THE PLACE OF ECONOMIC HISTORY IN THE DISCIPLINE OF ECONOMICS

Despite the dominance of the field of economic history by trained economists who use the tools of economics, the output and services of economic historians are declining in demand. The explanation advanced in this address is that economic historians have not proved their value to economics. To play an essential role in economics, we must broaden the questions we ask and concommittently devise a set of theoretical tools to provide meaningful and testable theories about the structure and performance of economies over time. This address suggests the direction that such theory should take in order to make the field an indispensable part of the discipline of economics.     

ECONOMIC ACTIVITY IN THE SHADOW OF CONFLICT

Appropriation possibilities significantly alter economic fundamentals in a production and exchange economy. This is the primary lesson of our model, which combines Ricardian trade and the potential for predator/prey behavior. The model shows how conflict can be subdued by mutual gains from trade, but at a resource cost that modifies the exchange itself. On the other hand, it identifies conditions wherein appropriation incentives are so strong that specialized production and trade are precluded altogether. The model also reveals a new way to think about and measure the gains from trade. ( JEL C72, D51, D74, F10)     

THE ETHICS OF ECONOMIC INTERACTIONS IN THE NETWORK ECONOMY

The rise of the network economy brought about the strong conviction that economic interactions in the network economy could be based on cooperative, informed and transparent communication, which would counteract the negative welfare effects of unequal bargaining power, the opacity of the intentions of the parties, opportunistic behaviors, monopolies and market failures. So the contracts of the network economy nowadays do not at all remind us of agreements based on the cooperation of free, equal individuals who follow their values and self-interest, during which they take into consideration the increase of each other's well-being as well as the mutual sharing of benefits and risks. The network economy reached the limits set by the segmentation of network architecture, the restrictive regimes of copyrights, the digital privatizations of the public domains, the right holder's control over digitalized contents, the regulatory furors of the different states and international organizations, the 'private legislation' of the corporations, and so forth. The commoditization of knowledge, information and communication and the monopolies have had negative welfare effects. Of course, this in itself does not overthrow the validity of the philosophical, moral-philosophical and economic arguments brought up to support the contractual coordination of economic interactions. On the contrary: On the basis of the current setback of the development of the network economy, we could, rather, conclude that the business model, which is trying to expropriate the positive externalities of the network effect with legal and technical means, leads to a general decrease of social profit. So, not only does this model of the new economy violate rights and is also contrary to moral principles but it cannot, either, be maintained in the long run from the point of view of the market.     

CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC SOURCES OF HOMICIDE IN THE UNITED STATES

Are high rates of homicide better explained by cultural or economic factors? Some research suggests that a regional culture of violence underlies high rates of homicide, whereas other research suggests that poverty or economic inequality increases the likelihood of homicide. A major limitation of this body of research has been the failure of researchers to include an indicator of cultural support for violence that is analytically separate from measures of southern region. In this article, a 12-item Legitimate Violence Index (LVX) is introduced that measures cultural support for violence. Using the 50 states as the units of analysis, hypotheses derived from cultural and economic theories of homicide are investigated using multiple regression. Several additional variables are included in the analysis to control for spurious relationships. The results show that legitimate violence, poverty, and economic inequality are significantly associated with state-to-state differences in the incidence of homicide.     

THE ECONOMIC CHOICE IN DIVORCE:

Abstract

Using the NELS data set, this study assessed whether parental involvement in children's education can eliminate the effects of parental divorce and remarriage on the academic achievement of adolescents. The results indicate that consistent effects for divorce emerged using the No-SES Model, both with and without the inclusion of the parental involvement variables. Similarly, consistent effects for remarriage emerged using the SES Model, both with and without the inclusion of the parental involvement variables. The significance of these results is discussed.     

THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY

Workers' incentives to seek employment and remain employed are affected by a number of government policies. The policies themselves are in turn influenced by the political beliefs of the electorate about what working conditions and incomes should be. Using a simultaneous equations model of political climate and labor market conditions, this study shows that political liberalism may lead to decreased labor force participation and higher unemployment, particularly for women.