Heterodox Economics Newsletter

Issue 204 October 31, 2016 web pdf Heterodox Economics Directory

Welcome again, to a novel and fully-fledged issue of the Heterodox Economics Newsletter. While you will find a whole armada of announcements on recently published books, calls for papers, noteworthy events and summer schools below, I wanted to point you to two important "calls for support", which have been included in this issue of the Newsletter. The first relates to a crowdfounding-project advanced by Rod O'Donnell, which aims for financing the editorial screening and successive publication of John Maynard Keynes' hitherto unpublished writings. Since I am a big fan of the 1973 Royal Economic Society edition of Keynes' collected works (see here), I was, admittedly, surprised to learn that there is still so many unpublished material - according to Rod the RES-edition of 1973 does not even cover half of the relevant texts (although it does already cover a lot of interesting stuff, indeed). The second "call for support" relates to the more general issue of academic funding and aims to oppose the cutbacks currently threatening the academic sector in Argentina. So, in case you are overwhelmed with the material included in this issue you could simply start by donating / supporting said projects before working yourself through the rest of the material ;-)

Also, I wanted to share with you a minor observation: I have the impression that in the face of on-going economic fragility, more and more people start asking for possible fundamental deficiences in our basic economic setup, which brings issues of trade and global economic integration back on the table. Just drawing on my personal experience, I found that my tiny research output in international trade and global economic integration (about three noteworthy papers), attracted as many media requests/mentionings (e.g. this paper in the Financial Times), lecture invitations and political attention as the major bulk of my other works in the last six months. One more instance is documented below, and relates to the German version of this paper, which now received a prize issued by social-democratic policy-makers to honor the intellectual heritage of the famous Austrian heterodox economist Kurt W. Rothschild. Again, Rothschild was well-known for his skepticism against unconditional economic openness. Of course, this is largely anecdotal and not based on any systematic observation of public discourse. But, I would say it's a save bet that issues of international trade and globalized finance will stay with us for much longer - and I have the feeling that some novel answers and perspectives on these issues might be increasingly in demand in the times to come.

I hope I am right and leave it at that,

all the best,

Jakob

© public domain

Table of contents

Call for Papers

Conference on "The Bicentenary of Marx's Birth" (London, 2018)

5-6 May, 2018 | London, UK

2018 marks the 200 anniversary of Marx’s birth. Marx Memorial Library, MML, http://www.marx-memorial-library.org/, will be seeking to occupy a leading position in organising and publicising activities in the UK, with a special emphasis on Marx’s continuing relevance for activism and scholarship. MML is uniquely placed to do this. It has a proud history as a centre for the study of Marxism; for over eighty years, since its foundation in 1933, promoting an understanding of the science of Marxism has been at the heart of the Library’s activities.

Among other things, such as educational workshops through the year, MML will be organising a two-day Conference of its own on May 5 and 6, 2018, which coincides with the date of Marx’s birth itself.

This will involve both plenaries and workshops.

You may be preparing activity of your own for the bicentenary, a special issue of a journal or theme for a conference for example.

Please get in touch on archives@mml.xyz and let us know, and we would also place a link on our website to your own initiatives (and would welcome your doing the same for us).

Conference on "Women, Money and Markets (1750-1850)" (London, 2017)

11 May, 2017 | King's College London, London, UK

Keynote Speakers:

One of the leading voices in the campaign for female representation on the banknote and an active promoter and supporter of women in the media

In 2017, Jane Austen will feature on the £10 note as the sole female representative on British currency. To mark this occasion, and explore its problematic significance, the English department at King’s is running a one-day conference with the aim to consider debates about women in relation to ideas of value, market, marketability, as well as debates about different forms of currency and exchange amongst women, and the place of the female writer in the literary marketplace past and present. The conference will address themes including consumerism, shopping, global trade, domestic trade, markets (literary and otherwise), currency, and varying practices of exchange. The conference is interdisciplinary in nature, bridging literature, material culture, gender studies and economic history, and aims to relate the debates of the period to modern day issues about the presence and position of women in the economy and media.

We welcome submissions in the form of individual papers, panels and roundtable discussions on the following themes:

We particularly welcome cross-cultural considerations of the above issues.

Please send 300 word abstracts to the conference email address (womenmoneymarkets@gmail.com) with an indication of your proposed format (individual paper, panel, roundtable, etc.). If you are submitting a proposal for a panel, please include an abstract for each paper (up to 300 words each). Please indicate if you would like your paper to be considered for the edited volume that will be published after the conference.

Deadline for submissions: January 31 2017

Conference Organisers: Dr Emma Newport (University of Sussex) and Amy Murat (King’s College London)

For enquiries regarding the programme, please contact: e.newport@sussex.ac.uk

For all general enquiries, please contact: womenmoneymarkets@gmail.com

Ephemera: Theory & Politics in Organization: Special Issue on "Peak neoliberalism? Revisiting and rethinking the concept of neoliberalism"

Title: Peak neoliberalism? Revisiting and rethinking the concept of neoliberalism

Issue editors: Kean Birch and Simon Springer

Neoliberalism is a ubiquitous concept nowadays, used across numerous disciplines and in the analysis of diverse and varied phenomena (Springer et al., 2016). It is conceptualized in different ways as, for example, a geographical process; a form of governmentality; the restoration of elite class power; a political project of institutional change; a set of transformative ideas; a development policy paradigm; an epistemic community or thought collective; and an economic ideology or doctrine (Springer, 2010, 2016a; Flew, 2014; Birch, 2015a). In relation to organization studies, and this journal especially, neoliberalism has been strongly associated with the restructuring of economics as a tool of governance (e.g. Davies and Dunne, 2016), the transformation of universities and academia as sites of knowledge pro-sumption and immaterial labour (e.g. Rai, 2013), the rise of business schools as centres of social and political reproduction (e.g. Harney, 2009), and the extension of particular forms of corporate governance dominated by shareholder interests (Birch, 2016).

Neoliberalism has been used to analyse a diverse range of social, political, economic, and ecological changes, processes, practices, subjectivities, and much else besides. In one article, for example, Venugopal (2015) argues that it has been used to analyse almost everything, from the development of ecosystem services through urban regeneration to financialization. Others argue that neoliberalism, as currently understood and theorized, is over-stated as a way to understand recent and ongoing social changes (Barnett, 2005; O’Neill and Weller, 2014; Birch, 2015b; Storper, 2016). Such debate raises the question of whether we have hit peak neoliberalism in terms of the usefulness of the concept to our analysis of and political engagement with the social world (Springer, 2016b).

Neoliberalism’s increasing ubiquity has come at a significant price. Such variety and diversity in intellectual analysis (i.e. explanatory framework) and substantive topic (i.e. thing to explain) have produced a glut of concepts, theories, analyses and so; while this medley can be seen as a necessary – and fruitful – outcome of such a hybrid and heterogeneous process, it also has the potential side-effect of leaving us more confused than enlightened. According to some scholars (e.g. Boas and Gans-Morse, 2009; Birch, 2015b; Venugopal, 2015), neoliberalism is at risk of becoming almost useless as a result of its indiscriminate use, especially as it is increasingly taken up in popular debate and discourse. Not all agree with this assessment, obviously. A number of scholars stress the need to theorize neoliberalism carefully and precisely in order to ensure its continuing relevance as a useful concept for understanding the world (e.g. Peck, 2013; Springer, 2014; also Birch, 2016).

It is increasingly difficult, on the one hand, to parse or synthesize this intellectual (yet often contradictory) abundance and, on the other hand, to apply it to policy or practical issues facing diverse communities, societies, organizations and individuals around the world. A body of literature is emerging that is critical of current conceptions and understandings of neoliberalism, highlighting these issues. Another body of work is emerging that tries to rehabilitate neoliberalism as a concept and a useful way to analyse the damage that contemporary political economy is doing to so many people.

The aim of this special issue, therefore, is to revisit and rethink neoliberalism as an abstract concept and as an empirical object. We invite contributors to critically evaluate dominant conceptions of neoliberalism, to examine how we use neoliberalism as an analytical and methodological framework, and to offer new ideas about how to productively (re)conceptualize neoliberalism. Below we outline some broad questions that contributors might like to engage with, although others are welcome:

Deadline for submissions: 30 June 2017

All contributions should be sent to both Kean Birch (kean@yorku.ca) and Simon Springer (springer@uvic.ca). If you would like to discuss an idea with the issue editors then please email them both. We are looking for a diverse range of contributions including research articles, notes, interviews, and book reviews. Information about some of these types of contributions can be found at: http://www.ephemerajournal.org/how-submit. The submissions will undergo a double-blind review process. All submissions should follow ephemera’s submission guidelines, which are available at: http://www.ephemerajournal.org/how-submit (see the ‘Abc of formatting’ guide in particular).

References and more details are available here.

History of Economics Society (HES): Call for Session Proposals at the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) meetings (Philadelphia, 2018)

5-7 January, 2018 | ASSA, Philadelphia, USA

The History of Economics Society (HES) will sponsor four sessions at the Allied Social Science Associations (ASSA) meetings in Philadelphia, PA, USA. The ASSA offers historians of economic thought an opportunity to present high-quality historical research to a wider audience of professional economists. Given this, preference will be given to proposals that are most likely to interest the broader community. Please remember proposals are invited for entire sessions, rather than single papers.

Please submit session proposals, including abstracts for the proposed papers (approximately 200 words), to me at wakatabewasedajp@gmail.com.

The deadline for submissions is 1 May, 2017.

International Conference on "Social Finance, Impact Investing, and the Financialization of the Public Interest" (Hamburg, 2017)

23-24 March, 2017 | Hamburg University, Centre for Globalisation and Governance, Germany.

Conveners: Eve Chiapello (EHESS Paris) and Lisa Knoll (University of Hamburg)

Submission deadline for paper proposals: 2 November 2016, to siconf2017@ehess.fr, 500 to 800 words plus references.

Social finance covers a wide range of practices aiming at providing private capital to social organizations, businesses and funds. The development of these practices is justified by promising ways to finance development and social policies in a period of austerity that sees limits to and reductions in public spending. Social finance is a heterogeneous field in the process of formation. In the US, social finance has gained momentum since 2007, when the Rockefeller Foundation decided to finance an Impact Investing program. In Europe, the UK government has put Impact Investing at the heart of its G8 presidency agenda in 2013. Since then, the EU organizations have launched a number of policy initiatives, such as a “Social Impact Accelerator” fund of funds. Social finance includes practices such as ImpactInvesting (i.e. investments into companies’ equity with the intention to generate a financial return as well as social or environmental “impact”), Social Impact Bonds, Venture Philanthropy, Mission-Related Investment and Program-Related Investment. Its development requires also (more or less sophisticated) social impact assessment methods and social reporting standards. Various types of actors are interested in the development of these practices, among them audit and consulting firms, private and public fund managers, banks, foundations and social entrepreneurs. Like practices and actors, financed objects vary largely, ranging from investments into the Global South, such as microfinance, locally owned cooperatives, certified B corporations, or private-public hybrid organizations in Western welfare states.

As these activities come with a general redefinition of the public interest and the welfare state, we welcome interdisciplinary contributions on the conference theme. Questions to be considered may include, but are not limited to:

Contributors are invited to submit an initial proposal of up to 800 words. These proposals are to be sent by email to siconf2017@ehess.fr by November 2, 2016. Authors will be notified in November 2016 whether their proposals have been accepted. Accepted authors are required to send a full paper (maximum 12,000 words) by March 15, 2017. A limited number of grants will be available to cover travel and residence costs (to be checked after the acceptation) .

Organizing committee includes Philipp Golka (PhD, Jena University), Theo Bourgeron (PhD, Edinburgh University) and Laure Celerier (PhD, HEC Paris)

More details are available at the EHESS homepage.

Journal of Industrial and Business Economics: Special Issue on "Public Procurement: new theoretical and empirical developments"

Title: Public Procurement: new theoretical and empirical developments

Guest Edited by:

Public procurement represents a substantial part of governments’ expenses (on average, more than 15% of European GDP — European Commission http://ec.europa.eu/trade/policy/accessing-markets/public-procurement/).In times of tight government budgets, public procurement has become an even more important priority in the aim to reach “the best value for money”. In addition, the policy debate is steering towards an increased use of outsourcing as an active driver for achieving political objectives such as sustainable growth, stimulating innovation, facilitating SMEs participation, enhancing environment protection and social cohesion. The cost of addressing these important long term objectives is still unclear, though recent research is offering some numbers. Economic research is lagging behind the policy debate on many of these issues; and existing research findings, even the most robust ones, are typically not taken into account by the lawmakers that are reforming rules on these partnerships around the world, with rather poor results in terms of the quality of regulation.

The 2018 special issue of Economia e Politica Industriale - Journal of Industrial and Business Economics aims at both investigating these complex issues and stimulating/disseminating research on them, possibly also to practitioners and to lawmakers. We especially welcome theoretical and empirical papers focusing on (but not limited to) the following topics in Public Procurement:

Key dates

The deadline for submission of papers to the special issue is March 31, 2017. The publication of the special issue is expected as the first issue 2018 (on March 2018).

All submissions will be subject to the standard review process followed by Economia e Politica Industriale - Journal of Industrial and Business Economics. All manuscripts must be original, unpublished works that are not concurrently under review for publication elsewhere. All submissions should conform to the journal manuscript submission guidelines available at http://www.springer.com/economics/industrial+organization/journal/40812.

Labor and Employment Relations Association (LERA) Annual Meeting (Anaheim, 2017)

1-4 June, 2017| Anaheim, Canada

Pre-Conference Day: May 31, 2017

Conference Title: Jobs, Opportunity and Equality in the New World of Work

Janice Bellace, LERA President and Program Chair, invites proposals for stimulating and creative sessionsconnecting research, practice, and policy related to labor and employment relations with the end goal of advancing workplace relations. Accepted sessions and papers will be presented at the LERA 69th Annual Meeting.The deadline to submit a session proposal is November 15, 2016.

LERA’s program format offers fresh opportunities for thought leaders from all aspects of employment and industrial relations. Submissions from different disciplines are encouraged, including, but not limited to:

Economics • Sociology • Political Science • Labor and Employment Law • Industrial Relations • Human Resource Studies • Organizational Behavior • Labor Relations • Labor Unions and Social Movements • Work, Globalization, and Migration • Diversity • Work Organization and Management

Presentations may take a variety of forms: Symposia, panels, workshops, posters, skill-building, debates, roundtable discussions, and practical sessions are encouraged. etc.

Session Proposals Deadline: November 15, 2016.

Paper competitions associated with the LERA 69 Annual Meeting include:

Winning authors will be invited to present in special sessions at the meeting and may earn invitations to publish.

Deadline: December 15, 2016.

Session organizers are required to provide a session abstract and description, identify participants (confirmed or invited), and provide full contact information at the time of submission for all session participants. If you have questions about this Call for Proposals, contact: LERAoffice@illinois.edu or 217-333-0072.

Review of International Political Economy: Special Issue on "The Political Economy of Management"

The Political Economy of Management: At the Nexus of Public and Private Governance

Double workshop as basis for a proposed special issue for Review of International Political Economy (RIPE)

Organizers:

One of the defining features of the global economy in the past 30 years has been the growing importance of public management and its profound influence on the practices of global governance. By 1998, the OECD was observing ‘a major cultural shift’ with the rise of ‘a new paradigm which attempts to combine modern management practices with the logic of economics, while still retaining the core public service values’ (OECD, 1998, p. 5). Many now comment on the fact that ideas and practices associated with business management have become increasingly influential in shaping governance practices. Management concepts and theories have often been used and justified as a way to enhance organisational efficiency, expand commercial markets, and provide employment opportunities. However, when conceived as an authoritative body of ideas which informs multiple spaces of governance, management has received only limited attention from IPE scholars. This lacuna may be partly explained through two tendencies: (1) a privileging of other systems of knowledge as objects of analysis, such as neoclassical economics or neoliberalism; and (2) a corresponding propensity to downplay the significance of management by treating it narrowly as an internal and more ‘technical’ concern. As a result, management remains peripheral to the field of IPE and largely the purview of other disciplines, most notably public administration or public management, despite its importance to the issues that concern IPE. With a view to developing a special issue proposal for RIPE, this research network has two main objectives. First, to reflect on the evolution of management and its significance for the field of IPE. Second, to examine and reflect on the various impacts of these practices on social and economic governance, with a focus on the rise of public management since the 1990s. In particular, it seeks to reveal more precisely the relationship between the history and agents of management thought, the mechanisms of ideational diffusion from business to other fields, and the socio-political struggles provoked by such processes. Topics of concern which embrace these concerns could include, but are not restricted to:

Participants will be drawn from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds, including IPE, sociology, organisation studies, and critical management studies. Confirmed participants include Phoebe Moore (Middlesex University), Leonard Seabrooke (Copenhagen Business School), Susanne Soederberg (Queen’s University), and Alexander Styhre (University of Gothenburg). Two workshops will be held where researchers will present and discuss their papers so as encourage a broader reflection on the themes of the special issue and enhance the quality of the papers. The first workshop will be held at SOAS University of London in May 2017. A second workshop is anticipated for December 2017. Following a process of internal peer-review, a final selection of papers will be submitted to RIPE by June 2018.

Those interested should send a title and a 200-word abstract to Matthew Eagleton-Pierce (m.eagleton-pierce@soas.ac.uk) and/or Samuel Knafo (S.knafo@sussex.ac.uk) by Friday the 4 of November. For any enquiry, feel free to contact the organisers.

The Fourth Nordic Post-Keynesian Conference: "Economics at the edge!" (Aalborg, 2017)

20-21 April, 2017 | Aalborg University, Denmark

Conference Theme: Economics at the edge!

Traditional economics failed to predict the financial crisis, and traditional theory cannot provide an adequate analysis of the current economic stagnation in Europe.

To develop policy we need to explore and use theories that are more realistic in their content. Here Post-Keynesian theory can be a prime candidate.

The conference will focus on theoretical alternatives and ideas for economic policy, SFC and other new approaches to modelling, and pluralism in economics teaching – with the aim of exploring them all the way to the edge.

Keynote speakers: Eckhard Hein, Peter Skott, Malcolm Sawyer, Sheila Dow, Stephen Kinsella, Jesper Jespersen

Organisation

View the conference organizing committee at the home page of the research group Mamtep.

Call for papers

Abstract submission to pkc17@business.aau.dk before December 15th 2016.

Further details will be available at: www.pkconference.aau.dk

WINIR Symposium on "The legacy of Ludwig Lachmann: Interdisciplinary perspectives on institutions, agency and uncertainty" (Johannesburg, 2017)

11-13 April, 2017 | University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

Ludwig M. Lachmann (1906-1990) was an outstanding social scientist whose achievements ranged across a number of disciplines, including economics, sociology, law and philosophy. Well known for his work on Max Weber, his analysis of the limitations of equilibrium economics, and his contributions to the development of Austrian economics, Lachmann’s legacy revolves around three central themes: radical subjectivism, hermeneutics and human agency; market process and legal order; capital theory and macroeconomics.

To celebrate Lachmann’s life and work, WINIR is holding a Symposium at his former university in South Africa. Submissions on any of the above topics, or any other topic related to Lachmann’s research, are welcome. Papers can be supportive or critical of Lachmann’s views. The Symposium will use Lachmann’s work as a point of departure to generate a wide-ranging discussion of the relations between uncertainty, agency and institutions.

The Symposium will open on the afternoon of Tuesday 11 April and end in the afternoon of Thursday 13 April 2017.

Keynotes lectures will be given by:

Abstract submissions (300 words max.) from any academic discipline, theoretical approach or methodology are welcome.

Submit an abstract here.

Submissions will be evaluated by the WINIR Scientific Quality Committee: Bas van Bavel (Utrecht University, history),Simon Deakin (University of Cambridge, law), Geoff Hodgson (University of Hertfordshire, 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), Linda Weiss (University of Sydney, politics).

Please note the following important dates:

We look forward to receiving your submission. For more information visit www.winir.org

XVI Biennial IASC-Conference on "Practicing the Commons: Self-Governance, Cooperation, and Institutional Change" (Utrecht, 2016)

10-14 July, 2017 | Utrecht, Netherlands

Given the lareg number of abstracts still arriving and many requests for an extension of the abstract submission deadline the local organising committee of the IASC-Conference ‘Practicing the Commons: Self-Governance, Cooperation, and Institutional Change’ (Utrecht, 10-14 July 2017) has decided to postpone the deadline for submitting abstracts (500 words max.) for papers, panels, and posters until the 1st of November, 2016.

Did you already submit a paper or full panel proposal?

In that case: thanks! In order to inform you as soon as possible about the review results, we will alreadystart with the reviewprocedure of abstracts already submitted. Notification of the review results can be expected in January 2017 at the latest.

Did you submit a panel, but are you still waiting for panel members to submit their abstract?

To allow us to run the review procedure as efficiently as possible, please urge your panel members to submit their abstracts as soon as possible, so we can review your panel proposal and the related paper abstracts asap. Please also inform the panel members concerned about the panel ID; you will find this ID in your account (first column of list of Active Submissions).

Did you not yet submit an abstract for a paper, panel, or poster?

Please do so as soon as possible! An overview of the main themes to be addressed, including a list of potential (non-exhaustive) research questions that might be the topic of a paper presentation, can be found via the conference website at http://www.iasc2017.org/calls/call-for-papers. Here you will also find instructions on how to submit your abstract.

If you are a practitioner

Please do also note that very soon, a call for contributions to practitioners’ labs will also be issued.

Website, call, and submitting abstracts (500 words max.)

Please submit your abstract online before the 1st of November 2016.

Contact us via: iasc2017@iasc2017.org

More details are available conference website.

Call for Participants

2nd History of Economics Summer School in Latin America

7-10 February, 2017 | Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, Brazil

Supported by HES and INET

The second History of Economics Summer School in Latin America (HESSLA) will take place in Ouro Preto, Brazil, between February 7-10, 2017. Following a very successful first edition in Bogotá, the summer school will once again bring together junior and senior scholars engaged in advanced research on the history and methodology of economics for a week of warm and lively academic exchanges. The theme for this second edition will be ‘State and Capitalism in the History of Economics’, with lectures from prominent scholars covering a wide range of topics, from the early modern era to the postwar years. Invited speakers include Jimena Hurtado, Erik Reinert, Keith Tribe, and Michele Alacevich.

Besides the lectures, the summer school will also feature sessions dedicated to the presentation of research in progress by advanced graduate students and junior scholars, with room for lengthy and detailed discussion. At the end of each day, there will be a period of informal conversations about ongoing research projects and larger intellectual and professional concerns.

Candidates willing to participate in the 2 HESSLA are invited to send their paper proposals (in English, Portuguese, or Spanish) on any topic related to the history and methodology of economics. Proposals containing an abstract of at least 800 words, a CV, and a short statement of motivation should be sent through the submission form available on http://www.alahpe.org/ no later than November 12, 2016.

The scientific committee will select 12 proposals from among the applications received. Selected participants will only need to cover their own travel expenses to and from Belo Horizonte (Brazil). Lodging and meals for the duration of the event, as well as transportation between Belo Horizonte and Ouro Preto, will be covered by the organization.

Ouro Preto is a major Brazilian historical location, as well as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Besides its inherent qualities as a tourist destination, the location has been chosen in order to provide a relaxed and congenial atmosphere for the proceedings.

The 2 HESSLA is part of the activities being develop by the recently created Latin American Society for the History of Economics (ALAHPE), and as such will provide a vehicle for the strengthening of scholarly work in the region. There are not, however, any restrictions regarding the place of origin of potential applicants: we welcome and encourage proposals from young scholars from all over the world. The working language for the summer school will be English.

Scientific Committee:

ESRC Seminar Series on "Factor Income Distribution, Work and Employment: Social and Economic Perspectives" (London, 2016)

29-30 November, 2016 | London, UK

Venue: Room 2, The Open University, 1-11 Hawley Crescent, Camden Town, London NW1 8NP

Factor Income Distribution, Work and Employment: Social and Economic Perspectives is an ESRC-funded series of six seminars taking place at the OU (London), Nottingham Business School, Leeds University Business School and Birmingham City University. The aim of the series is to explore factor income distribution from a plurality of perspectives, including heterodox approaches (such as post-Keynesianism, Kaleckian and radical economics) as well as mainstream analyses. The gender lens of feminist economics will also be considered, together with institutional perspectives and contributions from other disciplines.

Inequality, Wages and Finance, hosted by the Open Political Economy Group (OPEG) at the OU, is the fifth seminar in the series. Participants from government, industry and the university sector are warmly invited to attend and PhD students are especially welcome. It will be followed, on Wednesday 30 November, by a postgraduate workshop, organised by OPEG research students. For more information, how to register, and request travel bursaries, for both events:

ESRC Seminar Programme, Inequality, Wages and Finance (29 Nov)

More information is available here.

Postgraduate Workshop Programme: Insights into Methodological Approaches in Economic Research (30 Nov)

More information is available here.

Economists for Peace and Security Annual Symposium (Washington DC, 2016)

14 November, 2016 | Washington DC, US

Policy Challenges for the New US President

Economists for Peace and Security will conduct its 9th annual policy symposium at the Hyatt Regency Capitol Hill in Washington DC on November 14, 2016 to discuss the economic dimensions of the most pressing global security issues and those facing the domestic economy. Following one of the most unusual presidential and congressional elections in US history, three panels of senior specialists will present ideas for improving prospects for peace, and growth with fairness for all Americans.

Program

To register please click here.

For further information please contact Ellie Warren.

Historical Materialism Annual Conference (London, 2016)

10-13 November, 2016 | London, UK

Annual Conference: Limits, Barriers and Borders

  1. One-Day Themed Conference: The Limits to Capital and the Limits to Nature
  2. Stream: Marxist-Feminist stream: Environment, Nature and Technologies
  3. Stream: The Politics of Identity
  4. Stream: (Re-)Conceptualising Marxist Theories of Racism
  5. Stream: Latin America and Marxism(s)
  6. Stream: Marxism and Sexualities

Registration is available here. More information is available here.

SOAS Conference on Financialisation, Economy, Society and Sustainable Development (London, 2016)

8 November, 2016 | The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK

Eight years after the 2008 financial crises, the extent and influence of finance continues to grow. The conference presents the latest research on how that growth and influence have been expressed in the provision of every-day services, in the developing world and in the international financial system.

The conference showcases the research done in the Economic Department by researches on the Financialisation, Economy, Society and Sustainable Development (FESSUD) Project financed by the European Commission. Research focused on the financialisation of public utilities and everyday life, financialisation in the developing world, and the structures and processes of financialisation.

Organiser: Jan Toporowski (jt29@soas.ac.uk)

Provisional programme

Registraition and more details are available here.

The Hyman P. Minsky Summer Seminar 2017

10-16 June, 2017 | Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, New York, US

The Levy Economics Institute is pleased to announce that it will hold the eighth Minsky Summer Seminar June 10–16, 2017. The Seminar will provide a rigorous discussion of both the theoretical and applied aspects of Minsky’s economics, with an examination of meaningful prescriptive policies relevant to the current economic and financial outlook. It will also provide an introduction to Wynne Godley’s stock-flow consistent modeling methods via hands-on workshops.

The Summer Seminar will be of particular interest to graduate students, recent graduates, and those at the beginning of their academic or professional careers. The teaching staff will include well-known economists working in the tradition of Minsky.

To apply, send a letter of application and current curriculum vitae to Kathleen Mullaly at the Levy Institute (mullaly@levy.org). Admission to the Summer Seminar includes room and board on the Bard College campus. A registration fee of $250 is required upon acceptance.

Due to space constraints, the Seminar will be limited to 30 participants. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis beginning in January 2017.

The 2017 Summer Seminar program will be organized by Jan Kregel, Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, and L. Randall Wray.

More details are available here.

Job Postings

Azim Premji University, India

Job Title: Assistant or Associate Professor x2

Azim Premji University, part of the Azim Premji Foundation, is a private ​not-for-profit ​University in Bangalore, India. The University offers a liberal undergraduate degree in the Sciences, Economics and Humanities and post-graduate degrees in the fields of Education, Development and Public Policy. We have 2-3 open positions at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, with possibilities to teach in the undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. We encourage applicants from all fields, but we are particularly interested in the following: Economic History, Environmental Economics, International Economics, and Economics of Education. Candidates whose work focuses on the Indian context are of particular appeal. The faculty at the University engages with a broad range of paradigms in their teaching and research, and welcomes applicants working in diverse theoretical traditions within Economics.

We seek candidates with a strong commitment to teaching and research and a willingness to contribute to a general liberal arts curriculum. Salaries and compensation are commensurate with the Indian central university norms.

Interested candidates should send a CV, a sample of written academic work, 2-3 letters of recommendation and a covering letter providing an indication of interest in Azim Premji University's unique mission to econ.hiring@apu.edu.in

Application deadline: 01/15/2017

Link to the job advert is available here.

Siena College, US

Job Title: Assistant Professor of Economics

The Economics Department at Siena College in Loudonville, NY is accepting applications for a tenure-track position beginning fall 2017.

We seek applicants in either industrial organization, with the ability to teach game theory and behavioral economics; or in macroeconomics, with the ability to teach open-economy and monetary economics.

Teaching experience and completed Ph.D. by August 15, 2017 are required. We seek applicants with a passion for innovative undergraduate teaching, including heterodox approaches, applied and interdisciplinary work, and mentoring undergraduate research. Female and minority candidates are particularly invited to apply. All applications received prior to November 22, 2016 will be considered for an ASSA meeting interview. Application should include cover letter, c.v., teaching portfolio to include statement of teaching philosophy and a summary of student evaluations, sample syllabi, job market paper, graduate transcript, and three letters of recommendation which can attest to teaching effectiveness.

Please submit the application packet as a single PDF to econ-search-r1262@siena.edu

Siena College is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to attracting, supporting, and retaining a diverse faculty. We actively encourage applications from women, minorities, persons with disabilities, veterans, and others who may make a positive contribution to the diversification of ideas and perspectives.

University of Richmond, US

Job Title: Assistant Professor of Economics (with focus on International and European Union)

Deadline for submitting all materials: 12/1/2016

The Department of Economics invites applications for a tenure-track position as an Assistant Professor of Economics beginning in August 2017. The successful candidate should have a research field in international economics and the ability to teach a course in the Economics of the European Union. Teaching responsibilities will include support in the principle sequence and the candidate will be encouraged to develop an upper-level elective. The teaching load is 3-2, generally limited to 3 preps per year. Applicants must have teaching experience as an independent instructor and provide evidence of effective teaching.

The Economics Department is located within the Robins School of Business. The department expects excellence in teaching and meaningful research aimed at publication in top-tier scholarly journals. Candidates are expected to be on course for completion of a Ph.D. in Economics by August 2017 and meet the position requirements at the time of selection.

The University of Richmond is a nationally-ranked liberal arts institution offering a unique combination of undergraduate and graduate degree programs in arts and sciences, business, leadership studies, law and continuing studies. There is a large and active interdisciplinary international studies major on campus, for which the economics department oversees a concentration in international economics.

The University is an Equal Opportunity Employer by both policy and practice. Applicants are considered for all positions without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, national origin, age, marital or veteran status, or the presence of a non-job-related medical condition. It is the intent of the University's employment and personnel practices to conform to all applicable federal, state, and local laws and regulations regarding non-discrimination.

Application Requirements:

To apply, please submit the following materials as attachments to your on-line application at the JOE network:

Review of applications will begin immediately and continue until the position is filled.

Link to the job advert is available here.

WU Vienna, Austria

Job Title: Assistant Professor in Ecological Economics

The Institute for Ecological Economics is currently inviting applications for afulltime Assistant Professor, non-tenure track position (post-doc, employee subject to the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement for University Staff (gross monthly salary, paid 14 times per year: Euro 3,590.70). This employee position will be limited to a period from December 1, 2016 (commencement date subject to change) until February 28, 2019.

Please note that under the terms of the WU personnel development plan, the position of Assistant Professor, non-tenure track, is limited to an employment period of not more than six years. Applicants who are already employed at WU as substitute employees can therefore only be employed for the time remaining to complete the six-year period. Persons who have already been employed at WU in an Assistant Professor, non-tenure track position cannot be re-employed in this position at WU (except as a substitute employee) due to legal restrictions.

Responsibilities:

Assistant Professor non-tenure track, wanted in the area of ecological economics. A key aspect of this work concerns conceptual development and empirical analyses in the areas of ecological macroeconomics, sustainable work or climate economics.

Responsibilities include

The candidate should be committed to excellence in teaching both on a bachelors and masters level. Teaching load will be eight hours a year (e.g. four courses with a minimum of 22.5 contact hours each). Depending on his or her background, the candidate may teach courses of Sustainable Economy for Bachelor students, the elective of Environment and Economy (theory & methods) as well as courses in the MSc Socio-Ecological Economics and Policy and the MSc Socio-Economics. The candidate is specifically expected to get involved in research projects and shall fulfill his or her duties in research in cooperation with representatives of the relevant fields both in and outside the University.

Your Profile:

Applicants should have:

Reference Number: 3190

Application materials can be submitted online until November 9, 2016. APPLY HERE

Travel and lodging expenses: We regret that WU cannot reimburse applicants for travel and lodging expenses incurred as part of the selection and/or hiring process.

Equal opportunities:

WU is an Equal Opportunity Employer and seeks to increase the number of its female faculty and staff members, especially in management positions. Therefore qualified women are strongly encouraged to apply. In case of equal qualification, female candidates will be given preference. WU has established a Committee for Equal Treatment, which is involved in all selection proceedings pursuant to § 42 of the 2002 Universities Act.

Details and submission are available here.

Awards

HES Distinguished Fellow Award: Call for Nominations

The History of Economics Society invites nominations for its 2017 Distinguished Fellow Award.

The list of previous recipients of the honor may be found on the HES website (historyofeconomics.org/Fellows.cfm).

This year's adjudication committee is composed of Jeff Biddle (Chair), Robert Leonard, and Margaret Schabas.

To make a nomination, please submit, no later than December 15, 2016:

Nominations should be sent to the committee Chair, Jeff Biddle (biddle@msu.edu).

Kurt Rothschild Award for Economic Journalism and Research

In remembrance of the considerable achievements of the Austrian Professor of Economics Kurt Rothschild, whose dedication for science, policies and society has left a sustainable mark in these areas, and for the first time, in 2016 the Karl-Renner-Institut and the Social Democratic parliamentary club award the Kurt Rothschild Award for Economic Journalism and Research.

This year's prize winners are:

Further information on the prize winners and their respective contributions can be obtained here (in German).

Leontief Prize 2017 winners

The Global Development and Environment Institute at Tufts University will award its 2017 Leontief Prize for Advancing the Frontiers of Economic Thought to James Boyce and Joan Martinez-Alier.

This year’s award, titled “Economics, Equity, and the Environment,” recognizes Boyce and Martinez-Alier for their ground-breaking theoretical and applied work that has effectively integrated ecological, developmental, and justice-oriented approaches into the field of economics.

“It is essential to address the ecological crisis generated by the old-paradigm economy,” said GDAE Co-Director Neva Goodwin. “James Boyce and Joan Martinez-Alier have highlighted the relationship between economic systems, resources (materials and energy) and social issues. Their particular focus on the intersections among economics, poverty, and inequality has strongly informed GDAE’s thinking on these issues.”

GDAE awards the Leontief Prize each year to leading theorists who have developed innovative work in economics that addresses contemporary realities and supports just and sustainable societies.

Download the full Announcement of the winners (PDF). For more details see here.

Journals

American Journal of Economics and Sociology, 75 (5)

Editor’s Introduction: Nature, Economy, and Equity: Sacred Water, Profane Markets

Mason Gaffney: Nature, Economy, and Equity: Sacred Water, Profane Markets

Brian Hodgkinson: Review Rent Unmasked: How to Save the Global Economy and Build a Sustainable Future (Essays in Honor of Mason Gaffney) Fred Harrison, Editor

Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, 87 (3): Special Issue on "Organization and Governance in Social Economy Enterprises"

Michael KOPEL, Marco A. MARINI: ORGANIZATION AND GOVERNANCE IN SOCIAL ECONOMY ENTERPRISES: AN INTRODUCTION

Patrick HERBST, Jens PRÜFER: FIRMS, NONPROFITS, AND COOPERATIVES: A THEORY OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHOICE

Alessandro FEDELE, Sara DEPEDRI: IN MEDIO STAT VIRTUS: DOES A MIXED ECONOMY INCREASE WELFARE?

Kazuhiko MIKAMI: COOPERATIVES, TRANSFERABLE SHARES, AND A UNIFIED BUSINESS LAW

Joaquim Rubens FONTES-FILHO, Michelle M. BRONSTEIN: GOVERNANCE SOLUTIONS IN LISTED COMPANIES AND NOT-FOR-PROFIT ORGANIZATIONS

Derek C. JONES, Iiro JUSSILA, Panu KALMI: THE DETERMINANTS OF MEMBERSHIP IN COOPERATIVE BANKS: COMMON BOND VERSUS PRIVATE GAIN

Anjel ERRASTI, Ignacio BRETOS, Enekoitz ETXEZARRETA: WHAT DO MONDRAGON COOPITALIST MULTINATIONALS LOOK LIKE? THE RISE AND FALL OF FAGOR ELECTRODOMÉSTICOS S. COOP. AND ITS EUROPEAN SUBSIDIARIES

Simon BERGE, Wayne CALDWELL, Phil MOUNT: GOVERNANCE OF NINE ONTARIO FOOD CO-OPERATIVES

Yena LEE, Yunhwan NAM, Sanghoon LEE: THE ROLE AND STRATEGY FOR A COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION OF CO-OPERATIVES AS A SECONDARY ORGANIZATION: THE CASE OF THE GURO COMMUNITY ASSOCIATION OF CO-OPERATIVES IN KOREA

Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy & Society, 9 (3): Urban Development in China

Editorial Statement

Steven Brakman, Harry Garretsen, Charles van Marrewijk: Urban development in China

Andrés Rodríguez-Pose, Callum Wilkie: Putting China in perspective: a comparative exploration of the ascent of the Chinese knowledge economy

Anthony Howell, Canfei He, Rudai Yang, Cindy Fan: Technological relatedness and asymmetrical firm productivity gains under market reforms in China

Huasheng Song, Min Zhang, Ruqu Wang: Amenities and spatial talent distribution: evidence from the Chinese IT industry

Canfei He, Xiyan Mao: Population dynamics and regional development in China

Ming Tian, Zheng Tian, Brian Cushing: Inter-city migration in China: a recurrent-event duration analysis of repeat migration

Yang Chen, Nimesh Salike, Fushu Luan, Ming He: Heterogeneous effects of inter- and intra-city transportation infrastructure on economic growth: Evidence from Chinese cities

Yuyuan Wen, Jean-Claude Thill: Identification, structure and dynamic characteristics of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei mega-city region

Lu Zhang, Dirk Bezemer: Finance and growth in China, 1995–2013: more liquidity or more development?

Review of Keynesian Economics, 4 (4)

Mark Setterfield: Wage- versus profit-led growth after 25 years: an introduction

Robert A. Blecker: Wage-led versus profit-led demand regimes: the long and the short of it

Michalis Nikiforos: Distribution-led growth in the long run

Riccardo Pariboni: Autonomous demand and the Marglin–Bhaduri model: a critical note,

Arslan Razmi: Growth and distribution in low-income economies: modifying post-Keynesian analysis in light of theory and history

Jaime Ros: Can growth be wage-led in small open developing economies?,

Özlem Onaran: Wage- versus profit-led growth in the context of globalization and public spending: the political aspects of wage-led recovery

Nathan Perry and Nathaniel Cline: What caused the great inflation moderation in the US? A post-Keynesian view

Attilio Trezzini and Antonella Palumbo: The theory of output in the modern classical approach: main principles and controversial issues

Books and Book Series

A People's History of Modern Europe

By William A. Pelz | 2016, Pluto Press

The origin of capitalism and modern industrialism—and, not unrelated, the birthplace of Marxism—modern Europe provided the perfect conditions for a great number of political revolutions. From the monarchical terror of the Middle Ages to the mangled Europe of the twenty-first century, A People’s History of Modern Europe tracks the history of the continent through the deeds of those whom mainstream history tries to forget.

Along the way, William A. Pelz examines the German peasant wars of Thomas Müntzer, the bourgeoisie revolutions of the eighteenth century, the rise of the industrial worker in England, the turbulent journey of the Russian Soviets, the role of the European working class throughout the Cold War, and the revolutionary students in 1968. He then brings his story to the present day, where we continue to fight to forge an alternative to a heartless and often barbaric economic system.

As Germany and Greece argue over who owes what, with the very idea of Europe crumbling around them, Pelz’s accessible, provocative history could not be timelier. Sure to resonate with fans of books like Howard Zinn’s A People’s History of the United States, this people’s history sweeps away the tired platitudes of the privileged and provides an opportunity to understand the story of Europe from the ground up.

Link to the book is available here.

Economic Growth: How it works and how it transformed the world

By Edward A. Hudson | 2016, Vernon Press

How does economic growth work? Beginning with the history of leading countries over the past 2000 years, Economic Growth finds which countries have achieved sustained growth and how they did it. The effects of growth are examined on a human scale. The benefits of growth are enormous in terms of life, health, education, leisure and opportunity, while the downsides can be managed by appropriate policies.

Economic Growth develops a new theory of growth. This new theory is based on careful analysis of actual growth; it covers the causes and mechanisms as well as the results of growth. This new theory extends conventional theory by operating at the industry level and by placing demand considerations at the forefront of growth. Demand growth – based on product innovation, marketing, credit and the consumer society – drives the economy forward while supply growth – based on investment and process innovation – sustains the growth in spending and incomes. Growth is not automatic but, in the right conditions, demand and supply expansion work together to generate sustained growth.
Economic Growth offers a new view of growth, unique in its combination of historical depth, intellectual clarity and practical relevance. Its original insights will interest academic and professional economists, while its comprehensive treatment and lucid explanations make it an excellent guidebook for anyone interested in economic growth.

Link to the book is available here.

Financial Development, Economic Crises and Emerging Market Economies

Edited by Faruk Ulgen | 2016, Routledge

Recurrent crises in emerging markets and in advanced economies in the last decades cast doubt about the ability of financial liberalization to meet the aims of sustainable economic growth and development. The increasing importance of financial markets and financial efficiency criterion over economic decisions and policies since the 1980s laid down the conditions of the development process of emerging market economies. Numerous crises experienced thereafter gave rise to flourishing work on the links between financialization and economic development. Several decades of observations and lessons can now be integrated into economic and econometric models to give more sophisticated and multivariable approaches to financial development with respect to growth and development issues. In the markets-based and private-enterprise dominated world economy, two conditions for a successful growth-enhancing financial evolution can at least be brought fore: macroeconomic stability and consistent supervision.

But even after the 2007-2008 global crisis, economists do not agree on the meaning of those conditions. For liberal and equilibrium-market economists, good finance and supervision mean market-friendly structures while for institutionalists, post-Keynesian and Marxist economists, good finance and supervision must lie in collectively designed and managed public structures. Drawing heavily on the tumultuous crises of the 1990s-2000s, this book argues that those experiences can shed light on such a crucial issue and lead economic theory and policy to go beyond the blindness of efficient free markets doctrine to economic catastrophes. It also points to new challenges to global stability in the wake of reconfiguration of international financial arena under the weight of major emerging market economies.

Link to the book is available here.

Institutional Innovation and Change in Value Chain Development

By Holly A. Ritchie | 2016, Routledge

George Bernard Shaw once said that reasonable people adapt themselves to the world but unreasonable people adapt the world to themselves. In a sense, this book explores how these so-called ‘unreasonable people’ may interact to re-fashion the world around them in fragile economic development. Drawing on empirical research in the volatile and traditional context of Afghanistan, the study investigates the challenge of poor women’s participation in business and diverse outcomes for local development.

Institutional Innovation and Change in Value Chain Development takes a unique look at nuanced institutional phenomena through the lens of social institutions, with a subtle appreciation of the interaction of structure and agency. Drawing on in-depth qualitative research in Afghanistan, the case studies specifically investigate the transformation of the women’s norm of purdah, and the subsequent development of new market institutions in three women’s enterprises.

Shedding new light on the opaque process of institutional change, the research shows that external actors (such as NGOs) can both initiate and guide institutional development in fragile environments. Yet there may be limitations to their endeavours, with strong resistance from local power holders. Meanwhile, dominant entrepreneurs are shown to play a major role in fostering institutional development pathways. This influences the scope of inclusion and exclusion in enterprise and value chains, and broader streams of socio-economic development.

Link to the book is available here.

On Abstract and Historical Hypotheses and on Value Judgments in Economic Sciences

By Luigi Einaudi and edited by Paolo Silvestri | 2016, Routledge

Luigi Einaudi (1874-1961) was a leading liberal economist, economic historian and political figure. This book provides the English-speaking world with a first critical edition of Einaudi’s – hitherto unpublished – rewriting of one of his most unique and thoughtful essays.

The relevance of this essay is crucial from several perspectives: history and methodology of economic thought, role of economics and its relation to other disciplines and to social values, role of economists in the public sphere, while also encompassing the discourse on man and the economist as a "whole man". The critical edition of On Abstract and Historical Hypotheses and on Value Judgments in Economic Sciences includes a comprehensive introduction and afterword. An extensive reappraisal of this newly discovered essay will help to cast light on Einaudi’s uniqueness and originality within and beyond the Italian tradition in public finance, thereby also illuminating his attempt to provide an epistemological account of his long lasting enquiry into the causes of good and bad polities.

This book is of great interest to those who study economic theory and philosophy, as well as history of economic thought, public economics and legal and political philosophy.

Link to the book is available here.

Revolution in Rojava: Democratic Autonomy and Women's Liberation in Syrian Kurdistan

By Michael Knapp, Anja Flach, Ercan Ayboga | 2016, Pluto Press

A new kind of society is being built in Syria, but it’s not one you would expect. Surrounded by deadly bands of ISIS and hostile Turkish forces, the people living in Syria’s Rojava cantons are carving out one of the most radically progressive societies on the planet today. Western visitors have been astounded by the success of their project, a communally organised democracy which considers women’s equality indispensable and rejects reactionary nationalist ideology whilst being fiercely anti-capitalist.

The people of Rojava call their new system democratic confederalism. An implementation of the recent ideology of the imprisoned Kurdish leader Abdullah Öcalan, it boasts gender quotas of 40 percent, bottom-up democratic structures, deep-reaching ecological policies and a militancy which is keeping ISIS from the gates.

Revolution in Rojava is the first full-length study of this ongoing social and political transformation in Syrian Kurdistan. It is the first authentic insight into the complex dimensions of the revolution. Its authors use their own experiences of working and fighting in the region to construct a picture of hope for Middle-Eastern politics and society, and reveal an extraordinary story of a battle against the odds.

Link to the book is available here.

Rigged: How Globalization and the Rules of the Modern Economy Were Structured to Make the Rich Richer

By Dean Baker | 2016, Center for Economic and Policy Research

There has been an enormous upward redistribution of income in the United States in the last four decades. In his most recent book, Baker shows that this upward redistribution was not the result of globalization and the natural workings of the market. Rather it was the result of conscious policies that were designed to put downward pressure on the wages of ordinary workers while protecting and enhancing the incomes of those at the top. Baker explains how rules on trade, patents, copyrights, corporate governance, and macroeconomic policy were rigged to make income flow upward.

Link to the book is available here.

The Capitalist University: The Transformations of Higher Education in the United States since 1945

By Henry Heller | 2016, Pluto Press

Can the ivory tower rise above capitalism? Or are the humanities and social sciences merely handmaids to the American imperial order? The Capitalist University surveys the history of higher education in the United States over the last century, revealing how campuses and classrooms have become battlegrounds in the struggle between liberatory knowledge and commodified learning.

Henry Heller takes readers from the ideological apparatus of the early Cold War, through the revolts of the 1960s and on to the contemporary malaise of postmodernism, neoliberalism and the so-called 'knowledge economy' of academic capitalism. He reveals how American educational institutions have been forced to decide between teaching students to question the dominant order and helping to perpetuate it.

Accessible in style, The Capitalist University presents a comprehensive overview of a topic which affects millions of students in America and increasingly, across the globe.

Link to the book is available here.

The Economics of Urban Property Markets

By Paschalis A. Arvanitidis | 2011, Routledge

This book examines the relationship between the property market and urban economy. The stimulus for this work was provided by the seemingly ever-accelerating process of urban economic change and the noticeable failure of existing studies to adequately explore the pivotal role that the property market plays in this process.

Drawing on institutional economics, the central argument of the book is that the property market as an institution is a mediator through which urban economic potential can be realised and served. In developing this argument, the book provides a critical realist ontological framework that advances understanding of the institutional structure of the economy and the complex interrelation between the institutional environment and human agency, as well as a holistic theoretical framework of urban economic change, where appropriate emphasis is placed on the specific mechanisms, processes and dynamics through which the built environment is provided. Arvanitidis also explores an institutional conceptualisation of property market efficiency, defined in terms of the ability of the market institution to adapt its structure and to provide outcomes that the economy requires. To inform empirical research on the developed concepts, the book also offers a generic analytical approach specifying appropriate research methods and techniques for investigation along with a specific research design providing an operational framework that translates developed theory into empirical practice.

The book’s primary contribution therefore lies in its delineation of a holistic research programme to conceptualise the property market as an institution and to explore its role within the urban economy.

Link to the book is available here.

The Financialization of GDP: Implications for economic theory and policy

By Jacob Assa | 2016, Routledge

Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and other statistics based on national income accounting are ubiquitous but rarely understood today. GDP has been criticized for many reasons, including not reflecting well-being, leaving out the costs of environmental pollution, and not counting unpaid work, but on purely economic terms it has been mostly accepted as an indicator of economic performance. In recent decades, however, GDP has diverged dramatically from economic trends such as employment and median income. This book argues that GDP is flawed even as a narrow economic indicator, and traces the problem to the way financial services are measured.

The first part of the book is a political history of the practice of national accounting from its beginning in the mid-17th century to present day, and explores how such income estimates were constructed for political reasons. The Financialization of GDP presents the practice of estimating national income as a historically and political contingent craft - driven by power and not only theory - culminating in the rise of the financial sector and the concomitant inclusion of financial services in GDP in 1993.. The second part of the book focuses on the treatment of financial services in national accounting and develops an adjusted measure of output (Final Domestic Product or FDP) – which treats financial revenues as intermediate inputs (or costs) to the economy as a whole. The final part of the book explores the empirical and policy implications of treating finance as an overall cost to the economy.

This volume shows that the Great Moderation of volatility was a statistical artefact; Okun’s Law (relating changes in output and unemployment) never died, and even provides early signs for the Great Recession which analysts using standard GDP did not see. This book is of great interest to those who study political economy and macroeconomics.

Link to the book is available here.

The Nobel Factor: The Prize in Economics, Social Democracy, and the Market Turn

By Avner Offer & Gabriel Söderberg | 2016, Princeton Press

Economic theory may be speculative, but its impact is powerful and real. Since the 1970s, it has been closely associated with a sweeping change around the world—the “market turn.” This is what Avner Offer and Gabriel Söderberg call the rise of market liberalism, a movement that, seeking to replace social democracy, holds up buying and selling as the norm for human relations and society. Our confidence in markets comes from economics, and our confidence in economics is underpinned by the Nobel Prize in Economics, which was first awarded in 1969. Was it a coincidence that the market turn and the prize began at the same time? The Nobel Factor, the first book to describe the origins and power of the most important prize in economics, explores this and related questions by examining the history of the prize, the history of economics since the prize began, and the simultaneous struggle between market liberals and social democrats in Sweden, Europe, and the United States.

The Nobel Factor tells how the prize, created by the Swedish central bank, emerged from a conflict between central bank orthodoxy and social democracy. The aim was to use the halo of the Nobel brand to enhance central bank authority and the prestige of market-friendly economics, in order to influence the future of Sweden and the rest of the developed world. And this strategy has worked, with sometimes disastrous results for societies striving to cope with the requirements of economic theory and deregulated markets.

Drawing on previously untapped Swedish national bank archives and providing a unique analysis of the sway of prizewinners,The Nobel Factor offers an unprecedented account of the real-world consequences of economics—and its greatest prize.

Link to the book is available here.

The Social Sciences of Quantification: From Politics of Large Numbers to Target-Driven Policies

Edited by Isabelle Bruno, Florence Jany-Catrice, Beatrice Touchelay | 2016, Springer

This book details how quantification can serve both as evidence and as an instrument of government, whether when dealing with statistics on employment, occupational health and economic governance, or when developing public management or target-driven policies. In the process, it presents a thought-provoking homage to Alain Desrosières, who pioneered ways to study large numbers and the politics underlying them.

It opens with a summary of Desrosières's contributions to the field in which several generations of researchers detail how this statistician and historian profoundly influenced them. This tribute, based on personal testimonies, bears witness to the vitality of the school of thought and analytical framework Desrosières initiated. Next, a collection of essays explores the statistical argument in the neoliberal era, examining issues such as counting the homeless in Europe, measuring the performance of public services, and quantifying the effects of public action on the unemployed in France.

The third part details the uses of quantification. It reveals that although statistics are frequently used to the advantage of those in power, they can also play a vital role in challenging and resisting both the conventions underlying the measurements as well as the measurements themselves.Featuring the work of economists, historians, political scientists, sociologists, and statisticians, this title provides readers with a thoughtful look at an influential figure in the history of statistics. It also shows how statistics are used to direct public policy, the degree of conflict that is possible in their production, and the disputes that can develop around their uses.

Link to the book is available here.

The Three Worlds of Social Democracy

Edited by Ingo Schmidt | 2016, Pluto Press

Social democracy is clearly at a dead end, but is it actually dead? The Three Worlds of Social Democracy explores the historical and theoretical path of the social democratic parties from their inception to the present day through a series of essays by high-profile experts in the field.

Looking at the international picture, the book highlights the movement’s spread to the postcolonial and post-communist countries of the Global East and South such as Eastern Europe, Latin America, India, and South Africa at the time it was considered past its prime in the West, a shift which is often ignored by mainstream analyses. However, the authors are not optimistic about its future – despite a rise of popular parties such as Greece’s Syriza, a combination of international economic stagnation combined with an overall weakening of popular left-wing movements and a terrifying rise of extreme rightist parties paints a gloomy picture for the future of social democracy.

This is one of the first truly global explorations of the methods, meanings, and limits of social democracy. This book will be of lasting value to students of politics and will further the ongoing debate about the future of social democratic politics across the modern world.

Link to the book is available here.

Working the Phones - Control and Resistance in Call Centres

By Jamie Woodcock | 2016, Pluto Press

Call centers have become a near-ubiquitous site of employment in our late capitalist world, with over a million people working there in the United Kingdom alone. The call center has become synonymous with low-paid, high-stress work under dictatorial supervision and precarious contracts. With Working the Phones, Jamie Woodcock draws on time spent employed in a non-unionized call center to take the public beyond anecdotal impressions to a true picture of what work is like there. Focusing in particular on methods of control and resistance within the highly regulated environment, Woodcock shows how call centers have become sadly emblematic of the post-industrial service economy.

Link to book is available here.

Heterodox Graduate Programs, Scholarships and Grants

Joint Postdoctoral Research Position in Chile

Joint Postdoctoral Research Position at the Institute for Public Policy, Universidad Diego Portales, and at the Solar Energy Research Center (SERC) based at the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Universidad de Chile

The Institute for Public Policy (Faculty of Economics and Business) at the Universidad Diego Portales, the Solar Energy Research Center (SERC) based at the Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Universidad de Chile invite applications from economists (or related fields in the social sciences) for a joint postdoctoral research position in the area of sustainable development. Both the Institute for Public Policy and the Solar Energy Research Center are looking to strengthen their research in subjects related to public policy for sustainable development, particularly in areas that relate to policy incentives and regulatory barriers pertaining to the development of alternative energy sectors in Chile. Specific subjects of interest include: energy economics, green economy, sustainable productive development and related fields.

The Institute for Public Policy (IPP), Faculty of Economics and Business at the Universidad Diego Portales

The Public Policy Institute of the Faculty of Economics and Business at Universidad Diego Portales (UDP) focuses on both research and teaching. Our aim is to produce research that informs public policy, and to communicate this research effectively to the public and to all social actors. We are currently seeking to expand our areas of expertise to include topics of sustainable development. Since its establishment, the Institute has had an important voice in Chile's public policy debates. Our researchers actively participate in advisory commissions and public fora where policy decisions are analysed and discussed. Through our Masters Programmes in Public Policy and Sustainable Development (to be launched during 2017), the Institute is also committed to training the next generation of senior policy makers in Chile.

The Solar Energy Research Center (SERC), Faculty of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Universidad de Chile

The Solar Energy Research Center (SERC Chile) is a research centre funded by the Chilean National Commission for Science and Technology (Conicyt, Fondap programme), which was established in 2012 to construct a solid foundation of knowledge on solar energy in Chile. The centre brings together six Chilean universities (Universidad de Chile, Universidad de Tarapacá, Universidad de Antofagasta, Universidad Técnica Federico Santa María, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, and Universidad de Concepción) as well as the Fundación Chile. Its research focuses on the multiple scientific and technical aspects of the solar energy sector, including the economic, social and regulatory aspects of solar development (see www. serc.cl for more information on the centre's research lines).

How to apply

Qualified candidates must have a PhD (awarded within the last 5 years or an approved PhD thesis with graduation pending) in economics or a related social science with a relevant specialisation in a subject related to sustainable development that fits into the research agenda of our institutes. Candidates should have strong writing and methodological skills. In addition to the completion and publication of their own research in ranked academic journals, the postdoctoral scholars’ primary responsibilities will consist of planning and conducting new studies, undertaking statistical data analysis and the preparation of manuscripts for publication and conference presentations. They will work collaboratively with a multidisciplinary research team of researchers led by professors Claudio Agostini (SERC), Rodrigo Palma (SERC) and Kirsten Sehnbruch (IPP).

The salary offered for this position is US$ 30,000 per year approximately (precise amounts may vary depending on exchange rates and are negotiable). Each position is for two years, but renewal for the second year will be subject to the fulfilment of jointly agreed objectives.

Applications are open until November 30th, 2016. Please send a motivational letter, curriculum vitae, summary of Ph.D. research, brief research proposal (no more than two pages) and two letters of support to Sandra.mella@udp.cl.

Applications should be submitted in English. Interviews with the selection committee can be conducted by skype. We would expect the selected candidate to start working with us as soon as possible.

Postdoc position at Erasmus University Rotterdam

Project: Intellectual biography of Jan Tinbergen

Description

In 2019 it will be fifty years ago that Jan Tinbergen received the Nobel Prize in Economics. At the initiative of Peter Cornelisse and Jan Pronk, ESE and EIPE will support a project to celebrate this event in 2019 with the publication of an intellectual biography of Tinbergen.

The research is a joint ESE-EIPE project: The postdoc will have a position at the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE). Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE) will provide a proper working environment and facilities.

This project will be scientifically supported by a committee consisting of Roger Backhouse (University of Birmingham and EIPE), Marcel Boumans (Utrecht University), Mary S. Morgan (LSE), and Jack Vromen (EIPE).

Requirements

Candidates should have completed their doctoral degree in history of economics, history of science or history of social science, or in a closely related field.

Appointment and salary

We offer a 3-year position as post-doc at Erasmus University Rotterdam, starting January 1, 2017. You will be appointed for an initial period of 1 year which we will prolong for another 2 years when progress of the project is on schedule. Salary and benefits are in accordance with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-NU). Monthly fulltime salary will be according to scale 11 ranging from € 3.427 up to € 4.691 gross, depending on experience. The EUR has attractive employment conditions, which include a holiday allowance of 8.0%, an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% and 41 annual vacation days in case of a full workweek.

Application Instructions:

Please send an email describing briefly background, previous training and interests along with a CV and contact information for two references. Journal publications or other samples of scholarly writing may also be included. Please send application materials to Marcel Boumans at m.j.boumans@uu.nl. Deadline to apply: 27 November 2016.

Working at the Erasmus University Rotterdam

Working at the Erasmus University Rotterdam means working in a professional environment, where development is encouraged through an active career and mobility policy. The Erasmus University Rotterdam highly appreciates flexibility: we have a 38-hour workweek, flexible working hours, possibilities to work part-time, and maternal/paternal leave. Moreover, the University has a company childcare scheme, possibilities to participate in a terms of employment option model, company savings program and life insurance schemes and favourable collective insurance schemes. Employees can also make use of facilities such as sports facilities and library.

Newsletters

World Economics Association, 6 (5)

David Ruccio: Crash and learn?

Peter Radford: Blind leading the blind

Merijn Knibbe: Models and measurement in economics

Maria Alejandra Madi: Economic growth is not ‘natural’

David Orrell: Economic Depression: A commentary on Paul Romer’s The Trouble With Macroeconomics

Jamie Morgan: The oddity of a Brexit odyessy

Salvatore Babones: Deglobalization? Or just an end to globalization?

Heterodox Economics in the Media

The Political Slant of the Nobel Prize in Economics

Avner Offer, the co-author of a book on the award, explains how it has legitimized free-market thinking over time.

Read the full article in "The Atlantic" here.

Calls for Support

Call for signatures in Defense of the Argentinean Science and Technology

Argentina's current government, presided by the businessman Mauricio Macri, presented to the National Congress the law project for the proposed General Budget of the National Administration to be executed during 2017. The economical and social consequences of the revived neoliberal political agenda implemented in the last ten months of government are profoundly worrisome: an uproarious increase of the external debt of up 20 billion US dollars, 60% devaluation of the national currency, around 40% of inflation and 10% of unemployment, the creation of more than 1.5 million of poor, the shutting down of more than 6.000 private firms and the collapse of industrial productivity and exportation reduction, also accompanied by the dismantling of a series of welfare and social public programs, governmental agencies and dependencies with reduction of personnel and funding, especially in strategic technological and developmental areas (such as the General Direction of Military Fabrication and the Argentinean Company of Satellite Solutions ARSAT).

The Argentinean scientific and technological community has analysed the budgetary proposal, and the conclusions deducted are disquieting: the functioning and development of our country's National Scientific, Technological and Productive Innovation System, as well as the National University System, will be significantly conditioned. The approval of the proposed budget without making any modifications will generate enormous drawbacks for Argentina in the generation of knowledge and production of technology, will harm the development of higher education and its accessibility to all society, and will back away the resolution of social problems and necessities.

In this sense, the Argentinean scientific and technological community asks for the support of the international academic, intellectual and cultural community to offer its rejection and repudiation to the budgetary cut-outs projected by Macri's governmental administration.

The proposed budget involves a cut-out of more than 65 million US dollars of the funding assigned to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation, representing 32% reduction compared to the 2016 budget. Similarly, combining the funding to be assigned to the Ministry of Science & Technology, the National Council of Scientific and Technological Research (CONICET), and the National Commission of Space Activities (CONAE) in 2017 represents only 0.59% of the GDP, being the lowest percentage assigned to the sector since 2008. In this scenario the shortcomings will be imminent when it comes to cover the functioning and administration costs, salaries and scholarships, also halting infrastructure investment, equipment acquisition and other means and supplies required for R&D activities undertaken by the National Universities and R&D centers and institutes throughout the country.

Therefore, we kindly ask for the solidarity of our colleagues worldwide, signing this petition, in order to convince the Honorable Chambers of Deputies and Senators of the Argentinean National Congress to insist over a modification of the Law Project of the General Budget for 2017. The modifications should guarantee the continuity of the R&D public programs, the financing of functioning costs and inversions for the centers and institutes within the National Scientific, Technological and Productive Innovation System, as well as the National University System.

We ask for your support to our petition! Sign-up in defense of the Argentinean Science and Technology!

Crowdfounding project aiming to publish Keynes' unpublished writings: The JM Keynes Writings Project

Professor Rod O’Donnell, University of Technology Sydney, is currently engaged in preparing a major edition of the remaining unpublished writings of JM Keynes, of which there remains a huge quantity of valuable material scattered across at least 60 archives in several countries.

Since standard sources of funds for this kind of research have dried up, it's now time to turn to crowdfunding.

THE CROWDFUNDING CAMPAIGN IS NOW OPEN ON INDIEGOGO.

OVERALL AIM: To complete the publication of all of Keynes’s unpublished writings of academic significance. Only about one third were published in the Royal Economic Society edition.

AIM OF THIS CAMPAIGN: Preparation of the Eton and early Cambridge volumes.

TO LOCATE CAMPAIGN: https://www.indiegogo.com/proj…/jmk-writings-project-stage-1

Also go to the link above to find more information about the project, the campaign and the editor.

It is planned, with publisher cooperation, for the campaign to assist selected universities in developing countries.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

  1. Spread the word – to academic colleagues (in economics or elsewhere), students in classes, conference participants, policy-makers, parliamentarians, philanthropists etc.

  2. If you are a teacher, suggest a group donation to your classes.

  3. Make, and encourage, donations of any size according to your situation.

  4. Tweet our short link (igg.me/at/jmkwritings) to your followers, and like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/jmkwritingsproject/).

Professor Rod O’Donnell, University of Technology Sydney

Contact: jmkwritingsproject@gmail.com

See also https://www.uts.edu.au/staff/rod.odonnell

For Your Information

Latin American Society for the History of Economics (ALAHPE) has officially launched its website

We are very pleased to inform the HET community that the Latin American Society for the History of Economics (ALAHPE) has officially launched its website: www.alahpe.org.

Our aim is to provide a gathering place designed not only for members of the society, but also for everyone interested in the history and methodology of economics. The website will keep you up to date with the latest news about the most relevant activities inside the community of historians of economics around the world, including, of course, events organized directly by ALAHPE. We have also created a section containing archival material related to the association and its past conferences, such as important documents and photos. In addition, you can contact our team, and even join ALAHPE’s mailing list, an important communication platform for members of the society. Finally, on the related links section, you will be directed to other important organizations dedicated to the history of economics. Feel free to explore the website in Spanish, Portuguese or English, to join our society, and to make any suggestions to improve this website.

Very soon, we will also be sending the “call for proposals” for the Summer School which will take place in Ouro Preto, Brazil, in February 2017. Prospective candidates must apply online through www.alahpe.org.

We are very enthusiastic about the creation of www.alahpe.org, and we hope to count on your active participation in order to sustain and encourage this important initiative for the future of our field.

The Piero Sraffa Archive To Be Made Available Online

Piero Sraffa’s papers and correspondence, held in the Wren Library of Trinity College, Cambridge, are to be made available online in their entirety.

The contents of the Sraffa Archive is being released sequentially. The first instalment, Sraffa’s diaries from 1927 to 1977, and the journal of his visit to the People’s Republic of China in October 1954, are now available for consultation at: trin.cam.ac.uk/Piero_Sraffa

As the work of digitisation proceeds, more of the material will appear online. Under the direction of Giancarlo de Vivo and Murray Milgate, with the collaboration of Jonathan Smith (Archivist and Modern Manuscripts Cataloguer at Trinity College) and the staff of the Wren Library, the project is planned for completion in 2017.

The project would not have been possible without the endorsement and encouragement of Sraffa’s Literary Executor, Lord Eatwell. Generous support from Trinity College and the Cambridge Political Economy Society Trust is gratefully acknowledged.

The Sraffa Archive is made available under the restricted Creative Commons License: CC BY-NCND.

Work, Employment and Society (WES) Associate Board: Call for Applications

The newly founded journal Work, employment and society (WES) invites applications to join its Associate Board. Successful candidates will become members of the Board from January 2017, for a period of three years.

The WES Associate Board is made up of 30 scholars, both junior and senior academics, who commit themselves to reviewing up to 10 papers a year for the journal. The Associate Board is open to both junior and senior academics with a PhD, or equivalent, in any area covered by the journal or in a relevant subject. International and UK applications will be considered. You do not need to be a member of the BSA to apply for a position on the Associate Board; however successful candidates are required to join the Association.

The Associate Board requires members with a broad range of expertise, although preference will be given to those whose expertise is in demand by the journal. The following areas of expertise are particularly needed:

The online application form and further information about applying to the Editorial Board can be found online at: www.uk-engage.org/britsocwesab

If you have queries about the application process, please contact UK Engage, who are running the election process at: britsoc@uk-engage.org

If you would like further information about the role, please contact Professor Jacqueline O’Reilly (Chair of the Editorial Board) at J.O'Reilly@brighton.ac.uk