|
Issue-26, April 11, 2006
From the Editor
The Newsletter contains new calls for papers, a very
interesting array of conferences, workshops, and seminars, and
the contents of journals and newsletters that
span across the
spectrum of heterodox economics. In addition, the new book by Andrew Glyn
on “Capitalism Unleashed” (and his piece from The Guardian which
is under the FYI section) looks quite interesting; and those
industrious economists at the GDE Institute at Tufts have just
produced a “Macroeconomics in Context” for all of you who teach
those introductory macroeconomic courses. Finally, under FYI
note the book sale, the various links to the issue of research
assessment and ranking departments, and the obituary of Hans
Singer.
Fred Lee
In
this issue:
-
Call
for Papers
-
4th PhD Conference "Research in Economics"
- The International Working Group on Gender, Macroeconomics and
International Economics
- Tufts University Global Development And Environment Institute (GDAE)
- 3rd International Conference "Developments in Economic Theory and
Policy"
- Conferences, Seminars
and Lectures
- The Ninth Biennial Conference of ISEE, 'Ecological Sustainability &
Human Well-Being'
- First Annual Economics
Conference at the New School for Social Research
- SCEME Workshop
- Emerging Theories and
Methods in Sustainability Research: Marie Curie summer schools 2006 -
2009
- Eighth International
Workshop on Institutional Economics
- DARE Graduate School in
Economic Governance
-
Job Postings for
Heterodox Economists
- Franklin College (Lugano) (Switzerland)
-
Heterodox Journals and Newsletters
-
Ecological Economics
- Talking Economics Bulletin -
April 2006, Corporate Governance
- Feminist Economics
- Digital Newsletter of The
Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
- International Review of
Applied Economics
- Political Economy Research
Institute (PERI) Newsletter- Spring 2006
-
Heterodox Books and Book Series
- Capitalism Unleashed by Andrew Glyn
- Macroeconomics in
Context
-
For Your Information
- Book Sale
- Research exercise to be
scrapped
- Hans W. Singer
- Marx's reserve army of labour
is about to go global
Call for Papers
4th PhD Conference
"Research in Economics"
4th PhD Conference "Research in Economics" to be held in Volterra
(Pisa), 7-9 September 2006
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 15 May 2006
For more information visit our Web Site:
http://cafim.sssup.it/~confeco/ or send a mail to:
confeco@sssup.it
confeco2006.pdf
The International
Working Group on Gender, Macroeconomics and International Economics
Knowledge Networking Program on Engendering Macroeconomics and
International Economics
4th International Intensive Course: June 18-30, 2006
4th International Conference: July 2-3, 2006
- The application is due on: April 21, 2006
- Your
application will not be processed until all the materials have been
submitted and your file is complete.
For detailed information:
Announcement 2006 NC 3- 25 - 2006.doc
Tufts University Global
Development And Environment Institute (GDAE)
Sustainable Ventures announces a "Call for Papers" for the Prize,
"Our Daily Bread: What Does It REALLY Cost?"
Cosponsored by the Tufts University Friedman School of Nutrition
Sustainable Ventures is offering individual authors or teams a $10,000
prize plus benefits for the study that best measures the true costs of a
loaf of bread. The winning study will provide an analytical framework
that measures integrated social, environmental and financial
performance. By revealing and quantifying hidden costs of a loaf of
bread, the framework will help people make more informed choices to
protect and restore our world.
See CALL FOR PAPERS at
http://www.sustainableventures.us/odb/candidates/Call_for_papers_013006_newfinal.pdf
For more details visit:
http://www.sustainableventures.us/
or contact:
Theo.Ferguson@SustainableVentures.us
3rd International
Conference "Developments in Economic Theory and Policy"
The Department of Applied Economics V of the University of the Basque
Country (Spain) and the Cambridge Centre for Economic and Public Policy
of the University of Cambridge (United Kingdom) are organizing the 3rd
International Conference “Developments in Economic Theory and Policy”.
The Conference will be held in Bilbao (Spain), from 6th to 7th of July
2006, at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of the
Basque Country.
Papers are invited on all areas of economics. Papers must be written in
English. Accepted papers will be grouped in sessions. Every session will
comprise three-four papers.
Suggestions for ‘Organized Sessions’ are also welcome. An organized
session is one devoted to a specific subjetc that has been constructed
in its entirety by a session organizer and submitted to the Conference
Organizers as a complete package (title of the session, papers and
session chair).
The final deadline to submit papers and ‘organized sessions’ is 2nd June
2006. Acceptance letters will be sent out by e-mail by 9th June 2006.
For more information, you can get in touch with Jesus Ferreiro (jesus.ferreiro@ehu.es)
or visit the website of the Conference:
www.conferencedevelopments.com
Top
Conferences, Seminars and
Lectures
The Ninth Biennial
Conference of ISEE, 'Ecological Sustainability & Human Well-Being'
ISEE holds a biennial conference on even numbered years. The biennial
conference provides an excellent opportunity for members to meet other
ecological economists, test their ideas by presenting papers, and
participate in the governance of the Society.
The Ninth Biennial Conference of ISEE, 'Ecological Sustainability &
Human Well-Being', will be held in Delhi, India from the 15th to the
19th December 2006.
Further details can be found at the conference website
www.isee2006.com
First Annual Economics
Conference at the New School for Social Research
"Has Economics Failed the Challenge of Development?"
NEW YORK, NY – The New School economics students will host the first
annual conference entitled "Has Economics Failed the Challenge of
Development?" which will be held at the New School for Social Research
in New York, NY on April 20, 2006. The conference's primary objective is
to offer a forum for a theoretical and political discussion of
development theory vis-à-vis reality.
The conference will draw on the rich literature that has evolved in
defining development as a broader concept. Alongside GDP growth,
economic development includes issues of distribution, structures, state
building, social and political institutions, as well as international
relations. Yet, these debates have often failed to make any real impact
on mainstream economic models and current economic policy.
In three workshops, this conference will explore the role of the state
in the context of the development experience of India, the relationship
between development, growth and inequality, and if economics has failed
the challenge of development. In the concluding session, organized as a
panel discussion, the participants will exchange their views on the
future focus of development economics and policy directions, in an
attempt to answer the question, "what needs to be done?"
Prominent scholars and policy makers from different backgrounds will
speak at the conference including:
Dr. Jose Antonio Ocampo , DESA Under-secretary General of the United
Nations
Dr. K.S. Jomo, Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development
Dr. Berk Ozler, World Bank, Development Research Group
Dr. Branko Milanovic, World Bank, Research Department
Dr. Nata Duvvury, Director at the International Center for Research on
Women
Dr. Edward Nell, Malcolm B. Smith Professor, New School for Social
Research
Dr. Anwar Shaikh, Professor of Economics, New School for Social Research
Dr. Mohan Rao, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst
Dr. Vivek Chibber, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, New
York University
Dr. Sanjay Reddy, Assistant Professor, Barnard College, Columbia
University
Dr. Arjun Appadurai, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic
Affairs, New School
Opening and closing remarks will be given by Dr. Willi Semmler, Chair of
the Economics Department at the New School and Dr. Barry Herman,
Visiting Senior Fellow at the New School. Selected papers and discussion
minutes presented at the conference will be published in the Fall 2006
issue of the New School Economic Review.
This conference is free and open to the public. To register please
visit:
www.NewSchoolConference.com
For more information about the New School for Social Research visit:
www.newschool.edu
Contact:
info@newschoolconference.com
SCEME Workshop
The provisional programme for the SCEME workshop on methods for realist
economics on Friday 5 May is now available, along with registration
details, at www.sceme.stir.ac.uk
. A package of background reading is currently being put together and
will be sent to participants ahead of the Workshop. For detailed
information: Seminar 5
Programme.doc
Emerging Theories and Methods in
Sustainability Research: Marie Curie summer schools 2006 - 2009
A series of four Marie Curie funded summer schools in sustainability
research will take place at four leading European universities between
2006 and 2009. This is an initiative of the European Society for
Ecological Economics. The series will put emphasis on integrating
analyses of complexity, appraisal methods and the role of institutions
as well as interdisciplinarity, involvement of civil society,
participatory learning and integrated approaches. PhD students and other
early stage researchers could apply for one or several of these summer
schools. The series will consist of the following four summer schools:
The 1st summer school: Analysing
Complexity, 7-17 June 2006, Institute of Environmental Sciences and
Technology (ICTA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB), Spain.
This training course is based on the observation that the effects of
technological changes and the pressures of the economy on the
environment cannot be assessed on a single scale. Complexity theory has
emerged from the works of scholars in both economics and ecology and has
changed the focus of how to study human-environment interactions. The
participants will acquire insights into the following issues through
theoretical seminars: a) The concepts of risk, uncertainty and ignorance
in the management of the environment; b) Policy models under conditions
of uncertainty and complexity; c) Biophysical analyses of the economic
process; d) Multiple scales and non-equivalent descriptions of reality;
e) Multi-criteria and scenario approaches to problems of complexity. The
workshops will take the form of case studies focusing on methods and
theoretical framework for the study of complexity. They will cover: i)
Urban systems; ii) Ethnoecology and Agroecology; iii) Climate Change;
iv) Energy systems; Social Metabolism; v) Water use; vi) Biological
invasions.
Keynote speakers (to be confirmed): Silvio Funtowicz (JRC-European
Commission), Marina Fischer-Kowalski (IFF, Vienna).
Lecturers include: Roger Strand (Univ. of Bergen), Joan Martínez-Alier
and Giuseppe Munda (ICTA, UAB), Mario Giampietro (INRAN, Rome), Kozo
Mayumi (Tokushima Univ., Japan), David Gee (EEA), Sharad Lele
(Bangalore), Arild Vatn (Norwegian Univ. of Life Sciences), Rainer Zahn,
Antoni Rosell and Victoria Reyes (ICREA-ICTA, UAB).
Write to
patrick.nussbaumer@swissinfo.org , or to
joan.martinez.alier@uab.es
Applications for this summer School are now open. For further
information, see
www.umb.no/research/themes .
The 2nd summer
school: Institutional Analysis of Sustainability Problems: 18-29
June 2007, Institute for Forecasting, Slovak Academy of Sciences,
Slovakia. Keynote speakers are D.W. Bromley, J. Jílková, M. Kozova and
E. Ostrom.
The 3rd summer school: Methods and tools
for environmental appraisal and policy formulation, May 26 – June 6
2008, Foundation of the Faculty of Sciences and Technology, Universidade
Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. Keynote speakers are Clive Spash and Felix
Rauschmayer.
The 4th summer school: Integrated analysis
of complex adaptive systems, 15-26 June 2009 at the University of
Sussex, Brighton, UK. Keynote speakers are R. Nelson, J. Gowdy and P.
Allen.
More detailed information is available at
www.umb.no/research/themes
Eighth International Workshop on
Institutional Economics
"Human Needs and Markets: New Foundations For Health and Social Policy"
Organised by the Centre for Research in Institutional Economics,
University of Hertfordshire, UK
With the kind support of the Cambridge Political Economy Society Trust.
Speakers:
Stephen Dunn (Department of Health), Barbara Harriss-White (University
of Oxford), Colin Haslam (University of Hertfordshire), Geoffrey Hodgson
(University of Hertfordshire), Robert McMaster (University of Aberdeen).
19-20 June 2006
This residential workshop will be held on the De Havilland campus of the
University of Hertfordshire, in Hatfield, England.
This workshop is designed to provide in-depth discussion of cutting-edge
issues in institutional economics, in a forum that permits the attention
to detail and definition that is often lacking in larger,
conference-style events. The expected maximum number of participants is
50. Please book early to avoid disappointment.
The De Havilland Campus of the University of Hertfordshire is about one
mile from Hatfield railway station. There are regular trains from
Hatfield to London Kings Cross, taking about 20 minutes. There is easy
access to all London airports.
There are still a few (subsidised and unsubsidised) places available at
this workshop.
For detailed information:
Human Needs and
Markets.doc
DARE Graduate School in Economic
Governance
The annual DARE Graduate School in Economic Governance, Development and
Public Policy will be held in 2006 at the School of Management,
University of Bath, UK. It will take place from 10th - 16th September
2006. The School, which has evolved from the L’institute-Ferrara
Graduate School in Industrial Development Policy, is co-ordinated and
organised by DARE (Democratic Communities in Academic Research on
Economic Development), a community of international faculty focused on
enhancing theoretical and policy understanding around democratic
economic development. For further information on DARE, please see
www.postgradschools.net
A particular aim of the School is to contribute to the evolution of a
multinational network of people thinking about, analysing and
researching into economic governance, development and public policy. To
this end, the School will bring together 16 participants from a variety
of countries and research backgrounds to engage in a co-operative
learning process with internationally-renowned researchers and
practitioners.
For further information and for an application form, those interested
can write to Marcela Valania at
m.m.valania@bham.ac.uk . The deadline for applications is
Friday 9th June 2006.
For detailed information:
2006 Bath
School Partuculars.doc
Top
Job Postings for
Heterodox Economists
Franklin College
(Lugano) (Switzerland)
Assistant Professor of Economics
An economics position at Franklin College, Switzerland: must be
dedicated to teaching and a scholar in the Post Keynesian tradition.
Applications are invited for a full-time position in the Area of
Economics and Finance at Franklin College Switzerland to teach
undergraduate courses in introductory and intermediate microeconomics,
international trade, and another advanced course (such as the economics
of the European Union). Start date is the fall semester, 2006. Required
credentials: earned doctorate in economics; evidence of effective
teaching; demonstrated ability and commitment to research; active
support of the liberal arts; able to lead travel/study programs in
Europe, the U.S or elsewhere in the world. Preferred credentials:
Foreign language ability (esp. Italian, French or German). To assure
full consideration, please submit application letter, C.V., evidence of
effective teaching, a sample of scholarship, and names and contact
information for three references to
econsearch@fc.edu . Applications will be reviewed upon receipt and
will be accepted until April 30, 2006. Franklin College is a US and
Swiss accredited, undergraduate liberal arts college with an
internationally focused educational mission. It has a diverse student
body from over fifty different nations and is located in Lugano, an
important banking and financial center in the Italian speaking part of
Switzerland, one hour from Milan. Language of instruction is English.
Further information on Franklin College:
http://www.fc.edu and
http://www.fc.edu/econfin/default.htm
JEL Classification(s): A, D, F
Application has to be received by 30. April 2006.
If you are interested, e-mail Andrea Terzi at
aterzi@fc.edu for more
information.
Top
Heterodox Journals and
Newsletters
Ecological
Economics
The journal is concerned with extending and integrating the study and
management of "nature's household" (ecology) and "humankind's household"
(economics). Specific research areas covered include: valuation of
natural resources, sustainable agriculture and development, ecologically
integrated technology, integrated ecologic-economic modelling at scales
from local to regional to global, and integrating natural resources and
environmental services into national income and wealth accounts. New
issues in ecological economics will find a ready forum in the journal.
For additional information, contact the Editorial Office, Ecological
Economics, P.O. Box 1589, Solomons, MD 20688, USA.
The journal can be ordered in conjunction with a
membership in the
International Society for Ecological Economics (ISEE).
For a detailed table of contents for all volumes of the journal, please
see
Elsevier's Table of Contents
Special Note:
Download Costanza et al's data used in the analysis of 'Influential
publications in ecological economics', Ecological Economics, Volume 50,
Issues 3-4, 2004, Pages 261-292,
here
Talking
Economics Bulletin - April 2006, Corporate Governance
The Talking Economics Bulletin consists of news and views on associative
economics, including short extracts from Associative Economics Monthly
(which is available electronically for £1 an issue at
www.cfae.biz/aem or in a
hard copy format - tel (UK) 01227 738207). To unsubscribe from this
list, reply or send an email to
info@talkingeconomics.com
with 'bulletin unsubscribe' in the subject line.
1) Associative Economics Monthly April 06, Editorial
2) Event Details - in London, Stroud, Holland, Switzerland and Norway
3) The Trial of Taxation
4) Associative Economics and Rudolf Steiner’s Thinking - A presentation
at LSE in association with The Network Project
For detailed information:
teb_april06.doc
Feminist Economics
Volume 12
Number 1-2/January/April 2006 of Feminist Economics is now available on
the journalsonline.tandf.co.uk web site at
http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk.
To unsubscribe from this alert please visit:
http://www.tandf.co.uk/sara .
This issue contains:
Special Issue: A Special Issue on Women and Wealth
The gender asset gap: What do we know and why
does it matter? |
p.
1 |
Carmen Diana Deere, Cheryl R. Doss |
|
Cui Bono? The 1870
British Married Women's Property Act, Bargaining Power, and the
Distribution of Resources within Marriage |
p.
51 |
Mary Beth Combs |
|
Crippled capitalists: The inscription of economic
dependence and the challenge of female entrepreneurship in
nineteenth-century America |
p.
85 |
Susan M. Yohn |
|
“The widow, the clergyman and the reckless”: 1
women investors in England, 1830–1914 |
p.
111 |
Janette Rutterford, Josephine Maltby |
|
Gender, marriage, and asset accumulation in the
United States |
p.
139 |
Lucie Schmidt, Purvi Sevak |
|
The wealth of single women: Marital status and
parenthood in the asset accumulationof young baby boomersin the
United States |
p.
167 |
Alexis Yamokoski, Lisa A. Keister |
|
Moving beyond the gender wealth gap: On gender,
class, ethnicity, and wealth inequalities in the United Kingdom |
p.
195 |
Tracey Warren |
|
Household bargaining over wealth and the adequacy
of women's retirement incomes in New Zealand |
p.
221 |
John Gibson, Trinh Le, Grant Scobie |
|
Assets in intrahousehold bargaining among women
workers in Colombia's cut-flower industry |
p.
247 |
Greta Friedemann-Sánchez |
|
Joint titling – a win-win policy? gender and
property rightsin urban informal settlementsin Chandigarh, India |
p.
271 |
Namita Datta |
|
Book Reviews |
p.
299 |
|
|
Notes on Contributors |
p.
319 |
Digital
Newsletter of The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
Levy News- April 2006
1.POLICY NOTE
"The Fiscal Facts: Public and Private Debts and the Future of the
American Economy?" No. 2006/2
by JAMES K. GALBRAITH
http://www.levy.org/pubs/pn_2_06.pdf
2.APRIL 2006 REPORT Vol. 16, Number 2
http://www.levy.org/pubs/rpt_16_2.pdf
3.SPRING SUMMARY Vol. 15, Number 2
http://www.levy.org/pubs/sum_15_2.pdf
4.WORKING PAPERS
"Enhancing Livelihood Security through the National Employment Guarantee
Act: Toward Effective Implementation of the Act"
No. 437 by INDIRA HIRWAY http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_437.pdf
"Keynes’s Approach to Money: An Assessment after 70 Years" No. 438 by L.
RANDALL WRAY
http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_438.pdf
"Where Do They Find the Time? An Analysis of How Parents Shift and
Squeeze
Their Time Around Work and Child Care" No. 439 by LYN CRAIG
http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_439.pdf
"Parental Child Care in Single Parent, Cohabiting, and Married Couple
Families: Time Diary Evidence from the United States and the United
Kingdom" No. 440
by CHARLENE M. KALENKOSKI, DAVID C. RIBAR, and LESLIE S. STRATTON
http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_440.pdf
"Prolegomena to Realistic Monetary Macroeconomics: A Theory of
Intelligible Sequences" No. 441
by WYNNE GODLEY and MARC LAVOIE
http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_441.pdf
"Government Effects on the Distribution of Income: An Overview" No. 442
by DIMITRI B. PAPADIMITRIOU
http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_442.pdf
"Personality and Earnings" No. 443 by KAYE K.W. LEE
http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_443.pdf
"Tinbergen Rules the Taylor Rule" No. 444
by THOMAS R. MICHL
http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_444.pdf
5.APRIL CONFERENCE
"Government Spending on the Elderly"
Friday-Saturday, April 28-29, 2006
Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
http://www.levy.org
International
Review of Applied Economics
Volume 20 Number 02/April 2006 of
International Review of Applied Economics is now available on the
journalsonline.tandf.co.uk web site at
http://journalsonline.tandf.co.uk.
This issue contains:
Public Investment and Economic
Performance in Highly Indebted Poor Countries: An Empirical
Assessment |
p. 151 |
Marianna
Belloc, Pietro Vertova |
|
Flexible Labour, Firm
Performance and the Dutch Job Creation Miracle |
p. 171 |
Alfred
Kleinknecht, Remco M. Oostendorp, Menno P. Pradhan, C.W.M.
Naastepad |
|
Corporate Governance and the
Public Interest |
p. 189 |
J. Robert
Branston, Keith Cowling, Roger Sugden |
|
The Revealed Preference of
Regulatory Menus: Evidence from the Pre‐Nationalisation
British Gas Industry |
p. 213 |
Terry
Robinson |
|
Innovation, Diffusion and
Cumulative Causation: Changes in the Spanish Growth Regime,
1960–2001 |
p. 223 |
Fulvio
Castellacci, Isabel Álvarez |
|
Unemployment and Welfare
Participation in a Structural VAR: Rethinking the 1990s in
the United States |
p. 243 |
Corrado
Andini |
|
Stability and Turbulence in the
Size Distribution of Firms: Evidence from Dutch
Manufacturing |
p. 255 |
Orietta
Marsili |
|
BookReview |
p. 273 |
Political
Economy Research Institute (PERI) Newsletter- Spring 2006
1. PERI’s Work on African Economies: Ghana, South Africa, and Kenya
2. The Corporate Toxics Information Project: Translating the Right to
Know into the Right to Clean Air
3. PERI Dissertations Archive
4. Update on the Living Wage Movement
5. New Working Papers
6. New PERI Communications Director
For detailed information:
Political Economy Research Institute.doc
Top
Heterodox
Books and Book Series
Capitalism
Unleashed by Andrew Glyn
Oxford University Press has just published Capitalism Unleashed by
Andrew Glyn, an account of the development of the advanced capitalist
countries since 1979.
ANDREW GLYN, Oxford
University
March 2006 | £16.99 | 0-19-929199-3; 978-0-19-929199-1
Free enterprise is off the leash …
New opportunities for profit making are being chased across the globe.
This book challenges the notion of our capitalist destiny. Focusing on
the recent history of the industrialized economies, Andrew Glyn
questions whether capitalism really has brought the levels of economic
growth and prosperity that were hoped for.
Glyn looks at the impact of huge growth emerging markets and developing
economies such as China and what impact this will have on the
established 'North'.
The race is on as the older economies struggle to safeguard a
competitive advantage. Is a race to the bottom investigable or is there
any alternative model?
• Bestselling author Andrew Glyn presents his unique view of the rise of
Capitalism and its implications for the future
• Challenges the view that economic growth and the welfare state are
incompatible
• Gives readers a unique overview of how the bewildering variety of
economic events and policies reported by the media are related and
combine to affect how we live
• Provides a valuable and concise history of the economies of Europe,
Japan, and the USA since the 1960s
About the author:
Andrew Glyn has been Tutor in Economics at Corpus Christi College Oxford
since 1969. After completing his PhD, he went to work in the Treasury
and was rapidly transferred to the Department of Economic Affairs which
was set up to produce the UK’s National Plan in 1965. In the 1970s Glyn
became involved in left wing politics, writing articles for the Militant
group. After publishing articles in the Guardian in 1984 denouncing
Thatcher's mine closures, he was asked by Arthur Scargill to turn his
arguments into a pamphlet for the National Union of Mineworkers,
subsequently working as their economic advisor. Glyn co-edits the Oxford
Review of Economic Policy. He co-authored several books on post-war
capitalism, edited Social Democracy in Neoliberal times (OUP 2001) and
has published journal articles on unemployment, profitability,
globalisation and the history of economic thought and newspaper articles
on current economic policies.
For further information about the book or author, author interviews, or
bespoke author article, please contact:
Natasha Antunes natasha.antunes@oup.com
Tel: 01865 353650
For more information see
http://www.oup.co.uk/isbn/0-19-929199-3
Macroeconomics
in Context
Are you teaching Introductory Macroeconomics this coming fall? If so,
don't put in your book order yet!
In 2005, Microeconomics in Context, an innovative micro textbook
sponsored by the Global Development And Environment Institute at Tufts
University, was published by Houghton Mifflin Company. We have received
many enthusiastic comments about that book – and many inquiries about
when the companion text, Macroeconomics in Context would be ready.
We are pleased to announce that, by arrangement with our editor at
Houghton Mifflin Company, we will be making the Preliminary Edition of
Macroeconomics in Context available electronically on the Web. You can
use this as your class text this fall by downloading the whole book, or
individual chapters, at no cost to you or your students!
See below for (1) a description of the unique features of this text and
(2) more details about the web publication. You will receive another
e-mail within a few weeks, directing you to a newly-created webpage from
which you will be able to start downloading Macroeconomics in Context,
Preliminary Edition.
We hope you will join the vanguard of instructors implementing this new
way of teaching economics: clear, lively, and relevant to the world of
the 21st century!
(1) Unique Features of Macroeconomics in Context
While Macroeconomics in Context incorporates the theoretical content
expected in a principles text, it delves deeper, offering a fresh
understanding of economic realities. Instructors will find that standard
topics – including Classical and Keynesian approaches, in both new and
old versions – are covered clearly and succinctly. But, in addition,
questions of ecological sustainability, non-marketed production
accomplished within households and communities, the quality of life, and
income distribution are given more attention than in other texts. Taking
history, institutions, and environmental constraints seriously, this
textbook balances analysis of market processes in the macroeconomy with
discussion of public policies that go beyond short-term stabilization
targets to promote long-term sustainability and social goals.
(2) Publication Details
Chapters of Macroeconomics in Context, Preliminary Edition will be
available individually as Adobe Acrobat (pdf) files. The documents are
entirely in black & white, suitable for economical printing. Instructors
(only) may request accompanying Instructor Notes which contain resource
materials and answers to exercises, as these become available. More than
half of the text will be available for your inspection by mid-April. All
of the chapters necessary to begin teaching from this book will be ready
before the start of fall term 2006; the last few chapters in Part IV
will become available early in the semester. A revised, full-color,
print First Edition will later be produced, incorporating feedback from
users of the Preliminary Edition. Chapters marked with * are already
available for your review as self-contained GDAE Teaching Modules at
http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/education_materials/modules.html
Table of Contents of Macroeconomics in Context, Preliminary Edition
I. The Context for Economic Analysis
*1: Economic Activity in Context
*2: Some Useful Tools and Concepts
3: What Economies Do
4: Supply and Demand
II. Macroeconomic Basics
*5: Macroeconomic Measurement: The Current Approach
*6: Macroeconomic Measurement: Environmental and Social Dimensions
7: Employment and Unemployment
8: The Structure of the U.S. Economy
III. Macroeconomic Theory and Policy
9: Aggregate Demand: Classical and Keynesian Views
10: Fiscal Policy
11: Monetary Policy
12. Current Problems and Competing Theories6
IV. Macroeconomic Issues and Applications
13: The Global Economy
14: How Do Economies Grow?
15: Development, Past and Future
16: The Varieties of Macroeconomic Experience
Read more about GDAE Economics Textbooks at:
http://www.ase.tufts.edu/gdae/publications/textbooks/index.html
Top
For Your Information
Book Sale
Professor Victoria Chick is moving offices in early June 2006. Thus she
is offering some very, very interesting books for sale. For information
see the link.
Research exercise to be scrapped
For those interested
in issues regarding the ranking of economic departments you might want
to look at some of the most recent discussions and material with regard
to the Research Assessment Exercise that is taking place in the United
Kingdom—see the links below. What is happening in the UK is a good
glimpse of what could be happening in the future in other European
countries as well as countries around the world.
RAE
RAE 2008 Panel Criteria and Working Methods
http://www.rae.ac.uk/pubs/2006/01/
“RAE 2008 Panel Criteria and Working Methods: Panel I –Economics”
http://www.rae.ac.uk/pubs/2006/01/byuoa.asp?u=i
Treasury Report and Metric-based Assessment
“Budget 2006: Report”
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/budget/budget_06/budget_report/bud_bud06_repindex.cfm
“Budget 2006: Report, Chapter 3-Meeting the Productivity Challenge”
http://www.hm-treasury.gov.uk/media/20E/EA/bud06_ch3_192.pdf
“Research Exercise to be Scrapped” by D. MacLeod
http://education.guardian.co.uk/RAE/story/0,,1737082,00.html
“PSA Target Metrics for the UK Research Base” by OST
http://www.ost.gov.uk/research/psa_target_metrics.htm
“Online, Continuous, Metrics-Based Research Assessment”
http://openaccess.eprints.org/index.php?/archives/75-Online,-Continuous,-Metrics-Based-Research-Assessment.html
“Oxford Workshop on the Use of Metrics in Research Assessment”
http://www.wolfson.ox.ac.uk/metricsworkshop
“Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014: Next Steps”
(March 2006)
http://news.ft.com/cms/916022f6-b9af-11da-9d02-0000779e2340.pdf
Hans W. Singer
March 26, 2006
Hans W. Singer, 95, Creator of U.N. Development Program, Dies By HEATHER
TIMMONS Hans Wolfgang Singer, an economist who devoted his life to
analyzing the causes and effects of poverty and helped create the World
Food Program and the United Nations Development Program, died in his
sleep on Feb. 26 in Brighton, England. He was 95.
His death was announced by the University of Sussex, where he last
worked.
Sir Hans, who was knighted in 1994, was best known for his work on the
effects of trade on developing nations. He argued that long-term trade
agreements favor developed countries, resulting in falling prices for
commodities produced by poorer nations, an idea that came to be known as
the Prebisch-Singer thesis.
He was born in 1910 in the Rhineland to a middle-class family.
Originally he was to follow in his father's footsteps and become a
doctor. But he turned to economics instead, drawn by a desire to
understand the forces behind Germany's great inflation of 1923 and
depression of 1930 and 1931, according to his biographer, John Shaw.
As Nazi persecution of Jews increased, he fled Germany in 1933. He had
been studying at Bonn University there, and he sought asylum in Britain.
He became one of the Cambridge Ph.D students of the economist John
Maynard Keynes.
Like Keynes, Sir Hans "treated economics as a moral science," noted A.
P. Thirlwall, professor of applied economics at the University of Kent
in Canterbury. For a study of poverty in Britain, Sir Hans lived with
unemployed families and theorized that the loss of dignity that went
with lack of work was as serious a problem as unemployment itself.
In 1947, he joined the United Nations from Glasgow University, where he
began studying the theories on trade and developing nations that earned
him renown in economic circles. He spent 22 years at the United Nations,
advocating changes to the treatment of developing nations, like giving
aid in the form of food.
After retiring from the United Nations, he took a fellowship at the
Institute for Development Studies in Sussex University, where he
published 30 books.
Sir Hans was married to Ilse Lina Plaut, a feminist and fund-raiser, for
67 years until her death in 2001. He is survived by a son.
Marx's reserve army of labour is
about to go global
The eruption of the Indian and Chinese economies could shift the balance
of power sharply in favour of capital in the rich world
By Andrew Glyn
Apiece of conventional wisdom about the world dear to economists is that
the share of national income going to workers stays pretty stable. Karl
Marx disagreed; he argued that labour-saving capital investment would
limit demand for labour, while also bankrupting small-scale producers,
in agriculture for example. They would swell the labour supply, creating
a permanent "reserve army of labour" that would prevent real wages
growing as fast as labour productivity. Workers would thus spend an
increasing proportion of working time producing profits for capitalists
- a falling share for labour or a rising rate of exploitation, in Marx's
terminology.
Labour's share of national income was indeed declining in Britain in the
decades before the publication of Marx's Capital in the 1860s. However,
labour's share lurched up during the two world wars, and this is often
interpreted as reflecting a more even balance of power between capital
and labour brought about by the growth of trade unions.
The later 60s and 70s saw a profits squeeze in many European economies,
including the UK, reflecting a further decline in the power of private
ownership. Subsequently, labour's advances were beaten back through
unemployment and the reassertion of "shareholder value". Workers' share
of national income has fallen in much of Europe to more "normal" levels.
As yet this is not the systematic downward trend predicted by Marx. But
could that be about to change?
The Communist Manifesto proclaimed the inevitable spread of capitalism
across the globe. This process was halted and even reversed during much
of the 20th century by the isolation of the Soviet Union, eastern Europe
and China from the world economy and the very slow pace of economic
development in poor countries such as India. However, the extraordinary
transformation of China's and India's economies promises to bring Marx
and Engels' prediction to completion. What might be the implications for
workers in rich countries?
At first glance, the eruption of China into the world economy seems to
be just the latest example of Asian countries catching up with the
leading industrial powers. China's export growth has been spectacular,
but so was that of Japan and Korea in earlier decades.
What makes China (and India) fundamentally different, however, are their
vast labour reserves. Total employment in China is estimated at around
750 million, or about one and a half times that of all the rich
economies, and nearly 10 times the combined employment of Japan and
Korea. About one half of China's employment is still in agriculture;
together with tens of millions of urban underemployed, they constitute a
reserve army of labour of quite unprecedented magnitude.
The effect of this reserve army has been to hold down wages. After
nearly 25 years of rapid economic growth, wages in China's manufacturing
sector are still only 3% of the US level; after similar periods of rapid
expansion in Japan and Korea, wages were some 10 times as high.
Much attention has naturally been devoted to the effects on
industrialised countries of the flood of imports. But there is another,
more ominous, possibility. What if there was a major drain of capital
spending, from the rich countries to China and the rest of the south?
Investment in developing countries by multinational companies has been
growing, but it is still only 3-4% of their investment at home each
year. Could the trickle turn into a flood? Television pictures of the
machinery at the Longbridge car plant being packed up for shipment to
China may be an extreme case. However, with such low wage costs in China
and growing numbers of skilled workers, why should northern producers
continue investing to maintain their capital stock in the north, let
alone extend it? If investment peters out, where would northern workers
find jobs? When Longbridge closed, a government minister was ill-advised
to suggest that the car workers could seek jobs at Tesco. Hardly a
comforting response.
It is not too far-fetched to imagine a long period of investment
stagnation in the industrialised countries, with "emerging markets"
being so much more profitable. This could bring intense pressure on jobs
and working conditions in Britain and elsewhere. Even sectors where
relocation was not possible, like retailing or education, would be
flooded with job seekers. The bargaining chips would be in the hands of
capital to a degree not seen since the industrial revolution.
Fluctuations in labour's share being confined to the range of 65-75%
could disappear too, with Marx's rising rate of exploitation
re-emerging, a century and a half after he first predicted it.
Could the economy become ever more dependent on the luxury consumption
of the wealthy, who receive a disproportionate share of the higher
profits? Alternatively, would taxation of profits be increased to expand
government services such as health and education? With recent trends in
favour of the wealthy intensifying, the fundamental issue of who gets
what could no longer be confined to hesitant debates about minor changes
in the share of taxation in national income, or adjustments to the top
rate of income tax.
· Andrew Glyn is an economics fellow at Corpus Christi College, Oxford,
and author of Capitalism Unleashed. Email:
andrew.glyn@economics.ox.ac.uk
http://business.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,,1747155,00.html
Top
|
|