10-03-2019: Annotations regarding the public branch-corporations
Author: E.A. Bakkum
This column complements a previous discussion about the public branch-corporations (publiekrechtelijk bedrijfsorgaan, in short PBO) with many annotations, They show that the input of individuals influences the political developments. Among the leaders are J. Veraart, D.U. Stikker, E. Kupers, W. Drees and H. Vos. The position of the trade unions during the German occupation in 1940-1945 is discussed extensively. During this period the Foundation of Labour (Stichting van de Arbeid) is formed. There is also an analysis of the ideas of the social-democracy and the roman-catholics immediately after the liberation. Finally, the opinions of present-day politicians with regard to the PBO are summarized .... Read more
01-03-2019: The efficiency of the planned economy
Author: E.A. bakkum
This column studies the efficiency of the planned economy by means of three books: Plan, Interessen and Aktivität der Werktätigen by R.A. Belousov, Plan - Markt - Demokratie by K. Steinitz and D. Walter, and Von Marx zu Markt by W. Brus and K. Laski. The Leninist arguments in favour of central planning (also called command economy) are once more discussed. Next a sketch is presented of the real situation in the Soviet Union, the GDR and Hungary. The failure of these states is explained by means of the principal-agement problem. Finally, some proposals are made for a socialism with a market economy .... Read more
18-02-2019: Monopolistic competition and oligopoly
Author: E.A. Bakkum
It is often assumed, that markets are ruled by perfect competition. However, in practice the monopolistic competition and the oligopoly are much more common. The present column describes the possibilities for the entrepreneurs in monopolistic competition to differentiate their products. This type of market is the polypoly. The requirement of a maximal profit allows to derive the best-reaction function. The various variants of the oligopoly are also studied, namely the types of Cournot, von Stackelberg and Bertrand. The entrepreneurs can control the price or the quantity, and choose the behaviour of a satellite or initiator .... Read more
02-02-2019: The establishment of public branch corporations
Author: E.A. Bakkum
The present column presents a complete picture of the manner, in which after the end of the Second Worldwar the public branch corporations (in Dutch publiekrechtelijke bedrijfsorganen, in short PBO) were established. They aim to order the economy, and are lead by the social economic council (in short SER). During this period the governments are dominated by the roman-red coalitions of social-democrats (PvdA) and catholics (KVP). In 1950 both the Law on the PBO and the Law on the OR (industrial councils) are published. A large part of the entrepreneurs dislikes the PBO, because they fear the dominance of the general interest .... Read more
20-01-2019: Empirical laws in happiness economics
Author: E.A. Bakkum
A merit of the new discipline of happiness economics is that various new empirical laws have been discovered, that describe human behaviour. The present column gives a summary of some laws, by means of four recent books: Happiness and economics by Bruno Frey et al., Happiness quantified by Bernard van Praag et al., Happiness by Richard Layard, and Economics, ethics and the market by Johan Graafland. Notably it is studied how happiness, utility and satisfaction relate to welfare, work and income, politics, ethics, and the neoliberal dogma .... Read more