Introducing the ME Sharpe Post Keynesian Economics Forum (pke-forum.com)

 　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　 

Introducing the ME Sharpe Post Keynesian Economics Forum (pke-forum.com)
Albert Einstein is reputed to have defined insanity as doing the same thing, expecting different results. The state of our current policy debate suggests that many economists and politicians may be certifiably insane. The same policies that produced the Great Depression, and then the US recession of 1937, are again on the horizon—or rather, just over the cliff. In the UK, as the economy stagnates, 1920‘s policies that produced rising unemployment and stagnation are proposed as the means to prosperity. The European Union imposes stricter austerity policies on economies already experiencing sharp recessions in the vain hope of improving fiscal balances. The increase in consumption taxes that stifled the recovery from the 1990s collapse of stock and property markets is again being contemplated in Japan.
But there is an antidote to this insanity. Another Einstein adage notes that “we cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used to create them.” Keynes forged a new way of thinking about the economy that formed the basis for new policies that allowed the world to emerge from the Great Depression and achieve sustained global growth with low inflation in the post-war period. The revival of Keynes’s approach not only offers the chance to escape the lunacy of persisting with failed strategies, but
to avoid the return of “poverty in the midst of plenty”—of consciously produced deprivation and misery inflicted on an increasing number of the world’s population, whether they live in developed or developing countries.
To help restore sanity, ME Sharpe is proud to launch the PKE E-Forum. It seems particularly appropriate to launch such an initiative given the increased relevance of Keynesian policy in discussions to resolve the current crisis. The areas of discussion are expected to range from fiscal policy, the impact of debt on growth, and the reform of the international financial system to the impact of international imbalances on growth and development. These are all issues at the core of Keynesian policy discussions, but the direction of discourse should be determined by the policy issues as perceived by participants.
Although the ICT revolution has produced creative destruction in every aspect of information transmission and dissemination, there remains an unexplored area between the formal print journal and the instant proposal/response of the internet blog post. The E-Forum seeks to stimulate scholars who might be unwilling to commit to the formulation of proposals that would only see the light of day after some years in the print version of a journal. The E-Forum seeks an interactive forum for scholars with similar interests and backgrounds, and produce new policy proposals featuring more fully articulated presentations that may be of use by policy makers in formulating position statements and proposals.
E-forum editors will accept contributions with a maximum 1,500 words to be reviewed and edited on a real time basis and made available to subscribers with a turnaround of weeks not months. Access will be open to subscribers of ME Sharpe economic publications and any other interested persons by simple on-line registration.