1838 Ergebnisse
Geld und Sprache sind das „Band der menschlichen Gesellschaft“ (Cicero). Im vorliegenden Text wird die menschliche Sprache als soziale Form, als Prozess der Vergesellschaftung rekonstruiert und das damit verbundene Denken daraus entwickelt als Logos. Das Geld stellt logisch und historisch ein Novum innerhalb dieser Vergesellschaftung dar, das zu einer sich immer weiter einlagernden berechnenden Vernunftform (Ratio) führt. Diese wachsende Dominanz der Ratio über den Logos charakterisiert den Prozess der Modernisierung und erlaubt zugleich ihren inneren Gegensatz aufzudecken. Es zeichnet sich schließlich in der völligen Verdinglichung der Ratio in der Künstlichen Intelligenz eine neue Weise der Vergesellschaftung ab, worin die Herrschaft des Geldes in neuer Form reproduziert wird.
Geld und Sprache: Der innere Widerstreit in der Modernisierung
"Bank Underground" is the staff blog of the Bank of England, founded to publish the views and insights of the people working for one of the world's oldest central banks. The blog covers a wide range of macroeconomic topics, mostly linked to the effects of monetary policy, of course, but not all the time. It provides timely, relevant analysis of contemporary challenges in economic policy and is thus often a perfect primer.
Bank Underground
This paper investigates how the concept of public purpose is used in Modern Monetary Theory (MMT). As a common denominator among political scientists, the idea of public purpose is that economic actions should aim at benefiting the majority of the society. However, the concept is to be considered as an ideal of a vague nature, which is highly dependent on societal context and, hence, subject to change over time. MMT stresses that government spending plans should be designed to pursue a certain socio-economic mandate and not to meet any particular financial outcome. The concept of public purpose is heavily used in this theoretical body of thought and often referred to in the context of policy proposals as the ideas of universal job guarantee and banking reform proposals show. MMT scholars use the concept as a pragmatic benchmark against which policies can be assessed. With regards to the definition of public propose, MMT scholars agree that it is dependent on the social-cultural context. Nevertheless, MMT scholars view universal access to material means of survival as universally applicable and in that sense as the lowest possible common denominator.
Modern Monetary Theory and the public purpose
We collect selected high quality working papers from the leading international universities and research institutes in the field of plural and heterodox economics. The working papers in our selection present economic schools of thought and debates in a first-class way and give an insight into the latest research.
Exploring Economics Working Paper Selection
Since the 1980s, the financial sector and its role have increased significantly. This development is often referred to as financialization. Authors working in the heterodox tradition have raised the question whether the changing role of finance manifests a new era in the history of capitalism. The present article first provides some general discussion on the term financialization and presents some stylized facts which highlight the rise of finance. Then, it proceeds by briefly reviewing the main arguments in the Marxian framework that proposedly lead to crisis. Next, two schools of thought in the Marxian tradition are reviewed which consider financialization as the latest stage of capitalism. They highlight the contradictions imposed by financialization that disrupt the growth process and also stress the fragilities imposed by the new growth regime. The two approaches introduced here are the Social Structure of Accumulation Theory and Monthly Review School. The subsequent part proceeds with the Post-Keynesian theory, first introducing potential destabilizing factors before discussing financialization and the finance-led growth regime. The last section provides a comparative summary. While the basic narrative in all approaches considered here is quite similar, major differences stem from the relationship between neoliberalism and financialization and, moreover, from the question of whether financialization can be considered cause or effect.
Financialization and the crises of capitalism
This lecture of the anthropologist David Graeber gives a brief introduction to the thoughts of his 2011 published book Debt: The First 5000 Years.
Debt: The First 5,000 Years
The principle of effective demand, and the claim of its validity for a monetary production economy in the short and in the long run, is the core of heterodox macroeconomics, as currently found in all the different strands of post-Keynesian economics (Fundamentalists, Kaleckians, Sraffians, Kaldorians, Institutionalists) and also in some strands of neo-Marxian economics, particularly in the monopoly capitalism and underconsumptionist school In this contribution, we will therefore outline the foundations of the principle of effective demand and its relationship with the respective notion of a capitalist or a monetary production economy in the works of Marx, Kalecki and Keynes. Then we will deal with heterodox short-run macroeconomics and it will provide a simple short-run model which is built on the principle of effective demand, as well as on distribution conflict between different social groups (or classes): rentiers, managers and workers. Finally, we will move to the long run and we will review the integration of the principle of effective demand into heterodox/post-Keynesian approaches towards distribution and growth.
The principle of effective demand: Marx, Kalecki, Keynes and beyond
This paper presents an overview of different models which explain financial crises, with the aim of understanding economic developments during and possibly after the Great Recession. In the first part approaches based on efficient markets and rational expectations hypotheses are analyzed, which however do not give any explanation for the occurrence of financial crises and thus cannot suggest any remedies for the present situation. A broad range of theoretical approaches analyzing financial crises from a medium term perspective is then discussed. Within this group we focused on the insights of Marx, Schumpeter, Wicksell, Hayek, Fisher, Keynes, Minsky, and Kindleberger. Subsequently the contributions of the Regulation School, the approach of Social Structures of Accumulation and Post-Keynesian approach, which focus on long-term developments and regime shifts in capitalist development, are presented. International approaches to finance and financial crises are integrated into the analyses. We address the issue of relevance of all these theories for the present crisis and draw some policy implications. The paper has the aim to find out to which extent the different approaches are able to explain the Great Recession, what visions they develop about future development of capitalism and to which extent these different approaches can be synthesized.
Theories of finance and financial crisis: Lessons for the Great Recession
Podcast series with six 12-minute parts introducing the the values and ideas behind our neoliberal economic system: where it came from, how it spread, and how we could do things differently.
Beginner’s Guide to Neoliberalism
Professor Joseph Aldy from Harvard Kennedy School gives us some insights about how economics can set the balance between policymakers, scientists, employers and citizens.
Can Economics save the Environment?
In this podcast, Laura Basu focuses on how capitalist markets and nation-states perpetuate structural racism.
Is capitalism racist?
The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching implications across the African continent. This discussion brings to light the role of African think tanks, such as the African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET) in rethinking the continent’s development models, especially, in light of the unprecedented crisis.
Growth with 'DEPTH' should guide economic transformation in Africa
The documentary features a talk of the US-American writer and economic theorist Jeremy Rifkin summarising the main points of his 2011 book "The Third Industrial Revolution."
The Third Industrial Revolution: A Radical New Sharing Economy
In this video University of Warwick Economist Robert Akerlof provides an introduction to a new type of behavioral economics He explains how this type is being driven by a desire to understand how people are shaped by social interactions and what the economic consequences of this are He begins the …
Behavioral Economics: The Next Generation
Are there any limits to government spending? In times of war, particularly? And what about the aftermath of such special times when treasuries seemingly feel unshackled from any rules? And are those times really any special? That is what this paper is about.
Modern Money and the War Treasury
Die Geschichte des Kapitalismus ist mit der Geschichte des (naiv realistischen) Alltagsverständnisses einer „objektiven“ Außen-Welt eng verwoben. Damit eine Geldorientierung und der Kapitalismus kulturdurchdringend werden konnten, musste sich die Vorstellung einer objektiven und messbaren „Außen-Welt“ entwickeln und in Lebenspraktiken durchsetzen. Das Paper erläutert die These, dass die Entstehungsgeschichte des Kapitalismus (lebenswirklich und in seiner theoretischen Reflexion) parallel zur Entstehungsgeschichte von Grundkonzepten (lebenswirklich und in ihrer theoretischen Reflexion), wie Ding, Raum und Zeit verlaufen ist bzw. einen gemeinsamen Prozess ausmacht.
Geld und Raum: Anmerkungen zum Homogenisierungsprogramm der beginnenden Neuzeit
Zunehmend wird die ökonomische Standardbildung für ihre Weltfremdheit, Einseitigkeit und Unreflektiertheit kritisiert. Die Autorin fragt nach den möglichen Wirkungen und gesellschaftlichen Bedeutungen dieses kritisierten Zustandes: Vermag er einer blinden Marktgläubigkeit Vorschub zu leisten, die selbst wiederum als wesentlich für die öffentliche Meinungsbildung in den letzten Jahrzehnten anzusehen ist?
Welche Kriterien spielen hierfür eine Rolle? Der Artikel geht diesen Fragen nach, indem er in historischer Perspektive wesentliche Zusammenhänge zwischen Strategien der Beeinflussung der „öffentlichen Meinung“ einerseits sowie der Wissenschaft und Lehre andererseits herausarbeitet, wie sie am Neoliberalismus und seinen Protagonisten Walter Lippmann und Friedrich A. Hayek beobachtet werden können. Zudem wird eine Skizze einer grundlegend alternativen Bildungsform, einer Bildung für ökonomische Mündigkeit, entworfen.
Zwischen Marktgläubigkeit und Marktkritik: Plädoyer für eine Bildung zur ökonomischen Mündigkeit
As the Covid-19 fueled economic downturn begins to intensify this winter, an extended study of the Italian cooperative sector’s historical resilience in times of crisis can serve as a learning experience for other countries seeking to create policies that foster more stable economies, with job security, care for marginalized communities and adequate counter-cyclical policies. Particularly, the Italian cooperative sector’s contributions to three aspects should be noted in closing. Firstly, the innovative phenomenon of cooperative enterprises has contributed to social inclusion of immigrant communities, the activation of youth, the unemployed and people with disabilities, a true compensation for both a market and state failure. Secondly, they have contributed to a reduction in income and wealth inequalities at a time when the issue of inequality is of global significance. Thirdly, the Italian cooperative movement has helped local communities revitalize in the face of demographic shifts and rendered them more resilient to the ravages of globalization. Each of these in their own right is a remarkable achievement.
How to strengthen the social economy
Pluralism includes mainstream economics. Our campaign for pluralism, including this series, have generally focused on ideas outside the mainstream on the basis that it gets plenty of attention already so we want to spend our time exposing people to alternatives. Nevertheless, mainstream ideas deserve some attention. On top of this, a curious feature of modern economics education is that some of the best ideas from mainstream economics are not even taught to undergraduates! During this series I will explore such ideas, starting today with the market construction technique known as ‘matching’.
It's a match!
If there’s one method economists have neglected the most, it’s qualitative research. Whereas economists favour mathematical models and statistics, qualitative research seeks to understand the world through intensive investigation of particular circumstances, which usually entails interviewing people directly about their experiences. While this may sound simple to quantitative types the style, purpose, context, and interpretation of an interview can vary widely. Because of this variety, I have written a longer post than usual on this topic rather than doing it a disservice. Having said that, examples of qualitative research in economics are sadly scant enough that it doesn’t warrant multiple posts. In this post I will introduce qualitative research in general with nods to several applications including the study of firm behaviour, race, Austrian economics, and health economics. More than usual I will utilise block quotes, which I feel is in the spirit of the topic.
Qualitative Methods in Economics: "You Can Observe a Lot Just by Watching"
This paper attempts to clarify how the European economic crisis from 2007 onwards can be understood from the perspective of a Marxian monetary theory of value that emphasizes intrinsic, structural flaws regarding capitalist reproduction. Chapter two provides an empirical description of the European economic crisis, which to some extent already reflects the structural theoretical framework presented in chapter three. Regarding the theoretical framework Michael Heinrich's interpretation of 'the' Marxian monetary theory of value will be presented. Heinrich identifies connections between production and realization, between profit and interest rate as well as between industrial and fictitious capital, which represent contradictory tendencies for which capitalism does not have simple balancing processes. In the context of a discussion of 'structural logical aspects' of Marx's Critique of the Political Economy, explanatory deficits of Heinrich's approach are analyzed. In the following, it is argued that Fred Moseley's view of these 'structural logical aspects' allows empirical 'applications' of Marxian monetary theories of value. It is concluded that a Marxian monetary theory of value, with the characteristics of expansive capital accumulation and its limitations, facilitates a structural analysis of the European economic crisis from 2007 onwards. In this line of argument, expansive production patterns are expressed, among other things, in global restructuring processes, while consumption limitations are mitigated by expansive financial markets and shifts in ex-port destinations.
The European economic crisis from 2007 onwards in the context of a global crisis of over-production of capital - a Marxian monetary theory of value interpretation
Andrea Binder ist Expertin für Offshore Finanzen und humanitäre Politik. In ihrer kürzlich ausgezeichneten Dissertation hat sie sich damit beschäftigt, wie G...
Offshore Geldschöpfung & globale Finanzstabilität
Global Value Chains (GVCs) started to play an increasing and key role in the global economy from the 1990s on. The market mechanism in GVCs supports industrialisation in the Global South and under certain conditions product and process upgrading. But GVCs do not lead to the catching-up of countries in the sense of them approaching real GDP per capita levels comparable with developed countries. These arguments are supported by a critical interpretation of the traditional trade theory, the New Trade Theory and specific approaches to explain GVCs, especially different governance structures and power relationships. Several case studies support these arguments. For catching-up, countries need comprehensive horizontal and vertical industrial policy and policies for social coherence. The small number of countries which managed to catch up did this in different variations.
Global Value Chains in economic development
Exploring Economics, an open-source e-learning platform, giving you the opportunity to discover & study a variety of economic theories, topics, and methods.
Karl Marx: An early post-Keynesian?
This article examines the spread of financialization in Germany before the financial crisis. It provides an up-to date overview on the literature on financialization and reviews which of the phenomena typically associated with financialization have emerged in Germany. In particular, the article aims to clarify how the prevailing institutional structure and its changes had contributed to or had countervailed the spread of financialization and how it had shaped the specific German variant of financialization. For this end, it combines the rich literature on Germany's institutional structure with the more macroeconomic oriented literature on financializaton. With the combination of those different perspectives the article sheds light on the reasons for the spread of financialization and the specific forms it has taken in Germany.
Financialization made in Germany: A review
In this paper the main developments in post-Keynesian macroeconomics since the mid- 1990s will be reviewed. For this purpose the main differences between heterodox economics in general, including post-Keynesian economics, and orthodox economics will be reiterated and an overview over the strands of post-Keynesian economics, their commonalities and developments since the 1930s will be outlined. This will provide the grounds for touching upon three important areas of development and progress of post-Keynesian macroeconomics since the mid-1990s: first, the integration of distribution issues and distributional conflict into short- and long-run macroeconomics, both in theoretical and in empirical/applied works; second, the integrated analysis of money, finance and macroeconomics and its application to changing institutional and historical circumstances, like the process of financialisation; and third, the development of full-blown macroeconomic models, providing alternatives to the mainstream 'New Consensus Model' (NCM), and allowing to derive a full macroeconomic policy mix as a more convincing alternative to the one implied and proposed by the mainstream NCM, which has desperately failed in the face of the recent crises.
Post-Keynesian macroeconomics since the mid-1990s: Main developments
Adam Smith mag der Urvater ökonomischen Denkens sein. Aber ist er nicht längst veraltet, seine Ideen überholt? Wie aktuell seine Grundgedanken noch immer sind und wie oft sie in der modernen wirtschaftspolitischen Debatte zu finden sind, zeigt dieser Podcast.
Adam Smith und die freie Marktwirtschaft
Goethes Faust II, genauer das erste Kapitel wurde vielfach als eine Geld- und Inflationstheorie gelesen. Obgleich darin viele Motive anklingen, die in der Erklärung des Geldes eine Rolle spielen, so ist es doch ein Missgriff, Goethe als ökonomische Autorität zu lesen. Allerdings stand er allerdings in regem Austausch mit zeitgenössischen Ökonomen, deren Erkenntnisse weitgehend vergessen wurden. Gerade darin finden sich viele Elemente für eine Theorie und Philosophie des Geldes. Im Text werden zahlreiche dieser Einsichten vorgestellt und im Kontext der Faust-Dichtung vertieft. Die Figur des Mephistopheles als des „neuen“ Narren erweist sich dabei als wichtige Leitfigur für das Verständnis monetärer Prozesse jenseits der Vorurteile einer traditionellen Quantitätstheorie.
Goethe und das Papiergeld
Friedrich von Hayek, die wirkungsmächtigste Person im Neoliberalismus, hat insbesondere in seiner Theorie des „Wettbewerbs als Entdeckungsprozess“ eine Utopie formuliert, deren Besonderheit darin besteht, dass sie versucht, jeder anderen Utopie – gleich welcher Richtung – ihre Berechtigung zu entziehen. Denn hier wird „dem Markt“ bzw. „der erweiterten Ordnung“ eine Übervernunft zugeschrieben, die von keinem menschlichen Wesen kognitiv zu bewältigen ist. Hayek landet folgerichtig bei dem Bild, „den Markt“ wie einen Gott anzusehen und ihm gottgleiche Attribute zu verleihen.
Die neoliberale Utopie als Ende aller Utopien
Der Aufsatz diskutiert die Berechtigung von wirtschaftlichem Wachstum als wichtigstes gesellschaftliches Ziel der Gegenwart, seine Genese in der Theoriegeschichte seit dem 2. Weltkrieg und welche Wirkungen von diesem Konzept auf das ökonomische Denken ausgegangen sind. Es wird argumentiert, dass es einer neuen ökonomischen Bildung bedarf, die ein Verständnis für reale Zusammenhänge und ein Wissen um konkrete Dinge fördert, die unmittelbar an Fragestellungen des Lebens orientiert sind.
Wirtschaftswachstum und Bildungswiderstand: Von der Freiheit und Unfreiheit des ökonomischen Denkens
Geldökonomien vermitteln nicht einfach Wirtschaftssubjekte; sie führen zu einer charakteristischen Trennung zwischen Arbeitenden und Konsumenten. Während die klassische Ökonomie die Arbeit in den Mittelpunkt rückte, sollen nach neoklassischer Lehre die Konsumenten durch ihre Präferenzen die gesamte Ökonomie über die Preise steuern. Diese Denkfigur wird nachfolgend in ihrer ideologischen Funktion dechiffriert. Die Reduktion der meisten Menschen auf die Rolle passiver Konsumenten, die andererseits beim Gelderwerb dem Diktat des Eigentums als Arbeitskraft subsumiert sind, prägt sowohl die Struktur der modernen kapitalistischen Gesellschaften wie die Psyche der Menschen. Die Dualität von Tätig-Sein und Güter-Haben entpuppt sich als spezifische Herrschaftsform.
Vom Tätig-Sein und Güter-Haben
Wie selbstverständlich geht die heutige ökonomische Standardlehre davon aus, dass sie Studierenden eine feste und unveränderliche Sicht auf die Welt vermitteln kann. Doch woher kommt diese Annahme? Walter Lippmann, einer der Begründer des Neoliberalismus, gibt hierauf einen ersten Hinweis: Wirtschaftswissenschaft soll in der Lage sein, Bilder in Köpfen von Menschen zu verankern, die allem Denken und Handeln unbewusst zugrunde liegen, selbst aber nicht schöpferisch veränderbar sind. Anhand dreier Stationen – ausgesuchten Textpassagen von Adam Smith, John Stuart Mill und Léon Walras – zeigt der Beitrag, wie die Wirtschaftswissenschaft hierfür das Denken umformen musste: hin zu einem rein erfahrungsunabhängigen Denken, das seine Inspiration nicht aus der Begegnung mit der Wirklichkeit, sondern allein aus der reinen Mathematik und Mechanik übernimmt. Zugleich zeigt die philosophische Auseinandersetzung mit der Geschichte dieser Wissenschaft, dass diese Umformung selbst weder zwangsläufig noch alternativlos ist. Auch in der Ökonomie lässt sich die schöpferische Kraft des Denkens zurückgewinnen.
„Gefangene der Bilder in unseren Köpfen“ - Die Macht abstrakten ökonomischen Denkens
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