Commensurability and beyond: from Mises and Neurath to the future of the socialist calculation debate

Mises' 'calculation argument' against socialism argues that monetary calculation is indispensable as a commensurable unit for evaluating factors of production. This is not due to his conception of rationality being purely 'algorithmic,' for it accommodates non-monetary, incommensurable values. Commensurability is needed, rather, as an aid in the face of economic complexity. The socialist Neurath's response to Mises is unsatisfactory in rejecting the need to explore possible non-market techniques for achieving a certain degree of commensurability. Yet Neurath's contribution is valuable in emphasizing the need for a balanced, comparative approach to the question of market versus non-market that puts the commensurability question in context. These central issues raised by adversaries in the early socialist calculation debate have continued relevance for the contemporary discussion

Hubble Space Telescope Transmission Spectroscopy of the Exoplanet HD 189733b: High-altitude atmospheric haze in the optical and near-UV with STIS

We present Hubble Space Telescope optical and near-ultraviolet transmission spectra of the transiting hot-Jupiter HD189733b, taken with the repaired Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) instrument. The resulting spectra cover the range 2900-5700 Ang and reach per-exposure signal-to-noise levels greater than 11,000 within a 500 Ang bandwidth. We used time series spectra obtained during two transit events to determine the wavelength dependance of the planetary radius and measure the exoplanet's atmospheric transmission spectrum for the first time over this wavelength range. Our measurements, in conjunction with existing HST spectra, now provide a broadband transmission spectrum covering the full optical regime. The STIS data also shows unambiguous evidence of a large occulted stellar spot during one of our transit events, which we use to place constraints on the characteristics of the K dwarf's stellar spots, estimating spot temperatures around Teff~4250 K. With contemporaneous ground-based photometric monitoring of the stellar variability, we also measure the correlation between the stellar activity level and transit-measured planet-to-star radius contrast, which is in good agreement with predictions. We find a planetary transmission spectrum in good agreement with that of Rayleigh scattering from a high-altitude atmospheric haze as previously found from HST ACS camera. The high-altitude haze is now found to cover the entire optical regime and is well characterised by Rayleigh scattering. These findings suggest that haze may be a globally dominant atmospheric feature of the planet which would result in a high optical albedo at shorter optical wavelengths.Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables, accepted to MNRAS, revised version has minor change

The halfway house: democracy, complexity, and the limits to markets in green political economy

The argument of the Austrian school of economists that markets are indispensable in the face of social and economic complexity is of defining importance for the modern day case for markets. The dominant paradigm in green political economy accepts this view, whilst proposing that markets be combined with a thick layer of democratic, non-market institutions to ensure environmental sustainability. Closer attention to the relationship between the Austrian and green arguments reveals important implications for both. The Austrian thesis raises significant challenges for the 'halfway house' combination of market and non-market that greens propose. Also, potential responses to the Austrians emerge from green thought. New light is shed upon the problem of complexity and the how it might be addressed by non-market political institutions

Globalisation, neo-liberalism and vocational learning: the case of English further education colleges

Further education (FE) has traditionally been a rather unspectacular activity. Lacking the visibility of schools or the prestige of universities, for the vast majority of its existence FE has had a relatively low profile on the margins of English education. Over recent years this situation has altered significantly and further education has undergone profound change. This paper argues that a combination of related factors – neo-liberalism, globalisation, and dominant discourses of the knowledge economy – has acted in synergy to transform FE into a highly performative and marketised sector. Against this backdrop, further education has been assigned a particular role based upon certain narrow and instrumental understandings of skill, employment and economic competitiveness. The paper argues that, although it has always been predominantly working class in nature, FE is now, more than ever, positioned firmly at the lower end of the institutional hierarchy in the highly class-stratified terrain of English education

Social justice in a market order: graduate employment and social mobility in the UK

Framed within a Gramscian analytical perspective, this article contrasts the ‘transparent neoliberalism’ of one of its leading organic intellectuals, Friederich Hayek, with one of the key discourses of ‘euphemized neoliberalism’ in the UK: higher education’s promise of social justice through social mobility. The article discusses the disjunctions between ideology and discourse but also between discourse and the reality of class-based unequal graduate employment outcomes in the UK. I then consider some recent policy proposals to redress such inequalities and scrutinize these in the light of Hayek’s views on social justice within a market economy. In the final section, I return to Gramsci to re-evaluate the continuing relevance of the concept of organic intellectuals in the light of debates around the shifting position of intellectuals within contemporary society

Bioderived dyes-mediated vat photopolymerization 3D printing of chitosan hydrogels for tissue engineering

The importance of 3D printable hydrogels is constantly increasing in the field of tissue engineering, due to their characteristic structure and similarity with the human body extracellular matrix (ECM). Herein, Quinizarin-based bioderived photoactive dyes were employed for the 3D printing of methacrylated chitosan by vat pho-topolymerization (VPP). Dyes are commonly needed in VPP to obtain good resolution avoiding the light scattering in the vat, here the bioderived molecules had further utility granting the printability with good resolution while acting both as photosensitizers and fillers/crosslinkers. Defined and detailed architectures in the range of millimetres were obtained with low printing times showing for the first time the possibility to obtain all-chitosan 3D structures with suspended features by Digital Light Processing (DLP), which is a form of vat photopolymerization; such a result is not achievable without the quinizarin-derived dyes. The same structures were achieved with an opti-mized concentration of poly(ethylene glycol) diacrylate, as a comparison, enhancing the resolution. For all the formulations, the important feature to obtain the gel printability (considering reactiveness, viscosity, shear thinning behaviour, mechanical properties and stability) were evaluated. The hydrogels mechanical character-ization and swelling properties were also tested and reported. Lastly, the possible application in tissue engi-neering was also evaluated through cell proliferation analysis over samples, including metabolic activity and DNA contempt assays. The use of such bioderived photoactive molecules that simultaneously act as photosensitizer enhancing the ink reactivity, as dye improving the definition of the final structures and as filler/crosslinker increasing the me-chanical stability, could represent a valuable route for the DLP printing of soft hydrogels

European economic constitution and the transformation of democracy : on class and the state of law

In the context of contemporary analyses of the Europe Union as a post-democratic form of economic governance, this article explores the (ordo)liberal character of monetary union as a regime of imposed liberty. The argument holds that rather than forcing the member states into retreat, the economic constitution of Europe strengthens their liberal foundation, securing their utility as the organised force of a mode of social reproduction founded on free labour. It develops the character of the liberal state as the political form of a free market economy with reference to Adam Smith’s classical political economy and the German ordoliberal tradition, which calls for a rule-based system of federated forms of economic governance to secure a free labour economy in conditions of mass democratic aspirations for a freedom from want. It explores the rationale of the ordoliberal distinction between the liberal character and the democratic character of the state and, in this context, assesses the meaning of liberal democracy in a post-democratic Eurozone

Modelling the US Federal Spending Process: Overview and Implications

The object of study is the US Federal budget process - an institutional process of increasing prominence in US and world affairs - which is unique in generating quantitative data for scholarly research. The authors first outline their rigorous, but simple, econometric models of how budget decisions are made, coordinated, and implemented and then trace the implications of their high-inertia view of the process for the US economic cycle. They propound a presidential and Congressional ambition model of current and postwar cyclical economic difficulties, including stagflation, in terms of a macroeconomic model of the US economy in which federal governmental expenditure is endogenous. The chapter concludes with speculation on the disastrous consequences for society of the growth of a sluggishly adaptable bureaucratic process operating in a rapidly changing economic and social environment