Ecnomic Thought

This is the main book for my work in political economy. The first half states the  arguments in terms for the general intelligent reader, and the second half focuses on precisely where conventional economics gets it wrong (with only minimal math).

This research is intended to reflect on the appreciation of Latin American economic thinking on development, its importance to raise new alternatives for human development for our peoples and strengthening economist training at the University of Zulia. In this perspective, it seeks through the Experimental Center for Latin American Studies "Dr. Gastón Parra Luzardo", promote a research program within the framework of its research line “Latin American and Caribbean Thought”. The methodology used was the review and interpretation
of literature on the subject under study. It is concluded that a good starting point in building one's own thought, is the rereading of Latin American thinkers, to find in them what is original, universal and guides them are for building alternative development models.

Over the last few decades, and especially following the 2008 crisis and the current period of turbulence and uncertainty, “the real economy” has been transformed into one of the most critical concepts shaping public debates on the present and future of our collective existence. In this special section of HAU, we propose an ethnographic theory of the “real economy” by questioning how assemblages of vernacular and scientific realizations and enactments of the real economy are linked to ideas of truth and moral values; how these multiple and shifting realities become present, and entangle with historically and socially situated lives; and how the formal realizations of the real in the governance of economies engage with the experiential life of ordinary people. In this cooperative exploration of a concept that holds varied and shifting places across different disciplines, and is applied under varying conditions in the world, what comes to the fore is the huge potential of the ethnographic method. The special section, the outcome of a Wenner-Gren Foundation workshop held in Rio de Janeiro in June 2016, will be published in two parts.
Download the open access article here: http://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/pdfplus/10.14318/hau7.3.015

The Verein für Sozialpolitik is the preeminent organization of German-speaking economists in the world. Aside from a brief interruption between during the Nazi period, it has been central in the development of the economic and social sciences in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland but also globally, since 1872. However, historical scholarship on the Verein has been narrowly focused on different thematic or temporal episodes that emphasize conceptual, generational, or political breaks in Germany's turbulent history. This essay gives a brief historical overview of the Verein and the historical literature. It calls for a re-evaluation that highlights the persistence of the organization as it navigated between national and transnational developments.

This major work offers a historical description and systematic analysis of the root causes of this global economic crisis, which the authors understand as a crisis of western civilization. Secondly, they assume (and prove) that the religions of the Axial Age were shaped by the suffering of people, deepened by the emergence of a new economy – based on money, private property and interest. They assume that the proven convergence of the Axial Age religions in responding to the social, psychological (and already ecological) consequences of the new economy can inform, motivate and empower faith communities and their members to join hands with social movements towards a new personal and collective culture of life. In part I they show the linkage between the contexts of antiquity and modernity concerning the role of money, private property and the related structures and mentalities of greed, producing suffering, and psychological, social and ecological destruction. They show how the religions of the Axial Age responded to this context in similar ways but with interesting specific emphases. In relation to today's situation we also raise the question of psychological hindrances to change in the different social classes, affected by neoliberalism, and how to overcome them. Before drawing the conclusions for present-day alliance-building between faith communities and social movements for alternatives to neoliberal globalization in Part III they offer a fundamental critique of the ambivalence of modernity in Part II.

"Ulrich Duchrow and Franz Hinkelammert's Transcending Greedy Money is a timely, pertinent and brilliant analysis and critique of modernity and western civilization. The current economic crisis and the consistent and continuing impoverization of people requires a courageous and alternative strategy to combat global greed and neoliberalism which produces suffering, loss, and exclusion. Duchrow and Hinkelammert chart a way forward by casting a critical eye on the modern economic system based on money, private property, and interest, and persuasively argue that religion can be a proactive impetus and liberatory mechanism for social movements and faith communities to forge a new future outside the shadow of neoliberal economics. This volume is indispensable reading for anyone concerned about socio-economic equality in a world dominated by profit and greed." - Farid Esack, Professor and Head, Department of Religion Studies, University of Johannesburg, South Africa

"Transcending Greedy Money: Interreligious Solidarity for Just Relations is a brilliant challenge to the materialism and selfishness that have accompanied the triumph of capitalist values in many contemporary religious traditions. Duchrow and Hinkelammert confront the misuse of the Bible to condone acts of injustice and destructive violence, the spread of the property-money-interest economy, coupled with imperial political structures, leading to increased material and psycho-spiritual suffering in advanced capitalist societies, and show how these very conditions are leading to new and potentially revolutionary developments that may bring us closer to the world both religious and secular people yearn for and spiritual progressives fight for! Challenging the spiritual void in leftist thinking, this book is indispensable for any religious or spiritual person who wants to see the world healed and transformed." - Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun Magazine www.tikkun.org, chair of The Network of Spiritual Progressives, and author of 11 books, most recently Embracing Israel/Palestine

"With diverse Biblical, Buddhist, and Islamic perspectives, Duchrow and Hinkelammert critique modernity (without falling into postmodernism) to build a radical new paradigm of collective human life on the planet." - François Houtart, professor emeritus, Catholic University of Louvain UCL, founder and advisor, CETRI ( Centre Tricontinental, a Belgian non-governmental organization), co-founder, World Social Forum, Fundación Pueblo Indio del Ecuador