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Global Capital: Political Economy of Capitalist Power (YorkU, GS/POLS 6285 3.0, Graduate, Fall Term, 2008-9)
Get PDFWhat is capital? Is capital the same as machines, or is it merely a financial asset? Is it material or social? Is it static or dynamic? Surprisingly, these questions have no clear answers. The form of capital, its existence as monetary wealth, is hardly in doubt. The problem is with the content, the ‘stuff’ which makes capital grow, and on this issue there is no agreement whatsoever. For example, does capital accumulate because it is ‘productive,’ or due to the ‘exploitation’ of workers? Does capital expand ‘on its own,’ or does it need non-capitalist institutions such as the state? Can capital grow by undermining production and efficiency? What exactly is being accumulated? Does the value of capital represent a tangible ‘thing,’ ‘abstract labour’ or perhaps something totally different? What units should we use to measure its accumulation? Despite centuries of debate, none of these questions has a clear answer. Yet they have to have answers. The accumulation of capital is the central process of capitalism, and unless we can clarify what that means, our theories remain ‘bagel theories,’ with a big hole in the middle.
The seminar examines such questions theoretically and historically. The first part explores basic conceptions of capital. It begins by studying three approaches to capital: one based on utility, a second based on labour value and a third based on power. The discussion then broadens to examine these three approaches in relation to technology, the corporation and the state. The second part of the seminar deals with transformations of capital. This part introduces the twin concepts of dominant capital and differential accumulation. Using these concepts, the seminar explores the historical processes of corporate mergers, globalization, stagflation, imperialism and the new wars of the twenty-first century.
[For electronic data resources, click on the link in Alternative Locations
Political Economy: Major Themes (YorkU, GS/POLS 6272 3.0, Graduate, Fall Term, 2008-9)
Get PDFAt the dawn of the 21st century, more and more people realize that ‘economics’ and ‘politics’ are intimately related. And yet, these two aspects of social existence are usually studied as separate ‘disciplines,’ each with its own categories, language and theories. Can this departmentalization be overcome? Should it? And if so, how?
The seminar deals with these questions by critically examining major themes of political economy. Topics are divided into two major categories: elements and aggregates. In the first part, the seminar examines the origins and implications of concepts such as supply and demand, equilibrium, utility and productivity, market organization, and the role of power. Part two, focusing on aggregates, covers the issues of national accounting, theories of prosperity and crisis, money and finance, economic policy, stagflation, welfare/warfare, and the global formations of trade, capital flows and currency regimes.
Throughout the seminar, the emphasis is not only on the ‘how,’ but also on the ‘why.’ Where have the concepts and theories come from? Why have they risen to prominence and what brought them down? Who benefited from them and who paid the price? Do they help us understand the world, or do they serve to conceal it? In these explorations, special emphasis is put on methodology, as well as the importance of empirical/historical analysis
Political Economy: Major Themes (YorkU, GS/POLS 6272 3.0, Graduate)
Get PDFAt the dawn of the 21st century, more and more people realize that ‘economics’ and ‘politics’ are intimately related. And yet, these two aspects of social existence are usually studied as separate ‘disciplines,’ each with its own categories, language and theories. Can this departmentalization be overcome? Should it? And if so, how?
The seminar deals with these questions by critically examining major themes of political economy. Topics are divided into two major categories: elements and aggregates. In the first part, the seminar examines the origins and implications of concepts such as supply and demand, equilibrium, utility and productivity, market organization, and the role of power. Part two, focusing on aggregates, covers the issues of national accounting, theories of prosperity and crisis, money and finance, economic policy, stagflation, welfare/warfare, and the global formations of trade, capital flows and currency regimes.
Throughout the seminar, the emphasis is not only on the ‘how,’ but also on the ‘why.’ Where have the concepts and theories come from? Why have they risen to prominence and what brought them down? Who benefited from them and who paid the price? Do they help us understand the world, or do they serve to conceal it? In these explorations, special emphasis is put on methodology, as well as the importance of empirical/historical analysis
The Gods Failed, the Priests Lied: A Clarification
Get PDFFollowing the publication of our Hebrew paper, ‘The Gods Failed, the Priests Lied’ (May 2007), we received a request for clarification from a reader. Enclosed is our correspondence
Global Political Economy I: Theory and Approaches (YorkU, AS/POLS 3270 3.0, Undergraduate)
Get PDFWhat is ‘capitalism’ and how is it different from other social orders? How did capitalism develop? How does it function at different levels? What theories are used to explain capitalism, and how is it justified and critiqued by different ideologies? What are the roles of power, cooperation and incessant change in capital-ism? This course examines such questions from the viewpoint of political economy. It begins by critically analyzing the basic concepts of surplus and class, supply and demand, prices and profit, investment and capital accumulation. Using these basic concepts, the course proceeds to explore issues such as the nature of the corporation and business organization, the process of capitalist production, the role of inequality, the macro analysis of aggregate processes, government policies and the various ‘anomalies’ of political economy, like stagflation and accumulation-through-crisis
Israels boomende Wirtschaft
Get PDFFür Thomas Friedman von der New York Times liegt das Geheimnis von Israels boomender Wirtschaft im israelischen Genius begründet, in dem Ideenreichtum, Innovation und Flexibilität der Bürger des Landes, unterstützt durch akademische Bildung und staatliche Unterstutzung für Unternehmen. Naomi Klein, auf dem Boden der Realität, verweist auf Israels Kriegsindustrie. Israel sei zu einem Großraumlabor für Waffen geworden, mit der dazugehörigen Software, mit der sie den Weltmarkt beliefert. Die beiden Politökonomen Shimshon Bichler und Jonathan Nitzan hinterfragen den Wirtschaftsboom.
***
Aus dem Englischen von Anja Zückmantel
The History of Political Economy (ההיסטוריה של הכלכלה הפוליטית)
Get PDFההון והפיכתו לגורם המרכזי במשטר הפוליטי החדש של עושר האומות הוא ההמצאה החשובה של הבורגנות. אולם כדי ללגטם את הסדר החדש היה צריך להפכו לחלק מהמסכת המדעית החדשה. כך נוצרה הכלכלה-הפוליטית – המדע החדש שהצמיח את מדעי-החברה המודרניים.
[מאמר זה עתיד להופיע כהקדמה לספר אותו אנו כותבים, משטר ההון: הכלכלה הפוליטית של הכוח
The Rockefeller Boys
Get PDFRockefeller’s global reach -- from the University of Chicago to the Holy Land.
FROM THE ARTICLE: John D. Rockefeller knew a thing or two about power. His Standard Oil of New Jersey became a blueprint for corporate centralization. He pioneered new methods of stock rigging and financial mischief. He destroyed competition wherever he could and set new standards for industrial sabotage and union busting. He manipulated the tastes of “rational consumers” and made “policymakers” dance to his tune. He used violence to expropriate from indigenous Americans their resource-rich lands, and religion to pacify their resistance. He harnessed the U. S. military to impose American “free trade” on the rest of the world. Raw power made Rockefeller and his family enormously rich. And yet, to the end of his life, John D. insisted that his best investment ever was the $45 million he donated to rebuild the Baptist University of Chicago. Rockefeller saw Chicago as a religious asset. The philanthropy helped silence his critics in this world and pave his way to heaven in the next. It bought him the loyalty of spiritual shepherds and academic retainers, all eager to sing the praise of Standard Oil and glorify its devout owner. But in the long run the biggest yield came from the university’s department of economics.
[. . .]
A FEW WORDS ON THE HISTORY OF THIS ARTICLE: The paper was originally commissioned in August 2003 by the Journal of Cold War Studies. Following our explicit inquiry, the journal confirmed that our text would be published “as is.” With this assurance, we submitted the paper in January 2004. The paper was longer than the journal’s standard review. We explicitly drew attention to the extra length and explained why a longer article was necessary given the subject matter. The journal accepted the review and scheduled its publication to the Fall of 2004.
But then the editor, Mark Kramer, had a change of heart. Having read our paper, he must have realized he had made a big mistake. This type of criticism had no place in his respectable journal. He began evasive actions. Without notice, our paper was postponed to the next issue, and then to the following one. We protested the censorship. Kramer assured us there was none. There was simply a long backlog of reviews, he said. Our paper would be published as is and without editorial intervention.
Finally, in April 2005, the truth came out. We were notified that the paper would not be published at all. It was simply . . . too long. We could, if we wanted to, cut the article in half. Or, alternatively, we could enlarge it into a review essay and re-submit it to the journal’s referees. But then the Journal would have to re-consider it. . .
Global Capital: Political Economy of Capitalist Power (YorkU, GS/POLS 6285 3.0, Graduate, Fall Term, 2007-8)
Get PDFWhat is capital? Is capital the same as machines, or is it merely a financial asset? Is it material or social? Is it static or dynamic? Surprisingly, these questions have no clear answers. The form of capital, its existence as monetary wealth, is hardly in doubt. The problem is with the content, the ‘stuff’ which makes capital grow, and on this issue there is no agreement whatsoever. For example, does capital accumulate because it is ‘productive,’ or due to the ‘exploitation’ of workers? Does capital expand ‘on its own,’ or does it need non-capitalist institutions such as the state? Can capital grow by undermining production and efficiency? What exactly is being accumulated? Does the value of capital represent a tangible ‘thing,’ ‘abstract labour’ or perhaps something totally different? What units should we use to measure its accumulation? Despite centuries of debate, none of these questions has a clear answer. Yet they have to have answers. The accumulation of capital is the central process of capitalism, and unless we can clarify what that means, our theories remain ‘bagel theories,’ with a big hole in the middle.
The seminar examines such questions theoretically and historically. The first part explores basic conceptions of capital. It begins by studying three approaches to capital: one based on utility, a second based on labour value and a third based on power. The discussion then broadens to examine these three approaches in relation to technology, the corporation and the state. The second part of the seminar deals with transformations of capital. This part introduces the twin concepts of dominant capital and differential accumulation. Using these concepts, the seminar explores the historical processes of corporate mergers, globalization, stagflation, imperialism and the new wars of the twenty-first century.
[For electronic data resources, click on the link in Alternative Locations
Political Economy: Major Themes (YorkU, GS/POLS 6272 3.0, Graduate, Fall Term, 2007-8)
Get PDFAt the dawn of the 21st century, more and more people realize that ‘economics’ and ‘politics’ are intimately related. And yet, these two aspects of social existence are usually studied as separate ‘disciplines,’ each with its own categories, language and theories. Can this departmentalization be overcome? Should it? And if so, how?
The seminar deals with these questions by critically examining major themes of political economy. Topics are divided into two major categories: elements and aggregates. In the first part, the seminar examines the origins and implications of concepts such as supply and demand, equilibrium, utility and productivity, market organization, and the role of power. Part two, focusing on aggregates, covers the issues of national accounting, theories of prosperity and crisis, money and finance, economic policy, stagflation, welfare/warfare, and the global formations of trade, capital flows and currency regimes.
Throughout the seminar, the emphasis is not only on the ‘how,’ but also on the ‘why.’ Where have the concepts and theories come from? Why have they risen to prominence and what brought them down? Who benefited from them and who paid the price? Do they help us understand the world, or do they serve to conceal it? In these explorations, special emphasis is put on methodology, as well as the importance of empirical/historical analysis