I recently published a review of The Global Political Economy of Raúl Prebisch (ed. by Matias Margulis, 2017) in the Review of Radical Political Economics. Download the review here.
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Short videos on development
The Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre (IGDC) recently filmed a snippet about one of my current research projects (with my colleague Collin Constantine). Check it out below.
Earlier this month, I published a letter in the Financial Times with Carolina Alves, Besiana Balla and Devika Dutt (July 17th, 2018). The letter was a reaction the lack of diversity in Martin Wolf’s summer reading list in the FT. His reading list consisted of only authors based in either the UK or the US, 12 out of 13 of the authors were men, and most of them were writing within the so-called mainstream of the profession. We were therefore compelled to put together our own list in order to show that heterodox, female and/or non-Western scholars also do publish high quality work – although it tends to go unnoticed due to the biases in our field. So, we put together this Alternative Economics Summer Reading List (published on Developing Economics).
It was Martin’s response (see here for the full exchange) to my comment under his list that finally inspired us to write a letter to the FT. In our letter, we urge Martin to be explicit about his biases when publishing such reading lists, as many FT readers might be misled into thinking that his lists represent the breadth of the field.
The letter went on to become the most read FT Letter of the week.
In June 2018, the Interdisciplinary Global Development Centre was launched (my new employer). During the launch, I held a presentation of my project “Heterodox Development Economics” and gave some remarks. See the promo video from the event below.
You can read more about the launch here and about the Heterodox Development Economics project here.
Carolina Alves (University of Cambridge) and I wrote some thoughts on the way Marx has been celebrated this year, why he appears to be so polarizing, and the effects on the marginalization of Marx in Economics. Check it out.
Paulo dos Santos and I recently published a piece in Policy in Focus 14 (2): 55-57. This is a publication by The International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth. You can also read the piece on Developing Economics.
My research and blog was profiled on The New School Research Matters platform.
An e-book I co-edited on dependency theory was recently published on the Institute for New Economic Thinking’s (INET) website. The e-book is the first volume of the e-book series Dialogues on Development and it includes 13 interviews with prominent scholars who have differing views on dependency theory.
Read about the e-book on INET’s website.
Download individual chapters (interviewees in brackets):
- Preface by Professor Jimi Adesina, College of Graduate Studies, University of South Africa
- Introduction: Why Should We Discuss Dependency Theory Today? By Ushehwedu Kufakurinani, Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven, Frutuoso Santanta, and Maria Dyveke Styve
- Chapter 1: A Dependency Pioneer (Samir Amin)
- Chapter 2: Dependency Theory and Its Enduring Relevance (Adebayo O. Olukoshi)
- Chapter 3: The Relevance of Dependent Development Then and Now (Peter Evans)
- Chapter 4: Whither Dependency Theory (Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni)
- Chapter 5: The Caribbean Plantation Economy and Dependency Theory (Rex McKenzie)
- Chapter 6 – A Theoretical Revolution in Time and Space (Ramón Grosfoguel)
- Chapter 7: The Informal Empire of London (Andy Higginbottom)
- Chapter 8: The Political Economy of Africa and Dependency Theory (Patrick Bond)
- Chapter 9: Dependency Theory Today (Miguel Angel Centeno)
- Chapter 10: The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same (Ian Taylor)
- Chapter 11: Dependency Theory Is Alive in Different Guises (Matías Vernengo)
- Chapter 12: Dependency Theory and Chinese Special Economic Zones in Africa (Honita Cowaloosur)
- Chapter 13: Varieties of Dependence in Europe (László Bruszt)
Paulo dos Santos and I recently published Better than Cash, but Beware the Costs: Electronic Payments Systems and Financial Inclusion in Developing Economies in Development and Change. The article dissects and critically evaluates the assumptions behind the policies promoted by the Better Than Cash Alliance.
Here is the abstract:
This article considers current proposals for using electronic payments systems to promote financial inclusion — that is, to widen the availability of financial and monetary services in developing countries. While such systems can generate significant savings in the operation of monetary systems, payment services markets are typically uncompetitive and require regulatory and broader state interventions to ensure those savings are widely distributed. The use of those systems to broaden the reach of for-profit lenders raises a number of concerns, as a growing literature has documented how microcredit initiatives in developing countries have resulted primarily in expansions in consumption credit to households, often under predatory terms. The authors advance two original arguments in this connection. First, the perverse results of many microcredit initiatives reflect the underdevelopment of the areas concerned: without broader development strategies, potentially transformative productive projects are rare and unprofitable to finance. In contrast, widespread unmet consumption needs ensure consumption credit offers lenders a profitable alternative business orientation. Second, and in light of this, electronic payments platforms can contribute to economic development by enabling the establishment of well-regulated or public systems of electronic ‘narrow banks’ restricted from lending, but capable of widening access to affordable payments, savings and insurance services.
Ingrid's website 