RETHINK
ECONOMICS
RETHINK
ECONOMICS
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Are humans at their core seekers of their own pleasure or cooperative members of society? Paradoxically, they are both. Pleasure-seeking can take place only within the context of what works within a defined community, and central to any community are the evolved codes and principles guiding appropriate behavior, or morality.

2013
Level: advanced
From Pleasure Machines to Moral Communities
This book provides important insights into agrarian history and the economic and cultural meanings associated with land.
2019
Level: beginner
The Cultural Economy of Land
Aim of this intensive workshop is 1.) to introduce the participants to the macroeconomic workings of the climate crisis as the background of sustainable finance; 2.) to introduce financial assets with ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria attached to them and their markets and important institutional players; 3.) to provide a critical perspective on the current setup of sustainable finance; 4.) and to work on in-depth case studies illustrating the workings on ESG-finance markets, its emitters and traders as well as their macroeconomic implications.
2022
Level: beginner
Sustainable Finance – Hoax or necessity. A global perspective
In both economics textbooks and public perceptions central banks are a fact of life. On the wall of my A-level economics classroom there was the Will Rogers quote “there have been three great inventions since the beginning of time: fire, the wheel, and central banking”, summarising how many economists view the institution. There is a widespread belief that there is something different about money which calls for a central authority to manage its operation, a view shared even by staunch free marketeers such as Milton Friedman. This belief is not without justification, since money underpins every transaction in a way that apples do not, but we should always be careful not to take existing institutions for granted and central banking is no exception. In this post I will look at the idea of private or free banking, where banks compete (and cooperate) to issue their own currency.
2020
Level: beginner
Whither Central Banks?
The Wealth of Ideas traces the history of economic thought, from its prehistory (the Bible, Classical antiquity) to the present day.
2005
Level: beginner
The Wealth of Ideas
What is James Tobin's main contribution? What is Arrow's impossibility theorem? Which economists have made the most significant contribution to rational expectations? These and countless other questions are resolved in this eloquently written unique book by Mark Blaug, one of the most prominent historians of economic thought.
1998
Level: advanced
Great Economists Since Keynes
Islamic finance's phenomenal growth owes to the Shariah compliant nature of its financial instruments. Shariah forbids the charging of interest (Riba) and instead promulgates risk-sharing and trade-based modes of financing. The Islamic financial industry has been subject to both critique and admiration. Critics argue that Islamic instruments (bearing debt-based structures) differ from their conventional counterparts only in legal lexicon and not in economic impact.
2018
Level: advanced
Rethinking Islamic Finance
The complex economic problems of the 21st century require a pluralist, real-world oriented and innovative discipline of economics that is capable of addressing and teaching these issues to students. This volume is a state-of-the-art compilation of diverse, innovative and international perspectives on the rationales for and pathways towards pluralist economics teaching.
2018
Level: advanced
Advancing Pluralism in Teaching Economics
Economist and politician Costas Lapavitsas: presents differing theoretical definitions of financialization, namely from Marxist and Post-Keynesian thinkers and compares their approaches. By presenting pattern and features of the economic and financial crisis, he interprets the latter as a crisis of financialization. Lapavitsas emphasizes his arguments by presenting data from the U.S. and Germany on the transformation of business, banks and households.
2015
Level: beginner
The Financialisation of Capitalism
In this video, Clara Mattei investigates the function of austerity in relation the stabilization of capitalism as a form of social order build around private property, wage labor and class relations. In order to develop this argument, she situates austerity in the history of World War 1 and its revolutionary aftermath. Zooming in on the politicization of the economy and the associated threat to class society that emerged in the period, she highlights how austerity was a „tool of reaction“ that was successful in curtailing demands for economic democracy and a society free from class oppression.
2022
Level: beginner
The Capital Order - How Economists Invented Austerity & Paved the Way to Fascism
Smith contends that there is no possible solution to our global ecological crisis within the framework of any conceivable capitalism. The only alternative to market-driven planetary collapse is to transition to a largely planned, mostly publicly-owned economy based on production for need, on democratic governance and rough socio-economic equality, and on contraction and convergence between the global North and South.
2016
Level: advanced
Green Capitalism
A History of Capitalist Transformation: A Critique of Liberal-Capitalist Reforms highlights how, since the recent financial crises, the expression 'liberal reform' has entered common parlance as an evocative image of austerity and economic malaise, especially for the working classes and a segment of the middle class.
2024
Level: beginner
A History of Capitalist Transformation
This classic text offers a broader intellectual foundation than traditional principles textbooks. It introduces students to both traditional economic views and their progressive critique.
2015
Level: advanced
Economics
Thomas Piketty's Capital in the Twenty-First Century is the most widely discussed work of economics in recent history, selling millions of copies in dozens of languages. But are its analyses of inequality and economic growth on target? Where should researchers go from here in exploring the ideas Piketty pushed to the forefront of global conversation? A cast of economists and other social scientists tackle these questions in dialogue with Piketty, in what is sure to be a much-debated book in its own right.
2019
Level: advanced
After Piketty
Why are income inequalities so large and why do they continue to increase in so many countries? What role can minimum wages play in reducing social and economic inequalities? What is a good system of wage bargaining? What constitutes a fair wage?
Level: beginner
Fair Wage Strategies in a Global Economy
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."
2018
Level: beginner
The Third Industrial Revolution: A Radical New Sharing Economy
In order to describe the global structure of the monetary and financial system and its effects on the global economy, most economics textbooks rely on unappropriated theories that provide nothing but outdated descriptions. In this talk, key speakers in economics, economic history and banking try to make this complex system a little more understandable by relying on real-world insights.
2016
Level: advanced
Global Money: Past, Present, Future
How do we transform societal structures and pave the way to economic democracy?
Level: beginner
Solidarity Economics
Foundations of Economics breathes life into the discipline by linking key economic concepts with wider debates and issues. By bringing to light delightful mind-teasers, philosophical questions and intriguing politics in mainstream economics, it promises to enliven an otherwise dry course whilst inspiring students to do well.
1998
Level: beginner
Foundations of Economics
An analysis of the modern neoliberal world, its characteristics, flaws and planetary boundaries aiming to end new economic politics and support a global redistribution of power, wealth and roles. In this online lecture, economist and Professor at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), London, UK. Costas Lapavitsas, explains the limitations of the neoliberal market in creating financial stability and growth in both, developing and developed countries.
2020
Level: advanced
The Limits to Neoliberalism: how states respond to the crisis
In this interview, Daron Acemoğlu provides a definition of institutions as rules that govern how individuals interact and speaks about social, political and economic institutions. He furthermore presents his view on bad or good institutions and the importance of the latter. The video is part of a larger interview, where he elaborates his perspective on differing prosperities of states and the relation between growth and democracy.
2009
Level: beginner
Institutional Economics - Rethinking the Wealth of Nations
Özlem Onaran analyses the current problems of secular stagnation from a global perspective. At the core of global economic problems is insufficient demand caused by falling wage shares, because most individual countries, and the world as a whole are “wage-led”. Hence a strategy for global growth is to aim at increasing wages and thus the wage share, and the abandonment of policies focusing purely on national competitiveness. Financialization has broken the link between corporate profitability and investment. Reregulation of finance and higher public investment is required in order to crowd in private investment, in this way, reversing the declining trend of potential output growth.
2015
Level: advanced
Current Problems of Secular Stagnation from a Global Perspective
In this radio program, the anthropologist David Graeber, explores the history of debt in (currently) 12 episodes. The program is based on his book Debt: The First 5000 Years. First, Graeber asks the questions of how debt and money are characterized, which meaning and roles they had in different historic episodes and how they were interrelated. In the most recent episodes, Graeber elaborates on how debt shaped society. He argues that debt had a different moral status in different times of history, one session analyses the current financial and economic crisis and the role of credit in this historical context.
Level: beginner
Promises, Promises: A history of debt
This article introduces the series, “Reclaiming Africa’s Early Post- Independence History,'' from Post-Colonialisms Today. It explores the policies and thinking of African governments in the early post-independence period, and the lessons for today’s struggles for political and economic agency on the continent.
2020
Level: beginner
Reclaiming Africa’s Early Post-Independence History
Planet Money and The Indicator aim to explain current economic events in an easy, fun and accessible manner.
2008
Level: beginner
Planet Money
Croatia adopted the euro as its currency on 1 January 2023, becoming the 20th member state of the eurozone. In this teaching pack, students learn what it entails to join the eurozone and discuss what its effects might be. In this way, the case helps students connect theoretical insights about monetary unions with real world knowledge and economic developments in the news.
2023
Level: beginner
Croatia adopts the euro – Economy Studies
This essay argues that our dominant economic narrative—rooted in private property, competition, growth for growth’s sake, and the assumption that self-interest drives progress—has led humanity and the planet into an existential crisis.
2022
Level: beginner
Economics for the People
As a response to ongoing economic, social and environmental crises, many private actors have enlarged their definition of 'value' to include environmental and social elements. Such practices, however, appear incompatible with the current epistemological structure of academic financial discourse.
2016
Level: advanced
Finance Reconsidered
This paper posts a heretical question: Is economics a science after all? The answer to this question impinges on the methodology, hypotheses and results of economic research.
Level: advanced
Is economics a science?
First historical instances of colonialism such as the crusades are revisited. Then a lengthy account of the colonial experience of the Spanish Kingdom in South America and of the British Empire in India is given. The Indian case is illustrated with large amounts of archival materials from a colonial administrator. There the workings of the colonial bureaucracy and law and its (positive) achievements as well as the ignorance and arrogance of the external rulers are demonstrated. After narrating the Indian independence to some depth some recent colonial wars (Algeria, Vietnam, Congo, Angola) are briefly examined. In the end, the impact of colonialism on current, i.e. 1970s, (economic) international relations is discussed. The general tenor is that colonialism is a dysfunctional system. Still, agency is mostly placed with the empire rather than with the ruled.
1977
Level: beginner
The Age of Uncertainty Episode 4 The Colonial Idea

Best-selling books such as Freakonomics and The Undercover Economist have paved the way for the flourishing economics-made-fun genre. While books like these present economics as a strong and explanatory science, the ongoing economic crisis has exposed the shortcomings of economics to the general public.

2015
Level: advanced
Economics Made Fun
This book is a collection of articles on topics and individuals within the history of heterodox economic thought, approached from a heterodox perspective. The principal topics are the nature and scope of economics as an intellectual venture.
1992
Level: advanced
Essays in the History of Heterodox Political Economy

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