קול קורא // לכנס: הפורום השנתי של האגודה העולמית לכלכלה פוליטית - חשיבה מחודשת על ניתוח כלכלי: כלכלה פוליטית מול מדע הכלכלה [אתונה 07-08/20] דדליין=20.3.20

‘Rethinking Economic Analysis: Political Economy vs Economics’

31 July – 2 August 2020, Panteion University, Athens, Greece

The 15^th WAPE Forum will be held 31 July – 2 August 2020 at Panteion University, Athens, Greece. It is co-organised by WAPE (World Association of Political Economy – http://www.wapeweb.org/) and GAPE (Greek Association of Political Economy – https://poleconom.wordpress.com/) and hosted by the Panteion University of Social and Political Sciences (https://www.panteion.gr/en/).

The broad theme of the conference focuses on the controversy between the two main alternative traditions in economic analysis, Political Economy and Economics. Economics (with their myopic understanding of the economy as simply market relations, neglect of social and political factors and class struggle and their almost overt support for capital against labour) has been historically proved incapable of grasping how economies work and forecast and confront competently economic crises. On the other hand, Political Economy (offering a social understanding of the economy, focusing on the sphere of production, linking economic analysis to social and political factors and to class struggle) has been more successful in comprehending the actual workings of the economy and in analyzing economic crises. However, despite their long-standing failures, Economics continue to dominate academia and policy-making centers, especially in the West. Even after the last global economic crisis and its blatant failure to foresee and to resolve it, its dominance remains unwavered as it is supported by strong vested class interests. Nevertheless, there is growing unrest within both the academia and the society with this failed dominance. Political Economy is the main approach towards which all those dissatisfied with Economics turn.

This conference aims to juxtapose Political Economy and Economics and contrast their positions on the various fields and areas of economic analysis. Within its broad theme, WAPE 2020 invites all contributions that enrich the perspective of Political Economy and expand the ground for further discussion. Indicatively but not exclusively, proposed papers can touch upon the following issues:

• Historical anniversaries:
• Friedrich Engels’ 200^th anniversary: his legacy in Marxism and Political Economy
• I. Lenin’s 150^th anniversary: his economic writings
• Curriculum reform in Economics: How Political Economy can challenge Economics’ dominance of university curricula
• Contemporary controversies in Macroeconomics: Neoclassicism, Keynesianism and Marxism
• Neoliberalism and the New Macroeconomic Consensus
• Marxism and Macro-economic modelling
• History of Political Economy
• Economic History
• Theory of stages and periodization of capitalism
• Theories and analyses of economic crisis
• Profitability, crises and economic cycles
• Race, class and gender
• Methodology of economic analysis
• Trends and challenges in contemporary economic policy
• Neoconservative economic policies
• Economic planning, fiscal and monetary policies reconsidered
• A return of industrial policy?
• Marxism and the Political Economy of money and finance
• Labour process, markets and the Political Economy of Work
• Labour movement and Trade Unions
• Flexible employment and unemployment
• The current state of Labour Process Theory
• The Political Economy of poverty and inequality
• Austerity and the welfare system
• The current state of social policy
• Political Economy of education
• Political Economy of health and health policies
• Environmental Political Economy
• Urban and regional economics
• Law and Political Economy
• World economy: globalization or imperialism?
• International conflicts and imperialism
• The retreat of US hegemony and the emergence of a multi-polar world system
• Political Economy of capital flows
• BRICS, the newly emerging economies and the world economy
• Global value chains and transnational corporations
• Political Economy of foreign direct investment (FDI)
• International Political Economy
• Political Economy of European integration and the Eurozone crisis
• Development studies at an impasse
• Developmental state after the Post-Washington Consensus
• Role and policies of international organizations (IMF, WB, WHO, UNHCR, UN etc.)
• Country case studies

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