Dear All,
You are cordially invited to the next PERG seminar to be held on December 11th at 17:30 (CET).
Title: The Need for a Paradigm Shift in Economics
Time: 17:30 (CET)
Speaker's name: John Komlos (Professor Emeritus of Economic History at LMU-Munich
Speaker's website: https://www.en.econhist.econ.uni-muenchen.de/people/professoren/komlos1/index.html
Abstract of the talk:
The 2008 financial crisis, the rise of Trumpism and the other populist movements which have followed in their wake have grown out of the frustrations of those hurt by the economic policies advocated by conventional economists for generations. Despite this, textbooks continue to praise conventional policies such as deregulation and hyperglobalization.
Professor Komlos’s recent textbook Foundations of Real-World Economics: What Every Economics Student Needs to Know demonstrates how misleading it can be to apply oversimplified models of perfect competition to the real world. The math works well on college blackboards but not so well on the Main Streets of America. This volume explores the realities of oligopolies, the real impact of the minimum wage, the double-edged sword of free trade, and other ways in which powerful institutions cause distortions in the mainstream models. Bringing together the work of key scholars, such as Kahneman, Minsky, and Schumpeter, this book demonstrates how we should take into account the inefficiencies that arise due to asymmetric information, mental biases, unequal distribution of wealth and power, and the manipulation of demand. His textbook offers students a valuable introductory text with insights into the workings of real markets not just imaginary ones formulated by blackboard economists.
His textbook redresses the existing imbalance in economic teaching. Instead of clinging to an ideology that only enriched the 1%, Komlos sketches the outline of a capitalism with a human face, an economy in which people live contented lives with dignity instead of focusing on GNP.
Zoom link:
https://ceu-edu.zoom.us/j/98659944991?pwd=M2EwM3d4YkNNOXRIRkpEL0ZmU1F6UT09
Meeting ID: 986 5994 4991