12th Conference of the Association for Heterodox Economics, The Economy of Tomorrow

July 7, 2010 (All day) - July 10, 2010 (All day)
Location: 
University of Bordeaux, France

Professor Wolff will present his paper, “The Keynesian Revival: A Marxian Critique, at the 12th Annual Conference for Heterodox Economics at the University of Bordeaux.

ABSTRACT: Keynesian economics under FDR neither extracted the US economy from the Great Depression nor prevented future economic downturns. Keynesian economics from 1946-1975 failed to secure most of the previously won social welfare gains, labor and union gains, or progressive regulations and tax incidence won by mass political action during the 1930s and 1940s. Together with limited “social legislation,” Keynesian economics accomplished a holding action; it ameliorated mass suffering sufficiently to enable capitalist cycles, large and small, to resolve themselves in the traditional manner. Downturns produced the conditions (lower wages and other costs of business) to reverse themselves. Under the new global conditions of capitalism of the 1970s, the Keynesian holding action was no longer necessary or desirable. The neoliberal revival took off until capitalism imploded yet again in 2007. The consequent revival of Keynesian economics today is criticized via a Marxist analysis of its prior history in the US. An alternative Marxian response to the capitalist crisis now is briefly sketched.

The Economy of Tomorrow conference focus:

  1. Social aspects, i.e., labour markets, pensions, work-time, systems of social security, income distribution, poverty, human development, etc.
  2. Financial aspects: financialization, capital mobility, corporate governance, credit crunch, taxes on international monetary transactions, financial innovations, etc.
  3. Environmental aspects: productive and consumption models, eco-innovations, environmental regulations and governance, alleviation or adaptation to global warming, new cities, etc.
  4. North-South relations: trajectories of emerging countries, new world order, international trade,  development aid, development cooperation
  5. Economics: pluralism in research and teaching, research evaluation, economists/decision-makers relationships, etc.