Issue 82: May 8, 2009

In this issue:

Call for Papers

The EAEPE 2009 Conference

The EAEPE 2009 Conference will be organized in Amsterdam from 6 until 8 November.
The European Association for Evolutionary and Political Economy is an active scholarly association in the area of institutional economics broadly conceived.

The deadline for submitting abstracts has been extended to May 18 2009.

The theme of the 2009 conference is Institutional Solutions for Economic Recovery.
One of the most challenging themes for institutional economists and social scientists is to explain the economic situation of today and to offer solutions for economic recovery. In the 20th century institutional economists have been at the forefront in describing and explaining business cycles and growth. In the 21st century the present generations will need to revisit some of this legacy and confront this with newer observations. For the time being many questions abound:
What changes in the institutional environment, the institutional arrangements, and in the norms and customs of people will lead to economic growth? What is the role of investments in knowledge, innovations, and entrepreneurship in creating these institutional improvements? Which improvements in the financial institutions can contribute to an economic recovery?
The 2009 conference of EAEPE in Amsterdam will address, in a broad sense, such questions and will contribute to the debate on economic recovery, through a multidisciplinary, institutional and evolutionary perspective.

All papers related to this conference theme or to the EAEPE research areas are invited.
Paper proposals (600-700 words) can be uploaded on the EAEPE website ( www.eaepe.org ) until May 18, 2009 and should mention:
- title of the paper
- name and address of the author(s)
- the aim of the study and methodology
- (expected) results and/or conclusion
- up to 5 keywords
- whether you submit an abstract for the conference theme, a research area or the PhD session.
Please visit www.eaepe.org  to upload a paper proposal.
Selected papers will be notified before June 15, 2009.

More information on the conference theme and the conference venues can be found on the EAEPE website: www.eaepe.org.

The Critique to Political Economy in 19th Century

Part II: Pierre Joseph Proudhon Verona 16-19 September 2009
The first workshop held in Zaragoza in September 2008 explored the complex network of relations that characterised the relationship between utopian thought and economic policy from the late eighteenth century to the first half of the nineteenth century. The second workshop on September 16-19 at the University of Verona will focus on Pierre Joseph Proudhon on the second centenary of his birth. The French thinker challenged economic policies and sought to build a new type of social science, one no longer based on metaphysical and Œtheological¹ principles. What Proudhon wished to see was a model capable of keeping pace with the historical transformations of economic and social reality.

"I affirm the reality of an economic science...I affirm, on the other hand, the absolute certainty as well as the progressive nature of economic science, of all the sciences in my opinion the most comprehensive, the purest, the best supported by facts: a new proposition, which alters this science into logic or metaphysics in concreto, and radically changes the basis of ancient philosophy." (J.P.Proudhon)

During his intellectual journey, Proudhon was critical of what he considered the analytical distortions of economic policies; similarly, he condemned the supporters of utopias who, on the basis of an abstract idea of egalitarianism and social justice, provided an inadequate interpretation of the economic and social phenomena of modern capitalist society. Proudhon¹s influence was significant and his ideas inspired widespread discussion on themes ranging from the annals of economics and sociology to political and institutional transformation, with interesting international ramifications.

Papers would be particularly welcome on various aspects of Proudhon¹s thought in relation to the social and economic context of his day, on specific aspects of his thought or the reception of his ideas, on his interpreters, critics and followers, in Europe or overseas.

Please submit titles and 300 word abstracts no later than 15 May 2009 to:
segreteria@proudhonverona.eu.
Replies will be given by 15 June 2009.
www.//http.proudhonverona.eu
Scientific committee:
Gilbert Faccarello, Université Pantheon-Assas (Paris II)
Vitantonio Gioia, Università di Lecce
Alfonso Sànchez Hormigo, Universidad de Zaragoza
Sergio Noto, Università di Verona

How Class Works – 2010 Conference

The Center for Study of Working Class Life is pleased to announce the How Class Works – 2010 Conference, to be held at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, June 3 - 5, 2010. Proposals for papers, presentations, and sessions are welcome until December 14, 2009 according to the attached guidelines.

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.

Click here for detailed information.

Special Issue of RRPE on Economic Democracy

download pdf copy of CFP here:
http://www.urpe.org/rrpe/media/CFPSpecialIssueEconomicDemocracy.pdf

Manuscript submission deadline: extended to 1 December 2009

Economic democracy is a theme that has run through radical and progressive theory and practice. Broadly, it stands for an expansion of democratic practice beyond the political realm, into the economic aspects of our lives. It has been applied at the microeconomic level in pursuit of workers’ self-management and related cooperative structures. It also suggests the need for planning, where democracy would be fundamental to decision making about an economy’s objectives and means of achieving them. It has been used as a term to expand the role of organized labor in management, and to link unions more fundamentally to national political processes. Today it also has application to household decision making, and to aspirations for global forms of redistribution.

All of the themes mentioned above are relevant to this special issue, and there are no doubt others of importance that we have overlooked. In the past few decades, the term economic democracy has appeared in book titles, and as an aspiration of political movements. The RRPE’s Editorial Board thinks that it is time to reinvestigate issues that fall under this theme, and a special issue is put forward as a partial means to that end. We see this discussion as critical to renewing radical thought and re-energizing the left in the United States, and in other nations and localities.

We invite papers on all aspects of economic democracy, at levels from the household to the global economy, and on topics related to inclusion, participation in decisions that affect one’s life, self-fulfillment, and realization of aspirations to be a more engaged citizen. Race, gender, ecology, and other fields of inquiry are appropriate, if linked to expanding our practice of democracy or barriers to doing so.

It is a common belief that capitalism sets strict limits on how much democratic practice is possible in society. Is this the case? If so, how would various forms of socialist society remove this barrier?

All aspects of economic activity are relevant to this topic, as we seek to encourage broad rethinking of what it means to use democratic practice in material provisioning. Various forms of democratic practice are also at issue, including direct participation and representative democracy; geographic forms that suit local, national, and global practice; and democratic practice across households, private for-profit and nonprofit firms, the cooperative sector, and the public sector itself.

For more information, please visit the RRPE website:
http://www.urpe.org/rrpe/Announcements/CallForPapers/CFPSpecialIssueEconomicDemocracy.htm

Please send four copies by 1 December 2009 to:

Hazel Dayton Gunn, Managing Editor
Review of Radical Political Economics
Department of City and Regional Planning
106 W. Sibley Hall
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853, U.S.A.
phone: 315-789-1414
email: hg18@cornell.edu

Region Formation in Contemporary South Asia

Wednesday 25th November to Friday 27th November 2009 University of Delhi, India

This interdisciplinary conference seeks to promote discussion of the economic and political significance of regions in the subcontinent.
Arguably, contemporary South Asia cannot be fully understood without considering the contradictions of regional social formations and wider structural processes.

Click here for detailed information.

6th International Conference Developments in Economic Theory and Policy

The Department of Applied Economics V of the University of the Basque Country and the Cambridge Centre for Economic and Public Policy, Department of Land Economy, of the University of Cambridge, are organizing the 6th International Conference Developments in Economic Theory and Policy. The Conference will be held in Bilbao (Spain), in July 2-3, 2009.

Although papers are invited on all areas of economics, there will be Plenary Sessions with Invited Speakers about the following topics:
- Regional Economics
- Current Economic and Financial Crisis
- 21st Century Keynesian Economics
Invited Speakers include, among others, Gary Dymski (University of California), Marco Crocco (Universidade Federale de Minas Gerais), Barry Moore (University of Cambridge), Mike Kitson (University of Cambridge), Amitava Dutt (University of Notre Dame), Ilene Grabel (University of Denver), Philip Arestis (University of Cambridge), Malcolm Sawyer (Leeds University), Costas Lapavitsas (SOAS, University of London), Eckhard Hein (Berlin School of Economics), Terry Barker (University of Cambridge), Elias Karakitsos (University of Cambridge), Jan Kregel (Levy Economics Institute) and Giuseppe Fontana (University of Leeds).

Suggestions for Organized Sessions are encouraged. An Organized Session is one session constructed in its entirety by a Session Organizer and submitted to the conference organizers as a complete package. Session organizers must provide the following information:
- Title of the session, name and affiliation of the organizer, name and affiliation of chair (if different than organizer)
- Titles of the papers, name, affiliation and contact information of authors

Besides Plenary, Organized and Normal Parallel sessions, there will also be Graduate Student Sessions (i.e., students currently making a MSc or a PhD programme). In these sessions, students can present their research and discuss that of other students. Participants in Graduate Student Sessions will pay a lower conference fee.

The deadline to submit papers and ‘Organized Sessions’ is 31st May 2009.

For more information, you can contact with Jesus Ferreiro ( jesus.ferreiro@ehu.es ) or visit the website www.conferencedevelopments.com

The World Economy in Crisis – The Return of Keynesianism?

The Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies (FMM) organises its 13th conference on
‘The World Economy in Crisis – The Return of Keynesianism?’
30 – 31 October 2009, in Berlin.
The submission of papers in the following areas is encouraged:
- Global imbalances and the current crisis
- Financial crisis, real crisis and the risks of depression and deflation
- Paradigm shift in macroeconomics – the return of Keynesianism?
- Economic policy reactions and the future relationship between the market and the state
- Regulation of the financial sector from a Keynesian perspective
- Perspectives for a Keynesian New Deal

For the open part of the conference the submission of papers on the general subject of the Research Network is encouraged as well. We also ask for the submission of papers for graduate student sessions, on the specific subject of this conference or on the general subject of the Research Network.
Conference language is English. Selected papers will be published after the conference.
The deadline for paper proposals is 30 June 2009. Please send an abstract (one page) to Susanne Stöger ( susanne-stoeger@boeckler.de ). Decisions will be made by mid-August. Accepted papers should be sent in by 15 October to be posted on the conference web page.
Organising Committee of the conference:
Sebastian Dullien ( dullien@fhtw-berlin.de ), Eckhard Hein ( eckhard.hein@hwr-berlin.de ), Peter Spahn ( spahn@uni-hohenheim.de ), Achim Truger ( achim-truger@boeckler.de ), and Till van Treeck ( till-van-treeck@boeckler.de )
Coordinating Committee of the Research Network:
Sebastian Dullien (FHTW Berlin), Trevor Evans (Berlin School of Economics), Jochen Hartwig (KOF/ETH Zürich), Eckhard Hein (Berlin School of Economics), Hansjörg Herr (Berlin School of Economics), Torsten Niechoj (IMK, Düsseldorf), Jan Priewe (FHTW Berlin), Peter Spahn (University of Hohenheim), Engelbert Stockhammer (WU Wien), Claus Thomasberger (FHTW Berlin), Achim Truger (IMK, Düsseldorf), and Till van Treeck (IMK, Düsseldorf)
More on the Conference: http://www.boeckler.de/33_94949.html
and on the Research Network: http://www.boeckler.de/91434_36330.html

The Financial and Monetary Crisis

LE CENTRE D’ETUDES MONETAIRES ET FINANCIERES
AND
THE INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY INSTITUTE (IEPI)
In collaboration with
ADEK (Association pour le Développement des Etudes Keynésiennes)
Present their
FOURTH BI-ANNUAL CONFERENCE
“THE 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)
The financial crisis has had considerable impact on our economies. In dealing with the fallout of the crisis, central banks and governments around the world have intervened at unprecedented levels – in fact at levels which only months ago were considered untenable. This crisis forces us to reconsider the role of various agents, the need to scrutinize national and international finance, the need to better manage the possibility of liquidity constraints, the rating agencies, the need to limit the proliferation of financial derivatives, and the need for better transparency and accountability with respect to financial operations. More importantly, however, it has brought back the role of the State in discussions over economic policy.
We encourage papers relating to conference’s general topic,
and more specifically, although not exclusively, on the following themes :
-History of the crisis, comparisons with past crises
- Financialisation
- Nature and efficiency of central bank operations
- Role of the State
- How can we foresee future crises
- Fiscal and monetary policy
For more information or to send proposals; please send to Louis-Philippe Rochon, Associate Professor, Laurentian University, at Lprochon2003@Yahoo.com  or Lprochon@Laurentian.ca  Or to Claude Gnos, Université de Bourgogne, Cemf-LEG, Dijon, claude.gnos@u-bourgogne.fr 
Scientific Committee:
Angel Asensio (Université de Paris XIII, France), Claude Gnos (Université de Bourgogne, Cemf-LEG,
Dijon), Eckhard Hein (Berlin), Jesper Jespersen (Roskilde University, Denmark), Dany Lang
(Université de Paris XIII, France), Edwin Le Heron (IEP Bordeaux), Noémi Levy (UNAM, Mexique),
Alain Parguez (Université de Besançon), Jean-François Ponsot (Université de Grenoble II), Louis-
Philippe Rochon (Laurentian University, Canada), Mario Seccareccia (University of Ottawa), Sergio
Rossi (University of Fribourg, Suisse 


JSPE 57th Annual Conference- 2009

The World Crisis of 2008 and the Future of Capitalism
To be held on November 22-23, 2009, at the University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus in Tokyo, Japan
The 57th annual conference of the JAPAN SOCIETY OF POLITICAL ECONOMY (JSPE) will be held on
November 22 (Sunday) and 23 (Monday), 2009, at the University of Tokyo, Hongo Campus in Tokyo. The theme ofthe plenary session is: The World Crisis of 2008 and the Future of Capitalism. In the last annual conference at Kyushu University in 2008, we focused on the global financial crisis caused by the subprime mortgage fiasco in the United States in 2007. We analysed the causes and risks of the subprime shock and discussed the financial situation just after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers on September 15, 2008. Through analysing this subprime mortgage crisis from multifaceted perspectives, we tried to clarify where global capitalism was now and where it was going.

In October 2008, the financial crisis worsened and the U.S. Congress passed the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, authorizing the Treasury Department to use up to 700 billion dollars in a Troubled Asset Relief Program to stabilize financial markets. However, this financial crisis spread over Europe and many countries. The leaders of the G-7 held a meeting in Washington, D.C. on October 11, but were not able to find an effective way from this crisis. The Dow Jones average fell 733 points on October 15, which was the biggest fall since the Black Monday in October 1987. In December, the Big Three automakers of the United States were plunged into a business crisis because of stagnant car sales and the 700 billion dollars for saving financial institutions were also applied for these automakers’ bailout. The rapid fall of consumption in the United States caused a world-wide decline in exports.

Japanese manufacturing industries rapidly reduced their employment at the end of 2008, raising serious concerns about emerging social problems. The U.S. recession has also had a strong effect on production and employment in real sectors of newly industrialising countries in the 21st Century, like China, India and Brazil. The world economic situation has got into a world depression, which is beyond the phase of subprime shock and credit crunch.

We call this ongoing rapid economic contraction mentioned above “THE WORLD CRISIS OF 2008.” We will try to empirically analyse the historical path of this crisis, and theoretically understand the roots of this crisis on the theme of the plenary session. We will also think about “THE FUTURE OF CAPITALISM” because contemporary capitalism has dramatically changed in the age of globalization. Can we integrate our society with the ideology of welfare state? Will we live in the regionalized society in the future? We will discuss the future of capitalism beyond economic forecasts and business cycles.

We call for papers from JSPE members and from others interested in participating in this conference which is based on the aforementioned theme. We will welcome various participants with a wide range of interests and methodological approaches. Although the main conference language is Japanese, we will organize English-language sessions on November 22, especially aiming at accepting those from overseas who are willing to participate in the following two categories:

English Sessions 1: Topics relating to the general theme of the conference
These sessions are designated to the topics relating to the conference general theme: The World Crisis of 2008 and the Future of Capitalism
English Sessions 2: Other specific topics
These sessions will be organized to focus on other specific topics such as environment and gender and regional economies (including China and others), and so on, while remaining completely open to suggestions and proposals.

Submission Procedures and the Deadline
All those who want to present a paper at the conference should send an abstract of the paper [in 200 words] with (1) name, (2) address (E-mail and mailing address), (3) affiliation and other relevant data by no later than June 13, 2009,
to:
Prof. Shinjiro HAGIWARA or Dr. Tomohiko SEKINE,
E-mail: Jspecice@jspe.gr.jp

Postal mailing address: Faculty of Economics, Yokohama National University, Tokiwadai 79-3, Hodogaya-ku,
Yokohama-shi, Kanagawa, 240-8501, Japan. Tel: +81-45-339-3575(Office), Fax: +81-45-339-3518
*Notification of acceptance will be sent by June 27. Attendants will pay their conference fee (5000 yen including theconference buffet), as well as their own transportation, accommodation and other personal expenses.

Prof. Shinjiro HAGIWARA, Faculty of Economics, Yokohama National University,
Chairman of the JSPE Committee for International Communication and Exchange
*JSPE Executive Office:
Dr. Tetsuji Kawamura, Secretary General of the JSPE, Japan.
c/o Dr. Tetsuji Kawamura, Professor, Faculty of Economics, Dean of the Graduate School of Economics, Hosei University,
4342 Aihara, Machida-shi, Tokyo 194-0298, Japan, Tel:+81-42-783-2593 & Fax:+8142-783-2611
e-mail: secretariat@jspe.gr.jp  JSPE URL: http://www.jspe.gr.jp/ja

3rd International Research Workshop

Ankara, September 14th and 15th, 2009

IIPPE invites applications to its 3rd Annual Research Workshop in Ankara, Turkey on the 14-15th September 2009. The event is organised with the support of TSSA (Turkish Social Sciences Association) under the theme of “The Crisis, Interdisciplinarity and Alternatives”. Those interested in participating are invited to send a one-page abstract to 132590@soas.ac.uk before the deadline of 30th May 2009 (with the subject: IIPPE 3rd Research Workshop). We aim to inform successful participants and attendees by 8th June. Participants are required to provide a written paper in advance, the deadline for delivery of which is the 14th August 2009.

IIPPE Working Groups are encouraged to put forward a collective proposal for a session (usually 3-4 papers) within the Workshop. Please submit such session proposals, indicating the names and titles of the session papers to 132590@soas.ac.uk  before the 30th May. Abstracts for these papers, and the papers themselves, should then be sent separately as above.

IIPPE is only able at most to cover basic accommodation and food costs for most workshop participants. We therefore strongly urge you to seek alternative sources of funding to cover the cost of travel and other expenses, including a workshop fee if available. Please indicate whether you have such funding in place when sending your abstract to us.

For further information regarding the event please contact 132590@soas.ac.uk

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Conferences, Seminars and Lectures

Revue de la régulation

Les analyses consacrées aux mécanismes financiers ayant conduit à la crise de grande ampleur que nous connaissons se multiplient aujourd’hui. Souhaitant prendre un peu de recul par rapport à cette actualité, la Revue de la Régulation. Capitalisme, Institutions, Pouvoirs sortira en juin un numéro spécial consacré à une remise en perspective de cette crise du capitalisme financiarisé.

Voici en primeur de ce dossier :

- Robert Boyer « Feu le régime d’accumulation tiré par la finance : La crise des subprimes en perspective historique », qui fournit d’importantes pistes pour analyser la fin du régime d’accumulation tiré par le crédit aux ménages. http://regulation.revues.org/index7367.html 

- Gerald Epstein « Obama's Economic Policy: Achievements, Problems and Prospects » , qui propose un première analyse fournie de la politique économique d'Obama. http://regulation.revues.org/index7459.html

Un autre sera également publié rapidement en avant-première :

- Frédéric Lordon « "Réguler" ou refondre ? Les insuffisances des stratégies prudentielles »

Un séminaire autour de ce dossier "crise du capitalisme financier" sera organisé le 11 juin à 17h à la MSH Paris Nord.

Bonne lecture !

Thomas Lamarche
Maître de Conférences en Sciences Economiques
Université Lille 3 et Germe paris 7

Revue de la régulation. Capitalisme, Institutions, Pouvoirs. Http://regulation.revues.org

Séminaire Hétérodoxies du CES - Matisse

Nicolas POSTEL et Richard SOBEL
(Clersé – UMR 8019 CNRS / Lille 1)

Economie politique, institutionnalisme et heterodoxies: Un essai de généalogie conceptuelle de l’objet propre des hétérodoxies économiques

Mardi 5 mai 2009 à 16h00

Maison des Sciences Economiques
106 Boulevard de l’Hôpital, 75 013 PARIS (Métro Campo Formio) Salle des Conférences (6ème étage)

Le texte de la communication sera disponible à compter du 29 avril sur le site :

http://matisse.univ-paris1.fr/heterodoxies

Causes and Consequences of the Current Financial Crisis

‘Causes and consequences of the current financial crisis: What lessons for European Union countries?‘
Date: Friday, 12 June 2009, 8.30am – 6.00pm
Venue: British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH
If you wish to attend and are not presenting a paper the registration fee (including lunch and refreshments) is £80.00 + VAT.
Registration is required. Click here to pay and register. You will be redirected to SWREG secure website.

If you would like to receive further information, please contact Pat Shaw by
email: p.shaw@niesr.ac.uk  or phone: 020 7654 1905.

Globalisation and European Integration

‘Globalisation and European Integration: the Nature of the Beast’, 5th-6th June 2009, University of Warwick.

ANNOUNCEMENT AND CALL TO PARTICIPANTS

Registration is now open

Description
A cutting-edge event on Critical Political Economy approaches to European integration and its relationship with globalisation. The conference aims to stimulate a constructive engagement between historical materialist, constructivist and post-structuralist approaches to European integration. It aims to encourage interdisciplinary exchange between specialists from the fields of politics, international relations, international political economy and sociology on their research findings regarding global governance, regional integration and the national state with special reference to the European Union.

Registration fee
£27 including refreshments, buffet lunch and wine reception on Saturday.

Registration deadline
15 May 2009.

Capacity
There is a limited number of places available, so please register as soon as possible in order to secure your participation.

Keynote Speakers
A. Cafruny and M. Ryner.

Participants
K. Van der Pijl, B. Jessop, H. Overbeek, L.S. Talani, A. Bieler, W. Bonefeld, B. Clift, A. Wigger, H. Buch-Hansen, O. Holman, H.J. Bieling, S. Shields, C. Belfrage, J. Grahl, G. Menz, J. Baines, H. Macartney, I. Bruff, J. Drahokoupil, L. Levidow, C. Shaw, G. Strange, J. Tittenbrun, H. Plaschke, E. de Zutter, F. Ercan, S. Oguz, S.M. Rodrigues Balão, C. Dannreuther, K. Möller, C. Hermann, L. Horn, V.Muzaka, M. Notshulwana, A. Popa, O. Parker, J. Caballero, F. Capano, M. Fini, N. Fuentes, E. Gundogdu, W. Ko, O. Yaka, S. Braconi, J.W.Son.

For more information (conference programme, registration procedure, transport/accommodation information), please visit http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/pais/ss/beast/ .

Co-organisers: Andreas Tsolakis ( A.A.Tsolakis@warwick.ac.uk ) and Petros Nousios ( P.Nousios@warwick.ac.uk ).

This event is kindly funded by the American Study and Student Exchange Committee and the PAIS department at Warwick.

Congreso Anual 2009

“Oportunidades y Obstáculos para el Desarrollo de Argentina. Lecciones de la post-convertibilidad”

Invitamos a presentar ponencias

Se extendió el plazo para presentar resúmenes.
Nueva fecha: Lunes 11 de Mayo
El Congreso tendrá como eje central el tópico que hemos elegido como título pero serán igualmente bienvenidas aquellas contribuciones de carácter teórico, así como relativas a otros países de América Latina u otras etapas históricas que contribuyan al debate. En estos últimos años, nuestro país ha experimentado un viraje político y económico significativo respecto a la trayectoria adoptada desde mediados de los años 70. Este viraje ha impulsado un período de vigoroso crecimiento y modificado aspectos sustanciales de la dinámica económica. El mundo también se ha transformado profundamente. Pero ninguno de estos procesos se encuentra aún definido ni mucho menos concluido. Los márgenes de acción y los caminos a seguir están abiertos y por ello cobra especial importancia la construcción de una agenda de política económica creativa, sustentada en los mejores análisis. Por lo tanto, se busca reunir la producción intelectual más relevante y generar un espacio propicio para la renovación de propuestas y la identificación de los desafíos principales que la política económica nos depara en el próximo quinquenio

6th EUROFRAME Conference on Economic Policy Issues in the European Union

Causes and consequences of the current financial crisis:
What lessons for European Union countries?
Friday, 12 June 2009, London
Organised by the EUROFRAME group
of Research Institutes
www.euroframe.org
Venue: British Academy,
10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH
Click here for detailed information.

Assessing Heterodox Economics in a European Context

A Workshop
Assessing Economic Research in a European Context: The Future of Heterodox Economics and Its Research in a Non-Pluralist Mainstream Environment
26 – 27 June 2009
University of Bremen, Germany, iino-Institute for Institutional and Innovation Economics

Click here for detailed information.

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Heterodox Conference Papers and Reports and Articles
 
Paper assets, real debts: An ecological-economic exploration of the global economic crisis

by Giorgos Kallis, Joan Martinez-Alier, Richard B. Norgaard

This paper sets out to investigate the potential contribution of the inter-disciplinary field of ecological economics to the explanation of the current economic crisis. The root of the crisis is the growing disjuncture between the real economy of production and the paper economy of finance.

The authors trace the epistemological origins of this disjuncture to the myths of economism – a mix of academic, popular and political beliefs that served to explain, rationalise and perpetuate the current economic system.

The authors recommend ending with economism and developing new collective and discursive processes for understanding and engaging with ecological-economic systems.

The authors embrace the notion of sustainable de-growth: an equitable and democratic transition to a smaller economy with less production and consumption.

Minsky Conference Audio and Papers Now Available Online

18th Annual Hyman P. Minsky Conference on the State of the U.S. and World Economies
“Meeting the Challenges of Financial Crisis”
Audio downloads now available at http://www.levy.org/vevents.aspx?event=23

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Heterodox Journals and Newsletters

International Review of Applied Economics

Volume 23 Issue 3  is now available online at informaworld ( http://www.informaworld.com ).

Special Issue:Mechanisms of Inequality

This new issue contains the following articles:

Mechanisms of inequality: an introduction
Authors: Maurizio Franzini; Mario Pianta

Trade, catching-up and divergence
Author: Francisco Serranito

Globalisation vs internal reforms as factors of inequality in transition economies
Authors: David Barlow; Gianluca Grimalda; Elena Meschi

Migrant remittances and inequality in Central-Eastern Europe
Authors: Marilena Giannetti; Daniela Federici; Michele Raitano

Innovation and wage polarisation in Europe
Authors: Elisabetta Croci Angelini; Francesco Farina; Mario Pianta

Poorer workers. The determinants of wage formation in Europe
Author: Francesco Bogliacino

Persistence of inequality in Europe: the role of family economic conditions
Authors: Maurizio Franzini; Michele Raitano

National vs local funding for education: effects on growth and inequality
Author: Massimo Giannini

The politics of social protection: social expenditure vs market regulation
Authors: Debora Di Gioacchino; Laura Sabani

Feminist Economics

Volume 15 Issue 2  is now available online at informaworld ( http://www.informaworld.com ).

This new issue contains the following articles:

Divorced, Separated, and Widowed Women Workers in Rural Mozambique
Authors: Carlos Oya; John Sender

The Spatial Determinants Of Wage Inequality: Evidence From Recent Latina Immigrants In Southern California
Author: Pascale Joassart-Marcelli

(Not) Valuing Care: A Review of Recent Popular Economic Reports on Preschool in the US
Author: Mildred E. Warner

Sexual Orientation Discrimination: An International Perspective, edited by Lee Badgett and Jefferson Frank. New York and London: Routledge, 2007. 322 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0-415-77023-1, ISBN-10: 0-415-77023-8 US$150.00
Author: Karin Schönpflug

Money With a Mission, Volume 1: Microfinance and Poverty Reduction, by James Copestake, Martin Greely, Susan Johnson, Naila Kabeer, and Anton Simanowitz. Warwickshire, UK: Practical Action, 2006. 272 pp. ISBN-13: 978-1853396144 (pbk). US$33.95.
Author: Ranjula Bali Swain

The Feminist Economics of Trade, edited by Irene van Staveren, Diana Elson, Caren Grown and Nilüfer Cagatay. London and New York: Routledge, 2007. 328 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0415770590. ISBN-10: 0415770599 (hbk.). US$75.60.
Author: Marina Durano

Assembling Women: The Feminization of Global Manufacturing. Teri Caraway, Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press, 2007. 224pp. ISBN 978 0 8014 7365 4. Price, $18.95(pbk) $55.00 (hbk)
Author: Juanita Elias

Matrilineal Communities, Patriarchal Realities: A Feminist Nirvana Uncovered, by Kanchana N. Ruwanpura. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2006. 256 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0-472-06977-4, ISBN-10: 0-472-06977-2 (pbk.). US$22.95
Author: Drucilla K. Barker

Valuing Children: Rethinking the Economics of the Family, by Nancy Folbre. Cambridge, MS: Harvard University Press, 2008. 248 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0674026322 (hbk.). US$45.00
Author: Ingrid Robeyns

Modern Couples, Sharing Money, Sharing Life,edited by Janet Stocks, Capitolina Diaz, Bjorn Hallerod. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. 200 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0230517028, ISBN-10: 0230517021 (hbk.) US$74.95
Author: Fran Bennett

Global Perspectives on Gender Equality, Reversing the Gaze, by Naila Kabeer and Agneta Stark with Edda Magnus. New York: Routledge, 2007. 312 pp. ISBN-13: 978-0415963497 (hbk.). US$95.00., Pages 125 - 130
Author: Maria Sagrario Floro

Mujeres economistas: Las aportaciones de las mujeres a la ciencia económica y a su divulgación durante los siglos XIX y XX [Women Economists: Women's Contributions to the Economic Sciences and Advancement during the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries]
Author: Susana Martinez-Rodriguez

European Journal of Economic and Social Systems

vol 21/2 - 2008
http://ejess.revuesonline.com/ 

Money and Technological Change
The role of Financing int the Process of Evolution

- CONTENTS [FREE] pp.149-149
- Money and Technological Change. The Role of Financing in the Process of Evolution
A.FUMAGALLI, S.LUCARELLI - pp.151-163
- From Natural Order to Case. Money and Machineries
G.LUNGHINI - pp.165-178
- Minimum Wage, Credit Rationing and Unemployment in a Monetary Economy
G.FORGES DAVANZATI, A.PACELLA - pp.179-194
- Solvency and Labour Effort in a Monetary Theory of Production
E.BRANCACCIO - pp.195-211
- The Role of Banks in the (over-)Accumulation of Capital
S.ROSSI - pp.213-231
- Technological Shift and the Rise of a New Finance System. The Market-pendulum Model
L.BADALIAN, V.KRIVOROTOV - pp.233-266
- Innovative Activity as Factor of Instability in a Monetary Production Economy
A.FUMAGALLI - pp.267-288

Economia e Sociedade

Economia e Sociedade aims at contributing to the development of critical reflection in the fields of economics and economic history. Since its inception in 1992, it welcomes a heterodox economics literature, inspired by the traditions of Marx, Keynes, Kalecki, and Schumpeter, as well as by Latin American reflections on economic development.

Economia e Sociedade has been published by the Institute of Economics at the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) since 1992. New issues appear every four months.

http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_issuetoc&pid=0104-061820080004&lng=en&nrm=iso


Critical Perspectives on International Business

Volume 5 Issue 1
Published: 2009 | Start Page: 6

Special Issue: Reflections on a global financial crisis

http://www.emeraldinsight.com/Insight/viewContainer.do;jsessionid=9929CC014846F965308C336F2D2609F9?containerType=Issue&containerId=15001369

Challenge

Volume 52 Number 3 / May - June 2009 of Challenge is now available on the mesharpe.metapress.com web site at http://mesharpe.metapress.com/link.asp?id=H20717K6141L

This issue contains:

- Letter from the Editor
Jeff Madrick

- Iceland as Icarus
Robert Wade

- Their Great Depression and Ours
James Livingston

- How to Fight (or Not to Fight) a Slowdown
Eckhard Hein, Achim Truger

- Has the Rise in American Inequality Been Exaggerated?
Robert J. Gordon

- The Great Financial Crisis: Causes and Consequences, by John Bellamy Foster and Fred Magdoff
Michael Meeropol

- Postscript on the G20 Summit
Mike Sharpe

Friends of Associative Economics Bulletin

Friends of Associative Economics Bulletin provides an overview of what is going on around the world in the associative economics movement. The bulletin is viewable as a webpage at www.cfae.biz/fae-bulletin/09May/

May 2009
1) What is real in Economics?
2) Forthcoming Events
3) Associate! May 2009 - Concerning Rights
4) How to Build a New Economic Model - A Report
5) Money Means Not Money

Click here for detailed information.

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Heterodox Books and Book Series

From Economics Imperialism to Freakonomics

The Shifting Boundaries between Economics and other Social Sciences
By Dimitris Milonakis, Ben Fine
University of Crete, Greece; School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK
http://tandf.msgfocus.com/c/1RU9d6uzDYEnvk8B
Is or has economics ever been the imperial social science? Could or should it ever be so? These are the central concerns of this book.

It involves a critical reflection on the process of how economics became the way it is, in terms of a narrow and intolerant orthodoxy, that has, nonetheless, increasingly directed its attention to appropriating the subject matter of other social sciences through the process termed "economics imperialism". In other words, the book addresses the shifting boundaries between economics and the other social sciences as seen from the confines of the dismal science, with some reflection on the responses to the economic imperialists by other disciplines.

From Political Economy to Economics

Method, the social and the historical in the evolution of economic theory
By Dimitris Milonakis, Ben Fine
University of Crete, Greece; School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, UK
http://tandf.msgfocus.com/c/1RUbio6EMKGP2mcD
Economics has become a monolithic science, variously described as formalistic and autistic with neoclassical orthodoxy reigning supreme. So argue Dimitris Milonakis and Ben Fine in this new major work of critical recollection. The authors show how economics was once rich, diverse, multidimensional and pluralistic, and unravel the processes that lead to orthodoxy’s current predicament.

John Maynard Keynes

NOTICE: An inexpensive paperback edition of Paul Davidson's JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES book will be available beginning in May 2009—just in time for you to order copies for class room use in courses on Macroeconomics. This latest paper back version has an additional chapter indicating how Keynes’s analysis that are presented in the earlier chapters of the book provides the explanation for the global financial and economic crisis that we are currently experiencing.

JOHN MAYNARD KEYNES, by Paul Davidson (Palgrave/Macmillan, London and New York, 2007) ISBN# 978-02302290204

“Global imbalances, the unshackling of capital, the precarious state of modern capitalism: rarely has the world of economics been in more need of the thoughts of John Maynard Keynes. Although Keynes is no longer with us, this book is the next best thing. Paul Davidson is the leading expert on Keynes and Keynesianism and his book should be read by anybody who wants to understand the world as it is, rather than as the economic text books say it ought to be.
” - Larry Elliott, Economics Editor, The Guardian

“Davidson convincingly shows how Keynes's radical assault on classical economic theory was undermined by mainstream interpreters anxious to make his doctrines politically acceptable. Keynes's own ‘general theory' is compellingly explained; its obfuscators attacked with Davidson's familiar panache.” - Lord Skidelsky, author of John Maynard Keynes 1883-1946: Economist, Philosopher, Statesman

“This could be the best one-volume treatment of Keynes's economics since Keynes himself. Clear, logical and faithful, Paul Davidson introduces the real Keynes to a new generation. And do we ever need him.” - James K. Galbraith, The University of Texas at Austin and Levy Economic Institute

“Paul Davidson's fascinating, encyclopaedic book captures the drama of the appearance of the General Theory, illuminates the controversies still surrounding it, and passionately defends Keynes's radical innovations in economic theory and policy. It is high time for economists and policymakers to go back to Keynes's own words, whose power Davidson so effectively articulates.” Peter L. Bernstein, President of Peter L. Bernstein, Inc., and author of Against the Gods: The Remarkable Story of Risk and also Capital Ideas Evolving.

Political Economy Now!

The struggle for alternative economics at the University of Sydney
Gavan Butler, Evan Jones and Frank Stilwell
Darlington Press
ISBN: 9781921364051

AUS$34.95 plus postage
The book is available from Sydney University Press eStore at www.sup.usyd.edu.au
http://purl.library.usyd.edu.au/sup/9781921364051
Political Economy Now! is the story of one of the most substantial and enduring conflicts in the history of Australian universities. Beginning in the late 1960s, it pitted those committed to the teaching of mainstream economics at the University of Sydney against the proponents of an alternative program in political economy. The dispute continued for decades until a Department of Political Economy was established in the Faculty of Arts in 2008.
Why all the fuss over the teaching of economics? Why were the disagreements so deep and protracted? What has been at stake? Why did dissident staff and students commit so much time and energy to establishing and developing alternative courses and administrative arrangements?
The dispute involved substantial differences of opinion about the nature of the curriculum, the style of teaching, and the structures of power and decision making. Although locally focused at the University of Sydney and at its most intense during the 1970s and 1980s, the dispute also has wider implications for how we understand the economic system and the role of economic policy. It reflects a broader tension in Australian society about what economic arrangements best serve social needs.
The story of the struggle for alternative economics told from the political economists' perspective weaves together a general historical narrative with illustrations and interpretations of the causes and consequences of the conflict, and personal recollections of eleven former student activists, all now in significant professional positions.
Political Economy Now! is a fascinating read for those concerned about how a discipline of great social and political significance is understood and taught to its would-be practitioners.

Heterodox Graduate Program and Scholarships

Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness

The Department Economics of Innovation, Delft University of Technology is inviting applicants for a 4-year PhD project on

“Productivity, Employment and Competitiveness:
A Cumulative Growth Model Analysis for 20 OECD Countries (1960-2005)”

According to the standard theory of equilibrium unemployment (or NAIRU theory), persistent un¬employment is caused by “excessive” labour market regu¬lation, whereas aggregate demand, ca¬pi¬tal accumulation and technological progress have no lasting effects on unemployment. The aim of this project is to show that the NAIRU model is a special case of a larger model of equi¬li¬bri¬¬um unemployment, in which aggregate demand, investment and endogenous technological pro¬¬gress do have long-term effects. To do so, a cumulative growth model will be used to analyse the effects of labour market regulation on growth, productivity, (un-) employment and com¬peti¬tive¬ness. This model builds upon post-Keynesian tradition ? Bhaduri and Marglin (1990), Taylor (1991, 2006), Bhaduri (2006), Naastepad (2006) and Storm and Naastepad (2007, 2008) ? and in¬te¬grates (available) demand, productivity and labour market regimes. This framework can be used to show that the NAIRU is a special case of a more general model which (i) allows demand to influence equilibrium unemployment and (ii) endogenizes productivity growth and tech¬nolo¬gi¬cal change. The candidate will apply this model to 20 OECD countries (1960?2005), addressing two questions:
(1) What are the determinants of structural unemploy¬ment?
(2) Are there differ¬en¬ces in demand, productivity and employment regimes between (groups of) OECD countries and are these differences associated with differences in macro-eco¬no¬mic performance?

A longer des¬cription of the project is available upon request; please contact dr. Naastepad or dr. Storm at the addresses given below.

References
Bhaduri, A. and Marglin, S. (1990) “Unemployment and the real wage: the economic basis for contesting political ideologies.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 14 (), 375-393.
Bhaduri, A. (2006) Endogenous economic growth: a new approach, Cambridge Journal of Economics 30 (1), 69-84.
Naastepad, C.W.M. (2006) Technology, demand and income distribution: A cumulative causation model with an application to the Dutch productivity slowdown, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 30 (3), 403-434.
Storm, S. and C.W.M. Naastepad (2007), Why Labour Market Regulation May Pay Off: Worker Motivation, Co-ordination and Productivity Growth, Economic and Labour Market Paper 2007/4, Employment and Labour Market Analysis Department, International Labour Organization, Geneva: ILO.
Storm, S. & C.W.M. Naastepad (2007) OECD demand regimes (1960?2000), Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics 29 (2) 211?246.
Storm, S. & C.W.M. Naastepad (2007) It is high time to ditch the NAIRU, Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics 29 (4) 531?554.
Storm, S. & C.W.M. Naastepad (2008) The NAIRU reconsidered: Why labour market de-regu¬la¬tion may raise unemployment, International Review of Applied Economics 22 (3).
Taylor, L.(1991) Income Distribution, Inflation and Growth. Lectures on Structuralist Macro¬economic Theory. Cambridge, Mass.: The MIT Press.
Taylor, L. (2004) Reconstructing Macroeconomics, Harvard University Press.

Requirements
University graduate.
We are looking for an open-minded (macro-) economist with some training in statistics and eco¬no¬metrics (further training possibilities will be provided). The candidate should have a strong interest in (post-Keynesian) macro-economic theory and its policy implications.

Conditions of employment
Estimated gross salary per month: ca. 1900 Euro (starting salary).
Employment basis: temporary contract for a 4 year period, with full inclusion in the Dutch social security system (including a good pension scheme).

Starting date: Summer 2009.

Additional information & application:
Please send your CV to:
Dr. C.W.M. Naastepad ( c.w.m.naastepad@tudelft.nl ) or
Dr. S. Storm ( s.t.h.storm@tudelft.nl ) or
Prof. Alfred Kleinknecht ( a.h.kleinknecht@tudelft.nl ).

Program on Gender Analysis in Economics (PGAE)

The Department of Economics at American University in Washington, D.C., is pleased to announce the Program on Gender Analysis in Economics (PGAE). The program offers three options to meet different needs:
Graduate Certificate on Gender Analysis in Economics,
Gender Analysis in Economics track in the MA in Economics,
Gender Analysis in Economics field in the PhD program.

The PGAE differs from other gender-related graduate programs by presenting a gender-focused yet economics-based curriculum. Courses apply gender analysis to different fields of economics, including microeconomics, macroeconomics, political economy, labor economics, public finance, development, and international trade and investment. The PGAE is geared to students seeking careers in government agencies, research institutes and think tanks, non-governmental policy organizations, or economic and financial institutions who need well-trained professionals with skills in both economics and gender analysis.

For more information, please visit: http://www.american.edu/cas/economics/programs/gender.cfm. 

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Heterodox Web Sites and Associations

Economics for Equity and the Environment Network

Economics for Equity and the Environment Network (E3) has launched a new website, www.RealClimateEconomics.org, to demonstrate the weight of economic analysis in the peer reviewed literature that supports immediate, large-scale policy responses to the climate crisis.

The Real Climate Economics website offers a reader's guide to the real economics of climate change, an emerging body of scholarship that is consistent with the urgency of the problem as seen from a climate science perspective.

As the climate policy debate intensifies, economic analysis is playing an increasingly central role. The case for inaction is no longer argued on the grounds of skepticism about the science; instead, some have claimed that it will be too expensive to take more than token initiatives. There is now extensive economic analysis that challenges and refutes this idea. The peer-reviewed articles included on this website demonstrate that:

- Risk and uncertainty are fundamental to the climate problem;
- Ethics and equity are inseparable from economic analysis of climate change
- Marginal analysis of small changes and modest adjustments of market-based instruments are inadequate to the task of understanding and protecting the earth's climate.

E3 is a national network of economists doing applied economic research on environmental issues with a social equity focus. For more about E3's programs and to get involved, please visit our website at www.e3network.org

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Queries from Heterodox Economists

Wanted papers on the History of Economic Thought from a Non-Western Perspective

I wonder if any heterodox economists can steer me to some web-sites where I might be able to find high quality papers that are in the public domain, and that talk about the history of economic thought from a non-western perspective; especially papers on non-Western (Latin American, Indian, Moslem, etc.) thinkers and ideas. This is to fill in one serious gap in the “Social Science Library” which is described below.

The Social Science Library: Frontier Thinking in Sustainable Development and Human Well-Being is being developed to send on electronic media that can be shipped inexpensively around the world; our intention is to get it into all post-secondary-school libraries in 137 countries, selected on the basis of low per capita income and generally poor Internet access.

The contents of the Social Science Library include a bibliography of over 9,000 journal articles and book chapters. Of these about one-third will be available, as full-text articles, on the CDs or thumb-drives (MB USB drives) on which the SSL will be shipped. If you would like to see what the Social Science Library looks like, and how it works, an early version can be seen at www.socialsciencelibrary.org. (See technical notes, below)

The problem we address is that many institutions of higher learning in less wealthy countries have extremely limited printed materials in the social sciences – sometimes only a shelf or two. At the same time, a large number do not yet have adequate access to the Internet. The technology used in this project overcomes both the cost of sending printed books and continuing, serious difficulties and costs of Internet access.

The belief that has informed the development of the Social Science Library is that the challenges of the 21st century will require educated problem-solving from all parts of the world, in the social as well as the natural sciences, and not only from the wealthier countries, where the social sciences have been developed, and which continue to dominate thought and research in these areas. The project’s goals are:
- To further the development of the social sciences in the world’s less-wealthy nations;
- To strengthen the ability of social scientists in these countries to influence their own local policies;
- To ensure that global debates on the future of the human species will increasingly include these voices; and
- To give global attention and emphasis to those social science writings that are most likely to contribute to understanding and promotion of sustainability and human well-being.

For many of the recipient institutions the SSL will multiply by a factor of tens, or even hundreds, the available social science writings. It is designed not only to be used in libraries, but to be readily copied so that students, teachers, researchers and others can have their own social science library in their pockets. The format provides a tremendous wealth of reading materials in anthropology, economics, history, philosophy, political science, sociology, and social psychology. At the same time, because of its structure and organization, it is also a superb teaching tool.

Technical notes: Each library will receive the Social Science Library in two forms – a thumb-drive, and a pair of CDs – so that any student or faculty who can afford to purchase either of these pieces of hardware can take the blank to the library, quickly copy the SSL onto it, and become the possessor of his or her own library-in-a-pocket. The thumb drive version is superior, because it can hold the entire SSL, which will have to be divided in half to go on two CDs; however we recognize that there will be some users who can afford a blank CD but not a thumb drive.
The version of the SSL that can be seen on the Web, through the link given above, is an early one that was developed for a single-CD version that we sent out for testing and feedback to 21 of the 137 intended recipient countries. When we then modified this build for the Web site, we formatted in bold articles or chapters that the ultimate users of the CDs will be able to access in full; however, because of our agreements with publishers, such access is not available in anything we post on the Internet. The number of bolded titles shown on this version is only about half of what will be included in the final products. Note that the final version will also contain significant improvements in the areas that explain the concept, nature and purpose of the social sciences.

Neva Goodwin, Co-director
Global Development And Environment Institute
Tufts University
www.gdae.org
http://ase.tufts.edu/gdae    

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For Your Information

New Paper Finds IMF Lending Still Requires Harmful and Inappropriate Economic Conditions

For Immediate Release: April 21, 2009
Contact: Dan Beeton, 202-239-1460

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) released a new paper today that finds that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is still prescribing inappropriate policies that could unnecessarily worsen economic downturns in a number of countries. The paper, "Empowering the IMF: Should Reform be a Requirement for Increasing the Fund's Resources?" examines conditions tied to the IMF's new lending to El Salvador, Pakistan, Ukraine and other countries and finds the IMF is requiring macroeconomic conditions that can unnecessarily exacerbate the effects of the global economic recession on these countries.

"New funding should not be provided to the IMF unless the institution is subject to important reforms that will prevent the Fund from continuing and repeating the serious errors that they made in the last major crises of the 1990s," said Mark Weisbrot, co-Director of CEPR and lead author of the paper.

Among the harmful conditions cited in the paper are agreements that unnecessarily tighten fiscal and monetary policy in countries facing declining output and negative external economic shocks. The IMF has at the same time advocated the passage of economic stimulus packages and expansionary monetary policy in developed economies such as the U.S., Europe, and Japan.

"The main purpose of the IMF's lending and the increased resources for the Fund right now is supposed to be to help low-and middle-income countries do what the high-income countries are doing - stimulate their economies," said Weisbrot. "It defeats the purpose to require them to do the opposite."

The authors also find that Fund-supported policies may have contributed to the vulnerability of countries in the current crisis, as it did in the run-up to the Asian crisis a decade ago.

The paper concludes that governments allocating new resources to the IMF should first ensure that there is sufficient reform of IMF governance and past IMF practices, and that accountability mechanisms are put in place at the Fund.
http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=kzPDH6gGORI2VXUfWmZCXNXol7%2B%2FHxYt

Origins of Institutional Economics According to Baylor University Economists

I received the following from a colleague that may be amusing to you:

Baylor University in Waco, Texas devoted its Fall 2007 issue of Baylor Business Review to a special topic which it apocalyptically christened "Economics Saves the World". Articles and commentary by its faculty addressed various contemporary issues aimed at a general audience. Most accounts drew on traditional mainstream concepts except for one foray into the terminology of institutional economics.

When mentioning conspicuous consumption, readers were told the phrase was "introduced..by economists Thorstein and Veblen in 1899" (sic) (p. 12). Either so little respect was given to heterodox approaches by this faculty that the reference was purposely misstated, the editor was unaware that only one person coined this term, or perhaps it was believed that Veblen (often inaccurately accused of so many types of alleged misbehavior) may have suffered from a split personality. Then again, those devoted to a strictly mainstream approach have seldom demonstrated accuracy in either their knowledge or interpretation of history.

Declaración fundacional de la Asociación de Economía para el Desarrollo de la Argentina (AEDA)

La Argentina ha experimentado en los últimos años un importante viraje en su orientación económica, alejándose de una etapa previa dominada por políticas neoliberales. Este viraje se implementó a contracorriente del consenso general de la profesión de los economistas y de buena parte de las ciencias sociales.
No obstante este avance, debe llamarse la atención sobre la persistencia de la matriz ideológica que sustentó las políticas económicas pasadas, que llevaron a la Argentina por un sendero de exclusión social, desindustrialización y desempleo. La mayor parte de los economistas se forma en esa tradición y se agrupa en torno de fundaciones y consultoras muy bien financiadas por sectores de poder interesados en que esas ideas se desarrollen y se difundan. La batalla ideológica contra esa orientación, lejos de haberse ganado, continúa vigente. La tarea es urgente, en la medida en que el desempeño económico de estos últimos tiempos permite avizorar una oportunidad para que la Argentina experimente en los próximos años una etapa de desarrollo económico sustentable.

Para aprovechar esa oportunidad, es necesario no sólo consolidar un modelo económico, sino también articular un nuevo pensamiento que de a luz ideas y perspectivas renovadas y una agenda de largo plazo para avanzar en un cambio estructural que garantice una sociedad incluyente y un sendero de industrialización.
Con estos objetivos nos hemos propuesto poner en marcha la Asociación de Economía para el Desarrollo de la Argentina (AEDA), que procura nuclear a profesionales de las ciencias sociales comprometidos con estas ideas. Se trata asimismo de una apuesta generacional que busca sumar nuevas voces al debate.
Te invitamos a protagonizar este proyecto asociándote a AEDA y participando en las distintas actividades que estamos organizando.

Buenos Aires, octubre de 2008

Players of Political Economy

Frank Stilwell | May 06, 2009
Article from: The Australian
THE International Monetary Fund recently revised its global economic projections downwards. The global financial crisis has created the most difficult economic conditions for more than 70 years. Australia, though better placed economically than many other nations, cannot avoid being adversely affected by the global downturn.
These are circumstances in which we may expect some fundamental rethinking by economists. It was their confidence in free markets producing efficient outcomes that gave legitimacy to the neo-liberal policies of the past two decades. Those policies, including privatisation and financial deregulation, reduced the capacity of the government to directly influence economic outcomes. During the boom years this did not seem to matter, but with the benefit of hindsight we can see that it was a fools' paradise.
"Obey ye the market" has proved to be a misleading mantra. The emergent recession shows the economic rationalist approach did not provide sound foundations for sustainable economic activity. Some see the policies as directly culpable for the disastrous economic outcomes. The unwarranted faith in market outcomes led in practice to an orgy of speculation and mounting levels of unsustainable debt. Productive investment, including socially necessary infrastructure investment, has been correspondingly neglected.
It is necessary to look more critically at economic processes and institutions to understand what has happened. Keynesian economics has rightly experienced a revival because it provides an explanation of recession and tools for counter-cyclical economic management. There is also renewed interest in Marxian analysis of capitalism, focusing on the contradictory aspects of the capital accumulation process, the causes of growing economic inequality and periodic economic crises.
There are mild echoes of such concerns in Kevin Rudd's denunciation of "extreme capitalism".
Institutional economics also has an important contribution to make. This is a dissident tradition of economic thought that emphasises the significance of institution building in creating the conditions for sustainable economic activity. As US political economist William Lazonick has written: "History shows the driving force of successful capitalist economic development is not the perfection of the market mechanism but the building of organisational capacities."
None of these alternative schools of economic thought have much faith in the free market mechanism to deliver economic outcomes that are consistently efficient, equitable and sustainable. They challenge the neoclassical economic orthodoxy that has underpinned the embrace of economic rationalism and neo-liberal policies.
Are our universities going to start teaching about these alternatives? All alternative approaches warrant careful consideration, especially in the present difficult economic conditions. Universities need to restructure their courses in economics to consider and compare the contributions that each of these schools of thought can offer.
Unfortunately, the curriculum in almost all universities remains overwhelmingly neoclassical. This perpetuates the type of economic policy advice coming from the Productivity Commission and the right-wing think tanks.
However, it is not conducive to an economic outlook that is sensitive to the present needs for recovery and reconstruction.
One university that seeks to explore the different approaches to economic analysis is the University of Sydney. For decades it has offered students the opportunity to study courses in political economy as well as mainstream economics. The courses look at Keynesian, post-Keynesian, Marxian and institutional analyses of capitalism as well as the neoclassical orthodoxy.
It was a tremendous historical struggle to get those alternative courses established, contrary to the wishes of professors wedded to the orthodoxy approach.
It's interesting to see that graduates of the political economy program during the past 40 years include many people now at the forefront of government, academe and journalism.
As a political economy student, Anthony Albanese staged a protest on top of the university clock tower in support of an autonomous political economy department. Now as federal Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government Minister, he oversees much of the vast stimulus spending that the Rudd Government is hoping will see us through this crisis. In NSW politics you'll find Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt (portfolios include climate change, the environment and commerce) and David Borger (housing), to name just two.
It's also perhaps no coincidence that two of the most vocal figures warning of unfettered consumption and market speculation - public intellectual and author Clive Hamilton and University of Western Sydney economics academic Steven Keen - also are former political economy graduates and activists, both of whom write about the formative role the discipline played in their thinking in a new book about the efforts to establish political economy at Sydney University.
Others are reporting on the crisis: an activist from the early years, Steve Burrell, is a senior Fairfax business journalist, while more recent graduates include business and economics journalists Jessica Irvine (The Sydney Morning Herald) and Stephen Long (ABC), The World Today presenter Eleanor Hall and Lateline Business' Michael Janda. Hopefully another graduate, The Chaser's Charles Firth, will provide us with some light relief from the gloom. The list goes on.
A new book about the years spent establishing alternative economics at the university, titled Political Economy Now! The Struggle for Alternative Economics at the University of Sydney, includes a cameo appearance from a young Malcolm Turnbull, who tried to play a mediating role between activists and university management.
Today students are again flocking to the study of political economy. A surge means more than 600 undergraduates are enrolled in political economy, with more completing majors, honours and masters qualifications.
Will other universities follow the lead in revising and diversifying their teaching of economics? Or will they remain wedded to a neoclassical orthodoxy that has shown itself to be part of the present economic problem?
Frank Stilwell is professor of political economy at the University of Sydney. Political Economy Now!, co-written with Gavan Butler and Evan Jones, was launched yesterday at the university.

The Economic Crisis and the Case for a Solidarity Economy

If you have ever asked yourself...
Whats really behind the current crisis and is the answer more regulation by the government?
Why does our economy periodically suffer from such crises?
What should a well-functioning economy do?
What's the connection behind lower wages for ordinary workers and large Wall Street bonuses?
How do we build a more just and sustainable economy?
...then this course is for you!
The Economic Crisis and the Case for a Solidarity Economy
An Online Course offered by the Center for Popular Economics
Summer Session I (June 1 - July 9, 2009)
Course Fee: $900 for THREE Univ. of Massachusetts Credits or $400 for non-credit students.
40-60 Professional Development Points (in MA) or 3.6 Continuing Education Credits (outside MA) available.
Scholarships are available for non-credit students.
The Center for Popular Economics, in collaboration with the Forum on Social Wealth and the Political Economy Research Institute at Univ. of Massachusetts, Amherst is offering a special topics 3-credit online course (Econ 197) this Summer. The course runs from Monday, June 1st till Thursday July 9th, 2009. No background in Economics is required. The course is suited for students as well as activists and community members who want to learn more about the current economic crises, its causes and its solutions. Please see attached flyer and visit http://www.populareconomics.org/online_course_2009.html  for more information. You can also contact Amit Basole at abasole@gmail.com  or Emily Kawano at emily@populareconomics.org  for more details on registering for the course.
Overview: The current economics crisis has once again raised the question with great urgency: what purpose do we want our economy to fulfill? Is it fulfilling this purpose today? If not, what can we do about it? In this course we will place special emphasis on the ongoing economic and financial crisis and its long-term and short-term causes and consequences. We will also discuss various alternative economic models rooted in principles of economic democracy, cooperation and sustainability. Finally, we will talk about a vast store of wealth that communities everywhere possess and on which they can draw for constructing alternatives.
The course is comprised of two main parts. Part One takes a look at how 30 years of neoliberal economic policy created the conditions for the present crisis, which threatens to be the most severe since the Great Depression. Falling or stagnant wages for the majority of Americans, rising and unsustainable levels of debt in the economy, and a poorly regulated financial sector all played a part in precipitating the crisis. We will also go beyond the crisis and attempt fo understand how our economic model has allowed unprecedented accumulation of wealth by a few and while bringing low wages, longer work hours, and rising healthcare and education costs for the many, in addition to a deterioration of our natural and social environment. We start with a look at the historical roots of neoliberalism and then try to understand the economics behind it.
In Part Two, we will talk about how some of the things that we saw going wrong in Part One can be set right. Building a just economy that is not prone to repeated crises depends on the efforts we make. In the midst of growing inequality and corporate power, many grassroots economic alternatives have been springing up throughout the U.S. as well as the rest of the world. This is the new "Solidarity Economy." Grounded in principles of economic democracy, social solidarity, cooperation, egalitarianism, and sustainability, this is an alternative to the Neoliberal vision of the economy. In this part of the course we will look at some examples of such alternatives, including alternatives to the current financial system, as well as understand the economics behind them. We will also see how an economy organized around solidarity principles can tap into reservoirs of social wealth, assets that all communities possess; our cultural and ecological commons and our capacity to work for those we care.

Comments on the Financial Crisis

Dr. James K. Galbraith
Sponsored by the University of Chicago Money and Markets Workshop
April 10, 2009

Click here to download the interview.

The Economic Crisis and Obama’s Response

Dr. James K. Galbraith
Sponsored by the International Study Stream

Click here to download the interview.

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