Issue 174 January 12, 2015 web pdf Heterodox Economics Directory
I am sending you this Newsletter from this year's ASSA-conference in Boston, where several thousand economists spent the beginning of the new year. The ASSA is always a highly diversified and enlightening event, although I found the different sessions and presentations I attended to be of a rather mixed quality. For instance, I had opportunity to present a paper in an AFEE-session on "Theorizing and Modeling in Institutional Economics", which featured a series of interesting and noteworthy presentations (see here). On the other hand I visited a series of mainstream sessions, which simply consisted of (partially rather complex) "tweakings" of standard DSGE-models obviously dedicated to produce non-standard policy results. However, the very same results could be derived in a much simpler and less arbitrary way (i.e. without adding a series of ad-hoc assumptions) from heterodox economic models. So the question arises whether all these efforts dedicated to saving DSGE-models, which have been considered as empirically defective even by most mainstream presenters, is really an efficient strategy ;-)
Especially interesting in this context was a presentation by Joseph Stiglitz in a session organized by INET. In his presentation Stiglitz tried to resurrect a series of heterodox economic argumens within a mainstream economic framework (of course, without calling the „heterodox“ arguments). These arguments ranged from the social emulation of preferences and the role of culture and power in economic analysis to the performative effects of mainstream economic thinking and even to the question of political hegemony a la Gramsci (here labelled as the „battle for social frames“). Unsurprisingly, Stiglitz found that this undertaking is rather difficult even when driving the mainstream economic practice of „axiomatic variation“ to its limits.
From a topical viewpoint it is interesting to note, that while inequality played a major role in many mainstream economic sessions and ist role as an explanatory variable for economic outcomes was hotly debated, the issue of unemployment was rather underrated.
I also had the impression that – in comparison with my last ASSA-visits in 2010 and 2013 - the actual segregation between heterodox and mainstream economics has slightly deepened. Specifically, the AEA seems to have intensified its efforts to spatially separate different economic traditions: Heterodox and other critical sessions are located comparably far away from the conference center and are thereby segregated from the rest of the economic debate. Additionally, the traditional joint session of AEA and URPE on the debate of fundamentals has been completely dropped from the program. While I consider this decision to be made in the spirit of efficiency and with the aim to reduce social tension in general and cognitive dissonance on the side of mainstream economists, I also would judge this move as deeply problematic. Should not science, especially in the form of scientific conferences, be the arena to debate different theoretical approaches and attitudes in an open-minded setup? I will leave it to you, my dear readers, to answer this one question for yourself.
I also want to point you to two miscellaneous pieces of information collected in this issue of the Newsletter: First, the Eastern Economic Association is searching for an editor or co-editors for the Eastern Economic Journal. The Eastern Economic Journal is committed to free and open intellectual inquiry from diverse philosophical perspectives in all areas of theoretical and applied research related to economics and the search committee welcomes both nominations and personal expressions of interest. So please submit your nominations!
Second, there has been a review of Geoffrey Harcourt's and Peter Kreisler's "The Oxford Handbook of Post-Keynesian Economics" in the review section of the Journal of Economic Literature. One should not miss this nowadays rare occasion of some piece of heterodox thought appearing in a leading mainstream economic journal.
All the Best,
Jakob
© public domain
25–28 August 2015 | Prague, Czech Republic
Re-Imagining Class - Materialities of Resistance, State Power and the Commons: CfP of the Critical Political Economy Research Network (RN06) for ESA 2015
In a context of increasingly authoritarian processes of austerity measures in response to the crisis in Europe and beyond, various groups and social movements have articulated quests for more democracy and reclaiming the Commons. Categories of public goods and the commons include amongst others education, health, environment, food, water, air, energy, land, housing, transport, cities, or waste management. These notions generally engender new forms of horizontal participatory and inclusive bottom up democratic decision-making and communal ownership structures not considered for profit. Democratic imaginaries are however only seldom spelled out, as if such wished-for democratic structures were without a teleology. This raises the question of which concrete conceptions the (radical) Left has to offer with respect to the political economy of democracy and the commons? Which lessons can be drawn from prefigurative politics and existing/real life examples in the organisation of the economy and public goods? Which implications would such imaginaries have for rethinking class, and the materialities within social movements? At the same time, in order to contextualise these processes in the concrete materiality of crisis and resistance, we need to understand the changes and continuities in the imaginaries of state power and authoritarian governance, and the relations between social forces struggling over the prerogatives of resistance and contestation.
As the overall conference theme suggests, it is through sociological imagination that we can begin to understand the current conjuncture and formulate alternatives. Re-imagining class should be a core focus in this process. We are interested in hosting a wide range of topics in sessions that are linked to the above themes. This could include a focus on various social movements on the Commons; contestation and resistance to austerity measures; new forms of democratic participation and citizenship; conceptual reflection and critique on the use of class concepts; authoritarian dimensions of the ongoing capitalist restructuring; new manifestations of the capital-labour conflict; or the social/human geography of contestation and resistance. Of particular importance here are critical feminist political economy perspectives that challenge underlying patriarchal structures and social relations.
We are interested in all of the above plus more. We invite contributions (papers and/or panel proposals) from those with an interest in critical political economy research, regardless of their disciplinary affiliation and whether they are in academia or not. We also hope to attract a diverse range of participants, from a number of countries and backgrounds.
Notes for authors
Abstracts should not exceed 250 words. Abstracts must be submitted online to the submission platform, see below. Abstracts sent by email cannot be accepted. Abstracts will be peer-reviewed and selected for presentation by the Research Network; the letter of notification will be sent by the conference software system in early April 2015.
List of the topics for RNs: About Research Networks
List of the topics for RSs: About Research Streams
Call for Papers
ESA 2015 Conference uses on-line application ConfTool for the abstract submission. Please read carefully these instructions first.
You can create a new account and submit your contribution through Abstract Submission or via ConfTool until 1stFebruary 2015.
Please note that abstracts submitted for ESA 2015 should be on a topic relating either to the Conference’s Research Networks (RN) or Research Streams (RS). The number of submissions is limited to 2 per person.
European Sociological Association also invites applications for junior scholar grants to attend the ESA conference in Prague 2015.
Abstract submission deadline: 1 February 2015.
If you have further questions regarding this call, or the Critical Political Economy research network, please contact us at cpern@criticalpoliticaleconomy.net.
5-8 June, 2015 | University of Richmond, US
The Institute offers a forum for graduate students and distinguished scholars to present work in progress or more polished papers to a lively audience. Our mission is to help young scholars connect in a workshop setting with young and eminent scholars in the field. Past speakers include Brad Bateman, Mauro Boianovsky, Marcel Boumans, the late James Buchanan, Dave Colander, Evelyn Forget, Dan Hammond, Samuel Hollander, Kevin Hoover, M. Ali Khan, Anthony Laden, David Levy, Charles McCann, Deirdre McCloskey, Steve Medema, Phil Mirowski, Leon Montes, Mary Morgan, Maria Pia Paganelli, Sandra Peart, Malcolm Rutherford, the late Warren Samuels, Eric Schliesser, the late Gordon Tullock, Anthony Waterman, and Roy Weintraub.
For the 2015 session, we invite proposals on any topic in the history of economic thought. New participants are welcome, as are recommendations and submissions from any and all interested parties. We welcome suggestions and proposals in any area of the History of Economics.
We anticipate that the Institute will be able to offer honoraria for presenters and students. Participation by upper-level undergraduate and graduate students in economics or related disciplines is encouraged.
Conference events include good coffee and continental breakfasts, lunches and several dinners. Details about travel, housing and other matters will be posted early in 2015.
Please send expressions of interest, topics of interest, paper proposals or queries to:
Details will be available early in 2015 on the conference website.
23-24 June, 2015 | Brock University, St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada
Social economics is the study of the ethical and social causes and consequences of economic behavior, institutions, organizations, theory, and policy. Social economists engage in many types of research, from explorations of the history and philosophy of economics to quantitative and qualitative examinations of contemporary economic life; and from historical studies of economic activity and institutions to recommendations for policy agendas. The practice and meaning of social economics is continuously defined and redefined by these diverse research agendas. The 15th World Congress in Social Economics will afford us the opportunity to take stock of who we are as social economists and how our work advances our values and principles.
We welcome proposals for individual papers and complete sessions-conceptual, applied, and empirical-related to the theme of the conference as well as all areas of social economics. Some topics for discussion might include:
The deadline for submission is Friday, February 20, 2015. You will be notified by March 20, 205.
Abstract Submissions
To submit a proposal, please visit the Association for Social Economics website and upload an abstract of approximately 400 words. The submission site will become available in November 2014. Please include the title of the session or paper, the authors' names and institutional affiliations, and contact information in the form of an email address for the corresponding author. At least one author of each paper presented at the World Congress must be a member of the Association for Social Economics. To join, please visit this link.
Summer School in Social Economics
The Association for Social Economics announces an exciting Summer School workshop for graduate students and recent Ph.D.s. to be held in conjunction with the World Congress of Social Economics. Between 12-18 fellows will be selected to attend the Summer School as guests of ASE. The Summer School begins the evening of June 21 and continues on June 22, 2015. Fellows accepted to the Summer School will receive complementary room and meals for the Summer School and the World Congress, complementary registration to the World Congress, plus all Summer School materials.
Fellow Obligations: Accepted fellows must become members of ASE and submit a Summer School refundable deposit of $100 (that will be returned upon completion of the World Congress). All fellows must commit to participating in all sessions of the Summer School and to staying for the entire World Congress.
Elba Brown-Collier Best Student Paper Award
This award, sponsored by the Association for Social Economics (ASE), is presented at the World Congress for Social Economics to the author of the best paper by a graduate student on a topic in social economics, also demonstrating strong promise for future scholarly contributions. Professors (or others who have completed their graduate degrees) cannot be coauthors.
To be eligible for the award, the student author must register for the conference and present his/her paper. Please submit your paper proposal through the regular submission process described above, indicating that you wish it to be considered for the prize. Following notification of acceptance in March, the full paper should be submitted for consideration by May 20, 2015. The status of each author must be clearly stipulated (MA student, PhD student, etc.) For consideration, the paper should be no longer than 8,000 words.
The Elba Brown-Collier Award Committee, composed of members of the Association for Social Economics, will adjudicate the submitted papers. The winner of the Elba Brown-Collier Best Student Paper Award for 2015 receives $400 USD + One year's membership in ASE which includes subscriptions to Review of Social Economy and Forum for Social Economics.
3-5 June, 2015 | Salamanca, Spain
The special session on Multi-Agents Macroeconomics is an international forum which aims at sharing ideas, projects, researches results, models and experiences associated with the building of computational macroeconomic models. The special session will be held in Salamanca (Spain) as the part of the 12th International Symposium Distributed Computing and Artificial Intelligence 2015.
CONTRIBUTION
The recent negative economic and financial events call for new and innovative studies in Macroeconomics. The combination of Economics and Computer Science is a field of studies which proves to be useful and thus should be fostered. The increase in computational power, the development of programming languages and the striking progress of information and communication technologies allow the researchers to set up virtual economies and track the results obtained by each artificial agent that operates in the system.
The special session focuses on interdisciplinary approaches to the study of macroeconomic analysis and policies. Papers are invited for the following areas of special interest which include but are not limited to:
Author instructions and papers submission
Papers must be formatted according to the Springer template using Ms Word Format 2003-2007 or LaTeX available on the DCAI web site. Authors can submit short (4 pages maximum) or long (8 page maximum) papers. PhD students can submit a summary of their work in progress to the Doctoral Consortium. Please, visit the DCAI website for further information.
Important dates
All accepted papers will be included in DCAI 2015 book published in the Advances in Intelligent and Soft-Computing series, Springer.
Selected papers will be invited to submit a revised version to be considered for publication in Global & Local Economic Review
For further information please contact together the special session chairs and organizers:
Context and motivations
The international journal Global & Local Economic Review announces the Special Issue to commemorate the notable Italian economist Federico Caffè, born on January 6, 1914, mysteriously disappeared on April 15, 1987, and declared dead on October 30, 1998. This year, Global & Local Economic Review joins with the University of Chieti-Pescara (Italy) and Caffè-D’Ascanio Research Centre Foundation (Italy) in order to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Professor Federico Caffè. Federico Caffè was particularly interested in Economic and Financial policy issues, and Welfare economics, especially in their social dimensions. One of his main seminal works, Lezioni di Politica Economica (En. tr. Lectures on Economic Policy), is widely regarded as the complete summary of his social and economic thoughts. He was a strong critic of free trade, avowedly Keynesian in inspiration, and also very interested in the Scandinavian welfare model.
Several institutions have been named after him, including the Faculty of Economics of the University of Rome III and the Roskilde University Centre for Southern European Studies. The Sapienza University of Rome also organizes annual conference that have been held by some of the most significant economists of our age. Many of the lectures have been published in a series of the Cambridge University Press. The University Gabriele d’Annunzio dedicated and entitled its Aula Magna to him at the University Campus of Pescara.
Serving as a Professor from 1959 until his retirement in 1987, Federico Caffè left an indelible and precious mark on the life of the Italian University. The emergence of his economic ideas over the past five years has been internationally renowned. Federico Caffè mentored several generations of Italian economists and scholars, many of whom rose to senior positions in academia, in political life and in public administration. Among others, he mentored the former Governor of the Bank of Italy, and the current ECB President, Mario Draghi, and the current Governor of the Bank of Italy, Ignazio Visco, as well as a large number of prestigious scholars and academicians.
Aims and scope
The onset of the current “Great Recession” has given rise to a deep critique of standard economic models since they proved to be neither able to accurately interpret real economic dynamics nor to make correct predictions. This is mainly due because they focus on pure market economies devoid institutions and without concern for historical and structural transformations in contemporary economies. This opens a stimulus discussion on rethinking the foundations of traditional political economy analysis. Federico Caffè is undoubtedly one of the most influent economist who deeply discusses these transformations and the actuality of his thought has been gaining a new momentum.
The special issue to honor the Hundredth Anniversary of the birth of Federico Caffè opens and encourages intellectual inquiries both on the structural transformation of contemporary economies and on heterodox and interdisciplinary new contributions. It welcomes manuscripts that are methodological and philosophical as well as empirical and theoretical. Papers are invited for the following topics of special interest but are not limited to:
Submission of manuscripts
The deadline for the submission of papers is extended to 28th February, 2015. Submissions should be made writing to the Sr. Researchers, assistant Professor Edgardo Bucciarelli (e.bucciarelli@unich.it) and assistant Professor Donatella Furia (dfuria@unich.it). All papers submitted will be considered using the international peer review process. Please, also see policies for the submission of manuscripts and instructions for authors here.
For any further information, please contact: e.bucciarelli@unich.it and dfuria@unich.it
25 May, 2015 | Cambridge, UK
Theme: The Ideal of Democracy and the Reality of Sovereign Debt
In the aftermath of the 2008 bank bailouts, sovereign debt has increased to unprecedented levels. As a result, governments saw their policy room curtailed by the demand for credibility and access to international capital markets. In Greece and Italy, democratically elected officials stepped down from power with the aim of promoting creditworthiness. The Argentine litigation in the United States again brought attention to substantial sway of bondholders over sovereign states.
As a response, economic and legal debates on sovereign debts have been wide and varied, but they have only rarely addressed the core normative issues involved in issuing, trading, and restructuring sovereign debt. Political philosophers have been slow to respond to issues raised by recent debt crises. One likely reason for the current lack of normative reflection on the increased political importance of financial dynamics is the complexity of international financial markets.
The aim of the workshop is therefore to bring together scholars from philosophy, law, and the social sciences to discuss the consequences of rising sovereign debts for the normative ideals that inform existing parliamentary democracy. The workshop will feature invited contributions by Philip Wood (Law, Allen & Overy) and Gabriel Wollner (Philosophy, Humboldt). Drawing on these diverse perspectives, the workshop will contribute to a new framework for evaluating sovereign indebtedness.
Topics include but are certainly not limited to:
Keynote speakers:
PHILIP WOOD is an expert in comparative and cross-border financial law and works full-time for the law firm Allen & Overy in the firm's London office. He has written around 18 books, including nine volumes in the series Law and Practice of International Finance published in 2007. He held visiting academic positions at the Universities of Cambridge, Oxford and Queen Mary.
GABRIEL WOLLNER is assistant professor in philosophy at Humboldt University Berlin. His academic interests are in political philosophy and ethics, and the application of these inquiries to various issues in public policy. His work has appeared in a number of journals, including 'The Journal of Social Philosophy', 'The Journal of Political Philosophy' and 'The Canadian Journal of Philosophy'.
Submission details and deadlines:
The workshop is a one day event for which participants are expected to read the presented papers in advance. Papers can be up to 10,000 words in length and presentations will be limited to 10 minutes, followed by a 40 minute discussion. To apply, please send a 500 – 700 word abstract to Jens van 't Klooster (jmv32@cam.ac.uk) before the 15th of February. Accepted presenters will be asked to circulate their paper by the first of May.
Organizers: Anne Henow, Hayk Kupelyants, Jens van ‘t Klooster, Kim Hecker and Marco Meyer.
Venue: Cambridge, Gonville and Caius College, Senior Parlour Room
We gratefully acknowledge support by the University of Cambridge School of Arts and Humanities, Gonville and Caius College Cambridge and the Cambridge-Groningen ‘Trusting Banks’ project.
3-5 January, 2016 | San Francisco, US
Theme: "Whither Shared Prosperity? Research on Labor Market Institutions"
Call for Symposia Proposals
In an era of resurgent inequality, long-term unemployment, and widespread low-wage work, the LERA Program Committee welcomes proposals for stimulating, creative, and controversial panels related to the theme, “Whither Shared Prosperity: Research on Labor Market Institutions.” We seek proposals on a broad range of topics, micro and macro, that will attract a large number of LERA and ASSA attendees. We encourage submissions that include perspectives of other disciplines and of those outside academia – in government, labor, management, and public policy. We want our sessions to grapple with major policy issues affecting the economic prosperity and security of working people.
Submission Deadline: Submit to the LERA website by March 9, 2015 (without exception).
For full information visit the conference website.
Editor: Seongjin Jeong (Gyeongsang National University, Korea)
Guest-Editor: Dong-Min Rieu (Chungnam National University, Korea)
MARXISM 21 invites submissions for a special issue on Piketty from the Perspective of Marxian Economics.
Contributions are invited on topics including, but not limited to, the following: Marxian appraisal of Piketty's book from theoretical as well as empirical aspect, an alternative interpretation of the phenomena analyzed by Piketty, the theoretical relation between Marx and Piketty, Piketty in the light of the history of economic thought, and etc.
Contributors are invited to submit a short abstract (max. 200 words) outlining the key arguments of their prospective paper to Dong-Min Rieu at rieudm@cnu.ac.kr by January 31, 2015.
Deadline: Final papers (max. 12,000 words length) will be expected to be submitted by May 20, 2015 and the journal will be published in 20 August, 2015.
Aim and Scope
In the last few decades lot of academic research has been devoted to the development and improvement of agent-based computational techniques to study macroeconomic issues. Agentbased models have been drawing considerable attention in that they are flexible modeling tools that allow accounting for features such as agents heterogeneity and interaction. Modeling the economy as a complex adaptive system proves to be useful in that this helps understanding and managing the abrupt changes sometimes observed (especially during big recessions or depressions) in macroeconomic variables.
However, a closer look at its actual implementation at the policy level suggests that the agent-based computational approach in macroeconomic has not reached a sufficient degree of reliability in the eyes of policymakers. Their main concerns are about the microfoundations on which the models are built and the reliability of computer simulations compared to the standard analytical approach used in economics.
Regarding microfoundations, the agentbased computational approach allows to model a large range of agents, ranging from simple "rule-of-thumb" behaviors to agents which closely reproduce the actual human decision making process. This flexibility, however, implies that the set of implementable individual models increases enormously so that the researcher can incur in unsuitable choices. The debate over which means are the best to overcome these problems remains one of the key concerns of the agent-based computational economics community (Gürcan et al., 2013; Klügl, 2008).
An integrated multidisciplinary approach which involves, among others, behavioral and cognitive economics (Phan, 2004), dynamic decision making modeling (Busemeyer and Pleskac, 2009), optimal adaptive control (Sadamoto and Yamakita, 2011; Lewis and Vamvoudakis, 2010), neurosciences (Chhabra and Jacobs, 2006), experimental and mathematical psychology (Speekenbrink and Shanks, 2010) and artificial intelligence (Lee and El-Sharkawi, 2008) is desirable. The variety of models produced at the microscopic level should be evaluated by rigorous selection techniques considering their closeness with behaviors observed in real-life economic agents.
Improving the rigor of the model selection at the microeconomic level will provide a microscopic validation that coupled with the macroscopic calibration will become the solid roots for building more reliable agent-based models to be used for policy making.
Topics
The special issue aims at bringing together the latest advances in agent-based computational macroeconomics. Authors are encouraged to submit high-quality original manuscripts addressing any topic of interest for macroeconomics by using computational techniques. Works focusing on the microfoundation phase of agent-based macroeconomic models are of special interest for the special issue. A few examples are: (1) constructive critical discussions on the present state of the art, (2) new methodologies for improving the microfoundation stage of agent-based models such as estimation of artificial agents' motives/ behavioral rules, (3) interdisciplinary approaches to agents' modeling, (4) the interaction between macroeconomic experiments and agent-based models.
Important Dates
Submissions
Submissions should be done through the New Mathematics and Natural Computation website or via editorialmanager. If you are accessing the system for the first time as an Author, please click on the above "Register Now" to register your paper submission account. Once after you are granted a user account and password, you can then use that user account and password to submit your paper. Since you are submitting a new paper, you will be asked to answer a number of questions. The first one is the type of the paper. "Research paper" is the answer. Then you will come all the way to choose one of the three provided fields. This is important. Please choose Economics. Then in the one of the final questions, you are allowed to write down some comments to the Editor-in-Chief. Please use this space to indicate that the paper is intended to submit to the special issue on agent-based macroeconomics. Submitted papers will be reviewed by at least two reviewers. The submission of a manuscript implies that it is the authors' original unpublished work and is not being submitted for possible publication elsewhere.
Guest Editors
Gianfranco Giulioni, Edgardo Bucciarelli, Paola D'orazio and Marcello Silvestri
Department of Philosophical, Pedagogical and Economic-Quantitative Sciences, "G. D'Annunzio" University, Viale Pindaro 42, 65127 Pescara, Italy.
13-16 April 2015 | Mercure Perth Hotel, Perth, Scotland
The Society invites submissions of papers for presentation and proposals for dedicated paper sessions at its Annual Conference in Perth. Papers and proposals for organised sessions from all areas of Economics, Economic Policy, and Econometrics are invited from academics, postgraduate students, and practitioners in government, local authorities, non-departmental public bodies, private sector and charitable organisations.
The Society places particular emphasis on the application of economics to policy and there will be invited sessions in separate policy and pedagogy streams and sessions specifically designed to support PhD students and young lecturers.
Please see below for submission details. Further details including a preliminary programme will be made available in due course on the Society's website.
The Scottish Economic Society will award a prize of £1000 for the best paper presented at the 2015 annual conference by an economist currently registered for a PhD or who has successfully completed a PhD within the last five years. Consideration for the prize presupposes conference attendance and society membership.
Full papers must be submitted in PDF format and should include:
We invite paper proposals relating to any aspect of Economic History and / or History of Economic Thought, to form part of a dedicated session at the 2015 Scottish Economic Society conference. For your paper to be considered for the session, please send a draft (or extended abstract) to Jenny Eades <j.a.eades@dundee.ac.uk> by the stated deadline.
Please do feel free to contact any one of us direct to discuss potential paper proposals further.
Tim Barmby, University of Aberdeen (tim.barmby@abdn.ac.uk)
Ioannis Theodossiou, University of Aberdeen (theod@abdn.ac.uk)
Matthias Klaes, University of Dundee (m.klaes@dundee.ac.uk)
Deadline for paper submission: Friday, January 9th, 2015
Participants will be able to register electronically from Friday January 30th 2015 to Monday March 16th, 2015. Registration as a full delegate will include accommodation and catering for the duration of the conference.
Support for PhD students
The Scottish Economic Society will continue its policy of supporting PhD students registered at Scottish Universities to attend a dedicated programme of events on the Wednesday (April 16th) of the Conference for free. Details of the programme as well as the number of places available will be announced in December 2014.
Conference Organisers:
Further information is available on the conference website.
Volume Six, No. 3 (Sept. 2015): "Empirical Investigation of Pluralist Economics Education"
The International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education was founded in 2009 as a global journal for economics and economics education with an emphasis on pluralism. While the theoretical case for pluralism has been made, we are interested in papers that empirically test the efficacy of pluralism in increasing students’ capacity to learn as well as knowledge of economics.
We are seeking papers that empirically investigate the efficacy of pluralism at either the classroom, national or university level.
Accepted papers will be published in Vol. Six, No. 3 of the IJPEE.
Interested authors please contact: Jack Reardon, Editor, IJPEE at jreardon02@hamline.edu
20-22 February, 2015 | Vienna University of Economics and Business
Theme: "Good life for all"
This congress explores, how a good life could become possible not only for a few, but for all of us. It strives to find answers, how new ideas and concepts can get publicly adopted and self-evident. It is about politicising the question of a felicitous life and its preconditions. We search for infrastructures – in a wider sense – so as to enable creative and cooperative societal solutions.
What is it about?
For years now, a thriving avant-garde has been rethinking and reshaping economy and society: from energy cooperatives, dedicated union initiatives, social entrepreneurs through to the Commons movement and alternative financial institutions, a variety of initiatives are now making alternatives come true.
The search for solutions is conducted in a variety of experiments: small-scale and on-site innovations create niches of experimentation for local and organic agriculture and expose apparently practical constraints as socially constructed learning barriers. New forms of ownership and new types of use are developing in opposition to overexploitation and appropriation of limited resources within the framework of a profit and growth oriented economy. Innovative collective bargaining agreements respond to the increasingly unequal distribution of labour, wealth, and life opportunities.
Simultaneously, mainstream in politics, society and the media still appears to be largely unimpressed. Neither an increasing number of natural disasters due to climate change nor worrying reports about the destruction of social security systems in Southern Europe have led to rethinking the economy, society and politics.
The Congress will investigate how a good life can be possible not only for a few but for all. It will explored how new ideas can tie in with society and become a matter of course.
The utopian horizon of a good life for all provides here and now a specific compass for creating an appropriate framework for upcoming transformation
The Congress dares unconventional co-operations of environmental and social activists, science and politics, theory and practice, in order to redefine problems and to forge new paths. It is about politicizing the debate on the good life and human flourishing as well as about its prerequisites. What is needed, are infrastructures in the broad sense that facilitate creative and cooperative solutions:
The Congress does not only aim at presenting best practice examples, but at a common search for systemic responses that will change routines, everyday life and learning habits. How can pioneer initiatives – instead of becoming stunted in niches - turn into ways of living and working that enable a good life for all? How can a new form of “public” be established that will neither delegate tasks to the government and public administration nor burden individuals with the entire responsibility for saving the world? What atmosphere of constructive debate beyond commercial simplification by mass media is necessary to match the complexity of these challenges? What is the role of public universities therein? All around the “Good Life for All” Congress transdiciplinary knowledge alliances should build up as potential corner stones of a critical public sphere as well as a sustainable society.
Link to the congress's website is available here.
21 January, 2015 | University of the West of England, Bristol, UK
Organised by the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy
IIPPE will be holding its first Training Workshop in the West of England. The workshop will take place at the University of the West of England, Frenchay Campus in Bristol from 9.45am to 5pm on Wednesday 21 January 2015.
Simon Mohun will give an Introduction to Marx’s Political Economy in the morning session. The session begins with a brief outline of the method of historical materialism, and then introduces Marx’s labour theory of value in a perspective that emphasises its applicability to the contemporary world. The primary focus is an explanation of the origin of profit in a capitalist economy, which proceeds through an exploration of the distinction between labour and labour-power. This is followed by an account of how production processes are organised in the pursuit of profit. The money invested in such processes is called ‘capital’, and after exploring how capital produces profit, the talk turns to how profit produces capital in processes of reproduction and accumulation. It concludes with a discussion of how these processes affect the conditions of existence of the working class and opens the question of what determines standards of living.
The talk is suitable both for those with no background knowledge of Marx’s political economy and for those who wish to refresh their knowledge.
The Afternoon session will be given by Ben Fine and is titled, ‘Why Do We Consume What We Consume and What Does It Matter: From Value of Labour Power to Systems of Provision, Or Is It the Other Way Around?’ The study of, and attention to, consumption over the past thirty years has experienced explosive growth across the social sciences, with the major exception of economics whose principles for understanding consumption have essentially remained the same since the marginalist revolution of the 1870s. Significantly, mainstream economics has been untouched by postmodernism which, no doubt alongside elusive notions of consumerism and consumer society, has been responsible for inspiring the attention to consumption and focused upon the meanings of the consumed to the consumer. How, then, are we to understand the variety in what is consumed and what it means to the consumers across different contexts, quite apart from the cascade of insights offered by consumer studies? And what role can political economy play in the study of consumption? An answer will be given in terms of a material culture of consumption in which the determinants and meanings of consumption will be addressed through an exploration of the systems of provision approach. It examines the provision and culture of objects of consumption as specific to those objects themselves as well as intimately related to one another. In addition, the approach allows for refinement in the understanding of the value of labour power as far as its “moral and historical” determinants are concerned, and for an understanding of the strengths and limitations of consumer politics.
As ever, we seek an audience of undergraduate and postgraduate students, junior academics and activists, who have a particular interest in acquainting themselves both with some of the basic principles of Marxian political economy and its controversies, and with the relevance of Marxian political economy to the contemporary world.
There is no charge for attending the workshop. Unfortunately, no refreshments will be provided but can be purchased at one of the many catering sites on campus.
For more information about past training workshops, visit iippe.org.
If you wish to apply to attend this workshop, please send a note to that effect, before Tuesday 13 January with your name and occupation/affiliation, to Serap Saritas <548340@soas.ac.uk>.
Job Position: Tenure-track position in Political Economy
Antioch College is seeking applicants for a tenure-track position in Political Economy to begin September 1, 2015. Political Economy at Antioch has an interdisciplinary focus and we welcome candidates with a broad background in working, teaching or researching political economy and related subjects. Successful candidates must have a Ph.D. in Political Science, Public Policy, Economics or a related field prior to appointment. Antioch College also welcomes applicants with vast professional experience in the field, from outside higher education. Evidence of successful teaching in international political economy; trade policy; development; food systems; globalization; global migration; macroeconomic policy; or related fields at the undergraduate level are preferred. Candidates should demonstrate a commitment to rigorous undergraduate education in a liberal arts environment and the ability to develop innovative, interdisciplinary and experientially based courses. Candidates should also be prepared to teach within an undergraduate liberal arts curriculum dedicated to linking theoretical knowledge to experiential and applied learning.
Political Economy is a major in the Social Sciences Division. A successful candidate will be expected to teach undergraduate classes in Political Economy at all levels and to develop experiential educational opportunities for students. In addition to offering courses within the discipline, the candidate is expected, in a collaborative format, to contribute to organizing interdisciplinary Global Seminars on the themes of water, food, energy, health, governance, and education. Candidates are expected to participate in program development, provide academic advising, guide students in developing their individualized majors, and oversee Senior Projects/Theses in political economy.
To apply submit a cover letter, curriculum vitae, statement of teaching philosophy, unofficial transcripts and three letters of recommendation electronically as PDF attachments to nwilburn@antiochcollege.org. Electronic submission of all materials is strongly preferred. Course evaluations and official transcripts will be required of finalists. If necessary, hard copies may be mailed to Political Economy Search c/o Nancy Wilburn, Antioch College, One Morgan Place, Yellow Springs, OH 45387.
Deadline for submission of materials is January 16, 2015 (Official transcripts will be required of finalists.)
More details are available here.
International Call for Submissions
On the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the Centre of Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy at the Vienna University of Technology, the Egon-Matzner-Award for Socio- Economics was established in 2012; it will be conferred on 7th May 2015 for the fourth time.
Egon Matzner (1938-2003) was Professor of Socio-Economics, Public Finance and Infra- structure Policy at the Vienna University of Technology’s Centre of Public Finance and In- frastructure Policy from 1972 until his retirement in 1998. He is remembered by many as an innovative thinker, always with an open mind with regard to new topics in economics, especially in the fields of socio-economics, public finance and infrastructure policy, with a clear political vision and he always retained a critical distance. Professor Matzner had a great influence on several generations of planners and scientists, and was always very supportive towards talented students.
The Egon-Matzner-Award will be presented to young scientists (up to 35 years of age) for their scientific publications (namely contributions to journals or monographs issued by international scientific publishers) and for excellent diploma, master or doctoral theses. In particular, studies in the following thematic fields can be submitted:
Studies will be preferred that especially
The submitted works should have been published recently (2013-2015). The award is endowed with a premium of EUR 1,000 and can be shared, in the event of parity, by the authors of excellent publications. The award is funded by the revenues of the Centre of Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy. The submitted works can be written in German or English. The prize will be awarded based on the decisions made by an international jury, and will be handed over at the annual conference to be held at the Centre of Public Finance and Infrastructure Policy on 7th May 2015, in Vienna. Award winners are asked to present their work personally in a short presentation at the conference.
Submissions including the author’s CV have to be sent electronically to EMP@ifip.tuwien.ac.at; for further information, please contact Prof. Dr. Michael Getzner, Vienna University of Technology, Resselgasse 5, 1040 Vienna, Austria (Michael.Getzner@tuwien.ac.at).
The deadline for submissions is 15th March 2015. The jury’s decision will be made known by the end of April, 2015.
Prof. David Laidler has been selected as the recipient of the Guggenheim Prize in the History of Economic Thought for 2015.
The prize is awarded to leading scholars as a tribute to their major contribution to the field.
Prof. Laidler was preceded by Prof. Bertram Schefold in 2009 and Prof. Sam Hollander in 2011.
Marcio Henrique Monteiro de Castro, Ricardo Bielschowsky e Cesar Benjamin: Notas sobre o pensamento de Ignácio Rangel no Centenário de seu nascimento
José Maria Dias Pereira: O centenário de Ignácio Rangel
Osmani Pontes Moreno e André de Melo Modenesi: A curva de Rangel: origem, desenvolvimento e a formalização de Bresser-Pereira e Nakano
Fernando Rugitsky: Inconvenient glow: Cliometrics and the “golden age” of capitalism
Fernando de Holanda Barbosa e Fernando de Holanda Barbosa Filho: O Brasil pode repetir o milagre econômico?
Juan Carlos Moreno-Brid e Carlos Alberto Fraga-Castillo: Update analysis on the international crisis and its impact on the Mexican economy
Bernardo Campolina e Clélio Campolina Diniz: Crise global, mudanças geopolíticas e inserção do Brasil
Tiago Nasser Appel: Just how capitalist is China?
Mauricio Luperi: O avanço do processo de matematização na academia brasileira de economia desde a década de 1980
Robert A. Blecker: Economic stagnation in the United States: underlying causes and global consequences
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira: Ignácio Rangel, 100 anos
Tony Lawson: The nature of the firm and peculiarities of the corporation
Sheila C. Dow: Addressing uncertainty in economics and the economy
Lucia Cusmano, Andrea Morrison, and Enrico Pandolfo: Spin-off and clustering: a return to the Marshallian district
Andrew Kliman and Shannon D. Williams: Why ‘financialisation’ hasn’t depressed US productive investment
Yun K. Kim, Mark Setterfield, and Yuan Mei: Aggregate consumption and debt accumulation: an empirical examination of US household behaviour
Moritz Cruz: Premature de-industrialisation: theory, evidence and policy recommendations in the Mexican case
Mara Nogueira, Marco Crocco, Ana Teresa Figueiredo, and Gustavo Diniz: Financial hierarchy and banking strategies: a regional analysis for the Brazilian case
Eugenio Caverzasi and Antoine Godin: Post-Keynesian stock-flow-consistent modelling: a survey
Hiroshi Nishi: Comparative evaluation of post-Keynesian interest rate rules, income distribution and firms’ debts for macroeconomic performance
Thomas I. Palley: The middle class in macroeconomics and growth theory: a three-class neo-Kaleckian–Goodwin model
Kwangsu Kim: Demand and structural change in Adam Smith’s view of economic progress
David Andrews: Natural price and the long run: Alfred Marshall’s misreading of Adam Smith
Renee Prendergast: Jonathan Swift’s critique of consequentialism?
Forum:
Eckhard Hein and Achim Truger: Interview with Robert Skidelsky: ‘Economics is not useless. It can either be very harmful, which it often is, or very beneficial’
Articles:
Brett Fiebiger: ‘The Chicago Plan revisited’: a friendly critique
Thomas I. Palley: Global imbalances: benign by-product of global development or toxic consequence of corporate globalization?
Pablo Gabriel Bortz: Foreign debt, distribution, inflation, and growth in an SFC model
Colin Rogers: Why ‘state of the art’ monetary theory was unable to anticipate the global financial crisis: a child's guide
Wesley C. Marshall: Inside shadow banking: understanding the doomsday machine
Gunther Tichy: Happiness surveys: exclusive guides for policy?
EDITORIAL
Alicia Girón: Argentina: Strategic Resources and High Financial Profitability
ARTICLES
Miguel Ángel Rivera Ríos: Economic Development and Historical Trajectories: An Approach to Brazil and Mexico
Aída García, Ignacio Perrotini: The ModusOperandi of New Consensus Macroeconomics in Brazil, Chile and Mexico
Germán Alarco: Real Salaries, the Balance of Payments and the Potential Product in Latin America, 1980-2011
Carlos Carrasc: The Origin of Macroeconomic Imbalances in the Spanish Economy
Marcos José de Souza, Elaine Fernades, Lucas Vitor de Carvalho: Structural Determinants in the Spread of Waterborne Diseases in Brazil
Aleida Azamar, José Ignacio Ponce: Extractivism and Development: Mineral Resources in Mexico
Roberto Diego Quintana: Rural Social Actors and Mining Mega-Projects in Mexico
Mickaël Clévenot et Edwin Le Héron: Renouveler la macroéconomie postkeynésienne ? Les modèles stock-flux cohérent et multi-agents
Pascal Seppecher: Pour une macroéconomie monétaire dynamique et complexe
Tarik Mouakil: A “Minsky crisis” in a Stock-Flow Consistent model
Jordan Melmiès et Thomas Dallery: Price competition, inter-firms relationships, bank discrimination and wage inequalities: a post keynesian perspective
Antoine Godin: Job Guarantee: a Structuralist Perspective
Luis Reyes and Jacques Mazier: Financialized growth regime: lessons from Stock Flow Consistent models
Stephen T. Ziliak: The spontaneous order of words: economics experiments in haiku and renga
Wanna Prayukvong: Active learning practices for the Buddhist economics course: some positive results
Suman Sarkar: Poverty and gainfulness of employment: normative approach
Duncan Watson, Steve Cook and Fabio Arico: Death of the pedagogue: pluralism and non-didacticism
Dirk H. Ehnts: A simple macroeconomic model of a currency union with endogenous money and saving-investment imbalances
Indradeep Ghosh and Benjamin Wolcott: Towards a dialogical undergraduate introductory economics course
By Mark Baimbridge & Philip B. Whyman | 2015, Palgrave Macmillan
Crisis in the Eurozone discusses how the global financial crisis induced the ‘Great Recession’ and triggered problems within the eurozone regarding sovereign debt. It explores the background of the eurozone crisis, as well as outlines a number of potential solutions. The authors argue that the failure of the eurozone to meet any convergence criteria, together with unjustified emphasis placed upon unproven rules and institutions derived from contemporary neoliberal macroeconomic thinking, was an accident waiting to happen. Additionally, a series of potential remedies is proposed, ranging from a critical evaluation of solutions that the EU has already instigated (moral suasion and financial relief measures) together with a series of alternative propositions (fiscal federalism and a ‘European Clearing Union’). Moreover, the analysis is extended to the collapse of the eurozone and to options for national economic self-governance.
Link to the book is available here.
By Irene van Staveren | 2014, Routledge
Economics After the Crisis is an introductory economics textbook, covering key topics in micro and macro economics. However, this book differs from other introductory economics textbooks in the perspective it takes, and it incorporates issues that are presently underserved by existing textbooks on the market. This book offers an introduction to economics that takes into account criticisms of the orthodox approach, and which acknowledges the role that this largely Western approach has played in the current global financial and economic crisis.
A key feature of the book is its global approach: it offers examples from countries all over the world, including from developing and emerging economies. The chapters discuss all major economic topics, including individuals and households; the behaviour of consumers; the behaviour of firms; markets; the role of the state; public goods and commons; labour markets; capital markets; the macroeconomic flow; economic growth; international trade; nature and environmental externalities; poverty and wellbeing. Throughout, the book presents theoretical perspectives in which social structures, relatedness, uncertainty, and social norms provide key economic explanations, contrasting these with the idealized worldview of neoclassical economics.
Economics After the Crisis is designed for a one-semester introductory course in economics, primarily at undergraduate but also at postgraduate level, and is suitable for students from a range of disciplines. It will be of particular relevance to those students with an interest in developing economies.
Link to the newsletter is available here.
By Blair Fix | 2014, Springer
Neoclassical growth theory is the dominant perspective for explaining economic growth. At its core are four implicit assumptions: 1) economic output can become decoupled from energy consumption; 2) economic distribution is unrelated to growth; 3) large institutions are not important for growth; and 4) labor force structure is not important for growth. Drawing on a wide range of data from the economic history of the United States, this book tests the validity of these assumptions and finds no empirical support. Instead, connections are found between the growth in energy consumption and such disparate phenomena as economic redistribution, corporate employment concentration, and changing labor force structure. The integration of energy into an economic growth model has the potential to offer insight into the future effects of fossil fuel depletion on key macroeconomic indicators, which is already manifested in stalled or diminished growth and escalating debt in many national economies. This book argues for an alternative, biophysical perspective to the study of growth, and presents a set of ‘stylized facts’ that such an approach must successfully explain. Aspects of biophysical analysis are combined with differential monetary analysis to arrive at a unique empirical methodology for investigating the elements and dependencies of the economic growth process.
Link to the book is available here.
Edited by Colin Jenkins | 2014, Hampton Institute Press
A collection of essays and analyses from the Hampton Institute: A Working-Class Think Tank. Includes Hampton's most popular essays from 2013-14 in addition to exclusive content that can only be read here. From a follow-up to Sean Posey's timely analysis of Youngstown, Ohio as a microcosm of the post-industrial American "rustbelt" to Andrew Gavin Marshall's in-depth research on "the intellectuals and institutions of American imperialism," the 2015 Hampton Reader is sure to generate ideas, spark debate, and cultivate dialogue.
Link to the book is available here.
Edited by Margaret Thornton | 2014, Australian National University
This collection of essays arose from a workshop held in Canberra in 2013 under the auspices of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia to consider the impact of the encroachment of the market on public universities. While the UK tripled fees in 2013 and determined that the teaching of the social sciences and the humanities would no longer be publicly funded, it was feared that Australia would go further and deregulate fees altogether.
In the best tradition of the social sciences, the contributors have assumed the role of critic and conscience of society to present penetrating analyses of the ramifications of the corporatisation of the university as neoliberalism continues to occupy the ascendant position in the political firmament. The dramatis personae in these analyses are students, academics, managers and political mandarins with the gendered character of corporatisation an important sub-theme.
Link to the book is available here (free download).
By David Greene | 2015, Sense Publishers
Out of over 40 years of experience in adult or worker education, David Greene brings us tools to develop consciousness and leadership for social change. Based on the power of our huge working class to understand this economic system and to organize, this book aims to empower educators, students and other workers with science applied to solving the serious social problems we face today.
We are confronted with the issues of low-wage, part-time and temporary jobs, inadequate housing, health care, and transportation, inequality and injustice, at the same time as the greatest concentration of wealth in human history. The disparity of wealth and control has never been greater. The only way out of this deepening crisis is through education. To change this we need understanding that is based on the clearest reflection of the real world. Unfit to Be a Slave employs the tools of theory and informed practice, to guide us to create spaces to share experience, study history’s lessons and develop consciousness.
As a collective and organized force we can transform our communities, our countries and our world. Mythologies that tell people, ‘Things don’t change,’ ‘We can’t do anything,’ or ‘It has always been this way,’ prevent poor and working class populations from taking necessary action on behalf of their own lives and families. Unfit to Be a Slave is meant to be a guide to education for social change.
Link to the book is available here.
The Russell Sage Foundation's program on Social Inequality supports research on the social, economic, political, and labor market consequences of rising economic inequalities in the United States. We seek investigator-initiated research projects that will broaden our understanding of the causes and consequences of rising economic inequalities. We are especially interested in projects that might use innovative data or methodologies to address important questions about inequality. Examples of the kinds of topics and questions that are of interest include, but are not limited to, the following topics.
The program on the Future of Work supports research on the causes and consequences of changes in the quality of jobs for less- and moderately-skilled workers in the United States. We seek research proposals that will broaden our understanding of the role of changes in employer practices, the nature of the labor market and public policies on the employment, earnings, and the quality of jobs of American workers. We are especially interested in funding analyses of original qualitative and quantitative data sources, and novel uses of existing sources of data to address important questions about the interplay of market and non-market forces in shaping the wellbeing of workers, today and in the future. Examples of the kinds of topics and questions that are of interest include, but are not limited to, the following topics.
The deadline for letters of inquiry for funding in the Foundation's Social Inequality program and the Future of Work program is January 16, 2015.
At the November Board meeting, the Trustees created a new program on Race, Ethnicity and Immigration, which will replace both the Cultural Contact and the Immigration Programs. A description of the funding priorities for this new program is in development and will appear in our next newsletter.
Click here for guidelines on how to apply for funding.
The Global Labour University (GLU) invites trade unionists and labour activists to apply to its Masters in "Labor and Global Workers' Rights" at PennState University in the United States and "Labour Policies and Globalisation” at University of Kassel and Berlin School of Economics and Law in Germany.
The programmes focus on global governance including international labour standards, economics, trade, and multinational companies from a labour perspective and on trade unions and other social movements as actors of change. This joint initiative of universities from different continents, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) the international trade union movement and the Friedrich Ebert Foundation provides a unique global study environment and offers great opportunities for international networking and cross border collaboration.
A limited number of scholarships will be awarded by the GLU network to students in need of support.
The deadlines for application are the following:
For application and programme details visit the GLU website.
The IMK within Hans-Böckler-Foundation seeks 2 doctoral students: detailed information is available here (PDF).
The WSI within Hans-Böckler-Foundation seeks a doctoral student: detailed information is available here (PDF).
The annual ESHET Newsletter for 2014 is now available on the website of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought. It offers a summary of the various activities ESHET has undertaken during the year that has nearly passed. Read it and, if you're not a member yet, it may even convince you to join.
Timothy A. Wise: What Happened to the Biggest Land Grab in Africa? Searching for ProSavana in Mozambique
Cornel Ban and Kevin Gallagher: The IMF's perestroika moment
Edward Webster and Katherine Joynt: Repositioning Social Dialogue: The South African Case
Link to the newsletter is available here.
Visit the new website of the Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) at www.urpe.org.
The Eastern Economic Association is searching for an editor or co-editors for the Eastern Economic Journal to assume the post as of July 2015. The journal is committed to free and open intellectual inquiry from diverse philosophical perspectives in all areas of theoretical and applied research related to economics. The search committee welcomes both nominations and personal expressions of interest.
Please include the term EEJ Editor in the heading and contact Justine Conoline (conoline@princeton.edu).
The Oxford Handbook of Post-Keynesian Economics (Vol. 1 and 2), which has been featured in this Newsletter, was reviewed by Steven Pressman in the recent issue of the Journal of Economic Literature.
Note, that this is one of the very few occasions nowadays, where heterodox economic thinking finds its ways into a mainstream economic journal.
Alan S. Blinder has written a critical review on Jeff Madricks Book "Seven Bad Ideas: How Mainstream Economists Have Damaged America and the World", which has been featured in this Newsletter. Alan Blinder's review offers a nice glimpse on the typical economists' mindset when confronting the discipline's critics, although Blinder surely belongs to the more critical and sensible part of the economic mainstream.
In response to Blinder's review John Komlos wrote an interesting comment, which I hereby share with you here. Both pieces have been published in The New York Review of Books.