Showing papers on "Veblen good published in 2005"
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors extend traditional economic models to accommodate social needs, such as desire for uniqueness and conformism, and examine their implications for pricing conspicuous goods, and find that consumers purchase high quality products not because of their desire to uniqueness but despite it.
Abstract: Social needs play an important role in the purchase of conspicuous goods. In this article, the authors extend traditional economic models to accommodate social needs, such as desire for uniqueness and conformism, and examine their implications for pricing conspicuous goods. First, in the context of a duopoly, the authors identify the conditions under which the desire for uniqueness can increase demand among some consumers as the price of a product increases. Second, the authors show that though the desire for uniqueness leads to higher prices and firm profits, a desire for conformity leads to lower prices and profits. Third, the authors find that consumers purchase high-quality products not because of their desire for uniqueness but despite it. Finally, marketers of conspicuous goods may find it beneficial not to emphasize the functional differences among their products when the need for uniqueness is high. In a laboratory test, the authors find support for the claim that demand for a product amo...
412 citations
TL;DR: For more than one hundred years, economists have discussed the concept of positional goods and argued that the utility of many, perhaps even most, goods depends not only on the amount the individual consumes, but also on how much others consume as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: For more than one hundred years, economists have discussed the concept of positional goods—that the utility conferred by many, perhaps even most, goods depends not only on the amount the individual consumes, but also on the amount others consume (e.g., Thorstein Veblen, 1899; James Duesenberry, 1949; John K. Galbraith, 1958; Robert Frank, 1985). While economic interest in “positional goods” is increasing (e.g., Mark Pingle and Mike Mitchell, 2002; Kenneth Arrow et al., 2004; Ed Hopkins and Tatiana Kornienko, 2004), the literature remains largely theoretical rather than empirical. If status concerns affect all items in the utility function equally (leisure as well as goods), the positional effect would operate like a lump-sum tax, reducing well-being without changing the allocation of time or money (Arrow et al., 2004). However, if positional concerns are stronger for some things than for others, then in order to understand how people can become better off in well-being, not simply in wealth, we must investigate how interpersonal competition interacts with material gains (Frank, 1997). Evidence about what goods are more positional than others is essential for correct policy recommendations (Gregory Besharov, 2002), but little is actually known about the relative positional rankings of items in the typical consumer’s utility function. Four hypotheses proposed in the literature are:
310 citations
TL;DR: Schor et al. as discussed by the authors investigated the Veblen effect and found that greater inequality is associated with longer work hours, and showed that the desire to emulate the rich influences individuals' allocation of time between labour and leisure.
Abstract: We investigate the manner in which a desire to emulate the rich influences individuals allocation of time between labour and leisure, greater inequality inducing longer work hours as a result. Data on work hours in ten countries over the period 1963‐98 show that greater inequality is indeed associated longer work hours. These Veblen effects are large and the estimates are robust using country fixed effects and other specifications. Because consumption inequality is a public bad, a social welfare optimum cannot be implemented by a flat tax on consumption but may be accomplished by more complicated (progressive) consumption taxes. At the close of the nineteenth century, Thorsten Veblen proposed what he termed pecuniary emulation as the foundation of a theory of consumption. Spending, he maintained, is driven by relative status considerations, that is by the desire to be a particular type of person as much as bythedesire to enjoytheconsumer goodsper se. The Joneses, with whom one had to keep up, were not the neighbours but the rich; theirleveloflivingbecamethenever-attainableobjectiveinaconsumptionarmsrace among the less well-to-do. In The Theory of the Leisure Class, he wrote: The motive is emulation ‐ the stimulus of an invidious comparison ... especially in any community in which class distinctions are quite vague, all canons and reputability and decency and all standards of consumption are traced back by insensible gradations to the usages and thoughts of the highest social and pecuniary class, the wealthy leisure class. (1934, p. 81). While valued by some economists as capturing common-sense aspects of consumption as a form of status seeking, Veblen’s view of social preferences was soon eclipsed by the simpler and more tractable neoclassical theory of the consumer. Relegated to the underworld of economics, Veblen’s ideas have nonetheless resonated over the ensuing years in the writing of Duesenberry (1949), Leibenstein (1950) and Galbraith (1958) at the middle of the past century and Schor (1998)
299 citations
TL;DR: The authors discusses Veblen's "Instinct of Workmanship" and its Cognitive Foundations and its implications for economic theory, including its implications on economic theory and its application in the present paper.
Abstract: (2005). Veblen’s “Instinct of Workmanship,” Its Cognitive Foundations, and Some Implications for Economic Theory. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 39, No. 1, pp. 1-20.
57 citations
TL;DR: Income distribution is a primordial question in economics as discussed by the authors, and who gets what is a universal, unremit-ting source of resentment and social discord, which is a source of contention and discord.
Abstract: Income distribution is a primordial question. “Who gets what” is a universal, unremit-ting source of resentment and social discord. Economic science is nominally concernedwith the “positive” aspects of the problem. That is, what forces regulate the apportion-ment of the social dividend? Or, what assumptions must be made about the nature ofreality to logically demonstrate that a given distribution of income is Pareto optimal?Does institutionalism offer a coherent and surpassing alternative to the standardmodel of distribution? The issue is clouded by several factors. For one thing, there is nosingle piece of scholarship that can be pointed to as the authoritative or definitive insti-tutional treatment of the subject. The problem of relative rewards does figure materiallyin the works of Thorstein Veblen, John R. Commons, and Clarence Ayres. However,with the exception of Veblen’s critique of John Bates Clark’s marginal productivity the-ory (Veblen 1908), the views of these economists with regard to distribution are nestedwithin their respective analyses of related phenomena such as the nature of technology,theevolvingsubstanceofproperty,orthemeaningofcapital.Anextensiveliteraturehasaccumulated in the past three decades wherein specific institutional sources of risingincome inequality have been identified and explicated.
39 citations
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: The authors argue that we are entering a new era of conspicuous consumption, an era where surrounding oneself with "nice things" is becoming increasingly insufficient for our modern sensibilities in our quest to display status and power.
Abstract: A little over a century ago, Thorstein Veblen introduced us to the now commonplace term "conspicuous consumption": the idea that we consume, at least in part, in order to display to others our social power. While the conceptual utility of this term is just as valid today as it was the day Veblen penned it, further elaboration is now required to account for shifting cultural and economic imperatives. In this paper, I argue that we are entering a new era of conspicuous consumption; an era where surrounding oneself with "nice things" is becoming increasingly insufficient for our modern sensibilities in our quest to display status and power. Rather, we are progressively striving to become the "nice thing" itself—to literally embody conspicuous consumption. I locate this conspicuous body within evolving historical tensions of consumer capitalism; tensions which the conspicuous body attempts to resolve (but not without social, cultural, and ecological consequences). This paper also represents an attempt to introduce into the socio-environmental literature the body as a legitimate topic of inquiry. While the body has recently experienced an increase in attention by some social and cultural scholars, such interest has been lost among most environmental sociologists; a surprising point, particularly given the fact that through the body, self and the environment become embodied .
33 citations
TL;DR: The accounting scandals at the beginning of the 21st century led to public distrust and demands for reform in higher education as mentioned in this paper, and the moral lapses should not be a surprise.
Abstract: The accounting scandals at the beginning of the 21st century led to public distrust and demands for reform. Were these scandals unexpected? From an old institutional economics (OIE) perspective, which originated with the work of Thorstein Veblen in the 1890s, these failures and the moral lapses should not be a surprise. OIE theorists, like critical theorists, generally, contend that corporate hegemony, i.e., the domination of business values in all areas of human life, has eroded moral sensitivities. All institutions, including our once‐autonomous educational institutions, have become mechanisms for promoting economic interests. We first present a brief overview of institutional theory, to provide a theoretical framework for our subsequent experimental analysis. We discuss the concept of corporate hegemony and explain how hegemony impacts higher education, generally. We then examine efforts to commodify higher education and explain how that impacts all students in universities in the United States. Finall...
31 citations
01 May 2005
TL;DR: The relationship between biology and economics has waxed and waned over the centuries and has worked in both directions as discussed by the authors, and it is not confined to heterodoxy, leading neoclassical economists such as Kenneth Arrow and Frank Hahn have turned away from mechanics, seeing biology as the possible inspiration for the economics of the future.
Abstract: Introduction In economics, the word ‘evolutionary’ is currently in fashion. Since the 1980s the number of economics books and articles with ‘evolution’ in their title has increased rapidly. This revolution is not confined to heterodoxy. Leading neoclassical economists such as Kenneth Arrow and Frank Hahn have turned away from mechanics, seeing biology as the possible inspiration for the economics of the future (Anderson, 1995; Arrow 1995; Hahn, 1991, p. 48). The relationship between biology and economics has waxed and waned over the centuries and has worked in both directions. The influence of the economists Adam Smith and Thomas Robert Malthus on Charles Darwin is widely known, even if some of the details remain controversial (Hodgson, 1993b, 1995). Ideas of competition and struggle in the writings of Smith and Malthus simultaneously inspired economics and biology. Accordingly, to some degree, biological metaphors have always been present in the foreground or background of modern economic theory. What is striking, however, is the temporal variation in the degree of their explicit popularity and use. With the emergence of neoclassical economics in the 1870s, its principal inspiration was not biology but physics (Mirowski, 1989; Ingrao and Israel, 1990). Yet by the end of the nineteenth century the picture in economics was again modified. Alfred Marshall wrote that ‘the Mecca of the economist lies in economic biology’ (Marshall, 1890, p. xiv). Furthermore, leading heterodox economists such as Thorstein Veblen enthusiastically embraced biology.
22 citations
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that the presence of counterfeit products does not always hurt monopolists, and that the monopolist may obtain higher profits in the presence or absence of counterfeiting than in its absence.
Abstract: Most studies in the intellectual property rights literature claim that the presence of counterfeit products hurts monopolists. This paper shows that this is not always true in a market with Veblen effects where a counterfeit monitoring regime is enforced. This paper finds an effect due to intellectual property rights enforcement that may be strong enough to produce a selling price that is higher than the price chosen without counterfeiting. Consequently, the monopolist may obtain greater profits in the presence of counterfeiting than in its absence.
22 citations
Book•
30 May 2005
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors present an overview of the history of finance, risk, and statistics in the early 20th century, focusing on the early years of the stock market crash of the 1920s.
Abstract: Preface 1. Introduction: Finance, Risk and Statistics 2. The Highs and Lows of Bayesian Economic Statistics 3. Irving Fisher and the Mathematics of Risk 4. Thorstein Veblen and Credit Risk 5. Risk and Diversification in the Boom of the 1920s 6. Evaluating Market Forecasts: Financial Economics in the 1930s 7. Statistics and the Theory of Value Investing 8. Finance in a Period of War, Debt, and Taxes 9. The Forerunners in Relation to Modern Financial Economics Bibliography Index
14 citations
TL;DR: Veblen et al. as discussed by the authors discuss the unfulfilled promise of human emotions and human emotions in the context of economic issues, and present a survey of human emotion in economics.
Abstract: (2005). Thorstein Veblen and Human Emotions: An Unfulfilled Prescience. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 39, No. 3, pp. 727-740.
TL;DR: The thesis of American exceptionalism takes various forms when articulated by historians and social scientists, several of which are related to each other and thus form a more or less coherent interpretation of our history as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: A facet of Thorstein Veblen's thought and the intellectual milieu in which he lived remains inadequately explored and explained.' It is his "exceptionalism," that is, his analysis of why Europe and the United States are different. Although Veblen is occasionally mentioned by scholars as having an "exceptionalist" view of America, no systematic or detailed analysis of his "exceptionalism" as such exists. For example, even Dorothy Ross has been casual in her claims about his exceptionalism, her illustrations of them, and her citations. Other writers tend to assume away what needs proving or simply fail to focus on the issue of whether or not Veblen held an exceptionalist view of America. The thesis of American exceptionalism takes various forms when articulated by historians and social scientists, several of which are related to each other and thus form a more or less coherent interpretation of our history.2 In fact, as Ross has argued, there are three generic varieties of American exceptionalism. They are (1) supernaturalist explanations which emphasize the causal potency of God in selecting America as a "city on a hill" for the rest of the world to admire and emulate, (2) genetic interpretations which emphasize racial traits, ethnicity, or gender, and (3) environmental explanations such as geography, climate, availability of natural resources, social structure, and type of political economy.3 For obvious reasons only environmental factors, which are most susceptible to proof or disproof of the claim that America is different not only from Europe but the rest of the world as well, will be used here. Exceptionalists, who roughly speaking were Veblen's contemporaries, argued that American capitalism, an economic system based on private property, sanctity of contract, and free exchange, was less conducive to class consciousness, class struggle, and
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, a comparative analysis of two alternative approaches developed by Veblen and Schumpeter to technology underlying recent institutionalist and evolutionary stances is presented, based on their congruent and conflicting arguments.
Abstract: This paper aims at demonstrating the significance of two alternative approaches developed by Veblen and Schumpeter to technology underlying recent institutionalist and evolutionary stances. It should be mentioned that it is not the primary object of this paper to specify their clear-cut disagreement about the characterization of technology and the process of technical advance. Instead, it is engage with providing with an overall understanding of technological motion in capitalist accumulation processes by reconciling the two approaches in a meaningful way. Thus, this comparative analysis based upon their congruent and conflicting arguments presents us not only a general review and the solid foundations of an institutionalist approach to technological phenomena, but also an alternative conceptual framework for science and technology policy studies.
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: The history of American higher education was periodically punctuated by allegations that its institutions had been seriously compromised by corporate and state influence in the conduct of academic inquiry, and by administrative infractions against the traditional aspiration of shared governance as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: The twentieth century history of American higher education was periodically punctuated by allegations that its institutions had been seriously compromised by corporate and state influence in the conduct of academic inquiry, and by administrative infractions against the traditional aspiration of shared governance. Thorstein Veblen’s Higher Learning in America (1918) and Robert Lynd’s Knowledge for What? (1939) were prescient indictments of a not yet mature corporate university. Asking whether higher learning should serve the public good or private gain, Veblen’s and Lynd’s rants were regarded with considerable skepticism even as the authors were accorded the status of respected cranks. At the moment of their interventions mainstream America was preoccupied with each of the two world wars and was seriously considering mobilizing its intellectual resources, including the universities. Under these circumstances appeals to academic freedom and autonomy tended to fall on deaf ears. Indeed in contrast to some European countries where scientific and technological research was conducted by independent institutes rather than universities, President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s science advisors recommended that a handful of elite public and private schools such as Berkeley and Princeton be charged with the responsibilities associated with the scientific and technological aspects of the war effort.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors argue that neoliberalism is an asocial ideology of the ruling class in the capitalist system, and there is a discontinuity between classical liberalism and neoliberalism, and when it comes to Korean education reforms, neoliberalism has two contradictions and counter-movements which hinder the realization of market principles in education.
Abstract: There have been many neoliberal education reforms around the world. At the bottom line, those reforms are intended to modify the education system based upon market principles. Reviewing and contrasting various perspectives on education (Adam Smith, Marxists, Veblen, Dewey, and neoclassicists), I argue that: 1) neoliberalism is an asocial ideology of the ruling class in the capitalist system, 2) neoliberalism justifies and propagates market principles in education, 3) there is a discontinuity between classical liberalism and neoliberalism, and 4) when it comes to Korean education reforms, neoliberalism has two contradictions and counter-movements which hinder the realization of market principles in education.
TL;DR: In this article, what orientation for interpreting Veblen? A Rejoinder to Baldwin Ranson's "What Orientation for Interpreting Veblas?" is discussed.
Abstract: (2005). What Orientation for Interpreting Veblen? A Rejoinder to Baldwin Ranson. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 39, No. 4, pp. 1065-1069.
TL;DR: In the post-modem era, Veblen was the first theorist of the "post-modern era" as discussed by the authors, and his work seems premised upon an uncanny prefiguration of many poststructuralist themes.
Abstract: Thorstein Veblen was, perhaps, the first theorist of the "post-modern era." By saying that, I do not mean to impose our belated historical categories upon his work; the hazards of such an abstract historicism are well known. But Veblen himself used the phrase "post-modem era" as early as 1918 to describe the Occident at the dawn of the twentieth century.1 Clearly, Veblen did not mean what jean-Francois Lyotard or Fredric Jameson meant by that same phrase. Nonetheless, the historical accident of this particular "perspective by incongruity" proves revealing. As the intellectual historian John Patrick Diggins has noted, while Veblen cannot accurately be described as a poststructuralist (after all, during Veblen's lifetime, structuralism itself was only coming into being in the works of Emile Durkheim, Marcel Mauss, and Ferdinand de Saussure [19591), his work seems premised upon an uncanny prefiguration of many poststructuralist themes. "As if he were a proto-poststructuralist, he sought to deconstruct the conventional hierarchical oppositions that privilege the former term over the latter: male-female, civilization-barbarism, leisure-labor, reason-instinct, practicality-curiosity, normal-abnormal" (Diggins 1999, xxxiii). While not reducing Veblen to suit the categories of contemporary thought, this essay attempts to take seriously Veblen's prefiguration of the poststructuralist attitude through a critical consideration of the constitutive power of his literary style. The guiding concept of these investigations is that "style" need not be considered a mere addendum to content-that the style and content of a work are coextensive and mutually determinate (Goodman 1978, 23-40). From this broad perspective, style is not considered simply as a technique but as a constituent element in the "intention" of the work. That is to say, style impacts upon meaning. Georg Lukacs put it this way:2
TL;DR: The authors compare the merits of these competing models in this comment, and compare Cordes' and my positions on three positions of Veblen's so that readers can judge their relative merits.
Abstract: I am both amazed and plea-sed that young scholars throughout the world continue to try to make sense of, and to find provocative ideas in, Thorstein Veblen's century-old writings in convoluted English. I am neither amazed nor pleased that they are no more successful than American scholars have been in turning those writings into user-friendly, productive tools for social analysis. Christian Cordes' effort in the March 2005 issue of lEI is a good example of this lack of success. The first seven pages of Cordes' essay describe with care and accuracy-and apparent approval-the central content of Veblen's instinct of workmanship. Veblen defined instincts not as determinate behavior patterns-which he called tropisms although most modern writers call them instincts-but as innate human approval of the determinate purpose of species survival. Instincts condition prescribed patterns of correlated behavior, including technological patterns. But Cordes followed this description with what I think was a wrong turn. He appeared to employ what one of his sources called the \"integrated causal model\" and to reject the \"standard social science model\" that I employ (Barkow, Cosmides, and Tooby 1992). Rather than debate the merits of these competing models in this comment, I shall compare Cordes' and my positions on three positions of Veblen's so that readers can judge their relative merits.
Book•
20 Dec 2005
TL;DR: In this article, a projective geometry book by oswald veblen and john wesley young was downloaded by a user who juggled with some malicious bugs inside their desktop computer.
Abstract: Thank you very much for downloading projective geometry by oswald veblen and john wesley young. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have search numerous times for their chosen novels like this projective geometry by oswald veblen and john wesley young, but end up in infectious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some malicious bugs inside their desktop computer.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: There are three meanings of industrial: industrial as a concrete noun, industrial as an abstract, and industry as a description of an approach to the activity of work as discussed by the authors. And there are three ways in which we have now passed beyond the industrial phase of economic development: • The emergence of value chains as a new form of economic organisations: the disaggregation of industrial structure and the growing importance of human capital versus industrial capital.
Abstract: There are three meanings of “industrial”, the first two taking industry as a concrete noun, the third as an abstract: • “industries” as a general term for branches of economic activity or production • “industry” as a particular branch, manufacturing • “industry” as a description of an approach to the activity of work. And there are (at least) three ways in which we have now passed beyond the “industrial” phase of economic development: • The emergence of “value chains” as a new form of economic organisations: the disaggregation of industrial structure and the growing importance of human capital versus industrial capital. • Self-servicing versus service industries: understanding technical change by thinking of “systems of provision for wants”, which combine production, reproduction and consumption. • Developing Veblen’s leisure theory: industry is progressively replaced by exploit as a core characteristic of paid work. The arguments that follow rely (mostly, for the moment) on empirical evidence from time diary studies.
TL;DR: The notion of intellectual repute is an artefact of class as discussed by the authors, and it is defined as a way of attributing intelligence and sophistication to some ideologies, and their denial to others.
Abstract: This article contends that the notion that some ideologies, usually on the left, are inherently more sophisticated than others has run through the politics of the Anglo-Saxon world over the past two centuries. The famous insult ‘the stupid party’, almost without exception applied to conservatives, points to the opposing archetypes of the stupid backwoods conservative and the sophisticated metropolitan progressive. In allusion to Veblen's concept of repute, the persistent attribution of intelligence and sophistication to some ideologies, and their denial to others, is named ‘intellectual repute’. The article concludes by speculating that notions of intellectual respectability point to the influence of classes which base their self-image and their claims to class power on claims to superior intelligence: repute is, following Veblen, an artefact of class. The phenomenon of intellectual repute therefore speaks of the influence and class character of the intelligentsia.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: The proportion of Australian domestic expenditure spent on imported goods has been steadily increasing over the past two decades as discussed by the authors, which partly reflects higher incomes as imports tend to be luxury goods, but more important influence over the longer term has been the decrease in the relative price of imported goods, reflecting technology and cuts in protection and transport costs.
Abstract: The proportion of Australian domestic expenditure spent on imported goods has been steadily increasing over the past two decades. This partly reflects higher incomes as imports tend to be luxury goods. A more important influence over the longer term has been the decrease in the relative price of imported goods, reflecting technology and cuts in protection and transport costs. (At times, exchange rate appreciation has further decreased the relative price.) As imported goods have become relatively cheaper, demand has increased. But imports have increased even beyond what can be explained by movements in incomes and relative prices. For consumption items, this may reflect a preference for variety in goods. Companies are increasingly operating globally, leading them both to import and to export more components and finished goods. This has been facilitated by reductions in barriers to global trade.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that a 1 percentage point increase in population turnover increases the average work week of non-migrants by 7 minutes, and the negative externality of population turnover on the visibility of conspicuous leisure is an argument for higher transport taxes.
Abstract: This paper inserts Veblen’s (1898) concepts of conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption into a very simple model. Individuals have the choice to either invest their time into working, leading to easily observable levels of consumption, or into conspicuous leisure, whose effect on utility depends on how observable leisure is. We let the visibility of leisure depend positively on the amount of time an individual and her neighbors have lived in the same area. Individuals optimize across conspicuous leisure and conspicuous consumption. If population turnover is high, individuals are made worse off, since the visibility of conspicuous leisure then decreases and the status race must be played out primarily via conspicuous consumption. Analyzing interstate mobility in the US, we find strong support for our hypothesis: a 1 percentage point rise in population turnover increases the average work week of non-migrants by 7 minutes. The negative externality of population turnover on the visibility of conspicuous leisure is an argument for higher transport taxes.
01 Jan 2005
TL;DR: The recognition of a difference between the scientific dimension of institutionalized knowledge in society and the rhetorical, didactic one, as well as the potential for conflict between them, is by no means unique to modern German culture.
Abstract: The recognition of a difference between the scientific dimension of institutionalized knowledge in society and the rhetorical, didactic one, as well as the potential for conflict between them, is by no means unique to modern German culture. For centuries, English universities put the formation of clergymen and gentlemen ahead of the advancement of knowledge, and American colleges vied with each other in adapting both instruction and inquiry to the building of piety or moral character or civic virtue, not to speak of the utilitarian didactic achievements of inculcating commercial initiative or housewifely guile. Francis Bacon and Adam Smith denounced Oxford and Cambridge early in the modern era, and their spiritual heirs later created the London School of Economics, while the protests of Charles Beard and Thorstein Veblen against the higher education in America helped to bring into being the New School that was eventually to harbor an important contingent of the German emigres of 1933.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors propose a different take on this, one that utilizes social theory and political philosophy in order to position project failure in a more general context, and to analyze it as potentially beneficial.
Abstract: Projects fail. This fact, which is commonsensical and objectively true, has within the sphere of project studies been viewed as either a pathological state to be avoided or a logical problem of goal-definition. We will in this paper propose a different take on this, one that utilizes social theory and political philosophy in order to position project failure in a more general context, and to analyze it as potentially beneficial. By introducing some theoretical perspectives – such as Georges Bataille’s “general economy”, Thorstein Veblen on conspicuous action and the political theories of Carl Schmitt – we thus wish to develop the ways in which project failures can be conceptualized, in ways that do not simply condemn such. Rather, we show how boondoggles can be analyzed and discussed as productive, without slipping into the vulgar relativism of “it all depends on perspective”. In other words, how boondoggles can be praised.
Posted Content•
TL;DR: A commented bibliographic inventory of the references in the economic thought concerning the affection and the family, from Adam Smith to the authors that recently have formalized models toward this subject is given in this paper.
Abstract: This essay is a commented bibliographic inventory of the references in the economic thought concerning the affection and the family, from Adam Smith to the authors that recently have formalized models toward this subject. Within the commented authors are: Smith, Malthus, Sade, Fourier, J.S. Mill, Masoch, Engels, Veblen, Boulding, Tullock, Posner, Becker, Pollack y Bergstrom.
TL;DR: Tallack as discussed by the authors explored the significance of the visual representation of domestic interior space within a leisure-class logic of consumption and display, and showed that these images of luxury interiors did more than simply express the taste and lifestyle of the city's new money, however, composing and re-conceptualising the interior scene into a self-contained, private space of material objects shielded from external reality.
Abstract: In ‘Picturing Change: At Home with the Leisure Class in New York City, 1870s-1910s’, Douglas Tallack draws on the work of Thorstein Veblen to explore the significance of the visual representation of domestic interior space within a leisure-class logic of consumption and display. Analysing photographic commissions undertaken by the Byron Company of the houses of New York's Four Hundred, and paintings by the American Impressionists William Merritt Chase and Childe Hassam, he demonstrates that these images of luxury interiors did more than simply express the taste and lifestyle of the city's new money, however, composing and re-conceptualising the interior scene into a self-contained, private space of material objects shielded from external reality, the baroque saturation of which nevertheless exposes its illusion.
24 Dec 2005
TL;DR: This paper showed that Veblen's evolutionary methods to be close to modern biological methodology, as in K.Lorenz's ethology and E.Myer's evolutionary synthesis, and that his evolutionary economics is a composite science made up of economic anthropology and a biological theory of evolution.
Abstract: Since his first, harsh attack on the pre-Darwinian assumptions of mainstream economics, Thorstein B.Veblen has been known as a founding advocate of a Darwinian evolutionary science of economics. Nonetheless, there is still little consensus even among Veblen scholars regarding either his methods of evolutionary science or his theory of evolution. This paper shows Veblen’s evolutionary methods to be close to modern biological methodology, as in K.Lorenz’s ethology and E.Myer’s evolutionary synthesis. The accumulative process of evolution can be interpreted as a complicated interaction between instinct and purposeful emulation. The former is necessary for the preservation and prosperity of the species, and the latter is useful in maintaining stability in social order. I also examine the multilayered structure of Veblen’s concept of human nature― old norms do not die out and may be revived―, his idea that cultural evolution accompanies reversions, and the ways in which his evolutionary economics is a composite science made up of economic anthropology and a biological theory of evolution. JEL classification numbers:B15,B41.