Email from Levy Economics Institute 32nd Annual Conference, New Podcast Episode, and More THE LEVY NEWS Our Site Research Events Publications CONTRIBUTE December 23, 2024 HIGHLIGHTS   Dear Friends, I am pleased to invite you back to the Bard College campus in 2025 for our 32nd Annual Levy Institute Conference on June 16. This coming Spring will mark the 32nd year of our flagship conference, bringing together leading economists, policymakers, scholars, and thought leaders to discuss critical issues shaping the global economy. The conference will take place at Blithewood Manor, the home of the Institute. Stay tuned for updates on the agenda, featured speakers, and registration details. For inquiries or to receive updates, visit our website or contact us directly at [email protected]. We will additionally be hosting the 2025 Levy Institute Summer Seminar, designed for graduate students and early-career academics or professionals. Through lectures, hands-on workshops, and small group discussions, the seminar will introduce participants to the Levy Institute's approach. We will draw on Modern Money Theory and the work of Distinguished Scholars like Hyman P. Minsky and Wynne Godley, applying these ideas to today’s key policy challenges. This year, graduate students will have the opportunity to present and workshop their research with Levy Scholars, graduate panelists, and seminar faculty. Participants in the summer seminar are also invited to attend the conference on the 16th. Those interested in presenting a research paper on seminar-related themes can submit a 500–700 word abstract for consideration. Save the date, and we’ll see you in June 2025! Sincerely, Pavlina R. Tcherneva President Levy Economics Institute INSIGHTS   OUT NOW: NEW EPISODE of The Levy Institute Podcast Levy Institute President Pavlina R. Tcherneva sits down with Lord Robert Skidelsky to discuss his new book, Mindless. Their conversation spans Skidelsky's roots in economics, his studies as biographer of John Maynard Keynes, and a revisit of the "Economic Possibilities for Our Grandchildren." Be sure to listen and join the conversation through your favorite podcast listening service.   GRADUATE PROGRAMS   Next Session January 13th @ 11:00 AM EST These information sessions provide an overview of the Levy academic programs, student life, admission requirements, enrollment steps, financial aid procedures, and immigration requirements for international students. Applicants who attend a virtual information session will have their application fees waived. Contact us for more information at 845-758-7776 or [email protected] REGISTER NOW Backed by over 30 years of proven policy impact, the Levy Institute Graduate Programs in Economic Theory and Policy provide innovative approaches to topics such as time use, poverty, gender, student debt, and employment that other programs neglect, encouraging students to evaluate policies, examine behavior, and dig deeper into the social phenomena that underlie economic outcomes. Along with a challenging academic environment, the Levy Institute programs also offer a supporting and caring community where students benefit from sharing their research with faculty and their peers to promote academic exchanges and intellectual collaboration. To find out more, visit bard.edu/levygrad or follow the program’s Facebook page. Interested students should contact the Institute at [email protected] for more information. Scholarships are available. FEATURED PUBLICATIONS   On November 5, 2024, voters returned Donald Trump to the White House, this time winning both the electoral college and the popular vote.Economists uniformly failed to grasp what the public's “concerns with the economy” were all about, celebrating the decline in inflation and the fastest recovery in postwar history, while voters expressed their displeasure with how things were going. Despite the post-COVID splurge to salvage and repaint the old American economic engine, for many families it was the same old clunker under the hood. Read Now On the eve of the 2024 US presidential election, Senior Scholar Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Research Associate Nikolaos Rodousakis, Research Scholar Giuliano Toshiro Yajima, and Senior Scholar Gennaro Zezza shared their latest macroeconomic projections using the Levy Institute’s tailored stock-flow consistent model and evaluate two alternative policy scenarios, depending upon the next occupant of the White House: (1) a significant increase in import tariffs and decrease in the marginal tax rate, and (2) a substantial increase in government expenditure paired with an increase in the marginal tax rate. Read Now Senior Scholar L. Randall Wray examines heterodox theories of the determinants of the value of money. Orthodox approaches that tie money’s value to relative scarcity of money or to the price level are rejected as inconsistent with the monetary theory of production embraced by heterodox traditions linked to Marx, Veblen, and Keynes. As Heilbroner argued, money is central to the internal logic of the capitalist system, and is what makes capitalism truly different from other social organizations. Our theory of value informs our beliefs about how the deep structure of the economic system generates a system of prices denominated in the money of account. Read Now As we all know, Frankenstein was the scientist in Mary Shelley’s 1818 novel of the same name, who invented a human machine—intended to be a benefactor, but which turned out to be a monster. There is a critical question I wish to address this evening: Can we avoid our technology destroying us? This is the most important thread that runs through my book, Mindless, recently published in the United States. The book discusses the impact of machines on jobs, on freedom, and on our survival as a species. The question that dominates all three concerns the impact of machines on our humanness. Today we ponder whether there is still time to control the Machine before it controls us. Lord Robert Skidelsky discusses three Frankensteins who each set out to create gods and, in turn, created monsters. Read Now Since the 2008–9 Financial Crisis, economic policy models have shifted toward “realism.” DSGE models now partly diverge from the representative agent framework, while New-Keynesian models better address real-financial interactions. Yet, limitations in both approaches hinder full integration of complex multi-sector financial systems in policy models. Stock-Flow Consistent (SFC) models have resolved many issues, with more country models emerging recently. In this work, Research Associate Francesco Zezza presents key features of a quarterly SFC model of the Italian economy (MITA). Read Now VIEW ALL PUBLICATIONS IN THE NEWS   In November 2024, Research Scholar Giuliano Toshiro Yajima gave a lecture at the 2024 International Seminar on Economic Theory and Policy at the Institute of Economic Research—UNAM on "Modern Heterodox Approaches on the determination of the exchange rates: the role of the financial sector and the productive sector". The recordings can be found here. The Institute Macro Modeling team (Senior Scholar Gennaro Zezza, Research Scholar Giuliano Toshiro Yajima, Associate Scholar Nikolaos Roudosakis, Research Associate Francesco Zezza, and Research Scholar Michalis Nikiforos) attended the Second Workshop on Empirical Stock Flow Consistent Models in Athens, Greece in November. More information can be found here. Listen to Research Associate İpek İlkkaracan on the IMF Podcast Driving Change where she discusses why investments in care pay off. The podcast, produced by the International Economic Association’s Women in Leadership in Economics Initiative (IEAWE), connects women economists worldwide and helps showcase their important empirical research, especially in developing countries.   Our Website | Press Room | Donate   Levy Economics Institute | Blithewood Bard College | Annandale-On-Hudson, NY 12504-5000 US Unsubscribe | Update Profile | Constant Contact Data Notice