Awicaks
Begitu selesai membaca laporan Panel Antarpengurus Negara tentang Perubahan Iklim (IPCC), darah saya mendidih luarbiasa. Ada banyak masalah pada laporan itu. Pertama tentang cara-baca atau perspektif terhadap krisis yang kemudian ditanggapi lewat Kerangka Kerja dan Konferensi PBB untuk Perubahan Iklim (UNFCCC) yang sangat menyederhanakan mengandalkan pemodelan yang tidak jelas skala dan lingkup cakupannya. Kedua, seluruh gambaran 'dampak' yang akan terjadi jika tidak dilakukan tindakan mitigasi dan adaptasi terhadap perubahan iklim melulu tentang negara-negara miskin. Ia berkesan seperti intimidasi. Ketiga, secara sistematik dan cantik perangkat kerja serta wilayah-wilayah pengaturan perubahan iklim sengaja dipisahkan dari Perjanjian-perjanjian Perdagangan Multilateral (multilateral trade agreements, MTAs). Laporan IPCC bisa disebut sebagai siasat menyembunyikan fakta-fakta laju pertumbuhan ekonomi negara-negara industri yang enggan dikorbankan sebagai prasyarat stabilisasi konsentrasi karbon di atmosfer.
Di sisi lain UNFCCC dan seluruh perangkat kerjanya tidak membicarakan, mengaitkan dan mengurus wilayah-wilayah kebijakan global yang bergerak bebas beriringan dengan program-program penyesuaian struktural yang berurusan dengan utang dan investasi asing langsung (FDI). Wilayah kebijakan global itu hingga kini berperan sangat nyata sebagai mesin pencipta krisis di tingkat warga, mulai dari pencabutan subsidi atas kebutuhan barang-barang pokok, proteksi usaha pertanian, mendorong daya saing komoditi bahan bakar minyak (BBM), dan sebagainya. Sehingga berbagai tolok-ukur global tentang tingkat tingkat keselamatan dan kesejahteraan manusia tidak bisa digunakan secara silang sebagai tolok ukur keberhasilan kerangka kerja UNFCCC. Jelas bahwa, meskipun krisis iklim diakui sebagai dampak rejim ekonomi-politik pertumbuhan dan kapitalistik, tetapi penanganannya tidak memasukan biaya-biaya serta eksternalitas rejim perdagangan global sebagai peubah (variabel) penting pada bacaan krisis yang resmi digunakan lewat UNFCCC.
Indonesia adalah negeri yang begitu terobsesi menjadi negara industrial besar sesuai gambaran-gambaran fisik "brosur-brosur kemakmuran negara", selama hampir lima dekade telah begitu patuh menuruti semua resep para teknokrat ekonomi, baik teknokrat domestik yang dilatih di negara-negara industrial besar maupun teknokrat kelas tiga yang diimpor dari negara asal modal. Sebagai negeri yang patuh Indonesia bagaikan museum yang memajang biaya-biaya dan eksternalitas rejim ekonomi-politik pertumbuhan. Ketimpangan pendapatan, wilayah pertumbuhan yang memusat yang dikelilingi kantung-kantung kemelaratan di pinggiran, serta kantung-kantung kemelaratan dan kriminalitas di wilayah-wilayah pusat pertumbuhan, kemerosotan mutu dan daya dukung serta penyusutan dan fragmentasi integritas lingkungan sebagai ruang hidup, yang dikendalikan menggunakan pendekatan menindas dan kekerasan yang bersandar pada cara-baca yang menyeragamkan dan mereduksi keragaman realitas.
Bacaan resmi krisis yang menjadi rujukan bagi UNFCCC (sengaja) hanya memotret penggalan kecil dari seluruh gambaran horror biaya dan eksternalitas rejim ekonomi-politik pertumbuhan yang kapitalistik. Laporan IPCC memaparkan krisis-krisis yang dijawab lewat UNFCCC meliputi masalah pangan, ketersediaan air tawar, kesehatan terutama wabah penyakit, kondisi iklim ekstrem seperti kekeringan dan banjir, perspektif jender dimana perempuan akan menerima beban lebih besar akibat perubahan iklim, serta keberlanjutan nafkah dan penghidupan. Ketika saya dan beberapa kawan dari WALHI dan JATAM mencoba melakukan pemodelan ulang menggunakan sumber data dan bacaan yang sama, kami menemukan bahwa krisis-krisis tersebut sebagai satu kesatuan merupakan sistem yang timpang. Seperti telah diungkapkan sebelumnya, tidak ditunjukkan keterkaitan antara kondisi buruk yang ada saat ini, yang dijadikan sebagai kondisi awal (t0), dengan skenario krisis apabila perubahan iklim tidak ditangani (t1) dari perspektif biaya dan eksternalitas rejim ekonomi-politik pertumbuhan. Bacaan krisis resmi sangat (di)sesuai(kan) dengan paket solusi yang sudah ada, seperti campur-tangan teknologi dan campur-tangan pengendalian alokasi ruang lewat penetapan kawasan-kawasan konservasi (yang konon untuk menyerap karbon), enerji bersih dan terbarukan, serta transaksi perdagangan emisi karbon.
Perangkat tersebut harus ditantang dengan penggunaan tolok-ukur yang dibuat dan sudah dipublikasikan lewat jalur lain dari perjanjian-perjanjian multilateral, yakni MTA. Indeks Pembangunan Manusia, HDI (UNDP), Indeks Kemiskinan dan Laporan Pembangunan Dunia (World Bank) adalah tolok-ukur yang harus digunakan untuk menakar keberhasilan campur-tangan penanganan krisis iklim lewat UNFCCC. Semua tolok-ukur yang sudah dirumuskan dan ditetapkan lewat Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA) harus digugat menggunakan potret krisis yang spesifik wilayah, serta harus dapat dikaitkan dengan HDI, Indeks Kemiskinan serta peringkat negara berdasarkan Laporan Pembangunan Dunia. Hal ini penting untuk menunjukkan kepada para pemimpin negara miskin bahwa perangkat UNFCCC dibuat sedemikian rupa agar negara industri maju tidak mengorbankan pertumbuhan ekonomi mereka dalam penyelesaian krisis iklim. Perangkat UNFCCC memang berkesan menguntungkan karena masuknya proyek dan investasi baru, tetapi apakah hal itu ada kaitannya dengan upaya menurunkan tingkat derita rakyat? Pada banyak kasus yang sudah terjadi seperti di Brazil dan India, campur-tangan solusi justru telah menciptakan horror baru bagi warga setempat. Horror yang tak pernah terbayangkan sebelumnya. Karena tiba-tiba harga bahan pangan meroket karena bahan-bahan mentah nabati diekspor untuk memenuhi kebutuhan negara industri maju terhadap ethanol. UNFCCC harus didudukkan bersama dengan WTO, WEF, serta perjanjian-perjanjian perdagangan multilateral (MTA) lainnya.
16 Juni 2007
Edited by: Fabio Sabatini
University of Rome, La Sapienza
Issue date: 2007-05-19
Papers: 14
This document is in the public domain, feel free to circulate it.
Note: Access to full contents may be restricted.
NEP is sponsored by SUNY OswegoIn this issue we have:
Contents.
We present a new design of a simple public goods experiment with a large number of players, where up to 80 people in a computer lab have the possibility to connect with others in the room to induce more cooperators to contribute to the public good and overcome the social dilemma. This experimental design explores the possibility of social networks to be used and institutional devices to create the same behavioral responses we observe with small groups (e.g. commitments, social norms, reciprocity, trust, shame, guilt) that seem to induce cooperative behavior in the private provision of public goods. The results of our experiment suggest that the structure of the network affects not only the players’ ability to communicate, but their willingness to do so as well. We also find that the local connectivity structure of the network has an important role as determinant of the willingness of the players to cooperate.
Consider a world with two people, 1 and 2, where person 1 (the proposer) may offer to help person 2 (the responder). The proposer may be altruistic towards the responder either out of a genuine desire to make her happy or out of guilt. The responder derives disutility from apparent acts of altruism motivated by guilt because she considers them to be insincere. She rejects some offers, depending on her beliefs about the proposer’s type. I model this social interaction as a game with interdependent preference types under incomplete information where the responder cares about the intentions behind the proposer’s prosocial behavior. I consider two recent formulations of endogenous guilt: simple guilt and guilt from blame. These formulations make the social interaction a psychological game. I find that the beliefs held by the players can lead to an equilibrium in which all offers are sincere and so no mutually beneficial trades are rejected, althoh the responder has incomplete information about the proposer’s type. Equilibria with insincere offers are possible under simple guilt but are impossible under guilt from blame. I discuss intrinsic and instrumental motivations for sincerity. I also discuss the implications of insincerity aversion for co-operation, altruism, political correctness, choice of identity, and trust. Keywords: guilt; intentions; insincerity; interdependent preference types; psychological game; social interaction. JEL: Z1 Z13
This paper highlights a new social motivation, the indirect reciprocity, through a three-player dictator-ultimatum game. Player 2 has the opportunity to reward or punish indirectly the player 1 by inciting – with her offer - player 3 to accept or to reject the division. We implement three treatments: in the first two we vary player 2’s available information whereas in treatment 3, players take part in a dictator game - as proposers - before being player 2s in the dictator-ultimatum game. Results show that 55% of subjects in treatment 2 and 28% in treatment 3 behave as indirect reciprocity predicts. Another reciprocal behavior - the generalized reciprocity - is investigated through a three-player dictator game. Our data show that 80% of players 2 act according to this reciprocal behavior. Finally, our findings confirm that the more complex the strategic interaction becomes the more self-regarding behavior is likely and the less other-regardingehaviors, such as reciprocity, dominate. Keywords: indirect reciprocity; generalized reciprocity; dictator game; ultimatum game; individual behavior JEL: D63 C72 C91
A number of theoretical lenses have been used to explain voluntary social and environmental reporting (SER) including legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory and political economy theory. Recent theoretical work in the SER area suggests that the risk society theory presents an appropriate alternative theoretical framework. According to the risk society theoretical framework, risks have evolved from manageable, identifiable, insurable risks into imperceivable, uninsurable, high consequence risks. Many high consequence risks relate directly to corporate behaviour in the social, ethical and environmental domain, such as global warming. The risk society framework is also characterised by a general decline in trust in institutions and organisations. This paper contributes to the SER literature by providing empirical evidence to support a risk society theory of voluntary SER. By engaging directly with 24 corporate social responsibility managers within UKisted companies, we show that risk is driving them to produce voluntary SER. The paper provides empirical evidence that SER is emerging as a mechanism for reducing risk and anxiety, through the nurturing of trust relationships between companies and their stakeholders. The interviews reveal that building and maintaining trust in shareholder and stakeholder relationships is a primary motivation for SER and that SER is a means of engaging in dialogue with the company's stakeholders. Companies are, from a risk society perspective, implementing SER as a risk management mechanism. We also find from the interviews that voluntary SER is motivated far more by its link with financial performance, through reputation enhancement, than by a genuine desire to enhance social justice. Keywords: Social and environmental reporting (SER); Risk society; Trust
This paper aims at proving that social interactions can easily be rationalized by individual preferences as defined in standard microeconomic theory. For that purpose, we show individual choice rationality to be logically equivalent to social consistency, when individual rationality means that individual preferences are completely ordered and social consistency that there is a one-to-one mapping between a given family of social communities and the existence of a particular (unique, reflexive and symmetric) interaction relation between individuals. Moreover, continuity and monotonicity of individual preferences are shown to fit the modeling of group loyalty when group loyalty is defined as the ability to freely accept a personal loss for the global gain of a particular population.
We propose to define the invisible hand by (i) modelling the mechanism itself (not to just assume its existence) and (ii) making explicit the limit conditions for its working. For that purpose, we simply assimilate the working of the invisible hand mechanism to the existence of a social preference such that individual and social optimalities are consistent. In introducing the possibility of interaction among individuals, we then suggest that the standard "Robinson case" or social atomicity is just a degenerate feature of a more general requirement that we call the Global Network Agreement. Our main result is that the invisible hand mechanism does keep on working when there is an interaction between Robinson and Friday if the former (resp. the latter) is sensitive to the latter (resp. the former) in such a way that they exhibit some agreement in preferences. Hence, the "Robinson case" naturally satisfies this property since nor Robinson neither Fray can disagree with himself. But more cooperative situations are also allowed in order to extent the invisible hand mechanism to cases with interactions.
This paper may be considered an essay on metaeconomics, since it deals with the meaning of several concepts often left undefined, or very briefly defined in economic theories. These concepts are the following: value including the values of things and moral values, social norms or institutions, social power, goods and services, transactions and organizations (firms, and others). The paper starts by proposing a general concept of value, encompassing both the value of things and moral values. From this concept it proceeds to the definition of six different types of values of things and moral values and to the concept of value transformation process of things which includes all the operations dealt with in economic theory as well as many other human actions. The last part of the paper starts with the distinction between moral values and social norms (or institutions) and the roles of social power and human organization in connecting the domains of molity and social normativity. The paper proceeds by distinguishing different types of norms, including possession norms which are important for defining the concepts of goods and services and transaction processes. JEL: A13 Z13
This paper shows that Rubinstein’s results on the two-player electronic mail game do not extend to the N-player electronic mail game. Keywords: Communication Networks, N-Player Electronic Mail Game JEL: D85 C72
This paper extends the well known rational interest voting (rational voter) model to include a composite measure to capture the residual effects of internal, sociological motives not previously accounted for in empirical studies of general election voting. These motives are referred to here as “social conditioning†or “internal motivation†and may to at least some extent reflect a sense of duty or sense of civic duty to vote, as well as a simple “habit†of voting. Estimations using CPS data from the 1984 Presidential elections suggest that previously unmeasured internal motives, which we capture in a variable called “Social Conditioning,†may exert a powerful influence on individual voting behavior.
Although innovation is not a new topic for scholarly research, the academic literature on innovation was, for a long time, not very voluminous. However, more recently innovation has become a major focus among scholars of different backgrounds, and this change is also reflected in an increasing number of academic publications in this area. In parallel with this we have seen the emergence of a number of new journals and professional associations devoted to the subject. The research reported in this paper is motivated by these trends. We wish to find an answer to the question to what extent it now exists a unified community of innovation scholars that identify themselves with innovation studies as a field rather than particular sub-fields within other, more traditional disciplines. Moreover, we want to explore the factors (sources of inspiration, academic leadership, professional societies, publishing outlets etc.) that bind scholars together or - aernatively - continue to keep them divided. The research reported in this paper is based on a web-survey carried out in during 2004 and 2005. The results suggest that a global innovation studies community exists as a collection of a large number of relatively small groups (characterized dense internal relationships) defined along geographical and disciplinary lines. Although the field has spread over many countries and disciplines, it is particularly developed in Europe and among scholars with a background in economics. These smaller groups, however, are embedded in larger transnational groups or clusters that are kept together by what is commonly referred to as "weak ties". Leading scholars, professional associations and journals all play an important role in keeping these larger groups together (as well as distinguishing them from each other). Keywords: Innovation, Networks JEL: O10
In this paper we introduce an alternative version of the trust game by Dasgupta (1988) and Kreps (1990) that allows for asymmetric information. We use this version to study the effect of checking on the trustee’s behaviour, checking is a control option the trustor can decide to use and that takes place after both trustor and trustee made their initial decisions. ‘Checking’ differs in this respect from the often in the literature found ‘monitoring’ that allows the trustor to control the trustee’s behaviour before the trustee makes his decision. The game theoretical analysis suggests that checking increases cooperation. The experimental results show that this is only true for the selfish part of the trustee population. Honest trustee react negatively to checking, which is more in line with crowding out theory. Keywords: Trust, Asymmetric Information, Experiment, Checking, Crowding Out JEL: C71 C91 D82
This paper analyses an evolutionary version of the Public Good game of Eshel, Samuelson, and Shaked (1998) in which agents can choose between imitation and best-reply decision rules. We describe conditions under which altruistic and spiteful (maximizing) behavior arise: these conditions are established for any number of neighbors and any total number of agents in the population. Given mistake-free play, (short-run) outcomes are identical whether agents are constrained to employ an imitation rule only; or they can choose between imitation and best-reply rules. Given the possibility of mistakes, (long-run) outcomes vary across these two scenarios. The paper suggests how to provide public goods and gives an explanation of why we observe seemingly irrational cooperation - altruistic behavior - in the rational world. JEL: C70 C72 C73
To what extent are improvements in quality of life (material living levels, health, education, political and civil rights, happiness, and the like) associated with economic growth? International comparisons of quality of life (QoL) conditions almost always point to a strong positive association with real GDP per capita. Historical experience, however, frequently belies the results of these comparisons. More often than not the timing of various improvements in QoL, material living levels excepted, is different from that in real GDP per capita - some indicators preceding, others following. Moreover, the sequence of improvements in various aspects of QoL is not always the same from one part of the world to another. And sometimes, as in the case of happiness and life satisfaction, QoL indicators remain unchanged despite a doubling or more of real GDP per capita. In contrast to the results of simple international point-of-time comparisons, history sugsts that improvements in many realms of life are not an automatic result of economic growth. Keywords: quality of life, well-being, economic growth, international and historical comparisons JEL: N30 O57 D60 Y1
Regressions and tests performed on data from Transparency International Global Corruption Barometer 2004 survey show that personal or household experience of bribery is not a good predictor of perceptions held about corruption among the general population. In contrast, perceptions about the effects of corruption correlate consistently among themselves. However, no consistent relationship between opinions about general effects and the assessments of the extent with which corruption affects the institutions where presumably corruption is materialized is found. Countries are sharply divided between those above and below the US$ 10,000 GDP per capita line in the relationships between variables concerning corruption. Among richer countries, opinions about institutions explain very well opinions concerning certain effects of corruption, while among poorer countries the explanatory power of institutions for the effects of corruption falls. Furthermore, sts for dependence applied between the variables in the sets of respondents for each of 60 countries also show that, for most of them, it is likely that experience does not explain perceptions. On the other hand, opinions tend to closely follow the trend of other opinions. Additionally, it is found that in the GCB opinions about general effects of corruption are strongly correlated with opinions about other issues, as much as to justify the hypothesis that it would suffice to measure the average opinion of the general public about human rights, violence etc. to accurately infer what would be the average opinion about least petty and grand corruption. The findings reported here challenge the value of perceptions of corruption as indications of the actual incidence of the phenomenon. Keywords: corruption, perceptions, corruption indicators JEL: D73 H11 K42
Edited by: Fabio Sabatini
University of Rome, La Sapienza
Issue date: 2007-05-26
Papers: 5
This document is in the public domain, feel free to circulate it.
Note: Access to full contents may be restricted.
NEP is sponsored by SUNY OswegoIn this issue we have:
Contents.
As empirical work in identifying social effects becomes more prevalent, researchers are beginning to struggle with identifying the composition of social interactions within any given reference group. In this paper, we present a simple econometric methodology for the separate identification of multiple social interactions. The setting under which we achieve separation is special, but is likely to be appropriate in many applications. Keywords: Social choice
This paper analyzes the impact of gender discrimination on individual life satisfaction using a cross-section of 66 countries. We employ measures of discrimination of women in the economy, in politics, and in society more generally. According to our results, discrimination in politics is important to individual well-being. Overall, men and women are more satisfied with their lives when societies become more equal. Disaggregated analysis suggests that our results for men are driven by the effect of equality on men with middle and high incomes, and those on the political left. To the contrary, women are more satisfied with increasing equality independent of income and political ideology. Equality in economic and family matters does overall not affect life satisfaction. However, women are more satisfied with their lives when discriminatory practices have been less prevalent in the economy 20 years ago. Keywords: Gender gap, happiness, well-being, discrimination, life satisfaction JEL: I31 J16
Does geographic distance or the perceived social distance between subjects significantly affect proposer and responder behavior in ultimatum bargaining? To answer this question, subjects play a one-shot ultimatum game with three players (proposer, responder, and a passive dummy player) and asymmetric information (only the proposer knows what can be distributed). Treatments differ in their geographic scope by involving either one or three different locations in Germany. Observed behavior reflects the robust stylized facts of this class of ultimatum experiments and can be adequately explained by other-regarding preferences. While responder behavior does not condition on co-players' location of residence, self-interest of proposers varies significantly with the latter. Altogether, we do not detect strong discrimination based on geographic distance. Keywords: ultimatum bargaining, cross-cultural experiments, social preferences JEL: C78 C91 Z13
We model a dynamic common property resource game with unobservable actions and non-linear stock dependent costs. We propose a strategy profile that generates a worst perfect equilibrium in the punishment phase, thereby supporting cooperation under the widest set of conditions. We show under what set of parameter values for the discount rate, resource growth rate, harvest price, and the number of resource users, this strategy supports cooperation in the commons as a subgame perfect equilibrium. The strategy profile that we propose, which involves harsh punishment after a defection followed by forgiveness, is consistent with human behavior observed in experiments and common property resource case studies. Keywords: Common property resource, cooperation, dynamic game, unobservable actions JEL: D62 Q20
This paper addresses the influence of two competing views of social identity on knowledge integration within organizations. One view sees social identity primarily as a coherent characteristic of organisations, which can leverage knowledge integration by developing loyalty, trust, shared values and implicit norms (Kogut and Zander, 1996). The opposing view considers social identification as multiple and fragmented (Albert, Ashforth and Dutton, 2000; Alvesson, 2000). This fragmented view emphasises the problematic nature of social identity for knowledge integration. The aim of this paper is to examine these competing accounts and to develop insight under what conditions coherent respectively multiple social identities are advantageous for knowledge integration by the comparative analysis of two polar case studies. Our case studies reveal the different effects of a coherent versus multiple identity on knowledge integration and the need for a cohere company-wide social identity to leverage knowledge integration between organizational units. Keywords: case studies, knowledge integration, multiple identities, organization theory, organization-wide identity, social identity
Posts
All Comments
 |
View my profile on 
