Heterodox Economics Newsletter Issue 254 | November 04, 2019 | web1 | pdf2 | Heterodox Economics Directory3 During public talks or in teaching contexts I am sometimes asked, whether there exists a clear-cut heterodox alternative to standard theories of individual economic decision- making. While there are some obvious responses to this question pointing to classic concepts - like social emulation of consumer preferences, consumption-learning, rent- seeking behavior, mark-up pricing the marginal propensity to consume - many of these concepts operate on a systemic, rather than individual level, and are, hence, sometimes difficult to apply directly to individual decisions without invoking further assumptions. Similar issues can come up, when discussing the role of the ascent of behavioral economics and its impact on the development economics in general (see also here4 or here5 for recent evaluations, which posit that behavioral econ is firmly embedded in mainstream economics). In such contexts it is, in my view, helpful to point out that a fuller heterodox theory of purposeful behavior does indeed exist. It has its roots in the early works of Herbert Simon, builds on "smart heuristics" and is sometimes dubbed 'ecological rationality' (for an introduction see here6 ). It has been developed mainly in psychology and a key idea underlying this approach is that purposeful human action often employs mental shortcuts to approach complex phenomena, that are successful in application and, hence, evolutionary stable. A simple example is the physician's principle "do no harm" that shortly explicates some kind of MaxiMin decision rule. Another example, is Simon's idea of satisficing, which can be understood as a shortcut to circumvent costly/impossible procedures of optimization. In my view, three major arguments can be made for embracing such a view. First, the concept of smart heuristics allows for deriving some of the more systemic heterodox arguments on behavioral patterns (e.g. marginal propensities to consume, cooperative attitudes or herd behavior). Second, smart heuristics often allow for explaining many of the 'biases' found in conven- tional behavioral economics instead of simply 'recording' them as anomalies - indeed it makes the latter look like epicycles in the Ptolemaic theory of celestial motion. For in- stance, in this vein the famous 'status quo bias' can be rationalized as a form of intuitive 1http://www.heterodoxnews.com/n/htn254.html 2http://www.heterodoxnews.com/n/htn254.pdf 3http://heterodoxnews.com/hed 4https://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdf/10.1257/mic.20170007 5https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/1350178X.2019.1625210 6http://www.fulviofrisone.com/attachments/article/412/simple%20heuristics%20that% 20make%20us%20smart.pdf 1 defense against fundamental uncertainty (as future incomes or belongings are discounted relative to those already owned). Finally, a smart heuristics perspective provides conceptual alternatives, which has a twofold impact. For one, these alternative concepts help to illustrate how the tendency to frame findings in behavioral economics in terms of standard models contributes to an "assimilation"7 of behavioral ideas. For another, smart heuristics may also emerge from dealing critically with the inherent practical implications of the standard approach - e.g., when assuming fundamental uncertainty (e.g. here8 ) or complex, multi-dimensional choice-options (e.g. here9 ). Hence, in sum I would argue that the smart heuristics approach can be seen as a highly useful complement to more established heterodox modes of analyzing behavioral pat- terns. All the best, Jakob Contents Call for Papers4 11th Annual Conference in Political Economy (Ferrara, Sept. 2020).......4 15th Forum of the World Association for Political Economy (Athens, August 2020).......................................5 1st International ASCOPE Symposium (Paris, June 2020)............7 3rd Macroeconomics in Perspective Workshop (Paris, April 2020)........8 4th International Conference on Cultural Political Economy (Staffordshire, Jan 2020)....................................... 10 56th ITH Conference "Capital, Migration and the Left" (Linz, Sept 2020)... 10 5th Nordic Post-Keynesian Conference (Aalborg, April 2020).......... 12 5th Nordic Post-Keynesian Conference (Aalborg, April 2020).......... 13 AFFE @ Midwest Economics Association Annual Meeting (US, March 2020). 13 Annual ESPAnet Conference (Leuven, Sept. 2020)................ 14 Call for Book Chapter Proposals: "(De)automating the Future"......... 16 Cambridge Journal of Economics: Special Issue on \Financialisation in devel- oping and emerging economies: Manifestations, Drivers and Implications" 18 7https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0167268101002414 8https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=5&cad=rja&uact=8& ved=2ahUKEwizqeHx2s3lAhVr5KYKHXspAkUQFjAEegQIAxAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.uvm.edu% 2F{extasciitilde}jfarley%2FEEseminar%2Freadings%2FWhat%2520is%2520ecological% 2520economics.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0AIP6DHYrnNIbTfBjOSYae 9https://jakob-kapeller.org/images/pubs/2013-KapSchuetzStein-JEE.pdf 2 Capitalism & Contention Conference (New York, March 2020)......... 20 Conference on Achieving Sustainable Development in LDCs (Helsinki, Oct. 2020) 21 Conference on Strategies for Degrowth in Europe (Vienna, June 2020)..... 22 Cuadernos de Econom´ıaCr´ıtica:Special Issue on "The Science of Sustainability under structural crisis and the unsustainability of life"........... 24 History of Economic Society Conference (Utrecht, June 2020).......... 25 Workshop on "Patents as Capital" (Stockholm, Sept 2020)........... 25 YSI at International Conference Minsky at 100 (Milan, Dec. 2019)....... 26 Call for Participants 27 13th AHE postgraduate workshop on advanced research methods (Leeds, Jan. 2020)....................................... 27 15th Annual AFIT-AFEE Student Scholars Award Competition........ 28 2nd Workshop on "Teaching History of Economic Thought and Pluralism in Economics" (London, Nov. 2019)....................... 29 Conference "European industrial policy - a tool for a Green New Deal" (Brus- sels, Dec. 2020)................................. 29 GLOBE 2019 Winter School in International Relations (Leysin, Feb. 2020).. 30 International Master's Course "Economic Policies in the Age of Globalisation" (EPOG 2.0)................................... 31 Pluralistic Teaching Workshops at ICAPE Conference 2020 (San Diego, Jan- uary 2020).................................... 32 Job Postings 33 California State University San Bernardino, US.................. 33 Colorado State University, US............................ 34 Progressive Economy Forum, UK.......................... 35 St. John's University, US.............................. 36 Trinity College, US.................................. 37 University of Amsterdam, Netherlands....................... 38 University of Manitoba, US............................. 39 University of Texas, US............................... 40 Awards 41 Call for Nominations: Joseph J. Spengler Book Prize............... 42 Calls for Nominations: Awards of ESHET Conference.............. 42 Winner Announcement: EAEPE Research Prizes................. 44 Journals 45 Economy and Society, 48 (3)............................ 45 European Journal of Economics and Economic Policies 16 (2).......... 47 Feminist Economics 25 (4).............................. 47 Historical Materialism, 27 (3)............................ 50 International Critical Thought 9 (3)........................ 51 3 Journal of the History of Economic Thought, 41 (4)............... 54 Rethinking Marxism 31 (4)............................. 55 Review of Keynesian Economics 7 (4)....................... 57 Review of Radical Political Economics 51 (4)................... 58 Books and Book Series 60 A Modern Guide to State Intervention Economic Policies for Growth and Sus- tainability.................................... 61 Class History and Class Practices in the Periphery of Capitalism........ 61 Finance, Growth and Inequality Post-Keynesian Perspectives.......... 62 John Maynard Keynes: The Art of Choosing the Right Model.......... 62 Macroeconomics................................... 63 Nationalism on the Internet: Critical Theory and Ideology in the Age of Social Media and Fake News............................. 63 None so Fit to Break the Chains: Marx's Ethics of Self-Emancipation..... 64 Progressive Post-Keynesian Economics Dealing with Reality........... 64 Revolutionizing World Trade: How Disruptive Technologies Open Opportuni- ties for All.................................... 65 Towards a Political Economy of Degrowth..................... 65 Understanding Marxism............................... 66 Veblen's America: The Conspicuous Case of Donald J. Trump......... 66 For Your Information 67 World Economics Association Commentaries is looking for a co-editor..... 67 Call for Papers 11th Annual Conference in Political Economy (Ferrara, Sept. 2020) 09-11 September 2020 | Ferrara, Italy Beyond Neoliberalism and Populism: On the Political Economy of our Soci- eties and Economies IIPPE calls for submissions to the 2020 annual Conference. We particularly welcome pa- pers directly related to the core themes of \moving beyond neoliberalism and populism", and \building progressive policies and alliances for our societies and economies". As always, presentations on all aspects of political economy are also welcome. New partic- ipants committed to political economy, interdisciplinarity, history of economic