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The notion that the demand and supply side are independent is a key feature of textbook undergraduate economics and of modern macroeconomic models. Economic output is thought to be constrained by the productive capabilities of the economy - the ‘supply-side' - through technology, demographics and capital investment. In the short run a boost in demand may increase GDP and employment due to frictions such as sticky wages, but over the long-term successive rises in demand without corresponding improvements on the supply side can only create inflation as the economy reaches capacity. In this post I will explore the alternative idea of demand-led growth, where an increase in demand can translate into long-run supply side gains. This theory is most commonly associated with post-Keynesian economics, though it has been increasingly recognised in the mainstream literature.
It’s Demand All the Way Down
Firms are the primary places where economic activity takes place in modern capitalist economies: they are where most stuff is produced; where many of us spend 40 hours a week; and where big decisions are made about how to allocate resources. Establishing how they work is hugely important because it helps us to understand patterns of production and consumption, including how firms will react to changes in economic conditions and policy. And a well-established literature – led by post-Keynesians and institutionalists – holds that the best way to determine how firms work is to…wait for it...ask firms how they work. This a clearly sensible proposition that is contested in economics for some reason, but we’ll ignore the controversy here and just explore the theory that springs from this approach.
The ‘How Firms Work’ Approach to How Firms Work
Feminist economics is a key component of the movement for pluralism in economics and one that has, to some extent, been acknowledged by the mainstream of the profession. It seeks to highlight issues which affect women because (it claims) they have not traditionally been recognised in a field dominated by men. On top of this, it seeks to carve out a space for women in the discipline, both for intrinsic reasons of fairness and diversity and because it means that women’s issues are more likely to be highlighted going forward.
Why Feminist Economics is Necessary
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 starts with an evaluation of three common arguments against pluralism in economics: (1) the claim that economics is already pluralist, (2) the argument that if there was the need for greater plurality, it would emerge on its own, and (3) the assertion that pluralism means ‘anything goes’ and is thus unscientific. Pluralist responses to all three arguments are summarized. The third argument is identified to relate to a greater challenge for pluralism: an epistemological trade-off between diversity and consensus that suggests moving from a discussion about ‘pros’ and ‘cons’ towards a discussion about the adequate degree of plurality. We instantiate the trade-off by showing how it originates from two main challenges: the need to derive adequate quality criteria for a pluralist economics, and the necessity to propose strategies that ensure the communication across different research programs. The paper concludes with some strategies to meet these challenges.
Pluralism in economics: its critiques and their lessons
Wirtschaftswachstum in den Ländern des Globalen Nordens zu kritisieren ist eine Sache, aber was bedeutet Wachstumskritik für die Länder des Globalen Südens? Inwiefern ist die Frage nach Wachstum und Postwachstum für den Globalen Süden und die Entwicklungszusammenarbeit relevant? Mit drei Redner*innen aus dem Globalen Süden wurden diese Fragen im Seminar „Entwicklungszusammenarbeit in einer Postwachstums-Ära“ diskutiert.
Wachstumskritik in der Entwicklungszusammenarbeit
This course introduces students to the relevance of gender relations in economics as a discipline and in economic processes and outcomes. The course covers three main components of gender in economics and the economy: (1) the gendered nature of the construction and reproduction of economic theory and thought; (2) the relevance and role of gender in economic decision-making; and (3) differences in economic outcomes based on gender. We will touch on the relevance of gender and gender relations in at least each of the following topics: economic theory; the history of economic thought; human capital accumulation; labor market discrimination; macroeconomic policy, including gender budgeting; household economics; basic econometrics; economic history; and economic crises.
Feminist Economics
The last 15 years have seen extensive research into ecosystem service valuation (ESV), spurred by the Millenium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005 (Baveye, Baveye & Gowdy, 2016). Ecosystem services are defined as “the benefits people obtain from ecosystems” (Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, p.V). For example, ecosystems provide the service of sequestering carbon which helps regulate the climate. Valuation means giving ecosystems or their services a monetary price, for example researchers have estimated that the carbon sequestration services of the Mediterranean Sea is between 100 and 1500 million euros per year. The idea of ESV was a response to the overuse of natural resources and degradation of ecosystems, allegedly due to their undervaluation and exclusion from the monetary economy. ESV can be used (1) for policy decision-making, for example allocating funding to a reforestation project (2) for setting payments to people who increase ecosystem services, for example a farmer increasing the organic carbon content of their soil, and (3) for determining fees for people who degrade ecosystem services, for example a company that causes deforestation.
A Pluralist Perspective on Ecosystem Service Valuation Introduction
This module examines current socio-political issues through the lens of pluralism, that is pluralism of theory, pluralism of method and interdisciplinary pluralism
Pluralist Economic Analysis
Exploring Economics, an open-access e-learning platform, giving you the opportunity to discover & study a variety of economic theories, topics, and methods.
The Political Economy of Inequalities
After completing the module, participants should be able to have general overview on the theory of commons. They can differentiate between neoclassical, new institutional and social/critical commons theory and can use these theories to assess real life common-pool resource management and commoning pratices.
Future of Commons
Die Wirtschaftswissenschaft steht heute im neoklassischen Paradigma, sie kann aber viel mehr als die meisten wissen. Im Laufe der Wirtschaftsgeschichte musste sich die ökonomische Theorie immer wieder neuen Herausforderungen stellen, neue Fragestellungen beantworten, ihre Zielsetzung und Wertkataloge hinterfragen und anpassen.
Wirtschaft im Umbruch. Plurale Perspektiven auf ökonomische Theorie
This course is designed to provide students with an understanding of work-related gender issues and to enable students to analyze the issues using the tools of economics.
Women, Men, & Work
‘We cannot afford their peace & We cannot bear their wars’:
Value, Exploitation, Profitability Crises & ‘Rectification’
Political Economy based on Marx
The Covid-19 pandemic has laid bare the deep structural rifts in modern capitalist economies. It has exposed and exacerbated the long-lasting systemic inequalities in income, wealth, healthcare, housing, and other aspects of economic success across a variety of dimensions including class, gender, race, regions, and nations. This workshop explores the causes of economic inequality in contemporary capitalist economies and its consequences for the economy and society in the post-pandemic reality, as well as what steps can be taken to alleviate economic inequality in the future. Drawing from a variety of theoretical and interdisciplinary insights, the workshop encourages you to reflect on your personal experiences of inequality and aims to challenge the way in which the issue is typically approached in economics.
Inequality in the Post-pandemic Era
This syllabus provides an overview of the contents of the course "Understanding Economic Models" at the University of Helsinki.
Understanding Economic Models
Capitalism is dissolving boundaries - not only in the sense of ever-expanding global trade flows, but also in the concrete everyday working lives of individuals. What implications does this have for our understanding of freedom, work and borders?
Capitalism & Boundaries
Nach dem vorherrschenden Verständnis ist Geld vor allem eine sehr individualistische Sache. Doch wenn wir es als öffentliche Infrastruktur verstehen, bekommen wir auch ein anderes Bild von uns Menschen und unserem Zusammenleben. Ein Beitrag von Jakob Feinig.
Fünf Thesen zu einer moralischen Ökonomie des Geldes
Eine erfolgreiche Wirtschaftstransformation hängt von einer Veränderung der ökonomischen Praktiken der Akteure ab. Die „Spirale transformativen Lernens“ identifiziert, welche Fähigkeiten dafür entscheidend sind.
Wie eine klimagerechte ökonomische Bildung aussehen könnte
Die alten kapitalistischen Zentren, aber auch die großen Schwellenländer befinden sich inmitten eines epochalen Umbruchs. Politikansätze, die das Problem der Klimaungerechtigkeit ignorieren, werden heftige Widerstände gegen die sozial-ökologische Transformation auslösen. Ein Beitrag von Klaus Dörre.
Antworten auf die Zangenkrise
Strategien wie Planetary Health und One Health haben ein großes Potenzial, zur Bewältigung der Gesundheitskrise beizutragen. Allerdings gilt es, dies auch zu nutzen – und hier besteht nach wie vor großer Handlungsbedarf. Ein Beitrag von Karen Pittel.
Es braucht ein neues Verständnis von Gesundheitspolitik
Das Studium der Volkswirtschaftslehre bietet einen Einblick in den Maschinenraum derjenigen Wissenschaft, welche eigentlich die Funktionsweise unserer Wirtschaft untersuchen sollte. Leider bleibt es jedoch dabei: Die Student*in lernt wenig darüber, wie das Wirtschaften als komplexes Zusammenspiel verschiedener Beteiligter tatsächlich funktioniert oder funktionieren könnte. Ein Beitrag von Jörn Schirok.
Schrauben mit dem Hammer einschlagen - Die VWL und ihr Methodenrepertoire
Mit der westlichen Industrialisierung sind wir bisher in der Mehrheit nicht sehr gut gefahren. Warum also sollte dieses Modell international erstrebenswert sein? Ein Beitrag von Anke Schaffartzik.
Können und wollen wir alle im Überfluss leben?
Der Fokus der Verhaltensökonomik liegt auf dem beobachtbaren Verhalten von Menschen und deren Entscheidungen.
Verhaltensökonomik
Der Fokus der Institutionenökonomik liegt auf der Rolle von sozialen Institutionen, wie Verträgen, Gesetzen oder auch Verhaltensweisen, in der Produktion, der Verteilung und dem Konsum sowie auf den aus ihnen resultierenden sozialen Beziehungen.
Institutionenökonomik
Der Fokus der Ökologischen Ökonomik ergibt sich aus der Einsicht, dass wirtschaftliche Aktivität mit absoluten Grenzen konfrontiert ist. Somit werden Wechselwirkungen zwischen Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft und natürlicher Umwelt analysiert, mit dem Ziel einer Transformation hin zu (mehr) Nachhaltigkeit.
Ökologische Ökonomik
Caring activities are one central element of feminist economists' analysis – also since in particular unremunerated work is a blind spot in mainstream economics and most other economic paradigms. Those focus on the market sphere: activities are considered as productive and as real labour if they are remunerated and market-intermediated. Goods and services are considered as labour if they create a value which can be traded on the market. Feminist Economics remarks that this perspective creates certain dichotomies and consequent devaluations: unproductive – productive; private – public; unpaid – remunerated OR paid less – well paid; female – male; soft work – hard work; caring – rationality.
Reproductive Labour and Care
This multimedia dossier explores the production chain of smartphones. In particular due to the violation of workers' rights and low payments, the author Benjamin Selwyn calls those production structures global poverty chains. In this context, he points to the importance of workers' struggles.
Production Chain of Smartphones
Anwar Shaikh explores alternative economic explanations, emphasizing 'real competition' theory and the role of imperfections in economic patterns.
Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crisis
Usually, Critical Theory and Economics are, for better or worse, no longer seen to be in a continuum. This article by Lukas Meisner serves as an introduction to Critical Theory for all (heterodox) economists, who want to understand and explain what they can, otherwise, just state and describe.
Critical Theory for Heterodox Economists: Questioning the Premises of Supply and Demand
In dem Text gibt Maria Kader einen Überblick über die Krisenpolitik der EZB in den Krisen der vergangenen Jahre. Sie stellt die ergriffenen Maßnahmen, ihre Wirkungen und ihre Schatteseiten vor.
Die Europäische Zentralbank in der Krisenpolitik – Maßnahmen, Wirkungen, Schattenseiten
Am 06. November 2024 zerbrach die deutsche Bundesregierung an der Schuldenbremse und der Frage nach Zukunftsinvestitionen. Hinter der wirtschaftspolitischen Auseinandersetzung steckt eine tiefe Krise des exportabhängigen deutschen Wachstumsmodells, analysiert der Politökonom Max Hauser.
Am Wendepunkt? Die Krise des deutschen Exportmodells und die “Wirtschaftswende”
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