Cahiers de recherche en économie-gestion

Austrian price theory is riddled with inconsistencies surrounding the neoclassical income effect and Giffen behavior. It has sometimes been argued that neither the income effect nor Giffen behavior exist. This paper first argues that Giffen behavior is possible and can perfectly well be explained within the framework of Austrian price theory in the tradition of Mses. Moreover, it shows that income effects are real. They are merely an outgrowth of the law of diminishing marginal utility applied to money. The paper also outlines the expenditure approach to income and substitution effects as an alternative conceptualization that does not require any reference to quantifiable and measurable notions of utility, or an unambiguous and objective notion of real income.  

Mises et ses disciples ont souvent soutenu que la demande de monnaie à détenir a quelque chose à voir avec l'incertitude mais rien à voir avec les préférences temporelles, le taux d'intérêt pur et les choix intertemporels. Cependant, Hülsmann (2009) a remis en question cette idée d'une demande de monnaie « temporellement neutre », arguant d'une part qu'une augmentation de sa demande déclencherait un processus d'arbitrage entraînant une augmentation du taux d'intérêt pur, et d'autre part que la monnaie est plus généralement un bien présent. Nous revisitons ici la théorie de la demande d'encaisses monétaires et les relations entre celles-ci et les échanges intertemporels. Nous soutenons que la demande de monnaie n'est effectivement pas neutre par rapport aux choix intertemporels, mais pas en tant que demande pour un bien présent. Au contraire, nous concluons qu'une diminution (/augmentation) de la demande de monnaie et une augmentation (/diminution) du ratio investissement/consommation (ou, selon le cas, une diminution (/augmentation) des encaisses monétaires futures et un déplacement des dépenses des investissements à court terme vers les investissements à long terme (/des investissements à LT vers les investissements à ST)) peuvent être comprises comme deux aspects du même phénomène impliqué dans la diminution (/augmentation) de l'incertitude perçue ou de l'aversion pour l'incertitude. Ainsi, la demande d'encaisses monétaires s’appréhende mieux comme une demande de biens futurs. Par conséquent, nous soutenons également qu'elle est également affectée par les préférences temporelles et nous présentons certaines implications de cette idée en ce qui concerne la configuration de la structure de production.

Vera Smith (1936) called Mountifort Longfield’s argument “by far the most important controversial point in the theory of free banking.” However, the modern literature on free banking scarcely mentions Longfield, despite his rediscovery or rehabilitation as an important economist and representative of the Irish subjective school (Moss, 1976; Tait, 1982; Rothbard, 1995).

Longfield’s argument turn on the effectiveness of interbank clearing in limiting overissue by any one bank. While the modern free-banking school (White, 1984; Selgin, 1988) sees an effective limit on overexpansion in the clearing mechanism (the principle of adverse clearings), as an expanding bank will lose reserves, Longfield (1971 [1840]) argued that this is not so. While the expanding bank will lose reserves as it expands, thereafter a new equilibrium will emerge in interbank clearing. The expanding bank will have a lower reserve ratio, but so will all banks, and the expanding bank will successfully have acquired a larger share of the market.

Longfield’s argument concerns a key proposition of the free banking school, namely that there is a sharp limit, in the form of the law of adverse clearings, to overexpansion by any one bank. If Longfield’s challenge succeed, then the free banking system falls, but this does not mean that we must accept Longfield’s own conclusion to the superiority of a monopoly of the note issue.

While the debates in the 19th century were concerned mainly with note-issuing banks, the principal point is the ability and effects of banks issuing unbacked money substitutes, whatever their form. Longfield’s argument will therefore be extended to the case of demand deposits. A free banking system is not safe from the problem of overexpansion, as it is in the interest of every bank to join the expansion once one bank increases its issues, whatever their form.

Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk argued in his book The Positive Theory of Capital that longer production processes are more physically productive because the additional time allows for more capital goods to be produced which enhances the productivity of the original factors of production. He and many subsequent economists assume that there are diminishing returns to the length of the production process because the law of diminishing marginal productivity applies to the capital stock. However, the law is misapplied to the length of production because the latter violates the assumption that the units of the factor of production are homogeneous. We argue that there is a resistance to diminishing returns in the nature of the length of production due to the division of labor and the exploitation of complementarity between heterogeneous capital goods, and that this resistance may even yield increasing returns as the number of stages of production increases.

Governments attempt to stimulate entrepreneurship and innovation in various ways and with different results. In 2015 the Romanian government began to subsidize the creation of start-ups, following a general policy of the European Union. We evaluate the effects of the Romania Start-up Program, which offered subsidies for hundreds of entrepreneurs in a large variety of economic sectors. We statistically compare subsidized and unsubsidized start-ups, by calculating the Kaplan-Meier estimators of survival rates in both groups over a 5-year period. We show that subsidized start-ups have a significantly lower survival rate than non-subsidized start-ups after 4 to 5 years. Moreover, the level of employment in subsidized start-ups decreased drastically compared to their non-subsidized counterparts. Examining the survival rates of subsidized start-ups created with and without additional private investment, we find that start-ups with “skin in the game” have a higher survival rate, although we cannot draw statistically significant conclusions.

Dominant culture-centric models in international business (IB) negotiation research often overlook the influence of intra-national religious diversity and its interplay with specific institutional contexts. This study challenges these models by examining how religious values and a powerful, faith-based institutional system jointly shape negotiation strategy. Drawing on Neo-Institutional Theory (NIT), this paper analyzes qualitative data from 40 in-depth interviews with senior Lebanese managers from diverse religious backgrounds (Muslim, Christian, and Druze) with extensive IB negotiation experience. The study reveals that Lebanese negotiators navigate a tension between two competing institutional logics: a “logic of universal religious ethics” (derived from faith values like honesty and fairness), which fosters a preference for integrative strategies, and a “logic of sectarian pragmatism” (derived from Lebanon’s confessional system), which encourages more distributive tactics. Managers engage in “strategic code-switching,” selectively deploying these logics based on the negotiation context (intra-Lebanon vs. cross-border), the dyadic pairing (e.g., intra-faith vs. faith-secular), and the deal structure (e.g., international joint ventures (IJV) vs. sales). This dynamic is most salient in the critical pre-negotiation phase of partner selection and trust-building. This study advances IB negotiation theory by providing a granular, institutionally-embedded conceptual model of negotiator behavior that moves beyond monolithic views of culture. It contributes to NIT by empirically illustrating how actors strategically navigate conflicting logics at the micro-level and enriches the study of religion in IB by specifying the mechanisms through which faith shapes strategy. Practically, the findings highlight the need for managers to develop deep institutional acumen to succeed in complex, multi-faith markets.

This paper offers a unique age-cohort analysis of French wage inequalities and inequality of opportunity using the French Demographic Sample. We observe the childhood circumstances of individuals born between 1958 and 1980 in census data from 1975 and 1990 and track their yearly wages throughout their salaried life in administrative payroll data from 1984 to 2018. We find that inequalities increase substantially throughout life and decrease slowly across cohorts. Additionally, we show that father’s education is the main driver of inequality of opportunity and that one’s own education not only transmits but amplifies the effect of childhood circumstances on wages. 

For Menger, the explanation of the emergence of institutions without a general will motivating their creation constitutes the central problem of the social sciences. He refutes any role of the state in the origin of money, while not rejecting its involvement in the process of perfecting the monetary system. This article analyzes Menger’s reasoning on the organic origin of the institution of money, its essence, and the implications of its establishment within the market. Furthermore, it examines the role of the state in the emergence and evolution of the institution of money.

This paper examines Gottfried Haberler’s early theoretical work on index numbers as a unique point of convergence between the Austrian School of Economics and the tradition of Logical Empiricism. While these schools are often seen as methodologically opposed - the former grounded in subjectivism and praxeology, the latter in formal logic and empirical verification - Haberler’s 1927 habilitation thesis Der Sinn der Indexzahlen exemplifies a productive synthesis of their core principles. The paper begins by outlining the epistemological and methodological foundations of the Austrian School, with emphasis on its subjective theory of value and skepticism toward aggregate measurement. It then summarizes key tenets of Logical Empiricism, particularly its insistence on observable phenomena, operational definitions, and formal rigor. Against this backdrop, Haberler’s analysis of price indices is shown to combine the Austrian emphasis on individual choice and subjectivity with the logical empiricist demand for formal discipline and observational grounding.. The result is a methodological hybrid that both anticipates and complicates later debates over the role of formalism and empiricism in economic theory. By recovering this underappreciated moment of methodological cross-pollination, the paper contributes to a more nuanced understanding of 20th-century economic thought.