Heterodox Economics Newsletter

Issue 337 January 06, 2025 web pdf Heterodox Economics Directory

While preparing this issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter I recognized that this is the first issue in the second quarter of the 21st century. This means that in our last issue I closed the first quarter with a humor-focused editorial, which seems quite apt, retrospectively ;-). I also received some neat additional suggestions for cartoonsas a respone, which I collected here, and even found one of my subscribers has published a book on the subject(!), which I also included in this issue's section on books and book series. Relatedly, this latter section on books also contains some intriguing items on finance from a heterodox perspective (here and here), institutional economics (here and here) and market power (here) that seem like ideal candidates for your new year's reading list.

In terms interesting readings I should add that I recently spotted this paper, which provides an empirical discussion of hysteresis in US labor markets even referencing some Post-Keynesian sources (occuring 'prominently' in footnote 1 ;-) in AEJ: Macroeconomics. At first glance the paper looks interesting and well-executed. Moreover, it also indicates how paradigmatic confinements between traditions are slowly shifting and that it is possible to publish material containing heterodox concepts in key mainstream outlets today if the empirics are solid and somehow in accordance with mainstream econometric conventions.

While it will not save the world, I see such developments as an opportunity to productively interact with those subsets of mainstream economics, that are open-minded enough to engage with arguments and concepts that run counter classical textbook rationales. Quite naturally, doing so can only be a complement (and never a substitute ;-) to work on expanding, strengthening and diversifying heterodox resarch networks as the latter provide the backbone for an "Economics for humans" (copyright Julie Nelson, see here) that hopefully will one day dominate our profession ;-)

In closing this review of potential readings, I should probably point out that the Heterodox Economics Directory has received an update during the winter break, which hopefully accomodates all the feedback we have received during the past months. We will continue to implement rolling updates in the now online 7th edition of the Directory to better and more quickly reflect changes in the rich institutional landscape of heterodox economics.

All the best and have a great 2025,

Jakob

© public domain

Table of contents