Agnès Festré | University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, Nice, France (original) (raw)

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Papers by Agnès Festré

In this paper, we analyze the conditions of the establishment and functioning of the French colon... more In this paper, we analyze the conditions of the establishment and functioning of the French colonial Bank of Martinique during the transition period following the decree to abolish slavery in 1848. It is particularly intended to show how the Bank was able to respond to the financial constraints posed by this transition and to deal with the circulation problems that punctuated the period. This study will be conducted in three stages. In the first section, we focus on the establishment and principal operations of the colonial banks in the old French colonies, with particular emphasis on the Bank of Martinique. The second section presents an initial assessment of the operation of the Bank. Finally, the last section is devoted to the circulation problems encountered by the Bank, highlighting the conflicts of interest that underlie the different debates around this issue.

Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Université de Nantes, Jun 7, 2012

Journal of Government and Economics, 2021

Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2006

In the aftermath of the so-called Marginal Revolution of the last end of the nineteenth century, ... more In the aftermath of the so-called Marginal Revolution of the last end of the nineteenth century, economic analysis split into two branches. The first one was made up of economists who took as the methodological starting-point of their analyses the static or stationary state of a barter economy and considered that this basic framework was likely to be extended in order to account for monetary and financial considerations, as well as dynamics. However, in such a setting, the introduction of money, bank-credit, or any factor of growth did not substantially alter the features that are associated with the rudimentary economy of static real exchange.

Abstract: This paper is an attempt to reconstruct Carl Menger and Friedrich von Wieser’s argument... more Abstract: This paper is an attempt to reconstruct Carl Menger and Friedrich von Wieser’s argument regarding the process of the emergence of money in the light of current economic analysis. Our reconstruction is based both on the few critiques Wieser addressed to Menger’s analysis of the emergence of money and to-day literature that provides interpretations of Menger’s theory of the emergence of money in terms of search models or evolutionary game theory. Section 1 describes and compares the methodological background of both authors in a twofold perspective. On the one hand, Menger’s strict methodological individualism is contrasted with Wieser’s ‘institutional individualism ’ (cf. Agassi, 1975). On the other hand, Wieser’s conception of institutions, though sharing some common features with Menger’s one appears to be more appropriate to deal with mechanisms of evolution while Menger’s one is confined to the description of processes of emergence. Section 2 examines the dominant inter...

Pro-environmental behaviors are pro-social in their essence. Even if their object and outcome are... more Pro-environmental behaviors are pro-social in their essence. Even if their object and outcome are invisible in the present, they will be represented by global warming ofthesocietyinathefuture. Asabranchofeconomics, experimentaleconomicslooks at environmental behavior issues through the study of social dilemma as Public Good Games. Moreover, it is well recognized that incentives can influence the cooperation of individuals in providing public goods. In this paper, we experimentally adapt a public good game (henceforth PGG) to the environmental issue of waste management. In order to simulate the issue at a municipalitylevel,wedesignanexperimentinwhichgroupsarecomposedbyfourcontributors and a third-party who has the possibility of applying a incentive to increase the cooperation. Two types of incentives are investigated in two separate treatments where an additional player that plays the role of the third-party is introduced in each group. In both treatments, third parties payoff is co...

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015

In this contribution, we provide an interpretation of Friedrich von Wieser's contribution to econ... more In this contribution, we provide an interpretation of Friedrich von Wieser's contribution to economics, which pays tribute to the originality of his work, and particularly his view of how institutions interfere with individual behavior. This interaction takes place within a disequilibrium framework where social influences such as power or social class, and psychological factors such as force of habit or herd behavior, are the product of human action but also constitute constraints on further action. The section 1 stresses the institutionalist background of Wieser's economics. We concentrate on Wieser's general methodwhich we assimilate to an example of Joseph Agassi's (1975) institutional individualismand his analysis of the emergence and evolution of institutions via the dynamics of leaders and masses. In the section 2, we reinforce and illustrate the 'institutionalist' stamp of Wieser's economics by focusing on his work on monetary economics (Wieser 1904, 1909a, 1909b, 1927b) and his analysis of the emergence of money, based on our reading of Wieser's Social Economics (Wieser [1927a] 1967) and The Law of Power (Wieser [1926] 1983).

The Contribution of Joseph A. Schumpeter to Economics

In the first section we discuss the Wicksellian origins of Schumpeter's and Hayek's appro... more In the first section we discuss the Wicksellian origins of Schumpeter's and Hayek's approaches to money and banking in the context of dynamic economic analysis. The second section compares the role played by banks and credit in Schumpeter's and Hayek's explanation of economic fluctuations. We conclude by contrasting both authors' perception of economic dynamics.

Research Papers in Economics, 2009

Nous remercions les participants à la Table ronde « La transition de l'esclavage à d'autres systè... more Nous remercions les participants à la Table ronde « La transition de l'esclavage à d'autres systèmes, dans la théorie et dans la pratique », 16-17 décembre 2004 organisée par le CEREGMIA / Université des Antilles et de la Guyane / Campus Schoelcher-Martinique, pour leurs remarques et commentaires. ** Les auteurs sont membres de l'équipe DEMOS, (Dynamique Economique, Marchés et Organisations) du GREDEG, 250 rue A. Einstein 06560 Valbonne.

Research Papers in Economics, Dec 2, 2020

We can know more than we can tell. In this paper we discuss how Polanyi applies his tacit knowled... more We can know more than we can tell. In this paper we discuss how Polanyi applies his tacit knowledge concept to approach creativity in science. We argue that Polanyi not only is a theoretician on creativity, but also a very creative educator aiming to communicate widely, thereby, increasing legitimacy of science. In order to make tacit knowledge and other concepts and ideas more accessible to the general public, he extensively used analogies alluding to visual representations and even made use of new innovative media like film to complement written expositions.

The purpose of the paper is to compare Wicksell's and von Mises' theories of money, inter... more The purpose of the paper is to compare Wicksell's and von Mises' theories of money, interest and price dynamics in the light of the debate that took place between them two years after the publication of Mises' Theory of Money and Credit (1912). This debate revealed two main issues that divided the two authors: on the one hand, Wicksell and Mises do not agree on the relation between the 'money market' and the 'commodity market'; on the other hand, they do not share the same view as regards the question of the dependence (or interdependence) of the 'loan rate of interest' from the 'natural rate of interest'. We shall discuss those two related questions in the first section. Then, in the second section, we shall analyze how these divergences affected Wicksell's and Mises' respective theories of economic dynamics.

History of Economic Ideas, 2003

In this paper, we reconsider Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek’s theories of business cycles i... more In this paper, we reconsider Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek’s theories of business cycles in the light of their methodological approach. In the Wrst part, we clarify Mises and Hayek’s methodological frameworks in order to provide a better understanding of their programmatic approach of business cycles. The second part is dedicated to their respective theoretical framework, as applied to capital, interest and monetary theory. Finally, in the last part, we investigate the mechanisms at work in Mises and Hayek’s explanations of the diVerent phases of the trade cycle, by underlying the role played by knowledge and individual behaviour within market adjustments.

Le Centre pour la Communication Scientifique Directe - HAL - Université de Nantes, Jun 7, 2012

Journal of Government and Economics, 2021

Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 2006

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2015

The Contribution of Joseph A. Schumpeter to Economics

Research Papers in Economics, 2009

Research Papers in Economics, Dec 2, 2020

History of Economic Ideas, 2003

It has been common place to characterize Hayek’s overall work in economics as dichotomized. For i... more It has been common place to characterize Hayek’s overall work in economics as dichotomized. For instance, on methodological grounds, some commentators have spoken about a « Hayek I », aligned with an « a priori approach » and a popperian « Hayek II » (Hutchinson, 1981) or about « Hayek’s transformation » (Caldwell, 1988, Foss, 1995).
However, if we focus on his theoretical work on money and business cycles, one can consider that « ethical and political convictions, most of which he had developed earlier, explain the continuity of the theoretical core, beyond modification Hayek was led to make both as a reaction to the events and as an answer to the increasingly virulent criticisms that his ideas had provoked » (Dostaler, 1994, p. 147).
In this paper, we will focus on Hayek’s contribution to monetary theory and try to assess its real statute within Hayek’s overall economic theory.
We shall see that in spite of both the obvious diversity of Hayek’s references in the field of monetary theory as, for the most quoted, Menger, Wicksell, Cantillon and von Mises and the various and often contradictory aspects of Hayek’s monetary approach1, it seems that Hayek’s monetary pieces are characterized by a strong unity.
This unity can be retraced from three viewpoints.
First, we shall see the Hayek’s theoretical work on monetary theory is mainly intended to strengthen the deleterious effects of an increase of money on real production structures.
This viewpoint will be assessed through the consideration of Hayek’s critical position towards the Quantity Theory as well as his references to Wicksell and Cantillon.
Secondly, we shall analyse into details the monetary mechanisms that are at work as regards both the impulse and the propagation of business cycles in the various versions of Hayek’s theory of fluctuations.
1We refer here, for instance, to Hayek’s intertemporal equilibrium approach inconsistent with a sequential analysis of market adjustments (Gaffard, 1996, p. 4), to the critique as regards his imperfect foresight hypothesis while the reference final equilibrium point for a monetary economy consists in a standard competitive equilibrium (Colonna, 1994, p. 33), or to Hayek’s ambigous position towards the Quantity Theory.
3
In this part,, we will argue that, in spite of the variety of both impulses and propagation mechanisms that we can find in Hayek, the role that money and the banking system play within these explanations is of utmost importance. However, the interference of money and banks within the explanation of fluctuations reveals a lack of rigor in Hayek’s analysis, leading to conflicting interpretations concerning the consistency of his explanation of crises, which, according to him, are absolutely unavoidable.
Third, we shall argue that the reason why the monetary factor plays such an ambigous role in Hayek’s business cycle theory might illustrate the political and methodological views that the author strongly wanted to infer from his theoretical work. In particular, we shall see that Hayek’s more applied contributions in later years concerning monetary management still reflects his fundamental view that money is a distabilizing factor that is responsible fro most deleterious business fluctuations.

The objective of this paper is twofold. First, it provides a comparison between Menger and Wieser... more The objective of this paper is twofold. First, it provides a comparison between Menger and Wieser " s conceptions of institutions in the light of their respective methodological approaches. Indeed no previous attempts have been made in the literature to compare both authors from this perspective, and we claim that it can shed some light on the ticklish problem of how to reconcile subjectivism and methodological individualism with the existence of social or collective institutions. Second, it takes as an illustration of main differences between Menger and Wieser " s analyses of institutions the example of the emergence of money. This investigation permits to reinforce our argument that the two Austrian authors offer two distinct ways to deal with the problem of emergence of social institutions from an " individualistic " perspective.