real world economics

Flexible employment is in the core of labour market policies across Europe. The Netherlands has been a pioneer in flexible employment since the beginning of the 1990's. The Dutch government wants to go one step further by deregulating lay offs.

Het maandelijkse programma van Real World Economics bij CREA gaat dinsdag 16 april over het verzet tegen het bezuinigingsbeleid in Europa. De crisis wordt aangegrepen voor vergaande hervormingen, vooral in de landen die een beroep op de trojka hebben gedaan om ze overeind te houden als Griekenland, Portugal en Ierland. Maar ook andere Europese landen zien ongekende bezuinigingen over zich heen komen. Er wordt fel tegen geprotesteerd, en tal van netwerken hebben manifesten uitgevaardigd tegen het bezuinigingsbeleid. Wat willen de tegenstanders? (English at bottom)

Why is the Netherlands a tax haven? What kind of consequences does this have for our country, and others? Who gains, and who loses? Real World Economics presents an evening, together with the Center for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), where we will discuss the answers to these questions. (Tuesday March 26 2013, 20:00 CREA)

At the event about the "Financialized University" on February 7 at Crea, researchers/activists explained why there are more problems ahead for students and staff, and a studentmovement is truly necessary.

Real World Economics/CREA Donderdag 7 februari 20-22 uur (English version at bottom)

Who runs the European Union? The documentary The Brussels Business gives a clear answer to this question: Big corporations, who laid the foundation for the currently existing EU and the neoliberal content it got.

Verslag (verder in het Engels) van programma over de Green Economy op 3 december 2012 in CREA, Amsterdam. The Green Economy (and the Financialisation of Nature) was the subject of the Real World Economics program at CREA on December 3. Speakers were Edgardo Lander and Bram Buscher

On November 12th our program at CREA dealt with The Commons. Or as it should be more correctly called: Common Pool Resources. Here are the links to the slides that were shown.

Informatieavond van Real World Economics en TNI over het door regering en bedrijfsleven omarmde VN-concept van de Groene Economie. Dat komt vooral neer op het privatiseren van economie. (English version at bottom)

    Is commodification of nature the best path to a greener economy? TNI/RWE public talk  3 december 2012 20:00-22:00 CREA Amsterdam Nieuwe Achtergracht 170

(English translation at bottom) Het hedendaagse neoliberale kapitalisme heeft bijna alle aspecten van het sociale leven 'gecommercialiseerd' (er een prijs op geplakt) en goederen die eerder publiek waren geprivatiseerd. Tegelijkertijd wordt de roep om een alternatieve manier van het organiseren van economische goederen en productie ook weer steeds luider, met name door de aanhoudende economische crisis. Een van die alternatieve manieren behelst het terugwinnen en versterken van 'the commons'.

On October 22 the Real World Economics program in CREA was about the current Euro-crisis, and the perspective of Greece. Below are links to the slides presented at that event, and some pictures and a quick sketch. Een verslag van het Real World Economics-programma van 22 oktober, over 'Wel of geen Euro'? (In het Engels)

Maandag 22 oktober 20-22.00. Real World Economics and Transnational Institute organiseren een informatieve avond en debat over de Euro-crisis. Met Marica Frangakis (Nicos Poulantzas Institute), Geert Reuten (UvA, Senator van de SP) and Dimitris Pavlopoulos (VU Amsterdam). Gespreksleiding Rodrigo Fernandez (RWE). (English translation at bottom)

Real World Economics and Transnational Institute debate: About 15 years ago, in February 1997, a manifest by 70 Dutch economists warned about the untenable structural flaws in the neoliberal design of the Economic and Monetary Union (see http://www.sdnl.nl/emu-1.htm). The manifest particularly criticized the arbitrary nature of the chosen fiscal rules, requiring repeated rounds of austerity measures across Europe, which would result in a gradual dismantling of welfare states, wage stagnation, a sharp rise in unemployment and growing inequality. Politicians, journalists and academics alike ignored these warnings - enthralled by the belief that the large disparities between member economies would somehow miraculously dissolve once the common currency area had been established. Questions about the profoundly undemocratic nature of the European Central Bank and its mandate to keep inflation low at all costs were seldom raised.

Monday 18 june, 20:00 CREA Amsterdam Through the ages, derivatives trading seemed relatively straightforward: a contract guaranteed a future price for the farmer’s produce, thereby reducing a variety of risks and uncertainties surrounding agricultural production.

Maandag 7 mei wordt het Real World Economics programma bij CREA in Amsterdam geheel besteed aan het ontrafelen van het nieuwe EU crisisbeleid, waarin de beruchte 3%-norm tot wet verheven wordt. (English version below)

While the epicentre of the global economic crisis has shifted towards Europe where economic recession is worsening by the day, China and the other BRIC countries have generally been argued to come out of the global economic and financial crisis remarkably well. European leaders recently turned to individual BRIC countries begging them to invest in the European Financial Stability Fund (EFSF) meant to bail out the indebted Southern Eurozone members. (Dutch version: http://www.globalinfo.nl/Nieuws/rwe-1604-europa-en-de-opkomende-brics.html)

Real World Economics/Transnational Institute invite you to the public debate: The EU Fiscal Pact and the Constitutionalisation of Austerity Forever The economic crisis has reached a new momentum with the EU heads of government signing the Fiscal Pact on 2 March. What German Chancellor Angela Merkel triumphantly called a ‘milestone in the history of the European Union’ opens up Pandora’s box. Critics warn that the new Fiscal Pact constitutes a massive assault on democracy and leads to a further deepening recession.

16 April 2012 om 20.00 uur in CREA Café Amsterda. Real World Economics: Europa in Crisis en de opkomende BRICs?(English version at bottom)

On February 20 the issue to present and debate in the Real World Economics program at CREA was that of growth and degrowth. Here are the powerpoints presented that evening.