Economic Justice

Global Justice and Proposals for Distributive Institutions

by Chris Armstrong

This is a chapter forthcoming in Darrel Moellendorf and Heather Widdows (eds) Acumen Handbook on Global Ethics.

Economic Justice in Two MMORPGs: How Comparative Advantage Translates into Virtual Worlds

by Angela Pool Funai

Elementos para una economía política del republicanismo: un análisis crítico de la renta básica de Alaska

by Jurgen De Wispelaere

Published in Revista Internacional de Pensamiento Político 6(1), 2011 (co-authored with David Casassas)

En este artículo presentamos las ideas básicas que subyacen a la teoría política republicana y establecemos una línea... more En este artículo presentamos las ideas básicas que subyacen a la teoría política republicana y establecemos una línea de demarcación entre la perspectiva republicana y el libertarianismo de izquierdas, el cual tiene en la renta básica de Alaska su plasmación institucional más natural e inmediata. A partir de ahí, abordamos tres conjuntos de problemas que presenta el modelo de Alaska: la falta de una base económica sustancial, la falta de frenos a la acumulación de poder económico privado y la falta de mecanismos de control democrático sobre los procesos de extracción, imposición tributaria y distribución de los recursos naturales. Así, para que el republicanismo pueda hacerlo suyo, el modelo de Alaska debe ser sometido a importantes enmiendas y modificaciones que tienen que ver tanto con su naturaleza intrínseca como con el contexto institucional en el que opera. De este modo, concluimos sosteniendo que, aun cuando el modelo de Alaska puede ser compatible con la perspectiva republicana en un sentido débil, los republicanos deben proceder con cautela a la hora de defender el modelo en un sentido fuerte.

Tecnología, medicina e societá: un gioco di alleanze e di tensioni

by Elena Colombetti

Medicina e Morale, 3/2004, pp. 491-508

BANKING ON WOMEN FOR POVERTY REDUCTION

by Faith Wambura Ngunjiri

Ngunjiri, F. W. (2007). Banking on women for poverty reduction: Portrait of Kenya Women's Finance Trust. In J. A. F. Stoner & C. Wankel (Eds.), Innovative approaches to reducing global poverty (pp. 93-108). Charlotte: Information Age Publishers, Inc.

The Alaska Model: A Republican Perspective

by Jurgen De Wispelaere

Published in Karl Widerquist and Michael Howard (eds.) Examining the Alaska Model: Is the Permanent Fund Dividend a Model Ready for Export? New York: Palgrave (co-authored with David Casassas)

Overcoming Dividend Skepticism: Why the World's Sovereign Wealth Funds are Not Paying Dividends

by Angela Cummine

More than 50 states around the world now possess a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), yet only the Alaska Permanent Fund... more More than 50 states around the world now possess a Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF), yet only the Alaska Permanent Fund (APF) directly distributes profits to national citizens. SWFs are government-owned investment vehicles, more than two-
thirds of which have been established since the year 2000. This article seeks to discover why this recent proliferation of SWFs has not been matched with a similar increase in their use as a financing source for Basic Income schemes.

Transnational Feminism and the Microfinance (R)evolution: Excavating Microlending from Neoliberalism

by Heather Montes Ireland

Thesis submitted to Oregon State University, presented publicly on June 16, 2011. Brief abstract: To make transnational feminist sense of the microfinance phenomenon, we must first excavate microfinance from neoliberalism. Seeking to unveil inequalities of power that perpetuate economic injustice against women of color worldwide, I conducted an analysis of the ontology of microfinance and neoliberalism itself, using the economic justice framework I designed as my analytical tool. Furthermore, I chart the promise of transnational feminist analysis to (re)configure oppressive structures (including neoliberal microfinance) into more just possibilities of our social world.

This study employs interdisciplinary methods to make transnational feminist sense of the microfinance phenomenon.... more This study employs interdisciplinary methods to make transnational feminist sense of the microfinance phenomenon. Drawing upon a combination of discourse approach, textual analysis, political economics and critical theory construction, I fused a feminist critical discourse approach to excavate microfinance from neoliberalism. I designed an economic justice framework and executed an in-depth study of Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank publications. Seeking to unveil inequalities of power that perpetuate economic injustice against women of color worldwide, I further conducted an analysis of the ontology of microfinance and neoliberalism itself, using the economic justice framework I designed as my analytical tool. I chart the promise of transnational feminist analysis to (re)configure oppressive structures into more just possibilities of our social world. Specifically, while other feminist scholars have begun to critique microfinance from various entry points, I (re)imagine microfinance as an element of an economics of promise. Acknowledging the structural dimensions that create poverty and applying that framework to our understandings of the practices of microcredit, I posit an economics of promise through which microfinance can be deployed strategically as a political act for economic justice.

"The Transcendental Power of Money," in Depoliticization: The Political Imaginary of Global Capitalism, ed. Ingerid S. Straume and J. F. Humphrey (Malmo, Sweden: NSU Press, 2011): 155-188. (ISBN: 978-87-87564-21-2).

by John Fredrick Humphrey

Reflections on the Economic Crisis. The Transcendental Character of Money: An Exposition of Karl Marx’s Argument in the Grundrisse, Nordicum-Mediterraneum, vol. 5, no. 1 (March 2010).

by John Fredrick Humphrey

REFLECTIONS ON THE ECONOMIC CRISIS. THE TRANSCENDENTAL CHARACTER OF MONEY:
AN EXPOSITION OF KARL MARX’S ARGUMENT... more REFLECTIONS ON THE ECONOMIC CRISIS. THE TRANSCENDENTAL CHARACTER OF MONEY:
AN EXPOSITION OF KARL MARX’S ARGUMENT IN THE GRUNDRISSE

Abstract

An exposition of Karl Marx’s argument in the Grundrisse for the logical development of money, this essay is divided into three parts. Since Marx is concerned to distinguish himself and his method from that of the seventeenth century political economists, I begin my paper with a brief reflection on “the scientifically correct method: or the “theoretical method” (Grundrisse 100). In this context, Marx argues against the historical method of the seventeenth century political economists, because this approach has failed to distinguish the concepts relevant to an understanding of political economics. Instead of beginning with the “imagined concrete” (i.e., concepts like “population,” “class,” etc.), Marx maintains that according to the correct scientific method the concrete is something to be attained. Reality is not transparent to the understanding; it is not immediately accessible to political economists; reality must be understood. Beginning with the simplest determinations, the political economist brings chaotic conceptions to conceptual clarity by identifying “a small number of determinant, abstract, general relations” which “lead towards a reproduction of the concrete by way of thought” (Grundrisse 100 and 101). Hence, political economists do not produce reality as the product of thought; rather, they proceed correctly by conceptualizing reality in thought.

The second part of this paper considers how Marx justifies beginning his reflection with the concept of production in general. To understand the importance that Marx attributes to production, one must also appreciate the way in which distribution, exchange, and consumption belong to the sphere of production. Indeed, in his “Introduction” to the Grundrisse Marx is concerned to demonstrate the way in which previous political economists have gone astray in separating distribution, exchange and consumption from production in general. Marx, however, does not argue that “production, distribution, exchange, and consumption are identical, but that they all form the members of a totality; they are distinctions within a unity. Production predominates not only over itself, in the antithetical definition of production, but over the other moments as well” (Grundrisse, p. 99). In the remaining pages of this section of my paper, then, I attempt to reconstruct Marx’s argument for the way in which these concepts (distribution, exchange, and consumption) are to be understood in relation to the sphere of production.

Finally, in the last part of this paper identifies four conceptual moments of money as it moves from a mere medium of exchange to a commodity necessary for the productive process. The four following moments of money are discussed: 1) Money as the “measure of commodity exchange” (Grundrisse, p. 146); 2) Money as the “medium of exchange” (Grundrisse, p. 146); 3) Money as the “representative of commodities” (Grundrisse, p. 146); and 4) Money as a “general commodity along side particular commodities” (Grundrisse, p. 146).

Hiring Procedures to Implement Stable Allocations

by José Alcalde

Co-authored with D. Pérez-Castrillo and A. Romero-Medina. Journal of Economic Theory 82, 469-480 (1998).

We implement the stable correspondence of a job matching market in Subgame Perfect Equilibrium. We use a simple... more We implement the stable correspondence of a job matching market in Subgame Perfect Equilibrium. We use a simple sequential mechanism in which firms propose a salary to each worker (first stage) and, then, each worker accepts at most one proposal (second stage). Moreover, if agents' preferences are additive, this mechanism implements in Subgame Perfect Equilibrium the firms' optimal correspondence when firms use undominated strategies. Finally, we construct another simple sequential mechanism where the order of decisions is permuted and which implements the workers' optimal correspondence when agents' preferences are additive.

On Integration Policies and Schooling

by José Alcalde

Co-authored with Begoña Subiza. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1768813

This paper proposes a reform for school allocation procedures in order to help integration policies reach their... more This paper proposes a reform for school allocation procedures in order to help integration policies reach their objective. For this purpose, we suggest the use of a natural two-step mechanism. The (stable) first step is introduced as an adaptation of the deferred-acceptance algorithm designed by Gale and Shapley (1962), when students are divided into two groups. The (efficient) second step captures the idea of exchanging places inherent to Gale's Top Trading Cycle. This latter step could be useful for Municipal School Boards when implementing some integration policies.

The Growing Economic Gap: What it means for Canadian families and the Canadian future

by Ted Schrecker

Co-authored with Armine Yalnizyan; published in R. Labonte, ed., Forgotten Families: Globalization and the Health of Canadians, Transdisciplinary Studies in Population Health Series 2, no. 2 (Ottawa: Institute of Population Health, University of Ottawa, 2010).

An Ethical Framework for Multinationals Doing Business in India and a Proposal for a Globalization Ethic - India Study Tour Project

by Payson Johnston

Paper submitted for the University of San Francisco's MBA India Study Tour Project in 2007. Cities visited during India Study Tour: Agra, Bangalore, Mysore, & New Delhi

Multinationals have driven the rapid economic expansion of India at a breathtaking pace. At the same time, India's... more Multinationals have driven the rapid economic expansion of India at a breathtaking pace. At the same time, India's infrastructure has not kept up with demand, the poor are not able to tap into the economic influx, and multinationals have raised locals concerns on what ethical practices should be driven within the country. India's situation is different from past "outsourcing activity" with the rise of globalization and makes the questions bigger. How should multinationals conduct business within India and what does an ethical framework look like specifically within India and in light of the changes caused by globalization?

This paper will look at a proposal for an ethical framework for multinationals doing business in India and will propose a need to inquire and put in place a globalization ethic that will serve today's new business climate. Beyond the normative business ethics of utilitarianism and Kant's theory of the categorical imperative the ethical model of virtue ethics will be applied through the lens of a vocational metaethic. The new ethical framework will also apply Indian tradition in the context of present and past reflection to strive for Justice in the new expansion of India. An additional framework of the ethical model is globalization to ensure that business strives forward but at the same time considers the realities of the market situation. To complete the ethical model the paper analyzes key stakeholders in Indian business, beyond the traditional stakeholders, to give multinationals a framework to weave within the fabric of their organization and help put in place policies and process that reflect the ethical model. The fictional company Transporter, a creator and manufacture of cell phones, provides a "case study" of how the ethical model can take shape within a multinational complex situation in doing business in India.

Psicología de la justicia distributiva: antecedentes y tipos de estudios

by Juan Giraldo

Giraldo, J. y Benitez, E. (2011) Psicología de la justicia distributiva: antecedentes y tipos de estudios. Acta Colombiana de Psicología. 14, 2. 91-101.

Resumen
Debido al constante estudio de la justicia como un fenómeno social de interés para la psicología... more Resumen
Debido al constante estudio de la justicia como un fenómeno social de interés para la psicología (Rodríguez, Assmar y Jablonski, 2004; Montada, 2003), se precisan los antecedentes de la psicología social en el estudio de las distribuciones materiales individuales en diversas situaciones y las limitaciones de los análisis derivados de dichos estudios. Además, se presentan las posibilidades de indagación de las decisiones distributivas en al menos tres tipos de estudios que se reseñan en amplias revisiones recientes (Montada, 2003) y finaliza con la presentación de un “contexto” experimental como nueva perspectiva sobre el estudio de la justicia distributiva. Para esto, se describe el término “decisiones distributivas” y se propone como propuesta metodológica la consideración de variables habitualmente utilizadas en el análisis de algunos procesos cognitivos de interés para la economía comportamental (Brañas-Garza, Leon-Mejia and Miller, 2007; Rubinstein, 2006).

Palabras clave: Justicia, decisiones distributivas, economía comportamental, procesos cognitivos

Abstract
Due to the constant study of the justice as a social phenomenon of interest for the psychology (Rodríguez, Assmar and Jablonski, 2004; Mounting, 2003), here are outlined the precedents of social psychology in the study of individual material distributions in diverse situations and the limitations of the analyses derived from those studies. In addition, we introduce the possibilities of research of distributive decisions in three types of studies that are outlined in recent reviews (Montada, 2003) and finally, the presentation of an experimental "context" as new perspective on the study of the distributive justice. From this perspective, here is described the term "distributive decisions" and as methodological tool, we propose the relevance of variables habitually used in the analysis of some cognitive processes of interest for behavioral economics (Brañas-Garza, Leon-Mejia and Miller, 2007; Rubinstein, 2006).

Key words: Justice, distributive decisions, behavioral economics, cognitive processes

Re-Reforming the Bostonian System: A Novel Approach to the Schooling Problem

by José Alcalde

Co-authored with Antonio Romero-Medina. Available at SSRN: http://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1743082

This paper proposes the notion of ε-stability to conciliate Pareto efficiency and fairness. We propose the employ of a... more This paper proposes the notion of ε-stability to conciliate Pareto efficiency and fairness. We propose the employ of a centralized procedure, the Exchanging Places Mechanism. It endows students according with the Gale and Shapley students optimal stable matching as tentative allocation and allows the student to trade their positions. We show that the final allocation is ε-stable, i.e. efficient, fair and immune to any justifiable objection that students can formulate.

Rent Seeking and Rent Dissipation: A Neutrality Result

by José Alcalde

Co-authored with Matthias Dahm. Journal of Public Economics 94, 1-7 (2010)

We consider rent seeking contests among at least two agents who might value the prize differently. We capture a wide... more We consider rent seeking contests among at least two agents who might value the prize differently. We capture a wide range of institutional aspects of contests by analyzing a class of contest success functions fulfilling several properties. The main properties are anonymity and a condition on the elasticity of a rent seeker's win probability with respect to her effort. We show the existence of a mixed-strategy equilibrium and establish equilibrium payoffs. In this equilibrium complete rent dissipation holds. Our results imply a partial robustness result for the all-pay auction.