Wie wir Ökonomie in Krisenzeiten neu gestalten können.

This Forum in the Boston Review deals with the role of economics in modern policymaking and presents a wide set of perspectives on the topic. The opening text by Suresh Naidu, Dani Rodrik and Gabriel Zucman aims to answer a range of common criticisms against the modern, neoclassical science of economics and its influence on public discussions.

In this lecture Ben Fine aims at stimulating interest for and explaining the relevance of Marxist Political Economy. Ben Fine dedicates the first half of his comprehensible lecture to the question on how mainstream economics became the way it is by explaining its key concepts and how those evolved during the past 150 years. While critically reflecting those concept he also emphasizes that mainstream economics does not consider historical processes. This is the point of departure on his presentation of the core terms and crucial categories of Marxist Political Economy: e.g. the production process and class relations (Part 1). Part 2 examines the consequences of the capitalist mode of production and its propensity to crises. Ben Fine illustrates this Marxist analysis with the example of the current crisis and explains current conditions for the accumulation of capital.

In the interview, Robert Skidelsky discusses the emergence of political influence of a certain school of economic thought and how the success of an economic theory depends on the power relations in the society. He introduces the historical example of Keynesian economics and its replacement by liberal economic theory and policy in the aftermath of the Great Depression, and transfers this historical case to the dominant paradigm of austerity policies in the Europe as response to rising public debts caused by the Financial Crisis. He contrasts austerity policies with a Keynesian approach. Furthermore, he relates the targets of policy to the underlying power structures, for example when not the reduction of unemployment but the protection of financial capital is politically addressed.

To celebrate the forthcoming book, "A brief history of Economic Thought: From the Mercantilists to the Post-Keynesians", edited by Louis-Philippe Rochon and Hassan Bougrine (Edward Elgar), Louis-Philippe Rochon sat down with celebrated author and scholar Sergio Rossi to discuss his contribution "Milton Friedman and the Monetarist School".

First the global mean is calculated from a matrix of three sets each containing three observations. Then the sum of squares is calculated. Lastly, the concept of degree of freedom is explained.

In diesem Vortrag „Von der Neoklassik zum ökonomischen Mainstream“ entwickelt Silja Graupe „kritische Reflexionen zur Entwicklung modernen ökonomischen Denkens“. Was machst die Denkweise der „modernen Lehrbuchökonomie“ aus? Welche Konsequenzen hat diese und wie hat sie sich historisch herausgebildet?