Globalization: Exchange Rates, Economic Policy, and Gender
Paper Session
Saturday, Jan. 6, 2024 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM (CST)
- Chair: Paolo Ramazzotti, University of Macerata
From Complementarity to Rivalry: Shifting American Economic Strategies Towards China
Abstract
We live in a moment of great geopolitical tension that inevitably raises historical comparisons. As during the Cold War, the world is divided into an economic and military bloc led by the United States and a group of large but less advanced rivals led by China and Russia. Differently from the past, however, neither China nor Russia today question capitalism or the basic functioning of the global economy. In this sense, the modern world may resemble more closely that of the late 19th century, with rival capitalist powers coming into conflict over markets, technologies, and access to strategic inputs and raw materials. Further, and despite the ongoing hot war in Ukraine, the main source of tension today is arguably not military competition between the United States and Russia, but America’s reaction to the rise of China. This paper analyzes this shift in the relationship between China and the United States, focusing in particular on the role of American industrial and high-tech corporations in shaping a more aggressive policy toward China after 2008. Once enthusiastic promoters of integration with China, many such firms now defend policies designed to block the growth of Chinese competitors and protect America’s lead in critical technologies such as semiconductors, advanced computing, and biotechnology. The current tension between the US and China, we argue, is in large part a struggle for control over technical progress in these key areas.Women’s Informal Employment and Income in Rural Vietnam during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract
It has been documented in the recent literature on the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on gender inequality across the world (Dang & Nguyen, 2021) and even more complicated ones in the developing world and the Global South (Agarwal, 2021). This paper examines the effects on work and labor market outcomes of men and women in rural Vietnam during the period 2019-2021. Although rural areas were less hard hit by the outbreak, the sufferings born by rural workers are not less severe given the majority (over 77%) belongs to the informal or small-scale household farming sectors, with no access to social protection. In particular, we examine how rural women in the informal economy faced job loss, reduction in labor supply and earnings changes. Using the microdata from the labor force survey of over 26,000 individuals in rural Vietnam in 2021, we employ multinomial logit models on work and income changes. Although among female workers, only 4.1% of women reported a job loss and 41% reported a reduction in hours of work as compared to 5.1% and 38.9% of men respectively, there are significant heterogeneous effects between genders and across sectoral formality while controlling for individual characteristics, human capital (including ICT skills), age groups and household demographic structure. Similarly, self-reported income reduction was found more prevalent among informal workers (80%) as compared to those in the formal sector (64%). To confirm the results of the above models with self-reporting information by workers, we also test a more comprehensive model on the real labor earnings by incorporating the Covid-19 infection rates across provinces in 2020-2021 to measure the pandemic impact on rural workers through a gender lens and from the sectoral perspective. Our findings shed light on the possibility of recovery approaches to ascertain more decent work for rural women.Perceived Employability of LGBTQAI+ individuals in the Turkish Labor Market
Abstract
Although there have been recent developments in Turkey, the employment situation of LGBTQIA+ individuals are quite challenging due to the discrimination they face at work. In Turkey, sexual orientation and gender identity discriminations are not prohibited by law and there are no laws protecting individuals in employment. Moreover, LGBTQIA+ individuals may face societal and cultural biases that can further hinder their employment opportunities. Additionally, trans individuals are particularly vulnerable to employment discrimination and have a harder time finding employment. The lack of legal protections and high levels of discrimination can result in LGBTQIA+ individuals being excluded from many industries and limiting their job prospects, which can lead to economic insecurity and social exclusion. While there has been empirical research on the impact of employment and employability on LGBTQIA+ individuals for different country sets, no research has examined this for Turkey. This paper aims to examine the perceived employability of LGBTQIA+ individuals in the Turkish labor market using survey data for 2022. Data were collected on a convenience sample of 408 LGBTQIA+ individuals living in Turkey. A perceived employability index is created by using the scale developed by Rothwell and Arnold (2007) that measures the perception of internal and external employability. To see the employment situation of individuals control variables are used (and include gender identity, age, sexual orientation, gender characteristics, educational level, unemployment status, urbanization, income level, relationship status, occupation, sectoral information) by employing Bayesian moving averaging and regression analysis. Preliminary results suggest that the employability of LGBTQIA+ individuals in Turkey is challenging with a negative effect.Economic Policy: An Open-Systems Perspective
Abstract
The paper discusses theoretical aspects of economic policy in the light of recent events. These led to policy changes that are at odds with conventional economic policy. They include Post-Covid growth-oriented fiscal policy, government incentives towards a green economy, military aid to Ukraine and, more generally, a rise in domestic military expenditure, and a willingness by European governments to accept inflows of Ukrainian refugees. Although one may account for these actions in terms of “market failures” and of the exceptionality of circumstances, it is difficult not to acknowledge that they were mainly justified on extra-economic (ethical and political) grounds. Indeed, the above policy changes have less to do with market failures than with what appear to be “extra-economic” issues. They suggest that the economy is affected and, in turn, affects social and societal dimensions that transcend the strict coordination of provisioning. Differently stated, recent crises forced governments to deal with the systemic openness of the economy, that is the interdependence between strictly economic activities – be they conceived in terms of provisioning, of accumulation or of exchange – and what occurs in the social environment those activities are embedded in. An open-systems perspective implies that while, paraphrasing Keynes, “No part of man’s (sic) nature or his (sic) institutions must lie entirely outside the policymaker’s regard”, a theory of policy requires a more in-depth focus on what a society’s ultimate ends can and should be.Artificial Intelligence and the Productivity-Pay Gap in the USA: Industrial Insights and the Revival of Heterodox Ideas
Abstract
This paper aims to offer a heterodox perspective on the productivity-pay gap in the United States in light of the ongoing disruptive changes within leading industries driven by the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). We present robust arguments that the application of AI-type technologies across various industries and domains is likely to not only exacerbate the existing productivity-pay gap but also change the way this gap is generated. We suggest that deploying decision-making AI algorithms in economic processes could empower capital-technology owners at the expense of the traditional managerial technostructure, potentially re-establishing the possession of capital as the main driver of income inequality. In addressing the potential economic and social costs of the current trajectory of AI technologies, some of the major concepts in heterodox economics may prove useful.Keywords: Labor Market, Productivity–Pay Gap, Artificial Intelligence, Heterodox Economics.
JEL Classifications
- B5 - Current Heterodox Approaches
- F6 - Economic Impacts of Globalization