De regreso a Cajamarca. Una travesía de observación en torno a la vocación docente. (Re) cuento del viaje

Después de múltiples desaires no mequedaba de otra que insistir. Era lunes; empezabaotra semana y el viaje a Cajamarca estaba ensuspenso. Entonces fui a un SAI, ingresé aFacebook y le dejé un mensaje a Viviana, aquéllaprofesora del Liceo Principito; ¿la recuerdan?, lamujer aguerrida y trabajadora de 27 años, de ojosgrandes y oscuros, de cabello negro y liso, de vozsuave y envolvente, de manos delicadas comopara –quizás– forjar con ellas el porvenir de susestudiantes. No puede ser que la hayan olvidadotan rápido, pero si así fue, no se preocupen porqueOscar y yo estamos aquí para hacer memoria,para seguir trayendo a colación las experienciaspedagógicas de Viviana, procurando imbricarlascon nuestras propias experiencias y con las dequienes justo ahora nos leen; incluso con las deesos otros que por diversos motivos se hallanausentes del lado opuesto de la pantalla

The challenge of policy coordination for sustainable sociotechnical transitions: the case of the zero-carbon homes agenda in England

Emerging in recent research on sociotechnical transitions towards a low-carbon economy is the question of the extent to which such transitions require centralised, intentional coordination by government. Drawing from Hayek's conceptualisation of coordination, I evaluate the effectiveness of policy for low-carbon and zero-carbon homes in England. A detailed analysis is presented of how policy makers address complex choices and trade-offs as well as significant uncertainty. Particular attention is given to those policy decisions which are widely agreed by stakeholders to cause distortive effects. The focus here on the impacts of policy definition and delivery in terms of multiple evaluative criteria can complement and enrich the more process-orientated cross-sector and multilevel analyses that predominate in existing research on policy coordination. Furthermore, the coordination problems identified yield further insights into the actual and potential effectiveness of policy processes in shaping complex sociotechnical transitions

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

Framing the neoliberal canon: resisting the market myth via literary enquiry

here is widespread recognition that neoliberal rhetoric about ‘free markets’ stands in considerable tension with ‘really existing’ neoliberalizing processes. However, the oft-utilized analytical distinction between ‘pure’ economic and political theory and ‘messy’ empirical developments takes for granted that neoliberalism, at its core, valorizes free markets. In contrast, the paper explores whether neoliberal intellectuals ever made such an argument. Using Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman as exemplars, our reading of canonical neoliberal texts focuses on author framing gestures, particular understandings of the term ‘science’, techniques of characterization, and constructions of epistemological legitimacy. This enables us to avoid the trap of assuming that these texts are about free markets and instead enquires into their constitution as literary artefacts. As such, we argue that the remaking of states and households rather than the promotion of free markets is at the core of neoliberalism. Our analysis has significant implications. For example, it means that authoritarian neoliberalism is not a departure from but actually more in line with the ‘pure’ neoliberal canon than in the past. Therefore, neoliberalism ought to be critiqued not for its rhetorical promotion of free markets but instead for seeking to reorganize societies in coercive, non-democratic and unequal ways. This also enables us to acknowledge that households are central to resistance to neoliberalism as well as to the neoliberal worldview itself

Oribatid mite (Acari: Oribatida) contribution to decomposition dynamic of leaf litter in primary forest, second growth, and polyculture in the Central Amazon.

We studied the contribution of oribatid mites in the dynamics of litter decomposition in an experiment using litterbags of three different mesh sizes (20 microns, 250 microns, and 1 cm). The experiment was carried out at a primary forest (FLO), a secondary forest (SEC), and at two polyculture systems (POA and POC). We compared the weight loss of the leaves of Vismia guianensis and the changes of the oribatid mite species community. We processed the samples after 26, 58, 111, 174, 278, and 350 days from the beginning of the experiment by using the Berlese-Tullgren to extract the animals. We hypothesized that: 1. the abundance and diversity of oribatid mites would exert an influence in the decomposition process; 2. there would be a successional changing of the species during decomposition; and 3. there would be differences in the colonization of species in relation to the mesh size of the litterbags. A total of 95 species of oribatid mites was found. The biomass data was the first registered for the Amazon region. The great dominance of oribatid mites did not exert an influence in the decomposition process. There was not a successional changing of the species during the course of the decomposition process, unlike those shown by results obtained in the temperate forest, because we found neither early colonizers nor species that prefer advanced decomposition stages. The oribatid mite community, which developed in the litterbags under tropical conditions, was atypical of the normal stages of leaf litter breakdown and decomposition. There were differences in the colonization of species in relation to the mesh size of the litterbags. These differences were very closely related to the specific habits and habitat of the dominant species

The community of advantage

This paper gives an overview of my recently published book, The Community of Advantage: A Behavioural Economist’s Defence of the Market. I explain that my stance as author is that of a behavioural economist and an economic liberal. The book is an attempt to counter the widespread belief that the findings of behavioural economics justify regulatory interventions in the economy that would previously have been thought unacceptably paternalistic. I argue that competitive markets are desirable, not as an efficient means for satisfying the given preferences of assumedly rational individuals, but as an institutional structure that provides opportunities for whatever voluntary transactions people might want to make

Reflections on Modern Macroeconomics: Can We Travel Along a Safer Road?

In this paper we sketch some reflections on the pitfalls and inconsistencies of the research program - currently dominant among the profession - aimed at providing microfoundations to macroeconomics along a Walrasian perspective. We argue that such a methodological approach constitutes an unsatisfactory answer to a well-posed research question, and that alternative promising routes have been long mapped out but only recently explored. In particular, we discuss a recent agent-based, truly non-Walrasian macroeconomic model, and we use it to envisage new challenges for future research.Comment: Latex2e v1.6; 17 pages with 4 figures; for inclusion in the APFA5 Proceeding

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