Economic Crises:
Opportunities for Radical Change
Saturday, August 15 - Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Camp Deer Run, Pine Bush, NY
TENTATIVE WORKSHOP SCHEDULE
Room Code
A – Theatre with power point
B – Art room with overhead and blackboard
C – Upstairs room with table and paper pad
SATURDAY, AUGUST 15
2:00. People involved in set-up arrive
4:00. REGISTRATION BEGINS AND CONTINUES ALL WEEKEND
5:00. RECEPTION/INTRODUCTION TO URPE
6:00. DINNER
7:00 – 9:00. Plenary 1:
RADICAL RESTRUCTURING AND INSTITUTIONS
The Current World Economic Crisis, Neoliberalism and the Role of Finance Capital
Paul Cooney, Universidade Federal do Pará, Brazil
Rewriting the Book on Money and Banking
Jane D’Arista, Research Associate at PERI
Who Lost Wall Street? Should We Try to Find It Again?
Gerald Epstein, University of Massachusetts
The New Regional Financial Architecture in South America and its Relation with the Current Crisis
Matias Vernengo, University of Utah
9:15 – 11:00. Informal socializing: catching up with old friends, getting to know new ones.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 16
8:00 – 8:45. BREAKFAST
9:00 – 10:15
Site A: Capitalism and the Environment
Carbon Emissions and GDP Growth: Some Basics to Dispel the Smoke
(José A. Tapia Granados, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research)
The Political Economy of Lyme Disease: Environmental Disaster in Late Capitalism
(Irwin Sperber, SUNY New Paltz Sociology)
Site B: Money and Financial Stability in Crisis
Financial Crisis: RIGHT on Basic Income for a Stable Financing of Basics Economy?
(Marc Vandenberghe, USBIG)
Crisis, Social Cooperation, and the Velocity of Money
(Julio Huato, St. Francis College)
10:30 – 11:45
Site A: Radical Responses to the Economic Crisis
Responses to the Present Financial and Real Economic Crisis: Radical and Progressive
(Al Campbell, University of Utah)
An Analysis of the Crisis, the Role of Finance Capital, Fictitious Capital and Unproductive Labor
(Paul Cooney)
Site B: Economics and Society
Wasting Each Other: Contemporary America
(Arthur Pierson)
Mindful Economics
(Joel Magnuson, Portland, Oregon)
12:00 – 1:00. LUNCH
1:00 – 2:30. RECREATION. Swim, relax with friends, and there are beautiful hiking trails.
1:30 - 2:30
Site A: Schools and Tools
Game Theory
(Gil Skillman)
Site C: Schools and Tools
Sraffian Economics
(Scott Carter)
2:45 - 4:00
Site A: Chavez’s Oil Strategy and the Venezuelan Economy
The "New Nationalism" – Oil Strategy of Chavez and Mommer: Can China, Iran and International Oil Companies Enable Venezuela to Escape the Markets of "El Imperio" and Reverse PDVSA Production Declines?
(Tom O’Donnell, Universidad Central de Venezuela)
Site B: Cuba and Socialist Economics
Market Socialism: a Transitional Goal?
(Brent Kramer)
Cuba
(Al Campbell, University of Utah and Susan Metz)
4:15 – 5:45. The DAVID GORDON LECTURE
FINANCE WITHOUT FINANCIERS:
PROSPECTS FOR RADICAL CHANGE IN FINANCIAL GOVERNANCE
Gerald Epstein, University of Massachusetts, Amherst & co-director, PERI (Political Economy Research Institute)
6:00. DINNER
7:00 – 9:00. Plenary 2:
GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING AND RESPONSES
Uncovering the Costs of Employment-based Health Insurance
Jenny Brown, co-chair of the Alachua County Labor Party (Gainesville, Florida) and project director, Redstockings of the Women's Liberation Movement
Stopping Foreclosures and Evictions
Roxan McKinnon, Executive Director, City Life/Vida Urbana
Organizing the Urban Unemployed: From Mass Incarceration to a Green Justice Economy
Aaron Tanaka, Director, Boston Workers Alliance
9:15 – 12:00. ENTERTAINMENT.
MONDAY, AUGUST 17
8:00 – 8:45. BREAKFAST
9:00 – 10:15
Site A: Political Economy of Fair Trade
Fair Trade and the Rwandan Genocide
(Mark Rego-Monteiro, Ecology Fund)
Fair Trade, Cooperatives, and Communal Labor
(Noah Enelow)
Site B: Political Economy Responses to Crisis
ILTAM: Drafting Evidence-Based Legislation for Democratic Social Change
(Ann Seidman, Boston University and Robert Seidman, Boston University)
10:30 – 11:45
Site A: Venezuelan Economic and Social Issues
The Impasse of Hugo Chávez Frias: Facing Crises with Oil Income, his Electoral Base and Workers' Unions
(Tom O’Donnell, Universidad Central de Venezuela)
The Extent to which "Community Activism" Involves a Struggle over the Working Class's Non-Commodity Production in Venezuela
(Paddy Quick, St. Francis Collge)
Site B: History of Economic Thought and Financial Crisis
Dobb's Interpretations of How Economic Crises Provide an Opportunity for Change in the Radical Direction
(Michael Abouzelof, University of Utah)
Life and Death During the Great Depression
(José A. Tapia Granados, University of Michigan Institute for Social Research)
12:00 – 1:00. LUNCH
1:00 – 2:30. RECREATION. Swim, hike, relax with friends.
1:30 - 2:30
Site A: Schools and Tools
Adverse Selection/Moral Hazard
(Al Campbell)
Site C: Schools and Tools
Marxist Economics
( David Laibman)
2:45 - 4:00
Site A: Labor and Student Organization in Times of Crisis
Impact of Port Trucking on Port Adjacent Communities
(Trina Scordo, Senior Organizer/Researcher, Change to Win Labor Federation)
Power Shift and Institutional Changes at the New School, and the Role of Econ Students in Organizing for It
(Dave Shukla, et al, New School for Social Research)
Site B: Institutions and Economic Theory
What’s Missing in Conventional Economics Wisdom? Economics’ Integration of Firms that Do Not Make Profits
(Oliver Dreher)
Role of Slack in Organization Failure
(Laura Ebert, Marist College)
4:15 - 5:30
Site A: Economic Stimulus and Outcomes
Obama's Stimulus Plan: Who Benefits and How Much?
(Tom Masterson, Levy Institute)
In the Long Run, Does Keynes Kill us all Dead? Organizing around Climate Change in the Obama Era
(Patty-Lee Parmalee and Paul Bartlett, CNS)
Site B: Toward a Theory of Capitalist Finance
Toward a Theory of Capitalist Finance
(David Laibman, Brooklyn College)
6:00. DINNER
7:00. Films
9:30 – 11:00. ENTERTAINMENT
TUESDAY, AUGUST 18
8:00 – 8:45. BREAKFAST
9:00 – 10:15
Site A: Current Issues in Capitalism
Capitalism and the Prison Industrial Complex
(Fadhel Kaboub, Denison University and Rana Odeh, University of Dayton)
The Current International System
(Brenda M. Tracchia, consultant for Baystate Biofuels)
10:30 – 11:45
Site A: Creating Common Good Banks: Democratic Economics for a Sustainable World
(William Spademan, Common Good Bank)
12:00. LUNCH
See you all next year!
For more information please contact the National Office at urpe@labornet.org or call 413-577-0806.