Excessive mathematisation and formalisation of economic science has been one of the most importan... more Excessive mathematisation and formalisation of economic science has been one of the most important features of the development of economic science in the later part of the twentieth century. What were the causes behind this excessive mathematisation of economic science? Why did it happen when it did? These are the main questions I try to explore in this paper. Recent scholarship places excessive emphasis on the role and prestige of mathematics as a scientific tool. The processes of mathematisation and formalisation of economics are, however, complicated, involving social, economic, intellectual, ideological and institutional factors, and so simple mono-causal explanations are inadequate. In this paper we try to partly redress the balance and bring to the fore some of these factors involved in these processes, including the role of (liberal) ideology in each phase of the mathematisation process.
The recent economic crisis has brought to the fore another crisis that has been going on for many... more The recent economic crisis has brought to the fore another crisis that has been going on for many years, that of (orthodox) economic theory. The latter failed to predict and, after the event, cannot offer an explanation of why it happened. This article sketches out why this is the case and what constitutes the crisis of economics. On this basis, the case is made for the revival of an interdisciplinary political economy as the only way for offering an explanation of the workings of the (capitalist) economy in general and of economic crises in particular.
In this response to the symposium on our two books we try to deal as fully as possible in the bri... more In this response to the symposium on our two books we try to deal as fully as possible in the brief space available with most of the major issues raised by our distinguished commentators. Although at least three of them are in agreement with the main thrust of the arguments put forward in our books, they all raise important issues relating to methodology, the history of economic thought (including omissions), and a number of more specific issues. Our answer is based on the restatement of the chief purpose of our two books, describing the intellectual history of the evolution of economic science emphasising the role of the excision of the social and the historical from economic theorising in the transition from (classical) political economy to (neoclassical) economics, only for the two to be reunited through the vulgar form of economics imperialism following the monolithic dominance of neoclassical economics at the expense of pluralism after the Second World War. The importance of po...
This article reviews Robert Brenner's ‘The Economics of Global Turbulence’, New Left Review, ... more This article reviews Robert Brenner's ‘The Economics of Global Turbulence’, New Left Review, May/June, 1998. Several decisive weaknesses of Brenner's contribution are identified. First, Brenner's theoretical treatment of capitalist competition and accumulation is in the spirit of Adam Smith and mainstream economics rather than Marx. Second, Brenner ignores the significance of credit for capitalist crisis. Third, he leaves entirely out of account the internationalisation of production and finance, phenomena which constitute the most salient feature of the contemporary global economy. Fourth, in short, Brenner's approach is not at all value-theoretic, a weakness that can also be found in some of his earlier historical work.
This special issue of FSE comprises mostly (but not exclusively) of papers presented at the Secon... more This special issue of FSE comprises mostly (but not exclusively) of papers presented at the Second International Research workshop in Political Economy organized by the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE, http://www.iippe.org/wiki/Main_Page) in Procida, Naples in association with L’Orientale University of Naples, in September 2008. IIPPE was founded in 2006 and now numbers more than 800 members from around the globe, mostly academics but also research students and other activists. Its aim is the promotion of political economy in and of itself but also through critical and constructive engagement with mainstream economics, heterodox alternatives, interdisciplinarity, and activism understood broadly as ranging across formulating progressive policy through to support for progressive movements. Thus, in terms of intellectual content and direction, we see ourselves as commanding and criticizing mainstream economics, offering alternatives from within political economy, addressing the nature of contemporary capitalism and corresponding policy and applied issues, and drawing upon and contributing to the presence of political economy, and critique of ‘‘economics imperialism,’’ within other disciplines. IIPPE is a pluralistic forum where all progressive brands of political economy are welcome. Its many activities include the organization of an annual conference in a different European country each year (this year it is held in Paris in July and is co-organized by the Association for Heterodox Economics and the French Association of Political Economy), research workshops and summers schools. It has about 20 working groups and a book series in association FORUM FOR SOCIAL ECONOMICS, VOL. XLI, NO. 1, APRIL 2012
Questioning the prevailing discourse of multiple benefits surrounding tourism development, this p... more Questioning the prevailing discourse of multiple benefits surrounding tourism development, this paper examines the Itanos Gaia investment on Cavo Sidero peninsula, north-eastern Crete as a hegemonic project of dispossession. Drawing on David Harvey’s theorisation of accumulation by dispossession and Gramsci’s original work on hegemony, we describe and analyse the specificities and antinomies of the Itanos Gaia project, first to chart the modalities of dispossession in four interrelated strands operative in this case: nature, land, financial speculation and the institutionalisation of dispossession, and second, to analyse the interplay between hegemony and the imposition of dispossession, including its internalisation in the realm of (local) civil society as ‘common sense’, underpinned by the local and broader dynamics of a particular power bloc. Empirically, this inquiry is informed by a survey conducted among local residents to identify local perceptions/views about the investment. KEYWORDS: Accumulation by dispossessionhegemonytourism developmentphantom investment SUBJECT CODES: P14P16R00Z32
Brenner's ‘The Economics of Global Turbulence’ has induced a flood of responses, the vast maj... more Brenner's ‘The Economics of Global Turbulence’ has induced a flood of responses, the vast majority of them critical, especially on grounds of (divergence from Marx's) method and theory. Tony Smith1 is an exception in seeking to defend Brenner, mostly by pushing his arguments further and by attacking his critics, including ourselves. In part, Smith interprets Brenner and credits him with positions that he can either defend for himself or, as we suspect, reject. Our concern in this reply is not to address issues through the prism of Brenner but to assess Smith's own contribution critically on its own terms and merits.
This article challenges some fundamental propositions of property rights theory by revealing the ... more This article challenges some fundamental propositions of property rights theory by revealing the inability of new institutional economics to fully grasp the notion of property, as reflected in its narrow and problematic definition of property rights. The concept of property relations is proposed as better suited to capture the social and institutional aspects of property. By reconsidering the case of the Montagnais, originally used by Alchian and Demsetz for illustra-tive purposes, and drawing on the works of Polanyi and McManus, we show that the historical explanation of the emergence of (private) property rights provided by Alchian and Demsetz is flawed.
Questioning the prevailing discourse of multiple benefits surrounding tourism development, this p... more Questioning the prevailing discourse of multiple benefits surrounding tourism development, this paper examines the Itanos Gaia investment on Cavo Sidero peninsula, north-eastern Crete as a hegemonic project of dispossession. Drawing on David Harvey’s theorisation of accumulation by dispossession and Gramsci’s original work on hegemony, we describe and analyse the specificities and antinomies of the Itanos Gaia project, first to chart the modalities of dispossession in four interrelated strands operative in this case: nature, land, financial speculation and the institutionalisation of dispossession, and second, to analyse the interplay between hegemony and the imposition of dispossession, including its internalisation in the realm of (local) civil society as ‘common sense’, underpinned by the local and broader dynamics of a particular power bloc. Empirically, this inquiry is informed by a survey conducted among local residents to identify local perceptions/views about the investment....
In an article published in this journal (Milonakis, 1993-94) I attempted a fresh look at the dyna... more In an article published in this journal (Milonakis, 1993-94) I attempted a fresh look at the dynamics of feudalism by providing an alternative framework, to both Gerald Cohen's technological determinism and Robert Brenner's class-power approaches. Claudio Katz, in his recent critical note in response to my article (1994), argues that my attempt at constructing such a framework has failed, since my approach is in essence the same as Brenner's. In defense of my original thesis, this paper delineates and further clarifies certain methodological aspects of my approach, by locating it in the ongoing debate on the dynamics of history.
Excessive mathematisation and formalisation of economic science has been one of the most importan... more Excessive mathematisation and formalisation of economic science has been one of the most important features of the development of economic science in the later part of the twentieth century. What were the causes behind this excessive mathematisation of economic science? Why did it happen when it did? These are the main questions I try to explore in this paper. Recent scholarship places excessive emphasis on the role and prestige of mathematics as a scientific tool. The processes of mathematisation and formalisation of economics are, however, complicated, involving social, economic, intellectual, ideological and institutional factors, and so simple mono-causal explanations are inadequate. In this paper we try to partly redress the balance and bring to the fore some of these factors involved in these processes, including the role of (liberal) ideology in each phase of the mathematisation process.
The recent economic crisis has brought to the fore another crisis that has been going on for many... more The recent economic crisis has brought to the fore another crisis that has been going on for many years, that of (orthodox) economic theory. The latter failed to predict and, after the event, cannot offer an explanation of why it happened. This article sketches out why this is the case and what constitutes the crisis of economics. On this basis, the case is made for the revival of an interdisciplinary political economy as the only way for offering an explanation of the workings of the (capitalist) economy in general and of economic crises in particular.
In this response to the symposium on our two books we try to deal as fully as possible in the bri... more In this response to the symposium on our two books we try to deal as fully as possible in the brief space available with most of the major issues raised by our distinguished commentators. Although at least three of them are in agreement with the main thrust of the arguments put forward in our books, they all raise important issues relating to methodology, the history of economic thought (including omissions), and a number of more specific issues. Our answer is based on the restatement of the chief purpose of our two books, describing the intellectual history of the evolution of economic science emphasising the role of the excision of the social and the historical from economic theorising in the transition from (classical) political economy to (neoclassical) economics, only for the two to be reunited through the vulgar form of economics imperialism following the monolithic dominance of neoclassical economics at the expense of pluralism after the Second World War. The importance of po...
This article reviews Robert Brenner's ‘The Economics of Global Turbulence’, New Left Review, ... more This article reviews Robert Brenner's ‘The Economics of Global Turbulence’, New Left Review, May/June, 1998. Several decisive weaknesses of Brenner's contribution are identified. First, Brenner's theoretical treatment of capitalist competition and accumulation is in the spirit of Adam Smith and mainstream economics rather than Marx. Second, Brenner ignores the significance of credit for capitalist crisis. Third, he leaves entirely out of account the internationalisation of production and finance, phenomena which constitute the most salient feature of the contemporary global economy. Fourth, in short, Brenner's approach is not at all value-theoretic, a weakness that can also be found in some of his earlier historical work.
This special issue of FSE comprises mostly (but not exclusively) of papers presented at the Secon... more This special issue of FSE comprises mostly (but not exclusively) of papers presented at the Second International Research workshop in Political Economy organized by the International Initiative for Promoting Political Economy (IIPPE, http://www.iippe.org/wiki/Main_Page) in Procida, Naples in association with L’Orientale University of Naples, in September 2008. IIPPE was founded in 2006 and now numbers more than 800 members from around the globe, mostly academics but also research students and other activists. Its aim is the promotion of political economy in and of itself but also through critical and constructive engagement with mainstream economics, heterodox alternatives, interdisciplinarity, and activism understood broadly as ranging across formulating progressive policy through to support for progressive movements. Thus, in terms of intellectual content and direction, we see ourselves as commanding and criticizing mainstream economics, offering alternatives from within political economy, addressing the nature of contemporary capitalism and corresponding policy and applied issues, and drawing upon and contributing to the presence of political economy, and critique of ‘‘economics imperialism,’’ within other disciplines. IIPPE is a pluralistic forum where all progressive brands of political economy are welcome. Its many activities include the organization of an annual conference in a different European country each year (this year it is held in Paris in July and is co-organized by the Association for Heterodox Economics and the French Association of Political Economy), research workshops and summers schools. It has about 20 working groups and a book series in association FORUM FOR SOCIAL ECONOMICS, VOL. XLI, NO. 1, APRIL 2012
Questioning the prevailing discourse of multiple benefits surrounding tourism development, this p... more Questioning the prevailing discourse of multiple benefits surrounding tourism development, this paper examines the Itanos Gaia investment on Cavo Sidero peninsula, north-eastern Crete as a hegemonic project of dispossession. Drawing on David Harvey’s theorisation of accumulation by dispossession and Gramsci’s original work on hegemony, we describe and analyse the specificities and antinomies of the Itanos Gaia project, first to chart the modalities of dispossession in four interrelated strands operative in this case: nature, land, financial speculation and the institutionalisation of dispossession, and second, to analyse the interplay between hegemony and the imposition of dispossession, including its internalisation in the realm of (local) civil society as ‘common sense’, underpinned by the local and broader dynamics of a particular power bloc. Empirically, this inquiry is informed by a survey conducted among local residents to identify local perceptions/views about the investment. KEYWORDS: Accumulation by dispossessionhegemonytourism developmentphantom investment SUBJECT CODES: P14P16R00Z32
Brenner's ‘The Economics of Global Turbulence’ has induced a flood of responses, the vast maj... more Brenner's ‘The Economics of Global Turbulence’ has induced a flood of responses, the vast majority of them critical, especially on grounds of (divergence from Marx's) method and theory. Tony Smith1 is an exception in seeking to defend Brenner, mostly by pushing his arguments further and by attacking his critics, including ourselves. In part, Smith interprets Brenner and credits him with positions that he can either defend for himself or, as we suspect, reject. Our concern in this reply is not to address issues through the prism of Brenner but to assess Smith's own contribution critically on its own terms and merits.
This article challenges some fundamental propositions of property rights theory by revealing the ... more This article challenges some fundamental propositions of property rights theory by revealing the inability of new institutional economics to fully grasp the notion of property, as reflected in its narrow and problematic definition of property rights. The concept of property relations is proposed as better suited to capture the social and institutional aspects of property. By reconsidering the case of the Montagnais, originally used by Alchian and Demsetz for illustra-tive purposes, and drawing on the works of Polanyi and McManus, we show that the historical explanation of the emergence of (private) property rights provided by Alchian and Demsetz is flawed.
Questioning the prevailing discourse of multiple benefits surrounding tourism development, this p... more Questioning the prevailing discourse of multiple benefits surrounding tourism development, this paper examines the Itanos Gaia investment on Cavo Sidero peninsula, north-eastern Crete as a hegemonic project of dispossession. Drawing on David Harvey’s theorisation of accumulation by dispossession and Gramsci’s original work on hegemony, we describe and analyse the specificities and antinomies of the Itanos Gaia project, first to chart the modalities of dispossession in four interrelated strands operative in this case: nature, land, financial speculation and the institutionalisation of dispossession, and second, to analyse the interplay between hegemony and the imposition of dispossession, including its internalisation in the realm of (local) civil society as ‘common sense’, underpinned by the local and broader dynamics of a particular power bloc. Empirically, this inquiry is informed by a survey conducted among local residents to identify local perceptions/views about the investment....
In an article published in this journal (Milonakis, 1993-94) I attempted a fresh look at the dyna... more In an article published in this journal (Milonakis, 1993-94) I attempted a fresh look at the dynamics of feudalism by providing an alternative framework, to both Gerald Cohen's technological determinism and Robert Brenner's class-power approaches. Claudio Katz, in his recent critical note in response to my article (1994), argues that my attempt at constructing such a framework has failed, since my approach is in essence the same as Brenner's. In defense of my original thesis, this paper delineates and further clarifies certain methodological aspects of my approach, by locating it in the ongoing debate on the dynamics of history.
Uploads
Papers by Dimitris Milonakis