Issue 184 August 17, 2015 web pdf Heterodox Economics Directory
Some time ago, I came across a new branch of economics labelled "genoeconomics". The advent of genoeconomics is obviously conditional on the emergence of big (genome-)data, since practical works in this field exploit huge data sets to precisely show that the value of genetic information for estimating educational or economic outcomes is next to nothing (see, for instance, here). While all this sounds rather idiosyncratic, the 'innovative' research field of genoeconomics is attracting interest, chairs and funds within mainstream economics. To be fair, the latter also features more sensible research incorporating slightly more inclusive frames on "nature vs. nurture" (e.g. here).
What I found most interesting in this context is that this development derives its conceptual legitimation from microfoundational underpinnings of mainstream economics, which features a dogmatic reductionist stance claiming that "only to reduce is to understand." This underlying methodological rationale also applies to other cases, most prominently neuroeconomics, which now has been haunting the discipline for at least ten years. While neuroeconomics has established a firm stronghold within the profession, it obviously suffers from an additional drawback related to uncritically importing methods and findings from traditional neuroscience. Indeed, neuroscience is a strongly contested field with rather shaky empirical foundations. Hence, neuroscience is often confronted with far-reaching criticisms, which focus on the dubious role of industry in psychopharmacological research, the technological incompetence of neuroscience (currently available psychopharmacological drugs are based on 'design by accident', i.e. they are recycled maldevelopments from other fields of research) as well as empirical problems related to invalid measurement procedures and problems of confounding variables. A recent example for the latter is given here and it illustrates that many, if not most, of past findings relating Amygdala-activity to some behavior x or emotion y are invalid and due to an error relating to confounding Amygdala-activity with a rise in blood-pressure nearby the Amygdala. Given the size of the relevant literature this is a fantastic finding for science in general - and, at the same time, also a devastating finding for many scientific careers in particular.
It is quite true that the social sciences suffer from their notoriously imprecise character. However, if we turn to the allegedly more rigorous sciences to remedy that dilemma, we should first aim for a careful exploration whether these allegations of exactness and rigor are indeed correct. In the cases of neuroeconomics and genoeconomics this relatively trivial, but probably rather important, step seems to have been forgotten. In doing so economics added another episode of erecting suspicious theoretical edifice on imported foundations of allegedly solid origins .
Best,
Jakob
© public domain
4-6 February, 2016 | Vienna, Austria
EU Trade Policy at the Crossroads: between economic liberalism and democratic challenges
Organizers:
International trade, and in particular TTIP, the Transatlantic Trade and Partnership agreement between the EU and the US, has recently become a hotly debated policy field in the EU, juxtaposing a coalition of EU institutions and the corporate sector against a large coalition of civil society organisations. TTIP stands out as the prime example of new generation free trade agreements aiming at deep economic integration. Besides tariff elimination, its primary aim is to focus on a very comprehensive set of regulatory issues and rules, with a view to dismantling and harmonizing these in areas such as agriculture, food safety, product and technical standards, sectoral regulations in services, the protection of intellectual property rights, and government procurement. In addition, investment liberalization and protection are central issues, with the proposed investor-to-state-dispute-settlement mechanism (ISDS) being particularly controversial.
The debate on TTIP has also triggered a renewed academic interest on trade issues. The academic discourse is characterized by a dual challenge: firstly, there exists a lack of knowledge about the likely impacts of the new trade agreements upon the well-being of EU societies. Many of the impacts of regulatory change on e.g. food safety, consumer protection, the natural environment or working conditions are not well- known. Secondly, there exists no alternative vision of what the role and contribution of international trade to social welfare in the current environment of multiple crises would possibly entail, and what kind of changes to the politics of EU trade would be needed.
Upon this basis, the conference wants to contribute to the trade policy debate by promoting (i) a trans- and interdisciplinary analysis of the current trade regime and policies in the EU and its likely economic, social and political impacts, and by facilitating (ii) a multi-stakeholder debate on alternative conceptualizations of trade and trade policy in the EU.
Thus, contributions from a variety of academic disciplines, such as e.g. economics, political science, law and sociology are encouraged. Similarly, the conference is open to a variety of theoretical and normative positions in the social sciences. In addition, the conference seeks to bring together researchers from academic as well as other research organizations with policy-makers and political activists from political organizations, NGOs and social movements.
The submission of papers in the following thematic areas is encouraged:
The deadline for submission of paper proposals is 30 September 2015. Please send an abstract (max. 500 words) to tradeconference2016@oefse.at. Decisions on accepted papers will be made in early October 2015. In case of acceptance, full papers are due by 31 December 2015, to be posted on the conference web page. The conference language is English.
Registration forms for the conference and information on the keynote lectures and plenaries will be made available online via the conference webpage.
Further enquiries may be directed to the conference organizers Werner Raza and Melanie Wolf at: tradeconference2016@oefse.at
Scientific committee of the conference: Marija Bartl (Univ. of Amsterdam), Ferdi de Ville (Univ. of Antwerp), Jean-Christoph Graz (Univ. Lausanne), Ronan O’Brien (EuroMemo Group), Werner Raza (ÖFSE), Christoph Scherrer (Univ. of Kassel), Gabriel Siles-Brügge (Univ. of Manchester), Sabine Stephan (IMK/Hans Böckler Foundation), Pasquale Tridico (Univ. Roma Tré), Rudi von Arnim (Univ. of Utah/US).
A pdf-version of this call is available here.
14-15 March, 2016 | University of São Paulo, Brazil
The tenth History of Recent Economics Conference (HISRECO) will be held at the University of São Paulo on March 14-15, 2016.
HISRECO, which was launched in 2007 by an organizing committee comprised of Roger Backhouse, Philippe Fontaine and Tiago Mata, brings together researchers from various disciplines to study the history of economics in the postwar period. It is the organizers’ belief that this period, which witnessed crucial changes that helped establish economics as one of the dominant discourses in contemporary society, is worth studying for its own sake.
The increasing availability of archival materials, along with the development of new methods inherited from the larger history and sociology of knowledge, have helped produce insightful contextual histories of the development of recent economic ideas. In particular, this topic offers good opportunities to young scholars who are interested in interdisciplinary approaches to the history of economics but also want to address the current community of economists.
This is why the History of Economics Society (HES), as part of its New Initiatives program, is sponsoring a small number of young scholars who would like to participate in the next HISRECO conference, and we are trying to secure additional funds for young scholars, who will have their travel, accommodation and meal expenses covered.
Accordingly, we invite all PhD students as well as researchers who have obtained their PhD over the past two years (from July 2013 to September 2015) to submit by email a paper proposal of no more than 500 words (as a pdf file, containing your current affiliation and the university and year of your PhD, if this is the case) to Pedro Duarte (pgduarte@usp.br) by September 30, 2015. Selected participants will be informed by October 26, 2015.
For those who want to know more about HISRECO, a list of past conferences and contributors can be found at http://www.hisreco.org.
The organizers, Pedro Duarte (University of São Paulo) and Yann Giraud (University of Cergy-Pontoise).
The Institute of New Economic ThinkingYoung Scholars Initiative (INET YSI) Working Group on the History of Economic Thought is organising a monthly:
Young Scholars online Seminar in History of Economic Thought and Philosophy of Economics.
Sessions will be thematic and comprise up to three young scholar’s presentations, followed by discussion by the presenters of each other’s papers, a discussion by a senior scholar, and a general discussion. The seminar will be held online via video conference, making use of the software GoToMeeting, which permits high quality video and audio communication and PowerPoint presentations with up to a hundred participants.
All subjects pertaining to the History and Philosophy of Economics are welcome for submission.
Candidates are requested to use this link to submit abstracts online. The deadline is September 30 for the first round of sessions, starting in October 2015.
Given the deplorably limited space for the History of Economic Thought and Philosophy of Economics in both teaching and research—particularly in economics departments—in most countries today, this seminar primarily aims to offer an opportunity for young scholars worldwide, pursuing or wishing to pursue questions and issues in these fields, to reach out to the international community of scholars active in this subject area, without the need for expensive travelling.
All interested scholars from around the world are welcome to participate in the sessions, and we are hoping for your wide participation. The seminar will be accessible from everywhere in the world via web-link, and sessions will be scheduled as conveniently as possible for all time-zones.
For any queries please contact Jérôme Lange at jeromelange@yahoo.com.
4-5 December, 2015 | Rzeszow, Poland
The University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów, together with the Department of Banking, Finance and Accounting, University of Warsaw invite participants in an International Scientific Conference on to be held on 4-5 December 2015 in Rzeszów, Poland.
The aim of the conference is to present the problem of financialization and initiate discussion on the subject, to clarify financialization processes, define strategic research directions, promote international studies on the subject and provide a new opportunity for interdisciplinary discussion. The conference will be attended by distinguished researchers on issues of financialization and eminent Polish scholars from various research centers in the country, as well as representatives of major institutions supervising the financial market in Poland and representatives of the business world. Malcolm Sawyer, Gary Dymski, Trevor Evans, Jan Toporowski and Alessandro Vercelli will give key-note addresses.
The growing role of financial markets and institutions in the economy is sometimes referred to as financialization. It means the process by which financial markets determine the behavior of all actors, including financial institutions, enterprises, individual investors and households. Financial markets act on a number of socio-economic categories of society and shape many areas of life, at the same time increasing awareness about corporate social responsibility.
Bearing in mind the importance of financialization the Department of Finance at the University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszow, together with the Department of Banking and Finance at Warsaw University have made a joint decision to hold an International Scientific Conference "Financialization - impact on the economy and society", which will be held on 04-05 December 2015 in Rzeszow. It is one of the first conferences on the subject in Poland.
Our intention is to integrate the various points of view of academia on this issue. We would like to create field for interdisciplinary discussion, which is why the conference is addressed to representatives of both socio-economic sciences and the humanities.
Research Issues Conference:
Possibility of publication
Conference participants may indicate the title of the magazine in which they would like to place their paper. In such a case please indicate this intention writing the name of the journal in the registration form under “comments” section. The Editing Committee will take the final decision on directing the paper to the chosen journal for publication on the basis of compliance of the subject with the journal profile. Each paper undergoes a review process according to procedure accepted by each of the journals. Upon receiving the acceptance for publication, the authors are obliged to edit the text to editing requirements of the journal. There is also the possibility of preparing a multi-authorship monograph, composed of selected publications. Topics and summaries of articles will be posted on the conference website.
The articles should be sent to agemzik@wsiz.rzeszow.pl titling the e-mail “Finacialization conference”.
Conference languages: Polish and English.
The conference is organized with the honorary patronage of the Polish National Bank, the Commission of Financial Supervision, the Association of Polish Banks, the Mayor of the City of Rzeszow and the Marshal of the Podkarpacie Province and with the media patronage of the daily newspaper “Rzeczpospolita”, TVP Rzeszow, along with the e-Finance journal.
Registration details and more information is available here.
Dear colleagues,
We are currently accepting submissions of high-quality general research articles (as well as archival pieces and review essays) for the two issues of Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology to be published in 2016.
This includes submissions for a symposium on post-WWII developments in the Austrian School of economics to be published in the first issue of 2016.
All research articles submitted by October 31, 2015 are eligible for the Warren Samuels Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology. The winner of the Samuels Prize receives a $1000 stipend.
Authors should submit an article for publication in RHETM via email to one or more of the editors at the email addresses indicated below.
The Editors of Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology,
More information about the journal is available here.
Guest Editors: Gurminder K Bhambra, Professor of Sociology, University of Warwick and Visiting Fellow in Sociology (2014-15), Princeton University; Boaventura de Sousa Santos, Professor of Sociology, University of Coimbra, and Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Deadline for submission of full papers: 16 October 2015
This special issue takes stock of the progress that has been made within sociology over recent decades to become a more globally oriented discipline and discusses the new challenges for the future that emerge as a consequence. It rests on two interlinked premises. First, that understandings of the world are much broader than the Western understanding of the world and so for sociology to adequately address its global futures it needs to take into account ways of knowing that exceed Western thinking, including critical Western thinking. Second, that the current configurations of the world are a consequence of global historical processes that have not always been adequately addressed within western-based sociology. For sociology to better conceptualise its global futures, it also needs to address its global pasts. We invite contributions that address the issues raised, both theoretically and through empirical research, across (but not limited to) the following themes:
Submission Details:
Full submission instructions are available on this site on the ‘Instructions and Forms’ page. Please read these in full well before submitting your manuscript. All manuscripts will be subject to the normal referee process, but potential authors are welcome to discuss their ideas in advance with the editors.
16-17 September, 2015 | University of Oxford, UK
To be held at the University of Oxford on 16th September 2015, 10:00 – 18:00. With its twin event - The Philosophy of Social Justice on 17th September 2015.
"The Philosophy of Social Justice: The contemporary, democratic renaissance in philosophy"
Topical and Contemporary Economic issues will be discussed, the major themes that will be covered in this Conference include:
We are interested in hearing your views and opinions
There will be a panel discussion and debate during the Conference addressing issues such as how Economics would look if it were to be reinvented for the 21st century.
We welcome any book chapters, articles or papers. Papers will be made into a book "The Economics of Social Justice; A handbook for students in the 21st Century" (ISBN: 9781907543463), published by the Green Economics Institute Publishing House.
Please email the Conference Manager, Sabeeta Nathan, with your inputs and writing for the book at the email address below: greeneconomicsinstitute@gmail.com
Registration
For conferences fees, bookings, participation and further information or to request an exhibition stand, or a speaker slot and to reserve a place please email greeneconomicsinstitute@gmail.com
The Green Economics Institute is an independent, international Network in over 50 countries working on mining the core philosophies of economics and ecological reality to enable fundamental Reform of Economics in order to create an alternative economy of caring, sharing and supporting each other.
The program is available here. More information is available at the conference website.
The Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism is looking for authors for the following articles in volume 9 (forthcoming end of 2016):
If you are interested, please apply by email to hkwmred@zedat.fu-berlin.de with a short curriculum vitae.
Draft articles are due by March 1st, 2016. For further information on the project please visit http://www.inkrit.de
Historisch-kritisches Wörterbuch des Marxismus (HKWM)
hgg. von Wolfgang Fritz Haug, Frigga Haug, Peter Jehle und Wolfgang Küttler
publiziert vom Berliner Institut für kritische Theorie e.V. (InkriT)
http://www.inkrit.de | hkwmred@zedat.fu-berlin.de
11-14 October, 2015 | Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA
Hosted by Cornell University and Columbia University
Achieving global food security whilst reconciling demands on the environment is the greatest challenge faced by mankind. By 2050 at least 9 billion people will need food, and increasing incomes and urbanization will inevitably lead to dietary change. The food security challenge will increasingly encompass the triple burden of malnutrition – undernutrition, obesity and micronutrient deficiencies. The urgency of the issues has led to huge scientific strides forwards, making it difficult to keep up with the rapidly expanding volume of scientific research. The Second International Conference on Global Food Security therefore aims to deliver state-of-the-art analysis, inspiring visions and innovative methods arising from research in a wide range of disciplines.
We aim to better understand behavioral, biophysical, economic, institutional, political, social and technological drivers of current and future global food security. The conference will address the food system activities of processing, distributing and consuming food, as well as food production from crop, livestock, tree, freshwater and marine sources; the availability, access, utilization and stability dimensions of food security; and the synergies and trade-offs between economic, environmental, health and social objectives and outcomes. The conference will thereby range across disciplines and spatiotemporal scales of analysis to span the drivers, activities and outcomes of food systems to encompass both contextualized and holistic treatments of the broad challenge of food security.
Join us in this exciting opportunity to ensure that the best science is garnered to support the emergence of the Sustainable Development Goals.
Conference Themes
View theme descriptions here.
Keynote Speakers
The conference program is currently being compiled. For a program outline, please see here.
More information is available at the conference website.
Where?
University of Westminster,
309 Regent Street, London W1B 2HW
CAMRI Research Seminars Autumn 2015
Graham Murdock: The Political Economy of Crisis and the Crisis of Political Economy
October 15, 17:00
Registration here
Movie: The Internet's Own Boy - The Story of Aaron Swartz
October 29, 17:00
Registration here
Herbert Pimlott: Stuart Hall, Marxism Today and the "Making" of Counter-Hegemonic Politics under Thatcherism
November 5, 17:00
Registration here
Wolfgang Muehl-Benninghaus: The Changing German Media Landscape under the Influence of Web 2.0 and Mobile Devices
November 19, 17:00
Registration here
David Gauntlett: Making Media Studies
December 3, 17:00
Registration here
A list of all seminars is available here.
A course organised by the Research School on Peace and Conflict and the SOURCE Societal Security Network
The Research School on Peace and Conflict invites applications for the course Interconnections of Finance and Security, 8 -10 October 2015. The course is organized by Nina Boy (PRIO). Course lecturers include Marieke de Goede (University of Amsterdam), Martijn Konings (University of Sydney), Daniela Gabor (University of the West of England), Andreas Langenohl (Justus Liebig University Giessen) and Emily Gilbert (University of Toronto).
The course presents the state-of-the-art of the finance-security literature and features guest lectures by some of the leading scholars in this emerging field on central concepts such as money, sovereignty, collateral and value. The cross-disciplinary problematic will be relevant for graduate students in the disciplines of security studies, international political economy, international political sociology, economic geography and anthropology and cultural studies. The course features a roundtable on conceptualizing finance-security relations, offering participants the possibility to follow and contribute to cutting-edge discussions.
The deadline for applications is 12 August 2015. Later applications may be accepted depending on available spaces.
For further information about the course program and admission, please visit the research school course page.
10-13 September, 2015 | Technical University Berlin, Germany
Learn from existing alternatives, join forces and set precedent. The SOLIKON 2015 sets ideas in motion, bringing them out of the minds and onto the fertile pastures of our society and combines ideas which must be considered in unison: The theory and practice of a solidarity economy alternative. The SOLIKON Congress and the Week of Change from 5-13 September 2015 at the Technical University Berlin.
Concept SOLIKON2015
1. Presentation and Visualization of approaches, visions and practice examples for another way of economic activities, as for example:
2. To bring together different actors and let now each other
3. To offer open space for a dialogue between approaches and movements for a convivial economy in an international discourse:
Degrowth, Commons, Occupy, Common Goods Economy, Co-consuming, Care Economy, Demonetarization, Social Enterprise, Protection of the environment and climate, Sustainable way of living, Trade unions and many more. Which are common goals, where are the differences? Could we develop a common charter, or common demands towards politicians?
How could a common Transformation Agenda look like?
Some further information: This congress will be accompanied by a so-called Transformation Week (05-09 Sep) where projects can be visited in Berlin and in the Land of Brandenburg. Although a RIPESS AGM with RIPESS members and a RIPESS podium will be included, only parts of the Congress are appropriate for international audience. For those events, interpretation will be provided.
More information (including detailed concept, program, registration, etc.) about this event is available here.
29–30 October, 2015 | Düsseldorf, Germany
The recently founded German "Research Institute for Science-Based Societal Development" (FWGW) aims to open science towards the public. The institute will study problematic developments of our modern society and develop solutions in close collaboration and continuous dialogue with stakeholders of politics and civil society.
During its first FWGW Annual Conference with the title "The Rise of Inequality: A Challenge for Social Cohesion and Democracy" the Institues' four lines of research will discuss how politics and civil society can cope with the threats to social integration and democracy caused by rising social inequality."
We are looking forward to the keynote speakers Anthony Atkinson (University of Oxford) and Colin Crouch (University of Warwick).
Details are available here (in german).
15-17 December, 2015 | Marche Polytechnic University, Ancona, Italy
The Department of Economic and Social Sciences (DISES) of the Marche Polytechnic University is organizing a 3 day International Conference with a focus on the comparison of the causes and the consequences of the Great Crisis of 1929 and the 2008 Great Recession, and on what we can learn from them in order to overcome large scale crises. The aim of the International Conference is to examine in depth both the 1929 and the current crises from different analytical and empirical perspectives, although contributions may extend to the late 19th century Depression or other relevant recessions in the industrial age.
Keynote speakers:
More information is available at the conference website. Contact e-mail: 1929vs2008@univpm.it
9-10 September, 2015 | Siegen, Germany
The economic mainstream is characterized by theoretically, research-methodologically, and normatively rather narrow assumptions and conventions. This seems to be specifically true for the German discourse. The recent macro-economic crises and the dissatisfying modes of explanation underline this fact. Since the academic discourse influences public opinion and political decision making, we need to open up the debate. Therefore, the University of Siegen, in association with a network of international partners, is hosting a symposium to question the current state of economic thinking. Our goal is to implement a more pluralistic, empirical and critical approach towards economics, re-linking economics and social sciences at the University of Siegen. The objective of the symposium is to provide a critical positioning on the current state of research. Derived from this objective, a re-search agenda will be developed for a research institute which is in the making at the University of Siegen. The institute is to be created where economics and social science meet. Focusing on the concept of economic, social and ecological sustainability, research activities at the institute will try to link findings from a micro and macro perspective. The research paradigm is intended to be interdiscipli-nary, pluralistic in methods and directed towards key social issues. Additionally, we intend to enrich our study programs in economics and social science. Forthcoming master programs will integrate perspectives from economics, law, political science, and sociology, using state-of-the art teaching methods.
Registration:kathrin.zimmermann@uni-siegen.de
More information is available here and at the conference website.
10-13 September, 2015 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
While economic development depends on investment and technology, it is now widely accepted that appropriate political, legal, economic and other social institutions have also to be in place. But there is less agreement on what those institutions (broadly defined as systems of established social rules) may be, especially at different stages of the process of economic development. There are also ongoing debates about whether globalization is leading to institutional convergence, or whether national institutional diversity can be maintained.
The Second WINIR Conference, organized with the assistance of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), will bring together leading scholars from multiple disciplines and theoretical approaches to help develop the ongoing conversation about these and other vital institutional issues.
The conference will be held in the Hotel Windsor Atlantica, Copacabana, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It will start on the afternoon of 10 September and end on the evening of 12 September with a gala dinner. There will be an optional tour on 13 September.
Keynotes lectures, representing three academic disciplines, will be given by:
The conference will also feature a round table with:
Leonardo Burlamaqui (UERJ), Benjamin Coriat (Paris-North), Peter Evans (Berkeley), Kathatina Pistor (Columbia)
WINIR Scientific Quality Committee: Peter Boettke (George Mason, economics), Simon Deakin (Cambridge, law), Geoff Hodgson (Hertfordshire, economics), Timur Kuran (Duke, economics), Uskali Mäki (Helsinki, philosophy), Katharina Pistor (Columbia, law), Sven Steinmo (EUI, politics), Wolfgang Streeck (Max Planck Institute Cologne, sociology).
Detailed information about the conference and registration is available here.
The Centre for Business Research (CBR) is an independent research institution within the University of Cambridge. Professor Ken Coutts and Professor Graham Gudgin (University of Cambridge) have produced an interesting report on the Macro-economic impact of liberal market reforms on economic growth in Britain.
Below a few paragraphs from the Press Release of the report:
Contrary to widespread assumption, the “sea-change” of liberal market economic policies introduced since 1979 has not boosted British growth, according to a study from the Centre for Business Research at University of Cambridge Judge Business School. While “conventional wisdom” holds that liberal market policies followed since Margaret Thatcher’s 1979 election remain the best model for the UK economy, albeit with additional banking safeguards, “in this report we ask whether this benign view of the post-1979 world is a true reflection of the economic facts.”
The 74-page report, entitled The Macroeconomic Impact of Liberal Economic Policies in the UK, shows that, contrary to widespread belief, GDP and productivity in the UK have grown more slowly since 1979 compared to previous decades.
The report can be found on the website of the Judge Business School.
The link is available here: macroeconomic_impact_of_liberal_policies_in_the_uk.pdf
Job Position: full- and part-time Job in Economics
Now entering its seventh year of operation, Al-Quds Bard College for Arts & Sciences (AQB) is an innovative program introducing a liberal arts undergraduate education to the West Bank, with an enrollment of about 240 students in 2014-15. AQB is a rigorous program, culminating in a two-semester independent senior project, which, in the social sciences, is generally a demanding research paper of 45 pages or more. Graduates of AQB receive dual degrees: a BA from Al-Quds University and from Bard College (New York).
AQB has a full time opening in Economics, possibly renewable, to teach courses beginning fall 2014 . We seek faculty whose teaching methods are student-centered, involving students in active discussion and group tasks to develop their reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills in English. Course assignments may include introductory microeconomics and/or macroeconomics, intermediate macro, history of economic thought, international trade, open economy macroeconomics, Research Methods in Economics, Research Methods in the Social Sciences, and various electives such as Population Economics and Demography; Economics of Gender, Household, and Family; Competition, Cooperation, and Information and other courses in the successful candidate’s area of specialization. Full time faculty teach three courses per semester, and supervise a minimum of two senior projects. Advising is also expected of all full time faculty. In addition, the successful candidate may seek appointment as Head of the Social Science Division, with significant administrative responsibilities and one course release for the year. This is a 12-month position.
Required qualifications:
Preferred qualifications:
To apply, submit a CV; a cover letter that addresses your interest and background as it relates to this position; evidence of teaching effectiveness, such as student evaluations and syllabi; and three letters of reference through Interfolio: http://apply.interfolio.com/25041. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. Bard College is an equal opportunity employer and we welcome applications from those who contribute to our diversity.
Job Position: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor
The Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College invites applications for a tenure track position at the assistant professor level. The position will begin fall of 2016.
We invite candidates that support the commitment of the department to social, economic, and environmental justice in their teaching, research, and service. While the area of specialization is open, we are particularly interested in candidates whose work focuses on the intersection of the urban environment and political economy in the context of the development of a greener and more sustainable economy. We would like to interview candidates who focus their research and teaching on the green economy, natural resources, energy, climate, and food issues, and their relation to race and class. The appointment will support the department’s interdisciplinary curricular and research efforts that integrate urban and environmental studies and policy. Candidates from a wide variety of disciplines are encouraged to apply, including but not limited to economics, environmental studies, energy and resources, environmental science, geography, political ecology, political economy, and urban planning. Priority will be given to candidates whose teaching and research are connected to policy and planning issues, and emphasize the links between environmental issues and racial, economic and social inequality and have demonstrated experience helping students evaluate and engage in community-based learning and research that advance efforts to create just and livable communities. We are interested in how the work of our new colleague relates to college’s location in the Los Angeles area.
Our new colleague will be expected to teach five courses a year, including shared teaching of our intro-level course Environment and Society (UEP 101) and our two-semester senior comps course (UEP 410 and 411) in which students undertake a year-long applied research project, often with a community “client” or partner. We are interested in candidates who will teach some of the following courses: Urbanization and the Environment, Resilient Cities, Food and the Environment, Food Justice, Climate Justice, Energy and the Economy, Natural Resource Policy, and the Green Economy. We also want our new colleague to develop his/her own courses that will add to our existing curriculum and excite our students. There are opportunities for team-teaching with faculty within our department and in other Occidental departments.
The successful candidate will join a strong department (UEP) that currently has four full-time faculty members as well as affiliated faculty in other departments and practitioners who teach a variety of applied courses as adjunct faculty. UEP also houses a student-run garden and our students and faculty have led several campus-wide sustainability efforts. Our faculty and students also work with our action research center, the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute (UEPI). UEPI has a staff of 12 researchers and advocates who conduct social justice research and administer programs that advance its social change mission, such as the Farm to School/Pre-School program and numerous planning, policy, and community-engaged initiatives. It has become an institutional hub for many community engagement initiatives on campus, in Los Angeles, and nationally.
Our new colleague will help further the college’s goals related to community engagement. We pride ourselves on giving our students robust opportunities for experiential learning, community-based research, and internships. Our department has helped lead efforts on campus, along with the Center for Community Based Learning and the Office of Community Engagement, to link the college’s academic program with community involvement, including expanding community internships and community-oriented research projects for our students.
Candidates should have a Ph.D. or terminal degree in their field of specialization. ABDs near completion will be considered with the expectation the candidate completes her/his doctoral degree within one year of the date of hire.
For a description of our department and its existing courses in our catalog, please visit our departmental website at: http://www.oxy.edu/uep and our UEPI website at http://www.oxy.edu/uepi.
We seek candidates who will contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through their teaching, research and/or service. U.S. News has consistently ranked Occidental as one of the liberal arts colleges most committed to diversity. We rank near the top of very selective liberal arts colleges in terms of the proportion of low-income students with Pell Grants. Situated in the vibrant neighborhoods of Eagle Rock and Highland Park in Northeast Los Angeles allows convenient access to major cultural and natural attractions in the nation’s second largest city. The College supports interdisciplinary and multicultural academic programs that provide a talented, engaged, and diverse group of students with an educational experience that prepares them for leadership in a pluralistic world.
Occidental College is an equal opportunity employer. Underrepresented minorities, women, and LGBTQ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
All materials are due by 5 pm on Friday, October 30, 2015. We will contact finalists in December to schedule interviews on campus during January 2016.
These materials include:
Please submit these materials to Ms. Sylvia Chico, Search Committee Coordinator, Urban & Environmental Policy Department, schico@oxy.edu.
Job Position: Associate Professor in Comparative Politics and Quantitative Methods
The Department of Society and Globalisation (ISG), Roskilde University, invites applications for a position as associate professor within the field of ‘Comparative Politics and Quantitative Methods’. The position is available from December 1st, 2015 or as soon as possible thereafter.
In its research strategy for 2013-2016, the Department gives priority to a number of research areas. The position will be linked to the research area ‘Politics, Governance and Democracy’, see Research Strategy here.
Applicants matching the following profile will be preferred:
Responsibilities and tasks
The associate professor’s duties will primarily include research (including publication/academic dissemination duties) and research-based teaching (with associated examination duties). In addition to research and research-based teaching, the position also includes a duty to share knowledge with the rest of society – including participation in public debate. Furthermore, the associate professor is expected to manage research, provide guidance and supervision of assistant professors and researchers as well as take part in academic assessments.
The successful candidate is expected to accomplish:
Qualifications
Applicants must hold a PhD degree or equivalent in an appropriate field. Qualifications within the following scientific areas are required:
You are also required to be enterprising and to possess good interpersonal skills and to be a visible, active participant in the department’s daily activities, in addition to being willing to engage in disciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration across the department.
Successful candidates who do not speak Danish (or possibly Swedish or Norwegian) will be requested to acquire the necessary skills in Danish within the first two years of service, so as to ensure that they can participate satisfactorily in teaching activities as well as in academic and administrative activities at the University. At the time of appointment, successful candidates must master English for academic purposes.
Assessment
In the assessment of the candidates consideration will be given to:
Questions:
Further information may be obtained by contacting the Head of Department, Peter Kragelund. Tel. +45 4674 3335, e-mail: jpk@ruc.dk or director of the study program Bodil Damgaard, tel. + 45 4674 2251, email: bodam@ruc.dk.
Details about Roskilde University are available here.
Terms of employment:
The position will be filled according to the Agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC). The position is covered by the Protocol on Job Structure.
Read more about the recruitment process at Roskilde University here.
Application:
To apply for the position go to RUCs homepage: www.ruc.dk/en/job/vip/. Please open the relevant job advertisement and click on the button “Apply for vacancy here”, which is found below the job advertisement.
Only applications in English are accepted.
Applications must include:
If any of the publications that you want included in the assessment are the result of a joint effort, the extent and the nature of the applicant’s contribution to each individual work must be clarified in the application, and if possible, a declaration from the co-authors should be enclosed as well.
Please submit your application no later than 1 September 2015. Material received after this date will not be taken into consideration.
Job Position: Part-Time Lecturer in Economics
The Department of Economics at SUNY--New Paltz (90 miles north of NYC) is accepting applications for a part-time position to teach Principles of Economics courses. Teaching upper-division courses may be possible for qualified candidates with proper specialization in the field.
Master's degree or equivalent (ABD) in Economics or related fields is required. Teaching experience and ability to use technology in and out of the classroom is desirable. Education beyond the Master's level and evidence of successful teaching are also desirable.
Please submit a letter of application, CV, copy of the graduate transcript, teaching evaluations, and 2 letters of recommendation to Hamid Azari-Rad at azarih@newpaltz.edu
Job Position: Tenure-Track Assistant Professor
The Department of Global Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara seeks to appoint a tenure-track assistant professor whose work focuses on issues of global political economy, beginning July 2016.
We seek a critical interdisciplinary scholar who can analyze complex global issues within political economic contexts that characterize the 21 century. Suitable candidates will need a broad historical and theoretical background in political economy. We are particularly interested in applicants with expertise in several of the following areas: (i) labor, class, inequality, immigration, ethnicity, religion, sexuality, gender, education; (ii) finance, international trade, property rights, supply chains, technology, logistics, energy, climate; (iii) development, emerging economies, regionalism, hegemony, urbanization, industrialization, demographic change, health; (iv) institutions, fiscal and monetary policy, governance, regulation.
This position requires a PhD at the time of appointment. Please send a cover letter detailing your research interests, teaching philosophy and experience, and any relevant work in grants and administration. Application materials should also include your cv, one writing sample (25-30 pages max), and sample syllabi. Applicants should arrange to have 3 letters of recommendation submitted via UCSB’s Recruit website at: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/.
Submit applications electronically at: https://recruit.ap.ucsb.edu/.
Apply by November 1, 2015 for primary consideration; position will remain open until filled.
The University of California is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.
Please direct any questions to Eve Darian-Smith, darian@global.ucsb.edu;
Link to the job offer is available here.
In honour of the great critical economist Mark Blaug (1927-2011), from 2014 the Foundation for European Economic Development (FEED) is financing and awarding an annual student essay prize.
Details of the 2015 Prize Competition
Eligible essays submitted for the prize must be critical discussions of any aspect of modern economics.
Rather than applying economics to a particular problem, eligible essays must reflect critically on the state of economics itself, as Mark Blaug did in many of his works. Critical reflections may include the assumptions adopted, the suitability of the concepts deployed, the mode of analysis, the role of mathematical models, the use of econometrics, real-world relevance, the presumed relationship between theory and policy, the unwarranted influence of ideology, the use (or otherwise) of insights from other disciplines, and so on.
The required language is English. Eligible essays are by university undergraduates, or by graduates who obtained their Bachelor’s degree no earlier than 1 January 2014. There are no residential or geographical restrictions.
Undergraduate dissertations must be converted to essay format and reduced to 6,000 words (inclusive of references and appendices) or less. Author names, affiliations and email must be placed on the first page, below the title of the essay.
Up to two prizes will be awarded each year, depending on the quality of the best papers. The respective awards will be £500 and £300. FEED will reserve the right to award no prize, or one prize only, if there are inadequate essays of quality. The prizes will be judged by a committee of leading scholars.
Essays should be submitted by email to g.m.hodgson@herts.ac.uk by 1 October 2015. The awards will be made in late 2015 or early 2016.
The Mark Blaug Student Essay Prize is promoted in collaboration with Rethinking Economics
The Commission for the Pierangelo Garegnani Prize 2015, composed by Professors Roberto Ciccone (Roma Tre University), Fabio Ravagnani (Sapienza University of Rome) and Gianni Vaggi (University of Pavia), after acknowledging the high quality of the applications received, has awarded the Prize to Mr Riccardo Pariboni (PhD student at the University of Siena), who has presented the thesis (to be still defended) Autonomous demand and capital accumulation: three essays on heterodox growth theory, and a research project in continuation with the thesis.
In the Commission’s view a special mention has also to be made of the PhD thesis (to be still defended) of Mr Jens Reich (PhD student at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University, Frankfurt am Main), concerning Money, credit and finance. An inquiry into the institutional nature and the causes of the revenue from the creation of money, credit and finance.
See www.centrosraffa.org for details.
Award ceremony
The Centro Sraffa is pleased to announce that the Prize award ceremony is being planned for the second half of October 2015 at Roma Tre University. Further details about the event will be communicated later on.
The spectrum of economic sciences needs to be expanded.
The Witten Institute for Institutional Change (WIWA) invites nominations for the WIWA Young Scholar Award for Pluralism in Economics, endowed by a trustee of Witten/Herdecke University. The invitation targets young researchers up to the age of 35 who are active in Germany. It is endowed with € 1,500 and will be presented at the Witten Conference of Institutional Change in November this year.
A growing sense of unease with the unilateral mainstream orientation of research and teaching at economics faculties is becoming noticeable at German universities and in public debate alike. According to Joachim Zweynert, Director of the WIWA and Professor for International Political Economy, younger colleagues in particular suffer from pressures to adapt. Deviation from the mainstream involves a risk of rejection by the “right” journals; but only papers published in these journals will yield the ranking points required for appointment procedures. The new award is therefore intended to encourage younger economists in Germany to break new ground, with the objective to promote diversity in economics.
Since its foundation in 1984, the Faculty of Management and Economics at Witten/Herdecke University has felt a particular commitment to methodological diversity. Dean Prof. Dr. Birger Priddat, active in teaching and research at UW/H since 1991, underlines the culture of democratic debate developed at the faculty which permits not only to address divergent perspectives but to use them productively to test and sharpen positions, and in addition has turned out to be highly stimulating for students.
Research and teaching in economic philosophy, political economy, history of economic theory, institutional economics and constitutional political economy form integral parts of the Witten concept in economics. In 2014 faculty members founded the Witten Institute for Institutional Change (WIWA) with the idea to pool competences in the field of interdisciplinary institutional analysis.
More information is available here.
Original Articles
James Scott: The Role of Southern Intellectuals in Contemporary Trade Governance
Ferdi De Ville & Gabriel Siles-Brügge: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership and the Role of Computable General Equilibrium Modelling: An Exercise in ‘Managing Fictional Expectations’
Simon Glaze: Schools Out: Adam Smith and Pre-disciplinary International Political Economy
Jo Dirix, Wouter Peeters & Sigrid Sterckx: Is the EU ETS a Just Climate Policy?
Nikolai Huke, Mònica Clua-Losada & David J. Bailey: Disrupting the European Crisis: A Critical Political Economy of Contestation, Subversion and Escape
Charlotte Rommerskirchen: Debt and Punishment: Market Discipline in the Eurozone
Feature Review
Christopher Bickerton: Capitalism after the Crisis
ChunLei Yang, Sven Modell: Shareholder orientation and the framing of management control practices: A field study in a Chinese state-owned enterprise
Robyn King, Peter Clarkson: Management control system design, ownership, and performance in professional service organisations
Bryan K. Church, Marietta Peytcheva, Wei Yu, Ong-Ard Singtokul: Perspective taking in auditor–manager interactions: An experimental investigation of auditor behavior
Roy Suddaby, Gregory D. Saxton, Sally Gunz: Twittering change: The institutional work of domain change in accounting expertise
Marlen Arnold: The lack of strategic sustainability orientation in German water companies
Brent Bleys, Alistair Whitby: Barriers and opportunities for alternative measures of economic welfare
César Viteri Mejía, Sylvia Brandt: Managing tourism in the Galapagos Islands through price incentives: A choice experiment approach
Andries Richter, Vasilis Dakos: Profit fluctuations signal eroding resilience of natural resources
Robin J. Kemkes: The role of natural capital in sustaining livelihoods in remote mountainous regions: The case of Upper Svaneti, Republic of Georgia
Ashutosh Sarker, Toru Ikeda, Takaki Abe, Ken Inoue: Design principles for managing coastal fisheries commons in present-day Japan
Neil Dawson, Adrian Martin: Assessing the contribution of ecosystem services to human wellbeing: A disaggregated study in western Rwanda
Sonia Akter, Tom Kompas, Michael B. Ward: Application of portfolio theory to asset-based biosecurity decision analysis
Jean-Pierre Del Corso, Charilaos Kephaliacos, Gaël Plumecocq: Legitimizing farmers' new knowledge, learning and practices through communicative action: Application of an agro-environmental policy
Matthew Fry, Adam Briggle, Jordan Kincaid: Fracking and environmental (in)justice in a Texas city
Jeremy S. Brooks, Charlie Wilson: The influence of contextual cues on the perceived status of consumption-reducing behavior
Pablo Andrés-Domenech, Guiomar Martín-Herrán, Georges Zaccour: Cooperation for sustainable forest management: An empirical differential game approach
Shova Thapa Karki, Klaus Hubacek: Developing a conceptual framework for the attitude–intention–behaviour links driving illegal resource extraction in Bardia National Park, Nepal
Nicolò Barbieri: Investigating the impacts of technological position and European environmental regulation on green automotive patent activity
Ajita Atreya, Susana Ferreira, Erwann Michel-Kerjan: What drives households to buy flood insurance? New evidence from Georgia
Andony P. Melathopoulos, Alexander M. Stoner: Critique and transformation: On the hypothetical nature of ecosystem service value and its neo-Marxist, liberal and pragmatist criticisms
Heidi R. Stallman, Harvey S. James: Determinants affecting farmers' willingness to cooperate to control pests
Norbert Röder, Martin Henseler, Horst Liebersbach, Peter Kreins, Bernhard Osterburg: Evaluation of land use based greenhouse gas abatement measures in Germany
Therese Dokken, Arild Angelsen: Forest reliance across poverty groups in Tanzania
Abena D. Oduro & Irene van Staveren: Engendering Economic Policy in Africa
Krista Jacobs & Aslihan Kes: Gender Analysis of the Policy Responses to High Oil Prices: A Case Study of South Africa
Yetunde A. Aluko: Patriarchy and Property Rights among Yoruba Women in Nigeria
Evelyn F. Wamboye & Stephanie Seguino: Gender Effects of Trade Openness in Sub-Saharan Africa
Apollo M. Nkwake: Spousal Wealth and Fathers’ Involvement in Childcare in Uganda
Els Lecoutere, Ben D'Exelle & Bjorn Van Campenhout: Sharing Common Resources in Patriarchal and Status-Based Societies: Evidence from Tanzania
Bilisuma Bushie Dito: Women's Intrahousehold Decision-Making Power and Their Health Status: Evidence from Rural Ethiopia
Allison Loconto: Can Certified-Tea Value Chains Deliver Gender Equality in Tanzania?
Ismaël Fofana: Gender Analysis of the Policy Responses to High Oil Prices: A Case Study of South Africa
Masazumi Wakatabe: Knowledge, Markets and Governance: Adam Smith’s Project Reconsidered
Roger J. Sandilands: The 1949 World Bank Mission to Colombia and the Competing Visions of Lauchlin Currie (1902-93) and Albert Hirschman (1915-2012)
Stefano Spalletti: The Manpower Forecasting Approach. Notes in Retrospect
Sophia Lazaretou: The Evolution of Banking and Central Banking in Modern Greece: A Historical Retrospect
Steven Kates: The Scandalous Neglect of the Entrepreneur in Economic Theory: On the Role of Individual Entrepreneurial Action in Economics
Articles
Leticia Arroyo Abad & Kareem Khalifa: What are stylized facts?
David Colander & Huei-Chun Su: Making sense of economists' positive-normative distinction
Aris Spanos: Revisiting Haavelmo's structural econometrics: bridging the gap between theory and data
Paul Shaffer: Structured causal pluralism in poverty analysis
Scott Scheall: Slaves of the defunct: the epistemic intractability of the Hayek–Keynes debate
Review Symposium
Daniel M. Hausman: Much ado about models
Erik Angner: How economists work and think
Liliana Doganova: Economic models as exploration devices
Mary S. Morgan: Moving forward on models
NICLAS BERGGREN, SVEN-OLOV DAUNFELDT and JÖRGEN HELLSTRÖM: Does social trust speed up reforms? The case of central-bank independence
RANDALL G. HOLCOMBE and CHRISTOPHER J. BOUDREAUX: Market institutions and income inequality
GEOFFREY M. HODGSON: What Humpty Dumpty might have said about property rights – and the need to put them back together again: a response to critics
DAVID GINDIS: Legal personhood and the firm: avoiding anthropomorphism and equivocation
MICHAEL KOPSIDIS and DANIEL W. BROMLEY: The French revolution and German industrialization: dubious models and doubtful causality
BRUNO AMABLE: Institutional complementarities in the dynamic comparative analysis of capitalism
CLAUDIUS GRÄBNER: Agent-based computational models– a formal heuristic for institutionalist pattern modelling?
JAMIE BOLOGNA, ANDREW T. YOUNG and DONALD J. LACOMBE: A spatial analysis of incomes and institutional quality: evidence from US metropolitan areas
Debates
Rudiger von Arnim and Jose Barrales: Demand-driven Goodwin cycles with Kaldorian and Kaleckian features
Peter Skott: Growth cycles with or without price flexibility
Rudiger von Arnim and Jose Barrales: Growth cycles: a response to Peter Skott
Articles
John W. Keating and Isaac K. Kanyama: Is sticky price adjustment important for output fluctuations?
Norman Sedgley, Charles Scott and Fred Derrick: The fiscal multiplier with heterogeneous agents: the role of wealth, wealth distribution, and interest rates under Ricardian equivalence
Articles
Izaskun Agirre, Pedro Reinares, and Fred Freundlich: Does a Democratic Management Model Enhance Performance through Market Orientation? Empirical Evidence from the Mondragon Industrial Group
Kimberly Christensen: He-cession? She-cession? The Gendered Impact of the Great Recession in the United States
Erdogan Bakir: Capital Accumulation, Profitability, and Crisis: Neoliberalism in the United States
Debarshi Das: Changing Distribution of Land and Assets in Indian Agriculture
George Economakis, Maria Markaki, and Alexios Anastasiadis: Structural Analysis of the Greek Economy
Zhun Xu, Ying Chen, and Minqi Li: Are Chinese Workers Paid the Correct Wages? Measuring Wage Underpayment in the Chinese Industrial Sector, 2005-2010
Notes and Comments
Robin Hahnel: Response to Lipow on Climate Change Policy
Thomas E. Lambert and Edward Kwon: The Top One Percent and Exploitation Measures
Peter J. Boettke & Christopher J. Coyne: Hayek’s Nobel after 40 years
Israel M. Kirzner: Hayek, the Nobel, and the revival of Austrian economics
Vernon L. Smith: Discovery processes, science, and ‘knowledge–how:’ Competition as a discovery procedure in the laboratory
Eric S. Maskin: Friedrich von Hayek and mechanism design
Edmund S. Phelps: Hayek’s new ideas and present-day ones
James M. Buchanan: Notes on Hayek--Miami, 15 February, 1979
Bruce Caldwell & Leonidas Montes: Friedrich Hayek and his visits to Chile
Peter J. Boettke, Jayme S. Lemke & Liya Palagashvili: Polycentricity, Self-governance, and the Art & Science of Association
Christopher J. Coyne & Lotta Moberg: The political economy of state-provided targeted benefits
Peter Lewin: Richard W. Wagner: Mind, Society and Human Action: Time and Knowledge in a Theory of Social Economy
Gary Chartier: Stringham, Edward P. (ed): Anarchy, state, and public choice. New Thinking in Political Economy
David J. Hebert: John J. Pitney and John-Clark Levin, Private anti-piracy navies: How warships for hire are changing maritime security
Enfu Cheng and Yexia Sun: Israeli Kibbutz: A Successful Example of Collective Economy
Guoping Li and Hong Zhou: Globalization of Financial Capitalism and its Impact on Financial Sovereignty
Amelia Correa and Romar Correa: Accounting for Financialization: Stock-Flow-Consistent Political Economy
Kazimierz Z. Poznanski: Confucian Economics: The World at Work
Gulnara Aitova: From the Soviet Model of Labour Relations to Social Partnership: The Limits of Transformation
By J.E. King | 2015, Edward Elgar
Elgar Advanced Introductions are stimulating and thoughtful introductions to major fields in the social sciences and law, expertly written by the world’s leading scholars. Designed to be accessible yet rigorous, they offer concise and lucid surveys of the substantive and policy issues associated with discrete subject areas.
This brief but comprehensive account of the Post Keynesian approach to economic theory and policy is ideal for advanced undergraduate and postgraduate students in economics, public policy and other social sciences. Clear, non-technical and with a strong policy focus, it will also appeal to all of those who are dissatisfied with mainstream economics and wish to explore the alternatives.
John King sets out the distinctive features of Post Keynesian economics and their implications for the assessment of alternative proposals for domestic and international macroeconomic policy. He begins by outlining the core elements of Post Keynesian theory and explains how it differs from other schools, including the so-called 'Old Keynesian' and 'New Keynesian' theories. Subsequent chapters deal with the important methodological issues that distinguish the Post Keynesians from mainstream economists, in addition to their treatment of firms, workers and households, the analysis of economic growth and development, as well as international economics.
The Post Keynesian approach to monetary and fiscal policy, incomes and the environment is also summarized, with particular attention being paid to controversies over austerity and the reform of the financial sector and international monetary system. The Global Financial Crisis of 2007–2008 is used as a case study to illustrate many of the significant theoretical and policy questions raised in previous chapters. The relationship between Post Keynesian and other branches of heterodox economics are explored, and the book concludes with a brief discussion of the future prospects for the Post Keynesian school.
Link to the book is available here.
Edited by Tae-Hee Jo and Zdravka Todorova | 2015, Routledge
This collection of essays honors the life and work of one of the most prominent and fervent heterodox economists, Frederic S. Lee, who has been at the heart of the heterodox economics movements for the past three decades. Authors in this book demonstrate that heterodox economic has transcended the criticism of mainstream economics and, more importantly, that constructive developments are in the making by way of cross-communications among various heterodox economics traditions.
Frederic S. Lee’s contributions to heterodox economics are centered on three themes: the making of a history and identity of heterodox economics, heterodox microeconomics, and the heterodox analysis of social provisioning. Part I addresses the importance of history, theory, research methods, and institutions in the making of the identity of heterodox economics as an alternative to mainstream economics. Part II delves into heterodox microeconomic theories—in particular, investment, pricing, competition, markets, and market governance—as foundations of heterodox macroeconomic analyses. Part III expands the analysis of the capitalist social provisioning process with an emphasis on its subsystems and their relationships over historical time. Part IV encapsulates the life and work of Frederic S. Lee.
Throughout his intellectual life Frederic S. Lee has shown to many that the development of heterodox economics is rendered possible by unselfish and ceaseless efforts to build both theory and institutions. Essays in this book attest that establishing an alternative critical theory to the status quo is not only possible but also serviceable to the majority of the population.
Link to the book is available here.
By Armando Ochangco | 2015, WEA Books
This work will be of interest to students and scholars in social and political philosophy, economic philosophy and the philosophy of law, philosophy of development, the normative theory of institutions, and political economy, both in its narrower and broader construal.
The work aims to develop more complex kinds of assessments in political economy, and thus attempts to develop ideas that relate to ideals such as collective decisions and democracy, freedom, justice, and development. Taking off from the idea that social evaluation using the familiar metric of GDP is extremely limited and drawing inspiration and certain basic insights from the writings of Nobel laureate Amartya K. Sen, the work also attempts to bring in, within a reconstructive methodology, ideas from various thinkers including those coming from major contemporary philosophers such as Rawls and Habermas, as well as classical thinkers such as Aristotle, Adam Smith, J.S. Mill, and Marx. Within the general reconstructive intention, the author raises questions, old and new, pursues and develops both familiar and original insights, and suggests various linkages and inter-connections, as well as integrative perspectives towards developing conceptions of certain basic social ideals that would be relevant to such a broader and more complex kind of evaluation of various social institutions. Institutional and policy realization and feasibility issues are also brought up and considered at length—especially in connection with less developed society contexts—as these relate to the major social ideals being suggested.
Link to the book is available here.
By Geoffrey Hodgson | 2015, University of Chicago Press
A few centuries ago, capitalism set in motion an explosion of economic productivity. Markets and private property had existed for millennia, but what other key institutions fostered capitalism’s relatively recent emergence? Until now, the conceptual toolkit available to answer this question has been inadequate, and economists and other social scientists have been diverted from identifying these key institutions.
With Conceptualizing Capitalism, Geoffrey M. Hodgson offers readers a more precise conceptual framework. Drawing on a new theoretical approach called legal institutionalism, Hodgson establishes that the most important factor in the emergence of capitalism—but also among the most often overlooked—is the constitutive role of law and the state. While private property and markets are central to capitalism, they depend upon the development of an effective legal framework. Applying this legally grounded approach to the emergence of capitalism in eighteenth-century Europe, Hodgson identifies the key institutional developments that coincided with its rise. That analysis enables him to counter the widespread view that capitalism is a natural and inevitable outcome of human societies, showing instead that it is a relatively recent phenomenon, contingent upon a special form of state that protects private property and enforces contracts. After establishing the nature of capitalism, the book considers what this more precise conceptual framework can tell us about the possible future of capitalism in the twenty-first century, where some of the most important concerns are the effects of globalization, the continuing growth of inequality, and the challenges to America’s hegemony by China and others.
Link to the book is available here.
By Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen | 2015, Minor Compositions
The crisis runs deep. The economies of the US and Europe are in profound crisis and the developing economies are also beginning to feel its effects. Everywhere it is workers who are paying the price. The crisis is being socialized and austerity is the order of the day; the crisis is used as a pretext for further savings and cuts. In other words, capital has intensified the class war. But the proletariat has started moving. The revolts in North Africa and the Middle East have challenged the neoliberal world order and its division of the world, and the ‘movement of the squares’ in Southern Europe and Occupy in the US have picked up the baton and joined the new protest cycle. Even though dictators have been toppled in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya, the protests continue. This is also the case in Greece, Spain and Portugal where people reject the austerity programs. There are protests in Bulgaria and Bosnia. In Syria the civil war is raging. In China the number of strikes continue to rise. In Turkey the youth reject Erdogan’s neoliberal ‘success’ and urban restructuring and in Brazil ‘the dangerous classes’ have taken to the streets. There are a variety of protests going on – the ones in the West are defensive, the ones in the rest of the world offensive and reformist – but together they are knocking a hole in the neoliberal world order. The old mole is back.
The book is available for free here.
Edited by Jeremy Morris, Abel Polese | 2015, Palgrave Macmillan
Informed by in-depth case studies focusing on a wide spectrum of micro and macro post-socialist realities from Lithuania to Kosovo, from Ukraine to China, this volume demonstrates the multi-faceted nature of informality and suggests that it is a widely diffused phenomenon, used at all levels of a society and by both winners and losers of post-socialist transition. In particular, by critically engaging with concepts such as bribery, nepotism and illegal transactions in general, the collection suggests that informality has a systemic reality not only at the micro but also, and more importantly, at the macro level. In an attempt to move beyond functionalist or structuralist perspectives, the authors propose that informality at the macro scale is an alternative way of responding to policy-making and that its reality must inform policy decisions.
Link to the book is available here.
Edited by Tae-Hee Jo and Frederic S. Lee | 2015, Routledge
John F. Henry is an eminent economist who has made important contributions to heterodox economics drawing on Adam Smith, Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and John Maynard Keynes. His historical approach offers radical insights into the evolution of ideas (ideologies and theories) giving rise to and/or induced by the changes in capitalist society. Essays collected in this festschrift not only evaluate John Henry’s contributions in connection to Marx’s and Veblen’s theories, but also apply them to the socio-economic issues in the 21st century.
In Part I leading heterodox economists in the traditions of Marxism, Post Keynesianism, and Institutionalism critically examine Marx’s and Veblen’s theoretical frameworks (and their connections to each other) that have become the foundations of heterodox economics. Chapters in Part II showcase alternative theoretical explanations inspired by Marx, Veblen, and Henry. Topics in this Part include financial crisis, financialization, capital accumulation, economics teaching, and the historical relationship between money and class society. Part III is devoted to John Henry’s heterodox economics encapsulated in his "farewell" lecture, interview, and bibliography.
Essays in this book, individually and collectively, make an important point that the history of economic thought (or historical analysis of economic theory and policy) is an integral part of developing heterodox economics as an alternative theoretical framework. Anyone who is troubled by the recurring failure of capitalism as well as mainstream economics will find this book well worth reading.
Link to the book is available here.
By Asad Zaman | 2015, WEA Books
“Statistical Foundations for Econometric Techniques” features previously unavailable material in a textbook format for econometrics students, researchers and practitioners. Taking strong positions for and against standard econometric techniques, the book endorses a single best technique whenever possible. In many cases, the recommended optimal technique differs substantially from current practice. Detailed discussions present many new estimation strategies superior to conventional OLS, and ways to use them. It evaluates econometric techniques and the procedures commonly used to analyse those techniques. It challenges established concepts and introduces many techniques that are not available in other texts. It recommends against using the Durbin-Watson and Lagrange Multiplier tests in favour of tests with superior power. This title forms a judicious mixture of various methodological approaches, and it illustrates Empirical Bayes estimators and robust regression techniques possessing a 50 per cent breakdown value.
Link to the book is available here.
By C. T. Kurien | 2015, WEA Books
WEALTH and ILLFARE is intended for readers who do not have much knowledge in economics, but are eager to know how economic systems function. In particular, it deals with the phenomenon that many find disturbing, the soaring affluence of the few and the continuing misery of the many that is increasingly becoming evident globally and in our country. Ownership and control over resources, different forms of mediation and asymmetry of information are identified as clues for any interested reader to develop skills to study real life economic problems.
It is a unique and timely contribution by a reputed practitioner who, over the past half a century, has influenced generations of students and through his earlier writings the general public as well.
Link to the book is available here.
12 PhD studentships for Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) are available at the University of Iceland (Reykjavik, Iceland), University of Stockholm (Stockholm, Sweden) and University Blaise Pascal (Clermont Ferrand, France).
This is a Marie Curie Initial Training Network where students will obtain a joint PhD from two of the participating universities.In addition, each Early Stage Researcher will have a training period in a collaborating institution in the UK (New Economics Foundation; Schumacher Institute), Sweden (Swedish National Defence College) or Germany (Wuppertal Institute; Organization for Research in Business Economics- GWS).
The training is in the frame of the H2020 as part of the ITN network and the AdaptEconII project.
Description
The Innovative Training Networks (ITN) aim to train a new generation of creative, entrepreneurial and innovative early-stage researchers, that are able to face current and future challenges and to convert knowledge and ideas into products and services for economic and social benefit. AdaptEconII is a transdisciplinary ITN that embeds young researchers of the future into new economic thinking.
This is an exciting training opportunity based on the observation that the present economic model of permanent growth is unstable and leads to cycles of growth, peaks and crashes.The training programme will contribute to developing new economic thinking based on knowledge of global resource availability. The Adaptation to a New Economic Reality (AdaptEconII) project is divided into three research themes: (1) Sustainable resource management; (2) Integrated economic systems assessment; and (3) Integrating society and economics.These themes will be combined to form an overarching economic model built on socio-environmental-technical (SET) system analysis of causal links and feedback structures and system dynamics.A simple prototype of such a model, WORLD, has already been built by the participants and it is tested on historical data.
All of the ESRs will be trained in system analysis and system dynamics in addition to conventional and biophysical economic paradigms. They will be presented with aspects of resource availability, links between resources and wealth, the rise of new and/or rediscovered values and realization of our interdependent world, new development paradigms, political and industrial ecology, as well as science for sustainable society.AdaptEconII will train 12 ESRs in new economic thinking and the goal is for them be at the forefront of innovative economic thinking in the EU and the world.
Each ESR will have a primary supervisor in the first university and a secondary supervisor at the second university.Member of staff at the participating organisations will join the supervisory team, if appropriate.Joint training will take part at the three universities and the participating organisations will contribute to the training.Fundamental to the training program is trans-disciplinary inter-linkage of system science, ethics for an interdependent world, natural science, and observation-based political science with biophysical economics.The ESRs will also be trained in transferable skills and each PhD student will have a career development plan throughout the training period.
The 12 PhD studentships with title of project, research theme, objective, expected results, supervisors and secondment institution are outlined below:
Research Project 1:"Assessing and modelling ocean fishery dynamics, sustainable levels of extraction with an emphasis on Iceland and the North Atlantic area"
Research Project 2:"Integrated energy model capturing sustainable energy development with a focus on Iceland as template"
Research Project 3:"Food, population and phosphorus in a sustainable society"
Research Project 4: "The global steel supply with respect to available resources, degree of loss, reuse, recycling and mobility of stocks-in-use"
Research Project 5: "The transition to a bio-based and self-renewable economy in the Nordic countries, the issue of national and regional cooperation"
Research Project 6: "The dynamics of waste, pollution and material circularity in a biophysical economy"
Research Project 7:"A global integrated energy system dynamics model for 1650-3500 AD"
Research Project 8:"An ontological reorientation of the economic basis in integrated assessment tools"
Research Project 9:"Modelling the social system interaction with local and global population economy and the social dynamics"
Research Project 10:"Corruption crime, trust, honesty, democracy and the causal connections with the new biophysical economy"
Research Project 11:"The new race on resources, resource security and Big Power resource politics in new biophysically based economy"
Research Project 12:"Growth, de-growth, ecology, political ecology and the future"
The starting dates are either January 1 or March 1, 2016 (see individual ESR projects). The duration of the position is 3 years. The ESR will be enrolled in the PhD programmes in the relevant universities and an application for a project is treated as an application to the PhD programmes. A joint PhD contract between two universities will be signed for each of the ESR.
The project involves considerable mobility and applicants should be aware that they will be required to travel and move between secondments and places several times during the three years. The description of the project gives the institutions involved in each ESR project.
Candidates should possess a Masters degree (see below), preferably natural sciences, engineering or economics - but due to the transdisciplinary nature of the research other backgrounds will also be considered. Previous experience in system analysis is a bonus. The successful candidate is expected to be flexible and independent, as well as cooperative and resourceful.
Deadline for application is September 14, 2015.
Formal requirements for applicants, regulated by the European Commission:
A Masters degree is required. At the time of recruitment by the Host Beneficiary (university of first supervisor), researchers must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the country of their Host Beneficiary for more than 12 months in the three years immediately prior to the reference date.
For further information please contact Dr Kristin Vala Ragnarsdottir, coordinator of AdaptEconII: vala@hi.is.
Applicants should outline why they are interested in the training programme and what they consider they can contribute to the ITN.Each applicant is invited to apply for 3 ESR positions.Applicants should e-mail a cover letter, a CV, a copy of their Master thesis (or equivalent), and a short summary of their research experience. The application should be sent to: starfsumsoknir@hi.is marked HIXXXXXX. Applications that are not sent electronically should be sent in duplicate to Human Resource Division, University of Iceland, Main Building, Sæmundargötu 2, 101 Reykjavík. All applications will be answered and applicants will be informed about the appointment when a decision has been made. Required language is English.
Nr of studentships available: 12.
Research Fields
System science - linking natural science, economics and political science.
Career Stage
Early stage researcher or 0-4 yrs (Post graduate)
Research Profiles
First Stage Researcher (R1)
Link to the pdf version of this call is available here.
Link to the newsletter is available here.
Karin Astrid Siegmann: Reflections on the Fair Food Agreement between the Coalition of Immokalee Workers and retail multinational Ahold
Frank Hoffer: What next, after Tsipras dashed Schäuble’s hopes for a Grexit?
David Dickinson: Power and Classification: Casual Workers Struggles in the South African Post Office
Sharit Bhowmik: The Labour Code on Industrial Relations Bill 2015: Tough times ahead for labour in India
Isabel Ortiz: Fiscal Space for Social Protection: Options to Expand Social Investments in 187 Countries
You fight against European austerity policies which let unemployment, poverty and public debt explode. This fight is ours, too!
To spread the message and let more and more people know about how neoliberal strategies have failed and will continue to fail, we have recently started the campaign #stopausterity.
What it needs to be successful is partners and partner organizations who want to join in. We therefore ask for your support:
If you choose to promote the website stopausterity.eu online or organize events or demonstrations on September 19th – the international day against austerity – is up to you.
A lot of stuff to get into action is available. If you are interested, we can also publish your texts on our blog.
Materials and layouts can be found on the stopausterity.eu –homepage, as well as an interactive map where you can be registered as supporter. This map shows how resistance is organized all over Europe and makes it possible for new acivists to get in touch with local organizations.
As Greece is about to be ultimately sold out, your participation is more important now than ever before.
Please do not hesitate to contact us for further information or to share your ideas.
The accomplished historian and economists Hugh Stretton passed away last week. On this sad occasion, I wanted to share Geoff Harcourt's warm and personal comment with you.
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Hugh died last Saturday at the age of 91 after a long illness. I had known him since 1958 when I first came to Adelaide where he was the much-admired Professor of History. In later years we became firm friends, though I continued to regard him with awe and admiration. He was a giant intellect, easily Australia’s most deep and progressive thinker, and a remarkably kind and humane man who lived up to his ideals in many practical ways.
Having established an excellent History department, he resigned from his chair so that he could write. The first product of this new phase was The Political Sciences, published by Routledge in 1969, and named in the Times Literary Supplement as a work of ‘near genius’. It contains a most profound analysis of the inseparability of analysis and ideology in the social sciences. He published privately his ground-breaking book, Ideas for Australian Cities in 1970, which then became a bestseller. Housing and Government, his Boyer Lectures, were published in 1974. His Cambridge University Press book, Capitalism, Socialism and the Environment,(1976), was so far ahead of its time that it has not received the attention it should have. His volumes of essays analyse vital social, political and economic issues in Australian society. His ‘anti-Samuelson’ economics textbook, Economics: A New Introduction (1999), presents to students a viable alternative to mainstream economics.
Most of all, he was a loving and lovable person, always extraordinarily generous and supportive to his many friends and admirers (overlapping sets), and lovingly supportive and proud of his children. He and Pat had many years of deep love and support for one another. I doubt that we shall see his like again.
Geoff Harcourt
Professor Emeritus
School of Economics, UNSW Business School
The Regional Studies Association seeks to appoint a co-editor with expertise in urban and political geographies of the global south to join the editorial team of John Agnew, Michael Keating, Martin Jones, Walter Nicholls, Bae-Gyoon Park and Justus Uitermark on thejournal Territory, Politics, Governance, published by Routledge.
Territory, Politics, Governance (http://rsa.tandfonline.com/toc/rtep20/current#.VcjHF_lVhBc) is an interdisciplinary journal committed to the development of theory and research in territorial politics and the governance of space, creating a platform on which to explore the interface between territory, politics, economy, identity and the organisation of political space. In its first years of publication TPG has begun to stake out a position as a major venue for articles on contemporary transformations in governance resulting from territorial secession and economic globalization, the changing territorial politics of interests and identities, and the increasing importance of large cities in world politics.
The journal is in its third volume and is published quarterly. It has a significant circulation footprint as it is distributed with its sister journals, Regional Studies; Spatial Economic Analysis; Regional Studies, Regional Science and the new launch journal Area Development and Policy (2016). It has achieved demonstrable impact since launch in 2013, with over 27,000 full text downloads of papers published in the journal during 2013-14. It is already under consideration for a Thomson Reuters ISI/SSCI impact factor.
The journal is fully owned by the Regional Studies Association with appointments made by the RSA Board. Editorial appointments will be for three years in the first instance and may be renewable. The Editor-in-Chief is Professor John Agnew, UCLA.
Closing Date: Sunday 11 October 2015
For more details on the journal and the post, please go here.