Ann E. Davis

Communicating with the public: opportunities and rewards for individual ecologists

Many ecologists are interested in communicating science to the public and addressing societal concerns about environmental issues. Individual ecologists need to consider whether, when, and how this should be done. We propose that public outreach activities can be beneficial for ecologists at all stages of their career. There are diverse opportunities for such involvement, and these can vary enormously in terms of time and expertise required. Trends within the science of ecology, especially research focused on social-ecological systems, are likely to promote increased interactions with stakeholders and policy makers. To be effective in these interactions, ecologists should consider new approaches to communication and be aware of the potential roles scientists can play in public policy debates. Professional ecologists need to engage with non-scientific audiences; a review of such activities should be included in considerations for promotion, recognition, and awards, while also acknowledging variations in the inclinations and abilities of individual scientists. There are, however, few current standards for how much time ecologists should commit to public outreach, how time allocation might change over a career, or how to evaluate the quality of such activities. We ask ecologists to consider ways to evaluate the quality of interactions with the public and how to reward these efforts appropriately.

Endogenous Institutions and the Politics of Property: Comparing and Contrasting Douglass North and Karl Polanyi in the Case of Finance

Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to contrast the work of Douglass North and Karl Polanyi regarding financial institutions associated in market economies. Both implicitly acknowledge the synergy between public and private financial markets, which can serve to solidify an alliance between wealth holders and the state, potentially at the expense of “sociery” at large. This alliance may stimulate growth, according to North, as well as impose the strain of the market, according to Polanyi. Taken together, these insights undercut the classical story of the neutral role of money, as well as the notion of a clear distinction between public and private, politics and markets.

The New “Voodoo Economics” Fetishism and the Public/Private Divide

Marx’s notion of the “fetishism of commodities” and money is used to analyze the modern phenomenon of the public/private divide, the apparent division of society into state and market. The public/private divide, in turn, provides greater insights into the sources and limits of public finance. The importance of the role of the state as the issuer of the currency is highlighted in the development of Marx’s analysis, as well as in recent debates regarding economic policy and the causes of global financial crises. Using Marx’s analysis of the rules of capitalist property, along with the distribution of the surplus and the formation of the equal average rate of profit, the illusion that money is productive is found to be the source of distortions in understanding, and erroneous policies for the management of, the capitalist economy. According to Marx, the existence of money as a commodity is a sign that the economy is already beyond social control. JEL code: B51, P16, P43

The Process of Provisioning: The Halter for the Workhorse

Abstract: Contingent — rather than secure — provisioning is the core of the institutions of capitalism. This differential access to means of life is a method of prodding labor force participation, considered “coercion” by “old” institutional economists and “freedom” by neoliberal thinkers. Status differentials, which are based on pay hierarchies and branded consumer goods, help reinforce the individual competition for differential rewards. Reform would require reconstituting the labor market, as well as financial institutions, and restructuring the rationales for income distribution.

Contested Continuity: Competing Explanations of the Evolution of the Corporate Form

Abstract: The history of the electric utility industry provides the occasion for testing competing explanations of the emergence and persistence of the corporate form. This industry, characterized by capital intensity, intense competition, and attractive investment opportunities — along with rapid technological change as well as legal and regulatory changes — provides lessons for newer industries with network externalities. Drawing on the work of institutional economics and business history, I examine the evolution of the electric power industry in the US to test competing explanations of choices of finance and technology.

Panglossian Economics: Critiques, Paradigms, Policies, and Politics

Economic theory is in crisis, though many mainstream economists deny it. But a wide range of heterodox critics are beginning to strike a nerve. Some advocate that the mainstream consensus must be broken down to allow pluralistic and competing views. But is this enough? Ann E. Davis summarizes the critiques of the day in search of a better answer.

(De)Constructing Dependency: Institutional, Historical Perspectives of Welfare

In contrast to most methodology in the welfare state literature, this approach will problematize, rather than assume, the tripartite division of states, families, and markets in modern liberal society. The author proposes that this very tripartite division is the result of a disciplinary strategy, under which the conditions of life became contingent and private. She demonstrates that in the early nineteenth-century United Kingdom, welfare, defined as the transfer of resources to families outside of the market mechanism, became the institutional enforcement condition of the private sphere. Following a review of the welfare state literature, including both traditional and feminist contributions, a disciplinary approach is proposed, building on the work of Michel Foucault. Proposals for improving the position of women and relieving some of the dilemmas of the modern welfare state are offered in conclusion.

Global Production Networks and the Private Organization of World Trade

Abstract: As John R. Commons understood, the role of the firm in providing employment and income distribution is a form of public power (Munkirs and Knoedler 1987). This public power of firms is supported by the laws of the state, which protect private property and enforce market transactions. The Global Production Network (GPN) is a new form of the firm, influenced by information technology to lower “transaction costs” (Coase 1937), as well as international trade regimes, such as the Washington Consensus to improve the ease of world trade and investment. The GPN is globe-scanning, yet private and able to shape the economies and policies of countries. Under the banner of branded products, the lead firm in a supply chain exercises considerable power over subsidiaries, contractors, workers, communities, and countries. By influencing trade relations, GPNs also influence international finance, foreign currency reserves and exchange rates, as well as trade deficits and “race to the bottom” of taxes and environmental protection. Drawing on interdisciplinary research, this topic benefits from an alliance of sociology, business, history, law, and international as well as institutional economics in the AFEE tradition. I draw on the work of leading scholars in the field (Antras 2016; Baldwin 2016; Gereffi 2013; Milberg and Winkler 2013) and analyze the implications for the world trade system, as well as the ongoing political resistance to globalization. These GPNs are no longer “of” their country of origin (Tyson vs. Reich).

Fetishism and Financialization

The capitalist system is based on property rules, which are the same for all forms of property. Yet these rules operate differently for capital and labor as distinct forms of property. This paradox obscures the role of living labor as the source of surplus value, and hence mystifies money as self-expanding value. This “fetishism of money” facilitates “financialization,” prevents accurate analysis of the capitalist system, and the formulation of alternatives.

Panglossian Paradox: How Paradigmatic Purity Compromises Policy Effectiveness

Ethical systems are embedded in paradigms. The call for an ethical approach to economics must ultimately address the nature and critique of the existing paradigm, rather than focus simply on individual behavior or policy prescriptions. The existing paradigm has its own ethical norms and foundations, even if not widely understood or acknowledged. The norms and paradigm must shift together as part of the same process of critique.