 | Investing in Institutions
November 27, 2009 Working Papers Daniel Giedeman,
Noel D. Johnson,
Ryan A. Compton |
| Robust institutional change is difficult to achieve. However, the growth paths of some countries are more likely to be affected by contemporaneous political turmoil than others. This paper supports this claim using data on GDP growth during periods of extreme political turmoil for 69 countries between 1870 and 2000. The authors argue that the robustness of a country’s growth path to political uncertainty depends on the degree to which individuals are invested in its current institutions.
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| What Does Sociology Have to Contribute Beyond What the Humanities and Its Sister Social Sciences Have to Offer?
October 31, 2009 Working Papers Brian Pitt |
| This paper identifies the four elements that compose the sociological tradition: social action, embeddedness, social problems, and social construction. The author argues that these elements are more pronounced in sociology than in any other academic discipline and hence contribute to the value-added character of sociology.
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| The Social Construction of the Market
October 30, 2009 Working Papers Virgil Storr |
| Inspired by Berger and Luckmann’s work The Social Construction of Reality, this paper describes the social construction of the market, specifically focusing on the Austrian understanding of the market as a product of human action, acknowledging that knowledge is socially distributed, and focusing on the subjectively held though socially mediated meanings that actors ascribe to market activity.
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| Economic Freedom, Culture, and Growth
October 23, 2009 Working Papers Claudia Williamson,
Rachel Mathers |
| How do economic freedom and culture impact economic growth? This paper argues that culture and economic institutions, specifically economic freedom, both play a role in economic development independently, but the strength of their impact can only be better understood when both are included in the growth regression.
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| Transparency and Performance in Government
October 21, 2009 Working Papers Andrew Perraut,
Jerry Brito |
| In this working paper, Senior Research Fellow Jerry Brito and Andrew Perraut discuss the importance of mandatory transparency to improve performance in the public sector.
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| Invitation to Political Economy: Berger and the Comedic Drama of Political, Economic, and Social Life
October 19, 2009 Working Papers Peter Boettke |
| This working paper compares and contrasts two books that are intended as invitations to their respective disciplines: Berger‘s Invitation to Sociology and Thomas Mayer‘s Invitation to Economics (2009) and then sees what is common to both invitations concerning the subject matter to which understanding is hoped for.
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| The Second Road to Phenomenological Sociology: Socioontology and the Question of Order
October 14, 2009 Working Papers Patrik Aspers |
| Few social scientists have taken the direct route to the roots of phenomenology. They have instead been lead, guided and accompanied by others, whose works have been like bridges of knowledge. The work that has spawned the interest among social scientists in phenomenology is Peter Berger and Thomas Luckmann's famous work The Social Construction of Reality (1991; Berger 1970:15).
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| Consumer Welfare and the Regulation of Title Pledge Lending
September 22, 2009 Working Papers Todd Zywicki |
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| The Housing Market Crash
September 21, 2009 Working Papers Gabriel Okolski,
Todd Zywicki |
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| Corruption is Bad for Growth (Even in the United States)
August 28, 2009 Working Papers Courtney L. LaFountain,
Noel D. Johnson,
Steven Yamarik |
| This paper estimates the impact of corruption on growth of output per worker in U.S. states. The authors find that corruption plays a significant and causal role in lowering growth and investment across the States. |
