For some years now IAFFE has set aside time at the end of the membership meeting, both at the annual Conference and at the joint meeting with the Allied Social Science Association, to celebrate the publication of new books by our members. Authors are invited to stand and say a few words about their work and we encourage those unable to come to send a brief description of the book which can be read to the attendees. Because many members are not able to attend both meetings, each book is presented twice.
The main purpose of the Author Celebration has been to provide members with information about books of interest. Beyond that, however, it has been a very pleasant way to finish what otherwise inevitably tends to be a somewhat routine occasion on a high note, to provide an additional reward for the authors, and may even inspire some of our members to try to join the ranks of those whose work will be celebrated in future years. The person currently designated by the board to organize the celebration is Julie Nelson at University of Massachusetts Boston. Please feel free to contact Julie at Julie.nelson@umb.edu if you are a member of IAFFE and have a new book that you would like to have included in the Author Celebration.
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IAFFE Author Celebration: June 2011, Hangzhou, China
Radhika Balakrishnan and Diane Elson, editors. Economic Policy and Human Rights: Holding Governments to Account. UK: Zed Books. Forthcoming, November 2011
This book presents a powerful critique of three decades of neoliberal economic policies, assessed from the perspective of human rights norms. In doing so, it brings together two areas of thought and action that have hitherto been separate: progressive economics concerned with promoting economic justice and human development; and human rights analysis and advocacy. Focussing on in-depth comparative case studies of the USA and Mexico the book shows that heterodox economic analysis benefits greatly from a deeper understanding of a human rights framework.
Lourdes Beneria, Ann Mari May, Diana L. Strassman. Feminist Economics. 3 volumes. Edward Elgar, 2011.
This important selection of 86 articles, dating from 1990 to 2008, shows how feminist economics has illuminated our understanding of topics such as household decision-making, the care economy, globalization, the feminization of the labour force, macroeconomics, trade, development, and international migration. Contributors include: B. Agarwal, C.D. Deere, D. Elson, N. Folbre, N. Kabeer, J.Nelson, M.C. Nussbaum, J. Rubery, S. Seguino, A. Sen.
Gunseli Berik, Yana van der Meulen Rodgers, and Stephanie Seguino, editors. Inequality, Development, and Growth. Routledge 2010.
This volume presents a comprehensive analysis of the linkages between inequality, development, and growth from a feminist economics perspective. More specifically, it examines connections between intergroup inequality and macroeconomic outcomes, considering various channels through which gender, growth, and development interact. This book was published as a special issue of Feminist Economics.
Gunseli Berik, Yana Rodgers, and Ann Zammit (eds). Social Justice and Gender Equality: Rethinking Development Strategies and Macroeconomic Policies. Routledge, 2008.
Previously announced, this book is now available in paperback.
Elizabeth Hill, Worker Identity, Agency, and Economic Development: Women’s Empowerment in the Indian Informal Economy. Routledge, 2010.
More than nine out of every ten working women in India are employed in the informal economy, unprotected by labour laws and excluded from basic forms of social security. This book examines what types of interventions can improve the well-being of women working in the Indian informal economy, arguing that work-life reform for informal women workers has moral and social dimensions, as well as economic.
Marina Chávez Hoyos, Trabajo Femenino: Las Nuevas Desigualdades (Feminine Work: New Inequalities). México: UNAM. Economics Research Institute 2010.
Mexico's women's labor market is characterized by low salaries, part-time jobs, and generalized discrimination, along with informal labor markets and sub-contracting. In spite of this difficult situation, Mexican women have increased their presence in the labor market. Mexican women are in the labor market to stay. They are no longer—if they ever were—an industrial reserve army that enters or exits according to the economy’s needs.
Eugenia Correa, A. Girón, A. Guillén and A. Ivanova (Coords.) Tres Crisis. Economía, Finanzas y Medio Ambiente (Three Crises: Economy, Financial, and Environmental). México, Editorial Miguel Angel Porrúa, 2011.
Rather than ending, the great crisis that began in 2007 appears to be entering a new phase. The recovery in production is very uneven and fragile, financial markets continue to operate in the old style that led to the crisis, and environmental degradation continues almost unabated. The three linked crises reveal the unprecedented nature of the global crisis. The recovery of financial profitability and incipient and uneven growth does not hide this uncertainty.
Eugenia Correa and A. Palazuelos (Coords.). Opacidad y Hegemonía en la Crisis Global (Opacity and Hegemony in the Global Crisis). España, Editorial Catarata, 2010.
The debate on the future of capitalism was reopened by the global crisis. Globalized economies, concentrated and deregulated are producing a competitive confrontation that claims public support and also impairs the power of democratic states. The great current crisis is part of the largest configuration of hegemonic processes in the last hundred years. Government is deteriorating in legitimacy, while the crisis requires strong commitments to international cooperation. Hence it is important to address social and redistributive results, and turn away from the temptations of war and continued speculation and concentration.
Marilyn L. Geary and Jacqueline Janssen. LeaveLight: A Motivational Guide to Holistic End-of-Life Planning. San Rafael, CA: Gingerale Press, 2010.
LeaveLight: A Motivational Guide to Holistic End-of-Life Planning integrates the spiritual aspects of end-of-life planning with the practical aspects of making important legal, financial, and health decisions. Its steps encourage readers to reflect on issues such as health, inheritance, and legacy in light of the values they hold true. It encourages readers to consider that life can be lived to the fullest by acknowledging that each moment could be the last.
Swarna S. Vepa, Bearing the Brunt: Impact of Rural Distress on Women. By Swarna S. Vepa, SAGE Publications, New Delhi, India; Thousand Oaks, Calif., 2009.
This book refutes the rising general perception that the gender gap in India is decreasing. Selecting relevant welfare indicators and focusing on the neglected dimensions of gender equity, this book discusses the gendered impact of rural economic distress with respect to employment, agricultural production, natural resource management, and food security. Using official statistics obtained mainly from the National Sample Survey and the Census of India, it shows that women are bearing the brunt of the increase in rural economic distress at the turn of the century, with spillover effects on their physical and social wellbeing.
Nalini Visvanathan, Lynn Duggan, Nan Wiegersma, and Laurie Nisonoff (eds), The Women, Gender and Development Reader, 2nd edition. Zed books, hardback and paperback. Forthcoming August 2011.
In this new edition of the definitive volume 1997 volumen, the editors expertly present the impact of social, political and economic change by reviewing such topical issues as migration, persistent structural discrimination, the global recession and climate change. With a multidisciplinary approach, the volume vividly illustrates the theoretical debates with an array of case studies from around the world.
IAFFE Author Celebration: January 2011, Denver, Colorado, United States
Bina Agarwal. Gender and Green Governance: The Political Economy of Women's Presence Within and Beyond Community Forestry. Oxford University Press, 2010.
Using primary data on community forestry institutions in India and Nepal, this book traces women's history of exclusion, constraints on participation, and how these constraints can be overcome.
Lee Badgett. When Gay People Get Married: What Happens When Societies Legalize Same Sex Marriage. NYU Press, 2009.
Previously announced, this book is now available in paperback.
Pamela Brubaker and Rogate Mshana, eds. Justice, Not Greed, WCC Publications, 2010.
A book of essays on the financial crisis by sociologists, economists, activists, theologians and ethicists who are members of the World Council of Churches Advisory Group on Economic Matters. The volume also includes the WCC Statement on "Just Finance and An Economy of Life.
Marilyn Carr and Mariama Williams, eds. Trading Stories: Experiences with Gender and Trade, Commonwealth Secretariat, 2010
Through twenty regional and country case studies, Trading Stories pulls together the key links between trade, gender and economic development. Ten case studies focus on the gender impacts of trade policies, detailing differential consequences on men and women; and ten focus on linking women with global markets – including FairTrade, organic, niche and mainstream markets – through a range of best practices involving government, NGOs, people’s organisations and associations, private sector and international agencies
Carlo D'Ippoliti. Diversity and Economics. Routledge, forthcoming May 2011.
D’Ippoliti introduces the concept of diversity to summarise all differences that are of social origin and that a theory or model seeks to explain. The book ranges from the fields of methodology and history of economics to applied empirical work, as well as gender diversity which is considered in depth. The analysis of the thinking of two major economists of the past, John Stuart Mill and Gustav Schmoller, demonstrates how gender diversity exemplifies some of the fundamental issues in economics. The book maintains that active policy interventions are needed.
Deborah M. Figart and John Marangos, eds. Living Standards and Social Well-Being. London: Routledge, 2010.
Too many of the world’s citizens face impoverished living standards. The viewpoint of Living Standards and Social Well-Being is that the fundamental objective for an economy is provisioning, not simply efficiency. The chapters in this volume examine how economies across the globe (USA, Europe, Asia) come to understand what constitutes a living and how they can improve living standards, including balancing paid work with family life and civic responsibility.
Alicia Girón, Eugenia Correa and Patricia Rodríguez, México, Filiales Exitosas y Fracaso Económico (Mexico, Successful Subsidiaries and Economic Failure), Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas, UNAM, 2010
With the development of the current financial crisis, Mexican subsidiaries of enterprises whose head offices are located abroad have been successful, while the interior of the country is in a state of agony due to the economic policy that has been sustained for four decades, which has deepened inequalities in income distribution and welfare. Lack of employment and incentives to stimulate the economy maintain the fiscal imbalance. This book demonstrates how in Mexico the success of these foreign subsidiaries of financial and industrial enterprises contrast with the economic failure that accentuates stagnation and instability in the country.
Alicia Girón, Eugenia Correa and Patricia Rodríguez. Quiebras Financieras y Experiencias Paradigmáticas (Financial Bankruptcy and Paradigmatic Experiences). Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas, UNAM, 2010.
The global financial crisis demonstrated that open and deregulated national financial services are very vulnerable, for they opened doors for unrestricted speculation and the constant threat of financial crisis. This book analyses the difficulty of going back to especially strict regulation, surveillance and supervision of the largest and most powerful financial entities. It also examines global crisis manifestations that, in some cases, are paradigmatic in Latin America, Europe and Asia.
Alicia Girón, Eugenia Correa and Patricia Rodríguez. Pensamiento Postkeynesiano: De la Inestabilidad Financiera a la Reestructuración Macroeconómica (Post-Keynesian Thought: From Financial Instability to Macro-Economic Restructuring). Instituto de Investigaciones Económicas, UNAM, 2010.
The post-Keynesian School develops its economic theory not only from Keynes’ ideas but also from the multiple contributions articulated under the approach of an economy with significant and diverse public participation. These contributions embrace central issues for our times, such as income distribution, public expenditures, forces of endogenous growth, and financing for development. This book discusses instability, the financial crisis, and neoliberal policies, and is indispensable reading for those who desire to become better acquainted with post-Keynesian thought.
Ramzi Mabsout. The Capability Approach: From Ethical Foundations to Empirical Operationalization. Uitgeverij BOXPress, 2011.
This doctoral thesis empirically operationalizes the ethical foundations of the capabilities approach using intermediate frameworks based on the work of Ingrid Robeyns and Naila Kabeer. Empirical chapters use recent Ethiopian household datasets and structural equation regressions to search for, test, and evaluate adequate indicators.
Spencer Pack. Aristotle, Adam Smith and Karl Marx: On Some Fundamental Issues in 21st Century Political Economy, Edward Elgar, 2010.
This book compares and contrasts Aristotle's, Smith's and Marx's theoretical systems on six fundamental issues: exchange value, money, capital, character, government and change. This book also provides insights on issues concerning the continuing development of world money, saving, managerial capitalism, corrupt governments and various secular and religious movements for social change.
Sidney Perutz. Strange Reciprocity: Women's work in Tepoztlan in the "Decade of the New Economy." Rowman and Littlefield, Lexington Books, 2008.
This book, previously announced, has just come out in paperback.
Fatimata Dia Sow. Intrahousehold resource allocation and well-being:The case of rural households in Senegal. Wageningen Academic, 2010.
This study is undertaken in a context of two earner partners living in mixed farming systems in Senegal where earnings come primarily from crops and livestock. The research shows how important socioeconomic and cultural factors are in determining earnings from agricultural activities, and illustrates also that women's bargaining power may be strongly linked to their access to livestock resources, their mobility in purchasing food and medicine and their participation in the management of household finance.
Myra Strober. Interdisciplinary Conversations, Challenging Habits of Thought. Stanford University Press, 2010.
This book is highly relevant for feminist economists who wish to engage with scholars trained in other disciplines. It shows how extraordinarily difficult it is for faculty to talk to one another across disciplines. It also shows that the key ingredients for successful interdisciplinary conversations are open-minded participants who can suspend their usual habits of thought and talented leaders who can help participants find synergies across fields. The book is based on interviews with 40 faculty members at three US research universities who took part in six year-long interdisciplinary seminars.