Post-Neoliberalism

Pathways for Transformative Economics and Politics

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Evolution and Revolution in the Field of Economics

James K. Galbraith

In his May 2024 keynote at an international conference in memory of Luigi Pasinetti held at the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei in Rome, Professor James Galbraith considers the revolutionary work of Luigi Pasinetti and how far the field of economics has yet to go. By connecting Pasinetti’s work to that of his predecessors (e.g., Keynes, Commons, Veblen, and Robinson), Galbraith emphasizes why mainstream theory is not yet grounded in scientific inquiry or principles. He insists that, far from patching up the flaws of neoclassical economics, it is time to complete the Keynesian revolution by developing a biophysical analytical framework that incorporates Pasinetti’s contributions to our understanding of time, money and distribution.

05 June 2024. Rubric 7
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Industrial Policy Is a Good Idea, but So Far We Don’t Have One

James K. Galbraith

In this piece originally published by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, Galbraith writes about how “The American state has lost the capacity for concentrated and decisive effort at the forefront of technology and the associated science”.

25 April 2024. Rubric 3
Phillip Medhurst - Apocalypse 5, Opening the Seals, Wikimedia Creative Commons, attribution share-alike 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apocalypse_5._Opening_the_seals._Revelation_cap_6_v_9-11._Mortier%27s_Bible._Phillip_Medhurst_Collection.jpg

Entropy, the Theory of Value and the Future of Humanity

James K. Galbraith

In a keynote address to a conference on “Geopolitical Changes” at Kozminski University, Warsaw, on January 29, 2024, Professor James Galbraith called for economics to break with equilibrium dogma and re-found itself on the life principles that govern physics, biology and every existing mechanical and social system. Noting the distinguished presence of Professors Francis Fukuyama and E.S. Phelps, Galbraith called attention to the spectacular fallacies of “an end to history” and a “natural rate of unemployment,” arguing that these doctrines have helped blind our generation to the damage inflicted by rising resource costs and neoliberal policies of austerity and precarity, with dire consequences for households in wealthy societies, for their reproduction rates, and for the long-term viability of the species.

02 February 2024. Rubric 7
Portrait of Thomas Robert Malthus (1766-1834)

Will Austerity and Precarity Finish Off the Human Species?

James K. Galbraith

The ultimate fate of a human society rests on its ability and willingness to reproduce itself over the long run. The combination between population decline and increase in longevity that is typical for wealthy societies can have consequences far more destructive than the explosion of a few bombs, writes James Galbraith. Growing economic insecurity exacerbates these tendencies. Yet the economics of the decision to reproduce has been of marginal interest to economists.

30 November 2023. Rubric 6
Aerial of a river

A Comment on Dani Rodrik’s “New Paradigm for Economic Policy”

James K. Galbraith

Galbraith argues that the neoclassical doctrine has taken over mainstream economics to the point where the two cannot be separated.  With this in mind, he challenges Rodrik’s argument that his “productivism” can be “mainstream,” except to the extent that the ideas are in fact neoclassical, which in key respects they are.  He further argues that Rodrik’s goals — good jobs at fair wages — can be pursued effectively only outside the mainstream/neoclassical paradigm, with or without its productivist variation.

21 November 2023. Rubric 7