On History and Policy: Time in the Age of Neoliberalism

It is often said that history matters, but these words are often little more than a hollow statement. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the view that the economy is a mechanical toy that can be fixed using a few simple tools has continued to be held by economists and policy makers and echoed by the media. The paper addresses the origins of this unfortunate belief, inherent to neoliberalism, and what can be done to bring time back into public discourse.Es heißt, dass Geschichte wichtig sei, aber oft ist dies nicht mehr als eine Redensart. Ökonomen und Politiker halten mit Unterstützung der Medien auch nach der Großen Rezession an der Ansicht fest, dass die Wirtschaft ein mechanisches Spielzeug ist, das mit ein paar einfachen Werkzeugen repariert werden kann. In dem vorliegenden Papier betrachtet der Autor die Ursprünge dieses dem Neoliberalismus innewohnenden Irrglaubens und untersucht, wie geschichtlich-zeitliche Zusammenhänge zurück in den öffentlichen Diskurs gebracht werden können.1 A science of change 2 Natural law and the mechanical clock 3 Social engineering 4 Modern myths 5 Pseudohistories 6 History and the emperor’s new clothes Reference

Reframing Justice in the Age of Revolution

In his MPIfG lectures, Francesco Boldizzoni addresses a central issue of our time from a historical perspective. The evolution of welfare systems in the Western world has been the product of cultural variables and material forces. The former include deep-seated attitudes toward poverty and concepts of the state that can be traced back to the early modern period. The latter are intrinsic to capitalist development inasmuch as it rests on Marx’s and Weber’s mechanical foundations. The interaction between the cultural and the material is itself problematic. It is largely responsible for the sense of instability that dominates our societies and, at the same time, warns the social scientist against the temptations of crystal-ball prediction. While history provides no guidance to the future, it can help make sense of this dynamic complexity. The idea of rights and duties associated with citizenship is certainly a product of the Enlightenment but consensus among Enlightenment philosophers did not extend beyond the recognition of formal entitlements. The aspiration to substantive equality is something specific to continental political thought. On the other hand, it was the first industrial revolution, rather than any intellectual break from tradition, that introduced an element of discontinuity in British social policy

Can Welfare Survive? Capitalism, Socialism, and the Post-Industrial Order

In his MPIfG lectures, Francesco Boldizzoni addresses a central issue of our time from a historical perspective. The evolution of welfare systems in the Western world has been the product of cultural variables and material forces. The former include deep-seated attitudes toward poverty and concepts of the state that can be traced back to the early modern period. The latter are intrinsic to capitalist development inasmuch as it rests on Marx’s and Weber’s mechanical foundations. The interaction between the cultural and the material is itself problematic. It is largely responsible for the sense of instability that dominates our societies and, at the same time, warns the social scientist against the temptations of crystal-ball prediction. While history provides no guidance to the future, it can help make sense of this dynamic complexity. The third lecture engages with debates on the sustainability of welfare states. During the later stages of industrialization the welfare state came to be seen as a means to correct the imbalances of capitalism. The current predicament of this model concerns some well-known contradictions of capitalist development that have been brought to surface by the slowdown of growth. History shows that repression of social needs and values usually results in reactions. Only very seldom, however, have they taken the form of revolutions

On History and Policy: Time in the Age of Neoliberalism

It is often said that history matters, but these words are usually little more than a hollow statement. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the view that the economy is a mechanical toy that can be fixed using a few simple tools has continued to be held by economists and policy makers and echoed by the media. The lecture by Francesco Boldizzoni addresses the origins of this unfortunate belief, inherent to neoliberalism, and what can be done to bring time back into public discourse

The Early Modern Origins of Modern Welfare Systems

In his MPIfG lectures, Francesco Boldizzoni addresses a central issue of our time from a historical perspective. The evolution of welfare systems in the Western world has been the product of cultural variables and material forces. The former include deep-seated attitudes toward poverty and concepts of the state that can be traced back to the early modern period. The latter are intrinsic to capitalist development inasmuch as it rests on Marx’s and Weber’s mechanical foundations. The interaction between the cultural and the material is itself problematic. It is largely responsible for the sense of instability that dominates our societies and, at the same time, warns the social scientist against the temptations of crystal-ball prediction. While history provides no guidance to the future, it can help make sense of this dynamic complexity. The Reformation and the process of state-building that emerged from the disgregation of feudal power structures has cast a long shadow over the life of modern secularized societies. Decisions as to who should deliver welfare services and who should benefit from them in today’s market economies are embedded (often unconsciously) in centuries-old mental frameworks. The genesis of these great cultural divides forms the subject of the first lecture

On History and Policy: Time in the Age of Neoliberalism

It is often said that history matters, but these words are often little more than a hollow statement. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the view that the economy is a mechanical toy that can be fixed using a few simple tools has continued to be held by economists and policy makers and echoed by the media. The paper addresses the origins of this unfortunate belief, inherent to neoliberalism, and what can be done to bring time back into public discourse.Es heißt, dass Geschichte wichtig sei, aber oft ist dies nicht mehr als eine Redensart. Ökonomen und Politiker halten mit Unterstützung der Medien auch nach der Großen Rezession an der Ansicht fest, dass die Wirtschaft ein mechanisches Spielzeug ist, das mit ein paar einfachen Werkzeugen repariert werden kann. In dem vorliegenden Papier betrachtet der Autor die Ursprünge dieses dem Neoliberalismus innewohnenden Irrglaubens und untersucht, wie geschichtlich-zeitliche Zusammenhänge zurück in den öffentlichen Diskurs gebracht werden können.1 A science of change 2 Natural law and the mechanical clock 3 Social engineering 4 Modern myths 5 Pseudohistories 6 History and the emperor’s new clothes Reference

On History and Policy: Time in the Age of Neoliberalism

It is often said that history matters, but these words are usually little more than a hollow statement. In the aftermath of the Great Recession, the view that the economy is a mechanical toy that can be fixed using a few simple tools has continued to be held by economists and policy makers and echoed by the media. The essay addresses the origins of this unfortunate belief, inherent to neoliberalism, and what can be done to bring time back into public discourse

Politics and the Neutralization of History: A Reply

In his response to Arjo Klamer, Wolfgang Streeck and Adam Tooze, Francesco Boldizzoni continues his reflection on the public role of history, dwelling in particular on the uses and abuses of the past, history’s problematic relationship with the social sciences, and the concept of “historical agnosticism.” He concludes that the neutralization of history, and the construction of atemporal narratives, has gone hand in hand with the Atlanticization of politics

Mathematics and economics: use, misuse or abuse? From deductivism to Demaria, Brambilla, De Finetti

PAPER ACCEPTED AT THE 9TH ANNUAL CONGRESS OF THE EUROPEAN SOCIETY FOR THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT, UNIVERSITY OF STIRLING (UK), JUNE 9-12, 200

Competences and Human Resources Empowerment in a Market-Driven Company. The Unilever Case

The organization of modern economy is struggling with its structural complexity. The intention of this article is to focus on the role assumed by the ‘competencies method’ in reference to development of human resources and its management in Market-Driven organizations. The application of such objective will be discussed afterwards by analyzing ‘the competencies method’ in multinational companies. In the Unilever case, ‘the competencies method’ is supposed to delineate operative solutions concerning co-evolutionary relation between strategies and management development practices