While it is not unusual that the Heterodox...
While it is not unusual that the Heterodox Economics Newsletter contains a spectacular entry, in this Newsletter you will find something truly fantastic, that is spectacular in at least two dimensions: first, it is huge. Second, it is highly timely.
I am referring here to a far-reaching doctoral program recently launched under the leadership of the University School for Advanced Studies Pavia in Italy that focuses on Sustainable development and climate change. The program hosts more than a hundred positions and many of the core topics of the program relate to issues of interest for heterodox economists. In addition, the program is interdisciplinary & pluralist in spirit and dedicated to open up new practical, theoretical, and political venues for achieving sustainable development. In my view this is highly timely as conventional thinking about confronting climate change is too often tied to ideas and schemes developed standard economic heuristics, like cap&trade, optimal degrees of pollution, normatively questionable assumptions on discounting & preferences or over-optimism with regard to technological decoupling.
Hence, it is a true pleasure to see a significant amount of funding being directed to such an important endeavor and I would encourage you to spread the word on this opportunity. Personally, I want to add that I deem Italy an intellectually and culturally extremely vibrant country – assuming I was ten years younger, I would immediately start writing up my application ;-)
Related to this issue, I also wanted to point to another educational opportunity about which I am enthusiastic, namely our MA program in Socio-Economics at University Duisburg-Essen. We are still accepting applications till the end of July for the winter term, so be sure to apply, in case you are interested. It would also be kind if you could forward this opportunity to potentially interested candidates. In this context, please note that major parts of the program are currently taught in German
Having said that, let me add that the Newsletter is now entering ‘Northern hemisphere summer mode‘, which means that we will scale down our publishing frequency from every three weeks to every four weeks till the end of August. So, if you don’t receive another issue in just three weeks, don’t panic & stay calm. The Newsletter will, eventually, drop into your mailbox.
All the best,
Jakob