Autumn Post Keynesian Economics Study Group
Heterodox Economics Newsletter
Editor: Frederic S. Lee, University of Missouri-Kansas City, E-mail: leefs@umkc.edu
Book Review Editor: Fadhel Kaboub,
Assisted by Ergun Meric, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Newsletter 91
From the Editor
I recently attended the EAEPE Conference in Amsterdam. There were many interesting sessions of which I could only attend a few. I heard one interesting paper by Marc Jacquinet on the contributions of historical and economic sociology to economic regulation and another one by Jordon Melmies on Post Keynesian price theory. There was also a session on pluralism and heterodoxy in economics. Themes, comments, and feelings that emerged from it included the notion that pluralism should not be considered an important value for economists because it offended mainstream economists; that heterodox is a term that should not be used and that economists should not identify themselves as heterodox economists; that young economists should not spend their time studying heterodox economics; and that graduate students from heterodox programs were not competitive enough on the job market relative to mainstream students. No heterodox graduate programs were named, but programs at UMKC, UM-Amherst, American University, New School, SOAS, Bremen, and the University of Sydney are the reference targets. A rather strange session where apparently the intent was to make heterodox economists and their graduate students unwelcome at EAEPE.
At the ASSA in Atlanta, ICAPE will have an open house on Saturday January 2, 2010 starting at 2.30pm. It will held at the Hilton Atlanta, room Crystal D. The ICAPE annual meeting will start at 3.00pm. It should not last more than an hour. After the meeting (or current with the meeting), there will be a meeting of the ICAPE 2010 Conference committee. All are welcome to attend.
Because of my editorship of the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, I have to step down as the Executive Director of ICAPE. If you are interested in becoming the Executive Director, please send me an e-mail saying so. If no one is forthcoming, then I will have to close ICAPE down after the 2010 ICAPE Conference.
ICAPE is not the only thing under threat. I also need someone to take over the editorship and production of the Newsletter. If no one is forthcoming, then I will close down the Newsletter some time in January. Time for being a free rider is over.
Fred Lee
Call for Papers
Call for URPE Panels at the 2010 Left Forum
Pace University, NYC -- March 19-21
The 2010 Left Forum will take place at Pace University (NYC) for the second year in a row. Pace has lots of room for panels, so it will be easier to have panels accepted than it had been for a number of years previous to last year.
The Left Forum deadline for panel submissions will be Dec. 1. This does not mean the entire panel has to be completely organized -- they are expecting an outline -- but the closer to being complete your panel is, the more likely it is to be accepted. See more info on what LF is looking for here (diversity, different opinions in the same panel, etc.):
URPE members can submit panels to the LF either independently or with URPE sponsorship. The advantage of URPE sponsorship is that you will get more publicity within URPE and you will get help with organizing your panel. The LF may or may not list the sponsoring organizations in its brochure and on its website (it did in the past, but did not last year). And URPE sponsorship may help your panel get accepted by the LF.
The URPE deadline for submissions of URPE-sponsored panels is Thursday, November 19. That is because the fall steering committee meeting is the weekend of November 21-22, and a committee of the SC will review URPE at LF submissions that weekend, and make a decision on which panels will be sponsored by URPE. (Again, you can still submit panels independently, in which case you don't need to go through URPE.)
Costs: In the past each panel paid $125 to the Forum. Usually this fee was raised by dividing the cost of the panel among the panelists and chair (usually 3-5 people); once this panel fee was paid, however, all members of the panel were entitled to attend the entire conference without paying individual registration fees. SEE LF WEBSITE -- PAYMENT HAS NOT BEEN DECIDED FOR THIS YEAR.
People who attend the LF are well-informed but most are not economists. Panels should be on topics of general interest. Please be prepared to make a major contribution toward organizing your panel, but be open to the possibility of accepting additional suggestions of panelists from URPE or from the 2010 LF organizers.
The factors involved in determining which panels will be sponsored by URPE include: how many panels apply; whether your panel is of general interest; whether a panel on the same topic has already been accepted by the 2010 Left Forum; whether URPE decides to co-sponsor panels with other organizations; how much effort you are able to contribute toward organizing your panel; whether it is possible to form a complete panel from your suggestion; and whether you have been in an URPE panel recently.
The organizers of the conference work closely with URPE panel organizers, and may have some voice in which panels are accepted. Last year they said that they would try to honor URPE's choice of one or two panels, but they also said that they will have final say.
It is possible, but not likely, that individual papers will find a place on another panel in the LF.
Please e-mail panel suggestions to soapbox@ by November 19.
The URPE Steering Committee will try to find a place in another conference for panels that are left out. People in or near NYC might consider participating in a panel at the Brecht Forum, which is eager to have URPE panels.
Il VII Convegno Annuale dell’Associazione Italiana per la Storia dell’Economia Politica (STOREP) sarà ospitato dal Dipartimento di Sociologia e Ricerca Sociale e dal Dipartimento di Economia dell’Università di Trento dal 30 maggio al 1 giugno 2010. Il tema centrale della conferenza è: Pubblico e privato in economia: i confini sfuggenti. Come nei precedenti convegni STOREP, proposte di paper o di sessioni su tutti gli altri aspetti della storia del pensiero economico sono benvenute.
Un abstract di non oltre 200 parole per i paper, e una breve descrizione di non oltre 400 parole del tema, della motivazione, degli autori e dei titoli delle relazioni per le sessioni, devono essere inviati prima del 31 gennaio 2010 a: segretario@. L’accettazione del paper sarà comunicata entro il 20 febbraio 2010. La versione completa del paper dovrà essere inviata entro il 10 maggio 2010.
Il call for paper e ulteriori informazioni sono disponibili alla pagina web
The 7th Annual Conference of the Italian Association for the History of Political Economy (STOREP) will be hosted by the Department of Sociology and Social Research and the Department of Economics of the University of Trento from May 30th to June 1st 2010. The special theme of the conference is: The shifting boundaries between public and private in economics. As with past STOREP conferences, proposals of sessions or submissions of papers concerning any other aspect of the history of economic thought are also welcome. Paper abstracts of no more than 200 words or a brief ( 400 words) description of theme, motivation, authors and paper titles for a session should be submitted to: segretario@. The deadline for submissions is January 31st, 2010. The Scientific Committee will send notice of acceptance or rejection within February 20th, 2010. Completed papers will be due by May 10th, 2010.
Call for paper and further information are available at
“Environment, Innovation and Sustainable development: Towards a new technoeconomic paradigm?”
Twenty years after the Brundtland report, the concept of sustainable development is still considered as innovative, even if it is subject to many criticisms. To be sustainable, development must integrate three dimensions: economic, social and environmental. The accomplishment of these three dimensions calls for radical technical and socio-economic innovations.
The climatic preservation and the environmental issue require their transformation into individual and collective “needs”. Economic forces and populations, starting with the rich countries, have to recognize that. During the very strong growth of the post-war period, there was an acceleration of the cumulative set of environmentally destructive mechanisms that occurred simultaneously with mass production and consumption. But since these mechanisms have been associated with an important rise in the standard of
living, governments, companies, and various associations have tacitly remained silent on ecological questions. Today, the seriousness of the situation is becoming known. Now the modification of the techno-economic paradigm requires cooperative action by all economic and social actors. Sensitizing, and before all the education of the producers and the consumers, is necessary to facilitate the reorientation of economic activities and the creation of new spaces of valorization of productive resources. Collapse of the viability of the “fordist” model (the undifferentiated production and mass consumption), teaches us the strict relationship between public education, aspirations, and the launching of innovative process that must be reconfigured within the paradigm linking technology to economy, and ultimately to social regulation. The debates on sustainable development have largely dealt with energy and with industrial sectors. Innovation must now be considered as a requirement of environment protection and sustainable development. Alternative forms of production, consumption and organization in agriculture, services and industry have remained in the background of the debate. It is surprising if one considers their weight in the added value of developed countries and the problems of sustainability faced by some of them, notably in the transport and communication services, new environmental friendly products, energy consumption, etc.
Merchant and non merchant services for example are at the centre of a myriad of technical, social and organizational changes. For these changing sectors, sustainable development is a set of constraints as well as of opportunities. The content of technological, social or organizational innovation must be better understood
and subject to analysis.
Communication proposals should take account of the problematic of environment and innovation, with three main dimensions: economic development and innovation, the management of innovation and applied research, and engineering. They should relate to the fields of economics, management, law, engineering, or be interdisciplinary. The proposals should be academic but they may also present practical experiences, in enterprises and other institutions. The following list of themes is not restrictive and a proposal of sessions is possible (with four to five communications each).
Suggested themes
I. Political economy and sustainable development
I.A. Techno-economic paradigms in history, innovation and social change
I.B. Environment, new technologies and innovation
I.C. Sustainable development: world wide experiences
II. Management of innovation and sustainable development
II.A. Enterprise management and new technology development
II.B. Enterprise strategy and sustainable development
II.C. Public research, commercialization of knowledge and innovative capacity
III. Sectoral approaches (non restrictive list)
- Transportation
- Energy
- Health
- Agribusiness
- etc.
Communication proposals
Communication proposals of two pages should include an abstract explaining the problematic, the method used and a bibliography. Proposals must be sent with the completed enclosed “communication proposal form” (by email).
Sessions may also be proposed: a session includes four communication proposals. Please indicate the title of the session and include the four or five communication proposals germane to your proposal.
Send communication proposals to:
Conference Secretariat: Mrs Vozinaki Irini ceisd2010.conference@enveng.tuc.gr
Calendar
- Deadline for sending communication proposals: March 1, 2010
- Decision of the scientific committee: May 1, 2010
- Deadline for final papers: September 10, 2010.
Invited Speakers:
Eftichis Bitsakis, Em. Prof. of the University of Ioannina (GR), Honorary Prof. of the Technical University of Crete (GR), member of the New York Academy of Sciences and partner of the Center for the Philosophy and History of Sciences (Boston Univ.).
Carlota Perez (Research Associate, CFAP/CERF, Judge Business School, Cambridge University, UK, Professor of Technology and Development, Technological University of Tallinn, Estonia, Honorary Research Fellow, SPRU, University of Sussex, UK)
Theodosios P. Tassios, Em. Prof. of the National Tech. University of Athens, member of the Academy of Sciences of Torino (IT) has served as expert and consultant of U. Nations Organisations and of the European Union, as well as President of international scientific Organisations. He is honorary President of the Hellenic Society of Philosophy, and President of the Society for the Study of Ancient Greek Technology.
Publication of acts
A selection of papers will be published in Journal of Innovation Economics ()
A book will also be submitted to an international editor.
Submit your paper to The American Journal of Economics and Sociology
The American Journal of Economics and Sociology (AJES) was founded in 1941, with support from the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, to provide a forum for continuing discussion of issues raised and emphasized by the American political economist, social philosopher, and activist, Henry George (1839-1897).
The AJES welcomes any submission that critically investigates the social provisioning process utilizing different theoretical and methodological approaches; that engages in
critical analysis and empirical studies of current social-economic micro and macro policies affecting the social provisioning process; and that evaluates past and current
intellectual arguments and disciplinary developments primarily in economics and sociology (but also in the related disciplines of anthropology, political science, and law) which had or currently have an impact on understanding and investigating the social provisioning process.
Articles that offer an interdisciplinary perspective are encouraged. For policy-oriented articles, it is appropriate and encouraged to discuss the public policy implications (if any) of the findings.
The AJES also has a 'Comment and Analysis' feature that allows scholars to 'sound off' about events so long as the ideas are presented in a logical and coherent framework, references are provided, and the whole project amounts to an interesting essay in persuasion presented in a mature professional way.
Each year AJES issues a special supplementary issue to all subscribers containing an important and interesting monograph in an ongoing series entitled Studies in Social Reform and Economic Justice. In addition, each year there may be one issue is entirely devoted to an important thematic topic and scholars are invited to contribute from all
around the world.
Submit your paper today!
Authors should e-mail their papers, with any artwork or illustrations, to:
Professor Frederic S. Lee
Department of Economics
University of Missouri-Kansas City
5100 Rockhill Road,
Kansas City, Missouri 64110
USA
E-mail: ajes@umkc.edu
Submissions should be typed in English, double-spaced, with all notes at the end of the paper. A reference list with the full 'facts of publication' must be included as well. Authors should consult a recent copy of the AJES for examples of satisfactory reference pages.
Call for papers for the SASE 2010 Mini-Conference n° 4 on
“Evolutionary Regulation: Rethinking the Role of Regulation in
Economy and Society”
jointly convened by Reuven Avi-Yonah, Yuri Biondi and Shyam Sunder
Call for papers:
Conference web site:
Presentation:
Transformations driven by deregulation, technological change, financialisation, and globalization, international accounting convergence, and the ongoing financial crisis have
challenged our settled modes of regulation. They have provoked the development of disparate and even rival modes of regulation, and raised questions about the received
perspectives on the role of the State and of the Law. In regulatory evolution, intentional
design, unintended consequences, learning, and dynamic adjustments interact, and every
global or local regulator must settle the delicate balance between principles, norms and
rules in this evolutionary context. This special session aims to contribute to the current
debate by convening scholars from different perspectives and disciplines to address this
evolutionary process of regulation and its implications for economy and society.
Agenda:
*Submissions should comply with the rules of the SASE 2010 Annual Meeting, and include a short biographic note and research summary foreach Author;
*Deadline for submissions: 31 January 2010, through the SASE website
*Notification of acceptances to authors by 1 April 2010;
*Submission of conference papers by 1 June 2010.
A Century+ of May Days: Labor and Social struggles
International Conference
In Chicago during May Day weekend 2010, there will be a conference to
discuss, debate and analyze labor and social struggles B both past and
present.
Call for Papers, workshop and panel proposals*
We hope to cover an array of important historical and political topics. In
addition to purely academic pursuits, conference participants will have the
opportunity to participate in the May Day rally organized by the Chicago
Federation of Labor and the Illinois Labor History Society. If there is
sufficient interest, we will set up a Chicago labor history tour.
Initial list of participants and endorsers: Illinois Labor History Society; James Thindwa, In These Times; Suzie Weissman, Saint Mary’s College of California; Bryan Palmer, Labour/Le Travail (Canada); Ronald van Raak, M.P. (The Netherlands); Kim Bobo, Interfaith Worker Justice; Michael McIntyre, DePaul University; Peter Hudis, Loyola University; Sungur Savran, Author (Turkey); Lea Haro, University of Glasgow (Scotland); George Gonos, SUNY-
Potsdam; Janine Hatman, University of Cincinnati; Lauren Langman, Loyola University; Alexander Pantsov, Capital University; Francis King, Secretary–Socialist History Society (London); Mark Lause, University of
Cincinnati; Eric A. Schuster, Truman College; Knud Jensen, DPU Aarhus University (Copenhagen); Axel Fair-Schulz, SUNY- Potsdam; JP Page, CGT (France); Dianne Feeley, Against the Current; Kevin Anderson, UC – Santa Barbara; Fritz Weber (Vienna); Jerry Harris, DeVry University; Joe Berry,
University of Illinois; Theo Bergmann, (Stuttgart); Dan LaBotz, Author (Cincinnati); Sobhanlal Datta Gupta,. Surendra Nath Banerjee Professor, Calcutta University. (India); Spectre Magazine (Belgium); Steven McGiffen,
American Graduate School of International Relations (Paris); Len Kaufmann (Wisconsin); William A. Pelz, Institute of Working Class History (Chicago) Further details:
mayday1890.2010@ or
write:
Institute of Working Class History
2335 W. Altgeld Street
Chicago, IL. 60647-2001 U.S.A.A
*by December 15th
CALL FOR PAPERS
Meetings of SABE, the Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics, in San Diego, 2-5 August 2010
Conference Themes: (1) unifying the social sciences through behavioral economics, (2) behavioral economics and the family, and (3) behavioral economics and neuroscience.
We are especially interested in papers on Hayek as a forerunner of behavioral and neuroeconomics. Topics include but certainly not limited to Hayek's theory of mind; the relevance of his Sensory Order on his economic philosophy; his views on human psychology, human rationality, and decision making.
Participants may submit extended abstracts of papers or proposals for an entire session about one of the topics of the three mini conferences, or any other topic relevant to behavioral economics.
Please submit papers via Conferencemaker at
The deadline for submissions is March 15, 2010. For proposed
sessions: please ask all participants to submit their papers and email the organizer about your proposed session.
You will be notified by April 20, 2010, whether or not your submission has been accepted for presentation. Please register at
Hotel rates as low as $89 a night are available.
For further information please contact either Roger Frantz (rfrantz@mail.sdsu.edu ) or Shoshana Grossbard (sgrossba@mail.sdsu.edu).
L'entrepreneur, entre autonomie et incertitude
Appel à articles pour la Revue française de socio-économie.
On assiste depuis une vingtaine d'années à un renouvellement des recherches sur les entrepreneurs. Nous entendons par entrepreneur un acteur recherchant un profit personnel par la direction d'une entreprise, par l'indépendance professionnelle ou par la conduite d'activités salariales présentant un degré élevé d'autonomie. Cette définition, certes large, a le mérite de mettre en relief l'autonomie de ces acteurs et la spécificité des activités entrepreneuriales, consistant à rechercher et à identifier des opportunités de profit en contexte d'incertitude.
Dans la lignée de Schumpeter, une première vague de recherches s'était centrée sur les conditions d'émergence d'un entrepreneur considéré comme héroïque et doté de qualités exceptionnelles d'innovation, de volonté, d'énergie... Ces travaux ont été fortement critiqués en particulier pour leur tendance individualisante. Le regard s'est depuis déplacé vers l'environnement, les réseaux relationnels et les différents dispositifs institutionnels et équipements techniques des entrepreneurs. Contrairement au précédent, ce courant de recherche envisage l'entrepreneur comme le produit d'un collectif. Il est alimenté par des enquêtes sur des terrains variés : les créateurs d'entreprises, l'économie informelle, les districts industriels, les jeunes entreprises innovantes, les artisans... Des recherches ont par exemple mis au jour le poids de la position des entrepreneurs dans les réseaux sociaux sur leurs marges bénéficiaires ou l'impact des réseaux ou des dispositifs (juridiques, organisationnels, cognitifs) sur la création d'entreprises. Les carrières et trajectoires de cadres dirigeants constituent un autre objet de recherche de ce champ, éclairant les processus de couplage et de découplage, d'encastrement et d'autonomisation.
Il s'agit d'un thème de recherche particulièrement propice aux fertilisations croisées entre la sociologie, de l'histoire, de l'économie, des sciences politiques, de l'anthropologie et des sciences de gestion. Cet appel est ouvert aux contributions de ces différentes disciplines des sciences sociales.
Date limite d'envoi des articles : 4 janvier 2010.
Les articles d'une longueur maximale de 60 000 signes espaces comprises, doivent parvenir par voie électronique à l'adresse électronique suivante : rf-socioeconomie@univ-lille1.fr. Ils doivent impérativement être présentés selon les normes formelles de la revue.
Celles-ci peuvent être téléchargées sur le site de la Revue française de socio-économie : .
Pour tout complément d'information, contacter rf-socioeconomie@univ-lille1.fr
Strikes and Social Conflicts in the 20th Century
Call for Papers
International Conference
Strikes and Social Conflicts in the Twentieth Century Lisbon, 17, 18, 19 March, 2011
The Institute of Contemporary History (New University of Lisbon), the International Institute of Social History (Amsterdam), The Archive Edgard Leuenroth (Unicamp/Brasil), the Centre for the Study of Spain under Franco and Democracy (Autonomous University of Barcelona) and the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme (France) start the call for papers for the International Conference on Strikes and Social Conflicts in the Twentieth Century that will take place in Lisbon between 17 and 19 March 2011.
The twentieth century has been confirmed as the century when the capital-labour conflict was most severe. The International Conference on Strikes and Social Conflicts in the Twentieth Century will host submissions on the strikes and social conflicts in the twentieth century and works on the theoretical discussion on the role of unions and political organizations. We also invite researchers to submit papers on methodology and the historiography of labour.
We welcome submissions on labour conflicts that occurred in factories, universities or public services, on rural and urban conflicts and also on conflicts that developed into civil wars or revolutions. National and international comparisons are also welcome.
After the Russian revolution the relative strengths of capital and labour were never again the same, with a period of revolution and counter-revolution that ended with World War II. Protagonist of the victory over fascism, the labour movement found itself neglected in the core countries under the impact of economic growth in the 1950s and the 1960s. But May 1968 quickly reversed the situation, with a following boom of labour studies during the 1970s. Nevertheless once the crisis of the 1970s was over, capital has regained the initiative, with the deterioration of labour laws, the crisis of trade unions and the subsequent despise in the academy for the study of social conflicts. The recent crisis, however, shows that workers, the ones who create value, are not obsolete. The social movements regain, in the last decade, a central role in the world.
The intensification of social conflicts in the last decade promoted a comeback to the academia of the studies on labour and the social movements. This conference aims to be part of this process: to retrieve, promote and disseminate the history of social conflicts during the twentieth century. Calendar
Papers submission: January 2010 - 30th June 2010
Notification of acceptance: July 30th, 2010
Papers: December 15th, 2010
Conference: March, 17-19, 2011
Important: The deadline for delivery of completed papers/articles is 15th December 2010. For reasons of translation no papers will be accepted after this date. The paper should be no longer than 4000 words (including spaces) in times new roman, 12, line space 1,5. For Registration Form see below.
Conference languages are Portuguese, English, French and Spanish (simultaneous translation Portuguese/English).
more info
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Call For Papers:
2010 Economic & Business Historical Society Conference
BRAGA, PORTUGAL
(MAY 27 - 29)
The Economic & Business Historical Society welcomes proposals for presentations on all aspects of business and economic history at its 35th annual conference at Braga, Portugal, May 27-29, 2010. Composed of more than one hundred North American and international members, the Economic & Business Historical Society offers its members and conference participants an opportunity for intellectual interchange within a collegial interdisciplinary group. The Society holds its annual convention in locations of historical significance. Both the annual membership (regular: $30; graduate student: $20) and conference registration fee ($135) are modest. We also offer special conference rates for graduate students ($8) and early researchers (first 4 years after doctorate has been earned; $90). Papers presented at the conference may be submitted for publication in the Society's peer reviewed journal, Essays in Economic and Business History, edited by Janice Traflet, Bucknell University.
The Society seeks proposals for both individual papers and panel sessions. Proposals for individual papers should include an abstract of no more than 500 words, a brief CV, postal and email addresses, and telephone and fax numbers. Panel proposals should also suggest a title and a panel chair. Graduate students and non-academic affiliates are welcome. Submissions imply that at least one author will register for the conference and be present at the time designated in the conference program. To be included in the proceedings and to be eligible for publication in the Essays in Economic and Business History, the paper must be presented by one of the authors at the conference.
EBHS can not guarantee that an applicant will be granted entry into Portugal. Attendees need to check the requirements for nationals from their respective country for entry into the European Union. U.S. citizens generally do not require visas for short duration stays in most European countries. Submissions by scholars from countries requiring an entry visa into Portugal must apply early and make the necessary arrangements with the local Portuguese Consulate.
The deadline for submission is December 15th, 2009.
| |Formal letter of acceptance of abstracts will be send on or before l January 8th, 2010 . | |
| |Earlier submissions will receive letter within 2 months of submission | |
| |Conference registration should be completed on before March 31st, 2010. | |
| |Completed papers must be submitted to the panel chair and other panel members no later than March| |
| |31st, 2010. | |
| |To receive the conference rate, rooms must be reserved by March 24th, 2010. Please note each | |
| |hotel has a limited number of rooms, so make your reservation early. | |
Proposals may be submitted
• on line:
• by email to: Neil Forbes, 2010 Program Chair at 2010ebhs@
• or by Mail to:
| |Neil Forbes |
| |Director of Postgraduate Research |
| |Coventry University |
| |GE Building |
| |Priory Street |
| |Coventry CV1 5FB |
| |United Kingdom |
For more information:
VII STOREP Conference - The shifting boundaries between public and private in economics
The 7th Annual Conference of the Italian Association for the History of Political Economy (STOREP) will be hosted by the Department of Sociology and Social Research and the Department of Economics of the University of Trento from May 30th to June 1st 2010.
The special theme of the conference is: The shifting boundaries between public and private in economics. As with past STOREP conferences, proposals for sessions or submissions of papers concerning any other aspect of the history of economic thought are also welcome.
Paper abstracts of no more than 200 words or a brief (≤ 400 words) description of theme, motivation, authors and paper titles for a session should be submitted to segretario@. The deadline for submissions is January 31st, 2010. The Scientific Committee will send notice of acceptance or rejection within February 20th, 2010. Completed papers will be due by May 10th, 2010.
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|Submit Your Paper to the |
|Industrial Relations Special Issue |
| |
|Special Issue on alternative ways of understanding the role |
|of institutions in the employment relationship |
| |
| |
|Whilst there is a general consensus across much of the industrial relations literature that institutions matter, there is rather more |
|debate as to what exactly institutions are, how they operate, and their long-term effects on work and employment relations. |
|Institutions have variously been conceived in a rational hierarchical way, in terms of the structuralist tradition, as centers of webs |
|of relationships, or as dynamic and evolving structures temporarily stabilizing accumulation regimes. Recent work has focused on the |
|nature of internal diversity within specific institutional settings, and the experimental and contested nature of systemic change. |
| |
|The special issue seeks to bring together perspectives from alternative theoretical traditions, enriched by empirical work focusing on |
|the consequences for understanding work and employment relations in different national contexts. |
| |
|Register Now |
|to receive FREE |
|Table of Contents |
|E-Alerts |
|Find out about |
|Industrial Relations articles |
|as they publish |
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| |
| |
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| |
|It is hoped that the special issue will consolidate and extend the existing literature and showcase the latest thinking in the area, |
|help map out potential directions for the development and extension of existing paradigms, and promote the more rigorous use of theory.|
|We believe that given its timing, the symposium is likely to become a standard reference on the subject for years to come. |
| |
|We invite papers that provide high-quality research to extend our knowledge of the institution’s role in work and employment. Papers |
|can be from different theoretical perspectives and use different methods, but must constitute fresh work, which genuinely advances |
|existing debates. |
| |
|The deadline for submissions is 31 March 2010. |
| |
|The guest editors of the special issue are very happy to discuss initial ideas for papers, and can be contacted directly: |
| |
|ADRIAN WILKINSON |
|Adrian.Wilkinson@griffith.edu.au |
| |
|GEOFF WOOD |
|g.t.wood@sheffield.ac.uk |
| |
|About Industrial Relations |
|Corporate restructuring and downsizing, the changing employment relationship in union and nonunion settings, high performance work |
|systems, the demographics of the workplace, and the impact of globalization on national labor markets - these are just some of the |
|major issues covered in Industrial Relations. The journal offers an invaluable international perspective on economic, sociological, |
|psychological, political, historical, and legal developments in labor and employment. |
| |
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Economics ejournal
Special issue on "Managing Financial Instability in Capitalist Economies"
Editors: Thomas Lux, University of Kiel, and Marco Raberto, Reykjavik University
Abstract:
We invite authors to submit papers for the Special Issue on “Managing Financial Instability in Capitalistic Economies”. This special issue follows the MAFIN09 workshop on the same topic held in Reykjavik, September 3rd-5th 2009, but is open also to contributions not presented in it.
Special Issue Purpose
The special issue aims to present new modeling paradigms in financial economics able to understand the causes and the dynamics of financial and economic crises and to devise proper economic policies for recovering a capitalist economy from a deep recession due to a credit crunch or a collapse in assets values.
Background
The current financial and banking crisis and the subsequent severe economic recession have dramatically demonstrated the importance of financial and credit markets in modern economies. According to mainstream approaches to economics, the structure of financial liabilities only has limited influence on aggregate economic activity. Capitalist economies are viewed as essentially stable and tending towards steady growth; and the investment-finance linkage is considered at the most as an amplifying mechanism of shocks exogenous to the economy. A different, unduly neglected strand of research emphasizes the role of the investment-finance link not just as a propagator of exogenous shocks but as the main source of financial instability and business cycles. In this tradition, endogenous boom-and-bust cycles might be due to excessive risk taking and overinvestment during good times. While this approach has long been dormant because of its abandonment of complete rationality of agents, the crisis has brought to the fore the importance of such explanations for ongoing events. On the theoretical side, recent developments in statistical equilibrium approaches to economics, alongside with the emergence of behavioral and agent-based models, have indicated the way to overcome the limitation of traditional equilibrium-based analytical models characterized by fully rational representative agents.
Topics
The aim of the special issue is to solicit and publish papers that provide a new and fresh perspective in financial and economic modelling. We therefore encourage submissions on topics of relevance for this special issue from following areas:
* Agent-based computational economics
* Behavioural finance and economics
* Economics of heterogeneous and interacting agents
* Evolutionary economics
* Financial Keynesianism and financial fragility
* Financial engineering and regulation
* Econophysics
* Management of endogenous and systemic risk
* Non-linear financial econometrics
* Statistical equilibrium in economics
Deadline for Paper Submissions : November 30, 2009
Call for Papers
Conference “The Effect of Crises on Distribution”
Economists and the public discussion have so far failed to focus on what the recent global crisis may spell for the distributional consequences. It is with this in mind, that the Economic Student Union at The New School for Social Research would like to invite you to present abstracts for a conference on “The Effect of Crises on Distribution.”
The conference is to be held on March 5, 2010 at The New School University, New York and is co-sponsored by the Economic Student Union, the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA), and the Department of Economics.
Major themes of the conference include the effects of historical and current economic crises on the distribution of income and wealth, labor, capital and finance, gender, global power relations, and the policies used and required to address these issues.
Speakers at the conference will include scholars from academia and multilateral organizations. We look forward to papers from a variety of backgrounds to stimulate debate and improve our understanding of distributional issues
Selected papers from the conference proceedings and from the submitted papers will be published as a special issue of the New School Economic Review. Please submit abstracts via e-mail to nssreconconference@ on or before December 15, 2009.
Abstracts should include: Paper Title, Full Name, Affiliation (Institution), Current Position, and an email address. Submissions will go through a double blind review process. Space is limited so early submission is suggested.
Conference Organizer:
Lacey Keller
kelll921@newschool.edu
Call for Papers on "Where to Implement Innovative Economic Policies for Climate Change Mitigation"
Seriously concerned with global climate change but optimist that mitigation is still possible, the Economics Web Institute has solicited heterodox economists to devise innovative economic policies to be integrated in effective and fair climate change mitigation efforts at every geographical and industry level.
Scholars from such a wide range of countries as Australia, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Denmark, France, Kenya, Hungary, India, Italy, Iran, Mauritius, The Netherlands, Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, United Kingdom have accepted this challenge, providing a unique international and multi-polar perspective, expressed in a newly published book.
Read it for free, select the policies that better fit a context you know well, and write a paper on the subject.
The best three papers will receive a money prize and all deserving papers will be summarized and quoted in the updated version of the book foreseen for early 2010. They will also qualify for participation in a conference in Sept. 2010.
The deadline, the rules of the call and the way to get the book are here:
where you can also download a synthesis of the policies.
Valentino Piana
Director of the Economics Web Institute
CALL FOR PAPERS
14th Annual International Conference on Economics and Security
17th-18th June 2010
Izmir, Turkey
Hosted by:
Ekolider, Izmir University of Economics and Economics Department, Middle East Technical University (METU).
Venue:
Izmir University of Economics, Izmir, TURKEY
Background and conference topic:
EKOLIDER of the Izmir University of Economics and Middle East Technical University are honoured to host the 14th Annual International Conference on Economics and Security. The conference aims to provide an opportunity for defence and peace economists from around the world to share ideas and discuss the future developments in the following areas:
• Security in the Balkan Region
• European Security
• Economics of Security
• Globalisation and the restructuring of the MIC
• Militarism and development
• Security sector reform
• Economics of conflict and war
• Economics of post-conflict reconstruction
• Economics of arms procurement, trade and offsets
• Arms races and alliances
• Peace science
• Conversion and Demilitarisation
• Economics of Terrorism
You are cordially invited to submit abstracts and papers on these topics. Offers of papers on other related topics are also welcome.
The conference will have plenary sessions with keynote speakers and specialist workshop streams. Further information on the organization of the conference will be posted on the conference website at:
ekolider.ieu.edu.tr/eab/DEFENCE2010 .
If you are interested in presenting a paper or organizing a session at the 2010 Conference, please send a title and an abstract of 300 words or less to:
defence2010@ieu.edu.tr
The deadline for submission of abstracts is March 22, 2010.
Submissions should also provide information on:
YOUR FULL NAME:
INSTITUTIONAL AFFILIATION :
E-MAIL, POSTAL ADDRESS, and TEL:
PAPER TITLE:
ABSTRACT:
Important Deadlines and Dates
|March 22, 2010 |Deadline for receipt of abstracts |
|April 26, 2010 |Decisions on acceptance/rejection of abstracts by Conveners |
|May 17, 2010 |Deadline for Registrations (otherwise paper will be withdrawn from the conference programme) |
|May 17, 2010 |Final date for submission of full papers |
| |14th Annual International Conference on Economics and Security in Izmir |
|June 17-18, 2010 | |
Conference Organizers:
Prof.Dr. Paul Dunne School of Economics, University of the West of England, UK
Prof.Dr. Nadir Öcal Dept. of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara/Turkey
Prof Dr. Hakan Yetkiner Dept. of Economics, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir/Turkey
Prof Dr. Erkan Erdil Dept. of Economics, Middle East Technical University, Ankara/Turkey
Prof. Dr. Julide Yildirim Dept. of Econometrics, Gazi University, Ankara/Turkey
Prof. Dr. Teoman Pamukcu STP, Middle East Technical University, Ankara/Turkey
Prof Dr. Müge Karacal Dept. of Economics, Izmir University of Economics, Izmir/Turkey
Registration and further information are available from the conference homepage:
ekolider.ieu.edu.tr/eab/DEFENCE2010
Sponsored by: Izmir University of Economics, Middle East Technical University (METU), EPS (UK), EPS (US) and University of the West of England, Bristol
Call for papers (Deadline: November 27, 2009) International Conference of the Charles Gide Association Organised by PHARE (Pôle d’Histoire de l’Analyse et des Représentations Economiques) — Paris – May 27 to 29, 2010
PHARE (University of Paris I Panthéon‐Sorbonne) organizes in Paris from May 27 to 29, 2010 the 13th Biennial International Conference of the Charles Gide Association for the Study of Economic Thought (ACGEPE). The theme of the conference is “Institutions in Economic Thought”, but communications in history of economic thought on other issues are also welcomed.
A reflection on institutions is essential to understand the economic world, from organizational routines to crises, from transaction to public intervention. The history of economic thought emphasizes that all economic theories, and not only those that declare themselves as such, integrate institutions in their arguments. Whether mere rules of the game or embedded in the economic life, chosen or spontaneous, legal or informal, institutions are indeed necessary for coordination among agents.
Plenary addresses will be given by Steven Medema (University of Colorado at Denver), Claude Ménard (University Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne) and Malcolm Rutherford (University of Victoria).
Proposals for communications on the conference theme fall within one or several of the following topics:
1. The history of theories that make institutions an object of economic analysis. Themes of the communications may be the study of specific trends (for example, New Institutional Economics: Transaction Cost Theory, Public Choice, Law and Economics), concepts (the action in the institution, efficiency, justice, evolution…) or methods.
2. The history of theories that make institutions a tool of analysis, such as institutional theories of the economy (Old American Institutionalism, German Historical Schools, Theory of Regulation, Economics of Conventions, New Economic History, Classical, Marxist, Keynesian and Austrian trends…). Economic analysis is here modified to integrate both institutions and their evolutions, which can be justified through epistemological works. This topic also includes controversies and cases in which the consideration for institutions affects the analysis of economic variables (notably prices, employment, crisis, economic policy, risk management).
3. The history of the analysis of specific institutions in the economy, if it identifies the role of economic practices in the development of the analysis of institutions. This may concern legal, international, monetary and financial institutions, enterprise, market organization, economic institutions of transitions and development. This topic is thus about the contribution of the history of institutions to the history of economic thought (for example, monetary thought has developed during political debates on financial institution). In this line, a special focus on the history of the institutions of the economics profession (schools of thought, societies, etc.) is possible.
Besides, the 13th Charles Gide conference inaugurates the principle of open sessions.
The proposals for communications, in the form of abstracts of approx. 500 words, specifying whether or not the paper falls under the theme of the conference, shall be sent before November 27, 2009, at colloquegide2010 [at] univ-paris1.fr.
The decisions of the scientific committee will be made by December 18, 2009 and final papers will have to be sent before April 23, 2010. For further information, please visit ‐paris1.fr or write to the organising committee at colloquegide2010 [at] univ-paris1.fr.
For more information:
1st IIPPE Conference
I am pleased to send you the call for papers for the 1st IIPPE conference to be held in Rethymnon, Crete, 10-12 September 2010. The deadline for submission of paper summaries is 31 March 2010, although earlier submission is advised. For all relevant information, please see the attached document. In case of any questions, you can contact us at .
Please distribute widely.
Warren Samuels Prize
The Association for Social Economics (ASE), one of the founding member organizations of the Allied Social Science Associations, together with the Review of Social Economy, would like to invite submissions for the 2010
Warren Samuels Prize
This prize is awarded to a paper, presented at the January ASSA meetings, that best exemplifies scholarly work that:
· Is of high quality,
· Is important to the project of social economics,
· Has broad appeal across disciplines.
It is preferable, but not required, that the paper is presented at one of the ASSA sessions sponsored by the Association for Social Economics. Papers will not normally exceed 6,500 words (inclusive of references, notes), and should follow the style guidelines for the Review of Social Economy.
The winner of the prize will be announced during the ASE presidential breakfast, to which the winner is invited. The winning paper may, subject to peer review, be published in the subsequent September issue of the Review of Social Economy.
The winner of the Warren Samuels Prize receives a $500 stipend.
The selection committee consists of:
A Past-President of ASE;
A Co-editor of the Review of Social Economy (Chair);
A member of the Editorial Board, Review of Social Economy.
Papers presented at the 2010 ASSA meetings in Atlanta, GA, in sessions not restricted to sessions in the ASE programme, may be send electronically, as a word or pdf attachment, to Wilfred Dolfsma, Corresponding Editor, Review of Social Economy, before December 5th, 2009 at w.a.dolfsma@rug.nl.
Invitation to be part of the Scientific Committee of a Conference on “The Revival of Political Economy: Prospects for Sustainable Provision”, 2010
We would be greatly honored if you could accept our invitation to be part of the Scientific Committee of a Conference on “The Revival of Political Economy: Prospects for Sustainable Provision” to be held in Coimbra, Portugal, on October 21-23, 2010.
The crisis has raised public awareness of the consequences of neoliberal drift and of the shortcomings of a mainstream academic economics that failed in not having anticipated, and in actively having contributed for setting up the new (toxic) financial architecture. And yet at this time we feel that the first signs of economic recovery are bringing back the usual complacency among mainstream politicians and their usual economic advisers.
We therefore feel a strong need to counter a return to ‘business as usual’. As academics there is much we can do, the least of which is to encourage public debate by stimulating it with renewed social science perspectives on economic issues. What we have in mind at this time for this Conference is to bring together researchers on economic problems and issues, from different social science domains and the humanities in order to substantiate the call, and provide stimulus, for renewed understandings of the economy that might give guidance for a shift toward (more) sustainable systems of provision.
We enclose a draft call and programme. Your opinion and advice would be much appreciated. Correspondence can be e-mailed to politicaleconomy2010@ces.uc.pt.
Best regards,
The Organizers from CES – Centre for Social Studies, Associate Laboratory, School of Economics, Coimbra University ()
José Castro Caldas (CES)
Vitor Neves (FEUC/CES)
José Reis (FEUC/CES)
João Rodrigues (Univ. Manchester/CES)
Ana C. Santos (CES)
Provisional programme is attached
12th Conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics
The Economy of Tomorrow
7-10 July, 2010
University of Bordeaux, France
The Economy of Tomorrow.
- Social aspects, i.e., labour markets, pensions, work-time, systems of social security, income distribution, poverty, human development, etc.
- Financial aspects: financialization, capital mobility, corporate governance, credit crunch, taxes on international monetary transactions, financial innovations, etc.
- Environmental aspects: productive and consumption models, eco-innovations, environmental regulations and governance, alleviation or adaptation to global warming, new cities, etc.
- North-South relations: trajectories of emerging countries, new world order, international trade, development aid, development cooperation
- Economics: pluralism in research and teaching, research evaluation, economists/decision-makers relationships, etc.
THEME
Proposal of ADEK (Association for the development of Keynesian Studies)
MODELING THE FUTURE
The Future of Post Keynesian Economics
Organiser: ADEK, Edwin Le Heron, President of the ADEK, IEP de Bordeaux
The general idea is to deal with issues that make post Keynesians relevant to address the main challenges of the 21st century, namely:
- How to integrate radical uncertainty, the place of psychological variables, of the conventions, of power, etc.?
- Alternative approaches to financialization and finance-led capitalism.
- How to integrate the ecological constraint? How to deal with Sustainable development? How to conciliate the place of money or growth theory with a sustainability-based approach?
- Alternative strategies of development and North-South relationships.
- Modeling the future: stock-flow consistent models.
Proposal for themes:
Please send a short title for the theme as well as a short description of the papers that are requested and the name of panel organisers or organiser. Please send these by email only to the local organiser Ali Douai (ali.douai@u-bordeaux4.fr), AND the AHE coordinator, Alan Freeman (afreeman@). Text, HTML, Word and PDF format attachments are acceptable.
Conferences, Seminars and Lectures
Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE)
Annual Program
January 2-5, 2010, Atlanta, GA
All sessions will be held at the Hilton Atlanta
Download the PDF here
Saturday, January 2, 2010
2:30 p.m. - ICAPE Meeting-Open House
Crystal D
6:00 p.m. - AFEE Board of Directors' Meeting
Crystal D
Sunday, January 3, 2010
8:00-10:00 a.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 205
Institutional Approaches to Freedom
Presiding: John Henry, University of Missouri-Kansas City
James Ronald Stanfield, Colorado State University, Michael C. Carroll, Bowling Green State University - "Governance and Freedom in a Complex Global Economy"
Ingrid Rima, Temple University - "From Managerial Capitalism to Information System Capitalism: The Necessity for the Guidance of Political Economy"
Charles J. Whalen, Cornell University - "Full Employment with Liberty: Commons, Keynes, and the Post-Keynesian Institutionalists"
Mathew Forstater, University of Missouri-Kansas City - "Spontaneous Conformity: North, South, East, and West"
Michael J. Murray, Central College - "From Economic Freedom to Economic and Social Poverty: Institutional Approaches to the Business Enterprise, Structural Change, and the Role for Government"
8:00-10:00 a.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 201
Markets: Social Provisioning and Public Services (H1)
Presiding: Phani Wunnava, Middlebury College
Andrew E. Michael, Intercollege Larnaca - "The Pursuit of Happiness in Free Markets"
Stephen P. Paschall, Lovett Bookman Harmon Marks LLP - "Security of Expectations and Freedom of Choice in the Health Insurance Market"
Wayne Edwards, University of Alaska-Anchorage & Dartmouth College - "Does the Market System Address Adequately Rural Service Delivery Rigidities?"
Enrico Schobel, University of Erfurt - "Self-Regulated Markets for Professional Legal Services: The Case of Tax Intermediaries"
Robert Ashford, Syracuse University - "Replacing the Flawed Neoliberal Analysis of Capitalism and Freedom with an Analysis that Promotes Sustainable Growth, Poverty Reduction, Equal Opportunity and Individual Freedom"
10:15-12:15 p.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 201
How Markets Work: Forms, Functions, Strategies
Presiding: William Redmond, Indiana State University
Joshua Frank, Center for Responsible Lending - "Why Free Markets Can Sometimes Turn into 'Peacock Markets': The Evolution of Credit Cards"
Lynne Chester, Curtin University of Technology - "Actually Existing Markets: The Case of Neoliberal Australia"
Jose Felipe de Almeida, Universidade Federal do Parana, Huascar Pessali, Universidade Federal do Parana, Nilson de Paula, Universidade Federal do Parana -"Third-Party Certification in Food Market-Chains: What is Being Served?"
William Redmond, Indiana State University - "Rules and Roles of the Marketplace: Self-Organization in the Market"
Anton Oleinik, Memorial University of Newfoundland - "Market as a Weapon: Domination by Virtue of a Constellation of Interests"
12:30-2:15 p.m. - Veblen-Commons Award Luncheon, Grand Salon B
Recipient: Glen Atkinson, Professor Emeritus, University of Nevada, Reno
2:30-4:30 p.m., Hilton Atlanta, Grand Salon C
Neoliberalism, Financial Markets and Freedom
Presiding: Robert Prasch, Middlebury College
James K. Galbraith, University of Texas - "The Great Crisis and the Dismal Science"
Marcellus Andrews, Barnard College - "Finance, Oligarchy and Economic Decline: Why Enslaving Finance Promotes Real Freedom"
Discussants: Martha Starr, American University
4:45-6:00 p.m. – AFEE Membership Meeting, Grand Salon C
Monday, January 4, 2010
8:00-10:00 a.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 205
Neoliberalism, Markets, and Freedom
Presiding: Mathew Forstater, University of Missouri-Kansas City
Mary Wrenn, Weber State University - "Neoliberalism and the Emergence of Identity Groups"
John Hall, Portland State University, Udo Ludwig, Leipzig University - "Neoliberalism, the Changing German Labor Market, and Income Distribution"
John T. Harvey, Texas Christian University - "Neoliberalism, Currency Markets, and Economic Welfare"
L. Randall Wray, University of Missouri-Kansas City - "Neoconservatives and the Money Manager Crisis"
Phillip Anthony O'Hara, Curtin University - "After Neoliberalism: A Social Structure of Accumulation for Global, Regional and/or National Governance?"
Discussants: John F. Henry, University of Missouri, Kansas City
10:15-12:15 p.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 205
Developing Nations and Neoliberalism: Help or Hinderance?
Presiding: Winston Griffith, Bucknell University
Arturo Guillen, (Street Scholar) Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana Iztapalapa - "The Effects of the Global Economic Crisis in Latin America"
Kellin Chandler Stanfield, DePauw University - "Mexican Economic Performance Under Neoliberal Policy: Instability, Low Growth, and Rising Disparity"
Evelyn Wamboye, Pennsylvania State University-DuBois - "Globalization and Labor Market Participation: Women of Sub-Saharan Africa"
Wolfram Elsner, University of Bremen, Henning Schwardt, University of Bremen - "Economic Reform and Social Development in Argentina since the 1970s"
Winston H. Griffith, Bucknell University - "Neoliberal Economics and Caribbean Countries"
12:30-2:15 p.m. - Hilton Atlanta, Room 201
Joint AFEE/ASE Session
Alternative Perspectives of a "Good Society"
Presiding: John Marangos, University of Crete, Greece
Janet Knoedler and Geoffrey Schneider, Bucknell University - An Institutional Vision of a Good Economy
Mathew Forstater, University of Missouri Kansas City - The Post Keynesian Perspective of a Good Economy
Al Campbell, University of Utah - The Marxist Concept of a Good Society
Janice Peterson, California State University Fresno - A Good Society: Feminist Perspectives
John Marangos and Nikos Astroulakis, University of Crete, Greece - The Development Ethics Perspective of a Good Society
Discussant: Ellen Mutari, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey
12:30-2:15 p.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 205
The Failure of Deregulation: Industry Evidence and the Search for Solutions
Presiding: Glen Atkinson, University of Nevada-Reno
Harry M. Trebing, Michigan State University - "Is Re-regulation an Attainable Goal?"
Eric Hake, Eastern Washington University - "The Deregulation, Disintermediation, Consolidation, Financialization and Systemic Collapse of the American Financial System"
Bob Loube, Rolka Loube Saltzer Associates - "Deregulation, Deconstruction and Duopoly: The Political Economy of Market Failure in the Communications Industries"
Pamela Taylor Jackson, Colorado State University - "The Rise of Neoliberalism and the Fall of the Free Press: How a Shift in Political Ideology Hurt the News"
William M. Dugger, University of Tulsa - "Progressive Alternatives to Re-Regulating the American Economy: Community, Municipal, Worker and Consumer-Owned Enterprises in a National Planning Framework"
Discussants: Eric Hake, Eastern Washington University
2:30-4:30 p.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 205
Financial Markets: Crashes and Consequences
Presiding: Martha Starr, American University
David A. Zalewski, Providence College - "Subprime Subsidiarity: A Reconsideration of the Role of the State in the Financial Instability Hypothesis"
Helge Peukert, University of Erfurt - "The German Contribution to the Financial Crisis in a Critical Institutionalist Perspective"
Austin H. Spencer, Western Carolina University - "Financial Markets: Factors to Consider in an Institutional Stress Test"
Craig Medlen, Menlo College - "Free Cash, the Current Account and Bubble Creation"
Martha Starr, American University - "Debt-Financed Consumption Sprees: Regulation, Freedom and Institutions"
4:45-6:00 p.m. Presidential Address - Grand Salon E
Dell Champlin, Eastern Illinois University (retired)
"Institutionalist Views of Immigration: An Update"
6:00-8:30 p.m. AFEE No-Host Cocktail Party - Grand Salon A
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
8:00-10:15 a.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 205
Economic Development in Theory and Practice
Presiding: Rula Qalyoubi-Kemp, University of Wisconsin-Stout
P. Sai-Wing Ho, University of Denver - "Is Special and Differential Treatment of Less-Developed Countries Conducive to Development Promotion? A Critical Review and Evaluation of the Neoliberal View"
Alex DeRuyter, University of Birmingham, Ajit Singh, Cambridge University & University of Birmingham, Tonia Warnecke, Rollins College, Ann Zammit, Independent Consultant - "Core vs. Non-Core Standards, Gender and Developing Countries: A Review with Recommendations for Policy"
Armagan Gezici, Keene State College - "Distributional Consequences of Financial Integration"
Anna Klimina, University of Saskatchewan - "On the Risks of Introducing the Liberal Plan into a Traditionally Autocratic Society: The Case of Russia"
Sushanta K. Mallick, Queen Mary, University of London - "A Macroeconomic Policy Approach to Poverty Reduction"
10:15-12:15 p.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 205
Government and Market Relationships
Presiding: Erik Guzik, University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma
F. Gregory Hayden, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Carol D. Peterson, United States Government Accountability Office, Edwin B. Booth, United States Government Accountability Office, Elliot Campbell, University of Nebraska-Lincoln - "The Relationship Between Defense Contracts and the Integrated Power Blocs Among Contractors to the U.S. Department of Defense"
Daniel A. Underwood, Peninsula College, Dan Axelsen, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Dan Friesner, North Dakota State University - "An Analysis of Employment and Wage Outcomes for Women Under TANF"
Daphne T. Greenwood, University of Colorado-Colorado Springs, Richard P. F. Holt, Southern Oregon University - "Growth and Inequality: When 'Trickle Down' Becomes Negative"
Feridun Yilmaz, Uludag University, Tamer Cetin, Zonguldak Karaelmas University - "Transition to the Regulatory State in Turkey: Lessons from Energy"
Frederic B. Jennings, Jr., Center for Ecological Economic and Ethical Education - "The Design of Free-Market Economies in a Post-Neoclassical World"
1:00-3:00 p.m., Hilton Atlanta, Room 205
Markets: Ideas and Ideology
Presiding: Thomas Kemp, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire
John P. Watkins, Westminster College - "Neoliberalism, Social Imbalance, and the Current Economic Crisis: A Synthesis of Keynes, Galbraith, and Minsky"
Robert Dimand, Brock University, Robert H. Koehn, Brock University - "Guy Routh's Heterodox Critique of Economic Methodology"
James L. Webb, University of Missouri-Kansas City - "Dewey and Capitalism and Freedom"
John F. Henry, University of Missouri-Kansas City - "The Historic Roots of the Neoliberal Program"
W. Robert Brazelton, University of Missouri-Kansas City - "Rationality and Neoliberalism: A Basic Assumption Flawed?"
Geoff Harcourt will speak on "The Legacy of Joan Robinson" at 5 pm on Thursday 26 November in the Nihon Room at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Modern Economic and Social History Seminar. Affiliated with the History and Policy network,
All are welcome to attend and to join the speakers and convenors for local hospitality afterwards. Further details at
CALL FOR PARTICIPANTS: KEYNES SEMINAR LIVE
On Tuesday 24 November, Giuseppe Fontana will speak about his new book “Money, Uncertainty and Time” and Alberto Feduzi will respond.
The seminar will take place at 4 pm in the Judge Business School Auditorium Lounge, Robinson College, Cambridge and will finish no later than 5.30 pm. Further details can be found at
Research Unit in Politics & Ethics Events
The Libertarian Impulse: Theories, Histories, Comparison
Seminar series 2009-2010 academic year
From October 2009 until March 2010 RUPE will hold a series of seminars on the theme of libertarian politics and theory. With the collapse of state socialism, the unseemly decline of social democracy, and with the devolving of liberalism into a narrow politics of security, we believe it is high time to turn to political heresies like anarchism, left-libertarianism and autonomist Marxism, which have existed until now on the margins of more recognized political traditions. With the unprecedented deployment and expansion of state power and surveillance post-9/11, and with the symptomatic crisis of legitimacy experienced by representative party politics, we think it is important and timely to investigate alternative sites of the political – the autonomous and anti-systemic social movements and activist networks which have proliferated across the global horizon in recent years. The series will focus on different ways of thinking about individual and collective liberty, difference and equality, as well as political identities, practices, modes of organization, action and democracy outside the state order.
This seminar series will explore related themes of: anarchist theory, utopian thought, cosmopolitanism, the politics of direct action, new social movements, social liberty, autonomous politics, piracy and biopolitics, and continental radical political philosophy. It will bring together a series of experts and thinkers from different disciplines – Politics, Sociology, Anthropology, Philosophy and Social Policy – who are all moved in some way by the libertarian impulse.
The seminars will be held on Tuesday evenings 6-8pm in the Senior Common Room (Level 2 RHB). Drinks will be provided, and everyone is invited. The program is as follows:
Autumn Term
24 November - Dr. David Graeber (Anthropology, Goldsmiths): ‘We are all already communists (reconsidered)’
1 December – Professor Gianni Vattimo (Philosophy, Turin): ‘Philosophy and Emancipation’
8 December – Dr. Geoffrey Pleyers (FNRS Researcher, University of Louvain) (RHB 308): ‘Autonomy in the alterglobalization movement: theories, cultures, and practices’
Spring Term
19 January – Dr. Alberto Toscano (Sociology, Goldsmiths): ‘Freedom, Claustrophobia and Colonisation: Lessons from the Anarchist Geography of Elisee Reclus’
2 February – Dr. Ruth Kinna (Politics, Loughborough): ‘William Morris: Time & Utopia’
9 February – Dr. Nicola Montagna (Criminology, Middlesex): Title TBC
2 March – Amedeo Policante (Politics, Goldsmiths): Title TBC
16 March – Dr. Saul Newman (Politics, Goldsmiths): Booklaunch: ‘The Politics of Postanarchism’
*Please direct any enquiries to Saul Newman: s.newman (@gold.ac.uk) / Tel: 0207 919 7747
King's College London Reading Capital Society
- - -
1) Next session: 'Money'
Following a fascinating session discussing the fetishism of commodites, the Reading Capital group asks...
What is money? Where does it come from? What makes certain commodities suitable as money? Could we live without it?
Joseph Choonara, former deputy-editor of International Socialism Journal (.uk), will introduce a discussion on
'Money or the Circulation of Commodities’.
Monday 23rd November '09 (NOTE CHANGE OF DATE)
6pm F-WB Room 2.43
Waterloo Campus
King's College London
"It is not money that renders commodities commensurable. Just the contrary. It is because all commodities, as values, are realised human labour, and therefore commensurable, that their values can be measured by one and the same special commodity, and the latter be converted into the common measure of their values, i.e., into money. Money as a measure of value, is the phenomenal form that must of necessity be assumed by that measure of value which is immanent in commodities: labour-time.”
All welcome - whether you have been reading Capital or just want to drop in for the talk - we aim to be accessible to all.
(Those wishing to read in advance should make their way to Chapter 3!)
2) Martin Wolf & Alex Callinicos Debate:
If you haven't already, you can watch the event:
Alex Callinicos:
Martin Wolf:
Questions & Answers:
or download the audio from:
and a Palantypist's transcript:
3) Chris Harman - 1942-2009
The Reading Group was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Chris Harman. Only two weeks ago, Chris gave a brilliantly accessible introduction to the first chapter of Capital for the Reading Group. That he was able to make the most abstract and difficult part of Capital so unfailingly concrete is a testament to the power and clarity of his thought. He will be greatly missed.
Chris's session for the Reading Group:
Saints or Sinners: the role of the media in the financial crisis
Book a place
Invite friends
Event Type: Panel Discussion
Speaker(s): Gillian Tett, Assistant Editor, Financial Times
Hugh Pym, Chief Economics Correspondent, BBC News
Larry Elliott, Economics Editor, The Guardian
Professor Charles Goodhart, London School of Economics
Alistair Milne, Cass Business School
Damian Tambini, London School of Economics
Chaired by Prof. Steve Schifferes, Graduate School of Journalism, City University London
Date: Wednesday 2 December 2009
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Oliver Thompson Lecture Theatre, City University London, Northampton Square, London EC1V 0HB
Note: Registration from 6pm. Debate starts at 6.30pm.
Contact: Contact journalism@city.ac.uk for more information, or follow #citysaints on Twitter.
|Green Economics Institute | |
| |Progressive economics |
In association with Ashgate Academic Publishing, Gower Management Books, Inderscience Publishers of academic journals,Venice International University,Italy, The International Journal of Green Economics, Purchasing and Supply Management Ltd., Green Economics Institute Brazil, Campinas University Brazil, and Green Economics Institute Nigeria, European Network of Political Foundations, Brussels, Member of the Green European Foundation,Luxembourg.
A Green Economics Conference/ Symposium
Greening the Economy
Green Economics solutions
to the climate crisis, economics crisis and ecological crisis:
An economics of sharing and poverty prevention
Saving Kyoto and Planning for Copenhagen COP 15
28 November 2009
Oxford University Club, Oxford, UK
for The Green Economics Institute Conference
28 November 2008 10:00 – 23:30
| |Sessions / | | |
| |Speakers | | |
| |Keynote speakers: | | |
| |Professor Graciela Chichilnisky | | |
| |UNESCO Professor of Economics Columbia University | | |
| |author of the Kyoto Protocol, and the Nobel Prize winning IPCC Report. | | |
| | | | |
| |Professor David Simon Development Economics and Geography, Royal Holloway College | | |
| |Professor Jack Reardon Hamline University USA Economics | | |
|10:00 |Morning Session | | |
| |Reviewing Green Economics | | |
| |Setting the Scene | | |
| |Welcome | | |
| |and Introduction and Update to | | |
| |Green Economics | | |
| |Introduction to the Green Jobs Initiative with International Labour Organisation and EURAC | | |
| |in Bolzano | | |
| |Miriam Kennet | | |
| | | | |
| |Introducing the Special Double Issue of | | |
| |International Journal of Green Economics to mark Copenhagen Conference on climate change | | |
| | | | |
| |Introducing the special issue of the | | |
| |International Journal of Green Economics | | |
| |on Women's Unequal Pay and Poverty | | |
| |The Development Perspective | | |
| |Keynote Speech | | |
| |Professor David Simon | | |
| |The Development/ Growth /Sustainability Trade Off | | |
| |Where do we stand today? | | |
| | | | |
| |Prosperity without Growth: | | |
| |Current issues: | | |
| |Climate change Economics | | |
| |Growth, lower growth – enhanced growth ?Planning for the green jobs initiative: | | |
| |Naomi Baster Orkney | | |
| |Volker Heinemann | | |
| |Michele Gale, USA and Brazil | | |
| |Victor Anderson | | |
| |Miriam Kennet | | |
| |The current economic crisis and the role of the Green Economy in its recovery | | |
| |David Gee European Environment Agency | | |
| |Ecosystems and the Economics Crisis | | |
| |Miriam Kennet | | |
| |Green Economics Institute | | |
| |The Institutional Perspective | | |
| |Global and European Institutional perspectives of the Green Economy, and Civil Society | | |
| |NGOs perspective: | | |
| | | | |
| |Michele Gale USA Richmond American University | | |
| |Michael Briguglio University of Malta Sociology Department | | |
| |Green Economics as Heterodox Pluralism and the Economics of Sustainable Development : | | |
| |Professor Jack Reardon USA | | |
| |Author | | |
| |Heterodox Economics Teaching Book Routledge: | | |
| |Green Economics | | |
| |Pluralistic Heterodox | | |
| | | | |
| |Martin Mattson | | |
| |University of Oxford | | |
| |“The environment in main stream economics education”? | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| |Dr Jampello D'Angello Italy | | |
| |The Economics of Sustainable Development | | |
| |Multidisciplinary | | |
| |"A sustainability analysis of the Millennium Development Goals" Political economy | | |
| | | | |
| |Emanuel Campiglio | | |
| |University of Pavia Italy | | |
| |Theoretical analysis of the connections between growth and welfare, with a particular focus | | |
| |on mobility and transports. | | |
| | | | |
| |Contraction and convergence paths that developed and developing countries need to ensure | | |
| |long term sustainability | | |
| |“Can Green Marketing be used as a tool for Sustainable Growth?(A Study Performed on | | |
| |Consumers in India-A Developing Economy)” | | |
| |Dr Ravindra Saxena, | | |
| |University of Wollongong in Dubai | | |
| |and Pradeep K Khandelwal | | |
| |The role of the markets and ethical investment: | | |
| |Dr Jean Boulton | | |
| |Cranfield University | | |
| |'Power, increasing returns and implications for the invisible hand.' | | |
| | | | |
| |Christopher Blount Ethical Investment Redmayne Bentley Green Investments | | |
| | | | |
| |Martin Bowes | | |
| |Ethical Business Club Oxford | | |
| | | | |
| |Peter Lang | | |
| |Ethical Investment, Member of the Board of the London Pensions Fund Authority | | |
| |How the financial services industry needs courage and humility to address environmental | | |
| |pressure. | | |
| | | | |
| |Douglas Prentice | | |
| |Eurocapital investments | | |
| |Financing new technologies in energy efficiency and renewable energy | | |
| |Besmir Geziqi | | |
| |Green Economics in the Balkans and Albania | | |
| |The state of the art | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| |Djana BEJKO, University "Luigj Gurakuqi" Shkoder, | | |
| |The Regional Environmental Center, Country Albania | | |
| |Management of Natural Resources, Senior Expert | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| |Smaj Kendra | | |
| |The NGO perspective in Bangladesh | | |
|13.00-14.00 |Lunch | | |
|14.00 |Afternoon Session: | | |
| |Preparing for Copenhagen | | |
| |Dealing with Climate Change | | |
| |Green Construction Forum | | |
| |Jonathan Essex, BioRegional Development | | |
| |Group | | |
| | | | |
| |Sophie Christopher Bowes | | |
| |Ethical Business Club,Oxford | | |
| | | | |
| |The Economics Perspective:Preparing for Copenhagen: | | |
| |Saving Kyoto with its originator : Professor Graciela Chichilnisky | | |
| |UNESCO Professor of Economics and Statistics author of IPCC Report into climate | | |
| |change,inventor of Kyoto | | |
| |Master Class : USA and Argentina | | |
| |The current structure of the energy industry: Alternative Energy Debate: | | |
| |Sarah Skinner Solar, Uk and South Africa: the structure of the energy industry | | |
| | | | |
| |Professor Jack Reardon USA Nuclear and Renewable- the role of the Oil companies | | |
| | | | |
| |Dr David Toke University of Birmingham The structure and future of the Wind Industry | | |
| |'The Politics of renewable energy'. | | |
| | | | |
| |Renewable energy supporting recovery in the shorter and longer term. | | |
| |Professor Michael Jefferson | | |
| |Slow travel forum: | | |
| |Michael Birtles from E Rail Travel | | |
| |Professor Wolfgang Hoerschele | | |
| |USA and Germany | | |
| |Slow cities movement | | |
| |Via webcam | | |
| |Dr Susan Canney University of Oxford | | |
| |Biodiversity Economics in the Greenhouse (being confirmed) | | |
| |Measuring Development: Development Indicators | | |
| |Exploring the work of Nancy Baster, Development Economist for UN | | |
| |An interactive workshop | | |
| |with Naomi Baster and Tim Baster | | |
|19.00 - 19.30 |Free Time in the Bar | | |
|19.30 - 23.30 |Conference Dinner |
| |Saturday Evening |
|This is the provisional initial programme |
This conference must be pre booked and pre registered. All participants including speakers are required to register and pay the fee of £95.00 per person per day for the day, (concessions available £45.00) and fill in the booking form. Fees include lunch and the conference dinner and all refreshments, (except evening bar drinks).
A proceedings document will be created from the speaker papers at the conference and this will be lodged with the British Library as a publication and will provide authors with citations. This proceedings document will be available 1 month after the conference in hard copy format. All Conference delegates who have pre -registered and pre -paid will receive a soft copy 5 days prior to the conference. Speakers are requested to provide either a one page information document including 5 line biography, or a paper for the academic paper section. Please inform us by email on booking in which section you would prefer be. Speakers and participants who provide papers will be considered for entry in our academic journal, volumes 4 and 5 and our book series. Papers for inclusion need to be emailed to us by 15th November 2009 and must include a 5 line biography.
Green Economics Institute Members reduction £10%. Student reductions available.
( Very nice modern bright and airy accommodation is available in the venue for overnight stays. (reception@club.ox.ac.uk)if you wish to stay overnight .)
Please email greeneconomicsevents@yahoo.co.uk
for further information about the conference and for a booking form.
This Conference will follow the tradition of the Green Economics Conferences which are the world's leading Conference series in Green Economics. Internationally renowned composite, multidisciplinary, scientists, economists, campaigners, Policy makers and Directors, Professors Social scientists and Researchers from all over the globe will present their frontier research findings and to keep up to date with latest achievements and developments in this very fast moving, leading and topical field.
This conference is designed to present the important research and findings of economics by doing and also theoretical ideas about what reforms Green Economics can offer the mainstream and to allow time to think about the issues more fully.
It will feature slow travel experts- come and find out how to get to Copenhagen without using up loads of unnecessary carbon.
The conference will also debate the current economics downturn.
This conference will have longer sessions than usual and allow plenty of time for debate and outcomes.
Green Economics views the current downturn as a clash between ecology and economy and argues that the commodity instability is a symptom the exhaustion of natural resources. The markets are correctly reflecting that and are indicating that traditional economics instruments and derivatives are however no longer any use, and new methods of creating a natural economics of abundance need to be urgently developed.
The world has changed and Green Economics is an economics which is comfortable with long termism- equity, climate issues and biodiversity costs and poverty prevention, and which has been waiting to take the mantle and that time has now arrived!
We look forward to welcoming you to The Oxford University Club, a lovely new bright and airy building overlooking the cricket green in one of the most beautiful cities in the world with outstanding, exciting and famous atmospheric Conference facilities excellent travel connections and accommodation.
Themes include
Preparing for Copenhagen Climate Change Conference,
Poverty prevention, climate change prevention, adaptation, mitigation.
The trade off between economy and ecology plays out in the new battleground for economics and saving the planet.
Economics, development and growth ? Is current economics up to the task of solving our problems?
Do we need more growth, more profit more development or do we need other solutions. Assessing market driven growth and sustainable development. Can we have our cake and eat it.
Green solutions, debating time, slow travel from the top experts in travel innovation and change.
|Green Economics Institute | |
| |Progressive economics |
Economics Department Seminar Series
The Value of Art: Two events on the Economics of Art
Two upcoming events to discuss ‘Measuring Intrinsic Value’ by Hasan Bakhshi, Alan Freeman, and Graham Hitchen, which you can find at: .uk
with some background papers at:
Thursday 12 November 2009, 6:00-8:00pm at Club Row, Arnold Circus, London E2 7ES with c&binet (Creativity and Business International Network) and the A Foundation, the debate will consider questions of value in relation to the visual arts. The panel will be chaired by Alan Yentob, and includes artists Susan Hiller, Paul Graham and Michael Landy, and economist Alan Freeman. RSVP: rsvp@.uk
Wednesday 25th November At City University at 5pm, in room C339
(see for details)
The Institute of Economic Affairs invites you to attend a book launch
'Overschooled but Undereducated:
How the crisis in education is jeopardizing our adolescents'
(published by Continuum International)
by John Abbott
Wednesday 2nd December 2009
6.30pm – 8.00pm
(with brief remarks by the Author at 7.00pm)
2 Lord North Street, Westminster, SW1
(door on Great Peter Street)
Click To Buy - 'Overschooled but Undereducated'
'This remarkable work... is at the same time profoundly scholarly and eminently accessible. It is nothing less than a tour de force, and it is a privilege to recommend it unreservedly’. Sir Gustav Nossal, former President of the Australian Academy of Science
'I read this book with great interest and almost entire agreement.' Dr Eric Anderson, former Headmaster and Provost of Eton College
England once led the world into the industrial age through merging the genius of the few with the applied creativity of countless self-taught apprentices/craftsmen. We now seem to have forgotten adolescents' instinctive need “to grow up” by learning to do things for themselves so that they emerge as responsible, skilful and thoughtful adults. Instead of fostering this innate creativity, formal schooling has sought to neutralise the impact of adolescence thereby depriving youngsters of the strength to take difficult decisions and pick up the pieces if things go wrong. Properly supported adolescence is an invaluable opportunity, not a threat to social stability. Understand that and it changes everything.
The Institute of Economic Affairs
2 Lord North Street
London SW1P 3LB
Tel: (020) 7799 8900
Fax: (020) 7799 2137
Two Talks in the Series ANTHROPOLOGIES OF THE PRESENT Tate Britain, London SW1
Tuesday, 17 November 2009, 18.30-20.00
Kristin Ross, 'Democracy for Sale'
Setting out from the controversy over Ireland's 'no' vote to the European constitution, this talk will consider the current global stakes of the more radical form of democracy associated with the Paris Commune. Kristin Ross is Professor of Comparative Literature, New York University. Her books include The Emergence of Social Space (1988) and May '68 and its Afterlives (2002).
Tuesday, 8 December 2009, 18.30-20.00
Kojin Karatani, 'The End of Capitalism?'
Capitalism may be on the verge of extinction, but it will not end by itself, because states do everything possible to prolong its life.
This talk will consider the role of the state in this context and the counter-politics it provokes. Kojin Karatani is the author of Architecture as Metaphor (1995) and Transcritique: On Kant and Marx
(2003) and a founder of the New Associationist Movement in Japan.
Peter Osborne, an editor of the journal Radical Philosophy, will act as Chair and Respondent.
The Auditorium, Tate Britain, Millbank, London SW1
£8 each talk (£6 concessions) - price includes drink reception afterwards .uk/tickets or tel. 020-7887-8888
Workshop Announcement
CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN MODERN EUROPEAN PHILOSOPHY
MIDDLESEX UNIVERSITY
Subject and Appearance
On Alain Badiou’s Theory of the Subject and Logics of Worlds
Friday 20 November 2009
Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton way, London WC1 5DL
Confirmed speakers include:
Ali Alizadeh (CRMEP, Middlesex)
Bruno Bosteels (Cornell)
Peter Hallward (CRMEP, Middlesex).
Nina Power (Roehampton)
Kristin Ross (NYU)
Alberto Toscano (Goldsmiths)
Continuum has kindly provided access to the following extracts from the books, to which we plan to pay particular attention:
Theory of the Subject
• preface, pp. xxxviii-xlii (following the translator's introduction)
• pp. 98-110 (Mallarmé)
• pp. 259-274 (the inexistent)
Logics of Worlds
• pp. 141-152 (Hegel)
• 217-221 (postulate of materialism)
• 277-289 (retroaction)
• 321-324 (the inexistent)
• 363-380 (Commune, and in particular pp. 376-380)
The event is free but reservation is essential. Contact Tom Eyers on: TE122@live.mdx.ac.uk.
The event has been organised with the generous support of the Bolivarian Government of Venezuela, and with funding from the Centre for Research in Modern European Philosophy.
Further details and the schedule are posted at
SEMINAIRE COMMUN
CEPN THEME 2 : « Economie politique et macroéconomie appliquée »
LUNCH SEMINAR
Jeudi 19 Novembre 2009
de 12h30 à 14h
Salle K 301
Mark Setterfield (Trinity College, USA)
“Anticipations of the Crisis: On the Similarities between Post Keynesian Economics and Regulation Theory.”
From Critique to Contestation
MARXISM AND EDUCATION: RENEWING DIALOGUES XII
A Day Seminar 10.30 – 4.30
Saturday November 21st 2009
Institute of Education, University of London
20 Bedford Way, WC1
Committee Room One
This is to announce The 12th Marxism and Education: Renewing Dialogues (MERD) Seminar.
Speakers include: Vincent Carpentier, Richard Hatcher, Ken Jones, Gurnam Singh,
The seminar is free but places are limited. To reserve a place and receive a numbered ticket, please contact Joyce Canaan at: joyce.canaan@bcu.ac.uk
A waiting list will come into operation when all the places have been allocated.
Convenors: Joyce Canaan, Tony Green, Richard Hatcher and Alpesh Maisuria
Dear friends,
The International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE) in Amsterdam organises a reading group of Marx's Capital Volume II. After the success of last year's reading group of Capital Volume I, we want to continue a critical engagement with Marx's opus magnum by attempting a collective reading of it in its entirety. Marx's Capital not only provides the most lucid and still relevant analysis of capitalist contradictions, but it is also the still unsurpassed means by which to understand the economic
crisis and to lay the foundations for the transformation of this world.
We would like to invite you to take part in our reading group, the first meeting of which will take place on Wednesday the 18th of November at 8pm.
Address is: IIRE, Lombokstraat 40.
For info please write to: capital.volume2@
Comradely,
Amsterdam Capital Reading Group
International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics - News
Fred Lee
Executive Director
DISTINGUISHING "RELIGIOUS" FROM "ECONOMIC"
Academic workshop at the British Academy, London
9.45 am – 5.15 pm
Thursday 26th November, 2009
Register at
Academic convenor: Trevor Stack (t.stack@abdn.ac.uk)
Sponsored by CINEFOGO Network of Excellence
Centre for Citizenship, Civil Society and Rule of Law, University of Aberdeen
Administered by British Academy events staff (events@britac.ac.uk)
How does “religious” get distinguished from “economic” in historical and contemporary contexts, and to what effect? The distinction is far from obvious. It could be argued, for example, that capital itself is a ‘god’: an invisible, transcendental entity signified by the Bull, whose workings are mysterious, bringing prosperity but also famine, and sustained by collective acts of faith and a sacrificial cult at its heart. However, economists, businesses, workers, consumers, politicians and lawyers all continually distinguish “economic” issues from “religious” ones (just as from other spheres such as “politics” and “civil society”). How and why do they do that, and with what consequences? It was proposed in a previous conference, for example, that the category of “religion” understood as other-worldly faith has served historically to set in relief the “secular” rationality of individual self-interest, commodity exchange and capital accumulation. “Religion” is often expected to be charitable, concerned with building credit in heaven, shunning this-worldly economic gain, and if it is felt to seek its own economic gain then it is considered a perversion (and sometimes repressed). But different people make different religious-economic distinctions in different contexts and to different effects. The panel will examine a range of contexts in which “economics” gets marked off from “religion” (including in the history of the discipline of Economics).
Please register for the workshop at
The workshop is to prepare for the Religious-Economics panel of a major conference on 14-16 January, also at the British Academy. Please sign up to to receive information about the January conference.
Please forward this email to anyone who you think might be interested!
Dr Trevor Stack
Department of Hispanic Studies
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen AB24 3UB.
The University of Aberdeen is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC013683.
Programme final du colloque du CEPN
Vous trouverez ci-joint le programme final du colloque de Paris Nord organisé par le CEPN les 20 et 21 novembre.
THE GLOBALISATION LECTURES
Organised by the Department of Development Studies
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
University of London
Convenor: Prof. Gilbert Achcar
2009-2010
This event is cosponsored by Historical Materialism Conference 2009
(27-29 November)
THE AMERICAN EMPIRE IN LIGHT OF THE GLOBAL CRISIS
A DEBATE BETWEEN PROF. ALEX CALLINICOS AND PROF. LEO PANITCH
Wednesday 25 November, 6:30pm
SOAS, Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre
Alex Callinicos was born in Zimbabwe. After teaching political philosophy for many years at the University of York, he is now Professor of European Studies at King's College London. His most recent books are The Resources of Critique and Imperialism and Global Political Economy. His next book Bonfire of Illusions: The Twin Crises of the Liberal World will appear early next year.
Leo Panitch is the Senior Canada Research Chair in Comparative Political Economy and Distinguished Research Professor of Political Science at York University, Toronto, and the co-editor of The Socialist Register. His most recent books are American Empire and the Political Economy of Global Finance, and Renewing Socialism:Transforming Democracy, Strategy and Imagination.
Job Postings for Heterodox Economists
The Department of International Studies at Marymount Manhattan College invites applications for a tenure track appointment to the position of Assistant Professor of International Studies, beginning September 2010, pending budget approval.
*Assistant Professor of International Studies - TenureTrack*
*Description:* Responsibilities include continued scholarly activity, working closely with students, college-level teaching experience, and participation in college-wide activities such as academic advisement and committee service.
*Requirements:* Ph.D. in Economics or Ph.D. in International Studies with a specialization in economics. A commitment to an interdisciplinary approach is required. Research field is open but preference will be given to candidates whose research and teaching interests include one or more of the following: development economics, international political economy, economic geography, economics of gender, international migration and economic development, and human rights. Area focus and field research experience in Latin America or Africa is preferred.
*Application Materials:* Application materials must include: a cover letter, curriculum vita, samples of scholarship, syllabi, and three letters of recommendation. Electronic submission is preferred. Please send to: mbackus@mmm.edu .
*Search Chair: *
If materials cannot be sent electronically, please mail to: Dr. Yu-Yin Cheng, Search Committee Chair, International Studies Department, Division of Social Sciences, Marymount Manhattan College, 221 East 71st Street, New York, NY 10021
*Submission Deadline:* For full consideration, all application materials should be received by January 8, 2010.
Marymount Manhattan College is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer.
Ashcroft International Business School
Based in Cambridge
£29,704 - £43,622 p.a.
Join us as we enter an exciting new phase of our development. Our ambition is to be recognised as a truly 21st century university, fully relevant to the changing needs of students, staff and employers. With our energy, enthusiasm and ambition matched by our friendliness and approachability, Anglia Ruskin University is a great place to be.
Inspired by the challenge of helping create one of the UK’s leading practice based, international business schools?
Ashcroft International Business School (AIBS) is a full service business school with around 2,500 students studying on a diverse portfolio of undergraduate, postgraduate and corporate education programmes. In the Cambridge-based department we work closely with international students and partner institutions, as well as with businesses and employers. We are a research active Department, covering a wide range of business and management themes.
We are now seeking to appoint to the following posts:
Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in International Finance Ref: 6409
Working closely with the Head of Department, you will be involved in delivering and developing a wide range of accounting and finance-related modules at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. There will be extensive opportunities to engage in research and consultancy activities in the UK and internationally. Current research within the Department covers different aspects of accounting standards and International Finance.
Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in International Business Economics Ref: 6410
You will be primarily responsible for teaching, learning and related research activity in the Cambridge Department. The ability to contribute to teaching across a range of modules associated with economics and international business provision will be an advantage, with one or more areas of specialism offered for postgraduate teaching and research. Opportunities exist to be actively involved in research relating to economic methodologies and business modelling.
For all vacancies you will hold a PhD or be nearing completion of a PhD. You will also be expected to contribute to the teaching, research and consultancy activity of the Department and engage with the income generation, knowledge transfer and collaborative provision of the Department with a range of organisational and educational clients/partners.
Closing date 25 November 2009 (12 noon)
For more info on the jobs, please email Marion Cobby - marion.cobby@anglia.ac.uk; and Stuart Wall - stuart.wall@anglia.ac.uk or go to the website: anglia.ac.uk
Verso UK's Blog
The blog of the UK office of the radical independent publisher
Job opportunity at Verso London: MARKETING EXECUTIVE AND OFFICE MANAGER
An opportunity has arisen for an efficient, highly organised person to join the world’s pre-eminent radical publisher, Verso, at our offices in Soho, London. Responsibilities include marketing our humanities and social science academic titles, managing the day to day running of our busy office and assisting Verso staff. You will be balancing reception duties, marketing work and general office management as well as dealing with authors, suppliers, press and academics on a daily basis, so good communication skills and a willing attitude are essential. Experience in book publishing is preferable, though not required. Graduates welcome. Please apply by sending a CV and short covering letter by 30th November to:
Rowan Wilson, rowan AT verso.co.uk
Heterodox Conference Papers and Reports and Articles
The Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) is releasing a new discussion paper from the GDAE-sponsored Working Group on Development and Environment in the Americas. Building on previous work on foreign investment in Latin America, the new report highlights the limited benefits of foreign direct investment and investment liberalization in the region:
“Justice Denied: Dispute Settlement in Latin America's Trade and Investment Agreements,” Michael Mortimore, Leonardo Stanley. Working Group Discussion Paper DP27, October 2009.
This report analyses the arbitration schemes under investor-state dispute provisions in Latin America’s numerous trade and investment agreements. The authors find that such provisions are biased toward international investors. Such a bias can skew legal systems in the region and threaten the ability of foreign investment to spur much-needed economic development in the Americas.
Download the report
Read more on the Working Group on Development and Environment in the Americas
Read more on the Working Group on foreign investment
Read more about GDAE’s Globalization and Sustainable Development Program
The Centre for Development Policy and Research is pleased to announce the publication of Development Viewpoint #40, “Targeting Inequalities in Child Mortality.” Based on research for Save the Children United Kingdom, the authors, Hannah Bargawi, CDPR Research Officer, and Terry McKinley, CDPR Director, document stark inequalities between the rich and poor in Under Five Mortality Rates in many developing countries. Their findings derive from an analysis of data from 95 Demographic and Health Surveys and the ranking of households by a composite wealth index. They find that when the reduction in the Under Five Mortality Rate is as rapid among the poor as among the rich (namely, there is at least equitable progress across the whole population), a country is much more likely to reach the MDG 2015 target of reducing the average rate of child mortality by two-thirds.
Click here to download:
CDPR’s other thought-provoking, diversified Development Viewpoints are available on .
The Centre for Development Policy and Research is pleased to announce the publication of Development Viewpoint #41, “Why Has Domestic Revenue Stagnated in Low-Income Countries?”. Based on CDPR Discussion Paper 27/09, the author, Terry McKinley, Director of CDPR, documents the miserably slow progress since the early 1990s in mobilising domestic revenue in low-income countries in much of Africa and Asia. He attributes this problem, to a significant extent, to systematically faulty policy advice and advocates a re-evaluation of the working assumptions underpinning what he calls the current reigning ‘tax consensus’.
Click here to download:
See also CDPR Discussion Paper 27/09.
The Centre for Development Policy and Research draws on the broad range of development expertise at the School of Oriental and African Studies to engage in innovative policy-oriented research and training on crucial development issues.
PKSG Workshop on the Current Crisis
SOAS, University of London, 23rd October 2009
Important: read the Guide to Downloading first!
Carlos J. Rodriguez-Fuentes (University of La Laguna):
From the long (global) boom to the severe current (local) recession. The Spanish economy from 1994 to 2008
talk only - slides only
Rorita Canale (University of Naples):
The Recessive Attitude of EMU Policies and the Remedies for the Crises: Reflections on the Italian Experience Within the Last Ten Years
talk only - slides only
Lino Sau (University of Turin):
Instability and Crisis in Financial Complex Systems
talk only - slides only
Victoria Chick (University College, London):
The current banking crisis: an evolutionary view
talk only
Geoff Harcourt (Cambridge; University of New South Wales):
Finance, speculation and stability: Post-Keynesian policies for modern capitalism
talk only
more info
"Socialism in One Country" Before Stalin, and the Origins of Reactionary "Anti-Imperialism": The Case of Turkey, 1917-1925 (2009).
By Loren Goldner.
Article on the origins of Turkish communism and of the reactionary ideology of "anti-imperialism" in the 1917-1925 period (Nov 2009)
General Perspectives on the Capitalist Development State and Class Struggle in East Asia
Loren Goldner
We begin with a rather complex historical elaboration of the context in which a socialist and later specifically Marxist left arose in Japan, China and Korea, first of all to show the importance of the entire region (including Siberia) for the early Korean left, especially after colonization by Japan in 1910 made most legal socialist activity in Korea itself impossible. More importantly, this East Asian left, it will be argued, was as statist as the German-influenced modernizers building the region’s capitalism. There was nothing specifically Asian about this, as it characterized mainstream currents of the international left everywhere. Nevertheless, because East Asia (in contrast to e.g. Britain, France, or the U.S.) was a “late developing capitalism”, this statism pervaded the “Marxism” in the region well after World War II, and in Korea in reality until the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, if not beyond. This century of statist “Marxism” was to have profound consequences for the Korean working class movement when it revived in the 1970’s and 1980’s.
For entire article:
From Critique to Contestation
MARXISM AND EDUCATION: RENEWING DIALOGUES XII
A Day Seminar 10.30 – 4.30
Saturday November 21st 2009
Institute of Education, University of London
20 Bedford Way, WC1
Committee Room One
10.30 – 11 Arrival and Registration
11 – 11.15 Introduction and Announcements
11.15 – 12.10 Vincent Carpentier (Institute of Education, University of London)
12. 10 – 1.05 Richard Hatcher (Birmingham City University)
1.05 - 2:00 Lunch
2.00 – 2.55 Ken Jones (Keele University)
2.55 - 3.50 Gurnam Singh (Coventry University)
3:50 – 4:30 Plenary:
I Open Discussion returning to themes from presentations
II Discussion of future MERD activities and events
Convenors: Joyce Canaan, Tony Green, Richard Hatcher, Alpesh Maisuria.
Education and economic crises through the lens of the Kondratiev cycle
Vincent Carpentier
This presentation proposes to offer an historical look at the links between the current economic crisis and education. The theory of systemic regulation interprets the expansion of public educational systems in relation to the 50-year Kondratiev Cycles. This interpretation is based on the observation that the fluctuations in public expenditure on education were opposite to long economic movements before 1945, and synchronised thereafter.
This suggests that prior to 1945 the rapid growth of public expenditure on education during periods of economic downturn (1830s-1850s/1870s-1890s, and 1920s-1940s) may be explained in terms of an attempt to revive the economy and reduce social unrest. On the contrary, during periods of relative prosperity, the public educational effort slowed down as physical capital was preferred to human capital.
A reversal of this relationship took place after 1945. The growth of public resources devoted to education during the period of post-war prosperity marks the recognition of education as a driving force in the economic system rather than simply a means of correction. This virtuous circle was interrupted by the neoliberal response to the economic crisis of 1973. This historical analysis tends to designate the economic crisis of the mid 1970s as unique. Indeed, for the first time a long economic downturn was accompanied by a slowdown in the growth of public funding in education.
This framework suggests alternative interpretations of the current crisis and its links with education. Is the current crisis the beginning of a new depression or the end of a longer one started in the mid 1970s? The first interpretation encourages government to activate orthodox austerity policies including cuts in public expenditure until growth returns. The second interpretation considers the current crisis as a turning point when countercyclical public resources on education might be used as key drivers for socio-economic transformations towards an inclusive and sustainable growth as they had been during the previous downturns in the 1830s, 1870s and 1930s.
Control and contestation of the local policy process in education: the case of Academies
Richard Hatcher
My starting point in this paper is the conception of the policy process in education as a field of contestation in which opposition and resistance to policy, actual or potential, are constituent elements. The example of a contested policy process I want to address is Academies, and specifically the local process of attempting to set up an Academy. In most cases the process is led by the local authority, acting in conjunction with the DCFS and the proposed sponsor, and can be tracked through the quasi-public procedures of local government. The process includes a statutory element of public consultation. In that respect it differs from almost all other government policy initiatives in school education. Many Academy proposals have provoked local campaigns of opposition. These scenarios of policy contestation provide an exceptional opportunity to examine processes of education policy formation and implementation – and opposition and resistance - at the local level.
The paper draws on a case study of a current Academy proposal and a local campaign of opposition to it in one local authority, in which I have been involved as both researcher and participant. It situates its analysis in two policy and theoretical contexts: social movement theory, and urban politics. It offers a critical analysis both of Labour government claims of empowering local communities and of the dominant pluralist discourse of urban governance theory. I end by sketching the outline of an alternative vision of local democracy in education policy-making.
Culture and creativity in post-war British Marxism, in radical educational practice, and in current policy discourse
Ken Jones
This presentation reviews the place of 'culture' and 'creativity' in Marxist and radical thinking about education in post-war Britain, focusing particularly on the work of Williams, Willis and Phil Cohen. The presentation considers the relationship between such thinking and educational practice, as represented, for instance, by anti-racist movements in the 1970s and 1980s. Iit further compares the configuration of culture and creativity developed through Marxism with the ways in which culture and creativity have been developed in current educational discourse - in general terms, that of neo-liberal educational programmes, and more specifically that of policy initiatives in England, such as Creative Partnerships.
Reconnecting Diversity, Politics and Pedagogy
Gurnam Singh
This presentation seeks to problematise current approaches to diversity in Higher Education and also offers a radical alternative. The basic premise is that the notion of ‘diversity’, as it has been deployed in educational and other public - and increasingly private sector - institutions, has singularly failed to address the issue of institutional and structural discrimination and disadvantage. That, as a consequence of complex and contradictory forces, associated with, amongst other things, postmodernist (diversity as ‘inherently good’) and neo-liberal conceptions (‘diversity as fetish’), struggles for and over diversity have been stripped of their historical, material and emancipatory thrust.
Specifically in Education, diversity discourses have been articulated in terms of ‘widening participation’ and ‘internationalisation’, which in turn are justified in relation to neo-liberal imperatives of ‘the market’, ‘economic competitiveness’ and ‘economic globalisation’. Furthermore, under the hegemonic influence of ‘managerialism’, which Stuart Hall has recently described as the ‘motor of neo-liberalism’, the emphasis on diversity at the expense of oppression has undermined radical education that sought to establish a dialectical relationship between personal experience, group membership, social movements, history and politics.
Given the possibility that the neo-liberal project is unravelling before our very eyes, it is necessary for progressive radical educators to come up with alternative conceptions of diversity and its emancipatory potential. As well as offering a critique of dominant conceptions of diversity, the presentation will outline a way forward through a ‘radical inclusive critical pedagogy’ built on re-thinking the role of education as politics and liberation. Such pedagogy will, at its heart, seek to promote critical dialogue, critical reflexivity and political awareness whereby learning becomes not a means to an end but an end in and of its self. In this context, diversity discourses become re-articulated less in terms of ‘managing difference’ and ‘cultural sensitivity’ but more in terms helping the learner/s to understand and contest hegemonic social formations and structures of oppression.
Heterodox Journals and Newsletters
American Journal of Economics and Sociology
© 2009 The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Volume 68 Issue 4 , Pages 829 - 1039 (October 2009)
Frontispiece Portrait of Mason Gaffney
Frontispiece Portrait of Mason Gaffney (p xi-xi)
Published Online: Sep 28 2009 11:06AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00667.x
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Editor's Introduction
Editor's Introduction (p 829-854)
Clifford W. Cobb
Published Online: Sep 28 2009 11:05AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00656.x
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ORIGINAL ARTICLES
1. The Role of Land Markets in Economic Crises (p 855-888)
Mason Gaffney
Published Online: Sep 28 2009 11:05AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00657.x
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2. A New Framework for Macroeconomics : Achieving Full Employment by Increasing Capital Turnover (p 889-982)
Mason Gaffney
Published Online: Sep 28 2009 11:05AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00658.x
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3. Money, Credit, and Crisis (p 983-1038)
Mason Gaffney
Published Online: Sep 28 2009 11:06AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00659.x
Abstract | References | Full Text: HTML, PDF (Size: 206K)
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American Journal of Economics and Sociology
© 2009 The American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Inc.
Volume 68 Issue 5 (November 2009)
ORIGINAL ARTICLES
The Market, the Firm, and the Economics Profession (p 1041-1061)
Daniel Sutter
Published Online: Oct 20 2009 10:03AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00652.x
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Smith and Living Wages: Arguments in Support of a Mandated Living Wage (p 1063-1084)
Betsy Jane Clary
Published Online: Oct 20 2009 10:03AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00653.x
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Paradigms and Novelty in Economics: The History of Economic Thought as a Source of Enlightenment (p 1085-1106)
Wilfred Dolfsma, Patrick J. Welch
Published Online: Oct 20 2009 10:03AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00648.x
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Too Much Competition in Higher Education? Some Conceptual Remarks on the Excessive-Signaling Hypothesis (p 1107-1133)
Karsten Mause
Published Online: Oct 20 2009 10:03AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00663.x
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Corruption's Effect on Business Venturing Within the United States (p 1135-1152)
David T. Mitchell, Noel D. Campbell
Published Online: Oct 20 2009 10:03AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00665.x
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COMMENTS
Henry George Under the Microscope: Comments on "Henry George's Political Critics" (p 1153-1167)
Richard Giles
Published Online: Oct 20 2009 10:03AM
DOI: 10.1111/j.1536-7150.2009.00666.x
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|The Journal of Philosophical Economics |
|Volume III Issue 1 (Autumn 2009) |
|Editor: Valentin Cojanu |
| |
|ISSN: 1843-2298 |
|EISSN: 1844-8208 |
|Frequency: 2 issues per year, in May and November |
|Publication date: 2009-11-20 |
|Paper format: 16.5x23.5 cm |
|Number of pages: 136 |
|Copyright note: No part of these works may be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher, except for the |
|quotation of brief passages in criticism. |
|ARTICLES |
|[p|The social organisation of epistemology in macroeconomic policy work: the case of the IMF (Richard H. R. Harper) |
|ic|Abstract: This paper reports an ethnographic study of work practices in the IMF, and IMF mission activity in particular. It |
|] |will show how this work combines arithmetic, econometric and meeting skills with the adroit management of social processes that|
| |transform ‘incomplete’ or ‘ambiguous numbers’ into socially validated and hence ‘objective for practical purposes’ data. These |
| |data form the basis of epistemic certainty in the analytical work undertaken, and though this certainty is socially framed, it |
| |is treated as sufficient for substantive, robust and ‘real world’ macroeconomic policy making. Read the article ... |
|[p|The foundation of Marx’s concept of value in the Manuscripts of 1844 (Laurent Baronian) |
|ic|Abstract: The aim of this paper is to show how Marx’s Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844, which stand as his first |
|] |systematic study of classical economists, transform the concept of labour as it had been developed by political economy against|
| |mercantilism and physiocracy. The current interpretations of the Marxian theory of value are first reviewed. The analysis of |
| |the Manuscripts then shows that the contribution of Hegelian philosophy lies in the definition of social labour in total |
| |opposition to the orthodox conception. This issue leads to a reexamination of the significance of these Manuscripts for the |
| |Marxian concept of value and its source, general and abstract labour. Read the article ... |
|[p|Institutionalism as the way of unification of the heterodox theories (Nicolas Postel, Richard Sobel) |
|ic|Abstract: In this article we seek to show that there is a common framework to the various approaches known as heterodox. This |
|] |framework is the “institutionalism”, which take into account the concrete institutions in which the economic process proceeds. |
| |To argue our thesis we deploy two types of justification. We begin with an historical justification which borrows from the |
| |history of the thought and will find in emblematic authors (Ricardo, Marx, Keynes, Polanyi) (1) the definition of a common |
| |object for an institutionalist political economy (the study of a “Monetary economy of capitalistic production”); (2) a common |
| |general standard of the economy like “an institutionalized process between men and environment” (against the definition of |
| |Robbins). Our second justification is a more epistemological one. We develop the way in which the institutionalist approach |
| |mobilizes the concepts of action and of institution. The goal of this article is to contribute to the emergence of a positive |
| |paradigm, common to the heterodox, which is not defined any more in hollow or negative in opposition to the neoclassic “main |
| |stream”. Read the article ... |
|[p|Loanable funds, liquidity preference: structure, past and present (Romar Correa) |
|ic|Abstract: We appraise the canonical RobertsonKeynes discussion from the structural axis of exogeneity/endogeneity of the |
|] |interest rate. The interest rate is shown to be an exogenous variable. It is only with Keynes’ contribution of liquidity |
| |preference and, specifically, the introduction of the liquidity preference of banks that no more than the possibility of |
| |endogenising the interest rate arises. Given the tenuousness of the resolution, we pose the ethical question: should the rate |
| |of interest be endogenised? On the other hand, Keynes’ theorem that the rate of interest is a monetary variable is validated. |
| |Both money and the rate of interest are codetermined in a capitalist economy. Read the article ... |
|[p|A new framework for the analysis of contemporary financial markets: the need for pluralistic approaches (Mitja Stefancic) |
|ic|Abstract: Interdisciplinary approaches are essential to properly evaluate an economic and financial system that is increasingly|
|] |complex and globally interrelated. With reference to the work of the philosopher Peter Godfrey – Smith, it is argued that a |
| |more pronounced interdisciplinarity in the social sciences would enable a flourishing of pluralism in economics. By adopting |
| |clearly defined research strategies and objectives, scholars with different academic backgrounds can successfully work on |
| |common projects. A better integration of economic, social and behavioural sciences will favour the establishment of new frames |
| |of thinking and new analytical tools which are much needed in contemporary financial regulation. Financial markets, defined as |
| |competitive markets in financial instruments such as stocks, bonds, loans and derivatives, represent a research subject that |
| |may be analysed from a plurality of angles and frames, including a sociological one. In practice, such a plurality of |
| |perspectives could favour sustainable wealth creation and contribute to maximizing the benefits from economic globalization. |
| |Read the article ... |
|[p|A review of David Colander, The Making of a European Economist, Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar, 2009, 190 pp. (Mariana Nicolae) |
|ic|Abstract: Read the article ... |
|] | |
|[p|A review of George A. Akerlof and Robert J. Shiller, Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy, and Why It |
|ic|Matters for Global Capitalism, Princeton University Press, 2009, 264 pp. (Cornel Ban) |
|] |Abstract: Read the article ... |
|[p|A Review of Moral Markets: the Critical Role of Values in the Economy, Edited by Paul J. Zak, Princeton/Oxford, Princeton |
|ic|University Press, 2008, 386 pp. (Thomas Wells) |
|] |Abstract: Read the article ... |
|[p|A Review of The Genesis of Innovation: Systemic Linkages between Knowledge and the Market, Edited by Blandine Laperche, Dimitri|
|ic|Uzunidis, Nick von Tunzelmann, Cheltenham UK, Edward Elgar, 2008, 285 pp. (Dana Gârdu) |
|] |Abstract: Read the article ... |
|[p|A Review of Marshall and Schumpeter on Evolution: Economic Sociology of Capitalist Development, Edited by Yuichi Shionoya and |
|ic|Tamotsu Nishizawa, Cheltenham UK, Edward Elgar, 2008, 285 pp. (Andreas Stamate) |
|] |Abstract: Read the article ... |
New Political Economy: Volume 14 Issue 4 () is now available online at informaworld ().
This new issue contains the following articles:
Articles
Seeking Alpha or Creating Beta? Charting the Rise of Hedge Fund-Based Financial Ecosystems, Pages 431 - 450
Author: Christopher Holmes
DOI: 10.1080/13563460903287231
Link:
Recasting the Sovereign Wealth Fund Debate: Trust, Legitimacy, and Governance, Pages 451 - 468
Author: Ashby Monk
DOI: 10.1080/13563460903287280
Link:
Ethics and Climate Change Cost-Benefit Analysis: Stern and After, Pages 469 - 488
Author: Jonathan Aldred
DOI: 10.1080/13563460903288221
Link:
Care, Social (Re)production and Global Labour Migration: Japan's ‘Special Gift’ toward ‘Innately Gifted’ Filipino Workers, Pages 489 - 516
Author: Hironori Onuki
DOI: 10.1080/13563460903287306
Link:
Resource Nationalism, Bargaining and International Oil Companies: Challenges and Change in the New Millennium, Pages 517 - 534
Author: Vlado Vivoda
DOI: 10.1080/13563460903287322
Link:
Commentary
Time for Sympathy: Some Thoughts on the 250th Anniversary of Adam Smith's Theory of Moral Sentiments, Pages 535 - 543
Author: Duncan Kelly
DOI: 10.1080/13563460903288262
Link:
Global Monitor
Private Equity Funds, Pages 545 - 555
Author: Justin Robertson
DOI: 10.1080/13563460903288270
Link:
Feature Review
India: The Emerging Giant: Arvind Panagariya (Oxford University Press, 2008), Pages 557 - 562
Author: Kunal Sen
DOI: 10.1080/13563460903284659
Link:
Notes on Contributors
Notes on Contributors, Pages 563 - 564
DOI: 10.1080/13563460903287348
Link:
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|THE LEVY ECONOMICS INSTITUTE OF BARD COLLEGE |
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|LATEST NEWS |
|October 28, 2009 |
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|PUBLICATIONS |
|Policy Note 2009 / 10 |
|Fiscal Stimulus, Job Creation, and the Economy: What Are the Lessons of the New Deal? |
|Greg Hannsgen and Dimitri B. Papadimitriou |
|[pic]A group of academics disputes the notion that President Roosevelt’s fiscal and job creation programs helped end the |
|Great Depression. On the contrary, Research Scholar Greg Hannsgen and President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou believe that the|
|New Deal era strengthens the case for the effectiveness of fiscal policies and job programs. They recommend a permanent |
|employer-of-last-resort program, as proposed by Hyman P. Minsky, to mitigate the effects of the current Great Recession. |
|The persistence of mass unemployment throughout the 1930s should be blamed on the enormity of the task at hand and |
|Roosevelt’s reluctance to run deficits, say the authors. And the number of jobs created by the Works Progress |
|Administration and other federal agencies was perhaps more important than the size of the fiscal stimulus. |
|>> Read complete text (pdf) |
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|Policy Note 2009 / 9 |
|Banks Running Wild: The Subversion of Insurance by “Life Settlements” and Credit Default Swaps |
|Marshall Auerback and L. Randall Wray |
|[pic]Through the credit-default-swap (CDS) “insurance” market, it is possible to take on the risk of a mortgage-backed |
|security without purchasing or holding the security itself. Since the market for these products is moribund, Wall Street |
|is looking for the next asset bubble by securitizing life insurance policies—that is, by making bets on the death of |
|human beings. |
|Marshall Auerback and Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray argue that CDSs give the participants a vested interest in financial|
|instability by creating perverse incentives. They believe that most of the problems created in the securitized mortgage |
|business will be re-created in the market for securitized life insurance policies (e.g., indiscriminate sales without |
|normal underwriting, and defrauding of policyholders). The authors call for the banning of CDSs and life settlement |
|securities, which operate against the public interest. In essence, they say, this is financial engineering run amok. |
|>> Read complete text (pdf) |
| |
|Working Paper No. 578, September 2009 |
|Money Manager Capitalism and the Global Financial Crisis |
|L. Randall Wray |
|[pic]According to L. Randall Wray, the economic crisis cannot be explained within the context of a “Minsky moment” |
|because it represents a slow transformation of the financial system and economy toward fragility. Basing his arguments on|
|Hyman P. Minsky’s financial instability hypothesis, Wray blames “money manager capitalism,” which is an economic system |
|characterized by highly leveraged funds seeking maximum returns in an environment that systematically underprices risk. |
|He suggests that the money manager phase of capitalism may be ending. |
|Wray notes that the trend has been toward more severe and frequent crises. He proposes policy responses such as |
|regulatory constraints and new standards to prevent boom/bust cycles; massive fiscal stimulus to allow growth without |
|relying on private sector debt; mortgage relief; higher wages; greater employment; and revised monetary policy. We must |
|return to a model with enhanced oversight of financial institutions and a financial structure that promotes stability |
|rather than speculation, Wray says. |
|>> Read complete text (pdf) |
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|Working Paper No. 577, September 2009 |
|Explaining the Gender Wage Gap in Georgia |
|Tamar Khitarishvili |
|[pic]Gender equality was lauded as one of the greatest achievements of the Soviet Union and the former socialist-bloc |
|countries. Using the Georgian household budget survey for the period 2000–04, the author assesses the economic dimension |
|of gender inequality in Georgia. The study aims at establishing a baseline for the analysis of the impact of recent |
|gender-targeted policies by the Georgian government. |
|The paper focuses on the gender wage gap, which was found to be substantial as a result of factors such as occupational |
|differences. Female employment is concentrated in industries with the lowest mean wages—education, health care, and |
|culture—but there are indications that women are increasingly engaged in high-skilled sectors such as finance, |
|manufacturing, and energy. The irony is that the difficult economic environment, together with caretaking |
|responsibilities, has shielded women from experiencing more significant discrimination in the labor market. |
|>> Read complete text (pdf) |
| |
|Working Paper No. 576, September 2009 |
|A Financial Sector Balance Approach and the Cyclical Dynamics of the U.S. Economy |
|Paolo Casadio and Antonio Paradiso |
|[pic]Authors Paolo Casadio and Antonio Paradiso develop a small-scale econometric model of the U.S. economy based on a |
|financial balances model by Goldman Sachs (2003) that was inspired by the works of Distinguished Scholar Wynne Godley. |
|Their analysis includes the private and external sectors of the economy, and introduces the idea of financial fragility |
|in capitalist economies that was originally developed by Hyman P. Minsky. |
|Casadio and Paradiso find that the financing gap—the difference between internal funds and business investments of |
|nonfinancial firms—is a leading indicator of business cycles, while business investment is a lagging indicator. They also|
|find that all sector balances depend on asset market variables, and that discrepancies from equilibrium affect the growth|
|in output (e.g., a negative financial balance has a negative effect on GDP, while a negative household balance has a |
|positive effect). |
|>> Read complete text (pdf) |
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|IN THIS ISSUE |
|Fiscal Stimulus, Job Creation, and the Economy: What Are the Lessons of the New Deal? |
|Banks Running Wild: The Subversion of Insurance by “Life Settlements” and Credit Default Swaps |
|Money Manager Capitalism and the Global Financial Crisis |
|Explaining the Gender Wage Gap in Georgia |
|A Financial Sector Balance Approach and the Cyclical Dynamics of the U.S. Economy |
|FEATURED SCHOLAR |
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|L. Randall Wray |
|Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray is a professor of economics at the University of Missouri–Kansas City and director of |
|research at the Center for Full Employment and Price Stability. A student of Hyman P. Minsky while at Washington |
|University in St. Louis, Wray has focused on monetary theory and policy, macroeconomics, and employment policy. Following|
|Minsky, he favors direct job creation by government through an “employer of last resort” program to provide full |
|employment with price stability. He has recently written a series of Policy Notes and Public Policy Briefs for the Levy |
|Institute assessing the role that “managed money” played in creating the current crisis, and developing policy reforms to|
|promote a more stable financial sector. |
|>> Read more about this scholar. |
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Volume 52 Number 6 / November-December 2009 of Challenge is now available on the mesharpe. web site at .
This issue contains:
|Letter from the Editor | p. 3 |
|Jeff Madrick |
| |
|Alternative Explanations of the Operation of a Capitalist Economy | p. 5 |
|Paul Davidson |
| |
|Free Trade, Fair Prices, and Sustainable Deficits | p. 29 |
|John Hansen |
| |
|How Would Adam Smith Fix the Financial Crisis? | p. 60 |
|David Bholat |
| |
|Antipoverty Policy for the Excluded Poor | p. 79 |
|Herbert J. Gans |
| |
|The Wealth of the Nation's Young | p. 96 |
|Andrew Sum, Ishwar Khatiwada |
| |
|Structural and Institutional Divergence in the European Union | p. 101 |
|Theodore Pelagidis |
| |
|Dissatisfaction Guaranteed: An Account of Two Bubbles by Dean Baker | p. 114 |
|Mike Sharpe |
| |
|Index to Volume 52 (January-December 2009) | p. 117 |
economic sociology - the European electronic newsletter
Vol. 11, No. 1 - November 2009
Note from the Editor
Dear reader,
As the new editor it is a great pleasure to present you with this issue. I would like to thank my predecessor, Andrea Mennicken, for the magnificent job that she and her team have done, as well as for her very helpful advice and support during the editorial transition. I will try to follow her good example by directing the attention of economic sociologists to new fields of interest, and by providing a lively platform for debate. I would also like to thank the Editorial Board for their confidence in my appointment.
This issue of the Newsletter is mainly concerned with the commodification of the body. This is not an entirely new topic. Some years ago, Nancy Scheper Hugues and Loïc Wacquant edited a special issue of Body and Society (Commodifying Bodies, 2001, vol.7, nos. 2-3) dedicated to this topic. More recently, Kieran Healy (Last Best Gift. Altruism and the Market for Human Blood and Organs. Chicago University Press, 2006) has published a study of the situation in the US and in Europe, focusing on the tension between the rhetoric of gift-giving and the organizational settings in which human body parts move from one person to another.
Many aspects of the commodification of the body lie in the future. In this issue, the reader will find two papers endorsing completely different positions on the sensitive issue of the market for human body parts. Mark Cherry claims a moral imperative for the market, whereas Nancy Scheper Hugues presents evidence of morally outrageous forms of exchange from her international fieldwork. The reader should however bear in mind that this issue is no longer limited to the academic world, or at least the academic world of social scientists, since it is now the subject of discussion, pro and contra, among transplant surgeons who are directly involved with the issue. The commodification of the body is also raised with respect to the difficult problem that organizations face where the production and the distribution of blood is involved. In some respects there is an important role here for the economic sociologist, as is demonstrated by Sophie Chauveau in a history of the French blood system. Here tariffs play a critical part within the rhetoric of gift giving when the management of a complex system of blood collection, production and distribution is at stake. Nevertheless, this issue does not capture the whole of the story. Lea Karpel explains how the gift-giving process functions in the case of infertile couples and how the gift of oocytes is organized in France, focusing on the social relations between donors, parents and child. Finally, Michel Anteby considers the case of a “market” for cadavers in the US. Here we are no longer in the domain of organ transplant or blood transfusion, but enter the domain of the professional training of surgeons, a process for which human remains are absolutely necessary and which entails forms of exchanges that repay study.
Further to the excellent issue on the financial crisis (March 2009), we seek to go deeper into this question with two new contributions. Horacio Ortiz investigates the imaginary figures of investment management, focusing on the pervasive practical role played by the figure of the "investor" routinely acting within "efficient markets". Secondly, there is an interview with Neil Fligstein, one of world's most prominent economic sociologists. He gives a critical view of sociologists' shortcomings in foreseeing the crisis, and scrutinizes the situation in the light of his model of market architecture, underlining the crucial role of the state.
Philippe Steiner
Philippe.Steiner@paris-sorbonne.fr
economic sociology - the european electronic newsletter:
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|Welcome to the eInsight Economics Update. Our key experts summarise some of the most interesting developments and economic indicators below, providing you with |
|useful and timely reflections on the economy as it continues to evolve and respond to circumstances. We hope you find it interesting and welcome your comments. |
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|UK last major economy still in recession |
| |
|[pic] |
|The ONS published the latest GDP figures in October. The UK economy shrank by 0.4 per cent in the 3rd quarter – the sixth period of decline. |
| |
|This preliminary data us very much a first draft, and future revisions can be expected. In general revisions are in the upwards direction, although the Q1 |
|figure was revised significantly downwards. |
| |
|The UK is now one of the last major economies to be still showing negative growth. China and India were never in recession, while Germany, Japan and France all |
|showed positive GDP figures in the 2nd quarter. |
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|Read more... |
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|Mortgage Lending |
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|The FSA has recently outlined proposed tighter rules on mortgage lending. Self-certification mortgages, which made up almost half of the mortgage market in |
|2007, will be banned and other measures include banning lending when potential borrowers show a number of risk factors, for example high loan-to-value combined |
|with a poor credit history. |
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|The intention of the reforms is to prevent excessive lending leading to dangerous house price bubbles. Necessarily this will mean less people are able to borrow|
|for house purchases in the future. |
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|Read more... |
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|[pic] |
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|Unemployment flattened |
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|In previous eInsights we have discussed the expected trends in unemployment as we work through the recession and eventually return to growth. Based on the |
|conventional wisdom, unemployment is a lagged variable that continues to increase for some time after a recession is over. We have also noted that in this |
|recession unemployment has been lower than we might expect because weak wages growth has absorbed much of the output falls that would otherwise translate into |
|unemployment. |
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|Read more... |
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|[pic] |
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|Pound under pressure again |
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|The pound has performed weakly compared to the dollar and the euro this year. After a slight uplift in May, UK exchange rates are again on the decline - and |
|with the UK economy still being in recession, the pound remains under pressure. |
| |
|Reasons for this are that interest rates are likely to be kept low by the Bank of England, as there are no signs of increasing inflation. It is also possible |
|that the quantitative easing scheme will be extended in November, following a surprise extension in August by £50 bn. |
| |
|Read more... |
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|[pic] |
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|Low Inflation |
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|The consumer prices index, the measure of inflation targeted by the Bank of England, has reached its lowest level in five years, now standing at 1.1 per cent. |
|Producer prices are looking low compared to the recent past, and the RPI (which take account of mortgage interest payments) has been at an incredible low for |
|the past 6 months. Even when we strip out the effect of interest rate cuts on mortgages, by using the RPIX, inflation still looks low at 1.3 per cent. |
| |
|Read more... |
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Local Economy: Volume 24 Issue 6 & 7 () is now available online at informaworld ().
This new issue contains the following articles:
Viewpoints
Local Sufficiency and Environmental Recovery, Pages 439 - 447
Author: Steven Schofield
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903314761
Link:
Contemporary Approaches to Economic Development: The Special Economic Zone Programme, Pages 448 - 455
Author: D. Gopinath
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903319018
Link:
Features
Governance Arrangements from a Regulationist Perspective: The Case of Liverpool, Pages 456 - 472
Author: Matthew Cocks
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903314795
Link:
A People-centred Approach to Economic Development (PCED): Brokering Economic Inclusion as a Route Way to Improving Competitiveness, Pages 473 - 486
Authors: Mandy Crawford-Lee; Phillip Hunter
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903314951
Link:
Getting Disadvantaged Parents into Employment: The Working for Families Fund in Scotland, Pages 487 - 501
Authors: Sue Bond; Ronald Mcquaid; Vanesa Fuertes
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903314852
Link:
Spatial Layout, Entrepreneurship and Economic Prosperity, Pages 502 - 522
Author: Gareth Sumner
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903314894
Link:
Local Economic Development in Area-based Urban Regeneration in Germany, Pages 523 - 535
Author: Sabine Weck
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903314910
Link:
Constructing Neoliberal Urban Democracy in the American Inner-city, Pages 536 - 554
Author: Jean-Paul D. Addie
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903314944
Link:
The Benefits of an Ageing Population: Case Studies from Rural Hokkaido, Japan, Pages 555 - 567
Authors: Kayo Murakami; Rose Gilroy; Jane Atterton
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903318994
Link:
A Critical Review of Public Borrowing by Turkish Municipalities: 1960–2006, Pages 568 - 588
Author: Aysegul Yakar-Onal
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903315081
Link:
In Perspective
Getting the Levels Right: The Unique Value of Regional Economic Development, Pages 589 - 596
Author: Richard Ellis
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903353892
Link:
Rewriting the Rule Book, Pages 597 - 603
Author: Lee Pugalis
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903353900
Link:
Economic Development in the UK: Challenges During and After the Recession, Pages 604 - 611
Author: Glenn Athey
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903353918
Link:
Is There a Future for Start-Up Support in London?, Pages 612 - 619
Author: John Spindler
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903353934
Link:
Smaller Firms, the Equity Gap, Regional Policy and Growth: Will We Ever Learn?, Pages 620 - 624
Authors: Christian Saublens; David Walburn
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903353967
Link:
Ageing of the Population: Good News for Cities, Pages 625 - 636
Authors: Peter Karl Kresl; Daniele Ietri
DOI: 10.1080/02690940903354015
Link:
S P E C I A L I S S U E O F I N T E R V E N T I O N
Current relevance and perspectives of Keynesian Economics Special Issue of "Intervention. European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies"
Edited by Eckhard Hein, Torsten Niechoj and Achim Truger
The firm belief in the stability of a free market monetary production economy is not only theoretically unconvincing, as Keynes, Kalecki, Robinson and other post-Keynesians have claimed for many decades. It is now - again - obvious that economic policy programmes based on this view might lead into disaster. The question then is: Where do we go from here? In the first place, this is a question of how economic policies should deal with the financial crisis and economic recession in the short run, and which should be the regulations and institutions to be established in order to reduce the probability of such a crisis to occur again in the medium to long run. In the second place, however, the questions are: What are the consequences for economic theory? Will the mainstream view on the economy survive - with only minor revisions? Is there any potential within mainstream economics which will transform the 'free market view' and the economic policy implications? Since the present situation obviously is an opportunity for (post-)Keynesian and other heterodox approaches, are these schools well equipped and ready to tackle these problems?
The special issue on "Current relevance and perspectives of Keynesian Economics" deals with some of these questions.
Contents of the special issue:
Hans-Michael Trautwein, Abdallah Zouache:
Natural rates in the New Synthesis: Same old trouble?
Engelbert Stockhammer, Paul Ramskogler:
Post-Keynesian economics - How to move forward
Matthieu Charpe, Peter Flaschel, Christian Proano, Willi Semmler:
Overconsumption, credit rationing and bailout monetary policy:
A Minskyan perspective
Jerry Courvisanos, Anthony J. Laramie and Douglas Mair:
Tax policy and innovation: A search for common ground
Gennaro Zezza:
Fiscal policy and the economics of financial balances
Apart from this special issue, further contributions by Philip Arestis, Robert A. Blecker, Barbara R. Bergmann, Leonhard Dobusch/Jakob Kapeller, Marica Frangakis, Eckhard Hein/Jan Priewe, Marc Lavoie, and Herbert Walther complete the issue.
Contents of the whole issue:
More information at the website of the journal:
More information on the journal at Metropolis Publishers:
November 2009
1) The Question of Price
2) Upcoming Events
3) Associate! November 2009 - Beyond The Efficient Markets Hypothesis
4) Finance at The Threshold
5) Links
1) The Question of Price
All economic life centres, stand and falls, and is governed by prices. But how do prices arise? Are they, like the mercury in a thermometer, the reflection of real events, economic fundamentals, and so on, rising and falling when the sun comes out or goes in? Or are they to be achieved by fixing the mercury at some pre-determined setting and forcing events to match it - the equivalent, surely, of making the sun shine? Conceived meteorologically, the latter is clearly preposterous except that we can indeed 'seed' clouds today. In this issue of Associate! we focus on price in the context of financial markets, this being the core issue for understanding the global financial crisis. For many, the reliance on the efficient markets hypothesis is part and parcel of the culture of anonymity that pervades economics on account, mainly, of its unspoken deism. We touch on the question of price by looking at the ideas of Aristotle, Thomas Aquinas, Rudolf Steiner and Friedrich Hayek, these being important milestones in the history economic thought.
2) Upcoming Events - Finance and Education / The Colours of Money
i) 15 Nov: Finance and Education ll - Financial Literacy
ii) 27-29 Nov: Two events in Spain
iii) Feb 2010 The Colours of Money Seminar
i) 15 Nov: Finance and Education ll - Financial Literacy
Financial literacy is now a 'must' in many schools, with teachers, administrators and governors alike under growing pressure to adhere to finance?s strictures. This seminar will look at school financing from an associative point of view and as a test of literacy. See here for full details.
• Freely funded education - a modern way of using up excess capital
• Understanding finance and the role of accounting
• Sources of revenue to ownership of premises
Based on working conversations that give rise to intuitions, one of three standalone but connected gatherings designed to take a hard and detailed look at three main areas of a practical nature that depend on spiritual insights. Summarised notes of the first event are available on request for prospective participants. Contact chb [at]
15 November | Financial Literacy / 13 December | Public Benefit
ii) 27-29 Nov: Two events in Spain
Triodos Foundation's 2nd International Conference on Economics and Organic Farming
Madrid 27 November
Keynote speakers: Christopher Houghton Budd, Director of the Centre for Associative Economics, Canterbury, England / Patrick Holden, President of the Soil Association, Bristol, England.
Dinamis - Social and Environmental Development and Innovation
Girona 28 & 29 November
As a practical follow-up to Colours of Money, The Economics of Farming - A workshop with Christopher Houghton Budd.
iii) Feb 2010 The Colours of Money Seminar
UK: 5-7 February 2010
In the Bristol area, see here for details
3) Associate! November 2009 - Beyond The Efficient Markets Hypothesis
[pic]
Lead: Are Markets Efficient? The Saltwater/Freshwater Divide Paul Krugman & John Cochrane
A Sign of Our Time: Train Wrecks and Agents
Feature: Pondering the Invisible Hand
Archive: Zeus meets Apollo Christopher Houghton Budd
Glossary: E : Efficiency
AE Hero: True Pricing. Kim Chotzen
Accounting Corner: Random No More Stephen Torr
Click here to subscribe
4) Edge Funding - Finance at the Threshold of the Future
In a book due to be published in June 2010 by Gower Ashgate (see here) in its Transformation and Innovation Series Christopher Houghton Budd sees the global financial crisis as something paradigmatic. He argues that global finance has brought us to the limits of what mechanistic economic explanations can capture. New ideas and above all new instruments that might include a world currency and citizenized banking are needed so that innovation can shift from its dexterous exploitation of inefficiencies consequent upon the discrepant relationship between state and economy, and turn its attention instead to the capitalisation of fresh initiative.
5) Links
Reviews of two recent ae events, True Price - Goetheanum Economics Conference Report and How Rare is Albion?, can be found here
The following two broadcasts may be of interest to bulletin subscribers. The first deals with the problem of high-frequency trading using co-located computers and algorithms that electronically intercept other traders intentions and based on that information place an arbitrage bet micro-seconds before them. The second provides further commentary on the failure of contemporary economics.
High-frequency trading. The head of the Financial Services Authority, Lord Turner, has questioned the social usefulness of what banks do. But as he and other regulators wrestle with ways of controlling so-called 'casino operations', Michael Robinson lifts the lid on the latest tricks of the trade which some banks are now using to increase profits.
The failure of contemporary economics. Many have said that the near collapse of the global financial system exposed the failures of 30 years of economic thinking. Stephanie Flanders, the BBC economics editor, examines the arguments raging within and outside the world of economics and asks what future students should learn from the 'great recession'.
The Friends of Associative Economics Bulletin provides an overview of what is going on around the world in the associative economics movement. The bulletin is viewable as a webpage at fae-bulletin/09Nov/
Heterodox Books and Book Series
Joan Robinson
Great Thinkers in Economics
Geoffrey Harcourt and Prue Kerr
Palgrave Macmillan
Joan Robinson is widely considered to be amongst the greatest economists of the 20th Century. This book provides a comprehensive study of her life and work, examining her role in the making of The General Theory, her critical interest in Marxian economics, her contributions to Labour Party policy and her writings on development, especially China.
GEOFFREY HARCOURT was born in 1931 in Melbourne, Australia. He was a graduate of the Universities of Melbourne and Cambridge. He has taught mainly at Adelaide and Cambridge Universities. He is author and editor of 25 books including seven volumes of selected essays and 230 papers in learned journals and edited volumes. his books include Some Cambridge Controversies in the Theory of Capital, Post-Keynesian Essays in Biography, 50 Years a Keynesian and other Essays, Selected Essays on Economic Policy and The Structure of Post-Keynesian Economics. PRUE KERR was a friend and associate of Joan Robinson in Cambridge. She edited, with Geoffrey Harcourt, the five volume: Joan Robinson: Critical Assessments of Leading Economists. She was supported by the Institute of Advanced Studies at the University of Bologna and the CPEST. She now works on post-Keynesian economic theory.
Table of Contents
Preface
Acknowledgements
Figures
Introduction
The Economics of Imperfect Competition
Joan Robinson and her circle in the run up to, and the aftermath of The General Theory
Marx in Joan Robinsons Argument
Joan Robinson and socialist planning in the years of high theory
The Making of The Accumulation of Capital
The Choice of Technique in the Economy as a Whole and the Cambridge Debates in the Theory of Capital:Joan Robinsons Role.
After The Accumulation of Capital: Defence and Development
Joan Robinsons Contributions to Development Economics as Political Economy
An Introduction to Modern Economics: a Light that Failed?
A Concerned Intellectuals Task: Joan Robinsons Three Popular Books
Conclusion: Joan Robinsons Legacy
References
For more information:
|[pic] |
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|$14.95 | 160 pp. |
| |
|Order Online |
|or call 800.670.9499 |
| |
|* PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY * |
|NEW FROM MONTHLY REVIEW PRESS |
|PUT TO WORK |
|The WPA and Public Employment in the Great Depression |
|Second Edition |
|Including a New Introduction and Afterword |
|by Nancy E. Rose |
|"This is a must read for anyone concerned about today's mass unemployment and the chronic unemployment that persists between |
|recessions. Rose carefully describes, analyzes, and evaluates the New Deal job programs--their shortcomings and contradictions as|
|well as their very great accomplishments."--Helen Lachs Ginsburg, Professor Emerita of Economics, Brooklyn College, City |
|University of New York; co-founder of the National Jobs for All Coalition and co-chair of the Columbia University Seminar on Full|
|Employment, Social Welfare and Equity |
|praise for the first edition: "Rose offers an important perspective on how past nation-saving programs can be useful in solving |
|current unemployment and homeless problems."--Publishers Weekly |
|Put To Work tells the story of the massive government job-creation programs of the 1930s--not only the Works Progress |
|Administration (WPA), but also the lesser known Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and Civil Works Administration |
|(CWA), which set the framework for the ideological and policy battles that followed. Nancy E. Rose details the development of |
|these programs, the pressures that surrounded them, and the resulting constraints. She analyzes both their unique contributions |
|and their shortcomings, especially in their treatment of women and African-Americans. In the process, she carefully reevaluates |
|the charges that these were inefficient "make-work" programs, or "boondoggles," charges that continue to characterize |
|job-creation programs to this day. |
|In her new introduction, Rose places the Obama administration's economic stimulus package in historical perspective as part of |
|this tradition of government job creation programs. In her new Conclusion, she explores lessons from the New Deal work programs |
|for the current era. |
| |
|[pic] |
| |
|UPCOMING EVENTS: |
| |
|* On November 5th, Dongping Han, author of The Unknown Cultural Revolution, will be speaking during a three-day symposium on the |
|Cultural Revolution at the University of California, Berkeley (more info here) |
| |
|* On November 5th through 8th, visit the Monthly Review Press table at the Rethinking Marxism Conference, at the University of |
|Massachusetts, Amherst |
| |
|* On November 13th, Minqi Li, author of The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy, will be speaking at the|
|Brecht Forum in New York City (more info here) |
| |
|* On December 5th, join Al Sandine, author of the forthcoming The Taming of the American Crowd, for a book release party in |
|Berkeley, California (more info here) |
| |
|* Steve Early, author of Embedded With Organized Labor, is still on tour around the country! See his schedule here |
| |
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| |
|Greed, Lust and Gender |
|A History of Economic Ideas |
|Nancy Folbre |
|[pic]Add to Cart |
|ISBN13: 9780199238422ISBN10: 0199238421 Hardback, 304 pages |
|Nov 2009, Not Yet Published |
| |
| |
|Price: |
|$34.95 (01) |
|Shipping Details |
|Description |
|Features |
|Product Details |
|Author Information |
|Description |
|When does the pursuit of self-interest go too far, lapsing into morally unacceptable behaviour? Until the unprecedented events of|
|the recent global financial crisis economists often seemed unconcerned with this question, even suggesting that "greed is good." |
|A closer look, however, suggests that greed and lust are generally considered good only for men, and then only outside the realm |
|of family life. The history of Western economic ideas shows that men have given themselves more cultural permission than women |
|for the pursuit of both economic and sexual self-interest. Feminists have long contested the boundaries of this permission, |
|demanding more than mere freedom to act more like men. Women have gradually gained the power to revise our conceptual and moral |
|maps and to insist on a better-and less gendered-balance between self interest and care for others. |
| |
|This book brings women's work, their sexuality, and their ideas into the center of the dialectic between economic history and the|
|history of economic ideas. It describes a spiralling process of economic and cultural change in Great Britain, France, and the |
|United States since the 18th century that shaped the evolution of patriarchal capitalism and the larger relationship between |
|production and reproduction. This feminist reinterpretation of our past holds profound implications for today's efforts to |
|develop a more humane and sustainable form of capitalism. |
|Features |
|Explains the historical relationship between economic and moral ideas |
|Explores the hidden history of feminist economics |
|Show the relevance of intellectual history to contemporary policy debates |
|Product Details |
|304 pages; ISBN13: 978-0-19-923842-2ISBN10: 0-19-923842-1 |
| |
|Here's a link to a short and interesting review that appeared in London's Times Higher Education Supplement: |
| |
| |
| |
[pic]
Money and Macrodynamics: Alfred Eichner and Post-Keynesian Economics
Edited by: Marc Lavoie; Louis-Philippe Rochon; Mario Seccareccia
Nov 2009 M.E. Sharp
Description: Alfred Eichner's pioneering contributions to post-Keynesian economics offered significant insights on the way modern economies and institutions actually work. Published in 1987, his Macrodynamics of Advanced Market Economies contains rich chapters on dynamics and growth, investment, finance and income distribution, a timely chapter on the State and fiscal policy, and two analytical chapters on endogenous money that are years ahead of their time.
Featuring chapters by many of Eichner's disciples, this book celebrates his rich contributions to post-Keynesian economics, and demonstrates that his work is in many ways as valid today as it was over two decades ago.
Heterodox Newsletter subscribers can save 20% - Use the attached discount form or click here and enter discount code DM924.
978-0-7656-1795-8 HC $98.95 *20% Discount Price: $79.16
978-0-7656-1796-5 PB $39.95 *20% Discount Price: $31.96
Selected Contents:
Introduction: Alfred Eicher and the State of Post-Keynesian Economics
Part I. The Link Between Micro and Macro
1. Was Alfred Eichner a System Dynamicist?, Michael Radzicki
2. Alfred Eichner's Missing 'Complete Model': A Heterodox Micro-Macro Model of a Monetary Production Economy, Fred Lee
3. Macro Effects of Investment Decisions, Debt Management and the Corporate Levy, Elettra Agliardi
4. Pricing and the Financing of Investment:Is There a Macroeconomic Basis for Eichnerian Microeconomic Analysis?, Mario Seccareccia
Part II. Competition and the Globalized World
5. The Macroeconomics of Competition : Stability and Growth Questions, Malcolm Sawyer and Nina Shapiro
6. The Megacorp in a Global Economy, Matthew Fung
7. Pricing and Profits Under Globalized Competition: A Post Keynesian Perspective on U.S. Economic Hegemony, William Milberg
Part III. Credit, Money and Central Banking
8. Eichner's Theory of Endogenous Credit-Money, Robert P. Guttmann
9. Eichner's Monetary Economics: Ahead of its Time, Marc Lavoie
10. Alfred Eichner, Post-Keynesians, and Money's Endogeneity: Filling in the Horizontalist Black Box, Louis-Philippe Rochon
About the Editors and Contributors
Index
Comment(s): "At a time when events have all-too clearly exposed the shortcomings of mainstream representative agent models, it is refreshing to find a book that takes another look at the relationships between firm behaviour, money and macroeconomic outcomes. And what better place to start than the economics of Alfred Eichner, whose theory of the megacorp provides a hub for modern post-Keynesian theories of pricing, investment, finance and growth. The contributions to this volume do full justice to Eichner's emphasis on realism, and his passion for making post-Keynesian economics both accessible to and a source of inspiration for students and young scholars." -- Mark Setterfield, Trinity College
for purchase:
Rethinking Imperialism: A Study of Capitalist Rule
By John Milios, and Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos
Palgrave Macmillan
For over a century “imperialism” has been a key concept in Left theory and politics, connoting both the aggressiveness and the characteristics of modern capitalism. This book aims at presenting and assessing imperialism as a theoretical concept. Since a variety of different definitions are assigned to the concept of imperialism, it is necessary to put to the test the rigour of these definitions. The authors of this volume provide a comprehensive evaluation, focusing especially on the tension between Marx’s theoretical system of the Critique of Political Economy and the theories of capitalist expansion and domination that emerge out of the various discourses on imperialism.
The book critically reviews all major (classical and contemporary) theories of imperialism. The authors embark on a critical interrogation of all innovations introduced into theoretical Marxism by theories of imperialism (for example those concerning the stages of historical evolution of capitalism, the capitalist state, internationalization of capital, crises etc.). They show that most of these theories deviate from the theoretical system formulated by Marx, especially in Capital and his other mature economic writings.
Furthermore, these theories seem to poorly interpret historical development. Is there a theory of the capitalist state to justify the thesis that the collapse of colonialism after World War II is so insignificant to the periodization of international capitalist relations (or “global capitalism”) that the “final stage” of capitalism commencing in the last decades of the 19th century is arguably still continuing? To pose the same question differently: on what theoretical grounds can the “early” colonialism, as opposed to the late colonial era (from the late 19th century to World War II), be bracketed off as a distinct period in the history of capitalism?
On grounds of Marx’s theory of the CMP this period now has to be revisited. Why does the second colonial period have more affinities with the present-day non-colonial post-World War II era than with the era of early colonialism? Last but not least, is there a tendency towards expansionism that is innate in every form of capitalist domination, i.e. also in the less developed capitalist states that are not to be classified as being in the supposedly “ripe” or “monopoly capitalist” stage?
The authors propose a conceptualization of the international level which comes into a striking contrast with the majority of contemporary approaches of globalization or “new imperialism”. Their interpretation perceives the international level as a complex interlinkage of different (national-state) economic and social structures, each of which evolves at a different and unequal rate as a result primarily of the different class and political correlation of forces that have crystallized within it.
The book addresses the contemporary contradictions and trends of development of the “international capitalist system” and the evolving global economic crisis, formulating a fundamental reinterpretation of imperialism. Important in this line of reasoning remains the notion of imperialist chain, which is formulated in accordance with Marx’s concept of social capital and his theory of the capitalist mode of production. It thus defends the thesis that internal-national relationships and processes always have priority over international relations.
It is precisely the fundamental discovery of Marxism that the class struggle
(which is at the same time economic, political and ideological and is thus consummated within each national-state entity) is the driving force of history. It is through these class correlations and relations of domination that international relations, with all the concomitant interdependence on other social formations, take effect. If imperialism is a permanent possibility emerging out of the structures of the capitalist mode of production, the historical form it will ultimately acquire for a particular social formation depends on the way in which the “external” situation (that is to say the international correlation of forces) over-determines but also constrains the practices that emerge out of the evolution of the internal class correlations.
for purchase:
Zed Books recent releases
|[pic] |The Trouble With Capitalism |
| |An Enquiry into the Causes of Global Economic Failure |
| |Harry Shutt |
| | |
| |''Offers no easy answers, but suggests the West is going to have to face the fact that profit-maximising capitalism has run its |
| |course.' - Tribune |
| | |
| |'Shutt [has] a message for every saver and investor: a crash of 1929 proportions is almost inevitable' - Dan Atkinson in The |
| |Guardian (commenting on the First Edition) |
| | |
| |ISBN: 9781848134225 16.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/the_trouble_with_capitalism |
| | |
|[pic] |Climate Change in Africa |
| |Camilla Toulmin |
| | |
| |'Camilla Toulmin combines a deep and nuanced knowledge of African society with a profound grasp of the impact of climate change on|
| |that continent. Covering both threats and opportunities, she shows how, for good or ill, climate change will be a new and critical|
| |driver in the next phase of African development. In the run up to the Copenhagen climate summit, this book should be required |
| |reading for anyone wishing to get to grips with the multiple interconnections between climate change and development in the |
| |world's poorest continent.' - Duncan Green, Head of Research, Oxfam |
| | |
| |ISBN: 9781848130159 12.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/climate_change_in_africa |
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|[pic] |Science and Technology for Development |
| |James Smith |
| | |
| |'This is one of the rare books I have read which brings out the complex web of relationships among science, technology and |
| |development with great clarity and originality.' - Prof M S Swaminathan, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Chairman, M S |
| |Swaminathan Research Foundation |
| | |
| |ISBN: 9781848132016 14.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/science_and_technology_for_development |
| |
|[pic] |The Social Economy |
| |International Perspectives on Economic Solidarity |
| |Edited by Ash Amin |
| | |
| |'At a time of deep global economic crisis, there is a pressing need to explore alternatives to the mainstream capitalist economy |
| |in the search for sustainable futures, This is therefore a timely and important book. The contributors, a mix of leading academic |
| |researchers and activists, explore the achievements and potential of the social economy in a diverse range of places. They |
| |demonstrate that the social economy can provide socially useful work and goods and services of a quality that compares favourably |
| |with that of the state and private sector and discuss the policy challenges posed by seeking to develop the social economy.' - |
| |Professor Ray Hudson, Durham University |
| | |
| |ISBN: 9781848132825 19.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/the_social_economy |
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|[pic] |The Priest of Paraguay |
| |Fernando Lugo and the Making of a Nation |
| |Hugh O'Shaughnessy and Edgar Venerando Ruiz Daz |
| | |
| |'Paraguay has been a disgrace even by the ugly standards of US domination of Latin America. The election of Fernando Lugo offers |
| |a promising opportunity for it to break the chains ... There could be no one better placed to bring these events to the general |
| |public than Hugh O'Shaughnessy. His work on Latin America has been outstanding in its historical depth, subtle insight and |
| |sympathetic understanding of the travails of the population, and the intricacies of the domestic structures and international |
| |environment.' - Noam Chomsky |
| | |
| |ISBN: 9781848133136 16.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/the_priest_of_paraguay |
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|[pic] |The Audacity of Races and Genders |
| |A personal and global story of the Obama election |
| |Zillah Eisenstein |
| |'Zillah Eisenstein is no armchair analyst. She is a street activist with a globality of vision that sculpts a third dimension in |
| |our understanding of things. She writes with Jane Austen's pen, Angela Davis' heart, and Hannah Arendt's mind. From streets of |
| |Philadelphia to the campaign headquarters of Florida, from South Africa to Sweden, Zillah Eisenstein's sisterhood to noble causes |
| |is the bone marrow of her convictions and insights. Her Audacity of Races and Genders is the thick description, a people's |
| |history, of a presidential election that will mark our generation for generations to come.' - Hamid Dabashi, Columbia University |
| |in New York |
| |ISBN: 9781848134201 16.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/the_audacity_of_races_and_genders |
| | |
|[pic] |Egypt |
| |The Moment of Change |
| |Edited by Rabab El-Mahdi and Philip Marfleet |
| | |
| |'Combines passion, scholarship and vision - a focused snapshot of this troubled moment in Egypt's history with a competent resum |
| |of how we got here. Its passion, clarity of thought and its vision should be an important contribution to the change we Egyptians |
| |know we have to make happen.' - Ahdaf Soueif |
| | |
| |ISBN: 9781842779354 16.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/egypt |
| | |
|[pic] |Women and War in the Middle East |
| |Transnational Perspectives |
| |Edited by Nadje Al-Ali and Nicola Pratt |
| |'Nadje Al-Ali and Nicola Pratt bring together here some of the smartest feminist analysts of war and militarism in the Middle |
| |East. Together they show not only the profound effects of war and militarism on women's lives, but how asking feminist questions |
| |can make us all smarter about what causes and perpetuates both.' - Cynthia Enloe, author of "The Curious Feminist: Searching for |
| |Women in the New Age of Empire" |
| | |
| |ISBN 9781848131866 17.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/women_and_war_in_the_middle_east |
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FREE pre-publication copies of Free Trade Doesn’t Work: Why America Needs a Tariff, are now available to friends of heterodox economics.
(This book will be $14.95 when it goes on sale on in a few weeks.)
The table of contents is below:
Foreword by Edward Luttwak
Introduction: Why We Can't Trust the Economists
PART I: THE PROBLEM
Chapter 1: The Bad Arguments for Free Trade
Chapter 2: Deficits, Time Horizons, and Perverse Efficiency
Chapter 3: Trade Solutions That Won't Work
Chapter 4: Critiques of Free Trade to Avoid
PART II: THE REAL ECONOMICS OF TRADE
Chapter 5: Ye Olde Theory of Comparative Advantage
Chapter 6: The Deliberately Forgotten History of Trade
Chapter 7: The Negligible Benefits of Free Trade
Chapter 8: The Disengenuous Law and Diplomacy of Free Trade
PART III: THE SOLUTION
Chapter 9: Where Does Growth Really Come From?
Chapter 10: The Multiple-Equilibrium Revolution
Chapter 11: The Natural Strategic Tariff
Chapter 12: The End of the Free-Trade Coalition
If interested, please reply to this message at ian.fletcher@ with your full name and postal address.
|[pic] |
|[pic] |
|[pic] |
|[pic] |
|order online |
|or call 800.670.9499 |
| |
|* PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY * |
|NEW FROM MONTHLY REVIEW PRESS |
|MORBID SYMPTOMS |
|Health Under Capitalism |
|Socialist Register 2010 |
|edited by Leo Panitch and Colin Leys |
| |
|Morbid Symptoms sees health as a major field of political economy, one that focuses on the struggle between commercial forces seeking to make it|
|into a field of profit, and popular forces fighting to keep it -- or make it -- a public service with equal access for all. |
|Central to this volume is an analysis of the global health industry -- the pharmaceutical, insurance, medical technology, and healthcare |
|provider corporations. Essays by leading authorities in the field include Vicente Navarro on the impact of globalization on health services, |
|Julian Tudor Hart on mental health in sick societies, Meri Koivusalo on international organizations and capitalist health policies, Sanjay Basu |
|on HIV/AIDS and the resurrection of comprehensive primary care in the "south," and Julie Feinsilver on Cuba's healthcare system and its role in |
|Cuba's foreign policy. Separate essays review the state of healthcare around the world, while others deal with a variety of key issues such as |
|obesity, the "fitness" industry, and the significance of ever-popular hospital-based television programs. |
|Contributors: Robert Albritton, Julian Ammirante, Kalman Applbaum, Pat and Hugh Armstrong, Sanjay Basu, David Coburn, Hans Ulrich Deppe, Julie |
|Feinsilver, Marie Gottschalk, Julian Tudor Hart, Lesley Henderson, Christoph Herman, Meri Koivusalo, Colin Leys, Roddy Loeppky, Maureen |
|Mackintosh, Vicente Navarro, Mohan Rao, Thomas Seibert, and Wang Shaoguang. |
| |
|[pic] |
| |
|UPCOMING EVENTS: |
|* On November 6th, Dongping Han, author of The Unknown Cultural Revolution, will be speaking during a three-day symposium on the Cultural |
|Revolution at the University of California, Berkeley (more info here) |
| |
|* On November 5th through 8th, visit the Monthly Review Press table at the Rethinking Marxism Conference, at the University of Massachusetts, |
|Amherst |
| |
|* On November 13th, Minqi Li, author of The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy, will be speaking at the Brecht Forum |
|in New York City (more info here) |
| |
|* On December 5th, join Al Sandine, author of the forthcoming The Taming of the American Crowd, for a book release party in Berkeley, California|
|(more info here) |
| |
|* Steve Early, author of Embedded With Organized Labor, is still on tour around the country! See his schedule here. |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
|[pic] |
|[pic] |
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Reflexivity and Development Economics
Daniel Gay
Reflexivity and Development Economics outlines an alternative to the prevailing view of economic development, currently dominated by the revised Washington Consensus. Using an open-ended view of economic knowledge which moves away from one-size-fits-all blueprints, Daniel Gay argues that economic analysis should vary according to country context. He examines the approach in the case of one of the world's poorest countries, Vanuatu; and a development success-story, Singapore, showing that listening to the poor improves policy, and that examining the biases held by development economists helps tailor policy more closely to local conditions. This book is essential reading for those interested in development studies, international political economy, development economics and economic methodology.
The Global Environment of Business
by Frederick Guy
Oxford University Press
Description
The globalization of business activity: whether you love it or hate it, it affects you. What causes it, how different countries deal with it, and what the future might hold for it are all key questions which The Global Environment of Business answers. It traces the growth of big business, the comings and goings of economic globalization over two centuries, and compares the institutional environments and track records of business in a selection of countries on every continent today. It examines the role of local and regional clusters of small and medium-sized companies, and the obstacles which both oil wealth, and concentrated land ownership, pose for poor countries trying to develop. The final chapter assesses the sustainability of global business in the context of climate change and growth of regional blocs. Changing forms of business organization; changing technology; who wins and who loses; all are kept in sight throughout the book.
Frederick Guy pulls together all these various themes. Employing clear, vivid examples, narrative structures, and stories, it is not a dry textbook. Economic, political, and sociological theories are used, explained, evaluated; and employed to knit together a collection of vivid examples and cases.
Features
• Employs clear, vivid examples
• Narrative structures, stories, and thematic links are traced throughout the book
• Theoretical tools and concepts introduced include transaction costs, collective action problems, comparative advantage, increasing returns, distributional conflict, and sources of trust
• Boxes deal with longer expositions of key theories
Product Details
256 pages; ISBN13: 978-0-19-920662-9ISBN10: 0-19-920662-7
For purchase:
New titles from the University of Michigan Press:
Curbing Bailouts
Bank Crises and Democratic Accountability in Comparative Perspective
Guillermo Rosas
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About the Book
Banking crises threaten the stability and growth of economies around the world. In response, politicians restore banks to solvency by redistributing losses from bank shareholders and depositors to taxpayers, and the burden the citizenry must bear varies from case to case. Whereas some governments stay close to the prescriptions espoused by Sir Walter Bagehot in the nineteenth century that limit the costs shouldered by taxpayers, others engage in generous bank bailouts at great cost to society. What factors determine a government's response?
In this comparative analysis of late-twentieth-century banking crises, Guillermo Rosas identifies political regime type as the determining factor. During a crisis, powerful financial players demand protection of their assets. Rosas maintains that in authoritarian regimes, government officials have little to shield them from such demands and little incentive for rebuffing them, while in democratic regimes, elected officials must weigh these demands against the interests of the voters—that is, the taxpayers. As a result, compared with authoritarian regimes, democratic regimes show a lower propensity toward dramatic, costly bailouts.
Research Confidential
Solutions to Problems Most Social Scientists Pretend They Never Have
Eszter Hargittai, editor
A new guide for a new generation of social science researchers[pic]
About the Book
|This collection of essays aims to fill a notable gap in the existing literature on research methods in the social sciences. While|
|the methods literature is extensive, rarely do authors discuss the practical issues and challenges they routinely confront in the|
|course of their research projects. As a result, editor Eszter Hargittai argues, each new cohort is forced to reinvent the wheel, |
|making mistakes that previous generations have already confronted and resolved. Research Confidential seeks to address this |
|failing by supplying new researchers with the kind of detailed practical information that can make or break a given project. |
|Written in an informal, accessible, and engaging manner by a group of prominent young scholars, many of whom are involved in |
|groundbreaking research in online contexts, this collection promises to be a valuable tool for graduate students and educators |
|across the social sciences. |
Striving to Save
Creating Policies for Financial Security of Low-Income Families
Margaret Sherrard Sherraden and Amanda Moore McBride
With Sondra G. Beverly
The struggles of low-income families trying to build savings accounts
[pic]
About the Book
|In Striving to Save, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden and Amanda Moore McBride examine savings in eighty-four working families with |
|low incomes, including fifty-nine families who participated in a groundbreaking program of matched savings and financial |
|education. In-depth interviews with these families, along with savings and survey data, shed light on saving in low-income |
|households. |
|The book concludes with recommended public policy approaches for increasing savings in households that are striving to save. |
Please find below some information on Zed Books latest publications in Development Studies. A pdf of the our latest Development Studies catalogue is available here and our most recent new title catalogue for Winter/Spring 2009/10 is available here.
|Thinking About Development |
|Bjorn Hettne |
| |
|'This is one of the rare books I have read which brings out the complex web of relationships among science, technology and development with great clarity |
|and originality' - Prof M S Swaminathan, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Chairman, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation |
| |
|ISBN: 9781848132474 14.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/thinking_about_development |
| |
|Learning for Development |
|Hazel Johnson and Gordon Wilson |
| |
|'I commend Johnson and Wilson for this excellent book in which they reflect on the role that learning can play in development. It deals with complex issues |
|in a style that is both considered and clear; critical and committed. It should be required reading for those who unreflectively "do development".' - Simon |
|McGrath, Professor of International Education and Development, Nottingham |
| |
|ISBN: 9781848131989 14.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/learning_for_development |
| |
|Science and Technology for Development |
|James Smith |
| |
|'This is one of the rare books I have read which brings out the complex web of relationships among science, technology and development with great clarity |
|and originality.' - Prof M S Swaminathan, Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Chairman, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation |
| |
|ISBN: 9781848132016 14.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/science_and_technology_for_development |
|The Deadly Ideas of Neoliberalism |
|How the IMF has Undermined Public Health and the Fight Against AIDS |
|Rick Rowden |
| |
|'Jonathan Glennie's excellent and immensely readable new book presents a compelling case for those of us who care about Africa not to demand ever more aid, |
|but rather to seek the more fundamental changes in the global economy which could reduce dependency on aid and contribute to the ultimate eradication of |
|poverty.' - David Woodward, former head of New Global Economy Programme, nef |
| |
|ISBN: 9781848130401 12.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/the_deadly_ideas_of_neoliberalism |
|The Trouble with Aid |
|Why Less Could Mean More for Africa |
|Jonathan Glennie |
| |
|'Jonathan Glennie's excellent and immensely readable new book presents a compelling case for those of us who care about Africa not to demand ever more aid, |
|but rather to seek the more fundamental changes in the global economy which could reduce dependency on aid and contribute to the ultimate eradication of |
|poverty.' - David Woodward, former head of New Global Economy Programme, nef |
| |
|ISBN: 9781848130401 12.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/the_trouble_with_aid |
| |
|Unholy Trinity |
|The IMF, World Bank and WTO (Second Edition) |
|Richard Peet |
| |
|'Invaluable to students and activists alike, this is the essential introduction to the unelected government of the world economy.' - Mike Davis, author of |
|Planet of Slums |
| |
|ISBN: 9781848132528 17.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/unholy_trinity |
| |
|Religion in Development |
|Rewriting the Secular Script |
|Sverine Deneulin with Masooda Bano |
|'In the excellent work of Severine Deneulin and Masooda Bano we now have a new basis, firmly rooted in good judgment and buttressed by the best research, |
|for bringing religion in to the mainstream of development policy and research ... With its clear style and abundance of telling examples, this book will be |
|indispensable to policymakers, practitioners and academics working in development.' - David Lehmann, Cambridge University |
|ISBN: 9781848130012 16.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/religion_in_development |
| |
|Body Politics in Development |
|Critical Debates in Gender and Development |
|Wendy Harcourt |
| |
|'Body Politics in Development is about a lot more than "development."This is a book about today's complex international feminist movements. Anyone |
|interested in learning who are the major crafters of feminist discourses, feminist strategies and feminist alliances will be made smarter by reading Wendy |
|Harcourt's deeply informed book.' - Cynthia Enloe, author of 'The Curious Feminist' |
| |
|ISBN: 9781842779354 16.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/body_politics_in_development |
| |
|Big Business, Poor Peoples |
|How Transnational Corporations Damage the World's Poor (Second Edition) |
|John Madeley |
|'Authoritative and highly readable. Madeley names the names and tells the stories to provide a clear answer to those who cling to the myth that foreign |
|investment, transnational corporations, the IMF, the World Bank and UNDP are an answer to the prayers of the poor. An excellent book that should be read by |
|everyone committed to ending global poverty.' - David C. Korten, The People-Centered Development Forum |
| |
|ISBN 9781848133150 12.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/big_business_poor_peoples |
| |
|Development and the African Diaspora |
|Place and the Politics of Home |
|Claire Mercer, Ben Page & Martin Evans |
| |
|'This engaging and well-written book offers a richly empirical analysis of the roles of diaspora associations in development back home. Ultimately, the book|
|requires us to rethink many assumptions about the migration-development nexus for Africa, recentering the discussion on nuances, context, heterogeneity, and|
|the everyday lives of people who make these long journeys' - Garth Myers, Kansas University |
| |
|ISBN 9781842779019 18.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/development_and_the_african_diaspora |
| |
|Making Poverty |
|A History |
|Thomas Lines |
| |
|'Tom Lines combines a lifelong commitment to development with a thorough knowledge of the complexities of global markets. Cutting expertly through economic |
|jargon and myth, he explains why markets, far from being neutral, reflect the power and politics of those who govern them, determining who wins and who |
|loses from globalization.' - Duncan Green, head of research, Oxfam GB |
| |
|ISBN: 9781842779422 15.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/making_poverty |
| |
|Social Justice and Neoliberalism |
|Global Perspectives |
|Edited by Adrian Smith, Alison Stenning and Katie Willis |
| |
|'This excellent book focuses on the everyday spaces of neoliberalism. Richly theorised case studies from eight very different countries examine how |
|processes associated with marketisation are differentially experienced and contested ... It is an impressive contribution to the literature on neoliberalism|
|that should be read by critical scholars and all those interested in the changing lives of real people.' - Wendy Larner, Professor of Human Geography and |
|Sociology, University of Bristol |
| |
|ISBN: 9781842779200 18.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/social_justice_and_neoliberalism |
| |
|Policing Post-Conflict Cities |
|Alice Hills |
| |
|'Policing Post Conflict Cities is an engaging and provocative enquiry into the most basic of political challenges - the recontruction of 'order' and the |
|provision of 'security' in post conflict urban locales. Here Alice Hills invites us to think way beyond current orthodoxies and to base our theories instead|
|on the fluid and ambigious practices emerging from Bagdad, Basra, Kinshasa, Kigali and others. Policing Post-Conflict Cities will appeal to an audience who |
|values critical scholarship.' - Elrena Van Der Spuy, University of Cape Town |
| |
|ISBN: 9781842779705 19.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/policing_post-conflict_cities |
| |
|The History of Development |
|From Western Origins to Global Faith (Third Edition) |
|Gilbert Rist |
| |
|'This is an impressive account of the rise and demise of the belief system that has pushed mankind to the brink of disaster' - Wolfgang Sachs, author/editor|
|of The Development Dictionary and Fair Future |
| |
|ISBN: 9781848131897 17.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/the_history_of_development |
| |
|Gender, Violence and Security |
|Discourse as Practice |
|Laura J. Shepherd |
| |
|'Laura Shepherd shows us here how we can bring the burgeoning scholarships on violence against women and on human security into conversation with each other|
|in a way that makes us smarter about each - and about the intricate trickily gendered political processes of the UN too. Quite a feat.' - Cynthia Enloe, |
|Clark University |
| |
|ISBN: 9781842779286 18.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/gender_violence_and_security |
| |
|Development with a Body |
|Sexuality, Human Rights and Development |
|Edited by Andrea Cornwall, Sonia Corra, Susie Jolly |
| |
|'This anthology is a must read for all development practitioners frustrated by strategies that are grossly out of touch with the realities of the masses; it|
|is for those that wish to "be real" and relevant to those they are supposed to work for. Its wide range and depth of analysis is guaranteed to jumpstart a |
|stimulating debate even among the most conservative development thinkers.' - Sylvia Tamale, Associate Professor and Dean of Law, Makerere University, Uganda|
| |
|ISBN: 9781842778913 18.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/development_with_a_body |
| |
|Feminisms in Development |
|Contradictions, Contestations and Challenges |
|Edited by Andrea Cornwall, Elizabeth Harrison and Ann Whitehead |
| |
|'This book may discomfit some, but it is a badly needed antidote to the myths and fables that are scattered through the gender and development field. It is |
|honest, level-headed, yet deeply committed to core feminist values and principles. Its editors and authors must be commended for their courage and their |
|persistence with the difficult questions.' - Gita Sen |
| |
|ISBN 9781842778197 18.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/feminisms_in_development |
| |
|Sex at the Margins |
|Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry |
|Laura Mara Agustn |
| |
|'Sex at the Margins rips apart distinctions between migrants, service work and sexual labour and reveals the utter complexity of the contemporary sex |
|industry. This book is set to be a trailblazer in the study of sexuality.' - Lisa Adkins, Professor of Sociology, Goldsmiths, University of London |
| |
|ISBN 9781842778609 16.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/sex_at_the_margins |
| |
|The Gender Politics of Development |
|Essays in Hope and Despair |
|Shirin M. Rai |
| |
|'Lucidly written, Shirin Rai's essays in this volume are insightful contributions to recent feminist debates on democratization and globalization.' - Bina |
|Agarwal, Institute of Economic Growth at the University of Delhi |
| |
|ISBN 9781842778388 16.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/the_gender_politics_of_development |
|Global Health Watch 2 |
|An Alternative World Health Report |
|Global Health Watch |
| |
|'Ambitious, daring and foresighted, everyone should read GHW2. This is a brave report, and everyone will take something from it' - Gill Walt, Professor of |
|international health policy, LSHTM |
| |
|ISBN: 9781848130357 18.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/global_health_watch_2 |
| |
|Environment and Citizenship |
|Integrating Justice, Responsibility and Civic Engagement |
|Mark J Smith and Piya Pangsapa |
| |
|'Clearly written, cleverly argued and comprehensively supported by evidence, Environment and Citizenship should be on everybody's reading list. A major |
|contribution to the study of responsibility, justice and the environment.' - Bryan S. Turner, Co-editor of Citizenship Studies |
| |
|ISBN: 9781842779033 18.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/environment_and_citizenship |
| |
|Acts of Citizenship |
|Edited by Engin F. Isin and Greg M. Nielsen |
| |
|'Acts of Citizenship is itself an exuberant, startling, act of social theory about the acts that create and transform our bonds as citizens. The names of |
|Derrida, Levinas, and Agamben fly from the pages, along with a range of figures such as the Tank Man of Tiananmen square, Socrates, Seneca and Pat Tillman. |
|This is the book to read if you want to know where social theory is now.' - Stephen Turner, University of Southern Florida |
| |
|ISBN: 9781842779521 18.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/acts_of_citizenship |
|Peace and Conflict in Africa |
|Edited by David J. Francis |
| |
|'This is a welcome and pioneering attempt, conducted overwhelmingly by Africans, to integrate the insights both of academic conflict and peace analysis, and|
|of indigenous African approaches to conflict resolution, and apply them to the needs of peace-building in modern Africa.' - Christopher Clapham, Editor, The|
|Journal of Modern African Studies |
| |
|ISBN 9781842779545 18.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/peace_and_conflict_in_africa |
| |
|Africa |
|The Politics of Suffering and Smiling |
|Patrick Chabal |
| |
|'In this compassionate, elegantly written book Patrick Chabal argues that mainstream political science, political theory and economics fail to do justice to|
|the complexities of African social life. In their place, he offers an interdisciplinary, interpretive approach that offers sensitive insights into |
|contemporary political realities from the point of view of the people who suffer and strive through them.' - Tim Kelsall, Editor, African Affairs |
| |
|ISBN 9781842779095 16.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/africa_suffering_and_smiling |
| |
|African Women and ICTs |
|Investigating technology, gender and empowerment |
|Edited by Ineke Buskens and Anne Webb |
| |
|' This book questions how women in Africa use ICTs for empowerment ... A gender-sensitive and gender-just use of Information and Communication Technology |
|will contribute to the world of openness, connection, equal opportunities, sharing and prosperity for which Africa and the world at large are waiting. I |
|commend the authors for this valuable initiative.' - Graa Machel, |
| |
|ISBN 9781848131927 17.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/african_women_and_icts |
|The New Development Management |
|Critiquing the Dual Modernization |
|Edited by Sadhvi Dar & Bill Cooke |
| |
|'A sorely needed and very persuasive intervention. Dar and Cooke remind us that development management is never simply a technical matter, but comes with |
|its own historical baggage, perennially entangled in complex sets of unequal power relations. The everyday tools of the trade will never seem the same |
|again.' - Samuel Hickey, University of Manchester |
| |
|ISBN 9781842779224 17.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/the_new_development_management |
| |
|Can NGOs Make a Difference? |
|The Challenge of Development Alternatives |
|Edited by Anthony J. Bebbington, Samuel Hickey, Diana C. Mitlin |
| |
|'This is a timely addition to the literature on non-governmental organisations and development. Up-to-date, critical and historically informed, its |
|seventeen chapters are written by a potent combination of both well-known experts and original new voices.'- David Lewis, London School of Economics and |
|Political Science |
| |
|ISBN: 9781842778937 19.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/can_ngos_make_a_difference |
| |Kyoto2 |
| |How to Manage the Global Greenhouse |
| |Oliver TIckell |
| |'The most intelligent treatment of the politics and economics of climate change I have ever read. Brilliant, clear and unanswerable' - George Monbiot |
| | |
| |July 2009, ISBN 9781848130258, 10.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/kyoto2 |
| | |
| |Celebrity and the Environment |
| |Fame, Wealth and Power in Conservation |
| |Dan Brockington |
| |'This is a fascinating and important book, which also happens to be funny and beautifully written. Dan Brockington presents a challenge we cannot duck |
| |to everyone with an interest in conservation and the environment.' - George Monbiot |
| |June 2009, ISBN 9781842779743, 14.99 |
| |zedbooks.co.uk/celebrity_and_the_environment |
|Can We Afford the Future? |
|The Economics of a Warming World |
|Frank Ackerman |
|'Frank Ackerman provides the ammunition that advocates of strong climate policy need to debunk the conclusion that stabilizing our future climate is 'too |
|expensive' - Stephen H. Schneider, Stanford University |
|October 2008, ISBN 9781848130388, 12.99 |
|zedbooks.co.uk/can_we_afford_the_future |
| | |
|The Corporate Greenhouse | |
|Climate Change Policy in a Globalizing World | |
|Yda Schreuder | |
|'Schreuder authoritatively surveys the political and economic hurdles facing efforts to reduce carbon emissions, establish carbon-trading schemes, and| |
|combat slow global warming-with special emphasis on the roles and responsibilities of transnational corporations. I recommend it highly: it is vital,| |
|insightful reading for anyone interested in carbon trading, climate mitigation, international relations, and the pervasive role of mega-corporations | |
|in our world today.' - William F. Laurance, Senior Research Scientist, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Balboa, Panama | |
|Read a review of 'The Corporate Greenhouse' in the Guardian here | |
|January 2009, ISBN 9781842779583, 18.99 | |
|zedbooks.co.uk/the_corporate_greenhouse | |
It's a sloganeering title - No Rich, No Poor - but the book develops a deep new analysis of the historical limits of capitalism.
No Rich, No Poor draws lessons from the differences and similarities between capitalism and previous economic orders such as feudalism. Focusing primarily on the modern era, however, it shows why the high point of capitalist progress is long past. For several decades the working people of the United States have been ground down relentlessly. The U.S. is becoming a country of rich and very rich in one camp and common people struggling with distress in the other. No Rich, No Poor documents what is happening and explains why.
"Every page is packed with common sense, well researched information and undeniable truth. It's the most accessible book I have ever read regarding how we got where we are, where we are, and what we must do. No hysteria. No hyperbole. Just useful and actionable truth." (Joe Bageant)
Are you working to turn around the abject "health reform" going on in Washington; the disappearance of relatively stable jobs; the herding of children and teachers into a regime of standardized tests; or the wipeout of secure retirement? Long after the details of financial thievery have sunk into obscurity, long after the ins and outs of political maneuvering around the new Administration have been forgotten, you will find fresh uses for the analysis in No Rich, No Poor.
You can order No Rich, No Poor through your local bookstore and all major book outlets.
Contents
Preface
1. Thirty-five years of decline
2. The major turning points of history
3. How the hard-fought gains stopped
4. The program for common prosperity
5. Conservatives, reformists, and the common people
Appendix
Notes
ISBN 096799053X / $11.95 / distributed through Ingram
Irving Pelham
Needle Press
Oakland, CA
Rethinking Imperialism: A Study of Capitalist Rule
Palgrave-Macmillan 2009
By John Milios and Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos
For over a century “imperialism” has been a key concept in Left theory and politics, connoting both the aggressiveness and the characteristics of modern capitalism. This book aims at presenting and assessing imperialism as a theoretical concept. Since a variety of different definitions are assigned to the concept of imperialism, it is necessary to put to the test the rigour of these definitions. The authors of this volume provide a comprehensive evaluation, focusing especially on the tension between Marx’s theoretical system of the Critique of Political Economy and the theories of capitalist expansion and domination that emerge out of the various discourses on imperialism.
The book critically reviews all major (classical and contemporary) theories of imperialism. The authors embark on a critical interrogation of all innovations introduced into theoretical Marxism by theories of imperialism (for example those concerning the stages of historical evolution of capitalism, the capitalist state, internationalization of capital, crises etc.). They show that most of these theories deviate from the theoretical system formulated by Marx, especially in Capital and his other mature economic writings.
Furthermore, these theories seem to poorly interpret historical development. Is there a theory of the capitalist state to justify the thesis that the collapse of colonialism after World War II is so insignificant to the periodization of international capitalist relations (or “global capitalism”) that the “final stage” of capitalism commencing in the last decades of the 19th century is arguably still continuing? To pose the same question differently: on what theoretical grounds can the “early” colonialism, as opposed to the late colonial era (from the late 19th century to World War II), be bracketed off as a distinct period in the history of capitalism? On grounds of Marx’s theory of the CMP this period now has to be revisited. Why does the second colonial period have more affinities with the present-day non-colonial post-World War II era than with the era of early colonialism? Last but not least, is there a tendency towards expansionism that is innate in every form of capitalist domination, i.e. also in the less developed capitalist states that are not to be classified as being in the supposedly “ripe” or “monopoly capitalist” stage?
The authors propose a conceptualization of the international level which comes into a striking contrast with the majority of contemporary approaches of globalization or “new imperialism”. Their interpretation perceives the international level as a complex interlinkage of different (national-state) economic and social structures, each of which evolves at a different and unequal rate as a result primarily of the different class and political correlation of forces that have crystallized within it.
The book addresses the contemporary contradictions and trends of development of the “international capitalist system” and the evolving global economic crisis, formulating a fundamental reinterpretation of imperialism. Important in this line of reasoning remains the notion of imperialist chain, which is formulated in accordance with Marx’s concept of social capital and his theory of the capitalist mode of production. It thus defends the thesis that internal-national relationships and processes always have priority over international relations.
It is precisely the fundamental discovery of Marxism that the class struggle (which is at the same time economic, political and ideological and is thus consummated within each national-state entity) is the driving force of history. It is through these class correlations and relations of domination that international relations, with all the concomitant interdependence on other social formations, take effect. If imperialism is a permanent possibility emerging out of the structures of the capitalist mode of production, the historical form it will ultimately acquire for a particular social formation depends on the way in which the “external” situation (that is to say the international correlation of forces) over-determines but also constrains the practices that emerge out of the evolution of the internal class correlations.
Contents:
· Introduction
· Classical Theories of Imperialism: A New Interpretation of
Capitalist Rule, Expansionism, Capital Export, the Periodization and the “Decline” of Capitalism.
· Post World-War II “Metropolis-Periphery” Theories of Imperialism.
· Theories of Imperialism as Alternatives to Classical and
Metropolis-Periphery Approaches.
· The State as a Vehicle of both Capitalist Expansionism and
Decolonization: Historical Evidence and Theoretical Questions.
· Capitalist Mode of Production and Social Formation: Conclusions
Concerning the Organization of Capitalist Power.
· Capitalist Mode of Production and Monopolies.
· Is Imperialism the Latest Stage of Capitalism? Reflections on the
Question of Periodization of Capitalism and Stages of Capitalist Development.
· Internationalisation of Capital.
· Financialization: Market Discipline or Capital Discipline?
· The “Global” Level and the Concept of Imperialist Chain.
· Epilogue: Rethinking Imperialism and Capitalist Rule.
John Milios, is Professor of Political Economy and the History of Economic Thought at the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece. He has authored more than two hundred (200) papers published or forthcoming in refereed journals (in Greek, English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Turkish), and has participated as invited speaker in numerous international conferences. He has also authored or co-authored some eleven scholarly books. He is director of the quarterly journal of economic theory Thesseis (published since
1982 in Greek) and serves on the Editorial Boards of several scholarly journals.
Dimitris P. Sotiropoulos is Visiting Lecturer of Political Economy at the Department of Sociology, University of the Aegean, Greece. He has published papers in refereed journals (in Greek, English and German).
His research interests include: theories of Political Economy, theories of Imperialism, theory of Value and Money. He is also a member of the Editorial Board of the quarterly journal of economic and political theory Thesseis (published since 1982 in Greek).
Publisher's Website:
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|Routledge International Studies in Business History |
| |
|Recent years have seen an explosion of research in business history. Business history is now seen variously as: a key to understanding a |
|vital aspect of the past, a source of parallels and insights into modern business practice, and a way of understanding the evolution of |
|modern business practice. This series is not limited to any single approach, and explores a wide range of issues and industries. |
| |
|[pic] |
|Forthcoming! |
|Trade Marks, Brands and Competitiveness |
|Edited by Teresa da Silva Lopes and Paul Duguid |
|December 2009 | Hardback: 978-0-415-77693-6 |
|This book examines trademarks and brands, and their historical role in national competitive and comparative advantage and in overall |
|economic growth. The contributors provide an…Read More |
|[pic] |
|New! |
|Innovation and Entrepreneurial Networks in Europe |
|Edited by Paloma Fernández Pérez and Mary Rose |
|August 2009 | Hardback: 978-0-415-45451-3 |
|The entrepreneur is involved in the dance of two questions – what is needed and what is possible. The interplay of these two questions |
|is…Read More |
|[pic] |
|The Origins of Globalization |
|By Karl Moore and David Charles Lewis |
|April 2009 | Paperback: 978-0-415-80598-8 |
|Origins of Globalization draws widely on ancient sources and modern economic theory to detail the concept of “known world” globalization, |
|arguing that a mixed economy--similar… Read More |
|[pic] |
|The Foundations of Female Entrepreneurship |
|Enterprise, Home and Household in London, c. 1800-1870 |
|By Alison Kay |
|April 2009 | Hardback: 978-0-415-43174-3 |
|The Foundations of Female Entrepreneurship explores the relationship between home, household headship and enterprise in Victorian London. It|
|examines the notions of duty, honor and… Read More |
|[pic] |
|Women and Their Money 1700-1950 |
|Essays on Women and Finance |
|Edited by Anne Laurence, Josephine Maltby and Janette Rutterford |
|2008 | Hardback: 978-0-415-41976-5 |
|This book examines women's financial activity from the early days of the stock market in eighteenth century England and the South Sea Bubble|
|to the… Read More |
|To view a full list of titles in the Routledge International Studies in Business History Series please visit the series web page |
| |
Book Reviews
Benn Steil and Manuel Hinds, _Money, Markets, and Sovereignty_. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009. xi + 304 pp. $30 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-0-300-14924-1.
Reviewed for by George Selgin, Professor of Economics, University of Georgia.
Economists generally take for granted, if only tacitly, a teleological view of money’s historical development, according to which it first takes the “primitive” form of mundane commodities such as cowrie shells and cacao seeds, and then advances through various stages, culminating in the national fiat monies most economies rely upon today.
_Money, Markets, and Sovereignty_ offers a spirited rebuttal to this naively “whiggish” perspective. Instead, its authors -- Benn Steil and Manuel Hinds, senior and former fellows, respectively, of the Council on Foreign Relations -- argue that the principle effect of national monies consists, not in their contribution to economic prosperity, but in their capacity to assist national governments in their efforts “to extract wealth from their population and to exercise political control over them.” The combination of national fiat monies and global markets results, moreover, in “a deadly brew of currency crises and geopolitical tension” that in turn supply “ready pretexts for damaging protectionism.” Steil and Hinds thus see national fiat monies, not as an essential basis for economic progress, but as an imposing barrier to such progress -- one which threatens to “throw globalization into reverse.”
Recognizing that globalization has itself been under fire, Steil and Hinds preface their critique of monetary nationalism with a defense of globalization against critics, including Joseph Stiglitz and Naomi Klein, who regard it as an encroachment upon national sovereignty. Steil and Hinds observe, for starters, that contemporary arguments against globalization are mere rehashes of old and threadbare arguments against markets generally. They then proceed to uphold globalization as a practical manifestation of Enlightenment thought concerning “the law of nations,” the roots of which they trace to Stoic philosophy. Arguments against globalization are thus found wanting both for being old and for not being quite old enough. But the real strength of Steil and Hind’s response to critics of globalization (and of free markets generally) resides in their convincing elaboration and defense of the Enlightenment idea, succinctly expressed by Hume, that “commerce itself ... gives ris!
e to notions of justice between peoples,” with its implied rejection of the “Westphalian” identification of sovereignty with State omnipotence.
Turning to wrestle with the more specific notion of monetary sovereignty, Steil and Hinds are gratifyingly blunt. The monopolization by national governments, first of coin and then of paper money, is itself, according to them, a violation of the ius gentium -- and one that has “wreaked far more damage on people’s livelihoods than any private behavior.” That monopolization has a history almost as old as that of coined money itself, having been initiated by the tyrants in Asia Minor and having ever since been upheld as one of governments’ most sacred “prerogatives.” However, as Steil and Hinds document, this prerogative has almost always been treated, not as a means for facilitating commerce, but as one for securing resources and enhancing government power.
The era of the classical gold standard marked a rare and all-too-brief interval during which Western governments placed their sovereign right of monetary manipulation into abeyance, deferring instead to commerce’s demand for a more-or-less apolitical and self-regulating monetary mechanism that required nothing more from them save that they commit themselves to not abusing those portions of the mechanism that they had taken over. World War I put a dramatic end to this arrangement, so unusually conducive to world trade and investment, while the gold exchange standard that followed was (as Jacques Rueff put it) but an “absurdity” that, perhaps inevitably, gave way to the present era of largely independent national fiat monies. Scientific pretentions of their issuing authorities notwithstanding, the last have had more in common with their medieval than with their late-nineteenth century precursors, to the detriment of international exchange. For Steil and Hinds, the prospe!
cts for continuing global economic development depend crucially on the possibility of a renewed abandonment of monetary nationalism in favor of some new form of international money.
The details of the story, including some very cogent refutations of arguments concerning supposedly destabilizing features of the classical gold standard, make for exhilarating and, in this reviewer’s opinion at least, generally satisfying reading. Unfortunately, Steil and Hinds mingle some cheap alloy with the precious stuff that makes up most of their book, devaluing its argument to that extent. The debasement isn’t always serious. Numismatists, for instance, are no longer convinced that Lydia’s first coins were privately struck; while monetary historians will note that the United States’ first, and most severe, peacetime inflation occurred not during the 7190s but in the wake of World War I. Banking theorists are bound to take exception to Steil and Hind’s claim that the presence of fractional reserves can itself account for a growth _rate_ of bank deposits different from that of the stock of bank reserves. Finally, I myself wish that Steil and Hinds had taken accou!
nt of my attempt to refute Thomas Sargent and François Velde’s claim that steam-power played an essential part in the switch from bimetallism to the gold standard.[1]
Such quibbles have no bearing on Steil and Hinds’ general argument against monetary sovereignty. That argument is, however, seriously undermined by the authors’ having fallen victim to crucial elements of the very same “mythology of money” they seek to debunk. They repeat, for example, the hoary fiction that fiat money, which has to be monopolistically supplied, “is far less wasteful” than fiduciary money, ignoring both what Milton Friedman refers to (in a famous article of the same name) as “The resource cost of irredeemable paper money”[2] and the fact that a well-ordered banking system (like Scotland’s back in the early nineteenth century) can thrive on a very slim cushion of commodity-money reserves. They do so, moreover, despite having noticed as they wrote (sometime in 2007) that gold was selling at $833.50 per ounce, or many times its corresponding relative price during the “wasteful” era of “fiduciary” money.[3]
More seriously still, Steil and Hinds fail to appreciate the crucial role central banks have played in paving the way to national fiat monies. Instead they argue as if fiat money were a direct outgrowth of redeemable bank monies, even positing a supposed “conundrum” of any fiduciary regime, to wit, that “the better it works, the more compelling the logic for letting it slide toward a fiat regime.” But nations don’t “slide” into fiat money. They usually get it in one fell swoop, consisting of the decision, by a previously erected monopoly bank of issue, to suspend the convertibility of its IOUs, which it does with impunity thanks to favors it has rendered or plans to render to its sponsoring government.
Far from recognizing monopolies of “fiduciary” paper currency as stepping stones to fiat money (and hence to national monetary autarky) Stein and Hinds portray such monopolies as essential components of the classical gold standard, which according to them consisted of “a set of implied commitments from governments and central banks.” Steil and Hinds thus swallow hook, line, and sinker one of the most nefarious monetary myths of all. For in truth a gold standard, while it does indeed depend on paper money issuers’ “commitment” to redeem their liabilities in gold, doesn’t require any direct government involvement: it suffices that private recipients of gold coin deposits make good on their promises to pay, or suffer harsh penalties for not doing so. In its essence such a standard is, no less than free trade itself (to paraphrase Steil and Hinds on that subject), “fundamentally a _private_ or spontaneous development.” Indeed, when commitments to convert paper IOUs into go!
ld take the form, not of private contractual obligations, but of mere government “policies,” they are that much more likely to be systematically repudiated.
Thus, in claiming that Peel’s Act of 1844 (which eventually awarded the Bank of England a monopoly of paper money in England and Wales) “perfected the gold standard,” Steil and Hinds imply that a gold standard cannot work properly unless administered on the very same monopolistic basis that is most likely to result in its abandonment! Besides inadvertently undermining their own defense of the gold standard, this view gets the contribution of monopoly to the gold standard’s operation all wrong. The right view is that found in Bagehot’s _Lombard Street_, namely, that the Bank of England’s monopoly was _destabilizing_, and that England would have been far better off sticking to a more decentralized and “natural” system, like Scotland’s (before Peel’s Act was thoughtlessly extended to it), in which many equally-privileged note-issuing banks manage their own reserves. Like all too many other writers, Steil and Hinds refer to Bagehot’s dictum for last-resort lending, while ign!
oring his argument that a sound (that is, decentralized) currency system doesn’t _need_ a last-resort lender. They also overlook more recent work reinforcing Bagehot’s opinion, including Lawrence White’s very important study of the Scottish system.[4]
Indeed, Steil and Hinds make hardly any mention at all of the literature on free banking and competing currencies, apart from a passing reference (in a footnote) to Hayek’s path-breaking _Denationalisation of Money_ (1976). This omission, in a work devoted to combating the notion of monetary sovereignty and to suggesting alternatives to national fiat monies, is as puzzling as it is disappointing, and especially so in light of the authors’ belief that a revival of the classical gold standard, based on commitments by national monetary authorities, would be both “politically infeasible” and, if accomplished somehow, short-lived. Equally puzzling in this connection is the authors’ failure to draw on extensive work by Eric Helleiner and his associates, addressing the very same theme as their own.[5]
What then, one is bound to wonder, do the authors propose as a way out of monetary nationalism? Having rejected both a restoration of the “classical” gold standard and (perhaps by oversight) free banking and other forms of private currency, they have no choice but to stake their hopes on dollarization, understood figuratively as allowing as well for “euro-ization,” as must be the case if it is not to be a recipe for a _global_ fiat money monopoly, with all the potential for abuse such a global monopoly would entail.
That many of the world’s citizens would be better off using dollars or euros than continuing to be forced to rely on their own governments’ monies is certainly true -- Steve Hanke and Kurt Schuler (whose writings are also surprisingly overlooked) have been pressing the point for some time now.[6] Nevertheless “dollarization” hardly suffices to free us from the constraints and infirmities of monetary sovereignty. It merely replaces a set of national fiat monies with a pair of (or perhaps several) imperial ones, with no guarantee that the imperial monetary authorities will continue to manage them in even a relatively responsible way.
In pleading for “The End of National Currency” in mid-2007, Steil could dare to pin his hopes, and to ask us to pin our own, on the U.S. government’s willingness to “perpetuate the sound money policies of former Federal Reserve Chairs Paul Volcker and Alan Greenspan and return to fiscal discipline.”[7] Surely neither he nor Hinds can do that any longer.
References:
1. George Selgin, “Steam, Hot Air, and Small Change: Matthew Boulton and the Reform of Britain’s Coinage,” _Economic History Review_ 56 (3) (August 2003), pp. 478-509.
2. Milton Friedman, “The Resource Cost of Irredeemable Paper Money,” _Journal of Political Economy_ 94 (3) (June 1986), pp. 642-47.
3. For a correct account of the resource costs of a gold standard with fiduciary money see Lawrence H. White, _The Theory of Monetary Institutions_ (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), pp. 42-49.
4. Lawrence White, _Free Banking in Britain: Theory, Experience, and Debate, 1800-1845_, second edition, London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 1995.
5. See, for example, Eric Helleiner and Emily Gilbert, eds., _Nation-States and Money: The Past, Present and Future of National Currencies_, London: Routledge, 1999.
6. For references see Kurt Schuler’s Currency Board and Dollarization website, .
7. Benn Steil, “The End of National Currency,”_Foreign Affairs_, 83 (3) (May/June), p. 96.
George Selgin is the author of _Good Money: Birmingham Button Makers, the Royal Mint, and the Beginnings of Modern Coinage, 1775-1821_ (University of Michigan Press, 2008).
Copyright (c) 2009 by . All rights reserved. This work may be copied for non-profit educational uses if proper credit is given to the author and the list. For other permission, please contact the Administrator (administrator@). Published by (November 2009). All reviews are archived at .
CHINA’S THREE DECADES OF ECONOMIC REFORMS, Ed. Xiaohui Liu and Wei Zhang, Routledge, 2010. ISBN: 978-0-415-49600-1; 301 pages.
Reviewed by Sara Hsu, St. Edward’s University
China’s Three Decades of Economic Reforms has its strong points, but first one has to get past the 9-point font and the steep price tag (between $100 and $155). The typeset is very difficult to read. In addition, the book is a collection of papers from the 19th annual Chinese Economic Association conference in 2008, and reads more like a collection of papers than a seamless volume. Although the title led me to believe that I could use portions of the book in my post-reform Chinese economy class, I found that the chapters are on very specific and advanced topics, not all of them having to do with reforms, and not suitable for teaching at the undergraduate level.
The chapters are on a range of narrow topics, from entry behavior of foreign banks to mergers and acquisitions in the electricity industry. Some chapters are heterodox in nature, such as those on inequality, while others are orthodox, such as those on knowledge spillovers. The chapters, which read like journal articles, are of varying content quality and usefulness in research. They are all well edited but not all well chosen.
However, there are several standout articles that were a joy to read and may provide an
excellent reference for researchers. These include Liao Shen and Weyman-Jones’s chapter that performs a cost-efficiency analysis on the banking industries of ten Asian countries. Not surprisingly, the authors find that China’s banking sector is less efficient than that of Hong Kong or Singapore, but the analysis itself is worthwhile in terms of quantifying China’s banking malaise. Another excellent read is Flassbeck and La Marca’s chapter on the specter of external adjustment failure and cross-currency speculation, which is a strong contribution to the debate over whether or not China should float its currency. The authors do not recommend floating but rather a cooperative global monetary system.
Also of quality is Dai and Liu’s chapter on international knowledge spillovers, which empirically examines the effect that returning entrepreneurs have on Chinese high-tech small and medium enterprises. This is a topic that has been little studied but that the authors are able to empirically test, with information on whether firm owners are returnees with commercial or educational experience in an OECD country. Fung Kwan’s chapter that quantifies surplus labor in rural areas is a fascinating look at the existence of unemployed or underemployed labor outside major cities and the eastern coastal region. This is a serious problem that varies by province. And finally, Sutherland and Ning’s look at business concentration in various Chinese industries is an important contribution to business development theory. The authors find that there is relatively small contribution among China’s biggest groups to industry consolidation.
Other chapters are interesting but, dare I say, not as innovative as the chapters listed above. Although these other chapters may be good references as standalone articles, the editors might have done better to replace some of the chapters with background articles for the more innovative sections, if not only to provide more continuity throughout the book. Despite the fact that the book is partly redeemed by five original chapters, it is a difficult read for the tiny font and lack of continuity.
Socialist Standard
|Book Reviews |
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|Che in power |
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|Che Guevara and the Economic Debate in Cuba. By Luiz Bernardo Pericás. Atropos. New York, 2009 |
| |
| Guevara’s cult status rests on the fact that he was a martyr to his cause, fighting to free the poor in the Third World from oppression |
|and exploitation (by US imperialism). Pericás probably thinks he is enhancing Guevara’s image in describing what he did when he was a |
|member of the Cuban government from 1959 to 1965, two years before he met his death in Bolivia. In fact he reveals what would have happened|
|in the event of the guerrilla-led peasant insurrections that Guevara championed triumphing. |
| |
| In Cuba Guevara was successively head of the National Bank and Minister of Industry. As such he played a key role in the construction of |
|state capitalism in Cuba, even though he thought he was constructing “socialism” as a step towards the moneyless “communist” society that |
|he seems to have genuinely wanted. According to Andrew Sinclair in Guevara, “he dreamed of the single wage-scale in which everybody would |
|earn the same wage or would earn according to needs until money could be abolished altogether”. This may have been his longer-term dream |
|but equal wages was not what he introduced when he was Minister of Industry. |
| |
| The policy the Cuban government pursued (made all the more necessary by the US embargo) was to industrialise the country on the same sort|
|of lines as Russia had done, putting in place the same structures: a one-party state, state enterprises, integration of the trade unions |
|into the state. a harsh labour discipline banning strikes, imposing labour passbooks and severely punishing absenteeism. As can be seen |
|from this book, Guevara implemented and justified all these things. Hardly freedom from oppression and exploitation. The same thing |
|happened in Vietnam. |
| |
| Pericás’s book details the discussions that went on while Guevara was a member of the Cuban government and amounts to an economic history|
|of Cuba during this period. |
| |
|ALB |
|[pic] |
| |
|Conspiraloons |
| |
|Voodoo Histories: The Role of the Conspiracy Theory in Shaping Modern History. By David Aaronovitch, published by Jonathan Cape, 2009 |
| |
| Perhaps the most disastrous of all conspiracy theories is the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. This is largely based on a book written by|
|a Parisian lawyer in the 1860s as a satire on Napoleon III. It was altered later in the nineteenth century by a Russian secret policeman to|
|depict a Jewish conspiracy to take over the world. The man who popularised the Protocols around the world was the capitalist Henry Ford. |
|Published by Ford's publishing house in the 1920s (along with other anti-semitic literature), subsidised with five million dollars, it sold|
|half a million copies in the US alone. After mounting complaints about his anti-semitism Ford recanted and apologised, but Adolf Hitler saw|
|him as a hero and the Protocols formed the basis of his world-view in his manifesto Mein Kampf. The rest, as they say, is history. |
|Aaronovitch thoroughly demolishes this conspiracy theory, as he does with the alleged conspiracies in Stalin's show trials, McCarthyism, |
|the deaths of President Kennedy, Marilyn Monroe, Diana, the story underpinning Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code (in a chapter entitled “Holy |
|Blood, Holy Grail, Holy Shit”), the 9/11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon (in which some claim the Bush government were |
|complicit) and more besides. |
| |
| Aaronovitch argues that belief in conspiracy theories is harmful since it “distorts our view of history and therefore of the present” and|
|can lead to disastrous decisions. He detects a pattern in which conspiracy theories are “formulated by the politically defeated and taken |
|up by the socially defeated”. Conspiracies become an excuse to explain away a movement’s own inherent weaknesses or unpopularity by |
|attributing blame to a ruthless enemy. Aaronovitch claims that capitalism is not the cause of conspiracy theories since “[s]tate ownership |
|in Russia was no guarantee against the most fabulous of conspiracy theories”. But this mistakenly assumes that state ownership is |
|incompatible with capitalism. When President Bush effectively nationalised some financial institutions in last year's “credit crunch” this |
|was done for the benefit of American capitalism as a whole. In any case, capitalism's continued existence does not require a conspiracy or |
|a conspiracy theory. All it requires is the support, or more likely acquiescence, of the overwhelming majority in their own exploitation. |
| |
|LEW |
|[pic] |
| |
|Boom and bust |
| |
|The Trouble with Capitalism. By Harry Shutt, Zed books. |
| |
| It is easy to see why the publishers have re-issued this book that first came out in 1998 – in it Shutt argued that a devaluation of |
|capital assets could not be avoided for ever and that when it eventually did happen it would take the form of a big crash. |
| |
| Mat Little, who interviewed Shutt for Red Pepper this January, summarised what Shutt sees as the contradiction of capitalism that leads |
|to recurring business cycles of boom and bust: |
| |
|“According to Marx, capitalism is a system of accumulation. Profits are made but can’t all be consumed by owners. Extra profits need to be |
|recycled through the market. ‘The only way you can successfully recycle them is to either expand your existing business or diversify into |
|another business,’ says Shutt. ‘It all depends on the ultimate consumer, consuming more and more. It has to grow, growth is built in.’ The |
|problem is that as profits are invested into the market, generating more profits that in turn have to be reinvested, production expands |
|until it reaches a level that can no longer be absorbed by consumers. The market is glutted, and recession results. But the destruction of |
|capital and jobs creates pent-up demand for the whole process to begin again in time. That, in brief, is the business cycle.” |
|(.uk/Prophet-of-doom) |
| |
| Although Shutt does not write as a Marxist, this is one of the explanations of the capitalist business cycle put forward by some in the |
|Marxist tradition. It implies that all capitalist crises are caused by the overexpansion (in relation to paying demand) of the sector |
|producing consumer goods. But while the crash of 1929 can be explained in this way, the history of capitalism shows that the overexpansion |
|of any key sector or industry can provoke a contraction of production through a knock-on effect on the rest of the economy. |
| |
| Shutt explains the 25-year period of expansion after the end of WW2 in terms of the satisfaction of the market for affordable consumer |
|durables and the end of this post-war boom as a result of the slowing down of this market. Capitalist enterprises were thus, he says, left |
|with a ‘mountain of cash’, profits which could not be re-invested in expanding production, which he also describes as a ‘capital glut’ in |
|the sense of an oversupply of investible funds. |
| |
| What would normally happen in such a situation is that, in accordance with the law of supply and demand, capital would be devalued; |
|which a crisis would bring about, so restoring the rate of profit (because this is calculated as profit divided by the value of capital). |
|Only, according to Shutt, this did not happen on any large scale in 1974 because the authorities (governments and central banks) took steps|
|to try to stop this, by facilitating the channelling of the surplus of investible funds into non-productive activities such as lending to |
|consumers or speculation on the stock exchange or in property: |
| |
|“This massive flow of funds – which is not being allowed, as would be dictated by traditional capitalist rationale, to self-destruct |
|through the natural operation of the business cycle – has to find an outlet in more or less speculative forms of investment.” (p. 179) |
| |
| Writing in 1998 Shutt saw the various financial crises till then – the stock market crash of 1987, the Mexican debt crisis of 1994-95, |
|the financial problems of the Asian ‘tiger economies’ in 1997 – as signs that this was not sustainable and as harbingers of the Big Crash |
|to come. Now, with the bursting of the dotcom bubble in between, he sees the Crash of 2008 as the expected big one: |
| |
|“What the prolonged amassing of this huge surplus of capital cum fraud-driven credit bubble, means, according to Shutt, is the inevitable |
|crash – the inexorable end of the business cycle – is going to be far more severe that it would otherwise have been. ‘I think we are |
|looking at negative growth, for an absolute minimum of two or three years and I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s five or ten. That would be a |
|depression,’ he says.” (Red Pepper interview). |
| |
| Since our failure to foresee the post-war boom with our prediction that WW2 would most likely be followed by a slump, just as after WW1, |
|we have tended to be wary of making such predictions ourselves. So, we will just record this as the opinion of one person who has studied |
|the matter. |
| |
|ALB |
|[pic] |
| |
|Ya Basta! |
| |
|Enough. By John Naish: Hodder £7.99. |
| |
| Naish coins the word enoughism to describe the idea that most people’s material wants are satisfied, so we should not aim to consume yet |
|more. In a world where more people are obese than starving, we need to draw a limit to what we eat or otherwise buy. If you are earning the|
|median income for the country you live in, striving to earn more is unlikely to make you happier, and even the filthy rich (with over $125 |
|million) don’t feel much more contented than the average worker. Don’t try to earn more by working more, since long hours of employment are|
|bad for you. Working over 41 hours per week is likely to give you high blood pressure, while voluntary work tends to increase the life |
|span. |
| |
| It is surprising to be told that ‘In the Western world we have now effectively have everything we could possibly need’. This ignores the |
|extent of homelessness and other kinds of want that exist even in relatively prosperous societies; one child in three in Britain lives in |
|poverty, for instance. Even basic needs like food, warmth and shelter are not met for many, many people. |
| |
| But Naish does have some interesting things to say about consumer society. With many goods, we are offered not a genuine choice but a |
|whole range of trivial ‘options’ that are really all the same (whether it is a matter of shampoo or digital cameras). Cars and fashion are |
|further clear examples of where people are pressured into having the latest innovation. All-you-can-eat buffets are becoming increasingly |
|popular: though don’t they really show that people are not that well off after all, as well as how they behave in a society of scarcity |
|when the constraints are temporarily removed? |
| |
| |
|It’s unlikely that socialism will be a kind of consumer paradise, and the notion of enoughness will probably apply, since there will be no |
|profit motive to persuade people into having the latest of everything. We have no reason to think that he’s a socialist, but Naish does see|
|some of the implications of a truly human society when he writes of the need to ‘explore anew our old, nourishing and truly sustainable |
|natural human resources – qualities such as gratitude, generosity and the urge for human connection’. |
| |
|PB |
The HEN-IRE Project for Developing Heterodox Economics and Rethinking the Economy Through Debate and Dialogue
The Heterodox Economics Newsletter and The International Initiative for Rethinking the Economy (IRE), (; ) have undertaken a joint project to promote the development of heterodox economics. It involves publishing in the Newsletter reviews, analytical summaries, or commentary of articles, books, book chapters, theses, dissertations, government reports, etc. that relate to the following themes: diversity of economic approaches, regulation of goods and services, currency and finance, and trade regimes. These themes relate to heterodox economics and to the open and pluralistic intellectual debates in economics. For further information about the project and queries about reviewing, contact Fred Lee (leefs@umkc.edu).
Heterodox Graduate Program and PhD Scholarships/Positions
Graduate programs offering study in feminist economics
A small, but growing number of graduate programs around the world offer courses and concentrations in feminist economics. (Unless otherwise noted below, these offerings are in departments of economics.)
▪ American University
▪ School of Public Policy and Administration at Carleton University
▪ Colorado State University
▪ Institute of Social Studies
▪ Gender Institute of the London School of Economics
▪ University of Massachusetts-Amherst
▪ The Public Policy program at the University of Massachusetts-Boston
▪ University of Nebraska-Lincoln
▪ The New School for Social Research
▪ University of Reading
▪ Roosevelt University
▪ Department of Women's and Gender Studies at Rutgers University
▪ Discipline of Political Economy at the University of Sydney
▪ University of Utah
Wright State University
Heterodox Web Sites and Blog Sites
Real-World Economics Review Blog
The real-world economics review now has a blog at It will feature contributors, past and current, to the review. Frank Ackerman, Paul Davidson, Paul Ormerod, Kevin Gallagher, Mark Weisbrot, Steve Keen and Dean Baker have already posted. Check it out, add it to your web reader and post your comments.
Queries from or for Heterodox Economists
Heterodox Economics Archive Material
DOCUMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF HETERODOX ECONOMICS
For Your Information
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Economic Crisis Hits States and Municipalities
Rick Wolff
Crises expose the system's irrationalities and wasteful resource allocations. For example, Madoff and his many, smaller imitators reveal the tips of corruption icebergs. More important, the crisis-induced fiscal emergencies looming in most of the 50 states demonstrate several absurdities in our economic system.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) in Washington, DC monitors and calculates the gap between the fifty states' tax revenues and expenditures. The following recent CBPP chart compares the total state budget shortfalls in both the last recession and the current one. Today's record shortfalls measure how many billions states will need to raise in additional taxes or cut their expenditures (or combinations of both) in this and coming years.
At a time of crisis, while the federal government injects unprecedented stimulus (tax cuts and expenditure increases) into the U.S. economy, the fifty states are doing the opposite. State tax hikes and expenditure reductions will continue to undermine or slow any recovery. Moreover, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Obama's stimulus program) has offset only modest portions of the states' fiscal budget shortfalls for
2009 and 2010. The CBPP estimates that the worst of the budget crisis will hit states in 2011 and 2012. The carnage will total a huge net $260-billion even after allowing for the federal stimulus funds still available then to flow to states. Another way of putting this is to note that the just released third quarter (Q3) of 2009 Gross Domestic Product (GDP) number was lower than it would have been without the depressing effect of the fifty states' tax hikes and expenditure cuts. We saw states and municipalities spend 1.1% less in Q3 than they had in Q2, despite rising need.
State taxes are generally more regressive than the federal income tax and so fall relatively harder on middle and lower income groups. Likewise, state expenditures tend more immediately to impact those same groups since they include major supports for public education and myriad social programs. The negative economic effect of the states' fiscal crises will heavily impact the mass of U.S. citizens already angered by high unemployment and foreclosure rates as they observe trillions of bailout dollars flowing to banks and corporations ‘too big to fail.’
Continue reading:
Big Tobacco Strikes Back at Historian in Court
He has criticized colleagues who aid companies' legal defense
[pic]
Linda A. Cicero, Stanford U.
Historians, like Stanford U.'s Robert N. Proctor, have played a key role in tobacco trials, both as expert witnesses and as consultants.Tobacco companies facing lawsuits want to prevent his appearing in court on behalf of plaintiffs.
By Peter Schmidt
A Stanford University professor who has sought to expose ties between historians and the tobacco industry is being accused in court of having broken the law in challenging the employment of four graduate students at the University of Florida as researchers assisting tobacco companies in litigation.
In motions filed in two Florida state courts last month, tobacco-company lawyers allege that Robert N. Proctor, a professor of the history of science at Stanford, engaged in illegal witness tampering and witness harassment in having the students put under pressure to cease working as paid researchers for a historian aiding the tobacco companies as an expert witness.
The motions, filed in connection with two personal-injury lawsuits against the companies, ask the courts to bar Mr. Proctor from serving as an expert witness for the plaintiffs. Such an outcome could badly hurt their prospects of success and could jeopardize the Stanford scholar's role as one of the nation's leading experts testifying for people suing tobacco companies.
Mr. Proctor already had been involved in a bitter legal battle with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company over its efforts to force him to hand over an unfinished manuscript on the tobacco industry. That dispute has potentially major legal implications for publishers and scholars, pitting the professor's interest in retaining sole possession of a work in progress against the tobacco company's interest in obtaining whatever information it needs to defend itself in court.
Related Content
• Timeline: Getting Burned for Putting the Heat on Tobacco
Enlarge Photo [pic]
Ray Carson, U. of Florida
Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis, a professor at the U. of Florida, was intensively questioned by tobacco lawyers about her role in graduate students' work for the companies.
[pic][pic]
Ray Carson, U. of Florida
Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis, a professor at the U. of Florida, was intensively questioned by tobacco lawyers about her role in graduate students' work for the companies.
The new battle over the Stanford scholar's interactions with the University of Florida raises a fresh set of thorny questions: What are the ethical obligations of professional historians who earn extra income as expert witnesses? What responsibilities do colleges have to guide or limit the outside employment of their graduate students?
The stakes are high enough that both Florida and Stanford have received subpoenas ordering them to turn over e-mail messages between Mr. Proctor and the Florida professor that he contacted with his concerns about the students' work. And those two scholars, along with a third professor, from the University of Southern Mississippi, who gave Mr. Proctor the graduate students' names, have been deposed by lawyers for tobacco companies for hours of intense questioning about their exchanges.
For his part, Mr. Proctor describes his discussions with the Florida faculty member—Vassiliki Betty Smocovitis, a professor of the history of science with joint appointments in the history and biology departments—as "legitimate scholarly inquiry into the participation of historians in litigation."
"I was simply raising an ethical issue that she might want to discuss," Mr. Proctor says. He argues that he is the real victim of witness harassment: "The tobacco industry can't win on the basis of evidence, and now they are resorting to bullying."
Lawyers for the tobacco companies either did not return calls from The Chronicle or declined to offer comment beyond what is contained in their court filings. Both of the motions to have Mr. Proctor prevented from testifying—one filed by R.J. Reynolds, the other jointly filed by R.J. Reynolds and Philip Morris USA—accuse him of trying to undermine the companies' legal defense by acting through Ms. Smocovitis to threaten the students with public criticism in their field if they continued their part-time research work. His actions are part of a pattern of improper behavior he has engaged in "due to an uncontrolled zeal to win," the companies argue.
A Lucrative Sideline
The depositions taken from Mr. Proctor and from Louis M. Kyriakoudes, the associate professor of history at Southern Mississippi who provided him with the students' names, offer a glimpse of how historians' involvement in tobacco litigation has stirred controversy in the field.
Since the late 1980s, historians have played a key role in tobacco trials, both as expert witnesses and as consultants to lawyers. Lawsuits against the tobacco companies often hinge on two historical questions: At the time the plaintiff began smoking, did the tobacco companies know with certainty that cigarettes caused disease and death? And did the plaintiff have enough information about the dangers of smoking to be seen as having willingly assumed whatever risks were involved with lighting up?
Mr. Proctor, author of Cancer Wars: How Politics Shapes What We Know and Don't Know About Cancer (Basic Books, 1995), and Mr. Kyriakoudes, who is working on a history of tobacco use in the 20th century, are among only a handful of historians who serve as expert witnesses on behalf of plaintiffs in tobacco cases. Both have been highly critical of the much larger group of historians who do work for the other side.
In a commentary published in the medical journal The Lancet in 2004, Mr. Proctor said many historians who testify on behalf of tobacco companies have little peer-reviewed expertise on that industry, and he accused some of providing inaccurate accounts on the stand. Such historians "are playing a dangerous game" ethically, he argued, because their research is confined to those areas where the industry is seen in a favorable light. Describing how two historians at other universities had earned several hundred thousand dollars as expert witnesses for tobacco companies, he asked if the leading academic journals in the field should adopt policies requiring contributors to disclose such sources of funds, similar to the policies in place at medical journals.
In a 2006 article printed in Tobacco Control, a publication of the British Medical Journal Publishing Group, Mr. Proctor provided lists that he and Mr. Kyriakoudes compiled of 36 historians who had been expert witnesses for the American tobacco industry, and 21 other historians who had consulted for the industry and its lawyers. For his part, Mr. Kyriakoudes argued in a 2006 Tobacco Control article that many historians offering testimony on behalf of tobacco companies have ignored incriminating evidence in the companies' own internal records.
Several of the tobacco-company witnesses named in Mr. Proctor's articles did not return calls seeking comment. One of the scholars, John C. Burnham, a professor of history at Ohio State University, argued in a 2004 letter to The Lancet that his work had been on behalf of the law firms representing tobacco companies, not the companies themselves, and that such research is necessarily limited by the practical need to focus testimony on certain factual questions. He also said the disclosure policies suggested by Mr. Proctor are impractical because many historians acting as consultants to lawyers are bound by legal confidentiality not to disclose such work.
Mr. Burnham's letter noted that historians serving as expert witnesses for the other side are also compensated.
(In their recent depositions, Mr. Proctor acknowledged having earned about $500,000 for his expert-witness work for tobacco-case plaintiffs, and Mr. Kyriakoudes said he had made about $75,000 in connection with Florida tobacco cases in the first eight months of 2009.)
For its part, the American Historical Association says historians should disclose sources of financial support for published research. But it has not adopted standards for the work they do as paid expert witnesses or consultants to law firms—whether in tobacco litigation or in other cases, such as those involving civil-rights issues or treaties between the U.S. government and Native American tribes.
In an interview last month, William Cronon, a professor of history, geography, and environmental studies at the University of Wisconsin at Madison who formerly led the association's division dealing with professional issues, said he suspected that historians were ambivalent about such questions because many of those who worked as paid expert witnesses found it to be an important source of extra income. "Historians don't get very much money for what they do," he said.
'No End of Trouble'
The historian who hired the University of Florida graduate students is Gregg L. Michel, an associate professor of history at the University of Texas at San Antonio whose chief research interest is the South after World War II. He had been hired by the Jones Day law firm to serve as an expert witness for the defense in a lawsuit against R.J. Reynolds in a state circuit court in Florida's Escambia County. His work for the firm involved offering testimony on how much someone in Pensacola, Fla., would have known about the risks of smoking in past decades.
In April 2008, Mr. Michel asked J. Matthew Gallman, a professor of history at Florida who was coordinator of graduate students for his department, to post on a departmental e-mail list a notice offering part-time work to doctoral students or recent Ph.D.'s. Mr. Michel eventually hired four graduate students, all of whom, as it happened, were among those in the history department earning the least from teaching assistantships. (See timeline.)
The Chronicle has chosen not to identify the students by name unless they agreed to be interviewed on the record, which none did. One of the four said their assignment involved going through old copies of Pensacola newspapers and copying and indexing any articles with certain keywords, such as "tobacco," "cigarettes," "lung cancer," and "emphysema."
Experts on graduate education contacted by The Chronicle were divided on whether Mr. Gallman or the students' advisers had any obligation to counsel the students on the wisdom of taking on such work.
Mr. Cronon, of Wisconsin, says mentors should advise their students of the possible long-term professional consequences of any employment they accept. Allan M. Brandt, dean of Harvard University's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, who himself has been an expert witness against tobacco companies, similarly says the four students should have been counseled to think carefully about getting involved in such litigation. Such work "has reputational significance," he says, "and it also has sociopolitical significance."
But Steven M. Cahn, a professor of philosophy at the City University of New York's Graduate Center who has written extensively on academic ethics, says he believes students have the right as citizens to take on such outside work without interference from their advisers. "The adviser is not in the role of a parent, and the adviser does not set the ethical requirements and bounds of the students' life," he says.
Mr. Gallman, of Florida, says the university does not have any policy applicable to the graduate students' work for Mr. Michel. "A lot of our grad students work other jobs one way or another," he says. "I would not have claimed the authority to tell them what they can't do."
Mr. Kyriakoudes learned the names of the four students and passed them on to Mr. Proctor after Mr. Michel identified them in a deposition. Mr. Proctor then contacted Ms. Smocovitis at Florida and gave her the names of the students and their advisers in an e-mail message suggesting that the research they were involved in was "historical malpractice."
Ms. Smocovitis reported back to Mr. Proctor that her colleagues on the faculty were reacting to her concerns about the students with indifference or annoyance at her for raising them. "I'm afraid that this is a case of 'Shoot the messenger,' so I can't persist without alienating myself further," she wrote. She did not follow Mr. Proctor's advice to raise the subject at a faculty meeting.
In an affidavit, Mr. Michel said one of the students he had hired told him that the history department's chairman (Joseph F. Spillane) had led her to believe that Mr. Proctor would be publishing her name, and that she had raised concerns "about the professional ramifications" and asked "whether she should quit doing this work." Mr. Proctor has denied trying to influence the students or having intended to publish their names.
When Mr. Kyriakoudes was deposed, he suggested that Mr. Proctor's interactions with the Florida history department were, if nothing else, a tactical mistake. He said, "This whole business of getting involved in a department's activities like this is just—it's caused no end of trouble."
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Off the Shelf
An Old Master, Back in Fashion
By DEVIN LEONARD
Published: October 31, 2009
BY the time he died in 1946, the economist John Maynard Keynes had become that rarest of creatures in his profession: a celebrity. The most powerful leaders in the free world subscribed to his theory that markets were driven by emotions and that in moments of crisis, governments could calm investors by doling out stimulus money.
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Associated Press
New books re-examine the life and theories of John Maynard Keynes.
Related
Times Topics: John Maynard Keynes
When Keynes and his wife, Lydia, arrived in New York aboard the Queen Mary in 1943, they were mobbed by photographers. Even the paparazzi seemed to understand that his prescription had helped countries on both sides of the Atlantic recover from the Depression.
Three decades later, though, the same ideas were consigned to the dustbin when world leaders swooned over Milton Friedman and his disciples at the University of Chicago. They preached that markets were inherently self-regulating and that government intervention would only muck things up. Their laissez-faire views were more suitable for the rise of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher.
Now the old master is once again in vogue. After the financial markets blew up last year, governments around the world swiftly enacted Keynesian stimulus packages. Almost as rapidly, three longtime Keynes chroniclers have produced books that try to explain who he was and what he believed.
The British historian Peter Clarke has written the liveliest of the three, called “Keynes: The Rise, Fall, and Return of the 20th Century’s Most Influential Economist” (Bloomsbury Press, 211 pages). Mr. Clarke, a former history professor at Cambridge and the author of two previous books about his subject, serves up a gossipy account of Keynes’s personal life.
There is rich material here. Even if Keynes had not altered the course of economic thinking with his path-breaking “General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money” in 1936, he would still be remembered for the company he kept. He belonged to the Bloomsbury group, the London literary set whose members included Virginia Woolf and E. M. Forster.
Keynes shared their passion for dazzling prose and their predilection for sexual experimentation. Mr. Clarke writes that Keynes had numerous dalliances with other men and kept a list of his many conquests. Later, however, he married the glamorous Russian ballerina Lydia Lopokova.
Mr. Clarke says their union was happy.
“Its manifest success owed much to Lydia’s uninhibited sensuality, not least in removing Maynard’s feelings of sexual insecurity,” Mr. Clarke explains. “Their failure of have children was not for want of trying.”
The historian’s prose sparkles, and his book is the place to begin if you want to understand the economist’s personality and charisma. But Mr. Clarke’s focus on Keynes the man means that his account of Keynes the economist suffers. You finish this slim volume without knowing what he stood for and why he remains so significant.
Paul Davidson, an economics professor at the University of Tennessee and editor of the Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, does a better job of this in “The Keynes Solution: The Path to Global Economic Prosperity” (Palgrave Macmillan, 196 pages). A true believer, Mr. Davidson lays out Keynesianism in easy-to-understand language and makes a strong case that it is just as relevant today.
There are some doubters who fear that Keynesian spending is dangerous because it produces unbalanced budgets. Mr. Davidson responds that deficits in times of crisis lead to prosperity when the economy recovers.
“As a child of the Depression and a young teenager during World War II, I have never felt burdened by huge government deficits,” he writes. “The great generation who were adults during those years left their children a legacy of abundance and prosperity.”
Mr. Davidson argues that the Chicago gang’s belief that investors can calculate future risk by using prophetic mathematic models is more frightening. Who can argue with that after last year’s debacle?
The most tantalizing part of the “The Keynes Solution,” however, is the appendix, entitled “Why Keynes’s Ideas Were Never Taught in American Universities.” Mr. Davidson writes about how the work of one of his fellow Keynesians was attacked by William F. Buckley Jr. in the 1950s and how other peers watered down Keynes’s teachings to avoid similar controversy.
Robert Skidelsky, Keynes’s pre-eminent biographer, has produced the most satisfying post-crash analysis of the economist in “Keynes: The Return of the Master” (PublicAffairs, 220 pages).
An emeritus professor of political economics at the University of Warwick in England, Mr. Skidelsky is scornful of economists who, he believes, practice a “fundamentally regressive discipline.” He argues that Keynes was different because he was a moralist who believed the field could be used to improved people lives.
What’s more, the biographer says Keynes was hardly the quasi-socialist that right-wing critics would have us believe even today.
The author says that Keynes would have been troubled by the United States’ longstanding policy of running deficits even in prosperous times and that he opposed tax rates higher than 25 percent. The book adds that Keynes shared the Friedman view that governments could stabilize prices by limiting the money supply.
Mr. Skidelsky is pessimistic about the financial industry reforms that are taking shape in the United States and England. He fears that regulators and banks will continue to use “mathematical financial models for measuring and continue risk which promise more than they can deliver.”
If that’s true, the recent wave of Keynesian stimulus spending could be for naught. But then, it’s too much to expect Keynes to save us now. What the world really needs are more farsighted economists who can capture the public’s attention as he did in his day. Where is the next John Maynard Keynes?
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Mathematicians Against Free Trade
BACKGROUND
In 1999, more than 40,000 loosely affiliated protesters gathered in Seattle beneath a banner reading “Fair Trade Not Free Trade.” The resulting “Battle in Seattle” was front-page news for more than a week, and forced the mainstream media to concede—however briefly and reluctantly—that free trade inflicts severe hardship on both people and nations.
The free trade lobby responds that, however much harm the policy may do, the benefits exceed the costs. Unable to support that dubious claim with credible estimates, the lobby substitutes “expert testimony” to the effect that the asserted inequality has been be “proven mathematically,” and is therefore as indisputable as Hölder’s or Jensen’s. Blinded by such erudition, policy and opinion makers no longer deem tried and true alternatives to free trade worthy of consideration by Congress and/or the World Trade Organization. Hence the need for mathematical input to the next round of policy debates about globalization and trade. Who better to explain how utterly irrelevant is mathematical proof in situations devoid of self-evident—or even carefully chosen—hypotheses to argue from, and of hard data against which to test the eventual conclusions?
We at Mathematicians Against Free Trade urge our colleagues to acquaint themselves with the cases both for and against free trade, before deciding which if either cause deserves support in the coming debates. To get them started, a brief tutorial is posted on this web site, along with a reading list for further study.
Online Petition for Tougher Financial Regulation in Europe:
The global financial crisis is affecting every aspect of our lives, threatening jobs, savings, pensions and public services everywhere.
Today’s crisis is not just another economic downturn. We are living through a systemic crisis, which has had devastating consequences across the globe: a crisis in the unregulated global financial market system that sacrificed long-term investment, jobs, wages, environment and the well being of the planet and its people, for the benefit of a minority. This crisis must be the trigger for a wholesale reform of the global economic order. We have an opportunity to transform the financial status quo. A new paradigm is needed which privileges sustainable development and social justice, not profit for profit’s sake.
Financial reform: Europe is not on the right track!
The financial reforms which have recently been undertaken in Europe are fragmented and have limited scope. EU proposals so far are limited and fall short of what is needed to shape a sound financial system. There is an obvious lack of political will, and some recent short term improvements on financial markets are being used by certain European leaders to avoid legislation, and go back to “business as usual”. That will only lead to increased job losses and new crises. It is simply unacceptable to put citizens at further risk. We must stop this.
Let’s take action!
It’s time for citizens around Europe to raise our voices and demand that the fundamental causes of this crisis be addressed -- we need tough rules to stop the financiers’ folly, and a new framework that better serves the public interest. The unregulated global financial market and economy must be subject to fair and transparent global governance. EU governments and the European institutions must put social justice and a new respect for the planet at the forefront of the debate on financial reform. That’s why it’s so important for Europeans to join forces for financial reform.
Europeans for financial reform
Europeans for financial reform is a coalition of progressive forces, ranging from NGOs to Trade Unions, citizens, academics and progressive politicians, that have come together to spearhead a campaign for real reform in our banking and financial system. The campaign was launched on September 21st 2009, and the coalition is growing, with new members joining our campaign every day ().
We are committed to a common goal: reforming the financial markets, so that they serve the real economy and jobs. The crisis has shown how the financial sector became divorced from the needs of the real economy and real value creation. Radical reform of the financial sector is now of fundamental importance if we want to re-establish its proper role at the service of citizens and businesses and prevent such a crisis ever happening again.
Lending must support the real economy
By Dirk Bezemer
Published: November 4 2009 22:21 | Last updated: November 4 2009 22:21
[pic]Economists have been mulling over the shape financial reforms should take. Robert Shiller wrote on these pages in defence of “financial democracy”, arguing that a wide range of financial products allows everyone to access liquidity and insure against risk. A week earlier in The New York Times, Paul Krugman pinpointed the way bankers are paid as the focal point of reforms. The problem with these discussions is that they introduce red herrings. Dear top economists, the problem is debt. Any solution that sidesteps this is a non-starter.
As I wrote in the FT last month, the crisis and recession were not all that difficult to predict once you started to look at the flow of funds – at credit and debt – and at the financial sector as separate from the real economy. Following the same logic, it should now be fairly uncontroversial what our long-term aim in financial reform is. It is to redirect lending away from bloating the financial sector and towards supporting the real economy, rather than loading it down with debt.
In the 1980-2007 era of cheap credit and deregulation, banks had every incentive to move from real-economy projects, yielding a profit, towards lending against rising asset prices, yielding a capital gain. In the 1990s and 2000s, loan volumes rose to unprecedented levels, supporting global assets booms in property, derivatives and the carry trade. The share of lending by US banks to the US financial sector – instead of to the real economy – went from 60 per cent of the outstanding loan stock in 1980 (up from 50 per cent in the 1950s) to more than 80 per cent in 2007.
But the price was growing indebtedness. Profit and capital gains may look much the same to the individual bank – a stream of revenues – but they have different macroeconomic consequences. Lending to the real sector is self-amortising: it creates a debt, but also the value-added to repay principal and interest. Such loans enlarge the economy in proportion to the debts created and are financially sustainable. By contrast, loans to create or buy financial assets and instruments are not, by themselves, self-amortizing. In a credit boom, successive owners may sell the asset at a profit, but their buyers will have to shoulder proportionally more debt in order to acquire the asset, balanced (for the time being) by the asset’s value. Asset trading may be individually profitable; but it is a zero sum game, sustainable only if the real economy furnishes enough money to support the rising debt burden. Beyond a point, the lure of capital gains diverts funds from real-sector investment, and households’ rising debt-service cuts demand for real-sector output. In both ways, excessive growth of financial asset markets is self-defeating.
This logic may be traced in the statistics (all figures from the Bureau of Economic Analysis). The US stock of loans to the real sector (as a proportion of gross domestic product) has remained roughly constant since the 1980s. In contrast, loans by US banks to other US banks have grown from 2.5 times GDP in 1980 to a factor of 5.8 in 2007 – all attributable to growth in loans to the financial sector. The US financial sector was over three times larger in 2007 compared with 1980.
Credit flowing into asset markets created a debt overhead while the real economy’s capacity to pay the debt declined. Demand for the real sector’s output also suffered as US households by 2007 were paying over a fifth of their after-tax, disposable income to the financial sector in debt servicing and financial fees. The US had become an economy trying to drive with the brakes on. The real-sector recession, after the 2007 financial crisis, occurred because the real economy had become overly dependent on continued lending against rising asset values. Those are the trends that financial reforms must curb.
A promising policy avenue is tax reform. During the asset boom of the last decades, taxes on capital gains in the US, UK and most other OECD economies have fallen sharply relative to value added tax and labour taxes. When the banks have recovered, they need a regulatory and policy climate that discourages the pursuit of capital gains for their own sake, and which favours growth of the real economy. Finance should be the economy’s handmaiden, not the other way round.
In this perspective, it is beside the point to focus on exorbitant bonuses or financial democracy. In fact, Mr Shiller’s proposal risks boosting yet again the volume of financial instruments and the debts they generate. Didn’t we once welcome credit derivatives for extending mortgage finance to the financially unreached? We forgot that such instruments need to have a basis in the real economy. Likewise, enthusiasm about the rally in asset markets (even as the real economy continued to contract) shows how widespread the confusion between the financial sector and the real economy is. The priority now is not to revitalise asset markets, but to transform a bloated and dysfunctional financial sector towards one that supports the real economy in a sustainable and cost-efficient way.
The earlier piece is at
The writer is a fellow at the Research School of the Economics and Business Department, University of Groningen
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009. You may share using our article tools.
Steelworkers Seek Job Creation via Worker-Owned Factories
Posted by carldavidson on November 4, 2009
[pic]Photo: High-tech Machine Tools from MCC
‘One Worker, One Vote:’
US Steelworkers to Experiment
with Factory Ownership,
Mondragon Style
By Carl Davidson
Beaver County Blue
Oct. 27, 2009–The United Steel Workers Union, North America’s largest industrial trade union, announced a new collaboration with the world’s largest worker-owned cooperative, Mondragon International, based in the Basque region of Spain.
News of the announcement spread rapidly throughout the communities of global justice activists, trade union militants, economic democracy and socialist organizers, green entrepreneurs and cooperative practitioners of all sorts. More than a few raised an eyebrow, but the overwhelming response was, “Terrific! How can we help?”
The vision behind the agreement is job creation, but with a new twist. Since government efforts were being stifled by the greed of financial speculators and private capital was more interested in cheap labor abroad, unions will take matters into their own hands, find willing partners, and create jobs themselves, but in sustainable businesses owned by the workers.
“We see today’s agreement as a historic first step towards making union co-ops a viable business model that can create good jobs, empower workers, and support communities in the United States and Canada,” said USW International President Leo W. Gerard. “Too often we have seen Wall Street hollow out companies by draining their cash and assets and hollowing out communities by shedding jobs and shuttering plants. We need a new business model that invests in workers and invests in communities.”
“This is a wonderful idea,” said Rick Kimbrough, a retired steelworker from Aliquippa, Pa, and a 37-year-veteran of Jones and Laughlin Steel. “Ever since they shut down our mill, I’ve always thought, ‘why shouldn’t we own them?’ If we did, they wouldn’t be running away.” J&L’s Aliquippa Works was once one of the largest steel mills in the world, but is now shutdown and largely dismantled. Much of the production moved to Brazil.
The USW partnership with Mondragon was a bold stroke. While hardly a household word in the U.S and little known in the mass media, the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (MCC) has been the mother lode of fresh ideas on economic democracy and social entrepreneurship worldwide for 50 years. Started in 1956 with five workers in a small shop making kerosene stoves, MCC today has over 100,000 worker-owners in some 260 enterprises in 40 countries. Annual sales are pegged at more than 16 billion Euros with a wide range of products–high tech machine tools, motor buses, household appliances and a chain of supermarkets. MCC also maintains its own banks, health clinics, welfare system, schools and the 4000 student Mondragon University–all worker-owned coops.
Over the past decade, there have been a handful of efforts to apply the model and methods of MCC to projects in the United States. Almost all are on a small scale–several bakeries in the Bay Area, some bookstores, and most recently, an industrial laundry and solar panel enterprise in Cleveland. In Chicago, Austin Polytechnical Academy, a new public high school in a low-income neighborhood, was inspired, in part, by Mondragon, and a group of its students recently took part in a study tour of MCC in the Basque region.
But the USW initiative, and the potential clout behind it, puts the Mondragon vision on wider terrain. An integrated chain of worker-owned enterprises that might promote a green restructuring of the U.S. economy, for instance, would not only be a powerful force in its own right. It would also have a ripple effect, likely to spur other government and private efforts to both supplement and compete with it.
The USW is proceeding cautiously. “We’ve made a commitment here,” said Rob Witherell during a recent interview at his Organizing Department’s offices in the USW Pittsburgh headquarters. “But for that reason, we want to make sure we get it right, even if it means starting slowly and on a modest scale.”
What this means at the moment, Witherell explained is that the USW is looking for viable small businesses in appropriate sectors where the current owners are interested in cashing out. The union is also searching for financial institutions with a focus on productive investment, such as cooperative banks and credit unions.
“It can get complicated,” Witherell continued. “Not only do you have to fund the buyout, but you also have to figure out how to lend workers the money to buy-in, so they can repay it at a reasonable rate over a period of time, and still make a decent living.”
The core Mondragon model was developed in the 1950s by a Roman Catholic priest, Father Jose Maria Arizmendi. It starts with a school, a credit union and a shop–all owned by workers who each had an equal share and vote. The three-in-one combination allows the cooperative to rely on its own resources for finance and training. The worker-owners cannot be fired. In regular assemblies, they hire and fire their managers, as well as set the general policies and direction of the firm. The workers themselves decide on the income spread between the lowest paid worker and the highest paid manager, which currently averages about 4.5 to one. (Compared with more than 400 to one in the U.S.) As the worker-owners accumulate resources, they can encourage the formation of new coops, indirectly through their bank and directly through their firms, and bring them into the overall structures of MCC governance. This is how they grew from one small shop to 260 enterprises in the past 50 years. Finally, if a worker-owner retires, he or she can ‘cash out,’ but the share cannot be sold. It is only available for purchase by a new worker-owner at that firm.
This last crucial point was developed by Arizmendi during the course of deep study of Catholic social theory as well as the works of Karl Marx and the English cooperativist Robert Owen. A worker-owner’s ability to sell his or her share to anyone was a flaw in Owen’s approach, Arizmendi decided, since it enabled outsiders to buy the more successful coops, turning their workers back into wage-labor, while starving the other less successful coops of resources. With Arizmendi’s new approach, only four out of the several hundred MCC coop ventures have failed during the half century since Mondragon began.
The difference between worker-owned coops Mondragon-style, and ESOPs, or Employee Stock Ownership Programs more prevalent in the U.S., has to do with legal structure and control. In an ESOP, a portion of the companies stock, ranging from a large minority bloc to 100 percent, is owned by workers but held in a trust. Its value fluctuates with the stock market and workers can get dividends as they are paid, buy more stock, or “cash out” when they retire. If they do “cash out,” they pay taxes on the closing amount, unless they roll it over into an IRA. By and large, ESOPs are financial instruments and do not automatically lead to worker control over the workplace or a role in shaping the firm’s capital strategies. Managers are hired by the firm’s board of directors, in turn, connected to the trust.
“We have lots of experience with ESOPs,” said Gerard, “but we have found that it doesn’t take long for the Wall Street types to push workers aside and take back control. We see Mondragon’s cooperative model with ‘one worker, one vote’ ownership as a means to re-empower workers and make business accountable to Main Street instead of Wall Street.” The USW, however, will insist on at least one modification of the Mondragon model: the worker-owners will be organized into trade unions, and will sign collective bargaining agreements with the management team. This sets up a unique situation whereby unionized workers reach an agreement with themselves as a workers’ assembly and with the management team they hire.
This is not as big of a problem as it may sound. “’This is not heaven and we are not angels’ is a common phrase heard by visitors to Mondragon,” said Michael Peck, MCC’s North American delegate. Within the structure of each MCC enterprise is a ’social committee’ of the workers, which looks to their broader social concerns. But, it has also come to play the role of settling day-to-day disputes with the management team, thus serving as a de facto union. Class struggle surely continues, even in a modified form in a worker cooperative.
There are also other features unique to MCC that may or may not apply to its replication in the U.S. Father Arizmendi developed his plan as a community-based survival mechanism following the devastation of the Spanish Civil War and World War Two. He was imprisoned under Franco. The Basque region, a center of anti-Franco resistance, was not only in economic ruin, but was also punished by the Franco government by being denied resources. MCC evolved through self-reliance.
Under Spanish law, because the MCC worker-owners are not technically wage-labor, but get their income from a share of the profits, they are excluded from much of the country’s social welfare safety net pertaining to workers. MCC responded by organizing and funding it’s own ’second degree’ cooperatives–health care clinics, retirement plans, schools and other social services, all cooperatively owned with their own worker assemblies. Much of this integrated second-degree structure may not be required in the U.S. Here, it may make more sense for worker-owned enterprises to form local or regional collaboratives and stakeholder arrangements with county government, credit unions, community colleges and technical high schools, and other nonprofit agencies.
What’s in the partnership for Mondragon? Josu Ugarte, President of Mondragron Internacional declared: “What we are announcing today represents a historic first–combining the world’s largest industrial worker cooperative with one of the world’s most progressive and forward-thinking manufacturing unions to work together so that our combined know-how and complimentary visions can transform manufacturing practices in North America. We feel inspired to take this step based on our common set of values with the Steelworkers who have proved time and again that the future belongs to those who connect vision and values to people and put all three first.”
Along with its core values and unique ownership structure, MCC is still a business producing goods and providing services in markets, anchored in Spain but reaching across the globe. It seeks to sustain itself and grow, although it is not driven by the same ‘expand or die’ compulsion of traditional corporate or privately owned firms. Adding more worker-owners simply gives each worker a smaller slice of a bigger pie. There’s no removed batch of nonproducing stockholders raking in superprofits, or trading their stock speculatively as it rises or falls.
MCC firms still compete with traditional rivals for customers in the marketplace, and thus are always seeking a competitive edge. MCC enterprises, for example, are mainly known for high quality products. But when this is combined with a fact of self-management, that they have far fewer supervisory layers on the payroll, the higher quality products hit the marketplaces with a lower price. This puts MCC on the leading edge of Spain’s economy.
MCC also looks for other advantages, such as horizontal integration and securing competitive sources of supply. This is why it has cautiously been expanding abroad, buying up supply firms or other complimentary businesses, and seeking to reshape them into the MCC cooperative structure. Often, however, they run into difficulties, where another country’s laws treat cooperatives with disadvantages.
That is not the case in the U.S., where even though industrial coops are not common, there are few undue restrictions on their formation. “As we look for firms to purchase,” said Witherell, “MCC is not just interested in buying up companies and having the workers as employees. It’s the MCC rep that’s always pushing on how readily we can convert to worker ownership.”
The Mondragon initiative is not the first innovative project of the Steelworkers seeking wider allies. With the encouragement of International President Leo Gerard, following on the anti-WTO street battles in Seattle in the 1990s, the USW helped found the Blue-Green Alliance together with the Sierra Club and other environmentalists. It has worked closely with Van Jones and ‘Green for All’s jobs initiatives and the union plays a major role in the ongoing annual ‘Good Jobs, Green Jobs’ conferences. Most recently, the USW was a major participant in the week-long series of events making the oppositional case at the G20 events in Pittsburgh.
For Gerard and the USW, these alliances are matters of utmost practicality and survival. Gerard points out that 40,000 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. have closed since the onset of the 2007 economic crisis, throwing 2 million people out of work. His answer is structural reform in the economy along the lines of a ‘green industrial revolution’ and to fund it with a tax of speculative capital’s financial transfers, known as the ‘Tobin Tax.’
“Americans going green–manufacturing windmills and solar cells–would benefit both the economy and environment,” said Gerard in a Campaign for America’s Future article. “As the Wall Street debacle that pushed this country into the Great Recession last year showed, the United States cannot depend on trading in obscure financial products to support its economy. To survive, America must be able to manufacture products of intrinsic value that can be traded here and internationally.” He often notes that there are 200 tons of steel and 8000 moving parts in every large wind turbine–a concept that is never lost on the unemployed and under-employed manufacturing workers that hear it.
The same point is not lost on small and medium-sized businesses looking for orders from new endeavors. This is where green entrepreneurs can form alliances with worker-owned cooperatives, trade unions, living wage job advocates and the global justice movement. The key question is whether the political will and organizational skill can be brought together to make it all happen in a way that most enhances the strength and livelihood of the working class.
Here is where the ball returns to the court of left organizers and solidarity economy activists. Lending a helping hand to the new initiative entails a good deal of investigation into the state of local businesses and conditions, plus building alliances, generating publicity, and contributing educational work among all those concerned. It’s not crowded, and there’s a lot to be done.
[Carl Davidson writes for Beaver County Blue and . He is a national board member of the Solidarity Economy Network and a national co-chair of Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. If you like this article, make use of the PayPal button on ]
Ssangyong Motors Strike in South Korea Ends in Defeat and Heavy Repression
Loren Goldner
The Ssangyong Motor Company strike and plant occupation in Pyeongtaek, South Korea, ended after 77 days on Aug. 5. For the 976 workers who seized the small auto plant on May 22 and held it against repeated quasi-military assault, the settlement signed by Ssangyong court receivership manager Park Young-tae and local union president Han Sang-kyun represented a near-total defeat. Worse still, the surrender was followed by detention and interrogation of dozens of strikers by police, possibly to be followed by felony charges, as well by a massive ($45 million) lawsuit against the Korean Metal Workers' Union and probable further lawsuits against individual strikers for damages incurred during the strike. The hard-right Korean government of Lee Myong Bak is signaling with these measures-its latest and most dramatic "take no prisoners" victory over popular protest in the past year and a half-- its intention to steamroller any potential future resistance to its unabashed rule on behalf of big capital.
The Ssangyong strike echoed in many ways the dynamic seen in the recent Visteon struggle in the UK and in battles over auto industry restructuring around the world. Involving, on the other hand, an outright factory seizure and occupation, and subsequent violent defense of the plant against the police, thugs and scabs, it was the first struggle of its kind in South Korea for years. Its defeat-one in a long series of defeats extending over years-does not bode well for future resistance.
Ssangyong Motor Company was taken over three years ago by China's Shanghai Automotive Industry Corporation, which holds 51% ownership. At the time, the Pyeongtaek plant (located about 45 minutes from Seoul) had 8700 employees; by the time of the strike, it had only 7000. In February the company filed for bankruptcy, proposing a restructuring and offering the Pyeongtaek plant as collateral for further loans to re-emerge from bankruptcy. The court approved the bankruptcy plan, pending adequate layoffs to make the company profitable again.
The management strategy seems to have been a long-term whittling down of personnel combined with acquisition of technology for operations in China. Since the Shanghai Automotive takeover, there has been no new investment at Ssangyong Motors, and no new car model launched. (Korean prosecutors have raised questions over the legality of the technology transfer to China, since the technology in question was developed with Korean government subsidies, but to date no legal action has been taken.) In December 2008 there was also a brief job action protesting this technology transfer.
Following the decision of the bankruptcy court, workers at the plant responded in April with warning strikes against pending layoffs. This evolved on May 22 into a full strike, plant takeover and occupation by 1700 workers when the list of workers to be laid off was announced. The strike focused on three main demands: 1) no layoffs 2) no casualization and 3) no outsourcing. The company wanted to force 1700 workers into early retirement and has fired 300 casuals.
The Ssangyong workers are organized in the Korean Metal Workers Union (KMWU) and have worked an average of 15-20 years in the factory. A regular worker earns a base pay of approximately 30,000,000 won (currently ca. $25,000) per year; a casual earns about 15,000,000 for the same work. (In Korea, the base pay is only part of the salary, which includes benefits -for regular workers-as well as significant overtime paid at a higher rate, often 10 hours a week and accepted, or even desired, by most workers as a necessary income supplement.)
As of mid-June, about 1000 workers were continuing the occupation, with wives and families providing food. About 5000 workers not slated for layoff stayed at home, and about 1000 supervisory staff scabbed, mainly maintaining machines, though no cars were produced once the occupation began.
There was in the early weeks little mass police presence in Pyeongtaek. This was due at least in part to the ongoing political crisis in South Korea following the recent suicide of ex-president Noh Mu Hyeon and subsequent large-scale demonstrations expressing growing outrage against the current right-wing government of Lee Myong Bak. The Lee government, elected in December 2007 on a program of high economic growth and already somewhat discredited by repeated blatant measures in favor of the wealthy and by the world crisis, was initially taken aback by the depth of outrage revealed in demonstrations mobilizing up to one million people. After the unleashing of riot police following Noh's funeral provoked further outrage and brought more people to the streets, the government was at first unwilling to risk further disenchantment by an early assault on the Pyeongtaek factory.
On June 16, a large anti-strike rally of more than 1500 people was held outside the factory gates. The rally was attended by the 1000 supervisory scabs, 200 hired thugs and 300 workers not on the layoff list and not supporting the strike. 400 riot police stood by, doing nothing, and finally declared the scab assembly illegal, apparently due to fear that the occupying workers and their supporters might attack it.
During the scab rally, about 700-800 workers from nearby factories, such as the Kia Motor company, had come to defend the Ssangyong plant, in part in response to a text message tree of the KMWU.
The occupying workers made plans for armed defense against any police attempt to recapture the plant, stocking iron pipes and Molotov cocktails. As a further fallback plan, they prepared to concentrate in the paint department, where the flammable materials (in their estimate) would dissuade the police from firing tear gas cannisters and setting off a conflagration. (This calculation did prove correct, as we shall see, but it ultimately proved of no avail.)
I spoke to one activist participating in the occupation and critical of the role of the union. In his view, the KMWU remained in control of the strike. However, in contrast to role of the unions in the Visteon struggle in the UK and in the dismantling of the US auto industry, the KMWU supported the illegal actions of seizing the plant and preparing for its armed defense. On the other hand, in negotiations with the company, it concentrated on the demand for no layoffs and soft-pedaled the demands for job security for all and against out-sourcing.
The core occupation of the plant was powered by 50 or 60 rank-and-file groups of 10 workers each, who in turn elected a delegate (chojang) for coordinated action. According to the same critical activist, these chojang are the most combative and class-conscious workers.
Once again, the Ssangyong strike initially benefited from a favorable political climate, which put the Korean government on the back foot, but it is up against the deep crisis of the world auto industry and the world economic crisis generally. The nearby Kia Motor Company plant was itself in the middle of critical negotiations for crisis measures, and GM-Daewoo is being hit with the world reorganization of GM. The company strategy, as in the case of Visteon, has been at best slow attrition (already underway since 2006) or even an outright closing of the plant.
In late June, the government and company dropped their wait-and-see attitude and began to go on the offensive. On June 22, stiff lawsuits had already been filed against 190 strikers. A few days later, one fired and heavily-indebted worker committed suicide. The broader social and political climate continued to harden, with groups ranging from school teachers to monks attacking the government's accelerating drift to the right, and the forces of order, led by the ruling Hanaradang (Grand National) Party, branded such critics as sympathizers of North Korea. Demonstrations of strike supporters took place periodically in Seoul and in Pyeongtaek, but rarely assembled more than a few thousand people.
On June 26th-27th a serious government and employer attack on the plant resumed , as hired thugs, scabs recruited from the workers not slated for firing, and riot police tried to enter the factory. They secured the main building after violent fighting in which many people were injured. The occupying workers retreated to the paint sector, which was part of the (above-mentioned) strategy. (In January, five people in Seoul died in another fire set off during a confrontation with police, sparking weeks of outrage.).
On the following day, the company issued a statement declaring that there had been enough violence, but in reality in recognition of the tenacious worker resistance, and police and thugs were withdrawn. The company urged the government to involve itself directly in negations.
Ever since the attack of the 26th-27th, aimed at isolating Ssangyong's struggle and breaking the strike, solidarity actions outside the plant were attempting to build broader support. These included a street campaign, mainly from family organizations in the center of Seoul and in the Pyeongtaek area, and a 4-hour general strike by the KMWU during which metal workers from nearby plants rallied in front of Ssangyong factory gate.
Then, on July 1, all water was cut off, which in the hot and humid Korean summer ultimately forced workers to trap rain water as they could and make improvised toilets from barrels when all toilets backed up. All access to the plant was blocked and negotiations collapsed.
On July 4th , and July 11 the KCTU (Korean Confederation of Trade Unions) held nationwide labor rallies in support of the Ssangyong's struggle. These actions were, however , poorly attended and the leadership of the KMWU hesitated in declaring an all-out strike in response to the attacks on the plant. Activists think the KMWU and KCTU leaderships were more preoccupied with upcoming union elections. (927 activists also held a one -day hunger strike in the center of Seoul on July 11.) (From my experience in Korea over the past four years, these are largely ritual actions which rarely influence the outcome of a struggle, except as barometers of weakness and isolation.)
Finally, on July 16, 3,000 KMWU members gathered to support the Ssangyong strike in front of the Pyeongtaek City Hall. When they tried to move to the factory after the rally, they were blocked by police and 82 workers were arrested on the spot. During one subsequent (and failed) attempt to reach the plant gate with food and water, company thugs went out of their way to break every bottle of water.
The gloves really came off on Monday July 20. Here is the military situation as described by a worker from nearby Kia Motor Company who came, with hundreds of others, to help defend the plant against an attack by 3000 police, thug and scabs:
"When we finished night shift work at 5:30 this morning, we went to Pyeongtaek to the front gate of the Ssangyong factory where the struggles were going on, just as they had on the previous day.
By 9:00 or 10:00 AM many buses loaded with riot police were arriving at the gate, as well as approximately 20 fire-fighting vehicles as well.
While 2,000 riot police were trying to get near the paint plant, the workers responded with slingshots and sometimes Molotov cocktails. A catapult using bolts and nuts had a range of 200-300 meters and was effective. Tires placed in an effort to defend the plant were burning, and the black smoke covered the sky over the factory.
The company had cut off water and gas supplies and enforced a blockade on all material for workers from outside, including medical supplies. The company seems to have as a first strategy wearing people down to get them to leave the paint plant spontaneously.
Later that day, a police helicopter was spreading tear gas against workers who were fighting on the housetops."
On 21 July, the KCTU declared a general strike from July 22nd to the 24th , and scheduled a nationwide labor rally on Saturday July 25th. The KMWU announced partial strikes on the 22nd and 24th in support of the Pyeongtaek strike and of ongoing negotiations. These strikes, which the KCTU in particular is in the habit of calling with neither follow-through or serious support, remained scattered and ineffective.
The same Kia worker, fighting police at the plant gate, reported these events as follows on July 22:.
"Starting July 20th, with a court order, more than 3,000 riot police, including a ranger unit, had tried to seize the plant and ordered workers out of the factory. After the workers rejected this order, the police launched an attack against occupying workers for 7 consecutive days, and this attack also involved hired thugs and scabs from workers not laid off.
The police are conducting round-the-clock ideological propaganda, and a police helicopter is flying low to prevent workers from sleeping and to unnerve them.
They have cut off the supplies of water and and gas and are refusing factory entry to humanitarian medical help. (Electricity has been left on to prevent paint and other flammable materials in the paint plant from decomposing.)
From the 21st onward, the police have been dropping tear gas from helicopters onto workers struggling on the roof of the paint sector. That gas includes a toxic material that can melt sponge rubber.
Intermittently, when the riot police try to get into the paint plant, they use a special gun firing 50,000 volts and nails, while the scabs are using slingshots from the building opposite.
Naturally, we are fighting the police with iron pipes and Molotov cocktails on the street in front of the factory to defend the strike.
By the end of July, the approximately 700 workers left in the plant were eating a rice ball with salt instead of regular meals, and drinking boiled rain. Though many workers had been injured during the fight, they resolutely continued their struggle.
On Jul. 20th, one union official's wife committed suicide at her home. Even though her husband was not laid off, he participated in the struggle despite several threats from management. His wife was just 29 years old. Thus far five people have died or committed suicide in as a result of this struggle.
On July 25, the KCTU held a rally in front of the Pyeongteck railway station. After that rally, the workers and other participants, armed with iron pipes and stones from the sidewalk, fought against riot police, while attempting to march to the Ssangyong factory gate. A brutal attack by police forced us to retreat from the front of the factory. Struggles continued late into the night on the streets of Pyeongtaek.
We of the KMWU are scheduled to launch a 6 -hour general strike on July 29th but as you know, it is so difficult to mobilize all union members to participate in such a strike.
Management has been seeking the moral high ground, claiming they may be forced into bankruptcy.
Amid growing pressure from some civic organizations, and some congressman, management and the Ssangyong union were scheduled to meet on July 25th. But the management cancelled that meeting unilaterally, for the sole reason (they claimed) that the workers still throwing bolts and that they could not accept the union's demand of no layoffs but with all dismissed workers rotating on unpaid temporary retirement.
The management rejected union's concession, and said that they will only accept layoffs.
On July 27, the Ssangyong workers held a press conference and another rally in front of the paint plant, escaping for a while the suffocating atmosphere inside.
The demands of that rally were:
1) Withdrawal of the police
2) Direct negotiation with management and government
3) Release of the results of the investigation into illegal effluence resulting from the use of hybrid diesel engine technology.
Finally I'll finish this, referring to the last part of the press conference ;
We have been doing our best to solve this dispute with the principle of peaceful settlement with dialogue. Nevertheless, if this kind of brutal, deadly repression continues, we openly declare our resolute will to fight to the death..
Those of us in here will show our determination to die to the world not only as workers but also as human beings.
We will fight unflinchingly and regain our rights and return to our homes at last."
In the daily fighting from July 20 to July 27, the police, thugs and scabs had recaptured the entire plant with the exception of the paint department. Large contingents of police massed in the building next door, a few yards from the paint department entrance.
After renewed negotiations broke down again over the weekend of Aug. 1-2, electricity to the paint department was finally cut off, forcing the occupying workers to use candlelight at night. The final battle began on Aug. 3 and continued through the 5th.
100 strikers had left the occupation throughout the night (many out of disgust at the ruthlessness of the state and company's violence). In the final negotiations, the local union president agreed to early retirement (i.e. layoff with severance pay) for 52% of the occupiers, with 48% furlough for one year without pay, after which they will be rehired, economic conditions permitting. The company will also pay a 550,000 won monthly subsidy for one year to some workers transferred to sales positions.
In the ensuing days, insult was piled on injury with detention and pending indictments of scores of workers, and a 500,000,000 won ($45,000,000 US) lawsuit by the company against the KMWU. As indicated, further individual lawsuits, possible under Korean labor law which have left striking workers destitute in the past, may follow. The company claims 316 billion won ($258.6 million) damages and about 14,600 vehicles in lost production due to the strike.
This calculated vengeance by the government and the company shows a clear escalation of a general offensive against all possible opposition. A year before, in summer 2008, the 12-month strike at the E-Land department stores went down to defeat. Of the 10,000 employees who had struck in summer 2007, many returned to their jobs, accepting the miserable offer they had initially rejected, Others had already moved on to other jobs. The E-Land employees had repeatedly sat in and occupied stores, and on several occasions fought off police and thugs attempting to escort strikebreakers into stores. Nevertheless, following the defeat, nothing like the reprisals coming down on the Ssangyong workers occurred.
The Lee Myong Bak government of the Hanaradang Party has important roots in the 1961-1979 dictatorship of Park Chung-hee, which were the glory years of Korea's emergence as the first Asian tiger. Park's daughter was only narrowly edged out by Lee to become the party's presidential candidate in 2007. More broadly, a rose-tinted view of the Park dictatorship, focused on its economic dynamism and downplaying or ignoring its brutal repression, has become widespread in Korean society in recent years, fueled by the spotty growth since the early 1990's and above all since the 1997-98 financial meltdown when Korea came under the control of the IMF. (One of the IMF's main conditions for its $57 billion bailout was a major increase in the casualization of workers.) The Lee government not only repealed a tax on luxury real estate transactions imposed by the previous Noh government, but it refunded the tax money collected in those years. During the Ssangyong strike, it also pushed through a much-contested media law, which will allow a Rupert Murdoch-type consolidation of the media by a few large conglomerates, wiping out smaller and more critical outlets. Korea's notorious National Security Law, passed in 1948 during the civil war preceding the Korean War during which hundreds of thousands of leftists were killed, remains in force and has been recently used to arrest socialist groups for the simple fact of being socialist, as well as book dealers selling ostensibly pro-North Korean books.
The Ssangyong defeat cannot be attributed merely to the lame role of the KMWU national organization, which from the beginning allowed the negotiations to be channeled in a narrow focus on "no layoffs". (By contrast, the local union president, who ultimately signed the surrender document, stayed in the occupied plant right to the end, even though he was not on the layoff list.) Nor can the defeat be fully explained by the atmosphere of economic crisis. Both of these factors undoubtedly played a major role. But above and beyond their undeniable impact, it is the year-in, year-out rollback of the Korean working class, above all through casualization, which now affects more than 50% of the work force.(l). Thousands of workers from nearby plant did repeatedly aid the Ssangyong strike, but it was not enough. The defeat of the Ssangyong strikers, despite their heroism and tenacity, will only deepen the reigning demoralization until a strategy is developed that can mobilize sufficiently broad layers of support, not merely to fight these defensive battles but to go on the offensive.
1-Cf. my article "The Korean Working Class:
From Mass Strike to Casualization and Retreat, 1987-2007" on the Break Their Haughty Power web site
This article is from the Break Their Haughty Power web site at
Building a Solidarity Economy
How can one small Brooklyn-based co-op help create an economy founded on teamwork, social justice, and democracy?
by Annie McShiras
posted Oct 15, 2009
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Photo courtesy of Annie McShiras. Members of Beyond Care, a childcare cooperative based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, advertise at a street fair.
Jackie Amezquita isn’t your typical nanny. During the workday, she cares for her clients’ young children, educating and nurturing them. But as president of Beyond Care, a 19-member childcare cooperative based in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, her reach extends far beyond those individual families.
Beyond Care is a part of the emergent Solidarity Economy Network, a group of socially responsible businesses, non-profits, and cooperatives that collaborate with one another—at local, regional, and national levels—to create a more just economy. Beyond Care also receives very real benefits from its involvement in the solidarity economy movement.
Local Cooperation
As a cooperative, Beyond Care is structured according to the principles of cooperation and shared responsibility—workers are also owners, with a stake in the long-term health of the organization and its community. Jackie meets regularly with the other members of the cooperative to share ideas, participate in trainings and workshops, and strategize about outreach and publicity. Each month, she donates 2 percent of her earnings to the co-op.
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Members of Beyond Care with their families.Photo courtesy of Annie McShiras.
Jackie explains that the cooperative forms a valuable support network for its members, who would otherwise be independent contractors: “I have a backing—a backing of a group of women, working for dignity and respect, working to empower the children that we are helping develop in this world. I have a real sense of solidarity with these women.”
Beyond Care also benefits from hundreds of other partnerships. In its Brooklyn neighborhood, Sunset Park, Beyond Care collaborates closely with two other cooperatives—Si Se Puede! (We Can Do It!), a women's housekeeping cooperative, and We Can Fix It!, a cooperative remodeling business.
Their strong connection to one another, and to their community, provides real benefits: the three cooperatives distribute marketing literature for one another at least three hours each month; present at conferences together; host collaborative events; and are all part of Sunset Park’s community time bank. Members of the three co-ops have started up a babysitting collective internally. Most importantly, they have the mutual support and backing of one another. It’s a true social network, says Jackie: “The best thing we’ve gotten out of this is the camaraderie that we’ve gained—we talk, and say ‘How are you doing right now?’"
The cooperatives offer a unique solution to the growing problem of unemployment in the Sunset Park neighborhood, where many residents are Latino immigrants. The three co-ops currently provide 46 jobs for residents of Sunset Park—jobs that empower their members to take control of their lives and livelihoods. It’s a different experience than wage labor, explains one member of Beyond Care: “We’re gonna turn it around. We’re gonna be the bosses.”
Scaling Up
Beyond Care, Si Se Puede!, and We Can Fix It! have found creative ways to partner with other worker-owned co-ops in the area: offering their services in exchange for acupuncture and massage from the Rock Dove Health Care Collective or for cooking classes at Manhattan’s first cooperatively owned restaurant, Colors. These exchanges not only allow each party to obtain new skills for free, but also expand a new economy whose currency is based on mutual aid and solidarity rather than on dollars and cents.
Earlier this year, Beyond Care became part of the New York City Solidarity Economy mapping project, a directory for organizations, cooperatives, and businesses in New York that promote economic justice. The mapping project identifies Beyond Care and groups like it as actors in the burgeoning solidarity economy, a framework for a new economy that values people and planet over profit. It encourages cooperation and support by helping such businesses find one another.
The New York map is “kind of like a sustainable and socially just Yellow Pages,” says Cheyenna Weber, a founder of the project. Activists, entrepreneurs, and individuals looking for services can visit the website and find Beyond Care, Si Se Puede!, We Can Fix It!, and 68 other co-ops, businesses, and time banks that promote a more just economy in New York. Eventually, these groups may be able to use their affiliation with the solidarity economy to market themselves; promotion strategies such as a seal to be displayed in store windows are being developed.
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The Solidarity Economy Network held a national forum in March. Photo courtesy of Annie McShiras.
The Solidarity Economy Network
Beyond Care is also a member of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network, which formed in 2007 following the first U.S. Social Forum. The network, dedicated to creating a movement to support and promote a more socially just and responsible economy, serves as a powerful tool to organize and connect small, fragmented groups and cooperatives at a national level. At its first national conference, held last March at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, Beyond Care members joined 400 other participants in a wide array of workshops, panels, cultural performances, and a tour of local solidarity economy initiatives.
The forum helped participants think of themselves as working toward the greater goal of creating an economy founded not on profit maximization but on values like teamwork, social justice, and democracy—a big-picture idea for a small co-op like Beyond Care. Yet Jackie says that she and the women she works with are already thinking this way: “As long as women and men are working together, it’s not just about the business. It’s about bettering the community.”
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Really, the goal of the larger network is to build on the principles of cooperation and justice on which co-ops like Beyond Care are already founded, says Vanessa Bransburg, cooperative coordinator at the Center for Family Life, the non-profit that helped raise Beyond Care’s start-up capital and a fellow member of the Solidarity Economy Network.
“When you have something small, like a co-op, you have limited resources—you just have those individuals,” she says. “When you put those groups together, you have access to more resources and more power with more people. The forum created a space to really think about how we want to have solidarity around economic justice issues—issues that touch everybody.”
The national network has enabled the Sunset Park cooperatives to expand their own impact beyond the community they serve. Other groups are now looking to them for inspiration: soon after the March forum, a group called Randolph Community Partnerships, Inc. drove down from Massachusetts to visit the Si Se Puede! co-op. Looking for job opportunities for participants in their adult empowerment and literacy center, they wanted to learn more about developing a women’s cleaning cooperative themselves.
Si Se Puede! was able to offer them detailed advice: its members were in a similar position in 2006, when they visited four worker-run housecleaning co-ops in the Bay Area of California. Si Se Puede! formed as a result of that visit.
This kind of information sharing and networking is the strength of the cooperative movement: instead of competing, they are collaborating.
For Si Se Puede!, Beyond Care, and their fellow cooperatives, inspiring new co-ops is just another way they're building more than an empowering career for themselves. They’re building a movement.
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[pic]Annie McShiras wrote this article for YES! Magazine, a nonprofit national media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions. Annie is a writer, advocate for economic justice, and member of the U.S. Solidarity Economy Network. Annie lives and works in Vermont, where she focuses on promoting local, organic food systems.
YES! Magazine. McShiras, A. (2009, October 05). Building a Solidarity Economy. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from YES! Magazine Web site: .
Chère Madame, cher Monsieur,
Nous avons le plaisir de vous informer que l’éditorial de novembre du Réseau de Recherche sur l’Innovation, « L’artisanat et la très petite entreprise : Un véritable enjeu pour la société ou une antienne bien commode en période de crise ? », est disponible ici :
Dear Madam, Dear Sir
We are pleased to inform you that the editorial for November from the Research Network of Innovation « The Crafts Industry and the Very Small Firm: A Real Challenge for the Society or a Very Convenient Antiphony in Times of Crisis ?» is available here :
Henri JORDA
Responsable des relations avec les médias
Réseau de Recherche sur l’Innovation
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