Are We Living In The "Capitalocene"?

rosserjb@jmu.edu at EconoSpeak 

I also attended the last session listed in the program at the ASSA at 2:30 on Sunday, an URPE session on "Ecology, the Environment, and Energy," chaired by Paul Cooney. He presented on "Marxism and Ecological Economics: An Assessment of the Past, Present, and Future." Lynne Chester presented on "Energy and Social Ontology: Can Social Ontology Provide Insight?" Finally Ann Davis presented on ""'Home on the Range:' Integrating the Household and Ecology." There were a lot of interesting ideas in these talks, and there was a vigorous discussion about them involving the audience. What... more »

Might We Be On The Verge Of An "Upswing"?

rosserjb@jmu.edu at EconoSpeak 

One of the more dramatic sessions at the just-completed ASSA meetings in San Diego was an AEA panel on "Deaths from Despair and the Future of Capitalism" on Saturday at 2:30. Chaired by Angus Deaton, it focused on the book by him and his wife/coauthor Anne Case with the same title as the panel session. Case spoke on their book. This was followed by Robert Putnam, who spoke on his forthcoming (in about six months) new book, *The Upswing*, which this post will focus on. This was followed by Raghuram Rajan, who spoke about his recently published book, *The Third Pillar: The Communit... more »