Heterodox Economics Newsletter

Issue 216 July 17, 2017 web pdf Heterodox Economics Directory

The last issue of the American Economic Review caught my eye, because it included the speeches held by the two most recent recipients of the Prize of the Bank of Sweden in memory of Alfred Nobel. I read through the paper of Bengt Holmström on „Pay for Performance and Beyond“, in which he shows why a fuller consideration of the incentive structure of employees (or more generally: agents) often leads to the conclusion that monetary incentives are more harmful than conventionally thought. I think that two aspects of this contribution are especially interesting. First, it shows how a fuller appreciation of context - Holmström speaks, in a very abstract manner, to be sure, of issues like multitasking, differences in the measurability of outcomes, organizational rules, job design, workplace organization etc. - often leads to the inversion of the implications of standard textbook models, or in the words of Holmström:

„This explains why bringing the market inside the firm is such a misguided idea, something I failed to understand [earlier] and advocates of market-like incentives in firms seem to miss today.“ (p. 1774)

Second, we observe that the standard principal-agent model still serves a the prime reference model for understanding contractual relationships. Holmström’s discussion is fully contained within this setup - in effect, he defines all the different aspects of a workplace, like job-content or diversity of tasks, as forces shaping an incentive-structure. Hence, what we observe is the resilience of a certain theoretical perspective focusing on scarcity and optimizing rationality and, as a consequence, Holmström never comes to the question whether an alternative perspective on such relationships - as applied in sociology, management studies and heterodox economics - might probably be superior for studying the subtleties he introduces into the bargaining process.

Aside from this casual observation, this Newsletter contains, again, a substantial number of interesting and noteworthy books, which has become the usual case for our (northern-hemisphere) summer issues. However, aside from seasonal cycles I have the general impression that the number of publications in heterodox economics - especially books, but also journals - is expanding overproportionally (also think of this one here!). If this conjecture holds true, it would signify, against all odds, the healthy state of Heterodox Economics.

All the best & see you soon,

Jakob

© public domain

Table of contents

Call for Papers

16th Conference of the Australian Society of Heterodox Economists (Sydney, Dec 2017)

4-5 December, 2017 | University of New South Wales, Sydney.

The annual SHE Conference provides a vital forum for the discussion of alternatives to mainstream economics. The Conference provides a broad pluralistic and interdisciplinary forum to discuss issues of importance to heterodox economists.

For 2017 the SHE Conference theme is: “What are the global prospects?”

Submission details:

Submissions are invited for single papers, complete sessions and symposia (comprising more than one session) relevant to the over-arching conference theme, or which discuss issues of importance from perspectives which differ from, or critically examine, mainstream economics.

Single papers:

All papers should include a 250 word abstract that clearly states the issue being addressed, its main points and argument. It should be stated, at the time of submission, if you require your paper to be refereed and if you wish your paper to be considered for a symposium.

Complete sessions:

We welcome proposals for complete sessions. Session proposals should be sent to she@unsw.edu.au and include the following information:

The deadline for the submission of session proposals is Friday 22 September 2017.

Symposia:

We encourage proposals for symposia which address a single topic or issue. The SHE Conference Committee will work with symposia organisers, when constructing the conference program, to ensure a coherent list of sessions for each symposium, and schedule these so that participants can follow a symposium across more than one session. Symposium proposals should be submitted to she@unsw.edu.au and include the following information:

The deadline for symposium proposals is Friday 22 September 2017.

The SHE Conference Committee will consider all proposals for papers, sessions and symposia, and will notify you of the acceptance or rejection of your proposal.

Deadlines Summary

Style Guide for Conference papers

Registration details will be announced later and be available here.

More details are available at the conference website.

2nd Conference on the "Political Economy of Democracy and Dictatorship" (Münster, March 2018)

15-17 March, 2018 | University of Münster, Germany

Conference Description

The conference addresses the origin and prospects of democracy and dictatorship, policy control and governance structures in comparative political systems and transition processes from dictatorship to democracy and vice versa.

Bringing together scholars interested in interdisciplinary work on comparative political systems is our focus.

We welcome theoretical as well as empirical papers by both economists and other social scientists. In particular, papers may cover topics such as:

Keynote Speakers

Deadlines and Submissions

Registration Fees

Before December 1, 2017:

From December 1, 2017:

Contact E-mail: pedd@wiwi.uni-muenster.de

More details are available at the conference website.

3rd The Role of State in Varieties of Capitalism (SVOC) Conference: "New global challenges of European regulation, institutions and policies" (Budapest, Nov-Dec 2017)

30 November – 1 December, 2017 | Central European University, Budapest, Hungary

On behalf of the Organising Committee, the Institute of World Economics of the Centre for Economic and Regional Studies, Hungarian Academy of Sciences and Center for European Neighborhood Studies, Central European University we invite you to join us in beautiful Budapest, for the 3rd International Conference entitled THE ROLE OF STATE IN VARIETIES OF CAPITALISM.

Since its beginning the Conference has been trying to document the extent and reach of state regulation under the constraint of capitalism around the world and explore its political economic implications. The 2017 Conference aims particularly at exploring the "hegemonic transition" in Eurasian context and the "return of statist regulation".

The rationale behind the Conference is that recently both the multipolar world system and the international political economy as a social science face important challenges that might call for paradigmatic changes, maybe even emergence of new paradigms. Following the financial and economic crisis of 2008-9 a fundamental power shift in favor of new rising regional hegemons can be seen in a multipolar global system. In this context the challenges encountered by European Union as a whole and the member states in particular are tremendous.

Moreover, this shift seems to have its roots in the evolving new global era: heralding potential modifications in institutions, policies and patterns of the international division of labor and the multilateral coordination mechanisms in managing the inherent contradictions of global capitalism. Special emphasis will be given to the legal and social aspects of EU level regulation to shed light on the new constellation of elite fractions. This year's conference will focus on the consequences of hegemonic transition with respect to regulation in and around Europe.

The following issues are of particular importance in the understanding of the hegemonic transition in the Euroasian context:

Our Conference welcomes high quality contributions proposing advances in the field of theory, empirics or policy. Contributions to SVOC2017 should be related to the general theme of the conference "The Role of State in Varieties of Capitalism" with the aim of

Our keynote speakers will be:

Official conference e-mail: svoc.conf@krtk.mta.hu

Important dates:

Conference fees (access to the Conference, Conference lunches, Conference breaks Conference dinner)

Fees can be paid only by bank transfer.

For all information and updates: svoc-conference.webnode.hu

4th Witten Conference on Institutional Change (Witten, Feb 2018)

1-2 February, 2018 | Witten/Herdecke University, Witten, Germany

Conference Theme: "Institutional Pathologies" – What Can We Learn from Severely Malfunctioning Economic and Political Organizations, Institutions and Networks?

WINIR is pleased to sponsor the Witten Conference on Institutional Pathologies organised by the Witten Institute for Institutional Change (WIWa) at Witten/Herdecke University, Germany, on 1-2 February 2018.

There is a growing research literature dealing with dysfunctional organizations within economics and political science. But the topic of "social” or “institutional pathologies" also finds increasing attention within social psychology, social philosophy and other disciplines. The conference seeks to improve our theoretical understanding of pathologies in a variety of different institutions both formal and informal as well as in networks whose structural and functional properties may differ from the general features of organizations. Objects of research include political, scientific, medical, bureaucratic, artistic, military, and media institutions, organizations and networks. This is not only a scientifically demanding task. Moreover: Normative and evaluative questions cannot be avoided, and must be grounded and justified, in discourses about institutional pathologies.

The 4th Witten Conference on Institutional Change aims to identify promising interdisciplinary approaches (in economics, social philosophy, political science, social science, psychology, theoretical medicine, legal studies and other relevant disciplines) with a view to progress towards the synthesis and integration of empirical research, theory construction and modelling of institutional pathologies.

The conference will take place at Witten/Herdecke University and is planned for two full days. There will be an informal get-together at the evening of 31 January and a conference dinner at 1 February. In addition to regular sessions, there will be three keynote lectures and a round table. Depending on the number and quality of submissions, a poster session with additional papers may be organized.

Keynote lectures will be given by:

The programme outline is attached here.

We invite submissions for individual papers (400 words max.) from any relevant discipline addressing problems of conceptualizing and dealing with institutional pathologies. Please send your abstracts to conference.wiwa@uni-wh.de.

Key questions (non-exclusive):

Please note the following key dates:

Selected papers will be published as a special issue of Schmollers Jahrbuch, a peer-reviewed international economics and social sciences journal. Other selected papers will be included in a book project, depending on their specific orientation.

Registration fees
The conference fee is 100 €, including the conference dinner. There is a reduced fee of 80 € for WINIR members and of 50 € for students. Travel costs and accommodation have to be covered by the participants, except for invited speakers and invited chairpersons.

Scientific committee
Matthias Kettner (WIWA, philosophy & psychology), Jens Harbecke (WIWA, philosophy), Elke Krahmann (WIWA, politics), Dirk Sauerland (WIWA, economics) and Joachim Zweynert (WIWA, economics).

Queries should be addressed to Matthias Kettner, Chair of Scientific Committee (Matthias.Kettner@uni-wh.de) or Dirk Sauerland, Director of WIWA (Dirk.Sauerland@uni-wh.de).

More details are available here.

6th CIRIEC International Research Conference on Social Economy (Manaus, 2017)

29 November – 3 December, 2017 | Universidade Federal do Amazonas, Manaus, Brazil

General theme:"Social and Solidarity Economy, Sustainability and Innovation: facing former and new social issues”

Workings Groups: Call for abstracts

  1. Territorial development, public policies and partnerships public economy-social economy
  2. Environment and Sustainable Development
  3. Legal aspects of Social and Solidarity Economy
  4. Experiences of Social and Solidarity Economy
  5. Impacts of Social and Solidarity Economy in Economy and Society
  6. Labour in Social and Solidarity Economy
  7. Social and Solidarity Economy and Internationalisation
  8. Management of organisations of Social and Solidarity Economy
  9. Education and Research in Social and Solidarity Economy
  10. Social and Solidarity Economy, Sustainability and Innovation: facing former and new social issues

Abstracts can be submitted in English, French, Portuguese or Spanish and should be sent to: abstracts.manaus.2017@gmail.com

More details can be found at the CIRIEC website. Registration is available here.

Deadlines:

More info about this event

International Conference on "Economic Theory and Policy" (Tokyo, Sept 2017)

15-17 September, 2017 | Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan

Co-organized by Department of Economics, School of Political Science and Economics, Meiji University and Supported by Headquaters of lntemational Collaboration, Meiji University

Keynote Lectures will be given by

Submission of Abstract:

For those who want to join and present a paper (or papers) at our September conference, please send your abstract (between 100 words and 500 words) with your name, your affiliation, your contact address, to confyagi@meiji.ac.jp until the end of July (31 July 2017).

Notification of acceptance:

We will send you the notification of acceptance, basically within one week after your submission, in order that the participants can prepare for their travel to Japan.

VISA application:

For those who need documents for VISA application, could you please send your e.mail to: confyagi@meiji.ac.jp or yagi8@meiji.ac.jp

Contact:

More details are available at the conference website.

Political Economy of World-Systems (PEWS) 42nd Annual Conference (Fairfield, April 2018)

26-28 April, 2018 | Fairfield University, Conneticut, US

General Theme: “Business Cycles in the Modern World System: Past, Present and Future.”

Paper proposals (around 500 words) should be sent to pews2018@gmail.com by October 30, 2017.

From the sixteenth century until the present day the capitalist world economy has been characterized by different economic cycles or conjunctures of various duration and intensity. Economic cycles impacting the core, the periphery and the semi-periphery have regularly played out across a multitude of commodity chains, impacting nation states, corporations, and households. Since the profound social, economic and political consequences of the Great Recession in 2008-2009 are still unfolding, the 42nd conference of the PEWS section of the American Sociological Association seeks to examine the role and significance of business cycles in the modern world-system by examining the following themes

  1. business cycles and social movements
  2. business cycles and political trends
  3. business cycles and commodity chains
  4. business cycles and migration
  5. business cycles and the web of life

Keynote speaker will be Matías Vernengo.

Please see the call for papers for additional details.

TINT Workshop on "Law and Economics: Theoretical and Practical Dimensions of Interdisciplinarity" (Helsinki, Nov 2017)

9-10 November, 2017 | TINT, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

On behalf of the interdisciplinary academic network MetaLawEcon, TINT (Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the Philosophy of the Social Sciences) in cooperation with the Law Faculty of the University of Helsinki, will organise a workshop on ‘Law and Economics: Theoretical and Practical Dimensions of Interdisciplinarity’. The workshop invites contributions from various disciplines, including law, economics, philosophy, psychology, and behavioural sciences.

The status of economics as a scientific discipline has been debated throughout the history of economic thought. This discussion has been prompted by, and focused on, the “unrealisticness” of economic theories and models, and the classical distinction between economics as positive science, normative science, and art. The legal scholarship has also faced debates about the nature of epistemic projects that evolved within it. It has been pointed out that the practical orientation of legal doctrine, as well as the normative character of law, pose a challenge for studying law in a “scientific” way.

Law and Economics as an interdisciplinary field of research has not only inherited these epistemological controversies, but has added a new layer of questions associated with the knowledge claims of the two disciplines. For instance, it has provoked questions about the interplay of epistemic and non-epistemic factors that influence interdisciplinary exchange and/or integration of legal scholarship and economics.

The workshop will reflect on the epistemic challenges met by attempts of employing economics in the study law as well as invoking law in the study of the economy within various approaches of Law and Economics. We invite contributions to elaborate on these issues and their proposed resolutions. The questions that can be addressed include but are not restricted to the following:

If you want to present a paper, please submit an abstract of about 500 words for consideration to the organisers, Magdalena Małecka (magdalena.malecka@helsinki.fi) and Peter Cserne (p.cserne@hull.ac.uk).

Timetable

More details are available at the conference website.

TINT Workshop on "What to make of highly unrealistic models?" (Helsinki, Oct 2017)

12-13 October, 2017 | TINT Academy of Finland Centre of Excellence in the Philosophy of Social Sciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland

What to make of highly unrealistic models? This is one of the big questions in contemporary philosophy of science, especially in philosophy of economics and biology.

Two sets of issues are relevant to answering this question. The first has to do with the ways in which highly unrealistic models should be characterized and the numerous ways in which models can be unrealistic. The key concepts here include those of representation and target, truth and falsity, abstraction and isolation, idealization and simplification, etc. Recent literature on models exhibits conceptual and terminological diversity and disagreement in characterizing unrealistic models. Different authors use different names to refer to highly unrealistic models: 'toy model', 'fictional model', 'minimal model', 'non-representative model', 'model without a target', 'substitute model', etc. Moreover, they sometimes use the same name to refer to different types of models. Neither the precise meanings nor the relations between these notions are clear in the literature.

The second set of issues has to do with the functions and uses of such unrealistic models. What purposes can they serve, and what purposes are actually pursued when using them? The main body of literature points to representational quality as grounding explanatory capacity despite abstraction, isolation, simplification and idealization. Others dispute this idea. Moreover, highly unrealistic models can serve other possible functions, next to their explanatory uses. Debates concerning the appropriate uses of highly unrealistic models need some tidying up.

TINT will host a workshop in Helsinki on 12-13 October 2017 in order to sort out some of the ambiguities and confusions in the literature and to contribute to a better understanding of the interpretations and uses of highly abstract and idealizing models. We are particularly interested in papers that (i) clarify the meaning of commonly used terms such as toy model, minimal model, fictional model, substitute model, etc, and that (ii) clarify the arguments for and against such models having explanatory import or some other epistemic or non-epistemic function. Papers that focus on and compare highly unrealistic models in economics and biology are particularly welcome.

If you would like to join us please send an extended abstract (750 - 1000 words) before 15 August 2017 to N. Emrah Aydinonat (emrah.aydinonat@helsinki.fi). We plan to publish a selection of papers from the symposium as a journal's special issue. For this reason, authors accepted for the workshop are required to submit an extended summary of their argument (2000 - 2500 words) before the event. Extended summaries will be distributed to all participants in advance. The workshop will consist of short presentations followed by extensive discussion.

Timetable

Organizers:

More details are available at the conference website.

The 4th Biennial Conference of the Network for the Critical Study of Global Capitalism (La Habana, Nov 2017)

1-3 November, 2017 | La Habana, Cuba

In today’s global political economy, we are witnessing a new era of integration and inequality, which is playing out through particular expressions of systemic crises. We are also witnessing the rise of a ultra-neoliberal authoritarian political project in the United States, in conjunction with the resurgence of right-wing political sectors across the Americas. What should we understand about the particularities of this globalization phase in the history of world capitalism, and in the context of these regions and their populations? How can working and popular classes, and their movements from below, effectively coordinate and struggle in a world of capitalist globalization?

The purpose of this conference is to focus critical studies of global capitalism on Central, North, and South America, and on the Caribbean, to provide opportunities for interested scholars and activists to explore, discuss, and debate related issues occurring in these regions.

Deadline: All abstracts (100 words) must be submitted by August 15, 2017 to: Vladimir Pacheco Cueva, vpc@cas.au.dk

CONFERENCE COST: $175.00 US

More details (including registration) is available at the conference website.

World Social and Economic Review: Call for papers for special issue

Special issue on "tax evasion, tax justice, the role of offshore jurisdictions in contemporary capitalism, or any related aspect of the tax avoidance and tax evasion."

Background

Globalisation has meant that multinational corporations and wealthy individuals can shift tax liabilities from high to low tax countries as standard operation. We know little about these movements but the Panama Papers gave us an insight into an opaque system that is geared exclusively to the evasion of taxes. Wealthy individuals regularly move funds to undeclared bank accounts in offshore tax havens, and companies are increasingly shifting profits through Bermuda, Luxembourg, the Cayman Islands and other such offshore jurisdictions. The best guesses suggest that there are approximately sixty secrecy jurisdictions, divided largely into three groups - European, British and American. In addition, legions of bankers, accountants and lawyers, hedge and other rentier type funds are all involved in a global industry devoted to hiding tax liabilities. Both London and New York play a major part in the tax evasion and avoidance industry-the City of London and Wall Street -function as powerful offshore tax havens, because both are actively engaged in attracting funds from all and sundry. The scope and magnitude of the industry is mind boggling. “According to some measures, over half of banking assets and liabilities are routed through secrecy jurisdictions; more than half of world trade passes (on paper) through them; virtually every major multinational company uses secrecy jurisdictions for a variety of unspecified purposes, and at least US$21 trillion of private financial assets are held in offshore structures worldwide, largely escaping taxes, criminal laws, financial regulation and disclosure.”
Tax havens are therefore at the very heart of capitalism and according to tax evasion expert Nicholas Shaxson have been instrumental in nearly every “major economic event, in every big financial crisis since the 1970s including the global financial crisis of 2008.

Topics of interest include:

Submissions from all disciplines are welcome. If you have an idea for a paper, please send us an email (rexmck@gmail.com, sffein@maine.edu;) sketching your thoughts.

We will let you know very quickly if you are on track for producing a piece (from 2000 to 5000 words) suitable for publication in WSER.

Important Dates

We the editors thank you for your consideration,

Call for Participants

53rd ITH Conference "Worlds of Labour Turned Upside Down" (Linz, 2017)

21–23 September, 2017 | Linz, Austria

attached please find the preliminary programme and the registration form for the 53 ITH Conference “Worlds of Labour Turned Upside Down – Revolutions and Labour Relations in Global Historical Perspective”.The ITH Conference will place in Linz/Upper Austria from 21-23 September 2017 at the cultural and educational centre of the Upper Austrian Chamber of Labour: Bildungshaus Jägermayrhof, Römerstraße 98, A-4020 Linz. We would like to cordially thank the AK Bildungshaus Jägermayrhof for hosting the ITH Conference at our traditional venue that has been completely renovated and modernised!

General organisational information

Conference Fee (including conference materials and meals, accommodation optional):

The early-bird conference fee is payable until 24 July 2017 (deposit date) to the ITH account (see registration form). Participants on the regular conference fee can pay in cash at the conference secretariat in Linz upon arrival. Nonetheless, we kindly ask you to register until 6 August 2017 for organisational reasons.

Individual ITH membership is available for either EUR 50.- per year or a single payment of EUR 150.- for a three-year period and can be acquired upon early-bird registration at ith@doew.at or via payment at the conference desk in Linz.

Information on how to get to Linz is provided here.

If you need any help regarding your travel arrangements, please do not hesitate to contacting Lukas Neissl: lukas.neissl@doew.at

More details are available at the conference website.

Association for Social Economics 2017 Summer Workshop on "Financialisation"

Economics Division hosts ASE 2017 Summer Workshop: "Financialisation": what is it and why it matters for social economists"

Join the Association for Social Economics for their 2017 Summer Workshop, at Leeds University Business School. The event is hosted jointly by the Economics Division.

The Association for Social Economics was founded in 1941 seeking to promote high quality research in the broadly defined area of social economics. Social economics is the study of the ethical and social causes and consequences of economic behaviour, institutions, theory and policy.

PhD students can apply for a grant to cover some accommodation and travel expenses for the workshop.

To apply for help with travel and accommodation costs for the workshop, PhD students need to submit the following materials by Thursday 31st August:

  1. A completed application form.
  2. An estimated budget for travel expenses.
  3. An up to date curriculum vitae.

Enquiries and applications should be sent by email with the subject line 'Association for Social Economics grant application' to Professor Giuseppe Fontana, University of Leeds, email: G.Fontana@lubs.leeds.ac.uk

Programme for summer workshop is available here.

Bank of England Workshop on "Growth, Stagnation and Inequality" (London, Oct 2017)

3-4 October, 2017 | Moorgate Auditorium, Bank of England, London, UK

The global macroeconomic environment has been characterized by several key trends over the past few decades, from falling real interest rates, investment rates and productivity growth, to rising inequality and wage stagnation. Many potential drivers of these trends have been proposed, from structural or technological changes, such as globalization, ageing population, the rise of the service sector or falling price of investment goods, to institutional factors such as competition, financial markets, central bank policy or tax policy. While all of these explanations can play a part in the overall trends that we observe, there is little consensus on their relative importance, their interactions with one another, or the expected future path of the global economy. Importantly, these different explanations can point to different potential policies for tackling low growth and rising inequality.

This workshop, taking place on the 3rd and 4th October 2017, at the Bank of England, will bring together top researchers to discuss recent work on these different drivers and the relationship between them. Our hope is to foster dialogue between the different approaches, and also shed light on the policy debate.

Keynote Speakers: Joseph Stiglitz (Columbia University) and Ayşegül Şahin (Federal Reserve Bank of New York)

Organizers: Ignacio Gonzalez (Columbia University/American University), Rana Sajedi and Gregory Thwaites (Bank of England)

More details are available here.

Job Postings

King's College London, UK

Job Title: Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Korean and East Asian Political Economy

Grade 6 (£32,958 to £39,324 pa, pro rata) 7 (£40,523 to £48,327 pa, pro rata), or 8 (£49,772 to £59,400 pa, pro rata) plus £2,623 London Weighting Allowance per annum, pro rata, depending on experience

With the support of a generous endowment by the Korea Foundation, the College wishes to appoint a Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Korean and East Asian Political Economy hosted by the Department of European & International Studies. The post is tenable from 1 September 2017. The appointee will be, or show clear potential to become, an internationally excellent researcher and teacher in the field. S/he will be a comparative and/or international political economist capable of conducting research-led teaching on the Korean Model of Development in a comparative and international context. It is desirable, but not essential, that the appointee can conduct research based on sources and, possibly, publish in the Korean language. S/he will be expected to attract outside research funding alone or in collaboration with others. The appointee will contribute to the activities of the Department of European and International Studies, and our partner Departments and Institutes in the School of Politics & Economics and the Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy.

Located in the heart of London, King’s College London is the hub of a global network of strong academic connections and collaboration, with prestigious international partnerships within and across disciplines – scientific and medical, social and creative. King’s is investing in the highest calibre of talent to drive the university forward to achieve its greatest potential. The very best from the United Kingdom and across the globe are invited to join King’s. We are looking for a strong commitment to teaching, to push the boundaries of knowledge, influence the future and create a lasting impact.

The selection process will include a presentation and a panel interview. Shortlisted candidates are requested to submit a sample of their written work.

For an informal discussion to find out more about the role please contact Magnus Ryner, Professor of International Political Economy, Tel. 020 7848 2481 magnus.ryner@kcl.ac.uk

To apply for this role, please go to the King’s College London HireWire Job Board and register to download and submit the specified application form.

The deadline for applications is midnight on 2 August 2017.

Link to the job advert (including application form) is available here.

________________________________________________________________________

Job Title: Teaching Fellow in European and International Studies

The salary will be paid at Grade 6, £32,958-£39,324 per annum plus £2,623 London Weighting Allowance

This post will be fixed for 5 months (September 1, 2017- January 31, 2018)

The College wishes to appoint a Teaching Fellow in European and International Studies, hosted by the Department of European & International Studies (EIS). The post is tenable from 1 September 2017. The appointee will hold a PhD (awarded or submitted their thesis), be an excellent teacher, able to enthuse, educate and support our undergraduate and postgraduate students. The appointee must be able to conduct research-led teaching on European integration (the history, institutions and politics of the EU), America and the transatlantic relationship, and the European Union in the International System. The appointee will have published or have the potential to publish work of the highest quality with leading publishers, and demonstrate potential to attract funding to advance their own and collaborative research.

The selection process will include a presentation and a panel interview. Shortlisted candidates are requested to submit a sample of their written work.

Link to the job advert is available here.

Open University, UK

Job Title: Lecturer in Economics

The Open University is seeking to appoint a Lecturer in Economics with proven teaching and research potential on a permanent, full-time basis. The successful candidate will be appointed as a Central Academic member of staff based in the School of Politics, Philosophy, Economics, Development, and Geography (PPEDG) in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS). She or he will work alongside existing staff in the design and delivery of the Open University’s undergraduate Economics curriculum.

The successful candidate will have obtained a very good honours degree and will usually have completed, or be near to completing, a doctorate in economics, or closely related field. Candidates without a PhD, but with equivalent and demonstrable experience of economics teaching and research will be considered. The successful candidate will be able to demonstrate outstanding promise in their chosen field of research and have experience of excellent teaching in economics. The post-holder must be a flexible and adaptable university lecturer, who is willing to contribute to a wide range of undergraduate and graduate modules.

For further information about this post, please contact Dr Stuart Parris, Discipline Lead Economics, School of Politics, Philosophy, Economics, Development, and Geography, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences by email at fass-economics-hod@open.ac.uk

Closing date: 12:00 Midnight, Tuesday 25 July 2017.

Interview date: Interviews will be held early to middle of September 2017

For detailed information and how to apply please click the apply button below

Link to the job advert is available here.

Roskilde University, DK

Job Title: Associate Professor in Global Political Economy/Global Finance

The Department of Social Sciences and Business at Roskilde University invites applications for an associate professorship in political economy. The position is available from December 1, 2017 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The position is linked to the research groups ‘International Development Research Group’, ‘Globalisation and Europeanisation’ and/or ‘Power, Identity and Critique’.

The associate professorship includes research, teaching, and outreach obligations. The applicant should match the profile below:

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) predominantly in the following teaching programmes: ‘International Development Studies, ‘Global Studies, ‘International Public Administration and Politics’, and the Social Science Bachelor Programme. The position also includes a duty to share knowledge with the rest of society – including participation in the public debate. Furthermore, the associate professor is expected to manage research projects, provide guidance and supervision of PhD students and assistant professors and post dos, participate in research and teaching group activities, engage in external fundraising as well as take part in academic assessments.

The successful candidate is expected to;

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, 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.

Assessment:

In the assessment of the candidates consideration will be given to;

Questions:

Further information may be obtained by contacting Head of Department, Peter Kragelund. Tel. +45 4674 3335, email:jpk@ruc.dk or Deputy Head of Department, Bodil Damgaard, Tel +454674 2251, email: bodam@ruc.dk.

Application:

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.

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 click on the button ’Apply for vacancy here’ below the job advertisement at RUC's homepage.

Only applications in English are accepted.

Applications must include:

  1. Cover letter
  2. CV with documentation of education.
  3. Teaching portfolio (read more about teaching portfolio at Roskilde University here).
  4. A complete list of publications.
  5. Co-author declaration if relevant (please find template here - to be signed only by you).
  6. A brief description of the research and development work you expect to perform in connection with your appointment, including a short description of how you view your qualifications in relation.
  7. A maximum of 5 relevant scientific works that you want included in the assessment.

Please submit your application no later than September 1, 2017. Material received after this date will not be taken into consideration.

Link to the job advert is available here.

Awards

History of Economics Society: Announcement of 2017 prize winners

2017 HES Distinguished Fellow: Philip Mirowski

At the just concluded History of Economics Society meetings in Toronto, Philip Mirowski was named a Distinguished Fellow of the History of Economics Society. In receiving this honor, he joins a select group of accomplished and influential historians of economics, whose names can be found on the HES website: http://historyofeconomics.org/awards-and-honors/distinguished-fellow/

Several strong candidates for the honor were nominated by the membership this year, and the Distinguished Fellow Committee, which consisted of Jeff Biddle, Robert Leonard and Margaret Schabas, agreed unanimously that Mirowski was the most deserving of these candidates.

Mirowski’s scholarship has had a large and positive impact on our field. The committee agreed with those writing letters in support of his candidacy that Mirowski’s work has been “transformational”: that is, it has changed the way that scholars in our field understand the history of economics since the mid 1800s. As one of these letters argued concerning Mirowski’s 1989 book More Heat than Light, “Mirowski’s interpretation . . . was forceful and robust. It was what the literary theorist Stanley Fish would call a “strong interpretation”, an interpretation sufficiently compelling among the community of historians of economics that they could no longer ignore his interpretation but rather had to incorporate or address it in their own interpretations of the writings of that period”, while the 2001 book Machine Dreams “again forced those who wrote on the economics of information and the transformation of post war economics to engage directly with both his sources and his arguments.” The letter went on to point out that “Mirowski and his work “cause trouble” and responses to it are excited and serious. It is hard to remain neutral with respect to his arguments and his polemics.”

Mirowski has indeed been a controversial figure in our field. But his provocative assertions about and re-interpretations of the history of economics are grounded in the essential features of his work: a painstaking use of archival materials and a mastery of several far-flung discourses and literatures. These qualities of Mirowski’s work have served as a positive example for scholars who wish to flesh out and further substantiate his vision of the history of modern economics, while for those who have disagreed with his vision, in part or in whole, these qualities present a challenge: those who wish to successfully rebut Mirowski must work as hard as Mirowski has worked, reassessing his evidence and offering evidence of their own. Both types of reaction have resulted in a higher quality of scholarship in our field.

The Committee also took note of Mirowski’s role in the broader movement by which historians of economics have become more familiar with the methods and perspectives of scholars in other fields, including history, sociology, and science studies, methods and perspectives that have most certainly enriched scholarship in the history of economics. Another of the supporting letters noted that “In Mirowski’s work, we find the positive example of how the historian of economics should stand alongside, fruitfully engage, and challenge the historian of science, the science studies scholar, the philosopher, and the political theorist”.

A third reason for honoring Mirowski is the impact of his scholarship beyond the history of economics community. Mirowski’s reinterpretations of the history of modern economics in More Heat than Light were immediately recognized by historians of science, historians of social science, science studies scholars and others as an important work. The same is true of Machine Dreams. According to “Google Scholar”, Mirowski’s articles, books, and the volumes he has edited have been cited more than 10,000 times. More Heat than Light has been cited over 2000 times, and Machine Dreamsover 1000 times.

Mirowski has also contributed to our field as a mentor to younger colleagues at Notre Dame, and as an advisor to several graduate students who have gone on to become active scholars. Finally, the Committee took note of his service to our society as President, Vice President, and Executive Committee member.

Philip Mirowski is certainly a very deserving recipient of the History of Economic Society’s highest honor.

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2017 Joseph J. Spengler Prize: Thomas Leonard

At the just concluded History of Economics Society meetings in Toronto, the 2017 Joseph J. Spengler Prize for the best book in the history of economics was awarded to Thomas “Tim” Leonard for his book Illiberal Reformers: Race, Eugenics and American Economics in the Progressive Era. The following testimonial was read at the Society Banquet.

Leonard tells the story of how a band of academics and their reform allies, many inspired by the social gospel and on a mission to redeem America, went on to remake both American social science and its relation to the state. They transformed economics from a species of public discourse into an expert scientific field housed in recently formed research universities, where they could use their newly won positions and authority not only to advocate for new policies, but to refashion the role of the state itself. Their target, a laissez faire capitalism that they viewed as both wasteful and unjust, was to be undone by a new entity, the administrative state, which when guided by objective social scientists like themselves, would exercise the social control that was necessary to produce a better society. The myriad social problems wrought by urbanization, industrialization, and in the American case, massive immigration, gave impetus to their reforming zeal.

To be sure, the stories of the rise of the administrative state and the attendant professionalization of economics have been told before, sometimes by those who praised the new sorts of policies that the progressive reformers and their allies put into place, and sometimes by others who criticized what they saw as their scientistic hubris and overreach. Leonard’s unique contribution is to document in grim, indeed harrowing, detail the “scientific” arguments that were used by many progressives to bolster certain of their policy recommendations. For if the desire was to raise up the poor, to assist the downtrodden to be better able to help themselves, the definition of those who were deemed worthy of such assistance was limited. It did not include members of many immigrants groups, African Americans, women, and the disabled. Indeed, for members of these groups, the American dream of hard work leading to material success was grotesquely inverted by policies that helped guarantee that they could not compete successfully against the preferred group, namely, White Anglo Saxon Protestant males.

As a result parts of this book are, to put it mildly, unpleasant to read. Given the controversial nature of his material, Leonard wisely often simply lets his protagonists speak for themselves. And given the resurgence of nativist, nationalist, and xenophobic elements in the political discourse and policies of many countries today, it is, sad to say, a timely read.

I was joined on the Spengler Award committee by Maria Pia Paganelli and Arie Arnon, whose efforts I here would like to recognize. We started out with over 20 books, but soon narrowed it down to a more manageable set to consider seriously. It turned out to be an incredibly easy process. It took just one e-mail to come to a decision, for Leonard’s book was rated first by all three of us.

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2017 Dorfman Prize Winner: Andrej Svorenčík

Title of dissertation: "The Experimental Turn: A History of Experimental Economics” (January 2015, University of Utrecht)

From the comments made by committee members and those recommending Andrej’s dissertation:

No one who wants to write about the experiment in economics can do so without reading Andrej Svorenčík's thesis.

Andre embarks on a fascinating and stimulating project aiming to document one of the most important transformation of economics of the second half of the last century, i.e. the irresistible emergence of experimental economics and the experiment as an almost indispensable research method. Svorenčík notably identifies the four driving forces of the so-called experimental turn (integrity, rigorousness, virtuous cycle and symmetry) and convincingly shows how they operate and interact on different levels: individual, local, community and then the whole field.

Andre’s account of the “battle over the journals” episode and, more generally, the battle to establish experimentalism in economics was particularly fascinating. Interesting lessons can be drawn from experimentalists’ well-orchestrated strategy not to institutionalize their own field too early (ESA, journals…) in order not to get marginalized. Sadly, one can think of several other subfields which did not adopt this cautious attitude and trapped themselves in their own “self-built sanctuary."

Further, one cannot but acknowledge Svorenčík’s impressive dedication to build his “own” archives for his narrative (access to personal archives including Plott, 53 interviews, and of course the witness seminar organized in Amsterdam on May 2010). In a word: Andrej’s thesis could not have been written without him not just opening, but creating the archival resources that will be of use to other scholars who can build on his work.

What singles out Andrej’s work as a historical thesis, is that one might have an inkling of how the epistemic and the social are linked from economic methodology or from science studies, but it is only because of Andrej’s work that we now know how these linkages developed and stabilized in the economics discipline. Andrej’s historical work makes us look anew at the social and epistemic tissue of the economics profession.

The Society congratulates Andrej Svorenčík on his accomplishment and looks forward to his future contributions to our field.

Ross Emmett (chair, Dorfman Prize Committee)

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Goodwin Prize for Best Article: Carlos Eduardo Syprinyak

At the recent HES conference in Toronto, the selection committee for the Goodwin Best Article Award unanimously chose: Carlos Eduardo Syprinyak, 2016. "Trade, Money, and the Grievances of the Commonwealth: Economic Debates in England during the Commercial Crisis of the Early 1620's", History of Economic Ideas, XXIV(1).

Harald Hagemann presented the award on behalf of the HES:

The prize committee, consisting of Roger Backhouse (chair), Perry Mehrling and me [Harald Hageman], received 28 proposals, among them many excellent ones. Editors of HET journals also have been contacted to make their suggestions. The complete list showed that there is a lot of excellent work out there.

After intensive reading of many very good articles the committee unanimously agreed to nominate Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak ( Cedeplar - Federal University of Minas Gerais UFMG, Belo Horizonte, Brazil) for the best article prize, for the first time named after Craufurd Goodwin, for his article "Trade, Money, and the Grievances of the Commonwealth: Economic Debates in England during the Commercial Crisis of the Early 1620's", published in History of Economic Ideas, XXIV, 1/2016.

During the early 1620's, a wide ranging public debate took place in England in order to investigate the causes behind a commercial crisis that severely affected the kingdom. The thesis that economic analysis well known to most of us in this period came out of public policy discussions, and that this can be documented using what were unfamiliar sources, is highly innovative and convincing. Suprinyak's work is superior research, at the very origins of our discipline, yet so relevant for today when policy dispute is fracturing our discipline and stimulating new thinking. In Suprinyak's story Mun (and Misselden) are the insiders, and Malynes (and Maddison) are the outsiders, with Treasurer Cranfield as the decisive arbiter, plugging for the balance of trade doctrine as the way to reconcile money and trade.

The HES members congratulate Carlos Eduardo to his mature piece of research.

Harald Hagemann

Carlos Eduardo Suprinyak’s paper, “Trade, Money, and the Grievances of the Commonwealth: economic debates in England during the commercial crisis of the early 1620’s”, published in HEI – History of Economics Ideas (24:1, 2016) and the winner of the 2017 Craufurd Goodwin Best Article award of the HES, can be downloaded for free at this webpage.

Journals

Accounting, Organizations and Society, 59

Michael Power: Symposium: Accounting and actorhood

Patricia Bromley, Amanda Sharkey: Casting call: The expanding nature of actorhood in U.S. firms, 1960–2010

Rita Samiolo: Accounting, actorhood and actors: A comment on: Casting call: The expanding nature of actorhood in U.S. Firms, 1960–2010 by Patricia Bromley and Amanda Sharkey

Joni J. Young: Comment on: Casting call: The expanding nature of actorhood in U.S. Firms, 1960–2010 by Patricia Bromley and Amanda Sharkey

Sebastian Botzem, Leonhard Dobusch: Financialization as strategy: Accounting for inter-organizational value creation in the European real estate industry

Jose Bento da Silva, Nick Llewellyn, Fiona Anderson-Gough: Oral-aural accounting and the management of the Jesuit corpus

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 41 (1)

Sergio Cesaratto: Alternative interpretations of a stateless currency crisis

Jorge Uxó; Ignacio Álvarez: Is the end of fiscal austerity feasible in Spain? An alternative plan to the current Stability Programme (2015–2018)

João Ferreira do Amaral; João Carlos Lopes: Forecasting errors by the Troika in the economic adjustment programme for Portugal

John O’Neill: The price of an apology: justice, compensation and rectification

Spencer Thompson ; Vladislav Valentinov: The neglect of society in the theory of the firm: a systems-theory perspective

José García-Quevedo; Gabriele Pellegrino; Maria Savona: Reviving demand-pull perspectives: The effect of demand uncertainty and stagnancy on R&D strategy

J. Allister McGregor; Nicky Pouw: Towards an economics of well-being

Rod Thomas: Karl Popper and the methodologists of economics

Fiona Maclachlan: Max Weber within the Methodenstreit

Maurizio Pugno: Scitovsky meets Sen: endogenising the dynamics of capability

Christian Borch; Ann-Christina Lange: Market sociality: Mirowski, Shiller and the tension between mimetic and anti-mimetic market features

Matteo Migheli: Ubuntu and social capital: a strong relationship and a possible instrument of socio-economic development

Peter Mihalyi; Iván Szelényi: Wealth and capital: a critique of Piketty’s conceptualisation of return on capital

Capital & Class, 41 (2)

Articles

Mary Robertson: The great British housing crisis

Bob Carter, Roger Kline: The crisis of public sector trade unionism: Evidence from the Mid Staffordshire hospital crisis

Filip Ilkowski: ‘New Warsaw Pacts’, ‘Beggar Imperialism’ and interstate rivalry in Central and Eastern Europe

Andreas Cebulla: The social orientations and ideologies of UK finance employees at the onset of the Global Financial Crisis

Stephen R Hurt: What’s left of ‘the left’ in post-apartheid South Africa?

Niamh Mulcahy: Workers-as-consumers: Rethinking the political economy of use-value and the reproduction of capital

Forum

David Bailey: Class struggle after Brexit

Sanaz Raji: Thoughts from an anti-model migrant wading through Brexit

Kelly Rogers: Precarious and migrant workers in struggle: Are new forms of trade unionism necessary in post-Brexit Britain?

Owen Worth: Whither Lexit?

Jamie Gough: Brexit, xenophobia and left strategy now

Phoebe Moore: EU labour law section: The Great Deregulation and the campaign for free movement of labour post-Brexit

Ecological Economics, 140

Katherine Farrow, Gilles Grolleau, Lisette Ibanez: Social Norms and Pro-environmental Behavior: A Review of the Evidence

Tarciso C.C. Leão, Diele Lobo, Lorraine Scotson: Economic and Biological Conditions Influence the Sustainability of Harvest of Wild Animals and Plants in Developing Countries

Anna Filyushkina, Fitalew Agimass, Thomas Lundhede, Niels Strange, Jette Bredahl Jacobsen: Preferences for variation in forest characteristics: Does diversity between stands matter?

Yazhou Liu, Yueqing Ji, Shuai Shao, Funing Zhong, Ning Zhang, Yishan Chen: Scale of Production, Agglomeration and Agricultural Pollutant Treatment: Evidence From a Survey in China

Mateo Cordier, Takuro Uehara, Jeffrey Weih, Bertrand Hamaide: An Input-output Economic Model Integrated Within a System Dynamics Ecological Model: Feedback Loop Methodology Applied to Fish Nursery Restoration

Misuk Lee, Hyunhong Choi, Yoonmo Koo: Inconvenience cost of waste disposal behavior in South Korea

Guilherme Samprogna Mohor, Eduardo Mario Mendiondo: Economic indicators of hydrologic drought insurance under water demand and climate change scenarios in a Brazilian context

Ryan Plummer, Julia Baird, Angela Dzyundzyak, Derek Armitage, Örjan Bodin, Lisen Schultz: Is Adaptive Co-management Delivering? Examining Relationships Between Collaboration, Learning and Outcomes in UNESCO Biosphere Reserves

Marianela Carrillo, Jesús M. Jorge: Multidimensional Analysis of Regional Tourism Sustainability in Spain

E. Galdeano-Gómez, J.A. Aznar-Sánchez, J.C. Pérez-Mesa, L. Piedra-Muñoz: Exploring Synergies Among Agricultural Sustainability Dimensions: An Empirical Study on Farming System in Almería (Southeast Spain)

Kai M.A. Chan, Emily Anderson, Mollie Chapman, Kristjan Jespersen, Paige Olmsted: Payments for Ecosystem Services: Rife With Problems and Potential—For Transformation Towards Sustainability

Tom Dedeurwaerdere, Olivier De Schutter, Marek Hudon, Erik Mathijs, Bernd Annaert, Tessa Avermaete, Thomas Bleeckx, Charlotte de Callataÿ, Pepijn De Snijder, Paula Fernández-Wulff, Hélène Joachain, Jose-Luis Vivero: The Governance Features of Social Enterprise and Social Network Activities of Collective Food Buying Groups

Rosalien E. Jezeer, Pita A. Verweij, Maria J. Santos, René G.A. Boot: Shaded Coffee and Cocoa – Double Dividend for Biodiversity and Small-scale Farmers

Diego Sesma Martín, M. del Mar Rubio-Varas: Freshwater for Cooling Needs: A Long-Run Approach to the Nuclear Water Footprint in Spain

Iason Diafas, Jan Barkmann, John Mburu: Measurement of Bequest Value Using a Non-monetary Payment in a Choice Experiment—The Case of Improving Forest Ecosystem Services for the Benefit of Local Communities in Rural Kenya

Bjørn P. Kaltenborn, John D.C. Linnell, Erik Gómez Baggethun, Henrik Lindhjem, Jørn Thomassen, Kai M. Chan: Ecosystem Services and Cultural Values as Building Blocks for ‘The Good life’. A Case Study in the Community of Røst, Lofoten Islands, Norway

D.A. Andow, M.A. Resende Filho, R.G. Carneiro, D.R. Lorena, E.R. Sujii, R.T. Alves: Heterogeneity in Intention to Adopt Organic Strawberry Production Practices Among Producers in the Federal District, Brazil

Camilla Barbarossa, Patrick De Pelsmacker, Ingrid Moons: Personal Values, Green Self-identity and Electric Car Adoption

Benjamin A. Bagdon, Ching-Hsun Huang, Stephen Dewhurst, Andrew Sánchez Meador: Climate Change Constrains the Efficiency Frontier When Managing Forests to Reduce Fire Severity and Maximize Carbon Storage

Robert Gillespie, Jeff Bennett: Costs and Benefits of Rodent Eradication on Lord Howe Island, Australia

Julia Baum, Graeme S. Cumming, Alta De Vos: Understanding Spatial Variation in the Drivers of Nature-based Tourism and Their Influence on the Sustainability of Private Land Conservation

Maria L. Loureiro, John Loomis: How Sensitive Are Environmental Valuations To Economic Downturns?

Daniel Hermann, Saramena Sauthoff, Oliver Mußhoff: Ex-ante evaluation of policy measures to enhance carbon sequestration in agricultural soils

B.E. Steiner, A.O. Peschel, C. Grebitus: Multi-Product Category Choices Labeled for Ecological Footprints: Exploring Psychographics and Evolved Psychological Biases for Characterizing Latent Consumer Classes

Chao Zhang, Wei-Qiang Chen, Gang Liu, Da-Jian Zhu: Economic Growth and the Evolution of Material Cycles: An Analytical Framework Integrating Material Flow and Stock Indicators

Feminist Economics, 23 (3)

Francesca Bettio, Marina Della Giusta & Maria Laura Di Tommaso: Sex Work and Trafficking: Moving beyond Dichotomies

Marina Della Giusta, Maria Laura Di Tommaso & Sarah Louise Jewell: Stigma and Risky Behaviors among Male Clients of Sex Workers in the UK

Neha Hui: Bargaining Power and Indicators of Well-Being among Brothel-Based Sex Workers in India

Carlo D’Ippoliti & Fabrizio Botti: Sex Work among Trans People: Evidence from Southern Italy

Maite Verhoeven & Barbra van Gestel: Between Visibility and Invisibility: Sex Workers and Informal Services in Amsterdam

Sine Plambech: Sex, Deportation and Rescue: Economies of Migration among Nigerian Sex Workers

Paul William Mathews: Cam Models, Sex Work, and Job Immobility in the Philippines

Forum for Social Economics, 46 (2)

Introduction

Quentin Wodon: Social Economics, Poverty, and Human Development: Conceptual Approaches, Empirical Analysis, and Policy

Opening keynote

Kaushik Basu: Discrimination as Focal Point: Markets and Group Identity

Articles

David Colander: Ignorance and Economics

Christian E. Weller & Jeffrey B. Wenger: Can Income Diversification Explain the Growing Entrepreneurship Gap by Age?

Mark A. Dutz, Lucas Ferreira Mation, Stephen D. O’Connell & Robert D. Willig: Economy-wide and Sectoral Impacts on Workers of Brazil’s Internet Rollout

Sabina Alkire, Christoph Jindra, Gisela Robles Aguilar & Ana Vaz: Multidimensional Poverty Reduction Among Countries in Sub-Saharan Africa

Kassia Antoine, Raju Jan Singh & Konstantin M. Wacker: Poverty and Shared Prosperity: Let’s Move the Discussion Beyond Growth

Sandy Baum: Student Debt: Rhetoric and Reality

History of Economic Ideas, 24 (3): Special Issue

STOREP 2015 Special Issue: "Shifting Boundaries. Economics in the Crisis and the Challenge of Interdisciplinarity". Edited by Stefano Fiori and Mario Cedrini

Mario Cedrini, Stefano Fiori: “Shifting Boundaries, Within and Outside Economics

Invited Papers

Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, Giulia Zacchia: “Is History of Economics What Historians of Economic Thought Do? A Quantitative Investigation

Alan Kirman: “The Complex Nature of Economic Liberalism

John B. Davis: “Economics Imperialism versus Multidisciplinarity

Viktor J. Vanberg: “Rationality and Rules: Behavioral Foundations and Policy Implications

Selected Papers

Ceyhun Gürkan: “The Politics of Neoclassical Economics: Insights from Foucault's History of Governmentality

Fernando Chafim: “Disciplinary Division within Social Sciences: Methodological Issues in Economic Imperialism and Economic Pluralism

Irène Berthonnet: “Pareto-Efficiency from Pareto to Contemporary Economics

Paolo Silvestri: “Disputed (Disciplinary) Boundaries: Philosophy, Economics and Value Judgments”.

History of Economics Review, 66

Geoffrey Brooke & Bruce Littleboy: Editors' Message

Rogério Arthmar & Michael McLure: Pigou on War Finance and Welfare

Gregory C. G. Moore & Helen Fordham: The Victorian Effort to Exclude the Amateur ‘Public Intellectual’ from Economics: The Case of Stephen Versus Ruskin

Bo Sandelin: Pioneers’ Arguments for Formulating Economic Problems Mathematically: A (Partial) Survey

Arnold Heertje: An essay on the Catalogue of the Library of Piero Sraffa, edited by G. de Vivo

Journal of Australian Political Economy, 79

David F. Ruccio: Utopia and the Critique of Political Economy

Adam David Morton: Spatial Political Economy

​Chistopher Sheil: The Productivity Commission and the Waterfront Dispute: A Cautionary Tale

Patrick O'Keeffe: Contestability in the Australian Wheat Export Industry

Jordan McSwiney and Drew Cottle: ​Unintended Consequences: Neoliberalism and One Nation in Contemporary Australia

Henry Paternoster: The Need for Political Economy in Class Analysis: Rediscovering Andrew Wells

Journal of Evolutionary Economics, 27 (3)

Isabel Maria Bodas Freitas & Bart Verspagen: The motivations, institutions and organization of university-industry collaborations in the Netherlands

Diez-Vial & Marta Fernández-Olmos: The effect of science and technology parks on a firm’s performance: a dynamic approach over time

Weijun Zeng, Minqiang Li & Nan Feng: The effects of heterogeneous interaction and risk attitude adaptation on the evolution of cooperation

Josef Taalbi: Development blocks in innovation networks

Benoît Desmarchelier, Faridah Djellal & Faïz Gallouj: Economic growth, business cycles and products variety: exploring the role of demand satiety

Mario Amendola, Jean-Luc Gaffard & Fabrizio Patriarca: Inequality and growth: the perverse relation between the productive and the non-productive assets of the economy

Sepehr Ghazinoory, Meysam Narimani & Shiva Tatina: Neoclassical versus evolutionary economics in developing countries: convergence of policy implications

Nanditha Mathew: Drivers of firm growth: micro-evidence from Indian manufacturing

Blandina Oliveira & Adelino Fortunato: Firm growth and R&D: Evidence from the Portuguese manufacturing industry

Journal of Working-Class Studies, 2 (1)

Sarah Attfield and Liz Giuffre: Editorial

Articles

Douglas Schrock, Benjamin Dowd-Arrow, Kristen Erichsen, Haley Gentile, and Pierce Dignam: The Emotional Politics of Making America Great Again: Trump’s Working Class Appeals

Miranda Cady Hallett: Labor, Discipline, and Resistance: Transnational Migrant Workers ‘on the line’

Jeremy Morris: From Betrayal to Resistance: Working-Class Voices in Russia Today

Jennifer Hagen Forsberg: The Cross-Country/Cross-Class Drives of Don Draper/Dick Whitman: Examining Mad Men’s Hobo Narrative

Richard Hudelson: The Fix We Are In

Wyatt Nelson: Working in the Unconscious Masses: Inside a Mega-Retail Store in the United States

Interview

Tula Connell: ‘Labor Rights Are Human Rights’: An Interview with Maina Kiai, UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association

Commentary

Terry Irving: History and the Working-Class Now: The Collective Impulse, Tumult and Democracy

Rethinking Marxism, 29 (1)

Editors' Introduction

SYMPOSIUM: LANDSCAPES OF SOCIALISM: ROMANTIC ALTERNATIVES TO SOVIET ENLIGHTENMENT

Serguei Alex Oushakine: Sotzromantizm and Its Theaters of Life

Fabien Bellat: An Uneasy Metamorphosis: The Afterlife of Constructivism in Stalinist Gardens

Juliana Maxim: Building the Collective: Theories of the Archaic in Socialist Modernism, Romania circa 1958

Mari Laanemets: In Search of a Humane Environment: Environment, Identity, and Design in the 1960s–70s

Oliver Sukrow: Subversive Landscapes: The Symbolic Representation of Socialist Landscapes in the Visual Arts of the German Democratic Republic

Alexey Golubev: “A Wonderful Song of Wood”: Heritage Architecture and the Search for Historical Authenticity in North Russia

Elena Gapova: “The Land under the White Wings”: The Romantic Landscaping of Socialist Belarus

ART/ICULATIONS

Michael Chapman: Against the Wall: Ideology and Form in Mies van der Rohe’s Monument to Rosa Luxemburg and Karl Liebknecht

REMARX

Darragh Power & Michael Phoenix: Reinventing the Political Economy: Squat’s the Story

Review of Keynesian Economics, 5 (3)

Mark Setterfield: Wage- versus profit-led growth after 25 years: an introduction to the fourth special issue

Esteban Pérez Caldentey and Thomas I. Vernengo: Wage-led, debt-led growth in an open economy

Peter Skott: Weaknesses of ‘wage-led growth’

Stephen A. Marglin: Wages, prices, and employment in a Keynesian long run

Amit Bhaduri and Srinivas Raghavendra: Wage- and profit-led regimes under modern finance: an exploration

Philipp Heimberger: Did fiscal consolidation cause the double-dip recession in the euro area?

Gökçer Özgür and Emel Memis: Macroeconomic imbalances and the eurozone crisis: the impact of credit expansion on asset prices

Review of Political Economy, 29 (2)

Christian Schoder: A Critical Review of the Rationale Approach to the Microfoundation of Post-Keynesian Theory

Lowell Jacobsen: P.W.S. Andrews' Manufacturing Business Revisited

Jan Keil: Explaining the Concentration-Profitability Paradox

Dell P. Champlin & Janet Knoedler: Contingent Labor and Higher Education

Marta Podemska-Mikluch & Richard E. Wagner: Economic Coordination across Divergent Institutional Frameworks: Dissolving a Theoretical Antinomy

Vitor Eduardo Schincariol: Joan Robinson on Population Growth

Leonardo Costa Ribeiro, Leonardo Gomes de Deus, Pedro Mendes Loureiro & Eduardo Da Motta Albuquerque: Profits and Fractal Properties: Notes on Marx, Countertendencies and Simulation Models

Renaud Fillieule: Intertemporal Choice, Saving and Investment, and Interest Rate: Contributions from a Neglected Hayekian Model

real-world economics review, 80

Inequality, democracy and the ecosystem

Luke Petach: Politics, preferences, and prices: the political consequences of inequality

Gary Flomenhoft: The triumph of Pareto

Peter Söderbaum: Do we need a new economics for sustainable development?

Jørgen Nørgård and Jin Xue: From green growth towards a sustainable real economy

Money

Joseph Huber: Split-circuit reserve banking – functioning, dysfunctions and future perspectives

Tim Di Muzio and Leonie Noble: The coming revolution in political economy

Keynesian issues

Philip George: Derivation of involuntary unemployment from Keynesian microfoundations

Victor Beker: Asymmetric price adjustment: the missing link in Keynesian macroeconomics

Nations

Kazimierz Poznanski: Chinese economics as a form of ethics

Muhammad Iqbal Anjum and Pasquale Michael Sgro: A brief history of Pakistan’s economic development

Books and Book Series

A History of Australasian Economic Thought

By Alex Millmow | 2017, Routledge

This overview of Australasian economic thought presents the first analysis of the Australian economic contribution for 25 years, and is the first to offer a panoramic sweeping account of New Zealand economic thought. Those two countries, both at the start of the twentieth century and at its end, excelled at innovative economic practices and harbouring unique economic institutions.

A History of Australasian Economic Thought explains how Australian and New Zealand economists exerted influence on economic thought and contributed to the economic life of their respective countries in the twentieth century. Besides surveying theorists and innovators, this book also considers some of the key expositors and builders of the academic economics profession in both countries. The book covers key economic events including the Great Depression, the Second World War, the post-war boom and the great inflation that overtook it and, lastly, the economic reform programmes that both Australia and New Zealand undertook in the 1980s. Through the interplay of economic events and economic thought, this book shows how Australasian economists influenced, to differing degrees, economic policy in their respective countries.

This book is of great importance to those who are interested in and study the history of economic thought, economic theory and philosophy, and philosophy of social science, as well as Australasian economics.

Link to the book is available here (use online code "FLR40" to get 20% discount).

Advances in Endogenous Money Analysis

Edited by Louis-Philippe Rochon & Sergio Rossi | 2017, Edward Elgar

The endogenous nature of money is a fact that has been recognized rather late in monetary economics. Today, it is explained most comprehensively by the theory of money in post-Keynesian economic analysis. This book revisits the nature of money and its endogeneity, featuring a number of the protagonists who took part in the original debates in the 1980s and 1990s as well as new voices and analyses. Expert contributors revisit long-standing discussions from the position of both horizontalists and structuralists, and prescribe new areas of research and debate for post-Keynesian scholars to explore.

Louis-Philippe Rochon and Sergio Rossi eloquently situate the nature of money and its endogeneity in historical context, before bringing together an engaging array of chapters written by contemporary leading scholars. These chapters put forth detailed analyses of money creation; central bank operations and the role of monetary authorities; a link between interest rates and income distribution; a stock-flow analysis of monetary economies of production; and finally, a reconciliation of horizontalism and structuralism.

Post-Keynesian and heterodox economists, institutionalist economists, scholars of money and finance, and graduate students studying economics will all find this an enlightening read.

Link to the book is available here.

Approaching Equality: What Can Be Done About Wealth Inequality?

Roger A. McCain | 2017, Edward Elgar

By combining recent research (especially that of Piketty and his associates) with established ideas (particularly from Sir Arthur Lewis), Roger McCain proposes policies that, together, would aim to reverse the observed tendency towards the concentration of wealth in market economies, thus ‘approach equality.’ The shortcomings and dangers of rising wealth inequality are discussed, both from the point of view of increasing instability and of equalitarian values.

Drawing on Marxist concepts of class, the book clarifies both the relation of wealth to income inequality and the causal link between wealth inequality and economic instability, exploring practical issues related to the proposed policies. The role of the ‘middle class’ and the causes of the failure of much of the population to save even for retirement are analyzed. The author goes on to examine the implications for programs of distribution according to need and the role of the corporation, and the possibility of a scheme of economic planning that would retain the known advantages of the market allocation of resources.

With inequality still a rising issue for public policy, professionals and students studying policy economics will benefit from the analysis in this book and its tight focus on inequality of wealth, as will interested lay readers with a background in economics and an interest in inequality.

Link to the book is available here.

Capital and Justice

Edited by Gerson P. Lima and Maria Alejandra Madi | 2017, WEA Books

The book Capital and Justice calls for a deep examination of current power, politics and economics in a social context where democratic institutions are being threatened. The contributions discuss the various aspects of global accumulation, production and employment from a broader perspective in order to examine their interlinkages with other economic, social, and political processes. Indeed, concerns with social inclusion extend well beyond the purely economic account of justice and fairness, since the degree of economic inequality also affects social cohesion and political stability, and can also have negative implications for economic growth and democratic institutions.

The book focuses on the theoretical analysis and empirical discussions about the contemporary relations among the inflated financial markets, the low investment trends and the changes in the patterns of production and employment. In this respect, there were three groups of contributions that aim to think and build a just economy. The first group (Koo; Hermann; Madi) presents the main features of global economic dynamics. The second (Yadu and Satheesha; Eynon) analyses the urgent social challenges and the trends in political strategies. Finally, the third group (Komlos; Lima; Morgan-Milá) challenges conventional mainstream viewpoints and highlight the foundations of an alternative political economy paradigm.

Link to the book is available here.

Economics and Other Disciplines: Assessing New Economic Currents

By Ricardo F. Crespo | 2017, Routledge

During the second half of the twentieth century, economics exported its logic – utility maximization – to the analysis of several human activities or realities: a tendency that has been called “economic imperialism”. This book explores the concept termed by John Davis as “reverse imperialism”, whereby economics has been seen in recent years to have taken in elements from other disciplines.

Economics and Other Disciplines sheds light on the current state and possible future development of economics by focusing on it from a philosophical perspective, broadening the concept of rationality in economic theory. The beliefs that prevail in the world today make up a physicalist worldview. This book argues that this pervasive view is harmful for economics as a social science. Do new economic currents like behavioral economics, evolutionary economics, neuroeconomics, institutional economics, happiness economics, the capability approach and civil economy, escape this widespread mentality? What would be an adequate underlying economic ethos? Do these approaches fit into this ethos?

Ricardo F. Crespo appraises the contributions from a classical philosophy angle, emphasizing their implications regarding practical reason. This volume is of great importance to those who are interested in political economy, economic theory and philosophy, as well as philosophy of social science.

Link to the book is available here.

Financialization and the Economy

Edited by Agata Gemzik-Salwach, Krzysztof Opolski | 2017, Routledge

The aftermath of the Financial Crisis has led to numerous discussions of the phenomenon of so-called financialization: the increasing impact of financial institutions on the activity of all business entities; emerging threats related with dynamically developing financial markets and the growing importance of financial themes. This edited volume analyses the positive as well as negative effects of financialization on the stability of the whole economy, the functioning of different types of markets, activity of enterprises, state institutions and behaviours of households.

More information can be found here.

Health Care Economics

By John B. Davis and Robert McMaster | 2017, Routledge

Where traditional health economics has failed, this book sets out an alternative approach, which places care at the center of an economics of health, showing how essential it is that care is appropriately recognized in policy as a means of enhancing the dignity of the individual. Drawing upon care theory from feminist works, philosophy, nursing and medicine, and political economy, the authors develop a health care economics with a moral basis in health care systems.

More information can be found here.

Inequality and Uneven Development in a Post-Crisis World

Edited by Sebastiano Fadda and Pasquale Tridico | 2017, Routledge

In the years following the financial crash, two issues have become central to the debate in economics: inequality and the uneven nature of sustainable development. These two issues are at the core of this book which aims to explain three key questions: why inequality has increased so much in the last three decades; why most advanced economies are stagnating or are experiencing moderate economic growth; and why, even where economic growth is occurring, the quality of that growth is questioned.

Inequality and Uneven Development in the Post-Crisis World is divided into three parts. The first part concerns the theoretical aspects of inequality, and ethical issues regarding economics and equality. The second part explores empirical evidence and policy suggestions drawing on the uneven levels of development and unprecedented levels of inequality experienced among advanced economies in the context of global financial capitalism. The third part focuses on sustainable development issues such as full employment, social costs of global trade liberalization, environmental sustainability and ecological issues. Along with inequality these issues are central for capitalism and for economic development.

More information can be found here.

Money as a Social Institution: The Institutional Development of Capitalism

By Ann E. Davis | 2017, Routledge

Money is usually understood as a valuable object, the value of which is attributed to it by its users and which other users recognize. It serves to link disparate institutions, providing a disguised whole and prime tool for the “invisible hand” of the market.This book offers an interpretation of money as a social institution. Money provides the link between the household and the firm, the worker and his product, making that very division seem natural and money as imminently practical. Money as a Social Institution begins in the medieval period and traces the evolution of money alongside consequent implications for the changing models of the corporation and the state. This is then followed with double-entry accounting as a tool of long-distance merchants and bankers, then the monitoring of the process of production by professional corporate managers. Davis provides a framework of analysis for examining money historically, beyond the operation of those particular institutions, which includes the possibility of conceptualizing and organizing the world differently. This volume is of great importance to academics and students who are interested in economic history and history of economic thought, as well as international political economics and critique of political economy.

Link to the book is available here.

New Directions in Comparative Capitalisms Research: Critical and Global Perspectives

Edited by Matthias Ebenau, Ian Bruff, Christian May | 2017, Palgrave MacMillan

Now that the 'Varieties of Capitalism' hype has passed, students of capitalist diversity are searching for new directions. This book presents the first sustained dialogue between institutionalist 'post-VoC' and more critical, global approaches, thus contributing to the development of a new generation of Comparative Capitalisms scholarship.

The volume was explicitly designed to build on paradigmatic debates about varieties or models of capitalism via the much more explicit incorporation of critical and global perspectives into the discussion. Moreover, it was edited with the possibilities for teaching in mind, especially as this generation of students - socialised by years of crisis, conflict, debates about inequality, etc. - are less persuaded by approaches such as Hall/Soskice's Varieties of Capitalism framework, which tend to downplay these essential aspects of the post-2008 world. Finally, the book is balanced between theory and empirics, containing a number of chapters comparing and contrasting different conceptual approaches to the issue of capitalist diversity, and a number of case studies drawn from around the world.

Link to the book is available here.

If you end up using the book for teaching, then the two editors for the series that the book was published in - Christina Brian (c.brian@palgrave.com) and Tim Shaw (Timothy.Shaw@umb.edu) - would be very pleased to know about it as well.

Playing with Fire: Deepened Financial Integration and Changing Vulnerabilities of the Global South

By Yilmaz Akyüz | 2017, Oxford University Press

Starting in the early 1990s many emerging and developing economies (EDEs) liberalized their capital accounts, allowing greater freedom for international lenders and investors to enter their markets as well as for their residents to borrow and invest in international financial markets. Despite recurrent crises, liberalization has continued and in fact accelerated in the new millennium. Integration has been greatly facilitated by progressively looser monetary policy in the United States, notably the policies that culminated in debt crises in the United States and Europe and the ultra-easy monetary policy adopted in response. Not only have their traditional cross-border linkages been deepened and external balance sheets expanded rapidly, but also foreign presence in their domestic financial markets and the presence of their nationals in foreign markets have reached unprecedented levels. As a result new channels have emerged for the transmission of financial shocks from global boom-bust cycles. Almost all EDEs are now vulnerable irrespective of their balance-of-payments, external debt, net foreign assets and international reserve positions although these play an important role in the way such shocks could impinge on them. This is a matter for concern since the multilateral system still lacks mechanisms for orderly resolution of financial crises with international dimensions. Playing with Fire provides an empirical account of deeper integration of EDEs into the global financial system and discusses its implications for stability and growth, focusing on the role of policies in the new millennium in both EDEs and the United States and Europe.

Link to the book is available here.

Radical Political Economy: Sraffa Versus Marx

By Robin Hahnel | 2017, Routledge

For too long radical political economy has suffered for lack of a coherent alternative to formal Marxian economic theory. People have had to choose between (1) continuing to use a formal model based on the labor theory of value as Marx developed in Capital to justify and retain one’s opposition to capitalism, or (2) abandoning the formal Marxian framework as outdated, and risk losing a critical evaluation of capitalism. Radical Political Economy: Sraffa Versus Marx provides readers with a third choice.

A point-by-point comparison of Sraffian and Marxian treatments of prices, profits, technological change, economic crises, environmental sustainability, and the moral case against capitalism, are presented in six core chapters. They explain how the Sraffian treatment surpasses the formal Marxian treatment in every case. Both Marxian and Sraffian theories are presented in a highly accessible way, while large professional literatures are thoroughly referenced throughout.

Marx was not the first, but remains the greatest, critic of capitalism, and richly deserves his place in history. However it is time to use intellectual tools unavailable to Marx in the nineteenth century to improve upon his formal analysis. This book is of great importance to those who study Sraffa and Marx, as well as academics and students who are interested in political economy, the history of economic thought, and economic and philosophical theory.

Link to the book is available here.

Reading 'Capital' Today: Marx after 150 Years

Edited by Ingo Schmidt and Carlo Fanelli | 2017, Verso Books

Recent years have seen a surge of interest in Marxian political economy and especially Marx’s great work Capital. 150 years after the book’s original publication, are there readings of Capital that can help us find new pathways to progressive or revolutionary change?

In this wide-ranging new volume, leading thinkers reflect on Capital’s legacy, its limitations and its continuing relevance for today, highlighting issues including ecology, gender, race, labour, communism, the ‘Third World’ and imperialism.

The contributors also aim to identify the connections between Capital and various socialist projects of the past, and draw lessons from those experiences that might contribute to the reinvention of socialist politics today.

Contributors include: Ingo Schmidt, Carlo Fanelli, William Pelz, Anej Korsika, Prabhat Patnaik, Silvia Federici, Paul Thompson, Chris Smith, Peter Gose, Justin Paulson, Jeff Noonan, Hannah Holleman and Peter Hudis.

Link to the book is available here.

Stories of Progressive Institutional Change: Challenges to the Neoliberal Economy

By Deborah M. Figart | 2017, Springer

This Palgrave Pivot presents a series of political economy short stories of collective agency, weaving together the history of a progressive change with a discussion of the role of institutions to effect change. These stories highlight sustained activism around valuing caring, ending discrimination, protecting the environment, improving worker well-being, and reimagining ways to encourage local economic development by restoring public-private social balance. Ultimately, these stories demonstrate that challenges to the neoliberal economy are possible. Neoliberalism can be viewed as a value structure that is undermining sustainable human development by elevating the level of risk experienced in daily economic life. Its hallmarks are globalization, market liberalization, deregulation, financialization, cutbacks in social provisioning through the public sector, and restructuring of labor markets in ways that increase instability. Social movements have responded, agitating for change. The stories here provide examples of how social actors engage in collective behavior to advance the objectives of economic justice, democratic participation in economic life, and human development.

Link to the book is available here.

The Job Guarantee and Modern Money Theory

Edited by Michael J. Murray & Mathew Forstater | 2017, Palgrave MacMillan

The contributors to this edited collection argue that a flexible Job Guarantee program able to react to an economy’s fluctuating need for work would stabilize the labor standard, the value of employment in relation to money. During economic downturns, the program would expand to provide more public sector jobs in response to private sector layoffs. It would then contract when economic growth offered private sector employment opportunities. This flexible full employment program would create a balanced, perpetually active labor force, providing the macroeconomic stability necessary to define a functioning labor standard. Just as the gold standard measured the worth of money against gold reserves, John Maynard Keynes argued, so a labor standard ought to measure the value of money in terms of its labor equivalent. However, he failed to account for the fact that, unlike a gold standard, a labor standard does not have any kind of surety that money will continue to match its value in paid work over time. Together, the contributors argue that full employment would provide this missing security and allow authorities to define the value equivalencies of money and labor, the way that money once represented its exact equivalent in gold.

Link to the book is available here.

The Neoliberal Agenda and the Student Debt Crisis in U.S. Higher Education

Edited by Nicholas D. Hartlep, Lucille L.T. Eckrich, Brandon O. Hensley | 2017, Routledge

Capturing the voices of Americans living with student debt in the United States, this collection critiques the neoliberal interest-driven, debt-based system of U.S. higher education and offers alternatives to neoliberal capitalism and the corporatized university. Grounded in an understanding of the historical and political economic context, this book offers auto-ethnographic experiences of living in debt, and analyzes alternatives to the current system. Chapter authors address real questions such as, Do collegians overestimate the economic value of going to college? and How does the monetary system that student loans are part of operate? Pinpointing how developments in the political economy are accountable for students’ university experiences, this book provides an authoritative contribution to research in the fields of educational foundations and higher education policy and finance.

Link to the book is available here.

Varieties of Alternative Economic Systems: Practical Utopias for an Age of Global Crisis and Austerity

Edited by Richard Westra, Robert Albritton, Seongjin Jeong | 2017, Routledge

In this age of overlapping and mutually reinforcing deep global crises (financial convulsions, global warming, mass migrations, militarism, inequality, selfish nation-states, etc.), there needs to be more realistic dialogue about radical alternatives to the status quo. Most literature produced heretofore has focused on the surface causes of these crises without much attention given to the sorts of major societal changes needed in order to deal with the crises we face.

This book moves the debate beyond the critiques and the false or not fully realised alternatives, to focus on what can be termed "practical utopias". The contributors to this book outline a range of practical proposals for constructing pathways out of the global economic, ecological and social crisis. Varieties of Alternative Economic Systems eschews a single blueprint but insists on dealing directly with the deep structural problems and contradictions of contemporary global capitalism. It provides a diverse array of complementary proposals and perspectives that can inform both theoretical thinking and practical action.

Link to the book is available here.

Why Latin American Nations Fail: Development Strategies in the Twenty-First Century

Edited by Esteban Pérez Caldentey & Matías Vernengo | 2017, University of California Press

Economic and social development is a major topic of discussion in courses across the social sciences, particularly those focused on Latin America. Many scholars and instructors have tried to pinpoint, explain, and define the problem of underdevelopment in Latin America. New ideas have led to new strategies that have, by and large, failed to reduce income disparity and relieve poverty in the region. Why Latin American Nations Fail brings together leading Latin Americanists from several disciplines to address how and why contemporary development strategies have failed to promote long-term sustainable growth with improved well-being throughout the region. Given the dramatic political turns in contemporary Latin America, this book offers a much-needed explanation and analysis of the factors that must be considered in making sense of development today.

Link to the book is available here.

Heterodox Graduate Programs, Scholarships and Grants

Alternative economics curricula at Cusanus Hochschule

There are still vacant places in the pluralistic economic B.A. and M.A. program of the Cusanus Hochschule (English flyer) in Bernkastel-Kues. (Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany).

Cusanus Hochschule was founded by critical economists to, among other aims, nurture a place for new alternatives in economic thought. It is independent from state- and corporate interest, founded by academics and critical students and dependent on societal funds.

Registration for the B.A. & M.A. in Economics is still open. (A good command of German is required).

B.A. in economics with a focus on social responsibility (2nd year)

A novel program in economics, deliberately transcending traditional disciplinary boundaries:

A study of economics with a double twist: Knowledge about the economy and about economics as a science.

The novel BA program is based on the idea that thinking about the economy and acting in the economy cannot be separated. This is reflected by topics like: How do economic models influence the behaviour of financial markets? Which schools of thought in economics are behind the big economic policy debates today? How do real crises affect the creation of new economic theories? When do ideas crystallize into institutions? How can people today assume responsibility for the good life? Which social and political preconditions and which ideas may help them to do so?

A program for whom? For anyone who has serious questions about how social responsibility and the economy can go together and wants to discuss these questions in a lively academic community.

Questions which might motivate you: You want to know more about the role the economy and economic institutions play in today’s globalised world – and want to benefit from the insights of several schools of thought? You are interested in the big questions of our time like social justice and the good life? You want to look beyond the narrow confines of today’s mainstream economic thinking? You want to learn more about assuming responsibility in today’s economy – politically, institutionally and personally? In doing so, you want to combine theory and practical experience? You are active in your job or as a volunteer and want to integrate your experiences and questions into your studies? You want to develop personally during your studies? You are seeking an exchange of ideas in small groups and a lively discussion with your teachers?

M.A. in economics with a focus on economization and consciously transforming the society and the economy (3rd year)

Our M.A. in Economics is critical, pluralistic, historical and reality orientated. Furthermore you become capacitated in independent research.

Students learn about economics as a process of economization and its social constitution from many disciplinary and methodological angles. A strong focus on the performativity of economic knowledge enables students to deliberate their own impact as a researcher. The integrated studia humanitatis modules provide a solid basis for reflections about value decisions involved.

If you have any more questions concering the study programs, please contact Mr. Florian Rommel: florian.rommel@cusanus-hochschule.de

For details see: www.cusanus-hochschule.de

PhD Scholarship at Western Sydney University on "Sustainability"

The School of Business at Western Sydney University is funding a PhD scholarship on sustainability in Western Sydney and particularly an investigation into the role of transport in the sustainability of workforces. For example, the research will explore the impact of transport on labour market imbalances, particularly imbalances that occur in the labour markets for casual work, work occurring in non-standard hours, and for workers with caring responsibilities and those engaged in vocational education and training.

The full description is available here.

PhD Scholarship at the University of Greenwich on "the impact of fiscal policy, housing market and inequality on growth"

Project Title: The impact of fiscal policy, housing market and inequality on growth

Project Description:

The aim of the PhD project is to analyse the impact of fiscal policy, house price booms and inequalities on economic growth, which are the three crucial concerns regarding economic and social instability in the global economy. The theoretical contribution is to develop a general theory of demandled growth with four novel contributions incorporating i) a detailed government sector, ii) wealth and debt effects in household consumption iii) a detailed model of private investment, disaggregating housing investment which is about half of total investment and is strongly determined by household behaviour, and firm investment in equipment, and iv) the impacts of financialization. This yields a more realistic model beyond the simplifications of the existing post-Keynesian models. The second contribution is methodological. The UN’s framework of national accounts (System of National Accounts (SNA)) includes several data imputations, which do not correspond to any actually occurring expenditures in the economy. The methodological innovation is to create a set of adjusted series excluding these imputations and to assess how these imputations affect macroeconomic analysis. For example in SNA series imputation of rental income, which is paid to a hypothetical business, creates an upward bias in the propensity to consume out of income in official. The third step is to use these adjusted as well as original SNA series to econometrically estimate the theoretical model for two countries: the US and the UK.

More details (including criteria, bursary, etc.) are available here.

PhD Studentships at University of Edinburgh on "Creative Economy"

University of Edinburgh and Queen Margaret University is offering two Creative Economy PhD studentships by AHRC/SGSAH, which we are currently (and rather urgently) looking to recruit for.

The first-‘Making Art and Making a Living’ will be working in partnership with Edinburgh Art Festival and Glasgow International, to look at the impact of festivals on artists careers.

Details are here

The second- ‘Communities at the Fringe’ will be working in partnership with the Festival Fringe Society, to look at the production of community by the Fringe.

Details are here

Obviously we welcome a range of perspectives and approaches to the projects and we particularly encourage innovative methods (whether qual, quant, art or social science!).

The deadline is tight- 21st JULY so please do put anyone interested in touch with Dave O’Brien (Contact: D.obrien@ed.ac.uk)

Postgraduate degrees in political economy at the University of Sydney

The Department of Political Economy at the University of Sydney invites applications for both research and coursework-based postgraduate degrees.

The department’s research and teaching seeks to put economics within a broader social and political context. Staff and research students work in a variety of disciplinary areas, including post-Keynesian, Marxian, feminist and institutionalist economics, economic history and the history of economic thought, economic sociology and geography, international political economy, development, and labour studies.

Postgraduate students in Political Economy are part of a rich intellectual environment, encouraged to participate in regular reading groups and seminars with other students and faculty, and frequently publishing in peer-reviewed journals during their candidature. The department is affiliated with the highly regarded Journal of Australian Political Economyand attracts significant research funding from Australian Research Council and other sources.

Postgraduate research can be undertaken at the PhD (3-4 years full time) or Masters (1-2 years full time) level.

Details about the nature of the degrees and entry criteria can be found here.

Those interested are encouraged to contact potential supervisors in the department. (See staff profiles here)

For general information, see here.

The department offers three postgraduate coursework qualifications: the Masters (3 semesters full-time), Diploma (2 semesters) and Graduate Certificate (1 semester). The Masters degree includes a capstone unit involving independent research, and can be a pathway to PhD research. The other degrees can be a pathway to a full Masters degree for those ineligible for direct entry.

For more information, see here.

Newsletters

Binzagr Institute for Sustainable Prosperity

Link to the Newsletter is available here.

Economic Sociology, 18 (3)

Link to the Newsletter is available here.

Heterodox Economics in the Media

The Guardian: "How economics became a religion" by John Rapley

"Its moral code promises salvation, its high priests uphold their orthodoxy. But perhaps too many of its doctrines are taken on faith."

To read the full article go theguardian.com.

Calls for Support

Questionnaire on the Ranking of Heterodox Economic Journals: Call for Participants

I am engaged in an update and extension of Lee, Cronin et al. (2010) Research Quality Rankings of Heterodox Economic Journals in a Contested Discipline, American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 69(5), 1409–1452. This is a research project on the ranking of journals that are relevant to the development of heterodox economics in terms of their research quality and their pluralism.

One way to respond to the use of orthodox journal rankings to marginalise economics journals is to develop an alternative ranking of journals that are important to heterodox economics — numerous heterodox economists have told me that the 2010 ranking was useful to them when dealing with the dismissal of their research.

The ranking uses a combination of bibliographic metrics and peer review. As users of heterodox economics journals, your evaluation of the major heterodox journals is important for a clear understanding of the role each journal plays in our community.

I'd greatly appreciate approximately 15 minutes of your time to complete the online questionnaire for this project, which can be found here: https://greenwich.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/hjs

Bruce Cronin
University of Greenwich
b.cronin@greenwich.ac.uk

For Your Information

EuroMemo Group Discussion Paper Series

Dear colleagues,

We are happy to announce that the EuroMemo Group has successfully launched its Discussion Paper Series with the first issue in July 2017. Against the backdrop of the Group's mission to critically assess socio-economic developments in the European Union and to propose policies that promote full employment, social justice and ecological sustainability, the EuroMemo Group Discussion Paper Series is intended to open up discussions on currently relevant issues that are controversially debated within the left.

The first issue "Debate on the Eurozone: a New Contribution from France. Notes on Aglietta and Leron, The Double Democracy: a Political Europe for Growth" is authored by John Grahl, member of the Steering Committee of the EuroMemo Group and professor of European Integration at Middlesex University. In his paper he looks closely at the recent book by the eminent economist Michel Aglietta and his co-author Nicolas Leron which reveals the necessity of deep changes in the EU and the eurozone, denied by dominant economic and political groups for many years. By developing an original and interesting synthesis of economic and political analysis in which the proposed reforms are presented, the book arguably makes a very useful contribution to the debate on a re-foundation of the European project.

Call for proposals

The EuroMemo Group Discussion Papers are complementary to the annual EuroMemorandum that reflects the consensus of the Group. Produced by members and partners of the EuroMemo Group, the Discussion Papers will be published regularly online with the goal of provoking discussion among academics, politically active people, NGOs and trade unions alike. Economists, social and political scientists, including young scholars and students, are invited to send proposals to info@euromemo.eu.

The Discussion Paper Series is published on the website of the EuroMemo Group.