2019-2020 URPE Dissertation Fellowship
The 2019 URPE Dissertation Fellow is Ivan Rubinić, doctoral candidate, Faculty of Economics, University of Ljubljana (Republic of Slovenia). Mr. Rubinić is awarded this Fellowship and $5,000 (USD) in support of his dissertation “The Dynamics of Economic Inequality in Euro Area Based on the Marxist Theory of Exploitation.” His dissertation is being supervised by Dr. Maks Tajnikar, University of Ljubljana.
Mr. Rubinić’s dissertation studies euro area economic inequality from a Marxian perspective. It investigates outcome inequality and inequality of opportunity, both the within-country and between-countries. Mr. Rubinić argues that within-country inequality results from differential ownership of means of production and exploitation, while between-country inequality arises from trade, which gives rise to unequal labor exchange. The dissertation investigates these euro area inequalities theoretically and empirically. It develops a model demonstrating that inequalities are the root cause of the euro area’s disintegration bias. This model also indicates that a Marx-based model has high explanatory power and is, therefore, an important tool for the investigation of economic inequalities. The empirical application illustrates the underlying economic factors that govern the euro area’s asymmetrical distribution of benefits, and allows the uncontrolled imperatives of international markets to overwhelm national decisions, efforts, and policies. This study will provide a basis for redefining the current, sub-optimal, policy decisions, with the final purpose of restoring the sustainability of the European social project and creating the source for advancement of integrational wellbeing.
The URPE Steering Committee is pleased to support Ivan Rubinić’s dissertation research with the 2019 URPE Dissertation Fellowship. We also received many other excellent dissertation proposals, and regret that we lack the resources to support additional students. We are committed to our fundraising efforts in order to increase our support for doctoral students working in radical political economics. There is significant unmet need, and we ask that members and supporters of URPE assist us in meeting this need through donations, which can be directed specifically to support the dissertation fellowship initiative.
In Solidarity,
URPE Steering Committee
2018-2019 Dissertation Fellowship
The Steering Committee of the Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) is pleased to announce that the 2018 URPE Dissertation Fellow is Samantha E. Sterba, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst. Ms. Sterba is awarded this Fellowship and $5,000 (USD) in support of her dissertation “Neoliberal Capitalism and the Evolution of the U.S. Healthcare Sector.” Her dissertation is being supervised by Dr. David M. Kotz (Committee Chair, University of Massachusetts Amherst) and Dr. Peter Spiegler (University of Massachusetts Amherst).
Ms. Sterba’s dissertation uses social structure of accumulation (SSA) theory to analyze the ways in which neoliberal restructuring of US capitalism has affected the evolution of key parts of the US health care system, including the pharmaceutical industry, the health insurance industry, hospitals, and medical care provider institutions. The dissertation also undertakes case studies of three reform efforts: the passage of Medicare/Medicaid in 1965, the failed Clinton Health Security Act of 1993-94, and the passage of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in 2010. Ms. Sterba’s dissertation systematically connects developments in U.S. health care to the evolution of the institutional structures of U.S. capitalism, and promises to contribute significantly to our understanding of the political economy of health care.
The URPE Steering Committee is pleased to award the 2018 URPE Dissertation Fellowship to Samantha E. Sterba. We also continue to be encouraged by the significant response the fellowship receives from doctoral students. We received many excellent dissertation proposals and regret that we lack the resources to support additional students. We are committed to our fundraising efforts in order to increase our support for doctoral students working in radical political economics. There is significant unmet need, and we ask that members and supporters of URPE assist us in meeting this need through donations, which can be directed specifically to support the dissertation fellowship initiative.
2017-18 Dissertation Fellowship Recipient: Ilias Alami
The Steering Committee of the Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) is pleased to announce that the 2017 URPE Dissertation Fellow is Ilias Alami, Ph.D. candidate, Politics, The University of Manchester, UK. Mr. Alami is awarded this Fellowship and $5,000 (USD) in support of his dissertation “Post-crisis capital account policies in emerging capitalisms: regaining policy space? A comparison between Brazil and South Africa.” His dissertation is being supervised by Dr. Stuart Shields (Manchester), and Dr. Adrienne Roberts (Manchester).
Mr. Alami’s dissertation provides a Marxist political economy analysis of capital-account policies used in Brazil and South Africa since the beginning of the recent global financial crisis, with particular attention to the specificity of capital accumulation and class configurations prevailing in these countries. He argues that understanding the uneven and conflict-ridden processes of policy-making is crucially important for developing progressive and sustainable forms of financial governance in emerging countries. Mr. Alami’s research makes contributions to the literatures on financialization, the political economy of financial statecraft and regulation, Marxian theories of the state and money, and the debates about more progressive forms of financial governance in emerging countries.
The URPE Steering Committee is pleased to award the 2017 URPE Dissertation Fellowship to Ilias Alami. We also continue to be encouraged by the significant response the fellowship receives from doctoral students. We received many excellent dissertation proposals and regret that we lack the resources to support additional students. We remain committed to our fundraising efforts in order to increase our support for doctoral students working in radical political economics. There is significant unmet need, and we hope that members and supporters of URPE will generously assist us in meeting it.
2016-17 Dissertation Fellowship Recipient: Robin Chang
The Steering Committee of the Union for Radical Political Economics (URPE) is pleased to announce that the 2016-17 URPE Dissertation Fellow is Robin K. Chang, Ph.D. candidate, Department of Political Science, York University, Toronto, ON. Mr. Chang is awarded this Fellowship and $5,000 (USD) in support of his dissertation “A Marxian Explanation for the Fast Rate of Growth in Healthcare Expenditure”. His dissertation is being supervised by professors Gregory Albo (committee chair, York Univ.), David McNally (York Univ.), and Robert Chernomas (Univ. of Manitoba). Mr. Chang’s dissertation studies the rapid growth in healthcare expenditures in developed countries using Anwar Shaikh’s theory of real competition. Working from this theoretical perspective, the dissertation uses applied input-output analysis of OECD, BEA and SC data to determine whether the healthcare sector experiences technological stagnation. (July 5, 2016)
You can learn more about Robin through the following links:
Book Author Interviews:
Canada, Left-Nationalism, and Alternatives (Interview with Paul Kellogg on Escape from the Staples Trap) https://urpe.wordpress.com/2016/05/14/canada-left-nationalism-and-alternatives/
Age of Austerity: Capital, the Financial Crisis and the State in Canada (Interview with Geoffrey McCormack and Thom Workman on The Servant State) https://urpe.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/age-of-austerity-capital-the-financial-crisis-and-the-state-in-canada/
Public Healthcare Against Privatization: Lessons From the British Struggle Over the NHS (Interview with John Lister on NHS For Sale) http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/1155.php
Healthcare in Canada and the U.S. In an ‘Age of Permanent Austerity’ (Interview with Robert Chernomas on To Live and Die in America) http://www.socialistproject.ca/bullet/996.php
URPE Newsletter Article:
Recent Developments in the Political Economy of Health and Healthcare: A Review of Three Works from a Radical Perspective (co-authored) http://urpe.org/content/media/UA_URPE_Past_Newsletters/urpe%20newsletter14%20spring_1.pdf
Book Review:
Book Review of Contending Economic Theories: Neoclassical, Keynesian, and Marxian, by Richard D. Wolff and Stephen A. Resnick. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The MIT Press, 2012. $35.00. Pp. 416. Science & Society July 2014, Vol. 78, No. 3: 406–409.