INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY最新文献

{"title":"External Balance and Financialization: An Interpretation of the Evolution of the Brazilian Economy Since 2000","authors":"Leandro Monteiro, Carmem Feijó","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2023.2230030","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2023.2230030","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Brazil experienced a complete economic cycle with an ascending phase in the 2000s, followed by a decline during the following decade. Using the national accounts, the objective of this article is to trace the growth path of the Brazilian economy from the 2000s onwards through a detailed analysis of the financial balance and income flows of the institutional sectors. It will be shown that the economy has two relevant points of inflection: the first was the external shock occasioned by the 2008 global financial crisis, and the second was the change in domestic economic policy after 2015 following an austerity agenda. The article compares the financial balance of the institutional sectors at the two historical moments. It sheds new light on why the Brazilian economy entered the descending phase of the economic cycle and is stagnating and deepening its financialization process.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48754635","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Development versus Structural Heterogeneity: Trajectories of Economic Growth and Income Inequalities in Latin American Countries from the 1980s","authors":"H. Martins","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2023.2241801","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2023.2241801","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article deals with income inequalities in Latin American countries in the last four decades, relating to economic growth and development. Founded on a structural heterogeneity approach (both its original formulation and recent advances), we adopt a concept of development as a structural process of reducing inequalities. Particularly, we discuss the role of economic policy and institutions on economic growth, income inequalities and development. Empirically, we trace the evolution of economic growth and income inequalities in selected Latin American countries from the period of dominant adoption of neoliberal policies, in the 1980s, to recent decades, when these policies have been partially contested and alternative policies have been established in some cases. In this context, particular attention was devoted to the evolution of social expenditures, identified as a key factor to influence income inequalities. According to the availability of data, we contrast income inequalities in selected Latin American countries and OECD countries by collecting the Gini Index and calculating the Palma ratio for this four-decade period. We analyze the results relating to theoretical basis and institutional elements. Thus, based on the literature review and data analyzed, we contrast trajectories during 1980s and 2000s, stressing that different oriented economic and social policies and institutions lead to different outcomes, which means that trajectories of the countries are mainly outcomes of “choices” made at the national level.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48252833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Rentierism, Capitalist Competition and Neoliberalism: Toward a Veblenian Synthesis","authors":"J. Ahumada","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2023.2237733","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2023.2237733","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The aim of this article is to analyze theoretically the relationship between rents and capitalist competition. The central hypothesis is that the production of rents is a process endogenous to capitalist competition and expands itself throughout various dimensions of economic life. To this end, the different conceptions of rents (classical, neoclassical and Schumpeterian) will be reviewed, and an institutionalist perspective on rents as income from institutionally-created scarce assets will be presented. To make this point, the case of the TRIPS agreement in the WTO will be analyzed as an example of the relationship between capitalist markets and institutional creation of scarcity from which patent rents emerge. Finally, this view of rents will be used to provide a theoretical analysis of how neoliberalism endogenously deepens current rents and creates new ones.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42833210","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Betting on Black Gold: Oil Speculation and U.S. Inflation (2020–2022)","authors":"Carlotta Breman, Servaas Storm","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2023.2238565","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2023.2238565","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Sharp increases in systemically important crude oil prices have been a major cause of the recent surge in the inflation rate in the U.S. This paper investigates the extent to which the increase in oil prices can be attributed to excessive speculation in the oil futures market. Our analysis suggests that excessive speculation in the crude oil market has been responsible for 24%–48% of the increase in the WTI crude oil price during October 2020–June 2022. These estimates translate into an oil price increase of around $18-$36 per barrel and an increase in the U.S. PCE inflation rate by circa 0.75–1.5% points during the same period. We complement the analysis with an empirical investigation of the crude oil market, which shows that (speculative) long noncommercial open-interest positions in oil futures have increased considerably relative to short noncommercial positions. We further find that higher futures prices for crude oil “Granger-cause” oil spot prices, the futures prices of corn and soybeans and the fertilizer price. These econometric results show that oil speculators have to be held accountable for not just raising oil prices, but also driving up food commodity prices. We finally discuss measures to clamp down on excessive speculation in oil in order to eliminate its systemically adverse consequences for the U.S. economy.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-04-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42300904","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Distributive Profiles Associated with Domestic versus International Specialization in Global Value Chains","authors":"A. Wirkierman","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2023.2220634","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2023.2220634","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The present article sets out trends in functional income distribution implied by countries’ integration in Global Value Chains (GVCs), taking also into account interregional interactions (North-North, South–South and North–South). Through the application of an innovative input-output methodology, it quantifies inter-country differences in functional income distribution by means of a novel indicator to estimate the distributive profile associated with domestic vis-à-vis international specialization. The focus is on trade flows, and the analysis carried out allows to single out the distributive implications of alternative regional integration projects, in view of a more inclusive multilateral trade system.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41638096","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Foreign Direct Investment in Neoclassical Theory of International Trade: A Conceptual Weak Spot","authors":"Patrick Kaczmarczyk","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2023.2186054","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2023.2186054","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article analyses the role of foreign direct investment (FDI) in neoclassical theory of trade with a focus on the relocation of production into low wage countries. The conceptual analysis shows that FDI not only constitutes a weak spot in comparative advantage theory, but also that the latter is incompatible with efficiency-seeking FDI—with significant implications for policy. In Ricardian and Heckscher-Ohlin models of trade, FDI is ruled out via the assumption of factor immobility. In models in which factor immobility is relaxed, the closest FDI comes to is a generic reference to capital imports and exports, which affect factor endowments and, therefore, comparative advantage. Due to the assumption that input factors are determined by wage-rental ratios, this leads to the condition that firms operating in advanced economies must produce more labor-intensively, if investing in facilities in low-wage countries. Efficiency and market-seeking FDI, which combines productive, capital-intensive modes of production with cheap labor to exploit unit labor cost differentials, is a theoretical and mathematical impossibility in this framework. This conceptual weakness questions the validity of conventional approaches to development policy, which largely rely on market liberalization and free capital mobility.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44973903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Poles Apart? Alternative Welfare Trajectories under Finance-Dominated Capitalism","authors":"F. Antenucci, Walter Paternesi Meloni, P. Tridico","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2023.2189864","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2023.2189864","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract By connecting the post-Keynesian view of financialization with Comparative Political Economy, we suggest some elements for an updated interpretation of the existing models of welfare. As a main element of novelty, we consider how high-income countries are reacting to the pressures of finance-dominated capitalism, namely by extending, keeping, or retrenching their welfare systems. The contribution of the article is threefold. First, we elaborate on the nexus between welfare and financialization. Second, we introduce a multidimensional index aimed at assessing the degree of welfare of 32 OECD countries for the period 1990–2015. Third, we compare our index with the socio-economic models identified in the literature and with the patterns of financialization. Two trajectories emerge from our exploration: on the one side, Scandinavian and Continental European countries moved toward relatively higher levels of welfare; on the other side, lower levels of welfare feature Anglo-Saxon, Asian, Mediterranean, and Central and Eastern European countries. Besides such divergence, we find that the process of financialization was more intense in countries with stronger welfare, which likely opted for a compensation strategy. Our work highlights the relevance of policies and institutions in shaping different welfare systems and coping with the challenges of the current phase of capitalism.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47163827","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"A Tale of a Rentier Social Contract and Diminishing Economic Rents: Multinationalism and Resource-Seeking Capital in Contemporary Africa","authors":"Sikanyiso Masuku","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2023.2186057","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2023.2186057","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The invisible hand of private global enterprises in the political and economic landscape of Africa’s rentier states best exemplifies the extent to which Multinational Corporations (MNCs) now personify the variant/competing strategic resource-seeking interests of two fronts, i.e., (i) the emerging economy MNCs [BRICS nations, with China and Russia in particular] and (ii) the EU (European Union) and North American states. We have also seen from these fronts, a growing prioritization of economic/political hegemonies over mutually-beneficial bilateral relationships that ensure shared economic development and stability (with respect to ideals, such as good governance, human rights, and democracy) in the Global South. Inadvertently, this has emboldened the proliferation of oligarchs and shadow states whose resilience is contingent upon the existence of autocratic infrastructure, inequality, and a shrinking democratic space. In rentier states, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), positive spillovers (in both development and economic terms) have been dwindling—notwithstanding the ubiquity of private global enterprises therein. Using the Rentier State theory and the Agency thesis, the article explores the operations of MNCs in Africa. Through a content analysis of literature on global capital, institutions, and the role of multinationals in resource rich states, the article focuses on the DRC to highlight what we know and do not know on the negative side of globalization. Some of the negative outcomes of the unregulated power of private global enterprises (as discussed in the article) include their involvement in electoral process interferences, authoritarian collaborations, the establishment of oligopolies, shadow states, etc., to the detriment of equitable development (within rentier states), and a salience of inequities within the global natural resource trade.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44441070","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Myth and Reality in the Great Inflation Debate: Supply Shocks and Wealth Effects in a Multipolar World Economy","authors":"Thomas P. Ferguson, Servaas Storm","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2023.2191421","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2023.2191421","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article critically evaluates debates over the causes of U.S. inflation. We first show that claims that the Biden stimulus was the major cause of inflation are mistaken: the key data series—stimulus spending and inflation—move dramatically out of phase. While the first ebbs quickly, the second persistently surges. We then look at alternative explanations for the price rises. We assess four supply-side factors: imports, energy prices, rises in corporate profit margins, and COVID. We argue that discussions of COVID’s impact have thus far only tangentially acknowledged the pandemic’s far-reaching effects on labor markets. We conclude that while all four factors played roles in bringing on and sustaining inflation, they cannot explain all of it. There is an aggregate demand problem. But the surprise surge in demand did not arise from government spending. It came from the unprecedented gains in household wealth, particularly for the richest 10% of households, which we show powered the recovery of aggregate US consumption expenditure, especially from July 2021. The final cause of the inflationary surge in the U.S., therefore, was in large measure the unequal (wealth) effects of ultra-loose monetary policy during 2020–2021. This conclusion is important because supply-side (and thus potentially inflationary) pressures are unlikely to subside soon. Going forward, COVID, war, climate change, and the drift to a belligerently multipolar world system are all likely to keep straining global supply chains. Our conclusion outlines how policy has to change to deal with a world of steady, but irregular supply shocks, including Covid’s continuing impact on labor markets. By their nature, such shocks create problems that monetary policy can cope with only at an enormous cost; they require targeted solutions. But when supply plummets or becomes more variable, fiscal policy also has to adapt: existing explorations of ways to steady demand over the business cycle have to embrace much bolder macroeconomic measures to control over-spending when supply is temporarily constrained.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2023-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42447061","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Global Financial Governance and Progressive Feminist Agendas","authors":"Ilene Grabel","doi":"10.1080/08911916.2022.2139715","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1080/08911916.2022.2139715","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract Feminists and other progressives have long argued that global macroeconomic governance is deeply deficient. The deficiencies have been revealed and amplified by the COVID-19 crisis. The need to radically reconstruct the global economic governance architecture is therefore pressing. Albert Hirschman’s conception of “possibilism” is particularly relevant for navigating these challenges. In the spirit of Hirschmanian possibilism, I make a case for what I refer to as “enabling global financial governance.” I use this term to refer to reforms of global financial governance that could provide a supporting environment for feminist and other progressive plans for sustainability and social justice. I advance the provocative claim that feminists and other social justice advocates should embrace what I term “permissive multilateralisms” rather than “harmonized multilateralism.” I also highlight a number of directions for global financial governance reform that could provide policy space for progressive initiatives, including those advanced by feminists. I offer this paper as a small way of honoring my friend, Eugenia Correa, whose intellectual legacy and commitment to engaged scholarship has influenced me profoundly.","PeriodicalId":44784,"journal":{"name":"INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF POLITICAL ECONOMY","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.2,"publicationDate":"2022-10-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43601598","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}