Political Economy Quarterly
Online ISSN : 2189-7719
Print ISSN : 1882-5184
ISSN-L : 1882-5184
Volume 47, Issue 4
Displaying 1-17 of 17 articles from this issue
  • Article type: Cover
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages Cover1-
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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  • Takeshi IKEDA
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 3-5
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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  • Takashi OHNO, Hiroshi NISHI
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 6-18
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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    Recently, there are many papers using the framework of the Stock-Flow Consistent model (hereafter SFC) in the refereed journals. However, no studied has ever been attempted in Japan. While there is one textbook, a Japanese translation of Introduction to Post-Keynesian Economics, it explains the balance- sheet matrix and the transactions flow matrix only. Therefore, we endeavor to explain the intuitive framework of SFC, and give a way to construct this model in Japanese. One of the characteristics of the SFC model is the stock and flows are integrated into an analysis; all sectors and financial assets are included in the model so that there is no black box in the economic transactions in the accounting sense. In this paper, first, we survey the developments of the Kaleckian model and the Minskian model to consider the significance of the SFC model. SFC model plays an important role to integrate implications derived from these models. Second, we construct a simple SFC model based on Doss Santos and Zezza (2008), and find the following results from simulations. The SFC model can explain not only the wage-led growth regime but also the profit-led growth regime. In addition, this model can also explain the normal regime and puzzling regime that the Minskian model has presented so far. In many cases, these results depend on the values of various parameters. Thus, we show that the SFC model can generate various regimes concerning income distribution-growth regime and debt-growth regime.
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  • Hiroaki SASAKI
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 19-29
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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    This paper explains short-run, medium-run, and long-run analysis by using a Kaleckian model of growth, distribution, and employment. The three runs are classified depending on what variables are adjusted in the run in question. Many studies do not deal with the three runs consistently, and as such, the main purpose of the paper is to expound the interrelations among three runs in the Kaleckian model. In the short run, the rate of capacity utilization (and the profit share in some cases) becomes an endogenous variable, in the medium run, the rate of employment becomes an endogenous variable, and in the long run, the normal rate of capacity utilization and the expected rate of capital accumulation are endogenous variables. The paper shows that not only in the shortrun equilibrium but also in the medium-run and long-run equilibria, we obtain typical Kaleckian results such as the paradox of thrift, the stagnationist regime, and the wage-led growth regime: the paradox of thrift means that an increase in capitalists' propensity to save lowers the rate of capital accumulation; the stagnationist regime means that an increase in the profit share lowers the rate of capacity utilization; and the wage-led growth regime means that an increase in the profit share lowers the rate of capital accumulation. Moreover, the paper shows that in the long run, different initial values of the endogenous variables produce different long-run equilibrium values. Therefore, the long-run equilibrium exhibits pathdependency.
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  • Yasushi KURITA
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 30-41
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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    It has been often pointed out that Kalecki's political economy was based on that of Marx. For example, T. Kowalik and J. Robinson referred to the Marxian roots of Kalecki's political economy. They emphasized that Kalecki's theory of effective demand was based on Marx's scheme of reproduction, and, at the same time, gave a solution to 'the problem of the realization of surpuls value' in the third volume of Capital. However, only a few studies have been done to explore the relationship between Kalecki's theory of effective demand and Marx's scheme of reproduction. First of all, in this paper, we survey Kalecki's referrance to Marx's scheme of reproduction and Kalecki's own scheme. Kalckie often refered to Marx's scheme of reproduction, and, at the same time, modified the Marx's scheme: he formulated his own scheme ("tableau economicue of the nationl income"). In his scheme, Kalecki divided the economy into two sectors (the investment goods sector and the consumption goods sector) or three sectors (the consumption goods were subdivided into for workers and for capitalists), and he assumed that each department represents "the integrated production" of the final products. Moreover, Kalecki asssumed, "as Marx does", that workers do not save. Then, he arrived at "the fudamental Marxian 'equation of exchange'" (C_1=S_2 or P_3=W_1+W_2). The "fudamental Marxian 'equation of exchange'" is just the equation of the balancing condition in Marx's scheme of expanded reproduction. From this "fudamental Marxian 'equation of exchange'," Kalecki derived the proposition that investment and capitalst consumption determin profits. Second, we compare Kalecki's theory of capitalist economy with that of Marx in Capital, especialy in the third volume of Capital, in order to clarify the theoretical relationship of them. Kalecki succeeded to the Marxian concept of class, the capital-labour relation. For Kalecki, capitalists are owners of money and the means of production, and workers do not save. But he rejected the Marxian theory of value and the theory of surplus-value. He never dealt with such Marxian concepts of labour value, surplus value and price of production. On the other hand, he emphasized the oligopolitic nature of the capitalist economy and the realization of profits in the process of circulation i. e. in the product market. Coseqently, he could derive the proposition that investment and capitalst consumption determin profits, and, at the same time, give a solution to 'the problem of the realization of surpuls value'. However, on the other hand, he neglected the reduction in cost and the formation of the relative surplus population (industrial reserve army) by the technical change in the process of production. It is necessary and possibie to integrate Kalecki's theory of effective demand in his scheme ("tableau economicue of the nationl income") with marx's theory of surpuls value. From this point of view, we need to integrate Kalecki's political economy with that of Marx.
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  • Eiji YAMAMOTO
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 42-52
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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    This article reargues my book, Kalecki's Politic l Economy, which was published in 2009 and a revised version of my doctoral dissertation submitted to Kyoto University in 2003. The book was reviewed at two academic meetings and two book reviews were published. Replying to them, this article summarizes the gist of my book and corrects some errors if necessary. My book consists of eight chapters. Apart from chapter 1 of "introduction of Kalecki," it may be divided into three parts: Kalecki's studies in capitalist economies, Kalecki's comparative economic studies, and Kalecki as a "Marxist." First, this article examines Kalecki's biographical problems. Kalecki's life may be divided into three parts: from his birth in 1899 until his leaving Poland in 1936, his exile days until his returning home in late 1954 or early 1955, and the rest of his life until his death in 1970. Although my book mainly used Kalecki's chronological personal history by Osiatynski in Collected Works of Michal Kalecki, it has been found not to be necessarily correct. So this article describes the true story as possible. Second, this article examines Kalecki's studies in capitalist economies, focusing Essay on the Business Cycle Theory (1933) in particular. Essay is very famous as the evidence of Kalecki's priority over Keynes's General Theory (1936). But it was written in Polish, and has been known through a shortened English version, which has led to rather limited understanding of the work. The publication of the English version of Collected Works of Michal Kalecki enabled the detailed examination of the full version of Essay. Here is the result. Third, this article examines Kalecki's comparative economic studies. Kalecki studied socialist and developing economies as well as capitalist economies. This article presents a perspective from which those three economic systems should be viewd. In addition to that, Kalecki's version of "the presuppositions of Harvey Road" is mentioned. Forth, this article examines Kalecki as a "Marxist." Although a lot of comparative studies on him with Keynes have been presented, ones with Marx were relatively rare. Kalecki had never been a member of the communist party, nor an orthodox and dogmatic Marxist. Nevertheless, this article tries to describe Kalecki as a Marxist in a sense, and claims that his interpretation of historical materialism enabled his non-dogmatic and realistic analysis of the transformation of capitalism. Finally, remaining themes are considered. I am going to pay attention to Post-Keynesian ecoomics, especially Kaleckian macroeconomics. I must admit that application to modern economy should not be forgotten.
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  • Hiroshi NISHI
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 53-64
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    This article empirically investigates the dynamic relationships among income distribution, debt ratio, and capital accumulation in the Japanese economy post the 1990s. Recently, post-Keynesians have been progressively presenting empirical analyses. However, of these, only a few time series analyses focus on the financial aspects of the Japanese economy. This article endeavors to examine the impact of both distributional as well as financial factors on capital accumulation using structural vector autoregression (SVAR) models. First, a post-Keynesian model that can incorporate incorporate income distribution, debt ratio, and capital accumulation is established. Second, on the basis of this model, contemporaneous links among the three variables are identified in the VAR model, and the dynamic relationships among these three variables are established. Finally, the characteristics of the Japanese economy's income distribution-capital accumulation as well as the debt-capital accumulation patterns post the 1990s are interpreted using innovation accounting. The following results are obtained in this article: The accumulated impulse response functions of the structural VAR indicate that profit share sustains capital accumulation and a high debt ratio restrains it. In other words, the income distribution- capital accumulation pattern of the Japanese economy over the past 20 years has been a profitled one, and the debt-capital accumulation pattern over the same period has been a debt-burdened one. Although income distribution explains the fluctuations in capital accumulation more effectively in the short run, the same is explained more effectively by the debt ratio in the long run. According to these results, the debt ratio that remained at high levels from the bubble burst to the end of the 1990s may have prevented the active accumulation of capital. Moreover, an increase in the wage share around the same period may have contributed to the stagnation of investments. On the contrary, subsequent improvements in the profit share and equity ratios of firms, particularly since 2002, may have contributed to the recovery of the capital accumulation levels.
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  • Lijun FAN
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 65-75
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
    JOURNAL FREE ACCESS
    Small and medium-sized enterprises are important engines of growth and development for Chinese economy. However, they cannot obtain enough capital from banks up to now. Therefore, many small businesses raise funds through an informal financing route (this is called "private financing" in Chinese). Such is the current state of small business financial markets. This paper clarifies how informal financial agents serve market niches that banks cannot readily reach in China using survey evidence from "Fu Yuan Yun Tong" model. "Fu Yuan Yun Tong" is observed as a new informal financial firm recently in China. It can be seen that a new type of relationship like multi-intermediary type relationship is evolving there. This company is already playing a leading role in informal financial markets in terms of management techniques and business scale. Its methodologies are effective in keeping down transaction costs and default risks relative to banks, through the expansion of its three functions to make good use of multi-intermediary type relationship lending. Those three functions are information production function, credit guarantee function and consulting mediation function. The paper concludes that informal financial institutions are an important vehicle for mobilizing household savings and financing small businesses. Although "Fu Yuan Yun Tong" model through its information superiority presented a new evolution on small business financial markets, it does not mean that problems of small and medium-sized enterprise financing have been resolved. As "Fu Yuan Yun Tong" is an informal financing company, it cannot conduct deposit business. Therefore it cannot correspond adequately to the fund requirements of some excellent small and mediumsized enterprises. This is the problem facing Chinese small and medium-sized enterprise finance. The solution of this small and medium-sized enterprise financing problem becomes indispensable for the elimination of a widening rich and poor gap between regions and the growth of the regional economy in China. This paper concludes with comments on policy issues pertaining to small business financing. It is recommended that informal finance could be better integrated into financial development strategies. It is necessary for the banking industry to abolish the entry restrictions on informal financial institutions like "Fu Yuan Yun Tong" model.
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  • Takashi SEO
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 76-82
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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    The 'Neo-Schumpeterian' school is a general term of a researchers group who has been discussing theoretical and empirical development on the Schumpeter's vision of 'Economic Evolution'. This vision is formulated from Marx's vision of dynamic process of Capitalist Economy. Hence, introduction about Neo-Schumpeterian research tendency here gives many hints to modern Marxian economics that goes toward new course of research about an evolution of capitalism and an institutional analysis. We set here three original points at issue refer to Marx's and Schumpeter's 'Economic Evolution', and consider those points while referring to the great work of Hanusch and Pyka, eds. (2007). The first point is on the analytical view of 'Micro-Meso-Macro'. Two main problems are (1)how to place the meso domain and (2)how to examine it concretely. The meso domain plays a roll that connects mutually micro individual decision making/ behavior with macro outcomes, and actualizes 'Economic Evolution' through the process of 'origination → adoption → retention'. The Second point is on recent developments of ways of model building on the process of competition. The evolutionary models of competition process have been investigating since a monumental achievement Nelson and Winter (1982). Now, new various tools-replicator dynamics, evolutionary game theory and agent-based simulation-are introduced and still develop the old models. It is the strong point for Neo-Schumpeterian economics that these tools can cope with diverse aspects of 'Economic Evolution'. The third point is on the 'History-Friendly' approach as a mediator between a theoretical research and an empirical research. When we understand capitalist economy as an evolving economic system, we use enormous historical and institutional research outcomes accumulated by past Marxian economics. Furthermore, this approach will contribute to new theoretical research programs about modern Marxian economics. In the final section, we conclude some meanings of Neo-Schumpeterian contributions for modern Marxian economics and present some problems to be solved.
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  • Yasuo FUKUDA
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 83-85
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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  • Hitoshi YASUDA
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 86-88
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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  • Kazuo SUZUKI
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 89-91
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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  • Taizo YAMAMOTO
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 92-94
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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  • Fumitaka WAKAMORI
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 95-97
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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  • Takane FURUNO
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 98-100
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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  • Yuuki MIZOGUCHI
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 101-103
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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  • Makoto ITOH
    Article type: Article
    2011 Volume 47 Issue 4 Pages 104-106
    Published: January 20, 2011
    Released on J-STAGE: April 25, 2017
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