Glen Atkinson

The Political Economy of Liberalization and Regulation: Trade Policy for the New Era

The emerging global economy is a source of both great promise and anxiety. Tariffs and quotas have been reduced to historically low levels through various negotiating rounds sponsored by the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). As these traditional barriers to trade became less significant, others became more apparent. Many of these barriers are about social and cultural differences in the regulation of production and legitimacy of specific market actions. David Vogel wrote:

Capital and Labor in the Emerging Global Economy

The theoretical structure supporting liberalization of international trade is becoming increasingly inappropriate for the study of the emerging global economy. The theory of international trade was formulated as the nation-state emerged as the dominant political structure. The assumptions of mercantilism were discredited by classical economic theory and replaced by theoretical arguments for free trade. The zenith of free trade theory and practice was the nineteenth century. However the assessment of free trade in that period must place trade relations in the institutional context of colonialism and the relatively primitive transportation technology of the time. In this paper, the focus is on the differences between the economic relations of the international system of the eighteenth, nineteenth, and early twentieth centuries and the global system that is now emerging. I ask what effect these differences have for relations between owners of capital and labor. The major point of the article is that public discussion of the emerging global relations provides institutional economists with the opportunity to make an effective argument that institutions do matter. If institutions matter, so does history. We cannot pretend, for instance, that former colonies have the same market culture as do the imperial nations. We must begin to design global economic institutions within the present web of institutions, rather than from a set of axioms. These institutions must account for the evolution of production from dependence on natural resources and physical capital to the increasing role of intellectual capital. The current public debate about global economic policies is being argued from the mental model of trade in finished goods when natural and capital resources cannot be moved across national borders. This mental model confines the debate to free

The Menace of Competition and Gambling Deregulation

(2000). The Menace of Competition and Gambling Deregulation. Journal of Economic Issues: Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 621-634.

Efficiency Versus Equity: A False Dichotomy?

Marc Tool has made a convincing argument that, over the last sixty years, economists have been compelled to do institutional analysis. The compelling forces have been the problems and situations facing people trying to improve their material circumstances. The world-wide depression of the 1930s was the event that broke “the pervasive grip of the Marshallian/Hicksianorthodoxy on the minds and hearts of an increasing number of economists and policy makers” (Tool 1981a, p. 569). Other events such as World War II, de-colonization, and rapid advances in technology have caused the shift to institutional analysis to continue. A major point made by Tool is that these structural shifts in the economy have compelled policy makers to be concerned with normative issues as they consider questions of efficiency. If economists failed to respond to the concerns of policy makers, the discipline would be left out of the most important public debates. The orthodoxy Tool referred to posed a trade off between equity and efficiency; equity enhancements necessarily impose an opportunity cost in terms of efficiency. The shift to institutional analysis is a recognition of the fact that the relationship between equity and efficiency is much more complicated than a simple trade-off. The characteristics of that relationship will be explored in this chapter.

Abundance Is Not Profitable

Our technical potential to achieve abundance has been stymied by our institutions. Although there have been amazing advances in technology and production methods, it is not in the interest of employers to pursue full employment or abundance. Chief among the institutional barriers is the shift from use value to exchange value of property. Since reform of property rights is unlikely, we need to create an array of nonprofit institutions to fill the gap between actual and potential output. Employer-of-last-resort proposals should emphasize output that would be created by the employment.

Europe 1992: From Customs Union to Economic Community

The integration of the European Common Market was expected to significantly deepen in 1992. Thus, the rejection of the Maastricht treaty by Danish voters and the chaos in the currency markets surprised most observers and prompted renewed examination of the process of European economic integration. Many wonder whether integration can continue or even if it should be stopped or reversed. Underlying this debate lies disagreement over whether trade liberalization can be separated from market integration. The issue of separation arises out of an understanding of the process of institutional evolution. The process of creating a single market in the 12 countries of the European Community (EC) therefore provides an excellent example of evolution that is consonant with John R. Commonss theory of economic evolution through artificial selection. This process of selection is neither teleological nor haphazard-rather it is the result of instrumental or purposeful problem solving. Application of this theory supports not only that trade liberalization cannot be separated from integration, but that further integration will probably continue.

Law and Economics from an Evolutionary Perspective

Law and economics are interdependent. Using a historical case analysis approach, this book demonstrates how the legal process relates to and is affected by economic circumstances. Glen Atkinson and Stephen P. Paschall examine this co-evolution in the context of the economic development that occurred in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as the impact of the law on that development. Specifically, the authors explore the development of a national market, the transformation of the corporation, and the conflict between state and federal control over businesses. Their focus on dynamic, integrated systems presents an alternative to mainstream law and economics.

Purpose and Measurement of National Income and Product

Abstract: Institutional economists were leaders in the development of national income and product accounts. The accounts were created to assist in understanding such issues as the effects of the rise of corporate ownership on the distribution of income, the causes of modern business cycles and war finance on the performance of the economy. This article reviews the assumptions to develop these accounts and how they shaped our understanding of the economy. Readers are encouraged to review these assumptions and consider ways that we might improve our measurements to deal more effectively with current problems.