Events in February–July 2021
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What’s at Stake in the Minimum Wage Debate: A Political Economy Perspective
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What’s at Stake in the Minimum Wage Debate: A Political Economy Perspective
Panelists:
- Catherine Fisk (Berkeley Law)
- Tsedeye Gebreselassie (National Employment Law Project)
- Ken Jacobs (Berkeley Labor Center)
- Michael Reich (Economics, IRLE).
Moderator: Diana Reddy (doctoral student in the Jurisprudence and Social Policy Program at Berkeley)
Buoyed by social movements and new economic research, the Biden administration seeks to more than double the current federal minimum wage. In response, a representative of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce proclaimed: “$15 is… a figure based in politics and not economics.” This interdisciplinary panel brings together scholars and policy experts to contextualize this important debate. What are the politics of minimum wage policy? How do economists evaluate minimum wage effects; do they disagree, and if so, why? How does a minimum wage compare with other policy proposals to reduce economic inequality and improve the lives of workers? Throughout, the panelists will reflect on how the minimum wage debate connects to broader claims about the relationship between politics, markets, and law.
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Rethinking Political Economy: How to Teach It Right
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Rethinking Political Economy: How to Teach It Right
RSVP HERE (Zoom Link will be sent to email address you provide)
Panelists:
- J. Bradford DeLong (Economics)
- Marion Fourcade (Sociology)
- Gillian Hart (Geography)
- Alan Karras (ISSP & Political Economy)
Moderator: Richard Ashcroft (N2PE Project Coordinator and a Lecturer in Political Economy at Berkeley)
The field of Political Economy spans several different disciplines and departments in the academy, which means its teaching also varies. The panel will address the different approaches to teaching political economy at both the undergraduate and graduate level, and how this connects to wider contemporary issues. The panel will address questions such as: How does their discipline approach the study of political economy, and is that reflected in the way it is taught? What does their discipline do well, and what does it do less well? Why? What should a political economy curriculum look like? What are the key aspects and aims of the curriculum in terms of content, method, skills, and knowledge? What is the relationship between the theory of political economy and its real world applications, including institutional reform, the world of business, and claims for social justice? The panelists will also reflect on how the pedagogy of political economy might help us rethink political economy as a field of research, and thus contribute to the development of an alternative intellectual paradigm to neoliberalism.
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Big Tech: What is the Nature of the Challenge, and What Should We Do?
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Big Tech: What is the Nature of the Challenge, and What Should We Do?
RSVP HERE (Zoom Link will be sent to email address you provide)
Panelists:
- Martin Kenney (Community and Regional Development, UC Davis)
- Lina Khan (Columbia Law)
- Dan Rubinfeld (NYU Law & UC Berkeley Law and Economics Emeritus)
- John Zysman (Political Science, UC Berkeley)
Moderator: Konrad Posch (N2PE Graduate Coordinator and PhD Candidate in Political Science at UC Berkeley)
This panel brings together leading experts on the digital platform economy and related antitrust issues to discuss contending perspectives on the digital platform economy and weigh in on current debates in the US and Europe about how to regulate the dominant big tech firms.
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The Chinese Case as a Puzzle for Political Economy
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The Chinese Case as a Puzzle for Political Economy
RSVP HERE (Zoom Link will be sent to email address you provide)
Panelists:
- You-tien Hsing (Geography)
- Gerard Roland (Economics)
- Yuen Yuen Ang (Political Science, Michigan)
Moderator: Jesse Rodenbiker (post-doctoral fellow in Sustainability at Cornell)
Join the panelists for a discussion of how their respective disciplines approach the study of the Chinese political economy. What are the strengths and weaknesses of the prevalent paradigms in each discipline? What can scholars in these disciplines learn from each other? And how does the Chinese case press us to rethink our models of political economy?