Category: History of Economic Thought

Immanuel Wallerstein (1930-2019)

Max AjlLeave a comment
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Photo:聽Brennan Cavanaugh

Immanuel Maurice Wallerstein, historical social scientist,听, world systems theorist, intellectual provocateur and polymath, has passed 鈥� and with him has passed the last giant of the golden age of anti-Eurocentric history. Wallerstein was born in 1930, educated at Columbia, from where he successively received BA, MA, and PhD degrees by 1959. From his early adulthood, he was seasoned and beguiled by national liberation struggles, reading the texts of Nehru and Gandhi, attending youth congresses alongside participants from African countries in the heat of anti-colonial militance. His earliest works focused on colonial and post-colonial African governments, including a number of neglected monographs and聽聽document collections on the African liberation movements.Read More »

Smithian or mercantilist nations? Two opposite models of development

Orlando N. Santos3 Comments

1024px-The_Battle_of_Cape_Passaro.jpgWhile classical political economy has been considered outdated by many social scientists, I argue here that it can provide insights about the world today and the challenges we face.[1] One of these insights has to do with the early disagreement that existed between Adam Smith and the mercantilists of his era with regards to the wealth of nations, a topic sometimes captured under the label 鈥渄evelopment鈥�. Based on this disagreement, this blog post develops a typology of Smithian and Mercantilist nations as different models of capitalist development that may be considered alternatives for developing countries today.Read More »

Hirschman鈥檚 Linkages: Pass茅 in the Age of Global Production Sharing?

Wannaphong durongkaveroj3 Comments

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How does economic development happen? After World War II, many development economists rose to prominence, such as Paul Rosenstein-Rodan (the big push), Arthur Lewis (the dual-sector model), Walter Rostow (the linear stages of growth) and Albert Hirschman (unbalanced growth and linkages). Given the continued importance of industrial policy, it is particularly worthwhile to revisit the idea of forward and backward linkages 鈥� one of the central tenets of development thinking pioneered by Hirschman.Read More »

Why so Hostile? Busting Myths about Heterodox Economics

Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven13 Comments

Call-for-Application-Pluralist-Economics

By Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven and Carolina Alves

鈥淓conomics is unique among the social sciences in having a single monolithic mainstream, which is either unaware of or actively hostile to alternative approaches.鈥� (: 17)

What does heterodox economics mean? Is the label helpful or harmful? Being outside of the mainstream of the Economics discipline, the way we position ourselves may be particularly important. For this reason, many around us shun the use of the term 鈥渉eterodox鈥� and advise against using it. However, we believe the reluctance to use the term stems in part from misunderstandings of (and sometimes disagreement over) what the term means and perhaps disagreements over strategies for how to change the discipline.

In other words, this is an important debate about both identification and strategy. In this blog, we wish to raise the issue in heterodox and mainstream circles, by busting a few common myths about Heterodox Economics – mostly stemming from the orthodoxy. This is a small part of a larger project on defining heterodox economics.

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Samir Amin and Beyond

Ingrid Harvold KvangravenLeave a comment

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By Ushehwedu聽Kufakurinani, Ingrid Harvold聽Kvangraven and Maria聽Dyveke聽Styve

When the sad news came of Samir Amin鈥檚 passing on August 12th, 2018, a plethora of beautiful obituaries were published in his memory (see for example聽,听,听听辞谤听). These have made it more than evident not only how important his scholarship and work through the World Social Forum聽is, but also what an extraordinary person he was. We never had the privilege of meeting Samir Amin in person, but he was very kind to grant us an interview over Skype for an聽聽we put together in 2017 on the contemporary relevance of dependency theory (since published by the聽). Now we wish to unpack his contributions to our understanding of political economy and uneven development, and explore how his ideas have been interpreted and聽adopted in different contexts,听and their relevance today.

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Do not take peace for granted: Adam Smith鈥檚 warning on the relation between commerce and war

mppaganelli5 Comments

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By聽Maria Pia Paganelli and聽Reinhard Schumacher

Is trade a promoter of peace? Adam Smith, one of the earliest defenders of trade, worries that commerce may instigate some perverse incentives, encouraging wars. The wealth that commerce generates decreases the relative cost of wars, increases the ability to finance wars through debts, which decreases their perceived cost, and increases the willingness of commercial interests to use wars to extend their markets, increasing the number and prolonging the length of wars. Smith, therefore, cannot assume that trade would yield a peaceful world. While defending and promoting trade, Smith warns us not to take peace for granted. We unpack Smith鈥檚 ideas and their relevance for contemporary times in in the Cambridge Journal of Economics.Read More »

Why I refuse to rethink development 鈥� again (and again, and again鈥�)

juliaschneberg2 Comments

Image result for rethinkingThis summer I attended several academic conferences, and while I was initially extremely enthusiastic to be given the chance to put my work out for discussion, exchange with and learn from colleagues, by early autumn I am fatigued and disenchanted.

Maybe the reason for this is that several of these events where claiming to be 鈥渞ethinking development鈥�, yet by the end I fail to recognize what was essentially new in the arguments exchanged and the discussions led and what will move us forward.

The root of my discontent is that while everyone continuously debated 鈥渄evelopment鈥� and attempted to 鈥渞ethink鈥� it, not once it was clarified what the (minimum) common denominator of the 鈥渄evelopment鈥� to be rethought would be. Were we talking about intervention, projects, stakeholders, cooperation? Were we rethinking technical modes of intervention? Ways of studying or researching? Or were we questioning the roots of persistent inequalities, the sources of poverty and the causes of injustices (e.g. the legacy of colonialism, global capitalism and our imperial mode of living)?

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Marx鈥檚 Birthday and the Dismal Science: A Few Observations

Carolina Alves3 Comments

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by Carolina Alves and Ingrid H. Kvangraven

With 2017 marking the 150th anniversary of and 2018 marking the bicentennial of the birth of Karl Marx, it is not a surprise that the number of events and exhibitions celebrating Marx’s work and exploring the significance of Marxism in the world today have gone through the roof. A little sample,,, and (see also The Guardian鈥檚 of exhibitions, books 鈥� and pub crawls)! And it would be unfair to not mention the British Library鈥檚 offered last summer, which aimed to develop ideas for events and activities that would engage the public and research communities with Marx鈥檚 life and his wider legacy (with a brilliant emphasis on – a writer and political activist in her own right). Some of the results can be seen,, and.

Of course, Friedrich Engels鈥� far-reaching contributions have not been ignored ( and ); and neither should contributions, who, like Mary Burns, have never been a[1] and, before falling in love with the Jewish romantic rebel, was a woman interested in French socialism and German romanticism, engaged in an early feminist views on women鈥檚 equality, and committed to the struggle for the working-class (influenced by her father). Hence, Jenny鈥檚 possible allusion that Marx was 鈥淕oethe鈥檚 Wilhelm Meister and Schiller鈥檚 Karl von Moor, and he would be Shelley鈥檚 Prometheus, chained to a precipice because he dared to challenge a tyrannical god鈥� (, p. 20).

Putting aside this rich line-up of events, what has caught our attention is the equal proliferation of pieces celebrating Marx鈥檚 birthday, for the better or for the worse. From misleading and derogatory articles such as the published by The Economist to educational short pieces such as Cooper鈥檚, it is difficult to not wonder about the reasons behind such opposing views. Similarly, it is difficult to resist the temptation to add a little contribution to the debate. So here we are.

We will not dwell on Marx鈥檚 contributions and current relevance, which has been done effectively by so many academics, political activists and journalists. Neither will we unpack and discuss the issues with value-laden opinions on Marx鈥檚 economic theory, and simple-minded association of Marx鈥檚 political ideas with historical events of the 20th century. We will, however, for the sake of being one more blog post on Marx鈥檚 200th birthday, reiterate and explore Marx鈥檚 work鈥檚 undeniable and vital influence in contemporary thought, politics and political practice. Further, and perhaps the main inspiration that led us to write this blog post, we wish to add some more thoughts on Marx鈥檚 influence (or lack thereof) 聽in modern times, namely the effects of the marginalization of his ideas in the field of Economics.Read More »