Andrew B. Trigg

Deriving the Engel Curve: Pierre Bourdieu and the Social Critique of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

In Post Keynesian Economics, theorists have sought an alternative to neoclassical choice theory by turning to Maslows hierarchy of needs (Pasinetti 1981, Lavoie 1992). Instead of each individual surveying a complete choice set, individuals prioritize (basic) physiological needs, moving with increasing incomes to satisfy safety and social needs, through to the higher needs associated with self-actualization. This framework provides a theoretical foundation for the Engel curve, since as incomes increase consumers become satiated when particular needs are satisfied. As an alternative to the neoclassical preoccupation with prices and substitution, a Post Keynesian theory of consumption has been formulated with income effects as the cornerstone. The main problem with Maslows approach is that individual needs are innate, so that questions of social interaction and culture are seriously downgraded. In this article, the social theory of Pierre Bourdieu is offered as an alternative to the Maslow approach, providing the basis for a social critique of consumerism and an alternative evolutionary theory of consumption. In this approach, the structure of the social hierarchy both constrains the consumption of lower social strata and leads to subtle, less conspicuous consumption patterns at the top of the social hierarchy: a scenario that could provide a social foundation to the Engel curve.

Interregional Migration in an Extended Input-Output Model

This article develops a two-region version of an extended input-output model that disaggregates consumption among employed, unemployed, and inmigrant households, and which explicitly models the influx into a region of migrants to take up a proportion of any jobs created in the regional economy. The model is empirically tested using real data for the Scotland (UK) regions of Strathclyde and Rest-of-Scotland. Sets of interregional economic, demographic, demo-economic, and econo-demographic multipliers are developed and discussed, and the effects of a range of economic and demographic impacts are modeled. The circumstances under which Hawkins-Simon conditions for non-negativity are breached are identified, and the limits of the model discussed. A selection of social accounts matrices is presented to show flows within the system under different conditions.

Pasinetti, Keynes and the multiplier

This paper explores the relationship between the Keynesian multiplier and Pasinettis model of pure production. Key assumptions of Pasinettis model are its multisectoral structure, the definition of all income as a reward to labouring activities and, as a consequence, the operation of a pure labour theory of value. A translation between these models is effected by introducing investment as an exogenous determinant. By drawing from Keynes to apply his concept of the wage unit, it is possible to aggregate from Pasinettis multisectoral model to a genuinely macroeconomic multiplier. This provides a way of using the scalar Keynesian multiplier without making the restrictive one-commodity assumption. In addition, this formal demonstration enhances our understanding of the relationship between the wage unit and the labour theory of value. Finally, critics have argued that Pasinetti downgrades the importance of institutional analysis; in contrast, the derivation of a scalar Keynesian multiplier contributes to an understanding of how relevant Pasinettis approach is to the analysis of a monetary production economy.

A neo-Kaldorian approach to structural economic dynamics

Although the structural economic dynamic approach provides a simultaneous consideration of demand and supply sides of economic growth, it does not fully take into account the possible role played by demand in the generation of technical progress. From a neo-Kaldorian perspective, this paper seeks to establish the concepts of demand and productivity regimes in an open version of the pure labour Pasinettian model. In order to derive the demand regime, a disaggregated version of the static Harrod foreign multiplier is derived, while the productivity regime is built in terms of disaggregated Kaldor–Verdoorn laws. The upshot is a multi-sectoral growth model of structural change and cumulative causation, in which an open version of the Pasinettian model to foreign trade may be obtained as a particular case. Furthermore, we show that the evolution of demand patterns, while being affected by differential rates of productivity growth in different sectors of the economy, also play an important role in establishing the pace of technical progress.

Using a Demand System to Estimate Extended Input–Output Multipliers

The interface between household income and expenditure has always been considered to be a key component in the construction of input–output models. However, it can be argued that households are too often treated as if they were just another in dustry in the input–output table. In this paper, we seek to address this problem by developing a new modelling framework in which a micro demand system is used to estim ate the relationship between income and expenditure. This demand system is conjoined with an input–output table for the UK economy, and the system as a whole is solved as a computable general equilibrium model. Comparisons are made between the Jacobian multipliers generated by this model and those derived from a more traditional input–output model in which the income-expenditure linkage is estimated using static coefficients.

Tax harmonisation and the reduction of European smoking rates

Amidst growing optimism that smoking in Europe can be greatly reduced by the year 2000, this paper simulates the possible impacts of European tax harmonization in the context of rising incomes. A range of price and income elasticities are chosen from econometric studies which use micro information. This is justified by the aggregation problems associated with studies in the smoking literature which use aggregate data. Using micro elasticities, the simulations reported in this paper show that the aims of fiscal harmonization are at variance with the aims of health promotion.

Marx and the theory of the monetary circuit

The theory of the monetary circuit, as developed in its most powerful form by Graziani (1989), has made a significant contribution to the analysis of credit money in Marxian economics. A key issue is the extent to which circuit theory fails to take into account the relationship between sectors producing capital and consumption goods. In Marx’s reproduction schema, how much money do capitalists need to advance in order for exchange between sectors to balance, and for the circuit to be closed? The purpose of this paper is to address this issue by examining different models of the monetary circuit, each of which has a textual grounding in Marx’s often contradictory musings in Capital, Volume 2. Alongside alternative conceptions of the circuit of money, different interpretations exist about the role of the multiplier, which can be nested in Marx’s reproduction schema. The problem, from a Marxian point of view, is that in the existing literature investment is usually confined to the capital goods sector. It can be argued that Marx, for the most part, viewed investment as involving accumulation in both departments of production. Using a multiplier framework, derived from input-output technology, this wider treatment of investment is considered as an alternative way of modelling the circulation of money. In addition to contributing to Marxian analysis of the money circuit, this approach could also be more accessible to a wider Post Keynesian audience, since a scalar Keynesian multiplier is employed.

An Interindustry Analysis of the Relationship Between Marx and Keynes

Miyazawa’s Input-Output Analysis and the Structure of Income Distribution (1976) draws upon two main economic traditions. In the first place it represents a development of Keynesian multiplier analysis. The aggregate relationship that Keynes (1936) specified between income and final demand is expanded to include interactions between different industrial sectors and income groups. Secondly, its focus on the distribution of income can be placed in the Marxian tradition. Miyazawa develops a multiplier framework in which a clear distinction is made between the expenditure patterns of workers and capitalists.

Valuing the environmental impacts of opencast coal mining in the UK: The case of the Trent Valley in North Staffordshire

Abstract The environmental costs which often accompany opencast coal mining are generally excluded from financial appraisals of opencast projects. We examine an opencast proposal for the North Staffordshire coalfield of the UK. A survey of local estate agents suggests that, as measured by the impact upon local house prices, the monetary environmental costs of the project could be sufficient to reduce substantially its economic viability. Moreover, opencast coal in North Staffordshire is almost certainly more costly to produce than equivalent deep mined coal. If the UK government wishes to support the market for domestic deep mined coal, it could do so at zero effective cost simply by restricting opencast production.

Towards a Bourdieusian Economics of Leisure

About the book: Surprisingly, the field of leisure economics is not, thus far, a particularly integrated or coherent one. In this volume a wide ranging body of international scholars get to grips with this issue, taking in the traditional income/leisure choice model of textbook microeconomics and Becker’s allocation of time model along the way. Contributions from further afield by Veblen, Sctivosky and Bourdieu feature prominently. A range of applied empirical studies are brought to bear on these various approaches.