Events

On the Creation of UK National Investment Bank

John Weeks will be part of a discussion of A UK National Investment Bank (NIB).
A One-day Roundtable in the House of Lords, 2 November 2011
The objectives of the roundtable are:
   –  To discuss the role that a National Investment Bank could play in promoting long term growth and short term macroeconomic stabilisation in the UK;
   –  To learn more about existing development banks, and therefore about potential operational models for a UK NIB;
   –  To learn more about the interests of the institutions that might fund a National Investment Bank, and therefore about potential funding options for a UK NIB

The Roundtable will have three sessions:
Session 1:  Britain’s Hangover Economy – Long and Short Term Challenges for the UK Economy
Session 2:  Development Banks in Theory and Practice
Session 3:  Practicalities of a UK National Investment Bank

Read a pamphlet by Michael Burke, George Irvin and John Weeks developing the argument more in detail: A Brighter Future for the British Economy

London Premiere of Debtocracy

The documentary which captured the start of a revolution!
Tuesday, 5 July, 6pm
Brunei Gallery, SOAS, University of London
Hosted by Research on Money and Finance

“… the samizdat of Greek debt” – The Guardian

Downloaded by millions of citizens in Greece and across Europe, ‘Debtocracy’ is
spreading like wildfire.  The film seeks the causes of the debt crisis and
proposes solutions – solutions hidden by the governments of Europe and the
dominant media.  This is a unique opportunity to see the film, and to
participate in a discussion with the filmmakers and other experts on the crisis.

- Aris Chatzistefanou, Director of Debtocracy
- Costas Lapavitsas, Professor of Economics, SOAS
- Andrew Burgin, Coalition of Resistance
Chaired by: Nick Dearden, Jubilee Debt Campaign

Entry will be on a first-come first-serve basis as space allows.  Entry is free,
but the organisers will be asking for contributions to assist in covering the
travel costs of the filmmakers.

Read a Red Pepper interview with director Aris Chatzistefanou:
http://www.redpepper.org.uk/greece-no-tahrir-here/

Read a Guardian comment by Costas Lapavitsas on the Greek crisis:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jun/21/greek-exit-strategy-bailout-default

For directions: http://www.soas.ac.uk/gallery/

For more on the film:  http://www.debtocracy.gr/indexen.html

London Seminar on Contemporary Marxist Theory

The global economic and financial crisis has witnessed a deepening of interest in different forms of critical and radical thought and practice. This seminar will explore the new perspectives that have been opened up by interventions of contemporary Marxist theory in this political and theoretical conjuncture. It involves collaboration among Marxist scholars based in several London universities, including Brunel University, King’s College London, and the School of Oriental and African Studies. Guest speakers – from both Britain and abroad – will include a wide range of thinkers engaging with many different elements of the various Marxist traditions, as well as with diverse problems and topics. The aim of the seminar is to promote fruitful debate and to contribute to the development of more robust Marxist analysis. It is open to all.

2nd March, 5.30pm, King’s College London, Strand Campus, K.3.11 Raked Lecture Theatre
Gérard Duménil (Université de Paris X Nanterre)
Explaining the crisis of neoliberalism: Neither the falling profit rate nor mere financial craze

23rd March, 5pm King’s College London, Strand Campus, S-1.27
Esther Leslie (Birkbeck College)
Flat Screens and Liquid Crystals: On the Politics of Aesthetics and Vice Versa

4th May, 5pm King’s College London, Strand Campus, K.2.31 Raked Lecture Theatre
Costas Lapavitsas (SOAS)
Three Cheers for Marxist Monetary Theory: The Eurozone through the Prism of World Money

18th May, 5pm King’s College London, Strand Campus, K.3.11 Raked Lecture Theatre
Gail Day (University of Leeds)
Dialectical Passions: Art Theory, Art History and Marxism

The Effect of Central Bank Rates on Private Bank Lending Rates

John Weeks, RMF Researcher and Emeritus Professor will participate in a Technical Seminar on Monetary Policy, organised by the Central Bank of Kenya, to be held at The Great Rift Valley Lodge, Naivasha, Kenya, 19-20 January, 2011.  He will discuss a paper by three Central Bank researchers on the effect of central bank rates on private bank lending rates.

During 2011 John Weeks will be part of a three person team advising the Central Bank of Kenya on the construction of its short run forecasting model.  Other members of the team are Professor Alemayehu Geda of Addis Ababa University and Dr Stephen Karingi of the UN Economic Commission for Africa.

Eurozone in Crisis: Reform or Exit?

Wednesday 02 June, 6-8pm, RMF and Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities Roundtable

Room B33, Birkbeck College, Mallet St. WC1

The event will explore themes from the widely read RMF report ‘Eurozone in Crisis: Beggar Thyself and Thy Neighbour’. It will also contribute to the debate on the social, political and economic aspects of the Eurozone crisis that was launched by the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities. Since the start of 2010 the Eurozone crisis has become progressively deeper, threatening the existence of the euro as well as the coherence of the European Union. The crisis poses questions of economic malfunctioning and austerity policies imposed on several European countries, but also of democracy and state relations within the European Union. The roundtable will consider these issues from a variety of radical perspectives.

Chair: Larry Elliott, Guardian Newspaper.

Presentations audio (download):

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Questions and answers audio (download):

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Historical Materialism Publishes RMF Symposium on the Global Financial Crisis

Financialised Capitalism: Crisis and Financial Expropriation, by Costas Lapavitsas

The current crisis is one outcome of the financialisation of contemporary capitalism. It arose in the USA because of the enormous expansion of mortgage-lending, including to the poorest layers of the working class. It became general because of the trading of debt by financial institutions. These phenomena are integral to financialisation…

Racial Exclusion and the Political Economy of the Subprime Crisis, by Gary A Dymski

This paper develops a political economic explanation of the 2007-9 US subprime crisis which focuses on one of its central causes: the transformation of racial exclusion in US mortgage-markets. Until the early 1990s, racial minorities were systematically excluded from mortgage-finance due to bank-redlining and discrimination. …

On the Content of Banking in Contemporary Capitalism, by Paulo L dos Santos

This paper considers the character and social content of banking in contemporary capitalism. Based on a survey of the operations of nine leading international banks, it documents the marked differences between contemporary banking and the traditional business of taking, making loans to enterprises, and making profits from the difference in interest-rates between them…

Interviews with John Weeks (Social Europe Journal)

EU’s Political Economy Problem

A Social Democratic Political Economy

Mark Thomas’ sold-out show at the National Theatre on the causes of the current crisis

One Year on from the Panic of 2008: Whither Financialised Capitalism?

07 November 09, International Conference

Click on the name of the participant to download paper. Audio recordings of each session can be played using the controls at the bottom of each section

Financialised Capitalism and the International Crisis

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Contemporary Finance, Regulation and the Real Economy

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Varieties of Financialisation

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The Social Costs and Implications of Financialisation

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Financialisation and Developing Countries

05 November 2009, RMF Roundtable


  • Labour and the Curious Case of Mexican Bank Resilience
    Thomas Marois, SOAS
  • Global Integration of the Turkish Economy in the Era of Financialisation
    Nuray Ergunes, Maltepe University, Turkey
  • Emerging Economy Central Banks and the Crisis of 2007-09
    Juan Pablo Painceira, SOAS
  • Financialisation and Regulation: The Fate of Basle II
    Sedat Aybar, Kadir Has University, Turkey

RMF Members Participate in Brazil Conferences

Between 9 and 12 June RMF members participated in the XIV National Conference of the Brazilian Society of Political Economy (SEP), hosted by the Pontifícia Universidade Católica of São Paulo. The SEP is among the most prominent associations of political economists in Latin America; its Conference is the most important heterodox research gathering in Brazil. This year the Conference was held in conjunction with IX Coloquio Latinoamericano de Economía Política and the V Coloquio de la Sociedad Latinoamericana de Economía Política y Pensamiento Crítico (SEPLA), giving the event a broad regional as well as topical scope.

Costas Lapavitsas, Paulo dos Santos and Juan Pablo Painceira addressed a plenary session of the Conference on “Financialisation and Crisis”, where they delivered papers drawing on RMF research. Discussion was lively and sharp, reflecting not only participants’ own views on financialisation and conerns about the crisis, but also interest in RMF work.

A second event held on 17 June at the Department of Economics at the Universidade Federal Fluminense, in Niterói, Rio de Janeiro. The event was co-hosted by the Núcleo Interdisciplinar de Estudos e Pesquisas Sobre Marx e o Marxismo (NIEP) and the Economics Postgraduate Faculty. Costas Lapavitsas and Paulo dos Santos offered presentations discussing theoretical questions that financialisation, contemporary banking, and the current crisis pose for Marxist political economy. Discussion was lively and drew from participants’ expertise in Marxist political economy, sociology and anthropology.

The entire trip to Brazil proved immensely productive. We were well received and discussions proved interesting, often sharp, and always fruitful. We look forward to ongoing research collaboration and academic exchanges with fellow critical political economists doing their work in Brazil.


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