Economic History Commons^™

Tracking Berle’S Footsteps: The Trail Of The Modern Corporation’S Last Chapter, William W. Bratton, Michael L. Wachter

Seattle University Law Review

Readers game enough to work through all three hundred pages of The Modern Corporation and Private Property looking for insights on corporate law today encounter two, apparently contradictory, lines of thought. One line, set out in Books II and III, resonates comfortably with today’s shareholder-centered corporate legal theory. Here the book teaches that even as ownership and control have separated, managers should function as trustees for the shareholders and so should exercise their wide-ranging powers for the shareholders’ benefit. The other line of thought emerges in Books I and IV, where The Modern Corporation encases this shareholder trust model in …

Rethinking The Separation Of Ownership From Management In American History, Kenneth Lipartito, Yumiko Morii

Seattle University Law Review

In <em>The Modern Corporation and Private Property</em>, Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means would use AT&T as a prime example of what they saw as a dangerous new trend, the replacement of ownership-based capitalism with giant corporations controlled by a small group of propertyless managers. Indeed, AT&T became Berle and Means’ favorite example. . . . As we shall see, however, the claim that AT&T was a leading example of the separation of ownership from management is incomplete. More importantly, the common interpretation of Berle and Means’ work is mistaken, placing the emphasis incorrectly on the number of shareholders and reading …

Berle’S Vision Beyond Shareholder Interests: Why Investment Bankers Should Have (Some) Personal Liability, Claire Hill, Richard Painter

Seattle University Law Review

This essay, published in a symposium on the work of Adolf Berle, approaches the Berle-Dodd debate from the perspective that corporate managers have responsibilities beyond pursuing the interests of shareholders. Stock based executive compensation, designed to align managers’ interests with those of shareholders, has, in the investment banking industry in particular, failed to avert, and may have caused, managers (in this case, bankers) to take excessive risks that in the present financial crisis inflicted great damage on creditors and on society as a whole. We describe here the broad outlines of a proposal that we will discuss in future publications …

Enumerating Old Themes? Berle’S Concept Of Ownership And The Historical Development Of English Company Law In Context, Lorraine E. Talbot

Seattle University Law Review

This paper offers some tentative suggestions as to why Berle’s work has been read and interpreted so selectively in the United Kingdom. I suggest that this must be partly attributable to the historical developments in English company law that entrenched the notion of shareholder ownership claims. Specifically, unincorporated associations’ normative values—that members are owners and there is no distinction between small organizations with no share dispersal and large organizations with wide share dispersal—have a continuing influence on this entrenched notion of shareholder ownership claims. First, I provide an overview of the origins of English company law. Next, I address how …

Working Paper No. 62, Uses Of Abduction In Economic Science, Daniel Urban

Working Papers in Economics

This inquiry considers the meaning of abduction and its uses in Economic Science. Abductive logic is discussed at some length, in order to clarify how it is used in this inquiry. In addition, abduction is traced from its appearances in the writings of pragmatist philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce and how its meaning is later carried on in Thorstein Veblen’s Institutional Economics. Peirce’s influence proves foundational for Veblen’s contributions, as well as for the writings of John Roger Commons. My research suggests that after Commons, Peirce’s influence in economics wanes. Additionally, the use of retroduction in critical realism provides a contemporary …

Post-Structural Logic In Marx's Theory Of Value, David Kristjanson-Gural

Faculty Journal Articles

In this essay I use Louis Althusser’s observation concerning the synchrony and diachrony of Marx’s logic in Capital to detail changes in the meaning of value, defined as socially necessary abstract labor time, throughout the three volumes of Capital. I use this analysis to identify three common types of logical error in reading Marx that result from failing to recognize this aspect of his methodology, and I provide examples to illustrate each of these common errors. I then argue that, by recognizing the synchrony and diachrony of Marx’s method, it is possible to read value theory in a way that …

Gresham's Law In The 21St Century, Joshua Finnell

E-JASL: Electronic Journal of Academic and Special Librarianship (1999-2009, Volumes 1-10)

Abstract

Research indicates that most people today satisfy their information needs through the Internet. As we move deeper into the information age, librarians must embrace the role of inculcating information literacy skills lest Gresham’s Law of economics becomes a reality in our information economy. This article discusses the probabilistic nature of the Internet against the backdrop of Gresham’s Law.

The Impact Of Corruption On The Timing And Mode Of Entry By U.S. Firms In China, Jacob Billings

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Since 1979 when China opened its economic borders, it has seen an influx of foreign direct investment that gradually snowballed into enormous annual inflows of capital. Researchers have taken advantage of this event as an incredibly useful testing ground of theories regarding FDI. Using this new data from China, along with data from countries already open to outside investment, many variables, such as GDP, wage, and distance, have been found to consistently correlate in one way or another to particular aspects of FDI inflow, including amount, location, timing, and type.

One such variable that has had some attention is corruption. …

Money Exchange Notes, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, Anwar. Notes on money multipliers, bank notes, and bank credit creation. Unpublished manuscript.
• Shaikh, Anwar. Notes on token convertibility, gold standard exchange rates, and coin debasement. Unpublished manuscript.
• Shaikh, Anwar. Exchange, money and price. Unpublished work.
• Shaikh, Anwar. Chapter five money outline and notes on historical inflation variables. Unpublished manuscript.

The Science Of Persuasion In Recent Discourse On T.R. Malthus: An Exercise In The Analysis Of Rhetoric In Economics, Laila Winner

Economics Undergraduate Honors Theses

Of all the dour portraits lining the august halls of Economics, it is that of Thomas Robert Malthus which seems perhaps to scowl the most grimly. Describing an approach or policy as Malthusian in everyday conversation conjures a host of disturbing images, bare fields and squalling babies chief among them. Such allusions provoke even stronger reactions within the discipline Malthus helped to found, ranging from Keynes's fervent championship to the sneering dismissal of Samuelson. Neither the more famous Smith nor Ricardo nor even Marx can claim to have gained in their lives what the comparatively less prolific Reverend did with …

[Introduction To] The Street Porter And The Philosopher : Conversations On Analytical Egalitarianism, Sandra J. Peart, David M. Levy

Bookshelf

Adam Smith, asserting the common humanity of the street porter and the philosopher, articulated the classical economists' model of social interactions as exchanges among equals. This model had largely fallen out of favor until, recently, a number of scholars in the avant-garde of economic thought rediscovered it and rechristened it "analytical egalitarianism." In this volume, Sandra J. Peart and David M. Levy bring together an impressive array of authors to explore the ramifications of this analytical ideal and to discuss the ways in which an egalitarian theory of individuality can enable economists to reconcile ideas from opposite ends of the …

Adam Smith And Poverty, Jonathan B. Wight

English Faculty Publications

Can we end poverty in America? Does economic theory offer a solution? Humility would be a good starting place, because systemic problems like generational poverty rarely stem from single causes. Putting the broken pieces together is difficult when some edges are sharp, some are shattered, and others missing. This essay draws on insights from Adam Smith in order to examine the problem of poverty. It focuses on a case study involving Serena Robins (the real names have been altered).

Collaboration For The Public Good: An Inquiry Into Federalism's Role In Economic Performance, James A. Cochran Ii

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

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Do Children's Hospitals Have Lower Mortality Rates? Evidence From The 2003 Kids' Inpatient Database, Christiane Labonte

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Objective: To compare mortality rates at children’s hospitals and non-children’s hospitals.

Data Source: I used the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project Kids’ Inpatient Database (KID) released by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality in 2003. Thirty-six states participated in the HCUP in 2003, which included 3,438 hospitals, and 2,984,129 pediatric discharges.

Study Design: I hypothesized that mortality rates at children’s hospitals would be lower than mortality rates at non-children’s hospital because children’s hospitals have more specialized inputs, from the clinical training of sub-specialists and nurses to advanced machines and diagnostic tools, and may use these inputs more productively. To …

Working Paper No. 30, On The Origins Of Laissez-Faire, Thomas Breaden

Working Papers in Economics

This paper traces laissez-faire back to its French roots, and in particular, to its origins as a political philosophy evoking an economic approach. Related to his visit to France in the 1760s and his personal contacts, we suggest that Adam Smith serves as the link between selected French thinkers and what after Smith’s Inquiry would be widely accepted as a quintessentially Anglo-Saxon tradition in economics. Exploring doctrine, we offer linkages between F. Quesnay, A. Turgot, J.J. Rousseau, and Smith’s ideas. Similarities in Smith’s understanding and the French exponents regarding economic activity vis-a- vis a public sector are presented, along with …

Peace In Unity: 19th Century Irenic Motivations In European Unification, Robert Taft Keele

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The Hauptargumenten of politicians and citizens concerning the advantages and disadvantages of the EU are almost exclusively economic or political in nature: lower tariffs; loss of monetary instruments; immigration; disenfranchisement; etc. The object of my thesis is to remind everyone, amid the flurry of speculation and uncertainty prevalent in Europe since the French rejection of the EU constitution, that a major benefit of the European integration is peace, on a continent that has been ravaged by war for centuries. I prove that the establishment of peace was a major element in European unification by confirming links between peace movements and …

Movement Of Economics Professors Among Top Research Universities In The Us, Benjamin E. Resnick

Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All

Abstract not Included

Attitudes Toward Race, Hierarchy And Transformation In The 19th Century, Sandra J. Peart, David M. Levy

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

Using the debates between Classical political economists and their critics as our lens, this paper examines the question of whether we're the same or different. Starting with Adam Smith, Classical economics presumed that humans are the same in their capacity for language and trade ; observed differences were then explained by incentives, luck and history, and it is the "vanity of the philosopher" incorrectly to conclude otherwise. Such "analytical egalitarianism" was overthrown sometime after 1850 , when notions of race and hierarchy came to infect social analysis as a result of attacks on homogeneity by the Victorian Sages (including Thomas …

The Indivisibility Of Economic And Political Rights, Linda M. Keller

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Development as Freedom by Amartya Sen. New York: Knopf , 1999 (Paperback Edition: Random House, 2000). 366pp.

A Little Adam Smith Is A Dangerous Thing, Jonathan B. Wight

Economics Faculty Publications

Adam Smith was trying to counter medieval church theology, which held that any self-interested behavior was sinful and detrimental. Smith countered that self-interest could yield valuable outcomes for society as people pursued specialization and market trade. Much later these quotes would be used to justify the greedy and grasping personae of homo economicus, illustrating how a little Adam Smith can prove to be a dangerous thing. For example, Max Lerner in 1937 would say that Adam Smith "sanctified predatory impulses" and "gave a new dignity to greed." By the 1980s the movie Wall Street has the financial tycoon Gordon …

The Great Transition: The Dynamics Of Market Transitions And The Case Of Russia, 1991-1995, Jeffrey K. Hass

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

The market transition in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union brings us back to essential issues that Marx and Weber addressed: the genesis of capitalism and the process of economic change. What is the transition and what does it involve - restructuring incentives, creating new laws, learning new culture, or creating new power structures? The answer partially depends on the particular transition (initial conditions, targets, actors' perceptions); but necessary general frameworks remain elusive, and current economic policies and analyses reveal that we understand little more about economic change than a century ago. Recent works on market transitions have furthered …

A Political Model Of Monetary Policy With Application To The Real Fed Funds Rate, Tony Caporale, Kevin B. Grier

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We construct an empirical model of U.S. monetary policy assuming that the Federal Reserve is an ordinary federal bureaucracy. We use the real Federal Funds rate as our policy measure and show the existence of significant executive, legislative, and bureaucratic influence on the real rate of interest from 1961 to 1996. We find that presidential party is an adequate statistical measure of executive influence and that the voting scores of the Senate Banking Committee leadership best represent legislative influence. We argue that political changes cause systematic and predictable changes in monetary policy.

The Fischer Black Hypothesis: Some Time-Series Evidence, Tony Caporale, Barbara Mckiernan

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

We estimate an ARCH-M model to analyze the relationship between the conditional standard deviation of real gross national product (GNP) and its growth rate for the period 1871-1993. We find that variability significantly increases output growth rates. In addition, impulse response functions show that the effect of variability on growth rates is dynamic. These results provide evidence in favor of Black's (1987) business cycle hypothesis.

Tobin, James, Tony Caporale

Economics and Finance Faculty Publications

James Tobin was born in Champaign, Illinois, in 1918. He received his bachelor's degree in 1939 and his master's degree in 1940, both from Harvard. Following naval service during the years 1942-6, he returned to his graduate studies and received his PhD from Harvard in 1947. In 1950, he joined the economics department at Yale University, and he has largely remained at Yale and has been identified with this institution throughout his career. He twice directed the Cowles Foundation for Research in Economics, first from 1955 to 1961, and then from 1964 to 1965. He also served for two years, …

Communist Manifesto, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes.

• Anwar Shaikh. (1997, November). The communist manifesto (Unpublished one-page talk manuscript). Department of Economics, The New School for Social Research, New York, NY.

Toward A Sustainable Maine : The Politics, Economics, And Ethics Of Sustainability, Richard Barringer (Ed.)

Maine Collection

Toward A Sustainable Maine : The Politics, Economics, and Ethics of Sustainability

Richard Barringer, editor, Professor Emeritus at the University of Southern Maine

Edmund S. Muskie Institute of Public Affairs, University of Southern Maine, Portland, Maine, 1993.

The proceedings of a conference presented at Bowdoin College on March 19 and 20, 1993, by the Edmund S. Muskie Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Southern Maine, and by the Natural Resources Council of Maine. Ellen Baum, conference organizer.

Contents; Foreword by Richard Barringer / Welcome by Everett Carson / Global, Canadian, and Maine Perspectives / Sustaining Our Natural and …

The Analytical Structure Of Classical Marxian Economics, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes.

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (1993, December). The analytical structure of classical Marxian economics [Draft; unpublished manuscript].

Sun Spots And Expectations: W. S. Jevons And The Theory Of Economic Fluctuations, Sandra J. Peart

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

W. Stanley Jevon’s statistical study of periodicity has received much scrutiny (Aldrich1987), but less attention has been given to his theoretical position on economic fluctuations, a circumstance which T.W. Hutchison justly finds surprising considering that “Jevons maintained that aggregate instability, and the distress it caused, presented profoundly serious problems, and devoted some of his most strenuous economic research to their explanation” (Hutchison 1988, p. 6). This paper takes up the challenge to examine the development of Jevon’s though on economic fluctuations from the early 1860s until his death in 1882.

I shall distinguish in what follows between Jevon’s “theory of …

The State Of Economic Science: Views Of Six Nobel Laureates, Werner Sichel Editor

Upjohn Press

Six distinguished Nobel Laureates offer their views on the current state of economic science in a thought-provoking yet straightforward set of essays.

Crisis Theories, Anwar Shaikh Phd

Archives of Anwar Shaikh

This collection includes:

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (1982, December 13). A note on profit-squeeze theories [Handwritten notes for EE 204]. Unpublished manuscript.

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (1987, March). Comparative phenomena of Marxist crisis theories [Handwritten notes with graph]. Unpublished manuscript.

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (n.d.). FROP [Handwritten notes with graph]. Unpublished manuscript.

• Devine, J. N. (n.d.). Underconsumption, over-investment, and the origins of the Great Depression. Unpublished manuscript.

• Shaikh, A., PhD. (1987, May 15). Crisis theories note on theory & data [Handwritten notes]. Unpublished manuscript.