Category Archives: EU Experts’s Discussion 2013

Jan Toporowski: Sweezy and the Monthly Review on Capitalism and Finance

The New York Monthly Review established by Paul Sweezy and Leo Huberman in 1949 represents a unique venture in disseminating Marxist ideas in a way that has been informed by serious economic analysis. In particular it has benefited from the close relationship that Paul Sweezy had with his PhD supervisor at Harvard, Joseph Schumpeter; Sweezy’s own personal knowledge of finance through his father,

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Mirjam Büdenbender: The Real Estate/Financial Complex in Russia and Ukraine

My PhD research on the real estate/financial complex in Russia and Ukraine is driven by the recognition that the financial and the real estate sector are linked to each other in intricate ways, often mediated by government legislation, regulation and elite interests. This has been best illustrated by the subprime crisis and resulting global credit crunch. However, to this date the concrete connections between real estate (both residential and non-residential), finance and states still remain under-researched and under- theorized. What is more, the distinct modalities of this relationship and the resulting specificities of the real estate/financial complex across space have been paid relatively little attention to. This holds especially true for the financially ‘underdeveloped’ Continue reading

Joachim Spangenberg: Production Pattern – Workshop Suggestions

In the process of narrowing down the issue of debate, the sub-item „production and consumption patterns” has been dropped. This is a pity from my point of view for two reasons:

(i)                  Production patterns should remind us of the fact that besides the financilisation, there is a physical side of the economy, and its development is unsustainable. While many – also on the left – agree that economic growth stimulation is the key means to overcome the crisis, to “grow out of the crisis”, be it for job creation, tax revenue generation or (on the other side of the bench) for profit maximisation, the objective is shared across the traditional left-right divide (except for German ideologists). Continue reading