Spring 2016 Syllabus
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Werner Sombart's ʻovercomingʼ of Marxism
CHAPTER 27 Werner Sombart’s ʻOvercomingʼ of Marxism 27.1 The Historical School as ʻDigestive Scienceʼ (Rosa Luxemburg) The ʻolder historical schoolʼ of political economy, whose members included Wilhelm Roscher (1817–94), Bruno Hildebrandt (1812–78) and Karl Knies (1821– 98), emerged in the 1840s. It was a specifically ʻGermanʼ reaction both to the French Revolution and to the ʻWesternʼ cosmopolitanism of classical political economy from Smith to Ricardo.1 It was ostensibly concerned with opposing the ʻsurgical extractionʼ of the economy from the ʻliving bodyʼ of popular life and the life of the state, and in particular the ʻnarrow egotistic psychologyʼ according to which social actors are guided, in their economic behaviour, only by economic considerations, as opposed to ethical motives.2 If Machiavelli banished ethics from politics, Adam Smith performed the same operation for political economy, criticises Knies, who emphasises the significance of the ʻethico-political momentʼ for political economy and speaks of the discipline being ʻelevatedʼ to the status of a ʻmoral and political science’.3 At first glance, this seems to represent an integral approach to studying social practices. But behind this pathos of wholeness, there lies the definition of political economy as a ʻstate economyʼ concerned with ʻjudging men and ruling them’.4 The historical school developed from cameralism, which became the discipline of state science due to the Prussian path of capitalist develop- ment.5 Marx describes cameralism as ʻa medley of smatterings, through -
Modern Monetary Theory: a Marxist Critique
Class, Race and Corporate Power Volume 7 Issue 1 Article 1 2019 Modern Monetary Theory: A Marxist Critique Michael Roberts [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower Part of the Economics Commons Recommended Citation Roberts, Michael (2019) "Modern Monetary Theory: A Marxist Critique," Class, Race and Corporate Power: Vol. 7 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. DOI: 10.25148/CRCP.7.1.008316 Available at: https://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/classracecorporatepower/vol7/iss1/1 This work is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Arts, Sciences & Education at FIU Digital Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Class, Race and Corporate Power by an authorized administrator of FIU Digital Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Modern Monetary Theory: A Marxist Critique Abstract Compiled from a series of blog posts which can be found at "The Next Recession." Modern monetary theory (MMT) has become flavor of the time among many leftist economic views in recent years. MMT has some traction in the left as it appears to offer theoretical support for policies of fiscal spending funded yb central bank money and running up budget deficits and public debt without earf of crises – and thus backing policies of government spending on infrastructure projects, job creation and industry in direct contrast to neoliberal mainstream policies of austerity and minimal government intervention. Here I will offer my view on the worth of MMT and its policy implications for the labor movement. First, I’ll try and give broad outline to bring out the similarities and difference with Marx’s monetary theory. -
New Structural Economics Meets European Transition Erik Berglofa a Institute of Global Affairs, LSE, London, UK Published Online: 17 Jun 2015
This article was downloaded by: [Professor Judith Clifton] On: 18 June 2015, At: 08:38 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK Journal of Economic Policy Reform Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gpre20 New structural economics meets European transition Erik Berglofa a Institute of Global Affairs, LSE, London, UK Published online: 17 Jun 2015. Click for updates To cite this article: Erik Berglof (2015) New structural economics meets European transition, Journal of Economic Policy Reform, 18:2, 114-130, DOI: 10.1080/17487870.2015.1013543 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17487870.2015.1013543 PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. -
Karl Helfferich and Rudolf Hilferding on Georg Friedrich Knapp's State
A Service of Leibniz-Informationszentrum econstor Wirtschaft Leibniz Information Centre Make Your Publications Visible. zbw for Economics Greitens, Jan Conference Paper — Manuscript Version (Preprint) Karl Helfferich and Rudolf Hilferding on Georg Friedrich Knapp’s State Theory of Money: Monetary Theories during the Hyperinflation of 1923 Suggested Citation: Greitens, Jan (2020) : Karl Helfferich and Rudolf Hilferding on Georg Friedrich Knapp’s State Theory of Money: Monetary Theories during the Hyperinflation of 1923, Annual Conference of the European Society for the History of Economic Thought (ESHET) 2020, Sofia., ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, Kiel, Hamburg This Version is available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/216102 Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen: Terms of use: Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Documents in EconStor may be saved and copied for your Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden. personal and scholarly purposes. Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle You are not to copy documents for public or commercial Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich purposes, to exhibit the documents publicly, to make them machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen. publicly available on the internet, or to distribute or otherwise use the documents in public. Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, If the documents have been made available -
Weimar Republic Hyperinflation Through a Modern Monetary Theory Lens Phil Armstrong and Warren Mosler 2020 Abstract
Weimar Republic Hyperinflation through a Modern Monetary Theory Lens Phil Armstrong and Warren Mosler 2020 Abstract The hyperinflation in Weimar Germany in 1922-23 has become the poster child of mainstream economists - and especially the monetarists- when presenting the benefits of constraining governments by the rules of ‘sound finance’. Their narrative presumes that governments are naturally inclined to spend beyond their means and that, if left to their profligate ways, inflation ‘gets out of hand’ and leads to hyperinflation in a continuous, accelerating, unstoppable catastrophic collapse of the value of the money. In contrast to this ubiquitous mainstream analysis, we recognize a fundamentally different origin of inflation, and argue that inflation requires sustained, proactive policy support. And, in the absence of such policies, inflation will rapidly subside. We replace the erroneous mainstream theory with the knowledge of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) identifying both the source of the price level and what makes it change. We are not Weimar scholars, and our aim is not to present a comprehensive historical analysis. We examine the traditionally reported causal forces behind the Weimar hyperinflation, along with the factors that contributed to the hyperinflation and to its abrupt end. The purpose of this paper is to present our view of the reported information from an MMT perspective. In that regard, we identify the cause of the inflation as the German government paying continuously higher prices for its purchases, particularly those of the foreign currencies the Allies demanded for the payment of reparations, and we identify the rise in the quantity of money and the printing of increasing quantities of banknotes as a consequence of the hyperinflation, rather than its cause. -
Being Economic: Perspectives on Risk and Rationality
Social Contexts and Responses to Risk Network (SCARR) Working Paper 2007/18 Being Economic: Perspectives on Risk and Rationality Judith Mehta 1 Being Economic: Perspectives on Risk and Rationality Mehta Contact: Author: Judith Mehta Address: School of Economics, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ EMail: [email protected] ESRC priority network ‘Social Contexts and Responses to Risk’ (SCARR) School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research (SSPSSR) Cornwallis Building NE University of Kent at Canterbury Canterbury, Kent CT2 7NF, UK http://www.kent.ac.uk/scarr/ 2 Being Economic: Perspectives on Risk and Rationality Mehta 1. Introduction Austrian economics, behavioural/experimental economics, black political economy, critical realism, ecological economics, ersatz economics, evolutionary economics, feminist economics, historical economics, institutional and new institutional economics, Keynesianism/s, Marxism/s, monetarism, neoclassical economics and neo-neoclassical economics, new classical economics, postcolonial economics, postmodern economics, rhetorical economics, social economics, social constructivism, structuralist economics, transaction cost economics, … The list isn’t exhaustive; but it suffices to demonstrate that economics is characterised by a multitude of schools of thought, or methodological approaches to economic phenomena. Some schools of thought overlap and cross-fertilise one another, while some are openly in antagonistic relation; some schools of thought operate across a broad terrain of subject matter, while -
Ladislaus Von Bortkiewicz Statistician, Economist, and a European Intellectual
statistician, economist, economist, statistician, Forschungsgemei SFB * * Max Planck Institut and a European a European and Wolfgang Karl Hä Karl Wolfgang 649 This wasresearch supported the by Deutsche Ladislaus von Ladislaus * Bortkiewicz SFB 649, Humboldt Annette B. Vogt B. Annette Humboldt Spandauer Straße 1, D intellectual Discussion Paper 20 http://sfb649.wiwi.hu nschaft through theSFB 649 "EconomicRisk". - ISSN 1860 Universitä for t he - Universität zu Berlin History of Sciences, Germany t zu Berlin,Germany - 5664 - 10178 Berlin - berlin.de rdle * * - 14 * - 015 SFB 6 4 9 E C O N O M I C R I S K B E R L I N S F B XXX E C O N O M I C R I S K B E R L I N Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz statistician, economist, and a European intellectual Wolfgang Karl H¨ardle Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz Chair of Statistics, C.A.S.E. - Center for Applied Statistics and Economics, Humboldt-Universit¨atzu Berlin, Unter den Linden 6, 10099 Berlin, Germany Lee Kong Chian School of Business, Singapore Management University Annette B. Vogt Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany Abstract Ladislaus von Bortkiewicz (1868 - 1931) was a European statistician. His scientific work covered theoretical economics, stochastics, mathematical statistics and radiology, today we would call him a cross disciplinary scientist. With his clear views on mathema- tical principles with their applications in these fields he stood in conflict with the mainstream economic schools in Germany at the dawn of the 20th century. He had many prominent students (Gumbel, Leontief, Freudenberg among them) and he carved out the path of modern statistical thinking. -
Latin American Structuralism
175 CEPAL REVIEW 98 • AUGUST 2009 KEYWORDS Economic policy Economic systems Structural adjustment Value Latin American structuralism Markets Prices and economic theory Inflation Political aspects Economic aspects Economic dependence Armando Di Filippo Neoliberalism Economic development Latin America T his essay suggests that there is a body of Latin American structuralist economic theory which possesses distinctive characteristics while having a family resemblance to other institutionalist schools of thought, and which is based on an original approach to economic value. The founders of structuralism conceived a systemic, multidimensional and dynamic approach. They applied it to the study of improvements in, and the social distribution of, labour productivity generated in the central economies and the effects of these on the societies of the periphery. This outlook challenges the notion of markets as self-regulating systems that return to stable equilibrium positions, presenting them rather as a quantitative expression of the national or international power status of contracting parties. Different development styles and processes progressively alter the Armando Di Filippo Argentinean economist power structure of social systems and these changes are reflected in the Professor at the Institute of dynamic of relative market prices. International Studies, University of Chile, and at the Universidad Alberto Hurtado Adviser to the Executive Secretariat of ECLAC ✒ [email protected] 176 CEPAL REVIEW 98 • AUGUST 2009 I Latin American structuralism: economic theory and political economy At the heart of any economic theory about the support the legislator and statesman (Smith, 2007, p. capitalist system is the study of economic values, the 275), while economic theory includes, first, a value- market and prices. -
The Monetary and Fiscal Nexus of Neo-Chartalism: a Friendly Critique
JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC ISSUES Vol. XLVII No. 1 March 2013 DOI 10.2753/JEI0021-3624470101 The Monetary and Fiscal Nexus of Neo-Chartalism: A Friendly Critique Marc Lavoie Abstract: A number of post-Keynesian authors, called the neo-chartalists, have argued that the government does not face a budget constraint similar to that of households and that government with sovereign currencies run no risk of default, even with high debt-to-GDP ratio. This stands in contrast to countries in the eurozone, where the central bank does not normally purchase sovereign debt. While these claims now seem to be accepted by some economists, neo-chartalists have also made a number of controversial claims, including that the government spends simply by crediting a private-sector-bank account at the central bank; that the government does need to borrow to deficit-spend; and that taxes do not finance government expenditures. This paper shows that these surprising statements do have some logic, once one assumes the consolidation of the government sector and the central bank into a unique entity, the state. The paper further argues, however, that these paradoxical claims end up being counter-productive since consolidation is counter-factual. Keywords: central bank, clearing and settlement system, eurozone, neo-chartalism JEL Classification Codes: B5, E5, E63 The global financial crisis has exposed the weaknesses of mainstream economics and it has given a boost to heterodox theories, in particular, Keynesian theories. The mainstream view about the irrelevance of fiscal activism has been strongly criticized by the active use of fiscal policy in the midst of the global financial crisis. -
An Essay on Late Structuralism
An Essay on Late Structuralism Bill Gibson¤ March 2002 Abstract This paper traces the evolution of structuralist thought from the early European and Latin American structuralists through the late structuralism of Taylor and his followers. The genesis of the structuralist method is located in the writings of the early structuralists and necessarily leads to what neoclassicals call ad hoc theory. It is argued that simulation models are the logical outgrowth of the structuralist methodological trajectory and the validity of structuralist method is established by it scope as well as its realism. 1. Introduction In this essay I examine the scope and method of the structuralist school in an attempt to identify precisely how it di¤ers from the neoclassical system, in both its mode of analysis and its criteria for validity. There are four conclusions reached: …rst, the work of Taylor and his followers can be seen as a coherent outgrowth of not only Latin American Structuralism, as is often observed [25], but also the European or Early Structuralism of Levi-Strauss, Godlier and Piaget [27], [22] Piaget [37]. The early work, both Latin American and European, focused on rigidities and frictions in local economies [5] while in the late structuralism of Taylor and his followers, theory not only must account for the “macrofoundations” of behavior, but also global foundations, that is the constraints the evolution of the global system itself imposes on the players. Third, late structuralism is often criticized as ad hoc theorybecauseisnotgroundedinoptimizationmodels ¤Department of Economics, University of Vermont, Old Mill Burlington, VT 05405 USA 413-548-9448 e-mail: [email protected]. -
For a Modest and Heterodox Mainstream Economics
FOR A MODEST AND HETERODOX MAINSTREAM ECONOMICS Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira Paper presented to the Coimbra Conference 2010 “The Revival of Political Economy – Prospects for a Sustainable Provision”, sponsored by the Faculty of Economics of Coimbra University, October 21-23 2010. Suddenly, in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis, the king turned naked. Or we all realized that he was naked. Neoclassical economics was dominant since the late 1970s, but proved unable to explain and predict the behavior of economic systems. Mainstream economics, based on the homo economicus and on the rational expectations assumptions, concluded from them that markets were efficient and self-regulated. They were not. It also concluded that the existing market failures were eventually minor and did not questioned the logic of that revealed truth. It would be enough to guarantee markets, to protect property rights and contracts, to defend competition, and to keep public finances balanced, that the rest – financial and price stability, fast growth, and fair income distribution would in place. But this was also false. Although hypothetical- deductive economic models may show that income is distributed according to the marginal productivity of factors, non-regulated markets were never just or even fair; although market competition was supposed to automatically cause fast growth, historical experiences of catching up were always combined with active state action; although inflation was supposed to be under control provided that budget deficit and the supply of money were under control, these two implicit correlations were not confirmed by regression analyses; although deregulated financial markets were supposed to guarantee financial stability, the enormous increase of asset bubbles and financial crises, or, in Kindleberg’s wording, the recurrence of euphoria, manias and panics after the collapse of the Bretton Woods agreement, proved that this was just not true. -
UC Santa Barbara Dissertation Template
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Santa Barbara Defining the Monster: The Social Science and Rhetoric of Neo-Marxist Theories of Imperialism in the United States and Latin America, 1945-1973 A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in History by Christopher Cody Stephens Committee in charge: Professor Nelson Lichtenstein, Chair Professor Alice O’Connor Professor Salim Yaqub June 2018 The dissertation of Christopher Cody Stephens is approved. ____________________________________________ Salim Yaqub ____________________________________________ Alice O’Connor ____________________________________________ Nelson Lichtenstein, Committee Chair April 2017 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I had the benefit of working with many knowledgeable and generous faculty members at UCSB. As my advisor and the chair of my dissertation committee, Nelson Lichtenstein has ushered the project through every stage of its development, from conceptualization to defense. I pitched the idea of writing a seminar paper on Andre Gunder Frank in his office roughly four years ago, and since then he has enthusiastically supported my efforts, encouraged me to stay focused on the end goal, and provided detailed feedback on multiple drafts. That is not to say that I have always incorporated all his comments/criticisms, but when I have failed to do so it is mostly out of lack of time, resources, or self-discipline. I will continue to draw from a store of Nelson’s comments as a blueprint as I revise the manuscript for eventual publication as a monograph. Alice O’Connor, Mary Furner, and Salim Yaqub also read and commented on the manuscript, and more broadly influenced my intellectual trajectory. Salim helped me present my work at numerous conferences, which in turn helped me think through how the project fit in the frame of Cold War historiography.