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How should we conceptualize the economy?

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Is a gift economy possible on a large scale?

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Is a gift economy possible on a large scale?

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https://schoolofpoliticaleconomy.net/

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Welcome to the School of Political Economy. The purpose of our school is to provide accessible quality teaching in political economy and economics

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To gain an understanding in order to not be misled or deceived by neoclassical economists

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To gain an understanding in order to not be misled or deceived by neoclassical economists

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I'm interested in the critique of degrowth from a global south perspective considering 1) the history of colonialism, imperialism- extraction and exploitation of the global south by the global north 2) the positionality of the global north to initiate degrowth because of this history 3) the continued and current economic and political dominance of the global north over the global south.  Likewise thinking outside of the binary of growth and degrowth/negative growth- where in the success of a country/ region is measured not by growth/degrowth but by wellbeing of people and planet, and the metric of success is not growth or degrowth but rather care of people and planet (this is obviously a feminist economic analysis)

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I'm interested in the critique of degrowth from a global south perspective considering 1) the history of colonialism, imperialism- extraction and exploitation of the global south by the global north 2) the positionality of the global north to initiate degrowth because of this history 3) the continued and current economic and political dominance of the global north over the global south.  Likewise thinking outside of the binary of growth and degrowth/negative growth- where in the success of a country/ region is measured not by growth/degrowth but by wellbeing of people and planet, and the metric of success is not growth or degrowth but rather care of people and planet (this is obviously a feminist economic analysis)

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Las ideas que están detrás de la promoción del libre comercio y la libre inversión

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Just a follow up question from the class discussion. I wonder if you can comment a bit on the living wage movement and whether this is something that Marx see as the way forward? Thank you again!

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Especially in relation to environmental exploitation

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An attempt to answer a question addressed to me

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An attempt to answer a question addressed to me

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"I wonder if you can comment a bit on the living wage movement and whether this is something that Marx see as the way forward?"

First of all, thank you for your question. I think it is a very interesting issue.

Let me just say this first. Although the struggle for higher wages is very important for Marx, he nevertheless considers the fight for better wages an initial step, since, on one hand, wages are, as of themselves, an ideological issue. We need to understand that capital does not pay wages according to labor, but according to the value of the labor force, (i.e. the amount of commodities that comprise the means of subsistance of workers), and this is a very flexible and dynamic measure, since it depends on the place, the time, the technical conditions, culture, etc. On the other hand, capitalists will do whatever it takes to minimize the amount of commodities that are necessary for the workers to have an adequate reproduction, not only as workers but as individual and collective human beings. What I'm trying to say here is that, for instance, the "Fight for $15", although essential is not, and will never be sufficient. For Marx, the struggle has to do with the actual living conditions of workers, their families, their communities and the society as a whole. In other words, to consider a mere amount of money as sufficient wages is not enough, because there are direct and indirect wages: public education is a good example of an indirect form of salary: neoliberal policies state that public education should give way to privatized education, since the market can supply this need better than the state, but it also means that some curricular contents would not have any place in private education, since the do not align with market needs, for example, the learning of Marxian economic theory. So, in a way, wages should be considered as a whole, and therefore, the fight for a safe environmental conditions in the present and the future is also an issue that should be considered when discussing wages.

So, to answer shortly, although it is necessary, it is not the ultimate goal to fight for salaries but for living and working conditions for all workers and all mankind, being mindful of what this entails regarding the environment, equitable relations within society, the protection of vulnerable persons or communities, and the future generations.

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From our lecture on Marxian economics. Someone asked about what what solutions Marx offers in response to Capitalism- It is indeed communism. How do we reclaim communism from the capitalist propaganda and hegemony that has demonised communism as inhumane, evil and conflated/reduced it's foundations with Stalin's gulags?

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From our lecture on Marxian economics. Someone asked about what what solutions Marx offers in response to Capitalism- It is indeed communism. How do we reclaim communism from the capitalist propaganda and hegemony that has demonised communism as inhumane, evil and conflated/reduced it's foundations with Stalin's gulags?

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Some suggested further readings on Marx's critique of capitalism and Marxist analysis of environmental problems:

1. Michael Heinrich: An Introduction to the Three Volumes of Karl Marx's Capital - one of the best modern introductions to Marx's magnum opus (originally written in German but in the meantime translated into other major and smaller (e.g. Serbo-Croatian) languages)

2. Andreas Malm: Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam-Power and the Roots of Global Warming - a detailed analysis of how the same forces inherent to the capitalist mode of production that made capitalists to switch from water-power to fossil fuels during the first industrial revolution are still operating today and sabotaging the transition to renewables

3. Andreas Malm: Corona, Climate, Chronic Emergency: War Communism in the Twenty-First Century - a good explanation of the connection between the capitalist mode of production and the destruction of biodiversity, including consequences this has for the emergence of new diseases such as COVID-19

4. John Bellamy Foster: Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature - a great exploration of the environmental content of Marx's (and Engels's) classical works, as well as the strong link between materialist philosophy and ecology