Economic Sociology

Sociologie économique début de siècle : l’impossible troisième voie entre histoire et théorie économique

by Gilles Bastin

Terrains & Travaux, 1, 2003, pp. 6-55. Co-authored with Pierre-Paul Zalio

Revisión conceptual en torno a las redes de directorio y de propiedad para una sociología de las elites económicas

by Sebastián Huneeus

Investigating Market Exchange in Ancient Societies: A Theoretical Review

by Christopher Garraty

Garraty, Christopher P. (2010)  Investigating Market Exchange in Ancient Societies: A Theoretical Review. In Archaeological Approaches to Market Exchange in Ancient Societies, edited by Christopher P. Garraty and Barbara L. Stark, pp. 3-32. University Press of Colorado, Boulder. 

Preindustrial Markets and Marketing: Archaeological Perspectives

by Christopher Garraty

Feinman, Gary M., and Christopher P. Garraty (2010)

Markets are key contemporary institutions, yet there is little agreement concerning their history or diversity. To... more Markets are key contemporary institutions, yet there is little agreement concerning their history or diversity. To complicate matters, markets have been considered by different academic disciplines that approach the nature of such exchange systems from diametrically opposed perspectives that impede cross-disciplinary dialogue. This paper reviews the theoretical and methodological issues surrounding the detection, development, and significance of markets in the preindustrial past. We challenge both the view that marketing is natural and the perspective that market exchange is unique to modern capitalist contexts. Both of these frameworks fail to recognize that past and present market activities are embedded in their larger societal contexts, albeit in different ways that can be understood only if examined through a broadly shared theoretical lens.We examine the origins, change, and diversity of preindustrial markets, calling for multiscalar, cross-disciplinary approaches
to investigate the long-term history of this economic institution.

144 دعاء للثورة وحمدين صباحي

by Mohamed Nabeel Gamie

Pawning for Financing Health Expenditures: Do Health Shocks Increase the Probability of Losing the Pledge?

by Jayant Anand

Published in  Research in Economic Anthropology, Volume 26, 2008

Evidence from developed countries shows debt and bankruptcy to be correlated with medical expenditures. In Mexico, the... more Evidence from developed countries shows debt and bankruptcy to be correlated with medical expenditures. In Mexico, the formal financial sector does not lend for health needs. So, the solution is often found by borrowing from relatives, friends, and moneylenders, or pawning belongings after using savings, if any. Despite the recent and growing literature on income and health, and health financing, we have not come across a single study analyzing pawning and health. Our study fills this gap using a sample of 400 government owned pawnshop users from Puebla, Mexico. The findings from the study revealed that health expenditures are a significant reason for pawning and having medical insurance does not reduce the probability to pawn. Also, catastrophic health expenditures are correlated with a higher probability of not redeeming the pledge. We found that most pawnshop users have low income and losing a pledge is positively correlated with low or middle income and the number of people in the household.

Social capital as an incentive for participation and formation of women-dominant ROSCA

by Jayant Anand

Published in Research in Economic Anthropology, Volume 29 , 2009

The literature on Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs), commonly known as tandas in Mexico, indicates a... more The literature on Rotating Savings and Credit Associations (ROSCAs), commonly known as tandas in Mexico, indicates a higher participation of women but generally fails to detect the reasons thereof. This chapter partially bridges the gap by considering the role of social capital in these organizations. The findings of this study show that socioeconomic factors, the gender of the member majority, and acceptance levels in the group influence the higher participation of women. However, access to formal credit markets does not influence this behavior. Moreover, trust in women-based groups and the benefits obtained from membership further contribute to higher participation of women. The participation of men in ROSCAs seems to be related to motivational factors that are different from those for women. For women, social capital is especially relevant for gender-based group formation.

Supermarketization, consumer choices, and the changing food retail market structure: the case of Citlalicalli, Mexico

by Jayant Anand

Published in  Research in Economic Anthropology, Volume  29, 2009

This chapter evaluates the proliferation of supermarkets in developing countries using data collected between May 2005... more This chapter evaluates the proliferation of supermarkets in developing countries using data collected between May 2005 and June 2006 in Citlalicalli, Mexico. Contrary to the experience of most developed countries, this study revealed that supermarkets and small retailers can coexist by catering to different income groups and product categories. Consumer choices are driven by the desire to reduce transaction costs in terms of time and money. In striking a balance between the two, consumers look for retail outlets that offer them the best value for their money with the least amount of time spent in shopping trips. Location of the store plays a critical role in buying choices that consumers make. In developing countries, generally, only high-income consumers can afford to own cars and choose to buy most products in supermarkets. Consumers without cars buy frequently purchased goods (foods) in small stores and infrequently purchased goods (consumer durables) in supermarkets.

The Institutional Process of Market Clientelism: Guanxi and Private Business in a South China City

by David Wank

The China Quarterly 147 (September, 1996): 820-838.

Cigarettes and Domination in Chinese Business Networks: Institutional Change in Market Transition

by David Wank

In The Consumer Revolution in Urban China. Edited by Deborah S. Davis, pp. 268-286. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.

Producing Property Rights: Strategies, Networks, and Efficiency in Urban China's Nonstate Firms

by David Wank

In Property Rights and Economic Reform in China. Edited by Jean C. Oi and Andrew G. Walder, pp. 248-272. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1999.

Learning the Hard Way

by STAMATIA KREMMYDA

published in 'Insight, Edinburgh University Economics Magazine', page 30

Did they sell their soul to the devil? Some comparative case-studies on academic entrepreneurs in the life sciences in Europe

by Flaminio Squazzoni

Co-authored with Giancarlo Provasi and Beatrice Tosio and published in Higher Education 2012

This paper looks at eight comparative case-studies on academic entrepreneurs in life sciences conducted in Europe in... more This paper looks at eight comparative case-studies on academic entrepreneurs in life sciences conducted in Europe in 2008. The interviewees were selected from the KEINS database that lists all academic inventors from Italy, France, Sweden and the Netherlands who have one or more patent applications registered at the European Patent Office, 1978–2004. The case-studies show that institutions largely influence the way in which scientists are coping with the normative uncertainty typical of science and technology systemic boundaries in the life sciences today. By exploring new local solutions, the entrepreneurial achievements of scientists are also establishing new institutional practices. Our empirical analysis helps to reconsider traditional dichotomies in the sociological, economic and institutional literature, such as publications versus patents and academia versus industry, and to illustrate the creative role of academic entrepreneurs.

Ciencia, neoliberalismo y bioeconomía

by Vincenzo Pavone

Revista Iberoamericana de ciencia y tecnología - Vol. 20, No. 17 Abril 2012

La bioeconomía es un proyecto y al mismo tiempo una visión situada dentro de la narrativa neoliberal del crecimiento... more La bioeconomía es un proyecto y al mismo tiempo una visión situada dentro de la narrativa neoliberal del crecimiento económico y de la competitividad y habla de una nueva economía basada en la manipulación, explotación y apropiación tecnológica de la materia viviente. Este artículo intenta dibujar un mapa del imaginario y de los objetivos de la bioeconomía a través del análisis de los discursos elaborados (y que circulan) por la UE y la OCDE. Más específicamente, explora la relación entre la bioeconomía como narrativa, con sus estrategias de políticas públicas, y el sistema filosófico neoliberal que la inspira. La bioeconomía aparece como un paso más allá de la misma economía del conocimiento en el proceso neoliberal dispuesto a extender ética y practica del mercado a espacios sociales y biológicos antes regulados por otros principios. Mirando a la reproducción asistida y al bio-pharming, intenta sacar a la luz el papel de las biotecnologías en la constitución, institucionalización y regulación de la bioeconomía. En la conclusión, se vislumbran algunas de las implicaciones políticas y sociales de la transición a un sistema económico basado en la bioeconomía, sobre todo con relación al proceso de de-politicización y de restricción de acceso a la naturaleza que las bioeconomías necesitan para consolidarse.

Evaluating the participation of students in the informal economy: some evidence from a European survey

by Colin Williams

Colin C. Williams*, Sara Nadin*, Peter Rodgers*, Rob Wapshott*, Jan Windebank**,
Nick Williams* and Tim Vorley

Despite the widespread assumption that informal employment is more prevalent amongst those not in the formal labour... more Despite the widespread assumption that informal employment is more prevalent amongst those not in the formal labour market, there have been no evaluations of the extent and nature
of informal employment amongst the student population, who are in most nations a prominent group of those not in formal employment. This paper fills that gap. To do this, a
2007 Eurobarometer survey on informal employment comprising 26,659 face-to-face interviews conducted in the 27 member states of the European Union is reported, which includes interviews with 2,605 students aged 15 or over. The finding is that 1 in 11 (9 percent) of the student population surveyed had participated in informal employment in the previous year, although the propensity to do so varies significantly spatially. Analysing whether they engage in informal employment out of choice or necessity, the finding is that the ratio of involuntary-to-voluntary participation varies both spatially and according to the
type of employer for whom they work. Identifying that students comprise 19 percent of the informal workforce in the European union, this survey concludes that greater attention needs
to be paid to this group and why they do so if the informal economy is to be effectively tackled.

Theorizing the self-service economy: a case study of do-it-yourself (DIY) activity

by Colin Williams

Kwame Yeboah-Korang Adom, Marijana Baric, Usman Ladan,
Olga Onoshchenko, Abdoulie Sallah, Muhammad Shehryar Shahid and Richard White

Published in Journal of Economy and its Applicatons

Recently, it has become increasingly recognised that self-servicing is a growing rather than declining phenomenon. To... more Recently, it has become increasingly recognised that self-servicing is a growing rather than declining phenomenon. To explain this, a range of competing theories have emerged which
variously portray those engaged in self-servicing either as rational economic actors, dupes, seekers of self-identity, or simply doing so out of necessity or choice. This paper evaluates
critically the validity of these rival explanations. To do this, the extent of, and reasons for, self-servicing in the domestic realm is empirically evaluated through an internet survey of 5,500 people living in the city of Sheffield in England. This resulted in 418 valid responses (a 7.6 per cent response rate). The finding is that three-quarters of all domestic tasks surveyed were last conducted on a self-servicing basis. Turning to why self-servicing is used, the finding is that all the previous theorisations are valid to differing degrees, and through a process of induction, a theoretically-integrative typology is offered which combines the existing theorisations by differentiating between various ‘willing’ (rational economic actors, choice, identity seeking) and ‘reluctant’ (economic and market necessity, Dupes, participants in the self-service economy. The outcome is a call for further research on the wider applicability of using this typology to explain self-servicing across other retail and distribution activities (e.g., food retailing, organising travel and holidays) is now required.

When is a market not a market?: 'Exemption', 'externality' and 'exception' in the case of European State Aid rules

by Will Davies

Forthcoming in Theory Culture & Society

The reach of markets and market-based forms of valuation is never unlimited in any society, which invites empirical... more The reach of markets and market-based forms of valuation is never unlimited in any society, which invites empirical and political questions regarding how limits to markets are instituted, justified and enforced. Under neoliberalism, the state performs a key role in expanding the reach of markets and associated principles and techniques of valuation, using law and governmental techniques. But this then poses a question of the relationship between the neoliberal state and the market that it endorses and enforces: is the state internal or external to the market order that it helps to construct? European Union State Aid rules provide an empirical entry point to consider such questions, providing a combination of normative, technical and sovereign principles, via which the division between state and market can be justified, tested and enacted. The paper identifies three separate though overlapping logics within State Aid documents, each of which offers the State a justification for suspending the competitive market order: exemptions, in which non-market values are upheld, externalities, in which markets are shown to be technically inefficient, and exceptions – such as the 2008 financial crisis – in which the state abandons the market to save the market.

Monetary Policy and the Creation of the Federal Reserve Paper

by Walter Edward Hart

Max Weber's Protestant Ethic: Do Protestants Work More?

by Uzair Mughal

"This paper uses a 1975-76 Time Use Study to explore Max Weber’s claim that Protestants work more than... more "This paper uses a 1975-76 Time Use Study to explore Max Weber’s claim that Protestants work more than non-Protestants holds true in the given dataset. We used the data available from four days of time diaries kept by 1519 households which had details like total work time, sleep time and whether Protestant or not. Our tests show that Weber’s famed “Protestant Ethic” holds true in this case. There is a positive correlation between Protestantism and total work time, which is economically and statistically significant."

La espacialidad social en el estudio de la industrialización: Estructuras sin escalas, territorios sin sujetos

by Jorge Alonso Estrada

Región y Sociedad. Revista de El Colegio de Sonora
Vol. V, no. 15, enero-junio de 1998