Heterodox Economics Newsletter

Issue 363August 17, 2026 web pdf Heterodox Economics Directory

A newsletter collects news, no matter whether they cause joy or sadness. In the past weeks we have been saddened to learn that Robert Blecker (1956-2026) has passed away. Robert was a leading heterodox economist, widely known for his applications of post-Keynesian ideas to questions on international trade and finance, many of which turned into archetypical contributions that helped guide the further development of the field. Just recently, this Newsletter featured a Special Issue in the Review of Keynesian Economics dedicated to illuminating and expanding Robert Blecker's work on international economics. His major textbook on Heterodox Macroeconomics – authored jointly with Mark Setterfield – can and should be seen as a lasting contribution that illustrates and underscores Robert's masterful scholarship.

On top of all that, Robert was also a community guy – he regularly sent updates and comments to the Newsletter and was one of the first international readers to join the International Association for Political Economy and Heterodox Economics (IAPHE) we created last year to provide institutional and foundational support to the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. Tellingly, Robert insisted on becoming an “active” rather than merely a “supporting” member – a small gesture that speaks to the passionate, all-in attitude that inspired and motivated me. I suspect many younger researchers had similar experiences with Robert, who was not only an archetypical scholar but also a generous and inspiring colleague.

If you want to read up a little on Robert's work, I can – in addition to what is mentioned above – recommend his highly cited classic on the interplay of international competition, distribution and growth, his take on the profit-led vs. wage-led debate or one of his more specialized papers on development economics. Two key candidates in the latter category are his work on the interaction of gender equality and export success (with Stephanie Seguino) as well as his insightful analysis of fallacies of compositions in trade policy (with Arslan Razmi), which asks what happens if all countries try to expand manufacturing at the same time.

It goes without saying that Robert will be dearly missed – as an impressive scholar, a generous colleague and an inspiring teacher.

All the best,

Jakob

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