Heterodox Economics Newsletter

Issue 164 May 26, 2014 web pdf Heterodox Economics Directory

Three weeks ago I reported on an international student initiative, whose open letter called for a more pluralist and open-minded approach to economic teaching and research. This important initiative has grown considerable within the last 3 weeks now comprising 65 students' associations from 30 different countries (three weeks ago the petitioneers covered "only" 19 countries). See here, here or here for some interesting media coverage arising out of this context.

A Kuhnian perspective predicts that any scientific paradigm experiencing empirical failure on large scale is expected to increasingly narrow its discursive paths and to reduce its engagement with dissenters to an absolute minimum. I think this is the main reason why mainstream economists have not really engaged with this students' appeal, at least for now. However, at the same time mainstream economists are busy debating Thomas Piketty's book on wealth and capital (even Robert Solow is out to review the book) and I think there is a reason for picking Piketty's challenge over that posed by the econ students: While Piketty's challenge is primarily based on empirical data but also well-clad in mainstream economic theory, the students' initiative is primarily questioning the dominance of the latter thereby addressing the nitty-gritty of the subject. Hence, it seems that current mainstream economics is much more ready to accept an empiricist critique of capitalism than the postulate to incorporate alternative theoretical frameworks and viewpoints. Taking this observation as a premise it maybe was a smart move of Piketty to present his argument in a mainstream instead of a heterodox fashion, although this maneuver in some cases comes at the cost of an ignorant treatment of alternative theoretical perspectives (more from me on Piketty is to follow soon...).

Anyway, the more the challenges for the mainstream the better...

All the Best!

Jakob

© public domain

Table of contents

Call for Papers

18th FMM Annual Conference on "Inequality and the Future of Capitalism" (Berlin, 2014)

30 October - 1 November, 2014 | Berlin, Germany

The Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies (FMM) organises its 18th annual conference on Inequality and the Future of Capitalism with introductory lectures on heterodox economics for graduate students.

As the outbreak of the financial crisis approaches its seventh anniversary, large parts of the world economy are still in stagnation. The financial system remains highly fragile, and high levels of unemployment and income inequality are posing a serious threat to social peace and political stability in many countries. Some commentators even see the world economy doomed to secular stagnation with high levels of unemployment being the new normal. Others point to the "return of capital", with wealth and inheritances becoming once again the dominant source of economic inequality in a context of low income growth. Is rising inequality an outcome, or rather one of the root causes of economic fragility and stagnation? Can capitalist production be sustained in the presence of increasing inequality, particularly in the top income and wealth percentiles? What can macroeconomic policy, macroprudential regulation and labour market institutions do to counter these trends? How could international cooperation and organisations promote equality and stability? And what are the implications for the teaching of economics? How can the economics curriculum be changed to account for the developments we see?

The submission of papers in the following areas is encouraged:

For the open part of the conference the submission of papers on the general subject of the Research Network – Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies – is encouraged as well. We also ask for the submission of papers for graduate student sessions on both the specific topic of this conference and the general subject of FMM. There will also be a day of introductory lectures for graduate students on 30 October prior to the opening panel. Hotel costs will be covered for participants presenting in the graduate student sessions (for a maximum of four nights from 30 October to 2 November).

The deadline for paper proposals is 30 June 2014. The detailed Call for Papers is available here (pdf).

Please send an abstract (max. one page) to fmm@boeckler.de. Decisions will be made in early August. In case of acceptance, full papers are due by 15 October, to be posted on the conference web page. Selected papers will be published after the conference in a special papers & proceedings issue of the European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention (EJEEP). The conference language is English.

Registration forms for the conference and the introductory lectures will be made available online via this conference webpage by mid-August.

More on the Research Network and the conference: www.network-macroeconomics.org or on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/fmm.imk

2014 Conference of Asian Association of Learning, Innovation, and Co-evolution Studies (Daegu, 2014)

25-27 September, 2014 | DGIST, Daegu, Korea

Conference Objectives

This conference aims at creating knowledge value-added by exploring, understanding and exchanging knowledge about the cause and effects of convergence and innovation, and their relationships with creative economies. To achieve these objectives, the conference brings together scholars and practitioners associated with science and technology innovation in Asia and across the world, as well as to share insights regarding methodological issues, analytical results, and policymaking experiences in creative economies.

Key Themes

The contemporary economies of many countries have tendencies for slow growth, and this gives rise to fears of a global economic slump. Consecutive periods of low economic growth, as well as economic growth without job creation, inevitably generates many social problems such as the rise of unemployment, greater polarization between the rich and the poor, the widening of the income gap, decreases in quality of life, and more. Many governments have sought solutions to shift their economies toward more sustainable growth. It has been frequently stated in Korea that the promotion of a creative economy might be a solution to cure the current problems of slow growth in the economy. A creative economy is defined by the convergence of science and technology with industry, the fusion of culture with industry, and the blossoming of creativity in the border regions that were once permeated by barriers.

Sub-themes

A number of sub-themes have been identified for the conference, including:

Paper Submission, Review, and Acceptance

Significant and original (unpublished) submissions are solicited. The papers will be peer reviewed and upon acceptance, authors are requested to submit their final version (if requested). Papers should not exceed 8,000 words and should include an abstract of 100-150 words. For the paper submission guidelines, please see the conference website. The accepted papers will be opened at the conference website (www.asialics.or.kr). Selected papers will be published in a book, Asian Journal of Technology Innovation and other related journals after a peer review process.

More information about the conference (schedule, registration, speakers, travel & transportation, etc.) is available as pdf here.

Key-Dates

Contact

20th Annual CIECE Conference on Epistemology of Economic Sciences (Buenos Aires, 2014)

3-5 September, 2014 | University of Buenos Aires, Argentina

On September 3-5, will be held the 20th Annual Conference on Epistemology of Economic Sciences in Buenos Aires (Argentina). The Annual Conference on Epistemology of Economic is organized by the Center of Research on Epistemology of Economics (CIECE) and takes place at the School of Economics (University of Buenos Aires) since 1995.

A wide range of topics is approached in each event:

Individual as well as collective contributions –debates and round tables– are encouraged. The official languages are Spanish and Portuguese but presentations in English are also welcome.

This year the organizers are glad to receive to Julian Reiss (CHESS-Durham University), Mario Bunge (McGill University)(Video Conference), Ricardo Gomez (California State University) and Richard Dean (California State University) as confirmed key speakers.

Papers should be submitted no later than 31 July 2014 (see this apply form). Submitted papers, accepted and presented will appear in the “Book of Abstracts of the 20th Annual Conference on Epistemology of Economic Sciences (2014)” and in the Procedings of the 20th Annual Conference on Epistemology of Economic Sciences (2014) which will be published respectively in September 2014 and May 2015. The organizers welcome the participation of foreign researchers specialized in the areas listed above (see the rules for submision).

Organizing Committee: Legris Javier, Maceri Sandra, Marqués Gustavo, Scarano Eduardo, Weisman Diego

Executive Committee: Berneman Nicolás, Ivarola Leonardo, Thefs Germán, Zagarese Ariel

Further information concerning this conference is available here. Contact: jorespi@econ.uba.ar

20th Conference on Alternative Economic Policy in Europe on "What future for the European Union - Stagnation and polarisation or new foundations?" (Rome, 2014)

25-27 September, 2014 | Sapienza University, Rome, Italy

What future for the European Union - Stagnation and polarisation or new foundations?

The EuroMemo Group conference 2014 will be jointly hosted with Economia Civile and held in Rome at the Sapienza University, from 25-27 September 2014 (Thursday-Saturday). The preliminary programme is as follows: We are pleased to announce the key speakers Susan Watkins (New Left Review) and Marcello de Cecco (LUISS University of Rome) who will take on the State of the Union. The second day will be dedicated to key themes of EU policy within five different workshops.

We would like to invite you to attend the conference and to submit proposals for contributions to the workshops.

If you would like to participate in the workshop, please copy the registration form below into an email and reply by the 1 July 2014 to info@euromemo.eu indicating:

Proposals for papers together with a short abstract (maximum 250 words) should be submitted by 1 July. Please indicate the workshop which the proposal is intended for.
If accepted, completed papers should be submitted by 1 September so that they can be read before the conference.

We strongly encourage participants to submit short papers (10-12 pages) and to explicitly address policy implications.

A detailed call for papers is available here.

Program:

Thursday afternoon: The state of the Union

Friday morning: Workshops

Friday afternoon: Plenary on policy proposals from workshops and special plenary 'Europe in the 21st century world'

Saturday morning: Planning meeting: EuroMemorandum 2015 and other activities

The second day will be dedicated to key themes of EU policy within five different workshops:

Registration form is available here.

More information on the conference website.

46th Annual UK History of Economic Thought Conference (London, 2014)

3-5 September 2014 | Westminster Business School, University of Westminster, London (Marylebone Road Campus)

Abstracts of papers (around 300 words) on any topic concerning the history of economic thought may be sent to the local organizer (see email address below). The closing date for submission of abstracts is 14 June 2014, and acceptances will be announced by 29 June. (If you require an earlier decision about acceptance of your paper because of your application for funding, please indicate this when you submit your abstract.) As always, participants from outside the UK are very welcome.

Papers that justify or advocate the inclusion of the history of economic thought in the research remit and teaching curriculum of academic economics departments will be particularly welcome.

Conference fee: £175.
This includes conference dinner and an excursion ending with a conference session in University College London.

Accommodation: £48.50 per night (premier and twin rates also available).
This discounted rate for accommodation on the campus is also valid if you want to stay a further few days before or after the conference at this Central London location.

To register, pay the registration fee, and book accommodation, visit the conference website.

To submit abstracts, or for other inquiries, contact the local organizer, Hugh Goodacre: h.goodacre@westminster.ac.uk

9th International Conference on "Catholic Social Thought and Business Education" (Manila, 2015)

26-28 February, 2015 | De La Salle University-College of St. Benilde, Manila, Philippines

Conference Topic: Prosperity, Poverty and the Purpose of Business: Rediscovering Integral Human Development in the Catholic Social Tradition

It has been said that the character of a people is found in the way that it treats its poor and marginalized. So what is the character of Catholic higher education? Pope Francis speaks of wanting "a Church which is poor and for the poor. They have much to teach us" (Evangelii Gaudium, 198). What does this mean for Catholic colleges and universities and in particular their business programs? What kind of curriculum can serve to contribute to extending prosperity for greater numbers of people as well as creating meaningful workplaces that can mitigate the moral and spiritual poverty that can animate corporate life? What are the pressing research questions that have a significant impact on the material and spiritual poor of our world, especially as these relate to business? While the organizing committee is open to a wide variety of topics that address the title of the conference, it is particularly interested in contributions that address the following issues:

I. Utilizing the Vocation of the Business Leader (Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace [PCJP], 2012) document, we encourage papers to address the relationship of poverty and prosperity with three basic goods of business:

  1. Good Goods: addressing genuine human needs through the creation, development, and production of goods and services (PCPJ, 39ff);
    1. What role do business disciplines play, especially marketing and entrepreneurship, in defining and fostering "good goods" in relation to the poor and marginalized? What logics operate in these disciplines that can foster bad goods?
    2. In what ways do markets overlook the needs of the poor and how can businesses better serve the poor? How can businesses creatively serve the needs of the poor, especially but not only through social enterprises (fair trade, micro lending, organic, green and other types of social friendly products, social investments, etc.)? What are some of the possible unintended consequences of these social enterprises?
    3. How do businesses concretely serve the so-called "bottom of the pyramid," make supply chains more just, especially for the poor, mitigate environmental damage especially in relation to the poor, etc.?

  2. Good Work: organizing good and productive work (PCJP, 44ff).
    1. How do disciplines such as management, human resources, and operations foster an understanding of good work? What are some of the challenges within these disciplines that foster a vision of bad work? What are the implications of these disciplines for economic, moral and spiritual prosperity and poverty?
    2. How do entrepreneurs and employers create enabling conditions for good work in subsistence environments where most workers are often forced to work in jobs they would not otherwise choose? How can companies provide just working conditions that meet the basic needs of employees and which also provide the conditions to help people develop and find meaning in their work? How can companies build the capabilities of their workers (skill, knowledge, etc.), contribute positively to the subjective dimension of work, and foster a culture of subsidiarity?
    3. What happens when companies and leaders create bad work? What role should governments, unions, and NGOs play in mitigating the negative effects of business?

  3. Good Wealth: using resources to create and to share wealth and prosperity in sustainable ways (PCJP, 51ff).
    1. How do disciplines such as economics, accounting, finance, etc. define "good wealth" (as well as bad wealth) and what are the implications for such definitions for the poor? What logics operate in these disciplines that can foster bad wealth, and how do these logics contrast with the Catholic social tradition?
    2. How is wealth created in an economy that is increasingly dominated by the financial sector? What impact does this have on wealth distribution, equity, and power structures in society? What is the relationship among financialization, structures of sin, poverty and prosperity?
    3. What is the relationship between creation and distribution of wealth within business? What should socially minded shareholders keep in mind when considering the relationships among, stewardship of resources, healthy margins, access to capital and growth rates and just forms of distribution in relation to wages, profit sharing, ownership, prices, philanthropy, taxes, etc.? What cases illuminate these relationships, tensions and difficulties?

II. Theological and Philosophical inquiries into the Catholic social tradition as well as other religious and philosophical traditions addressing poverty, prosperity and business.

  1. What role does culture and in particular religion play in forming and developing the social capital necessary for successful enterprises to take seriously the poor in their work?
  2. What do we mean by prosperity and poverty within the Catholic social tradition (economic, moral, spiritual, blessed, etc.)? How does a logic of gift and reciprocity inform economic life, and what are the implications of this for the poor? What does it mean to have an "option for the poor"? What are the theological and moral principles that underlie a vision of business as it takes seriously the poor among us?
  3. What happens when the poor are simply instruments of sophisticated marketing campaigns and parts of a larger utilitarian calculus when it comes to bottom of the pyramid programs, micro lending, etc.? What might a Thomistic and/or Aristotelian understanding of virtue bring to the discussion? How would this contrast with libertarian, utilitarian understandings of ethics?

III. Pedagogical/Institutional: While we hope all the papers will have pedagogical implications for higher education, we are also looking for explicit mission driven curricular materials, processes, models and ideas that examine poverty, prosperity and business.

  1. What are some practical ways for faculty in business disciplines and the Humanities to engage the way business influences prosperity and poverty (case studies, teaching notes, syllabi, dialogues and joint-research with practitioners, public policy advocacy, etc.).
  2. How can business schools better understand and take into account the formative influences shaping students' views on poverty, prosperity and business such as the family, peer groups, the community, etc.?
  3. What is the role of business schools and business education in influencing public policy towards enhancing the positive role of business in addressing poverty and sharing prosperity? Papers that are accepted and presented at the conference will be open to a referee process for a special issue from Journal of Catholic Social Thought. Conference Background Papers: Please refer to the posted conference background papers for this meeting here.

Proposal Format: The selection committee is looking for submissions that engage one of the two areas described above. Please send a two page single spaced proposal which includes the following: thesis/purpose, outline of paper as well as a one paragraph biography that includes institutional position and affiliation, recent publications, research interest, practical experience.

Send proposals by June 1, 2014 preferably electronically to: Michael J. Naughton at cathsocial@stthomas.edu
or as paper to Michael J. Naughton, John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Ave., 55S St. Paul, MN 55105-1096, USA fax +651-962-5710

For more information on the conference see here.

Conference on "Economics and Psychology in Historical Perspective" (Paris, 2014)

17-19 December, 2014 | Paris

Theme: Economics and psychology in historical perspective (from 18 century to the present)

Organized by Mikaël Cozic (UPEC, IUF & IHPST, France) and Jean-Sébastien Lenfant (U. Lille 1, France)

IMPORTANT DATES:

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE:

Erik Angner (George Mason university, USA), Richard Arena (Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis), Laurie Bréban (Université Paris 8, France), Luigino Bruni (Università Lumsa a Roma, Italy), Annie L. Cot (Université Paris 1, France), Agnès Festré (Université de Picardie Jules Verne, France), Till Grüne Yanoff (Royal Institute of Technology, KTH, Sweden), Alessandro Innocenti (Università di Siena, Italy), Ivan Moscati (Insubria University, Italy), Annika Wallin (Lunds Universitet, Sweden).

CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS:

Philippe MONGIN (CNRS & HEC Paris, France), Floris HEUKELOM (U. Nijmegen, Netherdlands), Robert SUGDEN (University of East Anglia, United Kingdom).

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS

The aim of this conference is to gather contributions from historians of economics and historians of psychology (including cognitive sciences), and also from historically-oriented researchers and philosophers of these disciplines. The overall ambition is to understand the way economics has dealt with psychological arguments, methods and concepts throughout history and to highlight the main debates between economists and psychologists that have fostered and are still fostering behavioral economics. It is hoped that these will pave the way for an overall vision of the history of the relationships between economics and psychology and of the methodological transformations of economics as a discipline.

The organizers wish to limit the number of contributions so that most of the conference will take place in plenary sessions. Interested contributors are asked to indicate their interest in participating to the conference to A COMPLETER. The deadline for submitting an abstract is July 10 2014. It is hoped that the contributions to the conference will in turn lead to the publication of a comprehensive reference book with short versions of papers and to thematic issues in journals.

Below is a non-exhaustive list of topics, authors and schools of thought:

If you are interested in participating in this conference, please send a notification of interest mentioning the theme of your contribution by June 10th 2014 and an abstract of approximately 1000 words prepared for blind review by July 10 2014. Send your abstract by email at eco-psycho@rationalite.org with the following information:

Critical Sociology: Special issue on "The Future of NGOs: incorporation, reinvention, critique?"

Special Issue Editors:

The last three decades have seen a range of critical studies on NGOs, and in particular a growing body of theoretical work on the links between NGOs, the neoliberal state and social movements (Kamat 2004; Hearn 2007; Fernando 2011; Choudry and Kapoor 2013; Dauvergne and LeBaron 2014). These studies have contributed to our understanding of ‘NGOisation’ as a vital aspect of global capitalism and its crucial function in stabilising the neoliberal order. In this special issue we seek to build upon these critiques towards a theorisation that illuminates the present conjuncture of the new aid architecture – now unfolding in the context of the global financial crisis – that has further subordinated NGOs to global capital but which is also confronted by a deepening crisis of the neoliberal state (Harvey 2010; Duménil and Lévy 2011; Saad Filho 2011). Critical Sociology (website here) invites contributions analysing the role of NGOs at this conjuncture, how they are responding to critiques and struggles against neoliberalism and whether they seek to articulate a new politics

Since the late 1990s visible and widespread challenges to neoliberalism have taken the form of the anti-globalisation and anti-war movements, including the popular movements in Latin America and the World Social Forums, the vast mobilisations against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Occupy movement, the Arab uprisings and demonstrations against austerity. In some cases the movements have led to mass strikes in workplaces and the mobilisation of trade unions. NGOs have often had an ambivalent relation to these oppositional movements, either participating on the fringes of these movements or seeking new kinds of alliances with Left or progressive politics. At the same time, the aid regime of the new millennium has undergone significant changes, with corporate entities playing a leading role in the development sector and partnering with states to enforce new rules of compliance for NGOs. In other words, NGOs today straddle both the imperialist and neoliberal ambitions of the aid regime and the popular mobilisations, which at times dominate the political landscape.
In this special issue we seek to analyse how NGOs mediate these struggles toward particular ends. How are NGOs being repositioned within contemporary capitalism, and how is the relationship between NGOs, the state and the private sector evolving? In what ways are NGOs being further co-opted by corporate power? As the neoliberal state becomes increasingly privatised on the one hand – and challenged on the other – how have NGOs analysed these times of crisis and flux? Is the general critique of neoliberalism that many NGOs also espouse leading to a new kind of politics and new political understandings within the sector? What are the factors that determine the political direction that NGOs take? Are there examples of NGOs reinventing themselves to maintain or pursue radical politics, and are they adopting new ideas and new ideologies? What kinds of new organisational alliances or strategic partnerships are being made, for example, with the political Left?

Our contention is that the existence of an organised Left makes a difference, shaping both political history and the political space that is occupied by NGOs. Where left-wing political parties have had a strong legacy, we wish to investigate the historical relationship between NGOs and the Left in order to understand the politics of NGOs in that particular context. Where NGOs have taken on traditional roles, and have been funded and professionalised, we seek to understand not only the political compulsions that influence NGOs but what kind of political alternatives are possible. The focus here is on the factors that influence one tendency or the other, with the aim of drawing general conclusions on how the work of NGOs is being reshaped both at national and global levels.

We are seeking manuscripts (8,000 words maximum) on the following themes (though not limited to these), and encourage interdisciplinary approaches:

Within this broad thematic we are interested in case studies from Latin America (e.g. Venezuela and Bolivia), where left-wing governments have been in power; South Asia (e.g. India, Nepal and Bangladesh), where Left parties and social movements have a strong presence inside and outside of government; Eastern Europe (e.g. Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo), where previous democratic transitions meant compromise between communist parties and NGOs; South East Asia (e.g. Cambodia, Thailand and the Philippines), where there have been significant and sustained popular movements and workers’ strikes; and the Middle East (e.g. Egypt, Syria and Palestine), which has experienced colossal political upheaval and polarisation during and since the uprisings in 2011. In addition, we are interested in case studies documenting the work of labour NGOs and their relationship with trade union activity (e.g. China, Qatar and Saudi Arabia), and the role of NGOs in the Arab uprisings.

To submit your proposal, email the title, abstract (300 words maximum), and contact information for the primary author to Sangeeta Kamat (skamat@educ.umass.edu) and Feyzi Ismail (fi2@soas.ac.uk), with the subject line “ATTN: SPECIAL ISSUE PROPOSAL”. All papers are subject to the standard review process at Critical Sociology.

Published here.

EAEPE Annual Conference: Special Call for Young Scholars Sessions (Nicosia, 2014)

6-8 November, 2014 | University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus

The European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) seeks to institutionalize the involvement of and exchange with Young Scholars (YS) and student initiatives at the association’s Annual Conference. At the conferences in Cracow (2012) and Paris (2013), lively discussions between EAEPE and representatives of European student networks were initiated. For this year’s conference, we invite participation to the following formats.

Special session for Young Scholar papers. YS at all levels are invited to present and discuss their papers (e.g. Bachelor or Master theses, seminar papers). Topics might be related to the conference main theme Unemployment and Austerity in Mediterranean European Countries or to any of the usual topics covered by EAEPE’s research areas. Feedback procedures among participants as well as with senior scholars will be organized. Please send your extended abstract or paper to Svenja Flechtner until 1 July 2014. Submissions will be reviewed by the conference’s scientific committee.

Networking session for European YS groups. One slot will be reserved for YS groups from different countries to meet each other and discuss relevant issues. Contents and organization of this session are up to the participating groups. EAEPE will only provide space and, if required, moderation.

Meet the Prez and GenSec. EAEPE’s President Wolfram Elsner and General Secretary Pasquale Tridico are interested in a discussion with representatives from European student groups. Possible topics include the state of heterodox teaching, career challenges facing Young Scholars etc. The networking session above might sort out issues of relevance for this discussion such as organizational strategies vis-à-vis the mainstream and it ranking business, common research interests etc.

For these sessions, representatives from European countries should indicate their interest to join via mail to Svenja Flechtner (svenja.flechtner@uni-flensburg.de) until 1 July 2014.

We also wish to draw Young Scholars’ attention to the call for Special Sessions on “Teaching and Learning Heterodox Economics and Economics in a Pluralistic Perspective”.

Conference fees are waived for Young Scholars. Furthermore, EAEPE will provide some financial support for the group representatives (per country, precise division is up to participants per country). Furthermore EAEPE can subsidize selected individual participants with a paper in the YS session with 100€ each. At the conference hotel, shared rooms at discounted rates are available for YS.

We are looking forward to your participation and lively discussions in Nicosia! Please look at our website for more detailed information on the conference.

For any questions, please contact EAEPE Council member Svenja Flechtner.

First WINIR Symposium on "The Nature and Governance of the Corporation" (Lugano, 2015)

22-24 April 2015 | Università della Svizzera italiana (USI), Lugano, Switzerland

Keynote Speakers

Questions of corporate governance and corporate responsibility have been heightened by a number of corporate scandals and other events leading up to the financial crash of 2008. In the meantime, philosophers and lawyers have been questioning the very meaning of corporate agency and responsibility, while progress by economists in the theory of the firm is widely perceived to have slowed.

Bringing together internationally leading scholars from several disciplines, the First Symposium of the World Interdisciplinary Network for Institutional Research (WINIR), organized with the assistance of the Brenno Galli Chair of Law and Economics, will address these problems, and forge a road ahead for future research and policy.

Submissions from any disciplineon the following topics are welcome:

Abstracts (300 words max.) must be submitted online before 31 July 2014.

Abstracts will be evaluated by the WINIR Scientific Quality Committee, comprising: Peter Boettke (George Mason University, economics), Simon Deakin (University of Cambridge, law), Geoff Hodgson (University of Hertfordshire, economics), Timur Kuran (Duke University, economics), Uskali Mäki (University of Helsinki, philosophy), Katharina Pistor (Columbia University, law), Sven Steinmo (European University Institute, politics), Wolfgang Streeck (Max Planck Institute Cologne, sociology).

Authors will be notified by 31 August 2014.

Global Research Symposium on “Labour Market Transitions of Young Women and Men: Innovative research from 28 ‘school-to-work transition survey’ (SWTS) datasets” (Geneva, 2015)

20 February, 2015 | Geneva, Switzerland

The ILO “Work4Youth” Programme invites researchers to submit proposals for innovative research papers relevant to labour market transitions of young women and men in developing countries, making use of one or several of the recent “school-to-work transition survey (SWTS)” datasets from 28 countries (see box below).

The deadline for submission is 31 July 2014.

This is a comprehensive ILO call for papers which will culminate at the Global Research Symposium on “Labour Market Transitions of Young Women and Men: Innovative research from 28 ‘school-to-work transition survey’ (SWTS) datasets” to be heldin Geneva, Switzerland, on 20 February 2015 (tbc).

The authors of the best nine papers will be invited to present their work at the Global Symposium and will be considered for official ILO publications.

Work4Youth target countries:

Find out more about the ILO’s Call for Papers, and how to apply.

International Heterodox Workshop on "The development of critical economic thinking in a global cultural paradigm" (Timisoara, 2014)

12‐13 June, 2014 | Timisoara, Romania

The workshop aims to launch a debate forum in the context of heterodox economics, of the alternative approaches in respect to what is considered to be the mainstream of economic theory.It's jointly organised by West University of Timisoara Foundation, The Journal of Heterodox Economics and ECREB (East-European Center for Research in Economics and Business).

We invite master and PhD students as well as young researchers to submit working papers, full articles or discussion papers.

Objectives

The present period of structural, functional and institutional instability has generated a series of innovative approaches (under the form of alternative public policies susceptible to offer sustainable solutions to the economic crises and to enhance the economic and human sustainable development). Also, a series of doctrines have been reevaluated, promoting alternative approaches to understanding the economy as a socio‐cultural process. Unfortunately, in the practice of teaching and research, these new approaches are not very well known or debated.

The workshop aims to offer, in a holistic and synergic vision, the framework for stimulating students’ and researchers’ ideas in respect to the contemporary economic processes. It provides the possibility of multidisciplinary, critic and innovative debate of these processes.
The workshop is meant to become the center of an international network, launching a debate forum in the context of heterodox economics, of the alternative approaches in respect to what is considered to be the mainstream of economic theory.

Topics List

Topics to be discussed during the workshop might include (but are not limited to):

Paper submission

Contributions shall be submitted to the following email address: mnachescu@gmail.com. These must follow the guidelines for authors specified here.

Deadline for paper submission: 31st of May 2014.

Publishing

Selected papers alongside the abstracts will be published in the volume of the event (with ISBN number). The authors have the opportunity to publish their work in The Journal of Heterodox Economics, subject to a peer‐review process.

Fees & Organizing Committee

The workshop is free of change for participants.

Panel on “The Role of Energy in Foreign Policy: a Mean for Cooperation or Conflict?” at ISA's 56th Annual Convention (New Orleans, 2015)

18-21 February, 2015 | New Orleans, Lousiana, United States

Panel on “The Role of Energy in Foreign Policy: a Mean for Cooperation or Conflict?”

We are seeking papers for the proposed panel as outlined below:

The practice of energy as a foreign policy instrument can serve different and often contrasting objectives, these are sometimes termed as petro-carrots and petro-sticks, respectively rewarding or punishing countries for their behaviour (Newnham 2011). Energy can be used to draw countries closer through the creation of long-term perspective for improvement of political relations. At the same time, energy can be applied as conflict-enhancing tool, predominantly for means of retaliation, through “punitive” price increases and supply disruptions (Newnham 2011; Shaffer 2013).

If energy can be used as a “carrot and as a stick” by similar countries, what determines the choice of the policy option? In a world where approximately 80% of known gas and oil energy resources are state-owned (Orrtung 2009), better understanding of the causal mechanisms and conditions which transform energy resources into political power is increasingly becoming imperative. Such an understanding is significant for tailoring appropriate responses, which can harness energy trade into a cooperative platform and reduce a possible adverse bias towards conflict.

It has not gone unnoticed that the usage of energy as a foreign policy tool has not yet been systematically studied (Newnham 2011; Smith Stegen 2011). Explanations concerning the link between the practice of energy as foreign policy means and its peace and conflict consequences are limited, and falling short of establishing coherent and consistent account. In this panel we seek empirical and theoretical contributions addressing the link between energy trade and foreign policy, including the role which non-state actors, such as international organizations, the private sector and civil society, play in this link.

It is envisaged that a collection of papers in this panel will be published in a special journal issue or an edited book dedicated to energy and foreign policy.

Please send your paper proposal for this panel, providing a title and an abstract (max. 200 words), including your name and institutional affiliation by Sunday, 25 May.

If you would like to act as a discussant for this panel, kindly send your name, title and institutional affiliation also by Sunday, 25 May.

Further information on ISA 2015 can be found at the conference website.

Contact:

Itay Fischhendler (Itay.Fishhendler@mail.huji.ac.il)

Lior Herman (lior.herman@mail.huji.ac.il)

School of Management Conference on "What’s So Critical About Your Critical Management Studies PhD?" (Leicester, 2014)

16-17 September, 2014 | University of Leicester, UK

This is just a reminder about the ‘What’s So Critical About Your Critical Management Studies PhD?’ conference being organised at the School of Management at the University of Leicester on the 16 and 17 of September 2014. The deadline for abstract submissions is fast approaching (the 31 of May) and we wanted to do a penultimate push on getting the word out to PhD students working on critical management topics. Here’s five reasons why you should submit and attend or encourage your students or colleagues to submit and attend the conference:

The deadline for abstracts and to register interest in childcare is the 31 of May.

Registration for the conference will open soon and student prices will range from £10 to £30 and will include lunches on both days of the conference. Academics are also welcome to attend but will pay a higher fee to support the student travel bursaries and childcare.

If you’re interested in submitting an abstract or want more information about the conference. Please contact: whatissocritical2014@gmail.com

The Research & Regulation 2015 Conference Calls for Papers on "The Regulation in Times of Crisis" (Paris, 2015)

10-12 June, 2015 | Université Paris-Diderot, Paris, France

A FORTY-YEAR RESEARCH PROGRAM—BUT WHAT ABOUT TOMORROW?

The concept of “regulation” has inspired a significant body of research during the past forty years. An initial wave of studies1 analyzed the unprecedented post-World War II growth regimes in Western economies, in order to understand their structural crisis since the late 1960s. Since that time, the field has developed international systemic comparisons in order to explore alternatives. The success of the concept, witnessed both by its heuristic power and its key presence in major debates at that times, is undoubtedly due to its ability to combine various complementary approaches ranging from Kaleckian, Keynesian and Marxist to institutionalist and socio-economy methods and theories. This success also stems from shared concerns for the general interest, particularly the Keynesian emphasis on full employment.

To date, however, regulation theory has not taken full advantage of its competitive advantage, despite significant—if not widely known—developments and outcomes: beyond public macroeconomics, the field now encompasses new research areas such as sectorial analysis (finance, services, health, farming...) and regional economics, analysis of institutions and politics, and microeconomics. Clearly, this lack of prominence is at least partly due to three types of misunderstandings: 1. semantic, given the mainstream confusion with the customary American sense of ‘regulation’; 2. interpretative, by limiting the scope of the concept of regulation to Fordism, which is only one of its outcomes (i.e. a historical configuration of an accumulation regime and mode of regulation, in some countries and for a given period); and 3. conceptual, involving confusions between method, school, and theory.

Still, the resilience of mainstream economics—although grossly ignoring the many possibilities of market failures—remains puzzling given the current crisis. Therefore, from a more constructive perspective, the critical survey of the achievements of the regulation agenda is challenging, and calls for clarifying and strengthening relationships with concepts and issues (such as institution, convention, or governance) both within economics and in other social sciences.

The challenge is thus two-fold: empowering alternatives to mainstream economics, which actually fuels the current crisis; and addressing socio-economic structural changes and political demands for a more sustainable world that question the very conceptual foundations of economics. Shared by several contemporary approaches, these challenges should lead economists to develop new research projects and synergies within economics and with other social sciences. The organizers of the “Research & Regulation 2015 Conference” intend this occasion to be fully open to critical discussion and collaborative research projects.

TOPICS

All proposals are welcome, but the organizing committee especially encourages contributors to take positions on particularly pressing issues in times of crisis, whether to explore how to translate them into a scientific research program or to discuss their results.

WHAT ARE THE PRIORITIES IN RESEARCH DEVELOPMENT

THE ECONOMIST AND THE EXPERT, SCIENCE, POLITY AND POLITICS

NEED AND POSSIBILITY FOR AN INTEGRATED RESEARCH?

IS THE EPISTEMOLOGICAL STATUS DECEISIVE?

WHICH MULTIDISCIPLINARY STRATEGIES?

FORMATS

The topics addressed by contributions to the Research and Regulation 2015 Conference are not limited, but submitted papers must clearly set out how they are positioned: within epistemological or theoretical issues; conceptual or empirical; whether they present results, a survey or a programmatic approach.

The committee will also examine proposals that sum up state-of-the-art knowledge in specific areas, whether methodological or field-based.

The program of the Conference provides different discussion formats, in addition to plenary sessions:

EVENT ORGANIZATION

The topics addressed by contributions to the Research and Regulation 2015 Conference are not limited, but submitted papers must clearly set out how they are positioned: within epistemological or theoretical issues; conceptual or empirical; whether they present results, a survey or a programmatic approach.
The committee will also examine proposals that sum up state-of-the-art knowledge in specific areas, whether methodological or field-based.

The program of the Conference provides different discussion formats, in addition to plenary sessions:

  1. THREE KINDS OF RESEARCH WORKSHOPS:
  2. TRAINING WORKSHOP

PROPOSALS AND FINAL PAPERS SCHEDULE

CONTACT US

Check on Recherche & Régulation website
or email us at: Robert Boyer (robert.boyer@ens.fr) or Jean-Pierre Chanteau (jean-pierre.chanteau@upmf-grenoble.fr).

More information including the list of the organizing and the scientific comitee as well as a detailed submission guide is available here (pdf).

Workshop on Marx’s Labour Theory of Value in the Digital Age (Isreal, 2014)

15-17 June, 2014 | The Open University of Israel, Ra’anana, Israel

COST Action IS1202 “Dynamics of Virtual Work”

Recent developments in digital technology, from “social media”/”web 2.0” such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Weibo, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Foursquare, etc to mobile devices, have spurred new forms of production. A variety of terms has been used to describe new production practices and new products enabled by the Internet: participatory culture, co-creation, mass collaboration, social production, commons-based peer production, mass customization, prosumption, produsage, crowdsourcing, open source, social production, user-generated content, user participation, folksonomics, wikinomics, collaborative innovation, open innovation, user innovation.

These terms and debates are often over-optimistic, celebratory and lack a critical understanding of “social media” – they do not engage with the social problem-dimension of the “social”. The multiplicity of neologisms is also a symptom of a “technologistic” outlook, which assumes that each technical innovation brings about a paradigmatic change in culture and in society and more democracy and a better society. While such multiplicity of terms attests to a phenomenology of technological innovation and diversity, it is also an analytical and theoretical liability. Concurrent with this dominant approach, there have been attempts for a systematic critical analysis of new forms of online production, digital labour and commodification on social media through the prism of the labour theory of value. Such theoretical approaches attempt to apply a unified conceptual framework in order to gain better understanding of the socio-economic foundations of digital media and the social relations, power relations and class relations that they facilitate. They also help to connect these new productive practices with a longstanding theoretical tradition emerging from Marxian political economy.

The role of Marx’s labour theory of value for understanding the political economy of digital and social media has been a topic of intense work and debates in recent years, particularly concerning the appropriateness of using Marxian concepts, such as: value, surplus-value, exploitation, class, abstract and concrete labour, alienation, commodities, the dialectic, work and labour, use- and exchange-value, General Intellect, labour time, labour power, the law of value, necessary and surplus labour time, absolute and relative surplus value production, primitive accumulation, rent, reproductive labour, formal and real subsumption of labour under capital, species-being, collective worker, etc.

The critical conceptualization of digital labour has been approached from a variety of critical approaches, such as Marx’s theory, Dallas Smythe’s theory of audience commodification, Critical Theory, Autonomous Marxism, feminist political economy, labour process theory, etc. In this workshop we explore current interventions to the digital labour theory of value. Such interventions propose theoretical and empirical work that contributes to our understanding of the Marx’s labour theory of value, how the nexus of labour and value are transformed under virtual conditions, or they employ the theory in order to shed light on specific practices.

The Israeli location will provide an opportunity to explore some issues pertinent to digital technology in the local context, including a lecture on the Palestinian Internet and a tour exploring techniques of separation and control along the separation wall in Jerusalem.

Keynote talks:

The programme features the following talks:

If you wish to attend the workshop, please contact RSVP Eran Fisher: eranfisher@gamil.com

More information is available here.

Call for Participants

IIPPE Training-Workshop on "The Political Economy of Finance" (London, 2014)

9 June, 2014 | School of Oriental and African Studies, London

Continuing its Training Workshops programme, the International Initiative for the Promotion of Political Economy (IIPPE) announces a one-day workshop on The Political Economy of Finance on Monday June 9 at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London

Confirmed speakers include Simon Mohun and Tony Norfield. The morning will focus on productive and unproductive labour, and then what Marx had to say about interest and the rate of interest. The afternoon will focus on the relevance of the contribution of Hilferding, followed by a critical survey of some contemporary approaches to financial appropriation, against the empirical backdrop of the importance of finance in the contemporary world.

We seek an audience of undergraduate and postgraduate students, junior academics and activists, who have a particular interest in acquainting themselves with the relevance of Marxian political economy to the world of finance.

If you wish to apply to attend this workshop, please send a note to that effect, before Monday 2 June with your name and occupation/affiliation, to Serap Saritas, email: 548340@soas.ac.uk

This workshop has a small amount of financial support from the Amiel and Melburn Trust to cover reasonable travel costs within the UK from outside London.


IIPPE Training-Workshop on "The Political Economy of Value and Price" (Naples, 2014)

15 September, 2014 | Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, Naples, Italy

Continuing its Training Workshops programme, the International Initiative for the Promotion of Political Economy (IIPPE) announces a one-day workshop on The Political Economy of Value and Price on Monday 15 September at the Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, Naples, Italy (the day before the IIPPE Annual Conference in Naples.

Confirmed speakers include Simon Mohun and Marco Veronese Passarella. The morning will focus on the labour theory of value and Marx’s account of the formation of prices of production. The afternoon will focus on some contemporary Marxist approaches to value and price.

We are seeking an audience of undergraduate and postgraduate students, junior academics and activists, who could be attending the IIPPE Annual Conference, and have a particular interest in acquainting themselves with some of the basic principles of Marxian political economy and its controversies. If you wish to apply to attend for this workshop, please send, before 15 August 2014, your name and occupation/affiliation, to s.mohun@qmul.ac.uk.

NEM/CHESS Summer Schoolin Philosophy and Economics (San Sebastian, 2014)

21-23 July, 2014 | University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

Topic: “Agency, Policy and the Future of Macroeconomics: A Summer School in Economics and Philosophy”

The International Network for Economic Method (INEM) and Centre for Humanities Engaging Science and Society (CHESS, Durham) will be holding an International Summer School in Economics and Philosophy for graduate students and researchers.

The Summer School is part of the UPV/EHU XXXII Summer Courses and XXV European Courses and continues the series initiated by the Urrutia Elejalde Foundation (UEF).

Lecturers:

Convenors:

Aims:

The recent financial crisis has shattered the economics discipline like an earthquake. Whilst many economists are striving to rebuild and strengthen the structures that were hit others are taking the opportunity to open their horizons. Economists are often being blamed for having contributed to the crisis, even by prominent members of the profession: ‘the economics profession went astray because economists... mistook beauty... for truth’ (Krugman 2009); economists ‘killed America’s economy’ because of unrealistic models (Stiglitz 2009), and that the Crisis has made clear a ‘systemic failure of the economics profession’ as it had systematically disregarded key factors responsible for outcomes such as the Crisis (Colander et al. 2009).

At the same time, many economists have become at lot more open towards neighbouringdisciplines. Some now regularly collaborate with psychologists to investigate to provide the behavioural foundations for choice theory. Even mainstream economists such as Greg Mankiw now urge the importance of political philosophy for their discipline. Modellers look to alternative approaches from complexity theory and agent-based modelling.

The aim of the Summer School in Economics and Philosophy is to present a variety of new insights from this exciting new work from the fringes of economics. It will bring together graduate students with scholars from economics, philosophy and neighbouring disciplines in order to exchange ideas, build a community and strengthen ‘economics and philosophy’ as an independent and diverse research field. This year’s main focus is on complex systems approaches in macroeconomics, the modelling of agency and behavioural policies.

Registration:

The Summer School is open to Masters/PhD students and other researchers at various stages of progress on their dissertation project or academic careers.

To register please send us, by June 15 at the latest, 2014, a short CV and motivation statement to Anna de Bruyckere (email: a.m.c.de-bruyckere@durham.ac.uk).
We will accept applications as they come in, so to be guaranteed a place let us know as soon as possible.

Registration Fee and Bursaries:

Participation in the Summer School is free of charge. There is, however, charge a small registration fee of under €50 (with a small increase if you register after May 31) to be spent on food and beverage during the event. There will also be a bursary to help with accommodation expenses in San Sebastian. If you are interested in applying for a bursary, please let us know in your registration letter.

We would like to draw your attention to national sponsorship institutions like the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) in the case of Germany, who offer training course scholarships for students. Please contact your university’s international office for further information on scholarships available in your country.

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support from the International Network for Economic Method (INEM) and the University of the Basque Country (UPV).

Further information is available here.

Job Postings

Al-Quds Bard Honors College, Palestinia

Full time and part time openings for undergraduate Economics faculty at Al-Quds Bard Honors College for Arts & Sciences, Abu Dis, Palestine

Now completing its fifth year of operation, the Al-Quds Bard Honors College for Arts & Sciences (AQB) is an innovative program introducing a liberal arts undergraduate education to the West Bank, with an enrollment of about 240 students in 2013-14. AQB is a rigorous program, culminating in a two-semester independent senior project, which, in the social sciences, is generally a demanding research paper of 45 pages or more. Graduates of AQB receive dual degrees: a BA from Al-Quds University and from Bard College (New York).

AQB has a full time opening in Economics and Finance for one year, possibly renewable, to teach courses beginning fall 2014 and head the Economics and Finance program. We seek faculty whose teaching methods are student-centered, involving students in active discussion and group tasks to develop their reading, writing, speaking, and critical thinking skills in English. Course assignments may include introductory microeconomics and/or macroeconomics, intermediate macro, history of economic thought, international trade, open economy macroeconomics, Research Methods in Economics, Research Methods in the Social Sciences, and various electives such as Population Economics and Demography; Economics of Gender, Household, and Family; Competition, Cooperation, and Information and other courses in the successful candidate's area of specialization. Full time faculty teach three courses per semester, and supervise a minimum of two senior projects. Advising is also expected of all full time faculty. In addition, the successful candidate may seek appointment as Head of the Social Science Division, with significant administrative responsibilities and one course release for the year. This is a 12-month position.

Required qualifications:

Preferred qualifications:

To apply, submit a CV; a cover letter that addresses your interest and background as it relates to this position; evidence of teaching effectiveness, such as student evaluations and syllabi; and three letters of reference through Interfolio: http://apply.interfolio.com/25041. Applications will be reviewed as they are received. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience. Bard College is an equal opportunity employer and we welcome applications from those who contribute to our diversity.

Bournemouth University, UK

Position: Professor of Economics

Starting salary from £57,031 - £64,505 per annum with further progression opportunities to £69,445

Bournemouth University is creating the most stimulating, challenging and rewarding university experience in a world-class learning community by sharing our unique fusion of excellent education, research and professional practice and inspiring our students, graduates and staff to enrich the world.

The Business School has a strong vision for the future. Under a new management structure and with a focused recruitment strategy, the School is at an exciting period of development and expansion which you could be part of.

The Department of Accounting, Finance & Economics is a growing team of dynamic educators and researchers. The team offers an exciting portfolio of MSc Finance related courses allowing for various specialisations including Economics and contributes expertise across undergraduate and postgraduate courses in the areas of accounting, finance and economics. Research in the department is currently focused on corporate governance, quantitative techniques, banking and finance, Sustainable Environment as well as Foreign Direct Investment and Economic Transition. Developing research areas include tax, where the department has a strong team in place. The department has a vibrant PhD student community and a range of enthusiastic early career researchers.

You will be someone who can provide academic and managerial leadership in the area of Finance. There will be opportunities for you to engage in the activities of the school as it progresses its recruitment policy and continues to build a research culture. This in turn will provide opportunities for professional development and further career progression.

You will be qualified to Doctorate level or equivalent in a relevant field.

For an informal discussion please contact the Head of Department, Professor Jens Holscher on 01202 965392 or via jholscher@bournemouth.ac.uk, or the Deputy Dean of Research, Professor Andy Mullineux on 01202 96879 or via amullineux@bournemouth.ac.uk.

Full Job Description & Person Specification is available here.

Bretton Woods Project, UK

Interested in running a key international network which monitors and advocates for reform of the IFIs? The Bretton Woods Project is seeking a new coordinator.

Your in-depth understanding of global policy issues and passion for creating change make you ideal for this role as coordinator of the Bretton Woods Project. You will have extensive knowledge of the operations, social and environmental consequences and governance of the World Bank and IMF as well as other development finance institutions. This will be supported by an excellent understanding of current global political, environmental, social and economic policy debates.

As coordinator you will lead the Project’s management team to facilitate strategic decisions about which issues we should focus on. You will enjoy a wide ranging remit from conducting research and producing high-quality information to carrying out advocacy with top level officials and providing advice to network members. In your leadership role you will recruit, manage and motivate Project staff as well as maintain relations with key network partners. Important too will be the ability to act as the Project’s public face, giving talks and managing the occasional media work. The successful candidate will have a thorough knowledge of global development issues, a passion for creating change, excellent management skills and an ability to think strategically and influence diplomatically.

Full job profile on the Bretton Woods Projects website.

Applicationinstructionsare available here.

Review of Radical Political Economics (Managing Editor)

Job Search Announcement for the Position of Managing Editor of the Review of Radical Political Economics

The Managing Editor of the Review of Radical Political Economics is responsible for coordinating all tasks necessary in the review of manuscripts through to their publication, and management of a 30-person editorial board for a journal published four times a year.

The skills necessary for this job include familiarity with radical political economics; being a clear communicator with editorial board members, authors, and our publisher, Sage Publications; an ability to coordinate the work flow of the review and production process; the capacity to maintain the journal’s financial records; computer literacy; and the facility for working closely with the URPE National Office Coordinator on financial and subscriber matters.

This is a year-round part-time professional appointment with commensurate compensation and benefits. A Masters degree or higher in a related field is preferred in addition to administrative experience.

An electronic CV, a statement of interest indicating how the applicant’s background and experience make them a good candidate for the job of Managing Editor of the RRPE, and 3 letters of reference that directly pertain to this job’s responsibilities are due to Hazel Dayton Gunn, Managing Editor (hg18@cornell.edu), no later than November 1, 2014.Successful candidates will be interviewed at the Boston ASSAs, January 2, 2015.

Slovak Governance Institute, Slovakia

Slovak Governance Institute (SGI), a not-for-profit research and policy institution and one of Slovakia's leading think tanks focusing on good governance and public policy, is looking for Research Assistant in the field of employment and social policy. Research Assistant will work under close supervision of senior researchers and will provide research support for collaborative international research projects, mainly FP7-funded project ‘STYLE'.

STYLE - Strategic Transitions for Youth Labour in Europe - is a large scale research endeavour which aims to provide a comprehensive understanding of the causes of very high unemployment among young people in Europe and to assess the effectiveness of labour market policies designed to mitigate this phenomenon. SGI participates in work packages studying youth unemployment in relation to labour market mismatches (WP5), labour migration (WP6) and policy performance (WP4).

The successful candidate will be required to support researchers at all stages of research, in particular: preparing and organizing data (quantitative and qualitative), reviewing relevant literature, assisting in field work (interviews), contributing to analysis of project data, and supporting the team in dissemination of research findings related to the project. Participation and active involvement in other activities of SGI is expected.

We in turn offer an opportunity to participate in an international research project and to experience full research cycle. SGI offers a relaxed working atmosphere and, if interested, opportunities for soft skills development of the candidate. The candidate will be encouraged to fundraise for other research projects falling within the general interest of the organization or of the candidate. We offer standard employment contract for the duration of 10-12 months, with a possibility of extension. The successful candidate is expected to start in August/September 2014. The work will be organized flexibly, the team member is expected to work about 80-100 hours per month (part-time) and will be remunerated at the rate of about €10/hour (€800-1000 gross/month), depending on previous experience.

PROFILE

The candidate should:

APPLICATION

The applicant should provide in English:

APPLICATION DEADLINE

For further questions and queries about the position please write to Dr.Lucia Mytna Kurekova at kurekova@governance.sk or call: +421 910 444 636

University of Copenhagen, Denmark

The Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Copenhagen, invites applications for a 3-year Assistant Professorship connected to work package 1 of the EuroChallenge project (weblink): ‘The European market space and the new global economy: constructions, paradigms and policies’.

The position is available from 1 September 2014.

The sub-project

The successful candidate for this position will be expected to join sub-project entitled 1.2, and will work closely with Professor Ben Rosamond and Assistant Professor Niklas Olsen (Saxo Institute, Faculty of Humanities, UCPH). The emphasis of this sub-project is less on understandings and constructions of the changing configuration of the global economy and more on the intellectual frameworks used by policy practitioners. The aim is to assess the degree to which Chicago school neoliberalism operates (and has operated) as a paradigm in EU policy circles, thereby providing a test of the ‘strange non-death of neoliberalism’ thesis.

Qualifications

It is expected that the position, which is a temporary 3-year position, will be filled by a candidate with academic qualifications in political science or a relevant cognate field at the level of PhD or equivalent.

Further emphasis will be put on the applicant´s qualifications and competence in relation to:

Job description

General duties attached to the position as Assistant Professor are:

Information about the Department can be found here.

Full announcement: Applications cannot be based on this extract. The full announcement can be found here.

The deadline for applications including enclosures is 24 June 2014.

Awards

2014 South-South Scholarships Award

The Latin American Council of Social Sciences (CLACSO), the Council for Development of Social Sciences in Africa (CODESRIA) and the International Association for Development Economics (IDEAs) announce the launch of the South-South Scholarship Awards 2014 on the theme "Work and Welfare in the South" aimed at social scientists from Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.

The goal of this award is to encourage original research on the subject and to promote the final work through presentation at an international seminar.

This call is open to candidates from all disciplines of Social and Human Sciences, as well as to researchers from other sciences with projects related to the main theme of this year: WORK AND WELFARE IN THE SOUTH.

Download call for papers in pdf here.

Deadline for the receipt of applications has been extended to: June 12th, 2014.

More information


Latin American and Caribbean applicants
should send their applications electronically to:
Email: becassur14@clacso.edu.ar | website: www.clacso.org

Applicants from Asia should send their applications electronically to:
Email: grants@networkideas.org

Applicants from Africa should send their applications electronically to:
Email: research.grants@codesria.sn | website: www.codesria.org
(Please use the subject "South-South Grants 2014" when sending your email).

AFIT Student Scholars Award Competition

8-11 April, 2015 | Marriott Hotel, Portland, Oregon

The Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT) is proud to announce its Tenth Annual AFIT Student Scholars Award Competition.This competition seeks to encourage undergraduate and graduate students to pursue research topics in the field of Evolutionary-Institutional Economics.As a professional association, AFIT “… is devoted to encouraging and fostering the development of institutional thought in extension and modification of the contributions of Thorstein Veblen, John Dewey, Clarence Ayers, John Commons, Wesley Mitchell and others.”Competing researchers are encouraged to submit papers that carry on and further advance this tradition in Evolutionary-Institutional Economics.

Awards will be given to what are selected as the best three student papers drawn from the pool of submissions.Winners are then expected to present their research findings during a special session at the 36 Annual Meeting of AFIT that is scheduled to be held as part of the 57 annual conference of the Western Social Science Association Conference (WSSA) from 8-11 April 2015 at the Marriott Hotel in downtown Portland, Oregon.

Each of the three winners will receive:

In order to be awarded the prize, winning papers need to be presented by the student at the special AFIT session.Acknowledgements will be offered during the AFIT Banquet scheduled for the early evening of Thursday, 09 April 2015.

Application Procedures and Deadlines

To enter into this competition, the person submitting needs to be identifiable as having student status. Submitted papers need to run between 15 and 25 pages (4,000-7,000 words), including references and appendices. An entry into this competition needs to include a title page with the paper’s title, author’s name, educational affiliation, and an email address. Papers should be submitted electronically and preferably as a pdf, and by 01 December 2014.Winners of previous competitions can be found at the AFIT website.

Please send to: Professor John Hall Department of Economics Portland State University P.O. Box 751 Portland, Oregon 97207-0751 USA E-mail: afit.news@gmail.com

Paul Sweezy-Baran Award

This award will support the publication in English of a series of distinguished monographs concerned with the political economy of imperialism. The scope of subject matter will be sufficiently broad as to include work focused primarily on history as well as on theory. All analysis must find its basis in history and empirical research.

The aim is to make available in English important work written in the tradition of Paul M. Sweezy, Paul A. Baran, and Harry Magdoff, broadly conceived. It will apply to writings previously unpublished in English, and will include translations of new work first published in languages other than English.

The selection of manuscripts will be made by the members of the MR Press editorial board, with the assistance of outside readers as appropriate—as in the case of material requiring specialized knowledge, whether of subject matter or a language other than English.

Submissions may be made at any time—there are no deadlines and the editorial committee will make decisions on a rolling basis. We prefer full manuscripts, but will accept a detailed outline, table of contents, and several sample chapters.

Selected works will be published by Monthly Review Press in a highly visible, affordable edition with international distribution and a dedicated marketing campaign.

Authors of unpublished manuscripts in English or any other language who are recipients of the award will receive $5,000. Where the award is granted to books already published in languages other than English, the $5,000 will be applied instead to covering translation costs.

Manuscripts may be emailed to presseditor@monthlyreview.org.

More information is available here.

Journals

The European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies: Intervention, 11 (1)

Forum

Achim Truger and Till van Treeck: ‘The real problem is that when most economists wring their hands about the financial system melting down, what they really mean is the top 1% losing the amazing amount of wealth they’ve doubled since 1979’ - Interview with Michael Hudson

Articles

Hiroaki Sasaki and Shinya Fujita: Pro-shareholder income distribution, debt accumulation, and cyclical fluctuations in a post-Keynesian model with labor supply constraints

Yun K. Kim, Mark Setterfield and Yuan Mei: A theory of aggregate consumption

Philip Arestis and Jesus Ferreiro (Editorial to the Special Issue): Special issue: Micro-foundations of macroeconomics: how important are they?

John S.L. McCombie and Ioana Negru: On economic paradigms, rhetoric and the microfoundations of macroeconomics

Thanos Skouras and Yiannis Kitromilides (free article): The irresistible charm of the microfoundations dogma or the overwhelming force of the discipline’s hard core?

Jagjit S. Chadha: Financial frictions and macroeconomic models: a tour d'horizon

Michelle Baddeley (free article):Rethinking the microfoundations of macroeconomics: insights from behavioural economics

Photis Lysandrou: Post-Keynesian stock-flow models after the subprime crisis: the need for microfoundations

Book Reviews

Elsner, Wolfram (2012): Microeconomics of Interactive Economies, Cheltenham, UK (240 pages, paperback, Edward Elgar) Reviewed by Johannes Weskott

Peter Flaschel, Sigrid Luchtenberg (2012): Roads to Social Capitalism. Theory, Evidence, and Policy, Cheltenham, UK / Northampton, MA (384 pages, hardcover, Edward Elgar) Reviewed by Fritz Helmedag

real-world economics review, 1 (67)

Egmont Kakarot-Handtke: Loanable funds vs. endogenous money: Krugman is wrong, Keen is right

Piet-Hein van Eeghen: Why DSGE analysis cannot accurately model financial-real sector interaction

Asad Zaman: Evaluating the costs of growth

Max Koch: Climate change, carbon trading and societal self-defence

Stuart Birks: Supply and demand models –the impact of framing

John Robinson: Excess capital and the rise of inverted fascism: an historical approach

Norbert Haering: What is the nature of George Soros’ INET?

Oscar Ugarteche: Public debt crises in Latin American and Europe: A comparative analysis

Taddese Mezgebo: Reconciling homo-economicuswith the biological evolution of homo-sapiens

Donald Katzner: Ordinal utility and the traditional theory of consumer demand: response to Barzilai

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 38 (3)

Alan Freeman, Victoria Chick, Sara Kayatekin: Samuelson’s ghosts: Whig history and the reinterpretation of economic theory

Peter J. Boettke, Christopher J. Coyne, Peter T. Leeson: Earw(h)ig: I can’t hear you because your ideas are old

Amiya Kumar Bagchi: Contextual political economy, not Whig economics

Hugh Goodacre: The William Petty problem and the Whig history of economics

Jérôme Blanc and Ludovic Desmedt: In search of a ‘crude fancy of childhood’: deconstructing mercantilism

Serap Ayşe Kayatekin:The relation of morality to political economy in Hume

William Dixon and David Wilson: Political economy and the social disciplines: the modern life of Das Adam Smith Problem

Andrew Kliman: The Whiggish foundations of Marxian and Sraffian economics

Alan Freeman: Schumpeter’s theory of self-restoration: a casualty of Samuelson’s Whig historiography of science

Victoria Chick and Geoff Tily:Whatever happened to Keynes’s monetary theory?

Economy and Society, 43 (1)

Samantha Ashenden & James Brown: Guilt: introduction. p. 1-18.

James Brown: Guilt, spectatorship and The third man. p. 19-39.

Thomas Osborne: Desperate equilibrium: on guilt, law and rationality. p. 40-54.

Samantha Ashenden: The persistence of collective guilt. p. 55-82.

Samantha Ashenden & James Brown: Romantic guilt and identity. p. 83-102.

Chris Thornhill: Guilt and the origins of modern law. p. 103-135.

Barry Curtis & Ellen Patrick: Implicated: a review paper on guilt. p. 136-152.

Historical Materialism, 22 (1)

Elena Louisa Lange: Failed Abstraction – The Problem of Uno Kōzō’s Reading of Marx’s Theory of the Value Form

Gareth Dale: Karl Polanyi in Vienna

Forrest Hylton: The Experience of Defeat

Peter Bratsis: Political Corruption in the Age of Transnational Capitalism

Industrial and Corporate Change, 23 (3)

John Cantwell & Lucia Piscitello: Historical changes in the determinants of the composition of innovative activity in MNC subunits. p. 633--660.

Michael S. Dahl & Olav Sorenson: The who, why, and how of spinoffs. p. 661--688.

Mehdi Kiamehr & Mike Hobday & Ali Kermanshah: Latecomer systems integration capability in complex capital goods: the case of Iran’s electricity generation systems. p. 689--716.

Paolo Neirotti & Emilio Paolucci: Industry and firm effects on IT diffusion processes: firm-level evidence in Italian enterprises. p. 717--757.

Paul Bierly & Scott Gallagher & J.-C. Spender: Innovation decision making in high-risk organizations: A comparison of the US and Soviet attack submarine programs. p. 759--795.

Florencia Barletta & Mariano Pereira & Gabriel Yoguel: Schumpeterian, Keynesian, and Endowment efficiency: some evidence on the export behavior of Argentinian manufacturing firms. p. 797--826.

Hien Thu Tran & Enrico Santarelli: Capital constraints and the performance of entrepreneurial firms in Vietnam. p. 827--864.

Natalia Barbosa & Ana Paula Faria & Vasco Eiriz: Industry- and firm-specific factors of innovation novelty. p. 865--902.

Review of Keynesian Economics, 2 (2)

Jamee K. Moudud and Ipek Ilkkaracan: Editorial Introduction: Labor Markets, Institutions, and the Political Economy of Power: Towards a Reconceptualization of the Policy Framework

Gary Slater and David A. Spencer: Workplace relations, unemployment and finance-dominated capitalism

Kimberly Christensen: ‘Dark as a dungeon’: technological change and government policy in the deunionization of the American coal industry

Gerald Friedman: Workers without employers: shadow corporations and the rise of the gig economy

Fadhel Kaboub and Michael Kelsay: Do prevailing wage laws increase total construction costs?

Lucio Baccaro: Similar structures, different outcomes: corporatism's resilience and transformation (1974–2005)

Duane Swank: The political sources of labor market dualism in post-industrial democracies, 1975–2011

Review of Political Economy, 26 (2)

Engelbert Stockhammer & Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos: Europe in Crisis: Introduction

John Weeks: Euro Crises and Euro Scams: Trade not Debt and Deficits Tell the Tale

Daniela Gabor: Learning from Japan: The European Central Bank and the European Sovereign Debt Crisis

Engelbert Stockhammer & Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos: Rebalancing the Euro Area: The Costs of Internal Devaluation

Nadia Garbellini & Ariel Luis Wirkierman: Pasinetti's ‘Structural Change and Economic Growth’: A Conceptual Excursus

Gilberto Tadeu Lima & Mark Setterfield: The Cost Channel of Monetary Transmission and Stabilization Policy in a Post-Keynesian Macrodynamic Model

Bruno Jossa: Marx, Lenin and the Cooperative Movement

Nicholas M. Trebat & Carlos Aguiar De Medeiros: Military Modernization in Chinese Technical Progress and Industrial Innovation

Review of Social Economy, 72 (2)

Chiara Calabrese, Stefan Mann & Michel Dumondel: Alpine Farming in Switzerland: Discerning a Lifestyle-Driven Labor Supply

Peter-Wim Zuidhof: Thinking Like an Economist: The Neoliberal Politics of the Economics Textbook

John H. Beck, Donald D. Hackney, John Hackney & Matthew Q. McPherson: Regional Differences in Chapter 13 Filings: Southern Legal Culture or Religion?

Andrew Samuel, Fred W. Derrick & Charles Scott: “Fair Trade,” Market Failures, and (the Absence of) Institutions

Wesley Widmaier: From Bretton Woods to the Global Financial Crisis: Popular Politics, Paradigmatic Debates, and the Construction of Crises

Books and Book Series

Social Capital and Economics: Social Values, Power and Social Identity

Edited by John B. Davis and Asimina Christoforou | 2014, Routledge

This volume provides a collection of critical new perspectives on social capital theory by examining how social values, power relationships, and social identity interact with social capital. This book seeks to extend this theory into what have been largely under-investigated domains, and, at the same time, address long-standing, classic questions in the literature concerning the forms, determinants, and consequences of social capital.

Social capital can be understood in terms of social norms and networks. It manifests itself in patterns of trust, reciprocity, and cooperation. The authors argue that the degree to which and the different ways in which people exhibit these distinctively social behaviours depend on how norms and networks elicit their values, reflect power relationships, and draw on their social identities. This volume accordingly adopts a variety of different concepts and measures that incorporate the variety of contextually-specific factors that operate on social capital formation. In addition, it adopts an interdisciplinary outlook that combines a wide range of social science disciplines and methods of social research. Our objective is to challenge standard rationality theory explanations of norms and networks which overlook the role of values, power, and identity.

This volume appeals to researchers and students in multiple social sciences, including economics, sociology, political science, social psychology, history, public policy, and international relations, that employ social capital concepts and methods in their research. It can be seen as a set of new extensions of social capital theory in connection with its themes of social values, power, and identity that would advance the scholarly literature on social norms and networks and their impact on social change and public welfare.

Link to the book.

Advanced Introduction To The Austrian School Of Economics

By Randall G. Holcombe | 2014, Edward Elgar

Erudite, accessible and lucidly written, this book provides both a stimulating introduction and excellent summary of the core principles, ideas and diversity of modern Austrian economics. The Austrian school was well within the mainstream of economic thought by the 1930s, but fell from prominence by the middle of the twentieth century. There was a renewed interest in the Austrian school’s ideas beginning in the 1970s which has accelerated recently, but many economists do not have a good understanding about the distinguishing values and characteristics that set it apart. This volume is aimed at readers who already have a familiarity with economic analysis, but would like to know more about the distinct philosophies of the Austrian school. The book succinctly but thoroughly covers all the major issues including:

Link to the book.

Cosmopolitan Government in Europe: Citizens and Entrepreneurs in Postnational Politics

By Owen Parker | 2012, Routledge

The invocation of ‘the market’ has been omnipresent in media discussions of ‘crisis Europe’. On the one hand, ‘the market’ is presented as that to which EU member states must collectively respond. It is the very purpose of a post-national government and that which dictates individual and collective identities. The expansion of market is that which guarantees and constitutes peace in Europe. On the other hand, ‘the market’ is that which government must seek to tame. It is the servant of government and ought not be permitted to undermine collective identities and solidarities associated with the juridical imaginary of social contract and sovereign nation-state. It is, from this perspective, the expansion of the social institutions of nation-state into the post-national arena that will constitute a lasting peace in Europe.

Cosmopolitan Government in Europe uses a Foucauldian lens to consider the ethics of the scholarly and institutional discourses associated with these apparently divergent market and legal cosmopolitan visions of Europe. It reflects on attempts to reconcile or move beyond these discourses, particularly through the invocation of more pluralist modes of governance, but claims that such moves have been largely unsuccessful in both practice and theory. It argues that the very ambiguity in the relationship between the ideal subjects that these market and legal visions promote – respectively, post-national ‘entrepreneur’ and ‘citizen’ – is that which permits a space for resistance and politics. Thus, the book argues for a pragmatic politics which is cognizant of the violent potential inherent in any cosmopolitan attempt to govern Europe, while recognising the contemporary dangers associated with the dominance of a market cosmopolitan Europe.

This work is an important and timely intervention in contemporary debates about democratic Europe and its shortcomings and will be of great interest to scholars of international political theory, European studies and international political economy.

Link to the book.

Digital Labour and Karl Marx + lottery

By Christian Fuchs | 2014, Routledge

How is labour changing in the age of computers, the Internet, and “social media” such as Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter? In Digital Labour and Karl Marx, Christian Fuchs attempts to answer that question, crafting a systematic critical theorisation of labour as performed in the capitalist ICT industry. Relying on a range of global case studies – from unpaid social media prosumers or Chinese hardware assemblers at Foxconn to miners in the Democratic Republic of Congo – Fuchs sheds light on the labour costs of digital media, examining the way ICT corporations exploit human labour and the impact of this exploitation on the lives, bodies, and minds of workers.

Link to the book.

Participate in the journal tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique (http://www.triple-c.at)’s Karl Marx-lottery and win one of 6 copies of the book (see the instructions at the end of this e-mail)

How is labour changing in the age of computers, the Internet, and “social media” such as Facebook, Google, YouTube and Twitter? In Digital Labour and Karl Marx, Christian Fuchs attempts to answer that question, crafting a systematic critical theorisation of labour as performed in the capitalist ICT industry. The book ''Digital Labour and Karl Marx'' shows that labour, class and exploitation are not concepts of the past, but are at the heart of computing and the Internet in capitalist society. It argues that we therefore need an engagement with Karl Marx’s theory to understand digital and social media today.

The work argues that our use of digital media is grounded in old and new forms of exploited labour. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Weibo and other social media platforms are the largest advertising agencies in the world. They do not sell communication, but advertising space. And for doing so, they exploit users, who work without payment for social media companies and produce data that is used for targeting advertisements. The book presents case studies that show that users’ activities on corporate social media is just one form of digital labour. Their usage is enabled by the labour of slaves and other highly exploited workers extracting minerals in developing countries, hardware assemblers in China, California and other parts of the world who face extremely hard working conditions that remind us of the industrial labour that Karl Marx described in 19th century Britain, low paid software engineers and information service workers in developing countries who provide labour for transnational ICT companies in the West, highly paid and highly stressed software engineers at Google and other Western ICT companies, or e-waste workers who disassemble computers under toxic conditions.

The case studies in Fuchs’ book show that the profitability of ICT companies is built on the lives and deaths of a global class of exploited workers whose labour is anonymously connected an international division of digital labour. Christian Fuchs, ''Production and use of digital media are embedded into multiple forms of exploitation. The information society is first and foremost a capitalist class society. The only solution is that we become conscious as a new working class and find ways to overcome the realities of exploitation''.

Participate in the journal tripleC’s (http://www.triple-c.at) Karl Marx-lottery and potentially win one of 6 copies of “Digital Labour and Karl Marx”: send the 2 answer of the following 2 questions, your name and postal address to office@triple-c.at
How often can the term “means of communication” be found in a) Marx’s “Capital, Volume 1” (excluding the index, the editor’s and translator’s introductions, as well as excluding the “Results of the Immediate Process of Production” included in some editions; including footnotes) and b) Marx’s “Grundrisse” (including the table of contents and footnotes; excluding the index, editor’s or translator’s introductions, including footnotes)
Closing date: Thursday, May 15. 18:00 BST
The winners will be drawn among the correct answers. If less than 6 sent-in answers are correct, then those answers whose guess is closest will be considered.

Economic Growth In An Open Developing Economy: The Role of Structure and Demand

By A.P. Thirlwall | 2014, Edward Elgar

Orthodox growth theory continues to work with ‘one-good’ models and to treat factor supplies as exogenously given, independent of demand. Orthodox trade theory still ignores the balance of payments consequences of different patterns of trade specialisation when assessing the welfare effects of trade. This concise yet insightful sequel to the highly acclaimed The Nature of Economic Growth, presents theory and up-to-date empirical evidence that factors of production and productivity growth are endogenous to demand, and that the structure of production and trade matter for the long-run growth performance of countries.

Link to the book.

Global Political Economy and the Modern State System

By Tobias ten Brink |2014, Brill

In Global Political Economy and the Modern State System Tobias ten Brink contributes to an understanding of the modern state system, its conflicts, and its transformation. In contrast to the political attractiveness of optimistic theoretical approaches to globalisation, this book demonstrates how an analytical approach rooted in Global Political Economy (GPE) helps to explain both the tendencies towards integration and towards rivalry in international relations. By way of a historical reconstruction of different ‘world order’ phases in the twentieth century, ten Brink analyses multiple, phase-specific variations of socioeconomic and geopolitical conflicts that are significant for the modern capitalist world system.

Link to the book.

Modern Monetary Policy And Central Bank Governance

Edited by Sylvester Eijffinger and Donato Masciandaro | 2014, Edward Elgar

There has been a recent evolution in the relationship between modern monetary policy and central banking, visible in the now merged study of public economic choices made every day and the features of monetary architectures and institutions. Though previously separate focuses, these are now accepted by academic scholars and policymakers to be two critical areas that are intrinsically linked.

Link to the book.

The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism

By John Bellamy Foster | 2014, MR Press

In 1966, Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy published Monopoly Capital, a monumental work of economic theory and social criticism that sought to reveal the basic nature of the capitalism of their time. Their theory, and its continuing elaboration by Sweezy, Harry Magdoff, and others in Monthly Review magazine, influenced generations of radical and heterodox economists. They recognized that Marx’s work was unfinished and itself historically conditioned, and that any attempt to understand capitalism as an evolving phenomenon needed to take changing conditions into account. Having observed the rise of giant monopolistic (or oligopolistic) firms in the twentieth century, they put monopoly capital at the center of their analysis, arguing that the rising surplus such firms accumulated—as a result of their pricing power, massive sales efforts, and other factors—could not be profitably invested back into the economy. Absent any “epoch making innovations” like the automobile or vast new increases in military spending, the result was a general trend toward economic stagnation—a condition that persists, and is increasingly apparent, to this day. Their analysis was also extended to issues of imperialism, or “accumulation on a world scale,” overlapping with the path-breaking work of Samir Amin in particular.

Link to the book.

Wage-Led Growth

Edited by Marc Lavoie and Engelbert Stockhammer | 2014, MacMillan

Wage-Led Growth examines the causes and consequences associated with the falling wage share and rising inequality in income distribution, relating to both aggregate demand and labour productivity. It presents new empirical and econometric evidence regarding the economic causes and potential impact of changing income distribution. The volume also analyses the policy implications and strategies for a wage-led recovery that would alleviate the global problems associated with the rising household debt needed to sustain consumption expenditures and with new mercantilist policies based on wage moderation. In turn, it provides an overarching framework that will prove invaluable to present and future researchers and policy-makers.

Link to the book.

Book Reviews

Austerity: The History of A Dangerous Idea by Mark Blyth

Austerity: The History of A Dangerous Idea, by Mark Blyth. New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-19-982830-2; 288 pages.

Reviewed by Hans G. Despain, Nichols College

The full review of the book is available here.

End This Depression Now by Paul Krugman

End this Depression Now! by Paul Krugman. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2013. ISBN: 978-0-393-34508-7; 259 pages.

Reviewed by Luis Reyes, Centre d’Economie Paris Nord, Paris 13 University

The full review of the book "End This Depression Now" by Paul Krugman is available here.

The Price Of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz

The Price Of Inequality, by Joseph Stiglitz. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2012. ISBN: 978-0-393-08869-4; 414 pages.

Reviewed by Alexander Binder, University of Missouri-Kansas City

The full review of the book is available here.

Heterodox Graduate Programs, Scholarships and Grants

Erasmus mundus Master's course

Economic Policies in the age of Globalisation (EPOG)

DEADLINE: 10th of June 2014

The University Paris 13 offers the opportunity to join the 2nd year of the Erasmus Mundus Master’s course (semester 3 and semester 4). The students selected in the programme will take the same courses than the Erasmus Mundus students and benefit from the same educational support and supervision.

Three tracks are proposed within this programme:

Each track corresponds to a specific expertise. However, one of the originality of the programmes relies on the organisation of common courses and seminars for the whole cohort, as well as joint projects involving together students from the different tracks. This curriculum structure gives students a global understanding of economic policies and their interactions.

A student willing to be enrolled in the Master Course only for the second year will not be officially an Erasmus Mundus student but will benefit from being integrated in the same highly selected cohort than the Erasmus Mundus students coming from four prestigious universities, which offer excellent, recognised and well established Master’s courses: Università degli studi di Torino (Italy), Berlin School of Economics and Law (Germany), Kingston University (United Kingdom), University of the Witwatersrand (Wits) (South Africa). It will benefit from an intensive tutoring all along the year.
Some students will also have the opportunity to spend part of the Master abroad, in particular at University of Turin (Italy), Seoul National University (South Korea), Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) or University of Massachusetts – Amherst (USA).

Duration: 1 year (september-August)

Instruction languages: the main instruction languages will be English and French. However, students who want to study only in English will have this possibility.

Tuition fees: In France, the tuition costs are highly subsidised. Even if the real cost is about 30000 euros/year, the student will have to pay the legal tuition fees (about 250 euros / year).

More details and applications are available here.

MPhil/PhD Studentship in Economics at Greenwich University

Title: MPhil/PhD Scholarship Studentship in Economics - “The role of gender equality in a sustainable development strategy” at the Business School, Greenwich Campus

Ref: VCS-BUS-09-14

Description:

The successful candidate is expected to work as a PhD Student on a Research Project titled “The role of gender equality in a sustainable development strategy” under the supervision of Professor Ozlem Onaran. The aim of this research proposal is to analyse the impact of gender equality on growth, and make both a theoretical and an empirical contribution to “engendering” macroeconomics. In doing so we aim at filling an important gap in the research by bridging issues of gender equality with the broader concerns of growth, job creation, and sustainable development. Demand-led growth models in the heterodox/Keynesian tradition have for long emphasized the importance of income distribution and aggregate demand and in particular wages as a source of demand to stimulate growth. The aim of this proposal is to determine the various channels through which gender equality can influence the link between income distribution and growth. In particular the research will contribute to the theoretical models of demand-led growth and using econometric methods test the empirical relevance of these theoretical models by i) testing the link between gender equality and higher wage share; ii) integrating supply side channels via the effects of gender equality on productivity and labour supply in the growth models. The focus will be on selected European countries.

Heterodox approaches are welcome. Applicants with familiarity with econometric research methods and gender economics will have a priority.

The successful candidate will receive a £13,863 bursary (years 2 and 3 linked to RCUK Doctoral Stipend rate). Tuition fees will be waived for three years up to a maximum amount equivalent to the university’s home/EU tuition fee for a full-time MPhil/PhD student. International applicants will need to pay the remainder tuition fee of £7,279 for the 2014/15 session and is subject to an annual increase. International scholars must pay the difference between the international and home/EU tuition fees. Scholarships are available for three years from the date scholars first register as an MPhil/PhD student with the university. Scholarships are available for full-time study only. Applicants must hold a Master’s degree (UK or UK equivalent) or a First Class or Upper Second Class Honours Bachelor’s in a relevant discipline.

For additional information about the studentship and links to the application form please go here. Please read this information before making an application. Information on the application process is available here. Applications need to be made online via the link above. No other form of application will be considered.

All applications must include the following information. Applications not containing these documents will not be considered.

Attachments should be in PDF format.

The closing date for applications is midnight (UTC) on Tuesday 24 June 2014

For further information please contact the supervisor: Professor Ozlem Onaran, o.onaran@gre.ac.uk.

Newsletters

Global Development And Environment Institute

Timothy A. Wise: Monsanto Meets its Match in the Birthplace of Maize

Timothy A. Wise: Mexico and Monsanto: Taking precaution in the face of genetic contamination

The Impact of the TPP: Analysis from GDAE and Triple Crisis bloggers

Link to the full newsletter is available here.

Global Labour Column

Karin Astrid Siegmann, Jeroen Merk and Peter Knorringa: Putting Workers Agency at the Centre in the Indonesian Sportswear Industry

World Economics Association Newsletter, 4 (2)

Topics:

Link to the current issue is available here.

For Your Information

Free Archival Material on the History of Economic Thought and Economic History

Fred Lee has recently added new material to his web site that might interest heterodox economists: http://heterodoxnews.com/leefs

Professor Frederic S. Lee AFEE President-Elect