My paper “Instability in Financial Markets: Sources and Remedies” for the INET conference “Paradigm Lost: Rethinking Economics and Politics”, to be held in Berlin on April 12–14, is now available via the INET website.
If you’d like to download it, you can get it either from my INET page, or from a link on the conference program. For copyright reasons I can’t reproduce it here, but I can provide a quick synopsis and some excerpts, so here goes.
One of the many great ironies of American culture is that a society which lauds capitalism is also home to the fantasy of the selfless SuperHero: entities ranging from an ordinary but wealthy human (Batman) to an extraordinary but poor Extra-Terrestrial (Superman), who spend their days saving us mere mortals, for no obvious recompense.
Well bollocks to all that! Meet “Super Corporate Heroes”—superheroes who are more in line with the actual American Way. These superheroes are employed by a Fortune 500 company, charge for their services—“if you wanna get rescued, you gotta pay insurance”—and live lifestyles ranging from opulent to the top billers, to just above the breadline for the only slightly super amongst them.
These are the first two lectures of my Advanced Political Economy class at the University of Western Sydney. The class offers an in depth critique of the failures of neoclassical theories, as well as detailing my approach to a new economics. Click on the links to download the Powerpoint slides for the lectures.
Lecture 01: Part 1 — Introduction to subject/Failure of Neoclassical Macro
APE2012Lecture01A
APE2012Lecture01B
APE2012Lecture01C
Lecture 02: Failure of Neoclassical Macro (Demand and Supply)
APE2012Lecture02A
APE2012Lecture02B
I’m being interviewed by Paul Mason for the BBC Radio 4 program Analysis on April 3rd, in front of an audience at the London School of Economics from 6.30–8pm. If you’d like to attend, you can book a place via this link (“Banks vs the Economy”). Bookings are free but essential, and will open on Monday March 26th at 10pm. More details are available for the public from events@lse.ac.uk; email pressoffice@lse.ac.uk for media enquiries.
The LSE asked me to write this entry for their blog British Politics and Policy at LSE. It’s reproduced here (along with the data) for Debtwatch readers.
Comedian-activist Mark Thomas hosts The Manifesto on BBC Radio 4, in which he and his studio audience consider proposals for a People’s Manifesto on topics ranging from the sublime to the ridiculous. Somewhere in the middle, there’s serious stuff with a comedic twist, and in the latest program, my “Modern Debt Jubilee” got a guernsey.
It didn’t win the Shout, so a proposal to eliminate tax avoidance got up instead, but it’s nice to see that the idea is getting into the public domain.
You can listen to the whole show here (though the link will expire in 5 days), or click on the movie below.
RP Data has just released a daily index of Australian house prices which is designed to be tradeable on the ASX. I expressed my scepticism about this product on PM last night (the audio is below; the transcript is available here).
Steve Keen’s Debtwatch Podcast
The many hedge funds that have been looking for a way to short the Australian property market now have a vehicle. Of course, I would suggest careful assessment of the counter-party risk before taking advantage of it!
Capital Account is one of my two favorite financial programs (the other is Max Keiser’s The Kaiser Report). The show is as slick as any show on the major networks, yet its presenter Lauren Lyster and Executive Producer Demetri Kofinas are literally “on the money” about the financial system–in stark contrast to the waffle that passes for analysis on CNN or FOX. If you want content as well as glitz, watch Capital Account.
Today, Lauren and Demetri raised the issue of the possible political fallout from the austerity programs being imposed on the peripheral countries of Europe, under the novel heading of “From Zombie Banking to Zombie Government”.
By Salvatore Babones
Salvatore Babones (@sbabones) is a senior lecturer in sociology & social policy at the University of Sydney and an associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS). You can find more of his commentary on the US economy at http://salvatorebabones.com.
The American economy has done well over the past forty years. America’s national income per person has almost exactly doubled since 1970.[1] The United States has been the richest major country in the world for over 100 years now, and it remains the richest major country in the world today.[2] The American economy in 2010 generated $47,436 for every man, woman, and child living in the country.[3] On current projections, this figure will rise by a further $1000 per year for the next several years.[4]
Nicole Foss, the systems analyst and biologist behind the blog Automatic Earth, is speaking tomorrow at A Compass for Turbulent Times, organised by Ceres.
I’m on the bill too, which I’m told will proceed roughly as follows:
9–11 Nicole (inc Qs)
11–30 Morning tea
11.30 — 12.30 Steve (inc Qs) — focus on aust context
12.30 — 1.30pm Lunch
1–30 — 2pm Opportunity for further Qs to both
2pm — 3.30 — Workshop session — smaller groups come up with
hypothetical scenarios/strategies (30mins) to put back to Nicole/Steve
for response / discussion (1hr).
March 15–16 2012: The InterContinental Hotel, Sydney
Economic leadership of the world is passing from West to East. It may be an orderly transition… or there may be currency wars… resource wars… and a period of great volatility in the financial markets. However it plays out, this WILL affect the Australian economy, your investments, retirement savings, and asset wealth in 2012…
If you’re becoming more concerned about your future financial security, clear your calendar for AFTER AMERICA – Port Phillip Publishing’s inaugural investment conference.
You’ll learn all about:
