Issue 181 June 01, 2015 web pdf Heterodox Economics Directory
This issue of the Newsletter includes a series of rather hasty call for papers, job postings and grant opportunities. On top of the respective list-of-hasty-pieces is surely 1st international Post-Keynesian conference in Grenoble with the deadline for submissions ending today. So scrutinize this issue immediately to be prepared for all upcoming events and deadlines;-)
On the other hand, I have been told that some of our readers, who have not (yet) submitted to the natural hastiness prevailing in times of a global neoliberal (re-)organization of academia, still have the time to read books. These readers might be interest to know that the World Economics Association (WEA), the world's biggest get-together of critical, pluralist and/or heterodox economists of various sorts, has put out its own book series aiming to provide introductions to topics of main or casual interest to heterodox economists. This undertaking looks like an interesting and worthwhile project deserving closer inspection. Hence, the next issues of the Newsletter will regularly include some of the WEA-titles in its section on books and book series. Having said that, I should also add that submission to the section on books and book series are always welcome. Simply send us an email or use or the Newsletter submission device.
Finally, I have noted that the confusion in mainstream economics regarding the question what constitutes "scientific progress" has reached a new peak, which is exemplified by a popular piece on "mathiness" in economic research authored by Paul Romer (here is the paper from AER-Proceedings-issue, from which I quote in what follows, as well as a link to his blog). Based on a basic intuition that something about the usage of mathematics in economics is dubious Romer invokes the idea that "science" - just like group think - is defined as "a process that does lead to shared consensus" (which is true nowadays for core statements in the natural sciences, but wrong for the edge of research and utterly wrong if you look at the history of natural science, not even to speak of the social sciences). In his tale on mathiness Romer identifies two camps: one of these camps is really "engaged in science" and it contains archetypes of academic credibility and scientific honesty like Robert Solow, Gary Becker and (of course) Paul Romer. On the other hand, Romer identifies a competing camp consisting of academic evil-doers, who aim for promoting "academic politics" by employing "mathiness" as means to "masquerade [politics] as science". Scholars as diverse as Ed Prescott, Robert Lucas, Thomas Piketty and Joan Robinson are on this team (Gary Becker, who liked to justify the death penalty with recurse to rational choice theory and a set of econometric estimations has already been chosen for the other team; what a pity!).
The truth about Romer's take on economics is that controversial debate in mainstream macro nowadays is really often ad-hoc and driven by ideological preferences explicated by different variations of some set of mainstream workhorse-models. The dashingly absurd thing about this piece is that it actually locates paradigmatic division in economics within a Manichean fairy-tale-style dichotomy, which is, incidentally, in exact accordance with Paul Romer's personal evaluation of contributions and, accidentally, also provides a clear division between the white knights of the profession and its black sheep. His implicit suggestion is to purge the latter by "flushing mathiness out into the open", which practically amounts to further narrowing mainstream economics. My take is that this paper is not an example for internal criticism within the mainstream. Rather, it should be seen as a double confession, proving not only a conformist fundamentalism within the profession, which substitutes any serious engagement with pluralism as an epistemological concept, but also the specific desire of the paper's author to reside in the focal point of his suggested theoretical convergence.
Best,
Jakob
© public domain
5-6 November, 2015 | Gothenburg, Sweden
The Joint Nordic Conference on Development Research will be organized by the School of Global Studies (SGS), University of Gothenburg, at the Conference Center Wallenberg.
The general purpose of the conference is to bring together researchers and practitioners from the Nordic countries and beyond to debate and rethink contemporary issues in development research and policy.
This year’s conference theme is "A Changing Global Development Agenda?"
The conference is jointly hosted by the SGS and the associations for development research in Denmark (FAU), Finland (FSDR) and Norway (NFU). Like the previous Joint Nordic conferences in Copenhagen (2011) and Helsinki (2013), plenary keynotes and roundtoubles will be combined with a number of parallell panels in organized working groups.
A call for paper proposals is available here.
A list of accepted working groups is available here.
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Working group 16: "World(s) of work: changing labour relations in global development and development studies"
Against the backdrop of the global economic crisis, major international institutions have recently (re-)discovered the world of work as a key arena for development. For instance, the World Bank assigned ‘jobs’ an elementary role in achieving poverty reduction, economic growth and social cohesion. Amidst persisting and even rising levels of unemployment, particularly among youth, the International Labour Organization’s warning of a jobless economic recovery received widespread attention and its Decent Work Agenda gained recognition as an antidote to the ruthless and exploitative side of economic globalization. As a key aspect of ‘inclusive and sustainable economic growth’ the United Nations have put ‘full and productive employment and decent work for all’ high on the post-MDG agenda. Also, the 2015 G7 summit declares ‘decent work in global value chains’ one of the key topics for its consultations.
The aim of this working group is to better understand the nature of this international agenda and its significance for labour relations. Specifically, we invite contributions which investigate current conceptions and practices of work-centred development in the context of the globalized market economy. Both theoretical and empirical papers are welcome. Possible questions include (but are not limited to):
Working group convenors: Christian Scheper, University of Duisburg-Essen and Ilona Steiler, University of Helsinki
Submission of paper proposals/abstracts:
For inquiries:
E-mail: nordev15@globalstudies.gu.se; Gustav Aldén Rudd +46 (0)317864868; or visit the conference website.
6-9 January, 2016 | Nürtingen-Geislingen University, Germany
On behalf of the 15th International Business and Economy Conference (IBEC) we invite you to submit either an Extended Abstract or a Completed Manuscript of research papers or teaching case studies for presentation at the conference.
Topics
IBEC 2016 encourages, but does not limit, submissions related to the cross-discipline theme of “Sustainability in Business and Economics”.The topics for IBEC include, but are not limited to: international business environment, marketing strategies, international strategy, import/export management, world markets and global competition, organizational be-havior management, management philosophy, health management issues, human resources strategies, manage-ment of education, expatriate management, business education, international entry strategies, transfer of tech-nology / knowledge, cross-cultural consumer behavior, international logistics, information systems, operations management, international finance, international accounting, intercultural management, trade policy, and FDI policy.
Both, practitioners and scholars, are encouraged to submit company case studies.
Complete submission information and forms are available at the conference website and a detailed CfP is available here (pdf).
The early submission deadline is August 1, 2015 and the regular submission deadline is September 15, 2015 (early submissions may benefit authors requiring early decision notification for funding or visa purposes).
IBEC 2016 sponsoring institutions: Nürtingen-Geislingen University, Germany. Hagan School of Business, Iona College, New Rochelle, NY, USA.The College of Business, and US-Korea Business Institute, San Francisco State University, USA.School of Business and Economics, Universidad Panamericana, Campus Guadalajara, México.CIBER, University of Connecticut, USA. The College of Business, Tennessee State University, USA. Kreissparkase Esslingen, Nürtingen, Germany.
Contact:
If you have any question please contact Aleksandr V. Gevorkyan (avgevorkyan@yahoo.com)
10-12 December, 2015 | Grenoble, France
Urgent Note: The Deadline for Abstracts is today!
Organised by: Centre de Recherche en Économie de Grenoble (CREG), Grenoble Faculty of Economics, University Grenoble Alpes and the Review of Keynesian Economics (ROKE)
The global financial crisis, which began in 2007-2008, showed how the financialization of capitalism contributed to the emergence of a new regime of accumulation and how this new regime was ultimately unsustainable. The rise of financial instability, the failure of conventional monetary policies, currency wars, the rise of global imbalances, the development of alternative monies, and persistently high unemployment are all indicative of a system in crisis.
After several decades of intense, if not partisan, academic work, as well as the implementation of neoliberal policies around the world, the ongoing crisis has cast doubt upon the relevance of mainstream economic theories and models. The crisis calls for renewed economic analyses and the implementation of economic policies consistent with full employment, sustained economic growth and financial stability. The challenge is two-faceted in nature, one political and one analytical – a challenging task in a complex world.
However, along with this difficult economic context comes a list of new problems: social vulnerabilities, damaged social links and a harmful environment – all detrimental to the viability of society. And mainstream policies seem unable to give consistent answers to those social matters. Finally, the growing gap between citizens, and politics and economics is often understood as a lack of interest in social concerns and democratic projects. Building alternative policies may imply reconsidering the role of the State and money as a social link within a monetary economy of production.
The aim of this conference is to encourage an open exchange and dialogue among different approaches and economic paradigms, rooted in the historical tradition of the critical analysis of capitalism. Among its objectives is to understand and explain how and why money and monetary relations matter for the functioning of a system; and how these relations play a vital and essential social link with respect to economic policies, productive structures and social structures in a broader sense.
This conference thus fits within a post-Keynesian theoretical and epistemological framework, but it is fundamentally open to contributions from other heterodox approaches (such as evolutionary, institutionalist, regulationist, Marxist and social and humanistic economics) and from other social sciences (sociology, history, political science, philosophy and anthropology). It is organized to bring together researchers from different backgrounds to conduct an original reflection on the links among money, crises and capitalism from a pluridisciplinary perspective.
We encourage contributions on the following themes, although other themes are welcomed:
Important Dates:
Submissions of Abstract Proposals should be sent to CONFERENCE.GRENOBLE@YAHOO.COM
More information about the conference is available here (pdf).
14-16 October, 2015 | Mexico City
The annual conference of the Latin American Society of Political Economy and Critical Thought (SEPLA) will take place in Mexico City, in commemoration of the 10 anniversary of the foundation of the society in this same city.
The aim of the conference is to debate about the main problems that are currently facing the Latin American Countries and, on the basis of a decade of operation as a regional organization of critical economists, evaluate the contributions and challenges of the Latin American Political Economy from an inter- and multidisciplinary perspective.
After over two decades of the imposition of the neoliberal project in Latin America with devastating consequences to our people, the 2000 decade implied great transformations in the political and economic context as a result of the empowering of the social movements of resistance. In most of the region’s countries, governments had to take into account this new correlation of forces, though with a significant heterogeneity in the alternative policies implemented: from economic programs barely social-democrat (Honduras, Guatemala, Paraguay, El Salvador), through neo-developmentalist policies (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Nicaragua), right up to anti-imperialist and pro-socialist programs (Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador and, of course, Cuba).
The political change in the Latin American countries boosted progressive and poverty reduction policies by means of several combinations of real wage expansion and social programs of redistribution and employment, with substantial success both in terms of economic growth and, foremost, distributive equality and justice. Also, significant achievements have been made, in some cases, to complement formal democracy with participatory forms of popular representation. Lastly, the ambitions of regional integration and expansion of the neoliberal project leaded by the United States were halted and, alternatively, the foundations for projects of regional integration based on solidary international cooperation (ALBA, Sucre, CELAC, Unasur) were laid out.
No doubt, the favorable international economic and political context contributed to these positive performances. The high relative prices of export commodities benefitted the trade balances of a wide range of countries. Politically, the vast political and military involvement of the United States in other world regions implied a relief in its imperialist interference in Latin America.
This set of tendencies has faced several challenges, limitations and contradictions. Among others are noteworthy the intensification of the extractivist and neo-extractivist character of the economies of the region, the primarization propensities that limit the possibilities to industrialize and impairs foreign trade, the scarce formalization of the employment, the low levels of the wage share in the national income, the detrimental weight of the transnational companies in the productive structure and the enforcement of their own necessities of accumulation, the export of vast capital flows to the central countries, the conditioning role of the local bourgeoisies in the processes of change, the limited scope of the state participation in production, and the even bigger limits to the popular participation in the administration of the existing public companies. The ambiguities about the popular and classist nature of some governments has posed several dilemma to the working class and its organizations. The existence of regional integration projects based on free trade and the political subordination to the north are still barriers that shape the political agenda, as it is evidenced in the Pacific Alliance.
The 2010 decade has also engendered challenges and hindrances to the continuity of the political and economic trajectory of Latin America. On the one hand, the world structural crises changed the international context and also hit, though to a lesser extent, to the Latin American countries involved in the processes of transformation. On the other hand, the enduring attempts of political destabilization and coups have acquired a greater impact and strength as a consequence of the wear of the economic and political programs implemented, as well as of the renewed imperialist intervention leaded by the United States. Meanwhile, the positive economic context founded on favorable terms of trade has come to its end.
Consequently, the difficulties and challenges being faced by the Latin American countries are numerous. First, the aforementioned counterattack of the political opposition, the imperialist assault and the less favorable economic context. Moreover, an examination of the limits of the anti-neoliberal and/or anti-capitalist policies on a national basis is crucial. Secondly, the tendencies to the bureaucratization of the state sectors in charge of the implementation of the alternative economic policies, and the necessity of a major role and power of the worker’s and the broad social movement’s organizations in the generation and observation of the public policies, as well as an impulse to the collective forms of property, have become evident. Lastly, the limited nature of the implementation of economic policies on a national state basis urges the necessity to reinforce the processes of solidary regional integration in order to transcend the national borders.
Call for papers to the 10anniversary
SEPLA Conference for researchers, professors, students and intellectuals. Papers will be accepted in Spanish and Portuguese
Contact: encuentrosepla2015@gmail.com
Webpage: http://encuentrosepla2015.wix.com/ppal
Deadline for abstracts: June 15, 2015
10-11 December 2015 | University of Warwick, UK
Organiser: University of Warwick in collaboration with the Queen Mary University of London, with support from the Warwick IPE Cluster, the Rethinking the Market ESRC Project and QMUL.
Raced Markets: An Interdisciplinary Workshop on the International Political Economy of Race and Racialisation
Critical IPE scholars have built up an admirable body of work around the productions and functions of gender and class within the global political economy, and yet the discipline has been much less attentive to the productions and economic functions of race.
Race, gender, and class come into being in relation to one another, and in relation to structures and processes of impoverishment and marginality in the political economy; but race has also been implicated in processes of “de-linking” and community-/self-empowerment. This workshop is intended as a disciplinary intervention, in part to explore and assess the ways in which race is foundationally implicated in the study of political economy. It also aims to draw together research on racial economies from diverse empirical sites and intellectual traditions in order to more centrally position race and racialisation as focal points of critical scholarship in IPE.
Suggested paper themes include but are in no way limited to the following:
Researchers working within the fields of International Political Economy, International Relations, Finance, Law, Ethics, Economic History, Critical Geography, Anthropology, Urban Studies, Sociology, Business Studies and any other relevant field are encouraged to present papers.
Please forward abstracts and queries to Dr Robbie Shilliam and Lisa Tilley at racedmarkets@gmail.com
Deadline for Abstracts: 31 August 2015
We hope to draw contributions together into a special issue after the event.
10-11 December, 2015 | London, UK
Hosted by The Bank of England
Credit market dynamics have increasingly influenced macroeconomic developments in recent years. Notably, since the start of the recent Great Recession, credit markets have been a major source of macroeconomic disturbances as well as being important in the transmission of shocks originating elsewhere.
Given the likely fundamental changes that credit dynamics has seen in relation to the macroeconomy in recent years, a reassessment of the theoretical and empirical modelling of the links between credit and macroeconomic variables is warranted. This conference will bring together policymakers and academics interested in these issues. We welcome submissions of theoretical and empirical papers on the topic, particularly those that focus on the following issues:
Participation as keynote speakers has been confirmed by:
We welcome submissions of suitably related theoretical and empirical work, especially using UK or Euro Area data.
Please email your paper and the application form included in the attached call for papers to Nadine Clarke at nclarke@cepr.org.
Authors of successful submissions and accepted participants will be notified by 14 September 2015 at the latest.
The deadline for applying is 14 August 2015. More information is available on the conference website.
25-27 September 2015 | University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Deadline Extension: June 21, 2015
From the Thirty Years’ Crisis to Multi-polarity: The Evolution of the Geopolitical Economy of the 21st Century World
The centenary of the outbreak of the First World War was marked in Canada and around the world in 2014. 2014 also marked the centenary of the opening of what noted historian, Arno Mayer, called the ‘Thirty Years’ Crisis’ of 1914-1945, spanning the First World War, the Great Depression and the Second World War. This long crisis birthed a new world. The old world of the nineteenth century expansion of the empires of industrial capitalist countries, often mistakenly termed ‘liberal’, met its end. It gave way to an inter-nationalone populated by a variety of welfare, Communist and developmental orders innationaleconomies whose states had, moreover, greater legitimacy among newly enfranchised women and men than the imperial and colonial regimes they replaced. The Thirty Years crisis also radically redistributed economic, political, military and cultural power within countries and among them. Critical cultural and intellectual changes – new movements in art, new media, and new paradigms of understanding, particularly in economics, inevitably accompanied these historic shifts.
As we stand at the cusp of another wave of complex changes to the world order, this time towards multi-polarity, our conference aims to understand the major changes of the past century better than hitherto dominant paradigms, such as neo-classical economics, globalization and empire, have so far done and to bring that re-assessment to bear on how best to understand problems of and prospects for the world order of the 21century.
We invite submissions for papers, panels and steams of panels relevant to any aspect of the overarching conference theme from scholars across the humanities, social sciences and in inter-disciplinary studies based in Canada and around the world. Heterodox and critical scholarship is particularly encouraged. A preliminary and non-exhaustive list of themes includes:
The conference will inaugurate the Geopolitical Economy Research Group at the University of Manitoba and will bring together scholars connected with its network of supporting research centres and academic departments the world over.
Abstracts should be 300 to 400 words. They should be single spaced and use 12 point Times New Roman font. They should include the author or authors’ full name, affiliation, a brief biography, and e-mail address. Please send the abstracts to: contact@gergconference.ca
Confirmed Keynote Speakers:
29 October 2015 | Goldsmiths College, New Cross, UK
Corporate care: Migrant labour and the care industry in times of (non) crisis
Though unsurprisingly hitting the low-income and unemployed harder than ever, the 2007-2011 Global Economic Crisis and subsequent politics of austerity have also revealed the emergence of new and unexpected trends in the West: in the immediate aftermath of the crisis, both non-migrant and migrant women in numerous Western countries were less affected than men in terms of jobs losses, though their working conditions might have not improved. Subsequent austerity policies, on the other hand, seem to have disadvantaged women in terms of working conditions, though they also appear to have reinforced their commitment to paid work (Karamessini and Rubery, ed., 2013; Farris, 2015).
The intertwined fate of non-migrant and migrant women during and after the crisis is due to their position vis-à-vis care, or social reproduction. The assumption that care is a “woman’s job” remains firmly in place, while public state care provision continues to shrink. But while non-migrant women’s rate of participation in the workforce means that they do less unpaid care work in comparison to previous periods, migrant women from ‘post-socialist’ countries and the Global South take on the bulk of the social reproductive tasks in paid form in the booming care industry.
But what is the care industry? How did the crisis change its configuration?
Studies conducted across Europe and the West in the last ten years show that the care industry was not negatively affected by the crisis. On the contrary, the demand for care and domestic service has grown rather than decreased. Moreover, a process of polarization appears to be impacting upon migrant workers employed in the care industry: on the one hand, a proliferation of domestic and care placement agencies as well as so-called ‘non-profit’ organisations (particularly in Southern Europe) is increasingly meeting the growing demand for carers and housekeepers by individual households. Effectively functioning as corporations, many of these organisations are making enormous profits out of mediating for, or directly exploiting, the hugely needed work of migrants in the care sector. On the other hand, anti-immigration policies at the national level and the refusal of numerous states to issue visas for care and domestic workers (particularly during the first years of the crisis) have pushed migrants working in this sector into the underground. But rather than being discouraged to employ migrants, more and more families in fact rely upon “word of mouth” to hire them as carers and housekeepers, as they remain the most cost-effective solution for their caring needs. Yet even in the underground, illegal agencies and organisations profiting from this flourishing industry begin to emerge.
With the crisis and austerity politics in the background, this one day conference aims to analyse this new set of dynamics by focusing upon the care industry, the emergence of corporate care and (female) migrant labour in particular.
While the employment of migrant women in the care industry has been widely studied, the impact of the recent crisis and austerity politics on female migrant labour in the care sector and the boom of care placement agencies has remained largely underscrutinized.
This conference thus aims to fill a gap in this field of studies by seeking papers that address the following questions in particular:
Abstracts should be 300 words long and clearly state the question they address. Preference will be given to papers that seek to combine theoretical and empirical work.
Please send abstracts and any inquiries to s.farris@gold.ac.uk
Deadline: June 12, 2015
26–27 November, 2015 | Berlin, Germany
The Institute of Economic and Social Research (WSI) is an independent academic institute within the Hans-Böckler-Foundation, a non-profit organisation fostering co-determination and promoting research and academic study on behalf of the German Confederation of Trade Unions (DGB).
The hardening social inequality in Germany has many faces. Its most evident manifes- tation is the unequal distribution of income and wealth. On the labour market, we ob- serve a growing proportion of atypical and precarious employment; the erosion of standard employment relationships continues - with problematic consequences for so- cial security. Inequality and the fear of social exclusion are undermining political stability and endangering democratic participation. This year’s WSI-Herbstforum aims to carry out a critical assessment and pursue the question of how public policy can counter this developments. Which redistributive measures are necessary to contain the growing divisions? Which welfare state policies can stop living conditions drifting further apart? How can political actors handle the uncertainty at the centre of society that is spreading as a result of these developments? And how does the situation in Germany fit into the broader European picture?
Contributions to the following panels are particularly welcomed:
Panel: Inequality of income and wealth
Since the financial crisis, labour market developments are drifting apart amongst Euro- pean states: inequality amongst EU member states is growing. Germany belongs to those countries that have managed the crisis relatively well. Despite positive develop- ments on the German labour market, specific groups such as immigrants are disadvan- taged and suffer from social hardship. Moreover, the segmentation of the labour market is increasing. In particular, the high proportion of atypical and frequently precarious em- ployment relationships has contributed to a deepening of social inequality and perma- nent long-term unemployment. In the panel, the question takes centre stage how in- creasing inequality on the labour market can be countered.
Panel: Divisions on the labour market
Since the financial crisis, labour market developments are drifting apart amongst Euro- pean states: inequality amongst EU member states is growing. Germany belongs to those countries that have managed the crisis relatively well. Despite positive develop- ments on the German labour market, specific groups such as immigrants are disadvan- taged and suffer from social hardship. Moreover, the segmentation of the labour market is increasing. In particular, the high proportion of atypical and frequently precarious em- ployment relationships has contributed to a deepening of social inequality and perma- nent long-term unemployment. In the panel, the question takes centre stage how in- creasing inequality on the labour market can be countered.
Panel: Combating social inequality: international experiences
Social inequality has to be combated in many different policy fields, for example in the area of vocational training, where equality of opportunities has not yet been realized. In addition, the equal pay levels for men and women and the question of fair financial pro- visions for the elderly are on-going demands. Which positive international experiences in reducing inequality in the different policy areas exist? Can these successful models be transferred to Germany?
Panel: Imbalances in social security
Systems of social security can reduce inequality, but they can also contribute to it. When there is a close link between labour market and social benefits and when there is a situation of distortions on the labour market, inequality within the system of social security is especially likely. Against this background, the panel examines the question of how far welfare state reforms and societal developments in recent decades have con- tributed to an increase in poverty and inequality in Germany and which gender-specific effects these developments have. The panel focuses on the public system of social security. Trends towards a shift of social security to companies, as well as collective bargaining policies and their consequences are also addressed.
Panel: Political implications of inequality and the fear of social exclusion
Declining voter turnouts, changes in the party systems and the emergence of new social protest movements are phenomena that are linked to growing social inequality. This panel examines the political implications of social imbalances: how does the fear of loss of one’s social position of the middle class affect the party landscape? Is there a link between these fears and xenophobia? Which consequences does the growing gap between poor and rich have for democracy? How do social movements pick up inequali- ty issues – a topic traditionally associated with the trade unions?
Contributions
Contributions for the WSI_Herbstforum 2015 can be submitted in the form of an abstract (max. 300 words) to the wsi-herbstforum2015@boeckler.de by the 15 June, 2015.
20-29 July, 2015 | National University of San Martin, Buenos Aires, Argentina
This is an invitation for the "Winter School on Advanced Heterodox Topics" for BA and MD speaking students.
Organised by the Master in Economic Development in the National University of San Martin (Argentina), this second edition of the "winter" school for advanced undergraduate students focuses on the developments in Argentine and Latin America.
Deadline for applications is June, 19th.
More information is available here (spanish).
4 June, 2015 | Kingston University, UK
The Political Economy Research Group at Kingston University will hold a Finance and Development workshop. Please join us for this event. The topics tackled will be 'The future of the global financial system', 'International capital flows and development', 'Financial structural change' and 'Policy perspectives on finance and development'.
Programm Overview:
Session 1: The Future of the Global Financial System
Session 2: International Capital Flows and Development
Session 3: Financing Structural Transformation
Session 4: Policy Perspectives on Finance and Development
Engelbert Stockhammer (Kingston University): Determinants of Income Distribution in Advanced and Developing Economies and their Policy Implications
Important information
Please register for the workshop on Eventbrite. The registration is free of charge but mandatory.
All workshop sessions will take place in PRJG3002, which is on the Penrhyn Road Campus (KT1 2EE). Please find a Google map link here.
Detailed programm is available here (pdf).
The workshop is organised by the Political Economy Research Groups (GERP) at Kingston University. For future events and our activities please see: fass.kingston.ac.uk/research/perg and facebook.com/PERGKingston.
8 September, 2015 | University of Leeds, UK
The International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE) announces a one-day training workshop on the rate of profit and crisis. This will take place on the day before IIPPE’s Annual Conference.
Date and venue: Tuesday 8 September 2015 (9.30am registration opens for prompt 10am start to 5.30pm) at the University of Leeds (room tba)
The workshop will be led by Simon Mohun and Alfredo Saad-Filho, and will focus on the political economy of the rate of profit and crisis, including both theoretical overview and application. As ever, we are seeking an audience of engaged participants, including undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers, junior academics and activists.
For those who are attending the IIPPE Annual Conference, registration for the workshop is via Conference registration, and you should indicate in the relevant place that you will be attending the Workshop. The Workshop is also open to those not attending the Annual Conference, but you must then pre-register by sending your name and occupation to Simon Mohun <s.mohun@qmul.ac.uk> before 28 August 2015.
Please note that there will be a £5 charge (payable on the day) towards refreshments.
Brief notes on speakers:
Simon Mohun has written extensively on theoretical aspects of the labour theory of value and its application to the empirical analysis of the US economy. More recently he has extended this work to the study of the causes of the 2007-8 financial crisis.
Alfredo Saad-Filho works inter alia on the political economy of development in Brazil, and the theory and practice of neoliberalism.
21-25 September, 2015 | Institute for Social Movements, Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany
SOCIAL MOVEMENTS IN EUROPEAN PERSPECTIVES: PAST- PRESENT- FUTURE
Where do social movements come from? Who takes part in them? What are their aims? And how relevant are they in Europe in the 21st century? Under the supervision of Prof. Stefan Berger and Prof. Sabrina Zajak, the Institute for Social Movements will conduct an interdisciplinary summer school throughout the summer semester 2015 to find answers to these questions. With a particular focus on Europe, the Summer School "Social Movements in European Perspectives" will offer 20 students from different disciplines an opportunity to engage with different aspects and examples of social movements and share their ideas in discussions with experts as well as fellow students. The Summer School is organized in the framework of the Ruhr-University Bochum’s inSTUDIES program and will take place in the conference room of the Institute for Social Movements.
The Summer School will address the basic concepts and the history of social movements as well as contemporary social movements from interdisciplinary perspectives. In close cooperation with leading national and international scholars as well as activists, the Summer School will enable participating students to become familiar with various social movements in European perspectives such as labor movements, environmental movements, women’s movements, right-wing movements or anti-austerity protests.
During the five day Summer School (21-25 September 2015) invited experts from different academic fields will give presentations and discuss the current state as well as challenges of social movement research with participating students. Furthermore, local activists will provide insights into practical aspects of social movements and share their experience in discussions with students.
Application
The international summer school at the Institute for Social Movements, Ruhr-University Bochum, now accepts applications. The summer school is open to students of all subjects from the third semester onwards (BA), MA, and PhD candidates who are interested in interdisciplinary research on the history and present of social movements. The language (literature and discussions) will be English. There are no feeds, travelling and living costs are not covered.
For applying please write an email including a short statement of interest to Eva Gondorova Eva.Gondorova@rub.de. Final decisions will be made by mid-July.
Further information and the programme is available here.
London: Monday June 22, SOAS (Vernon Square campus)
Simon Mohun and Photis Lysandrou, on the Marxist theory of finance, contemporary accounts of financialization and the causes of the financial crisis of 2007-8
Register with Simon Mohun; email: s.mohun@qmul.ac.uk
Further information is available here.
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Aberdeen: Thursday 26 June and Friday 27 June, University of Aberdeen (Fraser Noble Building), jointly with Aberdeen Political Economy Group (APEG) and IIPPE Financialisation Working Group
Simon Mohun, John Weeks, Joseph Choonara, James Foley, James Meadway and Neil Davidson on Neoliberalism and the political economy of money and finance in Scotland and the UK
Register with Keith Paterson; email: keithpaterson@abdn.ac.uk or via eventbrite
11 June 2015 | Goldsmiths, University of London
A workshop hosted by the Centre for Philosophy and Critical Thought and the Unit for Global Justice
Venue: RHB 142 (10-4) & RHB 308 (4.30-6.45), Goldsmiths, New Cross SE14 6NW
Contemporary philosophy has undertaken sustained interrogations of its relationship to law and, to a lesser extent, capital. This has been less true of its questioning of its relationship to the crucial nexus of law and capital: property. Inversely, while critical legal theory has appropriated a welter of concepts and methods from contemporary philosophy, it has often avoided a sustained critical appraisal of the images of law within philosophy itself, and of the place of property within these.
Responding to a resurgent critical interest in the question of property, and especially to contemporary inquiries into the logics of dispossession that subtend capitalism, this workshop will stage a trans-disciplinary dialogue on the legal and philosophical powers – as well the limits and impasses – of property.
Speakers: Étienne Balibar (Kingston), José Bellido (Kent), Brenna Bhandar (SOAS), Robert Nichols (Humboldt), Alain Pottage (LSE), Stella Sandford (Kingston), Bev Skeggs (Goldsmiths), Alberto Toscano (Goldsmiths), Eyal Weizman (Goldsmiths), Mikhaïl Xifaras (Sciences Po), Hyo Yoon Kang (Kent
Organised by Brenna Bhandar (Senior Lecturer in the School of Law, SOAS) and Alberto Toscano (Co-Director, Centre for Philosophy and Critical Thought and Unit for Global Justice, Goldsmiths
All welcome. For further information, contact a.toscano@gold.ac.uk
1 May – 30 June, 2015
Conference Theme: "Rethinking the International Financial Architecture"
The existing international financial architecture, institutions left over from the Bretton Woods period, proved useless to prevent or warn against the 2007-2008 crisis, or even less, solve it. Only when a new presidential grouping G20 meeting was called for in London in March 2009, were the issues of how to coordinate countercyclical policies and inject resources into the economies discussed. At that time a UN high level Commission, what became known as the Stiglitz Commission, was created to propose reforms to the international financial architecture. However its recommendations were shunned by some large UN member countries due to their rejection of the principle of global solutions for global problems. Indeed, some European countries and the US still insist on national solutions, that is, on the use of local regulatory agencies in the international financial field.
Eight years have now elapsed since the crisis emerged, and global financial problems are still dealt with at a national level. Furthermore the G7 countries have imposed the policy of austerity as a means of reducing public debt to GDP ratios, with the consequence that debt ratios have increased still more and economic activity has been depressed. It is against this background that the need for a new international financial architecture has emerged, and that this WEA conference is being organized by Oscar Ugarteche and Alicia Puyana.
The Discussion Forum is now open. To join the conference please go to: http://itnifa2015.weaconferences.net.
Conference-papers are available here. Contact email: weanewfinancialarchitecture@gmail.com
The Department of Politics and Public Policy at De Montfort University offers two temporary lecturing positions:
Job Position: Lecturer in International Relations (1 year fixed term). Deadline 1 June.
Full Time, Fixed Term - 12 months maternity cover, or upon the return of the postholder, whichever is earliest.
The Department of Politics and Public Policy wishes to appoint a lecturer in International Relations, starting on 1 September 2015. The Department has major strengths in the area of Public Policy and Governance and has an excellent track record in research income generation. The Department is based in the recently completed Hugh Aston building which offers state of the art teaching and research support facilities.
You should either have completed, or be on the point of completing, a Ph.D in International Relations or a related subject. You will have expertise in the area of Globalisation and International Political Economy. Applicants who are able to make a contribution to teaching on development studies are particularly welcome. You will teach a 2nd year undergraduate module on ''The Making of the Global World'', an MA module on ''Globalisation'', supervise dissertations, as well as contributing to general teaching on International Relations and undertaking administrative duties.
To further discuss the post you can contact Professor Alasdair Blair, Head of Department of Politics and Public Policy on 0116 257 7209 or via email on ablair@dmu.ac.uk
Job Details and application form is available here.
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Job Position: Lecturer in Politics and Public Policy (2 years fixed term 0.5 FTE). Deadline 1 June
Part Time (0.5 FTE), Fixed Term for 2 years until 31 August 2017
The Department of Politics and Public Policy wishes to appoint a fixed-term 0.5 FTE lecturer in Politics and Public Policy, starting on 1 September 2015. This position has arisen as a result of a major ESRC award to Professor Jonathan Davies. The Department has major strengths in the area of Public Policy and Governance and has an excellent track record in research income generation. The Department is based in the recently completed 35 million Hugh Aston building which offers state of the art teaching and research support facilities.
You should either have completed, or be on the point of completing, a Ph.D in Politics or Public Policy. You will have expertise in the area of Politics and Public Policy and will be able to make a significant research and teaching contribution to the Department. You will lead a first year module on Introduction to Politics and contribute to the teaching of Politics and Public Policy within the Department as appropriate, including dissertation supervisions and if applicable module leadership. Candidates are welcome who can contribute to teaching in the area of Project Management at Masters level, as well as undertaking administrative duties.
To further discuss the post applicants can contact Professor Alasdair Blair, Head of Department of Politics and Public Policy on 0116 257 7209 or via email on ablair@dmu.ac.uk.
Job Details and application form is available here.
Job Positions: Senior Lecturer, Associate Professor and Professor (Continuous Full Time Position)
Murdoch University is one of Australia’s leading institutions for teaching and research in politics and international affairs, with particular strengths in international political economy, Asian political economy and governance, security studies, and public policy.
The Politics Discipline has strong undergraduate and postgraduate teaching commitments in these areas. The university has significant post-graduate programs in the Asia Research Centre and the Sir Walter Murdoch School of Public Policy and International Affairs, with which many staff, are affiliated.
We seek to make one or more appointments to build on and further our strengths in these areas. We seek applications in any sub-field. We would especially welcome applicants with expertise in international affairs and political economy, public policy and security and Islamic studies. Applicants with Northeast Asia and Middle East expertise are encouraged to apply.
Candidates will have an outstanding research record, a willingness to teach at both the undergraduate and Masters level, and expertise in supervising PhD students. At the senior levels, candidates should demonstrate a capacity for academic leadership.
The position(s) will begin in January 2016.
For further information about this position, please refer to the Position Description. Alternatively please contact Professor Vedi Hadiz, Professor of Asian Societies and Politics on +61 8 9360 6259 or email V.Hadiz@murdoch.edu.au
To Apply
Please submit a cover letter, a CV and a statement addressing the selection criteria (found in the Position Description below) via the 'Apply Online' button below.
If you have any queries about the application process, please see the Guide for Applicants below, alternatively you can contact the Recruitment Team at recruitment@murdoch.edu.au.
Job details and more information is available here.
Please find hereafter the 2015 ESHET Awards announced at the 2015 ESHET Conference in Rome (Italy), 16 May 2015.
1/ Gilles Dostaler Award:
2/ Best Article Award
3/ Best Book Award
4/ Young Researcher Award
5/ Honorary Member
Markus C. Arnold and Robert M. Gillenkirch: Using negotiated budgets for planning and performance evaluation: An experimental study
Sheila Killian: “For lack of accountability”: The logic of the price in Ireland’s Magdalen Laundries
Niamh O’Sullivan and Brendan O’Dwyer: The structuration of issue-based fields: Social accountability, social movements and the Equator Principles issue-based field
Yan Tian and Hui Zhou: From bottom line to consumers’ mind: The framing effects of accounting information
Simon Y.K. Fung, Ferdinand A. Gul and Suresh Radhakrishnan: Corporate political connections and the 2008 Malaysian election
Editor's Introduction Public Intellectuals: Jane Jacobs and Henry George
Original Articles
Walter Rybeck: Curing Slums: The Jane Jacobs Way and the Henry George Way
Sanford Ikeda: Jane Jacobs on Henry George: Progress or Poverty?
William S. Peirce: Henry George and Jane Jacobs on the Sources of Economic Growth
David Ellerman: The DNA of Enterprise: Jane Jacobs and Henry George on Innovation and Development Through Spin-Offs
Franklin Obeng-Odoom: The Social, Spatial, and Economic Roots of Urban Inequality in Africa: Contextualizing Jane Jacobs and Henry George
David Boyle: Henry George, Jane Jacobs, and Free Trade
Jason Leslie Combs: Using Jane Jacobs and Henry George to Tame Gentrification
Rajesh Venugopal: Neoliberalism as concept
Philip Ashton & Brett Christophers: On arbitration, arbitrage and arbitrariness in financial markets and their governance: unpacking LIBOR and the LIBOR scandal
Nicky Gregson, Mike Crang, Sara Fuller & Helen Holmes: Interrogating the circular economy: the moral economy of resource recovery in the EU
Thomas Kalinowski: Crisis management and the diversity of capitalism: fiscal stimulus packages and the East Asian (neo-)developmental state
Jenna Burrell & Elisa Oreglia: The myth of market price information: mobile phones and the application of economic knowledge in ICTD
Katharine A. Legun: Club apples: a biology of markets built on the social life of variety
Olav Velthuis: Making monetary markets transparent: the European Central Bank's communication policy and its interactions with the media
Paolo Ramazzotti: Theory, Power and the Project of a Neoliberal Society: An Introduction to the Special Issue
Riccardo Fiorentini: Neoliberal Policies, Income Distribution Inequality and the Financial Crisis
Maria Lissowska: Is Poverty and Inequality Actually Good for Growth?
Alice N. Sindzingre: Whatever Inconsistencies and Effects? Explaining the Resilience of the Policy Reforms Applied to Developing Countries
Claus Thomasberger: Europe at a Crossroads: Failed Ideas, Fictional Facts, and Fatal Consequences
Rebecca Rasch: Measuring the Middle Class in Middle-Income Countries
Review Essay: Representations of Neoliberalism
Damien Cahill: Never Let a Serious Crisis Go to Waste: How Neoliberalism Survived the Financial Meltdown / The New Way of the World: On Neoliberal Society / Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics/ The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free Markets Since the Depression
James Forder: Textbooks on the Phillips Curve
Filippo Cesarano: Indian Currency and Finance: John Maynard Keynes’s Prismatic View of the International Monetary System
Hansjörg Klausinger: Hans Mayer, Last Knight of the Austrian School, Vienna Branch
Vincent Barnett: Keynes and the Psychology of Economic Behavior: From Stout and Sully to The General Theory
Casto Martín Montero Kuscevic and Marco Antonio del Río Rivera: Mises and Montaigne: A Note
Werner Hölzl: Sunk costs and the speed of market selection
Roberto Cellini & Fabio Lamantia: Quality competition in markets with regulated prices and minimum quality standards
Pierpaolo Andriani & Carsten Herrmann-Pillath: Transactional innovation as performative action: transforming comparative advantage in the global coffee business
Lalit Manral: The demand-side dynamics of entrant heterogeneity
Eric Brouillat: Live fast, die young? Investigating product life spans and obsolescence in an agent-based model
Lennart Erixon & Louise Johannesson: Is the psychology of high profits detrimental to industrial renewal? Experimental evidence for the theory of transformation pressure
Sotaro Shibayama: Academic commercialization and changing nature of academic cooperation
Matthew Lockwood: Fossil Fuel Subsidy Reform, Rent Management and Political Fragmentation in Developing Countries
Kees Van Der Pijl & Yuliya Yurchenko: Neoliberal Entrenchment of North Atlantic Capital. From Corporate Self-Regulation to State Capture
Ewa Dabrowska & Joachim Zweynert: Economic Ideas and Institutional Change: The Case of the Russian Stabilisation Fund
Ben Richardson: Making a Market for Sustainability: The Commodification of Certified Palm Oil
Marc R. Devore: Defying Convergence: Globalisation and Varieties of Defence-Industrial Capitalism
Kevin Gray & Youngseok Jang: Labour Unrest in the Global Political Economy: The Case of China's 2010 Strike Wave
Elisabeth Prügl: Neoliberalising Feminism
EDITORIAL
Alicia Girón: Austerity, Injustice and Inequality
ARTICLES
Andrés Blancas: Capital Flight in Mexico: Analysis and Proposal for Measurement
Violeta Rodríguez: The Limits of Exchange Rate Stability in Mexico
Josefina León y César Alvarado: Mexico: Price Stability and the Limitations of the Bank Credit Channel
Genoveva Roldán: Migration from Mexico to The United States: the Renewed Liberal Paradox of NAFTA
Miriam Sosa y Alejandra Cabello: Stock Market Behavior in the Emerging G-9 (BRICS+4)
Monica Gambrill: Subsidies in Negotiations for China to Join The WTO: Implications for Development
Germán A. de la Reza: Art. XXIV of The GATT/WTO: The Relationship Between Regionalism and Multilateralism
Simon Springer: Postneoliberalism?
Mark S. Peacock: Economic Policy without Politics: Behavioral Reflections on the Intransigence of Market-oriented Policy Reform
Erik K. Olsen: Unproductive Activity and Endogenous Technological Change in a Marxian Model of Economic Reproduction and Growth
Fernando García-Quero and Jorge Ollero-Perán: Is Neoclassical Economics Scientific Knowledge Detached from Ethics? A Kantian Answer, an Institutionalist Alternative
Mariano Féliz: Limits and Barriers of Neodevelopmentalism: Lessons from the Argentinean Experience, 2003-2011
Ludo Cuyvers: Was Henri de Man an Early Post-Keynesian Neo-Marxist?
Paul Zarembka: Materialized Composition of Capital and its Stability in the United States: Findings Stimulated by Paitaridis and Tsoulfidis (2012)
Call for Papers
The Past, Present & Future of Radical Economics: URPE at 50
Special Issue on the European Union
Special Issue on Economics and Morality
Sofa Gradin: Radical Routes and Alternative Avenues: How Cooperatives Can Be Non-capitalist
Leandro Frederico Ferraz Meyer and Marcelo José Braga: Fear or Greed? Duty or Solidarity? Motivations and Stages of Moral Reasoning
Franck Bailly and Alexandre Léné: What Makes a Good Worker? Richard Edwards Is Still Relevant
Dragan Miljkovic: The Impact of External Pressure on Voting Outcomes in Transition Economies: The East European Experience 1990-2001
Victor Ramiro Fernández: Global Value Chains in Global Political Networks: Tool for Development or Neoliberal Device?
Gar W. Lipow: Shutting Down the Fog Machine
Symposium
G. C. Harcourt: On the Cambridge, England, Critique of the Marginal Productivity Theory of Distribution
Andrés Lazzarini: Some Unsettled Issues in a Second Phase of the Cambridge-Cambridge Controversy
Jesus Felipe and John S. L. McCombie: Can the Marginal Productivity Theory of Distribution be Tested?
Fred Moseley: The Marginal Productivity Theory of Capital in Intermediate Microeconomics Textbooks: A Critique
Notes and Comments
Jie Meng: Two Kinds of MELT and Their Determinations: Critical Notes on Moseley and the New Interpretation
Articles
PN (Raja) Junankar: The impact of the Global Financial Crisis on youth unemployment
Lynne Chester: The privatisation of Australian electricity: Claims, myths and facts
Patricia Ranald: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: Reaching behind the border, challenging democracy
Mohamed Goaied and Seifallah Sassi: Trade liberalisation and employment intensity of sectoral output growth: Lessons from Tunisia
Yelda Yücel: Response to the crisis and gender segregation in Turkey’s labour market
Shalene Werth: Managerial attitudes: Influences on workforce outcomes for working women with chronic illness
Review Articles
G.C. Harcourt: Thomas Piketty, Capital in the Twenty-First Century
Louise Rawlings: Rana Dasgupta, Capital: A Portrait of Twenty-First Century Delhi and Arundhati Roy, Capitalism: A Ghost Story
Benno Torgler : Paul Frijters with Gigi Foster, An Economic Theory of Greed, Love, Groups, and Networks
Policy Article
Andrew Leigh: How behavioural economics does and can shape public policy
Obituary
Ross Garnaut: Anthony Clunies Ross: An appreciation
Hans Siebers and Jilles van Gastel: Why migrants earn less: in search of the factors producing the ethno-migrant pay gap in a Dutch public organization
Brian Garvey and Paul Stewart: Migrant workers and the north of Ireland: between neo-liberalism and sectarianism
Jason Foster, Alison Taylor, and Candy Khan: The dynamics of union responses to migrant workers in Canada
David McCollum and Allan Findlay: ‘Flexible’ workers for ‘flexible’ jobs? The labour market function of A8 migrant labour in the UK
Cassandra Engeman: Social movement unionism in practice: organizational dimensions of union mobilization in the Los Angeles immigrant rights marches
Monder Ram, Paul Edwards, Trevor Jones, Alex Kiselinchev, and Lovemore Muchenje: Getting your hands dirty: critical action research in a state agency
Helen Holmes: Transient craft: reclaiming the contemporary craft worker
John Bratton and Jeff Gold: Towards Critical Human Resource Management Education (CHRME): a sociological imagination approach
Clare Butler and Joanne Harris: Pills, ills and the ugly face of aesthetic labour: ‘They should’ve discriminated against me’
Two proposals for creating a parallel currency in Greece:
Richard Smith: China’s communist-capitalist ecological apocalypse
Pavlina R. Tcherneva: Trends in US income inequality
C. T. Kurien: The market economy: Theory, ideology and reality
Ib Ravn: Explaining money creation by commercial banks
Jamie Morgan: Realist Econometrics? – Nell and Errouaki’s, Rational Econometric Man
Tijo Salverda: Who does the state work for? – Geopolitics and global finance
By Paul D. Egan and Philip Soos | 2015, WEA Books
Australia has experienced rapid housing price inflation since the mid-1990s, leading to claims that a bubble has formed in the residential property market. Between the low in 1996 and apparent peak in 2010, real housing prices soared by 123 per cent. Rampant overvaluation has become the norm across the capital cities and housing prices have become detached from economic fundamentals. Total land values relative to GDP doubled between 1996 and 2010, driven by rising residential land values. Gross and net rental yields have compressed to a historical low. In 2013, the gross and estimated net yields of houses were a miniscule 3.9 and 1.9 per cent nationwide. Conversely, the net price to earnings ratio is 53, indicating investors are paying massive premiums far in excess of rental income. Investment property rental income has not covered expenses, principal and interest since 2001. In combination, these factors suggest investment strategies are fixated on capital gain.
Link to the book is available here.
By Nick Dyer-Witheford |2015, PlutoPress
Coltan mines in the Congo; electronics factories in China; devastated neighbourhoods in Detroit. Cyber-Proletariat shows us the dark-side of the information revolution; an unsparing analysis of class power and computerisation.
Nick Dyer-Witheford reveals how technology facilitates growing polarisation between wealthy elites and precarious workers. He reveals the class domination behind everything from expanding online surveillance to intensifying robotisation. At the same time he looks at possibilities for information technology within radical movements; contemporary struggles are cast in the blue glow of the computer screen.
Cyber-Proletariat brings heterodox Marxist analysis to bear on modern technological developments. The result will be indispensable to social theorists and hacktivists alike and essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how Silicon Valley shapes the way we live today.
Link to the book is available here.
By Mark Stelzner | 2015, Palgrave Macmillan
The income share of the top one percent of the population in the United States has increased from a little over nine percent of national income in the 1970s to 22.46 percent in 2012 – a 144 percent increase. What is driving this astronomic growth in incomes for some? Is it possibly the result of non-meritorious forces? If so, how has this incredibly unequal development coexisted, and indeed worsened, in a political system based on equality
In Economic Inequality and Policy Control in the United States, Stelzner tackles each of these questions, and, in order to further develop understanding, Stelzner looks to the past and analyzes our experience with income inequality and the orientation of laws and institutions from the Gilded Age through the New and Fair Deal. He concludes that we have the tools to tackle inequality at present—the same policies we used during the New and Fair Deal. However, in order to make change durable, we have to eliminate the undemocratic elements of our political system.
Link to the book is available here.
By Ravi Batra | 2015, Palgrave Macmillan Trade
The year 2010 marked when the National Bureau of Economic Research declared an end to the Great Recession. The economy had shed over six million jobs in 2008 and 2009, but few had been recalled to work by 2010. Today, government policies have yet to make a significant dent in unemployment. In End Unemployment Now, Ravi Batra explores why this is the case. He explains how joblessness can be completely eliminated--in just two years, and without the help of our painfully incompetent Congress.
Link to the book is available here.
Edited by Gerard McCann and Stephen McCloskey | 2015, Pluto Press
In recent years the international development sector has found itself confronting new as well as persistent challenges to poverty eradication and the promotion of human rights. Climate change has loomed large as a crisis for development practitioners as well as environmentalists, with natural disasters occurring with increasing frequency and impacting severely on the most vulnerable in the Global South. The ongoing financial crisis has created recurrent recessions in the global North, while causing budget lines to be reduced for development aid across the Global South.
From The Local to the Global highlights the extent to which the local and global are interconnected in today’s globalised economy and questions the legitimacy of the neoliberal model of development which propelled us into the crisis. This completely revised third edition takes stock of the international development environment as it embarks on new policy frameworks to confront new challenges.
From The Local to the Global will continue to serve as an indispensable introduction to key development issues such as aid, debt, trade, migration, security, gender in development and climate change.
Link to the book is available here.
Edited by Nick Potts and Andrew Kliman | 2015, Lexington Books
This collection focuses on a long-running debate over the logical validity of Karl Marx’s theory that exploitation is the exclusive source of capitalists’ profits. The “Fundamental Marxian Theorem” was long thought to have shown that orthodox Marxian economics succeeds in replicating Marx’s conclusion. The debate begins with Andrew Kliman’s disproof of that claim.
On one side of the debate, representing orthodox Marxian economics, are contributions by Simon Mohun and Roberto Veneziani. Although they concede that their simultaneist models cannot replicate Marx’s theory of profit in all cases, they insist that this is as good as it gets. On the other side, representing the temporal single-system interpretation of Marx’s theory (TSSI), are contributions by Kliman and Alan Freeman. They argue that his theory is logically valid, since it can indeed be replicated when it is understood in accordance with the TSSI.
While the debate initially focused on logical concerns, issues of pluralism, truth, and scientificity increasingly assumed center stage. In his introduction to the volume, Nick Potts situates the debate in its historical context and argues forcefully that the arguments of the orthodox Marxist economists, and the manner in which those arguments were couched, were “suppressive and contrary to scientific norms.”
The volume concludes with a 2014 debate, in which many of the same issues re-surfaced, between the philosopher Robert Paul Wolff and proponents of the TSSI.
Link to the book is available here.
By Lars Pålsson Syll | 2015, WEA Books
A wonderful set of clearly written and highly informative essays by a scholar who is knowledgeable, critical and sharp enough to see how things really are in the discipline, and honest and brave enough to say how things are. A must read especially for those truly concerned and/or puzzled about the state of modern economics. - Tony Lawson
Main topics:
Link to the book is available here.
Edited by Wendy Harcourt and Ingrid L. Nelson | 2015, Pluto Press
Destined to transform its field, this volume features some of the most exciting feminist scholars and activists working within feminist political ecology, including Giovanna Di Chiro, Dianne Rocheleau, Catherine Walsh and Christa Wichterich. Offering a collective critique of the ‘green economy’, it features the latest analyses of the post-Rio+20 debates alongside a nuanced reading of the impact of the current ecological and economic crises on women as well as their communities and ecologies.
This new, politically timely and engaging text puts feminist political ecology back on the map.
Link to the book is available here.
By James Meek | 2015, Verso Books
How the British government packaged and sold its people to the world— winner of the Orwell Prize for Books.
“The essential public good that Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair and now Cameron sell is not power stations, or trains, or hospitals. It’s the public itself. it’s us.”
In a little over a generation the bones and sinews of the British economy – rail, energy, water, postal services, municipal housing – have been sold to remote, unaccountable private owners, often from overseas. In a series of brilliant portraits the award-winning novelist and journalist James Meek shows how Britain’s common wealth became private, and the impact it has had on us all: from the growing shortage of housing to spiralling energy bills.
Meek explores the human stories behind the incremental privatization of the nation over the last three decades. He shows how, as our national assets are sold, ordinary citizens are handed over to private tax-gatherers, and the greatest burden of taxes shifts to the poorest. In the end, it is not only public enterprises that have become private property, but we ourselves.
Urgent, powerfully written and deeply moving, this is a passionate anatomy of the state of the nation: of what we have lost and what losing it cost us – the rent we must pay to exist on this private island.
Link to the book is available here.
By Martijn Konings | 2015, Stanford University Press
The capitalist market, progressives bemoan, is a cold monster: it disrupts social bonds, erodes emotional attachments, and imposes an abstract utilitarian rationality. But what if such hallowed critiques are completely misleading? This book argues that the production of new sources of faith and enchantment is crucial to the dynamics of the capitalist economy. Distinctively secular patterns of attraction and attachment give modern institutions a binding force that was not available to more traditional forms of rule. Elaborating his alternative approach through an engagement with the semiotics of money and the genealogy of economy, Martijn Konings uncovers capitalism's emotional and theological content in order to understand the paradoxical sources of cohesion and legitimacy that it commands. In developing this perspective, he draws on pragmatist thought to rework and revitalize the Marxist critique of capitalism.
Link to the book is available here.
By Peter Fleming | 2015, Pluto Press
There was once a time when ‘work’ was inextricably linked to survival and self-preservation; where the farmer ploughed the land so their family could eat. But the sun has long since set on this idyllic tableau, and what was once an integral part of life has slowly morphed into a painful and meaningless ritual, colonising almost every part of our lives - endless and inescapable.
In The Mythology of Work, Peter Fleming examines how neoliberal society uses the ritual of work (and the threat of its denial) to maintain the late capitalist class order. As our society is transformed into a factory that never sleeps, work becomes a universal reference point for everything else, devoid of any moral or political worth.
Blending critical theory with recent accounts of job related suicides, office-induced paranoia, fear of relaxation, managerial sadism and cynical corporate social responsibility campaigns, Fleming paints a bleak picture of neoliberal capitalism in which the economic and emotional dysfunctions of a society of wage slaves greatly outweigh its professed benefits.
Link to the book is available here.
Edited by Nikolaos Karagiannis, Zagros Madjd-Sadjadi, Swapan Sen | 2015, Routledge
In recent times, policy makers, scientists, academics and commentators have become increasingly nervous about the US economic downturn. Discussions have centred around the range and magnitude of the country’s socio-economic problems, its vexing production decline and its unsatisfactory macroeconomic performance, which give rise to the following questions: what are the sources of this recent downfall? And can this situation be reversed by pursuing the same orthodox and neoliberal policies?
This new edited volume, from a top international set of contributors, seeks to answer these questions and to offer alternative, realistic and feasible strategies and policy recommendations towards reversing this situation.
In particular, the volume seeks to challenge US neoliberalism on theoretical and political grounds, and to offer alternative strategies and policies towards addressing the country’s recent challenges and multi-dimensional problems. The volume is structured around three main themes:
This unique and highly topical, multidisciplinary volume, will be of great interest to students and researchers in the areas of economics, political economy and contemporary US politics.
Link to the book is available here.
The Governing Body of Emmanuel College invites applications for the Mead Fellowship in Economics, tenable for 3 years from 1st October 2015. This is a Research Fellowship under College Statutes with the condition that the Fellow will also teach for the College. Candidates may be working in any area of Economics within the scope of the teaching and research undertaken by the Cambridge University Faculty of Economics. Applicants will normally be expected to have completed a PhD (or be nearing completion) and to have at most 10 years of post-graduate research and teaching since completing their first degree.
In addition to pursuing his or her personal research, the Fellow will be required to teach six hours per week for Emmanuel College during Full Term, and participate in the annual selection of undergraduates at Emmanuel to read for the Economics Tripos. The stipend for the Mead Fellow will be £30,320 inclusive of payment for teaching of six hours per week (this is reduced to £28,136 in the case of a resident Fellow).
The Mead Fellow will be provided with an office in Emmanuel (or a single resident Fellow’s set in the case of a resident Fellow), appropriate computing equipment, an annual research allowance of up to £1,500, and an allowance of £260 per year for the purchase of academic books. Lunch and dinner in Hall are provided free of charge.
Applications
Application forms may be requested from the Bursar, Emmanuel College Cambridge, CB2 3AP or can be downloaded from the College website at www.emma.cam.ac.uk. Candidates should send their completed application form along with a CV and covering letter by ordinary mail to the Bursar so as to reach him by 5.00 pm on Wednesday 10th June 2015. Applications will not be accepted by e mail or fax. Candidates should arrange for three people familiar with their research to send references to the Bursar so as to reach him by 5.00 pm on Wednesday 10th June 2015 (it is the candidate’s responsibility to ensure that these references are sent).
Referees may send their reports by e mail to mjg10@emma.cam.ac.uk provided that a hard copy follows by ordinary mail.
Candidates will be informed shortly after 10th June 2015 whether or not they have been short-listed. Interviews for the Fellowship are likely to take place at the College on Thursday 18th June 2015.
Qualification type: PhD
Location: Sheffield
Funding for: EU Students, International Students, Self-funded Students, UK Students
Funding amount: £14,052 (please see advert)
Hours: Full Time
As part of the White Rose – ESRC Network on Free Movement and EU Citizenship, the Department is offering a fully funded PhD research opportunity (for more information on the White Rose Doctoral Training Centre (WRDTC) and network schemes, see wrdtc.ac.uk/postgraduate-programme/white-rose-esrc-networks-2015).
This studentship will give an outstanding social sciences Masters graduate the opportunity to conduct a PhD project focused on some aspect of the relationship between EU citizenship and political economy. The appointed candidate will also assist with the organisation of network events and have the opportunity to work with external partners. The studentship is tenable for three years from January 2016. Applicants should apply for admission to the Department’s PhD programme via its website: (www.shef.ac.uk/politics/prospectivepg/research/apply), indicating their desire to be considered for the ‘EU citizenship ESRC/WRDTC’ studentship. Prospective candidates should prepare a research proposal which engages with the studentship theme of EU citizenship and political economy.
A full standard studentship consists of Home/EU tuition fees (£4,052 in Session 2015/16) for up to three years together with a maintenance grant paid at standard Research Council rates (£14,052 in Session 2015/16) for up to three years and a Research Training Support Grant (£666 pa). EU nationals are eligible but the maintenance grant will be paid only in cases where residency in the UK has been established for 3 years or more prior to the start of the programme of study.
The candidate will be first supervised by Dr Owen Parker (Department of Politics, University of Sheffield) and second supervised by Professor Peter Dwyer (Department of Social Policy and Social Work, University of York).
For more information on the Department of Politics see www.sheffield.ac.uk/politics
Enquiries about this studentship opportunity should be directed to Dr Owen Parker at o.parker@sheffield.ac.uk
Please contact our Graduate Research Administrator, Mrs Sarah Cooke at s.cooke@sheffield.ac.uk with enquiries about the PhD programme and application process.
Closing Date: 10th July 2015
More information and application form is available here.
The University of Lincoln and the Co-operative College, UK, wish to support an application for an EU-funded Marie Curie Individual Fellow in the area of ‘co-operative higher education studies’, for example:
Individual Fellowships are for researchers of any nationality and working in any research area who have a PhD or at least four years research experience after completing a degree that would qualify them to enter into a doctoral programme. Two types of fellowships are offered by the EU Commission: European Fellowships and Global Fellowships. Researchers must not have been living or working in the UK for more than 12 months in the three years prior to the submission deadline (with exceptions for career restart and reintegration). In 2015 the submission deadline to the EU Commission is 10th September 2015. The main aim of MSCA Individual Fellowships is the career development of the fellows.
If successful, the Fellow would be based at the University of Lincoln, UK for up to two years, including a secondment at the Co-operative College in Manchester. The Fellow would be expected to undertake a programme of research which they co-design, including a specific package of support from the University. The living allowance is approx. €5000/month + a family allowance of €500/month where applicable.
For further details of the funding scheme, please visit the European Commission’s website.
If you are interested in discussing the possibility of a joint application with the University of Lincoln and Co-operative College, please email Joss Winn (email: jwinn@lincoln.ac.uk), including a copy of your CV:
Joss Winn
Senior Lecturer School of Education Bridge House 0211 University of Lincoln Brayford Pool Lincoln
LN6 7TS
United Kingdom
More information is available here.
A three-year PhD scholarship on Agent-based Computational Economics starting November 1st 2015 is open at the Department of Mechanical, Energy, Management and Transportation Engineering of the University of Genova, Italy.Research will be focused on agent-based macroeconomics, financial stability and sustainability issues within the framework of the EU Project Symphony*, which aims to develop an innovative agent-based platform and ICT tools for designing and testing policies and regulatory measures for preventing and mitigating economic and financial crises and fostering an economically and ecologically sustainable growth path.
The PhD candidate will work with the agent-based software platform EURACE** and is expected to contribute to its further development.
Eligibility:
Applicants should hold (or be close to complete by October 31) a Master degree in Engineering, Economics or Science with a background in programming, data analysis and statistics.
Application:
General information and online application form at:
in Annex A, pag. 30, Course in: Mechanical, Energy and Management Engineering, Curriculum: Economy and Management (Code 5777)
Deadline for application is June 10, 2015 (noon Italian time)
Contacts:
Interested candidates should contact as soon as possible:
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Link to the newsletter is available here.