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1

Political Corruption and Electoral Systems Seen with Economists’ Lenses

100%

Dzionek-Kozłowska J.

Annales. Etyka w Życiu Gospodarczym

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2014

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vol. 17

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issue 4

79-92

EN

The ongoing process of democratisation lead to the growing importance of the electoral systems that regulate the procedures of gaining and legitimizing power in democracy. Taking it into account it is worth asking about the relationship between these particular ‘game rules’ contained into electoral law and the respect of the rule of law, being one of the basic norms of a democratic system. A question then may be raised about the existence and the character of the relation between electoral systems and the level of political corruption. It is worth noticing that besides the research conducted by political scientists and the representatives of various branches of social sciences the significant analysis of the issue have been presented by the economists. In this article a brief overview of the economic studies on the relationship between level of political corruption and the electoral systems is presented so as to assess to what degree this approach may be treated as fruitful.

2

Imperializm ekonomii

88%

Murak J.

Ekonomia XXI Wieku

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2014

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issue 3(3)

113-126

EN

In this paper we present the economics imperialism as an attempt to unify social sciences to the theory of economics. We show a lot of definitions of this phenomenon which are proposed in literature, but we point out that to some extent all highlight the issues of crossing of traditional boundaries of economics. Therefore, the definitions often accentuate an aggressive character of this process. In the next step, we present factors which allowed the emergence of the economics imperialism, such as the definition of economics proposed by Robbins, definitions of other social sciences and political factors. However, in the opinion of lot of researchers it was the unification of the science idea, as one of the “purest” goals of the scientific theorizing which was the most important. The influence of the last factor was reinforced also by the failure in finding of microfundaments of macroeconomics, that means internal unification of the economics. Trying to find an evidence of their advantage over heterodox schools, orthodox economists using tools, assumptions and methods which were characterisitc for them, started to analyse different non-market behaviours of people. We also distinguish two criteria of economics imperialism division. The first criterion concerns the subject of research or, in other words, a level of an analysis, so we distinguish the “into” and the “outside” economics imperialism. The aim of the “into” economics imperialism is to depart from traditional economic units and the analysis what these units are composed of and how they function, whereas the “outside” imperialism studies the phenomena of making decisions, which are not directly related to formal markets. The second criterion distinguishes the economics imperialism on the basis of methodologies. The old economics imperialism (the name of which arises from the fact that it was chronologically first, but this type of research is being continued) uses a methodology of the neoclassical economics, with the assumption of stability of preferences or effectiveness and market balance. Thus all areas of life are analysed as if they were markets. The main representative is G.S. Becker, who analyzed law this way. On the other hand the new economics imperialism is related to new institutional economics and its methodological approach. Thus, different behaviours of people are treated as a response to imperfections of markets. The main advocate of this approach is B. Fine. In the last part of the work we show that despite some success of economics imperialism such as finding new correlations or explaining some behaviours, it is criticised. Most of the criticism is related to the lack of satisfying the conditions of reasonable unification of science according to which first, a new, unified theory should explain all problems, which are explained by earlier theories and, second, phenomena which are discussed by this theory should result from the impact of the same real factors on them. Thus, t

3

Economics Imperialism and some of its Unintended Consequences

88%

Kucz M.

Studies in Global Ethics and Global Education

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2016

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issue 6

14-29

XX

Studying the problem of the invisible hand may be very insightful, but also it brings up some dangers. As an ethicist, I would like to mention one very important axiological danger that occurs in some studies conducted by social scientists on the market especially linked to the invisible hand assumption. It is a danger of moral reductionism that results from assumption that rules of invisible hand are scientific laws. We might say that economic imperialism is not anything special. It is popular that when a scholar develops good theory, he tries to apply it to the widest possible range of phenomena, but in most cases, he is put in his place by fellow scientists. Economists, surprisingly, succeeded in widening the scope of their investigation without any loud objections. In my paper, I would like to explore the idea that economic imperialism is a leading paradigm in many spheres of science which has resulted in unintended social consequences. If we want to overcome this paradigm, we need to start with redefining, reinventing, revaluing the language we use.

4

Is Money a Linguistic Form? Integrating Simmel’s Construction of Monetary Value into the Framework of the Philosophy of Language

75%

Leder A.

Polish Sociological Review

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2018

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vol. 204

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issue 4

515-526

EN

In his study, the author discusses his hypothesis of money as a linguistic form, one understood sensu stricto, as Ferdinand de Saussure would. This approach seems to be the key to explaining some important phenomena: the so-called ‘economics imperialism’ in the social sciences and the specific character of economic language, as seen from the perspective of the humanities. Both the ‘uncanny character’ of economic terms and ‘economics imperialism’ appear in this text as symptoms, or ways in which economic signs, especially money understood as a sign, specifically manifest themselves. The logical analysis of the construction of these signs-analysis based on Saussure’s and Simmel’s propositions-is the main topic of this article. First, the author revisits a well-known parallel between formal structures of linguistic and monetary signs developed in Saussure’s Course in General Linguistics. Second, a crucial difference in these structures is presented and theoretically explained using tools developed by Georg Simmel. The author goes on to consider whether this difference locates the monetary sign outside the realm of language per se. Finally, by applying certain claims made by Ludwig Wittgenstein on the limits of language, the author develops his hypothesis that money is a linguistic sign, but a specific one; it is a kind of a ‘border phenomenon.’ In this text, the author proposes the term ‘linguistic form’ to distinguish this kind of sign. Some theoretical and social consequences of this state of affairs are proposed; inter alia the immanent social antagonism between the symbolic articulation of the social sphere and the economic one.

5

Ekonomia narracji – początki nowego nurtu

63%

Baszczak Ł.

Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics

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2023

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vol. 313

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issue 1

66-81

EN

The article offers an extensive critical overview of economic research that can be classified into the emerging narrative economics approach. This new research area highlights the economic importance of various narratives and ideas widespread in society. This paper focuses on three main fields of narrative economics research. The first is the study of economic and cultural diversity, which may result from differences in narratives. The second is research on macroeconomic fluctuations, which is conducted using methods of automatic analysis of text corpora, such as news, in terms of their various characteristics (e.g. topic or sentiment). The third field is experiment-based research on the role of narratives in shaping the preferences, behaviour, thinking and decision-making of individuals, in particular by making sense of “raw” data from the world. An in-depth literature review makes it possible to conclude that narratives hold great potential for economics, but problems include an imprecise definition of narrative, unclear causal relationships and economics imperialism. This results from factors such as a superficial, purely quantitative approach to texts as proxies of narratives and a lack of detailed analysis of specific narratives. Borrowing ideas from other disciplines, such as interdisciplinary discourse analysis, may be helpful.

PL

Artykuł prezentuje obszerny i krytyczny przegląd badań ekonomicznych, które można zakwalifikować do kształtującego się nurtu ekonomii narracji. Jego głównym celem jest odkrywanie ekonomicznego znaczenia narracji, które są rozumiane generalnie jako opowieści rozpowszechnione w społeczeństwie. W pracy zaprezentowano trzy główne podgrupy badań nad narracjami w ekonomii. Pierwszą stanowią badania ekonomiczne nad zróżnicowaniem kulturowym społeczeństw, które może wynikać z różnic między narracjami w poszczególnych kulturach. Druga grupa to analizy i prognozy fluktuacji zmiennych makroekonomicznych dokonywane przy wykorzystaniu metody automatycznej analizy różnych charakterystyk (np. poruszanych tematów czy prezentowanych odczuć) dużych korpusów tekstów, często prasowych. Trzecią kategorię tworzą badania oparte na eksperymentach, które ukazują rolę narracji w kształtowaniu preferencji, zachowania, sposobu myślenia i podejmowaniu decyzji przez jednostkę (w szczególności poprzez czynienie sensownymi surowych danych ze świata zewnętrznego). Pogłębiony przegląd literatury pozwolił na wyciągnięcie wniosków: narracje mają duży potencjał, jeśli chodzi o dziedzinę ekonomii, ale w ramach tego nurtu pojawiają się też problemy, takie jak rozmycie definicji narracji, niejasność kanału przyczynowego oddziaływania narracji i imperializm ekonomii. Wynikają one m.in. ze zbyt powierzchownego i czysto ilościowego traktowania przez ekonomistów tekstów jako nośników narracji i z niedostatku badań skupiających się na szczegółowej analizie funkcjonowania konkretnych narracji. W tym przypadku ważne może być przeniesienie idei z innych dyscyplin, takich jak interdyscyplinarny nurt analizy dyskursu.

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1 Annales. Etyka w Życiu Gospodarczym

1 Ekonomia XXI Wieku

1 Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics

1 Polish Sociological Review

1 Studies in Global Ethics and Global Education

1 Baszczak Ł.

1 Dzionek-Kozłowska J.

1 Kucz M.

1 Leder A.

1 Murak J.

1 2023

1 2018

1 2017

2 2014

Political Corruption and Electoral Systems Seen with Economists’ Lenses

Imperializm ekonomii

Economics Imperialism and some of its Unintended Consequences

Is Money a Linguistic Form? Integrating Simmel’s Construction of Monetary Value into the Framework of the Philosophy of Language

Ekonomia narracji – początki nowego nurtu