htn header 2

Issue 52: November, 8 2007

From the Editor

This past weekend I attended the EAEPE Conference (http://www.eaepe.org/) in Porto, Portugal.  Aside from the usual suspects all giving brilliant papers and generating stimulating conversations, I did hear four papers that were interesting.  One was Ben Fine’s paper on economic imperialism and the move forward of heterodox economics; and a second one was Joao Rodrigues’s and Ana Santos’s paper on economics as social engineering in which they were critical of Michel Callon’s performativity thesis that mainstream economics is powerful enough to enact the reality that it describes.  The third paper by Judit Kapas was on technological change and the evolution of firm organization; and the final paper was on restructuring and growth in Albania by Juliette Tendjoukian—it was a co-winner of the Herbert Simon Prize for the best conference paper presented by a young scholar.  Next year the EAEPE conference will be in Rome.   

 Changing e-mail addresses create headaches for anybody who runs e-mail lists.  If your e-mail address is going to change, please send me the new address.  In particular, those with the following e-mail address:  surname@spbo.unibo.it need to send me their new e-mail address as soon as you can which will be surname@unibo.it.  

On Thursday evening of the ASSA Conference, the Association for Social Economics is having its plenary session which is open to all economists that support pluralism in economics. The reception after the session is co-sponsored by ICAPE:

Session: Inequality, Democracy, and the Economy
Thursday, January 3, 2008, 6:30 pm
Presiding: John B. Davis, University of Amsterdam and Marquette University
Co-sponsors: National Economic Association, International Association for Feminist Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics
Participants:
Dean Baker, Center for Economic and Policy Research
William J. Darity, Jr., Duke University
Lourdes Beneria, Cornell University

There is also another special session at the ASSA:  URPE turns 40 this year--and you are invited to a celebration of URPE’s anniversary.  Time and place:  The New Orleans ASSA meetings Thursday, January 3 from 4-6 pm in the Nottoway room in the Sheraton There will be a panel discussion featuring some of those who where “present at the creation”

Lourdes Beneria, Cornell University

Laurie Nisonoff, Hampshire College

Arthur MacEwan, University of Massachusetts, Boston

Howard Wachtel, American University

Frank Thompson, University  of  Michigan will moderate.  There will be plenty of time for audience members to offer their own recollections of  the "glorious days of yesteryear" and to think about URPE's accomplishments and future.  Please do come and celebrate URPE's anniversary! (This information is also in the ASSA program and on the URPE website:  http://www.urpe.org.)

Fred Lee

In this issue:
  Call for Papers
  - The 10th International Post Keynesian Conference
- Graduate Summer School in Post Keynesian Economics
- Left Forum 2008
- Community Movements: Building Solidarity for Social Change Conference
- Association for Institutional Thought [AFIT]
- The 35th Annual Conference of History of Economic Society
- The Eighth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture and Change in Organisations
- Expanding Connections for Business History
- The Association for Institutional Thought- Student Competition
- Association of Business Historians- 2008
  Conferences, Seminars and Lectures
  - Time diversification of risk - mathematical or methodological arguments for?
- Basic Income Conference and Social Economics Conference Women Debt and Poverty, Trafficking in Women
- Third Annual Green Economics Conference
- Seminaire Arc 2
- Institutionalization, Institutional Change and Institutional Theory
- Labour on the Margins
- Workers Rights, Human Rights: Making the Connection
- Enquiry, Evidence and Facts: An Interdisciplinary Conference
- Path Dependencies of Businesses, Institutions, and Technologies
- International Conference on Business History Formerly Fuji Conference
- Growth and Distribution: Institutional and Social Dynamics
- SHE Conference Registrations
  International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics - News
  - ICAPE News
  Job Postings for Heterodox Economists
  - Stetson University
- The Open University
- University of Texas at Arlington
- The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma
- SOAS, University of London
- Centre for Innovation & Structural Change
- University of Central Lancashire
- Tufts University
  Heterodox Journals and Newsletters
  - Metroeconomica
- Issues in Regulation Theory
- Forum for Social Economics
- Associative Economics Bulletin
- Levy News
- Economic Sociology
- Review of Social Economy
  Heterodox Books, Book Series, and Book Reviews
  - The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class
- Youth, Identity, Power: The Chicano Movement
- US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, The Promise of Revival
- The Cult of the Market: Economic Fundamentalism and its Discontents
- Global Flashpoint: Reactions to Imperialism and Neoliberalism
- Questioning Globalized Militarism: Nuclear and Military Production and Critical Economic Theory
- Defragmenting: Towards a critical understanding of the new global division of labour
- UN-DESA Policy Brief Series
  Heterodox Book Reviews
  - How rich countries got rich …and why poor countries remain poor
- Marxian Reproduction Schema
  Heterodox Websites
  - www.postkeynesian.net
  Heterodox Graduate Program and PhD Scholarships
  - University of Amsterdam
- Centre for Innovation & Structural Change
  For Your Information
  - Use your Economics for Social Justice!
- Association for Integrity and Responsible Leadership in Economics and Associated Professions
- Socialism after Hayek
   

Call for Papers

The 10th International Post Keynesian Conference

Call for Papers
Theme: Post Keynesian Economic Policy
June 29- July 1, 2008
Kansas City- Missouri USA

More information will be forthcoming at www.cfeps.org  and www.generaltheory.org  websites.
Contact: Heather Starzynski ( hms6f8@umkc.edu )

Graduate Summer School in Post Keynesian Economics

Call for Papers
June 26-28, 2008
University of Missouri- Kansas City and Center for Full Employment and Price Stability (CFEPS)
The faculty should submit a proposal for 1 hour class with class title and summary.
More information will be forthcoming at www.cfeps.org/ss2008
Contact: Heather Starzynski ( hms6f8@umkc.edu )

Left Forum 2008

March 14-16
The Cooper Union, New York City
Left Forum is accepting panel proposals through December 15th, 2007, for our 2008 conference.
Panel proposals should include a title, description, and brief biographies of yourself and your speakers. Please include complete contact information, and make clear if the proposed speakers have already committed to your panel or are suggested. We ask that a diversity of opinions be represented.
Left Forum asks each panel to contribute $120 towards the costs of the conference, which will cover the registration fees of your speakers. Our facilities at the Cooper Union do not include audio/visual equipment, so please plan accordingly.
We receive far more proposals than can be accommodated, and panels will be evaluated by our programming committee with regard to the overall shape of our program. We will contact you as soon as we have made a decision on your proposal.
Please send all proposals with "PANEL PROPOSAL" in the subject line to leftforum@leftforum.org.

Community Movements: Building Solidarity for Social Change Conference

Trent University
We are inviting students, social activists, grassroots organizations, academics, and any persons passionate about community-based social change to contribute and present papers and workshops at the Community Movements: Building Solidarity for Social Change Conference at Trent University. Presentations may be research and/or experience based, with a focus on community-based social change. Workshops will provide an opportunity to share strategies, dialogue and to learn from one another. Proposals may include assembling a panel around a particular theme or issue. The presentations will be given in an intimate setting, each lasting approximately 30-40 minutes. If you are interested in submitting a proposal, please complete the attached form and return it electronically to buildsolidarity@care2.com  by November 30th, 2007.

Association for Institutional Thought [AFIT]

2008 CALL FOR PAPERS
The annual meeting of AFIT will be held
April 23-26, 2008
Denver, Colorado
Grand Hyatt, http://wssa.asu.edu/conferences/default.htm
In conjunction with the Western Social Science Association (WSSA) 50th Annual Conference

Theme for the 2008 Conference:
New Directions in Economics: The Emerging Conversation within Heterodox Economics
For detailed information: AFIT.doc

The 35th Annual Conference of History of Economic Society

The 35th Annual Conference of the History of Economic Society will be held 27-30 June 2008, at York University, in Toronto, Canada.

Full conference details will appear shortly on the HES website (once we address some challenges around online registration), but I want to post the basic information for those of you already thinking about travel plans.

To make conference travel from Europe easier, there are two slight changes in the timing of sessions.

While there is an optional dinner on Friday, 27 June, conference sessions will only begin on Saturday, 28 June (8 am). There are no speakers on the Friday.

In order to accommodate all of the sessions, the full conference will run until 2 pm on Monday, 30 June. Previously, there were relatively few sessions scheduled on the Monday. This year, Monday may also contain major plenary sessions.

That means that for travel accommodations, please try to plan on leaving Monday, 30 June, in the late afternoon or evening. The airport is only a 30 minute taxi ride from York University.

There will be on-campus accommodation at a brand new student residence, as well as at the Executive Learning Centre Hotel of the York Schulich School of Business, where the conference will be held.
We are also holding a block of rooms at two downtown hotels, for those of you who want to stay in the heart of Toronto. All of the hotels will offer conference rates if you wish to come a few days early or stay a few days after the conference, to see the many sights Toronto has to offer.

The Distinguished Guest Lecturer will be Professor Duncan Foley, New School for Social Research.

The conference coordinator is Deborah Groves, and the conference email address is 2008hes@gmail.com.

Other announcements will be posted to the HES list when the website is available with all information, including registration, housing, and how to submit proposals for papers and for complete sessions. The deadline for proposals will be, as usual, mid-February 2008.

The Eighth International Conference on Knowledge, Culture and Change in Organisations

Cambridge University, United Kingdom, 5-8 August 2008 http://www.ManagementConference.com

The primary interest of the Management Conference is knowledge-based social and economic change. Driven by globalisation and advances in information and communications technologies, this change has been characterised in terms of emerging information/knowledge societies and a global knowledge-based economy.

As well as impressive line-up of international main speakers, the Conference will also include numerous paper, workshop and colloquium presentations by practitioners, teachers and researchers. We would particularly like to invite you to respond to the Conference Call-for-Papers. Presenters may choose to submit written papers for publication in the fully refereed International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change in Organisations. If you are unable to attend the Conference in person, virtual registrations are also available which allow you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication in this fully refereed academic Journal, as well as access to the electronic version of the Journal.

The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 8 November 2007. Proposals are reviewed within four weeks of submission. Full details of the Conference, including an online proposal submission form, are to be found at the Conference website - http://www.ManagementConference.com

Expanding Connections for Business History

The Business History Conference's 2008 annual meeting on April 10-12 is hosted by the California State University at Sacramento. Its theme is "Expanding Connections for Business History," with the goal of reaching across disciplines and audiences.

The Association for Institutional Thought- Student Competition

Third Annual Student Scholars Award Competition
The Association for Institutional Thought (AFIT) proudly announces the Third Annual AFIT
Student Scholars Award Competition. The aim of AFIT is to encourage undergraduate and
graduate students in Economics and Political Economy to pursue research in topics within the
Institutional Economics framework.
Up to five winning papers will be selected. Winners are expected to present their research during
a special session at the Annual Meetings of AFIT, held during the Western Social Science
Association’s 50th Annual Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Denver Colorado, April 23-
26, 2008.
Winners will each receive:
1. $300 cash prize
2. One year student membership in AFIT
3. Paid WSSA Conference Registration
4. Paid admission to the AFIT Presidential Address Dinner

Winning papers must be presented at a special AFIT session in order to collect the cash prize.
Cash prizes will be presented during the AFIT Presidential Address Dinner.
Application Procedures and Deadlines
Papers must be between 25-40 pages in length, including references and appendices. They
should be submitted electronically (preferably in Word format) by 11/15/07 to:
Carolyn Aldana, Ph.D. Phone: (909) 537-7315
Economics Department Fax: (909) 537-7645
CSU, San Bernardino email: cbrod@csusb.edu
5500 University Avenue
San Bernardino, CA 92407
Winners will be notified by 12/01/07
For more info about AFIT, visit our website www.orgs.bucknell.edu/afee/afit/

Association of Business Historians- 2008

‘Business History after Chandler’

4-5 July 2008
University of Birmingham
www.busman.qmul.ac.uk/abh

On the 4-5 July 2008 the Association of Business Historians will hold their annual meeting at the University of Birmingham.

‘Business History after Chandler’.

Keynote speaker: Professor Leslie Hannah
‘American Whigs and the Business History of Europe’


The primary aim of this conference is to provide a forum to reflect on the contribution of Alfred DuPont Chandler Jr. (1918-2007) to the development of business history. We welcome in particular papers that engage explicitly and constructively with the Chandlerian paradigm, including specific country and firm studies. Submissions of papers and sessions of interest include, but are not limited to:

- Big business and family firms
- Markets versus firms
- Firms and the State
- Professionalisation of Management
- Comparative Corporate Governance
- The theory of business history
- Business history as story
- Entrepreneurs, strategy and structure
- Business and productivity
- Labour relations

Organizers also welcome papers on any topic related to business history, even where it does not focus on the conference theme, and on any time period or country.

Top

Conferences, Seminars and Lectures

Time diversification of risk - mathematical or methodological arguments for?

John Pemberton
Location: T206, Lakatos Building, London School of Economics, WC2A 2AE Time & Date: 3-5pm, Thursday, November 22nd, 2007.

John Pemberton is CFO of Stonehaven Equity Release and formerly of Prudential. He has done wide-ranging work on the methodology of financial economics, especially on the Black-Scholes Model, the issue of realistic assumptions in economics and the methodology of actuarial science.

Abstract

Intuition suggests that we should be less inclined to use equities investing on a 3 month time horizon than on a 20 year horizon - perhaps risk diversifies over time. But if risk does diversify over time, then the heterogeneity of investors would seem to threaten the basis of the simple mathematical models which comprise the core of financial economics.

In a draft paper, I argue within the standard mathematical economic framework, that the standard utility function assumptions generally used to rebut time diversification, are impossible. A rational investor with such a
(concave) utility function should switch part of his portfolio in to bonds - thus modifying his marginal utility function relating to equities to one which is less concave - this is a reductio ad absurdam type argument. If this is right, the standard rebuttals of time diversification would seem problematic.

But how do these various mathematical claims relate to reality? The seminar will note some apparent logical gaps in the rebuttal arguments in moving from the mathematics to apparent real world claims. And how then should we interpret my original paper - is it possible to argue for time diversification within a conventional mathematical model framework which seems to rest on the assumption that risk does not diversify over time? The methodological arguments arising from a consideration of reality seem more powerful in making the case for time diversification, but seem to fall in to a gap between mathematical economics and methodology. These ideas seem interesting, but who is the audience - economists or philosophers? How can I construct a paper which addresses one, or both, of these groups?

Basic Income Conference and Social Economics Conference Women Debt and Poverty, Trafficking in Women

Venue: Mansfield College, Oxford University
Date: 09 February 2008
Time: 10am to 6:00pm


The Green Economics Institute is long established for its connection with world class researchers and not to mention its real interest in green issues. Not just the sense where Green Economics considers the Economy as a component and is dependent on the natural world within which it resides but also looking at more controversial, more contemporary issues, such as the widening gap of inequality. The aim is to provide a better quality of life.
One way of achieving this goal are our innovative conferences.

This conference provides a forum for the dissemination of the latest approaches to women’s economics, poverty alleviation and social, environmental and distributive justice. We will examine social aspects of Green Economics, better definitions, methodology and the ideas of hearing other voices and perspectives, not just homo-economicus.

Invited Speakers include:
Miriam Kennet (Green Economics Institute)
Volker Heinemann (Green Economics Institute)
Natalie Bennett (freelance journalist and commentator for Guardian, Independent, The Times)
Phil Hutchinson (University of Hertfordshire, UK)
Maria Iacovou, (Institute for Social and Economic Research, Essex University)
Adrienne Barnett (barrister in both South Africa and the UK and writer)
Clive Lord (Green Party in England and Wales)
Brian Heately (Green Party)

Registration:
This conference must be pre-booked, pre-registered and pre-paid.
Admission: £55.00 per person (including lunches, and teas and coffees)
Special rate for early bookers (prior to December 2007):
£35.00 per person per day if for paid up members of the Green Econonmics Institute
£35.00 per person per day subsistence for paid up members of the Green Party (rate is only available if pre booked).
For bookings, please email or send the registration form to the email addresses below also to obtain further information: greeneconomicsevents@yahoo.co.uk.
Accommodation details are on the website and include some at the college, (the above fees do not include suppers, accommodation or breakfasts)

Call for speakers still open. Please email Miriam Kennet to advise if youd like to speak: greeneconomicsinstitute@yahoo.com  and visit our website at www.greeneconomics.org.uk 
The Green Economics Institute (GEI) was founded by Miriam Kennet and Volker Heinemann and aims at bringing together campaigners, politicians, economics and other academics in order to reform mainstream economics. It critically discusses green alternatives. Green Economics that is build on environmental, ecological and post-autistic economics as well as feminist and stakeholder theory, welfare economics, development economics moves beyond them to create a discipline that seeks to nurture radically new alternatives based on intergenerational, social and environmental justice as well as concern for non human species and biosphere.

To learn more about the Institute please visit the website: www.greeneconomicsinstitute.org.uk.  If you are interested in the work of GEI and would like to join the Institute or get involved in its work please contact me or Miriam (greeneconomicsinstitute@yahoo.com).

The Institute also launched an academic journal – International Journal of Green Economics (IJGE) that seeks to facilitate debate about alternative perspectives to existing and future economics problems. The IJGE paper are available to download from the publisher’s website: www.inderscience.com/ijge

Third Annual Green Economics Conference

10,000 years of Civilization – an Audit, featuring Poverty- and Biodiversity Themes

Venue: Mansfield College, Oxford University
Date: 18th and 19th July 2008
Time: 10am to 6:00pm

The Green Economics Institute is long established for its connection with world class researchers and not to mention its real interest in green issues. Not just the sense where Green Economics considers the Economy as a component and is dependent on the natural world within which it resides but also looking at more controversial, more contemporary issues, such as the widening gap of inequality. The aim is to provide a better quality of life.
One way of achieving this goal are our innovative conferences.

This conference provides a forum for the dissemination of the latest approaches wide range of aspects related to Green Economics. The speeches will cover issues related to reworking economics, development economics and CSR, international trade and the future of business and civilization.
We will also examine biodiversity and the total economic impacts of species extinction, distributive justice,
ecological economics, environmental economics, ethics, poverty and social justice, theories of growth revisited, steady state, stationary state, declining state economies, incentives, taxes, regulations in economics, endogenous economic factors, indigenous peoples, archaeology and anthropology of economics and the role of women in the present world.

Invited Speakers include:
Miriam Kennet (Green Economics Institute)
Volker Heinemann (Green Economics Institute)
Professor Barbara Harriss-White (Chair and founder of RAE Panel for Development Economics, Head of Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University)
Professor Gustavo Vargas (University of Mexico)
Dr Xeng Fu (University of Victoria)


Registration:
This conference must be pre-booked, pre-registered and pre-paid.
Admission: £65 per person per day (including tea/coffee, sit down Lunch in College dinning room)
10 % reduction for members of the Green Economics Institute and for people presenting pre –accepted papers.
Full time Student rate £39 per person per day if pre- registered on production of student card.
Enquiries and requests to speak please email: events@greeneconomicsinstitute.eu  or visit our website at: www.greeneconomics.org.uk 

The Green Economics Institute (GEI) was founded by Miriam Kennet and Volker Heinemann and aims at bringing together campaigners, politicians, economics and other academics in order to reform mainstream economics. It critically discusses green alternatives. Green Economics that is build on environmental, ecological and post-autistic economics as well as feminist and stakeholder theory, welfare economics, development economics moves beyond them to create a discipline that seeks to nurture radically new alternatives based on intergenerational, social and environmental justice as well as concern for non human species and biosphere.

To learn more about the Institute please visit the website: www.greeneconomicsinstitute.org.uk. If you are interested in the work of GEI and would like to join the Institute or get involved in its work please contact me or Miriam (greeneconomicsinstitute@yahoo.com).

The Institute also launched an academic journal – International Journal of Green Economics (IJGE) that seeks to facilitate debate about alternative perspectives to existing and future economics problems. The IJGE paper are available to download from the publisher’s website: www.inderscience.com/ijge

Seminaire Arc 2

ACCUMULATION, REGULATION, CROISSANCE ET CRISE CEPREMAP - GERME (Paris VII) - IRISES (Paris IX)
CEPN (PARIS XIII) - MATISSE (PARIS I)

Lundi 12 novembre (15h-19h)
Salle 216, Panthéon


"Discrimination et politiques publiques"

14h50 : Accueil des participants
D. Gatti et A. Ghirardello (Paris 13)

15h00- 16h15 : Les discriminations dans et par les institutions d'autorité: police et armée
Présentation : Catherine De Wenden (CERI - CNRS)
Discutant : Marie Lajus (Ancienne élève de l'ENS, Commissaire de Police)

16h15-16h30 : Pause

16h30 – 17h45 : Ce que penser en termes de discrimination raciale change à notre vision politique du monde social
Présentation : Didier Fassin (Paris 13 et EHESS)
Discutants : El Mouhoub Mouhoud (Paris 9) et Nadine Richez Battesti (Aix- Marseille 2)

17h45 – 19h00 : Existe-t-il une double pénalisation dans l'accès à l'emploi à l'encontre des jeunes femmes issues de l'immigration?
Présentation : Ariane Pailhé (INED)
Discutants : Bernard Friot (Paris 10) et Géraldine Rieucau (Paris 8)

Le calendrier du séminaire ARC2 est disponible sur les deux sites suivants :
http://www.paris-jourdan.ens.fr/semin/index4.php?option=agenda&code=ACCRCCR 
http://www.arc2.org

Institutionalization, Institutional Change and Institutional Theory

Monday 26 November – Tuesday 27 November 2007
Roskilde University, Denmark

The objectives of the conference

The overall aim of the conference is to contribute to the further development of institutional theory through a dialogue between different institutionalist traditions. The focus of the conference is genesis and change of institutions. This is an area where we have seen a lot of scholarly interest, significant new contributions and promising developments in recent years.
For detailed information: conference.doc

Labour on the Margins

social justice series
Free public symposium
Community Education Programs
Download the flyer
Labour on the Margins will focus on three distinct groups of labourers who experience marginalization: sex workers, migrant farm workers, and immigrant workers. The program will showcase some of the grassroots organizing that is ongoing in these communities, as well as academic, political and activist perspectives.

November 16, 7–9:30 pm &
November 17, 9 am–5 pm
Location: Segal Graduate School of Business, SFU
500 Granville Street (at Pender), Vancouver
Reservations required.
Please call 778-782-5100 to reserve.
Presented by Community Education Programs, Continuing Studies, Simon Fraser University.
For more information please contact:
community-ed@sfu.ca

Workers Rights, Human Rights: Making the Connection

Friday, November 16th & Saturday, November 17th 2007 Best Western Primrose Hotel, 111 Carlton Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Conference Themes Include:

Collective Bargaining as a Human Right
Bridging the Gap Between Labour Rights and Human Rights The Human Rights Responsibilities of Business Putting Workers Rights on the Policy Agenda Implications of the Supreme Court's B.C. Health Services Decision Organizing Outside of Statute Global Integration of Labour Markets and Workers Rights

During the past quarter century or more, a time of increasing awareness of other human rights, the protection and promotion of workers rights in Canada has been in decline. Canadian governments have frequently offended the established international rights of their employees to free collective bargaining and the right to strike, and in so doing have repeatedly been found in violation of international standards. The situation is no better in the private sector. Labour relations legislation regulating union organizing and collective bargaining often establishes procedures and requirements that are very difficult to fulfill, and that exclude many classes of workers.

The objective of this conference is to provide a forum for the labour and human rights communities to explore labour rights as fundamental human rights, with the establishment of a Canadian Workers Rights Institute as an end goal. An independent institute would be able to put workers rights on the policy agenda by:
publicizing international developments regarding the human rights nature of labour rights
reminding governments of their responsibility to protect and promote those rights
calling on corporations to respect those rights in order to be considered good corporate citizens

The Supreme Court's recent BC Health Services decision, constitutionalizing collective bargaining, provides promise that a concerted effort may be able to halt the decline and turn things around.

International Conference Speakers Include:
Lee Swepston, Senior Advisor on Human Rights, International Labour Organization Mary Beth Maxwell, American Rights at Work Keith Ewing, Employment Rights Institute, U.K.
Janek Kuczkiewicz, International Trade Union Confederation Carol Pier, Human Rights Watch

CONFERENCE FEE $225 ($100 student/unwaged) For more information, or to register, please go to our website:
www.yorku.ca/crws
Or contact: Daphne Paszterko, Centre for Research on Work and Society,
276 York Lanes, 4700 Keele St., Toronto, ON,
tel: 416-736-5612 fax: 416-736-5916
paszter@yorku.ca

Enquiry, Evidence and Facts: An Interdisciplinary Conference

In association with The Leverhulme Trust/ESRC funded research programmes on 'The Nature of Evidence' at UCL and LSE
A two-day conference convened by Professor William Twining, FBA, UCL, Professor Mary Morgan, FBA, FKNAW, London School of Economics, Professor Philip Dawid, UCL, and Professor Trisha Greenhalgh, UCL
The British Academy, 10 Carlton House Terrace, London SW1Y 5AH
9.15am – 5.30pm, Thursday 13 December & Friday 14 December 2007
£50 (£30 concessions)
This conference is organised jointly with The Leverhulme Trust/ESRC funded research programmes on 'The Nature of Evidence', 'Evidence, Inference and Enquiry: Towards an Integrated Science of Evidence' at UCL and 'How well do "facts" travel?' at LSE. Evidence has a high profile in the public eye because of the convergence of a number of recent developments, such as reliance on new kinds of evidence that are hard to understand or convey yet are critical in individual decisions (e.g. statistical assessment of DNA analysis in courts); the importance of disputed evidence in key policy decisions (e.g. post 9/11 intelligence in the UK, climate change facts in the USA); the use of both social science and natural science evidence together (e.g. decisions about value for money for medical treatments or the way to deal with foot and mouth disease). There is a lack of agreement on the extent to which one can generalise about facts, evidence and inferential reasoning across disciplines, contexts and types of enquiry because of some fundamental questions about the nature of evidence.
The aims of the conference are:
• to debate the different theoretical, methodological and practical approaches to the study of evidence and the way that facts are acquired and used across different fields
• to explore the ways in which facts travel within and between fields, a process essential to generate common multi- or interdisciplinary understandings of how evidence is constituted and used in making judgements
• to provide a forum for the presentation of completed and ongoing research on these topics from a broad range of academic and practice-based researchers using a wide range of disciplinary bases in the social sciences and humanities and in related natural science fields
• to promote networking and cross-fertilization of ideas amongst researchers and practitioners in the expanding interdisciplinary concern with the nature of facts and evidence and to explore the commonalities of concepts
For full details on the programme and how to book please visit our website
Telephone enquiries: 020 7969 5246 Email: events@britac.ac.uk

Path Dependencies of Businesses, Institutions, and Technologies

Studying Path Dependencies of Businesses, Institutions, and Technologies on February 28-29, 2008 is organized by the path dependency research centre of the Freie Universität Berlin, which welcomes contributions from economists, sociologists, historians and political scientists.

International Conference on Business History Formerly Fuji Conference

Mergers and Acquisitions in the Long-Term Perspective on January 26-27, 2008 in Tokyo, Japan is organized by Waseda University, Hitotsubashi University, and the Business History Society of Japan.

Growth and Distribution: Institutional and Social Dynamics

The goal of The Institutional and Social Dynamics of Growth and Distribution in Pisa, Italy on December 10-12, 2007 is to present and discuss approaches to the issues of the institutional and social dynamics of growth and distribution, with all the theoretical, empirical, historical, and methodological implications.

SHE Conference Registrations

Full registration: $200
Student registration: $85
One day registration: $100

The Conference Dinner will be on Monday night, 10th December, at a cost of $60.

The registration fee covers morning and afternoon teas and a light lunch, and the full registration fee includes a one year’s subscription to the Economics and Labour Relations Review, which will have a special issue of SHE Conference Papers.

Special Two Conferences-in-One Deal


Delegates to the SHE Conference can also register for the CofFEE Conference at the University of Newcastle which will be held on December 6 - 7, 2007 (the Thursday and Friday before the SHE conference in Sydney) on "Challenge to Restore Full Employment Conference".

The special package provides for an approximate 10% discount from the normal registration fees for the individual conferences and will be invoiced as a single registration for a 4 day conference in two locations (Newcastle and Sydney) which will satisfy Universities and other agencies who will only fund one conference grant per year

Please note that website for the 2-in-1 Deal will only be finalised on Monday 5 November.

FURTHER DETAILS:
http://getir.net/l7m
 

International Confederation of Associations for Pluralism in Economics - News

ICAPE News

ICAPE has had a busy year promoting and defending pluralism. In March, I received a letter broaching a question of anti-pluralism with regard to economics and the forthcoming 2008 RAE in the UK. I responded by sending a letter to Professor Greenaway voicing the concern of ICAPE and received a response that efforts will be made so that pluralistic/heterodox economists will not be discriminated against. Then in June there was the ICAPE Conference which was well-received by all who attended it. Finally, ICAPE is supporting the plenary session of the Association for Social Economics at the 2008 ASSA. It will also have a booth at the ASSA—here member organizations can leave and sell material.

Throughout the year I have been asked by various economists if ICAPE would support research promoting the benefits of pluralism in economics. Of course the answer is YES—but what is needed are good proposals and of course financial resources. Currently there are twenty-eight paid up ICAPE associates and fifteen ICAPE associates in arrears for a total of forty-three ICAPE associates:

American Review of Political Economy
American University – Department of Economics
Association d’Economie Politique (AEP)
Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE)
Association for Georgist Studies (AGS)
Association for Heterodox Economics (AHE)
Association for Institutional Thought
Association for Integrity and Responsible Leadership in Economics and Associated Professions
Association for Social Economics
Cambridge Journal of Economics
Cambridge Social Ontology Group
Conference on Problems of Economic Change
Dickinson College – Department of Economics
Dollars and Sense
Economists for Peace and Security
European Association for Evolutionary Political Economy
Franklin and Marshall College – Department of Economics
French Association for the Development of Keynesian Studies
George Mason University – Program in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics
Global Development and Environment Institute
Institute for Institutional and Innovation Economics
International Association for Feminist Economics
International Journal of Development Issues
International Sorokin-Kondratieff Institute
International Working Group on Value Theory
Japan Association for Evolutionary Economics
Journal of Australian Political Economy
Journal of Post Keynesian Economics
Latin American Center of Social Ecology
Marquette University – Department of Economics
New School for Social Research – Department of Economics
Progressive Economics Forum
Rethinking Marxism
Rollins College – Department of Economics
Roosevelt University – Department of Economics
Society for the Advancement of Behavioral Economics
Society of Heterodox Economists
Union for Radical Political Economics
University of Massachusetts-Amherst – Political Economy Research Institute
University of Minnesota at Morris – Department of Economics
University of Missouri at Kansas City – Center for Full Employment and Price Stability
University of Missouri at Kansas City – Department of Economics
University of Notre Dame – Department of Economics and Policy Studies

The above associations, research institutes, economics departments, and journals all support pluralism in economics and have done so by providing financial support that enables ICAPE to carry out its activities—but their support is not enough. If you are a member of an association, research institute, or economics department, or subscribe to/editor of an economics journal that you think should be supporting ICAPE and pluralism in economics, make your views know to the relevant parties. It is only through financial support that ICAPE can carry out its mission of promoting pluralism in economics.

Fred Lee
Executive Director
ICAPE
 

Top

Job Postings for Heterodox Economists

Stetson University

Assistant Professor, Tenure-Track
Stetson University’s Economics Department in the College of Arts and Sciences emphasizes small, seminar-style classes with strong project and service-learning components. Faculty members interact closely with students, both inside and outside of classes. We are seeking an enthusiastic scholar to join our Department’s aspirations towards a more humane economic society at the teaching, research, and service levels.

Our ideal colleague’s interests include local and regional economic issues. S/he will be interested in the application of microcredit practices and policies towards a more “inclusive” economy. The ability and desire to teach, through projects and experiments, principles classes, intermediate macroeconomics, and econometrics, and involve undergraduates in research is highly desirable. An earned doctorate in economics by July 31, 2008 is required for appointment. A commitment to liberal arts education, active participation in interdisciplinary programs, and high-quality scholarly research is a given. Submit 3 copies of your c.v., statement of teaching philosophy, evidence of accomplishments in teaching, graduate transcripts, sample of recent publications, and names of references to Chair, Economics Search Committee, Department of Economics, Stetson University. Deland, FL 32723.

This announcement appears in the October issue of JOE. Department representatives will be at the ASSA meetings in New Orleans from January 3-6 to interview candidates.

The Open University

Lecturer in Economics, Faculty of Social Sciences
Based in Milton Keynes, U.K.

Circulation date : 23/10/2007
Closing date : 15/11/2007
Applications are invited to join a lively and supportive Economics Department within the Faculty of Social Sciences. We are looking for someone who can make a major contribution to Personal Finance, a new area of the curriculum and research field in economics which is being pioneered at The Open University.

You must be able to play a key role in developing personal finance teaching. Research expertise could be in any field related to personal finance, including financial economics, household economics, macroeconomics or other disciplines such as social policy and development.

Appointment will be made on either Academic Grade 2 (£30,012 - £32,796) or Academic Grade 3 (£33,779 - £40,335) depending on qualifications and experience.

Closing date: 12 noon on 15 November 2007.
Interview date: w/c 3 December 2007.

http://www3.open.ac.uk/employment/job-details.asp?id=3347

University of Texas at Arlington

The School of Urban and Public Affairs (SUPA) at University of Texas at Arlington
invites applications for the position of Dean
http://www.uta.edu/supa/About-SUPA/dean-search

Successful candidates should have the following specific qualifications:
•an earned Ph.D. in a relevant field and record of scholarly achievement consistent with appointment as a tenured full professor (appointment at the well-established associate level will also be considered)
•demonstrated administrative and academic leadership along with demonstrated executive abilities in complex administrative and political environments, including budgetary experience
•a record of success in external relations, development, and fund-raising, including ability to maintain SUPA’s role as a resource valued by the State legislature
•demonstrated commitment to effective communication, consensus-building, and community relations/service learning

Located in the heart of the economically flourishing and culturally diverse Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, now the fifth largest region in the country, the University of Texas at Arlington, part of the University of Texas System, is a full service research and teaching university with over 25,000 students. SUPA regularly ranks as one of the best graduate schools of public affairs in the nation.

SUPA has 17 tenured/tenure-track faculty members representing a rich variety of backgrounds and expertise in areas that include Economics, Geography, Law, Planning, Political Science, Psychology, Public Administration, Public Policy, Science and Technology Studies, Sociology, Social Sciences, and Urban Design. SUPA offers two nationally accredited master’s degrees: Master’s of Public Administration, and Master’s of City and Regional Planning; SUPA also offers a Master’s of Arts in Urban Affairs, two Ph.D.s (one in Public and Urban Administration, and the other in Urban Planning and Public Policy). At the undergraduate level, SUPA offers a B.A. and a B.S. in Interdisciplinary Studies.

Review of applications begins immediately.

For more information about the position, including application procedures, please visit the website
http://www.uta.edu/supa/About-SUPA/dean-search

The University of Tulsa, Oklahoma

A1 General Economics

The Department of Economics invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor, beginning August 15, 2008. Successful candidates must have a commitment to teaching excellence at the undergraduate level as well as serious interest in quality research and scholarship. Ph.D. is required by August 2008. All fields of specialization will be considered but preference will be given to candidates with interest in one or more of the following: international political economy, women in the economy, heterodox economics, mathematical and quantitative methods, methodology for collecting, estimating and organizing data, economic history, and empirical labor economics. Review of applications will begin on November 15, 2007, and will continue until the position is filled. Applicants should submit a letter of interest, curriculum vita, brief statement of teaching experience and summaries of teaching evaluations, and 3 letters of reference. Please send all materials as hard copy to Prof. Bobbie L. Horn, Search Committee Chair, Department of Economics, The University of Tulsa, 600 South College Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74104-3189. The University of Tulsa is and EEO/AA employer.

SOAS, University of London

Lecturer in Development Studies
DEPARTMENT OF DEVELOPMENT STUDIES
£29,527 – £41,735 p.a. inclusive of London Allowance
Vacancy No: 100326
The Department of Development Studies invites applications for a lectureship starting from 1 April 2008 or as soon as possible thereafter, to contribute principally to the new MSc degree in Globalisation and Development.
Candidates should have a strong research record, and they should be able to offer courses consistent with the Department's orientation and profile, whilst playing a constructive role in the administration of the Department. Candidates should have an outstanding grounding in development studies, globalisation studies, and/or closely related social sciences disciplines. We are especially interested in candidates with research interests in East Asia.
Prospective candidates seeking further information may contact the Head of Department, Professor Alfredo Saad Filho on as59@soas.ac.uk.  An application form and further particulars can be downloaded from www.soas.ac.uk/jobs.  Alternatively, write to the Human Resources
Department, SOAS, University of London, Thornhaugh Street, Russell
Square, London, WC1H OXG. Fax no: 020 7074 5129 or e-mail:
vacancies@soas.ac.uk  stating your name, address and the vacancy
reference number.
CV’s will only be accepted when accompanied by an application form.
No agencies.
Closing date: Tuesday 27 November 2007
SOAS values diversity and aims to be an equal opportunities employer.

Centre for Innovation & Structural Change

Heterodox opportunities for research posts in the Centre for Innovation & Structural Change at NUI Galway.

We are an inter-disciplinary centre and open to heterodox approaches. :
Senior Researcher in Social Entrepreneurship
Senior Researcher: Social Science Research Methodologist
Postdoctoral Researcher in Information Systems
More information: http://www.nuigalway.ie/cisc/vacancies.html

University of Central Lancashire

Research Fellow: Labour Economics
Two Year Contract
You will undertake research and commissioned studies in the Department of Information and Finance within a small team led by Professor Philip Whyman. The successful candidate will work on existing projects in the area of Labour Economics, in particular relating to labour market flexibility, in addition to developing new opportunities within this field. You will have the ability to contribute to writing proposals, research reports and articles for publication. You should have a PhD in a relevant subject (or have submitted it for examination) and previous experience of having undertaken research. You should be conversant with qualitative and quantitative methods and have good organisational skills. Experience of managing and econometrically analysing large datasets would be a distinct advantage. The work will involve liaison with external stakeholders, presentation and dissemination of findings, and publication.
For detailed information: Research Fellow.doc, RFjobspec07 - WhymanRFJobDesAug07.doc and RFjobspec07 - WhymanRFPersSpecAug07.doc

Tufts University

The Fletcher School
Associate/Full Professor of Environmental/Resource Economics
The Fletcher School, established in 1933 as the first graduate school of international affairs in the United States, seeks to fill a full-time, tenure-track or tenured position at the rank of Associate or Full professor in Environmental/Resource Economics beginning September 2008.
The Fletcher School's faculty is multidisciplinary with a focus on connecting theory with practice. We prepare our Masters and doctoral students to use the latest political, economic, business, and legal thinking to generate pragmatic policies that will successfully shape global events.

JOB DESCRIPTION:
The new faculty member will be a member of the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy which is home to a multidisciplinary group of faculty and students that offers a field of concentration through course work, an ongoing research program and a vigorous program of speakers, conferences and other events. Special consideration will be given to candidates with research interests in any of the following areas - international climate change and energy policy, environmental policy in developing countries and emerging market economies, sustainable development, natural resource management, pollution control, and environmental health.
JOB QUALIFICATIONS:
A Ph.D. or its equivalent is required along with a record of distinguished scholarly publication appropriate for rank of appointment.

APPLICATION PROCEDURE:
Review of applications will begin December 1, 2007. Applicants should send a curriculum vitae, any supporting materials and 3 letters of reference to:

CONTACT: Sandra Gasbarro
Environmental/Resource Economics Search
The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy
Tufts University
Medford, MA 02155 USA
The Fletcher School is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer and the administration, faculty, and student body are committed to attracting talented candidates from groups presently underrepresented on campus.

Visit our website at: http://fletcher.tufts.edu

Top

Heterodox Journals and Newsletters

Metroeconomica

Volume 58, Issue 4, November 2007

ARTICLES

NON-LINEAR PRICING AS A COOPERATIVE GAME
Tommy Andersson

INTEREST AS AN ARTEFACT OF SELF-VALIDATING CENTRAL BANK BELIEFS
Tony Aspromourgos

PROLIFERATION OF ACADEMIC JOURNALS: EFFECTS ON RESEARCH QUANTITY AND QUALITY
Rajeev K. Goel and João Ricardo Faria

TESTING WAGE AND PRICE PHILLIPS CURVES FOR THE UNITED STATES
Peter Flaschel, Göran Kauermann and Willi Semmler

EMULATION, PREVENTION AND SOCIAL INTERACTION IN CONSUMPTION DYNAMICS
Francisco Fatás-Villafranca, Dulce Saura and Francisco J. Vázquez

THE LABOUR MARKET AND TECHNICAL CHANGE IN ENDOGENOUS CYCLES
Piero Ferri

Issues in Regulation Theory

Number 57 can be downloaded at http://www.theorie-regulation.org

Which economic bases for a democratic political Europe?
Bruno Théret
IRESES, Université Paris Dauphine

http://www.upmf-grenoble.fr/irepd/regulation/Issue_Regulation_theory/LR57english.pdf

This English-language newsletter contains a translation of the theoretical note published in French in La Lettre de la Régulation and information on research activities in the area of institutional regulation.

Forum for Social Economics

The Forum for Social Economics is published each Spring and Fall by the Association for Social Economics. Click Click here for Contents of the latest Issue of the Forum.

The editor of the Forum is:

John Marangos, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Economics
Colorado State University
1771 Campus Delivery
Fort Collins, CO 80523-1771
Ph: (970) 491-6657
Fax: (970) 491-2925
email: John.Marangos@colostate.edu

All inquiries concerning subscriptions without membership should be addressed to the editor.
Subscription Rates are:

$5 per year for individuals
$7 per year for institutions

Authors wishing to submit manuscripts should submit a copy of the manuscript by email ONLY to Editor John Marangos. Authorship should be identified only on a removable first page, and the manuscript should contain an abstract of no more than 100 words. All manuscripts are subject to peer-review. Send manuscripts to:

John Marangos, Ph.D.
email: John.Marangos@colostate.edu

The members of the Editorial Board of the Forum for Social Economics are listed below:

* Adelheid Biesecker, Professor for Economic Theory at the University of Brement, Germany.
* Elissa Braunstein, Department of Economics, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO USA.
* Gráinne Collins, Employment Research Centre, Department of Sociology, School of Social Sciences and Philosophy, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland.
* Wolfram Elsner, Institute for Institutional and Social Economics, Department of Economics, University of Bremen, Germany.
* Alan Hutton, Globalisation and Public Policy Group, Caledonian Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University, Scotland, UK.
* Roel Jongeneel, Department of Agricultural Economics and Rural Policy, Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
* Anne Marguerite de Bruin, Department of Commerce, Massey University at Albany, Auckland, NZ.
* Ellen M. Mutari, General Studies Division, Richard Stockton College, Pomona NJ, USA.
* Mark Douglas White, Department of Political Science, Economics, and Philosophy, College of Staten Island, Staten Island, NY, USA.
* Paul P. Wojick, St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN, USA.

Download the flyer.

Associative Economics Bulletin

What's Up With Gold - Associative Economics Bulletin - November 2007

The Associative Economics Bulletin consists of news and views on associative economics, including short extracts from Associative Economics Monthly (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) The View From Rare Albion, Editorial, AEM NOVEMBER 2007
2) Rethinking The Corporation - The London School of Economics, 8 Nov 07
3) The Colours of Money - CH and UK Nov and Dec 2007

1) THE VIEW FROM RARE ALBION, EDITORIAL, AEM NOVEMBER 07

The role of gold in orientating and regulating economic life through the ages has been considered fundamental, but how does the situation stand today, almost 100 years after Keynes described gold as a barbaric relic and put forward the radical proposal that money, in a global economy, should be managed on a scientific basis? Gold is by no means absent from our minds or from the working of the world’s financial system, so are we unable to conceive of a monetary economics that is beyond gold, in the sense that we can consciously replicate the functions to which it formerly gave more or less automatic effect? Clearly such a step would involve putting antiquated constructs to rest and creating arrangements that correspond to a modern monetary consciousness.
Though there might not be general consensus on the point, the historical monetary role of gold, when stripped of its cultural religious overtones, has been to serve as a clumsy and very physical form of book-keeping. Given the sophistication of modern monetary science, how are we to account for today’s persistent use of gold as a reference? Is this any more than a last stand for economic egotism; a stumbling block for humanity on its journey towards a form of money not premised on the physical and therefore requiring a new degree of confidence in the economy per se?
The lead item in this issue presents perspectives that are diametrically opposed. Thoughts on the Future of Gold and Silver is based on the idea that it is profitable to own real things (like gold and silver) and that gold’s price will continue to rise to over $1,000 dollars an ounce; What’s wrong with Gold imagines that gold, going the way of silver, will come to trade at $68 an ounce (10% of its current rate).
Clearly they cannot both be right, so is it any wonder that the story of gold, perhaps more than any other economic subject, fuels the fires of those who see hidden agendas and conspiracies at work, suspecting that the price of gold is being manipulated. The first and second Washington Agreements (of 1999 and 2004) between ten of the world’s major central banks, for example, have the explicit stated objective of maintaining “gold’s role as an important element of global monetary reserves” and by agreeing to limit gold sales and leasing of preventing the price from falling. And yet the view is widespread that central banks behave in the opposite fashion.
In describing the Gold Carry Trade, The Sign of The Times piece provides further evidence that gold does not provide the safe haven function we have become used to.
In the archive feature, W J Stein, this month’s Voice from the 1930s, sees gold as the “principle instrument of interference” when economics is subject to political ends. For Stein “the tremendous task [is to move] from national to world economics [which] makes the detaching of economies from political control an imperative necessity [because] those nations who have great possession of gold are checking ... the just and effective administration of the economic system…”
Given that people still turn to gold in hard times, this may not be a fashionable view. But the recent appearance of so-called gold spikes independently of slow-downs in the non-gold economy suggest Stein may be right. At any rate, that gold should be depoliticised and no longer has a monetary role is central to any associative analysis of today’s events and gives, if we would but recognise it, new ground to monetary economics.
The Networking page, which highlights a recent Colours of Money seminar, now includes a pitch for research funding, while this month’s AE Profile features an MBA in Associative Economics offered in Brazil. Finally, Accountant’s Corner takes an accountant’s look at gold.

2) WHEN FINANCE ROCKS - EVENTS AT THE LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS
Rudolf Steiner Economist of Tomorrow
Known mainly in this country for his work in education, Rudolf Steiner also made an important contribution to modern economics. In these seminars some of Steiner's key thoughts will be explored against the background of today's events. Each session will begin with a focusing contribution as the basisfor a free ranging discussion by the participants.

8 November: Rethinking The Corporation - Is there a baby in the bathwater?
6 December: Deep Accounting - International standards = world currency?

6.30 PM Thursdays - Room D6, Ground Floor, Clement House, Aldwych
Attendance charge: £5 (Students £3)
Convenors: Dr. Christopher Houghton Budd, Arthur Edwards
Sponsored by the Centre for Associative Economics (cfae.biz)

3) COLOURS OF MONEY SEMINAR - CH and UK

CH
The next Colours of Money seminar will take place in Switzerland in French from 16-18 November 2007 (see full details below or download the form at http://www.arthuredwards.net/fileadmin/arthuredwards/step1CH.pdf)  or see www.ae-institute.com.  
UK
For a possible Colours of Money Seminar in the UK in Brighton in December 2007 please contact Stan Whipple - scougar48@yahoo.com 

Levy News

Digital Newsletter of The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
October 30, 2007

NEW WORKING PAPERS

Endogenous Money: Structuralist and Horizontalist
L. RANDALL WRAY
Working Paper No. 512
http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_512.pdf
Heterodox economists believe that the profit motive, as well as profit-seeking financial innovations, plays a role in the creation of money by the banking system. Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray concludes that the central bank’s influence on the quantity of money is indirect and unpredictable, and therefore should be of little interest to economists.

Inequality of Life Chances and the Measurement of Social Immobility
JACQUES SILBER and AMEDEO SPADARO
Working Paper No. 513
http://www.levy.org/pubs/wp_513.pdf
The authors suggest new tools of analysis in the measurement of intergenerational social mobility and the need to distinguish between concepts of gross and net social immobility. They apply their concepts to two data sets: a 1998 survey in France and a 2003 social survey in Israel.

Economic Sociology

The European Electronic Newsletter
Current Issue:
Vol. 9, No. 1 - November 2007
http://econsoc.mpifg.de/newsletter/newsletter_current.asp

Review of Social Economy

Volume 65 Issue 3 is now available online at http://www.informaworld.com.

This new issue contains the following articles:

Realism, universalism and capabilities p. 253
Authors: Nuno Martins
Link


Why economists dislike a lump of labor p. 279
Authors: Tom Walker
Link


Defining the frontiers of the firm through property rights allocation:
The case of the French retailer cooperative Leclerc p. 293
Authors: Marie-Laure Baron
Link


Meat as a bad habit: A case for positive feedback in consumption
preferences leading to lock-in p. 319
Authors: Joshua Frank
Link

Top

Heterodox Books and Book Series

The Wages of Whiteness: Race and the Making of the American Working Class

David R. Roediger

An original study of the formative years of working class racism in the United States . In a new introduction, Roediger surveys recent scholarship on whiteness and the changing face of labor.

August 2007
ISBN: 978 1 84467 145 8 Paperback / 978 2 84467 126 7 Hardback
Price: $19.95/£12.99/$25CAN Paperback / $95/£55/$119CAN Hardback

http://getir.net/l7n

http://getir.net/l7o

Youth, Identity, Power: The Chicano Movement

Carlos Muñoz

Revised and expanded edition of this classic exploration of the origins and development of Chicano radicalism in America , by one of the leaders of the movement.

September 2007
ISBN: 978 1 84467 142 7 Paperback / 978 2 84467 134 2 Hardback
Price: $23.95/£14.99/$30CAN Paperback / $95/£55/$119CAN Hardback

http://getir.net/l7p

http://getir.net/l7q


US Labor in Trouble and Transition: The Failure of Reform from Above, The Promise of Revival
From Below Kim Moody

In a brilliant critical analysis of the decline of the unions, Moody uncovers the secrets of the collapse of the labor movement in the US and its subsequent revival.

October 2007
ISBN: 978 1 84467 154 0 Paperback / 978 2 84467 155 7 Hardback
Price: $29.95/£19.99/$37.50CAN Paperback / $95/£60/$119CAN Hardback

http://getir.net/l7r

http://getir.net/l7s

The Cult of the Market: Economic Fundamentalism and its Discontents

Dr Lee Boldeman

It can be downloaded for free from the URL below. Hard copies can be purchased from the same source: http://epress.anu.edu.au/cotm_citation.html

The Cult of the Market: Economic Fundamentalism and its Discontents disputes the practical value of the shallow, all-encompassing, dogmatic, economic fundamentalism espoused by policy elites in recent public policy debates, along with their gross simplifications and sacred rules. Economics cannot provide a convincing overarching theory of government action or of social action more generally. Furthermore, mainstream economics fails to get to grips with the economic system as it actually operates. It advocates a more overtly experimental, eclectic and pragmatic approach to policy development which takes more seriously the complex, interdependent, evolving nature of society and the economy. Importantly, it is an outlook that recognises the pervasive influence of asymmetries of wealth, power and information on bargaining power and prospects throughout society. The book advocates a major reform of the teaching of economics.

Global Flashpoint: Reactions to Imperialism and Neoliberalism

Socialist Register 2008
Editors: LEO PANITCH and COLIN LEYS

* What are the forces at work in opposition to the American Empire? Are such forces, in the Islamic World and in Latin America, reactionary or progressive?

* What are the distinguishing features of neoliberalism today? What are its emerging contradictions?

Iraq has shown that the American empire cannot be maintained by military force, and neoliberalism has been discredited, though its momentum is far from spent.

Imperialism has reached limits in the Middle East. This volume reviews some of the most important counter-movements and organisations. A brilliant overview essay explores the West’s crucial role in producing the radical Islamism that currently sustains the confrontation with imperialism. Other essays examine the political forces in Iraq, Palestine and Turkey, the nature of Islamism as a revolutionary creed, and relation between religion and politics in general.

Resistance to neoliberalism is also clearly in the ‘pink tide’ that has brought left-leaning governments to office in nine countries of Latin America. The volume evaluates the radical potential – or lack of it – of progressive movements in Mexico, Venezuela, Bolivia, Brazil and Argentina, and includes a unique interview with João-Pedro Stédile, the leader of Brazil’s Landless People’s Movement. Three further essays look at reactions to neoliberalism in the US, France and Eastern Europe. The volume concludes with a symposium by three leading left economists on the nature of neoliberalism as a global regime of social and political control.

Contents: Aijaz Ahmad: Islam, Islamism, Political Islam: Contexts and Varieties; Asef Bayat: Islamism and Empire: The Incongruous Nature of Islamist Anti-Imperialism; Gilbert Achcar: Religion and Politics Today From a Marxian Perspective; Sabah Alnasseri: Understanding Iraq; Bashir Abu-Manneh: Israel's Colonial Siege and the Palestinians; Yildiz Atasoy: The Islamic Ethic and the Spirit of Turkish Capitalism Today; William I. Robinson: Transformative Possibilities in Latin America; Margarita López Maya: Venezuela Today: A 'Participative and Protagonistic' Democracy?; Marta Harnecker: Blows and Counterblows in Venezuela; João-Pedro Stédile: The Class Struggles in Brazil: The Perspective of the MST; Wes Enzinna: All We Want Is the Earth: Agrarian Reform in Bolivia; Ana Esther Ceceña: On the Forms of Resistance in Latin America: Its 'Native' Moment; Richard Roman & Edur Velasco Arregui: The Oaxaca Commune; Emilia Castorina: The Contradictions of ‘Democratic’Neoliberalism in Argentina: A New Politics From 'Below'?; G.M. Tamás: Eastern Europe Today: Counter-Revolution against a Counter-Revolution; Adrien Thomas & Raghu Krishnan: Resistance to Neoliberalism in France; Kim Moody: Harvest of Empire: Immigrant Workers Centers in the USA; Alfredo Saad-Filho, Elmar Altvater, Gregory Albo: Neoliberalism and the Left: A Symposium.

384pp ISSN 0081-0606 978 0 85036 586 3 Hbk GB Pounds 35.00 978 0 85036 587 0 Pbk GB Pounds 14.95
Visit: www.socialistregister.com

Questioning Globalized Militarism: Nuclear and Military Production and Critical Economic Theory

Peter Custers

“The work of Peter Custers is important since he takes on a fundamental question which has largely been ignored in the analysis of many economists. Custers proposes in fact a political economy of capitalism which will integrate several questions relating to militarism. He treats questions of militarism as important, even decisive, elements which give direction to the accumulation of capital… This audacious pioneering work deserves to be read with the greatest attention ...”
From the foreword by Samir Amin

In this wide-ranging study Peter Custers seeks to highlight the importance of the production and consumption of arms as a form of social waste within the capitalist world order.

The study encompasses critical economic theory, historical studies of the rise of capitalism, conceptualizations of international trade, and analyses of the inequities spawned by globalized militarism. Drawing especially on Volume 2 of Marx’s Capital, he creatively develops some of Marx’s classical themes. The individual circuit of capital outlined in that work is utilized by Custers to demonstrate the generation of various types of waste at each step in the military–nuclear and civilian–nuclear production chains.

He also proposes the new concept of negative use-value to highlight the adverse consequences for human beings and the environment, of products that are churned out by the military–nuclear complex. Particularly insightful is the thesis he advances in opposition to the view that the capitalist system in its earlier phases operated as a market system governed by ‘internal’ exchanges. Custers produces historical evidence to demonstrate that this system always incorporated a vital ‘external’ agent, namely the capitalist state, which has played a significant role in capitalism’s evolution at crucial junctures.

Abbreviated Contents: Foreword Samir Amin; PART ONE Social Waste and Non-Commodity Waste, and the Individual Circuit of Capital; PART TWO: The Military Sector and the Social Accumulation of Capital; PART THREE: Arms’ Exports and the Structure of World Trade: International Circuits of Capital; Bibliography; Index. 4 tables, 10 charts and many economic, statistical and analytical formulae.

Defragmenting: Towards a critical understanding of the new global division of labour

Ursula Huws, Ed.

The Second issue of the new international-interdisciplinary peer reviewed journal:
Work Organisation, Labour and Globalisation
For further information visit :
http://www.dialspace.dial.pipex.com/town/green/gtg72/wolg.html
Bringing together important research from Europe, Australia, North America, Latin America and Asia and considers:

* How can the global knowledge economy be conceptualised to enable us to understand the current transformations of work taking place globally?

* What is the relationship between global forces and differing national models of capitalism?

* How are global value chains being restructured? And are service industries now following the patterns set by manufacturing in the past?

* Are we seeing the birth of a network economy in which small firms can thrive, or a new phase of consolidation by global transnational corporations?

* What are the impacts for regional development? for working conditions? and for workers' ability to organise?

Contents
Elmar Altvater, Conceptualising globalisation: fossil energy, global finance and the labour market David Coates, Capitalist flattening or flattening capitalism? class forces and political choices in the global knowledge economy Ursula Huws, The emergence of EMERGENCE: developing a conceptual framework for analysing the new global division of labour Jörg Flecker, Network economy or just a new breed of multinationals? relocation of eWork as a window into the restructuring of value chains Peter Standen, Catching a butterfly? Mapping eWork in Europe and Australia Penny Gurstein, Navigating the Seamless Environment in the Global Supply Chain: Implications for Canadian Regions and Workers Chris Benner, Regions and firms in eWork Relocation Dynamics: the Case of Pittsburgh’s Call Centre Industry Anita Weiss, Global forces and national institutions: the shaping of call centre employment in Colombia Laura Schatz and Laura Johnson, Smart City North: local economic and labour force impacts of call centres Norene Pupo, Behind the screens: telemediated work in the Canadian public sector Sujata Gothaskhar, Voices from the South: call centre workers in India Marcia Leite, Productive restructuring and labour: the case of the auto industry in Brazil Andreas Boes and Tobias Kampf, The nexus of informatisation and internationalisation: towards a new stage of the internationalisation of labour.

UN-DESA Policy Brief Series

UN-DESA Policy Brief No. 2 is available from:
http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/policybrief2.pdf

Policy Brief No. 2 considers the ongoing demographic shift resulting from increased longevity and falling birth rates, the resulting changes to health profiles this will bring, and the implications for managing health care, particularly in developing countries. The Policy Brief touches on the difficulties in predicting health care costs over long periods of time given that many factors other than demographic changes also have a direct bearing on their growth. It presents health care projections for two countries at very different stages of development, namely, Sri Lanka and Australia, and concludes that ageing is a factor but not the major one in expected future increases in health costs and discusses the implications for health care financing.

UN-DESA Policy Brief No. 3 is available from:
http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/policybrief3.pdf

It considers the role of pensions in reducing poverty in old age. The Brief notes that in the absence of formal transfer mechanisms many older persons, particularly in developing countries, are forced in to working in an effort to maintain a degree of income security. The Brief presents evidence that social pensions providing some minimal basic income to all persons in old age could significantly reduce the threat of poverty and argues that such schemes would be affordable for most countries, even the poorest ones.

The Policy Brief series is available at:
http://www.un.org/esa/policy/policybriefs/index.htm

You can also access the full range of DESA's publications relevant to your information needs in the economic and social fields through our on-line catalogue at: http://esa.un.org/pubsCatalogue/displayHomePage.do.

Top

Heterodox Book Reviews

How rich countries got rich …and why poor countries remain poor

By Erik S. Reinert, Constable and Robins Ltd, 2007. ISBN 978-1-84529-326-0. Pgs 365. By Poulomi Dasgupta.

Download the review.

Marxian Reproduction Schema

by Angelo Reati

Andrew B. TRIGG (2006) Marxian Reproduction Schema. Money and aggregate demand in a capitalist economy, London: Routledge, Series: Routledge Frontiers of Political Economy, 130 p., ISBN 0-415-33669-4, £ 65.00

Download the review.

Top

Heterodox Websites

www.postkeynesian.net

The website www.postkeynesian.net  has been updated with the background papers for the meeting plus some other items (press the What’s New button). Please do register if you intend to come.

Top

Heterodox Graduate Program and PhD Scholarships

University of Amsterdam

Building on its previous research in the history of econometrics, modelling and measurement in economics, the History and Methodology Group of the Faculty of Economics and Business at the UvA is starting a new project. A recently awarded innovational research grant (VIDI) from the Netherlands Science Foundation (NWO) will enable us to write a history of observational practices in economics. We invite applications for Two PhD positions in the History and Methodology of Economics at the Universiteit van Amsterdam full time vacancy number 07-5043 For both internal and external candidates

The project will investigate the observational technologies and practices economists use and used to identify their objects of study and to investigate their nature. The project will link these technologies and practices to three different sites of observation, each of which has its own particular history: the ‘armchair', the ‘observatory' and the ‘laboratory'. The PhD candidates will be expected to write a historical and comparative study on one of the last two mentioned sub-projects.

We ask:
The position is open to excellent students with a Master's or equivalent in Economics, Cognitive Psychology or other social science, or in the History of the Sciences / Social Sciences. The students should have or be ready to acquire knowledge of historical and ethnographical methods of research.

We offer:
An inspiring international research environment. Our group maintains regular contacts with the Economic History Department and the Centre for Philosophy of Natural and Social Sciences at the LSE in London and at The Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, and with the Economics Department at Duke University and the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan in Paris.

More information
Inquiries about the project should be directed to Dr Harro Maas (email: h.b.j.b.maas@uva.nl,  website http://www1.fee.uva.nl/pp/hmaas/) . A brief description of the project is available by clicking on the PDF attachment below. An extensive description is available on request. For more information about the Amsterdam History and Methodology Group, see http://www.fee.uva.nl/hme/.
Appointment

The selected PhD candidates will be given full-time contracts for one year (starting 1 February 2008), which will be concluded by an evaluation. Upon positive outcomes, the contracts will be extended for a further three years. The students will be expected to complete their PhD theses by the end of their appointments. The gross monthly salary will range from €1,956 in the first year to €2,502 in the fourth year. The students will spend an extended period at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin.

Job application
Candidates should submit a letter of interest, a curriculum vitae, a reflection on the sub-project of interest (max. 2000 words), a transcript of courses taken (including grades) and two letters of recommendation. Application packages should be sent to: Universiteit van Amsterdam, Personnel Department, attn J.J. Bast, Roetersstraat 11, 1018 WB Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Applications may also be emailed to applications-feb@uva.nl.  Please include the job reference number. The deadline for applications is 1 December 2007.

Attachments
A History of Observation in Economics, brief description http://www.uva.nl/vacatures/object.cfm/objectid=EB2B351A-1321-B0BE-68D5B71BD2B658DC/download=true
history of observation, brief description.pdf/   19 KB

Refer to
History and Methodology Group http://www.fee.uva.nl/hme/  Salary scales Collective Employment Agreement (CAO-VSNU) (Dutch language) http://www.vsnu.nl/web/show/id=44822/langid=43

Centre for Innovation & Structural Change

Heterodox opportunities for research posts in the Centre for Innovation & Structural Change at NUI Galway.

We are an inter-disciplinary centre and open to heterodox approaches: Applications are invited from students interested in studying for a PhD in the following areas:
Technology Transfer, Commercialisation and Intellectual Property Exploitation and Deployment
Information Systems Enabled Innovation (phd013)
Information Systems Enabled Innovation (phd014)
Regional Innovation Systems
The development of indicators for Science Communication, Outreach & Public Engagement: Informing Innovation Policy and Knowledge Society in Ireland
More information: http://www.nuigalway.ie/cisc/vacancies.html

Top

For Your Information

Use your Economics for Social Justice!

Tired of learning economics that seems more interested in justifying the status quo, than in explaining the real world - and changing it?

Then join thousands of economics students around the world:
put your economics to work in the cause of social change.

Progressive Economics Forum
Annual Student Essay Contest

PRIZES
$1000: Top Graduate Essay
$500: Top Undergraduate Essay

Prizes will be awarded to an essay of 5,000-10,000 words on any subject related to political economy, economic theory or an economic policy issue, which best reflects a critical approach to the functioning, efficiency, social and environmental consequences of unconstrained markets.

Download the flyer and the form

DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS: May 1, 2008

Mail 4 Copies of Your Essay to:

PEF Student Essay Contest,
c/o Professor Brenda Spotton Visano
School of Public Policy and Administration
Ross Building N802
York University, 4700 Keele St.,
Toronto Ontario Canada M3J 1P3

Detailed contest rules and previous winning essays are posted at: www.progressive-economics.ca/student-essay-contest/

All entrants receive a complimentary 1-year membership in the Progressive Economics Forum.

Judges' decisions are final.

Association for Integrity and Responsible Leadership in Economics and Associated Professions

Presentation on AIRLEAP: http://www.airleap.org/publications.htm

Socialism after Hayek

Ted Burczak's Socialism after Hayek (University of Michigan Press, Advances in Heterodox Economics, 2006) has just received the 2007 Smith Prize for "best book in Austrian Economics" by the Society for the Development of Austrian Economics.


Top

counter