Issue 41: March 21, 2007

From the Editor

Heterodox activities can be overwhelming at times. In this Newsletter there are several new calls for papers not to mention new notices about workshops and summer schools. In addition, there are new book announcements—see the one on Women and the Politics of Place, a couple of new heterodox associations—Institute for a New Reflection on Governance and the Center for the Applied Study of Economics and Environment, new journal issues, and a particularly interesting query regarding a conversation about the principles of economics. Moreover, there is information about the program of the 2007 ICAPE Conference. Finally, under the Archives section you can read about the Review of Heterodox Economics—you might find it interesting to know that almost a decade before the beginning of this Newsletter there was another publication trying to do the same thing.

Fred Lee

In this issue:

      - Call for Papers

             - Union for Radical Political Economics
             - Post Keynesian Economic Policies
             - Research Network Macroeconomic Policies
             - Seminario de Microeconomia Heterodoxa
             - European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) 2007 Conference
             - The Philosophy of Adam Smith
             - Conference on Law and Economics
             - The Workers' Economy: Self Management and the Distribution of Wealth
         
        
  
    - Conferences, Seminars and Lectures

             - Economics as a Moral Science
             - Séminaire Hétérodoxies du Matisse
             - 3rd STOREP European Summer School (SESS)
             - Oxford University 2 day Green Economics Conference
             - Journée d'études dans le cadre du séminaire
             - Advanced Graduate Workshop on Poverty, Development and Globalization
             - Globalization, Labor and Popular Struggles
             - Inequality, Growth and Human Development

      - Job Postings for Heterodox Economists

             -  Research Scholar, Gender Equality and the Economy

      - Heterodox Conference Papers and Reports and Articles

             - Andy Denis

       - International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics - News

             - ICAPE 2007 Conference
             - ICAPE Membership

       - Heterodox Economics Archive Material

             - Documents in the History of Heterodox Economics

      - Heterodox Journals and Newsletters

             - Journal of Institutional Economics
             - Cambridge Journal of Economics
             - Economic Sociology
             - The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought
             - Review of Social Economy
             - Journal of Economic Methodology
             - New Political Economy

      - Heterodox Books, Book Series, and Book Reviews

             - Women and the Politics of Place
             - How Rich Countries Got Rich
             - Money and Payments in Theory and Practice
             - Meeting the Employment Challenge
             - Emploi : éloge de la stabilité
             - 2006 Revision of World Population Prospects

       - Heterodox Associations, Institutes, and Departments

             - Institute for a New Reflection on Governance

       - Heterodox Web Sites

             - The Veblenite

       - Queries from Heterodox Economists

             - www.theeconomicconversation.com

       - For Your Information

             - Heterodox Economics in the Basque language
             - Critiques d'Alain Parguez
             - CASE&E
             - CASE&E Graduate Student Internship Program
             - Reviews by Evan Jones
             - The current debates surrounding self-management: A brief overview

 

 Call for Papers

Union for Radical Political Economics

Annual ASSA Meeting
New Orleans
January 4-6, 2008

URPE invites proposals for individual papers and complete sessions for the URPE at ASSA (Allied Social Sciences Association) annual meeting. URPE welcomes proposals on radical political economic theory and applied analysis from a wide variety of theoretical traditions.

The deadline for proposed papers and sessions is May 1, 2007.

Proposals for complete sessions are encouraged and should include the session title, a brief description of each paper, and the names, institutional affiliations, and email addresses of the chair, discussants, and presenters. Proposals for sessions should contain four papers. If you are proposing a complete session, please arrange to have discussants for your papers and a chair for your session. As the organizer of this session, you are responsible for conveying administrative information to session members, including confirmation that the session has been accepted, the time and location, and deadlines.

Proposals for individual papers should include the title, the abstract, and the author’s name, institutional affiliation, and email. Individuals whose papers are accepted may also be expected to serve as a discussant for a different paper at the meetings. If you list the areas you prefer to discuss, all attempts will be made to match your preferences. Individual papers that are accepted will be assigned to sessions and each session will have an assigned organizer. It is the organizer’s job to convey administrative information to session members, including confirmation that the session has been accepted, the time and location, and deadlines. URPE has no paid ASSA staff, so those presenting papers must share the burden of organizing.

We regret that high quality individual papers may be turned down due to the inability to place them in a session with papers with similar themes. For this reason, we strongly encourage proposals for full sessions. The number of sessions we can accept is limited by ASSA, and we regret that high quality sessions may be turned down as well.

Please note that the date, time, and location of sessions is assigned by ASSA, not URPE. You should receive word from URPE that your paper/session was accepted
by mid-June. ASSA will not assign dates and times until much later in the summer.

Please note that anyone who presents a paper (but not the chairs or discussants) must be a member of URPE (except at joint sessions with other groups, in which case they can be a member of the other organization).
Contact urpe@labornet.org  or 413-577-0806 for membership information. We will confirm membership for accepted proposals.

A completed copy of the Program Registration Form (below) is required with your submission. Submissions will NOT BE ACCEPTED BY EMAIL. Only applications received by the May 1 deadline will be considered.

If you have any questions, please contact one of the URPE at ASSA coordinators:

Fred Moseley, Mount Holyoke College fmoseley@mtholyoke.edu
Laurie Nisonoff, Hampshire College lnisonoff@hampshire.edu   Download Registration Form

 

Post Keynesian Economic Policies

Dijon (France) – November 30 – December 1, 2007

The Centre for Monetary and Financial Studies (France) in collaboration with ADEK (Association for the Development of Keynesian Studies in France)

German Research Network Macroeconomic Policies

Announces the Third Bi-Annual Conference

“ECONOMIC POLICIES IN A GLOBALIZED WORLD”

When: November 30 – December 1, 2007
Where: University of Burgundy, Dijon (France)

Deadline for Proposals : August 15, 2007
Organised by Claude Gnos and Louis-Philippe Rochon

We encourage all heterodox economists to submit individual papers or whole sessions (4 papers maximum) on all aspects of post-Keynesian and heterodox economic policies, including, but not limited to, fiscal and monetary policies, labour policies, social and redistribution policies, capital controls and exchange rate regimes, energy and agricultural policies, regional and international issues, liberalization and globalisation issues. Other issues and policies also strongly encouraged. Download registration form.

For more information or to send proposals; please send to Louis-Philippe Rochon, Associate Professor, Laurentian University, at Lprochon2003@Yahoo.com  or Lprochon@Laurentian.ca

Organization Committee         Scientific Committee

Claude Gnos                             Philip Arestis
Virginie Monvoisin                     Claude Gnos
Jean-Francois Ponsot                Eckhard Hein
Louis-Philippe Rochon               Jesper Jespersen
Marc Lavoie
Edwin Le Heron
Louis-Philippe Rochon
Sergio Rossi
Mark Setterfield

Research Network Macroeconomic Policies

Please find attached the call for papers for the 11th conference of the Research Network Macroeconomic Policies: 'Finance-led capitalism? Macroeconomic effects of changes in the financial sector',
Berlin, 26 - 27 October 2007.

Seminario de Microeconomia Heterodoxa

1er Seminario Nacional de Microeconomía Heterodoxa, del 13 al 15 de octubre de 2005, Economía-UNAM

          http://www.depfe.unam.mx/smh/

European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (EAEPE) 2007 Conference

1-3 November 2007
Porto, Portugal

Institutional History of Economics Research Area

EAEPE's Institutional History of Economics Research Area invites paper proposals that contribute to one of its following seven theoretical perspectives:

(1) The approach to analysis is based on an evaluation of relevant tendencies and linkages in actual economics - instead of a methodology that sanctifies fictions and diverts attention from the difficult task of analyzing the practice and culture of economics.

(2) The analysis is open-ended and interdisciplinary in that it draws upon relevant material in psychology, anthropology, politics, and history - instead of a definition of history of economics in terms of a rigid method that is applied indiscriminately to a wide variety of economic approaches.

(3) The conception of economics is of a cumulative and evolutionary process unfolding in historical time in which economists are faced with chronic information problems and radical uncertainty about the future - instead of approaches to theorizing that focus exclusively on the product of this process.

(4) The concern is to address and encompass the interactive, social process through which economics is formed and changed - instead of a theoretical framework that takes economists and their interests as given.

(5) It is appropriate to regard economics itself as a social institution, necessarily supported by a network of other social institutions - instead of an orientation that takes economics itself as an ideal or natural order and as a mere aggregation of individual economists.

(6) It is evaluated how the socio-economic system is embedded in a complex ecological and environmental system - instead of a widespread tendency to ignore ecological and environmental considerations or consequences in the history of economics.

(7) The inquiry seeks to contribute not only to history of economics but also to economics - instead of an orthodox outlook that ignores the possibility of such cross-fertilization.

Preference will be given to original accounts, based on detailed archival or other research, aimed at yielding rich, sophisticated, understandings. Hence, papers that "do it" instead of those that "talk about doing it" are favored.

To participate, please submit a proposal containing 600-1000 words and indicating clearly the sense in which the paper contributes to one of the theoretical perspectives of the research area.

The deadline for the submission of paper proposals is 1 APRIL 2007.
Notice of acceptance or rejection will be sent on or before 1 MAY 2007. Completed papers are due on 3 JUNE 2007.

All proposals and requests for information should be sent to:

Esther-Mirjam Sent

Department of Economics
Nijmegen School of Management
University of Nijmegen
PO Box 9108
NL-6500 HK Nijmegen
The Netherlands

Phone: +31-24-3611252
Fax: +31-24-3612379

http://www.emsent.nl

Further information on the EAEPE 2007 conference can be found at:
http://www.fep.up.pt/conferencias/eaepe2007/

The Philosophy of Adam Smith

A conference to commemorate the 250th anniversary of The Theory of Moral Sentiments

January 6-8, 2009
Balliol College, Oxford
Organised by the International Adam Smith Society and The Adam Smith Review

Although Adam Smith is better known now for his economics, in his own time it was his first book, The Theory of Moral Sentiments (1759), that established his reputation. Just as scholarly work on Smith has challenged the free market appropriation of Smith's Wealth of Nations, so it has also come to appreciate the importance of Smith's moral philosophy for his overall intellectual project. This conference, to be held at the college Smith himself attended from 1740-46, and at the beginning of the year marking the 250th anniversary of the publication of The Theory of Moral Sentiments, will provide an opportunity to re-evaluate the significance of Smith's moral philosophy and moral psychology, the relationship between them and his other writings on economics, politics, jurisprudence, history, and rhetoric and belles lettres, and the relevance of his thought to current research in these areas. Papers on any of these topics, and from any discipline, are welcome.

Plenary speakers will include:

Steven Darwall (Professor of Philosophy, University of Michigan)
Charles Griswold (Professor of Philosophy, Boston University)
Knud Haakonssen (Professor of Intellectual History, University of Sussex)
David Raphael (Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Imperial College)
Emma Rothschild (Fellow, King's College Cambridge; Visiting Professor of History, Harvard)
Geoffrey Sayre-McCord (Professor of Philosophy, University of North Carolina)

Please send detailed abstracts (500-800 words) prepared for blind review by September 15, 2007 to:

Samuel Fleischacker
Philosophy Department (M/C 267)
601 South Morgan Street
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, IL 60607-7114
USA
Or email them (as attachments, prepared for blind review) to:sfleisch@uic.edu
Participants will be notified that their proposals have been accepted for the conference by December 1, 2007.

Publication
A selection of conference papers will be published in a special commemorative volume of The Adam Smith Review (Routledge) [www.adamsmithreview.org], entitled The Philosophy of Adam Smith, edited by Vivienne Brown and Sam Fleischacker (planned publication date 2009). To meet the publication schedule of the volume, participants who would like their papers to be considered for it should submit complete drafts to the editors by September 15, 2008. Only new, previously unpublished work will be included in the volume. V.W.Brown

Conference on Law and Economics

SOAS- University of London

Call for Papers
Conference website
• Contact Ioannis Glinavos

Colleagues working in the fields of law, economics and development may find the forthcoming Conference on Law and Economics interesting.

Change, Rules and Institutions: Assessing Law and Economics in the Context of Development
School of Law & Department of Economics, SOAS, University of London, 29-30 September 2007


The Workers' Economy: Self Management and the Distribution of Wealth

FIRST INTERNATIONAL GATHERING TO DEBATE AND DISCUSS SELF-MANAGEMENT (AUTOGESTIÓN)

Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires

Dates:
July 19-21, 2007

Location:
University of Buenos Aires
217 – 25 de Mayo Avenue
Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, Argentina

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PROPOSALS FOR: COMPLETED OR ONGOING PROJECT PRESENTATIONS, PAPERS, ROUNDTABLE THEMES, DEBATE AND DISCUSSION THEMES

Please send a 250-word (max) abstract by May 15, 2007, or any other correspondence to: Correspondence in Spanish: fabierta@filo.uba.ar  Correspondence in English: UBA.selfmanagement@gmail.com  The current debates surrounding self-management: A brief overview

Organizers
The Open Faculty Program (Faculty of Philosophy and Letters, University of Buenos Aires)
Co-Organizers:
Center for Global Justice, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/)
International Institute for Selfmanagement, Frankfurt, Germany (http://www.iism.net/)  Argentina Autonomista Project (http://www.autonomista.org)
 
Conference format:

Debate Roundtables:
Debate and discussion roundtables based on central themes, interspersed with panels to guide the discussion.

A final synopsis of each roundtable will be realized and made available as conference proceedings.

Opening and closing plenary sessions will be held.

The debates and discussions will be filmed and recorded for archival and educational purposes in order to make available materials and resources for research purposes, consulting purposes, and for assisting current and future self-management projects.

Thematic Roundtables:
More specific roundtables and panels will be convened focusing on particular themes of interest to participants.

Presentations:
Presentations of documents and already completed or ongoing work for discussion.

Those who forward their work to the gathering’s organizers with enough lead-time will have their work published in a CD before the conference to be available at the conference. Please forward materials to include in the CD by April 30, 2007 to: fabierta@filo.uba.ar
 
Preliminary conference schedule:
Thematic debates and project roundtables (first two days):
• The capitalist economy today: Stages of global capitalism from the perspective of popular movements.
• The self-managed economy: Discussions concerning the experiences of self-management in the era of global capitalism (recovered enterprises, rural cooperatives, self-managed and solidarity microenterprises, cooperative movements, alternative networks of exchange, fair trade and fair work initiatives, etc.) • The challenges faced by popularly-based, grassroots-supported governments regarding the social management of the economy and the State.
• A critical look at the cooperative movement.
• New challenges faced by union movements; unions; new types of workers’ organizations and collectives; co-management and participatory decision making.

Plenary sessions (last day)
• The (re)distribution of wealth: The social economy or the socialization of the economy? Suggestions being offered by workers’ movements.
• The limits of self-management: The political possibilities and challenges of a production regime under workers’ control.
• Articulations, expressions, and experiences of the struggle for self-management with regard to other political struggles and other social movements.

Special roundtables:
• The environment and workers’ self-management.
• Experiments in self-management with regard to other social-political struggles and social movements.
• Work from the perspective of gender.
• The role of the university and intellectuals in workers’ struggles.

The gathering is free for participants and audience members. We invite donations for assisting the travel expenses of workers from outside of the Buenos Aires area. For U.S. tax-deductible donations, checks in U.S. dollars should be made payable to: Research Associates Foundation, Workers' Economy Conference in the memo, and sent to:
9902 Crystal Court, Suite 107, BC-2323, Laredo, TX 78045. Donations can also be made on-line at www.globaljusticecenter.org  Please again note Workers' Economy Conference.

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Conferences, Seminars and Lectures

Economics as a Moral Science

The programme for the Workshop of the Stirling Centre for Economic Methodology (SCEME) on 'Economics as a Moral Science' in Stirling on 19th May is now available at the following address: http://www.sceme.stir.ac.uk/events.htm,  along with registration details and background information.

Irene van Staveren, Radboud University Nijmegen and ISS, will attend to lead the discussion.

Séminaire Hétérodoxies du Matisse

L’objectif de ce séminaire, organisé par le CES-Matisse, est d’offrir un cadre pour s’approprier et approfondir les outils présentés par différents travaux hétérodoxes (d’inspiration keynésienne, marxiste, régulationniste, conventionnaliste, évolutionniste, etc.).
Les séances du Séminaire, fixées aux dates suivantes, se déroulent de 16h à 18h30
à la Maison des Sciences Economiques (106 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75 013 PARIS), salle des Conférences, 6e étage

31 octobre 2006
Jérôme MAUCOURANT (Triangle, ENS-LSH – CNRS – Lyon II)
Crises de l’économie de marché et alternatives au capitalisme libéral

14 novembre 2006 (de 14h30 à 17h exceptionnellement)
François MORIN (LEREPS-GRES - Université Toulouse 1)
La globalisation financière et ses logiques d'expansion

12 décembre 2006
Julio LOPEZ (Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico)
On Floating Exchange Rates, Currency Depreciation, Income Distribution and Effective Demand

16 janvier 2007
Jérôme CREEL (OFCE)
La règle d'or des finances publiques et son application au Royaume-Uni

13 février 2007
Stéphano PALOMBARINI (Université Paris VIII – LED)
Diversité des attentes sociales et médiations politiques :
la Présidentielle de 2007 dans une perspective néo-réaliste

13 mars 2007
Frédéric LORDON (CNRS – BETA) et André ORLEAN (CNRS – PSE)
Genèse de l’Etat et genèse de la monnaie :
le modèle de la potentia multitudinis

24 avril 2007
Edwin LE HERON (Sciences Po Bordeaux – ADEK)
Politiques économiques dans un modèle Post-Keynésien Stock Flux

29 mai 2007
Luigi PASINETTI (Università Cattolica, Milano)
Les Keynésiens de Cambridge (U.K.) : une école de pensée injustement oubliée

12 juin 2007
Ben FINE (SOAS - University of London)
The Economics of Identity, the Identity of Economics
and the General Impossibility of Methodological Individualism

Responsables du séminaire : Bruno Amable, Christophe Ramaux, Bruno Tinel et Carlo Vercellone. Contact : Seminaire-Heterodoxies@univ-paris1.fr

3rd STOREP European Summer School (SESS)

Bressanone/Brixen (Italy), September 6-16, 2007.
SESS is organized by STOREP, the Italian Association for the History of Political Economy (www.storep.org) in Bressanone/Brixen and is held at the Accademia Cusano/Cusanus Akademie, piazza Seminario n. 2. Bressanone/Brixen is a small South Tyrol bi-lingual city located in the valley of Isarc river near the Austrian-Italian border and surrounded by the beautiful Dolomiti mountains.

General Description
The main aims of the STOREP European Summer School are:
- to provide advanced training for postgraduate students in economics of any orientation and field of specialization;
- to broaden the horizons of young economists on the relevance of the history of political economy for a better comprehension and further advancement of contemporary economics;
- to allow young economists to meet fellows and scholars from different countries with different backgrounds and aspirations but with the same research interests in the wide field of political economy or related disciplines.

Programme of the 2007 edition
The 2007 edition has a duration of 9 days. Two main lectures by invited speakers will be given in the mornings. Special Sessions will take place in the afternoons when PhD and Post-doc students present and discuss their research work or thesis with senior scholars.

Lecturers:
Geoff Harcourt (University of Cambridge, UK) Jan Kregel (UNDESA, United Nations, New York, and Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia) Axel Lejonhufvud (University of California at Berkeley, USA) Tamotsu Nishizawa (Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University, Japan) Andrea Salanti (University of Bergamo, Italy) Ulrich Witt (Max Planck Institute and University of Jena, Germany

Topics:
Post-Keynesian Theories of Accumulation
Theory and Institutions of Equity Markets 20th Century Transformations of Microeconomics Alfred Marshall and the Historical School A Post-Mortem on Keynesian Economics Laws and Models in Economic Theory

Direction and Coordination:
Prof. Ferdinando Meacci (Universit� di Padova, SESS Director) Prof. Salvatore Rizzello (Universit� del Piemonte Orientale) Dr. Anna Spada (Universit� del Piemonte Orientale) Dr. Katia Caldari (Universit� di Padova, SESS Secretary)

Scientific Board
Prof. Aldo Montesano (Universit� Bocconi, Milano, Presidente Storep) Prof. Roberto Ciccone (Universit� di Roma Tre) Prof. Terenzio Cozzi (Universit� di Torino) Prof. Marco Dardi (Universit� di Firenze) Prof. Franco Donzelli (Universit� Statale di Milano) Prof. Roberto Marchionatti (Universit� di Torino) Prof. Maria Cristina Marcuzzo (Universit� di Roma) Prof. Ferdinando Meacci (Universit� di Padova) Prof. Salvatore Rizzello (Universit� del Piemonte Orientale) Prof. Alessandro Roncaglia (Universit� di Roma) Dr. Anna Spada (Universit� del Piemonte Orientale) Prof. Margherita Emma Turvani (Istituto Universitario di Architettura, Venezia)

Applications deadline: May 31, 2007. Applications shall be sent to Dr. Katia Caldari, SESS Secretary, katia.caldari@unipd.it. Early applications are welcome. Participants will be selected on the basis of their CV, the information provided in the application form (downloadable from the SESS webpage: http://www.storep.org/summerschool2007/index.htm)  and the letter of presentation. Accepted candidates will be notified by June 15th 2007.

Fees and Scholarships. Participants will be charged EUR 450 covering registration fees, full board at the Accademia Cusano/Cusanus Akademie, materials and leisure activities. A number of grants covering travel expenses are available for qualified students from distant countries.

Oxford University 2 day Green Economics Conference

International innovations in achieving the complex mesh of Global Environmental and Social Justice and Sustainability

Tuesday 3 April 2007 and Wednesday 4 April 2007 Green Economics Conference at Mansfield College, Oxford University, UK

An impressive range of speakers from the fields of economics and the environment – please see www.greeneconomics.org.uk  for a full speaker list.

The Green Economics Institute is at the forefront of the effort to incorporate environmental goals into the theory and practice of Economics at all levels. Our conferences and other educational events bring together a broad range of expertise with the aim of sharing insights and encouraging development in the field of Green Economics.

Bookings
Attendance at this conference must be pre-booked, pre-registered and pre-paid. Attendance fee £45.00 per person for one day or £78 for both days. Includes lunches and teas and coffees.

For bookings, please email Louise Elliott greeneconomicsevents@yahoo.co.uk
or send a cheque payable to the Green Economics Institute to 6 Strachey Close, Tidmarsh, Reading, RG8 8EP.
Some accommodation may be available in the college – enquire when booking.

Full details on the website of the Green Economics Institute www.greeneconomics.org.uk

Journée d'études dans le cadre du séminaire

Développement, Économie, Politique

Matisse-Université Paris I, CRIISEA-Université d'Amiens, IEDES, Tem-IRD, IRISES-Université Paris IX-Dauphine, Revue Tiers-Monde, Association Recherche et Régulation

Fondements et enjeux d'une transition politique, économique et sociale en Iran, 1989-2006

23 mars 2007

Lieu :

Université Paris I - Panthéon – Sorbonne
12 Place du Panthéon, 75005 Paris
Salle 1 (Salle des Conseils), Aile Soufflot
Escalier M, 1er étage

RER : Luxembourg (ligne B)
Métro : Cluny - La Sorbonne (ligne 10)

Matin : Les transformations de l'ordre politique en Iran

Modérateur : Frédéric Lordon (CNRS, Bureau d'économie théorique et appliquée)

9h30-9h45 : Introduction
Sepideh Farkhondeh et Ramine Motamed-Nejad

9h45-10h30 : Sepideh Farkhondeh (CERI-Institut d' Études Politiques de Paris), « Revendications sociales et politisation des femmes en Iran : mythe et réalité d'un mouvement civil »

10h30-10h45 : Pause

10h45-11h30 : Javad Tabatabaï (Université de Téhéran), « Les régimes politiques de 1906-1909 et de1979-2006 en perspective comparative »

11h30-12h30 : Discussion générale
Après-midi : Les bouleversements de l'économique et du social
Modérateur : Bruno Théret (CNRS, IRISES) (sous réserve)

14h30-15h15 : F arhad Nomani (The American University of Paris), « Class Structure and the Political Economy of Its Change in Iran »

15h15-16h : Ramine Motamed-Nejad (Université Paris I-C ES), « Pouvoir politique et puissances monétaires : les transformations du capitalisme en Iran, 1989-2006 »

16h-16h15 : Pause

16h15-17h : Olivier Roy (CNRS-EHESS), « La sécularisation de la société et la transformation de l' État dans une perspective comparative : la transition iranienne dans le contexte régional »

17h-18h : Discussion générale et conclusions

Les textes des interventions seront disponibles à partir du 15 mars sur le site du séminaire Développement, Économie, Politique : http://matisse.univ-paris1.fr

Organisateurs :

Sepideh Farkhondeh (CERI-IEP) : sepidehaurore@yahoo.fr

Ramine Motamed-Nejad ( Université Paris I-Centre d' Économie de la Sorbonne) : r.motamed.nejad@wanadoo.fr

Advanced Graduate Workshop on Poverty, Development and Globalization

Advanced Graduate Workshop on Poverty, Development and Globalization directed by Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz, and that is being organized by Columbia University's Initiative for Policy Dialogue and the Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester. The small interdisciplinary workshop is to be held at the University of Manche! ster from 25 June to 13 July, 2007. I am writing to request y ou to nominate a few of your top students for this Workshop.

This is the second such Workshop and like its predecessor, it will bring together doctoral students in development studies at an advanced stage of their dissertation work with leading scholars and practitioners. The Workshop will deal with a range of economic, political and social issues pertaining to development and poverty, including macroeconomic policy, growth, taxation, governance, trade and industry, and social security.
For students pursuing PhDs in disciplines other than economics, preference will be given to those who have some background in economics or familiarity with quantitative techniques.

Approximately 25 students will be accepted for the Workshop. They will be resident in Manchester for the three week duration of the Workshop.
All students will receive free tuition, room and board, and there are a number of fellowships paying travel and a modest stipen! d. Each student will be expected to make a presentation of her/his research. In addition there will be a number of guest speakers, who shall be leading scholars or practitioners in the field of development.

Please ask your students to send their CVs, transcripts, and a cover note with a brief summary of their research (1-2 paragraphs), by March 1, 2007. They should send them to Akbar Noman at akbar.noman@columbia.edu  and copied to Sheila Chanani at sc2747@columbia.edu

Globalization, Labor and Popular Struggles

Columbia University Seminar (#671) on Globalization, Labor and Popular Struggles is pleased to announce our next meeting.

DATE: Monday, March 19 (Dinner at 6:00 p.m.)

TITLE: "Report from the Front - Bolivia: Workers & Indigenous Peoples United in Struggle"

SPEAKER: Professor Nancy Romer (Dept. of Psychology, CUNY) - Director of the
Community Partnership Program (Brooklyn College), and University-Wide Officer of the
Professional Staff Congress of CUNY (AFT local 2334).

PLACE: Faculty House, Columbia University

In late 2006 Nancy Romer met in Bolivia with activists in the landless peasants movement, leaders of the water and gas "wars," student activists, and faculty and professional staff unionists at the large public universities. In this talk she will discuss the ways in which the workers and traditional left unite with the indigenous movements to share a political agenda, strategy, and tactics. She will also address the implications of Bolivian developments for a left coalition in Latin America.

Nancy Romer is Professor of Psychology and Director of the Brooklyn College Community Partnership, and University-Wide Officer of the Professional Staff Congress of CUNY (AFT local 2334).

In connection with the February 19th meeting, please reply to Myriam Figueroa (figueroa.myriam@gmail.com )  whether you plan to join us for dinner before the seminar.

Inequality, Growth and Human Development

The 2007 Summer School on “Inequality, Growth and Human Development” organized by Unicredit Foundation, the University of Florence and the European Development Network (EUDN).

The Summer School will provide an advanced training to some 20 young academics, PhD students or middle level practitioners from developing and advanced countries with specific academic training, experience and interest in topic of the summer school. The Summer School is fully financed and will be held in Civita Castellana (about an hour from Rome) between 1 and 6 July 2006. On-line and paper applications (see below) should be submitted by 15 April, and those accepted will be notified by 11 May 2007. See the link for detailed information.

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Job Postings for Heterodox Economists

Research Scholar, Gender Equality and the Economy

Job Description:

The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College invites applications for a resident research scholar in the gender equality and the economy program. The scholar will collaborate with a team of economists on extending current research in this program area with an emphasis on gender and macroeconomics, gender and international economics, and gender and poverty. Given the nature of our research agenda, a wide variety of interests can be complementary. Subject to approval, the Institute is planning to launch a Ph.D. program in economics by Fall 2008 which will include courses in gender-aware economics. We are, therefore, especially interested in candidates who are able to make a contribution to the Ph.D. program.

Requirements:

A completed Ph.D. is required, but candidates expecting the degree in the immediate future will also be considered. The successful candidate will have a background in macroeconomics, feminist economics and other heterodox approaches to economics, solid quantitative skills and a strong interest in policy issues.

To Apply:

Please submit letter of interest, current c.v., references, and sample papers to: Human Resources - 1707, Bard College, PO Box 5000, Annandale On Hudson, NY 12504 5000 or fax to 845 758 7826. AA/EOE

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Heterodox Conference Papers and Reports and Articles

Andy Denis

"Collective and individual rationality: Robert Malthus's heterodox theodicy" by Andy Denis- http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/andy.denis/research/malthus.pdf

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International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics - News

ICAPE 2007 Conference

ICAPE 2007 Conference Provisional Program is now available: http://www.icape.org/conference-program.htm.

ICAPE 2007 Conference Registration for Participants and those who just want to attend the conference can be found at: http://icape.org/conf2007.htm.

ICAPE Membership

The current ICAPE membership for 2006 - 2007 is the following:

American Review of Political Economy (ARPE)
Association d’Economie Politique (AEP)
Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE)
Association for Georgist Studies (AGS)
Association for Heterodox Economics (AHE)
Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT)
Association for Social Economics (ASE)
Cambridge Journal of Economics (CJE)
Conference on Problems of Economic Change (COPEC)
Dollars and Sense (DS)
Economists for Peace and Security (EPS)
French Association for the Development of Keynesian Studies (ADEK)
Global Development and Environment Institute (GDEI)
Institute for Institutional and Social Economics (IISE)
International Association for Feminist Economics (IAFFE)
International Journal of Development Issues (IJDI)
Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics (JAFEE)
Journal of Australian Political Economy (JAPE)
Journal of Post Keynesian Economics (JPKE)
Latin American Center of Social Ecology (CLAES)
Progressive Economics Forum (PEF)
Rethinking Marxism (RM)
Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics (SABE)
Society of Heterodox Economists (SHE)
Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE)

Heterodox Economics Archive Material

Documents in the History of Heterodox Economics

Review of Heterodox Economics: Its Brief History By: Fred Lee (download)

In 1995, Eric Nilsson established the short-lived (two issues) Review of Heterodox Economics for the purpose of increasing the interchange of ideas between economists working within different heterodox approaches to economics, which he identified as radical, Marxist, feminist, Post Keynesian, Institutionalist, Sraffian (neo-Ricardian), and others—both issues are attached to this introduction. The intent of the Review was to publish abstracts of working papers and dissertation projects that sought to make a contribution to heterodox economics. However, because of the high cost of processing the abstracts, the first issue in Summer 1995 listed only twelve working papers but did contain the contents of thirty-eight journals of interest to heterodox economists; while the second and last issue appeared in Winter 1996 and contained Anne Mayhew’s critique of the American Economics Review, Journal of Economic Literature, and Journal of Economic Perspectives, the list of contents of forty-two journals, and notices of five books of interest to heterodox economists. Nilsson stopped publishing the Review because it was too costly to produce; however, he did post on the web one outcome of the Review, information on twenty-eight journals of interest to heterodox economists. This list of heterodox journals was first put on the web in 1994 and last updated in September 1995 but has a long web life being cited and/or referred to as late as 2004: Http://web.archive.org/web/19970617215216/  http://csf.colorado.edu/pkt/het.html.

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Heterodox Journals and Newsletters

Journal of Institutional Economics

The April 2007 issue of the Journal of Institutional Economics (JOIE) has already appeared, ahead of schedule.

It contains an article by Masahiko Aoki on “The mechanics of institutional change”
The full contents listing of this and other issues can be accessed on http://www.joie-foundation.co.uk/p26.htm
Since the inception of JOIE:
- with 60% of the papers that were sent out to referees, the authors were informed of a decision within 50 days.
- with 96% of the papers that were sent out to referees, the authors were informed of a decision within 90 days.

For details of how to subscribe to JOIE please go to http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=JOI

2007 members of the European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy (www.eaepe.org) receive the journal as part of their membership subscription.

For information concerning submissions to the journal please go to http://www.joie-foundation.co.uk/p16.htm

Cambridge Journal of Economics

VOL. 31.2 March, 2007

Jamie Peck and Nik Theodore
Flexible recession: the temporary staffing industry and mediated work in the United States

James Ang and Carol Boyer
Finance and politics: the wealth effects of special interest group influence during the nationalisation and privatisation of Conrail

Jean Cartelier
The hypostasis of money: an economic point of view

William A. Jackson
On the social structure of markets

David L. Prychitko and Virgil Henry Storr
Communicative action and the radical constitution: the Habermasian challenge to Hayek, Mises and their descendents

Horst Hanusch and Andreas Pyka
Principles of Neo-Schumpeterian Economics

Roberto Marchionatti
On the application of mathematics to political economy'. The Edgeworth–Walras–Bortkievicz controversy, 1889–1891

Frederic S. Lee
The Research Assessment Exercise, the state and the dominance of mainstream economics in British universities

Economic Sociology

the european electronic newsletter
Current Issue:
Vol. 8, No. 2 - March 2007

Note from the Editor

Dear reader,

Welcome to the Winter edition of the European Economic Sociology Newsletter! I am especially pleased to bring this issue to you because it is dedicated to a topic very dear to my heart (and research agenda) - the economic sociology of postsocialist transformations.

Not surprisingly, the fall of communist regimes, and consequent social, political and economic transformations, have provided much food for thought to economic sociologists. Reorganization of socio-economic systems, restructuring of enterprises, and redefinition of old and creation of new economic institutions and actors, have all offered plenty of opportunities for social scientists to explain ongoing fundamental economic change, to participate in policy debates to alter its course, and to learn from it about general processes of market creation and operation. This EESN issue provides a taste of some of the current research on these stimulating and important issues from established and newcomer scholars.

Starting us off, Dorothee Bohle and Béla Greskovits of Central European University summarize their research on the varieties of the postsocialist capitalisms consolidating throughout the region. After only about a decade of rapid transformations, the authors trace the already apparent divergence in postsocialist economic systems.

Lawrence King of Cambridge University takes on a hotly debated issue of neoliberal policy prescriptions to transforming postsocialist economies. He provides a critical assessment but also a much needed alternative sociological perspective on postsocialist development and enterprise restructuring.

Alina Surubaru, a doctoral candidate at the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, shares some of her dissertation research on the garment industry and entrepreneurial careers in Romania, addressing an important issue of whether and how Romanian economic actors have managed to convert their political capital to an entrepreneurial advantage.

I am also pleased to include a short description of a currently ongoing program on the networks and institutions in the postsocialist economic transformation that convenes this academic year at the Harriman Institute at Columbia University in New York City, directed by David Stark.

What follows the contributions on postsocialist transformations, is a stimulating piece by Dirk Baecker that takes us back to the founder of economic sociology, Max Weber, pointing out yet another aspect of his contemporary relevance. In his note to Weber's unfinished theory of Economy and Society, Baecker scrutinizes Weber's definition of Wirtschaften, economic action, uncovering in it references to the term Gewalt, violence.

The issue also includes an interview with one of the foremost experts in economic sociology in Russia, Vadim Radaev, Professor and Head of Department of Economic Sociology, as well as First Vice-Rector of the State University - Higher School of Economics in Moscow, who provides his thoughts on ten questions about economic sociology.

Filippo Barbera of University of Turin focuses on recent research on the intersection of social networks and individual economic action in this issue's "Read and Recommended". His contribution is followed by additional recommendations in a form of four book reviews on some of the most recent work on a variety of economic sociology topics.

Last but certainly not least, it is wonderful that we can include at the end of in this issue also brief summaries of several dissertations that are currently ongoing or recently finished from young researchers from Eastern and Western Europe and the United States addressing economic sociology topics. Reading about their interesting projects should make us confident about the future of our field, especially because there are certainly many more doctoral students that can share findings from their projects. Where ever you are, please consider sending us your dissertation abstract for the future EESN issues.

I also kindly invite anyone who might have a short research piece to contribute, a book review, an announcement, or a response to essays included in this issue, to send these to me. And please do not forget to tell you colleagues and students that anyone who subscribes at http://econsoc.mpifg.de can receive EESN free of charge directly to their email box!

With best wishes, until Summer,

Nina Bandelj
nbandelj@uci.edu

economic sociology - the european electronic newsletter: http://econsoc.mpifg.de/newsletter/newsletter_current.asp
the european website: http://econsoc.mpifg.de
call for papers: http://econsoc.mpifg.de/callforpapers.asp

Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies: http://www.mpifg.de


The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought

Volume 14 Issue 1

The journal is now available online at informaworld (http://www.informaworld.com).

This new issue contains the following articles:

‘The Elements of Commerce Delineated in Aphorisms’ – An analysis of a newly discovered manuscript written by Joseph Massie p. 1
Authors: Antoin E. Murphy
Link

Cause and effect in the gold points mechanism: A criticism of Ricardo's criticism of Thornton p. 25
Authors: Jérôme de Boyer des Roches
Link

Alfred Marshall's critical analysis of scientific management p. 55
Authors: Katia Caldari
Link

Edgeworth on the foundations of ethics and probability p. 79
Authors: Alberto Baccini
Link

Kalecki's 1934 model VS. the IS-LM model of Hicks (1937) and Modigliani (1944) p. 97
Authors: Michaël Assous
Link

History of consumer demand theory 1871 – 1971: A Neo-Kantian rational reconstruction p. 119
Authors: Ivan Moscati
Link

Book reviews p. 157
Link

First Graz Schumpeter Summer School p. 179
Link

Review of Social Economy

Volume 65 Issue 1 is now available online at informaworld (http://www.informaworld.com).

Special Issue: Beyond Social Capital

This new issue contains the following articles:

Beyond social capital: A critical approach p. 1
Authors: Peter Knorringa; Irene van Staveren
Link

Reflections on the use of social capital p. 11
Authors: Tom Schuller
Link:

Social capital, institutions and trust p. 29
Authors: Bart Nooteboom
Link

The moment of truth—Reconstructing entrepreneurship and social capital in the eye of the storm p. 55
Authors: Bengt Johannisson; Lena Olaison
Link

Social capital, embeddedness, and market interactions: An analysis of firm performance in UK regions p. 79
Authors: Phil Cooke
Link

Unpacking social capital in Economic Development: How social relations matter p. 107
Authors: Irene van Staveren; Peter Knorringa
Link

Contributors p. 137
Link

Call for papers - Annual allied social sciences association meetings New Orleans, LA, January 4–6, 2008 p. 139
Authors: John Davis
Link

Journal of Economic Methodology

Volume 14 Issue 1 is now available online at informaworld (http://www.informaworld.com).


This new issue contains the following articles:

Introduction: the methodology of development economics p. 1
Authors: Sheila Dow
Link

The metamorphosis of Lewis's dual economy model p. 5
Authors: Dipak Ghosh
Link

Evaluating Marxian contributions to development economics p. 27
Authors: Jonathan Perraton
Link

On rhetoric and being realistic about the monetary policy of developing countries p. 47
Authors: Jan Toporowski
Link

Pluralist methodology for development economics: the example of moral economy of Indian labour markets p. 57
Authors: Wendy Olsen
Link

Modernism, reflexivity and the Washington Consensus p. 83
Authors: Daniel Gay
Link

Needs and resources in the investigation of well-being in developing countries: illustrative evidence from Bangladesh and Peru p. 107
Authors: J. Allister McGregor; Andrew McKay; Jackeline Velazco
Link

Notes on contributors p. 133
Link

New Political Economy

Volume 12 Issue 1 is now available online at informaworld (http://www.informaworld.com).


This new issue contains the following articles:

Everyday Legitimacy and International Financial Orders: The Social Sources of Imperialism and Hegemony in Global Finance p. 1
Authors: Leonard Seabrooke
Link

The International Financial Architecture and the Limits to Neoliberal Hegemony p. 19
Authors: Ben Thirkell-White
Link

Where You Stand Depends on How You Think: Economic Ideas, the Decline of the Council of Economic Advisers and the Rise of the Federal Reserve p. 43
Authors: Wesley W. Widmaier
Link

The Nordic Model: Does It Exist? Can It Survive? p. 61
Authors: J. Magnus Ryner
Link

The Danish Welfare State as ‘Politics for Markets’: Combining Equality and Competitiveness in a Global Economy p. 71
Authors: Jørgen Goul Andersen
Link

Swedish Model Dying of Baumols? Current Debates p. 79
Authors: Rianne Mahon
Link

Nordic Models of Citizenship: Lessons from Social History for Theorising Policy Change in the ‘Age of Globalisation’ p. 87
Authors: Mikko Kuisma
Link

David Harvey: Marxism, Capitalism and the Geographical Imagination p. 97
Authors: Noel Castree
Link

The International Accounting Standards Board p. 117
Authors: Shawn Donnelly
Link

Ngaire Woods The Globalizers: The IMF, the World Bank and Their Borrowers p. 127
Authors: Robert H. Wade
Link

Notes on Contributors p. 139
Link


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Heterodox Books, Book Series, and Book Reviews

Women and the Politics of Place

Edited by
Wendy Harcourt
Society for International Development
Arturo Escobar
University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

"Providing important insights for feminist theory and globalization studies, Women and the Politics of Place takes us into the often neglected realms of globalization found in concrete places, organizations, and women's bodies that highlight affirmative initiatives to improve life and meet basic needs. This book is a welcome and sophisticated tool for understanding the places of women in the ever-evolving spaces of contemporary global politics and culture."

Lynn Stephen
Distinguished Professor of Anthropology
University of Oregon

"All of the essays point to existing practices within place-based women’s struggles that represent both resistance and place-based alternatives to the presumed hegemony of patriarchal neoliberal globalization. As Alvarez points out, the volume contributes immensely to the awaremess of the global ‘in place’ while also helping to "disturb place-based strategies" that may only be suffocating for women or apologias for the maintainance of power asymmetries...Highly recommended.
-- B. Tavakolian in a book review appearing in Choice, September 2006

*Highlights the interrelations between place, gender, politics, and justice.
*Draws upon women's place-based experiences across the globe.

In Women and the Politics of Place, Wendy Harcourt and Arturo Escobar analyze women's economic and social justice movements by challenging traditional views. The authors reveal how an interrelated set of transformations around body, environment, and the economy factors into place-based practices of women and how these provide alternative ways of advancement in these mobilizations.

The book develops a conceptual framework based on the most current debates in anthropology, geography, ecology, feminist, and development studies. This guides academics, activists, and policymakers toward an understanding of how women are politically negotiating globalization.

Also featured are the experiences of women working to defend their homelands on isses such as reproductive rights, land and community, rural and urban environments, and global capital. Written for wide use by academics, students, and practitioners, Women and the Politics of Place bridges the division between academic and activist knowledge with an original analysis of global feminist issues.
US $48.00 / CLOTH: 1-56549-208-0
US $24.95 / PAPER: 1-56549-207-2
October 2005 / 232 pages
Introduction: Practices of Difference: Introducing "Women and the Politics of Place" Arturo Escobar and Wendy Harcourt
Chapter 1. Bodies in Places, Places in Bodies Yvonne Underhill-Sem
Chapter 2. The Body Politic in Global Development Discourse: A Woman and Politics of Place Perspective Wendy Harcourt
Chapter 3. Transforming Passion, Politics, and Pain Fatma Alloo
Chapter 4. Politics of Place and Women's Rights in Pakistan Khawar Mumtaz
Chapter 5. Political Landscapes and Ecologies of Zambrana-Chacuey: The Legacy of Mama Tingo Dianne Rocheleau
Chapter 6. Domesticating the Neo-Liberal City: Invisible Genders and the Politics of Place Gerda R. Wekerle
Chapter 7. Women and the Defense of Place in Colombian Black Movement Struggles Libia Grueso and Leyla Andrea Arroyo
Chapter 8. Women Displaced: Democracy, Development, and Identity in India Smitu Kothari
Chapter 9. Building Community Economies: Women and the Politics of Place J.K. Gibson-Graham
Chapter 10. Place-based Politics and the Meaning of Diverse Economies for Women and Young People in Finland <>
Chapter 11. Place-based Globalism: Locating Women in the Alternative Globalization Movement Michal Osterweil
Chapter 12. Zapatista Women: Place-based Struggles and the Search for Autonomy Marisa Belausteguigoitia
Chapter 13. Out of the Shadows: Listening to Place-based Narratives of Palestinian Women Randa Farah
Chapter 14. Still Challenging 'Place': Sex, Money, and Agency in Women's Migrations Laura M. Agustin
Chapter 15. Politics of Place in Multilevel Games: Arab Women Acting or Reacting?Lamis A.M. al-Shejni
Conclusion. The Women and the Politics of Place and the Place of Politics for Women: Some Reflections for the Future Sonia Alvarez

Wendy Harcourt is a program adviser at the Society for International Development, an international development NGO and Editor of Development, the SID quarterly journal, and the current Chair of Women in Development, Europe. She writes extensively in the field of gender and development and has led several research and policy programs for SID, the UN, and European NGOs on globalization, alternative economics and gender, reproductive rights and health, culture and communications.

Arturo Escobar is a professor of Anthropology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is author of the influential book Encountering Development-The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. His recent research has focused on the intersection among development, capital, and social movements in the Colombian Pacific region. Specifically, he is concerned with looking in the context of the transnational debates on rainforest political ecology and biodiversity conservation.

How Rich Countries Got Rich

...and Why Poor Countries Stay Poor by Eriks Reinert

http://www.carrollandgraf.com/node/269

From Renaissance Italy to the modern Far East, the development of the world’s wealthy nations has been driven by a combination of government intervention, initial protectionism, and the strategically timed introduction of free trade and investments. So says Erik Reinert, a leading economist who does not subscribe to the orthodoxy. Yet despite its demonstrable success, when it comes to development in the poorer nations, Western powers have largely ignored this approach and have taken the toughest of hard lines on the importance of free trade. Reinert sets out his revisionist history of economics and shows how the discipline has long been torn between the continental Renaissance tradition on one hand and the free market theories of English and later American economics on the other. He argues that our economies were founded on protectionism and state activism and it was long before they could afford the luxury of free trade. When our leaders come to lecture poor countries on the right road to riches they do so in almost perfect ignorance of the real history of mass affluence. One country’s medicine could be another country’s poison. A book aimed at a politically aware and progressively minded readership, How Rich Countries Got Rich . . . will bury economic orthodoxy once and for all and open up the debate on why free trade is not the best answer for our hopes of worldwide prosperity.

Eriks Reinert is editor of Globalization, Economic Development and Inequality: An Alternative Perspective (2004) and co-editor of The Origins of Development Economics, How Economic Thought have Addressed Development (2005). He is Professor of Technology, Governance and Development Strategies at Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, and president of The Other Canon foundation in Norway. He is one of the world’s leading heterodox development economists. For further information see www.othercanon.org

Money and Payments in Theory and Practice

Sergio Rossi, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Departing from conventionally held beliefs, Sergio Rossi argues in Money and Payments in Theory and Practice that money is not a financial asset and banks cannot create purchasing power on their own. The author asserts that the nature and workings of money and payments have not been thoroughly understood in both theory and practice.For detailed information and book order form click here.

Meeting the Employment Challenge

Arguing that economic policies in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico favor markets over institutions and the international economy over the domestic - to the detriment of the workforce in those countries - Meeting the Employment Challenge presents extensive evidence in support of placing employment concerns at the center of economic and social policies. The authors discuss the challenges the three countries face in creating employment, as well as the evolution of the labor market since 1990 in terms of the quantity and quality of jobs. They then explore the impact of five policy areas on employment creation: macroeconomic policy, trade liberalization, foreign direct investment, labor market regulations and policies, and social dialogue. Their concluding recommendations offer concrete steps for balancing market forces and policy intervention in the interest of employment growth in a sound economy. Janine Berg and Christoph Ernst are labour economists in the Employment Analysis and Research Unit of the Employment Strategy Department, International Labour Office (ILO), Geneva. Peter Auer is chief of the Employment Analysis and Research Unit of the Employment Strategy Department. This is a co-publication with Lynne Rienner Publishers.

Emploi : éloge de la stabilité

L’Etat social contre la flexicurité
Christophe Ramaux
Ed. Mille et une nuits
320 pages.

Ne pas se tromper de diagnostic
Denis Clerc

La mode est à la « flexicurité », ou flexsécurité : un néologisme importé du Danemark et des Pays-Bas qui, dans ce domaine, ont été largement pionniers. Il s’agit de tenter d’allier sécurité pour le travailleur et flexibilité pour l’économie. Car, paraît-il, désormais, l’efficacité économique imposerait aux firmes d’adapter instantanément le volume et la qualification de leur main-d’œuvre aux fluctuations de leur marché ou aux innovations de leur production. Le marché du travail deviendrait, de plus en plus, un grand réservoir où chaque entreprise puise, puis rejette les travailleurs, en fonction de ses besoins immédiats. D’où l’importance de « protéger le travailleur et non l’emploi », selon l’expression d’Alain Supiot qui, plus que tout autre, a souligné la nécessité de garantir au travailleur menacé de précarité une continuité des droits, en matière de revenu, de couverture sociale et de formation notamment . Bref, de « sécuriser ses parcours professionnels », selon l’expression de la CFDT ou de lui assurer « une sécurité sociale professionnelle », selon celle de la CGT. De la flexibilité, oui, mais à condition qu’elle s’effectue à l’abri de garanties empêchant qu’elle soit une plongée dans l’insécurité du chômage, des droits sociaux rognés ou des salaires au rabais. (continué)

2006 Revision of World Population Prospects

The "2006 Revision of World Population Prospects" has been published by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, which provides the official United Nations estimates and projections of the world's population from 1950 to 2050.

The 2006 Revision of World Population Prospects is the twentieth such revision. It incorporates the full results of the 2000 round of national population censuses. It also takes into account the results of recent specialized surveys carried out in developing countries. A major new element in the 2006 Revision of the World Population Prospects is the much-improved modeling of HIV and AIDS. For the first time, detailed assessments of the demographic impact of antiretroviral therapy, particularly for preventing mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT), were included. Recent information from UNAIDS concerning coverage rates of antiretroviral therapy are used, as well as newly available information on HIV/AIDS prevalence rates. All this has led to lower estimates of AIDS-related mortality in several African countries, where HIV/AIDS remains, nevertheless, a ravaging emergency and a major obstacle to development.

The 2006 Revision is immediately available in electronic form from the website of the Population Division http://www.unpopulation.org  where data can be accessed and tabulated on demand through an interactive database. A number of hard copy publications including the data volumes, an analytical report and a poster will be issued in the coming months.

You can also access the full range of DESA's publications relevant to your information needs in the economic and social fields through our on-line catalogue at: http://esa.un.org/pubsCatalogue/displayHomePage.do


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Heterodox Associations, Institutes, and Departments

Institute for a New Reflection on Governance

www.institut-gouvernance.org

L’IRG est un espace de débat international et interculturel sur la gouvernance. Au croisement de différentes écoles de pensée et de diverses approches culturelles, l’Institut stimule l’échange entre chercheurs, universitaires, journalistes, professionnels de la fonction publique, des organisations internationales, de la société civile, etc. Au service de cette ambition, une base de données sur Internet, des publications, des rencontres internationales, le soutien à des travaux d’étudiants et à des échanges inter-universitaires.

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Heterodox Web Sites

The Veblenite

http://de.geocities.com/veblenite/


This is a Thorstein B. Veblen project page.

Thorstein Veblen ... was arguably the most original and penetrating economist and social critic that the United States has produced" (Rick Tilman, Thorstein Veblen and His Critics, 1891-1963; Princeton: Princeton UP., 1992, p. ix.).
He was one of the first academics to examine the complex relationship between consumption and wealth in society. "His significance to the development of political economy and sociology is still to be evaluated. Very great as his influence has been both on his own contemporaries and the later generations of economists and social thinkers, the bulk of it still lies in the future ..." (Horace M. Kallen, The Forward, in: Dorfmann: Thorstein Veblen and His America [1934], p. 506).

The main goals of these sites are

* to introduce into personality and work of American economist and social critic Thorstein Veblen (1857-1929), "the most finished and tenacious criticism" of american business civilization.
* to place all of his works as a repository to everyone's disposal (as far as not copyright protected),finished !
* to show the importance of his thoughts at the present times.

Our intention is not only to unveil but also to tear the veil, drawn over his work and personality, esp. for and by Europeans.

Political economy is institutional, human and environmental in its scope. The processes of production, distribution and exchange need to be situated within a context of the reproduction of institutions, belief and behavior.
And "... under the rule of the current technology and business principles, industry is managed by businessmen for business ends, not by technological experts or for the material advantage of the community" (Instinct of Workmanship, p. 351).
Notwithstanding that these sites are incomplete, maybe forever, they want to render access to the life-work of a very remarkable and noteworthy person.

Project manager: Ralf J. Schreyer, D-86381 Krumbach, (chief social welfare officer)

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Queries from Heterodox Economists

www.theeconomicconversation.com

Dear Colleagues,

I invite you to check out an unusually open-handed and pluralistic conversation about the principles of economics at http://www.theeconomicconversation.com

The web site exists as a means to nurture and grow an already worldwide community of teachers and students observant of the facts that there is more than one way to think about the economy and that a fair and public hearing of those alternative ways is crucial to the health of the economic conversation.

This is not a fly-by-night blog. Your contributions to the site will be considered for use in a forthcoming micro/macro textbook, The Economic Conversation, by Arjo Klamer, Deirdre McCloskey, and Stephen Ziliak (Palgrave/Macmillan, 2008).

A full-year introduction to micro and macro, The Economic Conversation presents the tools and principles as does any good textbook. But a fourth to a third of every chapter is in dialogue form, Socratic dialogue, just like a real economic conversation. The idea is to simulate a real classroom, a real seminar room, a real conversation.

Inspired by educators such as Paolo Freire, bell hooks, John Dewey, and Jane Tompkins, the authors of The Economic Conversation reflect the pluralistic and dialogic spirit of the community. McCloskey is a Chicago School free-marketeer, though recently also a progressive Christian and a postmodern literary type, too. Klamer is an evolving European social democrat. Ziliak is actively committed to racial and social justice, leaning towards the market for some solutions and towards the state for others. Each of the authors is an internationally recognized expert in "the rhetoric of economics," too.

Participants in the textbook dialogues are the authors themselves, joined by four students and the occasional "guest lecturer."

And that is where you come in. The Economic Conversation wants to practice what it preaches. The authors have grown increasingly frustrated with the hundreds of Samuelsonian knock-offs. They want their book to reflect the actual richness of the economic conversation.

So they need to hear from you.

How are the conversations working? What is going right and what is not? What should they add or delete? Please tell. Frustrated neoclassicals, feminists and libertarians, empirical Marxists and post-modern Keynesians, and everyone in between: your contribution is crucial.

The authors think their book provides a solution to the problem of teaching economics in liberal arts programs and anywhere that critical thinking is said to be valued.

The economic conversation is too important to be left where it is in most economic textbooks: in a state of neglect, we agree.

Sincerely,

Susan B. MacDonald
Program Administrator
info@theeconomicconversation.com

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For Your Information

Heterodox Economics in the Basque language

For those interested in heterodox economics written in the Basque language:

http://www.unibertsitatea.net/blogak/heterodoxia/nazioarteko-ordena-ekonomiko-noe-berrirantz


Critiques d'Alain Parguez

Un mail envoyé hier a proposé un certain nombre de textes dont une interview d'Olivier Todd.
Dany Lang y voyait un avantage, la remise en cause possible du dogme du libre échange.
Alain Parguez en a une lecture beaucoup plus critique. Comme il nous écrit des E.U., les accents ne sont pas présents.
Le débat reste ouvert:

Critiques d'Alain Parguez:

1- J'ai toujours admiré Paul Nizan, je suis epouvante par la demagogie petite-bourgeoise d'Emmanuel Todd. Je ne crois absolument pas que le libre-echange soit la cause du drame economique et social que vit la France. Je ne crois donc pas dans la panacee d'un protectionnisme Europeen. Les choix deliberes faits par l'elite Francaise n'ont absolument rien a voir avec une contrainte exterieure qui n'a jamais existé.

2- Je suis indigné de cette obsession de la Chine et d'un proletariat sous-paye chinois. Monsieur Todd devrait sur ce point se referer a des travaux serieux sur la Chine et notemment au livre de Will Hutton "The Writing on the Wall".

3- Son analyse des Etats-Unis est proprement grotesque et participe d'un anti-americanisme primaire. Il devrait s'interesser a la literature serieuse. Ce qu'il avait predit pour l'URSS ne se produira pas aux Etats-Unis --et si c'est le cas, c'est toute la democratie mondiale qui s'ecroulera.

4- En ce qui concerne Maurice Allais, c'est un economiste completement reactionnaire, fondamentalement anti-keynesien, obsede par l'epargne, et qui a voulu critiquer Friedman sur son propre terrain.

5- Peut etre peut-on trouver que je reagis fortement mais c'est que ce type d'analyse nous deconsidere completement. La reference a l'Iran, c'est quand meme trop.

6- Il ne faut pas prendre la Chine et le protectionnisme comme les causes des maux Francais. Le meme Emmanuel Todd, dans "L'illusion Economique" si je ne m'abuse, decimait ces theories apocalyptiques du commerce international en rappelant que les delocalisations sont tres peu nombreuses. De meme, Todd rappelait que le commerce avec la Chine ne represente qu'une infime partie du solde commercial, qui lui-meme ne constitue qu'une tres maigre part du PIB. Ne prenons pas la Chine comme bouc-emissaire de la faillite intellectuelle, politique et economique de nos elites. L'arbre et la foret en quelque sorte...

ADEK
31 Rue Jules Delpit
33800 Bordeaux -France
leheron.edwin@free.fr

CASE&E

We are pleased to announce a new organization of progressive economists working on environmental issues: The Center for the Applied Study of Economics and the Environment (CASE&E).

We are economists troubled by environmental degradation and social injustice, by the wide and growing inequality of wealth and income in America and in the world, and by the harmful impacts of the globalized economy on the natural ecosystems that support human activity. In order to change what is wrong with the economy, we must change what is wrong with economics as it is currently taught and practiced. CASE&E promotes a vision of an engaged and realistic economics, in which an understanding of social equity and environmental protection cannot be separated.

We invite you to read our statement, Real People, Real Environments, and Realistic Economics, which outlines our critique of conventional economics and why a new progressive economics of the environment is necessary. We also encourage you to check out our online Green Economist Directory of economists willing to work with environmental organizations on either a paid or pro-bono basis. Please consider adding your name to the directory. Adding your name is a great way for you to connect with the real world policy issues going on in your community and it doesn’t commit you to anything.

Our statement and the directory, as well as information regarding our other projects and initiatives, can be found on our website: www.case-and-e.org

Sincerely,

The CASE&E Steering Committee:

Frank Ackerman Astrid Scholz
Eban Goodstein Kristen Sheeran
David Batker James Boyce

CASE&E Graduate Student Internship Program

The Center for the Applied Study of Economics & Environment (CASE&E) is sponsoring a paid summer internship program that will match economics graduate students with non-governmental organizations that work on environmental issues. The internships will be awarded for summer 2007. For detailed information: Internship Program 2007-Students.doc

Reviews by Evan Jones

Evan Jones, an Australian political economist, wrote obituary-reviews of John Kenneth Galbraith and Milton Friedman late last year - they are wonderfully written incisive critiques of the economics profession, economic theory and how the press and powers-that-be treated each economist in his lifetime, and they are brilliant histories of thought as well.

Here are the websites:
  
http://www.australianreview.net/digest/2006/12/jones.html
http://workers.labor.net.au/features/200612/c_historicalfeature_milton.html

The current debates surrounding self-management: A brief overview

Workers’ struggles have reemerged with force in the last decade in numerous forms—union-based struggles, self-managed workspaces, rural movements, unemployed workers’ movements…. These are responses to the hegemony of neoliberal globalization imposing itself throughout the world with absolutist pretensions after the debacle of so-called “real socialism.”

At the same time, the old methods and strategies of struggle—class-based parties and traditional unions, amongst others—have by now shown themselves to be, at minimum, insufficient. Old debates and ideological frameworks are now in crisis. The dominant discourses used to describe the functioning of the capitalist world system can no longer explain quickly enough (never mind predict) the changes in this system that have been occurring over the past few decades, while popular struggles have had to create new paths without having a clear horizon in sight from which to map out a final destiny. And the plethora of means ever available for capitalism to respond to threats against it, as well as the sheer force and relentlessness of its repressive power, amply overcomes the popular sectors’ capacity for change…with tragic consequences.

While the taking of State power has been the driving objective of political forces for more than a century now, more recently there have appeared compelling movements that, on occasion, have questioned such objectives for revolutionary action. At minimum, these movements distance their strategies and tactics from the aims of taking State power, recognizing the difficulties of such a task. But, as evidenced in various Latin American contexts, some popular movements with solid historical roots have ended up allying themselves with national governments swept into power via electoral triumph. And so, when they least expected it, these movements found themselves at times controlling key sectors of the State’s administrative apparatus which, in turn, needed to be profoundly transformed in order to be oriented towards grassroots-based policies.

Of particular importance for many of these grassroots groups are those policies that relate to managing production and the (re)distribution of wealth.

Wavering between these situations and theoretic-ideological debates, workers have been generating—through their actual practices—an alternative course for steering life between inaction and resignation on the one side and the fight for total political power on the other. Subjected to the permanent crisis provoked by neoliberal capitalism, a growing number of workers are playing an increasingly key role in the re-creation and self-management of greater portions of the means of production and the economy as an immediate outcome of their struggles and resistances. And this despite being in the middle of a capitalist ocean. In some countries, workers’ take-over of government and their increased control of the state apparatus (i.e., Venezuela, Bolivia) have, sooner rather than later, positioned grassroots workers’ organizations and their methods of self-management as legitimate vehicles for administrating the economy and as decisively important forces for controlling the strategic economic means of society.

Recovered factories, diverse kinds of self-managed microenterprises, rural cooperative settlements, new types of unionized workers’ movements, networks of fair trade and fair work, and numerous other kinds of organizations and forms of struggle are part of this new landscape. Sometimes they take on autonomous forms. In certain situations they are fragmented. In other situations they form part of powerful and popular political movements, larger social movements, political parties, leftist fronts and coalitions, and even programs that are at times stimulated by the State or, more directly, by a government’s actual public polices.

Regardless of the size and shape of these worker-contoured social-political landmarks, this new alternative landscape puts back on the table the question of the legitimate role of workers in the management of a society’s economy. The working class still does, after all, make up the majority of the world’s population. And workers still depend on their own labour for their sustenance, be they engaged in wage-labour, partaking of the cooperative management of their collective labour, or living in more dire circumstances such as the structurally unemployed, the overexploited, the marginalized, and the poor.

A debate and discussion around these issues, therefore, is needed now more than ever: While the processes and consequences of globalization have been deeply and consistently questioned by numerous social and international movements, the project of actually creating an alternative that can supercede the merely declarative, or intellectual-theoretic reflection, has not advanced much, at least in a form that consistently takes into account both the theoretical and the practical aspects of self-management. (This is not to ignore or lessen the very real, efficacious, and practical outcomes realized in efforts such as the World Social Forum.) Rather, what is increasingly and definitely advancing are the myriad resistances to neoliberal capital that have centred on self-management as a creative force for inventing new experiences and new lives. However partial and nascent these advances might or might not be, they can serve to fruitfully inform and inspire the greater global analyses and debates that are looking for alternatives to capitalist life.

The questions raised by self-management:

What we are proposing for this First International Gathering, however, is not what might be interpreted, at first glance, as a debate on the “social economy” (as fomented, for example, by the World Bank and NGOs focused on “social containment”). Rather, we are proposing the reverse: We would like to engage in discussions centred on the socialization of the economy. Instead of waiting for the fulfillment of the promises set in a far-off utopia grounded in a revolutionary conquest of political power, workers from around the world are presently advancing projects that are giving them back their lives and labour. However fragmentary and limited these projects might currently be, they tend to be rooted in actual practices and concrete experiences rather than in the promissory and the abstract.

What conclusions and lessons can we take from these experiences, then? What connections do these workers’ struggles have with traditional social and political struggles? How do they relate to, or interconnect themselves within, the popular, grassroots-based governments that are increasingly taking hold of power in Latin America? How do these experiences of economic self-management survive in the hostile markets of global capital? How can they generate a new business logic of self-management within the framework of a suffocating system? Can they survive without change to the actual economic system and without transforming those very forms of organizations that they are attempting to overcome? Are they isolated instances of resistance, consequences of the very crisis of global capital, or do they show a path toward a new way of organizing production within a more just social system? Can workers already organized in unions once again come to pressure capital and dispute capital’s power-base, or should the struggle to overcome capital now be engaged from within the actual spaces of production and be about the actual self-management of production by workers? Will these struggles actually be used and appropriated by capital to more efficiently accumulate capital? These are just some of the questions that we feel should be at the centre of the debate amongst workers, intellectuals, and social and political organizations.

This is not just an academic debate, however. It is essentially a political one that should be moved forward with the participation of workers and their organizations. Proceeding in any other way would render the debate an interesting intellectual exercise with little practical consequence. But those who are thinking about these and other issues related to social movements and alternatives to capital from within an intellectual perspective should also of course, out of necessity, participate in these debates. Also at the table should be social and political leaders that encompass views from the perspective of labour organizations and political processes that are disputing State power and that, as in Venezuela or Bolivia, are carrying forward policies that are fostering these experiences of self-management.

>From the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters at the University of Buenos Aires, we propose further strides towards this necessary debate. For five years now we have been working in conjunction with workers in Argentina’s recovered factories and workspaces, attempting to support their processes, document their experiences, investigate their practices, and to better comprehend and reflect on the consequences of their experiments. From the Open Faculty Program (Programa Facultad Abierta) and the Interdisciplinary Program in Scientific and Technological Transference with Worker-Recovered Enterprises (Programa Interdisciplinario de Transferencia Científico Tecnológica con Empresas Recuperadas por sus Trabajadores) we have been developing with these workers projects that seek to extend technological capabilities, develop skills, build capacity, and strengthen the viability of these cooperative workplaces, investigating, on a broader level, the self-management of productive unities abandoned by their owners and recovered and reopened by workers. For us, and we hope for many others, the time has come to incorporate the conclusions stemming from these lessons and experiences—both from the perspective of workers and also academics—into the debate that is occupying the world more and more, a debate that is fundamentally about the direction of these struggles and the change needed in the system of social, political, and economic relations.
 


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