Andrea Pacella - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Andrea Pacella
Cambridge Journal of Economics, Jun 5, 2019
This paper aims at analysing the causes and effects of increasing financial accumulation by Itali... more This paper aims at analysing the causes and effects of increasing financial accumulation by Italian firms, within a radical Institutional theoretical framework. It will be argued that financialisation can be imputed to the fact that the biggest Italian companies aim to increase their profits through speculation after the cycle of class struggle of the 1970s. It will also be shown that financial accumulation has contributed to the reduction of economic growth and to the increase of income inequalities. Since very few research studies have dealt with the Italian case, this paper fills a gap.
History of Economic Ideas, 2004
History of Economic Thought and Policy, Dec 1, 2022
Flessibilità del lavoro e competitività in Italia, 2014
This book explores the Veblen’s approach on the nature of conflict in the monetary economies. His... more This book explores the Veblen’s approach on the nature of conflict in the monetary economies. His theoretical framework is based on the assumption that contemporary economies are credit economies and conflictual economies. While money is means of capitalization and expansion of firms aimed at monopolistic control of markets, conflict involves two dimensions: a) on the microeconomic plane undertakers and technicians have contrasting targets for the level of production (‘internal conflict’), b) on the macroeconomic plane waste of leisure class depresses life of underlying population (‘external conflict’).
European Journal of Economic and Social Systems, 2008
The aim of this paper is to analyse the theoretical links between minimum wage legislation and th... more The aim of this paper is to analyse the theoretical links between minimum wage legislation and the level of employment in the theoretical framework of the monetary theory of production (MTP) in which the high-wage effect operates under the constraint of credit rationing at the expense of small firms. It will show that a rise in wages via external intervention, and particularly by means of a minimum wage law, induces firms to accumulate more capital and that this has a positive effect on the level of employment, thus going counter to the mainstream view that labour market deregulation generates positive outcomes. Moreover it will show that the high-wage effect can solve the paradox of profits in the MTP owing to bankruptcies of firms facing credit rationing.
The scheme of reputability in the pecuniary culture comprises not only the imperative duty of acq... more The scheme of reputability in the pecuniary culture comprises not only the imperative duty of acquiring something more than an equitable share of the community's wealth, but also the dutiful privilege of spending this acquired wealth, and the leisure that goes with it, in a reputably conspicuous way, according to the ritual of decorum in force for the time being (pp.120-121)". Thorstein Veblen, The higher learning in America, 1918, pp.120-121 1-Introduction So-called 'financialization' is one of the major features of current capitalist development, and it can be regarded as the basic device allowing the realization of money profits in a neo-liberal regime, at least before the current global crisis (see, among others, Bellamy Foster and Magdoff, 2009). The Bureau of Economic Analysis certifies that rents increased by 40% from 2000 to 2008 while profits rose by more than 80% in the same period 1,2. Mainstream economists support the view that financialization produces positive social outcomes, for two main reasons. First, following Friedman's argument (1956), it is maintained that the financial sphere, insofar as it includes rational agents, acts as a macroeconomic stabilizer, so that the price of financial assets tends to converge on the 'fundamentals' of the economy. The Neo-Keynesian view is largely based on the conviction that agents operating in the financial sphere tend to 'select' the most efficient firms. As regards the causes of this phenomenon, it is suggested that the increasing weight of finance depends on an alteration of agents' preferences and more specifically on the fact that investors are becoming less and less risk lovers and increasingly risk averse. By contrast, 'heterodox' economists emphasise that "Financialization transforms the functioning of the economic system at both the macro and micro levels. Its principal impacts are to (1) elevate the significance of the financial sector relative to the real sector, (2) transfer income from the real sector to the financial sector, and (3) contribute to increased income inequality and wage stagnation" (Palley, 2007). Moreover, the increasing political power of the rentiers is also taken into consideration in explaining the decline in wages due to rentier pressure on Government for the purpose of producing a more favourable income distribution to their benefit (Palley, 2007). As regards the causes of financialization, Bronars and Deere (1991) among others, suggest that the management of firms may find it convenient to
History of Economic Ideas, 2016
This paper offers a deep review of the contemporary economic literature on the effects of changes... more This paper offers a deep review of the contemporary economic literature on the effects of changes in labour market institutions, employment protection in particular, on labour market performances and growth. It makes a detailed comparison between the Neo Keynesian approach and the Post Keynesian one showing that while Post Keynesian scholars share a critical view of the ineffectiveness of labour market deregulation, the Neo Keynesian paradigm contains contrasting conclusions about the outcomes of flexibility. Nevertheless, international organizations (oecd in particular), often formulate their studies and policy recommendations neglecting the complexity of the scientific debate.
The scheme of reputability in the pecuniary culture comprises not only the imperative duty of acq... more The scheme of reputability in the pecuniary culture comprises not only the imperative duty of acquiring something more than an equitable share of the community's wealth, but also the dutiful privilege of spending this acquired wealth, and the leisure that goes with it, in a reputably conspicuous way, according to the ritual of decorum in force for the time being (pp.120-121)". Thorstein Veblen, The higher learning in America, 1918, pp.120-121 1-Introduction So-called 'financialization' is one of the major features of current capitalist development, and it can be regarded as the basic device allowing the realization of money profits in a neo-liberal regime, at least before the current global crisis (see, among others, Bellamy Foster and Magdoff, 2009). The Bureau of Economic Analysis certifies that rents increased by 40% from 2000 to 2008 while profits rose by more than 80% in the same period 1,2. Mainstream economists support the view that financialization produces positive social outcomes, for two main reasons. First, following Friedman's argument (1956), it is maintained that the financial sphere, insofar as it includes rational agents, acts as a macroeconomic stabilizer, so that the price of financial assets tends to converge on the 'fundamentals' of the economy. The Neo-Keynesian view is largely based on the conviction that agents operating in the financial sphere tend to 'select' the most efficient firms. As regards the causes of this phenomenon, it is suggested that the increasing weight of finance depends on an alteration of agents' preferences and more specifically on the fact that investors are becoming less and less risk lovers and increasingly risk averse. By contrast, 'heterodox' economists emphasise that "Financialization transforms the functioning of the economic system at both the macro and micro levels. Its principal impacts are to (1) elevate the significance of the financial sector relative to the real sector, (2) transfer income from the real sector to the financial sector, and (3) contribute to increased income inequality and wage stagnation" (Palley, 2007). Moreover, the increasing political power of the rentiers is also taken into consideration in explaining the decline in wages due to rentier pressure on Government for the purpose of producing a more favourable income distribution to their benefit (Palley, 2007). As regards the causes of financialization, Bronars and Deere (1991) among others, suggest that the management of firms may find it convenient to
Il saggio si propone di offrire elementi per una riflessione sulla teoria monetaria di Walter Euc... more Il saggio si propone di offrire elementi per una riflessione sulla teoria monetaria di Walter Eucken e sull'impianto metodologico adottato. La ricerca di una via diversa dal liberalismo classico, che caratterizzò il contributo euckeniano non comportò, in ambito monetario, mutamenti rispetto alla tradizione neoclassica. Della teoria neoclassica Eucken condivise l'atteggiamento critico nei riguardi dell'eterodossia monetaria di Keynes e di Schumpeter, rimanendo legato a una visione del sistema economico imperniata su una moneta merce. L'attività creatrice di moneta da parte delle banche, sulla quale Schumpeter e Keynes avevano posto l'accento, lungi dall'essere vista come la premessa per lo sviluppo economico o come la condizione per l'avvio del processo produttivo, è da Eucken valutata criticamente. L'aver optato per il modello di un'economia di scambio, piuttosto che per quello di un'economia monetaria di produzione, ha condizionato il valore ...
The aim of this paper is to analyse the theoretical links between a policy of high wages and the ... more The aim of this paper is to analyse the theoretical links between a policy of high wages and the level of employment in the theoretical framework of the monetary theory of production (MTP). The 'high wage effect' will be assumed to be operating, i.e. a rise in wages via external intervention, by temporarily reducing the rate of profits, induces firms to react via technical advancement, which, in turn, increases the quantity and the quality of capital and hence the level of employment. Credit rationing will also be taken into consideration. Insofar as high wages increase profits, smaller firms facing credit rationing make lower profits than bigger firms, thus resulting in a potential process of raising the industrial concentration ratio. The bankruptcies of the smaller firms generate a greater demand to the benefit of the bigger firms, thus giving rise to a theoretical solution of the so-called paradox of profits.
The present paper is an extension of Donald Walker’s thesis on the Veblenian process of instituti... more The present paper is an extension of Donald Walker’s thesis on the Veblenian process of institutional evolution. In his Thorstein Veblen’s Economic System of 1977 Walker stresses that the greater the workers’ contact with machine discipline the higher their critical attitude towards the status quo ; moreover, this contact is satisfactory for generating a mechanism of overthrowing the existing institutional order. The originality of Walker’s interpretation concerns the defence of the active role of workers in the process of institutional evolution, unlike a great deal of literature that confines its interpretation only to the active role of technicians. However at the same time Walker’s interpretation appears to be incomplete; in fact mechanisms of worker/technology ‘contact’ are certainly necessary to generate change in institutions but they are not sufficient since they also require mechanisms of moral delegitimation of the waste caused by the compression of the real wage. Actually...
American Review of Political Economy
The present work sets out to re-read Veblen on the nature and effect of popular opinion in the pr... more The present work sets out to re-read Veblen on the nature and effect of popular opinion in the process of institutional evolution. We mainly want to show – contrary to much of the interpretative literature – that machine discipline is just one way, and not even the main one, that Veblen uses to explain how popular discontent is generated, and that the economic grounds underlying the process of modification of institutions can work only if it is free from any counteracting force and modification therefore does not necessarily derive from machine discipline. In these terms the technocratic reading of the role of the population in the process of institutional change is only partially convincing. In order to achieve this general goal we will show how and where Veblen actually deals with the question of popular discontent in his works and what role it plays.
Journal of Economic Issues, 2017
Metroeconomica, 2017
Drawing on the contributions of Augusto Graziani to the so-called monetary theory of production, ... more Drawing on the contributions of Augusto Graziani to the so-called monetary theory of production, this paper aims to show that an accommodative monetary policyas defended in the New Consensus Macroeconomics (NCM) theory and supported by current practice around the worldhas the maximum effect in stimulating aggregate demand and income when it is implemented in conjunction with a coordinated discretionary fiscal policy that boosts the demand for and the supply of loans via the reduction of the liquidity risk and the insolvency risk. As a result, the potentially beneficial effects of the traditional Keynesian fiscal multiplier are significantly amplified.
Cambridge Journal of Economics, Jun 5, 2019
This paper aims at analysing the causes and effects of increasing financial accumulation by Itali... more This paper aims at analysing the causes and effects of increasing financial accumulation by Italian firms, within a radical Institutional theoretical framework. It will be argued that financialisation can be imputed to the fact that the biggest Italian companies aim to increase their profits through speculation after the cycle of class struggle of the 1970s. It will also be shown that financial accumulation has contributed to the reduction of economic growth and to the increase of income inequalities. Since very few research studies have dealt with the Italian case, this paper fills a gap.
History of Economic Ideas, 2004
History of Economic Thought and Policy, Dec 1, 2022
Flessibilità del lavoro e competitività in Italia, 2014
This book explores the Veblen’s approach on the nature of conflict in the monetary economies. His... more This book explores the Veblen’s approach on the nature of conflict in the monetary economies. His theoretical framework is based on the assumption that contemporary economies are credit economies and conflictual economies. While money is means of capitalization and expansion of firms aimed at monopolistic control of markets, conflict involves two dimensions: a) on the microeconomic plane undertakers and technicians have contrasting targets for the level of production (‘internal conflict’), b) on the macroeconomic plane waste of leisure class depresses life of underlying population (‘external conflict’).
European Journal of Economic and Social Systems, 2008
The aim of this paper is to analyse the theoretical links between minimum wage legislation and th... more The aim of this paper is to analyse the theoretical links between minimum wage legislation and the level of employment in the theoretical framework of the monetary theory of production (MTP) in which the high-wage effect operates under the constraint of credit rationing at the expense of small firms. It will show that a rise in wages via external intervention, and particularly by means of a minimum wage law, induces firms to accumulate more capital and that this has a positive effect on the level of employment, thus going counter to the mainstream view that labour market deregulation generates positive outcomes. Moreover it will show that the high-wage effect can solve the paradox of profits in the MTP owing to bankruptcies of firms facing credit rationing.
The scheme of reputability in the pecuniary culture comprises not only the imperative duty of acq... more The scheme of reputability in the pecuniary culture comprises not only the imperative duty of acquiring something more than an equitable share of the community's wealth, but also the dutiful privilege of spending this acquired wealth, and the leisure that goes with it, in a reputably conspicuous way, according to the ritual of decorum in force for the time being (pp.120-121)". Thorstein Veblen, The higher learning in America, 1918, pp.120-121 1-Introduction So-called 'financialization' is one of the major features of current capitalist development, and it can be regarded as the basic device allowing the realization of money profits in a neo-liberal regime, at least before the current global crisis (see, among others, Bellamy Foster and Magdoff, 2009). The Bureau of Economic Analysis certifies that rents increased by 40% from 2000 to 2008 while profits rose by more than 80% in the same period 1,2. Mainstream economists support the view that financialization produces positive social outcomes, for two main reasons. First, following Friedman's argument (1956), it is maintained that the financial sphere, insofar as it includes rational agents, acts as a macroeconomic stabilizer, so that the price of financial assets tends to converge on the 'fundamentals' of the economy. The Neo-Keynesian view is largely based on the conviction that agents operating in the financial sphere tend to 'select' the most efficient firms. As regards the causes of this phenomenon, it is suggested that the increasing weight of finance depends on an alteration of agents' preferences and more specifically on the fact that investors are becoming less and less risk lovers and increasingly risk averse. By contrast, 'heterodox' economists emphasise that "Financialization transforms the functioning of the economic system at both the macro and micro levels. Its principal impacts are to (1) elevate the significance of the financial sector relative to the real sector, (2) transfer income from the real sector to the financial sector, and (3) contribute to increased income inequality and wage stagnation" (Palley, 2007). Moreover, the increasing political power of the rentiers is also taken into consideration in explaining the decline in wages due to rentier pressure on Government for the purpose of producing a more favourable income distribution to their benefit (Palley, 2007). As regards the causes of financialization, Bronars and Deere (1991) among others, suggest that the management of firms may find it convenient to
History of Economic Ideas, 2016
This paper offers a deep review of the contemporary economic literature on the effects of changes... more This paper offers a deep review of the contemporary economic literature on the effects of changes in labour market institutions, employment protection in particular, on labour market performances and growth. It makes a detailed comparison between the Neo Keynesian approach and the Post Keynesian one showing that while Post Keynesian scholars share a critical view of the ineffectiveness of labour market deregulation, the Neo Keynesian paradigm contains contrasting conclusions about the outcomes of flexibility. Nevertheless, international organizations (oecd in particular), often formulate their studies and policy recommendations neglecting the complexity of the scientific debate.
The scheme of reputability in the pecuniary culture comprises not only the imperative duty of acq... more The scheme of reputability in the pecuniary culture comprises not only the imperative duty of acquiring something more than an equitable share of the community's wealth, but also the dutiful privilege of spending this acquired wealth, and the leisure that goes with it, in a reputably conspicuous way, according to the ritual of decorum in force for the time being (pp.120-121)". Thorstein Veblen, The higher learning in America, 1918, pp.120-121 1-Introduction So-called 'financialization' is one of the major features of current capitalist development, and it can be regarded as the basic device allowing the realization of money profits in a neo-liberal regime, at least before the current global crisis (see, among others, Bellamy Foster and Magdoff, 2009). The Bureau of Economic Analysis certifies that rents increased by 40% from 2000 to 2008 while profits rose by more than 80% in the same period 1,2. Mainstream economists support the view that financialization produces positive social outcomes, for two main reasons. First, following Friedman's argument (1956), it is maintained that the financial sphere, insofar as it includes rational agents, acts as a macroeconomic stabilizer, so that the price of financial assets tends to converge on the 'fundamentals' of the economy. The Neo-Keynesian view is largely based on the conviction that agents operating in the financial sphere tend to 'select' the most efficient firms. As regards the causes of this phenomenon, it is suggested that the increasing weight of finance depends on an alteration of agents' preferences and more specifically on the fact that investors are becoming less and less risk lovers and increasingly risk averse. By contrast, 'heterodox' economists emphasise that "Financialization transforms the functioning of the economic system at both the macro and micro levels. Its principal impacts are to (1) elevate the significance of the financial sector relative to the real sector, (2) transfer income from the real sector to the financial sector, and (3) contribute to increased income inequality and wage stagnation" (Palley, 2007). Moreover, the increasing political power of the rentiers is also taken into consideration in explaining the decline in wages due to rentier pressure on Government for the purpose of producing a more favourable income distribution to their benefit (Palley, 2007). As regards the causes of financialization, Bronars and Deere (1991) among others, suggest that the management of firms may find it convenient to
Il saggio si propone di offrire elementi per una riflessione sulla teoria monetaria di Walter Euc... more Il saggio si propone di offrire elementi per una riflessione sulla teoria monetaria di Walter Eucken e sull'impianto metodologico adottato. La ricerca di una via diversa dal liberalismo classico, che caratterizzò il contributo euckeniano non comportò, in ambito monetario, mutamenti rispetto alla tradizione neoclassica. Della teoria neoclassica Eucken condivise l'atteggiamento critico nei riguardi dell'eterodossia monetaria di Keynes e di Schumpeter, rimanendo legato a una visione del sistema economico imperniata su una moneta merce. L'attività creatrice di moneta da parte delle banche, sulla quale Schumpeter e Keynes avevano posto l'accento, lungi dall'essere vista come la premessa per lo sviluppo economico o come la condizione per l'avvio del processo produttivo, è da Eucken valutata criticamente. L'aver optato per il modello di un'economia di scambio, piuttosto che per quello di un'economia monetaria di produzione, ha condizionato il valore ...
The aim of this paper is to analyse the theoretical links between a policy of high wages and the ... more The aim of this paper is to analyse the theoretical links between a policy of high wages and the level of employment in the theoretical framework of the monetary theory of production (MTP). The 'high wage effect' will be assumed to be operating, i.e. a rise in wages via external intervention, by temporarily reducing the rate of profits, induces firms to react via technical advancement, which, in turn, increases the quantity and the quality of capital and hence the level of employment. Credit rationing will also be taken into consideration. Insofar as high wages increase profits, smaller firms facing credit rationing make lower profits than bigger firms, thus resulting in a potential process of raising the industrial concentration ratio. The bankruptcies of the smaller firms generate a greater demand to the benefit of the bigger firms, thus giving rise to a theoretical solution of the so-called paradox of profits.
The present paper is an extension of Donald Walker’s thesis on the Veblenian process of instituti... more The present paper is an extension of Donald Walker’s thesis on the Veblenian process of institutional evolution. In his Thorstein Veblen’s Economic System of 1977 Walker stresses that the greater the workers’ contact with machine discipline the higher their critical attitude towards the status quo ; moreover, this contact is satisfactory for generating a mechanism of overthrowing the existing institutional order. The originality of Walker’s interpretation concerns the defence of the active role of workers in the process of institutional evolution, unlike a great deal of literature that confines its interpretation only to the active role of technicians. However at the same time Walker’s interpretation appears to be incomplete; in fact mechanisms of worker/technology ‘contact’ are certainly necessary to generate change in institutions but they are not sufficient since they also require mechanisms of moral delegitimation of the waste caused by the compression of the real wage. Actually...
American Review of Political Economy
The present work sets out to re-read Veblen on the nature and effect of popular opinion in the pr... more The present work sets out to re-read Veblen on the nature and effect of popular opinion in the process of institutional evolution. We mainly want to show – contrary to much of the interpretative literature – that machine discipline is just one way, and not even the main one, that Veblen uses to explain how popular discontent is generated, and that the economic grounds underlying the process of modification of institutions can work only if it is free from any counteracting force and modification therefore does not necessarily derive from machine discipline. In these terms the technocratic reading of the role of the population in the process of institutional change is only partially convincing. In order to achieve this general goal we will show how and where Veblen actually deals with the question of popular discontent in his works and what role it plays.
Journal of Economic Issues, 2017
Metroeconomica, 2017
Drawing on the contributions of Augusto Graziani to the so-called monetary theory of production, ... more Drawing on the contributions of Augusto Graziani to the so-called monetary theory of production, this paper aims to show that an accommodative monetary policyas defended in the New Consensus Macroeconomics (NCM) theory and supported by current practice around the worldhas the maximum effect in stimulating aggregate demand and income when it is implemented in conjunction with a coordinated discretionary fiscal policy that boosts the demand for and the supply of loans via the reduction of the liquidity risk and the insolvency risk. As a result, the potentially beneficial effects of the traditional Keynesian fiscal multiplier are significantly amplified.