Join the Economic Development Group’s Activities in Edinburgh

Call for Participation: The Economic Development Group @ The Festival for New Economic Thinking

There's some interesting stuff going on at the Festival for New Economic Thinking in Edinburgh, Scotland this October. Here is the general call for abstracts, visualizations, and participation. Below are the activies of the Economic Development working group, which we hope you will consider joining!

Workshop and Debate on Alternative Theories of Economic Development

A Workshop on Wednesday the 18th which will be led by Erik Reinert (editor with Jayati Ghosh of the newly released Handbook of Alternative Theories of Economic Development ). The workshop explores the theories and approaches, which, over a prolonged period of time, have existed as viable alternatives to today’s mainstream and neoclassical tenets. The workshop will bring together both experienced and early career researchers to explore alternative theories through two interactive sessions of 90 minutes each. Our goal is to facilitate the exchange of knowledge, ideas and experience through constructive dialogue.

A Debate Contest (yes!) on 'What drives economic development'. To illustrate how one question can be analyzed from many different angles, we are organizing a debate competition in which each contestant will have to argue from one specific theoretical tradition. Examples of theoretical traditions are Neoclassical Economics, Institutional Economics, Post-Keynesian Economics, Austrian Economics, Classical Economics, Marxian Economics, Structuralist Economics, New-Keynesian Economics, and all the neo-traditions (Neo-Kaleckian, Neo-Marxian, New Structural Economics, New Trade Theory etc).

You can apply to both the workshop and the debate contest here. Erik Reinert will be the judge at the debate contest as well!

Call for Abstracts on Perspectives for development in the post crisis period

The impact of the crisis on developing countries has defied many pre-established notions. Compared to previous historical episodes developing countries have been able to defy volatility on all fronts: from commodity prices, through exchange rate to capital flows. These sessions look to explore what explains this apparent resilience. Is it a result of structural changes? Improved macroeconomic policies? Or is it a mirage associated to a ZIRP environment? As a result, are developing countries in a better position to deal today with the challenges of development than they were a decade ago? Contributions received will also be considered towards a publication coordinated by Hasan Comert (Middle East Technical University, Turkey) and Marcos Reis (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Submit your abstract here.

A visualization contest: Exploring the realistic world economy

Economics has been criticised for having built barriers between economists and the general public. The failure to explain economic phenomena and complexity by mainstream economics has led to a lopsided view of how the world economy functions. In the era of data abundance, researchers now can understand the countries and the world in a new light, much closer to reality. The exhibition by YSI aims to translate novel research findings by young scholars in a more comprehensible and appealing way to economics students and the general public. Read more about the visualization contest & submit your visualization here.

There's some travel funding available too! Those that are granted travel funding will also get accommodation during the INET annual meeting (which is immediately after the 'festival').

Application deadline: August 22nd.

Spread the word to your friends and colleagues!

Hope to see you there 🙂