Issue 81: April 23, 2009

In this issue:

Call for Papers

The Financial and Monetary Crisis

FINANCIAL AND MONETARY CRISIS: Rethinking Economic Policies and Redefining the architecture and governance of international finance”

DECEMBER 10-12, 2009
Université de Bourgogne, Laboratoire Economie Gestion (Dijon, France)

Deadline for Proposals : July 30th, 2009
Decision from the Committee: August 30th, 2009
Deadline for sending papers: November 15th, 2009

Organised by

Claude Gnos (Université de Bourgogne et Cemf-LEG, Dijon)
Louis-Philippe Rochon (Laurentian University and IEPI, Canada)

Click here for detailed information.

La Crise Financiere Et Monetaire

LA CRISE FINANCIÈRE ET MONÉTAIRE: Repenser la politique économique et redéfinir l’architecture et la gouvernance de la finance internationale”

10-12 DECEMBRE 2009
Université de Bourgogne, Laboratoire Economie Gestion (Dijon, France)

Date limite pour l’envoi de propositions : 30 Juillet 2009
Décisions du comité de selection : 30 Août 2009
Date limite pour l’envoi des papiers retenus: 15 Novembre 2009

Organisé par

Claude Gnos (Université de Bourgogne et Cemf-LEG, Dijon)
Louis-Philippe Rochon (Laurentian University and IEPI, Canada)

The Egyptian Labour Movement

Workshop: The Egyptian Labour Movement: Possibilities and Constraints School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), Russell Square Campus 7 July 2009 The massive strike in the Egyptian public sector textile mill in Mahalla al-Kubra in late December 2006 marked the beginning of the strongest and largest wave of workers protest to engulf the country since the 1940s. The strike wave has progressively spread from its initial hub in the public-sector textile mills to include other industrial sectors, such as food production, transport etc., as well as to firms in the private sector. Significant elements of the ‘professional classes’ have also been drawn into the struggle.

Following a successful strike which ended in January 2008, Property Tax Collectors, for example, set up an independent trade union, breaking the fifty-year old monopoly of the government-backed Egyptian Trade Union Federation on industrial organisation. The eruption of workers’ collective action adds to the problems of the current Egyptian regime, which faces the prospect of a difficult transition when 80-year old president Husni Mubarak either dies or leaves office. The strike wave threatens to undermine the political role of the official unions, long used by the ruling party as a vehicle for electoral mobilisation. Initiatives such as the attempted general strike in April 2008 in support of textile workers’ call for an increase in the national minimum wage also
raise the prospect of collaboration between opposition political forces and workers’ organisations.

The workshop organisers invite papers addressing the following themes:

- The relationship between the labour movement as a socio-political force and the composition of the Egyptian working class: how have recent changes in labour relations, the social divisions of labour and the structure of capital affected the Egyptian labour movement?

- The dynamics of the strike movement: what factors have influenced the timing of strikes and shaped patterns of collective action in different sectors of the economy? Who are the strike leaders? What role do the official unions play? What is the nature of the official unions and their relationship to the government? What other forms of workers organisation have emerged through strikes?

- The relationship between the workers’ movement and wider opposition forces: what are the links between workers’ protests and student activism, pro-democracy campaigns, and other recent political protest movements? What is the attitude of the Muslim Brotherhood towards the strike wave? What has the impact been of the ‘Mahalla Intifada’ and the attempted general strike of 6-7 April 2008?

Presenters already confirmed include: Hassanein Kishk (National Centre for Sociological and Criminological Research, Cairo), Fathallah Mahrus (Egyptian trade union activist), Mustafa Bassiouny (Labour correspondent, Al-Dustur newspaper, Egypt)

Interested contributors are asked to submit abstracts of no more than 300 words via email attachments (Microsoft Word). Abstracts should include the paper’s title, full name of author(s), professional affiliation, current email address and telephone number.
Attendance at the workshop is free, but regrettably we do not have funds available to support travel and accommodation costs for participants. The workshop will provide for Arabic-English translation.

Abstracts should be submitted to one of the workshop organisers below no later than May 15 2009.

Selected presenters will be required to submit their papers to the organising committee by June 23 2009

Professor Gilbert Achcar, Department of Development Studies, SOAS ( ga3@soas.ac.uk )
Dr. Anne Alexander, Department of Politics and International Studies, SOAS ( aa107@soas.ac.uk ) Marten Pettersson (MPhil/PhD Candidate),Department of Development Studies, SOAS ( marten.pettersson@soas.ac.uk )

The workshop is supported by the ESRC Non-Governmental Public Action Research Programme. For more information about the programme
go to http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/NGPA/  or contact Anne Alexander aa107@soas.ac.uk

A Green Economics Conference

The clash between Ecology and Economy
Greening the Economy,
Explanations, causes and answers to the current crises:
the climate, biodiversity, mass species extinction, commodity fluctuations, poverty, and the credit crunch?
Intergenerational and intragenerational equity, pensions
Our women's unequal pay and poverty project stream, social justice, long termism in economics
Systemic,practical and theory change in economics at
Mansfield College, Oxford University
4th Annual Green Economics Conference N
Friday 31 July to Saturday 1 August 2009

Including:

Green Procurement and the Greening of Business.

Other streams include:

Carbon Reduction and Climate Change, Women and Poverty, Lower Growth Economics, Biodiversity and Species Loss and the Economics of saving the rainforests. REDDs? Green Markets. How Kyoto works.

Philosophy of economics- What can Aristotle teach us now?
Finance, Food and Fuel?
Keynsianism Kick starts, or Greening, Growth as in nature, abundance and Greater Equity?
Instruments, tools and Green Economics Methodology for radical change and real progress in Economics

Click here for detailed information.

Society of Government Economists

Call for Papers and Sessions
For the Allied Social Science Associations /
American Economic Association Annual Meetings
in Atlanta, Georgia, January 3-5, 2010
The Society of Government Economists will be organizing several sessions at the Allied Social Science Associations / American Economic Association (ASSA/AEA) annual meetings in Atlanta, Georgia on January 3-5, 2010. The Society’s motivation for organizing these sessions is to promote economic thought that will be beneficial to government economists. Specifically, these sessions will be designed to inform and educate economists, and to provide valuable contributions to existing knowledge and understanding of economic ideas, or potential improvements in how economics is practiced. Such sessions should better enable economists to observe and understand the nature and causes of economic factors and events, which will, in turn, improve their ability to contribute to public decision making.
For this purpose, the Society of Government Economists is now soliciting proposals for paper presentations and organized sessions (typically involving 3-4 papers). These calls for papers and organized sessions will be open to all individuals who share the objectives mentioned above. In the case of proposed, individual papers, the Society will organize selected papers into sessions and invite other individuals to serve as discussants in those sessions.
We greatly encourage proposals for papers and sessions, which will be evaluated under the following rules and conditions:
(1) Papers and sessions will be peer reviewed (in a double-blind process) on the basis of scientific merit, importance of the topic, insightfulness, uniqueness, and level of effort.
(2) Proposals will be evaluated and selected without regard for whether the applicants are government economists or members of the Society of Government Economists. (Note this reflects a change from our previous selection criteria.) Similarly, the topics of the papers need not specifically address governmental policies or actions.
(3) There is no submission fee for proposing a paper or session.
(4) Proposals for individual papers are encouraged in addition to proposals for organized sessions—the Society is prepared to organize individual papers into sessions.
(5) The deadline for submitting the proposed paper or session is May 22, 2009. 2
How to Apply:
For a paper proposal, please send the following items:
1. Contact information: Name, Title, Affiliation, Address, Email Address, Phone Number for all of the authors.
2. An abstract of not more than 500 words that describes the paper. Because the application process will involve a double-blind review, applicants are asked to exclude from the abstract any information that reveals their identity.
2. A supplementary statement of not more than 300 words that argues for why the paper is valuable in terms of scientific merit and importance for economic analysis or decision making.
3. Optional: The names and contact information of two peer reviewers who could serve as objective, qualified experts on the merits of the proposal. (Those providing this information are encouraged to submit their proposal as early as possible.)
4. Optional: References to no more than two published articles on topics related to the paper, which contain names of individuals in the reference section who could serve as peer reviewers. (Those providing this are also encouraged to submit their proposal early.)
5. Optional: If any of the authors is interested in serving as a discussant of another paper in a session, please let us know, and include the possible topic areas. (This will have no bearing on our assessment of the paper proposal.)
Do not send any other materials with your proposal, such as preliminary drafts of a paper. In fairness to applicants who did not send such materials, additional materials will not be considered.
For a session proposal, please send the following:
1. Contact information of the session organizer(s) and session chair.
2. For each paper, all of the items that would be expected for a proposal of an individual paper, as listed above. As also mentioned above, do not send any extraneous materials.
3. Contact information on the discussants of the proposed papers.
Email all proposals to:
Mark Ledbetter, Application Coordinator for the Selection Committee
Society of Government Economists
mark.ledbetter@bea.gov

Gender and Global Economic Crisis

The current global crisis that has engulfed the world economy makes it more urgent than ever to continue the work of generating and sharing knowledge for the formulation of gender-equitable, and broadly-shared prosperity responses, including in the areas of macroeconomic and international trade policies and global finance.

With this purpose in mind:
1. a conference is being organized to take place on July 13-14, 2009 at Blithewood, Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. Should you wish to present papaer, please submit a 500-word abstract to Rania Antonopoulos rania@levy.org  and Nilufer Cagatay cagatay@economics.utah.edu  by May 10, 2009 (for details see attachment #1 ).

2. Please note: The conference is planned to take place immediately following a 2-week intensive course (June 29-July 10, 2009) on the same theme organized as a part of this year's acitvities by GEM (the international working group on gender, macroeconomics and international economics). Should you wish to attend, kindly visit www.genderandmacro.org  for details, (or see attachement #2). The deadline for sending in an application is May 1, 2009.

Call for Essays: Workers Councils in Historical and Comparative Perspective

The editors are seeking academically rigorous essays that also are accessible to workers, trade unionists, and activists. We encourage submissions that are free of jargon and rooted in historical experience. The culmination of the essays will be a book on workers councils published in many languages that embraces theory and action and easily grasped by a wide range of readers seeking democratic and socialist transformation through workers councils.

Proposals for essays are welcome and are due and will be accepted through August 15, 2009. Manuscript submissions are due November 15, 2009, with anticipated publication in early 2010. Essays should range from 5,000 to 7,500 words in length, although the editors will consider shorter or longer manuscripts on a case by case basis. Essays will be published in a volume to appear in several languages. The editors have already secured publication agreements from publishers for this work in several

Click here for detailed information.

Sixth International Conference on Environmental, Cultural, Economic and Social Sustainability

University of Cuenca, Ecuador
5-7 January 2010
http://www.SustainabilityConference.com

This Conference aims to develop a holistic view of sustainability, in which environmental, cultural and economic issues are inseparably interlinked. It will work in a multidisciplinary way, across diverse fields and taking varied perspectives in order to address the fundamentals of sustainability.

The Conference will include numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by practitioners, teachers and researchers. We would particularly like to invite you to respond to the Conference Call-for-Papers. Presenters may choose to submit written papers for publication in the fully refereed International Journal of Environmental, Cultural, Economic and social Sustainability. If you are unable to attend the Conference in person, virtual registrations are also available which allow you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication, as well as access to the Journal.

Whether you are a virtual or in-person presenter at this Conference, we also encourage you to present on the Conference YouTube Channel. Please select the Online Sessions link on the Conference website for further details.

The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 14 May 2009. Future deadlines will be announced on the Conference website after this date. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of submission. Full details of the Conference, including an online proposal submission form, may be found at the Conference website - http://www.SustainabilityConference.com/

Click here for detailed information.

The New and Old Institutionalisms in Development

The Development Studies Assocation of UK and Ireland has accepted a panel proposal which I put (with Ioana Negru) for their conference 2-4 Sept., 2009.
Abstracts are needed via email by 27 April 2009. The topic is Institutionalisms in Development, and I am putting full details below. Interested applicants can also use the web link to find out more about DSA and its annual conference. Every other year it is 3 days, this year in Ulster, Northern Ireland. The alternate years it is a one-day conference.

"The New and Old Institutionalisms in Development - Testing and Expanding their Adequacy"

Convenors – Wendy Olsen And Ioana Negru
Contact Email: wendy.olsen@manchester.ac.uk
General DSA Conference Theme Heading - "Clashing Values", see http://www.devstud.org.uk/  for Conference 2009 details.

Click here for detailed information.

The impact of the global financial crisis on economic reform processes in Africa

Call for papers for an international workshop at Bremen University of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Business and Economics, Bremen (Germany)

The impact of the global financial crisis on economic reform processes in Africa

Venue: October 2nd, 2009, House of Science (Bremen)

The impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) on the African economies is not only a concern to researchers in development economics but also to the policy makers in the region who have been engaged in economic reforms.

The workshop will provide a forum for leading scholars, experts, and policy makers to present papers on the impact of the global financial crisis on the socio-economic environment in sub-Saharan countries and contribute to the development of coping strategies. Of particular concern are the different consequences of the global financial crisis on countries with varying approaches to economic reforms.

The workshop will be organized around a number of themes on the following broad issues:
(1) Is Africa at another political and economic crossroads? What are the opportunities and dangers of policy reversals in the face of the GFC?
(2) What has been the impact of different kinds of governance on financial stability? Which macro-economic policies can be used to overcome the crisis in Africa?
(3) What has been the impact of the GFC on Africa's external economic relations in different types of African economies with regard to their opening up to the world markets (esp. export performance, capital imports, and migration)?
(4) How have economic reform processes affected social cohesion and what are the respective social consequences of the GFC, especially regarding poverty alleviation and the MDGs?
(5) Which has been the role of International Financial Institutions during and after the crisis? What are the repercussions of an aggravating financial, economic, and social crisis in Africa on the world economy?

The workshop welcomes papers based on theory, applied research and cases studies from all fields of economics and social sciences.

To submit a topic, please send an abstract of up to 300 words and a bio note of up to 100 words by June, 30th 2009 to the organizers. We will inform you immediately as to whether the proposed topic cooresponds with the general framework of the workshop and in this case would ask you to send a full paper of around 15 to 20 pages by August 31, 2009. Presentation is scheduled for 15 to 20 minutes. No participation costs for accepted presenters.

Organizers:
Dr. des. Joy Alemazung Joy.Alemazung@hs-bremen.de  Prof. Dr. Hans H. Bass bass@fbn.hs-bremen.de  Dr. des. Osmund Uzor uzor@uni-bremen.de  (co-ordinator)

Uncertain Crisis? Comparing institutional responses to macroeconomic change

By Research Area G – Macroeconomic Regulation and Institutional Change
For EAEPE conference “Institutional Solutions for Economic Recovery”
Amsterdam, Friday November 6th to Sunday November 8th 2009

Despite its regular and broadly experienced failures, by the end of the C20th capitalism had emerged as triumphant, extinguishing hopes of a historical alternative and shaking off the democratic national democratic structures that had controlled its excesses. The crisis that we face today presents a fully integrated global economy with the consequences of a collapsing financial syste. Regulation Theory (RT) explains the persistence of capitalism through periods of crisis. The distinction between structural and cyclical crises demonstrates the normalising role of crisis periods and shows why periods of relative stability tend towards decline. This session invites theoretical, methodological and empirical discussions of the current economic crisis with special reference to the following questions.
What characteristics does this crisis share with previous ones? The collapse of Fordism is closely associated with the decreased returns on capital investments in auto industries in western economies. Similarly the collapse of a financialisation regime of accumulation followed decreased returns on high risk investments. So are regimes of accumulation driven by key sectors? If so what are the factors that contribute to paradigms of core sectoral growth? Or is failure of the banks to deliver property rights a failure too great for capitalism to sustain?
How can uncertainty in a structural crisis be differentiated from risk under cyclical crisis? Risk management has become a core element of contemporary governance, but how well will these techniques apply in a period of dramatically decreased demand? Is the experience of financial meltdown, now being felt in the core economies, merely a characteristic of a stable regime of accumulation that has already seen financial uncertainty in many periphery and semi periphery economies?
To what degree does this period of dramatic failure present the opportunity for radical reform? Government responses to date have sought to prop up the existing financial system and debates calling for alternative mechanisms and radical change have not been effectively made. To what degree is this because existing disciplinary spaces are repeating the failures of the past?
Finally given the opportunities for proposing new agendas that the crisis presents, how can economic debates be re-politicised to assert greater democratic control, more socially responsive institutions and a more democratic socialism than has been seen in recent time. Or do the ideologies of the C20th need to be refocused and even redefined to match the world today?

The abstract (600-700 words) should clearly mention:

- research area G (see above)
- title of the paper
- name of the author(s)and full address of the corresponding author (postal address, phone, fax and email)
- the aim of the study and methodology, (expected) results and/or conclusion
- up to 5 keywords

Deadline for abstract submission: May 1, 2009
Notification for abstract acceptance: May 30, 2009
Deadline for paper submission: September 20, 2009

Any queries please contact
Pascal Petit ( pascal.petit@ens.fr ) and or Charlie Dannreuther ( c.dannreuther@leeds.ac.uk )
For more details please see conference website:
http://eaepe.org/eaepe-conference-2008

The EAEPE Conference 2009

The EAEPE Conference 2009 will be organized in Amsterdam from Friday 6 until Sunday 8 November.
The deadline for uploading abstracts for the EAEPE Conference 2009 is on the 1st of May.
Please visit the eaepe website www.eaepe.org.

41st UK History of Economic Thought Conference

University of Manchester (Chancellors Hotel and Conference Centre), 2-4 September 2009.
FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS
Abstracts (not exceeding 500 words) should be submitted to the conference organiser (details below) no later than 18 May. Accepted papers will be required for posting on the (forthcoming) conference website by 1 August. For those unfamiliar with the UK conference, each paper is allotted approximately 45 minutes for presentation and discussion. Contributions are welcome on all aspects of history of economic thought (including methodology), from all perspectives.
Further details of the conference will be made available on the conference website, scheduled to be online in early May.

Terry Peach
Conference Organiser
Terry.Peach@manchester.ac.uk

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Conferences, Seminars and Lectures

The Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE)

The Centre of Full Employment and Equity (CofFEE) will be holding a series of FREE public policy lectures on the Global Financial Crisis during May 2009, in Newcastle, Australia.

Click here for detailed information.

Training in Qualitative Comparative Analysis

On June 8th, 2009, Wendy Olsen will offer training in Qualitative Comparative Analysis at Manchester. There is a fee for most participants. The course helps with systematically organised case-wise comparison of case-study material. NVIVO is the working software for the course but no prior knowledge is required. You can also do QCA with spreadsheet support and/or with semi-structured interview material. All welcome. See details on Short Course link of www.ccsr.ac.uk  The training is 10-4 pm.

Association of Heterodox Economics

funded post graduate workshop on advanced research methods

8th-9th July 2009
Kingston University
London, U.K.

There are funded places available for UK registered PhD students to cover UK travel, accommodation and subsistence expenses for the above event. The workshop covers topics in research not typically covered in economics training.

Workshop topics include:
- Reorienting economics to match method with social material
- Open system methodology in Economics
- Grounded theory in Economics
- Mixing quantitative and qualitative data
- Qualitative data analysis

Speakers:

Dr Paul Downward- Loughborough University
Professor Fred Lee- University of Missouri – Kansas City
Dr Ioana Negru- Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge
Dr Wendy Olsen- The Cathie Marsh Centre for Census and Survey Research, Manchester University

Further details (deadline for applications 18th May, 2009)
For information on how to apply, and for further details, please contact
Dr Andrew Mearman Email. Andrew.Mearman@uwe.ac.uk
Bristol Business School
University of the West of England
BS16 1QY U.K.

The Financial Institutions and Economic Security

Regent's Park Conference Centre, London, UK
May 21-22, 2009

Conference Organizers:
William Lazonick, University of Massachusetts Lowell
Mariana Mazzucato, The Open University

OVERVIEW:
The purpose of the Financial Institutions and Economic Security project is to delve into the role of financial institutions in supporting or undermining economic security in the advanced nations of the West, and the implications for industrial innovation and economic performance. At a conference to be held in London on 21-22 May, 2009, we will consider the influence of financial institutions on employment security, retirement security, and housing security, as well as the interrelations among these forms of economic security in North America and Europe. Besides creating a forum for debating these issues, we expect that the conference will generate a published volume as well as an agenda and working group for further research.

The conference is being sponsored by the Centre for Innovation, Knowledge and Development of The Open University.

FURTHER INFORMATION/REGISTRATION:
For details, including the conference programme, see the FI&ES website at:

http://www.open.ac.uk/ikd/events/financial-institutions-and-economic-security/

There is no charge for registration, but the number of attendees is limited. To register for the conference, or for further information, please contact:
CONTACT: Lynda Lynn
Email: l.lynn@open.ac.uk

Feelbad Britain: How to make it better

You are invited to a meeting to mark the publication of Feelbad Britain: How to make it better

edited by Pat Devine, Andrew Pearmain and David Purdy

ISBN 9781905007936 250 pages £14.99 April 2009
Lawrence & Wishart
info@lwbooks.co.uk  www.lwbooks.co.uk 

This book has been written as an attempt to apply the insights and experience of several political lifetimes to the history of the past thirty years – an era characterised, above all, by the ascendancy of neoliberalism, both as a general world-view and as an approach to public policy.

The central thesis of Feelbad Britain is that after the decades of neoliberalism the institutions and social relations on which solidarity, trust and citizenship depend have been undermined. This has left contemporary British society in a troubled and dysfunctional state, without the cohesion or confidence needed if we are to escape from recession, combat climate change and restore faith in government.

The authors put forward a theoretical framework for understanding contemporary politics; and they consider what is to be done to revitalise the British left, challenge neoliberal hegemony, and develop a political project aimed at creating a greener, fairer, happier, more democratic and less divided Britain.

Contributors
Patrick Ainley, Martin Allen, David Beetham, Noel Castree, Pat Devine, Angela McRobbie, Linda Patterson, Andrew Pearmain, Michael Prior, David Purdy, Kate Soper

Wednesday April 29
6.00-7.30
Blackwell’s Bookshop
The Precinct Centre
Oxford Road
Manchester M13 9RN

Speakers
- Pat Devine (co-editor) Honorary Research Fellow, Social Science,
University of Manchester
- Jules Townshend (discussant) Professor of Politics, Manchester
Metropolitan University

The Green Economics Institute

The Green Economics Institute is pleased to announce that it is running an introductory training course in Green Economics on May 16th 2009 at The Old Music Hall in Oxford.

Everyone is very welcome. No prior knowledge of economics is needed to be able to enjoy this course- which has lecturers from and with experience of several continents, including Europe and Asia with an emphasis on Africa.

The course will explore green solutions to the economic downturn, to climate change and to the current mass extinction of species. It will also focus on prevention of poverty and also poverty as a gendered issue especially in the context of Africa and will feedback from the important women's unequal pay and poverty conference just held in March by the Green Economics Institute.

The course is designed to introduce participants to some of the major themes in economics and in the development of green economics and some of the main theories and writers and practitioners. It is designed to help them to share their own experiences and to be confident in dealing with economics, and economists and economics techniques in their future activities of all kinds.

It will appeal to government officials, business people, campaigners and NGOs and academics in all sorts of fields. We take a wide holistic and multidisciplinary approach to the practise and theory and implementation of economics.

The course is participatory, and will include case studies, and lectures and workshop. The material and course has been run in a variety of countries and situations as varied as at Oxford University, in Poland, in Germany, and also in the open air in fields and tents.

If you would like to come along please pre register and fill in the booking form attached.

Conference on 21st Century Keynesian Economics

Date: 8 May 2009

Location : School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG

Room G3

Programme

10.45: Welcome and Introduction

11.00 – 12.30am
Mike Kitson: Keynesian Theory in the 21st Century
Amitava Dutt: Keynesian Growth Theory in the 21st Century

12.30 – 2.00pm: Lunch

2.00 - 3.30pm:
Ilene Grabel: Financial Systems and Economic Development in the 21st Century: Are we all Keynesians Yet?
Philip Arestis and Malcolm Sawyer: 21st Keynesian Economic Policy

3.30- 4.00pm Coffee

4.00 – 6.00pm
Costas Lapavitsas: Financial Regulation: Does Keynesian Economics Offer Radical Alternatives?
Eckhard Hein: A Keynesian Perspective on Financialisation
Terry Barker: Endogenous Money in 21st Century Keynesian Economics

The 2nd Mecpoc Symposium

Franklin College Switzerland is hosting the 2nd Mecpoc Symposium sponsored by the Mosler Economic Policy Center.

Lessons from the Global Crisis: A New Paradigm?
When: 14:30 Tuesday April 21, 2009
Where: Franklin Auditorium
http://www.mecpoc.org/2009/03/29/2nd-mecpoc-symposium/

Seminar Series in Radical Political Thought

EUROPEAN STUDIES RESEARCH INSTITUTE (ESRI)

Centre for Contemporary History & Politics

Friday 24th April 2009

Migration Scenarios and State Theory, or: The State
of African Health and the Health of African States

Andrew Lawrence (University of Edinburgh)
Room 103, Crescent House 1-3pm


Friday 1st May 2009

The World Revolution of 20XX
(4th Annual May Day Lecture)

Christopher Chase-Dunn (University of California, Riverside)
Room 103, Crescent House 1-3pm


Wednesday 20th May 2009

Globalization and the Transnationalization
of the Higher Education Industry

Clyde W. Barrow (University of Massachusetts)
Room 103, Crescent House 4-6pm

The Ethical Critique of Capitalism

International Socialism journal seminar:
Paul Blackledge on The Ethical Critique of Capitalism

Paul Blackledge, author of Reflections on the Marxist Theory of History and co-editor of a recent collection of writings by Alisdair MacIntyre, will be presenting the latest in our series of seminars.
He will speak on “The Ethical Critique of Capitalism”. As background to this talk, those planning to attend may wish to read Paul’s recent article on Marxism and ethics, published in International Socialism 120 and available online: www.isj.org.uk/?id=486
6.30pm, Friday 1 May. King’s College London, the Strand. Room 1B06 MAP
Room 1B06 is in the “first basement”. Enter via the main entrance on The Strand and take either the stairs on your left of the lift to level B1.
For more information phone 020 7819 1177 or email isj@swp.org.uk
Joseph Choonara [josephc@swp.org.uk]

Feelbad Britain: How to make it better

edited by Pat Devine, Andrew Pearmain and David Purdy
published by Lawrence & Wishart ( www.lwbooks.co.uk )

This book has been written as an attempt to apply the insights and experience of several political lifetimes to the history of the past thirty years – an era characterised, above all, by the ascendancy of neoliberalism, both as a general world-view and as an approach to public policy.
The central thesis of Feelbad Britain is that after the decades of neoliberalism the institutions and social relations on which solidarity, trust and citizenship depend have been undermined. This has left contemporary British society in a troubled and dysfunctional state, without the cohesion or confidence needed if we are to escape from recession, combat climate change and restore faith in government.
The authors put forward a theoretical framework for understanding contemporary politics; and they consider what is to be done to revitalise the British left, challenge neoliberal hegemony, and develop a political project aimed at creating a greener, fairer, happier, more democratic and less divided Britain.

Contributors The editors, plus Patrick Ainley, Martin Allen, David Beetham, Noel Castree, Angela McRobbie, Linda Patterson, Michael Prior, Kate Soper

Wednesday May 6 6.45-9.00
Staff Café (Tower Building)
London Metropolitan University
166-220 Holloway Road
London N7 8DB
Refreshments will be available

Speakers

- Pat Devine (co-editor) Honorary Research Fellow, Social Science, University of Manchester
- Angela McRobbie (author) Professor of Communications, Goldsmiths, University of London
- Kate Soper (author) Emeritus Professor of Philosophy, Institute for the Study of European Transformations, London Metropolitan University
- Martin Jacques (commentator) Author, columnist for the Guardian and New Statesman

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Job Postings for Heterodox Economists
 
University of Glasgow

The Department of Economics invites applications for a Lectureship in Development Economics
Ref: 00015-2
Salary: £31,513 - £44,930 p.a.

Candidates should have a proven research record and/or potential for publication combined with enthusiasm for teaching.

The successful candidates will join a department with a highly-rated international research profile and a large population of undergraduate, postgraduate taught and research students. In the Research Assessment Exercise, 25% of the research work of staff was rated as ‘world leading’, 50% as ‘internationally excellent’ and 25% as ‘recognised internationally’. The department attracts approximately 160 Masters students each year and currently supervises more than 40 PhD students.

Further information:
Prospective candidates seeking further information may contact the Head of Department, Dr Alberto Paloni - a.paloni@lbss.gla.ac.uk ; tel: +44 (0)141 330 4618.

Applications:
Applications for this position can be made on-line at www.gla.ac.uk/jobs.  If you are unable to apply on-line, please contact Human Resources on 0141 330 3898 for an application pack.
Closing date for applications: Friday, 1 May 2009.

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Heterodox Conference Papers and Reports and Articles
 
An agenda for social democracy

Authored by:
Professor John Quiggin
Australian Research Council Federation Fellow
School of Economics and School of Political Science and International Studies
University of Queensland
John Quiggin is a Federation Fellow in Economics and Political Science at the University of Queensland. He is prominent both as a research economist and as a commentator on Australian economic policy. He has produced over 1000 publications, including five books and over 300 journal articles and book chapters, in fields including environmental economics, risk analysis, production economics, and the theory of economic growth. He has also written on policy topics including climate change, micro-economic reform, privatisation, employment policy and the management of the Murray-Darling river system.

Click here to download the flyer.

SOAS Research on Money and Finance Discussion Papers

We are pleased to announce the launch of the Research on Money and Finance Discussion Papers series, available at http://www.soas.ac.uk/rmf/papers/.
The series invites discussion papers that may be in political economy, heterodox economics, and economic sociology. We welcome theoretical and empirical analysis without preference for particular topics. Our aim is to accumulate a body of work that provides insight into the development of contemporary capitalism. We also welcome literature reviews and critical analyses of mainstream economics provided they have a bearing on economic and social development. Submissions are refereed by a panel of three. Publication in the RMF series does not preclude submission to journals. However, authors are encouraged independently to check journal policy.

Costas Lapavitsas [cl5@soas.ac.uk]

Recent Rise in Federal Government and Federal Reserve Liabilities: Antidote to a Speculative Hangover

Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and Greg Hannsgen
Recent Federal Reserve (Fed) flow-of-funds data show a sharp rise in federal government and Fed liabilities. President Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and Research Scholar Greg Hannsgen examine the holders of these new liabilities and outline the likely effects of these debts on the U.S. economy. They dispel concerns that the surge in government liabilities (especially money) will cause a large increase in inflation, and focus on the badly needed improvement of private sector balance sheets, which will take some time to rebuild. And since default on debts that are backed by the full faith and credit of the United States is virtually impossible, these assets are safe (many U.S. sectors, as well as China, have been buying Treasuries). Moreover, increased deficits and their impact on balance sheets will eventually help stabilize the U.S. economy.

http://www.levy.org/vdoc.aspx?docid=1140

It’s That “Vision” Thing: Why the Bailouts Aren’t Working, and Why a New Financial System Is Needed

Jan Kregel
The Federal Reserve’s response to the current financial crisis has been praised because it introduced a zero interest rate policy more rapidly than the Bank of Japan (during the Japanese crisis of the 1990s) and embraced massive “quantitative easing.” However, despite vast capital injections, the banking system is not lending in support of the private sector.
Senior Scholar Jan Kregel compares the situation today with the 1930s and finds an absence of “New Deal” measures and institutions in the current rescue packages. The lessons of the Great Depression suggest that any successful policy requires fundamental structural reform, an understanding of how the financial system failed, and the introduction of a new financial structure (in a short space of time) that is designed to correct these failures. Today’s economic crisis could have been avoided if increased household consumption had been financed through wage increases, and if financial institutions had used their earnings to augment bank capital rather than bonuses.

http://www.levy.org/vdoc.aspx?docid=1135 

A “People First” Strategy: Credit Cannot Flow When There Are No Creditworthy Borrowers or Profitable Projects

James K. Galbraith
We are in the shadow of catastrophe and at the beginning of a long, profound, painful, and irreversible process of change, says Senior Scholar James K. Galbraith. We need to come to grips with the crisis, fast, but two ingrained habits are leading to our failure to do so: the assumption that economies will eventually return to normal on their own, and the belief that recovery runs through the banks rather than around them.
Galbraith suggests the following measures, all of which are needed now: make economic forecasts realistic, audit banks more honestly, introduce effective financial regulation, keep people in their homes, and increase public retirement benefits.

http://www.levy.org/vdoc.aspx?docid=1129 

What Role for Central Banks in View of the Current Crisis?

Philip Arestis and Elias Karakitsos
Rather than bailing out speculators, careless investors, and banks, the authors’ new policy initiative recommends that central banks target the net wealth of the personal sector (net wealth is at the heart of the transmission mechanism between asset prices and debt, and consumption). A net wealth target would not impede the free functioning of the financial system. Rather, it would help to control liquidity and avoid future crises, without interfering with the financial engineering of banks.
In an asset-led business cycle, a central bank is well advised to have two targets: inflation and the output gap. In a highly leveraged economy like the United States that is experiencing a credit crisis, monetary policy should also include mild wealth targeting in order to stabilize the economy around potential output.

http://www.levy.org/vdoc.aspx?docid=1127

New Estimates of Economic Inequality in America, 1959–2004

Ajit Zacharias, Edward N. Wolff, and Thomas Masterson
In this report, the authors present new evidence on the pattern of economic inequality in the United States. They find that the LIMEW and two official measures of inequality indicate higher inequality in 2004 than in 1959. According to the LIMEW, the surge in inequality between 1989 and 2000 reflects the large increase in income from wealth for the top rungs of the economic ladder. The authors’ findings suggest a rather bleak picture for the lower and middle classes in terms of sharing the economic pie.
According to all measures, base income and income from wealth contributed positively to the increase in inequality, while net government expenditures and taxes moderated that increase. The principal reason for the decline in inequality during the latest subperiod (2000-04) was the fall in income from nonhome wealth in response to the bust of the financial markets rather than a reduction in earnings inequality or changes in government redistributive policies.

http://www.levy.org/vdoc.aspx?docid=1141

Background Considerations to a Regulation of the U.S. Financial System: Third Time a Charm? Or Strike Three?

Jan Kregel
Senior Scholar Jan Kregel reviews the history of U.S. financial regulation and finds that prudential regulation no longer has a direct impact on system liquidity, thus eliminating the traditional transmission mechanism for monetary policy. The Financial Modernization Act of 1999 resulted in the creation of new capital market institutions such as hedge funds and private equity funds, without appropriate regulation. There is no longer any precise relation between financial institutions and functions, so the first decision is whether to base reregulation on institutions, functions, or products.
U.S. legislator and regulator responses to previous financial crises have not led to sustainable financial stability. The United States is now facing, for the third time, the choice between a segmented or a unified banking system. Germany, for example, rejected separation of commercial and investment banks, and maintained universal banking without financial crisis.

http://www.levy.org/vdoc.aspx?docid=1125

New Policy Research from PERI

In collaboration with the Natural Resources Defense Council, Robert Pollin and PERI Research Assistant Ben Zipperer have entered into the cap-and-trade debate. In a series of state fact sheets, they have evaluated the economic forecasts generated by the American Council on Capital Formation and the National Association of Manufacturers (ACCF/NAM). In Pollin and Zipperer's assessment, even under ACCF/NAM's worst case scenario, a cap-and-trade policy will have only a minor impact on the performance of the U.S. economy over time. They apply this scenario to the economies of 29 states, and demonstrate the degree to which economic vitality and environmental stewardship can coincide under cap-and trade policies.

There is much more to understand about the economic impacts of any legislation which puts a price tag on carbon emissions. Watch PERI's website over the next few months for additional research on this topic.

Go to the cap-and-trade website to download state fact sheets or the detailed technical appendix
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5ERGx&m=1gY_zsAYgG2ETL&b=pYOiMntRnR2_Q_zGs4Bavw

Please join us in demonstrating support for the Employee Free Choice Act, a potentially powerful tool to fight rising unemployment, wage inequality and declining living standards for working families. The PERI website currently hosts a statement by Scholars in Support of the Employee Free Choice Act, as well as an EFCA resource page. Since its inception in January, the Scholars' statement has been signed by over 1,000 academics from around the world. Please add your name as a signatory, and forward the link widely to colleagues.

Go to the Employee Free Choice Act resource page http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5ERGx&m=1gY_zsAYgG2ETL&b=bJs0q05XDSUiea8gxLvyVg

Sign on as a Scholar for the Employee Free Choice Act
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=5ERGx&m=1gY_zsAYgG2ETL&b=kZVhItDvoxmruq8qrW5wdg

For more information, please contact:
Debbie Zeidenberg
Political Economy Research Institute
peri@econs.umass.edu / 413.577.3147

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Heterodox Journals and Newsletters

Le N°3 de la Revue Française de Socio-Economie sortira en librairie à la mi-avril

Dossier :
Pensée économique et système capitaliste. Usages contemporains de quelques grands auteurs en économie

Mobiliser les grands auteurs en sciences sociales, un point de vue épistémologique Richard SOBEL et Bruno TINEL, p. 11

Le visiteur de Genève : Malthus, l'Organisation mondiale du commerce et l'agriculture Thierry POUCH, p. 17

« Adam Smith Problem » ou problème des sciences sociales ? Détour par l'anthropologie d'Adam Smith Jean-Daniel BOYER, p. 37

État social, employeur de dernier recours et théorie postkeynésienne Marc LAVOIE, p. 55

Le mirage du libéralisme hayékien
Philippe LÉGÉ, p. 77

Quatre siècles et demi de New (New) Law & Economics :
du pragmatisme juridique dans le régime consulaire de contrôle social des marchés Emmanuel LAZEGA, p. 97

Hors-dossier:

Le rôle des réseaux et du marché dans les recrutements.
Enquête auprès des entreprises
Christian BESSY et Emmanuelle MARCHAL, p. 121

La manipulation des documents publicitaires.
Contribution à une sociologie du travail marchand Roland CANU, p. 147

Les jeunes entreprises pionnières face à l'incertitude :
la construction sociale de l'échec
Gerhard KRAUSS, p. 169

Notes et synthèses de recherche p. 187

Revisiter les relations entre pauvreté et éducation Nolwen HENAFF, Marie-France LANGE, Jean-Yves MARTIN, p. 187

Notes critiques p. 195

François Vatin et Nicole Edelman, Philippe Baudorre, Dominique Rabaté et Dominique Viart

Usages de la littérature en sciences sociales par Claire PIGNOL, p. 195

Jean-Paul Fitoussi, Eloi Laurent
La nouvelle écologie politique. Économie et développement humain par Florence JANY-CATRICE, p. 198

Comptes rendus d'ouvrages p. 202

Isabelle Bruno - À vos marques, prêts... cherchez ! La stratégie de Lisbonne, vers un marché de la recherche ?
Hélène DUCOURANT, p. 202

Axel Honneth - La société du mépris. Vers une nouvelle théorie critique Sandrine ROUSSEAU, p. 203

Marie-Claude Blais - La solidarité, histoire d'une idée Anne FRETEL, p. 203

Cécile Caron et Gérald Gaglio - L'organisation à l'épreuve.
Autour du temps, de la sociabilité, de la rationalité et du métier Olivier MAZADE, p. 205

Edwin Le Héron et Philippe Moutot -
Les banques centrales doivent-elles être indépendantes ?
Jordan MELMIÈS et Thomas DALLERY, p. 208

Serge Paugam, Nicolas Duvoux - La régulation des pauvres Jacques RODRIGUEZ, p. 209

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought

Volume 16 Issue 1  is now available online at informaworld ( http://www.informaworld.com ).

This new issue contains the following articles:

The enigmatic Mr Graslin. A Rousseauist bedrock for classical economics?
Author: Gilbert Faccarello

Adam Smith's theory of economic history and economic development
Author: Kwangsu Kim

Hunting a precursor: The limits of Mountifort Longfield on utility and value
Author: Michael V. White

Work in utopia: Pro-work sentiments in the writings of four critics of classical economics
Author: David A. Spencer

‘Our daily bread’: Maurice Potron, from Catholicism to mathematical economics
Authors: Christian Bidard; Guido Erreygers; Wilfried Parys

On the origin and rise of central bank independence in West Germany
Author: Jörg Bibow

Book reviews
Authors: Hans-Jürgen Wagener; Monika Streissler; Loïc Charles; Ryuzo Kuroki; Erich W. Streissler

Ethical Economics Support

The latest April 2009 issue of AIRLEAP's newsletter, Ethical Economics Support, is now published on the Web - please check it out at http://www.airleap.org/NewsLetters/newsletter090410.pdf.

Forum for Social Economics

2009, Volume 38, Issue 1
Table of Contents
- The Social Economics of Neoliberal Globalization
James Stanfield & Michael Carroll
- Widening the Economic Approach to Hatred
Samuel Cameron
- Primitive and Modern Economics: Derivatives, Liquidity, Value, Panic and Crises, A Uniformitarian View
Niccolo Caldararo
- Concordian Economics: Tools to Return Relevance to Economics
Carmine Gorga
- Comment on “What is Heterodox Economics? Conversations with Historians of Economic Thought”
D. Meador
- Response to the Comment: “What is Heterodox Economics? Conversations with Historians of Economic Thought”
Mary Wrenn
- Justifying Human Rights: Economics and the Individual
John Davis.

Journal of Post Keynesian Economics

Volume 31 Number 3 / Spring 2009 of Journal of Post Keynesian Economics is now available at http://mesharpe.metapress.com.

This issue contains:

- Where Bernanke is taking the Federal Reserve: a Post Keynesian and institutionalist perspective
J. Patrick Raines, Heather R. Richardson, Charles G. Leathers

- A Post Keynesian theory of economic policy—filling a void
Arne Heise

- Convergence and efficiency: evidence from the EU-15
Evangelia Desli

- How bad is divergence in the euro zone? Lessons from the United States and Germany
Sebastian Dullien, Ulrich Fritsche

- Is the composition of public expenditures converging in EMU countries?
Jesus Ferreiro, M. Teresa Garcia-Del-Valle, Carmen Gomez

- Taylor and Keynesian monetary policy rules
H. Sonmez Atesoglu

- The two methods and the hard core of economics
Luiz Carlos Breser-Pereira

- Three difficulties with neo-chartalism
Eladio Febrero

International Journal of Political Economy

Volume 37 Number 4 / Winter 2008-9 of International Journal of Political Economy is now available at http://mesharpe.metapress.com.

This issue contains:

- Editor's Introduction: Financial Flows and Exchange Rate Movement in the Global Economy
Mario Seccareccia

- Insuring Against Private Capital Flows: Is It Worth the Premium? What Are the Alternatives?
Jörg Bibow

- Has Capital Account Liberalization in Latin American Countries Led to Higher and More Stable Capital Inflows?
Jesus Ferreiro, Eugenia Correa, Carmen Gomez

- The Decline of the Exchange Rate Pass-Through in Brazil: Explaining the "Fear of Floating"
Carlos Eduardo Schönerwald da Silva, Matías Vernengo

- The Effects of External Capital Flows on Developing Countries: Financial Instability or "Wrong" Prices?
Noemi Levy Orlik

- Author Index to International Journal of Political Economy Volume 37 (Spring 2008-Winter 2008-9)

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Heterodox Books and Book Series

Introducing Macroeconomic Analysis: Competing Views

Edited by Hassan Bougrine and Mario Seccareccia

In this very timely and affordable book, 13 central macroeconomic questions are debated, in accessible language, by a line-up of respected economists from Canada and beyond. This is an ideal resource for courses at the introductory and intermediate levels.

Contributors: William Watson, Robert Prasch, David Andolfatto, John Smithin, Ronald G. Bodkin, William Scarth, Jim Stanford, Pierre Fortin, Marc Lavoie, Niels Veldhuis, Nick Rowe, Louis-Philippe Rochon, Jack Galbraith, Edwin Le Heron, David Gray, L. Randall Wray, Eugene Beaulieu, Ricardo Grinspun, Lawrence L. Schembri, Eric Santor, Gerald Epstein, Thomas Courchene, Matias Vernengo, Dominick Salvatore, Manfred Bienefeld.

Table of contents: www.emp.ca/macro.

To view online page proofs or to order a review copy for your course, please contact me at mthompson@emp.ca  or 416-975-3925 ext. 242 (toll free 1-888-837-0815)

Let Them Eat Junk: How Capitalism Creates Hunger and Obesity

Arbeiter Ring Publishing is pleased to announce the release of

Let Them Eat Junk: How Capitalism Creates Hunger and Obesity by Robert Albritton

Why are half the people in the world malnourished, while so many in the West are over-fed? Capitalism may promise cheap, nutritious food for all, but it has failed to deliver on that promise. This is the first book to explore the economics of our food system, and to explain why a quarter of the world's population go hungry despite the fact that enough food is produced worldwide to feed us all.

Political economist Robert Albritton gives a refreshingly detailed explanation of the worldwide food crisis. He analyses the economic conditions that create a simultaneous oversupply and undersupply of food, and the massive implications they have for human health worldwide.

"[This book] pulls no punches in its analysis. ... To understand how starvation and obesity can coexist in the same populations, follow the flow of capital. Everyone who cares about food equity and the preservation of democracy should read this book."--Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health, New York University

"Marx understood the dynamics of the current food crisis over a century ago. Robert Albritton has written a fine primer, bridging the best thinking of the nineteenth century to the urgent needs of the twenty-first."--Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved

Available through
Arbeiter Ring Publishing ( info@arbeiterring.com ) Literary Press Group ( orders@litdistco.ca ) and Amazon.ca

$21.95
260 pp
8.46 x 5.3 x 0.75
1-894037-38-3
978-1894037-38-9

visit www.arbeiterring.com  for more details

The Political Economy of Consumer Behavior: Contesting Consumption

(Routledge Advances in Social Economics)
Bruce Pietrykowski, Professor of Economics and Director of Urban and Regional Studies at the University of Michigan-Dearborn
http://www.routledgeeconomics.com/books/The-Political-Economy-of-Consumer-Behavior-isbn9780415773126

In this book the author presents an alternative account of consumption activity. The groundwork for this alternative perspective lies in past economics research deemed unacceptable, incompatible, disruptive, threatening, marginal or foreign to the mainstream. By exploring these roads not taken we can re-position historical texts and discourses, provide new readings and interpretations, and re-evaluate claims, data, theories and methods in a new light. These perspectives also form the, often unacknowledged, basis of contemporary scholarship in feminist, behavioral and radical political economics. Reinterpreting this work in terms of the social relations of consumption, power and resistance greatly enlarges the scope for contemporary research in consumer behavior. The book includes a set of case studies of green automobility, slow food and alternative/community currency in order to explore the diversity of user cultures and to highlight resistant forms of consumer practice. This careful interweaving of historical and interdisciplinary research results in a lively and incisive critique of mainstream economics.

Table of Contents: 1. Consumption Matters 2. Economic Knowledge: Boundary-Keeping and Border Crossing 3. Economic Knowledge and Consumer Behavior: Home Economics and Feminist Analysis 4. Psychology And Economics: Max Wertheimer, Gestalt Theory and George Katona 5. Fordism and the Social Relations Of Consumption 6. Green Consumption and User Culture: The Case of the Toyota Prius 7. Slow Food: The Politics and Pleasure of Consumption 8. Consuming with Alternative Currency 9. Consuming For Social Change: Ethical and Political Consumption. References

Victorian Investments

New Perspectives on Finance and Culture
Edited by Nancy Henry, Binghamton University (SUNY), & Cannon Schmitt, University of Toronto

Victorian Investments explores the relationship between the financial system in Great Britain and other aspects of Victorian society and culture. Building on the special journal issue of Victorian Studies devoted to Victorian investments, this volume is the first to define an interdisciplinary field of study emerging in the space between Marxist critiques of capitalism and traditional histories of business and economics. The contributors demonstrate how phenomena such as the expansion of colonial and foreign markets, the broadening of the investor base through the advent of limited liability, and the rise of financial journalism gave rise to a "culture of investment" that affected Victorian Britons at every level of society and influenced every kind of cultural production. Drawing together work by prominent historians as well as literary and cultural critics, Victorian Investments both defines the methodologies and perspectives that characterize an existing body of scholarship and pushes that scholarship in new directions, demonstrating the signal role of economic developments in Victorian culture and society.

INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
March 2009 272pp £18.99 PB: 9780253220271

Two Bits

The Cultural Significance of Free Software
By Christopher M Kelty, Rice University

“I know of no other book that mixes so beautifully a deep theoretical understanding of social theory with a rich historical and contemporary ethnography of the Free Software and free culture movements. Christopher M. Kelty’s book speaks to many audiences; his message should be understood by many more.”—Lawrence Lessig, Stanford Law School

“Two Bits describes the way those who work and play with Free Software themselves change in the process—engendering what Kelty calls ‘recursive publics’—social configurations that realize the Internet’s non-hierarchical, ever-evolving, and thus historically attuned logic, creatively updating the types of public spheres previously theorized by Habermas and Michael Warner, among others. Two Bits does something similar, pulling readers into an experimental (ethnographic) mode that draws out how Open Source movements have garnered the momentum and significance they have today. The book—on paper and online—quite literally shows how it is done, itself embodying the standards that make Free Software work. Two Bits is critical reading, in all senses.”—Kim Fortun, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

“Just occasionally, you come across a book that reflects part of your own life and experience in a way that makes you stop and say: “Yes, that is the way I remember it happening.” This is one such book...The voice of the book captures the familiar uncertainties, complexities and challenges of the time particularly well... a closely argued, well-defended, painstakingly referenced treatise covering one of the most complex, and possibly least understood, cultural movements of recent decades...I had never expected to enjoy a book that delved so deeply into the writing of software licences ...but I did...Kelty succeeds in delivering a book that is academically sound, thoroughly researched and deeply engaging...a very significant book that succeeds in capturing the essence of a period of huge change...Kelty’s solidly focused text offers an effective roadmap for the deeply convoluted raw material that defines this period – providing a detailed, and well crafted, reference for future investigators.”-John Gilbey, Times Higher Education, 21st August 2008

DUKE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Aug 2008 368pp £17.99 PB: 9780822342649

Monetary Policy And Financial Stability

A Post-Keynesian Agenda

Edited by Claude Gnos, Associate Professor, Université de Bourgogne, Dijon, France and Louis-Philippe Rochon, Associate Professor, Laurentian University, Sudbury, Canada

http://www.e-elgar.co.uk/Bookentry_contents.lasso?id=13256 

Contents:

Introduction
Claude Gnos and Louis-Philippe Rochon

PART I: MONETARY AND MACROECONOMIC POLICY
1. Wage Bargaining and Monetary Policy in a Kaleckian Monetary Distribution and Growth Model: Making Sense of the NAIRU
Eckhard Hein

2. Price and Wage Determination and the Inflation Barrier: Moving Beyond the Phillips’ Curve
Philip Arestis and Malcolm Sawyer

3. Manuscript: Central Bank Governance, the Euthanasia of the Rentier and Interest Rate Policy: A Note on post-Keynesian Monetary Policy after Taylor
Louis-Philippe Rochon

4. The Macroeconomic Governance of the European Monetary Union: A Keynesian Perspective
Angel Asensio

5. Inflation Targeting and Monetary Policy Governance: The Case of the European Central Bank
Sergio Rossi

PART II: MACROECONOMIC POLICY AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMY
6. Enforcing the IMF in the Global Economy: An Institutional Analysis
Jean-Pierre Allegret and Philippe Dulbecco

7. Too Much Consensus Could Be Harmful: Assessing the Degree of Implementation of Stabilization and Structural Policies and their Impact on Growth
Eric Berr, François Combarnous and Eric Rougier

8. The Political Economy of Global Economic Disgovernance
Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira

9. Tobin, Globalization and Capital Flows
Robert W. Dimand

10. The Impact of FDI on Capital Formation: The Case of Mexico
Claudia Maya

11. Financial Liberalization, Economic Growth and Rents
Domenica Tropeano

12. The Argentine Jefes Program: From a Post-Financial Crisis Emergency Safety Net to a Long-Run Policy Promoting Development
Corinne Pastoret

The Food Wars

by Walden Bello
http://www.versobooks.com/books/ab/b-titles/bello_walden_the_food_wars.shtml 
Crucial analysis of how the West created the global food crisis

The hike in global food prices has pushed hundreds of millions more people into poverty, and sparked riots and protests in the Middle East, Africa and the Americas. Walden Bello, the leading writer and activist on the global South, provides a penetrating analysis of the various causes: not just the rise in energy costs, but also the IMF and WTO-led restructuring of the worldwide agricultural system.

Charting the evolution of the current crisis, Bello also offers a way forward: the principle of food sovereignty, allowing the developing world to protect and sustain a diverse range of crops. The Food Wars is an impassioned, informed and constructive account of a critical turning point in the system of global trade.

“Walden Bello is the world’s leading no-nonsense revolutionary.” — Naomi Klein

“An authentic hero of the global justice movement & thoughtful, trenchant, and constructive.” — Susan George

“Walden Bello is the world’s best guide to American exploitation of the globe’s poor and defenceless … He directly challenges the propaganda and the policies of the Washington establishment with an analysis that is both original and persuasive.” — Chalmers Johnson

“Walden Bello is recognized as one of the leading global analysts & A must-read for scholars, activists, and global citizens.” — Phyllis Bennis
Walden Bello is a political activist and Professor of Sociology at Binghamton University and at the University of the Philippines in Manila. He is also the founding director of Focus on the Global South, a policy research institute based in Bangkok. In March 2008 he was named Outstanding Public Scholar for 2008 by the International Studies Association.

Introduction to Marx’s Capital

by David harvey
http://www.versobooks.com/books/ghij/h-titles/harvey_david_introduction_to_capital.shtml 
The radical geographer guides us through the classic text of political economy

For nearly forty years, David Harvey has taught and lectured on Marx’s Capital. In this book he draws on his rich knowledge of the text to create a step-by-step guide to the most important and influential study of capitalism. Aimed to guide first-time readers through a dense and complicated as well as a rich and fascinating text, the book offers fresh, original and sometimes critical interpretations of Marx’s most famous work.

The contemporary relevance of Capital to understanding the state of contemporary capitalism shines through in every chapter, making this a must-read for anyone interested in understanding the world today and its crises.

“Harvey is a scholarly radical; his writing is free of journalistic clichés, full of facts and carefully thought-through ideas.” — Richard Sennett

Praise for The New Imperialism

“David Harvey is a social theorist known for a cool, analytical style born of interdisciplinary inquiry, coupled with a keen feeling for political significance.” — The Boston Phoenix

“Navigating effortlessly between history, economics, geography and politics, with persuasive argument and lucid prose, David Harvey places today’s headlines in context and makes sense of the early twenty-first-century maelstrom we’re all caught up in. His concept of accumulation by dispossession will go far. The New Imperialism is a truly useful book.” — Susan George

Praise for Limits to Capital

“A magisterial work.” — Fredric Jameson
David Harvey teaches at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York and is the author of many books, including Social Justice and the City, The Condition of Postmodernity, The Limits to Capital, A Brief History of Neoliberalism and, most recently, Spaces of Global Capitalism: Towards a Theory of Uneven Geographical Development

Meltdown: The End of the Age of Greed by Paul Mason
 
http://www.versobooks.com/books/klm/m-titles/mason_paul_meltdown.shtml 
A gripping account of the global financial collapse by BBC economics editor

Meltdown tells the story of the financial crash that destroyed America’s investment banks, pushed the global economy toward a major recession, and began to undermine three decades of neoliberal orthodoxy. BBC journalist Paul Mason explores the roots of financial hubris, documenting the real world causes and consequences, from the Ford factory to Wall Street. In response to this challenge to the reigning ideology, he outlines a new era of hyper-regulated capitalism that could emerge from the wreckage.

Praise for Live Working, Die Fighting

“This is microhistorical writing at its best.” — Walden Bello

“Brilliantly conceived and beautifully written book ... [Mason] has found a way to make his book vividly accessible ... without compromising its intellectual force.” — Guardian
Paul Mason is the economics editor of BBC Newsnight and has covered globalization and social justice stories from locations across the world, including Latin America, Africa and China. His previous book, Live Working, Die Fighting, was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award. His blog, Idle Scrawl, chronicles the unfolding financial crisis. 

The Ecological Revolution

Making Peace With The Planet
by John Bellamy Foster

TO ORDER, Click Here, or call 800.670.9499
“In this time of growing ecological and economic crisis, John Bellamy Foster’s voice stands out like no other. In his new book, The Ecological Revolution, he demonstrates that questions of ecology cannot be separated from questions of economics, and that building a truly sustainable future means putting people and the planet before profit.”
—Howard Zinn, author of A People's History of the United States
“Foster is the most systematic thinker on red-green politics writing today—and he is quite clear about What is to be done! In these essays, he applies Marx’s theory of metabolic rift to elucidate a variety of contexts—the Pentagon’s pursuit of oil, neoliberalism and the Jo’burg Manifesto, the poverty of contemporary sociology, imperialism and ecological debt, critique of the New Sustainability Paradigm—all the while keeping his synthesis of historical scholarship, natural scientific detail, and Marxist theory readily accessible to a wide readership. Here is reason and discipline driven by passion and care.”
—Ariel Salleh, Research Associate in Political Economy at the University of Sydney,
author of Ecofeminism as Politics and co-editor of the journal Capitalism Nature Socialism
“In The Ecological Revolution, John Bellamy Foster rightly shows the inadequacy of the technological approaches to which the capitalist response to the ecological crisis is limited, raising the question of a wider revolution in ecology and community. In the process he puts to rest the widely held assumption that Marx and Marxists have little to contribute on the ecological crisis. His book demonstrates that Marx addressed the ecological issues with keen insight and that the historical materialist ecological tradition is alive and relevant today.”
—John B. Cobb, Jr., Professor Emeritus, Claremont School of Theology,
coauthor with Herman Daly of For the Common Good: Redirecting the Economy Toward Community, The Environment, and a Sustainable Future
“For fifteen years, in the books The Vulnerable Planet, Marx’s Ecology, and Ecology Against Capitalism, Foster has warned us of capitalist ecological catastrophe. With accessibility, grace and a powerful intellectual punch, this new collection tackles the neoconservative petro-military complex of the Bush years sandwiched between Clinton-Gore-Obama’s pernicious eco-neoliberalism. Foster’s searing denunciations of environmental commodification give us confidence to fight bourgeois economic ideology—from the likes of Thomas Friedman, William Nordhaus, Larry Summers, and Nick Stern—and to demand an eco-socialist future.”
—Patrick Bond, senior professor of development studies,
University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban
Since the atomic bomb made its first appearance on the world stage in 1945, it has been clear that we possess the power to destroy our own planet. What nuclear weapons made possible, global environmental crisis, marked especially by global warming, has now made inevitable—if business as usual continues.

The roots of the present ecological crisis, John Bellamy Foster argues in The Ecological Revolution, lie in capital’s rapacious expansion, which has now achieved unprecedented heights of irrationality across the globe. Foster compellingly demonstrates that the only possible answer for humanity is an ecological revolution: a struggle to make peace with the planet. Foster details the beginnings of such a revolution in human relations with the environment which can now be found throughout the globe, especially in the periphery of the world system, where the most ambitious experiments are taking place.

This bold new work addresses the central issues of the present crisis: global warming, peak oil, species extinction, world water shortages, global hunger, alternative energy sources, sustainable development, and environmental justice. Foster draws on a unique range of thinkers, including Karl Marx, Thomas Malthus, William Morris, Albert Einstein, Hannah Arendt, Rachel Carson, Vandana Shiva, and István Mészáros. The result is a startlingly radical synthesis, which offers new hope for grappling with the greatest challenge of our age: what must be done to save the earth for humanity and all living species.

John Bellamy Foster is editor of Monthly Review. He is professor of sociology at the University of Oregon and author of The Great Financial Crisis (with Fred Magdoff), Critique of Intelligent Design (with Brett Clark and Richard York), Naked Imperialism, Ecology Against Capitalism, Marx’s Ecology, The Vulnerable Planet, and The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism.

Nature, Social Relations and Human Needs

Essays in Honour of Ted Benton
Edited by Sandra Moog and Rob Stones
Bringing together some of the most eminent thinkers in the field, this book celebrates the seminal contribution of Ted Benton to the pressing themes of nature, social relations and human needs. An introductory overview of the writings of Ted Benton focuses on the subtle ways in which he has combined the concerns of biology and sociology, and more broadly, the life sciences and social sciences.

Click here for detailed information and the order form.

REVUE FRANÇAISE DE SOCIO-ÉCONOMIE

ÉDITIONS LA DÉCOUVERTE PREMIER
SEMESTRE 2009

Pensée économique et système capitaliste
Usages contemporains de quelques grands auteurs en économie

The Challenge of Eurocentrism

Global Perspectives, Policy, and Prospects
Edited by Rajani Kannepalli Kanth
Foreword by Ali A. Mazrui

“An exciting collection of papers on the distortions of Eurocentric analyses, one that points the way forward to more truly universalistic structures of knowledge." --Immanuel Wallerstein, Senior Research Scholar, Yale University


“A critique in the proper sense of the term: challenges conventional orthodoxy and provides an alternative, more enlightened world view”-- Roger Owen, A.J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History, Harvard University

Click here for detailed information.

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Heterodox Book Reviews

Money Uncertainty and Time

by Giuseppe Fontana, Routledge, 2009. ISBN:
0415279607; 142 pages. Reviewed by John F. Henry, University of Missouri-Kansas City  

Economics for Everyone: A Short Guide to the Economics of Capitalism

by Jim Stanford. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Pluto Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-7453-2750-1; 350 pages.
Reviewed by Ryan A. Dodd, University of Missouri-Kansas City

The Strange Survival of Liberal England

E.H.H. Green and D.M. Tanner, editors, _The Strange Survival of Liberal England: Political Leaders, Moral Values and the Reception of Economic Debate_. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. xiii + 313 pp. $99 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-521-88167-8.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Jim Tomlinson, Department of History, University of Dundee.

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Heterodox Web Sites and Associations

Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE)

New Website for International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE)
Http://www.iippe.org.    

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For Your Information

Global Justice Website

NEW ON THE WEBSITE
The Center for Global Justice has been extremely productive during recent months. That is reflected in a host of new postings on our website. You will find there the text of numerous talks as well as videos of talks and the resulting discussions. Here are teasers for the thought provoking reading and viewing you will find there:

Kevin Phillips' book Bad Money: Reckless Finance, Failed Politics, & the Global Crisis of American Capitalism is reviewed by Betsy Bowman and Cliff DuRand
March 4, 2009 [view the video at http://vimeo.com/3632441  ]
Comments by Cliff DuRand on "The Financialization of Capitalism"
Kevin Phillips tells us that during the peak 5 years of the bubble in the housing sector, this accounted for 40% of the growth in the U.S. GDP. That is 40% of economic growth was fictitious capital. We can see now that it was fictitious because it has simply disappeared. When we thought the economy was expanding, we now know we were just blowing bubbles.... [Read more at http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/articles/financialization_of_capitalism.html 
Comments by Betsy Bowman on "The Perfect Storm"

We are at a pivotal moment in history. Our real economy has been severely damaged by the fictitious economy of financialization and debt and needs to be overhauled so as to meet need. We are nearing the limit of our energy supply but that very same energy supply threatens the environmental sustainability of our habitat. And we are living a political crisis where increasing we see that the world's elites have been telling lies to obfuscate the truth that they are rigging the system and grabbing more than their fair share at the expense of everyone else. In short, the legitimacy of our economic system and our political system is in question.... [Read more at http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/articles/the_perfect_storm.html 

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"Nerds and Politics: GNU Linux and the Free Software Movement" by August Black
February 20, 2009
[View video at http://vimeo.com/3323454  ]
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[View video at http://www.vimeo.com/3105984  ]
"Globalization and Economic Crisis" by Cliff DuRand February 4, 2009
We may well be at the end of neo-liberal globalization just as an earlier episode of it collapsed in the second decade of the last century. But this time will it be only the exhaustion of globalization, or the end of capitalism itself? ... [Read more at
http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/articles/global_and_economic.html 
"Financialization and the Economic Crisis" by Betsy Bowman February 4, 2009
Financing production-driven accumulation - when value is added by something being made by human beings - this is a healthy use of debt. But when accumulation is driven by debt rather than production, ultimately there is a crisis. Debt does not create new value; only human labor does. It is important to keep in mind that all of these debt instruments have created nothing - not a single pencil, paperclip, or pair of socks....
[Read more at http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/articles/finan_andeconomic.html
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"Possibilities for Change" by Jeff Faux, Marge Allen, Ben Ptashnik
January 21, 2009
[Hear panel discussion at http://vimeo.com/3410971  ]
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"An Introduction to Feminism" by Betsy Bowman
[View video at http://vimeo.com/3407049  ]
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"Immigrants and Human Rights" by Eugene Gogol February 11, 2009
[View video at http://vimeo.com/3507766  ]
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Symposium on the Financial Crisis featuring Jeff Faux, Cliff DuRand and Betsy Bowman Oct. 29, 2008
[View video part 1 http://vimeo.com/2234376  and part 2 http://vimeo.com/2257542  ]
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"What Is To Be Undone"
a pre-inaugural public forum sponsored by the Center for Global Justice on January 14, 2009.
[View video at http://vimeo.com/2939096  ]
"Restore the Constitution" by Cliff DuRand January 14, 2009
What is to be undone? First and foremost I would say "Restore the Constitution!" It is frightening to see how much Constitutional principles have been undermined during the last 8 years. ... [read more at http://www.globaljusticecenter.org/articles/undone.html   ]
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"Why NAFTA Harms Workers in the U.S., Canada and Mexico and What We Can Do About It"
A November 7, 2007 talk
by Jeff Faux, author of Global Class War and founder of the Economic Policy Institute.
[View video at http://vimeo.com/2854725  ]
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COMING SOON TO OUR WEBSITE
"The Exhaustion of Neo-liberalism in Mexico" by Cliff DuRand March 11, 2009
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Michael Isikoff & David Corn's book Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, & the Selling of the Iraq War is reviewed by David Rowe. March 18, 2009
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"Campesino Resistance in Mexico" comments by Atahualpa Caldera on the film "13 Pueblos: In Defense of Water, Air and Earth" March 12, 2009
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"Social Currency" March 5, 2009

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