>I can think of two important lines of debate which need a Marxian
>intervention, the 'globalisation' of trade and finance, and the growing
>international financial crisis. These are very topical issues, which are
>particularly difficult to discuss because they cannot be solved by
recourse to
>quotations from Marx. However, they are immensely important to everyone. The
>debate on the list may even stimulate members to publish papers that
challenge
>the conventional views, which would be a wonderful contribution of the
list to
>the on-going polemics.
I second this idea. At a minimum, it would be nice if the list contained
more references to concrete problems and issues. Whether I'm teaching a
course on inner-city economic development or inequality and other pressing
social issues, it is often difficult to obtain Marxian work which goes
beyond criticizing the short-comings of neo-classicals.
I'm not suggesting that theoretical work is unimportant or that discussions
on value theory shouldn't take place, just that there is too little
empirical work on social problems -- like health care -- by Marxian
economists.
peace, patrick l mason