Economics for Substantive Democracy

In this paper, I sustain that the discourse of economics has become one of the most substantial contributors to the erosion of the democratic ideal. The first argument used in this case against economics concerns its attempt to be considered a neo- naturalistic science; the second, the fact that economics considers democracy contradictory to the expression of its scientific rationality and; the third, the fact that economics crowds out people from decision-making processes by pushing them into the hands of experts. Because partisan political programmes have essentially become economic programmes, economics should contribute to substantive democracy. In order to do so, an alternative discourse to mainstream economics must be proposed. An economics favourable to substantive democracy should, thereby, be political rather than naturalistic, pluralist rather than monist and, instead of crowding out people from decisions processes, should aim at the co-production of economic knowledge with those concerned by the outcome of economic decisions.

Sustentabilidade de empreendimentos econômicos solidários: contribuições e desafios do PITCPES/UFPA a partir da análise da Cooperativa dos Fruticultores de Abaetetuba - COFRUTA

The study aimed to understand how the methodology of hatching contributes to the sustainability of economic enterprises in solidarity. For analysis, we developed a study on the social economy and the incubation methodology, based on the program of teaching, research and extension - Technological Incubator of Popular Cooperatives and Entrepreneurship Solidarity (PITCPES), and as the survey of the Cooperative of Fruit of Abaetetuba - COFRUTA. We started from the exploratory-descriptive approach in a qualitative and quantitative, in order to demonstrate the process of sustainability under the dimensions of different kinds such as: the economic dimension, social dimension, the political dimension, size and scale management training. Based on the analysis of these different dimensions was reached results as: first the recognition that the incubator contributes to the sustainability of COFRUTA, especially with regard to planning, control and the need to diversify production. However, there was suggestion of cooperative for training and technical assistance is continued, to the extent that the performance of projects under the base leaves gaps for the learning and application of social technologies required to the Incubator. It also concluded that the dissertation contributes to the team of the incubator can assess their strengths and weaknesses in their performance

Sustainability reporting in European cooperative Banks: an exploratory analysis

Cooperative banks, as a social economy institution, have a special relationship with sustainability. Given the lack of previous studies, we aim to develop an exploratory analysis on sustainability reporting in European cooperative banks. On one hand, we studied the sustainability reporting evolution to know whether the crisis influenced on this practice. On the other hand, we compared cooperative reports with banks' reports. Moreover, we analysed the sustainability reports content to know what information is disclosed by cooperative banks. The results show that although the number of cooperative banks' reports is low, it responds to the weight in the European market. They also illustrate the late incorporation of cooperative banks into sustainability reporting (consequence of their conservative nature). We cannot conclude that differences between banks and cooperative banks were significant, but -in relation to private banks- cooperatives stand out in the use of latest standards, integrated reporting and best application levels. Regarding to the content of sustainability reports, cooperative banks provide more social issues than economic or environmental issues. In the current situation, disclosing information about sustainability would help to reinforce the stakeholders' trust.

La cultura del trabajo y la igualdad en la Nueva Granada

Basada en los conceptos de Alexis de Tocqueville, esta investigación busca explicar de qué manera la cultura del trabajo influyó en la igualdad de condiciones. Para esto fue necesario analizar cómo la sociedad neogranadina acogía nuevas teorías y prácticas del mundo moderno liberal en su estructura socio-económica y política, haciendo indispensable, en primer lugar, realizar un estudio detallado de la situación de la Nueva Granada en los aspectos mencionados, durante finales del siglo XVIII y gran parte del siglo XIX. En principio se puede deducir que la cultura del trabajo no tuvo influencia en la igualdad de condiciones, porque la concepción protestante de la salvación del alma no halló en los neogranadinos la aceptación que requería para hacer de este un pueblo trabajador y tampoco se pudo garantizar una situación de igualdad de condiciones desde un aspecto cultural, sino que estuvo presente por medio de leyes que no eran respetadas.

The moral economy of social media

In this chapter we take a high-level view of social media, focusing not on specific applications, domains, websites, or technologies, but instead our interest is in the forms of engagement that social media engender. This is not to suggest that all social media are the same, or even that everyone’s experience with any particular medium or technology is the same. However, we argue common issues arise that characterize social media in a broad sense, and provide a different analytic perspective than we would gain from looking at particular systems or applications. We do not take the perspective that social life merely happens “within” such systems, nor that social life “shapes” such systems, but rather these systems provide a site for the production of social and cultural reality – that media are always already social and the engagement with, in, and through media of all sorts is a thoroughly social phenomenon. Accordingly, in this chapter, we examine two phenomena concurrently: social life seen through the lens of social media, and social media seen through the lens of social life. In particular, we want to understand the ways that a set of broad phenomena concerning forms of participation in social life is articulated in the domain of social media. As a conceptual entry-point, we use the notion of the “moral economy” as a means to open up the domain of inquiry. We first discuss the notion of the “moral economy” as it has been used by a number of social theorists, and then identify a particular set of conceptual concerns that we suggest link it to the phenomena of social networking in general. We then discuss a series of examples drawn from a range of studies to elaborate and ground this conceptual framework in empirical data. This leads us to a broader consideration of audiences and publics in social media that, we suggest, holds important lessons for how we treat social media analytically.

Corporate governance as social responsibility : a meta-regulation approach to raise social responsibility of corporate governance in a weak economy

Corporate governance (CG) denotes the rules of business decision-making and directs the internal mechanism of companies to follow the output of the rules. It includes the customs, policies, laws and institutions as a set of processes that affects the way in which a corporation is directed, administered or controlled.

Legal Regulation of Corporate Social Responsibility : A Meta-Regulation Approach of Law for Raising CSR in a Weak Economy

"Even though Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become a widely accepted concept promoted by different stakeholders, business corporations' internal strategies, known as corporate self-regulation in most of the weak economies, respond poorly to this responsibility. Major laws relating to corporate regulation and responsibilities of these economies do not possess adequate ongoing influence to insist on corporate self-regulation to create a socially responsible corporate culture. This book describes how the laws relating to CSR could contribute to the inclusion of CSR principles at the core of the corporate self-regulation of these economies in general, without being intrusive in normal business practice. It formulates a meta-regulation approach to law, particularly by converging patterns of private ordering and state control in contemporary corporate law from the perspective of a weak economy. It proposes that this approach is suitable for alleviating regulators' limited access to information and expertise, inherent limitations of prescriptive rules, ensuring corporate commitment, and enhance the self-regulatory capacity of companies. This book describes various meta-regulation strategies for laws to link social values to economic incentives and disincentives, and to indirectly influence companies to incorporate CSR principles at the core of their self-regulation strategies. It investigates this phenomenon using Bangladesh as a case study."--publisher website

Is it the economy, stupid? The role of social versus economic factors in people’s support for hosting the Olympic Games: Evidence from 12 democratic countries

Public referenda have gained momentum as a democratic tool to legitimize public mega projects such as hosting the Olympic Games. Interest groups in favour of hosting the Olympics therefore try to influence voters through public campaigns that primarily focus on economic benefits. However, recent studies find no or hardly any economic impact of hosting the Olympics, instead providing evidence for a positive social impact. This raises the question whether citizens consider economic or social factors when deciding on hosting the Olympics. Based on representative survey data from 12 countries, our results suggest that economic factors can influence voting behaviour, although the influence of social factors is stronger.

The international economic crisis from point of view of the social market economy

Conferencia dictada el día miércoles 8 de agosto de 2012 como parte de la Cátedra Konrad Adenauer, “Escuela de Economía Francisco Valsecchi” de la Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina (UCA).

A DCAP for the social and solidarity economy

This article presents a work-in-progress version of a Dublin Core Application Profile (DCAP) developed to serve the Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). Studies revealed that this community is interested in implementing both internal interoperability between their Web platforms to build a global SSE e-marketplace, and external interoperability among their Web platforms and external ones. The Dublin Core Application Profile for Social and Solidarity Economy (DCAP-SSE) serves this purpose. SSE organisations are submerged in the market economy but they have specificities not taken into account in this economy. The DCAP-SSE integrates terms from well-known metadata schemas, Resource Description Framework (RDF) vocabularies or ontologies, in order to enhance interoperability and take advantage of the benefits of the Linked Open Data ecosystem. It also integrates terms from the new essglobal RDF vocabulary which was created with the goal to respond to the SSE-specific needs. The DCAP-SSE also integrates five new Vocabulary Encoding Schemes to be used with DCAP-SSE properties. The DCAP development was based on a method for the development of application profiles (Me4MAP). We believe that this article has an educational value since it presents the idea that it is important to base DCAP developments on a method. This article shows the main results of applying such a method.

Social Security of Labour in the New Indian Economy

Globalisation has many facets and its impact on labour is one of the most significant aspects.Though its influence is worldwide,it is much more significant in a transforming economy like India.The right of workers to social security is seen recognised under the Constitution of India and other welfare legislations.But,after adoption of the new economic policy of liberalisation and privatisation by the Government of India,the labour is exposed to new set of challenges.They are posed mainly due to economic restructuring affected in employment relationship,coupled with the increase in unprotected informal labour force.This study is an attempt to analyse the new challenges stemming up in employment relation,efficacy of the existing measures for social security of labour in the present economic condition and the suggestions for securing workers'right to social security in the trade regime.