Department of Anthropology, Economics and Political Science
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- ItemTeaching the economics of religion to undergraduate economics students(2022) Jahangir, JunaidUnlike standard economics courses, there are limited resources available for instructors who are trained in the mainstream neoclassical paradigm. Many courses in this field are pitched at an advanced level for students pursuing graduate research, or they are pitched through the paradigms of political economy or theology. This paper highlights the key questions and salient ideas in an undergraduate course on the Economics of Religion, thereby providing one example of how potential instructors could structure their course. The idea is to showcase class material so that other instructors, who usually teach neoclassical economics and who are newly deciding to teach a similar class, do not necessarily have to reinvent the wheel in preparing for their classes.
- ItemBook review: Piketty, Thomas (2021): Time for socialism. Dispatches from a world on fire, 2016–2021, New Haven and London (360 pages, Yale University Press, hardcover, ISBN 978-0300259667)(2021) Jahangir, JunaidBlanchard and Rodrik (2021) edited a collection of articles in their book Combating Inequality that featured the voices of cutting-edge scholars like Lucas Chancel, Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman, amongst others. The editors expressed that economists should be at the forefront of tackling inequality instead of making the usual naysaying arguments that ‘we can’t afford it’, ‘we don’t have enough evidence’ or that ‘incentives will be distorted’. Conspicuously absent was the voice of Thomas Piketty, whose book Capital in the Twenty-First Century brought the topic of inequality into mainstream public discourse. His seminal work has been challenged in mainstream newspapers through arguments including that ‘inequality did not rise’ and that ‘inequality does not matter’ (Grisold/Theine 2020: 1082). Therefore, it is heartening to see his latest book, which is a collection of his newspaper articles from 2016 to 2021. Piketty’s book transcends the mainstream naysaying that is stuck on ‘why is economic inequality bad; how is it harmful?’ to offer a vision for the future based on socialism. His book reflects his academic research on inequality, which he has carefully presented to the broader public over the years. This is significant especially for ECON 101 students, who are either not taught about inequality or indoctrinated with the mainstream neoclassical perspective that the whole issue is moot or simply based on envy. Thus, assigning articles, which he has collected in one place in this book, is a welcome approach towards teaching undergraduate economics students about one of the most pressing issues of our times after climate change.
- ItemBook review: Krugman, P. (2020): Arguing with zombies, New York, NY, USA (416 pages, W.W. Norton and Company, hardcover, ISBN 978-1-324-00501-8)(2022) Jahangir, JunaidAs an undergraduate student in the 1990s, Paul Krugman's work, along with that of Joseph Stiglitz, was instrumental in my studies in economics. As an instructor in the 2020s, I was excited to find that the Nobel Laureate's book Arguing with Zombies, which is mainly based on his New York Times columns, helped to make sense of the economic orientation and situation in my home province, Alberta, where the United Conservative Party (UCP) came to power in 2019. The UCP government was extremely concerned about the previous government raising the minimum hourly wage by more than C$4 in fewer than three years but showed no qualms in reducing corporate tax rates by 4 percentage points, eliminating the carbon tax and cutting spending. This approach continued through the COVID-19 pandemic, as the government cut the post-secondary budget by 20 per cent over a four-year plan, and proposed a 3 per cent wage rollback for overworked nurses in the midst of the ongoing pandemic, while announcing investments to the tune of billions of Canadian dollars in Keystone XL, a risky and unnecessary oil pipeline.
- ItemBook review: Blanchard, O. and D. Rodrik (2021): Combating inequality: rethinking government’s role, Cambridge, MA, USA (312 pages, The MIT Press, hardcover, ISBN 9780262045612)(2022) Jahangir, JunaidIntroductory mainstream microeconomics textbooks like Mankiw et al. (2020) relegate the discussion on inequality towards the end of the book’s chapters, where the text focuses more on poverty reduction instead of the contemporary discussions on the Top 1 per cent and wealth taxes. Often the topic is not addressed at the ECON 101 level. Anecdotally, some economists believe that the concern with inequality rests predominantly on envy. This is why the book Combating Inequality edited by Blanchard and Rodrik is pressingly significant, as it comprises 29 articles, which converge towards the consensus that inequality must be effectively addressed beyond poverty alleviation (p. xiii). The articles are short and readable and can be easily assigned in undergraduate classes including ECON 101 to spur discussion and interest in one of the most pressing issues of our times.
- ItemLearning the hard way: Harper, Canadian defence policy and combatting international terror(2022) Rice, Jeffrey; Hlatky, Stéfanie vonIn examining the nuts and bolts of former prime minister Stephen Harper’s foreign policy universe between 2006-2015, Harper’s World turns to key foreign policy experts to break down and evaluate Harper’s international policies--from relations with China to his engagement with Canada’s Arctic region. In explaining both the what and the why of Harper’s foreign policy record, this book argues that the policy decisions of Harper’s Conservative government were primarily shaped and motivated by domestic, regional, and, most importantly, electoral calculations. Bringing together Canada’s leading foreign policy specialists, Harper’s World identifies the push and pull factors of Harper’s approach to various Canadian foreign policy issues. This collection offers original analyses, factual evidence, case studies, and supporting documentation to shed light on Harper’s foreign policy orientation during his almost ten in power.