As always at the end of the summer term I am busy grading students' papers. However, I also found some time to revise the Heterodox Newsletters' homepage: The new page is going online within the next weeks, hopefully even before the next issue of the Newsletter is published on July 7. Afterwards the Newsletter will turn into "summer mode", meaning that publication intervals will be extended to four weeks instead of three for July and August.

Besides I want to point you to two entries in todays' Newsletter which I found to be of special interest: first you will find a Call for Support related to a fund for financially supporting students in heterodox economics established by Frederic S. Lee, who, among man other things, also served as the founding editor of this Newsletter. Second, there is a Job Ad included in this Newsletter asking for applications to a full-time prae-doc position at the economics department at the University of Linz. While this may not sound all too prestigious at first glance, I would still be happy to welcome you here as a colleague;-)

Call for Papers

Association for Institutional Thought at WSSA: Institutionalism: History, Theory, and Futures (Portland, 2015)

The 36th Annual Meeting of AFIT will take place on April 8-11, 2015 in Portland, Oregon, at the Marriot hotel in conjunction with the Western Social Science Association (WSSA) 57th Annual Conference.

The 2015 AFIT conference invites you to submit papers and sessions that address the history of Institutionalism, its theoretical development, and innovative futures and expansion. The conference theme encourages work on the history of Institutionalism - with respect to establishment of its infrastructure and intellectual community, and its connection to other heterodox approaches and to the broader heterodox community; development of theory and impact on policy; and efforts and strategies for memory creation/preservation. Papers employing and discussing historical methods and their role in developing institutional theory and the evolution of capitalism are welcomed.

The organizer encourages papers and sessions that historically and theoretically examine institutional-heterodox concepts - social provisioning; resource creation; life-process; institutional change; predation; enclosures; invidious distinction; waste; going concern; administered prices; centralized market planning; salesmanship; class; ownership; valuation; machine process; capital; and the social nature of money, among others. The organizer is interested in how we utilize and further develop those and other concepts to analyze the capitalist process, as well as theorizing violence, slavery, gender, precariousness, race/ethnicity, surveillance, incarceration, dependence, think-tanks, religion, politics of austerity, and money in politics.

Papers and sessions that address the futures and expansion of Institutionalism, including in the classroom and research, but also outside of academia, are strongly encouraged. Sessions and papers that showcase or outline potentials for theoretically meaningful interdisciplinary collaborations, as well as connecting Institutionalism to other heterodox approaches are strongly welcomed. For example, the organizer is interested in session(s) on feminist-institutionalism. Also, the conference seeks papers that utilize and develop research methods appropriate for institutional analysis, including ethnographic research, oral history, and social fabric matrix analysis, among others. Policy and issues-oriented topics are also welcomed, especially if connected to theoretical/methodological discussions. The conference organizer would like to specifically invite papers and panels about Portland and the region, and presentations by local academic and other activists/practitioners that would enrich the discussion about institutional analysis.

AFIT will continue the tradition of having one or more sessions that explore ideas, experiences, and materials to advance economic education from institutional and other heterodox perspectives. Finally, panels and papers discussing current changes in higher education are also welcomed.

The conference is receptive to proposals for panels that review and discuss books recently published by AFIT members. AFIT encourages proposals from graduate students. AFIT will continue to sponsor prizes for outstanding student papers. Check our website for announcement of the student competition.

The format of the 2015 conference panels does not include discussants. However, if you organize a panel, and you find it necessary to have discussants, you are welcome to do so. Proposals for complete sessions are encouraged.

Current membership in AFIT is required for presenting a paper. AFIT's annual membership dues are $25 and $15 for full-time students. Please, pay here. All presenters and moderators are required to register prior to March 1, 2015 at the WSSA webite.

In order to better facilitate discussion, AFIT requests that you e-mail your paper by April 1 to the moderator of your session. The suggested length of submitted papers is 3000 words. However, if you have prepared a longer paper, you are welcome to submit it in its original length. Please, make every effort to avoid cancellations, especially once the program is finalized! All proposals must be sent to the conference organizer by December 1, 2014 by e-mail with the subject line AFIT 2015 Proposal Last Name and file attachment last name_AFIT15 in Microsoft Word format to the conference organizer and Vice President of AFIT: Zdravka Todorova

Call for Papers and Panels for the 6 Young Researchers Conference of the Cluster of Excellence "Normative Orders" (Frankfurt, 2014)

Processes of production, reproduction and the questioning of social orders are often connected to conflicts about and the contestation of borders. Borders are set by demarcating an outside or other from an inside, where order is established. Various orders, on the other hand, are challenged in conflicts by shifting, perforating or deconstructing their borders. These borders can separate friend and enemy, law and crime, public and individual interests. Such demarcations can function as a strategy but also as a goal in social conflicts.

At this year’s Young Researchers Conference of the Cluster of Excellence “Normative Orders” at Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main, the topos of the border will be discussed with regard to its implications for the production of and conflicts about social orders from an interdisciplinary perspective. Drawing on a broad conceptualization of borders as well as social order, borders do not have to manifest themselves spatially or geographically, but can refer to social categories and/or exhibit normative qualities.

This focus on the borders of social orders enables researchers to analyse a variety of phenomena e.g.:

Other possible topics include postcolonial orders, gender orders, geographical borders and border conflicts, communities’ utopia, migration ...or something completely different.

The conference takes place on November 28 and 29 in Frankfurt am Main and addresses young researchers who want to contribute to the discussion on borders and social orders. Presentations can be held in English and German, although English is considered more conducive for international exchange; presentations can focus on empirical phenomena, reflect (meta)theoretically or deal with borders and demarcation of orders artistically.Individual papers and whole panels can be submitted to the conference.

To apply with an individual contribution, please send an abstract of max. 200 words and short information about the author to graduateconference@normativeorders.net.

To apply for a whole panel, please send three abstracts (max. 200 words) and the name of the chair and the discussant to the above-mentioned address - also incl. short information about the people involved. Child care is available. Accepted presenters can further apply for a travel stipend. The application process for stipends is described in the mail of acceptance.

Conference at the Adam Smith Business School: "An enquiry about an alternative sustainable economic policy" (Glasgow, 2014)

11 September, 2014 | Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow, Scotland

A partnership of environmental, social justice, trade union and civic organisations in Scotland has established the need for a different direction for economic policy if we are to achieve our objectives of a sustainable and equitable Scotland. We seek to address the need for a coherent set of policies, which are sufficient to set our economy on a route to social and environmental justice. At present this partnership includes Friends of the Earth Scotland, Oxfam Scotland, UNISON Scotland, Christian Aid Scotland, Stop Climate Chaos Scotland, Scottish Trade Union Congress, World Development Movement, GMB Scotland, Jubilee Scotland, the New Economics Foundation and the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow.

We continue to suffer a sluggish and unbalanced economy, high unemployment, rising inequality and poverty. Hanging over us are the failure to protect ourselves from climate change and resource depletion; and the threat of future crises in the financial system. Yet public discourse about the economy remains dominated by the orthodox models which, through their dominance of economy policy, arguably have contributed to the creation of these problems. The scarcity in national debates of voices that explain that these problems are caused by, rather than incidental to, our dominant economic model, and that there are practical and viable alternative economic strategies, is a core part of the problem.

The challenges posed are how can greater collective, public and democratic control be exercised over our economy and its financial systems so that we can secure a prosperous and fair livelihood without damaging our environment? How can we ensure the investments we need and prevent those which damage us and our world? In addition certain analytical challenges need to be tackled, in particular concerning growing financialisation, the questioning of limits to continuing economic growth, and the appropriate ways of dealing with environmental impacts and resource limits.

Accordingly papers are requested which address one or more of the following questions:

Abstracts should be no more that 250 words and should explain how they address one or more of the questions above. Papers should address issues of both policy and theory and explain how the latter informs the former.

ESHET Latin American Conference (Belo Horizonte, 2014)

19-21 November, 2014 | Faculty of Economics at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Belo Horizonte, Brazil

Title: Originality, Adaptation, and Critique: the place of Latin America in the History of Economic Thought.

What do we mean when we talk about Latin American economic thought? Are the works of any Latin American economist apt to be thus qualified, or should the term be reserved for ideas and theories which seek to explain economic themes peculiar to the region? Conversely, what is the role of foreign investigators – imported experts, specialized scholars, or interested observers – in molding regional economic knowledge? Does original thinking necessarily involve abstract and far-reaching theoretical constructs, or is there also originality in the adaptation of foreign ideas to local realities? To what extent has the need to critique the “universalist” aspirations of economic theory defined the character of Latin American economics? Scholarly interest in the history of economic ideas in Latin America has increased markedly in recent years, but when compared with more traditional themes and approaches, the field still remains largely uncharted. This conference aims to serve as a forum for exploring the multiple analytical dimensions and avenues of inquiry which could lead to a richer, more illuminating historiography of economic thought in and about Latin America.

1. Proposals for papers and sessions not only on these topics, but also on all other aspects of the history of economic thought are welcome.

2. Papers should be written in English, Portuguese or Spanish. Presentations should be preferably given in English.

4. A limited number of grants for participants travelling from abroad will be available, as well as grants for Young Scholar from Latin America. In order to be considered for either of these grants, authors should submit full versions of their papers, written in English, by September 30, 2014.

Please, visit this website to submit an abstract. To propose a complete session, please send an email to eshet@cedeplar.ufmg.br.

International Seminar on "The Real Estate/Financial Complex" (Leuven, 2014)

We have a few openings for speakers at this international seminar. If you’re admitted, there is no conference fee but there also will be no funding available for your expenses. We invite presentations that are related to the themes set out below. Please contact Manuel Aalbers asap and by June 22 at latest with a title, 100-250 word abstract and your position/affiliation.

Seminar abstract

Real estate and finance were at the roots of the global economic crisis that started in 2007. States and their many institutions have also been seen as complicit to the crisis. The connections between real estate (including housing), finance and states remain under-researched and under-theorized. Various political economy traditions have looked into the connection between finance and states, but largely ignored real estate. The field of urban studies includes research on the interdependence of real estate and states, but finance is largely ignored. Moreover, this field is very micro focused, while the various political economy traditions are very macro focused. We not only need a stronger connection between finance and real estate, but also between different scales: local/urban, national and global. We here propose a new metaphor that can help us to centre attention on the interdependencies of real estate, finance and states: the real estate/financial complex, akin the military/industrial complex. The idea is not to introduce a new master concept but to understand the spatialities of contemporary capitalism and bring together a range of literatures including but not limited to: financialization, capital switching, varieties of capitalism, urban studies (e.g. global cities, property-led development, growth machines/coalitions, gentrification, asset-based welfare).

Keynote speaker abstract

Why We Overbuild. And Why We’ll Do It Again. By Rachel Weber, Department of Urban Planning and Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago

At some point during the commercial building booms of the last century, the market for space came unhinged and supply outpaced occupant demand. What accounts for the tendency of real estate booms to continue long past their natural expiry? Why do booms so often become bubbles?

Drawing from my soon-to-be-published book (University of Chicago Press), I discuss how capital markets and routine professional practices construct a nexus between global financial circuits and local assets that prevent supply and demand from calibrating. Specifically I examine the case of Chicago’s downtown office market during the Millennial Boom (1998-2008) – a market that added roughly 15 % new stock while office employment decreased by over 8 % during the same period. I find that the financial “innovations,” such as commercial mortgage backed securities (CMBS) and regulatory changes that boosted liquidity in global capital markets set off a chain reaction of new construction and building acquisitions that built up some commercial districts while depleting others of investment. Because finance cannot impose new spatial orders on its own, I also investigated the practices of intermediating actors such as local real estate brokers, investment advisors, and property appraisers. I found that these professionals helped construct occupant and investor demand for new products and shuffled tenants from marginally older buildings into new space. These actors were aided by the policies of the City of Chicago that provided tax and financial incentives for new building and tenant moves while simultaneously removing the detritus left over from prior waves of expansion.

Once burst, this bubble left behind an overhang of unused office space. Although vacancies were lower in the new construction, they were crippling in the stock predating the boom whose occupants decamped for the new green-glass-and-steel towers. But even today, as the market struggles to absorb or eliminate the vacated space, new towers are being built and planned for Chicago’s Loop. The CMBS market is back with a vengeance, and acquisition prices have just hit a new high. Are we on the verge of another boom-bubble-bust cycle, and, if so, what is driving it?

Régulation Review: Special Issue on "Monetary contestations: A political economy of money"

Reacting to economic and social problems (macroeconomic imbalances, restructuring, precariousness, long term unemployment, rising inequality, etc.) linked to the current system of financial globalization, monetary contestation is on the rise on several different levels. Involved in the discussion are governments and the private sector, with a view to proposing an alternative monetary system.

The monetary system is basically the outcome of a process of social and political compromise. It represents at a given period of history a certain idea of the common interest and, so to speak, of “joining forces”. Nevertheless monetary history has shown that no social order is inalterable. If the people involved in the common venture no longer feel at home with it, it can be called into question at any time. Could this be what the challenges mean that we are witnessing today: a permanent struggle to modify the existing social organisation and its monetary assumptions?

The special issue planned by the Régulation Review has precisely this objective. It will study cases in which money is being debated in the context of the current monetary order and the underlying dynamics of accumulation in globalised financial capitalism. It will examine types of disagreement, groups of social players, economic and political initiatives, the ways in which the latter are driven, the different logics at work and their respective impacts (economic, monetary, social, political, environmental, etc.).

The focus will be on the political economy of money, going beyond the usual treatment, only too often narrowly economic and technical. Contributions will be particularly welcome from the social sciences and the humanities (not only economics, but also socioeconomics, sociology, political science, anthropology, history, philosophy, etc.) that embrace a politico-economic perspective. Preference will also be given to contributions based on fieldwork and to theoretical thinking that brings out the social, political and plural dimensions of money. The contemporary era will be central, but contributions that cover other periods will be included.

We plan four series of articles, to cover four different levels at which the monetary status quo is being challenged.

1) Local monetary challenges – In this particular dossier, contributors will pay close attention to challenges at local levels: challenges that have not attracted much attention in the media and have not been properly studied, despite their social, political and economic importance. Examples are alternative currencies that qualify as social and/or complementary, created by agents of civil society and/or by local public authorities responsive to economic forces, and based on critical political thinking concerning globalised financial capitalism. Ever since the 1980’s in economies in both North and South alternative currencies have recorded remarkable growth. These currencies tend to promote solidarity and to improve social integration of the poorest segments of local populations, thanks largely to the economic dynamics of local development. We plan to publish articles with empirical or comparative content that bring out the sheer diversity of these currencies and of their respective political and ideological backgrounds. At the same time, the articles will raise the question of the conditions under which these currencies can be effective and sustainable.

2) Monetary challenges at a national level – Globalised capitalism cannot simply be equated to that of a few key countries: the dominant industrial powers. Emerging currencies (e.g. of the BRICS) based on economies that are still irregular are also part of it. These currencies compete with those of the key countries, which happen to be recording sluggish growth at present. This is an additional source of instability. The second series of articles in the special issue will therefore focus on the ways in which the international order has been devastated by the impulses and hesitations of a number of countries in monetary matters. It will also deal with the factors behind the rise of claims to monetary sovereignty, and will examine the effectiveness of the instruments and monetary strategies adopted by emerging economies in the context of monetary strife.

3) Regional monetary challenges – Many economies from the South that have to deal with international monetary and financial instability are involved in regional monetary cooperation and financial regionalism, trying to work out autonomous or coordinated strategies on a regional basis. Examples of this are the Chiang Mai initiative, the new regional financial architecture in South America; there are also others. The third series of contributions will study regional monetary strategies in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East, the reasoning behind them, and their prospective longer-term ability to alter the political and economic balance of power in the international monetary system.

4) International monetary challenges – The pivotal role of the dollar in the international monetary system is being criticised more and more frequently, as are the “exorbitant privileges” of the country issuing it. Financial imbalances are worsening and alternatives are gaining ground. Could internationalisation of the euro, the yuan and/or other major currencies help to promote a more equitable international monetary system? Is the challenge to the dollar’s supremacy a source of conflicts? Is it realistic to envision a supranational currency? The fourth series of articles in our issue will deal with tectonic shifts in the international monetary system, and its ongoing re-composition. The articles will focus in particular on the underlying tension in the relationship between the dollar, the euro and the yuan, in order to test the relevance of the hypothetical monetary polycentricism that is currently being aired.

Articles should be submitted in French or English, and should not exceed 10 000 words in length (including notes and bibliography). Publication guidelines may be consulted here.

Call for Participants

Green Economics Conference on "Regression or Progression in the world economic order?" (Oxford, 2014)

9-11 July, 2014 | Faculties of Earth Science, Geography and Economics at Oxford University, UK

International Workshop on Scientific Misconduct and Research Ethics in Economics (Izmir, 2014)

Readers of Heterodox Newsletter list might be interested in the following workshop: International Workshop on Scientific Misconduct and Research Ethics in Economics

For the full list of papers to be presented in the workshop, please visit this website.

If you would like to attend to this workshop, we are still able to host 3 to 5 international attendees without papers. Attendance to the workshop is free. We are also doing our best to organize a workshop dinner and social trip to ancient Greek site near Izmir for free. If you are not available, we would be pleased if you could forward this message to your colleagues and PhD researchers who would be interested in attending.

The workshop is jointly organized by Ankara University and the Review of Social Economy.

PKSG and PERG workshop on "An Introduction to Post Keynesian Economics and Political Economy" (London, 2014)

The Global Financial Crisis has demonstrated the limitations of mainstream economic theory and neoliberal economic policy. This workshop will introduce two of the main alternatives to orthodoxy - Post Keynesian Economics and Marxist Political Economy. Post Keynesian Economics has at its core the concepts of effective demand and distributional conflict: individuals face fundamental uncertainty about the future; there is a central role for ‘animal spirits’ in the determination of investment decisions; inflation is the result of unresolved distributional conflicts; money is an endogenous creation of the private banking system; unemployment is determined by effective demand on the goods markets; financial markets are prone to periodic boom-bust cycles. Marxist Political Economy is focused on the fundamental conflict between capital and labour on the basis of the conception of the capitalist mode of production. It characterises capitalist production as intrinsically unstable, with financial crises sometimes the prelude to, and sometimes the result of, a crisis of over-accumulation of capital. It stresses the use of mass unemployment as a key element of the ‘cure’ for these problems. Marxist analysis looks to value form analysis to trace fundamental developments in capitalism and emphasises the role of the state in organizing the political and economic hegemony of capital.

The workshop is aimed at students of economics and social sciences. As the aim of Post Keynesian Economics and Political Economy ultimately is to provide the foundation for progressive economic policies, it may of interest for a broader audience.

Engelbert Stockhammer, Kingston University (email: e.stockhammer@kingston.ac.uk), Nina Kaltenbrunner, Leeds University, Jo Michell, University of the West of England

PKSG has set aside a fixed sum to assist with the registration and UK travel costs of student participants at the workshop (please note this does not include the costs of travel to the UK). If you are unable to secure funding elsewhere, you are warmly encouraged to apply to the PKSG Secretary (Mark Hayes) by email in the first instance, indicating your total UK travel expenses and the amount that you need to find from your own pocket. Applications should be made no later than 31 July 2014 and will then be considered as a group. If the requirement exceeds the fund available, the fund will be allocated pro-rata at the discretion of PKSG. If you are made an award, you will then need to present receipts before payment will be made, by bank transfer to a UK bank account, or otherwise by PayPal.

John Galsworthy Building, Kingston University, Penrhyn Road, Kingston, Surrey, KT1 2EE. Accommodation will be in the Seething Wells Halls of Residence, Kingston University, Portsmouth Road, Surbiton, Surrey, KT6 5PJ.

Ph.D. course on "Capitalism, Consumption and Everyday Life: Understanding the Social Dimensions of the Growth Imperative" (Oslo, 2014)

8-10 December, 2014 | Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM), University of Oslo, Norway

Organised by: Centre for Development and the Environment’s (SUM) research area on Energy and Consumption and SUM Research School at the University of Oslo, Norway

Objective: The principal objective of this PhD course is to connect development studies and consumption studies. It approaches the linkages between consumption and socio-economic change from different disciplinary perspectives, drawing on theoretical approaches as well as cases from the global North and South in an attempt to understand the social dimensions of the growth imperative of capitalism. We wish to enable doctoral students to better understand key concepts, debates and perspectives in consumption and development for the purposes of research and policy making. The lectures cut across geographical scales and cultural, social, political, and economic dimensions.

The interdisciplinary nature of the course will appeal to doctoral students from a variety of backgrounds, such as anthropology, sociology, geography, political science, development studies, economics and political economy.

Doctoral students will be prioritized. Under special circumstances applications from others may be considered.

Please visit our website or consult the attached course document for information about application procedures and funding. Applications are invited from 15 July. The final deadline is 15 September 2014. Due to space constraints, early application is highly recommended.

Should you have any practical inquiries, please do not hesitate to email the course secretariat at consum2014@sum.uio.no.

Rethinking Economics 2014 London conference (London, 2014)

Rethinking Economics is an international network of students campaigning for pluralism within economics, particularly the economics curriculum, which is, at present, heavily biased towards the methods of the neoclassical school. Rethinking Economics launched with the 2013 conference, and brought together a number of smaller groups advocating for changes to economics. Together, those groups, along with many others, would write the ISIPE open letter, calling for an overhaul of the way economics is taught.

The Conference

The 2014 London conference will take place on the weekend of the 28th and 29th of June at UCL, in the centre of London, and will feature keynote speeches from Lord Adair Turner and Dr. Ha-Joon Chang, plus over twenty other speakers, including Prof. Victoria Chick, Prof. David Tuckett and Will Hutton. Throughout the two-day conference we will be exploring both the problems with the current system and, more positively, alternatives to the status quo.

Rethinking Economics looks to challenge a number of aspects of economics, such as the limited curriculum, the lack of diversity of thought within academia and the stifled public discourse that this creates. The conference will provide a platform to challenge and rethink the current paradigms within economics, as well as bringing together a diverse collection of perspectives on what needs changing.

Attending the event

More information on attending the event can be found on this website. Click the Buy Tickets tab at the top of the page to purchase tickets or the Location tab to find out about how to get to the event.

We are an organisation committed to diversity and hence do not want to restrict people from attending the conference due to lack of funds. If you are unable to pay and would like to attend then please email us at relondon2014@gmail.com.

More information about the program, speakers, tickets, etc. on the conference website.

Review of Political Economy Annual Conference on "Future of Heterodox Economics" (Malvern, 2014)

It is now just over 25 years since the launch of the Review of Political Economy (ROPE). To stimulate interest in its early years, its founder John Pheby organised an annual conference at Malvern in the UK. In recognition of ROPE’s contribution to the development of heterodox economics, and in tribute to John Pheby’s founding role, we have organised a commemorative conference to be held at the Mount Pleasant Hotel, Malvern from Friday morning 11 July to Sunday lunchtime 13 July 2014.

The conference theme is the ‘Future of Heterodox Economics’. John King has kindly agreed to give the keynote speech. In keeping with the original conference format, there will be no parallel sessions. Sessions will comprise roundtable discussion and individual paper presentations with plenty of time for discussion. Capacity attendance will be about fifty people.

A draft program will be available shortly. Confirmed contributors include Tony Lawson, Victoria Chick, Ed Nell, Mary Wrenn, Bruce Philp, Susan Schroeder, Jan Toporowski, Mark Setterfield, Maria Cristina Marcuzzo, John Foster

We invite all interested parties to join us in spirited and stimulating discussions on the future of heterodox economics.

The cost of the conference is £125 for conference attendees, £100 for partners. This cost includes two buffet lunches and two evening meals with wine.

Conference Papers, Reports, and Podcasts

EURO Workshop on "Euro and Full employment" (Grenoble, 2014)

The euro crisis has had a profound effect on unemployment in the Eurozone and has been subject of much discussion and commentary both within and outside Europe, which have exposed the architectural and governance deficiencies of the single currency. This can be seen by the difficulty experienced in finding a common response to the crisis. However little of this discussion, especially within Europe has focused on the possibility of an exit, or even breakup of the Eurozone and the scenarios that could follow.

Job Postings

Kingston University, UK

Kingston University has advertised three fixed-term lecturer positions. Applications from economists with a research area in heterodox economics are welcome.

Deadline is 22.06.2014, Interview 01.07.2014

For queries you can contact Julian Wells (J.Wells@kingston.ac.uk), who is the Director of Studies. (for informal queries you can also get in touch with me).

Details

Title: Lecturer in Economics
Reference Number: 1264
Salary: £35770-£38869
Faculty / Department: Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences
School / Section: School of Economics, History and Politics
Location: Penrhyn Road Map & Directions
Permanent/Fixed Term: Fixed Term (FTC)
Full Time/Part Time: Full Time
Working Hours: 37
Vacancy closes at midnight on: 22 June 2014

The Role

Free-thinking. Collaborative. Innovative. Kingston University is yours to inspire. As you cover colleagues on leave for a year, you will play a key role in the teaching of economics courses within a department committed to excellence in heterodox and orthodox economics. In particular, you will contribute to the development and delivery of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching and research in the areas of mathematical economics, macroeconomics, financial economics, or econometrics. At the same time, you will maintain a personal programme of research and scholarship and support the academic management of the Department.

The Person

You’ll bring a doctoral degree in a relevant discipline together with some experience of teaching in the higher education sector at undergraduate or postgraduate level. Evidence of strong research potential will be complemented by the ability to communicate effectively with a variety of different audiences. An ability to contribute to a pluralist economics curriculum is desirable, as would experience of successfully applying for external funding

The Faculty

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is now the fastest growing research environment in the UK following a multi-million pound investment in professorial staff, early career researchers and doctoral students. The Faculty has a rich offering in the theoretical humanities and critical social sciences unique amongst UK universities.

More information on this website.

National University’s College, US

National University’s College of Letters and Sciences seeks an Associate Dean to serve at its academic headquarters in La Jolla, CA. This is a fulltime, 12-month administrative appointment. The Associate Dean supports the work of the COLS Dean and Dean’s office on behalf of the College, the University and the larger community, and serves at pleasure of the Dean. As a member of the Dean’s leadership team, the Associate Dean exemplifies positive engagement for faculty, students and staff while maintaining confidentiality and providing analytical and creative support in advancing the dean’s vision and agenda on a variety of projects, events and initiatives, as assigned. Required Qualifications and Experience: Earned Ph.D. or terminal degree in discipline in the arts and humanities, social sciences, mathematics and natural sciences or psychology. Senior faculty rank with an established record of success as a teacher and scholar. Academic leadership experience at the level of department chair or above. The successful candidate will have extraordinary people skills and enjoy working with minimal supervision in a dynamic, collaborative academic atmosphere.

To Apply: Please forward cover letter addressing the details found in this announcement, a current CV, and an annotated list of three references to Ashley Agustin (aagustin@nu.edu). Position open until filled.

Contact: Lorna Lueker Zukas, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Lead Faculty Global Studies BA, College of Letters and Sciences, National Universit, 11255 North, Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, phone: 858/642-8437, mail: lzukas@nu.edu

University of Linz, Austria

The Department of Economics at the University of Linz in Austria invites applications for a pre-doc position in economics to start September 1, 2014. The appointment will be for a fixed term of four years without tenure-track.

The successful candidate needs to hold a Master in Economics or an equivalent scientific degree and should have a research interest in macroeconomics and/or international economics.

Female candidates are encouraged to apply as our University is committed to increasing the number of female scholars.

For further details please look at the official announcement here or contact Prof. Michael Landesmann (phone: +43 732 2468 8234, email: heidelinde.derntl@jku.at).

Applications should include a curriculum vitae, copies of course grades and degrees and a selected research paper.

Johannes Kepler University Linz
Personalmanagement
Altenberger Straße 69
4040 Linz AUSTRIA

Electronic submission to persabt@jku.at is also possible. Closing date is July 2, 2014. It is necessary to mention “Anzeigennummer 2789” on the application.

University of Sydney, Australia

The University of Sydney is inviting applications for a Lecturer position in the Department of Political Economy. Link to the job description here.

The Department of Political Economy is one of four departments within the School of Social and Political Sciences (SSPS) at the University of Sydney. SSPS is the largest school in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, with over 100 academic staff, many of whom have been appointed since the inception of the school in 2008. The school will shortly move to a state-of-the-art building, confirming the extraordinary investment in social sciences at Sydney in the past five years. This lectureship further consolidates SSPS as the premier location in the region for research and teaching in political economy, which at Sydney includes heterodox economics, international political economy, development, social movements, gender and work, and the application of critical approaches to the study of economic and social phenomena. This appointment is part of the consolidation and expansion of political economy at the University of Sydney. The department's website can be viewed here.

Enquires can be directed to Martijn Konings (martijn.konings@sydney.edu.au) or Adam Morton (adam.morton@sydney.edu.au).

Awards

Sweezy-Baran Memorial Award

This award will support the publication in English of a series of distinguished monographs concerned with the political economy of imperialism. The scope of subject matter will be sufficiently broad as to include work focused primarily on history as well as on theory. All analysis must find its basis in history and empirical research.

The aim is to make available in English important work written in the tradition of Paul M. Sweezy, Paul A. Baran, and Harry Magdoff, broadly conceived. It will apply to writings previously unpublished in English, and will include translations of new work first published in languages other than English.

The selection of manuscripts will be made by the members of the MR Press editorial board, with the assistance of outside readers as appropriate—as in the case of material requiring specialized knowledge, whether of subject matter or a language other than English.

Submissions may be made at any time—there are no deadlines and the editorial committee will make decisions on a rolling basis. We prefer full manuscripts, but will accept a detailed outline, table of contents, and several sample chapters.

Selected works will be published by Monthly Review Press in a highly visible, affordable edition with international distribution and a dedicated marketing campaign.

Authors of unpublished manuscripts in English or any other language who are recipients of the award will receive $5,000. Where the award is granted to books already published in languages other than English, the $5,000 will be applied instead to covering translation costs.

Warren Samuels Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology

The editorial team of Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology (RHETM) is pleased to announce the 2016 Warren Samuels Prize for Interdisciplinary Research in the History of Economic Thought and Methodology. The editors of RHETM are committed to supporting and encouraging interdisciplinary work in the history of economic thought. This academic prize is intended to promote and reward the best of such scholarship.

The Warren Samuels Prize will be awarded to the paper, submitted to RHETM for publication in the 2016 volume, which best exemplifies scholarly work that:

The winner of the Warren Samuels Prize receives a $1000 stipend. The selection committee consists of the editorial board of RHETM.

Participants should submit an article for publication in RHETM via email to RHETMeditors@googlegroups.com before October 31, 2015. Manuscripts should be prepared for blind review and the author should indicate that they would like to be considered for the Prize. Prize submissions should not include articles previously published or under consideration elsewhere. Articles that pass peer-review and are accepted for publication will be considered by the editorial board of RHETM and the winner will be announced at the end of 2015.

Journals

Cambridge Journal of Regions, Economy and Society, 7 (2)

Capital & Class, 38 (2)

Intereconomics, 49 (3)

Journal of Economic Methodology, 21 (2)

Journal of Philosophical Economics, 7 (2)

Science & Society, 78 (3)

The Economic and Labour Relations Review, 25 (2)

Books and Book Series

Global Imperialism and the Great Crisis: The Uncertain Future of Capitalism

In this provocative study, economist Ernesto Screpanti argues that imperialism—far from disappearing or mutating into a benign “globalization”—has in fact entered a new phase, which he terms “global imperialism.” This is a phase defined by multinational firms cut loose from the nation-state framework and free to chase profits over the entire surface of the globe. No longer dependent on nation-states for building a political consensus that accommodates capital accumulation, these firms seek to bend governments to their will and destroy barriers to the free movement of capital. And while military force continues to play an important role in imperial strategy, it is the discipline of the global market that keeps workers in check by pitting them against each other no matter what their national origin. This is a world in which the so-called “labor aristocracies” of the rich nations are demolished, the power of states to enforce checks on capital is sapped, and global firms are free to pursue their monomaniacal quest for profits unfettered by national allegiance.

Screpanti delves into the inner workings of global imperialism, explaining how it is different from past forms of imperialism, how the global distribution of wages is changing, and why multinational firms have strained to break free of national markets. He sees global imperialism as a developing process, one with no certain outcome. But one thing is clear: when economic crises become opportunities to discipline workers, and when economic policies are imposed through increasingly authoritarian measures, the vision of a democratic and humane world is what is ultimately at stake.

Climate Change and Global Policy Regimes: Towards Institutional Legitimacy

Since the creation of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, media and public attention has been focussed on the global negotiations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Little attention has been paid to the institutions that are charged with the responsibility of developing effective responses. These are often remote from the public, and communities most threatened by global warming are often excluded from decision-making. The contributors to this volume investigate a wide range of institutions within the 'climate change regime complex'. From carbon trading, to food and water availability, energy production, human security, local government, and the intergovernmental climate talks themselves, they find much that should be of concern to policy makers, and the public at large. In doing so they provide a series of recommendations to improve governance legitimacy, and assist public participation in policy deliberations that will affect future generations.

Methodological Misconceptions in the Social Sciences: Rethinking Social Thought and Social Processes

Many years of studying human societies have led the author to conclude that social thought suffers from a real confusion, no less significant than studies of nature suffered at the beginning of the modern age. But this new confusion generates much more subtle and far more lacerating problems than did the earlier one, for it concerns relations among men, and tends to grow with the increase in the power of technology and innovation. The confusion of analyses and proposals is particularly evident in the branch of social thought having the greatest claim to a scientific status: economics. This is the case with regard to both mainstream and heterodox economics. Mainstream economics employs two methodological procedures that are well-defined but inappropriate to social reality: the observational-experimental method of the natural sciences and the method of abstract rationality of the logical-formal sciences. Heterodox economics reacts to the mainstream hegemony by offering a galaxy of alternative proposals, more or less brilliant but disorganized and very partial indeed in terms of perspective, and this galaxy as a whole is for the most part devoid of either cooperation or even communication between its parts and, hence, is unable to benefit from pluralism in stimulating the cumulative growth of knowledge. This is well exemplified by one heterodox proposal that has yielded very important results both for theory and practice, Keynesian economics centered on the principle of effective demand. In the absence of a more general heterodox methodological procedure able to incorporate such theory, it has started to yield two disappointing outcomes: Keynesian teaching has begun to suggest inappropriate economic interpretations and precepts of political economy when the principle of effective demand has ceased to be a dominating problem; in the meantime, the partial character of the Keynesian contribution facilitated its surreptitious inclusion in mainstream economics.

A definition of methodological procedure appropriate to social reality is at the moment lacking; at least one that is distinct from those of the natural and logical-formal sciences. The first part of the book highlights the significance of this methodological gap and attempts to fill it; while the second part of the book submits the suggested procedure and rules to the test of some applications to the various branches of social thought and the interpretation of historical processes.

Microeconomics: Individual Choice in Communities

Microeconomics: Individual Choice in Communities is a critical alternative to cookie-cutter introductory-level micro texts. It lays out the "micro- foundations for an alternative economics, closer to the vision of the classical economists and others who saw economics as a social science." Finally, a microeconomics text that places individual decision-making in the context of social norms and institutions.

The Beast: Riding the Trails and Dodging Narcos on the Migrant Trail

One day a few years ago, 300 migrants were kidnapped between the remote desert towns of Altar, Mexico, and Sasabe, Arizona. A local priest got 120 released, many with broken ankles and other marks of abuse, but the rest vanished. OSCAR MARTINEZ, a young writer from El Salvador, was in Altar soon after the abduction, and his account of the migrant disappearances is only one of the harrowing stories he garnered from two years spent traveling up and down the migrant trail from Central America and across the US border. More than a quarter of a million Central Americans make this increasingly dangerous journey each year, and each year as many as 20,000 of them are kidnapped. MARTINEZ writes in powerful, unforgettable prose about clinging to the tops of freight trains; finding respite, work and hardship in shelters and brothels; and riding shotgun with the border patrol. Illustrated with stunning full-color photographs, THE BEAST is the first book to shed light on the harsh new reality of the migrant trail in the age of the narcotraficantes.

This book published to great critical acclaim in 2013 and was named as one of the best books of the year in both the FINANCIAL TIMES and THE ECONOMIST. It is now available for the first time in paperback.

The Poorer Nations: A Possible History of the Global South

In The Darker Nations, Vijay Prashad provided an intellectual history of the Third World and traced the rise and fall of the Non-Aligned Movement. With The Poorer Nations, Prashad takes up the story where he left off.

Since the ’70s, the countries of the Global South have struggled to build political movements. Prashad analyzes the failures of neoliberalism, as well as the rise of the BRICS countries, the World Social Forum, issuebased movements like Via Campesina, the Latin American revolutionary revival—in short, efforts to create alternatives to the neoliberal project advanced militarily by the US and its allies and economically by the IMF, the World Bank, the WTO, and other instruments of the powerful. Just as The Darker Nations asserted that the Third World was a project, not a place, The Poorer Nations sees the Global South as a term that properly refers not to geographical space but to a concatenation of protests against neoliberalism.

The Provoked Economy: Economic Reality and the Performative Turn

Do things such as performance indicators, valuation formulas, consumer tests, stock prices or financial contracts represent an external reality? Or do they rather constitute, in a performative fashion, what they refer to? The Provoked Economy tackles this question from a pragmatist angle, considering economic reality as a ceaselessly provoked reality. It takes the reader through a series of diverse empirical sites -- from public administrations to stock exchanges, from investment banks to marketing facilities and business schools -- in order to explore what can be seen from such a demanding standpoint. It demonstrates that descriptions of economic objects do actually produce economic objects and that the simulacrum of an economic act is indeed a form of realization. It also shows that provoking economic reality means facing practical tests in which what ought to be economic or not is subject to elaboration and controversy.

What Money Wants: An Economy of Desire

One thing all mainstream economists agree upon is that money has nothing whatsoever to do with desire. This strange blindness of the profession to what is otherwise considered to be a basic feature of economic life serves as the starting point for this provocative new theory of money. Through the works of Karl Marx, Thorstein Veblen, and Max Weber, What Money Wants argues that money is first and foremost an object of desire. In contrast to the common notion that money is but an ordinary object that people believe to be money, this book explores the theoretical consequences of the possibility that an ordinary object fulfills money's function insofar as it is desired as money. Rather than conceiving of the desire for money as pathological, Noam Yuran shows how it permeates economic reality, from finance to its spectacular double in our consumer economy of addictive shopping. Rich in colorful and accessible examples, from the work of Charles Dickens to Reality TV and commercials, this book convinces us that we must return to Marx and Veblen if we are to understand how brand names, broadcast television, and celebrity culture work. Analyzing both classical and contemporary economic theory, it reveals the philosophical dimensions of the controversy between orthodox and heterodox economics.

Newsletters

Global Development And Environment Institute

Global Economic Governance Initiative

Global Labour Column

UNU WIDER Angle

Calls for Support

A petition in defence of freedom of speech and academic freedom in Mozambique

A group of academics working on Mozambique, African Studies and Economics have signed a petition in defence of freedom of speech and academic freedom in Mozambique. We invite you to consider endorsing it here.

In December 2013, the Office of the Attorney General in Maputo opened a criminal case against Mozambican economist Professor Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco, after he expressed strong criticism of the President of Mozambique in a public Facebook post. The law of Crimes Against State Security has been invoked.

Carlos Nuno Castel-Branco is a well-known Mozambican academic whose work on the country’s economic transition and extractive industries is internationally respected. He is a Professor of Economics at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane in Maputo, a Research Associate at SOAS, University of London, and a founding member of IESE (the Institute of Economic and Social Studies) in Maputo.

In May 2014, IESE, of which Castel-Branco is a former director, was given a peremptory eviction order from the premises it has rented since 2007. The ownership of the building has recently been transferred to a State Agency.

IESE is one of the leading independent research centres in Mozambique. Research supported or conducted by IESE has contributed to academic and policy debates about poverty reduction, democratic governance and Mozambique's developmental challenges. Since its foundation, IESE has been committed to supporting young Mozambican researchers and advancing world class Mozambican scholarship as well as hosting scholars from around the world interested in the study of Mozambique.

As academics and researchers we deplore any and all measures curtailing academic freedom in Mozambique and call on all parties to defend the right to debate and dissent.

We appeal to the Attorney General to protect fundamental civil liberties including freedom of expression, a key part of the democratic process that needs to be enhanced and consolidated in Mozambique.

Frederic S. Lee Heterodox Economics Scholarship Fund

Dear Friends, Colleagues, and Heterodox Economists,

Fred Lee has been a driving force of heterodox economics movements over the past 30 years. He played a major role in establishing the Association for Heterodox Economics, founded and edited the Heterodox Economics Newsletter, edited the American Journal of Economics and Sociology, has been actively involved in heterodox associations such as AFEE, AFIT, AHE, ASE, EAEPE, HES, ICAPE, URPE, and so on. His activities and contributions are truly community-oriented and self-sacrificing. Above all, Fred has always been concerned about students since they will be the future of heterodox economics.

As some of you already know, Fred will soon retire due to an unexpected illness. In the face of uncertain life conditions, Fred and his wife, Ruth, have recently established the Heterodox Economics Scholarship Fund, which is designed to financially support doctoral heterodox economics students. The Scholarship is open to all doctoral students studying in a heterodox economics program, although currently preference is given to UMKC doctoral students due to the limited amount of funds.

We are sending out this call for contributions with the hope that you share Fred's "good-will" and make a contribution to this Fund so that more heterodox economics students can complete their studies successfully. Moreover, if you believe you are indebted to Fred for his many contributions, contribute to the Frederic S. Lee Heterodox Economics Scholarship Fund and support students.

To learn more about the Fund, visit here.

To make a contribution, visit here.

You can also make a contribution to the Fund by purchasing Fred's books and journals. For more information, visit here.

Should you have any questions, please contact us.

Sincerely yours,

John F. Henry
University of Missouri-Kansas City
henryjf@umkc.edu

Tae-Hee Jo
SUNY Buffalo State
taeheejo@gmail.com

For Your Information

Academic Study Tours for Heterodox Economists in Eastern Europe

Heterodox Economics Newsletter

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