Heterodox Economics Newsletter
Issue 96 | March 8, 2010

http://heterodoxnews.com/n/htn96.html [web]
http://heterodoxnews.com/n/htn96.pdf [pdf]


From the Editors

As quite usual, the Newsletter is full of exciting events, publications, and news. We lead off with a second call for papers for the Association for Heterodox Economics 12th conference in Bordeaux July 7-10. There is an updated list of key presenters, and within the conference there will be a workshop on "The Future of Post Keynesian Economics." There are two "Green Economics" conferences to choose from: one in Venice April 22-24 (their first); and one in Oxford July 29-31 (their fifth). In October, travel the globe starting with the "Can IT Happen Again?" conference in Macerata, Italy focusing on policies to prevent future financial crises; then on to Wuhan, China on the 11th for a conference focusing on "Economic Development, China and the West." These are just a few of the conferences you will find in the call for papers section.

We would like to remind you that the Heterodox Economic Newsletter is all yours. If you have news to share with Newsletter subscribers, do not hesitate to contact us. As we mentioned in our initial issue, we hope to expand and improve the Newsletter. For one, we believe personal and institutional subscriptions are critical to the survival of heterodox journals, and we encourage editors to send us notices and content about new issues. We ask our readers to inform us about journals not currently promoted in the Newsletter, or changes that warrant promotion (see, the American Journal of Economics and Sociology subscription flyer as an example). 

Another new function of the Newsletter we are considering is a section on "call for panelists." See, for example, MECCI working group session in Crete IIPPE Conference and a call for discussants (Issues in Heterodox Microeconomics) for the URPE/ASSA 2011 conference.

Lastly, the Newsletter is approaching its 100th issue. Please send us your thoughts on how we might celebrate this event.


The Editors
Tae-Hee Jo and Ted Schmidt
heterodoxnews@gmail.com




In this issue:
  1. Call for Papers
    1. 12th Conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics
    2. The Future of Post Keynesian Economics, ADEK and AHE
    3. First ever Green Economics Conference
    4. 5th Annual Green Economics Conference
    5. 7th Pan-European SGIR Conference
    6. Can it happen again?
    7. CofFEE Conference
    8. “Imagined Recovery” Cultural Political Economy and the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis
    9. IIPPE First International Conference in Political Economy
    10. MECCI working group session in Crete IIPPE Conference
    11. Thoughts on Economic Development, China and the West
    12. The Political Economy of Taxation: International Conference
    13. Strategic Decision-Making in Labor and Social Movement Organizations
    14. Forum the Spirit of Innovation IV
    15. Contemporary Social Movements and the Social Forum Process: From the Global to the Local
  2. Conferences, Seminars and Lectures
    1. Séminaire Hétérodoxies du CES
    2. GLA Economics seminar
    3. History and Philosophy of Economics
    4. Human Capital for Sustainable Economies
    5. Marx Memorial Library events
    6. Alternatives to Capitalism: Self-Management in the Spotlight
    7. Systematic Mixed Methods Research: What, Why, and How?
    8. How Class Works 2010
    9. Spring Alternative Summit: For Another Europe of Knowledge
    10. MicroCafé: Seminars on the History and Philosophy of Microeconomics
  3. Job Postings for Heterodox Economists
    1. Balliol College, Oxford
  4. Conference Papers, Reports, and Articles
    1. The Crisis of Financialised Capitalism: Highlighting the Urgent Need for Public Banks
    2. U.S. BITs and Financial Stability
    3. Greece-bashing is hiding the obvious: monetary union urgently needs economic union
    4. Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths: Design Principles and Alternative Models
    5. How Should the Economy be Regulated?
  5. Heterodox Journals and Newsletters
    1. Agenda: A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, 16(4): 2009
    2. American Journal of Economics and Sociology
    3. Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34(2): March 2010
    4. Critical Perspectives on International Business
    5. Critical Theory and Social Justice (CTSJ), 1(1): 2010
    6. Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 32(2): Winter 2009-10
    7. Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines
    8. Pelican Journal of Sustainable Development, 6(3): March 2010
    9. Review of Social Economy, 68(1): March 2010
    10. Economic Sociology Newsletter, 11(2): March 2010
    11. Friends of Associative Economics Bulletin
    12. IDEAs
    13. Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies (FMM)
    14. Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives
    15. Post Keynesian Economics Study Group
  6. Heterodox Books and Book Series
    1. The Economics Anti-Textbook: A Critical Thinker’s Guide to Microeconomics
    2. John Maynard Keynes: The Making of a Revolution
    3. Theories of Value from Adam Smith to Piero Sraffa
    4. Capitalism & The Dialectic: The Uno-Sekine Approach to Marxian Economy
    5. The Competent Public Sphere: Global Political Economy, Dialogue and the Contemporary Workplace
    6. Academic Repression: Reflections from the Academic Industrial Complex
    7. Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics
    8. Economics for the Rest of Us: Debunking the Science that Makes Life Dismal
    9. Freedom Not Yet: Liberation and the Next World Order
    10. Nobody Called Me Charlie : The Story of a Radical White Journalist Writing for a Black Newspaper in the Civil Rights Era
    11. The Roller Coaster Economy: Financial Crisis, Great Recession,and the Public Option
    12. Striving to Save: Creating Policies for Financial Security of Low-Income Families
    13. La fábrica del conocimiento. La universidad-empresa en la producción flexible
  7. Heterodox Book Reviews
    1. Revisiting Keynes: Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren
    2. The Intellectual Foundations of Alfred Marshall’s Economic Science: A Rounded Globe of Knowledge
  8. Heterodox Graduate Program and PhD Scholarships/Research Fellowships
    1. University of Manchester
    2. Middlesex University
  9. Heterodox Web Sites and Associates
    1. Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT)
  10. Queries from Heterodox Economists
    1. Call for Discussants: Issues in Heterodox Microeconomics
    2. Economics Curriculum Survey: The evolution of economics teaching in Australia
  11. For Your Information
    1. John Loxley, the Winner of the John Kenneth Galbraith Prize 2010
    2. Greenspan, Friedman, and Summers win Dynamite Prize in Economics
    3. Manifesto for the freedom of economic thought
    4. Online Debate about Free Trade
    5. Peitition: Breaking the grip of budget hysteria in the UK
    6. Videos of London Memorial Meeting for Daniel Bensaid


Call for Papers

12th Conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics

7-10 July, 2010
Université de Bordeaux, France
Hosted by the Research Unit in Theoretical and Applied Economics – GREThA (UMR CNRS 5113)

Updated Call for Papers
The Twelfth Conference of the Association of Heterodox Economics (AHE) will be held at the University of Bordeaux – France – from Wednesday 7th to Saturday 10th July 2010. This year’s Conference theme is The Economy of Tomorrow. This revised call for papers includes a list of key speakers and events, and seven peer-reviewed conference themes agreed by 15th February 2010. To allow extra time for submissions, the deadline for proposals has been postponed to April 11th 2010

Long run processes have exacerbated the contradictions of the world economic system leading to a crisis in all spheres including social, political, financial and environmental. The economic crisis that opened in 2008 increases our awareness that economies and societies must change radically in all these spheres in the 21st Century, though views of the changes required, and their depth, will differ. This conference will provide a forum for discussion on current and future changes needed in developed and developing economies in all these spheres. The following areas, closely intertwined in theory and in policy action, are of special interest but this is not an exhaustive list and do not preclude other topics approached with a holistic perspective:
  1. Social aspects: for example income distribution, labour markets, pensions, the nature of work, poverty, human development, welfare;
  2. Financial aspects: for example financialization, capital mobility, corporate governance, taxes on international monetary transactions, financial innovations and possible reforms;
  3. Environmental aspects: for example models of production and consumption, eco-innovations, environmental governance, alleviation or adaptation to global warming, and new cities;
  4. North-South relations: for example the trajectories of emerging countries, potential for a new world order, international trade, development aid, development cooperation;
  5. The reform of economics: for example pluralism in research and teaching, evaluation and metrics, innovation and creativity, and the relation between economists and decision-makers.
The conference invites submissions on or before 11th April 2010 which either accord with the conference title; or which otherwise deal with topics of ongoing interest in heterodox economics. Building on successful recent innovation, we invite proposals for themes: connected sets of sessions providing for dialogue around a single topic. Papers selected for inclusion in a theme will be peer reviewed by the theme organisers. A theme proposal should provide
  1. An appeal for submissions to a consistent set of panels of no more than 500 words;
  2. A short title for the theme (no more than 10 words);
  3. The name of panel organisers or organiser, together with contact details;
  4. A brief description of the peer review process which the theme organisers will apply.
Standards for peer review are under still discussion in the AHE; for the 2010 conference, theme organisers will be responsible for reviewing the papers accepted into their theme, applying generally accepted academic standards, but having specific regard to pluralist principles.
    The closing date for theme submissions is 11th April, the same as that for papers. This call includes details of the themes so far selected by the conference committee. The conference language is English.

Guidelines for submission
There will be two types of session, regular sessions and poster sessions. Regular sessions will be 90 minutes long and will usually consist of either two papers with at least one discussant, or three papers with or without a discussant. Poster sessions, which encourage new and incomplete work, will allow participants to display their main ideas, distribute their work, and discuss their work with colleagues.
    Participants in normal sessions, whether themes or general papers, must submit an abstract by 11th April 2010 and must provide a full paper by 23rd May 2010. Participants who cannot provide a complete paper by the deadline will be invited to present their ideas in a poster session.
    All participants must register by June 6th 2010. Participants will be expected to take part in at least two full days of the conference to be included in the final programme. Participants should also be prepared to serve as discussants and/or session chairs.

Themes
Please send a short title for the theme as well as a short description of the papers that are requested and the name of panel organisers or organiser. Please send these by email only to the local organiser Ali Douai (ahe2010@u-bordeaux4.fr), and the AHE coordinator, Alan Freeman (afreeman@iwgvt.org).

Proposals for single papers
This year, conference submissions will be automated. Please visit the site www.hetecon.org and follow the instructions there. The site is under development; should you encounter difficulties please contact the organisers at the address given above. As part of the procedure, you will be able to indicate whether you are submitting your paper to a theme or for a regular session.

Support for international scholars
The international character of the conference has been a vital factor in its growing success. Scholars requiring documentation in support of visa or funding applications should indicate this in their initial submission. The fees, cost for transportation and accommodation are at the expense of participants. Nevertheless, the steering committee hopes to attribute some limited grants to participants from outside the US and European Union whose proposal for a paper or theme has been accepted. To apply, please contact the steering committee
(ahe2010@u-bordeaux4.fr) by Monday 29th March 2010.

Deadlines
Proposals for themes, and for single papers should be received by 11th April 2010.
The AHE Committee will consider all proposals for themes as soon as practically possible. Accepted themes will be posted on the AHE website at www.hetecon.net. The committee, working with theme organisers, will consider all submissions soon after 11th April and will notify participants of acceptance or rejection of their initial proposal by Monday 22nd April 2010. Participants who submit proposals before the earlier publicised deadline will be notified of acceptance or rejection by 22nd March as originally advertised.
Acceptance is conditional, except for poster sessions, on receipt of a full paper by 23rd May 2010. All acceptances are conditional on registration for a minimum of two days of the conference, by Sunday June 6th 2010. Registration details will be published later.

Notes
To see details of previous conferences, to keep up to date with the 2010 conference and other AHE activities, and to keep yourself informed of AHE activities subscribe to the AHE-ANNOUNCE mailing list by visiting www.jiscmail.ac.uk/ahe-announce.

Conference Themes
Themes below have already been approved and you are invited to contribute to them.  Non-themed papers are also welcome; further themes may be submitted up to April 11th

Theme 1: Modelling the future. The future of Post Keynesian Economics
ADEK (Association for the Development of Post-Keynesian Studies)
Edwin Le Heron, President of ADEK, IEP de Bordeaux (e.le.heron@sciencespobordeaux.fr)

Theme 2: Finance, Innovation, and Economic Performance
Supported by the FINNOV project funded through Theme 8 of the 7th Framework Programme of the European Commission (Socio-Economic Sciences and the Humanities), under the topic "The role of finance in growth, employment and competitiveness in Europe”.
William Lazonick (University of Massachusetts Lowell, william_lazonick@uml.edu)
Claude Dupuy (Université de Bordeaux, claude.dupuy@u-bordeaux4.fr)
Olivier Brossard (IEP Toulouse, Lereps, olivier.brossard@univ-tlse1.fr )
Stéphanie Lavigne (ESC Toulouse, Lereps, s.lavigne@esc-toulouse.fr)
Matthieu Montalban (Université de Bordeaux, matthieu.montalban@u-bordeaux4.fr)
Theme 3: The dynamics of socio-economic models of development: understanding the recent past to foresee the future
Bruno Amable – University of Paris 1 (PSE) (Bruno.Amable@univ-paris1.fr)
Dalila Nicet-Chenaf – University of Bordeaux (dalila.nicet-chenaf@u-bordeaux4.fr)
Eric Rougier – University of Bordeaux (eric.rougier@u-bordeaux4.fr)
Theme 4:The informal economy in a globalized world
Jean-Philippe Berrou (jean-philippe.berrou@u-bordeaux4.fr)
François Combarnous (françois.combarnous@u-bordeaux4.fr)
Claire Gondard-Delcroix (claire.gondard-delcroix@u-bordeaux4.fr)
Theme 5:The Future of World Capitalism
The Future of World Capitalism book series, in association with Pluto Press
Alan Freeman afreeman@iwgvt.org
Radika Desai desair@cc.umanitoba.ca
Theme 6: Transitions towards an ecological economy
Bertrand Zuindeau – University of Lille 1 (Bertrand.Zuindeau@univ-lille1.fr)
André Meunié – University of Bordeaux (andre.meunie@u-bordeaux4.fr)
Ali Douai – University of Bordeaux (ali.douai@u-bordeaux4.fr)
Theme 7: The political economy of tomorrow: ethics, development, and heterodox theories
Association for Social and Economic Analysis and Rethinking Marxism
Serap Kayatekin (skayatekin@gmail.com)

Download Call for Papers.  

The Future of Post Keynesian Economics, ADEK and AHE

Workshop organized by the Association for the Ddevelopment of Keynesian Studies (ADEK) within the 12th Conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics

7-10 July, 2010
University of Bordeaux, France
Edwin Le Heron (President of the ADEK, Institute of Political Studies, Bordeaux), e.le.heron@sciencespobordeaux.fr
 
While the present crisis marks the end of Neo-liberal era, the aim of this panel session is to deal with issues that make post Keynesians relevant to address the main challenges of the 21st century. Thus, we invite scholars to submit proposals that treat of all aspects of post Keynesian economics, with an emphasis on:

We expect both empirically driven and theoretically informed papers, both studies of past and present experiences and prospective exercises. These can span all analytical levels. The guidelines for submissions follow the general call of the AHE. Please visit the website www.hetecon.net and follow the instructions there.

Paper selected for inclusion in this theme will be peer reviewed by the theme organizers. All papers will be double reviewed by two anonymous referees. Participants should be prepared to serve as referees, discussants and/or session chairs.

Download Call for Papers.

First ever Green Economics Conference

Venice International University- San Servolo, Venice, Italy
April 22nd 23rd and 24th  2010

This is the first ever Green Economics Conference in Italy. The Green Economics Institute is very active in Italy this year, writing books for the Italian Government, and also providing events in several parts of Italy from the Italian Alps down to the Sicilian area. Venice is particularly hard hit by climate change and  this conference is an attempt to provide solutions that various parts of Italy are experiencing under global environmental change.
We had our own delegation to the Copenhangen Climate Conference and will be going to the COP16 Mexico Summit and the conference will prepare ideas to take to Mexico.

The Green Economics Institute has been lucky enough to  lead a delegation to the  Copenhagen Conference on climate change. Assessing how Kyoto has worked up to now and suggestions for changes and for the next few years. How will businesses have to adapt? What are the solutions to food and fuel issues? What are the implications of climate change and sea level rise for the economy of Venice? What can we learn from the experience and case study of Venice?

Subjects the conference will cover amongst others:
Legal Aspects of Environmental Law and climate change implications, gender equity, environmental science, costs of climate change, costs of biodiversity loss, how to asses an project from an environmental point of view, environmental impact assessment, The Green New Deal, switching to renewable energies, energy security and availability, Global  Institutional issues and governance, Global corporation and corporate social responsibility, whole life costing,  water management, water scarcity, Hydro electric power, eco taxes, carbon taxes, lower carbon economies,poverty, equity, aid, international trade and development, slow travel and green transport, green accounting, resource management, green procurement, development economics, recycling. How to run a green economy.
It will discuss Green  solutions to the global financial crisis, the global ecological crisis, the global biodiversity crisis and the climate crisis, green construction and green planning issues, and green tourism. It will also introduce and explain the different strands of environmental, and green economics newly emerging disciplines in economics

What is green economics? Progress towards a definition
As a fast moving, visionary and topical field, it is always necessary to continue to ask this fundamental question; something orthodox economics fails to do, which has lead to the distortion of its aims and its disjointedness with the real world.
So what are the latest research findings and discussions on this topic?
 
Green economics solutions to the current economic crisis
The current crisis provides the opportunity to align consumption with resources and rebalance towards services rather than goods. How can we act on the new opportunities the crisis provides? What are the short term and long term solutions? What is the future of financial markets? – Ethical investments?

the conference concessions are available as follows:

Accomodation if required : Double room at the price of € 135,00 per room per night
Single room at the price of € 95,00 per room per night
Please email for details greeneconomicsinstitute@yahoo.com or greeneconomics.org.uk greeneconomicsevents@yahoo.co.uk 

Conference Papers and Proceedings:
High quality Conference Proceedings will be provided to all fully paid up conference participants on arrival at the conference to use throughout the conference. All speakers are invited to send in paper for the proceedings. Papers must be  between 800 words- 6000 words in .odt or .doc format. They must be fully referenced in Harvard Referencing format and not contain footnotes. They can be in English or Italian but it is preferred that if they are in Italian they are accompanied by an English translation where possible.
    All papers will be submitted to the International Journal of Green Economics for double blind peer review for  inclusion  in a special issue resulting from the conference and featuring Italy, if they are within 2000 -7000 words and fully referenced and of sufficient quality.  

International Journal of Green Economics : www.inderscience.com/ijge
Green Economics Institute : www.greeneconomics.org.uk
Director : Miriam Kennet  00 44 1189841026

Download Call for Papers.

5th Annual Green Economics Conference

Greening the Economy and Green Jobs
29 – 31 July 2010. Mansfield College and the Oxford University Club, Oxford University

CALL FOR SPEAKERS and CALL FOR PAPERS

Requests to speak are invited, as are prospective authors to submit abstracts. This conference is designed to share the latest information on green economics issues.  All speakers will be required to pay the conference fees. All papers and abstracts must be submitted in .doc or .odt format and must include title of paper, all authors’ email addresses, full names and affiliation  and each paper must include a five-line biography of each author. Each paper must include full references and citations wherever these have been used.

Conference Papers and Proceedings
High quality Conference Proceedings will be provided to all fully paid up conference participants on arrival at the conference to use throughout the conference. All speakers are invited to send in papers for the proceedings. Papers must be between 1000 - 6000 words in .odt or .doc format. They must be fully referenced in Harvard Referencing format.
All papers will be submitted to the International Journal of Green Economic for inclusion  in a special issue resulting from the conference, if they are within 2000 -7000 words and fully referenced. International Journal of Green Economics www.inderscience.com/ijge

Abstracts should be submitted to greeneconomicsevents@yahoo.co.uk as soon as possible as speaker slots are popular and filling up fast. If you know you would like to speak but have not prepared an abstract please email us as soon as possible so that we can reserve a slot for you. Our management committee will decide on acceptance and let you know as soon as possible. All presenters are requested to consider presenting with an electronic presentation or other visual material and also using any case studies, examples or other illustrations of their ideas and to allow significant session time for questions and discussion. All the papers will be published for distribution to delegates at the conference in the high quality Conference Proceedings and can be cited as an academic publication if accepted.

Please send all electronic presentations for the conference at least 7 calendar days prior to the event to ensure we can put them on the laptops. Please check that the presentations are compatible to ‘OpenOffice’ that means that latest .docx or .pptx files should not be used.

For more details, download Conference Flyer, Timetable, and Booking information.

7th Pan-European SGIR Conference

Stockholm, 9-11 September 2010


“Constructing the Knowledge Society: A Global Challenge”
Conference website: http://www.gesellschaftswissenschaften.uni-frankfurt.de/index.pl/sgir2010/sections/39

The importance of various forms of knowledge for socio-economic development is a key element of the contemporary discourse in politics, economics and social sciences. From a historical perspective, breakthroughs in development of the economy, culture and society have always been connected to the generation and application of new knowledge. But in the second half of the 20th century science, information processing and highly qualified human resources acquired such enormous significance that modern society has been increasingly described as a “knowledge society”.

This section aims at discussing a variety of challenging questions related to the role of knowledge in the contemporary globalised world and its potential to help overcome the global crisis. Papers in this section might address questions such as:

If some of you are interested in attending this conference and presenting your research related to this general theme, please submit your abstract (about 200 words) online at the conference website, by 28 February 2010 at the latest. Please also send me a short email notifying that you have made your submission and on what topic.

Here is the link to the submission form (please choose section 39 as your “first choice section”!):
http://www.gesellschaftswissenschaften.uni-frankfurt.de/index.pl/sgir2010/submit_paper

Can it happen again?

"Sustainable policies to mitigate and prevent financial crises"
Conference to be held at the University of Macerata on October 1st and 2nd 2010

The deep crisis, started with the downfall of subprime mortgages, has reopened the question: can it happen again? The answer given by Minsky almost 30 years ago was a qualified no, provided that sustainable stabilization policies were adopted. However we may say that “it” did happen again. Although the “subprime crisis” differs from the Great Contraction of the 1930s in both its features and effects, the gravity of their consequences on the economic system is comparable. This suggests that the stabilization policies adopted in the recent past were not sustainable.
    The Conference aims at evaluating the congruence of the policy interventions adopted during the most recent financial crises with the long-run objective of economic and financial stability. Many observers pointed out that these policies implemented short-run stabilization through myopic measures and so nurtured the subsequent crises. In particular, the worst effects of the recent global financial crisis have been mitigated by massive injections of unprecedented amounts of liquidity to keep virtually bankrupt financial companies alive. These interventions, which may alleviate some of the effects of the financial crisis in the short run, are emergency measures that do not address the main structural weaknesses of the financial system, both at the domestic and at the international level. Since no serious structural reform has been attempted so far, the risk of another grave financial crisis in the near future has been neither removed nor reduced. The Conference aims at focussing on the structural policies that can establish institutions and rules needed to implement sustainable stabilization policies.

A list of possible topics includes, but is not limited to:
Scientific Committee:
Organizing Committee:
Deadlines:

The website of the conference is: http://www.unimc.it/can_it.

Download Call for Papers.

CofFEE Conference

12th Path to Full Employment and 17th National Conference on Unemployment.

“The Aftermath of The Crisis”
2-3rd December 2010. University of Newcastle, Australia.

Abstracts Deadlines: 12th July 2010 5pm
Guidelines available on our conference website:
http://e1.newcastle.edu.au/coffee/conferences/2010/index.cfm

Topics
While papers in any area of labour market analysis will be of interest, papers will be particularly welcome in the following research and policy areas:

Submission of Abstracts
Contributions can be made to both the Refereed (peer reviewed) or Non - Refereed streams. Refereed papers will be included in a printed volume of conference proceedings (which will constitute a referred conference paper under Australian government rules). The deadline for both types of abstracts is: Monday 12th July 2010 5pm.
Those interested are asked to visit our website: http://e1.newcastle.edu.au/coffee/conferences/2010/Guidelines.cfm for the formatting requirements needed for the submission of papers as well as paper deadlines.
Please submit your abstract to the CofFEE office: coffee@newcastle.edu.au

Download Call for Papers.

“Imagined Recovery” Cultural Political Economy and the 2007-2009 Financial Crisis

Invitation to a One-Day Workshop on June 4th at Swansea University

Key External Speakers: Bob Jessop, Ngai-Ling Sum, Michael Pryke and Earl Gammon
Speakers from Swansea: Christian de Cock, Peter Bloom, Marcus Doel, Dave Clarke, Alan Finlayson, David Berry and Claes Belfrage

The 2007-2009 financial crisis represents a failure not only of Economics but also of an entire economic culture. The crisis is a painful reminder that decades of freeing financial markets from social and political constraint in fact made them ever more embedded not just in our economic life but in our everyday social and cultural experience. Financial markets promised freedom from work, endlessly rising property prices, and protection from risk. Traders in the financial markets became convinced that risk had been tamed by mathematised software algorithms that perversely legitimated ever greater risk-taking and the buying and selling of dangerously complex derivatives. Popular television programmes promoted property investment and get-rich-quick schemes. As pension funds increased their trading on international markets our personal futures became a commodity on which others could speculate.  

What the Classical Political Economists called ‘the full range of the passions’ has been historically marginalised from economic theory by neo-classical assumptions about the rationality of market actors. But we cannot assess the meaning and impact of the financial crisis without attending to that full range of feeling, thinking and acting. Political Economy must cease believing in effective sovereignty of individual rational choice. Greater attention has to be paid to the role played by processes and institutions of financialisation, not least to the promotion of particular cultures of finance. Walter Benjamin (at the time of the Wall Street Crash) criticised Historical Materialism for its lack of ‘sensuousness’. The same charge can be made against much of contemporary economic theory.

This workshop will explore the potential contributions of contemporary developments in Cultural Political Economy which focus on the cultural, semiotic, subjective, aesthetic and phantasmatic aspects of economic thought and activity. Leading scholars from across the UK will debate and develop approaches that can measure up to the task of understanding and moving beyond our social, cultural and political as well as economic crises. The workshop is free but participants are expected to cover their own travel and accommodation costs. Ph.D. students may be eligible for a contribution towards these costs. If you wish to attend this event, please get in touch with Claes Belfrage (c.a.belfrage@swansea.ac.uk) or Christian De Cock (c.de-cock@swansea.ac.uk).  
 
Sponsoring Institutions:
Centre for the Study of Culture and Politics • School of Business and Economics • Centre for Urban Theory - Swansea University • Department of Sociology - Lancaster University

Download Call for Papers.

IIPPE First International Conference in Political Economy

“Beyond The Crisis”
Rhethymno, Crete, September 10-12, 2010
Organized by International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy and Greek Scientific Association of Political Economy
 
The global economic crisis has now entered what is arguably its third phase. Following the acute financial crisis of September 2008 and the ensuing economic depression, we are now experiencing the debt crisis stage where whole nations face the threat of bankruptcy (with Greece currently at the forefront following the troubles of Iceland, Ireland and Dubai among other countries) and the EU project facing its toughest challenge yet. At the same time, neo-liberalism is losing (or has already lost) much of its confidence, with Keynes, Minsky and Marx gaining currency, and Richard Posner, leading Chicago proponent of the economics of law, telling the world “how he became a Keynesian”. So where is the global economy going following the crisis, and what are the reactions to the crisis both intellectual and in material developments? And, chiefly, what are the alternatives opening up before us?
 
These are the main questions that the First International Conference in Political Economy co-organised by the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (www.iippe.org) and the Greek Scientific Association of Political Economy will address, following the three previous highly successful IIPPE annual international workshops in Crete, Naples and Ankara. It is to be held at the University of Crete in Rethymno, Crete, Greece, between 10-12 of September 2010. The Conference will be open for interventions across all areas of political economy even though the crisis and its aftermath are its focus. The indications so far point to a successful, fruitful and oversubscribed event. Tony Lawson, Gerald Epstein and Jayati Ghosh have already accepted our invitations to serve as keynote participants. Participation of IIPPE Working Groups will be prominent.
 
The deadline for submission of both abstracts of papers and proposals for panels is the 31st of March (submissions should be sent to iippe@soas.ac.uk). Early submissions, even if only provisional, are essential both to avoid disappointment and to help in the appropriate allocation of papers to designated panels and streams that will themselves be strengthened through solicited contributions and the plenaries.
 
Dimitris Milonakis
University of Crete
Local Organising Committee
 
For further information and call for paper please visit, http://www.iippe.org/wiki/images/f/f3/Beyond_the_Crisis.pdf

MECCI working group session in Crete IIPPE Conference

Minerals Energy Complex and Comparative Industrialisation Working Group, IIPPE

Dear colleagues,

As you may be aware, there will be an IIPPE conference in Crete (entitled ‘Beyond the Crisis’) from the 10th to the 12th of September 2010 (see above). We are keen to organize sessions around the Minerals-Energy Complex and would like to know if you would be interested in submitting papers. Our idea is for our panels to contribute to the ‘Systems of Accumulation’ stream (see attached call) in order to expand the scope of our approach to the political economy of industrialization. At the moment, we are thinking of two sessions:
Fyi, we are considering two pieces: one on the structure of the South African economy (which could fit in either of the above sessions) and one theoretical one looking at the Social Systems of Accumulation approach developed by Kotz and at regulation theory (Aglietta, Lipietz and Boyer), and how they can be assessed from the point of view of South Africa’s system of accumulation.

Please let us know by the 15th of March if you would like to submit a paper for either of the two suggested sessions. We will then decide if we can go ahead with both sessions or only with one. We hope you will participate and look forward to seeing or meeting you in Crete.

All best
Nicolas and Lotta
MECCI Working group co-ordinators
lottatakala@hotmail.com / nicolas.pons-vignon@wits.ac.za

Thoughts on Economic Development, China and the West

11-12 October 2010, Wuhan, China

Second Call for Papers

The Centre of Economic Development Research (CEDR) at Wuhan University, China, in cooperation with the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET) and with the Society for the Chinese History of Economic Thought (SCHET)

Chinese traditions of economic thinking are at least as old as their European counterparts, and in various periods Chinese ideas influenced economic thinking in the West, particularly in the age of physiocracy. Different strands of Western political and economic thought have, on the other hand, made a strong impact on the development of the Chinese society and economy during the 20th century, in the transition from empire to republic, in the emergence of the people’s republic, and in the ongoing process of economic transformation. This conference will take stock of the development, cross-fertilization and contextual adaption of economic ideas in China and the West. The focus is set on theories about economic order and development in China. Other relevant contributions to the history of economic thought in general and in particular about the development of development economics and growth economics, are also welcome.

Paper proposals submitted for the conference should thus preferably address one or more of the following themes:

- The Development of Development Economics and Growth Economics
- Chinese Economic Thinking before the 20th Century
- Chinese Economic Thinking in the 20th Century  
- Dissemination of Western Economic Ideas in China
- Dissemination of Chinese Economic Ideas in the West
- Economic Thinking in and about the Chinese Transformation Process(es)

Proposals of papers plus abstracts of no more than 800 words each should be submitted electronically before 31 March 2010 to Ma Ying (yingma9494@126.com) and Hans-Michael Trautwein (michael.trautwein@uni-oldenburg.de). Applicants will be informed about a decision concerning the acceptance of their proposals before 30 April 2010. First versions of the accepted papers will have to be submitted in full by 1 August 2010. Some travel grants will be made available by the organizers.

It should be noted that, for those participants who are interested, the conference organizers offer to arrenge for an excursion to the Wudangshang mountaints (UNESCO world heritage) after the conference. The Shanghai EXPO may, of course, be another attraction which is not, however, included in the conference arrangements.

Scientific committee: Profs. Guo Xibao, Ma Ying (CSDE), Yan Qinghua (SCHET), Harald Hagemann, Cristina Marcuzzo, Hans-Michael Trautwein (ESHET)

The Political Economy of Taxation: International Conference

September 29th 2010
Department of Politics, History and International Relations, Loughborough University, Leicestershire, UK

Call For Papers

This is an invitation to propose a paper at the forthcoming interdisciplinary conference on The Political Economy of Taxation, to be held at Loughborough University under the auspices of the Centre for the Study of International Governance. The conference organisers are seeking above all to attract contributions on four core themes

Core Themes
1. Tax Competition and Neoliberalism
2. Taxation and Development
3. Taxation in the European Union
4. The Politics of Tax Progression

Papers on related subsidiary themes are also warmly welcomed. These could include the following:

Potential Subsidiary Themes
5. Taxation in the arena of Party Politics: International Comparisons
6. Taxation and Gender in international comparison
7. Taxation of the Public and Parapublic Sector
8. Taxation and Civic Culture

If you would like to present a paper at this conference, please forward a brief abstract of your proposal by post or by email to The Centre for the Study of International Governance, Department of PHIR, Loughborough University, Loughborough, Leicestershire LE11 3TU, UK; E-mail: csig@lboro.ac.uk

Discussions have already begun with a publisher to produce an edited volume of conference proceedings, using the best of the day’s papers.

If you wish to attend the conference on September 29th 2010, you can request an application form from the Centre for the Study of International Governance at the above address or via email at: E-mail: csig@lboro.ac.uk

Further enquiries about the Conference can be obtained by contacting the
Conference Organiser: Dr Jeremy Leaman, J.Leaman@lboro.ac.uk; (44)01509-222995

Download Call for Papers.

Strategic Decision-Making in Labor and Social Movement Organizations

An Interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference

Hosted by the UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE)
and the UCLA Sociology Department’s Work, Labor, and Social Movements Working Group
UCLA, Los Angeles, CA. May 28, 2010
 
Call for Papers

The UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment (IRLE) and the Sociology Department’s Work, Labor, and Social Movements working group invites 1-2 page proposals for an interdisciplinary graduate student conference on strategic decision-making in labor and social movement organizations. The conference aims to create a forum for discussion of the historical and emerging forms of strategic decision-making in organizations struggling to protect or advance the interests of their constituents/members, and to highlight scholarship with important practical implications. Discussants will include both scholars and activists. We are especially interested in papers that analyze innovative strategies and tactics. The conference seeks proposals from a wide range of scholarly fields in the social sciences, including, but not limited to: sociology, political science, anthropology, ethnic studies departments, and urban planning.

Possible topics may include, but are not limited to:

Please send all proposals by March 29th 2010, to Anthony Ocampo: anthony.ocampo@gmail.com

Forum the Spirit of Innovation IV

Environment, innovation and sustainable development. Towards a new techno-economic paradigm?
Crete, Greece, October 6-10 2010.
Conference website: http://www.ceisd2010.enveng.tuc.gr/

Note: Extended abstract submission deadline is March 15, 2010.

Contemporary Social Movements and the Social Forum Process: From the Global to the Local

June 21, 2010. Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
Conference website: http://irows.ucr.edu/conferences/ussf10conf/ussf10conf.htm

Call for Papers

This one-day research conference, endorsed by the Political Economy and the World System Section of the American Sociological Association, seeks to draw together scholars engaged in research on the social forum process in order to strengthen our understanding of this important political process, especially U.S. activists participation within it, as well as to strengthen our methodological tools.

This one-day conference seeks to bring together graduate students, faculty, and other scholars that are studying the social forum process to exchange ideas and prepare for the research that they will undertake while attending the 2010 meeting of the USSF. Scholars interested in participating are invited to submit abstracts, papers, or workshop proposals on the following kinds of topics:

  1. research findings about social forum participants and/or events;
  2. how participants (organizational or individual) organize social forum activities and prepare for their participation within them;
  3. the impacts of social forum participation on individuals, organizations, or social movements (in terms of their ideas, social networks, action plans, etc.);
  4. political debates taking place at the social forum or surrounding the social forum process;
  5. the emergence of new kinds of political ideas and practices among social forum participants;
  6. the relationships between scholars and activists in the social forum process;
  7. new methods and strategies for studying social movements and the social forum process.

Please e-mail your submission by 4/1/10 to: ussf.conference@gmail.com. All submissions should include the names, institutional affiliations, and contact information for the authors, including their e-mail address, phone number, and preferred mailing address.

For further information consult our conference web page.

This conference is co-sponsored by the Political Economy of World-Systems section of the American Sociological Association, the journal Critical Sociology and the Institute for Research on World-Systems at the University of California-Riverside.

Conferences, Seminars and Lectures

Séminaire Hétérodoxies du CES

L’objectif de ce séminaire, organisé par le Centre d’Econome de la Sorbonne, est d’offrir un cadre pour s’approprier et approfondir les outils présentés par différents travaux hétérodoxes (d’inspiration keynésienne, marxiste, régulationniste, conventionnaliste, institutionnaliste, etc.).

La prochaine séance du Séminaire se tiendra avec :

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

Le texte de la communication sera à partir du 2 mars sur le site: http://matisse.univ-paris1.fr/heterodoxies
 
Prochaines séances :
Mardi 13 avril 2010 (16h) : séance sur A. Gorz avec deux communications


Mardi 11 mai 2010 (16h) : Jean-Jacques GISLAIN (CRISES – Québec ; PHARE – Paris I),
« Pourquoi l'économie est-elle nécessairement instituée ? Une réponse commonsienne »

Mardi 8 juin 2010 (16h) : Isaac JOHSUA (Paris IX) « Une analyse marxiste de la crise »
 
Responsables du séminaire : Olivier Allain, Nathalie Berta, Jean-Marie Monnier, Christophe Ramaux, Nadine Thévenot, Bruno Tinel et Carlo Vercellone.

Contact : Seminaire-Heterodoxies@univ-paris1.fr

GLA Economics seminar

Theme: What can economics learn from other social sciences?

City Hall, London SE1 2AA
Thursday 18 March 2010. 4.00-5.30pm

London is known around the world for its uniquely rich cultural and creative sector. As well as being home to many of the world's most significant museums, galleries and heritage sites, the city has seen a rapid growth in commercial creative industries and is a global hub for innovation. Some of the world's most successful creative businesses are located in London and contribute to the UK economy.

The aim of GLA Economics' seminar (part of the ESRC Festival of Social Science) is to provide a constructive, multi-disciplinary forum in which suggestions for different ways of understanding the economy can be made.

Speakers

The event will be free of charge and places are strictly limited. For more information and to book your place, please email glaeconomics@london.gov.uk.
Web site : http://www.london.gov.uk

History and Philosophy of Economics

Friday April 16, 2010 8:00am to 6:00pm
Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Study, Conference Rooms, University of British Columbia, Vancouver BC Canada
Organizers:  Margaret Schabas and Tyler Des Roches (UBC)


Margaret Schabas is a Peter Wall Distinguished Scholar in Residence 2010-11. Funding for the workshop is provided by the Distinguished Scholar in Residence Program. The Departments of Economics and of Philosophy (UBC) provided additional funding.

Prior registration is mandatory, but there is no fee.  Contact Tyler DesRoches tylerdes@interchange.ubc.ca for more information and to register.

Human Capital for Sustainable Economies

May 27th to 28th, 2010
at Karlsruhe, Germany

A two-day International Conference on Developing Human Capital for Sustainable Economies will be held from May 27th to 28th, 2010 in the "green" city of Karlsruhe, Germany. This event will bring together academia, senior executives of public and private organisations, chief human capital officers, business executives and corporate advisors, economists, policy makers, environmental management experts, sustainable development practitioners, representatives of international development agencies and other relevant stakeholders to discuss key emerging issues including: global warming and the emergence of the green economy; how is the transformation from high to low carbon and sustainable economy impacting human capital management; and effective initiatives needed to develop and manage human capital for the next economies – the green economies.

Further to the knowledge sharing on greening human capital; the upcoming event also provides an excellent networking opportunity with members of international agencies, governmental and non-governmental institutions, senior corporate and hr executives, academia, economists, sustainable development practitioners and other relevant stakeholders in Europe and beyond.

You are cordially invited to attend this international event and/ or nominate the member(s) of your institution.

For further information, please see the event details :
http://www.etechgermany.com/HCConference.pdf

Tel.:    0049-721- 476 89 16
Fax.:    0049-721- 476 89 53
Email:   mail@etechgermany.com
Web: www.etechgermany.com

Sincerely,
Organizing Team

Marx Memorial Library events

Monday 8th March 2010. Lecture starts at 6.30pm.
Clement Attlee and the Founding of the Welfare State
Francis Beckett talks about Clem Attlee with reference to his biography on him. Attlee was a subtle and skilful political operator - swift, decisive, ruthless and cunning. Inspired by the squalor of the living conditions, he had seen in the East End of London, he was determined to put an end to poverty - with the result that his government revolutionised British society. The welfare state and the National Health Service were created, and money was found to build new schools and expand higher education - even at a time just after the Second World War when Britain was virtually bankrupt.

Monday 15th March 2010. Lecture starts at 6.30pm.
Why Work? Marx and Human Nature
Why work? Most people say that they work only as a means to earn a living. This instrumental view is also implied by the hedonist account of human nature which underlies utilitarianism and classic economics and which has been influential in recent ‘analytical’ Marxism. In this talk Professor Sean Sayers will argue that Marx’s concept of alienation involves a more satisfactory theory of human nature that is rooted in Hegel’s philosophy. According to this, we are productive beings and work is potentially a fulfilling activity. The fact that it is not experienced as such is at the basis of Marx’s critique of capitalist society.

Monday 22nd March 2010. Lecture starts at 6.30pm.
Marxism and the challenge of Post Liberalism
Professor John Hoffman explores Marxism in the Post Liberal age. He explores the recent crisis within both Marxism and Capitalism, the changing role of the nation state and work, and suggests that contrary to the received wisdom that the days of Neo-Liberalism are numbered. The future belongs to Marx.

Monday 29th March 2010. Lecture starts at 6.30pm
Pushkin, the Russian Autocracy and Rebellion
Professor Robert Chandler, the author of a recent book on the greatest of Russian poets, looks at the politics of Pushkin. In particular, he examines the Decembrist movement which led to Russia’s first revolution and the interplay between the intelligentsia, the army and wider society in the thrall of tsardom.

Monday 19th April 2010. Lecture starts at 6.30pm
Ghost Dancers – The Last Generation of Miners: Lecture and Book Launch
David Douglass launches his new book Ghost Dancers – The Last Generation of Miners a definitive history of the great coal strike of 1984/5, exploding prevailing myths around that epoch period, and correcting all the inaccuracies of dozens of books previously penned by academics and journalists. Ghost Dancers is inspired by the last stand of the Native American Indians in their efforts to retain their culture and dignity, and the Durham Miners Gala as a mining equivalent of that same endeavour. This book records the last stand of the last generation of pitmen and their communities.

For more information, visit: http://www.marx-memorial-library.org/

Alternatives to Capitalism: Self-Management in the Spotlight

April 2010, Barcelona, Spain.
Comissió del Centenari de CNT (1910 - 2010). Comissió Permanent de Barcelona, CNT-Barcelona

Within the framework of the CNT-AIT centenary (1910-2010), a series of conferences brought together under the name of “Alternatives to Capitalism: Self-management in the spotlight” will take place in Barcelona. These conferences will be held throughout april 2010. The contents will be organized in three blocks of lectures: theoretical, historical and a broader one, based in more current experiences.

The theoretical block draws up a program of lectures on how the capitalist system works, focusing on the present moment of economic and social crisis. Anarcho-syndicalist proposals facing the crisis will also be debated. This theoretical perspective is completed with several papers which shall offer a wide vision of economic and social literature on the subject of socialism and libertarian-communism models.

The historical block tries to put forward two strong models that may serve as an alternative to the capitalist system. On the one hand, that of the anarchist collectivization during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939), for which lectures will be included to explain how it worked in the different regions where it was implemented (Catalonia, the Valencian Community, Aragon, Castile, Andalusia). On the other hand, explanations will be offered on the Yugoslav co-management model (1950-1990) with the purpose of assessing this experience both in the light of a possible model for the development of impoverished countries and from the limits imposed on socialism by the five-year plan, the market and the One Party State, along with a strictly libertarian vision of the whole process.

With the present block we intend to gain an insight on different organizational experiences that fight against capitalism nowadays from a self management point of view. In this sense, the contribution of the CNT-AIT (labour and socioeconomic aspects) is included, as well as those of other specific anarchist organizations (socio-political aspect), of some models of cooperatives with a radical perspective (labour and socioeconomic management aspect) or of cultural and study centres (cultural aspect). Finally there’s place for initiatives linked to local and municipal fields, such as those of squat social centres and apartments, municipalism or local assemblies (local political aspect). Finally, from a wider geographical, and in some cases, thematic point of view, live experiences from other places in the world will be debated, such as social movements in Latin America, Chiapas, Brazil (Landless Workers Movement, MST), Argentina (enterprises recovered by their workers), Venezuela and Greece.

Organizing : CNT Barcelona
Collaborating:
Fundación Anselmo Lorenzo – FAL (http://www.cnt.es/fal)
Institute of Economic and Self-management Sciences – ICEA (http://iceautogestion.org)
Fundació d'Estudis Llibertaris i Anarcosindicalistes – FELLA (http://www.nodo50.org/fella)

Download Program.

Systematic Mixed Methods Research: What, Why, and How?

An Open Workshop, June 15, 2010. 10 am to 4 pm, University of Manchester, UK

Programme includes Dr. Axel Marx on random samples vs. the small-N reality of the regulation of the global footware industry (a study of causal modelling using Qualitative Comparative Analysis); Prof. David Byrne on his new work about modelling causes in epidemiology and health; Wendy Olsen on systematic mixed-methods research, and case-study material from economics, the psychology of well-being and other topics. 7 Speakers in all.

A masterclass lasting one hour will involve small group work.  The NVIVO (qualitative) and fsQCA (causal) software will be demonstrated.

There is a small charge for the day.
See http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/events/mixedmethods2010/ for more details.

How Class Works 2010

June 3-5, 2010, SUNY Stony Brook, USA

The full schedule for the How Class Works - 2010 conference is now posted at <http://www.stonybrook.edu/workingclass/conference/2010/> together with registration and housing information.

The conference includes over 200 presentations exploring the many ways in which class dynamics shape our social, cultural, and political experiences.  It brings together graduate students and senior scholars, labor and community organizers and activists, to extend the knowledge and community of working class studies.

Presenters are coming from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iran, New Zealand, Portugal, Nigeria, South Africa, Sweden, Turkey, the UK, and the US.  

The opening plenary session will feature Larry Cohen, international president of Communications Workers of America: "Economic Crisis, Political Paralysis:  What's the Working Class to Do?" Thursday June 3 at 7 p.m.  Other plenary sessions will address right wing populism, charter schools, and contingent academic labor.

I invite you to check out the program and register for the conference.  Limited financial aid is available.  I hope to welcome you to Stony Brook in June.

with best wishes
Michael

Michael Zweig
Director, Center for Study of Working Class Life
Department of Economics
State University of New York
Stony Brook, NY 11794-4384
631.632.7536 |  michael.zweig@stonybrook.edu

Spring Alternative Summit: For Another Europe of Knowledge

Thursday 25 March 2010. European Parliament. Wiertz Street/Wiertzstraat 60 B-1047 Brussels
Room 7C050. 10:00-12:30 AM / 2:00-6:00 PM (Arrival from 9:00 AM)
Site Internet: http://printemps2010.eu
Website: http://spring2010.eu

On 25-26 March 2010, the Spring Summit of the Heads of State and Government of the European Union will mark the 10 years of the Lisbon Strategy, which frames the policies currently conducted in the Member States so as to ‘modernise’ the national research and education system (primary, secondary and higher education, lifelong learning). The Council will present an assessment of this Strategy and then project it over the next decade, complying with the agenda “Europe 2020” prepared by the European Commission (see http://ec.europa.eu/eu2020/index_fr.htm)
    The declared ambition of a ‘knowledge-based society’ should be encouraged when its objective is to promote education and research as public goods, when it ensures that knowledge is available to all, and when it allows citizens to express a reasoned critical analysis of the scientific and technical choices which are proposed to them.
    But the current orientation is different, and reduces this prospect to the creation of a ‘knowledge market’ whose harmful influence can be seen everywhere. Scientific and institutional independence is weakened. The public research system is being dismantled and the grip of business tightened. Tuition fees are increased. Studying and working conditions are becoming increasingly precarious and citizens are pushed aside from the technical and scientific decisions that affect their lives. Instead of being met, the promise of a 3% of G.D.P investment in research ends up with dire budget cuts.
    In the past few years, large-scale mobilizations of increasing intensity have been initiated by students, workers in education and research, and by social movements in general, all around Europe. These protests strongly express a demand for a public education and research sector which will not surrender to competitive market forces nor be driven by the utilitarian views imposed by short-sighted policy-makers.
    That is why we are organizing an Alternative Summit on 25 March 2010 in the European Parliament in Brussels. You are warmly invited to participate actively in this day of exchanges and debates to build together another project AGAINST the marketization of scientific and educative activities, against the reduction of knowledge to technological innovation and mere adaptation to the labour market, FOR an emancipatory and democratic service in the field of Higher Education and Research.

For details see attached invitation: in French and in English.

MicroCafé: Seminars on the History and Philosophy of Microeconomics

The departments of economics at Bocconi University and the University of Milan joitly organize a new seminar series in the History and Philosophy of Microeconomics. The series' title is "MicroCafé".

All interested scholars are invited to participate; papers will be circulated in advance. Seminars start on March 10, 2010, and take place every fortnight on Wednesday between 5.00-6.30 PM at Bocconi University, Department of Economics, Via Röntgen 1, 20136 Milan, fifth floor, seminar room E4-SR04, unless otherwise specified. Each seminar will be followed by an informal "happy hour" discussion. For more information contact francesco.guala@unimi.it or ivan.moscati@unibocconi.it

Spring 2010 schedule:

10 March: Luigino Bruni (University of Milan-Bicocca)
The Virtues of the Market (with R. Sugden)

24 March: Cristina Bicchieri (University of Pennsylvania)
When Equality Trumps Reciprocity
Special time and venue : 12.15, University of Milan, Dept. of Economics, via Conservatorio 7, 2nd floor, seminar room

14 April: Franco Donzelli (University of Milan)
Edgeworth vs. Walras on Equilibrium and Disequilibrium

28 April: Francesco Guala (University of Milan)
Reciprocity: Weak or Strong? What Punishment Experiments Do Not Demonstrate

5 May: Ivan Moscati (Bocconi University)
From the Classical to the Representational Notion of Measurement in Utility Theory

19 May: Paola Tubaro (University of Greenwich)
Agent-based Computational Economics: a Methodological Appraisal

9 June: Marco Dardi (University of Florence)
Rationality as Consistency


Job Postings for Heterodox Economists

Balliol College, Oxford

Visiting Research Fellowships 2010-11 and Oliver Smithies Lecturerships
Closing date: Friday 16 April

Balliol College invites applications from scholars of outstanding distinction or promise to be Oliver Smithies Lecturers at Balliol College, Oxford, for the academic year 2010-11. Appointments can be from one week to an academic year and are intended primarily to give scholars (with their own funding) from outside the UK the opportunity to pursue their research as a member of the College.

Details can be found here: http://www.balliol.ox.ac.uk/vacancies/academic-vacancies-at-balliol

Conference Papers, Reports, and Articles

The Crisis of Financialised Capitalism: Highlighting the Urgent Need for Public Banks

By Costas Lapavitsas, Economics Department and Research on Money and Finance, SOAS

This report exposes the systematic failure of private banking as a central dimension of the general trend of the ‘financialisation’ of capitalism that precipitated the global financial crisis of 2007-2009. Rejecting piecemeal reforms, he argues for replacing private banks with public banks so that they could divest themselves of the speculative and crisis-prone functions of investment banking and provide the basic credit, monetary services and development finance necessary to serve broad popular interests.

Click here to download: http://www.soas.ac.uk/cdpr/publications/dv/file57201.pdf

U.S. BITs and Financial Stability

By Kevin P. Gallagher

GDAE's Kevin P. Gallagher has written a "FDI Perspectives" brief for the Vale Columbia Center on Sustainable International Investment.  In the brief Gallagher argues that US trade and investment rules could constrain the ability of the US and its investment partners to effectively prevent and mitigate financial crises.  Gallagher calls for three substantial reforms that the Obama administration, which is currently in the process of revising its investment rules, should consider.  Without such reform, foreign investors could play a role in causing financial crises and preventing measures to mitigate crises. [Read “U.S. BITs and Financial Stability”]

Read more on Reforming U.S. Investment Treaties
Read more on Foreign Investment for Development
Read more on Globalization and Sustainable Development
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Greece-bashing is hiding the obvious: monetary union urgently needs economic union

By Ronald Janssen

The article looks at the debate surrounding the Greek budget deficit crisis and the country’s position in the monetary union. It is argued that, while many commentators have been involved in ‘Greece bashing’, its situation is far from being unique. The article concludes with a series of recommendations to protect Europe (and European workers) from the ‘global casino’ whose rules are still inspired by neoliberal ideas, and implemented by Wall Street watchdogs. The author, Ronald Janssen, works as an economic adviser in Brussels.

Please find the full article at the following links: http://column.global-labour-university.org/2010/01/greece-bashing-is-hiding-obvious.html
Global Labor Column website: http://column.global-labour-university.org/

Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths: Design Principles and Alternative Models

By Lyuba Zarsky
GDAE Working Paper 10-01  February 2010
In conjunction with the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED)

Zarsky compares three distinct development models and suggests that the so-called “new developmentalist” model, with its overarching objective of building endogenous productive capacity and a strong role for government in industrial development, make it the most robust of the three models as a starting point for the design of climate-resilient development paths. Without these two elements, it is highly unlikely that developing economies will develop on a low-carbon trajectory or significantly reduce their vulnerability to intensifying climate instability. Much additional work is needed, however, to develop the theory and praxis of climate resilient development paths.

Download Paper: “Climate-Resilient Industrial Development Paths”

How Should the Economy be Regulated?

By Richard A. Rosen, Ph.D. Tellus Institute. Boston, Massachusetts. May 22, 2009

When thinking about how the economy should be regulated we need to make a totally fresh start. This is because very little creative thinking about this critical subject has occurred for several decades. Specifically, the current economic crisis is a stark reminder of how outmoded regulatory structures are in relation to the current structure and function of the financial industry, though problems of the financial industry are not the sole or even main cause of the broader economic crisis. But even in the absence of a crisis, rethinking the fundamentals of economic regulation would be long overdue.....

Download Paper.

Heterodox Journals and Newsletters

Agenda: A Journal of Policy Analysis and Reform, 16(4): 2009

Articles are available here: http://epress.anu.edu.au/agenda/016/04/pdf_instructions.html


Analysis

Argument

Symposium: The Sydney University Political Economy Dispute

Retrospect

Reviews


American Journal of Economics and Sociology

Journal website: http://www.wiley.com/bw/journal.asp?ref=0002-9246&site=1

The American Journal of Economics and Sociology (AJES) was founded in 1941, with support from the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation, to provide a forum for continuing discussion of issues emphasized by the American political economist, social philosopher, and activist, Henry George (1839-1897). The AJES welcomes any submission that critically investigates the social provisioning process utilizing different theoretical and methodological approaches found in economics and sociology.

Download AJES subscription flyer.

Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34(2): March 2010

Journal website: http://cje.oxfordjournals.org/


Critical Perspectives on International Business

Critical perspectives on international business (CPoIB) has won Emerald's inaugural Best New Journal Award. Full details of the award can be found at: http://info.emeraldinsight.com/about/news/story.htm?id=2107

In recognition of the award CPoIB will be freely available until the end of March 2010.  To access the journal visit its website at: www.emeraldinsight.com/cpoib.htm
 
I hope you will take this opportunity to explore the current and previous issues of the journal.
I encourage you all to consider CPoIB as an outlet for your research. The journal welcomes critical contributions concerning international business in all its manifestations.  In addition to research papers the journal publishes position papers that raises issue for consideration, stimulate debate and suggest important directions for future research. Review essays and book reviews are also welcome.
    Special issue proposals are especially welcome. CPoIB has already published a number of highly successful special issues including the first collection of academic papers reflecting on the 2008 financial crisis - published in April 2009.
     Papers should be submitted through the Manuscript Central online submission system at: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cpoib
 
Please contact me if you have an idea for a paper or special issue that you would like to discuss.
Best wishes.
Joanne.
Email: Joanne.Roberts@ncl.ac.uk
http://www.ncl.ac.uk/nubs/staff/profile/joanne.roberts

Critical Theory and Social Justice (CTSJ), 1(1): 2010

Journal Website: http://scholar.oxy.edu/decalages/vol1/iss1

About the Journal
Since the publication in 1965 of For Marx and Reading Capital, the work of Althusser has continued to provoke discussion, debate and controversy throughout the world. The posthumous publication of thousands of pages of texts and correspondence has not only led to an increased interest in the work of Althusser, it has altered our sense of both the scope and meaning(s) of his work. In addition to the late writings, the mass of material from the sixties and seventies gathered in the Fonds Althusser at the Institut Mémoire de l’Édition Contemporaine has deprived much—but not all—of the  commentary of the seventies and eighties of its relevance and interest. At this point, the known Althusser is dwarfed by the unknown.  We feel that the time for a reconsideration of Althusser, free from the often sterile debates of the past, has come.It is possible and necessary to read Althusser, a different Althusser with a different oeuvre, in a new way. At the same time we recognize that while it is standard practice to refer to Althusser in many disciplines, from film studies to sociology, there are few places to publish studies of Althusser’s texts themselves. It is for this reason that a very diverse group of scholars from different countries and disciplines came together to establish Décalages, an online peer-reviewed journal in which work focused on Althusser in the broadest sense—readings of his texts, as well as the texts of those who worked with him, comparative analyses, applications of his theory—would appear, thus encouraging debate and discussion. We would also provide space in every issue for reviews of the latest scholarship on Althusser. Finally we will include an archives section in which we will publish previously unpublished texts by Althusser.

Aims and scope
Our objective is to establish a global community of those working on Althusser. Every essay submitted will be carefully peer-reviewed not with the aim of imposing a single interpretation of Althusser, but precisely to strengthen the diversity of views and encourage discussion and debate. For the present we seek articles in French, Spanish, Italian and English. We will also consider translating texts published in one of these langauges into another language to make it accessible to a new audience. Anyone wishing to submit an article to be published in a language other than the four named above, should contact the editor prior to submission. In addition to receiving online submissions of articles, we are always interested in reviewing proposals for translations, reviews and special issues. Please contact the editor. Warren Montag (montag@oxy.edu) : Occidental College

Archives
Articles
Book Reviews

Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 32(2): Winter 2009-10


Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines

The Journal des Economistes et des Etudes Humaines is back. It is now available online at http://www.bepress.com/jeeh.

For over twenty years, The Journal des Economistes has been a leading scholarly review, with distinctive features:
Our partnership with Berkeley Electronic Press allows us to utilize the Press electronic manuscript submission and review system.  We believe that this very efficient tool that will be particularly appreciated by authors. The review process is fast and transparent and, once accepted for publication, the author is kept informed of how many times his or her article has been downloaded and, of course, the whole world can download the article!
    On our side, we guarantee the quality of reviewers and will do our best to maintain the highest standard for good scholarly work.
    You can help us in this exciting intellectual endeavour by submitting your articles to the Journal and by forwarding the attached flyer to your colleagues so they might do the same.

Pierre Garello, Editor
Aix Marseille University

Download JEEH Flyer.

Pelican Journal of Sustainable Development, 6(3): March 2010

Journal website: http://www.pelicanweb.org/solisustv06n03page1.html

Invited articles:
Supplements:

Review of Social Economy, 68(1): March 2010

Journal website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/00346764.asp

Articles    
Book Reviews

Economic Sociology Newsletter, 11(2): March 2010


Download the Newsletter here: http://econsoc.mpifg.de/newsletter/newsletter_current.asp

Friends of Associative Economics Bulletin

The Friends of Associative Economics Bulletin provides an overview of what is going on around the world in the associative economics movement. The bulletin is viewable as a webpage at www.cfae.biz/fae-bulletin/10Mar/

1) AE Days - 23 April - 2 July 2010
2) Empathy and Altruism
3) The Colours of Money Seminar
4) Finance and Education - Towards an Independent Youth College
5) Figuring Out Finance - New York
6) Reports: Higher Notions of Economics, Accounting and Equity / The AE Cafe
7) Associate! March 2010

IDEAs   

International Development Economics Associtates. February 1, 2010 to Februarry 28, 2010.  Website: www.networkideas.org  or www.ideaswebsite.org
               
Featured Themes:  Re-regulating Finance
Featured Articles      
News Analysis
IDEAs Activities

Research Network Macroeconomics and Macroeconomic Policies (FMM)

Newsletter Website : http://www.network-macroeconomics.org

Contents
  1. Call for Papers : FMM Conference, Berlin, 29-30 October 2010
  2. Call for Papers : Conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics, Bordeaux, 7-10 July 2010
  3. Call for Papers : Economic Governance Research Group, London, 4 June 2010
  4. Call for Papers : Global Labor University Conference, Berlin, 14-16 September 2010
  5. Call for Papers : Conference Developnents in Economic Theory and Policy, Bilbao, 1-2 July 2010
  6. Network Research on Money and Finance(RMF)
  7. Master programmes, Berlin School of Economics and Law
  8. Research(Doctorate) Student Positions at Middlesex University
  9. New publications

Note:If you would like to distribute news related to the research network please send an email to fmm@boeckler.de.

Canadian Center for Policy Alternatives


Post Keynesian Economics Study Group

Visit http://www.postkeynesian.net/updates.htm for recent updates to the PKSG website.

Keynes Seminar Download
Call for Participants: Keynes Seminar Live
New Working Paper


Heterodox Books and Book Series

The Economics Anti-Textbook: A Critical Thinker’s Guide to Microeconomics

by Rod Hill and Tony Myatt, University of New Brunswick
Zed Books, London and New York. In the UK, March 2010; in the rest of the world, May 2010.
305pp. Distributed in the USA by Palgrave Macmillan and in Canada by Fernwood.
Hardback: ISBN: 9781842779385  £65.00 / $100.00 | Paperback: ISBN: 9781842779392  £19.99 / $35.00

Mainstream textbooks present economics as an objective science free from value judgements; that settles disputes relatively easily by testing hypotheses; that applies a settled body of principles; and contains policy prescriptions supported by a consensus of professional opinion. The Anti-Textbook argues that this is a myth - one which is not only dangerously misleading but also bland and boring. It challenges the mainstream textbooks' assumptions, arguments, models and evidence. It puts the controversy and excitement back into economics to reveal a fascinating and a vibrant field of study - one which is more an 'art of persuasion' than it is a science.

The Anti-Textbook's chapters parallel the major topics in the typical text. They begin with a boiled-down account of them before presenting an analysis and critique. Drawing on the work of leading economists, the Anti-Textbook lays bare the blind spots in the texts and their sins of omission and commission. It shows where hidden value judgements are made and when contrary evidence is ignored. It shows the claims made without any evidence and the alternative theories that aren't mentioned. It shows the importance of power, social context, and legal framework.

The Economics Anti-Textbook is the students' guide to decoding the textbooks and shows how real economics is much more interesting than they let on. 


"Rod Hill and Tony Myatt have written one of the best critical texts of neoclassical microeconomics that I have ever seen. It is a great text to assign along with an introductory or intermediate microeconomics text. Its critical commentary is sharp and very readable. All heterodox economists who have to teach undergraduate microeconomics should also assign this book for their students." - Professor Frederic S. Lee, Editor, American Journal of Economics and Sociology


Download Flyer.

John Maynard Keynes: The Making of a Revolution

by Finn Olesen
VDM Verlag Dr. Müller. December 15, 2009. Paperback: 200 pages. ISBN-10: 3639183053 | ISBN-13: 978-3639183054

With the publication of The Economic Consequences of the Peace in 1919, John Maynard Keynes had his international breakthrough. At once, he was known to the general public in USA, UK, and Europe as a very famous economist. With the book A Treatise on Money, published in 1930, he tried to get on the road to a new macroeconomic understanding. He hoped with his book to have been able to offer a more satisfactory analysis of the ongoing economic crisis. However, his macroeconomic reasoning in Treatise was still rather old-fashioned as his analysis was restricted to the understanding of the quantity theory of money. The new and revolutionary analysis of a modern monetary macro economy had to await the publication of his masterpiece: The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money in February 1936. With this book, Keynes gave way to not only a new theoretical revolution but he also offered some guidelines to a new economic methodology. After his dead in 1946, the Post Keynesians continued the work of Keynes and later on took on themselves the task of developing an alternative to what became the mainstream macroeconomic theory.

Theories of Value from Adam Smith to Piero Sraffa

By Ajit Sinha.
Routledge. March 2010. ISBN: 978-0-415-56320-8. Pages: 368, Edition: Hardback. Price: INR 895/USD 95/GBP 55

''Ajit Sinha’s Theories of Value from Adam Smith to Piero Sraffa exemplifies the best characteristics of proper scholarship. Sinha has combined critical yet sympathetic analysis of primary sources with keen understanding of the secondary literature. He has definite points of view which are always established by deep analytical arguments  combined with careful attention to the relevant evidence. His book is a splendid example for all those interested in the best ways of understanding the relevant links between the past of our discipline and the present.'' --- G.C. Harcourt

This book presents a comprehensive account of more than 200 years of controversy on the classical theories of value and distribution. The author focuses on four, perhaps most critical, classics, viz., Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations, David Ricardo’s Principles of Political Economy, Karl Marx’s Capital and Piero Sraffa’s Production of Commodities by Means of Commodities. The book highlights several significant differences in the theories of the four authors as it searches for the ‘classical standpoint’ that separates them from the ‘moderns’. It throws fresh light on some old questions while introducing new, controversial interpretations in the literature surrounding it. It is unique in its organisation as it first presents the author’s close reading of the theories of value and distribution in the four classics and then critically engages with the major alternative interpretations and criticisms of the theories discussed therein.

Bringing original insights on theoretical positions, the book challenges canonical interpretations so as to discuss and analyse the flaws and weaknesses, in addition to the already obvious strengths, of widely celebrated theories. The theories discussed here emerge from questions like: what role does demand or human psychology play in the determination of value in classical theory? Do classical economists determine the distribution of income within the context of a theory of prices and resource allocation? What role does the notion of ‘equilibrium’ play in classical theory and the theory of Sraffa?

For orders from the UK, Europe and the Middle East, please e-mail: book.orders@tandf.co.uk
For orders from North America, please e-mail: orders@taylorandfrancis.com
For orders from India and South Asia, please e-mail: bookorders@tandfindia.com

Capitalism & The Dialectic: The Uno-Sekine Approach to Marxian Economy

by John R Bell
Pluto Press, October 2009. ISBN hardcover 97807745329349 |ISBN paperback 9780745329338

Capitalism & the Dialectic introduces the approach pioneered by Japanese economist, Kozo Uno and refined perhaps most dramatically by Thomas Sekine. This approach progressively increases its comprehension of capitalism by moving sequentially through three distinct levels of analysis. In the theory of pure capitalism, Uno and Sekine reproduce the logic that capital and its society-wide market employ in the attempt to reproduce material economic life. By adhering to Marx's Hegelian dialectical method more consistently than did Marx, they are able to correct and complete Capital and to provide a convincing defence of value theory. The stages theory of capitalism's historical development recognizes that in any historical society capital must also contend with more intractable use-values than the light cotton-type goods that are contemplated by pure theory (and that did indeed dominate British liberal capitalism). In theorizing each of the stages capitalism (mercantilism, liberalism, imperialism), the Uno-Sekine perspective recognizes that stage-specific economic policies must be advanced to tame use-value to the point that the market can operate effectively to reproduce economic life. Subsequent empirical studies are informed by these two levels of theory. The Uno-Sekine approach does not overlook the possibility that a society might still strive to be capitalist after use-value resistance has become so great that no bourgeois policy can provide the market with sufficient support  to allow it to successfully regulate economic life.

Contents
Part 1 Dialectical Theory of Capitalism: Circulation
    1 Commodity,Value, Money and Capital Forms
Part II Dialectical Theory of Capitalism: Production
    2 Capitalist Production
    3 Circulation and Reproduction of Capital
Part III Dialectical Theory of Capitalism: Distribution
    4 Theory of Profit
    5 Business Cycles
    6 Rent, Commercial Credit
    7 Interest-Bearing Capital Closes the Dialectic
Part IV Capitalism and History
    8 Stages Theory of Capitalist Development
    9 Conclusion: Capitalists Beyond Capitalism

Author’s site : http://capitalismandthedialectic.com

The Competent Public Sphere: Global Political Economy, Dialogue and the Contemporary Workplace

By John Michael Roberts, Brunel University, London, UK.
Palgrave, 2009. Hardback: 9780230008731. 216 pp. £50.

Drawing on Marxism and engaging with theorists such as Mikhail Bakhtin, Gilles Deleuze, and Slavoj Zizek, John Michael Roberts argues that a new expressive ideology has coalesced within the contemporary workplace around the theme of 'competence'. The 'competence' agenda encourages management and workers to build networks of trust, cooperation and dialogue between one another. By examining the competent public sphere as it appears in the global economy, the author takes to task the competence agenda, relates this agenda to the hegemony of global finance and to the fetishism of the new economy, exposes the dilemmas and contradictions of the competence agenda, and through everyday examples from the UK and USA illustrates how competence is played out and resisted in the contemporary workplace. This book provides a fascinating critical account of how the way we work today is debated and discussed by management and workers.

Table of Contents:
1. Introducing Competence and the Public Sphere.
2. The New Economy.
3. The New Economy as the Fetish of Financialisation.
4. The Competent Public Sphere of the New Economy.
5. Democracy and Participation in the Competent Public Sphere.
6. Silencing the Thematic Utterances of Workers.
7. Trade Unions, Participation, and the Proletarian Public Sphere.
8. Conclusion: Towards a Socialist Public Sphere.

For more information visit: http://www.palgrave.com/Products/title.aspx?pid=276458

Academic Repression: Reflections from the Academic Industrial Complex

Edited by Peter McLaren, Steven Best, and Anthony J. Nocella, II.
AK Press. Paperback. ISBN: 9781904859987.
Publisher website: http://www.akpress.org/2010/items/academicrepression

Since 9/11, the Bush administration has pressured universities to hand over faculty, staff, and student work to be flagged for potential threats. Numerous books have addressed the question of academic freedom over the years; this collection asks whether the concept of academic freedom still exists at all in the American university system. It addresses not only overt attacks on critical thinking, but also—following trends unfolding for decades—engages the broad socioeconomic determinants of academic culture.

This edited anthology brings together prominent academics writing hard-hitting essays on free speech, culture wars, and academic freedom in a post-9/11 era. It's a powerful response to attacks on critical thinking in our universities by well-respected scholars and academics, including Joy James, Henry Giroux, Michael Parenti, Howard Zinn, Robert Jensen, Ward Churchill, and many more.

Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies: Communicative Capitalism and Left Politics

By Jodi Dean
Duke University Press. November 2009. 224pp. £14.99. PB 9780822345053

Democracy and Other Neoliberal Fantasies is an impassioned call for the realisation of a progressive left politics in the United States. Through an assessment of the ideologies underlying contemporary political culture, Jodi Dean takes the left to task for its capitulations to conservatives and its failure to take responsibility for the extensive neo-liberalisation implemented during the Clinton presidency. She argues that the left’s ability to develop and defend a collective vision of equality and solidarity has been undermined by the ascendance of ‘communicative capitalism,’ a constellation of consumerism, the privileging of the individual self over group interests and the embrace of the language of victimisation.  Dean insists that any reestablishment of a vital and purposeful left politics will require shedding the mantle of victimisation, confronting the marriage of neo-liberalism and democracy and mobilising different terms to represent political strategies and goals.

SPECIAL DISCOUNTED PRICE OF £10.00 to Listserv subscribers (Postage and Packing £3.50)
PLEASE QUOTE REF NUMBER:  CSNF0210JD for discount.
To order a copy please contact Marston on 44(0)1235 465500 or email direct.orders@marston.co.uk or visit our website:
http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/catalogue.asp?ex=fitem&target=9780822345053&fmt=f
where you can still receive your discount.

Economics for the Rest of Us: Debunking the Science that Makes Life Dismal

By Moshe Adler
The New Press. HC | $24.95 | 240 pages. ISBN 978-1-59558-101-3
Publisher website: http://www.thenewpress.org/index.php?option=com_title&task=view_title&metaproductid=1581

The New Press is pleased to announce the publication of Economics for the Rest of Us: Debunking the Science that Makes Life Dismal, a lively and accessible debunking of the two elements that make economics the “science” of the rich—the definition of efficiency and theories of wages—from economist Moshe Adler.
    Ideal for use as a supplementary text for basic economics courses or for use in courses with a focus on work and inequality, the history of economic thought, labor studies, or globalization, Economics for the Rest of Us is a thoughtful, engaging, heterodox look at Pareto efficiency and theories of wages that are based on the value of marginal product.
    Filled with lively examples—from food riots in Indonesia to eminent domain in Connecticut and everyone from Adam Smith to Jeremy Bentham to Larry Summers—Economics for the Rest of Us shows how today’s dominant economic theories evolved, how they explicitly favor the rich over the poor, and why they’re not the only or best options. Written for anyone with an interest in understanding contemporary economic thinking—and why it is dead wrong—Economics for the Rest of Us offers a foundation for a fundamentally more just economic system.

To request a FREE EXAMINATION COPY of Economics for the Rest of Us, please respond to academic@thenewpress.com, listing your university and department affiliation, the course(s) you teach, and a complete mailing address  (U.S. only, please).

Freedom Not Yet: Liberation and the Next World Order

By Kenneth Surin
Duke University Press. February 2010 448pp £16.99 PB 9780822346319.
Special 30% discounted price: £12.00 (please quote REF number: CSFY0210KS for discount).

The neoliberal project in the West has created an increasingly polarised and impoverished world, to the point that the vast majority of its citizens require liberation from their present socio-economic circumstances. Marxist theorist Kenneth Surin contends that innovation and change at the level of the political must occur in order to achieve this liberation, and for this endeavour Marxist theory and philosophy are indispensable. Freedom Not Yet analyses the nature of our current global economic system, particularly with regard to the plight of less-developed countries, and shows the possibilities of creating new political subjects necessary to establish and sustain a liberated world. Freedom Not Yet investigates the philosophical possibilities for a Marxist or neo-Marxist concept of liberation from capitalist exploitation and the regimes of power that support it, in order to seek a route to a better life for the world’s poorer populations.

To order a copy please contact Marston on 44(0)1235 465500 or email direct.orders@marston.co.uk or visit our website:
http://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/catalogue.asp?ex=fitem&target=9780822346319&fmt=f
where you can still receive your discount

Nobody Called Me Charlie : The Story of a Radical White Journalist Writing for a Black Newspaper in the Civil Rights Era

by Charles Preston
Monthly Review Press, January 2010. 304 pp. ISBN: 978-1-58367-202-0. $21.95 cloth

“For people interested in a hard-bitten first-hand account of racism, radicalism, and the media, I couldn’t recommend a better book. For aspiring sports writers, the sections on Preston’s efforts to apply his politics to the sports page should be must-reading in every sports journalism program in the country. This is hidden history at its finest.”—Dave Zirin, author of A People’s History of Sports in the United States

“When Charles Preston crossed America’s color line after World War II, his journey took him on a path few had traveled. A white man and a communist, he went to work for a black newspaper in Indianapolis during the 1940s, when integration began changing the country. His memoir offers a fascinating and rare perspective on African American society, blending insight with a sense of life’s daily intimacies.”—Robert Ruck, Senior Lecturer, Department of History, University of Pittsburgh; author of Sandlot Seasons: Sport in Black Pittsburgh
 
In the 1940s, at the height of segregation, Charles Preston became the unlikely newest worker at a black owned-and-operated newspaper. Preston, a white man and, unbeknownst to most of his colleagues, member of the Communist Party, quickly came face to face with issues of race and injustice that would profoundly impact his life and change the way he understood society in the United States.

This fictionalized account of his experience tells readers what it was like to be the only white worker, and a communist at that, at a black newspaper, while unflinchingly depicting the racism that was so common and accepted in the 1950s. This book draws us into a world few white people knew about, not in a voyeuristic but in a deeply human way. The quotidian elements of daily life—at work, at home, in the neighborhood—are described with humor and pathos, but this account rises above mere anecdote. It takes on the central question of this nation’s history: can a truly human and humane society be built on a foundation of profound and pervasive racial inequality? Of course, the answer is no.

Yet how do we make such a society? Or put another way, how must white people try to live their lives and how must they connect with their black brothers and sisters, personally and politically, to make a world in which the horrible scars of racism are healed once and for all? The answer that shines through Preston’s book—whether he is writing (and reporting) about work, local politics, the civil rights struggle, housing, education, entertainment, travel, sports, business, child-rearing, friendship, or intimate relationships—is that whites must do what he did: give up their whiteness. This is a book you will not forget.

Charles S. Preston was born in 1911 and grew up in the small town of Anderson, Indiana. Radicalized by the events of the Great Depression, he and his wife Lucy joined the Communist Party in New York City. In 1943, they and their young son Gregor moved to Indianapolis, where Charles went to work for the Indianapolis Recorder, the nation’s third oldest black newspaper. He worked there until the 1960s, gaining the rich experiences that are the basis of this book. He spent most of the rest of his life as a journalist, his commitments to socialism and racial solidarity undiminished.
 
order online here or call 800.670.9499

The Roller Coaster Economy: Financial Crisis, Great Recession,and the Public Option

by Howard J. Sherman
M.E. Sharpe. 2010. 208 pp. 978-0-7656-2538-0 - Paperback - List Price $32.95
20% Discount Price: $26.36

Use the attached discount form or click here to purchase. Simply enter discount code CAT11 to save 20%!

Download Flyer.

Striving to Save: Creating Policies for Financial Security of Low-Income Families

By Margaret Sherrard Sherraden and Amanda Moore McBride
The University of Michigan Press. Cloth: 978-0-472-11712-3 | List: $60.00. 30% Off Discount Price: $42.00 (Expires March 31, 2010. See details below.)
Publisher website: http://press.umich.edu/titleDetailDesc.do?id=231248

In Striving to Save, Margaret Sherrard Sherraden and Amanda Moore McBride examine savings in eighty-four working families with low incomes, including fifty-nine families who participated in a groundbreaking program of matched savings and financial education. In-depth interviews with these families, along with savings and survey data, shed light on saving in low-income households. The book concludes with recommended public policy approaches for increasing savings in households that are striving to save.

30% Discount offer:
To pay for this book and receive this special email discount, enter sherr10 in the online shopping cart under Promotional Code. This offer is only available through the University of Michigan Press website (http://www.press.umich.edu) and not available in bookstores. Offer Expires: March 31, 2010

La fábrica del conocimiento. La universidad-empresa en la producción flexible

By Carlos Sevilla.
8 de marzo. Colección: Ensayo. ISBN: 978-84-92616-56-5. Páginas: 168 págs. 17 €
Publisher website: http://www.elviejotopo.com/web/libros_detalle.php?idLibro=256

“Ni fábrica de precarios, ni escuela de elites”. En esta doble negación se encuentra contenida buena parte de la problemática referida a la crisis actual de la universidad pública. Esta crisis es, a la vez, una crisis financiera, institucional y de su tradicional función hegemónica. La transición de la universidad de masas a la universidad-empresa ha abierto un ciclo de conflictividad estudiantil transnacional sin precedentes desde los movimientos estudiantiles del 68. Esta transición está creando unas oportunidades políticas inéditas.

En este libro se aborda la segunda ola de reformas derivadas del “proceso de Bolonia” resumidas en la triada neoliberal: financiación competitiva,gobernanza corporativa, transferencia de los resultados de la investigación al entorno productivo. En este proceso hacia la universidad-empresa, la dualización del mercado de trabajo se traslada a la academia.

Asistimos también a un feliz renacimiento, el del despertar de la crítica de la institución universitaria al calor de las movilizaciones estudiantiles que han actuado como reveladoras de las profundas mutaciones de la universidad, de la subjetividad estudiantil y del trabajo intelectual.

Heterodox Book Reviews

Revisiting Keynes: Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren

Lorenzo Pecchi and Gustavo Piga, editors, Revisiting Keynes: Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2008. xi + 215 pp. $30 (cloth), ISBN: 978-0-262-16249-4.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Linda K. Carter, Department of Economics, Baylor University. Read the review here: http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/1483

The Intellectual Foundations of Alfred Marshall’s Economic Science: A Rounded Globe of Knowledge

Simon Cook, The Intellectual Foundations of Alfred Marshall’s Economic Science: A Rounded Globe of Knowledge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009. xviii + 331 pp. $90 (hardcover), ISBN: 978-0-521-76008-9.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Katia Caldari, Department of Economics and Management, University of Padova. Read the review here: http://eh.net/bookreviews/library/1485


Heterodox Graduate Program and PhD Scholarships/Research Fellowships

University of Manchester

PhD programme in Quantitative Social Science and Social Statistics
Centre for Census & Survey Research (CCSR) and Social Statistics Discipline Area

CCSR is a multidisciplinary research centre in the School of Social Sciences. Part of Manchester's top-rated Sociology submission in the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, CCSR is world renowned for cutting edge research under the broad banner of Quantitative Social Science.

Social Statistics is the newest discipline area within the School of Social Sciences and one of very few such groupings in the UK. The discipline is committed to high quality research, and collaboration with other disciplines within the university, to improve the methodological rigour and range of quantitative enquiries in social science.

We welcome applications in a wide range of topics, including:
    * Census & Survey Research
    * Longitudinal Data Analysis
    * Multilevel Modelling
    * Confidentiality & Privacy
    * Social Network Analysis
    * Health Inequalities
    * Work & Employment

Fully-funded studentships commencing September 2010
Five studentships are available; from the Economic & Social Research Council These prestigious awards include fees and an annual stipend of up to £16,290 and an additional allowance for research expenses.

For more information please visit http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/phd
To discuss your proposal please contact Margaret Martin (ccsr@manchester.ac.uk)
For information on how to apply contact Vicky Barnes (vicky.barnes@manchester.ac.uk)
To apply online visit http://www.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/howtoapply

Middlesex University

Business School Doctoral Research Studentships 2010

Applications are invited from highly motivated and academically excellent UK/EU or overseas candidates for a number of research studentships in any area of Business, Economics, Management or Law, available for a September/October 2010 start.

They are offered on a full-time basis and cover a maintenance award, fee payments and research support costs. The Scholarships are for four years, subject to satisfactory progress. The level of the maintenance element of the Scholarships is linked to the level of corresponding awards made by UK research councils and is subject to regular review. A maintenance payment from 1 Oct 2010 currently is £13,290 per annum. The Scholarships are free of both tax and national insurance contributions.

In addition to work on the doctoral research project, successful applicants will be expected to contribute to associated activities within the School.

"Heterodox students are encouraged to apply for this studentship."
Application deadline: April 2, 2010
For more informaion, visit http://www.mdx.ac.uk/research/applications/fees/bs2010/

Heterodox Web Sites and Associates

Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT)

AFIT has launched a new website. The address is www.associationforinstitutionalthought.org or www.institutionalthought.org. The new website is still under construction and more contents will be filled soon. And consider becoming a member of AFIT! If you have any question, contact AFIT Secretary-Treasurer, Dr. Mary Wrenn at marywrenn@weber.edu.

Queries from Heterodox Economists

Call for Discussants: Issues in Heterodox Microeconomics

Dear Colleague,

I am in the process of organizing a session on "Heterodox Microeconomics'' for the URPE/ASSA 2011 annual meeting in Denver, USA. To propose a complete session, we need four papers and two discussants. We already have four papers (see below), but we still need two discussants. If you are interested in being a discussant for this session, please contact me at taeheejo@gmail.com. Details for the URPE/ASSA 2011 can be found here: http://urpe.org/conf/assa/assacall.html


Best regards,

Tae-Hee Jo
email: taeheejo@gmail.com
web: http://faculty.buffalostate.edu/joth

Economics Curriculum Survey: The evolution of economics teaching in Australia

As part of a PhD that looks at the evolution of economics teaching in Australia, I am building a database up a database on the Australian university economics curriculum. I am particularly interested in documenting the existence of subjects in the following areas:

1. Heterodox Economics
2. History of Economic Thought
3. Development Economics
4. Economic History
5. Post-Neoclassical Mainstream Subjects (For example Behavioural and Experimental Economics).

I am also interested to hear of any teaching in economics that has occurred outside of faculties of business. If you teach such subjects or know of anyone that does it would be of great help to hear from you. My email is t.thornton@latrobe.edu.au

Many thanks

Tim Thornton
Associate Lecturer/PhD Student
School of Economics & Finance
La Trobe University
Bundoora VIC 3086
Australia
Phone: +61 3 9479 1416
Fax: +61 3 9479 2181
Email: t.thornton@latrobe.edu.au
http://www.latrobe.edu.au/lawman/staff-profiles/view-profile?uname=tthornton

For Your Information

John Loxley, the Winner of the John Kenneth Galbraith Prize 2010

Throughout his adult life John Loxley has worked to combine economic analysis, research, and publishing of the highest quality, with a deep personal commitment to social change and building the social change movements which will be the engine of change. It isn't enough for progressive thinkers to simply put the ideas out there and hope that someone does something about them. We all have a responsibility to use whatever resources, platforms, and leverage we may have in our respective positions, to further in concrete ways the development of the movements and campaigns that will be essential in actually achieving the change that we envision. John Loxley, to me, embodies that necessary duality between intellectual work and nitty-gritty movement-building.

His academic research in the fields of development economics, international monetary and financial systems, and community economic development, have been recognized internationally as making a substantial contribution to progressive thought in those fields.

However, it is more through his enduring and important personal commitment to activism that John has really left a lasting benefit for social change efforts in Canada and around the world. Despite his deserved international reputation, John never shied away from getting his hands dirty in the trenches of social change activism and organizing. He has been consistently and heavily engaged in a range of different social change initiatives, projects, and organizing -- ranging from his work with the North-South Institute and international debt justice initiatives, to his work co-founding the Choices coalition in Winnipeg and through it inspiring the Alternative Federal Budget (which this year will mark its 15th edition -- an impressive and consistent record), to his personal involvement in a range of grass-roots economic development initiatives with First Nations communities in northern Manitoba. John is always respectful and collegial with his fellow social-change activists, and never "lords over" them on the strength of his intellect and reputation. Â He personally practices what he preaches, through his ongoing passion for and contribution to social change.

In addition to his personal research agenda and his personal involvement in a wonderful range of activist struggles and initiatives, John has also made a priority over the years of helping to build the University of Manitoba's economics department into a well-regarded, collegial, and open-minded academic program. This involves his unique ability to reach across normal ideological divides in the interests of building an inclusive, diverse, respectful, and workable department that fills a totally unique niche in Canada's academic economic world.

I don't know anyone in Canada who better embodies the spirit of engaged, activist intellectual work that we seek to honour with this award, than John Loxley.

Jim Stanford


Greenspan, Friedman, and Summers win Dynamite Prize in Economics

Feb. 22, 2010


Alan Greenspan has been judged the economist most responsible for causing the Global Financial Crisis. He and 2nd and 3rd place finishers Milton Friedman and Larry Summers have won the first–and hopefully last—Dynamite Prize in Economics.

In awarding the Prize, Edward Fullbrook, editor of the Real World Economics Review, noted that “They have been judged to be the three economists most responsible for the Global Financial Crisis. More figuratively, they are the three economists most responsible for blowing up the global economy.”

The prize was developed by the Real World Economics Review Blog in response to attempts by economists to evade responsibility for the crisis by calling it an unpredictable, “Black Swan” event. In reality, the public perception that economic theories and policies helped cause the crisis is correct.

The prize winners were determined by a poll in which over 7,500 people voted—most of whom were economists themselves from the 11,000 subscribers to the real-world economics review . Each voter could vote for a maximum of three economists. In total 18,531 votes were cast.

Fullbrook cautioned that not all economics and economists were bad. “Only ‘neoclassical’ economists caused the GFC. There are other approaches to economics that are more realistic—or at least less delusional—but these have been suppressed in universities and excluded from government policy making.”

“Some of these rebels also did what neoclassical economists falsely claimed was impossible: they foresaw the Global Financial Crisis and warned the public of its approach. In their honour, I now call for nominations for the inaugural Revere Award in Economics, named in honour of Paul Revere and his famous ride. It will be awarded to the 3 economists who saw the GFC coming, and whose work is most likely to prevent another GFC in the future.”

In total 18,531 votes were cast.  The vote totals for the other finalists were:

Fischer Black and Myron Scholes               2,016   
Eugene Fama                                          1,668   
Paul Samuelson                                       1,291   
Robert Lucas                                              912   
Richard Portes                                            433   
Edward Prescott and Finn E. Kydland            403   
Assar Lindbeck                                           375   

The poll was conducted by PollDaddy. Cookies were used to prevent repeat voting.

For further information and interviews email: pae_news@btinternet.com

See the announcement at the Real-World Economics Review Blog:
Links to articles that appeared in the Financial Times, the Huffington Post, the Business Insider and the New York Times.


Manifesto for the freedom of economic thought

Dear colleague,
I have recently wrote a "Manifesto for the freedom of economic thought" together with other members of the Paolo Sylos Labini Association.

Up to now more than 600 economists (mostly Italian) have sign it. If you would like to join us, just follow this link: http://www.syloslabini.info/online/?page_id=1322

There is also room for critical comments, of course!
I look forward to hearing from you.

Best regards, Marcella


Online Debate about Free Trade

Organized by WorldTradeLaw.net and the Cato Institute, a libertarian think-tank in Washington.  


"On the free trade side will be Dan Griswold of the Cato Institute, who has a recent book out called Mad about Trade: Why Main Street America Should Embrace Globalization. On the protectionism side will be Ian Fletcher, whose book Free Trade Doesn't Work: What Should Replace it and Why."
 
The opening statements of our debate are here:


Peitition: Breaking the grip of budget hysteria in the UK

Public debate about economic policy in the UK is mesmerised by the budget deficit, with the three main political parties, the media and most commentators competing over the timing and severity of measures to reduce it. The dominant view is that the deficit must be cut quickly and that this will involve swingeing cuts in public expenditure and some increase in taxation. Yet output has fallen 6 per cent below its pre-recession peak and unemployment has risen from 5 to 8 per cent of the workforce.

The lessons of the Great Depression and John Maynard Keynes seem to have been forgotten: when private sector spending on consumption and investment falls, public sector spending must be increased to maintain effective demand and prevent unemployment. Current policy proposals increase the danger of a double-dip recession and a new prolonged era of high unemployment, unused resources and human misery.

The key economic problems are not the size and sustainability of the budget deficit: they are our unsustainable way of life and the shortage of jobs, especially for young people. Most of the increase in the deficit stems from falling tax revenues and rising social security bills caused by the recession itself and will be reversed when the economy recovers. The government must, of course, maintain control over its finances, but it should use them to inspire public confidence in our future economic prospects. On all these counts, our best hope lies in a Green New Deal designed to promote social justice and environmental sustainability.

Sign petition here: http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/budgetdeficithysteria/


Videos of London Memorial Meeting for Daniel Bensaid

http://ecosocialism.blip.tv/posts?view=archive&nsfw=dc