Abstract This paper is dedicated to the interpretation of Knightian and Keynesian uncertainty as a situation of unawareness in which agents lack perfect knowledge of possible future states (not just ...of probabilities assigned to those states). So far, a systematic and nuanced debate of unawareness with relation to Knight’s and Keynes’ legacy has been largely neglected. The paper aims to fill this gap. It discusses in detail how Knight’s, Keynes’ and also Shackle’s ideas about the state space, surprises and ignorance are echoed (but often unacknowledged) in contemporary unawareness research. Parallel reading of these two streams of the literature reveals strong commonalities in argumentation, suggesting that the topic of unawareness could facilitate the dialogue between Post-Keynesians and mainstream economics. The paper concludes with a list of research questions relevant to the development of such a dialogue.
Abstract
This article presents contemporary concepts of economic beliefs in economics and sociology: (a) behavioural accounts; (b) learning; (c) narrative approaches; and (d) Science and Technology ...Studies-inflected integrative accounts. The review argues that cutting-edge research on expectations in both disciplines has paid insufficient attention to the fact that human agents are supported and partly substituted by modern technology while forming their beliefs. Thus, this article discusses how models, algorithms and artificial intelligence co-determine and profoundly change the theoretical and empirical understanding of expectation formation, and outlines a joint research agenda for studying economic expectations.
Dieses Buch richtet sich an alle, die über die Grenzen der Reichweite zentraler ökonomischer Konzepte reflektieren wollen. Die stark formalisierte Ökonomie vernachlässigt die soziale Perspektive ...wirtschaftlichen Handelns - und kann deshalb Phänomene wie die Entstehung von Märkten, Kooperation, Vertrauen oder Innovation nicht ausreichend erklären. Die hier vorgestellten sozialen Sinnkonzepte aus der Philosophie und Soziologie eröffnen neue Sichtweisen und zeigen alternative Erklärungsmöglichkeiten auf.
How can we account for differences in the extent of risk disclosure among companies? The paper expands the existing explanations by claiming that corporate risk reporting is not just financial but ...also political communication. The presented empirical analysis of how corporations disclose Brexit-related uncertainties suggests that risk reporting is a part of a company's holistic conversation with multiple audiences in society (e.g. politicians, regulators, journalists and customers) and might have well-targeted but also unforeseen effects on each of them. The quantity and quality of risk disclosure can be explained - among other factors - by the extent to which companies want to participate in public discourse and wish their opinions on a particular political issue, such as Brexit, to be heard. In other words, risk reporting is a part of 'the politics of expectations' which should be investigated in its own right.
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BFBNIB, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Financial models vary according to their ability to shape markets. This ability depends on the way models are used in institutional settings. In contrast to the prevalent view that involvement in ...organizational practices almost automatically makes models performative, this paper argues that institutional design might obstruct potential model performativity. This crucial issue determines whether models are strongly or only 'generically' or 'effectively' performative. The empirical study of the usage of the discounted cash flow (DCF) model presented in this paper offers an example of an application practice that significantly limits the model's performative power.
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BFBNIB, NUK, PILJ, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics hold the potential for dominant genetic disorders, enabling sequence-specific inhibition of pathogenic gene products. We aimed to direct RNAi for the ...selective suppression of the heterozygous
c.607 G > A variant causing
encephalopathy. By screening short interfering RNA (siRNA), we showed that
c.607G>A is a druggable target for RNAi. The si1488 candidate achieved at least twofold allelic discrimination and downregulated mutant protein to 35%. We created vectorized RNAi by incorporating the si1488 sequence into the short hairpin RNA (shRNA) in the adeno-associated virus (AAV) vector. The shRNA stem and loop were modified to improve the transcription, processing, and guide strand selection. All tested shRNA constructs demonstrated selectivity toward mutant
, while tweaking hairpin structure only marginally affected the silencing efficiency. The selectivity of shRNA-mediated silencing was confirmed in the context of AAV vector transduction. To conclude, RNAi effectors ranging from siRNA to AAV-RNAi achieve suppression of the pathogenic
c.607G>A and discriminate alleles by the single-nucleotide substitution. For gene therapy development, it is crucial to demonstrate the benefit of these RNAi effectors in patient-specific neurons and animal models of the GNAO1 encephalopathy.
•NGO accountability is contextualised in a broader public accountability relationship.•NGOs can act as information surrogates with education intent.•The concept of surrogate accountability is ...expanded by including accounting education as an important element.•Accounting education provided by NGOs combines data access, explanation of accounting information and learning initiatives.•Critical accounting education for the civic public helps to realise emancipatory potential of accounting.
The purpose of the paper is to provide theoretical and empirical insights into NGO accountability in the context of public sector accounting. We present a case study of two advocacy Italian NGOs which act as informational surrogates in the accountability relationship between local governments and the civic public. We extend the concept of surrogate accountability by integrating accounting education as one of its features. Alongside making data accessible, NGOs in our case explain accounting terms and organise educational events. By doing so, they aim to “repair” the weak information link in the accountability mechanism of local governments.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
In this paper, I suggest that financial products simultaneously inhabit two regimes of valuation: calculative and consumptive. There are constant endeavors in the market to develop formal ...mathematical methods of valuation and to use them as a base for investment decisions. Using the example of contingent convertible bonds (“cocos”), I argue that our understanding of how financial markets function would remain limited if we were to focus only on those formal endeavors. In the case of cocos, stringent mathematical valuation is impossible due to the contingent nature of this product and many future uncertainties. Based on various empirical materials, I demonstrate that the lack of established valuation tools is complemented and compensated by the purposeful efforts to sell this product. Cocos are categorized as simple bonds in order to be sold; they are associated with brands; their risks are marketed in a particular way. This consumptive regime of valuation allows for determining value and investing where formal mathematical valuation is deferred. Thus, incorporating the insight that marketing constitutes markets, the paper sheds light on how financial markets function, and amends the purely calculative perspective of mainstream finance. Furthermore, the paper relates consumptive finance to major issues in critical finance, such as power and governance, risk ignorance and financial illiteracy. More generally, it argues that active selling efforts represent a severe research gap in critical and social studies of finance and should be more clearly outlined and developed.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
The paper suggests that AI ethics should pay attention to morally relevant systemic effects of AI use. It draws the attention of ethicists and practitioners to systemic risks that have been neglected ...so far in professional AI-related codes of conduct, industrial standards and ethical discussions more generally. The paper uses the financial industry as an example to ask: how can AI-enhanced systemic risks be ethically accounted for? Which specific issues does AI use raise for ethics that takes systemic effects into account? The paper (1) relates the literature about
AI ethics
to the
ethics of systemic risks
to clarify the moral relevance of AI use with respect to the imposition of systemic risks, (2) proposes a theoretical framework based on
the ethics of complexity
and (3) applies this framework to
discuss implications for AI ethics
concerned with AI-enhanced systemic risks.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
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