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Issue 56: January 30, 2008

From the Editor

I do not have much to report for this Newsletter. There are a large number of heterodox seminars taking place and there are new calls for papers—heterodox activities continue at an increasing pace. I would like to point out that in the FYI section there is a letter to the heterodox community regarding benchmarking in economics in the UK. If you think benchmarking is an important issue, then you might want to look at the letter. Finally, like a bad penny, ranking of journals seems to show up where we least expect it. In this case, in a recent report on the economics department at UMKC carried out by the University, it commented that the economics department does not published in top ranked journals and this is a cause for concern. The report was referring to the rankings for mainstream journals, but because there is no published ranking of heterodox journals, the department’s response that its faculty publishes in highly ranked heterodox journals is less than convincing.
Fred Lee

In this issue:
  Call for Papers
  - 10th Anniversary Conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics
- Smith in Glasgow 2009
- Seventh METU Conference on International Relations
- Union for Radical Political Economics
- Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE)
- International Network for Economic Method Conference
- 2008 Critical Sociology Conference
- 2008 Economic Justice Summit 
  Conferences, Seminars and Lectures
  - Roundtable on the Current Financial Instability
- Keynesian Macroeconomics and European Economic Policies
- The Globalisation Lectures
- The Revival of Political Economy
- "Histoires de l'économie" Seminar
- Round Table on Flexicurity
- 17th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference
- Green Economics Conference/Seminar
- Globalisation Series of Seminars and Lectures
- 10th SCEME Seminar in Economic Methodology 'Economics and Politics: Defining
Neoliberalism'
- Dispossession and Displacement
- Modelling Social Conflict– a seminar series
  Job Postings for Heterodox Economists
  - Lecturer in Development Studies
  Heterodox Conference Papers and Reports and Articles
  - Economists, Value Judgments, and Climate Change
- Adam Smith's Model of Man and Some of its Consequences
- COMPLEXITY MEETS DEVELOPMENT – AFELICITOUS ENCOUNTER ON THE ROAD OF LIFE
  Heterodox Journals and Newsletters
  - International Socialism
- Public Policy Brief
- Metroeconomica
- Historical Materialism
- Newsletter Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies
- nep-pke: the NEP report on Post Keynesian Economics
- Critical Sociology
  Heterodox Books and Book Series
  - The Anthem Other Canon Series
- WESP 2008
- A POPULIST CHALLENGE TO CORPORATE CAPITALISM
- Karl Marx’s Grundrisse
  Heterodox Book Reviews
  - Book Reviewer Wanted
- HUMAN GOODS, ECONOMIC EVILS: A MORAL APPROACH TO THE DISMAL SCIENCE
- ABGEPEIST – WIE WIR BEIM ESSEN BETROGEN WERDEN UND WAS DAGEGEN TUN KÖNNEN
  For Your Information
  - Benchmarking in Economics
- Course outline on the Economics of Globalization by Professor A. Erinc Yeldan
- RePEc (Research Papers in Economics)
   

Call for Papers

10th Anniversary Conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics

4-6 July, 2008
Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
The Tenth Anniversary Conference of the Association of Heterodox Economics (AHE) will be held at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge from Friday 4th to Sunday 6th July 2008.
In ten years the AHE has established a reputation as a major national and international forum for the discussion of alternatives to mainstream economics, and for the interdisciplinary and pluralistic nature of its discussions. In this anniversary year we particularly encourage submissions on
(1) the state of economic heterodoxy and pluralism, and the relation between them
(2) experiences and difficulties in teaching heterodox and pluralist economics
(3) environmental and ecological economics
The conference invites submissions of single papers or sessions which conform to these aims, or address other issues in the social sciences from standpoints which differ from or critically examine the economic mainstream. A feature of the AHE is as a pluralist forum for dialogue, and we encourage proposals for sessions which address a single issue or theme from a variety of viewpoints or disciplines.
The international character of the conference has been a vital factor in its growing success. Scholars requiring documentation in support of visa or funding applications should indicate this in their initial submission. At present the AHE regrets that it has no funds to provide financial support, but is actively seeking it and welcomes proposals from participants regarding organizations for the AHE contact in search of support for participants from outside the US and European Union.
To facilitate dialogue and timetabling, participants whose initial submission is successful must provide a full paper by the deadline of Sunday 20th April. They should also register by Sunday May 18th, and will be expected to take part in at least two full days of the conference, in order to be included in the final programme. Participants should also be prepared to serve as discussants and/or session chairs.
This year poster sessions will also be organized for postgraduate or postdoctoral students who would like to discuss their work with others but are not yet in a position to provide a full paper.
The conference language is English.
Guidelines for submission
This year there will be two types of session, normal sessions and poster sessions. Normal sessions will be 90 minutes long and will usually consist of two papers with at least one discussant. Arrangements for poster sessions, which are intended to encourage new work by postgraduate or postdoctoral students, will depend on the number of submissions and will be announced nearer the date of conference.
Proposals for single papers: please send an abstract of not more than 500 words by email only to the local organiser, Ioana Negru (i.negru@anglia.ac.uk), AND the AHE coordinator, Alan Freeman (afreeman@iwgvt.org). Text, HTML, Word and PDF format attachments are acceptable. Please indicate in your submission whether your paper is intended for a normal or poster session.
Proposals for complete sessions: please send a description of the session of not more than 500 words together with the names and email addresses of the proposed speakers, and attaching abstracts for their presentations of not more than 500 words each for each paper. Please send these by email only to Ioana Negru and Alan Freeman, as above.
Deadlines
Proposals for either single papers or complete sessions should be received by Sunday 27th January.
The AHE Committee will consider all abstracts and will notify you of acceptance or rejection of your proposal by Monday 11th February 2008.
Those whose abstracts have been accepted for a normal session must send their full paper by Sunday 20th April 2008 and must register, for a minimum of two days of the conference, by Sunday 18th May 2008.
To see details of previous conferences, and to keep up to date with the 2008 conference and other AHE activities please visit: www.hetecon.com

Smith in Glasgow 2009

To mark the 250th anniversary of the publication of the Theory of Moral Sentiments, the University of Glasgow, where Smith was both student and professor, will host a prestigious Conference under the auspices of the University and the Faculty of Law Business and Social Sciences’
Adam Smith Research Foundation [ www.gla.ac.uk/asrf ].

The Conference will be held between March 31st and April 2nd 2009. Recognising the breadth of Smith’s interests and range of his work at Glasgow, the Conference will be organised along four
themes: Smith, Scotland and the Enlightenment; Smith and Culture, Literature and the Arts; Smith and Philosophy and Smith and the Social Sciences. Each theme will have a plenary lecture and a series of up to four workshops/seminars.

Anyone interested in presenting a paper at one of the seminars should send an Abstract of no more than 1500 words, indicating which of the four Themes best accommodates its subject-matter, to Chris Berry [ c.berry@lbss.gla.ac.uk ] before 1 April 2008.

Seventh METU Conference on International Relations

Middle East Technical University (METU) Department of International Relations calls for proposals for pre-organised panels, roundtables and individual papers for its annual seventh METU Conference on International Relations to be held on June 18-20, 2008 in Ankara, Turkey.
For detailed information, click here.

Union for Radical Political Economics

Call for Papers - Annual Meeting
San Francisco, January 3-5, 2009

URPE invites proposals for individual papers and complete sessions for the URPE at ASSA annual meeting. URPE welcomes proposals on radical political economic theory and applied analysis from a wide variety of theoretical traditions.
For detailed information, click here.

Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE)

Annual Meeting, San Francisco, California, USA, January 3-5, 2009

The Persistent Problem of Inequality

AFEE invites proposals for individual papers and complete panels on the broad theme of inequality. Papers may address inequality in any form: race, gender and class inequality; international, regional, national or local inequality. All proposals reflecting the tradition and analytical perspective of the Association for Evolutionary Economics will be given serious consideration, but preference will be given to proposals that address the following questions:

1. Historically, institutional economists have been strong social critics and have been in favor of social reform. What is the most effective way to promote and accomplish social reform? Papers addressing specific social reform efforts (successful or unsuccessful) are encouraged.

2. Do governments promote and protect the public interest, or do they primarily reinforce and enrich vested interests? Papers addressing specific policy issues, actions or regulations (past or present) would be welcome.

3. Can embedded institutions and organizations challenge the status quo and promote social change? Papers addressing specific groups such as the media, educational institutions, unions, community coalitions or grass roots organizations are suggested.


The deadline for submission of proposals for papers and sessions is April 10, 2008. Submissions via e-mail are strongly encouraged. If receipt of your paper or panel proposal has not been acknowledged within two weeks of submission, please contact the Program Chair. Authors will be informed whether their proposals have been accepted by May 17, 2008.

Proposals for panels may contain up to five papers, and must include relevant details of all papers to be presented (see below). Constraints imposed by the Allied Social Science Association severely limit the number of sessions allocated to AFEE. AFEE deeply regrets that it will be necessary to turn down many good proposals.

In considering your topic and preparing your abstract, please keep in mind that you will have a maximum of twenty minutes to present your paper. Furthermore, if you wish your paper to be considered for publication in the June 2009 Journal of Economic Issues, the text of your paper cannot exceed 2,850 words. You will be allowed two pages of references and two pages of tables, or figures. The deadline for submission for the June JEI is December 1, 2008. JEI submission details will be provided to authors whose proposals are accepted for the conference. Submission criteria will be strictly enforced by the editor.

At least one of the authors of any paper must be a member of AFEE. Contact afee@bucknell.edu for membership information.

Proposals for papers or panels must be submitted to the Program Chair by April 10, 2008. The following information must be submitted for each paper:

a) Name(s) of author(s)
b) Professional affiliation(s)
c) Email address of corresponding author
d) Mailing address of corresponding author
e) Title of proposed paper
f) Abstract of 100 to 200 words
g) Your willingness to serve as a discussant or session chair (specify field)


Program Chair: Dell Champlin
319 Kinnikinnick Way
Depoe Bay, OR 97341
E-mail: dpchamplin@hotmail.com
Phone: 541-764-0960

International Network for Economic Method Conference

Madrid, 12-13 Sept. 2008

The sixth INEM conference will be hosted by the Universidad Nacional de Educacion a Distancia (UNED) and the Urrutia Elejalde Foundation.
Contributed papers are welcome in all areas of economic methodology and cognate disciplines, including papers on conceptual issues in economics, the methodological analysis and appraisal of theories and techniques, methodological issues in applied fields, the history of methodological thought in economics, the sociology of economic science, the rhetoric of economics, the relationship between economics and other disciplines, the philosophy and history of science, social epistemology, and the economics of science.

Paper proposals should consist of a 500 words abstract, together with the contact details of the author (Name, affiliation, email address).
The abstract should be attached to an email message to inem2008 [at] gmail.com. Deadline for submissions is March 15th 2008. Acceptance will be communicated by May 1st 2008.

Scientific Committee: Uskali Mäki (Academy of Finland, Chair), Roger Backhouse (U. Birmingham), D. Wade Hands (U. Puget Sound), Esther-Mirjam Sent (U. Nijmegen), Bruce Caldwell (U. N. Carolina Greensboro), Matthias Klaes (Keele U.), Jesus Zamora-Bonilla (UNED).

Organizing Committee: J. Francisco Alvarez (UNED), Miranda del Corral (UNED), Juan Carlos García-Bermejo (UAM, Chair), Maria Jimenez Buedo (UNED), Julian Reiss (EIPE), David Teira (UNED), Juan Urrutia (UEF) Jesus Zamora-Bonilla (UNED, INEM representative)

For further information, email INEM2008 [at] gmail.com or visit: http://www.urrutiaelejalde.org/inem2008.html

2008 Critical Sociology Conference

POWER AND RESISTANCE:
CRITICAL REFLECTIONS, POSSIBLE FUTURES

The Boston Park Plaza Hotel & Towers
Boston, Massachusetts, USA
August 3, 2008
Critical Sociology in cooperation with the Society for the Study of Social Problems (SSSP), the SSSP Global Division, the ASA Section on Marxist Sociology, and SAGE Publications is pleased to provide this special one-day forum for building an ever broader community that can propose, discuss and debate creative critical/activist scholarship.
For detailed information, click here.

2008 Economic Justice Summit

Institute for Women's Policy Research
National Organization for Women Foundation
National Council of Negro Women

The Summit is scheduled to take place April 10-12 at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia.

The Summit is a conference that will bring together
feminist grassroots activists, academics and
educators, women's policy researchers, NGO's, non-
profits, social justice organizations, and labor,
business, and government leaders committed to
strengthening the economic and political power of
women - as workers, business owners, caregivers,
family providers, voters, and leaders. The summit will
provide diverse perspectives combining academic
findings on the economic status of women with action
strategies for promoting equality. Participants will
identify trends, challenges, and solutions from the
local to the global arena, considering class, race,
cultural, religious and gender realities.

This conference will bring together
academics and activists and allow
research to blend with advocacy. The research track of
the conference constitutes IWPR's Nineth
International Women's Policy Research
Conference. We are excited to partner with
activists and strengthen our action component. For
information on past conferences, please see our
website here.

Goals of the Summit include expanding the
body of knowledge on critical economic issues; increasing
our global understanding of the economic challenges
women face; building and strengthening alliances in
the economic justice movement; developing
recommendations and strategies for enhancing
women's economic empowerment; and informing the
policy globally and locally, including the 2008 U.S.
Presidential election debate.

This is a call for research papers or workshop
proposals that address specific economic issues and
action and policy strategies. All papers must be
policy relevant and researchers must include discussion of
the strategy and action implications of their
findings. Each workshop must include a strategy building
discussion that leads to a public education and
action. Participants may also propose research/action
panels that have researchers, policy experts,
community activists, NGOs, and leaders from
business, labor, government or other arenas working
together to analyze and formulate the policies needed
to address economic justice for women.

The Summit conveners will consider proposals that
include the elements described above and one of the
five major summit themes: Labor; Family; Health;
Well-being; Leadership; and Voter Mobilization.
Summit conveners will integrate research papers and
workshop proposals to provide analysis of issues and
calls for grassroots action to achieve economic justice
and empowerment through the prisms of race, class,
age, ability, expression and opportunity.

To submit a paper or to obtain more information,
please visit IWPR's Summit website
If you have any questions, contact me at crum@iwpr.org
or by calling (202) 785-5100.

Top

Conferences, Seminars and Lectures
 

Roundtable on the Current Financial Instability

Costas Lapavitsas (SOAS)
Makoto Itoh (University of Tokyo)
Ian Harwood (Dresdner Kleinwort Ltd)
John Grahl (Middlesex University)
Mehmet Ugur (University of Greenwich)

Wednesday 30th January 2008, 3-5pm
QA210, Queen Anne Court, University of Greenwich, London
http://www.gre.ac.uk/about/greenwich/greenwich_directions 

Department of International Business and Economics
University of Greenwich Business School.

Keynesian Macroeconomics and European Economic Policies

1st International Summer School of the Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies

*“Keynesian Macroeconomics and European Economic Policies”*
27 July-3 August 2008, Berlin-Pichelssee (Location: IGM-Bildungsstaette)

The summer school aims at providing an introduction to Post-Keynesian economics and to the problems of European economic policies as well as presenting some ongoing research to interested graduate students (MA and PhD) and junior researchers. It will consist of overview lectures, student study groups and academic papers and it will feature leading international researchers in the area, like Marc Lavoie (Canada), Amitava Dutt, James Crotty, David Howell (all USA), and Philip Arestis (UK). Issues of monetary economics, the theory of growth and distribution, and the relation of Post-Keynesian Economics to other heterodox traditions, but also to the now prevalent New Keynesian approach, will be covered as well as applications of Keynesian theory to issues of unemployment, monetary policy and macroeconomic policy coordination in the EU.

Language is English. There is a fee of € 250,- for each participant for accommodation and meals. Travelling costs cannot be covered.

Application: Send a letter of motivation (max. 2 pages), your CV and the address of one academic adviser who may be contacted for reference to mailto:torsten-niechoj@boeckler.de no later than *31 March, 2008*. Accepted participants will be informed by the end of April 2008 and will be provided with a reading package for the Summer School.

Programme:
http://www.boeckler.de/pdf/v_2008_07_27_programm.pdf
Detailed information and updates on the summer school:
http://www.boeckler.de/cps/rde/xchg/hbs/hs.xsl/33_89470.html
More information on the research network:
http://www.boeckler.de/cps/rde/xchg/hbs/hs.xsl/36176_36330.html

The Globalisation Lectures

Organised by the Department of Development Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
University of London
Convenor: Prof. Gilbert Achcar
Term 2 / 2008

Tuesday 22 January, 6:30pm Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
The Present Financial Crisis:
How to Stop Globalisation from Eating Itself
PROF. ROBERT WADE
Professor of Political Economy and Development at the Development Studies Institute (DESTIN) of the London School of Economics (LSE)

Monday 25 February, 6:30pm Khalili Lecture Theatre
New Left-Wing Governments in South America –
Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador: A First Balance-Sheet
DR. ERIC TOUSSAINT
Member of the Executive Committee of the World Social Forum (WSF) and founder of the Committee for the Abolition of Third World Debt (CADTM)

Tuesday 22 April, 6:30pm Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
Counter-Hegemonic Globalisation:
Has the Movement Reached its Limits?

PROF. BOAVENTURA DE SOUSA SANTOS
Professor of Sociology at the School of Economics, University of Coimbra (Portugal), Distinguished Legal Scholar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School and Global Legal Scholar at the University of Warwick

The Revival of Political Economy

The Department of Economics at Drew University
presents
The Revival of Political Economy
An all-day conference with distinguished scholars in Political Economy
Saturday February 9, 2008
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Hall of Sciences, HS 4
Drew University, 36 Madison Ave., Madison, NJ 07940
Conference Webpage: http://depts.drew.edu/econ/RPE/
Nancy Folbre, author of The Invisible Heart: Economics and Family Values (2001), and Professor of Economics at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, presents “You Go, Girls! Feminism and Political Economy.” The presentation explores the intellectual history of feminism and economics, reviewing classic debates between liberal and socialist feminists and emphasizing their relevance to the current day. Dr. Folbre will provide an overview of feminist economics today with an emphasis on the discourse of “care” and growing empirical research on the “care sector” of the economy.
James K. Galbraith, author of Created Unequal (1998), Professor of Economics at the University of Texas at Austin, and Senior Scholar at the Levy Economics Institute, presents “The Political-Economy of U.S.-China Relations” in which he examines the mutual interdependence that now exists between the U.S. and China, the peculiar - even unique - characteristics of China’s economic expansion, the implications of China’s rise for the development strategies of other countries, especially in Latin America, and the consequences of China’s financial boom for its economic statistics, many of which including the trade surplus are distorted and misunderstood as a result.
Michael Hudson, author of Super Imperialism (1972 and 2003), Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri – Kansas City, and President of the Institute for the Study of Long-Term Economic Trends (ISLET), presents “The U.S. and Global Bubble Economy” in which he explains the essence of the increasingly financialized Bubble Economies and their impact on the global payments system. Dr. Hudson argues that the United States enjoys an international free ride by virtue of the dollar hegemony as key currency in international payments, thus allowing the U.S. to run up debts without international constraint. Dr. Hudson challenges the claim that U.S. consumer demand is the “engine” that drives world economic growth; a claim that is used as a threat to foreign central banks who are forced to relend their inflow of surplus dollars to the U.S. Treasury, otherwise their currencies will rise, reducing their competitive position vis-à-vis dollar-area exporters. Foreign economies therefore have held down their exchange rates by keeping their own interest rates low, spurring financial and real estate bubbles of their own. Dr. Hudson concludes that for the global economy, dollar hegemony has become a form of international economic overhead.
Jan Kregel, Distinguished Research Professor at the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability (UMKC), and Senior Scholar at the Levy Economics Institute, presents “Savings Gaps, External Resources and Debt Crises in Latin America: Towards a New Model of Development in Latin America.” Dr. Kregel questions the traditional development theory which identifies the obstacles to development in the lack of domestic resources and domestic savings in developing countries. It thus supports reliance on external resources in the form of official assistance and foreign borrowing. Latin America has followed this model and the result has been a series of increasingly devastating debt crises. In the 2005 Global Summit Outcome, the UN shifted emphasis to give greater weight to domestic employment policy - one of the most underutilized domestic resources in developing countries. After the 2001 crisis, Argentina has initiated a new approach based on producing domestic growth before it attempts to return to borrowing in international capital markets. Do these changes in emphasis represent the basis for a New Model of Latin American development?
For Directions & Accommodations click here: http://depts.drew.edu/econ/RPE/Directions.html
This event is free and open to the public, and is co-sponsored by the Economics Department, the Economics Club, and The Presidential Initiative Fund of Drew University..
For more info please contact Dr. Fadhel Kaboub, 973-408-3764, fkaboub@drew.edu

"Histoires de l'économie" Seminar

Please note that the programme for the "Histoires de l'économie" seminar (first half of 2008) is now available at:

http://economix.u-paris10.fr/fr/axes/hpe/homme-societe/

Round Table on Flexicurity

Global Work and Employment Project (GWEp) Middlesex University

At the end of last year the European Union Council of Ministers adopted a common set of principles on Flexicurity. The common principles are based on four components:

* Effective labour market policies
* Flexible and reliable contractual arrangements
* Comprehensive lifelong learning strategies
* Modern and adequate social protection systems

Member States are invited to implement this flexicurity approach at national level and to report to the Commission as part of the new Lisbon Strategy cycle.

But what is Flexicurity in practice? Does it represent a way forward to the ‘high road’ of competitiveness and job security, or is it a further attempt to enforce neo-liberal agendas of worker flexibility? The Global Work and Employment Project (GWEp) at Middlesex University has convened this Round Table to critically explore Flexicurity. The Round Table will be introduced by Professor John Grahl, who is currently researching the concept, and Klaus Draeger, who is Adviser in to La Gauche européenne in the European Parliament.

MONDAY FEBRUARY 4th

6pm
Room G237 (Graduate Building)
Middlesex University Business School
The Burroughs
Hendon
London NW4 4BT

The Business School is ten minutes walk from Hendon Central tube station on the Northern Line (turn right out of the station and then right into The Burroughs). Refreshments available and all are welcome, but to confirm a place please email Audrey Johnson at a.johnson@mdx.ac.uk. For further information contact Professor Martin Upchurch at m.upchurch@mdx.ac.uk.
www.mdx.ac.uk/schools/bs/research/GWEP/GWEP.asp  <http://www.mdx.ac.uk/schools/bs/research/GWEP/GWEP.asp

17th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference

Credit, Markets, and the Real Economy: Is the Financial System Working?
April 17–18, 2008
Blithewood, Bard College Campus
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York

Given current economic events, there has been a lot of talk about the “Minsky moment” in reference to the 2007 credit crunch. Hyman P. Minsky was a distinguished scholar at the Levy Institute from 1990 to 1996 and the foremost expert on such crunches. Top policymakers, economists, and analysts from government, industry, and academia will present their insights about the U.S. economy and the financial sector in the context of Minsky’s economic theories.

Registration and program information will be posted on the Levy Institute website ( www.levy.org ) as it becomes available.

Green Economics Conference/Seminar

The Green Economics Institute invites you to:

Green Economics Conference/Seminar at Oxford University

Social aspects of Green Economics
Basic income,
women and debt, poverty, human trafficking, pensions, women’s access to economics

Saturday 9 February 2008

at Mansfield College, Oxford University, UK
(This conference will also be run in the French Senat in June 2008)
For detailed infirmation, click here.  Download booking form.

Globalisation Series of Seminars and Lectures

Professor Ronald Burt
University of Chicago Graduate School of Business

Wednesday 13 February 2008, 6pm
The Skeel Lecture Theatre
The People's Palace, Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS

A reception will follow the lecture

"Gossip and Reputation"
Few things are more valuable than reputation, or more consequential for the success of new ventures. Yet, popular understanding of reputation continues to be based on anecdotes and platitudes. This session is an introduction to the social mechanism that defines reputation: gossip. We'll talk about trust and character assassination. We'll talk about the exaggeration of good people into heroes and weak people into villains. We'll talk about first impressions, network decay, and why some reputations stick while others fade away so quickly. We'll talk about the keys to building and maintaining reputation.

Ronald Burt is the Hobart W. Williams Professor of Sociology and Strategy at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. Professor Burt is most notable for his research and writing on social networks and social capital, particularly the social structure of competitive advantage and the concept of structural holes in a social network. Applications focus on manager networks (how people of diverse backgrounds create social capital and its effects on their careers) and the network structure of market profits (how the structure of producer, supplier, and consumer relations defines competitive advantage among producers). Professor Burt obtained his Ph.D. in Sociology from the University of Chicago in 1977 and in 1993 he was elected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is the Academy of Management's 2007 Distinguished Scholar in Organization and Management Theory.

Participation is free, no registration is required. An extended announcement is at http://www.busman.qmul.ac.uk/events/events.php?action=display&eid=641

The location can be found at
http://www.busman.qmul.ac.uk/contact/

10th SCEME Seminar in Economic Methodology 'Economics and Politics: Defining Neoliberalism'

Thursday 7 February, Keele University

FINAL CALL FOR REGISTRATIONS

There are still some places available for the 10th SCEME Seminar, on 'Economics and Politics: Defining Neoliberalism', Thu 7 Feb 10am - 4pm, Keele University (Keele Hall Old Library). Speakers include Philip Mirowski, Paul Willis, Calum Paton, Steve Farrall, Rolland Munro, and Paul Smith.

Programme: http://www.keele.ac.uk/research/ppm/

Booking queries: events@ippm.keele.ac.uk

General queries: Matthias Klaes m.klaes@keele.ac.uk  (local organiser)

Registration form:
http://www.keele.ac.uk/research/ppm/web%20documents/SCEME/Registration%20form.pdf

Dispossession and Displacement

- Forced migration in the Middle East and Africa
Thursday 28 and Friday 29 February 2008
£15 (£10 concessions)
The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1
A two day conference organised by the Council for British Research in the Levant with the Refugees Studies Centre, University of Oxford, in collaboration with the British Institute in East Africa, the British Institute at Ankara, the British Institute of Persian Studies and the British Institute for the Study of Iraq (formerly the British School of Archaeology in Iraq). The conference is funded by a collaborative award from the British Academy’s Board for Sponsored Institutes and Societies (BASIS).
The lives of refugees and other forced migrants are a growing, highly pertinent area of contemporary research. Although the majority of people falling into the category of refugees and forced migrants arise from generally well-known complex humanitarian emergencies or natural disasters, the topic encompasses many others, including those who have been resettled due to development projects and government policies to reduce nomadic mobility, as well as biodiversity conservation programmes, and generalized poverty.
The conference will assess research on refugees and forced migration from Afghanistan in the East to Morocco in the West as well as Sudan to the South. The conference consists of two keynote speakers, two panel discussions led by invited experts, together with a mix of other invited participants under the headings of displacement, repatriation, identity in exile, and policy. A film panel will also be showing short film clips followed by discussion around the theme of ‘Filming conflict and dispossession’.
There is great potential in enhancing our understanding and seeing wider patterns through undertaking comparative research and this conference aims to bring together researchers, policy makers and donor communities.
Further details are available from the conference website.
Registration
Advance booking is essential with a conference fee of £15 (£10 concessions) to cover the cost of coffee breaks and the reception with buffet. All participants will receive a conference pack, refreshments and buffet reception.
To reserve a place, please contact Joan Porter MacIver / 020 7969 5274 indicating which day(s) you wish to attend.
Payment should be made by cheque payable to 'CBRL' for the correct amount (£15 or £10) and sent to: CBRL/Displacement conference, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH. Reservations will be confirmed on receipt of payment.

Modelling Social Conflict– a seminar series

The Conflict Research Society and Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London

Gordon Burt (Open University)

The seminar series will continue in 2008 with seminars on education, psychology and sociology. The first seminar on education will be of interest to a general audience whereas the other two are of a more specialist nature. The seminars in 2007 covered: International relations and conflict resolution; Experience, language, logic and artificial intelligence; Peace science, economics and complexity theory; and What do individual utility functions and social welfare functions look like?. The seminar series is supported by an online resource:
http://iet.open.ac.uk/pp/g.j.burt/MSC.htm 

Educational design and social choice theory
Thursday 17 January, 5.30pm, Goldsmiths College, room RHB308

A social issue arises when people disagree about what should happen. Social choice theory provides an abstract way of looking at this type of situation. Suppose you are a lecturer thinking about how to run your course. Should you do more of this and less of that? Suppose you are a student. Would you prefer your course to do more of this and less of that? The results of a recent investigation have important implications for educational design. Even the ‘best’ option only achieves a moderate level of mean satisfaction. In part this is because different students prefer different options. Substantial proportions of the student body stand to lose or gain substantial amounts of satisfaction depending on which option is selected.

An introduction to mathematical psychology
Thursday 7 February , 5.30pm, Goldsmiths College, room RHB308

The articles in the Journal of Mathematical Psychology over the period, 2005-2006, will be reviewed. Topics covered include the following. The lives of mathematical psychologists. Jean-Claude Falmagne (1934-) reviews forty years of mathematical psychology. Which toppings do you want on your pizza? Task complexity and task difficulty. Choice. Response time. Psychophysics. Model selection. Standard mathematics v. symbolic computational modelling. The mathematics problem. You’ve all got wine in your glass? Cheers! Clink your glass with everyone else’s … easy to do if there are only four in the group. What if there are a large number, say twenty?

Social adaptive processes in the speculative market for well-being
Thursday 6 March, 5.30pm, Goldsmiths College, room RHB308

Well-being in many of the richest countries of the world has been virtually static over the past three decades despite substantial increases in real income. A model is developed to illuminate this paradox. Well-being is threatened by poor situations, ineffective choice set generation, counter-productive well-being functions and ineffective utility functions. The features which give rise to threats to well-being are determined by socialised 'adaptation' processes. In certain situations 'adaptation' processes are ineffective because truth is obscure and action is problematic. In certain situations socialisation processes promote inappropriate values for the parameters of the 'adaptation' processes.

The seminars will be held in room RHB308 (Richard Hoggart Building, formerly the Main Building). For information about how to get to Goldsmiths, University of London, see www.goldsmiths.ac.uk.
Registration will be free. If you think you would like to attend please contact Herb Blumberg at h.blumberg@gold.ac.uk  (postal address: Department of Psychology, Goldsmiths, University of London, London SE14 6NW, England). Places are limited, so please let us know as soon as possible but, in any case, very preferably before 15 December.

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Job Postings for Heterodox Economists

Lecturer in Development Studies

School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London
Department of Development Studies
£29,527-£41,735 p.a. inclusive of London Allowance
Vacancy No: 100339
The Department of Development Studies invites applications for a lectureship starting from 1 September 2008 or as soon as possible thereafter, to contribute principally to the new MSc degree in Globalisation and Development. Candidates should have a strong research record, and they should be able to offer courses consistent with the Department's orientation and profile, whilst playing a constructive role in the administration of the Department.
Candidates should have an outstanding grounding in development studies, globalisation studies, and/or closely related social sciences disciplines. The department is especially interested in candidates with research interests in East Asia.
Prospective candidates seeking further information may contact the Head of Department, Professor Alfredo Saad Filho (as59@soas.ac.uk). 
An application form and further particulars can be downloaded from www.soas.ac.uk/jobs.  Alternatively, write to the Human Resources Department, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London, WC1H OXG, fax no: 020 7074 5129 or e-mail: vacancies@soas.ac.uk  stating your name, address and the vacancy reference number. CVs will only be accepted when accompanied by an application form. No agencies.
Closing date: Friday 8 February 2008

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Heterodox Conference Papers and Reports and Articles

Economists, Value Judgments, and Climate Change

Working Paper from the Global Development and Environment Institute: Economists, Value Judgments, and Climate Change: A View From Feminist Economics , by Julie A. Nelson. October 2007.

http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/Pubs/wp/07-03EconValClimate.pdf

Adam Smith's Model of Man and Some of its Consequences

By Manfred J. Holler
Download the paper.

COMPLEXITY MEETS DEVELOPMENT – AFELICITOUS ENCOUNTER ON THE ROAD OF LIFE

Lewis L. Smith
Since before Adam Smith, economists have been concerned with development. However, they have
seldom understood it or paid it enough mind. For example, the “sequence” economists, such as Marx in
the 19th Century and Rostow in the 20th sought to force development everywhere into a rigid pattern.
Since 1874, the marginalists and their Neoliberal descendents have emphasised comparative statics and
steady-state equilibriums, not growth... (Download the paper.)



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Heterodox Journals and Newsletters

International Socialism

Issue 117
www.isj.org.uk 
Click here for the content.

Public Policy Brief

Minsky’s Cushions of Safety: Systemic Risk and the Crisis in the U.S. Subprime Mortgage Market
JAN KREGEL
Public Policy Brief No. 93, 2008
www.levy.org/pubs/ppb_93.pdf


The current crisis enveloping the financial systems of developed countries differs from that outlined in Hyman P. Minsky’s financial fragility hypothesis. The conditions of the subprime mortgage crisis are not the result of endogenous processes. Rather, they are the result of insufficient margins of safety based on how creditworthiness is assessed (the undervaluation and mispricing of risk by credit rating agencies) in the new “originate and distribute” financial system. Total credit losses among borrowers, creditors, and banks could be as high as $900 billion, and the offset of an increase in exports due to the dollar’s decline would not be sufficient to prevent a recession.

Metroeconomica

Volume 59, Issue 1, February 2008
ARTICLES
ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAGES AND MONITORING: COMMENT
Katarina Bujdakova
pages 42–44
ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WAGES AND MONITORING: A REPLY
Laszlo Goerke
pages 45–46
HEURISTIC EXPECTATION FORMATION AND BUSINESS CYCLES: A SIMPLE LINEAR MODEL
Frank H. Westerhoff
pages 47–56
GENERAL AND PARTIAL EQUILIBRIA IN A CONSUMPTION ECONOMY
José Manuel Gutiérrez
pages 57–73
LONG-RUN RISING SUPPLY PRICE AND THE NUMÉRAIRE
Arrigo Opocher and Ian Steedman
pages 74–84
THE TWO-SECTOR VON THÜNEN ORIGINAL MARGINAL PRODUCTIVITY MODEL OF CAPITAL; AND BEYOND
Erkko Etula
pages 85–104

Historical Materialism

Research in Critical Marxist Theory
Volume 15 Issue 4
2007

CONTENTS

Articles

HELMUT REICHELT
Marx’s Critique of Economic Categories: Reflections on the Problem of Validity in the Dialectical Method of Presentation in Capital

ROLAND BOER
The Perpetual Allure of the Bible for Marxism

GAVIN FRIDELL
Fair-Trade Coffee and Commodity Fetishism: The Limits of Market-Driven Social Justice

VIREN SWAMI
Evolutionary Psychology: ‘New Science of the Mind’ or ‘Darwinian Fundamentalism’?

JIM KINCAID
Production vs. Realisation: A Critique of Fine and Saad-Filho on Value Theory

Review Articles

STEVE A. SMITH
on Kevin Murphy’s Revolution and Counterrevolution: Class Struggle in a Moscow Metal Factory
SAMUEL KNAFO
on Gérard Duménil’s and Dominique Lévy’s Capital Resurgent: Roots of the Neoliberal Revolution

MICHAEL HEINRICH
on Karl Marx’s Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie, Dritter Band in Gesamtausgabe (MEGA)


Historical-Critical Dictionary of Marxism

JAN REHMANN
Ideology Theory

historicalmaterialism@soas.ac.uk 
www.brill.nl/hima

Newsletter Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies

Network-News 01-08 EN
News of the Research Network Macroeconomic Policies, January 2008 More on the network: http://www.boeckler.de/cps/rde/xchg/hbs/hs.xsl/36176_36330.html
If you would like to distribute news related to the research network please do not hesitate to contact Torsten Niechoj (mailto:torsten-niechoj@boeckler.de) the member of the coordination group of the research network responsible for this newsletter.

nep-pke: the NEP report on Post Keynesian Economics

NEP is sponsored by SUNY Oswego.

About nep-pke
This list circulates the NEP Report on Post Keynesian Economics. To see the collection of issues of the report visit its archive.


Critical Sociology

Critical Sociology, 34:1 is now available and you can access the journal on-line at http://crs.sagepub.com for free through the end of February (SAGE is offering free access to all its Sociology journals though this period). Those at institutions subscribing to the journal have access through their affiliation. At present SAGE is moving all the back issues formerly on the Brill site over to this SAGE platform--it is still in process. And SAGE is now digitizing and will provide access to all the back issues of the journal to the first issue of the Insurgent Sociologist in the next year.

Meanwhile, the contents of this current issue include:

Philip Hancock
Critical Management Studies: An Introduction
Critical Sociology 2008 34: 9-14.
Warren Smith
Critical Management Studies: Accountability and Authenticity
Critical Sociology 2008 34: 15-28.
Philip Hancock and Melissa Tyler
Beyond the Confines: Management, Colonization and the Everyday
Critical Sociology 2008 34: 29-49.
Subhabrata Bobby Banerjee
Corporate Social Responsibility: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Critical Sociology 2008 34: 51-79.
Rohit Varman
The Political Economy of Markets and Development: A Case Study of Health Care Consumption in the State of Kerala, India
Critical Sociology 2008 34: 81-98.
Graham Cassano
Radical Critique and Progressive Traditionalism in John Ford's The Grapes of Wrath
Critical Sociology 2008 34: 99-116.
T. William Greene
Three Ideologies of Individualism: Toward Assimilating a Theory of Individualisms and their Consequences
Critical Sociology 2008 34: 117-137.
Girts Racko
The Goals of the Foundation of Ethnic Minority Non-Governmental Organizations in Latvia
Critical Sociology 2008 34: 139-155
 

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Heterodox Books and Book Series

The Anthem Other Canon Series

Anthem Press is pleased to announce The Anthem Other Canon Series. As 'Reality Economics', the Other Canon reflects the study of the real economy, rather than the behaviour of a model economy based on core axioms. It will publish both classical and new works in this tradition, such as evolutionary, institutional, and post-Keynesian economics, on the history of economic thought and economic policy, on economic sociology and technology governance, as well as works in the traditions of the German historical school and in the theory of uneven development. The series editors comprise the Executive Board of The Other Canon Foundation, Erik S. Reinert, Wolfgang Drechsler, Rainer Kattel and Jan Kregel. The first publications in the series will be the conference volume for ‘Veblen at 150’, a volume marking the 100th anniversary of development economist Ragnar Nurkse, the first English translation of Antonio Serra’s 1613 Brief treatise, with an accompanying volume ‘The Economics of Good Government’, and a reader in the history of economic policy. Later an English translation of Werner Sombart’s Capitalism will follow. Proposals may be sent to othercan@othercanon.com  . Initially we are looking for a two-page outline of any book proposals.

WESP 2008

As the New Year begins, we are pleased to announce the release of the World Economic Situation and Prospects 2008 (WESP 2008), the United Nations' annual forecast of global economic trends and one of the major flagship publications of the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA), jointly produced with the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the five regional commissions.

According to WESP 2008, the world economy is facing serious challenges in sustaining the strong pace of economic growth seen over the past few years. While the baseline forecast is for world economic growth to moderate somewhat in 2008, the risks associated with the bursting of the housing bubble in the United States, the related unfolding credit crisis, the decline of the dollar, large global imbalances and high oil prices are all pointing to the downside. The report draws some lessons from the global financial turmoil of 2007, which was triggered by the meltdown of sub-prime mortgages in the United States, and points out that the various measures adopted by central banks of the major economies did not address the root causes of the turmoil: the huge global imbalances. In an alternative scenario, which takes into account the possibility of a sharper-than-expected decline in house prices in the United States and a hard landing of the US dollar, the United States economy would fall into a recession, while global growth would be significantly lower than the baseline. In addition to trends in international trade and capital flows, WESP 2008 also covers the latest progress and policy issues related to international trade negotiations and reform of the international financial system.

The report can be downloaded for free at:
http://www.un.org/esa/policy/wess/wesp.html

The report can be purchased as a print publication from the United Nations Publication website at:
https://unp.un.org/search.aspx?q=world%20economic%20situation%20and%20prospects%202008&sort=0&type=allwords&pg=1&view=5

You can also access the full range of DESA's publications relevant to your information needs in the economic and social fields through our on-line catalogue at:
http://esa.un.org/pubsCatalogue/displayHomePage.do

A POPULIST CHALLENGE TO CORPORATE CAPITALISM

by William Van Lear (Belmont Abbey College, North Carolina, USA)

Table of Contents (15k)
Chapter 1: Introduction (36k)
This book sets out some important developments in the evolution of capitalism and judges whether this evolution is in accord with fundamental American principles. Particular attention is paid to the corporation, business cycles, and various monetary issues. Are the corporation and the financial structure congruent with foundational principles of American society? Is contemporary monetary policy compatible with American principles and current economic evolution? These are the central questions posed by the book.
The text explores the issues of income distribution, business cycles, the great 1990s expansion and why it may end, and capitalist development stages. Business cycles, growth, and income distribution are all affected by the existing stage. The description and importance of money manager capitalism are discussed, and the current monetary policy regime is critiqued. In addition, the reform of monetary policy along heterodox lines is described.
The subsequent section of the text presents the central argument. America is based on a set of core principles, as laid out by important documents, thinkers, and eras. These principles inform American political economy and are populism-oriented. Yet, despite explicit foundational principles, US economic history demonstrates that the corporation has evolved along a path inconsistent with these principles. This book calls for a renewal of populist economic reform, and shows what contemporary forces may pull America along such a path. http://www.worldscibooks.com/economics/4868.html
A Populist Challenge to Corporate Capitalism is a discourse in political economy and is instructional in that it describes the causes of economic growth and cycles, and the process by which monetary policy affects economic activity. This effort pulls together elements of American history and important political–economic concepts to argue that contemporary monetary policy and the corporate form of business are not consistent with either money manager capitalism or the country's fundamental principles.
Contents:
• Wealth and Income Distribution
• Growth, Cycles, and Crises
• Stages of Capitalism
• Money Manager Capitalism
• US Monetary Policy
• Foundational American Principles
Readership: Public policy-makers as well as undergraduates, teachers and academics in economics and banking & finance.


Karl Marx’s Grundrisse

Foundations of the Critique of Political Economy
Edited by Marcello Musto
Price: $130.00

• ISBN: 978-0-415-43749-3
• Binding: Hardback
• Published by: Routledge
• Publication Date: 15th July 2008 (Available for Pre-order)
• Pages: 288
http://tinyurl.com/2ayka8
About the Book
Written between the autumn of 1857 and the spring of 1858, the Grundrisse is the first draft of Marx’s critique of political economy and, thus, also the initial preparatory work on Capital. Despite its editorial vicissitudes and late publication, the Grundrisse is extremely important to the understanding of the author’s ideas.
This collection examines the reflections developed exclusively in the Grundrisse in order to present an author in many ways radically different from the one presented by the dominant currents of twentieth century ‘Marxism’; demonstrates the relevance of the Grundrisse to the understanding of Capital and Marx’s theoretical project as a whole, which, as is well known, remained uncompleted and highlights the continuing, and still fertile, explanatory power of Marxian interpretative categories for contemporary society and its present contradictions.
With contributions from such scholars as Eric Hobsbawm and Terrell Carver, this book is likely to become required reading for serious scholars of Marx across the world.
Reviews
"This volume promises to be required reading for all serious students of Marx" Simon Clarke (University of Warwick, UK)
Table of Contents
Eric J. Hobsbawn, Foreword Marcello Musto, I. GRUNDRISSE: CRITICAL INTERPRETATIONS, Marcello Musto, History, Totality of Production and Scientific Method in the 1857, Joachim Bischoff – Christoph Lieber, The Concept of Value in Modern Economy. On the Relationship between Money and Capital in ‘Grundrisse’, Terell Carver, Marx Conception of Alienation in ‘Grundrisse’, Enrique Dussel, The Origin of the Concept of Surplusvalue, Ellen Meiksins Wood, Historical Materialism in ‘Forms Preceding Capitalist Production’, John Bellamy Foster, Marx’s ‘Grundrisse’ and the Ecological Contradictions of Capitalism, Iring Fetscher, Individual and Society in an Emancipated Society. First Suggestions in Marx’s ‘Grundrisse’, Moishe Postone, Rethinking ‘Capital’ in Light of the ‘Grundrisse’, PART II. MARX AT THE TIME OF GRUNDRISSE, Marcello Musto, Marx’s Life Between 1857 and 1858, Michael R. Krätke, The first World Economic Crisis: Marx as an Economic Journalist, Michael R. Krätke, Marx’s Books on Crisis 1857 - 1858, PART III. DISSEMINATION AND RECEPTION OF GRUNDRISSE IN THE WORLD, Marcello Musto, Introduction, Ernst Theodor Mohl, Germany – Austria – Switzerland , Ljudmila L. Vasina, Soviet Union – Russia , Hiroshi Uchida, Japan, Zhongpu Zhang, China, André Tosel, France, Mario Tronti, Italy, Pedro Ribas – Rafael Pla, Spain – Latin America, Stanislav Hubík, Czechoslovakia, Ferenc Lendvail, Hungary, Gheorghe Stoica, Romania, Christopher J. Arthur, USA – Britain – Australia – Canada, Birger Linde, Denmark, Lino Veljak, Yugoslavia, Kamran Nayeri, Iran, Holger Politt, Poland, Vesa Oittinen, Finland, John Milios, Greece, E. Ahmet Tonak, Turkey, Hogyun Kim, South Korea, José Paulo Netto, Brazil – Portugal


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Heterodox Book Reviews

Book Reviewer Wanted

Tom Abeles is looking for someone who will review Shearman, David and Joseph Wayne Smith, The Climate Challenge and the Failure of Democracy, Praeger, West Port, CT, 2007, 167p w/out preface, bibliography or index.

Their concern, based on environmental or sustainability arguments is that Democractic Capitalism will fail to take us out of the crisis but that neither can a neo Marxist solution. They lead towards a Platonic model or one similar to that of Singapore. One author is a lawyer and the other a physician/scientist but both have published in this area. What Tom is looking for is an "essay" type review, similar to what one finds in the NYT Review of Books where the book can be a "stalking horse" for the reviewer. I think it might offer an interesting platform for a heterodox approach to the climate change issue from a philosophical perspective. The review would be published in On the Horizon. If you are interested, e-mail Tom at tabeles@gmail.com.

HUMAN GOODS, ECONOMIC EVILS: A MORAL APPROACH TO THE DISMAL SCIENCE

by Edward Hadas, ISI Books, 2007. ISBN: 193-38-592-6134-2; 400 pages. Reviewed by Colin Richardson
Download the review

ABGEPEIST – WIE WIR BEIM ESSEN BETROGEN WERDEN UND WAS DAGEGEN TUN KÖNNEN

by Thilo Bode. Frankfurt a.M.: S. Fischer Verlag, 2007. ISBN: 978-3-10-004307-8; 253 pages. Reviewed by Sebastian Berger, University of Missouri - Kansas City
Download the review

Heterodox Graduate Program and PhD Scholarships

City University London Research Studentship

City University London has just announced its annual competition for research studentships. Details are at http://www.city.ac.uk/research/resdev/studentships.html

Potential applicants wishing to complete a PhD in the philosophy or history of economics, or in heterodox economics, should contact me
(a.denis@city.ac.uk)  as soon as possible to discuss their research plans. The studentships are highly competitive and only the strongest applications have any chance of success. Cooperation with prospective supervisors is essential to ensure that the candidate's application papers present the best possible case.

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For Your Information

Benchmarking in Economics

For those interested in the issue of Benchmarking in Economics, you may find the following of interest:

UK Colleagues, AHE Members, and Others,

The ESRC in conjunction with the Royal Economic Society and the Conference of Heads of University Departments of Economics is undertaking an International Benchmarking Review of UK Economics. The remit of the review is as follows:

The Economic and Social Research Council has embarked on a series of international benchmarking reviews across the social sciences. This review has been established by the ESRC in partnership with the professional body for Economics in the UK, the Royal Economic Society, and in consultation with the Conference of Heads of University Departments of Economics. The object is to benchmark the current position of UK Economics research against the best done world-wide, highlighting strengths and weaknesses as appropriate.

The review report will probably suggest actions for the profession, funders and users of research. Whilst there may be recommendations for the ESRC, the outcomes will concern, and will be considered by, social science funders generally. For its part, the ESRC will use the review results to inform its work to sustain the health of social science disciplines, and to feed into its strategic planning process.

The International Benchmarking Review of UK Economics is managed by a steering group (chaired by Professor Sir John Vickers) that is comprised of senior academics, research funders and research users. The review will be undertaken by an International Panel which will visit the UK for a few days, to coincide with the RES Annual Conference in March 2008. The Panel consists of six leading international academics, chaired by Professor Elhanan Helpman, Harvard. They will meet with a number of UK scholars, study current UK research and assess the standing of Economics research in the UK against agreed criteria. After the fieldwork, the Panel will compile a report that summarises their assessment of current UK Economics research.

In order to provide context for the Panel, a briefing pack will be provided prior to their visit to the UK. This will include demographic and funding statistics, bibliometrics, the results of a survey of non-academic stakeholders, submissions from Heads of Departments of UK Economics and an overview of research quality in the principal sub-disciplines of UK Economics.

Although the ESRC initially overlooked the Association for Heterodox Economics, through the alertness and work of Andy Denis, Andrew Mearman, and Alan Freeman a letter on behalf of the AHE and its members was sent to the ESRC manager of the Review requesting that the AHE be allowed to make a submission:

The Association for Heterodox Economics is a British economics organization that is distinct from the Royal Economics Society. It is committed to open dialogue in economics and progress towards that goal.

We have become aware of the current international benchmarking review of UK Economics. This is an issue on which we have made submissions before.
We should like more information about the current process. Our view is that because of the nature of our members' views, which tend to be marginalised in debates in economics, they would most likely not be represented by the Royal Economics Society or in the submissions from UK Heads of Departments of Economics. We would welcome the opportunity to participate in the current international benchmarking review process. Could you let us know if you would be willing to accept a submission from the Association that dealt with UK Economics in an International Context and the Health of the Discipline?

The manager of the Review responded positively:

Your association is very welcome to make a submission to the Review Panel - we will include this in its briefing materials. You may wish to limit your submission to no more than 2-3 sides of A4 as the Panel will have a very large number of papers to read through. We will need to receive you submission by mid-February in order to include this in the briefing pack for panel members which we are planning on sending out one month prior to their visit.

Therefore the AHE is now soliciting brief comments from all heterodox economists in the UK and elsewhere that fall under the following headings:

UK Economics in an International Context – your impressions of the strengths and weaknesses of the UK economic research area set within an international context.

Health of the Discipline – your views of the health of the discipline, including training and capacity issues.

Please send your brief and succinct comments to the AHE Coordinator, Alan Freeman (afreeman@iwgvt.org) by February 7th so that he can collate and submit them to the AHE Coordinating Committee which is meeting on February 9th. Anybody wishing to assist Alan (and Andrew and Andy) in drawing up the submission, please contact Alan at the above e-mail address.

For the International Benchmarking Review of UK Social Anthropology: http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/Ant_Book_A-web_tcm6-16599.pdf 

For the International Benchmarking Review of UK Politics and International Studies: http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/Images/P_IBR-Final_Report_tcm6-23426.pdf 

Course outline on the Economics of Globalization by Professor A. Erinc Yeldan

Download the file

RePEc (Research Papers in Economics)

RePEc (Research Papers in Economics) is a collaborative effort of over 100 volunteers in 61 countries to enhance the dissemination of research in economics. The heart of the project is a decentralized database of working papers, journal articles and software components. All RePEc material is freely available.
Click here for detailed information.


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