Editorials from the Heterodox Economics Newsletter
Recent Editorials
The latest editorials from the Heterodox Economics Newsletter.
There is an old Daoist saying: “Those who speak, do...
Issue #364
27 September 2026
There is an old Daoist saying: “Those who speak, do not know. Those who know, do not speak.” While I cherish this saying a lot, two minor adaptations seem in order to capture the role of economics in society. The first concerns the wording: if you replace the active “speak” with the passive “are heard”, you arrive at a rather accurate description of the public and political impact of economics –…
A newsletter collects news, no matter whether they cause joy...
Issue #363
17 August 2026
A newsletter collects news, no matter whether they cause joy or sadness. In the past weeks we have been saddened to learn that Robert Blecker (1956-2026) has passed away. Robert was a leading heterodox economist, widely known for his applications of post-Keynesian ideas to questions on international trade and finance, many of which turned into archetypical contributions that helped guide the…
Causality, Pluralism, and the Empirical Turn in Economics
Issue #362
20 July 2026
The craving for exactness and rigor, that characterizes so many efforts undertaken in mainstream economics, has transformed over the past decades from a focus on formal-analytical rigor towards an emphasis on ‚clean identification‘ of (allegedly) ‚causal‘ effects. And while the ghosts of formal-deductive reasoning still linger, this change had a profound impact on the discipline: in some way it…
As researchers most of us supposedly like the mean. The...
Issue #361
22 June 2026
As researchers most of us supposedly like the mean. The mean is seemingly very kind to us: it is a simple number, it (supposedly) summarizes a lot of information and it can serve as (somewhat) solid anchor for further statistical reasoning. Hence, all praise to the mean and its convenience ;-) While I think the above is largely correct, it is also incomplete: precisely because the mean compresses…
One can say many things about people trying to push...
Issue #360
1 June 2026
One can say many things about people trying to push pluralist or heterodox economics, but surely not that they are taking the easy route on the academic job market ;-). Especially against the backdrop of the often lamented and rightly criticized closure towards heterodox perspectives found in traditional econ departments, it is truly heartwarming to see that heterodox economists cannot be stopped…
There is an adage, sometimes probably wrongly attributed to Confucius...
Issue #359
11 May 2026
There is an adage, sometimes (probably wrongly) attributed to Confucius, that I cherish a lot and it goes like this: "If you tell me I will forget, if you show me I will remember, if you let me play a part I will understand.“ This nice saying not only carries a helpful and compact pedagogical lesson (which I too often violate by holding long lectures ;-)), but also points us to an alternative way…
One of the most time-consuming tasks when editing...
Issue #358
20 April 2026
One of the most time-consuming tasks when editing the Newsletter is surely to review the entries in our journals section as screening so many different and inspiring contributions will typically lead to repeated distractions in the editing process ;-) For instance, I lost some time with this neat paper in the Journal of Evolutionary Economics that summarizes how high real wages might lead to…
Once upon a time, when I was still...
Issue #357
30 March 2026
Once upon a time, when I was still young, bold and clueless, I inherited the editorship of the Heterodox Economics from dedicated and well-established researchers like Fred S. Lee or Tae-Hee Jo. Fred and Tae-Hee had compiled a lot of important background material – most notably the Heterodox Economics Directory, which is still updated regularly by the Newsletter’s team – and had also designed a…
In a certain sense this will be the most nerdy editorial that has ever had the honor to introduce an issue of the
Issue #356
9 March 2026
In a certain sense this will be the most nerdy editorial that has ever had the honor to introduce an issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter 🤖. So let’s get this one going! As you might have guessed producing the Newsletter is a tedious endeavor and we could never do it with standard tools, like html-editors, tex-files or GoogleDoc. We need our own dedicated and secure database. And an…
Among the many cool things that can be...
Issue #355
16 February 2026
Among the many cool things that can be found in this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, the "Symposium on Honor of Geoff Harcourt", which is part of the most recent issue of the Review of Political Economy , shines out a little. This is so, not only because Geoff was an immensely versatile, perceptive and inspiring economist with an impressiveoeuvre and a sizeable portion of humor, but…
The probably most funny (although somewhat implicit) assumption...
Issue #354
26 January 2026
The probably most funny (although somewhat implicit) assumption in Ricardo’s model of comparative advantage is the supposition that all sectors are essentially equivalent in terms of development: as specialization is determined by short-run costs, the long-run consequences of sectoral lock-ins are bracketed out. It is, hence, not without irony that Ricardo’s original example relies on comparing…
The bad news is that your work-life in...
Issue #353
5 January 2026
The bad news is that your work-life in 2026 starts probably right about now. The good news is that it does so with a fresh and crisp issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter ;-) Among other great things, this issue features a series of highly interesting conferences and workshops, including both long-time classics like the annual conferences of the Association for Heterodox Economics (AHE) and…
It was a somewhat ambivalent feeling to receive...
Issue #352
8 December 2025
It was a somewhat ambivalent feeling to receive news of Christine Lagarde’s diagnosis that Europe’s “growth model” is now outdated. While this diagnosis echoes a key element of heterodox critique on economic policy in Europe and, especially, the Eurozone – namely that its focus on achieving permanent current account surpluses is neither sustainable in the long-run nor able to produce inclusive…
Contrary to current trends almost everywhere else, this...
Issue #351
17 November 2025
Contrary to current trends almost everywhere else, this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter brings some good news. While this is fantastic it comes with the drawback that a long editorial emerged out of my enthusiasm; hope that is OK ð . First and foremost, it should be noted that the Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy (ICAE) at Johannes Kepler University Linz â one…
I was very intrigued to discover a novel...
Issue #350
27 October 2025
I was very intrigued to discover a novel ‚programmatic paper‘ on complexity economics these days that comes with the ambitious title „Complexity and Paradigm Change in Economics“. The paper is authored by Eric Beinhocker and Jenna Bednar and articulates key cornerstones of complexity economics as an internally coherent research program, that is increasingly challenging the economic mainstream on…
Last week I was graciously invited by the...
Issue #349
6 October 2025
Last week I was graciously invited by the University of Zürich to participate in a teaching workshop on Pluralism in Economics together with a series of inspiring researchers, namely Dina Pomeranz, Florian Bally-Rommel and Suresh Naidu. The workshop was focused on confronting different views on what economics is and should be and it was exceptionally exciting to learn from both, other senior…
It is quite evident that increasing geopolitical tensions...
Issue #348
15 September 2025
It is quite evident that increasing geopolitical tensions and fragility are more and more reflected in economic policy and, relatedly, also within economics. With the rise of such security concerns, practical economic considerations become much more Macchievellian in nature and I am not sure, whether it is fully reflected in the discipline how much this impacts on applied problems. A key notion…
As usual at this time of the year,...
Issue #347
18 August 2025
As usual at this time of the year, where there is less information traffic on academic matters, your favorite newsletter comes a week later than expected. However, we will switch back to our usual rhythm of three weeks after our next issue on September 15. Also in terms of internal matters, please note that we will accept corrections, additions, or (suggestions for) extensions of the Heterodox…
In a world at the brink of darkness,...
Issue #346
21 July 2025
In a world at the brink of darkness, the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is a beacon of hope – or at least that is what I tell myself to get me going writing editorials on weekends 😁. However, in my impression this issue truly lives up to this spirit as it is full of good news – so listen out and enjoy reading what follows: For one, I am super-happy to announce that we managed to acquire funds for…
Joseph Schumpeter's iconic description of the entrepreneur, as...
Issue #345
23 June 2025
Joseph Schumpeter's iconic description of the entrepreneur, as an ideal-type for the passionate, adventurous, and smart characters that coin the history of industry, can, of course, be contested in many ways: it's a little reductionist, it's a little essentialist, its framing is overly sexist... and so on. Nonetheless, I would admit that the intuition that some actors are driven by an intrinsic…
My favorite item( in this issue of the...
Issue #344
2 June 2025
My favorite item in this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is, somewhat self-servingly ;-), our job ad for a new position associated with the Institute for Socio-Economics at the University of Duisburg-Essen. If you wanna work with us at one of the homes of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, please consider applying. Also, please consider forwarding this opportunity to potentially…
In recent editorials, we have repeatedly touched upon...
Issue #343
12 May 2025
In recent editorials, we have repeatedly touched upon issues of academic freedom as a fundamental value that is a necessary requirement for doing accurate academic research and teaching. Academic freedom is essential for the functionality of science as a systemic search for (often incomplete and preliminary) truth because it is a prerequisite for any open debate on how to best interpret the…
As heterodox economists, we are well aware that...
Issue #342
21 April 2025
As heterodox economists, we are well aware that temporality and timing are key aspects in economic analysis. However, probably only a few of you are aware of the fact that the material covered in this newsletter occasionally shows specific and distinct temporal patterns. So let's reveal a thing or two about the inner rhythm of our work ;-) For one, there are recurring seasonal patterns : In…
The world is full of unanticipated consequences and...
Issue #341
31 March 2025
The world is full of unanticipated consequences and one (probably very minor ;-) unintended consequence of the unconventional economic policies on the way in the US (due to Trump) and Europe (als due to Trump ;-)) is that I receive an increased number of media requests. Such requests are ambivalent in many ways: they often force you to choose between focusing on explaining clearly what's going on…
While I generally like people from the US,...
Issue #340
10 March 2025
While I generally like people from the US, as most people from the US I met have been kind and amicable, I always had an ambivalent impression of the US as a leading global power. This ambivalence is rooted in the contradictory historical roles played by the US. Some examples are: (1) Being the world's oldest democracy vs. being somewhat of a self-serving empire. (2) Saving Europe from itself by…
When checking all the (quite numerous ;-)) items...
Issue #339
17 February 2025
When checking all the (quite numerous ;-)) items for this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, I was most distracted by the leading article in the recent issue of Industrial and Corporate Change , which is about the role of rational heuristics in pricing strategies. In my humble opinion this fine paper connects two areas of research that are somehwat underresearched (maybe also…
While the sad news( of Richard Easterlin( passing...
Issue #338
27 January 2025
While the sad news of Richard Easterlin's passing reached my desk somewhat late, I had to pause for a moment to reflect on his impact on my own development in my more formative years. Although Easterlin is a highly unconventional economics author, he is hardly listed among key heterodox sources and thinkers. Nonetheless, I have to admit that the Easterlin paradox and related debates about its…
While preparing this issue of the Heterodox Economics...
Issue #337
6 January 2025
While preparing this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter I recognized that this is the first issue in the second quarter of the 21st century. This means that in our last issue I closed the first quarter with a humor-focused editorial, which seems quite apt, retrospectively ;-). I also received some neat additional suggestions for cartoonsas a respone, which I collected here, and even…
We maybe talk too rarely and too little...
Issue #336
9 December 2024
We maybe talk too rarely and too little about how teaching and thinking on heterodox economics could be more funny. While this might not seem totally apt for what is sometimes called the 'dismal science', I still wanted to point out for once that cartoons can serve as a core entry point for doing so. Human creativity is a beautiful resource, that can be employed for many purposes, and I am…
Following Karl Polanyi's classic The Great Transformation we discussed the implications of…
Issue #335
18 November 2024
Following Karl Polanyi's classic The Great Transformation) we can understand how increased economic pressure through marketization and individualization contributes to the emergence of countermovements that, explicitly or implicitly, aim to preserve social cohesion. Historical examples for such countermovements may be bright (as in the case of the New Deal or the development of European welfare…
It has been on the news that three...
Issue #334
28 October 2024
It has been on the news that three economists – Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson – received a famous prize for their work. According to my somewhat superficial impression the euvre of the laureates is quite broad and heterogenous providing more (e.g. here) or less (e.g. here) nuanced takes on the driving forces of economic development. Similarly, these authors contributed to the…
Wealth is in many ways a key topic...
Issue #333
7 October 2024
Wealth is in many ways a key topic in heterodox economic research: for one, it is a key source of social stratification and determines the class position of individuals and households. For another, the distribution of wealth is highly unequal, which creates socio-economic power asymmetries, that give rise to differential returns, which often reinforce existing inequalities. This latter…
While this Newsletter is typically sent out from...
Issue #332
16 September 2024
While this Newsletter is typically sent out from somewhere in central Europe, it occasionally comes from elsewhere, e.g. when I am on vacation or traveling to conferences. As a result, I have sent Newsletter-issues from many different countries in the past decade, including countries far off from my home, like the US or Chile. However, this issue of the Newsletter is somewhat of a premiere as it…
My ten-year old daughter received a postcard these...
Issue #331
19 August 2024
My ten-year old daughter received a postcard these days. It was sent by a a friend of her's, who is currently on vacation in Northern Italy. The card read: Dear Florentina, we are on vacation and it is very nice. But, admittedly, it is also very hot. Best wishes, Carla Now, this is a somewhat compelling analysis. It is hot, much hotter than usual, especially in the Mediterraen area, but also up…
In the past weeks we have continued working...
Issue #330
22 July 2024
In the past weeks we have continued working on the on-going update of the Heterodox Economics Directory, which is now very close to completion. Only the introductory chapter, is still missing, which means that all the (relevant) parts that try to document the activities of heterodox economists across the globe are (hopefully) completed. We will keep these categories open for review for another…
Throughout the last weeks we have been continuing...
Issue #329
24 June 2024
Throughout the last weeks we have been continuing our work on updating the Heterodox Economics Directory and added a revised collection of heterodox study programs to the current beta-version of the upcoming 7th edition. As usual, it would be great if you could check whether all heterodox programs you are involved with are covered and adequately described in this revision. We will put additional…
Three weeks ago we published the first chapter...
Issue #328
3 June 2024
Three weeks ago we published the first chapter of the upcoming 7th edition of the Heterodox Economics Directory and we want to thank all of you who contributed by sending some feedback or suggestions for addition. For this issue of the Newsletter we have extended the beta-version of the Directory in two ways: for one, we incorporated feedback in the already existing section on 'heterodox economic…
While many people think Moloko's classic 'The Time...
Issue #327
13 May 2024
While many people think Moloko's classic 'The Time is Now' is a love song, I posit it can be equally well interpreted as a celebration of the warm feelings induced by the arrival of a long-awaited publication: the book, that contains your most important ideas; the edited volume you have been waiting so long for; the perfect paper, accepted and published by a renowned outlet. The song works…
These days I received several emails saying that...
Issue #326
22 April 2024
These days I received several emails saying that some china-related domains (like .cn, .com.cn and the like) based on my personal name (e.g. jakob-kapeller.cn) will be claimed by a company in Hong Kong that specializes in medical equipment. These guys are serious, they already wrote me an email saying they will press their claims, regardless of any actions I might take ;-) Now, what form of late…
About ten years ago a former teacher of...
Issue #325
1 April 2024
About ten years ago a former teacher of mine, who had by then become a cherished colleague and friend, celebrated his retirement. He was a post-Keynesian economist in a mainstream department and the laudatio was given by one of his senior mainstream colleagues. At one point in the speech the laudator mentioned Kaleckian models, which my friend was fond of, and added that, potentially, this class…
Working on the Heterodox Economics Newsletter has become...
Issue #324
11 March 2024
Working on the Heterodox Economics Newsletter has become tougher. Over the years I notice an increasing load of emails to screen, more numerous and diverse requests to consider, more journals to feature and, as a consequence, an increasing number of entries within each issue with the pdf-version of the Newsletter now often reaching more than one-hundred pages. As the Newsletter's trying to…
During the last weeks, I have received the...
Issue #323
19 February 2024
During the last weeks, I have received the sad news that the full editorial board of the Journal of Economic Surveys has stepped down from their positions. This is sad, because the Journal of Economic Surveys not only provided a great service to the profession by publishing highly interesting review papers and meta-analyses, but was also an established journal open for submissions with a…
Economic models are powerful tools in many ways....
Issue #322
29 January 2024
Economic models are powerful tools in many ways. As all scientific models these tools can be used for various purposes. Classic accounts in philosophy of science would emphasize the trias explanation, prediction and design, which can be easily represented by simple deductive-nomological models. Such models are helpful as they allow for illustrating basic concepts, like law-like mechanisms, the…
"Your intention is obviously counter-cultural, and god knows how this will land" - this sentence from a referee report about an earlier version of this editorial nicely captures the spirit of the heterodox project.
Issue #321
8 January 2024
"Your intention is obviously counter-cultural, and god knows the current culture has to be changed." (Robert Solow in an early letter to the founders of the Review of Keynesian Economics) While the above quote is more than a decade old – indeed, the Review of Keynesian Economics has already seen the publication of its 11th Volume – the gist of Solow's statement is still well-suited to describe…
It is now close to two months that...
Issue #320
4 December 2023
It is now close to two months that another moral conundrum arising from path-dependent, historical lines of conflict has unfolded into an escalating spiral of violence. Such lock-ins into violent escalation, even if they should only be temporary, always come at an incredible human cost and leave me largely speechless. However, nonetheless the underlying dynamics of such conflicts – both in terms…
In my last editorial( I posted a lengthy...
Issue #319
13 November 2023
In my last editorial, I posted a lengthy note on the importance of shared infrastructures for community-buildung, thereby also emphasizing the need to advance "joint visions of teaching political economy". Building on this intuition, I wanted to use the opportunity to point to the recently published "Teaching Heterodox Economics Magazine", that is available freely on the web and tries to…
When pinning down my editorial words, I often...
Issue #318
23 October 2023
When pinning down my editorial words, I often exploit the opportunity to point towards the merits of pluralism, diversity and open-mindedness in economic thought. And while I surely stand by my words, my emphasis should not discount the fact that political economy and heterodox economics also need to strive for shared conceptual foundations to foster clarity, coherence and cohesion. This…
It was a great pleasure to take part...
Issue #317
2 October 2023
It was a great pleasure to take part in this year’s great EAEPE conference, that took place in Leeds some weeks ago. I always enjoy the pluralist spirit of EAEPE, the theoretical and methodological diversity it incorporates and the fact that the participants are patient and open-minded so that conversation across different heterodox traditions, social science disciplines and cultural backgrounds…
A not so long time ago I was...
Issue #316
11 September 2023
A not so long time ago I was taking a break from work. I was sitting on my terrace, listening to some music and then it came to me that I made a mistake. And the mistake is this: Although I am the main editor of the Newsletter for close to a decade now I never took the opportunity to ask the somewhat essential question: "what is the sound of heterodox economics?" You might object by saying that…
(Lack of) diversity in economics is still a...
Issue #315
14 August 2023
(Lack of) diversity in economics is still a major problem of the discipline and one that is regularly addressed in the Heterodox Economics Newsletter in different ways (e.g. here, here or here). Thereby concerns about diversity do not only relate to personal characteristics and identities of researchers, but also pertain to other aspects of academic life – the way we communicate with each other,…
This editorial is dedicated ro remind you of...
Issue #314
17 July 2023
This editorial is dedicated ro remind you of the scheduled update for the Heterodox Economics Directory. The directory serves as an all-inclusive guide to heterodox economics, but has received less attention over the past years and is, as a consequence, a litte out of date (the most recent edition is from 2016). Thereby an update of the Directory is long overdue and I am somewhat relieved to…
I hope that many of our readers perceive...
Issue #313
19 June 2023
I hope that many of our readers perceive the Heterodox Economics Newsletter to be a reliable service: it comes in regularly and on time, has only a few bugs, provides reasonable coverage and it aims to be inclusive in terms of geography, gender as well as research fields and traditions. Recently, our service even survived a hard IT-crackdown at our home institution – the University of…
In the last issue of this newsletter( I...
Issue #312
29 May 2023
In the last issue of this newsletter, I argued that the multi-causality associated with socio-economic phenomena – that is, the observation that such phenomena are typically impacted by several different factors – serves as a core motivation for a pluralist approach in economics. The basic idea here is that such a pluralist approach helps us to identify and appreciate this multiplicity of causal…
From time to time I am invited to...
Issue #311
8 May 2023
From time to time I am invited to do a public lecture to explain what economics is all about. It's an interesting challenge: you typically get about 45 minutes to convince a random audience of about 30-100 people that thinking about economic issues can be interesting - if we do it right. On average, such audiences have high expectations as participants not only want to gain some basic…
Cooperation and competition both play a key role...
Issue #310
17 April 2023
Cooperation and competition both play a key role for economic provisioning. Cooperation is not only crucial to facilitate joint production within households and firms (and, thereby, reap efficiency gains through specialization & increasing returns to scale), but also to overcome constellations, in which individual incentives lead to detrimental or worst-case outcomes (i.e. prisoner's dilemma-like…
Some years ago, I started doing research on...
Issue #309
27 March 2023
Some years ago, I started doing research on the impacts of increasing economic integration with a focus on the heterogenous developmental trajectories emerging from such an integration (see, e.g., here or here for some outcomes). When reviewing the relevant literature, we became aware of an interdisciplinary gap that arises when it comes to operationalizing 'economic integration' or 'economic…
Hooray, hooray, here are some fantastic news: starting...
Issue #308
6 March 2023
Hooray, hooray, here are some fantastic news: starting with this issue the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is back! We are up & running again and this is how it should be and, honestly, it's a good feeling to do such a comeback ;-) As many of you might have noticed in the past months, our technical facility for distributing emails was down due to a ransomware-attack on my home institution, the…
This is another issue of the Heterodox Economics...
Issue #307
6 February 2023
This is another issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter that has been prepared under difficult conditions as the IT-facilities of our home insitutions – the University of Duisburg-Essen – have been struck by a ransomware-based cyber-attack. Regrettably, this implies that our listserv for distributing emails is currently not operating and we have to rely on Social Media and alternative…
This is another issue of the Heterodox Economics...
Issue #306
9 January 2023
This is another issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter that has been prepared under difficult conditions as the IT-facilities of our home insitutions – the University of Duisburg-Essen – have been struck by a ransomware-based cyber-attack. Regrettably, this implies that our listserv for distributing emails is currently not operating and we have to rely on Social Media and alternative…
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter has...
Issue #305
5 December 2022
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter has been prepared under emergency conditions as the IT-facilities of our home insitutions – the University of Duisburg-Essen – have been struck by a ransomware-based cyber-attack. Regrettably, this implies that our listserv for distributing emails is currently not operating and we have to rely on Social Media and alternative mailings-lists to…
These days I was somewhat enthusiastic to find...
Issue #304
14 November 2022
These days I was somewhat enthusiastic to find that the emblematic Economics Anti-Textbook, which focuses on a critical presentation of standard microeconomics content, has now been complemented by a companion volume on macroeconomic issues. This book is authored by Tony Myatt, who is also one of the original lead authors of the Economics Anti-Textbook, and carries the very consistent title "The…
So, these days the recipients of the economics...
Issue #303
24 October 2022
So, these days the recipients of the economics 'nobel prize' in economics have been announced. It went to Bernanke, Diamond and Dybvig, that is, three male US-based economists, which is, let's say, consistent with the pattern of past choices by the same committee. While Bernanke is quite well-known due to his role as a FED chairman, Diamond and Dybvig are probably better-known for their 1983…
Winter is coming and its coming in various...
Issue #302
3 October 2022
Winter is coming and its coming in various forms. For one, we see a somewhat bleak and cold outlook for the next months as the war raging in Ukraine reshuffles economic provisioning systems in terms of food and energy. The situation will be particularly detrimental to many of those who lack the money to pay surging food & energy prices, or the capabilities to quickly adapt to changing…
This is the 301st issue of the Heterodox...
Issue #301
12 September 2022
This is the 301st issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. It was a long journey from the early years – the Newsletter was founded as a formal service in September 2004 by the late Frederic S. Lee – to today and I will make use of this occasion to contemplate a little on the Newsletter’s history. Actually, browsing back to early issues is fun. For instance, the first issue featured a Call for…
For some obvious reasons the main economic topic...
Issue #300
15 August 2022
For some obvious reasons the main economic topic of public interest in the Global North these days is inflation, which is somewhat understandable (historically inflation rates have risen strongly), but also somewhat ignorant (as episodes of far higher inflation rates in Global South countries do never capture a similar level of attention). This observation not only illustrates that public…
This is the 299th issue of the Heterodox...
Issue #299
18 July 2022
This is the 299th issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter and, contrary to all odds in this somewhat pre-apocalyptic stage of history, in this short editorial I will focus on some good news: First, I wanted to share that we have a new job ad out at the University of Duisburg-Essen. We are searching for a post-doctoral researcher in heterodox economics and/or political economy for five years…
In recent weeks I received several calls from...
Issue #298
20 June 2022
In recent weeks I received several calls from journalists asking whether a wage-price spiral is to be expected as a consequence of recent price hikes and whether we need interest rate hikes to combat increasing inflation. These questions are somewhat awkward as they still follow a more or less neoliberal economic policy script, which indicates that free-market economic policy is alive and well…
As probably many of you I was somewhat...
Issue #297
30 May 2022
As probably many of you I was somewhat delighted when I received the Table of Contents alert for the most recent issue of the Journal of Economic Perspectives (JEP), which typically includes selected papers or sections dedicated to reviewing certain topics deemed to be of general interest to economists. Typically, the JEP is more a reflection of the preferences and interests of the average…
I had a conversation with my plumber these...
Issue #296
9 May 2022
I had a conversation with my plumber these days. He is a smart man, who often tells stories that help to sharpen my economic intuition. A few months ago he explained to me how his company began hoarding inputs to confront increased uncertainty about the reliability of provision through global value chains. While they never actually experienced a logistical bottleneck, simply accounting for the…
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter features...
Issue #295
18 April 2022
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter features a series of Calls for Papers related to the ASSA-meetings that usually take place in early January somewhere in the US. Although the institutional details are somewhat more intricate, in short one could say that the ASSA-meetings are the regular conference of the AEA with some sessions hosted by heterodox associations (as those listed…
The Heterodox Economics Newsletter regularly covers the Table...
Issue #294
28 March 2022
The Heterodox Economics Newsletter regularly covers the Table of Contents of various journals open to heterodox ideas. If you want to lose an hour or two I invite you to browse carefully through the respective section of the Newsletter – at least I always lose that much time when editing this section ;-). My personal favorite in this issue is, by the way, the special section on "Evolutionary…
These days are somewhat painful for me as...
Issue #293
7 March 2022
These days are somewhat painful for me as I still have difficulties to digest that there is a very serious military conflict going on between Russia and the Ukraine – two countries that are actually quite close to each other in terms of language, culture and economy. When I still was in school I picked Russian as my second foreign language and travelled to all those countries now involved in this…
In the past, these pages have often discussed...
Issue #292
14 February 2022
In the past, these pages have often discussed how the discplinary hierarchy and incentive structure incorporated in contemporary economics contribute to a narrowing of the discipline. They do so by excluding alternative views and reproducing societal patterns of discrimination which, in turn, fosters the reproduction of neoclassical dominance. And indeed, while for instance cohort analyses…
After some months, in which we mainly promoted...
Issue #291
24 January 2022
After some months, in which we mainly promoted online-events, more and more Calls for Papers and events came up during the past weeks that proactively announce offline-events. While surely these announcements are somewhat bold, for me they are a sign of hope. After all – and notwithstanding the lessons learned from being forced into an online-working-mode – Corona is here to stay, so we are…
A new issue of the Heterodox Economic Newsletter...
Issue #290
3 January 2022
A new issue of the Heterodox Economic Newsletter seems to be the perfect way to start the new year, so here we are ;-) I am super-happy to let you know that the Newsletter enters 2022 better prepared than ever before as Daniela Cialfi – a new member in our editorial team – joined us these days: Daniela is a cognitive and behavioural economist, heterodox economist and postdoctoral researcher at…
So, Omikron is what we now call the...
Issue #289
6 December 2021
So, Omikron is what we now call the next step in the pandemic cycle. Sounds rigorous and was maybe unavoidable but still, the probability of such an event could have been massively reduced if vaccines were available in the Global South at the same scale as they are in the Global North. This outcome is mainly the result of rich countries trying to jointly maximize their public health as well as…
Last week I spotted an interesting paper discussing...
Issue #288
15 November 2021
Last week I spotted an interesting paper discussing "The Future of Heterodox Economics". Unlike most papers on the subject, which focus on conceptual arguments, this article aims for an empirical take using interviews with leading heterodox scholars as a prime source. While the paper needs some additional polishing, it still raises several interesting points. First, the paper takes a balanced and…
Last week I participated in an informal workshop...
Issue #287
25 October 2021
Last week I participated in an informal workshop on the nature of institutions and their role in economic analysis hosted by several researchers associated with the University of Graz. The basic idea of this workshop was to facilitate dialogue across mainstream and heterodox economists with a particular topical focus. For me, this was a welcome alternative to the usual routines of…
Some months ago, I used these lines to...
Issue #286
4 October 2021
Some months ago, I used these lines to put out a call for volunteers willing to support this Newsletter. It was quite incredible (and also a little unexpected) to receive some enthusiastic replies. After some correspondences and inetrviews we selected two additional persons to complement an already astonishing group so that, together, we might become something truly awesome – an editorial team.…
According to the conventional view in economics, you...
Issue #285
13 September 2021
According to the conventional view in economics, you should check, whether it is truly rational to read the remainder of this editorial. As the actual use-value of the Newsletter rests in the items collected below, the editorial is just an ornament, a kind of ceremonial exercise that is difficult to classify. Additionally, the editorial knows no headline & you simply do not know what will come.…
Once upon a time, a colleague of mine...
Issue #284
23 August 2021
Once upon a time, a colleague of mine and me submitted a paper to a mainstream journal and it was immediately desk-rejected. The paper was critical of standard theory and featured empirical results supporting our stance, but eventually it was quite standard in terms of methods used. So we decided to try it again and submitted to another mainstream journal of a similar standing – again we received…
I admit I have been boycotting online conferences...
Issue #283
26 July 2021
I admit I have been boycotting online conferences for about a year. Surely, one reason for that was that coping with all the circumstances imposed by the pandemic ate up a lot of time. But the more immediate cause was that I expected 'online conferences' to lack the part I cherish the most – informal chatting with colleagues from all over the world. This month I have crossed this line and took…
While it is not unusual that the Heterodox...
Issue #282
28 June 2021
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…
When editing the journal-section of the Newsletter, I...
Issue #281
7 June 2021
When editing the journal-section of the Newsletter, I sometimes ask myself the following question: If I had to pick a set of mainstream journals to be featured in this Newsletter, which ones would I include? Generalizing a little, this question can be reformulated: which mainstream journals should be read by heterodox economists, if any? Some heterodox economists might argue the answer is easy as…
In the upcoming week I will have the...
Issue #280
17 May 2021
In the upcoming week I will have the opportunity to join two events as a discussant: On Tuesday I have the honor to comment on a talk by Julie Froud that introduces the concept of the ‘foundational economy’ to a general audience. In my understanding, the label ‘foundational economy’ is an approach to economic policy that suggest a strong focus on core aspects of the social provisioning process,…
In my humble view, the core challenge for...
Issue #279
26 April 2021
In my humble view, the core challenge for contemporary economics & economic policy is to facilitate a socio-ecological transformation that ensures a form of global prosperity that is both fair as well as sustainable. Without touching on the much more intricate question on which specific economic systems or policies might be up to this task, I am bold enough to assume that some balance between…
These days I was called by a journalist...
Issue #278
5 April 2021
These days I was called by a journalist of a leading German-speaking newspaper, who asked me whether the Corona crisis has led to an increase in economic inequality and social polarization. While I have not done any systematic analysis on this issue myself, I mentioned a series of casual observations – starting with the fact that low-pay jobs in the service sector have been hit comparatively…
"History matters" is a core intellectual guideline for understanding the relationship between inequality, democracy and development.
Issue #277
15 March 2021
"History matters" is a core intellectual guideline for most heterodox economists. Typically, this expression is used to indicate that current and future economic outcomes are strongly coined by past events – hence, we often observe heterogeneous & path-dependent developmental trajectories across our objects of research, which can be better understood by illuminating differences in starting…
A few months ago (see htn270), I wrote an editorial about…
Issue #276
22 February 2021
A few months ago), I wrote an editorial related to John King’s new book on alternative Austrian economics and provided a very rough bird’s eyes view on heterodox traditions in Austria. In doing so, I also promised to write a little more about Kurt W. Rothschild, who is not only my personal archetype of a good economist, but who can also be considered to be a leading pioneer among post-WWII…
The stock market rally of the last years...
Issue #275
1 February 2021
The stock market rally of the last years has taken an unexpected turn these days, when a coordinated effort of hobby-investors and semi-professionals engaged in a (slightly dubious) reddit-forum managed to corner some professional Wall Street short-sellers by buying shares of GameStop – a retailer for computer games & consoles. To me, this is a somewhat ambivalent phenomenon as many latecomers to…
What has happend on capitol hill last week...
Issue #274
11 January 2021
What has happend on capitol hill last week can, in my humble view, be safely dubbed as a 'Polanyian moment'. In his famous Great Transformation) Polanyi emphasized that the successive expansion of markets and the associated trend towards increasing commodification will eventually provoke 'countermovements' that – in some way or the other – stand ready to challenge the prevailing institutional and…
I have now served as main editor for...
Issue #273
21 December 2020
I have now served as main editor for the Heterodox Economics Newsletter for slightly more than 7 years. And although I do not feel tired of the job at all – it’s actually a quite inspiring task with a great team –, I sincerely believe that the Newsletter could profit from some fresh perspectives. Let me shortly, explain why. Generally, I found that during the time of my editorship two things…
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes...
Issue #272
30 November 2020
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes with a lot of reading material in the form of recently published books and journals to get you through the upcoming christmas hibernation phase. Furthermore and in addition to what is listed below, I also wanted to point you to some methodological literature I recently discovered when preparing a PhD-course on methods in socio-economics,…
In confined days like these, opportunities for good...
Issue #271
9 November 2020
In confined days like these, opportunities for good academic discussions are rare. Against this backdrop, I was happy to join a discussion at the Virtual Plenary of INET's Young Scholars Initiative dedicated to assessing the state of the sub-field of "Philosophy & Economics". As some of you might know (or might have guessed), I consider myself to be an occasional contributor to said field and it…
Many people know that Austria has produced some...
Issue #270
19 October 2020
Many people know that Austria has produced some idiosyncratic economists in the course of its history including, among others, people like Carl Menger, Joseph Schumpeter or Friedrich August von Hayek. Some of these authors are even grouped in to a theoretical school – the Austrian school of economics – that is both, heterodox as well as in favor of 'free markets' & large-scale deregulation. When…
Notwithstanding the fact that we live in a...
Issue #269
28 September 2020
Notwithstanding the fact that we live in a time of crisis, I have to admit that I have a lot to cheer about these days. For one, the long-time home-base of this Newsletter – the Institute for Comprehensive Analysis of the Economy (ICAE) at Johannes Kepler University Linz (Austria) – celebrated it's 10th anniversary last week. Since its foundation in response to the global financial crisis a…
With this issue the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is...
Issue #268
7 September 2020
With this issue the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is returning from it's 'summer break'-mode to the usual schedule. This 'summer-break' mode comes with a little slow-down that emerges from the slight reduction in publicaton frequency (from three to four weeks). I typically exploit the free-time associated with this slow-down by engaging more strongly in two other things only partially related to…
If you have ever doubted that the economics...
Issue #267
10 August 2020
If you have ever doubted that the economics profession has some serious issues with lack of diversity & predatory behavior, I would strongly advise you to read the recent post on Claudia Sahm's blog coming with the telling title 'Economics is a disgrace'. Most probably, the post is also an important read for those who have suspected that the observed lack of diversity in econ is somehow related…
Given current circumstances, I expect a larger share...
Issue #266
13 July 2020
Given current circumstances, I expect a larger share of you, dear readers, to stay at home during this (northern hemisphere) summer time. This change of routines is not only reducing our ecological footprints (although only slightly and by far not enough), it also provides me with the opportunity to get some readings done. I look forward to doing all sorts of readings: necessary & unnecessary…
While books on economics do regularly become bestsellers,...
Issue #265
22 June 2020
While books on economics do regularly become bestsellers, it is a rare occastion to see such a bestseller cover relevant terrain in heterodox economics. And although a series of successful books with heterodox content reached a broader audience in recent years – just think of Mariana Mazzucato's Entrepreunerial State, Kate Raworth's Doughnut Economics or David Graeber's Debt: The first 5.000…
The Corona-pandemic still has a visible impact on...
Issue #264
1 June 2020
The Corona-pandemic still has a visible impact on the contents of this Newsletter: we have much less Calls for Papers to feature than usual and, if so, these calls typically relate to Special Issues or online meetings. In short, nobody seems to be eager to plan any offline events and I do fully understand that. Maybe the scientific communities around the globe can reap a take-away from this by…
Economic processes are often coined by the occurrence...
Issue #263
11 May 2020
Economic processes are often coined by the occurrence of unforeseen events: foreign countries may arbitrarily erect trade barriers, politicians can always introduce novel regulations, financial markets repeatedly break down and technological innovations can make stuff obsolete tomorrow, that yesterday was still conceived as an everlasting necessity. The occurrence of such unforeseen events in…
In these unusual days my affections are often...
Issue #262
20 April 2020
In these unusual days my affections are often with those among us that are not so lucky and privileged to withstand the current health crisis without much loss of income and opportunity. The fact that many people out there struggle economically - although the lock-downs have been in place for only a few weeks, a 'very short run' so to say - painfully points to the fragility of even the most…
I assume it does not come as a...
Issue #261
30 March 2020
I assume it does not come as a surprise to you that the current circumstances also affect the discipline of economics. For one, the spread of the corona-virus and its more immediate consequences challenge some existing presumptions about the capacity and potentials of government-led action as well as regarding the relative performance and capabilities of different health care-systems. For…
As an open-minded heterodox economist one should always...
Issue #260
9 March 2020
As an open-minded heterodox economist one should always try to be aware of interesting or noteworthy developments in mainstream economics. This task is not easy - simply because of the vast amount of literature produced - but nonetheless important for two reasons: first, one should have some informed intuition about where the larger part of the field of economics is heading. Second, one should be…
Although economics is an inherently political subject, the...
Issue #259
17 February 2020
Although economics is an inherently political subject, the intersection between policy and economics is typically not the main focus of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. This is slightly different in this issue, which includes a regular and a surprising item related to economic policy issues. The regular item stems from the Euromemorandum-Group, which annually announces a plea for implementing…
While the Heterodox Economics Newsletter regularly collects recent...
Issue #258
27 January 2020
While the Heterodox Economics Newsletter regularly collects recent issues of journals dedicated to heterodox economics to some degree, it is often the case that contributions of potential interest to heterodox economists are published outside this, necessarily selective, spectrum of journals. I came across one such case in a recent issue of Nature Physics, which featured a paper on ergodicity and…
Yesterday, this year's ASSA meeting( in San Diego...
Issue #257
6 January 2020
Yesterday, this year's ASSA meeting in San Diego has ended. The ASSA meeting is probably the greatest gathering of economists throughout the year and it is noteworthy insofar as the ASSA is one of the very few places, where exchange between heterodox and mainstream economists could be facilitated. I say 'could be', because actually this is only rarely the case: mainstream researchers typically do…
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes...
Issue #256
16 December 2019
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes not only with best wishes for your upcoming holidays, but also includes the usual plethora of hopefully interesting items. In this context, I wanted to draw your attention to the awards-category, where a series of awards are still open for nomination or submission, as well as to the three "Calls for Support" included in this issue. These…
During these days a short article( by Oswald...
Issue #255
25 November 2019
During these days a short article by Oswald and Stern claiming that 'econ lets the world down on climate change' caught my eye. The main thrust of the piece is that economics is not taking climate change seriously enough as is evidenced by the lack of attention to the topic in major economic journals. In a way they demonstrate how our theoretical preconceptions also shape our understanding of…
During public talks or in teaching contexts I...
Issue #254
4 November 2019
During public talks or in teaching contexts I am sometimes asked, whether there exists a clear-cut heterodox alternative to standard theories of individual economic decision-making. While there are some obvious responses to this question pointing to classic concepts - like social emulation of consumer preferences, consumption-learning, rent-seeking behavior, mark-up pricing or the marginal…
In this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter,...
Issue #253
14 October 2019
In this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, you will find a series of hasty items with close deadlines - mainly calls for papers and job posts - that might require your immediate attention. So be sure to inspect this issue quickly to not miss a possible opportunity. Having said that I also wanted to draw your attention to a new heterodox economic journal, the Review of Evolutionary…
Last week I visited the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland at the occasion of the annual conference of the European
Issue #252
24 September 2019
Last week I visited the Warsaw School of Economics in Poland at the occasion of the annual conference of the European Association of Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE). This was fascinating for at least three reasons: First, the Warsaw School of Economics is a truly historical place, which hosted intellectual giants of heterodox economics such as Michael Kalecki, Oskar Lange or Kasimir Laski…
As someone, who recently moved from Austria to...
Issue #251
3 September 2019
As someone, who recently moved from Austria to Germany I am now more closely following political developments in Germany. However, in many instances this does not feel like a novel experience to me, but rather, like a big deja-vu: When two decades ago the populist, far-right Freedom Party managed to achieve a relative majority of votes in Carinthia, a small but beautiful county in Austria,…
While climate change becomes a bigger and bigger...
Issue #250
5 August 2019
While climate change becomes a bigger and bigger topic in public discourse, recent research points to the severe implications climate change is going to have on actual living conditions of human beings (see, for instance, here and here). In this context, I think it's worth illustrating why my regrets about our collective inability to tackle this challenge are intimately related to my views on…
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter contains...
Issue #249
8 July 2019
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter contains many items that may either enrich or ruin your summer vacation. For one, publishers are eager to fill up your suitcases with their recent publications. As a consequence our sections on recently published books and journal issues are more voluminous than usual. Within these sections, I found a series of interesting contributions, that…
Pinning down the nature of heterodox economics and...
Issue #248
10 June 2019
Pinning down the nature of heterodox economics and suggesting appropriate definitions of this field of study is both, a general concern of the heterodox research community and a practical necessity for advancing a coherent research agenda. An interesting recent contribution to this discussion can be found here, which emphasizes, among other things, that "it is important to have a positive…
During my academic career, I have for many...
Issue #247
20 May 2019
During my academic career, I have for many years designed 'complementary' lectures, talks and seminars. In these, I tried to provide students enrolled in standard econ or business-programs with some critical reflection by illuminating new theoretical or methodological vantage points in a way that would also help them to progress in their main fields of specialization. Hence, I taught stuff like…
During the last weeks I was primarily concerned...
Issue #246
29 April 2019
During the last weeks I was primarily concerned with preparing talks for student-led conferences in London and Vienna as well as with conceptualizing new materials for my teaching duties at University Duisburg-Essen, where I currently introduce undergrads in Political Science to basics in socioeconomic analysis. While I was drowning in what felt like a million of different slides, I repeatedly…
Last week I was invited to participate in...
Issue #245
8 April 2019
Last week I was invited to participate in a conference on "Still rethinking? - The Need for Pluralism in Economics" organized by the Rethinking Economics Group at Greenwich University. This was a student-led conference and the organization of the sessions reflected that in a very inspiring way: more experienced scholars were invited to give broad and accessible introductions to various aspects of…
Two weeks ago I was rather intrigued to...
Issue #244
18 March 2019
Two weeks ago I was rather intrigued to see that a paper on "Beliefs about Gender" was featured as the lead article of the recent issue of the American Economic Review. Bluntly speaking, I was hoping to find a paper that was sensitive to the problematic tendency to provide essentialist accounts of gender differences, e.g. by asserting that women are less risk-seeking and more cooperative without…
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter can...
Issue #243
25 February 2019
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter can be understood as a large-scale test of the new technical infrastructure we have implemented over the last weeks. Specifically, we moved our mailing-lists to a new listserv hosted by the University of Duisburg-Essen. This servive is closer to the technical state-of-the-art, which, among other things, allowed for merging the seven different…
Some months ago the Academy of Management Journal, one of the world's leading journals in management studies, published
Issue #242
4 February 2019
Some months ago the Academy of Management Journal, one of the world's leading journals in management studies, published an engaged editorial on the importance and usefulness of qualitative studies to provide "new ways of seeing". The editorial emphasizes the importance and relative merits of qualitative approaches, invites additional submissions of this kind of research and provides a very neat…
It is my great pleasure to announce that the Heterodox Economics Newsletter has found a new home – the Institute for
Issue #241
14 January 2019
It is my great pleasure to announce that the Heterodox Economics Newsletter has found a new home – the Institute for Socio-Economics at University Duisburg-Essen in Germany. The main reason for this transition is that since 2019 I have the honor to serve as a Professor for Pluralist Economics at said Institute. This change not only brings new opportunities for the Newsletter, but also enriches my…
Welcome, dear readers, to the first offical Christmas-issue...
Issue #240
24 December 2018
Welcome, dear readers, to the first offical Christmas-issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. As the Newsletter brings presents in the form of a huge bulk of more or less urgent and highly interesting Calls for Papers, I would suggest to postpone a close reading of this issue till you return to work - otherwise your holidays might be scrambled by the urge to file some submissions ;-) In this…
It is now quite evident that tackling climate change is a major economic challenge of the 21st century
Issue #239
3 December 2018
It is now quite evident that tackling climate change is a major economic challenge of the 21st century. Against this backdrop, I was intrigiued to find that some members of the European Central Banking System are now actively thinking about an agenda on how to incorporate climate-considerations in central banking activities. The first progress report of the associated "Network for Greening the…
When compiling this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, I noticed at some point, that this is actually an
Issue #238
12 November 2018
When compiling this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, I noticed at some point, that this is actually an anniversary issue: it is now five years past since I started editing the Newsletter. As you might guess, this duty has made my work-life more stressful and dense in some aspects. At the same time, I will readily admit that I experience my editorship as a highly interesting and…
While it is sometimes supposed that "analytical ideal types turn all too easily into political ideals" (see here), it
Issue #237
22 October 2018
While it is sometimes supposed that "analytical ideal types turn all too easily into political ideals" (see here), it is my impression that this statement does not apply to all "analytic ideal types". In contrast, the process selecting those "ideal types" that eventually acquire political or public impact is actually quite delicate. Against this backdrop, I found the Review of the Keynesian…
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes with a lot of interesting reading material: aside from the
Issue #236
1 October 2018
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes with a lot of interesting reading material: aside from the really lengthy list of current journal issues, I have also spotted a series of highly interesting books. My favorites in the latter section included (unsurprisingly) a book on teaching pluralist economics, another on the history of inequality in the UK and, finally, one on the…
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes straight from the annual conference of the European Association
Issue #235
10 September 2018
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes straight from the annual conference of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE), which took place in Nice/France this year. As a more or less regular visitor of this conference I have to admit that I am slightly impressed - not only with respect to the large number of participants (roughly 400 researchers took part…
In a side note in his History of...
Issue #234
20 August 2018
In a side note in his History of Economic AnalysisJoseph Schumpeter anticipated the idea of a 'scientific paradigm', which has later been introduced by Thomas S. Kuhn in his Structure of Scientific Revolutions. The latter has been published in 1962, that is, eight years after the first edition of the History had been printed. However, instead of a 'paradigm', Schumpeter speaks of a "preanalytic…
Once a year, typically around this time, an issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is compiled under unusual
Issue #233
23 July 2018
Once a year, typically around this time, an issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is compiled under unusual circumstances and, effectively, sent out from a campsite somewhere in Southern Europe. And I repeadetly find that compiling Newsletters during vacation provides the material for an interesting economic case-study. First, following Thorstein Veblen's classic piece on the subject,…
Bringing a pluralist approach to economics into the...
Issue #232
25 June 2018
Bringing a pluralist approach to economics into the classroom represents a specific challenge for scholars in heterodox economics and political economy. It is a specific challenge not only because a pluralist take is a novel experience for many students, but also because the covered material is typically less canonical and concepetually homogenous than the presentation of a standard introductory…
In this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter you will not only find a series of hasty deadlines for job postings
Issue #231
4 June 2018
In this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter you will not only find a series of hasty deadlines for job postings (here), conferences (here and here) and summer schools (here), but also an exhaustive list of recently published books. The books section carries a strong flavor of the "Marx 200" anniversary as many books listed in this issue deal with labor struggles (e.g. here or here),…
Some weeks ago, the AEA has finished its...
Issue #230
14 May 2018
Some weeks ago, the AEA has finished its discussion on a 'code of professional conduct' for economists and published a final version on its website (see here). I think it is fair to say that the outcome is ambitious and raises new challenges and questions for economists. For one, the code is in favor of a "disinterested assessment of ideas" and the "acknowledgement of limits of expertise". These…
In terms of content, this issue of the...
Issue #229
23 April 2018
In terms of content, this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter exhibits many continuities: for instance, we find the obligatory call for applications for the EPOG-program, one of the most outstanding MA programs in heterodox economics (see here). We can spot the final calls of heterodox associations for the ASSA-conference in January 2019 (here or here) or inspect Calls for Papers related…
About a decade ago, when I was about...
Issue #228
2 April 2018
About a decade ago, when I was about to becoming a PhD-student in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences, there were only a handful of summer schools available to young researchers interested in heterodox economic approaches. Hence, it does not come as a surprise that I am highly delighted by the fact that the supply in summer schools dedicated to alternative approaches in economics has increased…
A highly interesting and sometimes irritating feature of...
Issue #227
12 March 2018
A highly interesting and sometimes irritating feature of modern economics is its tendency to develop practices that not only ignore, but rather invert standard epistemological guidelines for doing "good science". One such instance relates to the question whether we should aim tocritically assess the empirical validity of our most basic assumptions . In this context the standard view in philosophy…
In this issue of the Newsletter we present...
Issue #226
19 February 2018
In this issue of the Newsletter we present three initiatives trying to broaden the economic debate by offering alternative economics content in the form of short podcasts. The first of these initiatives - the podcast "ceteris non paribus" is sponsored by the History of Economics Society and offers short and insightful video contributions on major aspects in the history of economic thought. While…
As usual, this issue of the Heterodox Economics...
Issue #225
29 January 2018
As usual, this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is full of important and timely items documenting recent and upcoming activities related to heterodox economics. Some of the items below relate to issues covered in past editorials: for instance, my short report on my personal ASSA-experience is complemented by a series of calls for papers for the next meeting in Atlanta, early 2019 (see…
This issue of the Newsletter comes straight from...
Issue #224
8 January 2018
This issue of the Newsletter comes straight from this year’s ASSA-conference, which took place in Philadelphia. As always, I had the opportunity to visit a series of excellent sessions on current research in heterodox economics (see, for instance, here, here, here, here or here). In visiting these sessions, I had the impression that there are a lot of interesting developments in our field, so I…
This year's final issue of the Heterodox Economics...
Issue #223
18 December 2017
This year's final issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes with a huge set of Calls for Papers dedicated to conferences taking place and special issues to be published in the upcoming year. Be sure to take note closely as some of the suggested deadlines are rather hasty and might surprise if you go through them after your holidays, while, on the other hand, studying them to closely might…
In my view, a key personal challenge in...
Issue #222
27 November 2017
In my view, a key personal challenge in modern academia is to bridge between increasing demands for professional specialization and the general aim to build and sustain some amount of historical, methodological and institutional knowledge that allows you to adequately contextualize and interpret the results in contemporary research. In trying to come to grips with the latter I sometimes use…
This Newsletter starts with a success story: In...
Issue #221
6 November 2017
This Newsletter starts with a success story: In our past issue we asked you to undersign a petition issued by Michael Reich and Heidi Hartmann, which is distributed by IAFEE and urges the AEA to provide an alternative to the website Economics Job Market Rumors. The motivation of the petition rooted in the abusive, sexist and discriminatory language that is well-established on said site and speaks…
This issue of the Newsletter features a series...
Issue #220
16 October 2017
This issue of the Newsletter features a series of interesting and timely items. You will find some exciting books, e.g. on the "costs of Brexit" or the role of cost-benefit analysis and a lop-sided focus on efficiency in public policy, as well as a set of current journal issues - for instance, the European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies published a nice issue covering main…
As economics is becoming successively more empirical (e.g.,...
Issue #219
25 September 2017
As economics is becoming successively more empirical (e.g., here), critics and proponents of conventional economics are more than ever challenged to develop capabilities to critically assess the merits of published empirical research. While some defective routines in empirical work, like the issue of "specification search", are rather well-known, some other defects are much more difficult to…
During the past years of post-crisis malaise I...
Issue #218
4 September 2017
During the past years of post-crisis malaise I have often read about the "zero lower bound" (here is a very amibitious example). The zero lower bound is a well-known compositum from mainstream economics to describe the limits of inflation targeting as resulting from the fact that it is practically rather difficult to impose negative interest rates, even if such negative interest rates would be…
It is always refreshing to watch heterodox economics...
Issue #217
14 August 2017
It is always refreshing to watch heterodox economics grow and expand its intellectual scope. It does so against many odds and thereby adds a blink of intellectual diversity to the often monotonous outlook of modern mainstream economics. Against this backdrop, I was highly delighted to read about the emergence of a new department of Socio-Economics in Germany (at the University of Duisburg-Essen),…
The last issue of the American Economic Review
Issue #216
17 July 2017
The last issue of the American Economic Review caught my eye, because it included the speeches held by the two most recent recipients of the Prize of the Bank of Sweden in memory of Alfred Nobel. I read through the paper of Bengt Holmström on „Pay for Performance and Beyond“, in which he shows why a fuller consideration of the incentive structure of employees (or more generally: agents) often…
As usual, our June issue is strong on...
Issue #215
19 June 2017
As usual, our June issue is strong on books and provides a vast collection of current works highly suitable to increase the weight of your luggage during your next vacation. A special gem within this voluminous set is Ric Holt's edition on the "The Selected Letters of John Kenneth Galbraith". I highly endorse this one, as Galbraith not only had his way with words and expressed true mastery in…
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is...
Issue #214
29 May 2017
This issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter is an especially hasty one, as it contains many calls and job postings with deadlines only a few days away - so scroll through this issue with great care! To further reinforce this general flavor of urgency, I wanted to point you to a spectacular project in pluralist economics, namely Exploring Economics. As you can see for yourself, Exploring…
In the past weeks I have been asked...
Issue #213
8 May 2017
In the past weeks I have been asked several times, how the thesis of a single paradigm dominating current economics comes to grips with the observation that the economic mainstream (still) produces a huge variety of models and policy proposals. And indeed, nearly a decade after the collapse of Lehman Brothers opinions still range from „I don’t know what a credit bubble means" (Eugene Fama in The…
Aside from the usual and refreshing plethora of...
Issue #212
17 April 2017
Aside from the usual and refreshing plethora of books and events listed below, this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes with a series of special notifications, including two important calls for support (here and here), the announcement of a new magazine - "The Mint" \- focusing on bringing new economic thinking into the public debate as well as a call for applications regarding the…
Two weeks ago I took part in an...
Issue #211
27 March 2017
Two weeks ago I took part in an interdisciplinary workshop in Galway (Ireland), which gathered researchers from physics, mathematics and psychology and was hosted by this great researcher, who managed to bring together a bunch of open-minded and interesting people. While most colleagues presented some recent papers, I decided to go for a more "big-picture" approach explaining, basically, what I…
While many standard economists would argue that an...
Issue #210
6 March 2017
While many standard economists would argue that an increase in the intensity of competition brings forth superior social outcomes, only few of them have noted that their own field - academic economics - exhibits tendencies running contrary to this claim. While it has not gone unnoticed that the conjoined forces of 'publish or perish' and a highly stratified academic culture in economics…
"What I am worried about most of all,...
Issue #209
13 February 2017
"What I am worried about most of all, is what we don't see. So, I am worried about the analysis that is never seen, that never becomes a paper and it doesn't become a paper, because it can't become a paper. And it can't become a paper, because that's not what a paper in economics is all about. I am quite worried about and we know such vacuums exist." These wise words resemble a sentiment familiar…
I am always rather enthusiastic about student-led projects...
Issue #208
23 January 2017
I am always rather enthusiastic about student-led projects related to heterodox economics. For once, it's always great to see young people engage with some material and develop their own take on a subject. For another, students often have a good intuition for how to get things across and get a different hearing than (more or less) established academics do, in short: they have an impact. A good,…
While Google's Ngram Viewer( for assessing historical text...
Issue #207
2 January 2017
While Google's Ngram Viewer for assessing historical text corpora has some deficiences, I use it occasionally to satisfy my curiosities. Recently, I looked up the term 'heterodox economics' to get a better impression of the long-term usage of this label (see below) and was surprised by the outcome in various ways. First, it seems that the phrase itself is rather old and has been used to describe…
For your convenience and against the backdrop of...
Issue #206
12 December 2016
For your convenience and against the backdrop of the upcoming ASSA-conference in Chicago this Newsletter includes a compilation of links to the programs of all those associations, which take a heterodox or otherwise critical view on economic issues and developments. While the ASSA is a joint conference of many different associations in economics and beyond (the acronym ASSA refers to the "Allied…
Back then, in 2013, I visited a panel...
Issue #205
21 November 2016
Back then, in 2013, I visited a panel on "What Do Economists Think about Major Public Policy Issues?", which took place in the course of the 2013 ASSA meeting. In this session Luigi Zingales presented a highly interesting and relevant paper on the differences in views between economic experts and the general public, which found the following: "The topics most covered in the economic literature,…
Welcome again, to a novel and fully-fledged issue...
Issue #204
31 October 2016
Welcome again, to a novel and fully-fledged issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. While you will find a whole armada of announcements on recently published books, calls for papers, noteworthy events and summer schools below, I wanted to point you to two important "calls for support", which have been included in this issue of the Newsletter. The first relates to a crowdfounding-project…
Some weeks ago I presented a paper at the "Conference on Complex Systems", an interdisciplinary event hosting
Issue #203
10 October 2016
Some weeks ago I presented a paper at the "Conference on Complex Systems", an interdisciplinary event hosting researchers from mathematics, computer science, physics, biology, communication science, economics and other fields. The underlying common theme of these researchers is, of course, the structure and properties of complex networks, which leads them to consider a series of topics familiar…
Out there, in the blogosphere, you can find...
Issue #202
19 September 2016
Out there, in the blogosphere, you can find a nice and polite exchange between Simon Wren-Lewis and Jo Michell on the relative merits and problems of mainstream and heterodox macroeconomic modelling (see here, here and here). While they are raising a series of interesting and noteworthy points I was surprised to find that an even more inspiring read on this subject is provided by Paul Romer.…
The critical engagement with standard economic thinking from...
Issue #201
29 August 2016
The critical engagement with standard economic thinking from a philosophical vantage point can sometimes be a dry subject: for instance, applying insights from epistemology to navigate through the logical fallacies, conceptual flexibilities and normative biases of standard economic thought requires not only some modest understanding of the subjects under consideration. It also demands a…
It is a great honor to me to...
Issue #200
1 August 2016
It is a great honor to me to hereby announce the publication of the 200th issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, your regular guide to what's going on in heterodox economics and related interdisciplinary research! Building on the work of our past editors - the late Frederic S. Lee as well as his successors, Tae-Hee Jo and Ted P. Schmidt \- the Newsletter has managed to increase its scope in…
During the last weeks I encountered a recurring...
Issue #199
4 July 2016
During the last weeks I encountered a recurring topic in heterodox economics, namely the infamous issue of self-labelling and self-framing and the related question of disciplinary embedding. For instance, when sending out requests for additions to the section "100 words on heterodox economics" in the Heterodox Economics Directory, I received some responses stating that the respondents do not…
In my last editorial I pointed to a...
Issue #198
13 June 2016
In my last editorial I pointed to a great website on the History of Economic Thought (see here), which collects a lot of interesting material, including neat summaries and many original texts. In response to this editorial Rod Hill, University of New Brunswick, pointed me to another no less great site on the history of economic thought, which has originally been founded by Rod Hay and specializes…
In the last few weeks we have collected...
Issue #197
23 May 2016
In the last few weeks we have collected corrections and suggestions for further improving the recently released 6th edition of the Heterodox Economics Directory \- many thanks to all those who contributed novel content or corrections and thereby made it possible to publish this final version, which serves as a readily available guide to Heterodox Economics useful to researchers, students and…
During the last weeks we received a series...
Issue #196
2 May 2016
During the last weeks we received a series of helpful recommendations and suggestions for the all-new Heterodox Economics Directory. Many thanks to all those, who took the time to submit updates and corrections and thereby helped us a great deal to keep the Directory up-to-date and useful for researchers, practitioners and students interested in heterodox economics. For all those, who have not…
Before turning to more important stuff, I wanted to remind you that the completely new, 6th edition of the Heterodox
Issue #195
11 April 2016
Before turning to more important stuff, I wanted to remind you that the completely new, 6th edition of the Heterodox Economics Directory is still open for feedback and additional suggestions. So please, take a minute to check whether the descriptions of those institutions, journals and universities you are affiliated with are still up-to-date and adequately representing your work. In case you…
As you will probably already know, this Newsletter hosts an accompanying Directory on Heterodox Economics, which aims
Issue #194
21 March 2016
As you will probably already know, this Newsletter hosts an accompanying Directory on Heterodox Economics, which aims to document the institutional diversity and breadth of the heterodox economics community within academia and has become a valuable tool for students, researchers, practitioners and interested laypeople. However, what you most probably did not know is that a new edition of said…
As you might have recognized, the size of this Newsletter has grown significantly within the last year
Issue #193
29 February 2016
As you might have recognized, the size of this Newsletter has grown significantly within the last year. While some of this growth can be attributed to a change in editorial policies - e.g. the introduction of a more inclusive and more careful approach to representing heterodox journals - the large bulk of this change is due to increased activities within the heterodox economic community. I think…
Last week I was invited to a workshop initiated by the German Bertelsmann foundation to give a talk about the possible
Issue #192
8 February 2016
Last week I was invited to a workshop initiated by the German Bertelsmann foundation to give a talk about the possible use of trade policy to foster 'inclusive growth' - a label introduced by the OECD to flag economic policy measures, which aim to ensure an equal distribution of the benefits associated with economic growth. This trip was interesting for at least three reasons. First, I found that…
First of all, I would like to point...
Issue #191
18 January 2016
First of all, I would like to point our European readers to the EuroMemorandum 2016 petition, which "analyses recent economic developments in Europe and emphasizes the strong need for an alternative economic policy that is based on the principles of democratic participation, social justice and environmental sustainability." The deadline for supporting the EuroMemorandum 2016 ends today - so in…
A few months ago I commented on Paul...
Issue #190
28 December 2015
A few months ago I commented on Paul Romer's argument on 'mathiness' in the economics profession, a term that has by now gained significant public visibility and even seems to merit a specific mentioning on Wikipedia. In this context I criticized Romer's conception of "science", which he defined as "a process that does lead to shared consensus". This definition seemed awkward to me, not only…
As usual at the end of the year,...
Issue #189
7 December 2015
As usual at the end of the year, today's Newsletter has an especially crowded section on recently published issues of heterodox economic journals and possibly relevant Calls for Papers. While the journal section focuses more narrowly on journals in heterodox economics, political economy and the history of economic thought, I have established a more open policy when it comes to Calls for Papers.…
In a recent commentary( in the Guardian, Joris...
Issue #188
16 November 2015
In a recent commentary in the Guardian, Joris Luyendijk reminds us not to be fooled by the 'Nobel' prize in economics and thereby questions the privilege of economics in this regard. He especially focuses on the fact that the image of the 'Nobels' in academia is largely due to the success of natural sciences and draws the conclusion that the 'Nobel' in economics creates a misleading impression of…
Today's issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes...
Issue #187
26 October 2015
Today's issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter comes with a whole bunch of interesting entries: aside from pointers to a series of current job-postings as well as requests from editorial offices of heterodox journals you will also find massive lists of recent books and Calls for Papers. The latter category also includes a call for a special session on exploring the relation between heterodox…
Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century continues to attract attention — also among heterodox circles…
Issue #186
5 October 2015
Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century continues to provoke debate within heterodoxy, the mainstream and beyond. In the first half of 2015 leading mainstream journals like AER and JEP have published (largely critical) symposia on Piketty's book. On the mainstream side, I especially recommend this piece from the JEP issue, which seems to be the only contribution collected in these two…
Now and then, it is quite interesting to...
Issue #185
14 September 2015
Now and then, it is quite interesting to look into other disciplines and ask whether the theoretical and empirical contributions advanced in these fields could provide some additional support for heterodox economic perspectives. One such field is possibly Economic Geography, which regularly makes use of heterodox economics as is evidenced by their citation behavior. Another, possibly more…
Some time ago, I came across a new...
Issue #184
17 August 2015
Some time ago, I came across a new branch of economics labelled "genoeconomics". The advent of genoeconomics is obviously conditional on the emergence of big (genome-)data, since practical works in this field exploit huge data sets to precisely show that the value of genetic information for estimating educational or economic outcomes is next to nothing (see, for instance, here). While all this…
This issue of the Newsletter comes with a...
Issue #183
20 July 2015
This issue of the Newsletter comes with a series of timely suggestion for your northern-hemisphere-summer-readings and, hence, includes a bunch of items related to recently published books and journal-issues. In case these readings seem too conventional for you and you are currently searching for something more thrilling I could offer you this piece. It implicitly explains how Europe's current…
In this issue of the newsletter you will...
Issue #182
22 June 2015
In this issue of the newsletter you will find some very timely items related to the current economic turmoil in Europe. Among these is a copy of a letter to the Guardian raising concerns about the plans of the UK government to enforce drastic budget cuts in order to reach a permanent budget surplus. In times like these, this is surely a radical idea; however, some doubts remain, whether the…
This issue of the Newsletter includes a series...
Issue #181
1 June 2015
This issue of the Newsletter includes a series of rather hasty call for papers, job postings and grant opportunities. On top of the respective list-of-hasty-pieces is surely 1st international Post-Keynesian conference in Grenoble with the deadline for submissions ending today. So scrutinize this issue immediately to be prepared for all upcoming events and deadlines;-) On the other hand, I have…
Within the past few weeks we have been...
Issue #180
11 May 2015
Within the past few weeks we have been working to improve the journal-coverage of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter by employing a more systematic and inclusive list of journals generally included in the Newsletter. Most of the relevant information for doing so is accrued by automated email-Alerts provided by the journals' publishers. So if you want us to include your favorite journal simply…
Within the last weeks we expanded our social...
Issue #179
20 April 2015
Within the last weeks we expanded our social media outreach by adding a spectacular Facebook account to the virtual assets of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. The main aim is to increase the visibility of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter as well as the associated community of researchers - so please like it. Many thanks go to Florian Springholz, the Newsletter's unfatiguing assistant editor,…
During my activities as the editor of the...
Issue #178
30 March 2015
During my activities as the editor of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter I often get requests to announce the publication of new working papers related to heterodox economic approaches. In most cases I have declined these requests simply because keeping track of relevant working papers goes beyond the scope of the Newsletter - including working papers would significantly increase both, the size…
Several Newsletters ago I mentioned a report( on...
Issue #177
10 March 2015
Several Newsletters ago I mentioned a report on the development of heterodox economics in France and the role of centralized recruitment and citation metrics in this context (here is the original report). The report indicated that the recruitment of heterodox economists has significantly declined in the past few years for several reasons. One main factor is thereby the reliance on citation…
It is interesting to note that in the...
Issue #176
16 February 2015
It is interesting to note that in the course of the Eurozone-Crisis and the related debate on how to remedy Greece's plight, a heterodox economist has risen to great prominence within European media discourse. This development has been largely unnoticed by media commentators themselves, who are interested in Yanis Varoufakis primarily as Greece's newly appointed minister of finance and obviously…
We have received news that the University of...
Issue #175
26 January 2015
We have received news that the University of Greenwich has revised its way of teaching economics in response to the ongoing economic crisis: new programmes have been issued, which focus on the history of economic thought, economic history as well as political economy, and pluralism has been established as a main guideline of all economics teaching. This undertaking is significant, since it is…
I am sending you this Newsletter from this...
Issue #174
5 January 2015
I am sending you this Newsletter from this year's ASSA-conference in Boston, where several thousand economists spent the beginning of the new year. The ASSA is always a highly diversified and enlightening event, although I found the different sessions and presentations I attended to be of a rather mixed quality. For instance, I had opportunity to present a paper in an AFEE-session on "Theorizing…
In the last few weeks we have again...
Issue #172
15 December 2014
In the last few weeks we have again expanded the resources of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. In doing so we have set up a Twitter-account to promote all Newsletter-Issues also on Twitter. I hope that those of you using Twitter will find that worthwhile. Additionally, we have implemented an online account for making donations to the Newsletter. Making donations until now has been a rather…
This issue of the Newsletter contains an important...
Issue #173
15 December 2014
This issue of the Newsletter contains an important item directed at our younger readers, namely the call for applications for the international "Erasmus Mundus" Master Program in "Economic Policies in the Age of Globalisation" (EPOG). The call for this outstanding program, which also includes the possibility to obtain an EU-funded scholarship, is open till the 21st of January. Of course, the…
Last week, I got the saddening message that...
Issue #171
24 November 2014
Last week, I got the saddening message that Frederic S. Lee, a strong voice of economic heterodoxy as well as the founding editor of this Newsletter, passed away on October 23. His death came much too early given Fred's tremendous efforts and enthusiasm in promoting heterodox economics and economic pluralism. He will be deeply missed by the community of heterodox economists. In reaction to Fred's…
Roughly one year has passed since I started...
Issue #170
3 November 2014
Roughly one year has passed since I started my work as an editor for Heterodox Economics Newsletter. Throughout this year, I have found that doing work for the Newsletter is always worth the effort: it is not only a rewarding task, but also a very interactive one, which allows you to get in touch with a very diverse set of interesting people. In retrospect, I am really happy about my decision to…
The current issue of the Newsletter comes with...
Issue #169
13 October 2014
The current issue of the Newsletter comes with a whole bunch of highly interesting job postings. So if you consider your current employment either boring or lacking, the job postings section is the place to go. In addition, this issue also contains information on a series of PhD-scholarships in Heterodox Economics and related subjects. Please note, that if you are aiming to do a critical PhD in…
This month I attended two quite different events,...
Issue #168
22 September 2014
This month I attended two quite different events, which nonetheless dealt with quite similar topics. Early this August I have been invited to Berlin to take part in a great and refreshing event dedicated to "Pluralism in Economics" and organized by the Macroeconomic Policy Institute (IMK) at the Hans Boeckler Foundation in cooperation with the German network of pluralist students. Interest in the…
This summer issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter...
Issue #167
1 September 2014
This summer issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter includes many, recently published journal items. So you can pick a great variety of refreshing holiday reads out of this newsletter-issue ;-) Additionally, I wanted to point you to a recent report of the French Association of Political Economy (FAPE/AFEP), which analyzes recent trends in economics professors' recruitment in France. It shows…
This issue of the Newsletter comes with two...
Issue #166
4 August 2014
This issue of the Newsletter comes with two special features: First, I am honored to present you the new homepage of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, which can be accessed here. A transmission to a new site was necessary primary for technical reasons. However, in updating the site we also tried to improve its accessibility as well as its graphical display. We are happy to receive any feedback…
As always at the end of the summer...
Issue #165
7 July 2014
As always at the end of the summer term I am busy grading students' papers. However, I also found some time to revise the Heterodox Newsletters' homepage: The new page is going online within the next weeks, hopefully even before the next issue of the Newsletter is published on July 7. Afterwards the Newsletter will turn into "summer mode", meaning that publication intervals will be extended to…
Three weeks ago I reported on an international...
Issue #164
16 June 2014
Three weeks ago I reported on an international student initiative, whose open letter called for a more pluralist and open-minded approach to economic teaching and research. This important initiative has grown considerable within the last 3 weeks now comprising 65 students' associations from 30 different countries (three weeks ago the petitioneers covered "only" 19 countries). See here, here or…
Today an international student initiative( published an open...
Issue #163
26 May 2014
Today an international student initiative published an open letter calling for a more pluralist and open-minded approach to economic teaching and research. I think we should applaud these students, who come from 19 different countries, for their efforts: They make a sensible and timely contribution to the discourse on economics, which has partly already been covered by leading newspapers (e.g.…
While George Soros' "Institute for New Economic Thinking"...
Issue #162
5 May 2014
While George Soros' "Institute for New Economic Thinking" (INET) once ago set out to transform economics into a more critical, and possibly even more diverse field of study, recent developments have cast doubt on its potential contribution to these aims. While much of INET has an appeal of openness, in some parts mainstream closures are visible and possibly stronger than expected by some of those…
Six weeks ago I hypothesized in this editorial...
Issue #161
14 April 2014
Six weeks ago I hypothesized in this editorial that Thomas Piketty's new book on "Capital in the 21st century" might be a significant contribution to a more realistic and open-minded economics profession. I was quite surprised to see Paul Krugman agreeing with me today on this issue (at least with respect to the importance of Piketty's contribution) - so let's hope the profession will follow him…
Although I think that the Cambridge Journal of...
Issue #160
24 March 2014
Although I think that the Cambridge Journal of Economics (CJE) is surely a fine outlet for any paper, I have to confess I was a little bit surprised to see the already famous critique on Reinhart and Rogoff's argument regarding the relationship between public debt and growth (the "a public debt-to-GDP ratio of 90% is a red line” -argument) authored by Thomas Herndon, Michael Ash and Robert Pollin…
This issue of the newsletter is surely voluminous,...
Issue #159
3 March 2014
This issue of the newsletter is surely voluminous, not least because you will find a series of calls for papers related to next year's ASSA-meeting as issued by different heterodox associations. Take a close look at these especially if you have never visited an ASSA-meeting. These meetings are really interesting and a worthwile experience, although you have to bear "a lot of dudes in suits" as I…
In the last few weeks I found myself...
Issue #158
10 February 2014
In the last few weeks I found myself asking whether Thomas Piketty's upcoming book on "Capital in the 21st century" might be some kind of a game-changer in economic thinking. The main reasons for this are threefold: First, the book is really an opus magnum trying to derive "fundamental laws" of capitalism, which strongly relate to economic inequality. Personally, I find that such a theoretical…
This issue of the newsletter comes with a...
Issue #156
30 December 2013
This issue of the newsletter comes with a series of important and diverse Calls for Support. I would like to point your attention to these entries, which call for community support in four very different, but equally important cases. Additionally, I would like to inform all readers about our new gadgetry - a public submission form for entries in the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. This tool comes…
The final issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter...
Issue #157
30 December 2013
The final issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter in 2013 comes with some very close submission deadlines (see especially here and here for the most urgent issues). For many economists, the new year starts with visiting the ASSA-conference. This year's event is in Philadelphia and although I won't attend it myself I wanted to point you to the official booth on "Heterodox Economics" organized…
Within the last weeks I have found that...
Issue #155
9 December 2013
Within the last weeks I have found that the combination of newsletter-editing and busy-conference-travelling is disturbingly pressing. While I seriously hope that this is only a casual observation and no first sign pointing to an "iron law of newsletter editing", it was worth all the efforts and I spent a great time at both, the annual conference of EAEPE in Paris as well as the Hamburg congress…
Hey, I am Jakob Kapeller, and I am...
Issue #154
18 November 2013
Hey, I am Jakob Kapeller, and I am the new editor of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. I have the honor as well as the burden to stand on the shoulders of giants like Fred (Lee), Ted (Schmidt) and Tae-Hee (Jo) and I will try to do my best in carrying on what they started. Personally, I would say that I am an "economist, who accidentally became a philosopher" - trained as an economist and…