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Begin New Search Publishing Institution Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University

21. Ethics and the Economist: What Climate Change Demands of Us

Author:
J. A. Nelson
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
Climate change is changing not only our physical world, but also our intellectual, social, and moral worlds. We are realizing that our situation is profoundly unsafe, interdependent, and uncertain. What, then, does climate change demand of us, as human beings and as economists? A discipline of economics based on Enlightenment notions of mechanism and disembodied rationality is not suited to present problems. This essay suggests three major requirements: first, that we take action; second, that we work together; and third, that we focus on avoiding the worst, rather than obtaining the optimal. The essay concludes with suggestions of specific steps that economists can take as researchers, teachers, and in our other roles.
Topic:
Climate Change, Economics, Energy Policy, and Political Theory

22. Investment Treaty Arbitration and Developing Countries: A Re-Appraisal

Author:
Kevin P. Gallagher and Elen Shrestha
Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
There is an ongoing debate about bilateral investment treaties (BITs) – and investor-state arbitration, in particular – between those who maintain that BITs encourage investment in developing countries by providing enforceable rights and protections for investors, and There is an ongoing debate about bilateral investment treaties (BITs) – and investor - state arbitration, in particular – between those who maintain that BITs encourage investment in developing countries by providing enforceable rights and protections for investors, and those who suspect that these new rights and protections have a chilling effect on regulation for public and environmental welfare and actually hinder development. For years, both ―camps‖ have drawn heavily upon anecdotal evidence and observations to support their view, as no systematic, comprehensive study of empirical data on investment arbitrations had been undertaken. To fill this void, legal scholar Susan Franck has evaluated the criticisms of investment arbitration based on empirical studies of published or known disputes (Franck 2009; Franck 2007) . These efforts produced helpful data and initiated a productive discussion of these issues . However, the results and conclusions that can be drawn from Franck's work are more limited and warrant more nuance than Franck and others so far have taken into account. Franck's work is now widely used to support the notion that developing countries do not disproportionately ―lose‖ under the investment arbitration regime. Such a conclusion does not appear to be supported by Franck's data. This article analyzes Franck's work to show where differing conclusions emerge. We show that: 1) there is a lack of adequate sample composition and size to conduct rigorous empirical work from which an analyst could draw such bold lesson s; 2) discounting the fact that developing countries are subject to a disproportionate number of claims is not to be over looked, especially when looking at claims by the United States; and 3) relative to government budgets and in per capita terms developing countries pay significantly more in damages than developed nations do.
Topic:
Development, Treaties and Agreements, Bilateral Relations, and Foreign Direct Investment

23. Would Women Leaders Have Prevented the Global Financial Crisis? Implications for Teaching about Gender and Economics

Author:
Julie A. Nelson
Publication Date:
10-2011
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
Would having more women in leadership have prevented the financial crisis? This question challenges feminist economists to once again address questions of "difference" versus "sameness" that have engaged—and often divided—academic feminists for decades. The first part of this essay argues that while some behavioral research seems to support an exaggerated "difference" view, non-simplistic behavioral research can serve feminist libratory purposes by debunking this view and revealing the immense unconscious power of stereotyping, as well as the possibility of non-dualist understandings of gender. The second part of this essay argues that the more urgently needed gender analysis of the financial industry is not concerned with (presumed) "differences" by sex, but rather with the role of gender biases in the social construction of markets. An Appendix discusses specific examples and tools that can be used when teaching about difference and similarity.
Topic:
Economics, Gender Issues, Politics, Political Theory, Financial Crisis, and Governance

24. The Relational Economy: A Buddhist and Feminist Analysis

Author:
Julie A. Nelson
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
This much-cited adage from 9th century Zen master Lin-Chi is a key Buddhist warning about nonattachment. Like so many Zen sayings and koans, it can surprise and unsettle us. It reminds us that even our highest ideals, goals, and aspirations are not something we can cling to. If we think we've finally "got it," that is a sure sign that we do not, and it's back to the meditation cushion for us.
Topic:
Economics, Gender Issues, and Religion

25. Care Ethics and Markets: A View from Feminist Economics

Author:
Julie A. Nelson
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
It is common to think of care ethics and justice ethics as being opposed to each other, and also to think of economic life as being opposed to social life. As a result, it may be hard to see how care ethics, seen as interpersonal, could be applicable to business, when the latter is perceived as asocial. This essay uncovers the origins of these beliefs in unhelpful dualistic cognitive habits and in gender-biases in the development of the discipline of economics. In particular, feminist analysis reveals the mythical nature of both "economic man" and the belief in mechanical "profit maximization." The essay calls for unveiling and recognizing the ethical and connected dimensions that already characterize business life, and including these in thinking about how to create a more humane economy.
Topic:
Economics, Gender Issues, and Human Rights

26. Buyer Power in U.S. Hog Markets: A Critical Review of the Literature

Author:
Timothy A. Wise and Sarah E. Trist
Publication Date:
08-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
The U.S. Departments of Justice and Agriculture have focused attention recently on rising levels of corporate concentration in agricultural markets and the challenges that may pose to U.S. anti-trust enforcement and agricultural policies. Both agencies have raised particular concerns about dominant firms' exercise of buyer power over farmers, especially in livestock markets controlled by a shrinking number of large multinational meat packers. U.S. hog markets have undergone rapid concentration in the last 25 years, with the top four packers now controlling two-thirds of the market and Smithfield Foods, the industry leader, commanding 31 percent.
Topic:
Agriculture and Markets
Political Geography:
United States

27. Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths: Design Principles and Alternative Models

Author:
Lyuba Zarsky
Publication Date:
02-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
Global climate change is here. According to recent scientific reports, the earth has warmed by nearly half a degree centigrade over the last twenty five years. Even with robust mitigation efforts, the global climate could warm by up to 4 degrees centigrade due to past emissions. Under a business-as -usual, high consumption fossil fuel-based development path, it could warm even more, resulting in catastrophic and life-threatening destruction of earth's eco-systems.
Topic:
Climate Change, Development, Emerging Markets, Energy Policy, Environment, and Industrial Policy

28. Does Profit-Seeking Rule Out Love? Evidence (or Not) from Economics and Law

Author:
Julie A. Nelson
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
Many believe that firms are driven to maximize profits, and therefore are not allowed to take actions that would benefit their workers, communities, or the environment if these actions would reduce profits even slightly. This essay shows that this belief is supported neither by sound economic evidence and arguments, nor by United States statutory and case law. The roots of this belief are, instead, to be found in a centuries-old desire of economists to make our discipline look like Newtonian physics. Among scholars of law, both misinformation and the use of University of Chicago-style economics have contributed to the belief's popularity. Among scholars and the public alike, the dualistic "love or money" view is appealing because of its simplicity and congruence with cultural gender norms. Reexamining the evidence, rather than adhering to common ideologies, this essay offers an unconventional analysis of corporate behavior and commodification.
Topic:
Economics, Environment, International Trade and Finance, Markets, and Law
Political Geography:
United States and Chicago

29. The Macroeconomics of Development without Throughput Growth

Author:
Jonathan M. Harris
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
Serious discussion has begun of policies to promote the goal of increasing wellbeing without material growth. Moving towards this goal requires a profound reorientation of macroeconomic theory. Importantly, the call by ecological economists to move away from traditional growth-oriented models comes at a moment when standard macroeconomics is in considerable turmoil. The financial crisis of 2008/2009 seriously undermined the basis for mainstream macroeconomics and brought renewed attention to various forms of Keynesian analysis and policy previously regarded as outdated.
Topic:
Development, Economics, Markets, and Political Economy

30. Progressive and Regressive Taxation in the United States: Who's Really Paying (and Not Paying) their Fair Share?

Author:
Brian Roach
Publication Date:
12-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University
Abstract:
The 2010 debate over extending the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts often focused the fairness of the tax distribution in the United States. Unfortunately, discussions of tax fairness rarely take into account the distribution of the overall tax system, typically focusing only on the federal income tax or on federal taxes without consideration of the state and local tax system. This paper updates a 2003 analysis (Roach, 2003) to present a current assessment of the distribution of all components of the U.S. tax system, including recent trends. The results show that the overall federal tax system is quite progressive. But when state and local taxes are included as well, the overall U.S. tax system is only slightly progressive. Further, most of the progressivity of the overall tax system occurs in the lower half of the income spectrum. At upper-income levels, progressivity levels off and actually reverses at the highest income levels. Median-income taxpayers pay about 25% of their total income in taxes, while taxpayers in the top 1% pay about 31% of their income in taxes. Thus claims that America has a “highly progressive” tax system do not appear to be valid.
Topic:
Economics, Social Stratification, and Monetary Policy
Political Geography:
United States