From the Editor
There is lots of news to
report in this Newsletter. First, on September
16, 2009 and after, you can register for the
ASSA at the AEA web site:
www.vanderbilt.edu/AEA. The Association for
Social Economics sessions will take place at the
Hilton Atlanta—see the FYI section for more
information. When registering, please register
as a member of the ASSOCIATION FOR SOCIAL
ECONOMICS. In this way, some portion of your
registration fee will be given back to the ASE.
In particular, all members of AFEE, URPE, and
IAFFE and any other heterodox economist
attending the ASSA should register as a member
of ASE.
Secondly, the next ICAPE Conference will be at
Western New England College, Springfield,
Massachusetts on 3-5 June 2009. There will be a
welcome reception on the 3rd, the conference
sessions will take place on 4-5 June. Karl
Petrick (
kpetrick@wnec.edu ) is the local organizer.
Conference themes and a call for papers are
forthcoming in the next week or so.
It is unfortunate to note that The Center for
Full Employment and Price Stability (C-FEPS) and
the Department of Economics at the University of
Missouri—Kansas City (UMKC) has announced that
there will be no Post Keynesian Workshop
(International Conference and Summer School) at
UMKC in Summer, 2010. The announcement intends
to assist past participants and others who may
have been exploring the possibility of attending
the PK Workshop in making their summer plans.
The PK Workshop will be resumed in the future,
and information will be forthcoming with plenty
of advance time as to when the next PK Workshop
will be held.
The impact of the current crisis has extended to
include economists, economic departments, and
economic majors. Two American universities have
used the crisis to restructure their academic
activities and in the process economists have
been made redundant—but clearly there is more to
the decisions. However, in two cases, part of
the decision was based on too few economic
majors (an issue that has also affected UK
economics departments over the past 15 years).
The problem of too few economics majors affects
many departments, especially at smaller
institutions. For two stories that might
interest you, see the following links:
http://www.thenewsstar.com/article/20090822/NEWS01/908220320/1002/ULM
--to-drop-3-majors
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/08/14/economics.
Finally, perhaps you have heard (or not) of the
Toxic Textbooks Movement. It is a movement to
encourage schools and universities to use
economics textbooks that engage honestly with
the real world:
http://www.toxictextbooks.com. The
website is quite interesting and you should
check it out. The concern about having non-toxic
textbooks from which you have to teach from is a
real one. To produce a non-toxic textbook takes
a long time and a lot of work. However, for the
near future there are ways to get around the
problem of the toxicity of textbooks. I teach an
introduction (or first year) microeconomics
course. This past year I decided to revise the
content of the course from one that gives a
critical overview of neoclassical micro to one
in which the neoclassical component is reduced
to 1/3 of the course. This was made possible
with the publication of Sherman, Hunt, et. al.
Economics: An Introduction to Traditional and
Progressive Views (7th ed. M.E. Sharpe). The
book is divided into four parts: economics of
history and history of economics,
microeconomics, macroeconomics, and
international and global policy. For the first 5
weeks of the course I covered part I; the second
five weeks part II supplemented by lecture
notes; and the third five weeks I introduced the
students to heterodox microeconomics utilizing
lecture notes I have written. In the end, the
students got a more critical and pluralistic
understanding of microeconomics. The point here
is that the toxicity associated with teaching
neoclassical micro for example can be dealt with
by choosing a Sherman-Hunt like text,
introducing your own lecture notes into the
class, and expecting students to be to have the
capabilities to engage with diverse and opposing
ideas.
Fred Lee
In
this issue:
|
Call for Papers |
|
- JSHET Conference
2010
- ISEE 2010: Advancing Sustainability in a Time of Crisis
- PKSG Workshop on the Current Crisis
- ECONOMIC DEGROWTH TODAY
- Economic Pedagogy
- The Association for Institutional Thought
- Historical Materialism, 2nd North American Conference
- Historical Materialism Sixth Annual Conference
- Association for Institutional Thought [AFIT]
- ASE at the Eastern Economic Association Meetings
- 8th Society of Heterodox Economists Conference
- The Hyman P. Minsky Summer Seminar |
|
Heterodox Conference Papers and
Reports and Articles |
|
- Global Recession: Spending Cuts Are
Not the Answer
- Capital Controls and the Current Financial Crisis:
Revisiting the Malaysian Experience
- LA LIQUIDACIÓN DE LOS ACTIVOS DEL ESTADO
- A Critical Assessment of Seven Reports on Financial
Reform: A Minskyan Perspective
- Keynes and the financing of public works expenditures
- Conversation or Monologue? On Advising Heterodox
Economists |
|
Heterodox Journals and Newsletters |
|
- eInsight
- International Journal of Political Economy
- Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation
- Challenge
- Recherche sur l’Innovation
- Research Network of Innovation
|
|
Heterodox Books and Book Series |
|
- Capitalism Hits the Fan
- Political Economy and Globalization
- Keynes on Monetary Policy, Finance and Uncertainty
- It Takes a Pillage
- Real World Labor
- Women’s Migration Networks in Mexico and Beyond
- THE KEYNES SOLUTION
- THE MAKING OF ECONOMICS
- A BRIEF HISTORY OF ECONOMICS
- An Updated Marxian Theory Of The Commodity by Pablo
Emiliano Ahumada
- Economic Pluralism
|
|
Heterodox Book Reviews |
|
- The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism:
Schumpeter, Chandler and the New Economy |
|
For
Your Information |
|
- how to rebuild a shamed subject
- Mathematical technique should not dominate real-world
substance
- The Truth about Amnesty for Immigrants
- Income Inequality Is At An All-Time High: STUDY
- The American-German Divide
- Rock Steady: MOVING TOWARD A STEADY-STATE ECONOMY
- THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT
- Center for the History of Political Economy
- Bi-Annual Prize for Research in the History of Economic
Thought
- Monthly Review 60th Anniversary Gala Celebration
- Grupo Lujan
- SHOE: ANN--2009 Don Lavoie Memorial Graduate Student Essay
Competition
- ASE program at ASSA, times and room assignments |
|
|
Call for Papers
JSHET Conference
2010
Call for Papers
The 74th Annual Conference of the Japanese Society for the History
of Economic Thought (JSHET) will be held on May 22-23, 2010 at
Toyama University, Toyama, Japan.
The organizing committee invites proposals for individual papers (in
English or in Japanese) on all aspects of the history of economic
thought.
Submissions should be mailed to
eriguchi@mtj.biglobe.ne.jp. Each author should send
his/her abstract of about 600 words in English or 2,000 letters in
Japanese for a paper, as an attached document (PDF or WORD
format) to an electronic mail, containing the title of the paper,
his/her name, affiliation, postal and electronic addresses and the
fax number. The deadline for submission is September 30, 2009.
A complete list of accepted contributions and a provisional
programme would be available at the beginning of December 2009. The
outlines (within 6 pages of format A4) of the paper should be
submitted by February 28, 2010. They will be printed and mailed to
all participants one month before the conference.
The fee for non-members of JSHET to present a paper at the
conference is 6,000 yen.
Further information of JSHET and the conference may be found on the
web site:http://society.cpm.ehime-u.ac.jp/shet/shet.html
For any additional information, please send your request to
eriguchi@mtj.biglobe.ne.jp.
ISEE 2010: Advancing Sustainability
in a Time of Crisis
22 - 25 August 2010
Oldenburg and Bremen, Germany
Conference Theme
Ecological systems and their services to humans have been exposed to
stress, exploitation and destruction for decades. Biodiversity is
being lost at an almost unprecedented pace. Climate change will
bring about rapid and unpredictable changes in the earth's entire
biophysical system. There are thus massive indications of a crisis
of ecosystems caused by human activity. In 2008 the global financial
system collapsed and pushed many economies towards crisis. A
deregulated banking sector acted outside the boundaries of safe and
trustworthy operations resulting in a collapse of confidence in
economic institutions not seen since the 1930s. Economic breakdowns
in many countries have already generated dramatic social problems
adding to existing poverty, hunger and inequality.
Click here for detailed
information.
PKSG Workshop on the Current Crisis
SOAS, University of London, 23rd October 2009
The current crisis largely took mainstream economics commentators by
surprise. By contrast Post-Keynesian analysis may provide the
analytical tools to explain crises through processes endogenous to
contemporary economies. This workshop aims to consider the origins,
nature and likely course of the current crisis and the appropriate
policy response from a broadly Post-Keynesian perspective. Studies
of countries outside the US and UK are most welcome. Proposals for
presentations and/or offers to act as a discussant should be sent to
Jonathan Perraton on behalf of the PKSG Committee by 25th September.
Jonathan Perraton
Department of Economics
University of Sheffield
9 Mappin Street
Sheffield S1 4DT
United Kingdom
Email:
j.perraton@sheffield.ac.uk
Phone: ++44 (0) 114 222 3408
Fax: ++44 (0) 114 222 3458
ECONOMIC DEGROWTH TODAY
Barcelona , 25-28 March 2010
Call for the
Second International Conference on Degrowth
Organised by ICTA, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona, and Research &
Degrowth.
http://www.degrowth.net/-Barcelona2010-
We call for 400 words abstracts, deadline 30 November 2009.
Contact of organisers of the second degrowth conference at
barcelona2010(at)degrowth.net
Download the conference proceedings of the previous conference
Website of the 2008 Degrowth conference:
http://events.it-sudparis.eu/degrowthconference/en/
Télécharger les actes
Site de la conférence de 2008:
http://events.it-sudparis.eu/degrowthconference/
http://www.degrowth.net/
Economic Pedagogy
International Journal of Pluralism and Economics Education – Section
for Economic Pedagogy
The objective of this section is to publish short articles on
teaching techniques that readers can use to immediately improve
their pedagogy. We invite articles on innovations in pedagogical
issues, speculation on the didactics in any theoretical
or applied field, the changing conceptions of the learning process,
the innovative contents of disciplines that foster reflection,
analysis and solution of problems. We also invite contributions from
policy makers, government officials, business leaders, etc. on
suggestions to improve economics education. If you have any
questions or want to submit a paper, contact:
Maria Alejandra Caporale Madi
Instituto de Economia
State University of Campinas
Brazil
alejandra_madi@yahoo.com.br
The Association for Institutional
Thought
Fifth Annual Student Scholars Award Competition
The Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT) proudly announces
the Fifth Annual AFIT Student Scholars Award Competition. The aim of
AFIT is to encourage undergraduate and graduate students in
Economics and Political Economy to pursue research in topics within
the Institutional Economics framework.
Between three and five winning papers will be selected. Winners are
expected to present their research during a special session at the
Annual Meetings of AFIT, held during the Western Social Science
Association’s 52st Annual Conference at the Grand Sierra Resort in
Reno, Nevada, April 14 - 17, 2010.
Winners will each receive:
1. $300 prize
2. One year student membership in AFIT
3. Paid WSSA Conference Registration
4. Paid admission to the AFIT Presidential Address Dinner
Winning papers must be presented at a special AFIT session in order
to be eligible for the prize. Prizes will be presented during the
AFIT Presidential Address Dinner.
Application Procedures and Deadlines
Papers must be between 25-40 pages in length, including references
and appendices. They should be submitted electronically (preferably
in Word format) by 12/15/09 to:
John F. Henry
Department of Economics
University of Missouri-Kansas City
Kansas City, MO 64110-2499
Phone: (816) 235-1309
email: henryjf@umkc.edu
Winners will be notified by 1/15/10.
For more information about AFIT, visit our website at
http://www.orgs.bucknell.edu/afee/afit/AFIT%20Association%20for%20Institutional%20Thought.htm
Historical Materialism, 2nd North
American Conference
January 14th to 16th 2010, New York City
http://www.hm2010nyc.org/?p=1
We are living through a moment of profound change. Few believe that
there is any possibility of going back. In these turbulent times the
name of Marx is increasingly invoked—sometimes hesitantly—in places
where one would least expect it: Marx the theorist of crisis, Marx
the prophet of systemic change, even Marx the materialist
philosopher of nature anticipating the ecological perils of modern
capitalism. Yet these references tend to betray an ignorance not
only of Marx’s thought, but of the entire Marxist theoretical
tradition.
Click here
for detailed information.
Historical Materialism Sixth Annual
Conference
27-29 November 2009, Central London
http://www.hm2010nyc.org/?p=9
Another World is Necessary: Crisis, Struggle and Political
Alternatives
Co-sponsored by Socialist Register and the Isaac and Tamara
Deutscher Memorial Prize Committee
The world economy is traversing a sweeping crisis whose outcomes are
still uncertain, but whose scope is undeniable. The name of Marx is
now occasionally, if nervously, invoked in the financial press. The
neo-liberal project is being reconfigured, and some have even rushed
to pronounce it dead. Imperial strategies are being redrawn, while
ecological and food crises deepen on a global scale. This situation
of instability and uncertainty unquestionably lends itself to
incisive analyses drawing upon and critically innovating the
traditions of historical materialism. Critical Marxist theorists
have already shed considerable light on the mechanisms and
tendencies underlying the current crises and emphasised the
conflicts and contradictions that are emerging as they develop.
Click
here for detailed information.
Association for
Institutional Thought [AFIT]
2010 CALL FOR PAPERS
The 31st annual meeting of AFIT will be held
April 14-17, 2010
Reno, Nevada
Grand Sierra Resort
In conjunction with the Western Social Science Association (WSSA)
52nd Annual Conference
Theme for the 2010 Conference: Toward a Socially Embedded Economy
Click
here for detailed information.
ASE at the Eastern Economic
Association Meetings
Call for Papers
I invite you to submit abstracts and/or session proposals for the
Association of Social Economics sessions at the 2010
Eastern
Economic Association meetings, to be held in Philadelphia, PA,
February 26-28 (see linked site for more details).
I welcome any proposals dealing with the concerns of social
economics, whether theoretical or practical, methodological or
policy-oriented, or anything in between. As always, I am
particularly interested in papers exploring the intersection of
economics and ethics (which fits under the social economics
umbrella), as well as economics and philosophy in general.
You do not have to be a member of ASE to participate in the EEA
sessions, though I do encourage you to
visit the
website and consider joining. (In fact, even if you choose not
to participate in the meetings, it's a good idea to visit the
website and consider joining!)
Please send me your abstracts or session ideas by Monday, October 19
to profmdwhite@hotmail.com
- also, feel free to ask me about possible topics or themes, or
about the meetings in general. The Eastern Economic Association
meetings have always been very open to alternative approaches and
viewpoints, as well as a wonderful forum for innovative ideas.
Mark White
8th Society of
Heterodox Economists Conference
December 7 and 8, 2009
The University of New South Wales will host the 8th Society of
Heterodox Economists Conference on December 7 and 8, 2009
This year's conference will have both refereed and non-refereed
papers. The deadline for submission of refereed papers is Monday 2
November. The deadline for submission of non-refereed papers is
Friday November 13. Further details will be available from the
Conference website.
The following symposia and calls for papers are being organised for
the SHE Conference, in addition to the general sessions. If you
would like to contribute in any way to any of these sessions, please
get in touch with the designated contact person. To contribute
papers to general sessions, please send papers to:
p.kriesler@unsw.edu.au
Symposium on Financial Literacy
Please send proposals to: Diane Whitton
D.Whitton@uws.edu.au
Symposium on Superannuation
Troy Henderson at the SEARCH Foundation Troy Henderson
troyh@search.org.au
Symposium on Asian Economies
Please send proposals to Craig Freedman:
Craig.Freedman@efs.mq.edu.au
Symposium on Actually existing markets
This symposium will discuss the actual nature, operation and
outcomes of contemporary markets for many former public goods. The
permeation of Australian public policies by market-inspired policy
instruments has meant substantial change to a wide range of already
existing markets which have traditionally supplied public goods such
as education, health insurance, public housing, services for the
aged and unemployed, infrastructure, water and electricity as well
as the creation of new markets for goods previously not traded such
as pollution reduction. How are these markets organised and what
ensures their ongoing functioning? What is the nature of the goods
and services provided by these markets? How does this differ from
previous public sector provision and orthodox economic theory? What
issues or barriers do Australians encounter when engaging with these
markets? What policy objectives and outcomes are these markets
delivering? Can these outcomes be improved by changes to these
markets? It is intended to explore these questions and more.
Please send proposals to Lynne Chester:
L.Chester@curtin.edu.au
Symposium on The Political Economy of Climate Change
Please send proposals to Paul Twomey:
P.Twomey@unsw.edu.au
Symposium on Development and Human Rights
Please send proposals to Michael Johnson:
michael.johnson@unsw.edu.au
Symposium on the Teaching of Economics
Please send proposals to Peter Kriesler:
p.kriesler@unsw.edu.au
IAFFE
A number of International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE)
sessions will be coordinated by Women in Social and Economic
Research (WiSER), based at Curtin University in Western Australia.
The aim of these sessions is to provide an opportunity for feminist
economists in the Australia/Pacific region to get together and
discuss research priorities and needs.
Please send proposals to Siobhan Austen at WiSER:
siobhan.austen@cbs.curtin.edu.au
SHE WEBSITE:
http://she.web.unsw.edu.au
The Hyman P. Minsky
Summer Seminar
June 19 – 29, 2010
The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College is pleased to announce
that it will hold a Minsky summer seminar in June 2010. The Seminar
will provide a rigorous discussion of both the theoretical and
applied aspects of Minsky’s economics, with an examination of
meaningful prescriptive policies relevant to the current economic
and financial crisis. The Seminar will consist of a Summer School
from June 19-26, 2010 followed by an International Conference June
27-29, 2010 both to be held at the Levy Institute of Bard College.
The summer school will be of particular interest to graduate
students, recent graduates and those at the beginning of their
academic or professional careers. The teaching staff will include
well-known economists concentrating on and expanding Minsky’s work.
Applications may be made to Susan Howard at the Levy Institute (
howard@levy.org ), and should
include a current curriculum vitae. Admission to the Summer School
will include provision of room and board on the Bard Campus. Small
travel reimbursements of $100 for US fellows and $300 for foreign
fellows, respectively, will be available for a limited number of
participants.
The Conference will provide a forum for the presentation and
discussion of papers and work in progress dealing with Minskyan
themes. Preference will be given to applicants presenting
contributions in the following areas: stock-flow modeling and policy
simulations; financial fragility; reconstituting the financial
structure; modern money, endogeneity and functional finance; asset
bubbles; and employment of last resort (ELR) and macroeconomic
stability.
Applications to attend the Conference may be made to Susan Howard
(howard@levy.org), and should include an abstract of the proposed
presentation. A registration fee of $200 covering meals and
materials will be required for attendance and participation in the
Conference program. Participants in the Summer School will be able
to attend the Conference without charge. Bookings for hotel lodging
at a preferential rate will be available to those attending the
Conference.
Summer school and conference programs will be organized by Jan A.
Kregel, Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and L. Randall Wray.
For more information, please visit www.levy.org
Top
Heterodox Conference Papers and Reports and Articles
Global Recession: Spending Cuts Are
Not the Answer
The Centre for Development Policy and Research is pleased to
announce the publication of Development Viewpoint #34, “Global
Recession: Spending Cuts Are Not the Answer”. The author, George
Irvin, Professorial Research Associate, Development Studies, SOAS,
counters the rising support in the EU and elsewhere for substantial
cutbacks in public spending because of concern about rising public
debt. He argues that not only will such cutbacks worsen the
recession in developed countries but also they will have widespread
damaging effects in the developing world. He emphasizes the current
priority of implementing active counter-cyclical fiscal policies,
particularly because of the looming threat of a ‘double-dip’
recession in many developed countries and prolonged deflationary
conditions.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/file52901.pdf
CDPR’s other thought-provoking, diversified set of over 30
Development Viewpoints published during the last year are available
on
http://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/.
Capital Controls and the Current
Financial Crisis: Revisiting the Malaysian Experience
The Centre for Development Policy and Research is pleased to
announce the publication of Development Viewpoint #35, “Capital
Controls and the Current Financial Crisis: Revisiting the Malaysian
Experience”. The authors, Giovanni Cozzi and Machiko Nissanke,
Economics Department, SOAS, draw on background research on Malaysia
to argue that temporary capital controls can be, under certain
conditions, an effective means by which developing countries can
insulate themselves from the well-known contagion effects of a
regional or global financial crisis. However, they caution that the
effectiveness of such controls hinges on the degree to which the
domestic financial system is regulated and that other measures, such
as transaction taxes, might prove preferable in some
developing-country contexts.
http://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/file53082.pdf
LA LIQUIDACIÓN DE LOS ACTIVOS DEL
ESTADO
Economía política de la privatización
en América Latina
http://sites.google.com/site/bibliotecagl4/home/medeiros_privatiz.pdf?attredirects=0
A Critical Assessment of Seven
Reports on Financial Reform: A Minskyan Perspective
By Eric Tymoigne
http://www.levy.org/vauthdoc.aspx?auth=326
Keynes and the financing of public
works expenditures
by Geoff Tily
Click here to download
the paper.
Conversation or Monologue? On
Advising Heterodox Economists
By Matas Vernengo
http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:uta:papers:2009_09&r=pke
This paper suggests that heterodox economists should not think of
themselves as economists first, and only secondarily as heterodox,
and must emphasize methodological issues, in particular the
different assumptions (or axioms) implicit in their theories
vis-à-vis the mainstream. The paper argues that the notion of a
cutting edge of the mainstream, which is breaking up with orthodoxy,
is misleading. The role of the cutting edge is to allow the
mainstream to sound reasonable when talking about reality, while
orthodoxy provides authority to the cutting edge. The cutting edge
is essential for the mainstream and remains firmly based on orthodox
grounds.
Top
Heterodox Journals and
Newsletters
eInsight
Welcome to the 3rd issue of eInsight. Our key experts summarise some
of the most interesting developments and economic indicators below,
providing you with useful and timely reflections on the economy as
it continues to evolve and respond to circumstances. We hope you
find it interesting and welcome your comments.
http://www.volterra.co.uk/custompage/einsight-0809.php#Section1
International Journal of Political
Economy
Volume 38 Number 1 / Spring 2009 of International Journal of
Political Economy is now available at
http://tinyurl.com/ml8uhp
This issue contains:
Too Big to Bail: The "Paulson Put," Presidential Politics, and the
Global Financial Meltdown: Part I: From Shadow Financial System to
Shadow Bailout
Thomas Ferguson, Robert Johnson
The Role of the State and Harrod's Economic Dynamics: Toward a New
Policy Agenda?
Jamee K. Moudud
Expectation, Financing, and Payment of Nonmarket Production: Toward
a New Political Economy
Jean-Marie Harribey
The Nature of Government Finance in Brazil
Felipe Carvalho de Rezende
Work Organisation, Labour and
Globalisation
Volume 3 No 1 of Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation is
entitled Working at the interface: call-centre labour in a global
economy.
Call centres illustrate the consequences of globalisation for labour
perhaps more clearly than any other form of employment. Call-centre
workers sit at the interface between the global and the local,
having to transcend the limitations of local time zones, cultures
and speech patterns. They are also at the interface between
companies and their customers, having to absorb the impact of anger,
incomprehension, confusion and racist abuse whilst still meeting
exacting productivity targets and staying calm and friendly.
Finally, they take the brunt of the conflict at the contested
interface between production and consumption, having to deal in
their personal lives with the conflicts between the demands of paid
and unpaid work. Drawing, amongst others, on organisational theory,
sociology, communications studies, industrial relations, economic
geography, gender theory and political economy, this important
collection brings together survey evidence from around the world
with case studies and vivid first-hand accounts of life in call
centres from Asia, North and South America, Western and Eastern
Europe. In the process it reveals many similarities but also
demonstrates that national industrial relations traditions and
workers' ability to negotiate can make a significant difference to
the quality of working life in call centres.
Contributors include:
Ursula Holtgrewe, Jessica Longen, Hannelore Mottweiler, Annika
Schönauer, Premilla D'Cruz, Ernesto Noronha, Simone Wolff, Claudia
Mazzei Nogueira, Enda Brophy, Norene Pupo, Andrea Noack, Pia
Bramming, Ole H. Sørensen, Peter Hasle, Päivi Korvajärvi, Vassil
Kirov, Kapka Mircheva, and Ursula Huws.
Available in print and online
Read free taster article online at
http://analytica.metapress.com/content/c72128810j7357u3/fulltext.pdf
Challenge
Volume 52 Number 5 / September - October 2009 of Challenge is now
available at
http://tinyurl.com/m42lqg
This issue contains:
- Letter from the Editor
Jeff Madrick, Mike Sharpe
- The Global Slump: Deeper Causes and Harder Lessons
Robert Wade
- Uncertainty Aversion and Economic Depressions
Richard A. Posner
- Generational Theft: U.S. Fiscal Policy Does Not Cheat Future
Generations
Neil Buchanan
- The Costs of NAIRUvianism
Servaas Storm, C. W. M. Naastepad
- The High-Employment Route to Low Inequality
Lane Kenworthy
- The Broad Reach of the Minimum Wage
Oren Levin-Waldman
- Is the U.S. Unemployment Rate Already as High as It Was in the
1980s?
John Schmitt, Dean Baker
- Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why
It Matters for Global Capitalism, by George A. Akerlof and Robert J.
Shiller
Marcellus Andrews
- Camp Runamuck
Mike Sharpe
Réseau de Recherche sur l’Innovation
Chère Madame, Cher Monsieur,
Nous avons le plaisir de vous informer que l’éditorial de septembre
du Réseau de Recherche sur l’Innovation, « Responsabilité sociale de
l’entreprise et crise économique : L’insoutenable précarité de
l’être », est disponible ici :
http://rrifr.univ-littoral.fr/?p=165
Research Network of Innovation
Dear Madam, Dear Sir
We are pleased to inform you that the editorial for September from
the Research Network of Innovation « Corporate Social Responsability
and Economic Crisis. The Unbearable Precariousness of Being » is
available here :
http://rrien.univ-littoral.fr/?p=117
Top
Heterodox
Books and Book Series
Capitalism Hits
the Fan
The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It
Richard Wolff
published 2009 • 6” x 9” • 256 pages • charts
ISBN 9781566567848 • paperback • $18.00
A breathtakingly clear analysis that breaks down the root causes of
today’s economic crisis
“With unerring coherence and unequaled breadth of knowledge, Rick
Wolff offers a rich and much needed corrective to the views of
mainstream economists and pundits. It would be difficult to come
away from this… with anything but an acute appreciation of what is
needed to get us out of this mess.”
—Stanley Aronowitz, Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Urban
Education, City University of New York
Capitalism Hits the Fan chronicles one economist’s growing alarm and
insights as he watched, from 2005 onwards, the economic crisis
build, burst, and then dominate world events. The argument here
differs sharply from most other explanations offered by politicians,
media commentators, and other academics. Step by step, Professor
Wolff shows that deep economic structures—the relationship of wages
to profits, of workers to boards of directors, and of debts to
income—account for the crisis. The great change in the US economy
since the 1970s, as employers stopped the historic rise in US
workers’ real wages, set in motion the events that eventually broke
the world economy. The crisis resulted from the post-1970s profit
explosion, the debt-driven finance-industry expansion, and the
sequential stock market and real estate booms and busts. Bailout
interventions by the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury have thrown
too little money too late at a problem that requires more than money
to solve.
As this book shows, we must now ask basic questions about capitalism
as a system that has now convulsed the world economy into two great
depressions in 75 years (and countless lesser crises, recession, and
cycles in between). The book’s essays engage the long-overdue public
discussion about basic structural changes and systemic alternatives
needed not only to fix today’s broken economy but to prevent future
crises.
Richard Wolff has been a professor of economics at the University of
Massachusetts, Amherst since 1981. He has been a visiting professor
in the Graduate Program in International Affairs, at the New School
in New York since 2007. Wolff’s major recent interests and
publications include studies of US economic history to ascertain the
basic structural causes of the current economic crisis and the
examination of how alternative economic theories (neoclassical,
Keynesian, and Marxian) understand and respond to the crisis in very
different ways. His past work involves application of advanced class
analysis to contemporary global capitalism. He has written,
co-authored, and co-edited many books and dozens of scholarly and
popular journal articles. His recent analyses of current economic
events appear regularly in the webzine of the Monthly Review. In
2009, Capitalism Hits the Fan, the documentary on the current
economic crisis, was released by Media Education Foundation (
www.mediaed.org ). Visit
http://www.rdwolff.com
for more information.
Political Economy
and Globalization
Richard Westra
Based upon distinguishing capitalism from other economic systems, as
well as analysis of capitalist change across its stages of
development, Richard Westra argues that the economic tendencies we
refer to as globalization constitute a world historic transition
away from capitalism. Westra forcefully rejects claims from both
Right and Left sides of economic debate that globalization embodies
the ultimate world diffusion of capitalism. He concludes that the
choice facing humanity is no longer between capitalism and socialism
but between socialism and global barbarism.
The argument is meticulously interwoven through four key foci of
political economy -
- The role of Marx’s Capital in producing knowledge of capitalism,
- The periodizing of capitalism and study of its historical models,
- The altering trajectories of production and finance under current
globalization,
- The place of socialism in a progressive future.
A central point of the book is that determinations over the
capitalist substance of existing economies demand precise
understanding of how in its basic operation capitalism manages to
secure the economic reproducibility of human society in the first
place. To make the case for the passing of capitalism from history
the volume draws upon the novel Japanese Uno approach to Marxian
political economy.
From the pages of Political Economy and Globalization emerges a grim
picture of our human future should current economic trends persist.
It also offers a positive vision for socio-material betterment in
redistributive, eco-sensitive socialist societies of tomorrow. This
is a must read book for scholars, students, progressive policy
makers and activists.
http://www.routledge.com/books/Political-Economy-and-Globalization-isbn9780415470223
Keynes on Monetary Policy, Finance
and Uncertainty
Liquidity Preference Theory and the Global Financial Crisis
By Jorg Bibow
Price: $125.00
http://tinyurl.com/kmtyjx
Recommend this title to a librarian using our Librarian
Recommendation Form.
About the Book
This book provides a reassessment of Keynes’ theory of liquidity
preference. It argues that the failure of the Keynesian revolution
to be made in either theory or practice owes importantly to the fact
that the role of liquidity preference theory as a pivotal element in
Keynes’ General Theory has remained underexplored and indeed widely
misunderstood even among Keynes’ followers and until today. The book
elaborates on and extends Keynes’ conceptual framework, moving it
from the closed economy to the global economy context, and applies
liquidity preference theory to current events and prominent
hypotheses in global finance.
Jörg Bibow presents Keynes’ liquidity preference theory as a
distinctive and highly relevant approach to monetary theory offering
a conceptual framework of general applicability for explaining the
role and functioning of the financial system. He argues that, in a
dynamic context, liquidity preference theory may best be understood
as a theory of financial intermediation. Through applications to
current events and prominent hypotheses in global finance, this book
underlines the richness, continued relevance, and superiority of
Keynes’ theory of liquidity preference; with Hyman Minsky standing
out for developing Keynes’ vision of financial capitalism.
apitalism.
Table of Contents
1. The triumph of Keynesianism? The role of liquidity preference
theory in Keynes’ heresy 2. Some reflections on Keynes’ "finance
motive" for the demand for money 3. The loanable funds fallacy:
exercises in the analysis of disequilibrium 4. On Keynesian theories
of liquidity preference 5. On exogenous money and bank behavior: The
Pandora’s box kept shut in Keynes’ theory of liquidity preference?
6. Keynes on central banking and the structure of monetary policy 7.
The international monetary order and global finance: Keynes’ vision
and ideas 8. On what became of Keynes’ vision at Bretton Woods and
some recent issues in global finance 9. Taking liquidity preference
theory seriously
It Takes a
Pillage
My new book, It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses and
Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street is available for
pre-order now, and will be distributed and in stores by Sept 29,
2009. In addition, a PDF version can be sent to you immediately.
http://tinyurl.com/lsgbs3
This book delves beyond the causes of this recent financial crisis
to discuss why today, we are in FAR worse shape from an economic and
financial stability standpoint than before, and what we must do to
change this. It is a combination of insider-knowledge from my tenure
working at the top echelons of firms like Goldman Sachs and Bear,
Stearns; rigorous analysis of the real numbers behind the books of
the major banks, the Fed, and the federal government; and a deep
historical perspective. It is my hope that this book can be of help
to your students in understanding how finance and politics congeal
to become a disaster, given insight from my time on Wall Street.
Nomi Prins
http://www.nomiprins.com
"If you want to understand why the Geithner-Summers plan won't solve
the financial crisis, and why Wall Street is disgraced but still
calling the shots, you can't do better than the brilliantly written
and documented It Takes a Pillage, by former investment banker and
financial critic Nomi Prins. As she devastatingly shows, it took a
pillage to destroy the financial system, and it will take a lot more
than the cozy relationship of Geithner, Bernanke, and Summers with
Wall Street to rebuild the financial economy."
—Robert Kuttner, co-editor, The American Prospect and author of
Obama's Challenge
"This book will make readers angry, as they should be. This is a
lively account of the Wall Street machinations and Washington
deregulation that led up to the economic crisis. Prins writes from
the perspective of someone who has seen the beast from the inside,
having worked as a Wall Street banker."
—Dean Baker, Co-Director, Center for Economic and Policy Research
About the Author
Nomi Prins, a former managing director at Goldman Sachs, writes on
corruption in Washington and on Wall Street for Mother Jones,
Fortune, AlterNet, the Nation, and many other publications. She is a
senior fellow at the public-policy think-tank, Demos, and has
appeared on The NewsHour, Democracy Now!, and various CNBC, CNN, and
Fox TV programs, as well as numerous national radio stations,
including NPR and Air America. Her previous books are Other People's
Money: The Corporate Mugging of America and Jacked.
Real World Labor
Edited by Immanuel Ness, Amy Offner, Chris Sturr, and the
Dollars & Sense Collective
http://dollarsandsense.org/bookstore/labor.html
In this time of rapid economic change, the power of organized labor
seems to be in decline. But new organizing strategies are emerging
to challenge corporate power and the globalization of capital. Real
World Labor examines the most pressing issues facing workers today:
fundamental changes in the nature of work and wages; new legal
impediments to union organizing; the persistence of racial and
gender discrimination; migrant workers’ struggle for dignity;
militarism and its harmful effects on the working class; union
responses to the global financial meltdown; and new forms of
rank-and-file organizing and resistance.
Real World Labor provides up-to-date, accessible, and penetrating
analysis of the most significant theoretical, historical, and
practical issues confronting labor unions and workers on a national
and global level. This collection includes 70 authoritative essays
by leading writers and scholars of the labor movement, drawn from
the pages of Dollars & Sense magazine, Working USA, and Labor Notes.
"Real World Labor is an antidote to the misinformation, false
arguments, and faulty analysis so common in the mainstream media and
among orthodox economists. An excellent classroom resource."
— MICHAEL YATES
associate editor of Monthly Review,
author of Why Unions Matter
“For any labor studies course, Real World Labor is the most
comprehensive and accessible book available today. Written by
authoritative scholars of the labor movement in the United States
and worldwide, no book compares to this work in its breadth of
coverage and scope of analysis. This is the only collection that
provides an in-depth overview of labor issues in an accessible
manner to anyone interested in understanding the most significant
issues facing workers and the contemporary labor movement. I highly
recommend this book to all!”
— THOMAS J. KRIGER
Provost, National Labor College
“Real World Labor, like decades of Dollars & Sense books, is bound
to be a great guide to labor issues, with a wide range of
perspectives for both union members and students.”
— LARRY COHEN
President, Communications Workers of America
Order an exam copy (pdf's as well as hard copies are available), and
browse our catalog of economics books at www.dollarsandsense.org, or
call (617) 447-2177.
Real World Labor
Edited by Immanuel Ness, Amy Offner, Chris Sturr, and the Dollars &
Sense Collective
ISBN: 978-1-878585-55-4
Publication date: August 2009
Pages: 330
Price: $34.95
Contributors include: David Bacon, Kim Bobo, Heather Bouchey, Roger
Bybee, Aviva Chomsky, Steve Early, Bill Fletcher Jr., Staughton
Lynd, Arthur MacEwan, John Miller, Immanuel Ness, Thomas Palley,
Frances Fox Piven, Robert Pollin, Paddy Quick, Peter Rachleff,
Alejandro Reuss, Jane Slaughter, Lucien Van Der Walt, and others.
Contents:
Chapter 1 - Labor Law, Policy, and Regulation
Chapter 2 - Wages and the Labor Market
Chapter 3 - Employment and Unemployment
Chapter 4 - International Labor Movements
Chapter 5 - Discrimination by Race and Gender
Chapter 6 - Immigration and Migration
Chapter 7 - Unions and Organizing Strategy
Chapter 8 - Competing Forms of Management
Chapter 9 - Labor, Globalization, and Trade
Chapter 10 - Labor and Economic Crisis
Chapter 11 - Labor and Militarism
Read more about Real World Labor at
www.dollarsandsense.org.
Women’s Migration Networks in Mexico
and Beyond
Tamar Diana Wilson. 2009. Women’s Migration Networks in Mexico and
Beyond. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press.
Women’s Migration Networks in Mexico and Beyond traces the migration
history of a woman born on a rancho in Jalisco who sought work first
in Mexico City and then in Mexicali. It gives an overview of her
life and work, and the careers of two of her eight daughters who
migrated from the border city of Mexicalli to the United States, one
to Arizona and one to Nevada. Concepts such as networks, social
capital, transnationalism and gender and migration are defined in
one chapter and revisited throughout the book. Changes in gender
relations in Mexico are explored to explain the greater incidence of
women’s migration to the United States in recent times. It is shown
that migration networks based in urban centers differ from migration
networks based in rural communities, with women playing a greater
role in cities. Principles explaining the dynamics of urban-based
transnational migration networks are offered.
THE KEYNES SOLUTION
The Path to Global Economic Prosperity
Paul Davidson
Availability: Now In Stock
From Palgrave Macmillan
Pub date: Sep 2009
208 pages
Size 5-1/2 x 8-1/4
$22.00 - Hardcover (0-230-61920-7)
http://www.palgrave-usa.com/catalog/product.aspx?isbn=0230619207
Description
Today’s financial crisis has led to a widespread lack of confidence
in the laissez faire style of economic policy. In The Keynes
Solution author Paul Davidson provides insights into how we got into
the crisis—but more importantly how to use Keynes economic
philosophy to get out of this mess. John Maynard Keynes was
committed to making the market economy work—but our current system
has been a dismal failure. Keynes advocated for an interventionalist
government role, in cooperation with private initiative, to mitigate
the adverse effects of recessions, depressions and booms. His
economic policy helped the world out of the great depression and was
an important influencer in the thinking behind FDR’s new deal
policies. In this book Keynesian expert Davidson makes
recommendations and details plans for spending, monetary policy,
financial market rules and regulation, and wages—all to reverse the
effects of our past policies. Keynes renewed influence can be seen
everywhere: in Barack Obama’s planned stimulus package, for
example—and this book explains the basic tenant of Keynesian
economics as well as applied solutions to today’s critical
situation.
Click here
for detailed information.
THE MAKING OF
ECONOMICS
(4th Edition)
by E Ray Canterbery (Florida State University, USA)
http://www.worldscibooks.com/economics/5237.html
http://www.worldscibooks.com/economics/7035.html
http://www.worldscibooks.com/economics/7142.html
Volume I: The Foundation
A classic returns. The third edition of The Making of Economics
appeared in 1987. Now, in a major revision, Ray Canterbery brings
the book right up to date with new chapters on the “casino economy”
(a term the author invented to describe an economy driven by making
money with money rather than focusing on real production, now
overtaken by reality), Joseph Schumpeter, globalization, and general
equilibrium. Canterbery retains the engaging flavor of the earlier
editions by covering the times and ideas of the major economists,
such as Smith, Ricardo, Malthus, Mill, and Marshall, while giving
ample ink to the remarkable dissidents — Marx, Veblen, Galbraith,
Heilbroner, and other “radicals”. Canterbery again unmasks a
traditional economics eschewing value judgements but itself standing
on hidden ones even as he traces its origins to Isaac Newton's idea
of an orderly universe. Personal references relate the great
economists' ideas to the societies in which they lived, making the
historical figures really come alive. Economics is displayed as a
developing discipline, a discipline still evolving.
Contents:
• The Ethics of Adam Smith and for Economic Systems
• The Feudal Order
• The Slow Evolution of the Market Economy
• Isaac Newton and the Economics Paradigm
• Adam Smith and the Market Economy
• The Industrial Revolution: Caught Between Hedonism (Bentham) and
the Clerical View (Malthus)
• David Ricardo Engages Malthus in a Memorable Debate
• John Stuart Mill: The Last of the Classicals
• Alfred Marshall and Victorian Virtue
• The “American Dream” and Other “Optimal Conditions”
• John Maynard Keynes and the Bloomsbury Group Confront the
Aftermath of the Great War
• John Maynard Keynes Takes on the Great Depression
• The Founding of Political Economy
Volume II: The Modern Superstructure
Volume II in The Making of Economics, 4th Edition series fills a
major gap in the literature of economics, providing in brief fashion
a complete treatment of high theory in economics. Like Volume I, the
book is accessible to the intelligent reader, be they advanced
undergraduate or graduate students, laypeople, or professors of
economics and finance. The author walks the reader through the maze
of contemporary economics, acquainting them with the most up-to-date
theories as well as recent economic history. The learning tasks are
eased by volleys of examples as well as dramatic illustrations. The
progression is from neoclassical Keynesian economics to monetarism,
continuing with mathematical economics and econometrics, the theory
of economic growth, the new classical economics, game theory,
experimental economics, and global economics. For example, common
threads between Smithian classical economics and new classical
economics are woven into the fabric of discussions directing the way
to the higher theory. The new chapters on mathematics and
econometrics, game theory, experimental economics, and globalization
are not to be found in other surveys of what the author calls the
“Modern Superstructure of Economics.” Although designed to be used
with Volume I, it can also stand alone as a text or textbook
supplement for a wide range of courses in economics and finance.
Contents:
• The American Keynesians
• The Modern Monetarists
• The Era of Positive Economic Science
• The Rise of Mathematics and Econometrics
• The Neoclassical Theory of Economic Growth
• The New Classicals
• The Ascendency of General Equilibrium
• Game Theory: An Introduction
• Experimental Economics
• Globalization
• Prospects for the Future
Volume III: The Radical Assault
This book is the first in the field to cover exclusively the modern
radical economists. Science has always had its radicals; economics
is unexceptional in this regard. The book begins with the persona of
Karl Marx and his soulmate Friedrich Engels, the most radical of
all, continuing with the central ideas of Marx, including his theory
of capitalism and an understanding of why, in Marx's view,
capitalism is doomed. Thereafter, Thorstein Veblen fills the role as
the USA radical who founded the only uniquely American school of
economics — the institutionalist school. This is followed by Joseph
Schumpeter and his theory of capitalist motion. According to
Schumpeter, the demise of capitalism is self-inflicted through
creative destruction. The bestselling authors, Robert Heilbroner and
John Kenneth Galbraith, straddle both the insitutionalist and Post
Keynesian schools. The new left radicals emanated from Galbraith's
Harvard University and are still around today. The heyday of the new
right came during the administration of Ronald Reagan and was led by
the neo-Austrians. Finally, the book concludes by analyzing the Post
Keynesians' claim to be the legitimate heirs to Keynesianism. Thus
far, they fall into the radical camp.
Contents:
• Paradigm Lost: Karl Marx
• The Iconoclast: Thorstein Veblen
• Joseph Schumpeter and Capitalist Motion
• The Complexity of Capitalism: Galbraith, Heilbroner, and the
Institutionalists
• New Radical Economics: The Left
• New Radical Economics: The Right
• The Post Keynesians
• Supra-Surplus Capitalism and the Rise of the Casino Economy
• Economics: Past and Present Imperfect
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ECONOMICS
Artful Approaches to the Dismal Science
by E Ray Canterbery (Florida State University)
http://www.worldscibooks.com/economics/4079.html
About the Author
Blending past and present, this brief history of economics is the
perfect book for introducing students to the field.
A Brief History of Economics illustrates how the ideas of the great
economists not only influenced societies but were themselves shaped
by their cultural milieu. Understanding the economists' visions —
lucidly and vividly unveiled by Canterbery — allows readers to place
economics within a broader community of ideas. Magically, the author
links Adam Smith to Isaac Newton's idea of an orderly universe, F
Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby to Thorstein Veblen, John
Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath to the Great Depression, and Tom Wolfe's
The Bonfire of the Vanities to Reaganomics.
Often humorous, Canterbery's easy style will make the student's
first foray into economics lively and relevant. Readers will dismiss
“dismal” from the science.
Contents:
• Feudalism and the Evolution of Economic Society
• Adam Smith's Great Vision
• Bentham and Malthus: The Hedonist and the “Pastor”
• The Distribution of Income: Ricardo versus Malthus
• The Cold Water of Poverty and the Heat of John Stuart Mill's
Passions
• Karl Marx
• Alfred Marshall: The Great Victorian
• Thorstein Veblen Takes on the American Captains of Industry
• The Jazz Age: Aftermath of War and Prelude to Depression
• John Maynard Keynes and the Great Depression
• The Many Modern Keynesians
• The Monetarists and the New Classicals Deepen the
Counterrevolution
• Economic Growth and Technology: Schumpeter and Capitalism's Motion
• The Many Faces of Capitalism: Galbraith, Heilbroner, and the
Institutionalists
• The Rise of the Casino Economy
• The Global Economy
• Climbing the Economist's Mountain to High Theory
• The Future of Economics
An Updated
Marxian Theory Of The Commodity by Pablo Emiliano Ahumada
Publisher: VDM Verlag
Pub. Date: June 2009
ISBN-13: 9783639167443
124pp
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/An-Updated-Marxian-Theory-Of-The-Commodity/Pablo-Emiliano-Ahumada/e/9783639167443/?itm=1
How does material production become socially recognised in
Capitalism? This is a fundamental question for Economics, since
material production takes place privately and independently in a
worldwide system. The theory of the commodity outlined in this book
shows that the process of social recognition of material production
and the process giving rise to money are one and the same. In fact,
they are only the material manifestation of the realisation of work
carried out privately and independently as part of the social labour.
The book completes the characterisation of commodities as a
historical form of the social product and recovers Marx's
fundamental concept of the mercantile form of value. As a result, it
becomes evident that the mercantile form of value is the indirect
way in commodity production to allocate the productive powers of
society, Smith's invisible hand. The book also breaks the false
immediate links between the means of production and capital, and
between money and capital. The fallacy that the labour theory of
value disregards the inputs to production other than labour is thus
laid bare, as is the misconception that directly identifies supply
with production.
Economic
Pluralism
Edited by Robert F. Garnett Jr, Erik Olsen, Martha Starr
http://www.routledgeeconomics.com/books/Economic-Pluralism-isbn9780415777032
* ISBN: 978-0-415-77703-2
* Binding: Hardback
* Published by: Routledge
* Publication Date: 24th August 2009
* Pages: 336
Recommend this title to a librarian using our
Librarian Recommendation Form.
About the Book
The leading edges of economic thinking in the early 21st century are
marked by a nascent pluralism - a positive valuing of difference and
complexity - regarding the nature and evolution of human behaviour
and economic organization. Economic Pluralism brings these pluralist
sensibilities to the fore. Its twenty original essays explore the
value and difficulties of pluralism in economic theory, philosophy,
institutions, and education.
These twenty original essays reflect the maturity and breadth of
pluralist scholarship in economics today. The first eight chapters
(including essays by Tony Lawson, Diana Strassmann, Frederic Lee,
and David Colander) stake out contentious positions on how and why
pluralism matters in economic inquiry. The remaining chapters
explore the meaning and consequences of pluralism in economic
education, institutions, and policies.
This volume provides a unique "second generation" discussion of
pluralism in economics. Its twenty original essays include
contentious disagreements about where and why pluralism matters in
economic inquiry as well as creative explorations of pluralism and
its consequences in economic systems and in graduate and
undergraduate economic education. It is certain to spur further
debate over the scope and value of economic pluralism for the 21st
century. This volume would be of most interest as a supplementary
text for graduate or undergraduate courses that include units on
heterodox economics or economic philosophy.
Top
Heterodox Book Reviews
The Dynamics of
Industrial Capitalism: Schumpeter, Chandler and the New Economy
Richard N. Langlois, _The Dynamics of Industrial Capitalism:
Schumpeter, Chandler and the New Economy_. London: Routledge, 2007.
ix + 122 pp. $140 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-0-415-77167-2
Reviewed for EH.NET by Arthur M. Diamond, Jr., Department of
Economics, University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Click
here to download the review.
For Your Information
how to rebuild a
shamed subject
Skidelsky on "how to rebuild a shamed subject" - ie economics:
http://tinyurl.com/l6b57b
Mathematical technique should not
dominate real-world substance.
In November 2008 the Queen asked why so few Economists had foreseen
the credit crunch.
Ten leading British Economists write to Her Majesty, claiming that
the training of economists is too narrow:
“Mathematical technique should not dominate real-world substance.”
During a visit to the London School of Economics in November 2008,
the Queen asked why few economists had foreseen the credit crunch.
Dated 22 July 2009, she received an answer from Professors Tim
Besley and Peter Hennessy. This was widely quoted in the British
press.
Ten leading British economists – including academics from top
universities, three Academicians of the Academy of Social Sciences,
academic journal editors, a former member of the Monopolies and
Mergers Commission and the Chief Economic Advisor the Greater London
Authority – have responded by writing their own response to the
Queen. They note that the letter by Professors Besley and Hennessy
fails to consider any deficiency in the training of economists
themselves.
Following similar complaints by Nobel Laureates Ronald Coase,
Wassily Leontief and Milton Friedman, the ten economists argue that
economists has become largely transformed into a branch of applied
mathematics, with little contact with the real world. The letter by
Professors Besley and Hennessy does not consider how the preference
for mathematical technique over real-world substance diverted many
economists from looking at the whole picture.
The ten economists uphold that the narrow training of economists –
which concentrates on mathematical techniques and the building of
empirically uncontrolled formal models – has been a major reason for
the failure of the economics profession to give adequate warnings of
the economic crises in 2007 and 2008.
The ten signatories also point out that while Professors Besley and
Hennessy complain that economists have become overly ‘charmed by the
market’, they mention neither the highly questionable belief in
universal ‘rationality’ nor the ‘efficient markets hypothesis’,
which are both widely taught and promoted by mainstream economists.
The ten economists call for a broader training of economists,
involving allied disciplines such as psychology and economic
history, as well as mathematics.
For more information please contact:
Professor Geoffrey M. Hodgson
g.m.hodgson@herts.ac.uk
www.geoffrey-hodgson.info
Signatories to the attached
letter to the Queen:
Sheila C. Dow
Professor of Economics, University of Stirling and author of Money
and the Economic Process and Economic Methodology
Peter E. Earl
Associate Professor of Economics, University of Queensland,
Australia, and author of Business Economics: A Contemporary Approach
John Foster
Professor of Economics, University of Queensland, Fellow of the
Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and President Elect of
the International J. A. Schumpeter Society
Geoffrey C. Harcourt
Emeritus Reader, University of Cambridge, Emeritus Professor,
University of Adelaide, Academician of the Academy of Social
Sciences, Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
Geoffrey M. Hodgson
Research Professor of Business Studies, University of Hertfordshire,
Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences and Editor-in-Chief of
the Journal of Institutional Economics
J. Stanley Metcalfe
Emeritus Professor of Economics, University of Manchester and former
member of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission
Paul Ormerod
Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences and author of the
Death of Economics, Butterfly Economics, and Why Most Things Fail
Bridget Rosewell
Chairman of Volterra Consulting and Chief Economic Adviser to the
Greater London Authority
Malcolm C. Sawyer
Professor of Economics, University of Leeds and Managing Editor of
the International Review of Applied Economics
Andrew Tylecote
Professor of the Economics and Management of Technological Change,
University of Sheffield
The Truth about Amnesty for
Immigrants
by David L. Wilson
This article looks at the economic side of a possible amnesty for
undocumented immigrants. UCLA professor Raúl Hinojosa-Ojeda projects
that legalization "would result in a net income rise of $30-36
billion, support 750,000-900,000 new jobs, and generate $4.5 to 5.4
billion in net tax revenue." Should amnesty be considered a form of
economic stimulus?
http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/wilson120809.html
Income Inequality Is At An All-Time
High: STUDY
“As of 2007, the top decile of American earners . . . pulled in 49.7
percent of total wages, a level that's ‘higher than any other year
since 1917 and even surpasses 1928, the peak of stock market bubble
in the “roaring” 1920s.’”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/08/14/income-inequality-is-at-a_n_259516.html
The American-German Divide
“The American-German Divide: Macro policy and international
co-operation”
http://www.newamerica.net/publications/policy/american_german_divide
Rock Steady: MOVING TOWARD A
STEADY-STATE ECONOMY
http://www.theinvestmentprofessional.com/vol_2_no_3/rock-steady.html
THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT
HBO East / Latina East Labor Day Sept. 7th. 9 PM
THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT
Tells the inside story of the last days of a General Motors plant in
Moraine, Ohio, near Dayton, as lived by the people who worked the
line. A Film by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert
THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT
On Dec. 23, 2008, two days before Christmas, the General Motors
assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio shut its doors. As a result, 2,500
workers and 200 management staff were left without jobs, while the
closing is also sure to trigger the loss of thousands of related
jobs and businesses. But the GM workers lost much more than jobs,
including the pride they share in their work and the camaraderie
built through the years. To the natives of Moraine and the greater
Dayton area, General Motors wasn't just a car company - it was the
lifeblood of the community.
THE LAST TRUCK views the final months of the plant through the
workers' eyes as they reflect on their work and consider their next
steps. In revealing interviews with people who considered themselves
more family than co-workers, the film reveals the emotional toll of
losing not just a job, but a sense of self.
The employees share poignant moments, such as the day every worker
must remove his or her toolbox and give up their GM ID card. THE
LAST TRUCK closes with footage of the actual "last truck" to be
produced at Moraine Assembly.
Among those interviewed in the documentary are: Kathy (body shop) -
A 47-year-old mother of three with six grandchildren, Kathy viewed
her co-workers as a second family.
Kim (electrician) - A tearful Kim believes that working at the plant
was "the greatest job I ever had." He recounts how everyone finished
their work on the line and followed the last truck until all the
work had been done. Then they all came together as a big group, a
family saying goodbye.
Popeye (toolmaker) - Popeye sees the bigger picture, viewing the
plant's closing as the end of the good life, the end of American
manufacturing as we know it. "My grandson will have a worse life
than I had," he says at a nearby bar.
Kate (forklift operator) - After the plant closes, Kate poignantly
describes it as a "gentle dragon" taking its last breath before
dying.
While the film focuses on Moraine, the plant's closing reflects
profound changes in the American manufacturing landscape as a whole.
THE LAST TRUCK bears witness to the experience of job loss and
offers a snapshot of a moment that may portend the end of the
nation's blue-collar middle class.
Directors and producers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert won an
Primetime Emmy® for their documentary "A Lion in the House," which
followed children fighting cancer for five years. Bognar has shown
four films at Sundance, including "Personal Belongings" and "Picture
Day." Reichert has twice been nominated for a Best Feature
Documentary Oscar®, for "Union Maids" and "Seeing Red."
THE LAST TRUCK: CLOSING OF A GM PLANT was directed and produced by
Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert; edited by Steven Bognar. For HBO:
senior producer, Lisa Heller; executive producer, Sheila Nevins.
Center for the History of Political
Economy
I am pleased to announce that the Center for the History of
Political Economy at Duke University has been awarded a grant by the
National Endowment for the Humanities to support a Summer Institute
to be held at Duke June 6 - 25, 2010. The institute will bring 25
faculty members from colleges and universities in the US with no
previous experience teaching history of economic thought to Duke for
a three week "Boot Camp," with the goal that the participants will
go back to their home institutions both prepared and eager to teach
an undergraduate course in the field. A number of HES members (past
or present Society presidents all, in fact) will serve as lecturers
and discussion leaders, including Brad Bateman, Bruce Caldwell,
Craufurd Goodwin, Kevin Hoover, Steve Medema, Sandy Peart, and Roy
Weintraub.
We are hopeful that this institute, if successful, will be continued
in future years, and that if alternative sources of funding become
available, could be opened up to include graduate students and
non-US citizens. (The current constraints on eligibility are due to
NEH rules.)
Bi-Annual Prize for Research in the
History of Economic Thought
The Thomas Guggenheim Program in the History of Economics at
Ben-Gurion University, Beer Sheva, Israel, announces a bi-annual
Prize for Research in the History of Economic Thought.
The prize, in the sum of $10,000, will be awarded to a distinguished
original scholar for any of the following categories: a published
research paper, a book, or a life work.
Candidates should submit a brief description of the work to Ela at:
mcer@bgu.ac.il
The deadline for submissions is February 1st 2010.
A committee of experts will make the decision by April 1st 2010, and
the prize will be awarded at Ben-Gurion University in a public
lecture to be delivered by the winner.
The Thomas Guggenheim Program in the History of Economic Thought
operates under the auspices of an International Advisory Committee,
comprising:
Prof. Arie Arnon (Ben-Gurion University) Prof. Michael Bordo
(Rutgers University) Prof. Thomas Guggenheim (University of Geneva)
Prof. Sam Hollander (Ben-Gurion University) Prof. Maria Cristina
Marcuzzo (Sapienza Universita Di Roma) Prof. Joel Mokyr
(Northwestern University) Prof. Jacques Silber (Bar Ilan University)
Prof. Jimmy Weinblatt (Rector, Ben-Gurion University) Prof. Warren
Young (Bar Ilan University)
Monthly Review 60th Anniversary Gala
Celebration
The gala celebration takes place at 7pm on thursday, september 17,
at the NY Society for Ethical Culture, 2 West 64th Street. Doors
open at 6:30pm; reception with light refreshments to follow.
http://monthlyreview.org/our-60th-anniversary.php
Featured speakers include longtime activist Grace Lee Boggs, MONTHLY
REVIEW editor John Bellamy Foster, author and media activist Robert
W. McChesney, prominent lawyer and author Michael E. Tigar, Rev.
Jeremiah Wright, and scholar Fred Magdoff. The acclaimed
genre-bending singer and songwriter Toshi Reagon will also perform.
Grupo Lujan
¿Que fue del buen samaritano? Naciones ricas, polìticas pobres.
Univ. Nac. de Quilmes.
Prólogo
Cap 1
Cap 2
Cap 3
Blog y Sitio del Grupo Lujan
http://www.grupolujan-circus.blogspot.com/
http://sites.google.com/site/revistacircus/Home
SHOE: ANN--2009 Don
Lavoie Memorial Graduate Student Essay Competition
The Society for the Development of Austrian Economics is pleased to
announce that submissions for the 2009 Don Lavoie Memorial Graduate
Student Essay Competition are now being accepted. Submissions will
be accepted from advanced PhD students in economics or other
relevant disciplines anywhere in the world. The competition is
limited to thesis chapters and/or other research that is geared
toward publication in the professional journals; submissions should
adhere to appropriate standards of academic writing and should be on
a topic relevant to Austrian economics. There is no word limit; and,
students submitting papers to this competition will retain all
publication rights to their work; however, winners are encouraged to
submit their papers to The Review of Austrian Economics for possible
publication.
Three prizes are given, each worth $1000, to be used to pay expenses
to attend the Southern Economic Association meetings this November
21-23, 2009 in San Antonio, TX, where the winners will present their
work on a special panel scheduled for 10:00am, Saturday, November
21. Prize awards are contingent on attending the SEA meetings and
the SDAE's annual business meeting and awards banquet on Sunday
evening, November 22.
The prize committee consists of:
- Peter Boettke, Committee Chair, George Mason University
- Emily Chamlee-Wright, Beloit College
- Steven Horwitz, St. Lawrence University
- David Prychitko, Northern Michigan University
- Virgil Storr, Mercatus Center at George Mason University
Deadline for submissions is October 1,
2009. Decisions will be made by October 15.
Please send all questions and submissions electronically to Peter
Lipsey at plipsey@gmu.edu.
ASE program at
ASSA, times and room assignments
Hi, everyone,
Attached
is the ASE program for the ASSA meetings in Atlanta. Thank you all
for your participation. The dates, times, and room assignments are
included in this program.
As you may know, the Association for Social Economics asks that all
paper presenters on the ASE program be members of the association.
If you are not a member, or if your membership has lapsed, you can
join on-line at
www.socialeconomics.org. Here's how to do it.
Once you get to the website you must create a User Account. This is
on the upper left-hand side. Once you click on "User Account," go to
"new account registration" and complete the information. Then, once
the account is set up, go to "Become a Member" on the left-hand side
of the web page and complete the membership information. You may pay
on-line with a credit card or with PayPal.
All program participants must register for the meetings; this can be
done after September 15 at the American Economic Association at
www.vanderbilt.edu/AEA. Please register as a member of the
Association for Social Economics, ASE, and not as "other" for these
meetings.
Thank you all for being a part of this program. I look forward to
seeing you in Atlanta. Please let me know if you have any questions.
Take care,
Jane Clary
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