Heterodox Economics Newsletter, Issue 109 | December 20, 2010 | 1 |
Heterodox Economics Newsletter
Issue 109 | December 20, 2010
http://heterodoxnews.com/n/htn109.html [read]
http://heterodoxnews.com/n/htn109.pdf [download]


 
From the Editors
Our fall semester has just ended and we are starting a short one-month break with this year-closing issue of the Newsletter. A year has already passed since we took over the Newsletter.  We have attempted to do little things to make it better. We have made many new friends whom we have never met before. We made some mistakes too. We'd like to thank all who gave us useful suggestions, feedback, and kind words as well as those who silently support the Newsletter.

Many of you will be attending the ASSA meeting in Denver. There are many exciting events and sessions organized by heterodox economics associations. Find them out here:


When you have time, please stop by the display booth organized by Heterodox Economics Newsletter together with Dollars & Sense. At the booth, we will be distributing the new edition of the Heterodox Economics Directory. We hope to see many of you at the meeting.


In solidarity,


Tae-Hee Jo and Ted Schmidt, Editors


Email: heterodoxnews@gmail.com

Website: http://heterodoxnews.com


 
Table of Contents
Call for Papers
Association for Heterodox Economics 2011 Conference
CHORD Workshop: ‘Retailing and Institutions, c. 1400-2000’
Conference on "Democracy in Evolution"
Conference on "The Politics of Labour and Development"
Development and Commodification in Latin America: Limits and Possibilities
ESHET Conference 2011
The Geopolitics of European Financial Landscapes
HES at ASSA 2012
Japanese Society for Post Keynesian Economics Conference
The Revolution of Time and the Time of Revolution Conference
Problemas del Desarrollo, Revista Latinoamericana de Economía
Religion and the Marketplace: New Perspectives and New Findings
Sessions at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2011
Special Symposium on Harmer and Henry to be published in the Economics and Labour Relations Review 2011
Taking Control
Varieties of Socialism, Varieties of Approaches
WAPE (World Association for Political Economy) 2011 Conference
Workshop on Behavioral and Experimental Economics
Workshop: Discovery in the social sciences: Towards an empirically-informed philosophy of social science
Workshop: History of Economics as Culture
Call for Participants
CEPN: Post Keynesian Seminars 2010-11
Industrial Dynamics and Growth Conference
The Lisbon Treaty Evaluated: Impact and Consequences
Workshop on 'Evolutionary Thinking and Its Policy Implications for Modern Capitalism'
Job Postings for Heterodox Economists
Center for Economic and Policy Research
The Ford Foundation, New York City
University College London, UK
University of Texas at Alrington, US
Conference Papers, Reports, and Articles
Conference on Sraffa's Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities 1960-2010
Economic Crisis and Left Responses
Heterodox Journals
History of Economics Review, 52: Summer 2010
Intervention. European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies, 7(1): 2010
Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 32(4): December 2010
Marshall Studies Bulletin - Volume 11: December 2010
Mother Pelican, 6(12): December 2010
New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry, 4(1): 2010
Real World Economics Review, 55: December 2010
Rethinking Marxism, 22(4) : 2010
Revue de la Régulation  8: December 2010
Heterodox Newsletters
Friends of Associative Economists: Dec. 2010
Global Labour Column: Dec. 2010
IDEAS: Nov. 2010
Levy News: Dec. 2010
Revista Circus
Heterodox Books and Book Series
Beyond Inflation Targeting: Assessing the Impacts and Policy Alternatives
Crisis and Change Today: Basic Questions of Marxist Sociology
Darwin’s Conjecture: The Search for General Principles of Social and Economic Evolution
The Economics of John Kenneth Galbraith: Introduction, Persuasion, and Rehabilitation
Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance
Economy, Culture and Human Rights: Turbulence in Punjab, India and Beyond
Karl Marx’s Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy 150 Years Later
The Law of Worldwide Value
Mexico's Revolution Then and Now
Rethinking Foreign Investment for Sustainable Development: Lessons from Latin America
The Rise of Canada's Richest 1%
Why the World Economy Needs a Financial Crash and Other Critical Essays on Finance and Financial Economics
Work and Struggle: Voices of US Labor Radicalism
Workers of the World: Essays toward a Global Labor History
Heterodox Book Reviews
Marx and Philosophy Review of Books
Heterodox Graduate Programs and Scholarships
Edmond J. Safra Lab Fellowships and Projects, 2011-2012
Heterodox Economics in the Media
"How the White House is putting Social Security at Risk" by Heidi Hartmann
Queries from Heterodox Economists
Call for Support: EuroMemorandum 2010/11
JOIN Stiglitz, Hausmann, Bardhan, other economists on capital controls statement
For Your Information
Call for Nomination: ESHET History of Economic Analysis Award
Journal of the History of Economic Thought (JHET)
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Holiday Gift!
Lettre Ouverte sur Œconomia
Archives of the journal Contretemps (founded by Daniel Bensaid) now online
''Tame the Vampire Squid, Take Back Our Banks''
"What's Wrong With Being the World's No.2?" by Adbusters


Call for Papers

Association for Heterodox Economics 2011 Conference

Economists of Tomorrow
6–9 July 2011 | Nottingham Trent University, UK

Revised Call for Papers

In more than ten years the AHE has established a reputation as a major national and international forum for the discussion of alternatives to mainstream economics, and for the interdisciplinary and pluralistic nature of its discussions. It is also plays an ongoing role in strengthening the community of heterodox economists, and to the development of heterodox economic theories on various themes through the dissemination of ideas and arguments.

The esteem of the economics profession has reached an all-time low, in the wake of the global financial crisis that most economists failed to predict. In this context we have a particularly important role to play as heterodox economists, many of whom were well aware that the crisis was imminent and who also have a range of proposals for new stable and sustainable economic and social structures.

For 2011 the AHE Conference theme is Economists of Tomorrow. This reflects the fact that, the world over, we are focused on challenging the hegemonic domination of our profession by just one approach embedded in mainstream economics, the neoclassical approach. The clear failure of neoclassical economics to predict, explain or find solutions to the global financial and economic crises makes it vulnerable. It is our intention is to use this opportunity to further expand and strengthen the case for pluralism within the economics profession.

Particular topics of interest under this over-arching theme include: addressing the power structures of the profession such as the Research Excellence Framework, the Royal Economic Society and the ABS ranking of economics journals; pluralism in research and teaching; research evaluation; openness to innovation and creativity; and the relationships between economists and decision-makers. The 2011 Conference will have both refereed and non-refereed papers. All paper proposals should indicate whether the paper is intended to be refereed or not.

A feature of the AHE is as a pluralist forum for dialogue. Consequently, the conference will also provide a broad pluralistic and interdisciplinary forum to discuss issues that members of the AHE and others feel are important. To gain an idea of the sorts of topics and issues that may be of interest to participants please see the details of the AHE conference 2010.

The international character of the conference has been a vital factor in its growing success. Scholars requiring documentation in support of visa or funding applications should indicate this at the time of submitting an abstract or panel proposal. Conference registration fees, all transportation and accommodation costs are at the expense of participants. Nevertheless, the AHE Conference Steering Committee is able to allocate some limited funding to assist participants from outside the US and European Union whose proposal is accepted. If you wish to apply for help with your conference costs please contact the organising committee by email via AHEconference@ntu.ac.uk.

The conference language is English.

Details regarding submission and registration
The conference invites submissions for single papers, panels and sessions of relevance to the over-arching conference theme or address topics or issues of importance to heterodox economics from standpoints which differ from, or critically examine, mainstream economics.

To facilitate dialogue and timetabling, participants whose papers are accepted must register by Monday 13 June 2011. All participants will be expected to take part in at least two full days of the conference, in order to be included in the final programme. Participants should also be prepared to serve as discussants and/or session chairs. Further registration details will be announced later.

Single papers
All participants, including those proposed for sessions and themes, must submit an abstract electronically to AHEConference@ntu.ac.uk. The abstracts for papers, which must be no longer than one page, should include a brief informative title, a clear statement of the issue the proposed paper will address, its main points, and its argument. Abstracts must be submitted by Sunday 30 January 2011. Your abstract must state if you wish your paper to be considered for a theme and if you require it to be refereed. You must provide contact and affiliation details for all authors. If your paper is submitted in the name of more than one author, please indicate who will receive correspondence. The authors of successful abstracts will be notified and must provide a complete paper by Thursday 12 May 2011 (refereed papers) or  Thursday 26 May 2011 (non-refereed papers), unless the proposal is to be taken in a poster session. Both papers and abstracts must either be in Word or PDF format.

Complete sessions
The AHE welcomes proposals for complete single sessions and encourages those which address a single topic or issue from a variety of viewpoints or disciplines. Session proposals should be sent to AHEconference@ntu.ac.uk and should include:

The deadline for complete sessions is Sunday 30 January 2011.

Themes
We encourage proposals for themes which address a single topic or issue from a variety of viewpoints or disciplines. The conference committee will work with theme organisers, when constructing the conference programme, to construct a coherent list of sessions for the theme, and schedule these so that participants can follow the theme. Theme proposals should be sent to AHEconference@ntu.ac.uk and should include:

Themes, once agreed by the conference committee, will be posted on the website along with contact details for theme organisers up until the closing date for papers. When submitting paper proposals, authors will be invited to indicate for which theme, if any, they consider it suitable. Theme organisers will be asked to consider all such submissions for inclusion.

The deadline for themes is Sunday 30 January 2011.

Poster sessions
Poster sessions are intended to encourage new work by postgraduate or postdoctoral students, will depend on the number of submissions, and will be announced nearer the date of conference. If you wish your paper to be presented in a poster session, you need not provide a complete paper.

The deadline for poster sessions is Sunday 30 January 2011.

Deadlines
Abstracts for all papers - to be included in a theme, complete session or general conference session, and poster sessions: Sunday 30 January 2011

Proposal for complete sessions: Sunday 30 January 2011
Proposals for themes: Sunday 30 January 2011
All proposals and abstracts will be considered and notified as follows
Paper proposals will be notified: Monday 14 February 2011
Complete session proposals will be notified: Monday 14 February 2011
Theme proposals will be notified: Monday 14 February 2011
Details on how to (electronically) submit full papers will accompany this notification
Refereed papers are to be submitted: Thursday 12 May 2011
Non-refereed papers are to be submitted: Thursday 26 May 2011
Deadline for presenters' registration: Monday 13 June 2011 (Papers from presenters who fail to register for the Conference by this deadline will be withdrawn)

Notes
Queries relating to the conference should be directed to AHEconference@ntu.ac.uk.
To see details of previous conferences, to keep up to date with the 2011 conference and to keep yourself informed of AHE activities subscribe to the AHE-ANNOUNCE mailing list or our website.

CHORD Workshop: ‘Retailing and Institutions, c. 1400-2000’

Thursday 24 March 2011 | University of Wolverhampton, UK

CHORD welcomes proposals to a one-day workshop devoted to the relationship between retailing and institutions, from approximately 1400 to the present. The term 'institutions' is to be interpreted widely, and includes both institutions established by retailers and institutions that sought to influence, control, limit, or to do business with retailers. All methodological and disciplinary perspectives are welcome. Papers based on any geographical areas are also welcome.

 

Topics of interest include - but are not limited to:


Proposals (including title and an abstract of c. 200 words) should be sent to: L.Ugolini@wlv.ac.uk by 28 January 2011

The workshop will take place in Room MC315, Millennium City Building, Wolverhampton. For directions, please click here. MC building is located in City Campus South.

For further information, please contact L.Ugolini@wlv.ac.uk
CHORD web-pages: http://home.wlv.ac.uk/~in6086/chord.html

Conference on "Democracy in Evolution"

Saturday, July 16, 2011 | Los Angeles, US.

We are a small group researching the further evolution of democracy as a function of underlying evolutionary biology. Our findings tell us that democracy is, in fact, a stage into a further and inevitable mode of human interaction.

Briefly stated:

Findings so far are broadly laid out in the two short essays-Democracy and Further and (more detailed)
How We Came to 'Democracy -The Best Form of Government' -Why It Isn't and Where It's Going. These findings take us into considering evolution of democracy well beyond the Constitution. Given such 'aperture into the unknown', papers are expected to cover much new territory.

MISSION STATEMENT
The continuing evolution of democracy entails successively greater interaction with science. What are the dynamics of that interaction? -and what, the implications of those dynamics and the consequences and logistics entailed?

ABSTRACT
Deadline is May 16, but the sooner we receive responses and abstracts, the better we understand the nature of this singularly new inquiry.
Abstracts should be limited to 250 words -all formats accepted.

Opening speech
Dr. David Scholler will discuss problems existing in democracy under institutionalizations typically in conflict with each other.

It is our intention to hold this exploratory, no-fee conference in a Los Angeles centrally-located area on July 16, 2011 -material and discussion coming from the natural sciences primarily and their governmental relationships in general -biology, anthropology, environmental science, economics, political science, social science, legislative process et cetera. Your response in any aspect of this unique undertaking would be greatly appreciated -'no interest' et cetera.

Perry Bezanis
-for the DH Group
perryb@condition.org

Conference on "The Politics of Labour and Development"

September 28 to 30, 2011 | Johannesburg, South Africa. 

The Global Labour University is pleased to announce a call for papers for the 2011 conference on “The Politics of Labour and Development” to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from September 28 to 30, 2011.

The global economic crisis has had a particularly hard-hitting impact on working people, their families and communities throughout the world. What is more, they also face an environmental crisis that is closely linked to the economic crisis. Together, these crises have intensified the dispossession of the commons (including both local resources and public goods such as health and education), the informalisation of labour, unemployment, national and global social inequality, and the “slummification” of cities.  Declining biodiversity, climate change and pollution are evidence of the impact of the crisis on the planet itself. Environmental degradation threatens viable livelihoods and endangers public health. Meanwhile the market imperatives get defining power over daily life, business interests tighten their stranglehold on the state logic and power is transferred to supranational institutions with limited democratic accountability, simultaneously narrowing electoral choices, and increasingly restrictions on protest.

Labour, as a key social force of the excluded majority, has a crucial role to play in countering the destructive logics of capitalism.  The politics of labour is about altering the balance of power away from capital and unelected bureaucracies toward labour and broader society.  The politics of labour is also about overcoming the multiple relations of power and oppression, including the economic, political, gender, ethnic and cultural, that contribute to and reproduce the power of the few and the subordination of the many. This has the following dimensions:

1)  The workplace imperative: Labour’s attempts to reverse the declining wage share and extract as much of the social surplus created through mobilisation for higher wages and better working conditions, as can be seen in the recent strike wave in South Africa and other parts of the world. This is especially important as rising inequality has devastating effects on society, as more and more people are pushed to margins of production and consumption patterns.  For example, this includes issues of the distribution of productivity growth, minimum wages and basic income grants as well as policy issues of taxation and redistribution.

2)  New forms of power or leverage: With rising unemployment and increasing numbers of workers pushed into precarious forms of work, traditional sources of power are eroded, but new forms of power are being explored, often by the most marginalized and sectors traditionally ignored by labour movements.  Labour’s links to other social forces is crucial here.  This also raises questions about who constitutes the working class, with wider understandings of labour increasingly finding salience in innovative movements around the world.  The development of transnational linkages and networks is also an important dimension to the development of new forms of power and leverage.

3) The policy imperative: Labour’s attempts, often in alliance with other groups in civil society, to pressure governments to increase the social wage (public health, education, transport, housing, etc.), increase employment and change economic (and slowly environmental) policy accordingly.  For example, what would a “green new deal” look like? We also encourage papers that look at the conversion of industrial production into alternative forms of production and consumption as well as papers looking at ecological issues.
What are the most effective ways to develop pro-working class policy? Corporatism seems to have spread, rather than declined, in the neo- liberal era: what is its balance sheet?

4) Political parties, alliances and trade union organizations, and political power: Labour’s attempts to directly alter the balance of state power, either

This raises questions about the role of labour—as a reforming force, as a legitimating function that hindersmore radical challenges to state power, or as a central actor in building an alternative to the destructive logic of capitalist development.  The nature of political alliances and forms of mobilizing are vital issues that are being experimented on in various regions of the world (e.g., many movements in Latin America, South Korean marginalized workers, etc.). It also raises questions about international approaches to global governance.

5) The economic imperative. Within the neoliberal framework, competitiveness becomes more aggressive and self-destructing through currency manipulation, quantitative easing, wage dumping, trade barriers, devaluation etc. Is there space for economic policy nationally and internationally that avoids the disadvantages of a competitive race to the bottom or a retreat in isolated economic
nationalism?

6) Alternative forms of production, consumption and redistribution: This raises questions about what are alternative forms of production and consumption.  For example, worker cooperatives, microcredit/microfinance projects (including its problems for informal sector workers), local agricultural production, and solidarity economy alternatives have emerged around the world.

We welcome submissions for papers on any of these themes.  While we encourage submission of papers that broadly fit into the themes, we will also consider papers that do not fit directly into one of the themes as long as they address the broad focus of the conference. The GLU encourages policy orientated research and therefore welcomes submissions that not only analyses the problem, but also offer some policy initiatives and solutions for debate.

Please send a one page abstract (which includes your methodological approach) by January 30, 2011 to Pulane Ditlhake at Glu.SouthAfrica@wits.ac.za and Michelle Williams at michelle.williams@wits.ac.za

Development and Commodification in Latin America: Limits and Possibilities

 May 6, 2011 in Baltimore on the Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins | Conference Website

The Johns Hopkins University Program in Latin American Studies announces a Call for Papers for its Spring Conference, “Development and Commodification in Latin America: Limits and Possibilities,” with Dr. Fernando Coronil (CUNY-Graduate Center) as the Keynote Speaker.

Please e-mail a title, an abstract (about 200 words), academic affiliation, and contact information in a word document to jhuplas@gmail.com by February 4. We encourage you to stay updated about the conference by visiting a website we, the conference committee, are constructing for fostering on-going discussion about themes of commodification and development. We also plan to add logistical information about the activities of the event as the conference date gets closer.

****

El programa de Estudios Latino Americanos de Johns Hopkins University convoca trabajos para su Conferencia titulada "Desarrollo y mercantilización en América Latina: límites y posibilidades," con el Dr. Fernando Coronil (CUNY-Graduate Center) como invitado principal. La conferencia se llevará a cabo el 6 de Mayo, 2011, en Baltimore, en el Homewood Campus de Johns Hopkins University. Por favor enviar título, breve resumen (alrededor de 200 palabras), afiliación académica, y datos de contacto antes del 4 de Febrero, 2011 a jhuplas@gmail.com

Invitamos a todos a conocer la pagina web que estamos construyendo sobre la

Conferencia. La idea es fomentar discusión sobre los temas del debate de la conferencia y utilizarlo para difundir información logística sobre los actividades del evento.

For further information, download Call for Papers.

ESHET Conference 2011

19-22 May 2011 | Bogazici University, Istanbul | website

The 15th Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET) will be held on 19-22 May 2011 at Bogazici University, Istanbul (Conference web site: http://www.eshet2011.org/) The Conference will be organized by the Department of Economics, and will be held at the University campus in Istanbul, Turkey.

Important dates:


Call for Papers
ESHET 2011 welcomes papers and proposed sessions in all areas of the history of economic thought. To submit a proposal please send an abstract of about 400 words for a paper and/or a proposal of about 600 words for a session (together with the abstracts of the session papers) no later than the 15th December 2010. There are two further features to the conference. Firstly, ESHET 2011 will host a special theme titled: “Competition, Innovation and Rivalry” around which some plenary and special sessions will be organized. Papers and session proposals concerning “Competition, Innovation and Rivalry” are welcome and subject to the same submission procedures as all other papers.

The general motivation behind the special theme is given below:

“Competition, Innovation and Rivalry”: The way in which innovation has been described, categorised, contextualised and theorised by various figures as well as schools of thought in the discipline of economics warrants a thorough investigation from a history of economic thought perspective. Although it is a truism that some approaches in economics by focusing on the conditions of allocating resources efficiently within a static framework failed to consider innovation properly, other approaches by underscoring the evolutionary characteristics of the economy, and thus by paying attention to dynamic efficiency, aimed at shedding light on innovation in an explicit manner. Knowledge and entrepreneurship standing as natural ingredients of innovation, much debate has been devoted to the roles played by competition, rivalry and collaboration among economic actors. A corollary of this debate has been on the characterisation of different economic syst ems in boosting or hampering innovation. Despite the lack of consensus about the causes as well as the consequences of innovation, many different fields in mainstream economics and many heterodox approaches have generated invaluable insights. Keeping track of all the different developments is certainly challenging, but focusing on the key aspects as of how the history of economic thought may further investigate the topic is feasible and thus constitutes the subject matter of the 2011 Conference. We are interested in papers that expose the history of economic ideas concerning innovation, competition and rivalry as well as papers that provide a historical or methodological perspective concerning methodological, ideological and political debates which evolved around these concepts.

Keynote speakers:

Reach-out Sessions: The second feature of this conference is that we would like to encourage the organisation of sessions in which historians of economics meet economic theorists, economic historians, sociologists, historians of science, political scientists and scholars from other areas of the social sciences. Ideally we would like the organisers of such sessions to enlist the people from the other disciplines but we would also be happy to work with specific proposals even if there are no specific names attached. *


ESHET Young Scholars Seminar

ESHET invites young scholars (i.e. those who are working on or have just completed a PhD, regardless of their age) to submit their work to the Young Scholars Seminar to be held on the occasion of the ESHET Conference. Six submissions will be selected: ESHET will cover board, accommodation and registration fees plus travel expenses up to €300. The authors of the selected papers will have 30 minutes each to present the paper and a senior scholar, appointed by the ESHET Council, will discuss it. Papers may be on any topic relevant to the history of economics, and are not restricted to the conference theme. ESHET encourages young scholars to participate in the conference. A one-year ESHET membership is offered to all young scholars who submit a paper. Candidates should e-mail a paper no longer than 9000 words to Professors Manuela Mosca and Annie Cot ( manuela.mosca@unisalento.it and ; Annie.Cot@univ-paris1.fr), by February 20, 2011. The results of the selection process will be communicated to the candidates by 25 March 2011. Papers that have not been selected will be considered for presentation at other conference sessions.

ESHET 2011 Conference Scientific Committee: Fikret Adaman, Ragip Ege, Harald Hagemann, Amos Witztum
Local Organizers: Fikret Adaman, N. Emrah Aydinonat, Cem Behar, Ragip Ege, Sevket Pamuk

The Geopolitics of European Financial Landscapes

Paper session at the RGS-IBG Annual International Conference 2011, London, 31 Aug - 2 Sept 2011, www.rgs.org/AC2011

Organizers:

 

What started as a housing market crisis in the US has since morphed into one of the biggest sovereign debt crises ever and is currently challenging the Euro and shaping the trajectory of the EU and Europe's place in the world.

We invite papers that address the causes and geographical consequences of the recent European manifestations of the financial crisis. For what is striking about the current European sovereign debt crisis is its reflection of the complex linkages between territory, economy and politics. The early political decision to transform the private liabilities of banks into public liabilities of states has made the fate of states and banks co-dependent. This session aims to bring together political and economic geographies that address these themes. Topics could include (but are not limited to):

 

Please send your abstract of approximately 250 words before February 11 to M.B.Aalbers@uva.nl
Include your affiliation, e-mail address, etc.

HES at ASSA 2012

January 6-8, 2012 | Chicago, USA

The History of Economics Society (HES) will sponsor four sessions at the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) meetings, January 6-8, 2012, in Chicago, Illinois.

The ASSA offers historians of economic thought an opportunity to present high-quality historical research to an audience of professional economists. Given this, preference will be given to proposals that are most likely to interest the broader community. Proposals are invited for entire sessions, rather than single papers.

Please submit session proposals, including abstracts for papers (approximately 200 words), to me at leonard.robert@uqam.ca. The deadline is May 1, 2011.

Robert Leonard 
Vice President, HES

Japanese Society for Post Keynesian Economics Conference

22-23 March 2011 | Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan | Conference website
 
The Japanese Society for Post Keynesian Economics will hold "the International Seminar on Economics in the Financial Crisis" on 22-23 March 2011 at Meiji University, Tokyo.

Professor G.C. Harcourt will give two lectures at our seminar.

For those who wish to present a paper in our seminar, please submit your abstract to confyagi@kisc.meiji.ac.jp until 21 January 2011.
 
Japanese Society for Post Keynesian Economics: http://www.kisc.meiji.ac.jp/~pk/pke.htm 
 

The Revolution of Time and the Time of Revolution Conference

March 25-26, 2011 | Binghamton, NY
Sponsored by The Philosophy, Interpretation, and Culture Student Alliance at SUNY Binghamton University
 
Keynote Speaker: Dr. Peter Gratton, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, University of San Diego, CA

What sense of time is produced through radical politics? Is the understanding of time as future part of a radical imagination? If the commitment to radical social change involves looking forward into the future, will that leave us with a sense of futurity that depends on the linearity of yesterday, today, and tomorrow? To interrogate the emergence of radical creations and socialities, we welcome submissions that theorize time as it relates broadly to politics, cultural conflicts, alternative imaginaries, and resistant practices. Time has historically been thought and inhabited through a variety of frameworks and styles of being. At times the present repeats or seems to repeat the past. There are actions that seem to take place outside of time, to be infinite or instantaneous. Theories of emergence view time as folding in on itself. Indigenous cosmologies and Buddhist philosophers put forward the possibility of no-time or of circular and cyclical time.

The radical question of time is one around which the work of many scholars has revolved: Derrida on the to-come [*a-venir*] of democracy, Negri’s work on *kairos*, Agamben on kairology, Santos on the expansive notion of the present, Deleuze and Guattari on becoming. This heterological list is far from exhaustive, while hinting at the depth of the theme that our conference cultivates. A central political concern, time invokes our most careful attention and the PIC conference provides the setting for this endeavor. We must find the time for time.

At its core, this conference seeks to explore the relationship between time and revolution. Time here may mean *not just *simple clock and calendar time but rather a way of seeing time as part of a material thread that can go this way and that, weaving* *together* *the fabric of political projects producing the world otherwise. Ultimately, the question of time fosters a critical engagement with potentiality, potency, and power; as well as with the virtual and the actual, of the to be and the always already.

We seek papers, projects, and performances that add to the knowledge of time and revolution, but also ones that clear the way for new thinking, new alliances, new beings.

Some possible topics might include:

In keeping with the interdisciplinary emphasis of Binghamton University's Program in Philosophy, Interpretation and Culture, we seek work that flourishes in the conjunction of multiple frames of epistemological inquiry, from fields including, but not limited to: postcolonial studies, decolonial studies, queer and gender studies, ethnic studies, media and visual culture studies, urban studies, science and technology studies, critical theory, critical animal studies, continental philosophy, and historiography.  Workers/writers/thinkers of all different disciplinary, inter-disciplinary, and non-disciplinary stripes welcome, whether academically affiliated or not. Submissions may be textual, performative, visual.

Abstracts of 500 words maximum due by Feburary 1, 2011. In a separate paragraph state your name, address, telephone number, email and organizational or institutional affiliation, if any.

Email proposals to: pic.conference2011@gmail.com
with a cc: to clawren1@binghamton.edu
 

Problemas del Desarrollo, Revista Latinoamericana de Economía

Problemas del Desarrollo, Revista Latinoamericana de Economía (Problems of Development, a Latin American Economic Journal) is a peer-reviewed journal which is included in the most important economic data bases around the world. 

Our principal mission is that the journal participate in the debate on economic theory, nationally and internationally, on issues that are relevant to the study of problems of development.

The Journal Problemas del Desarrollo deals with the problematic confronting Latin America in economic development from a rigorous multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary view. It is a journal critical of orthodox focuses in which the problem of development is absent.

Problemas del Desarrollo brings together academics and researchers in the areas of development theory, economic theory, political economy, applied economics and economic policy-making to participate with articles that reflect the relevance of the paradigms that been used to try to explain the causes of development and under-development, in particular in Latin America.

Articles presented for publication should be unpublished and essentially the product of research with results relevant to the study of problems of development and under-development.

Although the publication’s official language is Spanish, we also accept contributions in English, French and Portuguese. The Journal reserves the right to translate contributions into Spanish if they merit this.

Articles will not exceed 30 double-spaced quarto-sized pages of no more than 1,700 letters and spaces. This includes the summary, tables, graphs, bibliography and annexes.

Original articles should be sent to the Director of the Journal, Dra. Alicia Girón, at the following address:

Problemas del Desarrollo
Revista Latinoamericana de Economía
Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas (IIEc), UNAM
Circuito Mario de la Cueva s/n
Ciudad de la Investigación en Humanidades,
Ciudad Universitaria, C.P. 04510, México, D.F.

Telephone: (52) 56 23 01 05;
Voice-mail and fax: (52) 5623-0097.
E-mail address: revprode@servidor.unam.mx

Download Call for Papers.

Religion and the Marketplace: New Perspectives and New Findings

06.10.2011-08.10.2011 | HCA, Hauptstraße 120, Lecture Hall, Heidelberg. Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA) and American Studies Network (ASN)
Deadline: 31.03.2011

As decided at the 2010 meeting of the European Association of American Studies in Dublin, the Heidelberg Center for American Studies (HCA), in cooperation with the American Studies Network (ASN), will host a conference entitled "Religion and the Marketplace: New Perspectives and New Findings." The HCA will host the conference on October 6-8, 2011, as part of Heidelberg University's 625th anniversary celebration.

This international and interdisciplinary conference aims to investigate and explain how the conditions of the marketplace have determined, influenced, and limited American religion in the past and present. Given the prominence of the Establishment and Free Exercise clauses in the American constitution, a broad-based 'competition for souls and purses' has historically helped define the contours of religion in America. This
conference will build upon previous insights while probing further into the complex relationship between religion and the marketplace along the lines described below.

We invite scholars in American Studies and related fields (geography, history, law, literature, media studies, political science, religious studies, theology, etc.) to submit paper abstracts for this conference. Individual paper abstracts (200-250 words) should be specifically directed at one (or more) of the panel topics included in this CFP. Abstracts must be received by March 31, 2011. Participants will be notified by May 1, 2011. All questions and submissions should be sent electronically to: djunker@hca.uni-heidelberg.de.

We especially desire participation from European scholars working in these fields, but welcome submissions from all around the world. The HCA will cover travel expenses (economy), lodging and meals for conference
participants.

Sessions at the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences 2011

For the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (“The Learneds”) on June 1-4 in Fredericton, the Society for Socialist Studies is seeking papers for a session about the state of left-wing economics and proposals for other sessions.

Call for Papers for a Session on “Economics: Left, Right, or Wrong”

For a long time, right-wing economics served the world’s capitalists quite well as a means to justify their quest for profits and as a toolbox for the management of capitalist economies. The crisis that hit the world economy in 2008 proved this kind of economics wrong on both accounts. Since then, left-wing economists, Keynesians and Marxists, used their chance to say that they had been right with their dire predictions about the future of capitalist accumulation, particularly its neoliberal kind, all along. But they didn’t take the time to ask why just a few people were interested in their analyses. With the crisis in its third year, the demand for left-wing economics is still limited. One might even wonder whether the crisis was just a refreshing phase of creative destruction neoliberal economics.

This workshop will investigate the reasons why demand for left-wing economics is so low. Is there just a lack of supply? And if so, is this because left-wing economists are largely barred from economics departments and the media? Or is it because they still try to sell yesteryears’ ideas instead of offering innovative Marxist and/or Keynesian analysis? Or is there a lack of customers because most people on the left decided to abandon economics for other fields of inquiry and activism?

The workshop “Economics: Left, Right, or Wrong” invites papers that speak to the aforementioned questions or contribute to the re-invigoration of left-wing economics in any other way.
Contact: Ingo Schmidt - ingos@athabascau.ca

Call for Papers, Roundtables and Sessions on “Continental Shifts, Divisions, and Solidarities”

The West is looking East. Capitalists are seeking cheap labour and new customers in China. Workers fear low-wage competition and job losses. Politicians wonder whether China, possibly in conjunction with India, Russia and Brazil, will challenge the world dominance of Western countries. Environmentalists worry about the ecological impact of new centres of economic growth.

Yet it is by no means certain whether there really is a continental shift from the West to the East and whether economic growth can be sustained after the world economic crisis 2008/9. Maybe the East is just getting westernized as other parts of the world have before. Moreover, little do we in the West know about the aspirations, hopes and fears of people living on other continents.

What we can do is to speculate about the future. Times of uncertainty are also times of historical openings. Will there be ever-tighter market integration, a trans-pacific solidarity of capitalists? Will there be political divisions between the East and the West? Will workers East and West find ways to overcome the divisions that kept them apart for most of capitalist history? Will today’s workers struggles in China inspire workers struggles of the future in other countries and on other continents?

The changing geography of the world economy is intimately linked to changes in social structures within and between countries. Gender roles and ethnic compositions of societies are shaken, creating the space for new solidarities across the dividing lines of race and gender but also producing the danger of new forms of sexism and racism.

Like any other changes in the past, the “Continental Shifts, Divisions, and Solidarities” are also a challenge to the ways we understand the world(s) around us. Thus, this is a time to rethink established epistemologies, theories and underlying philosophies. The Society of Socialist Studies invites proposals for papers, roundtables, and session addressing any aspect of the theme of “Continental Shifts, Divisions, and Solidarities”.

Proposals for Roundtables and Sessions
At this point we are mainly interested in proposals for roundtables and sessions, which will then be posted on our website so that individuals can propose papers to all suggested sessions. Proposals for roundtables should include a list of participants. Unlike sessions they are not open for individual proposals.

Proposals for Papers
You can submit proposals for an individual paper at this point. The Programme Committee will try to find a place for it. Sessions open for individual proposals will be posted to our website as soon as they are accepted by the Programme Committee.

Please submit abstracts (maximum of 100 words) for any proposals before 15 January 2011 to: Ingo Schmidt, Programme Committee Chair, ingos@athabascau.ca
http://socialiststudies.ca/
http://congress2011.ca/

Special Symposium on Harmer and Henry to be published in the Economics and Labour Relations Review 2011

Reforming Australia’s Tax/Transfer Landscape: Evaluating the economic and social impacts of Harmer and Henry

Symposium Editors: Hazel Bateman and Peter Kriesler

CALL FOR PAPERS

Over the period 2008-2010 Australia has seen unprecedented attention paid to its transfer and tax systems, with the Harmer Pension Review conducted over the period 2008-09 and the inquiry into Australia’s Future Tax System (the Henry Tax Review) over 2008-10.

The aim of the Harmer Pension Review was to consider measures to strengthen the financial security of the aged, carers, and people with disability. Considerations included appropriate levels of income support and allowances, the frequency of payments, and the structure and payment of concessions and other entitlements.

The overall context of the Henry Tax Review was to comprehensively review Australia's tax system to create a tax structure that positioned Australia to deal with the demographic, social, economic and environmental challenges of the 21st century and enhance Australia's economic and social outcomes. This included an examination of the relationship between the tax and transfer systems.

Together the reviews were far reaching and established a blueprint for future reform of Australia’s tax/transfer system. Yet, so far, few recommendations have been transformed into policy.

We will be publishing a symposium focussing on Australia’s recent tax/transfer reviews in Economic and Labour Relations Review during 2011. To that end, we are seeking offers of contributions which analyse a broad range of issues associated with the economic and social impacts of the recommendations (whether subsequently implemented or not) of either or both of the reviews.

Submissions (of no longer than 8,000 words) are invited by 1 July 2011. All submissions will undergo blind peer review by two referees. Please refer to the ELRR ‘Notes for Contributors’ when preparing submissions at: http://www.orgmanagement.unsw.edu.au/nps/servlet/portalservice?GI_ID=System.LoggedOutInheritableArea&maxWnd=_ResearchCentres_IRRC_ELRRNotesforContributors

The Symposium will be published towards the end of 2011.

If you would like to discuss a possible contribution please contact:
Hazel Bateman, Joint Executive Editor,
Economics and Labour Relations Review
h.bateman@unsw.edu.au

Taking Control

SOAS, University of London | 12th March 2011

This conference is concerned with control. On what it means today –under globalised late capitalism – to take or be in control of institutions, whether political, economic, or academic. We are concerned with theorising how to take control, and on what to do when we take it. We want to focus not on the dangers of control – since the corrupting effects of power have been amply theorized – but rather on what it means to take responsibility and effect change, and what this change could be.

That is, how can a vision for society be enacted in practical terms? What is the role of democratic participation in this process of mastering social change? And how do we remain accountable as we take control. Does taking control mean working against, within or beside the existing institutional structure?

This question remains under-theorised in contemporary critical political theory – which often remains limited to the critique of the status quo. Without the impulse to take responsibility and take control, this critique becomes meaningless – it results in a de facto acceptance. Where projects like the ‘Idea of Communism’ stop, this conference seeks to take the next step. It must be situated along work such as the Turbulence Collective’s ‘What it means to win’ volume and Erik-Olin-Wright’s ‘Envisioning Utopias’.

We are clear that the idea of communism remains important and a project to be fought for. However in the strategic question we are at an impasse, how to take control and implement a new communism? The vanguard model seems discredited, but the model of the multitude seems non-committal, a mere waiting for things to gradually come together, resulting in a de facto withdrawal from the social. Even more than this impasse, in times of late capitalism the very meaning of what being in control entails is no longer clear. We want to move from thinking about the idea of communism to implementing it.

We invite 300 word abstracts for 20-minute papers dealing with these and other issues concerning control. Please send abstracts, along with your name and institutional affiliation, to BOTH Alexej Ulbricht (a.ulbricht@soas.ac.uk) and Luke Evans (cu701le@gold.ac.uk) by 23rd December 2010.

Varieties of Socialism, Varieties of Approaches

March 5, 2011 | Carleton University, Canada

While the Great Recession triggered a global contagion unmatched in severity since the 1930s, unlike the depression and post-War years the legitimacy of capitalism (and neoliberalism) has not been seriously called into question. Rather than fundamentally challenging the logic of capital, most “solutions” to the crisis have been premised on more regulation and oversight amidst the admission of moral hazard. Solutions and the meaning of change have been squarely encapsulated to accommodate the needs of capital and its state, rather than seek to transcend it. Indeed, for all the talk of ‘crisis’ there remains a profound pessimism among many seeking to realize a better world. Despite isolated acts of resistance, it is clear that the working class is today more fragmented and alienated than at any point since the Great Depression. Arguably, however, the need for a renewed socialist project is greater today than perhaps ever.

The Critical Social Research Collaborative is seeking panel discussions that examine historical and contemporary models of socialism, as well as presentations that aim to rekindle the socialist imagination, while charting new pathways. Proposals may include, but are not limited to:

Please send your proposal, including an abstract of no more than 300 words, title, brief biography and three keywords that describe your project to the conference committee at CSRCproject@live.ca. Accepted submissions may be solicited for inclusion in a forthcoming peer-reviewed anthology. Deadline for proposals is January 15th 2011. Decisions will be made by the end of January.

Keynote Address by Paresh Chattopadhyay, Université du Québec à Montréal

The CRITICAL SOCIAL RESEARCH COLLABORATIVE (CSRC) is an interdisciplinary research unit comprised of faculty, graduate students, trade union and community activists based at CarletonUniversity. For information on past events, conferences and online presentations, please visit us at www.CSRCproject.ca

WAPE (World Association for Political Economy) 2011 Conference

Theme: Responses to Capitalist Crisis: Neoliberalism and Beyond

The Sixth Forum of the World Association for Political Economy
May 27-29, 2011, at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA, USA | Co-sponsored by the Union for Radical Political Economics

Topics for the Sixth WAPE Forum
1. Class analysis of the responses to the financial and economic crisis.
2. Is neoliberalism on the way out or will it survive the economic crisis? What might replace it?
3. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the revived Keynesian economics?
4. What problems are posed by the rising national debt in many countries?
5. The prospects for major institutional and regulatory reform in the global economy and in various countries.
6. Class analysis of the growth of right-wing movements in response to the economic crisis.
7. Lessons from the history of past capitalist crises for the current situation.
8. The problems of, and opportunities for, building socialism in the midst of capitalist crisis.
9. Can the euro survive the current economic crisis?
10. The danger that tensions among states due to the economic crisis may lead to serious conflict.
11. Can the East Asian Model be accepted by the other countries?
12. Indigenous people in the United States
13. Human Development Economics in Political Economy

 

Proposals for both individual papers and complete sessions are welcome.

Please send your application, including curriculum vitae and a paper abstract of 500 words (in Chinese or English), to Professor Xiaoqin Ding at wape2006@gmail.com.

Deadline for applications: January 15, 2011.
Applicants will be notified about acceptance of their paper by February 15, 2011.
Papers (in Chinese or English), of up to 6,000 words, will be due by March 31, 2011.

For further information, download the Final Call for Papers.

Workshop on Behavioral and Experimental Economics

April 29 to 30, 2011 | University of Florence, Italy

The Interuniversity Center for Experimental Economics is pleased to announce the 2011 Annual Workshop on Behavioral and Experimental Economics to be held in Firenze (Italy) on April 29-30, 2011.

In order to promote the exchange between international and Italian scholars on current research in Behavioral and Experimental Economics, we invite submission of paper abstracts on the following topics:

The following keynote speakers will be presenting.

Paper abstracts (max 250 words) should be submitted within February 15th to: beelab@unifi.it  Acceptance will be communicated by February 20th.  Registration and workshop fee. The workshop fee will be 99.99 euros and the registration should be done by February 28th. The fee will be inclusive of lunch and dinner. To register, please fill out the registration form which can be downloaded at http://www.beelab.unifi.it/workshop2011/ and send it to beelab@unifi.it

Further Information on programme and accommodation are available at: http://www.beelab.unifi.it/workshop2011/

The Workshop is promoted by the Interuniversity Center for Experimental Economics, the Faculty of Economics of the University of Firenze, BEELab and LabSi Experimental Laboratories.

The organising committee:
Domenico Colucci, Alessandro Innocenti, Maria Grazia Pazienza, Chiara Rapallini, Roberto Ricciuti, Vincenzo Valori.

Workshop: Discovery in the social sciences: Towards an empirically-informed philosophy of social science

University of Leuven, Belgium | March 22-23, 2011 | website

Submission deadline for abstracts: 31 December, 2010.
Notification of acceptance: January 15, 2011.

Keynote speakers

Call for abstracts:
The aim of this workshop is to bring together scholars who are working in the philosophy of the social sciences, especially those interested in scientific practice. The theme is discovery in the social sciences.

We invite submissions of extended abstracts (about 1000 words), and we are especially eager to hear from young researchers, including graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, tenure-track professors and other recent PhDs, working in the philosophy of the social sciences or related fields. We are interested in both case studies that examine specific instances of discovery in social sciences, and in more theoretical or methodological papers that are informed by scientific practice. We take 'discovery' in a broad sense, meaning discovery of empirical phenomena, theories and laws. 'Social sciences' refers to a broad range of disciplines, including (but not limited to) economics, anthropology, history, archaeology, psychology (including neuroscience), linguistics, and sociology.

A non-exhaustive list of possible topics:

Please send your abstract, preferably as pdf or rtf to Helen De Cruz, using the following e-mail address philosophy.social.sciences[at]gmail.com by December 31 2010. Please also indicate your position (e.g., graduate student, postdoc, assistant professor).

Scientific committee: Helen De Cruz (University of Leuven), Eric Schliesser (Ghent University), Farah Focquaert (Ghent University), Raymond Corbey (University of Leiden and Tilburg University).

This workshop is supported by funding from the University of Leuven and Ghent University.

Workshop: History of Economics as Culture

April 8th, 2011 | the University of Cergy-Pontoise (near Paris, France)
Deadline for proposals is January 15, 2011

This is to remind you that we are organizing on behalf of the H2S (History of Social Science) group, Economix (CNRS FRE 2357) and THEMA (CNRS UMR 8184), the third workshop on "history of 'economics as culture' (Histoire culturelle des savoirs économiques)" to be held Friday, April 8th, 2011 at the University of Cergy-Pontoise (near Paris, France). Our intention is to bring together scholars from different disciplines to discuss from an historical vantage point, the place of economics in our culture. Below are some suggestions of topics that exemplify what will be at issue:

The workshop will comprise of 5 or 6 papers containing genuine unpublished research. If you have an interest in these topics, please send us a proposal of no more than 1000 words or a draft paper of what you want to present before January, 15 at the following address: historyofeconomicsasculture@gmail.com

If you are interested in the subject but are unable to send a proposal, feel free to contact us at the same address for further discussion/information. Also, last year program is available here: http://economix.u-paris10.fr/fr/activites/colloques/?id=113


Call for Participants

CEPN: Post Keynesian Seminars 2010-11

Updated schedule can be found here

Further information on the CEPN's website:http://www.univ-paris13.fr/CEPN/


Industrial Dynamics and Growth Conference

January, 31, 2010 | Paris | website

A call for papers for young researchers has been launched and is available on the website:

The registration is free but required: http://centredeconomiesorbonne.univ-paris1.fr/REGISTRATION/


The Lisbon Treaty Evaluated: Impact and Consequences

31 January - 1 February 2011 | Woburn House, Tavistock Square, London
UACES conference, supported by the European Commission
 
UACES invites you and your colleagues to register for  'The Lisbon Treaty Evaluated', a two-day conference assessing the impact and consequences of the Treaty's first year. The conference is intended to encourage creative and informed thinking that will contribute to the ongoing debate on the ‘Future of Europe’. Research from internationally renowned scholars will be presented in a series of panel sessions.
 
Professor Helen Wallace (LSE) will present a keynote address on the opening day of the conference.
 
Guest Speakers include:
 
For more information about the conference, including a full programme and how to register visit www.uaces.org/lisbon

Workshop on 'Evolutionary Thinking and Its Policy Implications for Modern Capitalism'

22-23 September 2011 | Offley Place, Great Offley, near Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England

The workshop is organised by the Group for Research in Organisational Evolution (GROE) at the University of Hertfordshire.

 

Speakers:

 

The workshop will start at 9.30 am on 22 September and finish at 5.00pm on 23 September 2011.

 

This workshop is designed to provide in-depth discussion of cutting-edge issues, in a forum that permits the attention to detail and definition that is often lacking in larger, conference-style events. The expected maximum number of participants is 40. Please book early to avoid disappointment.


For more information, including registration and costs, download Call for Participants.


Job Postings for Heterodox Economists

Center for Economic and Policy Research

Economist

CEPR is seeking an economist, Ph.D. preferred. S/he would perform policy-focused economic analysis, write issue briefs, research papers, and other publications on international economic issues, with a focus on Latin America. This is a one-year position.   

Responsibilities:
    * Implementing and supervising economic research projects
    * Writing original research papers, reports, and other publications
    * Coordinating the work of research assistants
    * Assisting with funding proposals and reports
    * Serving as a spokesperson for CEPR with the media and in outreach to the international policy community

Qualifications: The ideal candidate will possess most or all of the following qualifications. However, CEPR will consider strong candidates whose experience and capabilities are roughly equivalent.


Salary & Benefits: CEPR offers a competitive salary and an excellent benefits package. This position will be represented by the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, Local #70, AFL-CIO.

Closing Date of Position: This position will remain open until filled.

To Apply: Send resume, cover letter, an example of your writing (preferably a recent, short position paper on current policy matters), and salary requirements to jobscepr2010 [at] cepr [dot] net. Please include “Economist” in the subject line. NO TELEPHONE CALLS OR FAXES PLEASE. Due to the volume of applicants, you may not receive a response.

Applications may also be mailed to: Economist Search Committee, CEPR, 1611 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC. 20009

The Center for Economic and Policy Research is an equal opportunity employer that considers applicants for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, creed, gender, national origin, age, disability, marital or veteran status, sexual orientation, or any legally protected status.
 

The Ford Foundation, New York City

Program Officer

The Ford Foundation is seeking applications and nominations for the position of Program Officer for Promoting Next Generation Workforce Strategies in the Quality Employment unit. We would be grateful for your assistance in this recruitment and ask that you give us your suggestions of qualified candidates or that you pass this information on to those who might be interested in the position or know of such individuals.

SUMMARY DESCRIPTION: The Program Officer will develop, monitor and coordinate grant making activities in the field of workforce development. Building on prior Foundation work, the portfolio will focus on consolidating the progress achieved in assisting people with marginal attachment to the U.S. labor market, including immigrants and first generation residents, in obtaining sustainable wage employment and livelihoods. The Program Officer will be a key member of the Quality Employment Unit, whose mission is to help low-wage workers reach economic self-sufficiency.

The work would include: working with stakeholders in the workforce development system – including government entities, community colleges, training providers, community-based organizations, funders, and organized labor – to make it more effective and responsive to the needs of disadvantaged populations; helping to increase the capacity of worker centers to develop training initiatives and connect their members to established training providers like community colleges; supporting innovations that increase the effectiveness and ability of training programs to better deliver workforce development services to low-wage workers; and supporting research and policy analysis on workers, employers, low-wage jobs, labor markets, best practices, replication and scaling up of activities that improve the lives and working conditions of low-wage workers.

The Program Officer will review the current status of the field, as well as the status of grants in the recently developed initiative Promoting the Next Generation Workforce Strategies; formulate plans and propose any new grant making strategies; solicit, review, and respond to grant proposals; prepare recommendations for Foundation funding; and work with other foundation staff to develop learning strategies on issues related to labor market conditions and the role of policy in creating opportunities for low-income families to move toward economic self-sufficiency. The Program Officer will be expected to provide intellectual leadership in the field of workforce development/employment and poverty alleviation, and also as part of a team working closely with other Program Officers throughout the Foundation whose work relates to the central mission of the portfolio. The Program Officer also is expected to develop and maintain a close working relationship with existing and potential grantees; and collaborate broadly with scholars and practitioners, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and other donors on issues of common program concern. Working closely with the Director of the unit and the program Vice President, the Program Officer will have the opportunity to further refine the current grant making strategy and to ensure that the strategy is at the cutting edge of workforce activities in the twenty-first century.

REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS: Significant experience working with marginalized groups in the labor force, including immigrants, first generation residents, and others with weak labor force ties. Demonstrated understanding of the economic and policy environment facing these workers and the capacity to develop innovative workforce strategies that are flexible and responsive to their needs. Excellent analytical, organizational, financial analysis, and oral and written communication skills; a strong desire to achieve impact; and a proven record of achieving change. A graduate degree in a related field is highly preferred as is fluency in a language spoken by one or more major immigrant groups in the United States.

Location: New York City

Salary is based on experience and on the Foundation’s commitment to internal equity. An attractive benefits package is provided.

Applicants should visit www.fordfoundation.org/employment and submit their application materials (consisting of substantive cover letter and C.V.) by January 10, 2011.
 

University of Texas at Alrington, US

Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Fellowships

The University of Texas at Arlington (UT Arlington) invites applications and nominations for Doctoral and Post-Doctoral Fellowships, in support of the university’s continuing commitment to advance scholars from underrepresented groups in higher education. The purpose of the program is to develop and prepare scholars from underrepresented groups for future faculty positions in academia. Candidates who are ABD will be considered, but the fellowship requires all other doctoral requirements must be met by May 31, 2011. The fellowships are for a nine month academic year in which scholars will be engaged full-time in research but may also elect to teach only one course during that period.

Program goals are to:


Awards:


Eligibility:
The fellowship programs are open to all areas of study (see www.uta.edu). The University is especially interested in candidates in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) fields. Preference will be given to U.S. citizens from underrepresented minority groups who meet the following criteria:


Stipends and Allowances:
Fellows will receive a one year stipend of $30,000 and a research allowance of $2,000. The university will also provide medical and dental benefits package.


Application Procedure:


Deadlines for 2011-2012


Conference Papers, Reports, and Articles

Conference on Sraffa's Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities 1960-2010

2nd-4th December 2010, Roma Tre University, Faculty of Economics

Conference papers and videos are available here or follow the link below:


Economic Crisis and Left Responses 

Nov. 6 i2010, New York City.
A report of the conference can be found at http://tinyurl.com/2vyw8z7.

It contains a link to Videos of the entire conference, many of the conference papers in written form, the program, abstracts and draft papers posted before the conference, the proposal we made at the conference to form a Network for the Circulation of Theoretical Struggles, and a place to add your comments on the conference and its aftermath.

We hope you will contribute to the discussion by submitting a comment and by taking part in the formation of the Network for the Circulation of Theoretical Struggles—sign up at “Contact Us.” We also invite you to take a look at the rest of our website, and to tell us through the “Contact Us” page that you want to stay in touch
with MHI (no more than two e-mails a month).


Heterodox Journals

History of Economics Review, 52: Summer 2010

Journal website: http://www.hetsa.org.au/historyeconreview.html


Articles

One Hundred Years from Today

Review Essays

Communications and Notes from the Archives

Book Reviews


Intervention. European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies, 7(1): 2010

Journal website: http://www.metropolis-publisher.com/1/ausgaben/journal.do or
http://econpapers.repec.org/article/intjournl/default.htm#v7:i1

Forum
Special Forum on The current crisis and the role of the state
Articles | Artikel
Book Reviews | Rezensionen

Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 32(4): December 2010

Journal website: http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=HET


 

Marshall Studies Bulletin - Volume 11: December 2010

Journal website: http://www.dse.unifi.it/CMpro-v-p-121.html
Articles:
Book Review:
 

Mother Pelican, 6(12): December 2010

Journal website : http://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv06n12page1.html

Articles:
Supplements:
1. Advances in Sustainable Development
2. Directory of Sustainable Development Resources
3. Sustainable Development Simulation (SDSIM) Version 1.3

New Proposals: Journal of Marxism and Interdisciplinary Inquiry, 4(1): 2010

Journal website: http://ojs.library.ubc.ca/index.php/newproposals/issue/view/96

Introduction
Feature Article
Comments and Arguments
Articles

Real World Economics Review, 55: December 2010

Journal website: http://www.paecon.net/PAEReview/
Download the entire issue here (pdf).


Rethinking Marxism, 22(4) : 2010

Journal website :  www.rethinkingmarxism.org


EDITORIAL 


SYMPOSIUM 


ARE WORKER RIGHTS HUMAN RIGHTS? 

Original Articles 

ART/ICULATIONS 

Art 

Original Article 

REMARX 

REVIEWS 

MISCELLANY 


Revue de la Régulation  8: Decmeber 2010

Journal website: http://regulation.revues.org/

Éditorial:  De la financiarisation de l’économie à l’évaluation des économistes

Varia
Opinions - débats
Notes de lecture


Heterodox Newsletters

Friends of Associative Economists: Dec. 2010

1) Associate! December 2010
2) Edge Funding, A Course in Finance for Teachers
3) Democratic Money?


Read the full newsletter here.

Global Labour Column: Dec. 2010


IDEAS: Nov. 2010

Websites: www.networkideas.org or www.ideaswebsite.org

Featured Themes: "Re-regulating Finance"
News Analysis

Levy News: Dec. 2010


Revista Circus



Heterodox Books and Book Series

Beyond Inflation Targeting: Assessing the Impacts and Policy Alternatives

Edited by Gerald A. Epstein and A. Erinc Yeldan

Edward Elgar. New paperback edition.  2010. ISBN: 978 1 84844 804 9 | website


Contributors: N.H. Barbosa-Filho, E. Braunstein, J.A. Cordero, G. Epstein, R. Frenkel, L.M. Galindo, J. Heintz, A. Jayadev, R. Jha, J.A. Lim, L.A.T. Packard, R. Pollin, M. Rapetti, J. Ros, L. Taylor, C. Telli, E. Voyvoda, A.E. Yeldan, A. Zhu

Crisis and Change Today: Basic Questions of Marxist Sociology

By Peter Knapp and Alan Spector
Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Dec 28, 2010.  ISBN 978-0-7425-2044-8, Second Edition.

Crisis and Change Today provides a solid introduction to Marxist social theory. The work's unique voice is expressed in its Socratic-dialogic approach, structured around forty questions that students have about society and social change. Topics range from theories of history, economics, unemployment, racial oppression, the state, fascism, the collapse of the Soviet bloc, and points of convergence and difference between the dialectical approach and other approaches to social science. The content and tone of the work invites students to evaluate various traditional and current explanations of social institutions and social processes and encourages them to weigh the debates and investigate further.

The first edition was very well received (recipient of the Distinguished Scholarship Award of the Section on Marxist Sociology of the ASA), and the second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to be relevant for students today. Though the first edition was written during the wake of the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the growing gap between the rich and the poor and the economic crisis have generated more interest in using Marxist analysis as a tool to understand both the crises of capitalism and the weaknesses of past Marxist praxis.

Peter Knapp is Professor of Sociology at Villanova University and author of books and articles on Marx and Hegel. Alan Spector is Professor of Sociology at Purdue University Calumet. In addition to publishing, he has served as Chair of the Section on Marxist Sociology of the American Sociological Association and is currently on the editorial board of Critical Sociology.

Darwin’s Conjecture: The Search for General Principles of Social and Economic Evolution

By Geoffrey M. Hodgson and Thorbjørn Knudsen
University of Chicago Press. December 2010. Cloth $45.00. ISBN: 9780226346908  | website | Review (FT).

Of paramount importance to the natural sciences, the principles of Darwinism, which involve variation, inheritance, and selection, are increasingly of interest to social scientists as well. But no one has provided a truly rigorous account of how the principles apply to the evolution of human society—until now.

In Darwin’s Conjecture, Geoffrey Hodgson and Thorbjørn Knudsen reveal how the British naturalist’s core concepts apply to a wide range of phenomena, including business practices, legal systems, technology, and even science itself. They also critique some prominent objections to applying Darwin to social science, arguing that ultimately Darwinism functions as a general theoretical framework for stimulating further inquiry. Social scientists who adopt a Darwinian approach, they contend, can then use it to frame and help develop new explanatory theories and predictive models.

This truly pathbreaking work at long last makes the powerful conceptual tools of Darwin available to the social sciences and will be welcomed by scholars and students from a range of disciplines.

The Economics of John Kenneth Galbraith: Introduction, Persuasion, and Rehabilitation

By Stephen P. Dunn. Cambridge University Press. Hardback. ISBN-13: 9780521518765 | Website

The recent financial crisis has once again seen John Kenneth Galbraith return to the bestseller lists. Yet, despite the continued popular success of his works, Galbraith's contribution to economic theory is rarely recognised by today's economists. This book redresses the balance by providing an introductory and sympathetic discussion of Galbraith's theoretical contributions, introducing the reader to his economics and his broader vision of the economic process. The book highlights and explains key features of Galbraith's economic thought, including his penetrating critique of society, his distinctive methodology, his specific brand of Keynesianism and his original - but largely ignored - contribution to the theory of the firm. It also presents, for the first time, a detailed examination of Galbraith's monetary economics and revisits his analysis of financial euphoria. This unique work seeks to rehabilitate Galbraith's contribution, setting out several directions for possible future research in the Galbraithian tradition.

Download Flyer.

 

Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance

By David McNally
PM Press/Spectre December 2010. pp. 248 ISBN: 978-1-60486-332-1 Paperback: $40 €29 £25 | website

Global Slump analyzes the global financial meltdown as the first systemic crisis of the neoliberal stage of capitalism. It argues that – far from having ended – the crisis has ushered in a whole period of worldwide economic and political turbulence. In developing an account of the crisis as rooted in fundamental features of capitalism, Global Slump challenges the view that its source lies in financial deregulation. The book locates the recent meltdown in the intense economic restructuring that marked the recessions of the mid-1970s and early 1980s. Through this lens, it highlights the emergence of new patterns of world inequality and new centers of accumulation, particularly in East Asia, and the profound economic instabilities these produced. Global Slump offers an original account of the “financialization” of the world economy during this period, and explores the intricate connections between international financial markets and new forms of debt and dispossession, particularly in the Global South.

Analyzing the massive intervention of the world’s central banks to stave off another Great Depression, Global Slump shows that, while averting a complete meltdown, this intervention also laid the basis for recurring crises for poor and working class people: job loss, increased poverty and inequality, and deep cuts to social programs. The book takes a global view of these processes, exposing the damage inflicted on countries in the Global South, as well as the intensification of racism and attacks on migrant workers. At the same time, Global Slump also traces new patterns of social and political resistance – from housing activism and education struggles, to mass strikes and protests in Martinique, Guadeloupe, France and Puerto Rico – as indicators of the potential for building anti-capitalist opposition to the damage that neoliberal capitalism is inflicting on the lives of millions.

Economy, Culture and Human Rights: Turbulence in Punjab, India and Beyond

By Pritam Singh
Three Essays Collectives. 2010. Hb ISBN 978-81-88789-62-7 $40 €29 £25 | website

Why do people get moved to protest against some violations of human rights and not others? How can the culture of human rights be made inclusive? This book offers insights into these questions by tracing the dialectical connection between economic interests and human rights. It offers a unique understanding of the con- testation over the application of human rights in the global context. Reflection on personal experience of violation is combined with extensive fieldwork in India and Punjab to offer an enriched theoretical understanding of what is at stake in human rights thinking and practice.

For further information, download Flyer.

Karl Marx’s Grundrisse: Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy 150 Years Later

Edited by Marcello Musto.
Routelege. April 2010. Hardback 2008. $ 130.00. Paperback 2010. $ 32.95. ISBN: 978-0-415-58871-3 | website

Written between1857 and 1858, the Grundrisse is the first draft of Marx’s critique of political economy and, thus, also the initial preparatory work on Capital. Despite its editorial vicissitudes and late publication, Grundrisse contains numerous reflections on matters that Marx did not develop elsewhere in his oeuvre and is therefore extremely important for an overall interpretation of his thought.

In this collection, various international experts in the field, analysing the Grundrisse on the 150th anniversary of its composition, present a Marx in many ways radically different from the one who figures in the dominant currents of twentieth-century Marxism. The book demonstrates the relevance of the Grundrisse to an understanding of Capital and of Marx’s theoretical project as a whole, which, as is well known, remained uncompleted. It also highlights the continuing explanatory power of Marxian categories for contemporary society and its present contradictions.

With contributions from such scholars as Eric Hobsbawm, Moishe Postone, Ellen Meiksins Wood, Terrell Carver, John Bellamy Foster, Enrique Dussel and Iring Fetscher, and covering subject areas such as political economy, philosophy and Marxism, this book is likely to become required reading for serious scholars of Marx across the world.

The volume has been also translated in Chinese (by the prestigious China Renmin University Press), in Farsi (Nika, Tehran) and is forthcoming is Japanese (Hassaku-sha, Tokyo: forthcoming 2011).

The Law of Worldwide Value

By Samir Amin

December 2010. Monthly Review Press. ISBN: 978-1-58367-233-4. $15.95 paperback | website

In his new extensively revised and expanded edition of this book, Samir Amin suggests new approaches to Marxian analysis of the crisis of the late capitalist system of generalized, financialized, and globalized oligopolies following on the financial collapse of 2008.


Mexico's Revolution Then and Now

By James D. Cockcroft
Monthly Review Press. December 2010, 176 pp, ISBN: 978-1-58367-224-2 $14.95(pb) | website

Written to commemorate the one hundredth anniversary of the first predominantly anti-capitalist revolution in the world,  Mexico’s Revolution Then and Now is the perfect introductory text and one that will also sharpen the understanding of seasoned observers. Cockcroft provides readers with the historical context within which the revolution occurred; explains how the revolutionary process has played out over the past ten decades; tells us how the ideals of the revolution live on in the minds of Mexico’s peasants and workers; and critically examines the contours of modern Mexican society, including its ethnic and gender dimensions. Well-deserved attention is paid to the tensions between the rulers and the ruled inside the country and the connected tensions between the Mexican nation and the neighboring giant to the north.
 
Mexico’s Revolution Then and Now also explores the possibility of Mexico’s revolutionary history finally bearing the fruit long hoped for by the country’s disenfranchised—a prospect kept alive by the unyielding struggle of the last one hundred years. This is the definitive introduction to one of the most important events of the twentieth century.

Rethinking Foreign Investment for Sustainable Development: Lessons from Latin America

Edited by Kevin P. Gallagher and Daniel Chudnovsky, with a Foreword by José Antonio Ocampo
Anthem Press, December 2010.  ISBN 9781843313281 | website

The promise of investment by multinational corporations is that capital will flow into your country and be a source of dynamic growth. Beyond boosting income and employment, the hope is that manufacturing foreign investment will bring knowledge spillovers that can build the skill and technological capacities of local firms, catalyze broad-based economic growth; and environmental spillovers that can mitigate the domestic ecological impacts of industrial transformation.

This book consists of country case studies and comparative analysis from Latin American and U.S.-based economists, part of the GDAE-sponsored Working Group on Development and Environment in the Americas. The volume finds that when foreign investment did materialize it often fell far short of generating the necessary linkages required to make foreign investment work for sustainable economic development in Latin America.

Find out more about Rethinking Foreign Investment for Sustainable Development, and order information

The Rise of Canada's Richest 1%

By Armine Yalnizyan.
December 1, 2010. National Office | Reports & Studies
Issue(s): Economy and economic indicators, Government finance, Inequality and poverty
Projects & Initiatives: Growing Gap

This generation of rich canadians is staking claim to a larger share of economic growth than any generation that has preceded it in recorded history. An examination of income trends over the past 90 years reveals that incomes are as concentrated in the hands of the richest 1% today as they were in the Roaring Twenties.
And even then, the Canada’s elite didn’t experience as rapid a growth in their income share as has occurred in the past 20 years. Canada’s richest 1%1 — the 246,000 privileged few whose average income is $405,000 — took almost a third (32%) of all growth in incomes in the fastest growing decade in this generation, 1997 to 2007.

Click here to read the report.
 

Why the World Economy Needs a Financial Crash and Other Critical Essays on Finance and Financial Economics

By Jan Toporowski
Anthem Press. December 2010, 158 pp, ISBN: 9780857289599 (HB)  |  website
 
The essays in this volume explain the key structural features of financial inflation that give rise to financial crisis. These features include excessive reliance on finance to maintain economic activity through rising asset prices. Reliance on asset inflation induces a preoccupation with property values and a new social divide between the asset-rich and the asset-poor that undermines the culture of the welfare state. When debt can no longer be supported by cash flow from asset markets, excess debt plunges economies into economic depression.

Work and Struggle: Voices of US Labor Radicalism

Edited by Paul LeBlanc
Routledge, 2010. Paperback Price: $34.95 ISBN: 978-0-415-87824-1 | website

Work and Struggle: Voices from U.S. Labor Radicalism focuses on the history of U.S. labor with an emphasis on radical currents, which have been essential elements in the working-class movement from the mid nineteenth century to the late twentieth century. Showcasing some of labor's most important leaders, Work and Struggle offers students and instructors a variety of voices to learn from -- each telling their story through their own words -- through writings, memoirs and speeches, transcribed and introduced here by Paul Le Blanc. This collection of revolutionary voices will inspire anyone interested in the history of labor organizing. Featuring: Thomas Paine, Frances Wright, Frederick Douglass, William Sylvis, Terence V. Powderly, Albert Parsons, (Mother) Mary Harris Jones, Eugene V. Debs, Fannia Cohn, John L. Lewis, A. Philip Randolph, Genora Dollinger, Cesar Chavez, James Matles.

Workers of the World: Essays toward a Global Labor History

By Marcel van der Linden
Brill. November 2010. pp. 469.  ISBN 978 90 04 18479 4  Paperback (EUR 45 / US$ 60) website
Studies in Global Social History

The studies offered in this volume contribute to a Global Labor History freed from Eurocentrism and methodological nationalism. Using literature from diverse regions, epochs and disciplines, the book provides arguments and conceptual tools for a different interpretation of history - a labor history which integrates the history of slavery and indentured labor, and which pays serious attention to diverging yet interconnected developments in different parts of the world. The following questions are central: What is the nature of the world working class, on which Global Labor History focuses? How can we define and demarcate that class, and which factors determine its composition? Which forms of collective action did this working class develop in the course of time, and what is the logic in that development? What can we learn from adjacent disciplines? Which insights from anthropologists, sociologists and other social scientists are useful in the development of Global Labor History?

 

Heterodox Book Reviews

Marx and Philosophy Review of Books


And a new list of books for review all at www.marxandphilosophy.org.uk/reviewofbooks/

 

Heterodox Graduate Programs and Scholarships

Edmond J. Safra Lab Fellowships and Projects, 2011-2012

Dear Faculty Colleagues, Fellows, and Friends of the Center:

Thank you for your ongoing support of the Center's research project on institutional corruption; your input has added valuable dialogue to our still nascent undertaking. I write to alert you to next year's fellowship opportunities, and ask that you pass on the word to those who may be interested.

As you know, the work of the project is being carried out by the Center's Lab, which is again seeking to fill its ranks with talented scholars and practitioners - at any stage in their career - who can continue the work of uncovering where and when institutional corruption exists and build tools to respond to it.

In short, we have three different types of opportunities for the 2011-12 academic year (for further information click the link below):


The number of fellowships granted will be dependent upon the quality of the applicant pool and other considerations, and some positions may remain unfilled. More information about these opportunities can be found in the attachments, or on our website at: http://www.ethics.harvard.edu/lab/opportunities.

The Lab would be particularly enthusiastic to receive applications from a broad range of researchers addressing issues such as conflicts of interest, public trust of institutions, and institutional discrimination. The deadline date for receipt of applications is February 15, 2011. Please email us with any questions (applications@ethics.harvard.edu).

We appreciate your bringing our information to the attention of promising scholars, and letting us know about prospective candidates.

Sincerely,
Neeru Paharia
Research Director


Heterodox Economics in the Media

"How the White House is putting Social Security at Risk" by Heidi Hartmann

Editorial (here) in the Huffington Post on the recent stimulus package.


Queries from Heterodox Economists

Call for Support: EuroMemorandum 2010/11

Dear friends and colleagues,

With this email we are sending you the text of the EuroMemorandum 2010/11 with the title:

Confronting the Crisis: Austerity or Solidarity

This EuroMemorandum was formulated on the basis of discussions at the 16th Workshop on Alternative Economic Policy in Europe. The first part outlines the key economic, social and environmental developments in Europe; the second part is a critique of the policies adopted by the European authorities; and the third part is a contribution to the critical debate about possible alternatives.

If you are in broad agreement with the main lines of argumenht of this year's EuroMemorandum, we ask you to express your support.

In order to submit your declaration of support to the EuroMemo Group, please fill in the declaration of support at the end of this email or in the attachment, and send it back via email to euromemo@uni-bremen.de or by fax to ++49-421-218-2680 by Wednesday, 22 December 2010.

The text of the EuroMemorandum 2010/11 will be published by the end of December, together with the list of signatories.
Last year's EuroMemorandum was signed by more than 300 economists from all over Europe and abroad.

Please feel free to distribute the EuroMemorandum 2010/11 widely, thank you very much for your support, best wishes,

the EuroMemo Group Steering Committee

Wlodzimierz Dymarski, Miren Etxezarreta, Trevor Evans, Marica Frangakis, John Grahl, Jacques Mazier, Mahmood Messkoub, Werner Raza, Catherine Sifakis, Diana Wehlau and Frieder Otto Wolf

Download: EuroMemorandum 2010/11, Summary of EuroMemorandum, and the Declaration of Support

JOIN Stiglitz, Hausmann, Bardhan, other economists on capital controls statement

Dear colleague,

Please consider endorsing the letter below, urging the U.S. government to reconsider the restrictions in U.S. trade and investment agreements on the use of capital controls to prevent and mitigate financial crises.

Twenty initial endorsers include numerous prominent economists, including Ricardo Hausmann, Joseph Stiglitz, Pranab Bardhan, Olivier Jeanne, Stephany Griffith-Jones, and others.

Initiated by the Global Development and Environment Institute, Tufts University (GDAE) and the Institute for Policy Studies, this economist statement calls for a fresh approach to this issue at a particularly opportune time. An increasing number of governments around the world are using capital controls and other macro-prudential measures in responsible ways to deal with heightened international financial stability.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is seeking approval of a trade pact with South Korea and is in the final phase of a review of the U.S. “model” bilateral investment treaty, which they say will be the basis for new deals with India, China, and several other countries. They are also negotiating the “Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement ,” which is intended to be a trade agreement “for the 21st century.” These initiatives offer a real opportunity to apply lessons from recent financial crises.

The final letter will be sent to the United States Treasury, the Department of State, and the Office of the Trade Representative, as well as the media and key members of Congress.

To add your endorsement, please send your name, title, and institution by December 22 to Mukhtar Amin at mukhtar.amin@tufts.edu

For more information, contact:

In 2009, Gallagher and Anderson, as members of an investment subcommittee of the State Department's Advisory Committee on International Economy Policy, recommended significant changes to the capital transfers provisions of U.S. trade and investment agreements.

Thank you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SIGN-ON LETTER:

We, the undersigned economists and policy analysts, write to alert you to important new developments in the economics literature pertaining to prudential financial regulations, and to express particular concern regarding the extent to which capital controls are restricted in U.S. trade and investment treaties.

Authoritative research recently published by the National Bureau of Economic Research, the International Monetary Fund, and elsewhere has found that limits on the inflow of short-term capital into developing nations can stem the development of dangerous asset bubbles and currency appreciations and generally grant nations more autonomy in monetary policy-making.[i]

Given the severity of the global financial crisis and its aftermath, nations will need all the possible tools at their disposal to prevent and mitigate financial crises. While capital account regulations are no panacea, this new research points to an emerging consensus that capital management techniques should be included among the “carefully designed macro-prudential measures” supported by G-20 leaders at the Seoul Summit.[ii] Indeed, in recent months, a number of countries, from Thailand to Brazil, have responded to surging hot money flows by adopting various forms of capital regulations.

We also write to express our concern that many U.S. free trade agreements and bilateral investment treaties contain provisions that strictly limit the ability of our trading partners to deploy capital controls. The “capital transfers” provisions of such agreements require governments to permit all transfers relating to a covered investment to be made “freely and without delay into and out of its territory.”

Under these agreements, private foreign investors have the power to effectively sue governments in international tribunals over alleged violations of these provisions. A few recent U.S. trade agreements put some limits on the amount of damages foreign investors may receive as compensation for certain capital control measures and require an extended “cooling off” period before investors may file their claims.[iii] However, these minor reforms do not go far enough to ensure that governments have the authority to use such legitimate policy tools. The trade and investment agreements of other major capital-exporting nations allow for more flexibility.

We recommend that U.S. FTAs and BITs permit governments to deploy capital controls responsibly without being subject to challenge, as part of a broader menu of policy options to prevent and mitigate financial crises.

Sincerely,

(Initial signatories as of 12/13/2010)

Ricardo Hausmann, Director, Harvard University Center for International Development
Dani Rodrik, Rafiq Hariri Professor of International Political Economy, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University
Olivier Jeanne, Professor of Economics, Johns Hopkins University, and Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics
Pranab Bardhan, Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley
Lance Taylor, Department of Economics, New School for Social Research
Jose Antonio Ocampo, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University
Joseph Stiglitz, University Professor, Columbia University, Nobel laureate
Stephany Griffith-Jones, Initiative for Policy Dialogue, Columbia University
Ethan Kaplan, IIES, Stockholm University and Columbia University
Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, President, The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
Ilene Grabel, Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver
Alice Amsden, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
Gerald Epstein, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
Kevin P. Gallagher, Department of International Relations, Boston University
Sarah Anderson, Global Economy Project Director, Institute for Policy Studies
Arindrajit Dube, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts-Amherst
William Miles, Department of Economics, Wichita State University
Adam Hersh, Center for American Progress
James K. Galbraith, Lloyd M. Bentsen Jr. Chair in Government/Business Relations and Professor of Government, University of Texas at Austin
Paul Blustein, Nonresident Fellow, the Brookings Institution, and Senior Visiting Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation
Anton Korinek, Department of Economics, University of Maryland


[i] For some of the most important recent studies see: Ostry JD, Ghosh AR, Habermeier K, Chamon M, Qureshi MS and Reinhardt DBS (2010). Capital Inflows. The Role of Controls. IMF Staff Position Note, SPN/10/04. Washington, DC, International Monetary Fund. Magud N and Reinhart CM (2006). Capital Controls: An Evaluation. NBER Working Paper 11973. Cambridge, MA, National Bureau of Economic Research. Further studies are available upon request.
[ii] “Seoul Summit Document,” Nov. 12, 2010.
[iii] See, for example, Annex 10-E of the U.S.-Peru FTA.



For Your Information

Call for Nomination: ESHET History of Economic Analysis Award

The European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET) is inviting nominations for the History of Economic Analysis Award. The History of Economic Analysis Award is for the best article (not necessarily written in English) in the history of economic thought, published in a scientific journal during 2009 or 2010.
The winner will be invited to attend the Society Conference that follows the announcement of the prize, and will receive 500 Euros.

Nominations should include:

Candidates can be from any part of the world.  Self-nominations are not accepted.  Please send nominations to Richard van den Berg, r.van-den-berg@kingston.ac.uk. The deadline for submissions is January 31, 2011.
 

Journal of the History of Economic Thought (JHET)

Two most popular articles from current issue available until March 7th 2011.

Journal of the History of Economic Thought (JHET) is an international journal that serves as a forum for scholarship in and inquiry into the history of economics and related parts of intellectual history. It also facilitates communication and discourse among scholars working in the field of the history of economics, and disseminates knowledge about the history of economics. Find out more here.

In the latest issue of JHET James Forder discusses Friedman's 1976 Nobel lecture and the Phillips Curve Myth, and Michael V. White gives us insight into the repercussions of writing about and teaching political economy at Cambridge University in the 1870s-80s.

Follow the links below to access these articles for free:

Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives Holiday Gift!

For a limited time the CCPA is opening its entire cache of research free of charge — giving full public access to our publications via a database run by the Canadian Electronic Library. Browse our books, peruse chapters from our education journal Our Schools/Our Selves, and utilize the key-word search function that even scans inside our PDF reports end eBooks. Click here to take a look.

Lettre Ouverte sur Œconomia

Chers collègues, chers amis,

Vous avez peut-être déjà appris qu'une nouvelle revue, Œconomia — Histoire/MeĢthodologie/Philosophie, est en cours en création : elle sera consacrée à l'histoire de la pensée économique, à la philosophie et à l'épistémologie de l'économie, et s'appuiera également sur les recherches récentes en histoire économique. Ses premiers numéros seront disponibles en 2011 (http://www.necplus.eu).

Read the full "Lettre" here.

Archives of the journal Contretemps (founded by Daniel Bensaid) now online

Website: http://www.contretemps.eu/archives/archives-revue-contretemps-telecharger

''Tame the Vampire Squid, Take Back Our Banks''

Launched to mark the start of bank bonus season, a new animation is setting out to increase public pressure on government to take on the banks and not sweep reform under the carpet. It ask politicians whether they have a plan to tame the bank, and if not, why not?

The minute-long animation is inspired by Rolling Stone journalist Matt Taibbi's description of investment bank Goldman Sachs as a giant vampire squid "sucking on the face of humanity".

The animation is backed by a wide range of influential pressure groups including: nef, Compass, PLATFORM, ResPublica, 38 Degrees, WDM, Positive Money, Tax Research and the Post Bank campaign.

Find out more at www.giantvampiresquid.org and send the film to your MP.

"What's Wrong With Being the World's No.2?" by Adbusters

We hope you enjoyed your complimentary copy of Adbusters #93: The Big Ideas of 2011. The feature article from this issue, "What's Wrong With Being the World's No.2?" by Roland Kelts, explores Japan's potential transition to a steady state, no growth economy. It's now available online at www.adbusters.org/magazine/93/whats-wrong-being-no-2.html please have a visit and share with your friends and colleagues.

If you have any ideas for future articles please send them to kalle@adbusters.org. Or if you didn't receive your complimentary copy of this issue, please contact kevin@adbusters.org.