PSL Quarterly Review

Trade unions’ responses to Industry 4.0 amid corporatism and resistance

Valeria Cirillo, Matteo Rinaldini, Jacopo Staccioli, Maria Enrica Virgillito — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The aim of this paper is to shed light on the paths, directions, and ensuing degrees of technological adoption fostered by trade unions or, alternatively, forms of resistance thereof, in the so called ‘Italian Motor-Valley’, a distinctive technological district located in the outskirts of Bologna, Italy, specialised in the engineering and automotive industry. We find that the introduction of Industry 4.0 technology opens up a new space of action for trade unions in influencing firms’ decisions on technological adoption. However, this new scope can have ambiguous effects, depending on how the process is governed. On the one hand, trade unions’ involvement in said decisions might end up fostering corporatist tendencies, favouring the alignment of workers’ and managers’ objectives. On the other hand, such a major involvement can help both recomposing old forms of dualism and revitalising workers’ role in the crucial issue of work organisation.

Prospective analysis of the SME sector of the Western Balkans

Massimo Cingolani — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The article offers an original perspective on the impacts of multilateral cooperation for the development of the private sector in complex economic environments. It examines the financial instruments deployed by several financing institutions in support of EU pre-accession policies for the six countries of the Western Balkans during the period 2014-2020 through a platform of cooperation for SMEs and the private sector called Enterprise Development and Innovation Facility (EDIF). It is based on research that aimed at evaluating the needs for external financial support to the region for the period 2021-2027. The core party of the study analyses a so far unexploited database comprising the financial accounts of all Serbian companies over the period 2009-18. The database documented the high dispersion and strong asymmetry in the distribution of the financial results of the private sector in Serbia, which is typical of a situation of high risk and uncertainty that prevails also in many other countries outside the European Union.

Development strategies and path dependence: Institutional elements for making sense of Brazil’s falling behind and South Korea’s forging ahead

Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

The present research aims to analyze two archetypal 20th century development strategy cases: Brazil’s and South Korea’s. During the last century, both countries had been experiencing catching up processes, but by the 1980’s Brazil started to lag behind while South Korea began to technologically and productively forge ahead. In light of this, this paper sustains that industrial policy choices and distinct institutional arrangements, set during the initial years of each country’s late industrialization process, were responsible for defining their different long term economic trajectories. A dialogue with Amsden’s work (2001) is proposed, through which we discuss her industrial policy bifurcation hypothesis regarding the so-termed countries of the “rest” in the 1980’s. By electing two emblematic members of such group, we seek to show how industrial policy choices made in the past still condition the two countries’ economic trajectories, especially so with regards to the degree with which knowledge intensive assets have been accumulated.

Demand and growth regimes in finance-dominated capitalism and a progressive equality-, sustainability- and domestic demand-led alternative

Eckhard Hein, Franz Prante, Alessandro Bramucci — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

Making use of a post-Keynesian/Kaleckian two-country stock-flow consistent (SFC) simulation model, we shed light on different regimes in modern finance-dominated capitalism, their interaction at the global scale, and then on the changes in regimes after the 2007-09 crises. Most importantly, we present the main features of a progressive and more stable equality-, sustainability- and domestic demand-led regime. We show that the main features of such a regime will have to focus on a ‘reformed capitalism’ with regulated finance, a more equal distribution of income and active government fiscal policies, as guide posts for progressive social democracy.

Teaching heterodox macroeconomics

Ettore Gallo, Maria Cristina Barbieri Goes — Thu, 07 Sep 2023 00:00:00 +0000

This contribution examines recent developments in post-Keynesian macroeconomics teaching through an analysis of five textbooks: Blecker and Setterfield (2019), Hein (2014; 2023), and Lavoie (2014; 2022). The focus is on Hein’s latest book, Macroeconomics after Kalecki and Keynes (2023), which aims to provide a comprehensive and teachable post-Keynesian macroeconomic model, by covering topics such as effective demand, policy coordination, distribution and growth, finance-dominated capitalism, and ecological constraints. The review discusses Hein’s textbook in a comparative way, highlighting points of strength and aspects that should be explored further, particularly (but not related to) the field of climate change and environmental constraints to growth. Overall, it is argued that Hein's book contributes to the literature on post-Keynesian economics and provides a valuable resource for undergraduate and graduate students in the field.