Article Abrstract:

U radu se raspravlja o nekoliko predloga za opšti normativni okvir koji bi obuhvatio nestandardne modele izbora. Većina postojećih predloga izjednačava blagostanje sa dobrobiti. Neki pretpostavljaju da dobrobit proizilazi iz dobro definisanih ciljeva, i da ti ciljevi takođe dovode do izbora; trik je u tome da se formuliše okvir u kom obrasci nepotpuno koherentnih izbora otkrivaju ciljeve koji nisu posmatrani. Drugi ostaju pri stavu da se dobrobit, a samim tim i blagostanje, mogu direktno meriti. Oba pristupa nailaze na ozbiljne konceptualne poteškoće. Jedan mogući pristup, koji su razvili Bernheim i Rangel (2009), definiše blagostanje direktno u smislu izbora. On podrazumeva opšte kriterijume blagostanja koji se direktno odnose na izbor, bez potrebe za bilo kakvom racionalizacijom koja potencijalno uključuje pretpostavke u vezi sa ciljevima i njihov odnos prema izboru. Kako korisne biheviorističke teorije uopšteno predviđaju visok stepen koherentnosti u ponašanju, takav kriterijum dovodi do iscrpnog i upotrebljivog normativnog okvira.

Article Abrstract:

This paper shows that exchange rate depreciation in Serbia improves trade balance in the long run, while giving rise to a J-curve effect in the short run. These results add to the already existent empirical evidence for a diverse set of other economies. Both Johansen’s and autoregressive distributed lag approach are respectively used giving similar long-run estimates showing that real depreciation improves trade balance. Corresponding errorcorrection models as well as impulse response functions indicate that, following currency depreciation, trade balance first deteriorates before it later improves, i.e. exhibiting the J-curve pattern. These results are relevant for policy making both in Serbia and in a number of other emerging Europe countries as they face major current account adjustments after BoP crises of 2009.

Article Abrstract:

The main difficulty for natural disaster insurance derives from the uncertainty of an event’s damages. Insurers cannot precisely appreciate the weight of natural hazards because of risk dependences. Insurability under uncertainty first requires an accurate assessment of entire damages. Insured and insurers both win when premiums calculate risk properly. In such cases, coverage will be available and affordable. Using the artificial neural network - a technique rooted in artificial intelligence - insurers can predict annual natural disaster losses. There are many types of artificial neural network models. In this paper we use the multilayer perceptron neural network, the most accommodated to the prediction task. In fact, if we provide the natural disaster explanatory variables to the developed neural network, it calculates perfectly the potential annual losses for the studied country.

Article Abrstract:

As a social science, economics cannot be reduced to simply an a priori science or an ideology. In addition economics cannot be solely an empirical or a historical science. Economics is a research field which studies only one dimension of human behavior, with the four fields of mathematics, econometrics, ethics and history intersecting one another. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the two parts of the proposition above, in connection with the controversies surrounding the method and the scope of economics: economics as an applied mathematics and economics as a predictive/empirical science.

Article Abrstract:

The aim of this article is to examine the capability approach of Amartya Sen and mainstream economic theory in terms of their epistemological, methodological and philosophical/cultural aspects. The reason for undertaking this analysis is the belief that Sen’s capability approach, contrary to some economists’ claim, is uncongenial to mainstream economic views on epistemology and methodology (not on ontologically). However, while some social scientists regard that Sen, on the whole, is a mainstream economist, his own approach strongly criticizes both the theory and practice of mainstream economics.

Article Abrstract:

The authors of this argumentative article emphasize that the range of the current crisis cannot be depleted in the diagnosis which is based on cyclic consideration. It is both systematic and structural, which is derived from the genesis and the modus of neoliberalism, which has become dominant during the previous decades. Other than that, it is emphasized that the current crisis is “great”, because it forces relevant actors to face the structural characteristics of contemporary shareholder-capitalism. The crisis also puts to a test the self-reflection of the economic science which faces certain deficits. The authors believe that, given the tendencies in today’s economy, there can be different scenarios for exiting the crisis and projecting a new modus of capitalism in the following period. Having in mind the openness of the present and the uncertainty of the future, the authors describe those scenarios without projecting which one of them will be dominant.

Article Abrstract: