated his theory of commodities and commodity fetishism, when Simmel presented his theories of money, style, and fashion, and when Veblen formulated his trickle-down theory. All of these trains of thought were also present in the mi…

Human Nature and Economic Institutions Instinct Psychology, Behaviorism and the Development of American Institutionalism

2003

This paper explores the evolution of the psychological foundation of institutional economics between the early XXc and the 1940s. The first part deals with the rise and fall of instinct psychology. Inspired by Veblen's taxonomy of instinctive behavior, several American economists attempted to build a viable alternative to psychological hedonism of neoclassical economics then only at its infancy. In this debate we show how instinct theory came to be applied to the field now as industrial psychology. The second part discusses some of the reasons why this methodological approach began to lose momentum among leading American institutionalists. In this section we also present the emergence of be…

The Veblen-Gerschenkron Effect of FDI in Mezzogiorno and East Germany

2003

The presence of foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) can benefit local economies. In particular, if MNEs are very productive compared to domestic firms, they may promote learning and catch-up of local firms. Such a channel of spillovers from MNEs to local firms is known as the Veblen-Geschenkron effect. Rather than the overall density of MNEs in a region or sector, it is their initial productivity advantage on the local firm to determine the positive effect on domestic productivity growth. We test this hypothesis using firm level data for German and Italian companies during the 90's and we find evidence of a significant and robust Veblen-Gerschenkron effect.