This event is part of the Kingston Economic Department Research Seminar Series.

Date: Wednesday 30 November 2016
Time: 4.00pm – 6.00pm
Venue: JG 4006 (John Galsworthy building), Penryhn Road Campus, Kingston upon Thames
Price: free
Booking and further information: http://www.kingston.ac.uk/events/item/2339/30-nov-2016-economics-research-seminar-with-geoffrey-hodgson-and-bill-dunn/
Contact: Antoine Godin (A.Godin@kingston.ac.uk)

‘Much of the ‘economics of property rights’ devalues property and legal rights’ by Geoffrey Hodgson (University of Hertfordshire), see also: http://newpolitics.apps-1and1.net/property-when-ludwig-von-mises-got-into-bed-with-karl-marx

Abstract: Legal theorists and other commentators have long established a distinction between property and possession. According to this usage adopted here, possession refers to control of a resource, but property involves legally sanctioned rights. Strikingly, prominent foundational accounts of the ‘economics of property rights’ concentrate on possession, downplaying the issue of legitimate legal rights (Alchian, 1965, 1977; Barzel, 1994, 1997, 2002; von Mises, 1981). Some authors in this genre make a distinction between ‘economic rights’ and ‘legal rights’ where the former are more to do with possession or the capacity to control. They argue that ‘economic rights’ are primary and more relevant for understanding behaviour. But it is argued here that legal factors – involving recognition of authority and perceived justice or morality – have also to be brought into the picture to understand human motivation in modern societies, even in the economic sphere. As other authors including Hernando De Soto (2000) have pointed out, the neglect of the legal infrastructure that buttresses property has deleterious implications, including a failure to understand the role of property in supporting collateralized loans for innovation and economic development.

‘Putting finance in its place: Marx, Keynes and the interstate system ‘ by Bill Dunn (University of Sidney)

Abstract: The paper argues that Marxist theories of money and finance remain underdeveloped and can be enriched by a critical appropriation of Keynesian insights. It advocates a theory of money and finance based on the mutual but asymmetrical interrelations of class, capital and state institutions. It argues that accepting a Marxist epistemology and the conceptual priority of social relations of production requires rather than denies acknowledging an active financial agency. However, this agency is socially constructed and constrained. With the appropriate conceptual level of ‘the social’ seen as essentially global, this also involves, amongst other things, discarding the exogenous / endogenous distinction but seeing states and their financial power, like that of other institutions, as framed within rather than as external to the social relations of production.

How to find us: The seminar takes place at Penryhn Road Campus (Kingston upon Thames, Surrey, KT1 2EE). Public Transport: take train from London Waterloo to Surbiton (20 mins approx.) and walk (15 mins approx.) or buses 71, 281, K2, K3 (5 mins approx.) from Surbiton Station to Kingston University. For further details and driving directions, please go http://www.kingston.ac.uk/aboutkingstonuniversity/location/howtofindus/penrhynroad/