Issue-34, November 2, 2006

In this issue:

  - Call for Papers

          - ICAPE Conference, 1-3 June 2007
         - Association for Heterodox Economics 9th Annual Conference 2007
         - Altermondialisme – Anticapitalisme
         - EGOS Conference
         - ITVA Conference
         - Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT)
         - Ragnar Nurkse (1907-2007): Classical Development Economics and Its Relevance Today
         
        
  - Conferences, Seminars and Lectures

          - The Political Economy of the Budget in the Americas
          - Historical Materialism conference
          - Research Seminars at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
          - Seminars in London
          - Philosophy of Green Economics Conference
          - ‘Political Economy of Development Seminar Series’
          - 2007 Left Forum

  - Job Postings for Heterodox Economists

          - The Department of Economics at SUNY—New Paltz
          - Occidental College
          - Buffalo State College
          - University of South Florida
          - University of Redlands
          - York University
          - Connecticut College
          - Michigan State University
          - Hobart and William Smith Colleges

   - Heterodox Graduate Program and PhD Scholarships

          - Dissertation Fellowship Program at CASE&E
 

  - Heterodox Journals and Newsletters

          -  Review of Political Economy
          - International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics
          - Review of Social Economy
          - The Talking Economics Bulletin
          - PERI IN FOCUS FALL 2006
          - Economic Sociology - The European Electronic Newsletter
          - International Journal of Public Policy

     
   - For Your Information

         - Second Annual AFIT Student Scholars Award Competition
         - Economic Democracy: A Worthy Socialism that Would Really Work
 

 Call for Papers

ICAPE Conference, 1-3 June 2007

The next ICAPE conference is on the horizon, and I hope you will consider participating in it.

Soon to celebrate its 13th birthday, ICAPE (the International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics) is an international consortium dedicated to the active promotion of intellectual pluralism in economic education and scholarship.

Next June (1-3) on the campus of the University of Utah in beautiful Salt Lake City, ICAPE will host its second international conference, "Economic Pluralism for the 21st Century."

We invite proposals for papers and panels that address the value (or costs) of economic pluralism in any of its domains: economic theory and philosophy, economic institutions and policies, or economic education.

For further details -- including a list of plenary sessions -- please see the attached documents, visit our website (http://icape.org/conf2007.htm) or contact one of the organizers:

Al Campbell (al@economics.utah.edu)
Wilfred Dolfsma (wdolfsma@rsm.nl)
Edward Fullbrook (edward.fullbrook@btinternet.com)
Rob Garnett (r.garnett@tcu.edu)
Neva Goodwin (neva.goodwin@tufts.edu)
John Henry (henryjf@umkc.edu)
Mary King (kingm@pdx.edu)
Fred Lee (leefs@umkc.edu)
Ed McNertney (e.mcnertney@tcu.edu)
Judith Mehta (judith.mehta@ntlworld.com)
Erik Olsen (olsenek@umkc.edu)
Martha Starr (mstarr@american.edu)

Association for Heterodox Economics 9th Annual Conference 2007

Pluralism in Action
13 – 15 July, 2007
University of the West of England, Bristol

The Ninth Annual Conference of the Association of Heterodox Economics (AHE) will be held at the University of the West of England from 13th to 15th July 2007.

Last year’s highly successful AHE conference yielded a stimulating and original range of papers on pluralism in the social sciences. A striking feature of the conference was the interdisciplinary character of the contributions which explored the relation between economics and other branches of the social sciences. The Ninth Annual Conference will build on this success.

The conference will have both a thematic part and an open part. The AHE is happy to consider papers of both types; however, priority will be given to papers addressing the conference theme, “Pluralism in Action”. Papers are particularly encouraged dealing with the impact of heterodox, pluralistic and interdisciplinary approaches both on problems of policy, and on the advancement of understanding, where mainstream approaches have failed or fallen short.

For the open part of the conference, as in previous conferences we welcome submissions dealing with issues of fundamental theory, teaching and learning in economics, and the history of economic thought.

This year, the committee seeks to broaden the range of heterodox viewpoints. We encourage single papers or sessions addressing Austrian, Behavioural, Critical Realist, Ecological, Evolutionary, Feminist, Institutionalist, Marxist, Post-Keynesian, Schumpeterian, or other non-mainstream approaches. A feature of the AHE is as a forum for dialogue between different viewpoints, and we encourage proposals for sessions which address a single issue or theme from a variety of viewpoints.

The international character of the conference has been a vital factor in its growing success. Scholars requiring documentation in support of visa or funding applications should indicate this in their initial submission. At present the AHE regrets that it has no funds to provide financial support, but is actively seeking it and welcomes proposals from participants regarding organizations for the AHE contact in search of support for participants from outside the US and European Union.
Deadline for submission:

Proposals for single papers: please send an abstract of not more than 500 words by email only to the local organiser, Andrew Mearman (andrew.mearman@uwe.ac.uk), AND the programme coordinator, Alan Freeman (afreeman@iwgvt.org ), by 19th January 2007. Text, HTML, Word and PDF format attachments are acceptable.

Proposals for sessions and streams: please indicate exactly what you are proposing, giving the names and email addresses of the proposed speakers, and attaching the abstracts (of not more than 500 words each) for their papers. Send by email to Andrew Mearman and Alan Freeman, as above, by Friday 19th January 2007.

The AHE Committee will consider all abstracts and will notify you of acceptance or rejection of your proposal by Monday 12th February 2007.
Those whose abstracts have been accepted must send their full paper and completed registration to be received by Friday 26th April 2007.
Parallel sessions will be 90 minutes long and will consist of two papers. Sessions may have a discussant for each paper. The conference is to be conducted in English.

To see details of previous conferences, and to keep up to date with the 2007 conference and other AHE activities please visit:
www.hetecon.com

Altermondialisme – Anticapitalisme

Pour une cosmopolitique alternative
Appel au Congrès Marx International V
Université de Paris-X, du 3 au 6 octobre 2007

Au seuil du IIIe millénaire, le capitalisme déploie une dynamique d’asservissement et de violence renouvelée. Le néolibéralisme met en concurrence les travailleurs du monde entier. Il nivelle les acquis du mouvement ouvrier et démocratique, des luttes des femmes, des combats du Tiers-monde. Il liquide les identités et autonomies nationales. Il dissout les diversités culturelles au profit de substituts marchandisés. Il nous précipite vers la catastrophe écologique.
De la dynamique globale des résistances de tous ordres émerge une force unificatrice. Le mouvement altermondialiste a fait surgir une logique mondiale des solidarités qui donne à l’internationalisme un nouveau visage. Il a mis en avant un mot d’ordre universel : « un autre monde est possible ». De multiples composantes travaillent à en définir les conditions économiques, politiques, culturelles, sociales. Mais pourra-t-il éluder les questions les plus redoutables : comment changer le monde dans le capitalisme ? Et pour quel autre monde non capitaliste ? L’ambition de ce Ve Congrès Marx International est de mettre en débat ces interrogations. Il s’agit de penser de bas en haut une autre cosmopolitique.

Notre appel s’adresse aux chercheurs de toutes disciplines, à tous les collectifs de recherches,
académiques ou non, qui se reconnaissent dans la perspective d’un « autre monde ».

Organisation de la rencontre
Elle est construite sur la base de Sections Scientifiques : Philosophie, Economie, Droit, Histoire, Sociologie, Culture, Langages, Sciences Politiques, Anthropologie.
Et de Sections thématiques : Etudes Féministes, Ecologie, Socialismes, Marxismes.
Des plénums interdisciplinaires rassembleront les congressistes sur des thèmes transversaux.
Les revues théoriques co-organisatrices y développeront leurs propres projets.

Présidents du Congrès : Jacques Bidet et Gérard Duménil
Contact : Actuelmarx@u-paris10.fr
L’information s’affichera progressivement sur notre site :
http://netx.u-paris10.fr/actuelmarx/

EGOS Conference

Subtheme 8 on 'Trust and law', convenors Reinhard Bachmann, Peter Smith Ring and Bart Nooteboom.

July 5-7 2007, Vienna.
Deadline abstract 15-01-2007.

Abstracts are to be submitted before january 15th, through the EGOS website: www.egosnet.org,  which gives also instructions how to proceed.For detailed information: EGOS Conference.doc

ITVA Conference

The International Thorstein Veblen Association (ITVA) will hold a conference at the New School University in New York City, March 22-24, 2007. Those interested in presenting papers or acting as moderators or discussants should contact Sidney Plotkin, ITVA Director, <plotkin@vassar.edu> or Dept. of Political Science, Box 260, Vassar College, 124 Raymond Ave., Poughkeepsie, NY 12604.

Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT)

The annual meeting of AFIT will be held
April 11-14, 2007
Calgary, Alberta
Hyatt Regency Calgary
700 Centre Street SE,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
In conjunction with the Western Social Science Association (WSSA) 49th Annual Conference

Theme for the 2007 Conference:
Borders and Boundaries in Institutional Economics
With recognition of the role of culture in organizing economic activity, institutional work draws its inspiration from messy reality-- the overlap of disciplinary boundaries, the interaction between diverse intellectual traditions, and the conflict and cooperation between social groups within and between societies. Possible themes for papers and/or panels could include the influence of other social science traditions on institutional economics, the application of interdisciplinary work in pragmatic policy analysis, the connection or overlap between diverse elements within heterodox economic theory, and the relevance of cultural norms and cross cultural conflict in the study of economic systems.
In addition to the above topics, AFIT welcomes papers reflecting the tradition and analytical perspective of institutional economics and applications of institutional analysis to current policy issues. Submissions from economists of other heterodox schools of thought are also welcome. AFIT encourages proposals from graduate students, and it is anticipated that at least one and possibly more panels of graduate student papers will be included in the program this year.
AFIT hopes to continue the tradition of having one or more roundtables on ideas, experiences, and materials helpful for incorporating institutionalism and heterodox economics into our teaching. Participants in these roundtables are encouraged to submit their materials for posting on the AFIT web site.
Anyone interested in attending the AFIT Conference or in finding out more about the organization may visit the AFIT web site at http://www.orgs.bucknell.edu/afee/afit/ . The WSSA web site can be found at http://wssa.asu.edu. 
Send proposals by E-mail (with the subject line AFIT 2007 Proposal Lastname and file attachment in Microsoft Word or RTF format preferred) to the Vice President of AFIT:
Eric R. Hake
Department of Economics
Eastern Illinois University
600 Lincoln Avenue
Charleston, IL 61920
Ph: (217) 581-6333
E-mail: erhake@eiu.edu

Ragnar Nurkse (1907-2007): Classical Development Economics and Its Relevance Today

AUGUST 31 – SEPTEMBER 1, 2007, TALLINN, ESTONIA

Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia, and The Other Canon Foundation, Norway, invite abstract proposals for a conference commemorating the hundredth anniversary of Ragnar Nurkse’s birth. Ragnar Nurkse’s writings on economic development and on the problems of finance are as relevant today as they were when he wrote. This conference will discuss Nurkse’s work also in relationship to his contemporaries in development economics, and the common elements of development economics from Antonio Serra to Nurkse – among them technology, finance, institutions, problems of foreign ownership – will be highlighted.
The conference includes a visit to Nurske’s birthplace in the Käru estate, Estonia. Abstract proposals no longer than 1,000 words should be sent either to Erik S. Reinert at erik.reinert@othercanon.org or to Rainer Kattel at kattel@staff.ttu.ee. Deadline is December 31, 2006. Papers should be submitted by May 1, 2007. For a selection of speakers, travel and accommodation support will be available. The papers will be published in an edited volume. The conference is supported by the Estonian Science Foundation. For detailed information: flyer.pdf

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Conferences, Seminars and Lectures

The Political Economy of the Budget in the Americas

International Conference

Date: 3 November 2006 (10am to 5:30pm)

Place: Chatham House, 10 St James's Square, London, SW1Y 4LE

The Institute for the Study of the Americas of the University of London would like to invite you to the following international conference.

Why does the US have more freedom to run public deficits than Brazil? What is the impact of tax reforms in different countries in the Americas? This one-day international conference co-organized by the Institute for the Study of the Americas and Chatham House will address some of these questions. In particular, we will concentrate in three key issues in the political economy of the budget in the Americas: (1) the impact of public deficits in different countries of the region; (2) the characteristics and impact of tax reforms in the Americas; and (3) key policy issues on budget management for the future.

Participants include Aaron Schneider, Edmund Amman, Collin Lewis, Jason Furman, Manuel Agosin, Dennis S. Ippolito, Carlos da Silva

For more information and registration go to www.americas.sas.ac.uk/events  or email Olga.jimenez@sas.ac.uk  or call 020-7862-8871

Historical Materialism conference

Details of the Historical Materialism conference in London 8-10 December 2006 can be downloaded from http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/andy.denis/hm.pdf 

Research Seminars at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge

The seminars are heterodox friendly. If you would like to present a paper at the seminar contact Ioana Negru (ioana.negru@ntu.ac.uk)

Wed., 4th of October
4-5.30 Institutions and Transition Economies;Prof.Geoffrey Hodgson, Hertfordshire University COS 124
Wed., 25th of October
4-5.30 Decision-making at The Bank of England; Dr.Andrew Mearman, University of West England COS 124
Wed. 15th of November
4-5.30 Care and economic policies; Vinca Bigo, University of Cambridge COS 124
Wed, 22 of November
4–5.30 My Six-year-old Son Should Get a Job- Rethinking Trade and Development; Dr.Ha Joon Chang,
University of Cambridge COS 124
6th of December
4–5.30Regional well-being in England Dr.Bruce Philp, Nottingham Trent University COS 124

Seminars in London

16:30-18:00 Wednesday 15 November
City University Economics Department seminar Michael Green, State University of New York at Oneonta "Institutions, Identities, and Instabilities"
Full paper: http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/andy.denis/cul.doc
Room DLG08, Lower Ground Floor, Social Science Building, corner of St John Street and Whiskin Street, London EC1V.

17:00-19:00 Friday 17 November
LSE Occasional Seminars in History and Philosophy of Economics Michael Green, State University of New York at Oneonta "Uncertainty, Emotions, and Economics"
Full paper: http://www.staff.city.ac.uk/andy.denis/lse2.doc
CPNSS Seminar room, T206, 2nd Floor, Lakatos Building, LSE, Portugal Street, London WC2A

Philosophy of Green Economics Conference

Saturday 18th November 2006 10:00 -18:00

It is taking place at Lancaster University.

Your Invitation to come along to a conference based on a brand new innovative concept!

You are warmly invited to come to the first ever conference on green economics and philosophy which has a range of world class speakers who will be discussing the need for green economics today to solve the worlds problems and what that should look like.

They come from different perspectives so there is something for everyone from eco feminism to top names in critical theory, this promises to be one of the most important conferences we have run todate!

If you would like to come along - please email Volker Heinemann Director of the Institute on volkerheineman@yahoo.de and he will reserve a place for you. When you have done this can you fill in the booking form attached and pop a cheque for 15 in the post to: The Conference Manager, The Green Economics Institute, 166 Divinity Road, Oxford OX4 1LR

For detailed information: lancaster flyer and booking

www.greeneconomics.org.uk

‘Political Economy of Development Seminar Series’

Tuesday, 5pm, Room G50.

10th October Professor Prabijit Sarkar (Jadavpur University), ‘Trade Openness and Growth: Is There Any Link?’

17th October Dr. Subir Sinha (SOAS), ‘The Powers of Social Theory: Common Property and Community in Neoliberal India’?

24th October Dr. Phil McMichael (Cornell), ‘Food regimes and agrarian questions'

31st October Dr Pritam Singh (Oxford Brookes University Business School) ‘North-South inequality, global capitalism and sustainability: Some
criticisms of Marxist and Green perspectives’

14th November Professor John Weeks (SOAS), ‘'Debt Relief for Africa, does it create fiscal space: the case of Zambia'

21st November Dr Andries de Toit (University of the Western Cape), ‘In Search of South Africa's 'Second Economy' understanding 'structural poverty' in the Eastern Cape and Khayelitsha, Cape Town.

28th November Dr Cris Cramer and Dr Carlos Oya (SOAS), ‘Working to Stay Poor or Working to Escape from Poverty? Labour Markets in Rural Mozambique’

5th December Dr Ben Groom (SOAS), ‘Relaxing Constraints with Compensation: Evaluating Off-farm Labour Responses to Reforestation in China’.

12th December Professor Frances Stewart (QEH, Oxford), ‘tbc’

For further details,please contact:

Matthew McCartney,
Department of Economics,
Mm80@soas.ac.uk

Henry Bernstein,
Department of Development Studies,
hb4@soas.ac.uk

2007 Left Forum

Each spring Left Forum convenes the largest gathering in North America of the US and international Left. Continuing a tradition begun in the 1960s, we bring together intellectuals and organizers to share new perspectives, strategies, experience and vision. Last March’s 2006 Left Forum, held at Cooper Union, included 6 panels and 280 speakers from over 40 countries. For the US and the world, revitalizing an American Left has never been more urgent; Left Forum has a critical role to play in that undertaking.
For detailed information: flyer.doc

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Job Postings for Heterodox Economists

The Department of Economics at SUNY—New Paltz

E0 Macroeconomics & Monetary Economics
F0 International Economics
O5 Economy-wide Country Studies: Asia Pacific

The Department of Economics at SUNY—New Paltz invites applications from broadly trained economists for a full-time, tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level, starting in Fall 2007. Ph.D. and teaching experience are required. ABD will be considered if the date of defense is prior to September 2007. Research specialization must be applied in nature, and focus on Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics with an emphasis on the Asia Pacific region. Teaching responsibilities would include Macroeconomics, Economic Development of Asia Pacific Region, International Trade and Finance, and a lower division General Education course on the Economics of Globalization. Responsibilities include participation in the department's ongoing summer program with the Istanbul Technical University, with some shared administrative duties. An active interest in research and publication is expected. Please send curriculum vitae, student teaching evaluations and other evidence of teaching effectiveness, a sample research paper, transcript, and three current letters of reference to: Search #F06-14, SUNY—New Paltz, Department of Economics JFT 814, 600 Hawk Drive, New Paltz, NY 12561-2440. Deadline: December 1, 2006. An equal opportunity-affirmative action employer.

Occidental College

Urban & Environmental Policy Program
Los Angeles, California

Position: Tenure Faculty
Application Deadline: November 17, 2006

------------------------------------------------------------------------
Occidental College invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level, beginning Fall 2007 in the Urban and Environmental Policy (UEP) Program. Applicants should be prepared to develop and teach courses in two or more of the following areas:
Community Economic Development, Immigration in American Society, The Environment and Sustainable Development, Labor, Community, and the Environment. We encourage candidates who also have an interest in teaching related courses in Methods of Policy Analysis, Economics for Public Policy, Social Change Across Borders, and Urban and Environmental Planning. UEP is an interdisciplinary major that involves faculty in politics, sociology, economics, history, biology, geology, and other disciplines. We will consider candidates with training in a variety of disciplines, including urban planning, political science, sociology, environmental studies, public policy, economics, history, and law.
Candidates with practical political/community/planning experience are strongly encouraged to apply. We encourage candidates who are familiar with Los Angeles. Candidates should be immersed in the pedagogy of community based learning and able to expand the College's efforts to promote internships, community based learning in classes, and partnerships with public, private, and non profit organizations in Los Angeles, California, and Washington, D.C. The UEP program is closely linked with the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, through which students, faculty and staff engage in applied research and community engagement. (http://www.uepi.oxy.edu)

Applicants should submit a letter of interest demonstrating a commitment to academic excellence in a diverse liberal arts environment, and including a statement of teaching philosophy, areas of teaching interest, and plans for research/creative work; a curriculum vitae; samples of scholarly or creative work; and three letters of recommendation to:

Professor Peter Dreier
UEP Program Search Chair
Occidental College MS-M1
1600 Campus Road
Los Angeles, CA 90041

All materials are due by November 17, 2006.

Occidental College is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer.
The College is committed to academic excellence in a diverse community and supporting interdisciplinary and multicultural academic programs that provide a gifted and diverse group of students with an educational experience that prepares them for leadership in a pluralistic world.
Women and minorities are strongly encouraged to apply.

Please visit our website for more information about Occidental College:
http://www.oxy.edu/

Buffalo State College

D – Microeconomics
DO – General
D6 – Welfare Economics

Buffalo State College invites applications for a full-time, tenure track position in the Department of Economics and Finance, beginning September 2007. Primary teaching responsibilities are in the fields of applied microeconomics and an MA-level cost-benefit analysis course. Preference is for candidates who show evidence of high-quality teaching, scholarship, and interest in undergraduate and graduate student research. Potential for teaching statistics and econometrics will also be considered. Ph.D. (must be completed by August 1, 2007) in economics or finance with a concentration in micro economics is required. The Department has a tradition of openness to alternative paradigms. For more information and position requirements, see “Jobs” at: www.buffalostate.edu/offices/hr.
Applicant must submit a cover letter (to include a statement of teaching philosophy and research interests), curriculum vitae, evidence of teaching competency, sample of written work, and three letters of reference to Professor Alex Ratkowski, Chair Search Committee, Department of Economics and Finance, 1300 Elmwood Ave. Buffalo State College, Buffalo NY, 14222.
To schedule an interview at the ASSA meetings in Chicago, all materials must be received by December 15, 2006. However, applications will be accepted until March 1, 2007. Electronic submissions are preferred. Please direct electronic submissions to Ms. Kathy Crehan at crehanka@buffalostate.edu. 
Buffalo State College is an urban campus with a diverse student population. Additional information about the College and its mission and facilities is available at www.buffalostate.edu. Buffalo State is an affirmative action/equal opportunity employer.

University of South Florida

Department of Africana Studies
College of Arts and Sciences

ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN AFRICAN DIASPORA POLITICAL ECONOMY

Position # 13077

The Department of Africana Studies, University of South Florida, invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor appointment in African Diaspora Political Economy, with specialty in health and development. The appointment will become effective August 2007 and will be based on a nine-month contract. Salary will be commensurate with experience and accomplishment. Responsibilities will include graduate and undergraduate teaching, research and publication, and community engagement/service. The successful candidate will have a tenure earning position in the Department of Africana Studies.

Minimum qualifications: A Ph.D. by date of employment to be appointed as Assistant Professor or the Department reserves the right to withdraw the offer; discipline open, but the candidate must have had graduate training in political economy and/or economics; teaching experience consistent with rank; a record of scholarly accomplishments relating to the African Diaspora; and a clearly articulated research agenda. Scholarship should be firmly grounded, theoretically and empirically, in the field of political economy, with demonstrated high level of comfort with and skill in both quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The department is willing to consider an outstanding junior scholar whose primary interest is not currently health, per se, but who is committed to move his/her scholarship in that direction immediately.

Preferred Qualifications: The preferred candidate’s training and research will include issues related to health, sustainable human systems, and human security (broadly defined) in Africa and the African Diaspora. We are particularly interested in scholars who display the following: a commitment to interdisciplinary research that has both theoretical and applied value; demonstrated inclination towards the development of new paradigms to guide diaspora health security research; leadership aptitude and desire to help develop a new academic direction (diaspora health security) for a small department.

Application: Send letter of application, curriculum vita, a sample of published work, and three letters of reference to the address below. The letter of application should include a narrative of the applicant’s academic history and research plans, his/her theoretical orientation, and a description of teaching experience and methods. The position is open until filled; evaluation of applications will begin January 19, 2007.

Dr. Edward Kissi
Political Economy Search Committee Co-Chair
Department of Africana Studies
University of South Florida
4202 East Fowler Avenue, FAO 270
Tampa, Florida 33620.

USF is an AA/EO/EA institution. For ADA accommodations, please contact the Department of Africana Studies (813/974-2427) at least five days in advance. According to Florida law, applications and meetings regarding them are open to the public

According to Florida Law, applications and meetings regarding them are open to the public. For ADA accommodations, please contact Yvonne Eisenhart at 813/974-4177 or yeisenha@cas.usf.edu at least five working days prior to need. USF is an AA/EEO institution.

University of Redlands

A0 General Economics and Teaching
C1 Econometrics and Statistics

The University of Redlands invites applications for a full-time, tenure track position in the Department of Economics, beginning September 2007. Primary teaching responsibilities are in the area of quantitative economics (including undergraduate courses in econometrics and introductory statistics) and principles of microeconomics. Other teaching opportunities include managerial economics and mathematical economics. Appropriate training in applied econometrics is necessary. An appreciation of the liberal arts perspective is expected, and an acquaintance with heterodox economics and alternative paradigms is welcomed. Candidates must have completed the Ph.D. in economics by the time of appointment. Rank is open. Salary is dependent upon rank. The teaching load is six courses per year.

Send application letter, statement of teaching philosophy, curriculum vitae, evidence of teaching competency, sample of written work, official graduate school transcripts, and three letters of reference to Chair, Econometrics Search Committee, Department of Economics, P.O. Box 3080, Redlands, CA 92373-0999. Please specify the position you are applying for as we have two open positions. Queries may be directed to Christopher_Niggle@redlands.edu. Please send materials through the mail. E-mail attachments will not be accepted.

Candidates seeking interviews at the January 2007 ASSA/AEA meeting in Chicago should submit credentials by December 1, 2006. Position remains open until filled. The University of Redlands is a private, comprehensive liberal arts institution located sixty miles east of Los Angeles, and is an equal opportunity employer. We actively encourage applications from women and under-represented populations. Additional information about the University and its mission and facilities is available at www.redlands.edu.

York University

The Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, York University invites applications for a tenure-track position at the Assistant Professor level in Comparative Political Economy.

Required qualifications include a completed PhD in Political Science, or equivalent, and an ongoing program of research in political economy from a comparative perspective. The successful candidate must be suitable for prompt appointment to the Graduate Program in Political Science.

The position, to commence July 1, 2007, is subject to budgetary approval.

Applicants should submit a letter of application, including a curriculum vitae, teaching dossier and sample publication, and arrange to have three confidential letters of reference sent to: Professor David McNally, Chair, Department of Political Science, Faculty of Arts, S669 Ross Building, York University, 4700 Keele Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3. Tel: 416.736.2100, x20266. Fax: 416.736.5686.

York University is an Affirmative Action Employer. The Affirmative Action Program can be found on York’s website at www.yorku.ca/acadjobs or a copy can be obtained by calling the affirmative action office at 416.736.5713. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents will be given priority.

Deadline: November 15, 2006

Connecticut College

F, O54 - International Economics, Latin America

The Department of Economics has an opening for a Tenure Track position at the level of Assistant Professor beginning Fall 2007, with expertise in Latin American economics with focus on international finance and trade. The successful applicant will teach five courses, which may include introductory and intermediate theory courses, econometrics, and upper level field courses. Qualified applicants should expect Ph.D. by August 2007 and have some experience teaching.

Connecticut College is a private, highly selective college with a strong commitment to the liberal arts tradition and an emphasis on broad interdisciplinary teaching and research and is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Employer. The College is committed by mission to developing and sustaining a diverse faculty and staff. Candidates should have the ability to work with students from diverse backgrounds. See www.conncoll.edu/facultysearch/index.html  for more details.

Cover letter, CV, graduate transcripts, evidence of teaching ability (particularly summaries of teaching evaluations), and three letters of reference should accompany applications. Applications sent to Economics Department Search, Box 5552, Connecticut College, New London, CT 06320 by December 1, 2006 will receive full consideration. Questions directed to Prof. Candace Howes chow@conncoll.edu  but please no electronic submissions.
For detailed information: Economics Connecticut College AD Oct 06 (3).doc

Michigan State University

Assistant Professor Global Markets and the Environment

Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation and Resource Studies (CARRS)
College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR)
and
Department of Sociology College of Social Science and
Environmental Science & Policy Program (ESPP)

The Department of Community, Agriculture, Recreation Resources and Sustainability (CARRS) and the Department of Sociology, together with the Environmental Science & Policy Program (ESPP), seek applicants at the assistant professor level for a social or behavioral scientist studying global markets and the environment.

CARRS is a multidisciplinary department that addresses critical issues at the interfaces of agriculture, natural resources, recreation, and communities both domestically and internationally. Its mission is to assist the development of sustainable communities by conducting excellent scholarly research, teaching and outreach in (1) leadership, education, and communication, (2) community, food, and agriculture, (3) natural resources, land use, and the environment, and (4) recreation and tourism. The Department of Sociology has a history of research, teaching and service that focus on the challenges of global understanding of social, political and cultural differences and how a global context accounts for social processes, change, and inequality both locally and
abroad. The Department of Sociology organizes its scholarship around the areas of food and agriculture, environment, science and technology; family and gender; urban, race and migration;, and health and wellbeing. The Environmental Science and Policy Program (ESPP) is a university-wide research and graduate education program focusing on interdisciplinary environmental science (See http://environment.msu.edu/ ).

Appointment Overview: The position to be filled is in the tenure system at the assistant professor level with an academic year appointment. This position will be jointly appointed in CARRS and Sociology with one of these two departments being the tenure home for the appointment.

Position Description: The successful candidate is expected to develop a coordinated research, teaching, and outreach program relevant to global markets and the environment. The successful candidate will be expected to develop an internationally recognized program of scholarly research, as evidenced by scholarly publications, external support, and disciplinary and professional involvement in her/his areas of inquiry. Development of external grants and/or contracts to support this research and attendant graduate student support is necessary. The successful candidate will initially be expected to teach at least two full courses or equivalent per year. This can include a mix of a departmental foundational courses, undergraduate specialty courses and graduate courses. The final teaching portfolio will be developed in consultation with the department chairs based on candidate s interest and departmental needs. Mentoring and funding graduate students in thesis and dissertation research will be expected. General departmental and university responsibilities are a component of all tenure track appointments, as are outreach to stakeholder groups, and involvement in disciplinary and professional organizations, relevant to the candidate s scholarship. Candidate s substantive areas of interest should complement MSU's environmental strengths (see http://environment.msu.edu). The successful applicant will be expected to be an active and contributing member of CARRS, the Department of Sociology, and the Environmental Science & Policy Program.

The scholarly agenda of the successful applicant might include such foci as: i) the relationships between agrifood production and ecosystems functions and services, ii.) consumer demand for goods and services that have been produced in environmentally and socially beneficial ways; iii) the social, economic and environmental impacts of grades and standards; and/or, iv) the roles of government, the private sector, and civil society in defining and supporting markets. Applicants are expected to evidence expertise in a coupled human and natural systems framework and computational modeling relevant to their scholarly focus. Preference is for a scholar with international and foreign language competence.

Qualifications: Minimum qualifications for this position are a Ph.D. degree in a relevant field. Post-doctoral degree experience preferred but not required.

Salary: Salary is competitive and dependent on qualifications.

Application and Deadline Process: Deadline for applications is December 15, 2006 or until suitable candidates are identified. Starting date will be either August 15, 2007 or date to be agreed upon. Applicants should
submit to the chair of the search committee: 1) a letter of application describing fit to the job description, 2) CV, 3) a brief essay (250 words) on teaching and research accomplishments and goals, 4) official university transcripts, 5) the names and contact information of three individuals writing letters of reference, and 6) up to 3 reprints of publications or other examples of scholarship. Letters of reference should be sent directly to the committee by the referees by the deadline.

Submission of materials in electronic format is preferred.

Submit applications to:

Dr. Michael D. Kaplowitz
Chair; Global Markets and the Environment Search Committee
Dept. of CARRS
153 Natural Resources
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1222
kaplowit@msu.edu
For further information please contact Michael Kaplowitz in CARRS at kaplowit@msu.edu  or 517-355-0101, or Craig Harris in the Department of Sociology at harrisc@msu.edu .  More information about the departments can be found at www.carrs.msu.edu  and www.sociology.msu.edu.

MSU is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity Institution

Hobart and William Smith Colleges

Geneva, New York

B4 Political Economy and Methodology
B5 Current heterodox approaches
B54 Feminist Economics

Hobart and William Smith Colleges invite applications for a tenure track position at the Assistant Professor level for fall 2007. The position requires a specialization in political economy and methodology, with emphasis on heterodox approaches in political economy. Ph.D. preferred, AbD considered. Teaching responsibilities include five courses per year and would typically be one section of a core course in political economy (comparative theory and methodology), elective courses in radical and feminist analysis, possible section(s) of principles of economics, and one other course which could be in the Colleges' interdisciplinary programs or general education areas.

Hobart College for men and William Smith College for women are coordinate, undergraduate liberal arts institutions sharing a single faculty and residential campus in the Finger Lakes region of Western New York. The Colleges are strongly committed to interdisciplinary programs, to global studies and off-campus programs, and to gender studies. The faculty is an active intellectual community reaching across disciplinary lines to do significant teaching and research. Both the Colleges and the city of Geneva are diverse communities.

Hobart and William Smith Colleges are committed to attracting and supporting a faculty of women and men that fully represent the racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity of the nation and actively seek applications from under-represented groups. The Colleges do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, marital status, national origin, age, disability, veteran's status, sexual orientation or any other protected status.

Candidates should send a letter of application, c.v., evidence of teaching experience, and arrange to have three recommendations sent to Christopher Gunn, Chair, Department of Economics, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Geneva, NY 14456. Consideration of applications will begin November 15, 2006, and continue until the position is filled.
Interviews will be conducted at the Allied Social Science Associations meetings.


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Heterodox Graduate Program and PhD Scholarships

Dissertation Fellowship Program at CASE&E

The Center for the Applied Study of Economics & the Environment (CASE&E) is pleased to announce the launch its Dissertation Fellowship program. Applicants should be enrolled in a PhD-granting institution in the United States, and should have completed all degree requirements except for the dissertation. The dissertation research project should contribute to CASE&E's aims of developing and applying economic arguments for the active protection of human health and the natural environment. This year, an area of special interest is the economics of climate change; proposals on other topics are also welcome. The Fellowship will provide up to $10,000 and can be used for field research, write-up, or both. Applications are due by December 1, 2006; awards will be announced in February 2007. For more information and for an application, please visit our website at www.case-and-e.org

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Heterodox Journals and Newsletters

Review of Political Economy

Volume 18 Number 4/October 2006 of Review of Political Economy is now available  at http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk.

This issue contains:

- Capitalists, workers, and the burden of debt
Thomas R. Michl

- What do we know about the real exchange rate? A classical cost of production story
John Sarich

- A note on the long-run behaviour of Kaleckian models
Mario Cassetti

- Merit goods in a utilitarian framework
Stefan Mann

- Paradigms and pluralism in heterodox economics
Robert F. Garnett Jr.

- The neglect of replacement investment in keynesian economics
Michael Perelman

- Harrod's interwar papers and correspondence: a review essay
Esteban Pérez Caldentey

Book Reviews

Call for Papers: Review of Political Economy Special Issue on Nicholas Kaldor's Contributions to Economics

International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics

Download: ICAPE REPORT 1

Review of Social Economy

Volume 64 Number 3/September 2006 of Review of Social Economy is now available at http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk.

This issue contains:

- Prolegomena to a Post Keynesian health economics
Stephen P. Dunn

- The healthy development of economies: A strategic framework for competitiveness in the health industry
J. Robert Branston, Lauretta Rubini, Roger Sugden, James R. Wilson

- On markets and morality: Revisiting Fred Hirsch
Luís Francisco Carvalho, João Rodrigues

- The changing employment situation in some cities with living wage ordinances
James A. Buss, Arthur Romeo

- David Hume's model of man: Classical political economy as “inspired” political economy
Alain Marciano

- Labour market segmentation and union wage gaps
Rudy Fichtenbaum

- Editorial – RoSE to use Manuscript Central

The Talking Economics Bulletin

The Talking Economics Bulletin consists of news and views on associative economics, including short extracts from Associative Economics Monthly (available electronically for £1 an issue at www.cfae.biz/aem or in a hard copy format - tel (UK) 01227 738207). To unsubscribe from this list, reply or send an email to info@talkingeconomics.com with 'bulletin unsubscribe' in the subject line. For  detailed information: TEB.doc

PERI IN FOCUS FALL 2006

1. RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE IN ARIZONA

Next week, voters in six states (Arizona, Colorado, Missouri, Montana, Ohio and Nevada) will vote on whether their state should set a minimum wage higher than the $5.15 federal rate. If these proposals pass, these states will join the eighteen states and the District of Columbia with minimum wages exceeding the federal rate.

This month, PERI researchers Robert Pollin and Jeannette Wicks-Lim completed an analysis of the Arizona ballot proposal to set a $6.75 minimum wage with automatic inflation adjustments. The research was sponsored and published by the Center for American Progress. The report provides the basic facts that policymakers and voters need to assess the likely economic impact of this proposal. Pollin and Wicks-Lim presented their study in Phoenix on October 31, in a series of press events and meetings with policymakers.

Among the studies key findings are:
-  About 345,000 workers--13% of Arizona's total workforce--will receive wage increases through this measure.
-  The average net income gain for low-wage workers and their families will be between $650 and $700 per year.
-  The total costs of these wage increases to businesses in Arizona will be about $312 million per year, 0.08% of the total sales by these businesses in 2005.
-  These costs can be readily absorbed by businesses and consumers, primarily through very small price increases. A representative restaurant would have to raise the price of a $20 meal to $20.28 to cover its costs of 1.4% of sales.
-  The rough fiscal savings for the State of Arizona would be $4.1 million, the net result of positive and negative impacts on tax revenues, increased public employee wage costs, and savings in state-funded health care programs.

2. ALTERNATIVES TO INFLATION-TARGETED CENTRAL BANK POLICIES

Inflation targeting--an almost exclusive focus of monetary policy on keeping inflation in the low single digits--has become the operational objective for many central banks around the world. Many economists, international organizations such as the IMF and central bankers have promoted this focus on inflation to the exclusion of other concerns, such as employment creation and poverty reduction, even as these problems are growing around the world. However, after several decades of experience with this approach, the policy record has been rather disappointing for many countries.

Over the past two years, PERI and Bilkent University in Turkey, led by PERI co-director Gerald Epstein, have organized an international team of economists to analyze more socially-useful alternatives to inflation-targeting policies. These economists have written country studies on Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico, The Philippines, Turkey, Vietnam, and South Africa. These studies analyze the current central bank policies, and propose country-specific alternatives policies that can promote employment, reduce poverty, and generate economic growth, while maintaining a moderate level of inflation and stabilizing exchange rates. The project also includes thematic papers, including a study of the gender impacts of monetary policy, inflation and poverty, and the impact of inflation on economic growth.

3. ALTERNATIVE ECONOMIC PLANS IN AFRICA

Following the July 2006 release of their United Nations Development Programme-commissioned book, An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for South Africa, Robert Pollin, James Heintz, and Leonce Ndikumana traveled to Johannesburg and Cape Town to present their findings in a series of seminars and lectures at the Industrial Development Corporation, the University of Cape Town and an academic conference between October 20-24. The South African media covered the events and ensuing debate extensively. A sampling of articles, interviews, and reviews from the main press outlets in South Africa are below.

Robert Pollin and James Heintz, along with Mwangi wa Githinji of the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Economics Department, also traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, to present a preliminary draft of their UNDP-commissioned study, An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for Kenya at two workshops at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies. The final version of this Kenya study should be available at the PERI website in early 2007.

ONLINE RESOURCES:
>> Review of An Employment-Targeted Economic Program for South Africa in Business Day
>> Op ed in the Mail & Guardian
>> "Unemployment level could worsen by 2014" on SABC News
>> "Researchers urge bold employment plan" in Business Report
>> Coverage of debate at the Trade & Industrial Policy Strategies / University of Cape Town Development Policy Research Unit conference in Business Report
>> "Rates 'must be lower for economy to grow'" in Business Day (also published on AllAfrica.com, in the Sunday Times, and on iafrica.com)
>> "UN calls for subsidised job creation" in Business Day
>> Interview with Robert Pollin in Business Day
>> "Labour laws are 'not that rigid'" in the Daily Dispatch (also published in the Sowetan)

4. NEW PERI WORKING PAPERS

Globalization, economic policy and employment: Poverty and gender implications
James Heintz
When we speak of the impact of globalization on national and local economies, those economies are, in reality, composed of a wide variety of individuals, each of whom will be affected differently by large-scale economic forces. In this paper, produced for the U.N.'s International Labour Office, James Heintz demonstrates how global labor markets are sex-disaggregated, and how any analysis of the impact of macroeconomic policies on growth, employment and poverty reduction needs to be undertaken with this in mind. Heintz addresses how macroeconomic policies differentially effect women's and men's employment, looking at monetary policy, trade policy, exchange rates, and public sector restructuring.

Mass Privatization and the Postcommunist Mortality Crisis
Lawrence King, David Stuckler & Patrick Hamm
During the transition to capitalism, postcommunist countries have experienced unprecedented mortality crises, although there has been considerable variation within and between countries and regions. Much of this variation is unexplained, although alcohol and psychological stress have been found to be major causes of declining life expectancy. The authors move beyond this finding by showing that the implementation of rapid large-scale privatization programs was a major determinant of the declining life expectancy. They find that mass privatization also increased alcohol-related deaths, heart disease, and suicide rates, evidence that mass privatization created psychosocial stress that led directly to higher mortality.

Social Models, Growth and the International Monetary System: Implications for Europe and the United States
Lilia Costabile & Roberto Scazzieri
This paper explores the relationship between economic growth and the welfare state. The authors argue that: (i) the constraints set by the international monetary system may be at least as effective determinants of growth differentials between countries as the different dimensions of their welfare states; (ii) the European currency reshapes some pre-existing constraints and opens up new opportunities; and (iii) in the new international setting, Europe is facing a choice between alternative models. In one alternative, the 'welfare system' is reduced to a minimum; in the second, its role is enhanced and made more active, through an appropriate mix of policies oriented towards promotion of social well-being and policies oriented towards promotion of productive capacities.

5. NEW BOOKS FROM PERI AUTHORS

Reclaiming Nature:
Environmental Justice and Ecological Restoration
Edited by James Boyce,
Sunita Narain & Elizabeth A. Stanton
Reclaiming Nature charts a course between denial and despair over environmental problems. The authors realize that human activities can have positive impacts on nature's wealth as well as negative. The question is how we can tip the balance in favor of the positive. In essays by well-known economists, environmentalists, and activists, this book offers hope for tomorrow, inspired by examples of people across the world who are building natural assets by adding value, capturing benefits, democratizing access, and defending the commons.

New in Paperback: Financialization & the World Economy
Edited by Gerald Epstein
Financialization - the increasing importance of financial markets, institutions and motives in the world economy - is described and analyzed in this rigorously researched volume, edited by PERI co-director Gerald Epstein. The contributors, top scholars in their fields, explore the quantitative and qualitative dimensions of financialization and tally its costs and benefits for society as a whole. They explore the puzzling promotion of financial liberalization by governments despite its enormous costs, and describe what can be done to alter the destructive path toward excessive financialization that most countries are taking.

The New Field Guide to the U.S. Economy
Jonathan Teller-Elsberg, Nancy Folbre & James Heintz
Revised and updated, The New Field Guide to the U.S. Economy brings key economic issues to life with a unique mix of cartoons, words, and accessible graphs and figures. This edition features brand new material on: the war in Iraq, the Department of Homeland Security, lotteries, the prison industrial complex, foreign aid, the environment, and pharmaceutical companies. Complete with a glossary and analytical 'tool kit,' this primer covers a wide range of subjects including workers, women, people of color, government spending, welfare, education, health, the environment, macroeconomics, and the global economy. It also features a detailed but easy-to-understand analysis of the severe harm that the Bush administration has inflicted on the majority of the U.S. population.
 

Economic Sociology - The European Electronic Newsletter

Current Issue:
Vol. 8, No. 1 - November 2006

Note from the Editor

It is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to this issue of the European Economic Sociology Newsletter as its new editor. I follow in the footsteps of my able predecessor Olav Velthuis whom I thank for his great work over the past two years as well as his generous advice and support during the editorial transition. I am grateful to the Editorial Board for their vote of confidence.

I take on my editorial responsibilities with excitement and commitment to contribute to a project, which strives to be a forum for new ideas and stimulating discussions in economic sociology. With more than 1200 subscribers and many regular website visitors, the European Economic Sociology Newsletter (EESN) is a wide reaching outlet in Europe and beyond. I look forward to helping this project grow further in its theoretical, empirical and geographical scope. The issue in front of you is a step in this direction.

While providing a broad range of stimulating contributions, this issue pays special attention to comparative cross-national economic sociology. Comparison, as Durkheim claimed, is integral to sociology. Not surprisingly, an increasing number of economic sociologists employ comparisons to examine the varieties of economic outcomes across countries, regions, organizations, and other social groups. Comparison helps reveal the diversity and/or commonality in macro-economic organization, market outcomes, work patterns, economic practices within households, and other areas of economic life. This issue presents a sampling of this diverse research and extends an invitation to economic sociologists to think in broadly comparative terms.

Setting the comparative stage, Lars Mjøset reflects upon the study of Nordic varieties of capitalism to put forth, as he states, "a plea for contextual generalization through comparative specification." Moving from a cross-national comparison of capitalist organization to a cross-national comparison of organizational outcomes, Marta Kahancová employs an opportune research design by contrasting work practices and industrial relations of four firms in different European countries, all subsidiaries of one multinational corporation. Using data from countries as diverse as Sweden, the U.K., India and Turkey to highlight commonalities rather than differences, Patrik Aspers examines emergence and persistence of order in global garments markets. Erik Larson reports some of his research findings from an interesting study of the creation and operation of stock market exchanges in Fiji, Ghana and Iceland. Interested in households as settings of economic activity, Judith Treas and Sonja Drobnič provide a short overview of their cross-national research on the household division of labour in Germany, Finland and the U.S.

The contribution that follows attests to the spirit of EESN as a forum for cutting-edge ideas in economic sociology. Viviana Zelizer, one of the most prominent scholars in contemporary economic sociology contributes a piece in which she develops further her ideas on circuits of commerce. Zelizer extends an invitation to researchers to conceptualize and empirically analyze economic activities that cannot be captured well by more traditional foci on markets, organizations, networks or dyadic economic relations.

The issue also includes the »interview« and »read and recommended« sections that a regular reader will have expected and a newcomer will likely find of considerable interest. Laurent Thévenot, from the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, Paris, engagingly answers ten questions about economic sociology. Yuval Millo, from the University of Essex, recommends not only a book and an article but also a piece of software that might be of interest to many readers. We also include book reviews of some major new additions to the economic sociology scholarship, as well as an announcement of a new economic sociology Ph.D. program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, directed by Ezra Zuckerman and Roberto Fernandez.

Nina Bandelj
nbandelj@uci.edu

International Journal of Public Policy

I would like to invite you to consider the INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PUBLIC POLICY (www.inderscience.com/ijpp), of which I am a regional editor, as an outlet of your research.

The IJPP is supposed to provide a forum for a wide range of theoretical and empirical research on macroeconomic and macropolitical issues not only, but also from a non-mainstream background.
As the IJPP is a rather new journal, I would like you to help me in establishing a medium for outstanding heterodox research.
You can e-mail contributions directly to me - I will direct the usuall double-blind referee process.
Please feel free to forward this mail to other colleagues that might be interested.
I am looking forward to getting loads of interesting submission.

Best regards
Arne Heise

Prof.Dr.Arne Heise
University of Hamburg
Faculty of Economics and Social Sciences Department of Economics and Politics VMP 9
D-20246 Hamburg

Arne.Heise@wiso.uni-hamburg.de

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For Your Information

Second Annual AFIT Student Scholars Award Competition

The Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT) proudly announces the Second Annual AFIT Student Scholars Award Competition. The aim of AFIT is to encourage graduate students in Economics and Political Economy to pursue research in topics within the Institutional Economics framework.

Three winning papers will be selected. Winners are expected to present their research during a special session at the Annual Meetings of AFIT, held during the Western Social Science Association’s 49th Annual Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, April 11 - 14, 2007.
For detailed information: Oct26AFITResearch2006rev-1.doc

Economic Democracy: A Worthy Socialism that Would Really Work

by David Schweickart,
www.SolidarityEconomy.net  

[Chicago's David Schweickart, Philosophy, Loyola, is in Venezuela, invited to present his theory of 'Economic Democracy' as a market socialist alternative for the 21st Century that is in tune with global justice, paticipatory democracy and Karl Marx's orginal ideas as well. What follows is just the introdction to his presentation, which is much longer, and can be found at www.solidarityeconomy.net  --CarlD]

'Economic Democracy: A Worthy Socialism that Would Really Work' laid out a model that was to form the basis of my book Against Capitalism, published by Cambridge University Press in 1993. The article, like the book itself, was a theoretical response to the triumphalism of the TINA crowd (There Is No Alternative) that followed the collapse of Soviet Union and the rejection of socialism by its satellite states in Eastern Europe. 'A Worthy Socialism' was intended to demonstrate rigorously that there is an alternative, at least in theory: an economically viable form of socialism that would be more democratic than capitalism and at least as efficient. Against Capitalism made the same point, but extended the argument further. Economic Democracy would be not only as efficient as capitalism and more democratic, but also more rational in its growth, more stable, more egalitarian, less prone to high unemployment, more ecologically friendly. I was sick of hearing even progressives say that 'we are going to have to stop using the term ‘capitalist economy’ as if we knew what a functioning non-capitalist economy would look like.' (these words from the well-known philosopher and public intellectual Richard Rorty, writing in the widely read liberal magazine.)

In 1998 I was approached by a publisher to do a more popular version of Against Capitalism, less oriented to professional philosophers and economists, more accessible to students, labor organizers and other sympathetic non-academics. I agreed, and began what I thought would be quick and easy project.

The project was not so 'quick and easy.' The result, After Capitalism, did not appear until 2002. It was longer in coming than I had anticipated. I had to do more than update statistics and alter the style. For the world had changed significantly since the early 1990s, and, as a result (I came to realize) my own focus had changed. My thinking had become (and remains) more praxis-oriented than it had been earlier. Moreover, this change of focus suggested certain supplements to my original model, which I set out in the Postscript to my article, which is also included in this volume. What I will say to you today draws heavily on that supplement to the original article.

The World Has Changed

History has not moved along the path foretold a decade and a half ago by so many confident prognosticators. In particular:

-- The socialist experiments have not all collapsed, as was so widely expected.
-- The neoliberal experiments have failed almost everywhere.
-- A new resistance movement has come into being.

In the early 1990s it seemed to most people that socialism was over, at least for the foreseeable future. The socialist experiment in the Soviet Union had failed. The various attempts that had been undertaken in Eastern Europe to modify, humanize, and make more efficient the basic Soviet model had been brought to a halt. It seemed only a matter of time, the interval presumed to be short, before Cuba, China, Vietnam and North Korea would abandon their socialist pretenses and join the capitalist club. But they didn’t.

Cuba, despite a further tightening of the embargo, went through a very difficult 'special period,' but has seen its economy rebound significantly. Vietnam and especially China have done more than survive. Vietnam has seen its economy grow rapidly, despite the million or so citizens killed by the Americans and their (our) puppet-regimes and the millions of gallons of poison sprayed on their countryside. China has succeeded over the last quarter century in lifting more people out of poverty than any country has ever done in human history, and, at the same time, has established itself as one of the world’s major economic powers.

It should be noted that all three of these countries, which still identify themselves as socialist, have introduced market mechanisms into their economies, which, as we shall see shortly, the theory underlying Economic Democracy recommends. By way of contrast, the North Korean economy remains relentlessly non-market, and continues to deteriorate—as the theory underlying Economic Democracy predicts.

It is not the economies of the countries that continue to profess socialism that have collapsed but the economies that most fervently embraced the new capitalist orthodoxy. More precisely, the greatest economic disasters of recent years have been those on the extremes—on the one hand, North Korea, which refuses all concessions to the market, and on the other hand, those ex-socialist countries that embraced capitalism most avidly. Among the latter, the Soviet Union stands out, having experienced the worst economic decline in time of peace of any country in modern history. Clearly, the euphoria that once informed the neoliberal project has evaporated, as those countries that followed the U.S. Treasury/IMF/World Bank prescriptions have all experienced either sharp decline or, at best, minimal growth: not only the countries that once comprised the Soviet Union, but also Mexico, Haiti, most of Eastern Europe, most of Central and South America, most of Southeast Asia, almost all of sub-Sahara Africa—the list goes on and on....
http://solidarityeconomy.net

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