Cursed resources,or articulations of economic theory in the Gulf of Guinea

Abstract

Economic experiments, or attempts to shape national and local economies with the help of economic theory, have been typical of post-war development efforts. Economic sociologists have explored the role of such experiments to demonstrate how economics – as a set of practices, ideas and technologies – enacts its worlds. This paper examines one such case of high-powered economic theory and its enactment in an emergent West African oil economy by focusing on economist Jeffrey Sachs's advisory project in São Tomé and Príncipe. It pivots on the ‘resource curse’, an economic device that has recently gained purchase in global policy circles. This paper argues that economic devices are not simply imposed on pre-arranged worlds. Instead, they collide with and adjust to already existing politico-economic and socio-cultural conditions, resulting in complex articulations. Drawing on ethnographic material, I critique the ability of the resource curse to make sense fully of apprehensions of the past, present and future consequences of extractive industry developments. Contrasting economic accounts of an incipient curse with competing and complementary local accounts of the effects of oil wealth, I propose a new model for the sociological analysis of the variety of articulations into which an economic device, such as the curse, may enter.     

Financial and world economic crisis: What did economists contribute?

In this paper we deal with two questions, (1) what are the origins of the current financial crisis, and (2) what did economists contribute, or why did economists fail to provide a convincing answer for the origins of the crisis, and possible solutions to overcome it? The economics profession apparently was unaware of the looming worldwide financial and economic crisis, and significantly underestimated its global dimensions and consequences. A first and preliminary analysis is undertaken to explore reasons for these failures. We conclude by pointing to some consequences for economics as well as for economic policy.     

On the Public Choice Critique of Welfare Economics

The public choice literature urges the welfare economist toanticipate how political forces will shape the levels of newpolicy instruments when government intervenes in a new way.This paper argues that the welfare economist should alsorecognize that new interventions may impact the politicallydetermined levels of existing policy instruments. It shows howthe introduction of a new instrument can lead to shifts inpolitical coalitions or compromises in existing areas ofconflict that can produce significant changes in existingpolicies. Such spillover effects can provide new arguments forintroducing particular policy interventions. Even a policyinstrument without an obvious welfare economic rationale canchange voter coalitions and shift the policy equilibrium in awelfare improving direction.     

Economic knowledge and the scientization of policy advice

The growing role of economic expertise in contemporary policy-making has received increasing scholarly attention. Yet, so far, this discussion has only been tenuously linked to relevant debates in public policy and administration, such as the work on policy advisory systems. The article attempts to bridge this gap by examining the changing reliance on academic economic knowledge within policy advisory bodies. It does so by analysing appointments and citation patterns in Norwegian advisory commissions in economic policy over the last 45 years. The analysis shows a marked increase in the number of academic economists appointed to commissions and in citations to economic literature. Moreover, it reveals an orientation towards the most prestigious outlets of the international economics discipline. This development can be interpreted as a scientization of policy advice in the economic field, that is, a growing reliance on academic expertise for analysis and arguments about public policy.     

Shifting Boundaries between the Public and Private Sectors: Implications from the Economic Crisis

What are the differences between the public and private sectors as well as their interrelationships in light of the recent financial crisis? Has the global economic crisis fundamentally shifted the boundaries between the two sectors? This essay examines the nature and extent of the shift. The authors present an analysis of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to highlight the massive transformations that are taking place and to introduce lessons for future policy initiatives. Between financial rescue missions and the economic stimulus program, government spending accounts for a bigger share of the nation’s economy—26 percent—than at any time since World War II. The government is financing 9 out of 10 new mortgages in the United States. If you buy a car from General Motors, you are buying from a company that is 60 percent owned by the government. If you take out a car loan or run up your credit card, the chances are good that the government is financing both your debt and that of your bank. —Edmund Andrews and David Sanger, New York Times, 2009     

SOE's ‘Prosper’ Disaster of 1943

International economic issues have become a foremost government concern since the start of the global financial crisis, leaving economic security increasingly linked to more traditional concepts of national interest and politico-military security. This prioritization has been reflected in the recent requirements of the United Kingdom's intelligence and security actors. Yet, scholarly research has neglected the relationship between intelligence, international economics, and contemporary security policy. Taking current requirements as a catalyst, this article draws on contemporary British history to explore when intelligence can be used to protect economic security and when intelligence actors can best use economic measures to achieve broader politico-military goals. The use of secret intelligence in the economic sphere does, however, have certain limitations and it should therefore only be employed when necessary.     

Policy analysis,welfare economics,and the greenhouse effect

Welfare economics is evaluated as a framework for setting policy with respect to the greenhouse effect. It is found to be unpromising for three reasons: (1) The concept of discounting leads to the view that events in the further future have no value, (2) the baselines necessary to use welfare-economic decision rules cannot be established, and (3) no nonparadoxical answer can be given to the question: How should we value the welfare of future persons? As analysts begin the task of formulating policy with respect to the greenhouse effect they will need tools other than thoser provided by welfare economics.     

Putting the Economy First: or Does Postmodernization Really Matter?

In recent years, there has been a strong tendency for the politicians of Western nations to make issues of economic policy making their first priority. Emerging evidence from the economics discipline, which shows a close association between subjective well-being and other macroeconomic variables such as unemployment and inflation, suggests that this priority ordering of politicians may well be one which is functional from an electoral viewpoint. However, recent research by Ronald Inglehart on the development of 'postmaterialist' values challenges the continuing electoral relevance of an economics-first approach to policy making by suggesting that, in advanced societies, mass publics are exercised more by quality of life concerns than by issues of economic affluence. Here we use Eurobarometer data for 12 EU nations to explore the nature of the linkage between economic policy outcomes and levels of popular satisfaction in both economically advanced and less advanced societies. Our findings suggest that affluence is not the only economic determinant of subjective well-being in these countries and that, contrary to Inglehart's thesis, the growth of the economy impacts on subjective well-being in rich and poor nations alike.     

公共科技政策分析的理论进路：评述与比较

公共科技政策分析是一个颇具多样性的领域。新古典经济学、演化经济学、科学技术与社会研究、政策科学4种理论进路各有特点。新古典经济学的政策分析非常清晰,可提供直接的政策工具;演化经济学给予科技发展一种系统的理解,可得到科技发展的结构性制度安排;STS以宽阔的视野,在政策导向、科技行为的规范、政策对科技的建构等方面具有丰富的思想和措施含义;政策科学的分析关注政策系统,为改进政策过程提供认识基础。基于对4种理论进路共性与差异的比较,提出了一个公共科技政策分析的整合的概念框架。     

POLICY IMPLICATIONS OF SOCIO-ECONOMICS*

Avariety of efforts are currently underway to develop alternatives to the neoclassical paradigm and neoclassical analysis of economic behavior. Here, the author seeks not to argue which approach is most productive, but to demonstrate the useful policy implications of adding key noneconomic (so- cial, psychological and political) variables to a paradigm that attempts to model economic behavior. This co-deterministic paradigm is called socio- economics. The article discusses the different and often insightful policy analysis that results from employing a socio-economic set of variables in four major areas: (1) allowing for shifting preferences; (2) including institu- tional contexts and influences within which individual transactions take place; (3) recognizing the effects of political as well as economic power differences; and (4) combining macro and structural policies.     

Should brands “nudge us for good”? Towards a critical assessment of neuro‐liberal corporate social responsibility

This article critically investigates the recent emergence of neuro‐liberal corporate social responsibility (CSR). Neuro‐liberal CSR is inspired by libertarian paternalism, a form of behavioural governance popularised by behavioural economist Richard Thaler and legal scholar Cass Sunstein in their bestseller Nudge (2008). Libertarian paternalism presumes humans to be “predictably irrational” due to hardwired cognitive biases and thus advocates the design of policy interventions that use human psychology for correcting these shortcomings in ways that benefit individuals and society. Although the use of “nudging” interventions has been critically scrutinised in the context of public policy, little attention has been paid to the adoption of libertarian paternalist principles in the corporate world. This paper uses Nudging for Good, an initiative by the European Brands Association (AIM), to illustrate how major corporations adopt and frame corporate nudging as a new and purportedly highly effective form of CSR. However, as this paper argues, neuro‐liberal CSR raises concerns regarding its effectiveness, transparency, and its individualisation and de‐politicisation of social ills.     

Studying the role of political competition in the evolution of government size over long horizons

Here we argue for the use of cointegration and error correction analysis to combine economic factors that are nonstationary with political factors that are stationary into an empirical model of the evolution of public policy over long periods. The approach is applied to disentangle the contributions of economics and politics to the evolution of public expenditure by the Government of Canada over 130 years. Political competition emerges as the primary political factor affecting government size.     

Campfire decision-making and strategic management: A politics and leadership approach to economic development

Privatization is recommended unconditionally by some scholars as the optimal means for achieving economic development. While privatization can be helpful medicine, it provides no universal cure for all the ills associated with low economic growth. A country's economic and political institutions are intertwined. Mandating privatization without being mindful of both political and economic consequences to such a policy can bring undesirable consequences during and after policy implementation. This paper proposes that to enhance the likelihood of economic growth a leader should blend economics with politics. Sensitive political leadership can stimulate a bonding among citizens, a bonding which can generate the commitment to risk by investing personal savings, to work the long hours which much precede the rewards, and often to be satisfied by a job well done rather than with material reward. Analogous to the chief executive officer of a successful corporation, the effective political leader involves stakeholders, steers decision processes, takes reasonable risks, encourages private investment, and rations public resources according to national priorities. Collective decision-making guided by the political leader, who also acts as a strategic manager during implementation, is offered as a model for development.     

Neoinstitutionalism: Still no intellectual hegemony?

Despite its greater realism, neoinstitutionalism has not been able to rival neoliberal approaches in the minds of many public‐policy communities. This article suggests four reasons why this is the case: the way that neoliberalism appears to be rooted in the strong paradigms of neoclassical economics, the related simple appeal of marketization as a solution to policy problems, the dominance of short‐term calculation in financial markets as the apparently most successful form of economic activity, and the role of corporate actors as public‐policy insiders. It is argued that an essential solution to the problem is a rapprochement between neoinstitutionalism and neoclassical economics, which is itself not necessarily wedded to neoliberalism.     

China’s consumer credit sector expansion and monetary transmission mechanism: What should China’s central bank do?

In this paper, we argue that as China’s consumer credit sector is expanding, the central bank’s role in smoothing economic fluctuation and promoting economic growth becomes more important. We build a general equilibrium model with durable and nondurable goods to analyze how the consumer credit sector affects the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. The model finds that an expanding consumer credit sector improves the efficiency of the monetary transmission mechanism. Two policy implications derived suggest China’s central bank should encourage the development of the consumer credit sector and liberalize market-based monetary policy tools such as interest rate tools. Her fields of interest are international economics, monetary policies and economic growth. Guofeng Sun is the deputy director of open market operation office of monetary policy department at People’s Bank of China. His research focus is the transmission mechanism of monetary policy. The authors thank two anonymous referees for their helpful comments and suggestions. The views in this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and should not be interpreted as reflecting the views of the People’s Bank of China.     

ECONOMIC ISSUES IN FORMULATING POLICY FOR EARTHQUAKE HAZARD MITIGATION

This paper analyzes three issues in the economics of earthquake hazard mitigation policy. First, the economic rationale for the public role in mitigation policy is advanced. Second, an efficient level of mitigation is specified. And third, the deficiencies of current measures of losses are examined. Proper measures of losses are identified and the need for a regional economic model is developed. Unless losses can be properly measured it will be impossible to develop an efficient mitigation program for earthquake hazards.     

Track 1/Track 2 symbiosis in Asia-Pacific regionalism

Abstract

This paper addresses the question of how Track 2 international policy networks contribute to economic security. If we accept a neoclassical economic interpretation that economic security is best achieved by trade and capital liberalization, then Track 2, or non-formal research and policy networks, are able to help enhance economic security by providing Track 1 or the formal, inter-governmental organizations with novel ideas and approaches on how best to advance regional economic liberalization. As well as providing institutional memories for regional cooperation, Track 2 networks also serve as test-beds for new ideas in emerging issue areas. This was clear in the aftermath of the Asian financial crisis when a number of Track 2 networks grappled with the inter-linkages between economics and security as well as provided expertise on how states can best cope with globalised financial markets and the free flow of capital. By discussing each of the Track 2 networks and how they respectively interact with Track 1 processes, the paper provides a detailed account of the regional governance architecture in the Asia-Pacific region more broadly, and its contribution to economic security.     

Protecting Individual Rights Through a Federal System: James Buchanan's View of Federalism

James Buchanan is a Nobel Prize winning economist and the founderof the public choice movement in economics. Public Choice playeda critical role in underpinning conservative attacks on thewelfare state in the 1980s and 1990s in the United States. Asa committed supporter of free markets and strong skeptic oflarge governments, Buchanan has long supported the use of federalismto protect individual liberty, promote democratic efficiency,and help foster community values. This article reviews Buchanan'sresearch on the advantages of a federal system.