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