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post-autistic
economics |
See list of supporters at bottom of
page This petition is now closed for signing Released
13 August 2001 An International Open Letter to all economics
departments “The Kansas City Proposal” Economics needs fundamental reform – and now is the
time for change. This document comes out a meeting of 75 students,
researchers and professors from twenty-two nations who gathered for a week of
discussion on the state of economics and the economy at the University of
Missouri - Kansas City (UMKC) this June 2001. The discussion took place at the Second
Biennial Summer School of the Association for Evolutionary Economics (AFEE), jointly sponsored by UMKC,
AFEE and the Center for
Full Employment and Price Stability. The undersigned participants, all committed to the reform
of our discipline, have developed the following open letter. This letter follows statements from other
groups who have similar concerns. Both
in agreement with and in support of the Post-Autistic Economics Movement and
the Cambridge Proposal, we believe that economic theory, inhibited by its ahistorical approach and abstract formalist methodology,
has provided only a limited understanding of the challenging complexity of
economic behavior. The narrow methodological
approach of economics hinders its ability to generate truly pragmatic and
realistic policy prescriptions or to engage in productive dialogue with other
social sciences. All economics departments should reform economics
education to include reflection on the methodological assumptions that
underpin our discipline. A responsible
and effective economics is one that sees economic behavior
in its wider contexts, and that encourages philosophical challenge and
debate. Most immediately, the field of economic analysis must be expanded to
encompass the following: 1. A broader
conception of human behavior. The definition of
economic man as an autonomous
rational optimizer is too narrow and does not allow for the roles of other
determinants such as instinct, habit formation and gender, class and other
social factors in shaping the economic psychology of social agents. 2. Recognition of
culture. Economic activities, like all social phenomena, are necessarily
embedded in culture, which includes all kinds of social, political and moral
value-systems and institutions. These profoundly shape and guide human behavior by imposing obligations, enabling and disabling
particular choices, and creating social or communal identities, all of which
may impact on economic behavior. 3. Consideration of
history. Economic reality is dynamic rather than static – and as
economists we must investigate how and why things change over time and space.
Realistic economic inquiry should focus on process rather than simply on
ends. 4. A new theory of
knowledge. The positive-vs.-normative dichotomy which has traditionally
been used in the social sciences is problematic. The fact-value distinction can be
transcended by the recognition that the investigator’s values are
inescapably involved in scientific inquiry and in making scientific statements,
whether consciously or not. This acknowledgement enables a more sophisticated
assessment of knowledge claims. 5. Empirical
grounding. More effort must be made to substantiate theoretical claims
with empirical evidence. The tendency
to privilege theoretical tenets in the teaching of economics without
reference to empirical observation cultivates doubt about the realism of such
explanations. 6. Expanded methods.
Procedures such as participant observation, case studies and discourse
analysis should be recognized as legitimate means of acquiring and analyzing
data alongside econometrics and formal modeling. Observation of phenomena from different
vantage points using various data-gathering techniques may offer new insights
into phenomena and enhance our understanding of them. 7. Interdisciplinary
dialogue. Economists should be aware of diverse schools of thought within
economics, and should be aware of developments in other disciplines,
particularly the social sciences. Although strong in developing analytic thinking skills,
the professional training of economists has tended to discourage economists
from even debating – let alone accepting – the validity of these
wider dimensions. Unlike other social sciences and humanities, there is
little space for philosophical and methodological debate in the contemporary
profession. Critically-minded students of economics seem to face an unhappy
choice between abandoning their speculative interests in order to make
professional progress, or abandoning economics altogether for disciplines
more hospitable to reflection and innovation. Ours is a world of global economic change, of inequality
between and within societies, of threats to environmental integrity, of new
concepts of property and entitlement, of evolving international legal
frameworks and of risks of instability in international finance. In such a
world we need an economics that is open-minded, analytically effective and
morally responsible. It is only by engaging in sustained critical reflection,
revising and expanding our sense of what we do and what we believe as
economists that such an economics can emerge. ________________________________ The
following 321 people have signed the above proposal The original 25
signatories: Ricardo Aguado, Universídad del País Vasco, Spain Dr. Stephen Dunn, Staffordshire University, UK Dr. Eric R. Hake, Eastern Illinois University, USA Fadhel Kaboub, University of Missouri - Kansas City, Tunisia Nitasha Kaul, University of Hull, UK, India Peter Kimani, University of Nairobi, Kenya Meelis Kitsing, London School of Economics, Estonia Agim Kukeli, Colorado State University, Albania Joelle Leclaire, University of Missouri - Kansas City, Canada Áine Ní Léime, National University of Ireland - Galway, Ireland Hui Liu, University of
Ottawa, China Claudia Maya, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico Dr. Andrew Mearman, Wagner College, USA, UK Jaime Augusto Torres Melo, London
School of Economics, Colombia Vassilis Monastiriotis, London School of Economics, Greece Alfred Ng Yau Foo, University
of Missouri - Kansas City, Malaysia José Alfredo Pureco Ornelas, National Autonomous Uni. of Mexico, Mexico Jairo J. Parada, Penn State University, Colombia
Franziska M. Pircher, University of Missouri - Kansas City, USA David Pringle, University of Ottawa, Canada Dr. James F. Smith, University of Vermont, USA Pavlina R. Tcherneva, Center for Full
Employment and Price Stability, UMKC, USA Ermanno Celeste Tortia, University of Ferrara, Italy Eric Tymoigne, Université de
Paris – Nord, France Benton Wolverton, University of Missouri - Kansas City, USA
Questions,
comments and critiques may be directed to David Pringle (pringle_djg@hotmail.com) or Áine Ní Léime
(ainenileime@hotmail.com). ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following people have also signed the above
proposal Stephen A Marglin,
Professor of Economics, Harvard University, USA Alex Millmow,
Lecturer in Economics, Charles Sturt University,
Australia Edward K. Ross, Australia Abraham Rotstein,
Professor of Economics, University of Toronto, Canada Charles K. Wilber, Emeritus Professor of
Economics, University of Notre Dame, USA Prof. Mark Blaug, UK S. Charusheela, Women's
Studies, University of Hawaii, USA Jacques Bouchoux, Prag sciences socials, Université
Paris 1, France Chen Chien-chung,
Assistant Professor, Tunghai University, Taiwan Dr. Carsten Herrmann-Pillath, Prof. of Macroeconomics, Witten/Herdecke Uni., Germany Dirk Bezemer,
Visiting Research Fellow, London University, UK Alexandre Abreu, ISEG/UTL student, Portugal Frederick W. Weston III, Director of The
Regulatory Assistance Project, Vermont, USA Dr. George McCarthy, Economic Development Unit,
Ford Foundation, USA Bernard Chavance,
Professor of Economics, University Paris 7, France Jan Otto Andersson,
Professor of Economics, Åbo Akademi
University, Finland Dr. Fernando Leiva, Latin
American and Caribbean Studies, Uni. of
New York, USA Dr. Karl Petrick, Senior
Lecturer in Economics, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK Ken Meek, South Africa Dr. Steve Keen, Sr. Lecturer, Economics &
Finance, Uni. of Western Sydney, Australia Prof. Ana Maria Bianchi, Universidade
de São Paulo, Brazil Fabrice Flipo, Université de Technologie de Compiègne,
France. Karen L Williams, USA Steven A. Waller, student at University of Missouri at Kansas
City, USA Michael Pierce McKeever, Sr.
Economics Instructor, Vista Community College, USA Prof. L. Randall Wray, Dept. of Economics,
University of Missouri at Kansas City, USA Julian Wells, Business School, The Open
University, UK Michael A. Bernstein, Prof. of History and
Economics, Uni. of Calif. at San Diego, USA Catherine Samary, Université Paris IX Dauphine, France Ben Young, University of Missouri at
Kansas City, USA Steve Shuklian,
Marshall University, USA Dr. Steve Fleetwood, Dept of Behaviour in
Organisations, Lancaster University, UK Roland Hain, Germany Dr. Daniel M. Berman, Canada Dr. Volodymyr Ryaboshlyk, Institute of Reforms, Ukraine Lonnie Golden, Associate Professor of
Economics, Penn State University, USA Andrew Larkin, Professor of Economics, St
Cloud State University, USA Vincent CH Chua, National University of
Singapore, Singapore Stephen DeMeulenaere, Civic
Education UNDP,
East Timor Per Simonsson, Phd. candidate, Dept. of Economic History, Stockholm
Uni., Sweden Antony W. Dnes, Professor and Associate Dean, University of
Hertfordshire, UK John Tyler, USA James G. Devine, Professor of Economics, Loyola Marymount University, USA Cosimo Perrott, Italy Jose Alberto Garibaldi, Instituto
Autonomo de Mexico, Mexico Sergio Parrinello, Italy Prof. Eleuterio Prado, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil Aymeric Pontvianne, ENS Ulm and Forum, University Paris X, France Aaron Pacitti, PhD economics student, American University,
USA Ron Morrison, New Economics Foundation., UK Roger C. Elletson,
Chancellor, Grand Teton University, USA Dr. Brian Eggleston, Chair of Dept. of Economics, Augustana College , USA Dr.
Reinhold Hedtke, Prof. of Economics, Uni. of Education
Weingarten, Germany George
M. Frankfurter, Professor Emeritus, Louisiana State University, USA Tony
Fu-Lai Yu,
Fellow, Dept. of Economics, Australian Defence Force Academy, Australia Jonathan
Love,
Management Consultant , California, USA Rick
Wicks,
Doctoral candidate, Dept. of Economics, Goteborg
University, Sweden James
Angresano, Professor of Economics, Albertson College of
Idaho, USA Dr.
Ardic Kaya, Faculty of Economics,
Istanbul University, Turkey Dr.
Bruno Tinel, France Tom
Fugate,
Finance Coordinator, USA Dr.
Ben Young,
University ot Missouri at Kansas City, USA Giovanni
Mazzetti, Professor of Economics, University of Calabria, Italy Kieran
Crilly, CIT, Cork, Ireland Dr
Aart Roukens de Lange, Dir. of South Africaln New Economics Foundation, South Africa Alan
Whykes, Australia Thomas
I. Ellis,
USA Ronald
R. Griffith,
University of California, Berkley, USA Karenia Cordova Saez. Universidad Central de Venezuela, Venezuela Paul
Wilkins,
Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Ted
Burczak, Associate Professor, Denison University, USA Wladimir Andreff, Professor of Economics, University Paris 1, Sorbonne, France Ayhan Tosuner, Development Bank of
Turkey, Turkey Brent
Ranalli, USA Prof.
Dušan Mramor, Faculty of Economics, Uni.of Ljubljana, Slovenia G.S. Chandy, Director of Interactive LogicWare Ltd. India John
Foxworthy,
USA Hwok-Aun Lee, Lecturer, Faculty of
Economics, Uni.of Malaya, Malaysia Carlos
Lopez-Hollis,
Middlebury College, Vermont, United States Ludwig
Van Den Hauwe, PhD student, The Netherlands Dawn Maalerud, Canada Tony Weekes, Visiting Lecturer, Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland G. C. Harcourt, Jesus College, Cambridge, UK Marie Duggan, Assistant
Professor of Economics, Keene State College, USA Mario Seccareccia, Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa, Canada João Estêvão, Department of Economics, Technical University of Lisbon,
Portugal Emile Dopheide, Ass. Professor, Social Sciences Division, ITC, Netherlands Ozgur Orhangazi, Graduate Student in Economics, Uni. of Massachusetts at
Amherst, USA Michel Vigezzi,
Professor of economics, University of Grenoble (UPMF), France Andrew Sayer, Prof.
of Social Theory and Political Economy, Lancaster Uni., UK Ariane Landier, Student, France Slim Thabet,
University of Amiens, Departement of Economics,
France Prof. Antonio Santamaura, Associaro di Economia Politica, Università di Palermo, Italy Thomas Roca, Université Bretagne Sud-Vannes,
France Joseph Ricciardi,
Associate Prof. Of Economics, Babson College, USA Seok-Hyeon Kim, Ph. D.
student, U. of Notre Dame, USA Prof. Dr. Francesc La-Roca, Dept. d'Economia Aplicada, Universitat de
Valencia, Spain Tony Lawson, Faculty of Economics,
Cambridge, UK Philip Street, Australia Hugo Radice, Sr.
Lecturer in International Political Economy, University of Leeds, UK Tae-Erk Kim, Ph-D student
Economics University of Leeds UK Chiara F. Leon,
Economics student, La Sapienza University, Rome, Italy William Kwesi Derban, The Nottingham Trent University UK, Ghana Dolores Sala,
Economics student, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil Todd Tucker, Post-graduate student,
Cambridge University, UK Ramon Garcia Fernandez, Asso. Professor of Economics,
Federal Univ. of Parana, Brazil Diego Guerrero, Prof. of Economics,
Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain Peter
Söderbaum, Professor of Economics, Mälardalens
högskola, Sweden Dr.
Eugene P. Coyle, California, USA Ekkehart Schlicht, Professor of Economics,
University of Munich, Germany Sheila
Dow,
Professor of Economics, University of Sterling, UK William C. Schaniel,
Professor of Economics, State University of West Georgia, USA William Waller, Professor of Economics, Hobart
and William Smith Colleges, USA Veniamin Sekora, National Academy of
Management, Ukraine T. D. Stanley, Professor of Economics and
Business, Hendrix College, USA Tom J. Kennedy, Ottawa, Canada Jesper Jespersen, Professor of Economics, Roskilde University, Denmark Robert
Robillard, Économiste, Ministère de l'Emploi du Québec, Canada Robert
L. Vogel,
USA Yolanda
Jubeto, Ass. Professor,
University of the Basque Country, Spain Amy
Miskowski, Alverno College,
Milwaukee, USA Dr.
Claudio Ansorena, Professor, National University, Costa Rica Wayne McMillan, NSW Treasury, Australia Professor Clive L. Spash, Chair of
Environmental & Rural Economics, Uni. of Aberdeen, UK Erin Filey, Economics
Student, University of Waterloo, Canada Dr. Sohrab Ismail-Beigi, Dept. of Physics,
University of California at Berkeley, USA Ilian Petkov Iliev, PhD student, Judge Institute of Management, Cambridge
University, UK Rashed Al Mahmud Titumir, Ass. Prof.
Economics, Bangladesh Open Uni.
Bangladesh Michael
Rosen,
Economics Chair, Milwaukee Area Technical College, USA Oscar
C. Zegada, Professor of Economics, Universidad Mayor de San
Simon, Bolivia Reynold F. Nesiba, Associate Professor of
Economics, Augustana College, USA Emilio Jose Chaves, Independent Researcher in Alternative Economics, Colombia Javier
B. Loscos, Prof. of Applied Economics, Uni. Complutense – Madrid, Spain Thanasis Maniatis, Centre of Planning and
Economic Research, Athens, Greece Mauricio Luperi,
Economics student, São Paulo University, Brazil Mario Gómez Olivares, Economic Department, Iseg/UTL
Lisbon, Portugal Geoffrey Lane Nicholls, UK Fabrice Guilbaud, University of Nanterre (Paris X), France Lisa B. Wilkins, Graduate
Student, Environmental Studies, Longwood College, USA Jyri Saar, Student, Estonian Business School, Estonia Philip Davis Loring, USA Dr James Paterson, University of Sydney,
Australia Richard Weatherill,
UK Dr. Mehmet Türkay,
Associate Professor, Marmara University, İstanbul, Turkey Lori Whalen, Orange County Department of
Education, California, US Chris Isaac, MSc student, London School of
Economics, UK Jyri Saar, Student, Estonian Business School, Estonia Dr. Elias Kikilias, Director
General, National Labour Institute, Greece Amanda McClain, Project Assistant, MFG Inc.,
USA M. Honer-Orton,
Rockville, Utah, USA Jeremy Houssay, Student
in Politics, Economics and Social Sciences, IEP,
Paris, France Sidney A. Saunders, Philosophy
Faculty, Wayne State College, USA Ann Ogle, Bryn Mawr
College, USA Carl Riskin,
Professor of Economics, Queens College, New York, USA Nancy Dobson, writer, Maryland, USA Yvonne Liu, Economics and
Anthropology, Columbia University, USA Nick Deschacht, Student
in Economics, Free University of Brussels (VUB),
Belgium Prof. Rania Antonopoulos, New
York University, USA Hernán Kisluk, Economics
student, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina Ina D'Heere,
Student, Free University Brussels (V.U.B.), Belgium Eric Porcu, independent
director, Belgium Mohammad Maljoo, PhD
student, Tehran University, Iran Erol Balkan,
Professor of Economics, Hamilton College, USA John Lynch, Ohio State University,
USA Vojmir Franicevic, Professor of Economics,
University of Zagreb, Hungary Tony Rafferty, Phd Student, University of Nottingham, UK Tony Rafferty, Phd Student, University of Nottingham, UK Mike Parker, University of Western
Ontario, Canada Carlos Encinas Ferrer, Prof. of Economics,
Universidad Iberoamericana, León,
Mexico Slim Thabet,
Department of Economics, University of Amiens, France Prof. Dr. Fritz Strack, Universität Würzburg, Germany Dr. C. Nicholas Gomersall, Martin
Luther University, USA Ulf Christiansen, Former
lecturer in Regional Economics, Uni.of
Copenhagen, Denmark Stephan Schoenefuss,
Institute of Economics, University of Hanover, Germany Luca Grauso,
Political Sciences student, Istituto Universitario Orientale, Napoli, Italy Prof. Dr. Heiner Duerr, Chair for Econ. and Social
Geography, Ruhr-Uni. Bochum, Germany Bruce C. Moritz, Economics
student, University of Nebraska at Omaha, USA Winfried Schwatlo, Chearman of FOCUS BAU AG, Germany Dirk Heuck,
Senior-Business-Consultant, Cologne, Germany Jorge Buzaglo, Associate Professor,
Dept. of Economics, Uni. of Göteborg, Sweden Dr. Thomas Mavrodontis, Associate Professor of Tourism Economy, TEI, Greece Joerg Hess, Federal
Agency for Financial Services Regulation and Supervision, Germany Thomas R. Michl, Professor of Economics, Colgate
University, USA Cathleen Whiting, Associate Professor of Economics, Willamette University, USA Kevin Furey, Assistant Professor of Economics,
Willamette University, USA Prof. Wolfram Elsner, Department of Economics, University of Bremen,
Germany Professor Frederic S. Lee, Dept. of Economics, Uni.
of Missouri-Kansas City, USA Nilufer Cagatay, Department of Economics,
University of Utah, USA Robert Scott Gassler, Professor of Economics, Vrije
Universiteit Brussel,
Belgium Luciano Veloso, Economic Analyst,
Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics, Brazil Dr. Bruce R. McFarling, Lecturer in Economics, University of Newcastle,
Australia Richard E. Planck, M.S.M.E. Director, The Simmel
Group, USA Dr. Nevenka Cuckovic, Institute for International
Relations, Croatia David F. Ruccio, Department
of Economics, University of Notre Dame, USA Dr. Bruce Pietrykowski, Asso. Professor of Economics, Uni. of Michigan-Dearborn,
USA Wan Yu-ze,
Postgraduate, Department of Sociology, National Taiwan University, Taiwan Dr. Ulrich Thielemann,
Institute for Business Ethics, University of St. Gallen, Switzerland Mike Sullivan, USA Prof. Dr. Bernd Senf, Berlin
School of Economics, Germany Jean Luc de Meulemeester, Free
University of Brussels, Belgium and Oxford University, UK Thomas Jankowski,
Lecturer in Political Economy, Michigan State University., USA William Eric Richdale,
Ecologist, Melbourne, Australia Wendy Olsen, University of
Manchester, UK Clive Beed,
formerly Senior Lecturer in Economics, University of Melbourne, Australia Cara Beed,
formerly Lecturer in Sociology, Australian Catholic University, Australia Dr. Rimas Norvaisa, Institute of Mathematics and
Informatics, Vilnius, Lithuania Ebrahim Hosseini-Nasab, Professor of Economics, Tarbiat Modares University,
Tehran, Iran Dr. W.R. Needham, Dept. of
Economics, University of Waterloo, Canada So Chung Pan, B.S.Sc
in Economics (CUHK), Hong Kong Joshua
J. Hermias, Economics major, Lehigh University, USA Robin Le, student,
University of Queensland, Australia Mohamed
Aslam, Lecturer in Dept. of Applied
Economics, Uni. of Malaya, Malaysia Mikhail Sinioutine, Dept. of Economic Sociology, St-Petersburg State Uni., Russia Pallop Angsupun, chief economist at Empirica Capital, USA Eleonora Cutrini, PhD student in
Economics, University of Ancona, Italy Dirk Plaetevoet, Student in philosophy, University of Leuven,
Belgium Professor Jia, Genliang, Department of
Economics, Nankai University, China Trevor Moyle, Institute of
Development Studies, Sussex, UK. Allen Cookson, Oxford, New Zealand Prof. Jia Genliang, Department of
Economics, Nankai University,China Todd
Myers, Instructor
in Department of Political Economy, Grossmont
College, USA Slavisa Tasic, Free Market Center, Serbia Francisco
Galera, Department of Economics, University of Navarra,
Spain Christopher
J. Niggle, Professor of Economics, University of Redlands, U.S.A. Prof. Jia Genliang, Dept. of
Economics, Nankai University, China Alan
Hutton,
Division of Economics & Enterprise, Glasgow Caledonian Uni., UK Chi-ang Lin, Asso. Prof. , Dept. of Public Finance, National Chengchi Uni. Taipei, Taiwan Dr. Jan Schnellenbach, Faculty
of Economics, Philipps-University Marburg,
Denmark Manfred Max-Neef,
Professor of Ecological Economics, Universidad Austral de Chile, Chile Keith Scott, student, Augsburg
College, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA Florian Hartmann
,student, University of Bielefeld,
Germany Raimondello Orsini, Assistant Professor of
Economics, Bologna University, Italy Eckhard Hein, Duesseldorf, Germany Derrick K Gondwe,
Gettysburg University, USA Duncan Reilly,
Adelaide, Australia Manfred Max-Neef, Professor
of Ecological Economics, Universidad Austral de Chile, Chile Prof. Allen J. Scott, Center for Globalization and Policy Research, UCLA, US. David G. Wells, author of
Power and Economics: the Failure
of Ideology. Yorick Blumenfeld, writer/series editor of
Prospects for Tomorrow, US & UK) Sandye
Gloria-Palermo, Professor of Economics, University of French West
Indies Patricia Reiter,
student, University of Vienna, Austria Vikrant Tyagi, PhD student in Finance at Cornell University,
USA Michael J. Radzicki,
Prof. of Economics, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA Ian Steuart, Wits
University, South Africa Dr Brian Orr, retired engineer and
civil servant, currently a political activist, UK Jorge Ibarra-Consejo,
Lecturer, Faculty of Economics, UNAM, México Sidqy LP. Suyitno, Indonesia Al-Azhar University, Indonesia Gkafaridou Iliada, Student, University of Thessalia, Greece John Laliotis, Grad. student, Technological
Educational Inst. of Athens, Greece Duncan Wigan, University of Sussex, UK Luis Brunstein, Professor Department of Economics, University of
Memphis, USA Robert Locke, USA Mehdi Shirkosh, Student in economics, University of Western Sydney,
Australia Kuo Heng-Chia, Graduate Inst of Building and Planning, National
Taiwan Uni., Taiwan Wan-wen Chu, Research Fellow , ISSP, Academia Sinica, Taipei,
Taiwan Ignacio José Miñambres García, Economics student, University of Granada, Spain Gokmen Tarik Acar, Graduate Student in Economics, Istanbul
University, Turkey 321 names
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