•  3
    The Problem(s) with Representing Decision Processes under Uncertainty
    with Gilbert Skillman
    Journal of Post Keynesian Economics 46 (3): 420-439. 2023.
    Underscoring the economic significance of the Knightian distinction between risk and uncertainty, Don Katzner forcefully challenges the continued dominance of the expected utility model based on subjective probability in macroeconomic analysis and offers in its place a simple yet elegant model of decision making inspired by the pioneering work of G.L.S. Shackle. In doing so, Katzner lends support to a research program to identify a more coherent and empirically grounded theory of decision making…Read more
  •  1
    Analytical Marxism
    Journal of Economic Surveys 26 (4): 649-673. 2012.
    This paper provides a comprehensive survey of the literature on Analytical Marxism (AM) and analyses its relevance for social theory. AM is precisely defined and distinguished from Rational Choice Marxism (RCM). The different substantive implications of the two approaches are discussed: according to RCM, the role of Marxism in the social sciences is exhausted, whereas AM has reconstructed a set of propositions that aim to provide the foundations of a distinctive approach in social theory. The me…Read more
  •  1
    Dynamics, Disequilibrium, and Marxian Economics
    Review of Radical Political Economics 37 (4): 517-529. 2005.
    This article analyzes the temporal single-system interpretation (TSSI) of Marx’s economics. From a methodological viewpoint, the TSSI lacks both a clear definition of equilibrium and a rigorous analysis of disequilibrium dynamics, and the dynamic framework is incomplete. From a substantive viewpoint, temporal single-system (TSS) claims are trivially obtained by assuming that goods exchange at values, apart possibly from out-of-steady-state random deviations. Finally, the proof of the law of the …Read more
  • The temporal single-system (TSS) quantitative approach to Marx's economics is analysed. It is shown that TSS models lack a clear equilibrium concept and a coherent (dis)equilibrium methodology, and that Marx's propositions on value and exploitation are tautologically obtained (i) by constructing a money costs theory of value, where by assumption values are equal to market prices, apart possibly from short-run deviations; and (ii) by arbitrarily assuming that the undefined monetary expression of …Read more
  • Value, price and exploitation: the logic of the transformation problem
    with Simon Mohun
    Journal of Economic Surveys 31 (5): 1387-1420. 2017.
    This paper tries to clarify the logical structure of the relationship between labor values and prices from an axiomatic perspective. The famous “transformation problem” is interpreted as an impossibility result for a specific interpretation of value theory based on specific assumptions and definitions. A comprehensive review of recent literature is provided, which shows that there are various theoretically relevant and logically consistent alternative interpretations based on different assumptio…Read more
  •  2
    Strong Subjectivism in the Marxian Theory of Exploitation: A Critique
    with Naoki Yoshihara
    Metroeconomica 62 (1): 53-68. 2011.
    This paper critically analyses the strongly subjectivist approach to exploitation theory proposed by Matsuo on this journal, in general convex economies with heterogeneous agents. It is proved that the Fundamental Marxian Theorem is not preserved and that no meaningful subjectivist exploitation index can be constructed. A minimal objectivism is necessary in exploitation theory, whereby subjective preferences do not play a direct, definitional role. An objectivist approach related to the ‘New Int…Read more
  • Exploitation of Labour and Exploitation of Commodities: a ‘New Interpretation’
    with Naoki Yoshihara
    Review of Radical Political Economics 45 (4): 517-524. 2013.
    In the standard Okishio-Morishima approach, the existence of profits is proved to be equivalent to the exploitation of labor. Yet, it can also be proved that the existence of profits is equivalent to the “exploitation” of any good. Labor and commodity exploitation are just different numerical representations of the productiveness of the economy. This paper presents an alternative approach to exploitation theory which is related to the “New Interpretation” (Duménil 1980; Foley 1982). In this appr…Read more
  • Exploitation, Skills and Inequality
    with Jonathan Cogliano and Naoki Yoshihara
    Review of Social Economy 77 208-249. 2019.
    This paper uses a computational framework to analyse the equilibrium dynamics of exploitation and inequality in accumulation economies with heterogeneous labour. A novel index is presented which measures the intensity of exploitation at the individual level and the dynamics of the distribution of exploitation intensity is analysed. Various taxation schemes are analysed which may reduce exploitation or inequalities in income and wealth. It is shown that relatively small taxation rates may have si…Read more
  •  1
    Treading a Fine Line: Characterisations and Impossibilities for Liberal Principles in Infinitely-Lived Societies
    with Michele Lombardi
    B.E. Journal of Theoretical Economics 12 (1): 24. 2012.
    This paper extends the analysis of liberal principles in social choice recently proposed by Mariotti and Veneziani (2009a) to infinitely-lived societies. First, some novel characterisations of inegalitarian leximax social welfare relations are derived based on the Individual Benefit Principle (IBP), which incorporates a liberal, non-interfering view of society. This is surprising because the IBP does not explicitly incorporate any preference for inequality, nor does it assign priority to well-of…Read more
  •  1
    Equality of When?
    with Giorgos Galanis
    Oeconomia 7 25-59. 2017.
    This paper analyses the temporal unit of egalitarian concern. In the intertemporal context, the differences between egalitarian views can be appreciated not only in inequality analysis but also as regards the ideal egalitarian distribution to be established. In this paper, three intergenerational egalitarian principles (Complete Lives Egalitarianism, Corresponding Segments Egalitarianism and Simultaneous Segments Egalitarianism) are analysed and CSE is argued to be the appropriate egalitarian be…Read more
  •  2
    Behavioural utilitarianism and distributive justice
    with Giorgos Galanis
    Economics Letters 215 110488. 2022.
    What are the distributive implications of utilitarianism? Is it compatible with a concern for equality, as many utilitarians have argued? We analyse these questions in the context of a pure allocation problem. We consider an infinitely-lived economy and, drawing on the behavioural literature, assume that individuals have reference-dependent preferences: agents’ utility is a function of current consumption and a reference point which captures consumption habits, or the agents’ upbringing. Assumin…Read more
  •  1
    What we owe our children, they their children…
    with John Roemer
    Journal of Public Economic Theory 6 (5): 637-654. 2004.
    Egalitarian theorists, since Rawls, have in the main advocated equalizing some objective measure of individual well-being, such as primary goods, functionings, or resources, rather than subjective welfare. This discussion, however, has assumed, implicitly, a static environment. By analyzing a society that survives for many generations, we demonstrate that equality of opportunity for some objective condition is incompatible with human development over time. We argue that this incompatibility can …Read more
  •  1
    Exploitation and Time
    Journal of Economic Theory 132 (1): 189-207. 2007.
    This paper analyses exploitation and class formation in a dynamic context. An intertemporal model of a subsistence economy is set up and, among other results, it is proved that, in an interior equilibrium, Differential Ownership of (Scarce) Productive Assets is an inherent feature of a capitalist economy, while exploitation tends to disappear in the long run. Asset inequality is therefore proved to be a normatively secondary (though causally primary) wrong. It is also argued that these results r…Read more
  •  1
    Non-Interference Implies Equality
    Social Choice and Welfare 32 (1): 123-128. 2009.
    We propose a new principle of 'non-interference' applied to social welfare orderings. The principle, together with two other standard requirements, implies a strong egalitarian conclusion: the ordering must lexicographically maximize the welfare of the worst off.
  • On the impossibility of complete non-interference in Paretian social judgements
    Journal of Economic Theory 148 (4): 1689-1699. 2013.
    We study a principle of ‘Non-Interference’ in social welfare judgements. Non-Interference captures aspects of liberal approaches (particularly a Millian approach) to social decision making. In its full generality, Non-Interference produces an impossibility result: together with Weak Pareto Optimality, it implies that a social welfare ordering must be dictatorial. However, interesting restricted versions of Non-Interference are compatible with standard social welfare orderings.
  • Liberal Egalitarianism and the Harm Principle
    with Michele Lombardi and Kaname Miyagishima
    Economic Journal 126 (597): 2173-2196. 2016.
    We analyse the implications of classical liberal and libertarian approaches for distributive justice in the context of social welfare orderings. We study an axiom capturing a liberal non-interfering view of society, the Weak Harm Principle, whose roots can be traced back to John Stuart Mill. We show that liberal views of individual autonomy and freedom can provide consistent foundations for welfare judgements. In particular, a liberal non-interfering approach can help to adjudicate some fundamen…Read more
  • One million miles to go: taking the axiomatic road to defining exploitation
    with Naoki Yoshihara
    Cambridge Journal of Economics 41 (6): 1607-1626. 2017.
    This paper analyses the Marxian theory of exploitation. The axiomatic approach standard in social choice theory is adopted in order to study the concept of exploitation—what it is and how it should be captured empirically. Two properties are presented that capture some fundamental Marxian insights. It is shown that, contrary to the received view, there exists a nonempty class of definitions of exploitation that preserve the relation between exploitation and profits—called Profit-Exploitation Cor…Read more
  • Globalisation and Inequality in a Dynamic Economy: An Axiomatic Analysis of Unequal Exchange
    with Naoki Yoshihara
    Social Choice and Welfare 49 445-468. 2017.
    An axiomatic analysis of the concept of unequal exchange (UE) between countries is developed in a dynamic general equilibrium model that generalises John Roemer’s (Central Planning and the Soviet Economy, MIT Press, Cambridge, 1983) economy with a global capital market. The class of UE definitions that satisfy three fundamental properties—including a correspondence between wealth, class and UE exploitation status—is completely characterised. It is shown that this class is nonempty and a definiti…Read more
  •  1
    We model opportunities in society as ‘chances of success’, that is as they are commonly described by practitioners. We show that a classical liberal principle of justice together with a limited principle of social rationality imply that the social objective should be to maximise the chance that everybody in society succeeds. Technically, this means using a ‘Nash’ welfare criterion. A particular consequence is that the failure of even only one individual must be considered maximally detrimental. …Read more
  •  2
    Sufficientarianism
    Theoretical Economics 17 (4): 1529-1557. 2022.
    Sufficientarianism is a prominent approach to distributive justice in political philosophy and in policy analyses. However, it is virtually absent from the formal normative economics literature. We analyze sufficientarianism axiomatically in the context of the allocation of 0–1 normalized well-being in society. We present three characterizations of the core sufficientarian criterion, which counts the number of agents who attain a “good enough” level of well-being. The main characterization captu…Read more
  • Exploitation in economies with heterogeneous preferences, skills and assets: An axiomatic approach
    with Naoki Yoshihara
    Journal of Theoretical Politics 27 8-33. 2015.
    This paper provides a novel axiomatic analysis of exploitation as the unequal exchange of labour in economies with heterogeneous optimising agents endowed with unequal amounts of physical and human capital. A definition of exploitation is proposed, which emphasises the relational nature of exploitation and the resulting inequalities in the allocation of labour and income. It is shown that, among all of the major definitions, this is the only one which satisfies two formally weak and normatively …Read more
  •  1
    Exploitation, Inequality, and Power
    Journal of Theoretical Politics 25 (4): 526-545. 2013.
    The concept of exploitation is central in social and political theory, but there is no precise, widely accepted definition. This paper analyses John Roemer’s seminal theory, which construes exploitation as a distributive injustice arising from asset inequalities, with no reference to notions of power or dominance. First, an intertemporal generalisation of Roemer’s static economies is set up and several doubts are raised on the claim that exploitation theory can be reduced to a kind of resource e…Read more
  •  1
    The Liberal Ethics of Non-Interference
    British Journal of Political Science 50 567-584. 2020.
    We analyse the liberal ethics of noninterference in social choice. A liberal principle, capturing noninterfering views of society and inspired by John Stuart Mill's conception of liberty, is examined. The principle expresses the idea that society should not penalise individuals after changes in their situation that do not affect others. An impossibility for liberal approaches is highlighted: every social decision rule that satisfies unanimity and a general principle of noninterference must be di…Read more
  •  38
    Territorial rights and colonial wrongs
    European Journal of Philosophy 29 (2): 425-446. 2020.
    European Journal of Philosophy, EarlyView.
  •  9
    Exploitation
    Economics and Philosophy 34 (3): 291-294. 2018.
    The notion of exploitation is prominent in political discourse and policy debates. It is central in analyses of labour relations, especially focusing on the weakest segments of the labour force including women and children. It features in controversies on surrogate motherhood, and on drug-testing and the price of life-saving drugs, especially in developing countries.
  •  12
    The theory of exploitation as the unequal exchange of labour
    with Naoki Yoshihara
    Economics and Philosophy 34 (3): 381-409. 2018.
    :This paper explores the foundations of the theory of exploitation as the unequal exchange of labour. The key intuitions behind all of the main approaches to UEL exploitation are explicitly analysed as a series of formal axioms in a general economic environment. Then, a single domain condition calledLabour Exploitationis formulated, which summarizes the foundations of UEL exploitation theory, defines the basic domain of all UEL exploitation forms, and identifies the formal and theoretical framew…Read more
  •  10
    The Different Facets of Injustice
    with Vivek Chibber
    Erasmus Journal for Philosophy and Economics 14 (2). 2021.
    In her recent work, Nancy Folbre undertakes an ambitious effort: constructing an intersectional political economy that aims to identify the common mechanisms and logic underpinning the many wrongs that characterise capitalism. In this paper, we focus on what we deem the three fundamental theoretical pillars of her approach. First, she challenges the oppression/exploitation distinction within Marxian political economy and proposes a broader definition of exploitation that can take manifold forms.…Read more
  •  129
    Reorienting Economics? (review)
    with Simon Mohun
    Philosophy of the Social Sciences 42 (1): 126-145. 2012.
    Reorienting Economics analyzes many important issues in the social sciences. This article focuses on Lawson’s key methodological and epistemological claims concerning the role of mathematics in social theory. Lawson provides several forceful criticisms of the search for mathematical rigor for the mere sake of formalism. Yet his stronger claims on the extremely limited, if nonexistent, scope for formal analysis in the social sciences are less convincing. In general, his purely methodological appr…Read more
  •  97
    Review essay: A future for (analytical) marxism?
    Philosophy of the Social Sciences 38 (3): 388-399. 2008.
    Andrew Levine analyses the theoretical legacy of recent Marxist schools, focusing in particular on analytical Marxism (AM). He argues that AM is uniquely suited to provide the foundations for a revival of Marxist theory. In this paper, Levine's reconstruction of the core of Marxism and his analysis of the trajectory of AM are critically discussed. Although the theoretical contribution of AM should not be overlooked, some objectionable methodological and theoretical tenets of AM, and in particula…Read more