Conference: "Which Pluralism?" | October 22 & 23, 2021
Exploring Economics' 1st Online Conference : "Which Pluralism?"
A two-day conference for thinking about how to achieve a more sustainable and resilient economy. The practices, institutions and system logics of today's economy are not suitable for appropriately addressing fundamental human needs. The climate crisis, in particular, requires radically rethinking of our economic system and its global value chains (Schedule below).
Exploring Economics is proud to launch its working papers feature with a two day conference entitled Which Pluralism? on Friday, October 22 and Saturday, October 23. We welcome the general public to attend the online sessions, which will feature panel presentations, debates and keynote addresses by Professors Anwar Shaikh of the New School, Steve Keen, Honorary Professor at UCL, and David Ellerman of the Universtiy of Lubljana. We will also offer student panels and opportunities for networking and dialogue. We are pleased to have received many excellent proposals from all over the world and are excited to provide a forum to promote new pathways for inter- and transdisciplinary, pluralist approaches to studying economic issues.
Attendees may register for the conference here
The problem: an outdated and one-sided economic science - Economic policies have for long been, and partly still are, dominated by an economic paradigm that is one-sided and monistic in its approach, producing the same simple answers to the complex realities of the present. Positive developments in the field of research or economic policy notwithstanding, mostly market-oriented thinking still prevails in economic teaching, while forms of economic activity based on shared institutions, cooperation, public spending, macroeconomic coordination and democratic planning are hardly mentioned, if at all.
The solution: future-oriented, pluralist economics - As the international curriculum change movement, we came together after the outbreak of the previous major crisis in 2007/2008 to radically renew economics. Since then, we have built long-term institutions that provide the basis for new economic thinking and fostered the paradigm of “pluralism”. Pluralist economics means to include approaches that focus on institutions, power structures and socioeconomic system dynamics - such as complexity, ecological, feminist, Keynesian or critical political economics. These approaches are the basis for thinking about and creating more equitable and sustainable economic systems.
The challenge: (how) can pluralist economics become the new normal? While the curriculum change movement and with it the claim for pluralism have made remarkable progress in the last years, mainstream economics is still dominating the teaching of economics. A number of key scientific and strategic questions around the claim for pluralism are still not resolved. Together with a number of other organizations we plan on hosting a two-day conference in October. Selected submissions will be published in a special edition of the Review of Economics and Economics Methodologies, a peer-reviewed journal dedicated to heterodox economics issues.
Conference Videos
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Friday, October 22, 2021 |
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| 12:45 PM | Opening Remarks : Greetings from Andreas Novy and Rob Dietz |
| 01:00 PM | Methodologies (Dietrich Lange, Wyatt Constantine, Florian Rommel, Constantine Passaris, Q&A with Discussant: Andrej Srakar) |
| 02:15 PM | Break |
| 02:20 PM | Complexity and Ergodicity (Mark Kirstein, Lucio Biggiero, Q&A with Discussant: Pavel Chvykov) |
| 03:20 PM | Break |
| 03:25 PM | Post-Covid Economy (Lukas Bäuerle, Izaskun Zuazu, Ivan Rubinec, Q&A with Discussant: Andrej Srakar) |
| 04:25 PM | Break |
| 04:30 PM | Keynote: Anwar Shaikh |
| 05:30 PM | Break |
| 05:35 PM | Platform Economy (Alex Pazaitis, Katya Abazajian, Ela Kagel, Dardan Isufi, Q&A with Jerome Warren) |
| 06:35 PM | Break |
| 06:40 PM | Worker Ownership Roundtable (Marcelo Vieta, David Ellerman, Discussant: Ryan Martinez) |
| 07:25 PM | Short Play: Chilavert Print Shop Occupation, Buenos Aires (Frederik Eilts, Charlotte Röniger, Andres Fong, Hannia Guadarrama) |
| 07:35 PM | Open Floor |
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Saturday, October 23, 2021 |
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| 12:45 PM | Opening Remarks |
| 01:00 PM | Global South Perspectives (Bediz Ölmez, João Pedro Loureiro Braga, Q&A with Ivan Rubinic ) |
| 02:10 PM | Break |
| 02:30 PM | Monetary Issues (Shann Turnbull, Christian Fahrbach, Nikos Stravelakis, Q&A with Discussant: Jakob Steffen) |
| 03:45 PM | Break |
| 03:55 PM | Keynote: Steve Keen |
| 04:55 PM | Break |
| 05:00 PM | Keynote: David Ellerman |
| 06:00 PM | Break |
| 06:05 PM | Pedagogy & Econ Curriculum (Frederic B. Jennings Jr., Steve Keen, Elsa Egerer, Q&A with Discussant: Jack Reardon + Closing Remarks) |
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Issues and research questions
The current state of (pluralist) economics and the case for curriculum change
- How has mainstream economics developed since the financial crisis 2007/2008?
- What is the current state of pluralism in economics, how far is the approach already present in today's economics education?
- What are the limits of pluralism, which further concepts should accompany our effort for pluralism?
- What are important strategic considerations for actually implementing pluralism and replacing mainstream economics?
Curriculum change and de-colonising economics
- What does pluralism mean in different regions of the world, and can the concept of pluralism be applied internationally?
- How can the process of de-colonising and pluralising economic thinking strengthen each other?
Pluralism in context
- What is the relationship between the concept of pluralism and (progressive) politics?
- What is the relationship between pluralism and both mainstream and heterodox economics?
- What is the relationship between pluralism and interdisciplinarity?
- What’s at stake for pluralism in economics specifically and social sciences generally? What potentially transformative opportunities are there?
Current challenges and issues in economics
- How has the Covid-19 pandemic influenced the need for new paradigms in economics?
- What does the growth of platform economies mean for future economic reasoning?
- What can pluralist economists and heterodox approaches offer for dealing with the looming climate catastrophe?
- Is there a need for new forms of digitally based macroeconomic steering and coordination, and which economic theories and models are needed to conceptualise them?
- How can we make sense of the ‘Chinese model’ with the help of heterodox and pluralist approaches, and what are its implications for the rest of the world?
How to submit
We warmly welcome contributions that take these and related issues into consideration. We accept different formats, such as essays, scientific articles, or literature overviews. All contributions, however, should be formulated in a widely understandable manner and directed at a broad audience. As all articles that succeed in the review process will be published on Exploring Economics and used by a broad readership consisting of students, lecturers, and the general public, we encourage authors to explore new, generally accessible forms of academic writing. We especially encourage students, young academics and groups of authors to submit an article. But also contributions by longstanding supporters and lecturers of heterodox economics are encouraged to (re-)submit articles.
Your article should not exceed 3,500 words. As we accept not only academic articles, but also essays or position papers, articles can also be considerably shorter. Any article, however, should be at least 1000 words in length.
The deadline for submitting an abstract or proposing a full article for resubmission is August 15, 2021.
Article drafts are to be submitted by October 31, 2021.
Finished articles are to be submitted by December 31, 2021.