1310 results

This syllabus provides an overview of the contents of the course "Understanding Economic Models" at the University of Helsinki.
2018
Level: débutant
Understanding Economic Models
This chapter by the Centre of Economy Studies provides a map through the complex jungle of economic theories. It provides key insights and ideas for thirteen core topics in economics, organised by selecting the most relevant theoretical approaches per topic and contrasting them with each other.
2021
Level: débutant
Pragmatic Pluralism
Does Karl Polanyi's work “The Great Transformation” serve to analyse the current multiple crisis and social movements? Nancy Fraser revises Polanyi's concept of a double movement to capture social forces in the aftermath of the economic crisis of the 1930s – on the one side marketization and on the other hand social protection. Fraser proposes to talk about a triple movement and to account for emancipatory struggles. In the lecture, she discusses interactions as well as conflicts between those three forces, in particular conflicting aims of social protection. The lecture presents the content of her paper “A TRIPLE MOVEMENT? Parsing the Politics of Crisis after Polanyi“ in the New Left Review (2013).
2011
Level: avancé
Crisis of Capitalism, Crisis of Governance: Re-reading Karl Polanyi in the 21st Century
Galbraith first explores the social darwinism of Herbert Spencer and others that served as apology for the highly unequal distribution of wealth in the US at the end of the 19th century and naturalized differences in wealth by appealing to the concept of natural selection of the fittest. Then some instances of the unscrupulous business practices (i.e. robberies) of the American railroad tycoons and other business magnates are recounted. Lastly, Galbraith lines out some of the arguments of Thorstein Veblen, who delegitimized and ridiculed the business and leisure activities of the rich by putting them in the same category as predatory and ritualized practices of primitive or ancient societies.
Level: débutant
The Age of Uncertainty Episode 2 - The Manners and Morals of High Capitalism
Silvia Federici outlines the content of her book „Caliban and the Witch - Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation“. Departing from a critique of the Marxist blindspot on reproductive labour, Federici aims at researching the historical process by which the exploitation of women and the construction of the unproductive housewife has been established. Federici points to the transition from the feudal to the capitalist mode of production and explains how the gender specific prosecution (witch hunt) was linked to necessity of control over bodies and the sexuality in the great transformation. Federici also presents arguments why this research is highly relevant for the analysis of women's situation in current capitalism.
2013
Level: débutant
Caliban and the Witch
This article explores the production function, the prevailing view of capital that underpins it, and the main alternative perspective. By exploring these perspectives, the authors aim to provide students with a foundational understanding of the controversies surrounding the treatment of capital in production, a topic expressly excluded from mainstream textbooks.
2024
Level: débutant
Why We Should Think Twice About Production Functions
How can we shape urban development towards sustainable and prosperous futures This course will explore sustainable cities as engines for greening the economy We place cities in the context of sustainable urban transformation and climate change Sustainable urban transformation refers to structural transformation processes multi dimensional and radical change that …
Level: débutant
Greening the Economy: Sustainable Cities
What are the challenges and opportunities for achieving decent work in global supply chains How do transnational corporations and their global supply chains operate How can they be more effectively governed Mark Anner Esther Busser Michael Fichter Tandiwe Gross Frank Hoffer Jenny Holdcroft Praveen Jha Maité Llanos Adam Lee Victor …
Level: débutant
Decent Work in Global Supply Chains
In this lecture Mirowski claims that a good critique of and alternative to neoclassical economics should focus on microeconomics. In addition, he claims that mainstream economics is not about a specific "human nature", instead the understanding of markets (partially based on Hayek) is of special importance. As an alternative Mirowski proposes institutionalist economics that builds upon how markets work nowadays (e.g. links to computer science).
2015
Level: expert
Should Economists be Experts in Markets or in Human Nature?
Paul Mason presents the main arguments of his book PostCapitalism. First, he argues that capitalism runs out of its capability to adapt to crises and second states that information technology challenges the capitalist system. In a nutshell, he argues that a society which fully exploits information technologies can't include concepts such as intellectual property, free market or private ownership. This has far-reaching consequences for the organisation of wages and work. The talk stops at minute 37.30.
2015
Level: débutant
The Future of Capitalism
In this lecture, Konstantinos Katsikopoulos presents the concept of bounded rationality and contrasts two - as he calls it - cultures of research and analysis within Behavioral Economics: an "idealistic" and a "pragmatic" approach. Thereby, Katsikopoulos discusses amongst others their different assumptions on decision making (utility optimization vs. achievement of a satisfactory outcome), the psychological process as well as the epistemic aim and implications on policy recommendations (nudging vs. education).
2014
Level: débutant
Bounded Rationality: The Two Cultures
What is innovation, what drives innovation and the process that differentiates firms? What is competition and what kind of dynamics lie behind the differences between firms and their innovative activities? Mariana Mazzucato elaborates on those questions from an evolutionary economics' and Schumpeterian perspective. The slides of her lecture are not visible, hence some visualizations can't be followed.
2014
Level: avancé
Economics of Innovation
Behavioural economics deals with observing behaviour and economic decision making behaviour.
Behavioral Economics
Post-Keynesians focus on the analysis of capitalist economies, perceived as highly productive, but unstable and conflictive systems. Economic activity is determined by effective demand, which is typically insufficient to generate full employment and full utilisation of capacity.
Post-Keynesian Economics
Evolutionary economics focuses on economic change. Hence processes of change such as growth, innovation, structural and technological change, as well as economic development in general are analysed. Evolutionary economics often gives emphasis to populations and (sub-)systems.
Evolutionary Economics
L’idée fondamentale de l’économie écologique est que l’activité économique humaine est contrainte par des limites absolues. L’analyse porte sur les interactions entre l’économie, la société et l’environnement, avec pour objectif ultime la durabilité.
Économie écologique
L’économie comportementale se dédie à l’observation du comportement humain et en particulier à celle du comportement de décision économique.
Économie comportementale
Feminist economist Nancy Folbre presents a historical analysis of the interrelated development of Patriarchy and Capitalism. She describes the role of women in the reproduction of labour, their “specialization” in care and their changing involvement in the labour market. Folbre argues that capitalism weakens patriarchy but at the same time relies on unpaid caring activities.
2010
Level: débutant
Women's Work and the Limits of Capitalism
Keen first compares neoclassical approaches to modelling with heterodox ones. Then he discusses in length the required assumptions and the inconsistencies of the aggregate demand and supply model, which is extrapolated from a micro perspective. At the end some dynamic models with feedback mechanisms are shown.
2016
Level: avancé
The Mainstream Obsession with Microfoundations and why it is an intellectual dead-end
This multimedia dossier is part of the series „Understanding Finance“ by Finance Watch and explores the following questions: What is bank capital and how is it regulated? It further presents controversies on the size of bank capital in the aftermath of the financial crisis and on how bank capital affects economic activity.
2016
Level: débutant
Bank capital – what is it and how is it regulated?
This multimedia dossier is part of the series „Understanding Finance“ by Finance Watch and presents a description and critical review of financial markets and their functions. It furthermore discusses recent developments, as high frequency trading.
2015
Level: débutant
What kind of financial markets do we need?
This multimedia dossier is part of the series „Understanding Finance“ by Finance Watch. The dossier focuses on universal banks – banks that pursue commercial and investment banking and points out several problems of those megabanks, especially in the context of the financial crisis (too big to fail).
2014
Level: débutant
Splitting megabanks?
L’économie évolutionniste se focalise sur le changement économique. En conséquence, sont analysés des processus de changement tels que la croissance, l’innovation, le changement technologique et structurel, ou encore le développement économique en général. L’accent est mis sur les populations et les (sous-)systèmes.
Économie évolutionniste
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.
2016
Level: débutant
Reproductive Labour and Care
The concept of financialisation has undergone a similar career as ‘globalisation’, ‘neoliberalism’ or even ‘capitalism’, in the course of which it changed from the explanandum to the explanans; the process of financialisation is taken for granted, while the concrete historical and empirical causal conditions of its realisation and perpetuation are being moved into the background.
2023
Level: expert
A holistic theory of financialisation
The Heterodox Economics Directory provides a broad variety of links to heterodox journals, books, conferences, study programs, teaching materials and blogs. Some categories are subdivided by schools of thoughts - it's a valuable source for heterodox material on the internet.
Level: débutant
Heterodox Economics Directory
The page "Positive Money" gathers text and short videos which explain how money is created by banks by giving loans. It furthermore presents the consequences of this process on housing prices, inequality and the environment and its role in the financial crisis. The dossier is provided by the campaign "Positive Money" which aims at a democratic control over money creation. Besides texts by the campaign, the page makes available links to journal and conference articles on the topic. The page focuses on the banking system of the UK.
Level: débutant
Positive Money
The podcast exposes the concept and principles of co-operatives and the three main types of co-operatives: the consumer, credit and farmers buying and selling co-operatives. Furthermore, the history of the co-operative movement is presented. The authors draw the line from co-operatives to "degrowth" by arguing that these organisations discourage profit maximisation due to their ownership structure, their social purpose and their primacy of people over capital. The value of the members' co-operative share does not increase with the growth of a co-operative and it can not be used for speculation. Finally, the authors give examples for current co-operatives which empower (local) communities fostering social justice and environmentalism.
2016
Level: débutant
Co-operatives
The documentary proceeds along the lines of Karl Marx' biography, inquiring into his workings as a journalist, social scientist, revolutionary and historian and his travels through Europe. In chronological order historical events, such as the 1848 revolution or the Paris Commune as well as concepts such as dialectics, the labour theory of value or the reform-revolution debate are revisited. The documentary is narrated by John Kenneth Galbraith and by an actor, who plays Marx and recites quotes from his writings.
1977
Level: débutant
The Age of Uncertainty Episode 3 Karl Marx The Massive Dissent
This text provides an easy to understand introduction to complexity economics for non-specialist audiences such as bachelor's students.
2023
Level: débutant
Think Complexity Economics is too Complicated? Then this is for you.
This article outlines the fundamental challenges of democratically planned economies and categorises proposed models into six groups, each of which approaches planning and coordination at different levels of authority and between myriad economic units in a particular way, taking into account efficiency as well as democratic principles and environmental and social sustainability. Through a classification system based on decision-making authority and mediation mechanisms, the article provides a framework for understanding and comparing these models. By examining their different approaches, it offers insights into the complexities and potential paths of democratically planned economies in the 21st century.
2024
Level: débutant
Rethinking Democratic Economic Planning: An Overview
Fabian Georgi analyses how migration and borders are connected to capitalism.
2024
Level: avancé
Recruiting skilled labour, while closing borders? The connection between migration, border regimes and capitalism

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Ce projet est le fruit du travail des membres du réseau international pour le pluralisme en économie, dans la sphère germanophone (Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik e.V.) et dans la sphère francophone (Rethinking Economics Switzerland / Rethinking Economics Belgium / PEPS-Économie France). Nous sommes fortement attachés à notre indépendance et à notre diversité et vos dons permettent de le rester ! 

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