An intense programme of events within the framework of the Young Scholars Initiative INET The Institute for New Economy Thinking, in cooperation with the Festival of Economics, will be held in Trento, between 30 May and 2 June.
The Young Scholars Initiative of INET supports the birth of a new generation of New Economic Thinkers. The debate will deal with the integration of international students in the UniTrento academic community, focusing in particular on economic and social aspects, guided by internationally renowned speakers.
A good opportunity to look forwards, towards our future: to the new prospects and ideas.
All meeting will be held in English.
Programme:
Friday, May 30
Department of Humanities
Austerity: Economic, Political, and Social Perspectives
This is a livestream from the YSI affiliated event in the Univeristy of Limerick
| 10.00 - 10.30 | Opening by Dean of Kemmy Business School, Dr. Philip O'Regan |
| 10.30 - 12.00 Room 006 |
Panel 1: Beyond the theory: Austerity as an Economic and Political Reality |
| 12.00 - 12.30 | Break in Program (Lunch may exeed this timeframe) |
| 12.30 - 14.00 Room 006 |
Panel 2: The Wider Consequences of Austerity on Society Stephen Kinsella, UL, Chair Niamh Hourigan, UCC Carmel Hannon, UL Seamus Coffey, UCC Julien Mercille, UCD |
| 14.15 - 15.30 Room 006 |
Emotions, Motivation and Economic Decision Making YSI Lecture with Dennis Snower |
| 16.00 - 18.30 Room 006 |
The Development of China YSI Workshop by Wang Hui 1. How to Interpret "China" and It's Modernity 2. The Decline of Representation 3. The Dialectic of Autonomy and Opening |
| 21.00 - 22.00 Rovereto, University of Trento, Department of Psychology and Cognitive Science |
Wang Hui - INET Lecture: The Decline of Representation |
Saturday, May 31
Mini Schools:
- Economic History (Marcello deCecco, Thomas Ferguson), Room 4
- NAIRU Macroeconomics and the Eurozone Crisis (Sarvaas Storm), Room 6
| 9.00 - 10.30 Room 004 Room 006 |
Mini School Session I: The Gold Standard Era and the Coming of WWI Session I: The NAIRU model |
| 11.00 - 12.00 University of Trento, Department of Sociology and Social Research - Kessler Room |
INET Lecture - Robert McChesney "Stagnation and Austerity Eat our Future: The Case for Post-Capitalist Democrary" |
| 12.00 - 13.00 | Lunch |
| 13.00 - 14.30 Room 004 Room 006 |
Mini School Session II: Pathologies of Recovery and Depression Session II: A Critique of NAIRU |
| 15.00 - 16.00 Palazzo Geremia |
Paul de Grauwe "Who Rules the Euro?" |
| 16.30 - 18.00 Room 006 |
YSI Discussion - The Future of Europe: Beyond the Euro Crisis, Beyond the EU? With Paul de Grauwe, Dennis Snower, Rob Johnson, Peter Jungen, Robert Saracco |
Sunday, June 1
| 9.00 - 10.30 Room 006 |
New Economic Thinking in Italy (TBD) |
| 11.00 - 12.30 Room 004 Room 006 |
Mini Schools Session III: The Collapse of the Bretton Woods "System" (I) Session III: Euro Zone Crisis and Imbalances (I) |
| 12.30 - 14.00 | Lunch |
| 14.00 - 16.00 Room 004 Room 006 |
Mini Schools (session 4) Session IV: The Collapse of the Bretton Woods "System" (II) Session IV: Euro Zone Crisis and Imbalances (II) |
| 17.30 - 18.30 Palazzo Geremia |
INET Lecture - Tom Ferguson "First World" Economies and Political Parties today: Theories and Evidence |
Monday, June 2
| 9.30 - 12.00
Room 006 |
Political Economy of Communication Workshop |
| 12.00 - 14.00 | Lunch |
Mini School Information
Economic History, Politics, and Institutions in Booms and Depressions
Course Description
Marcello de Cecco and Thomas Ferguson
It is now a commonplace to argue that economics needs to pay more attention to institutions, economic history, and politics. Both professors teaching this course agree on that, but they reached their views long before these injunctions became fashionable.
This course attempts to show how a clearer focus on institutions alters one's perceptions of some of the major events of the last century and a half. We consider successively the classical gold standard and the balance of power in the years before World War I, the inter-war disasters in Europe and the relative success of the New Deal, and the breakdown of the Bretton Woods "system" that ushered in the era of financially centered capitalism that we now live in. The course devotes considerable time to how economics and party politics interact, both theoretically and in history.
NAIRU Macroeconomics and the Eurozone Crisis
Course Description
Servaas Storm, Delft University of Technology
Lectures given on May 31-June 1, 2014, at the YSI @ Trento Festival of Economics.
This course deals with the central macroeconomic model, used by central banks such as the ECB to stabilize inflation by means of interest rate policy: the NAIRU model. The first lecture outlines the canonical model and reviews the empirical literature. From NAIRU theory follow very strong recommendations concerning monetary policy (the Monetary Policy Rule), fiscal policy (something link the Stability and Growth Pact in Europe), and labor market policy (structural reforms to deregulate labor markets).
The second lecture provides a critique, basically arguing why none of the three policy implications need to hold true. Specifically, it is argued that inflation-targeting by the central bank is not without important side-effects (contrary to the central claim of standard NAIRU economics) but does affect the real economy. We explain how and why this happens - and what it means for macroeconomic policy.
The third and fourth lectures deal with the Eurozone crisis and argue that NAIRU-policies have helped to create the intra-Eurozone imbalances in major ways. The EU crisis responses continue to be guided by NAIRU economics, and are therefore likely to deepen the tendency toward divergence within the Euro Area.