Utku Ören

İngilizceden Çeviren: Utku Ören Özgürlük hülyamıza ne oldu? (...) Neo-liberalizmin yükselişiyle birlikte özel bir özgürlük anlayışı siyasete hükmetmeye başladı. Bu özgürlük anlayışı ikinci dünya savaşı ertesinde oluşmuş bürokratik ve sınıfsal kısıtları ortadan kaldırmayı vaat etmekteydi ama bunların yerine giderek kontrolcü (controlling) yeni yönetim sistemleri ile sınıfın ve ayrıcalıklı olmanın iktidarına geri dönüşü getirdi. (...)

Instability lies at the core of economics. The nature and causes of instability were extensively treated throughout the history of economics. The general aim was to show the presence of the inherent instability in the capitalist organization of the economy. In general, Keynesian-Minskian and Marxian theories of instability are considered to be the most influential.
This paper is about theories of instability with a critical discussion of the ideas that are set forth. Core of this work focuses on Financial Instability Hypothesis of Hyman Minsky, and assesses its strengths as well as its weaknesses. In doing that, this paper also compares and contrasts the ideas that are set forth by Keynesian-Misnkian and Marxian traditions, with a special emphasis on the treatment of the role of money, credit, and financial intermediation in Marx. Finally, the possible insights from the Schumpeterian analysis are investigated.
Section one provides a brief introduction, followed by the presentation of the assumptions and the workings of Keynesian instability as it provides the basis for Minskian analysis. Section two gives an account of Financial Instability Hypothesis by focusing on the strengths and the weaknesses of the theory, and also emphasizes some of the neglected macro dynamics in Minsky. Section three focuses on the role of money, credit, and financial intermediation in Marxian setting, and the differences between the Keynes-Minsky and Marxian approaches to instability. Section five investigates the possible contribution of the Schumpeterian analysis to the instability theories. Section six briefly restates all of the above discussions and provides a conclusion.

Keynes’ attack on the classical articulation of capitalist economy and his rethinking of the fundamental concepts and dynamics of the whole system and the individuals in it, stand as a great contribution to economic theory after more than seventy five years. Even though his critique of the labor market and consumption function are remarkable, it has been argued that Keynes’ theory of capital investment is central to his General Theory.
Keynes’ assumption that the future is inherently unknowable, therefore the eventual outcomes of the investment decisions, which are made today, are fundamentally uncertain, makes his theory of capital investment quite revolutionary. It refuses the classical assumption that the future outcomes can be assigned numerical probabilities, and that these probabilities present certainty, as if almost they were the truth. Inclusion of the fundamental uncertainty allows for the decision making based on expectations, which in turn dependent on conventions.
A more important contribution of Keynes can be found in the way that he deals with this concept of fundamental uncertainty. Contrary to what some classical economists may claim (Lucas, 1983), Keynes eliminates the potentiality for chaos and perpetual instability that appears to be inherent in the assumption of uncertainty, by introducing his theory of conventional decision making. Yet Keynes still acknowledges the fragility of social conventions and their subjectivity to sudden and violent changes, which in turn provides an explanation to the tendency of the system to endogenously produce instability.
This paper attempts to assess whether the Keynesian theory of capital investment provide a complete and satisfactory explanation of either the cyclical or secular instability of investment. Section two provides a restatement of the tenets and workings of Keynes’ theory of capital investment. Section three provides a discussion of Keynes’ analysis of the management of the nonfinancial firm in investment decisions, as well as the influence of financial markets on investment, and the role of competition in affecting the investment process. Section four discusses the extent to which Keynes’ theory of capital investment can provide an adequate explanation of either the cyclical or secular instability of investment.

Many around the world were hoping for Vietnam to join the successfully developed countries of East Asia, following its adoption of Doi Moi (renovation) policies in 1986. Rapid economic growth was achieved almost right after the adoption of policies; however growth proved to be unstable. After twenty five years, Vietnam is still one of the poorest countries in the world, and the economic impact of Doi Moi is under scrutiny.
This paper attempts to discuss the impact of Doi Moi policies in Vietnam’s development journey. Section one starts with a historical account, and a discussion of the initial conditions. Section two lays out the general features of Doi Moi policies along with some results, and discusses whether Doi Moi should be considered as an industrial policy. Section three presents arguments about why Doi Moi policies turned out to be less effective than planned, with a brief comparison of Vietnam and China.

Following the World War II East Asian countries were faced with social and economic challenges. Industrial policies became a common theme in East Asia for tackling these, and the following rapid industrial development in the following decades was brought much academic attention to these economies.
Rapid industrial development observed in East Asia after the 1950’s, has an element of institutional change associated with it, and cannot be simply boiled down to a successful implementation of government policies. Different institutions and changes associated with them have formed social environments that are unique to each country and provided the social structure, upon which the economic and social development of these countries ensued, supported by the successful implementation of different industrial policies.
It is argued that institutional arrangements in each country, has influenced the way in which the policy makers approached the developmental problems, and also affected the economic and social success of the industrial policies. More importantly, the unique social structure of each country, due to different institutional arrangements, is one of the main reasons behind the fact that all East Asian countries have all unique developmental paths, despite they have similar development strategies. This paper attempts to point out to the importance of institutions and of their impact on development through a discussion of diversities and similarities of institutions and the nature of institutional change in Korea and Singapore during and after their industrialization efforts.

"If Amsden (1992) says that South Korea is Asia’s next giant then Japan is the first. Japan’s economic development was unprecedented in history and set an example to other countries in the Asia by showing that late development and catching up were more than theoretical concepts. Japan’s explosive economic growth and its swift catch up with developed countries, along with its overall improvements in efficiency (Krugman, 1994) raised much attention.
Much has been said about the Japanese way of economic development in the last several decades, and one thing is clear that Japan charted its very own and unique route to development. This paper outlines the main tenets of Japan’s development, and tries to answer, how Japan became a developed economy in less than half a decade.
Section one makes a brief historical introduction, followed by a discussion about the initial conditions, effects of institutional developments in Japan after the World War II, and the impact of colonization. Section two outlines the effects of traditions in Japan’s economic development, enters the discussion of establishment of the dual economy, and the role of government. Section three is about the impact of trade on Japan’s development and how Japan achieved development using its own resources. Section four summarizes the previous three sections and concludes the paper."

In this paper I attempt to lay out the concept of industrial policy in East Asian economies, and emphasize its relevance to the big push argument (Rosenstein-Rodan, 1957) in the context of late development. First I try to provide an account of its objectives, and briefly elaborate on the common instruments of industrial policy that are used in several East Asian economies. In a sub section commonalities and differences are discussed. In the second part I look at how might industrial policy argument and the theory of the big push might be related, and I argue that industrial policy is a good fit to the theory of the big push, and furthermore offers a way in which countries can formulate holistic policies in their attempts to tackle the challenges of late development.

In this paper I attempt to lay out the concept of market failure, followed by a short discussion of late development theories and challenges of late comers to economic development, and finally try to establish a case for market failure in relation to economic development. I argue that late development challenges might end up amplifying the effects of the challenges that are faced by the late comers, and hence a better outcome for those countries is possible through the utilization of public policy.

This paper analyses the economy of Ghana using a computable general equilibrium model. After replicating the current state of the economy, following simulations are run and their effects are observed; 1) reduction of import tariffs by fifty percent, 2) removal of tariff rates, 3) increase in capital inflows by twenty percent, 4) an across-the-board export subsidy of ten percent. Finally, a sensitivity analysis of the model is presented by changing the CES and CET elasticities.

The aim of this paper is to define the concept of financialization through a discussion of different definitions presented so far in the class readings. The paper attempts to bring in and discuss the diverse definitions of the concept by different authors, and also by considering empirical evidence from various sources. This paper tries to establish its own rationale about financialization.