Evolution and Institutions: A Cognitive Perspective (p.19-36) ![[Fichier PDF]](images/pdf.png) |
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| by |
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| Brian J. Loasby, University of Stirling |
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| Keywords : Uncertainty, Cognition, Structure, Connections, Knowledge |
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| JEL classification : B52, D83, L22, O12 |
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| Abstract |
| Evolution, institutions, and organisation in economic systems rest on uncertainty and the characteristics of human cognition. All processes require structure, which influences their outcomes; every structure is a pattern of selected relationships. Cognition depends on neural connections, which are genetically derived, but not determined; institutions provide frameworks; and organizations provide routines and decision premises. Responses to uncertainty include conservatism, the adoption of other people’s rules, and experimentation; diversity extends the range of both defensive and imaginative practices on which selection can work; and the division of labour promotes diversity. Successful change requires ‘good continuity’ – a problem for transition economies. |
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| Restructuring and Competition in the Car Industry in Russia: Conglomerate Control vs. Cooperation with Foreign Firms (p.37-61) |
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| by |
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| Xavier Richet, University La Sorbonne Nouvelle |
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| Keywords : Transition, Car industry, Restructuring, Competition, Industrial cooperation, Vertical integration, Foreign direct investment |
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| JEL classification : D2, F2, L2, M2, P2 |
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| Abstract |
| This paper presents the state of industrial restructuring of the car industry in Russia and analyses the strategy of the main actors in the sector. The three main ones being Russian industrial groups, foreign multinational corporations willing to enter into the market, and thirdly, the Russian government which has to decide between supporting its national industry and, or, opening the market to world competitors. In other transition economies, foreign direct investments have played a major role in controlling this strategic sector. This took the form of acquisition or greenfield investments; FDI forcing local governments to implement the rule of law and clear property rights. On the contrary, in Russia the transformation of the car industry is following another path. FDI cannot take strategic stakes in the car industry while the government and carmakers have an ambivalent position concerning the presence of foreign companies. On the one hand, the presence of FDI could help to restructure and to fill the technological gap. On the other hand, the shock of industrial restructuring and its social, economic and regional issues could be damaging, leaving aside the question of the control of strategic assets. Recently, big financial and industrial conglomerates have started to move in this sector and started restructuring. This left foreign competitors on the edge of the market with a limited choice of action; either to cooperate on some segments of production, or start greenfield investments, this in a difficult environment where almost everything had to be built from scrape. |
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| The Potentials for Technology Transfert via Foreign Direct Investment in Central East Europe - Results of a Field Study (p.63-85) |
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| by |
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| Judit Hamar, Kopint-Datorg Budapest |
| Johannes Stephan, Halle Institute for Economic Research |
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| Keywords : Foreign direct investment, Technology transfer, Central East Europe |
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| JEL classification : D21, F23, P52 |
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| Abstract |
| Foreign direct investment plays a particularly crucial role in the processes of technological catch-up in Central East Europe. Whilst most countries of this region have received considerable direct investment, the composition of kinds of subsidiaries is different between countries and hence will the prospects for intense technology transfer will also differ between countries. This contribution aims to compare the potentials for internal and external technology transfer across countries of Central East Europe by analysing the management-relationship between subsidiaries and their parents and the market-relationships between subsidiaries and their host economy. For this, a firm-level database of some 458 subsidiaries in Estonia, Poland, the Slovak Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia is analysed empirically. |
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| Destructive Power, Enforcement and Intitutional Change (p.87-116) |
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| by |
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| Mehrdad Vahabi, University of Paris 8 |
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| Keywords : Destructive power, Creative power, Screams, Institutional change, Enforcement |
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| Abstract |
| Institutions are usually defined as rules of the game. But if rules are dead letters without being enforced, then what is the role of destructive power in the genesis of institutions? This is the first question which will be addressed in the present paper. While the importance of incremental or evolutionary changes in informal rules is undeniable, what is the role of destructive power or revolution in politics with regard to institutional change? To what extent is destructive power involved in the change of rules? This is the second question that will be tackled in the present paper. The purpose of this paper is to answer these two questions focusing on a point that current scholarship regarding institutions usually fail to notice, with an emphasis on rules and laws: the power that enforces those rules and laws. The analysis of different forms of power will demonstrate the fact that the capacity to destroy as well as the capacity to produce plays a role in generating and maintaining institutions. I will try to show that the recognition of destructive power sheds new light on at least three major issues: i) the relationship between property rights and sovereignty, ii) the importance of revolution as well as evolution in social change, iii) the emergence of various means of collective expression such as Luddism, universal suffrage, and association. |
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| Bulgaria's Export Competitiveness Before and After EU Accession (p.117-138) |
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| by |
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| Paskal Zhelev, UNIVERSITY OF NATIONAL AND WORLD ECONOMY |
| Tzvetomir Tzanov, UNIVERSITY OF NATIONAL AND WORLD ECONOMY |
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| Keywords : Export competitiveness, Revealed comparative advantage, Export sophistication, European integration, Manufacturing |
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| JEL classification : F14, F15, L6, O14 |
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| Abstract |
| The paper gives an insight to the country’s export competitiveness in the framework of EU accession as the analysis covers the period 2002-2009. The results bear evidence of a low export performance in terms of diversification, factor intensity and technological sophistication and a significant lagging behind countries like Hungary, Slovakia, and in certain fields Romania. It is mostly attributed to low-grade sector specialization. The integration within the EU so far has not accelerated technological catch-up. For instance, recent evidence indicates unexpected export growth in traditional industries as Bulgaria overwhelmingly remains steadily anchored in low value-added competition on international markets. |
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| Farming Strategies Regarding “Social Responsibility” in the Russian Agricultural Sector (p.139-160) |
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| by |
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| Pascal Grouiez, University Paris Diderot |
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| Keywords : Productive Configuration, Corporate Social Responsibility, Typology of Farms, Agroholding in Russia |
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| JEL classification : L25, L51, O17, Q13, Q18 |
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| Abstract |
| In this article, we discuss the fact that the social role Russian farms have been developing since 1991 has to be considered as a twofold strategy. The first goal is to expand the activities of some institutionally selected enterprises and the second is to reproduce some “communities”. The observation highlights a specific feature: there are several “non-economic” functions carried out by farms. This analysis leads to the establishment of a link between the social role of farms and the existence of opportunities offered by the economic, political and social environment. Then, the concept of “productive configuration” is applied to study game plans developed by several actors in the Orel Oblast' and to identify four strategies organizing the relationship between food production and social responsibility, each configuration showing an institutional arrangement to secure the survival of farms in a highly competitive context. |
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| Sovereign Debt During the Crisis: Comparative Analysis Between Eastern and Southern European Countries (p.161-179) |
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| by |
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| Nikolay Nenovsky, University of Picardie |
| Tsvetelina Marinova, New Bulgarian University |
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| Keywords : Budget deficit, Sovereign debt, Financial crisis, New EU member states, Eurozone |
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| JEL classification : H62, H63, G01 |
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| Abstract |
| This study investigates budgetary positions and trends in sovereign debt levels in two groups of EU Member States during the global financial and economic crisis. We argue that current fiscal positions and trends in sovereign debt in the Baltic states and Bulgaria are above all due to the implemented exchange rate mechanism whereas in the southern European countries and Ireland it is the institutional framework of the eurozone that plays a key role for national budgetary policies and respectively debt trends. The existence of an insurance or guarantee fund in the eurozone makes the key difference between its hardly pegged exchange rates and Currency board and has led to the loosening of fiscal discipline especially in the South Europe. |
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| “Social” Enterprise by the “Socialization of Capital” Process in Capitalism (p.181-201) |
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| by |
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| Constantinos V. Lambropoulos, GENERAL CONFEDERATION OF WORKERS OF GREECE |
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| Keywords : Social Enterprise, Social Economy, Socialism, Classical Political Economy, Marx, Engels |
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| JEL classification : B14, J54, P13 |
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| Abstract |
| This paper argues alongside the Marxian – Engelsian variant of the Classical Political Economy by considering “social” enterprise as the end outcome of the process of “socialization of the capital” in capitalism. The main theoretical finding of the paper is that “social” enterprise is the enterprise which is owned by all citizens except those who work in it as its salaried employees. This thesis is completely original in the bibliography. Consequently, “social” economy, i.e., the integrated total of “social” enterprises, belongs in common to all citizens by joint share-holding of their capital. Consequently, “social” economy is the economic synonym to a value-based “socialism” minimizing but not eliminating surplus-value, i.e., exploitation of man by man. |
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