School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences

About: School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences is a facility organization based out in Villejuif, France. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Politics & Context (language use). The organization has 1230 authors who have published 2084 publications receiving 57740 citations. The organization is also known as: Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales & EHESS.

A Family of Multidimensional Poverty Measures

Abstract: Removal of poverty has been and continues to be one of the primary aims of economic policy in many countries Two important questions that arise in this context are: What exactly do we mean by poverty? In what sense do we say that poverty of a nation has increased or decreased over a certain time period? The first question addresses the problem of ‘perception of poverty’ The second question deals with ‘measurement of poverty’ In this paper we are interested in the measurement aspect of poverty Since the efficacy of an antipoverty policy is evaluated by observing changes in the level of poverty, the way poverty is measured is important both for an understanding of poverty and for policy applications

Adjustment and income distribution

Abstract: This paper presents a structural macro simulation model to quantify the effects of alternative stabilization packages on the distribution of income and wealth. The model combines the explicit microeconomic optimizing behavior characteristic of computable general equilibrium models with asset portfolio behavior of macroeconomic models in Tobin's tradition. In this model there are four main mechanisms by which policy changes affect the distribution of income and wealth. First, changes in factor rewards affect directly household income distribution. Second, household real incomes are affected by changes in their respective cost of living indexes. Third, household real incomes are affected by changes in real returns on financial assets since household incomes include income from financial holdings. Fourth, household wealth distribution is affected by capital gains and losses. Illustrative simulations with the model are carried out for a representative economy subject to the interest rate and terms-of-trade shocks of the early 1980s. The simulations suggest a large adverse impact on the distribution of income of a sharp contractionary package.

Chapter 32 Sunspot equilibria in sequential markets models

Abstract: Publisher Summary Equilibrium with rational expectations is a central construct of modern economic theory. The chapter studies surveys, which are primarily aimed at assessing the properties and relevance of this construct in a general equilibrium framework; in particular, they are related to the issue of multiplicity of rational expectation equilibria. The viewpoint discussed in the chapter is associated with the so-called concept of sunspot equilibrium. It focuses on aspects of general equilibrium with rational expectations that have been given a central role in recent literature. It presents the problem of sunspot equilibria in the broader perspective. It also discusses an example of sunspot equilibrium and a simple economic system—namely, a sequential economy with infinite horizon and time independent structure. Furthermore, this economy is one step forward looking and has no predetermined variable.

The Direct-Perception Model of Empathy: a Critique

Abstract: This paper assesses the so-called "direct-perception" model of empathy. This model draws much of its inspiration from the Phenomenological tradition: it is offered as an account free from the assumption that most, if not all, of another's psychological states and experiences are unobservable and that one's understanding of another's psychological states and experiences are based on inferential processes. Advocates of this model also reject the simulation-based approach to empathy. I first argue that most of their criticisms miss their target because they are directed against the simulation-based approach to mindreading. Advocates of this model further subscribe to an expressivist conception of human behavior and assume that some of an individual's psychological states (e.g. her goals and emotions, not her beliefs) can be directly perceived in the individual's expressive behavior. I argue that advocates of the direct-perception model face the following dilemma: either they embrace behaviorism or else they must recognize that one could not understand another's goal or emotion from her behavior alone without making contextual assumptions. Finally, advocates of the direct-perception model endorse the narrative competency hypothesis, according to which the ability to ascribe beliefs to another is grounded in the ability to understand narratives. I argue that this hypothesis is hard to reconcile with recent results in developmental psychology showing that preverbal human infants seem able to ascribe false beliefs to others.