The tasks of Keynesianism today: Green new deals as transition towards a zero growth economy?

New Political Science

Volumn 32, Issue 2, 2010, Pages 173-191

  Custers, Peter ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 79956165971     PISSN: 07393148     EISSN: 14699931     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/07393141003722032     Document Type: Article

References (65)

1. For recent data from the UN Food and Agricultural Organisation on increases in the number of hungry people worldwide, see for example Laetitia Clavreul and Adrien Tricornot, Le Monde en Recession Neglige la Crise Alimentaire, Le Monde, Economy Supplement, June 30, 2009.
2. See for example Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report. A Report of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment,
3. for the urgency of action on climate change, see e.g. David Sprat and Philip Sutton, Climate "Code Red. " The Case for a Sustainability Emergency, Friends of the Earth, Australia, February 2008,
4. on the coincidence of today's financial crisis-cum-recession and the ecological crisis, see for example "Six Crises Qui Bousculent l'Ordre Economique Mondiale, " Le Monde, Economy Supplement, March 29, 2008.
5. for an in-depth discussion regarding capitalism and the ecological crisis, see for instance James O'Connor, Natural Causes: Essays in Ecological Marxism (New York: The Guilford Press, 1998), in particular Chapters 6, 8 and 9, pp. 135, 158, 178.
6. on climate change and the threat that more people will be hungry, see John Vidal, "Hunger Is Worst Threat from Climate Change, " The Guardian Weekly, July 10-16, 2009, p. 1.
7. On acceptance by governments of capitalist states of the concept of a Green New Deal, see for instance Antoine Reverchon, "Le Pari Mondial de la Croissance Verte, " Le Monde, Economy Supplement, February 3, 2009.
8. Adam Smith, An Enquiry into the Nature and the Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Volume II (London and New York: J. Dent & E.P. Dutton, 1931), Chap. 3, 'Of Public Debts', p. 389.
9. see also Peter Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism. Nuclear and Military Production and Critical Economic Theory (New Delhi and London: Tulika Publishers and Merlin Press, 2007), Chap. 2.
10. For instance, in his main theoretical work, Keynes referred to the fact that wars "which have been the only form of large scale loan expenditure which statesmen have thought justifiable, have played their part in 'progress'". See John Maynard Keynes, The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money (Orlando, FL: Harvest and Harcourt, 1964), p. 130.
11. See, for instance, John Kenneth Galbraith, "How Keynes Came to America, " in Paul Samuelson, Readings in Economics (New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill, 1973), pp. 91-97).
12. also the account in Richard Swedberg, Joseph A. Schumpeter, His Life and Work (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1991), p. 118.
13. For the policies pursued by the US during the Second World War, considered to have been the period of the founding of the US's military industrial complex, see for example Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism, Chap. 13.
14. For data on the size of US military allocations under George Bush Jr. see, for example, Chalmers Johnson, "The Economic Disaster which is Military Keynesianism. Why the US has Really Gone Broke, " February 2008.
15. also John Bellamy Foster, Hannah Holleman, and Robert W. Chesney, "The US Imperial Triangle and Military Spending, " Monthly Review, October 2008, available at
16. For Hansen's analysis of the depression and Roosevelt's policies, see Alvin Hansen, Fiscal Policy and Business Cycles (New York:WWNorton & Company, 1941), Chaps. I-IV, pp. 13-95.
17. for the analysis made by Baran and Sweezy, see Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezy, Monopoly Capital: An Essay on the American Economic and Social Order (New York and Calcutta: Monthly Review and K.P. Bagchi & Company, 1994), Chap. 6, p. 142.
18. for a recent assessment, see Sylvian Cypel, "Le New Deal de Roosevelt a Modernise l'Appareil Industriel et Permis une Extraordinaire Expansion, " interview with Professor Sharyn O'Halloran, Colombia University, Le Monde, March 31, 2009.
19. Hansen, Fiscal Policy, p. 89.
20. Baran and Sweezy, Monopoly Capital, p. 159.
21. For more comprehensive data on President Obama's civilian spending programs, see for example, Corine Lesner, "Le Plan de Relance De Barack Obama Au Congres, " Le Monde, January 29, 2009, p. 6.
22. Also Sylvian Cypel, "L'Efficacite du plan de Relance Voulu par Barack Obama en Question" (Le Monde, Paris, February 14, 2009), p.7.
23. According to the 2009 Annual Industrial Capabilities Report (AICR), if figures for the fourth quarter of 2008 are compared with those for the fourth quarter of 2007, operating earnings (before interest and tax) by "defence" sector companies increased 16%; the report further states that "the prime defense contractors are at the peak of the spending cycle [sic!] and are much better positioned to withstand the problems in the credit market and the general economy than commercial companies [sic!]. " See Office of the Under Secretary of Defense Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Industry Policy, Annual Industrial Capabilities Report to Congress March 2009, p. 4,
24. See notablyWinslow Wheeler, "Actually the Spigot isWide Open, " Defense News, June 15, 2009, ; according to Wheeler's data, the presidentially approved budget plan would continue increasing the Pentagon's (official) spending power: by $8.1 billion in 2011 (up 1.5%), by another $9 billion in 2012 (up 1.6%), and by $10.4 billion in 2013 (up 1.8%).
25. A calculation of the costs for sending an additional 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000 US troops to Afghanistan is presented in Christopher Drew 's article, "Rising Costs of Afghan War Constrain Obama Further, " International Herald Tribune, November 16, 2009.
26. for details regarding the Pentagon's military construction programmes in Afghanistan, see notably the article by Nick Turse, "In Afghanistan, the Pentagon Digs In, " Countercurrents, November 5, 2009.
27. For Marx's distinction between two main production departments, see Karl Marx, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy, Volume Two (Moscow: Progress Publishers, 1967), notably Part Three, p. 355.
28. for Keynes's differentiation between two main types of commodities, see for example Keynes, General Theory, p. 118.
29. See for example, Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism cit., chap. 16, "The Marxist Debate on Periodic Crises".
30. also Paul Sweezy, The Theory of Capitalist Development (New York and Calcutta: Monthly Review Press and K.P. Bagchi, 1991), Chaps. VIII, IX and X.
31. also Fred Oelssner, Die Wirtschaftskrisen (Berlin, DDR: Dietz Verlag, 1953).
32. For the views of the Marginalist theoretician Arthur Pigou on state intervention, see for example Ernesto Screpanti and Stefano Zamagni, An Outline of the History of Economic Thought (Oxford and New York: Clarendon and Oxford University Press, USA, 1995), Chapter 6, "Construction of Neoclassical Orthodoxy".
33. for Keynes's relationship with marginalist theorising, see for example Sukhamoy Chakravarty, "Keynes as a Theorist of Capitalism" (in Krishna Bharadwaj and Sudipta Kaviraj (ed.), Perspectives on Capitalism. Marx, Keynes, Schumpeter and Weber (New Delhi: Sage Publications, 1989), p. 20.
34. For a summary on the functioning of the German feed-in-tariff system, see for example "Success Story: Feed-in-Tariffs Support Renewable Energy in Germany, "
35. See notably the article by Marcel aan de Brugh, "Provincie Gaat Weer in Energie. De Gemeente Maakt de Groene Stroom Zelf", NRC-Handelsblad (Rotterdam), June 27, 2009.
36. On the historical transition from reliance on renewables to reliance on fossil fuels that accompanied the 18th-century Industrial Revolution, see for instance Clive Ponting, A New Green History of the World: The Environment and the Collapse of Civilizations (London: Penguin Books, 2007).
37. See for instance the summary by Bill Sheehan, "Zero Waste, Recycling and Climate Change, " GrassRoots Recycling Network USA, October 2000,
38. on waste incineration in France, see e.g. Gilles van Kote, "Environnement. Incinerateurs en Accusation, " Le Monde, June 21, 2007, p. 22.
39. On the Dutch law which, since the 1990s, has discouraged landfilling, see the website of the Dutch Ministry of Environment (VROM), "Environmental Tax on Waste, "
40. on the Swedish law regarding taxation at the "gate" of incineration ovens, see Jenny Sahlin, Tomas Ekvall, M. Bisaillon and Johan Sundberg, "Introduction of aWaste Incineration Tax: Effects on the SwedishWaste Flows, "
41. on attempts by the Dutch recycling branch to have legislation adopted by the Dutch parliament favouring recycling at the expense of incineration, see Arjen Schreuder, "Vuilverbranders en Recyclebedrijven Vechten om Afval, " NRC-Handelsblad (Rotterdam), April 17, 2009.
42. For a discussion on the concepts "productive" and "unproductive" in economic theory, see Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism, Chap. 6.
43. For a comprehensive theoretical discussion regarding harmful waste generated in the nuclear production chain, see Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism, chaps 2-9.
44. for empirical data on waste generation in military-nuclear production, see the study by Arjun Makhijani, Howard Hu and Katherine Yih (eds), Nuclear Wastelands: A Global Guide to Nuclear Weapons' Production and its Health and Environmental Effects (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1995).
45. Exemplary for the historical discussion regarding conversion is Seymour Melman's chapter, "What Is Convertible and Nonconvertible in War Economy" in his well-known book The Permanent War Economy: American Capitalism in Decline (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1974), Chap. 9.
46. See the description of proposals for conversion of arms production in Jim Louisse, Aan het Werk met Conversie. Omschakeling van Wapenproduktie in Nederland (The Hague: Franciscaanse Samenwerking, OSACI and Pax Christi, 1983), p. 53.
47. For a summary of employment benefits from conversion, as stated in historical studies on conversion, see for instance: Robert Pollin and Heidi Garret-Peltier, "The Employment Effects of Downsizing the US Military, " Department of Economics and Political Economy Research Institute (PERI), University of Massachusetts, Amherst, October 2007.
48. For an elaborate discussion regarding the Marxian theory on periodic crises, see Custers, Questioning Globalized Militarism, Chap. 16, "The Marxist Debate on Periodic Crises: Quantitative and Qualitative Disproportionality. Towards Integration of the Military Sector into Crisis Theory. "
49. For a detailed description of the three phases, comprising the dismantling and processing of component parts of solar panels, see for instance Heiko Schwarzburger, "A Zero-Sum Game So Far, " PV Magazine. Photovoltaic Markets & Technology, September 2009, p. 66.
50. for the recycling of pv structures, see also David Appleyard, "Light Cycle: Recycling PV Materials, " 22 April, 2009,
51. See Peter Custers, "Military Keynesianism Today-An Innovative Discourse, " Race & Class 51:4 (2010), p. 79.
52. also Peter Custers, "Towards Zero Growth. Break with All History Since the Industrial Revolution, " Le Monde Diplomatique (English language version), June 2009, pp. 10-11.
53. For a discussion on the stationary state or "simple reproduction" in Quesnay and Marx, see for example Baran and Sweezy, Monopoly Capital.
54. for Schumpeter's views, see Joseph Schumpeter, Theorie der Wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung: Eine Untersuchung ueber Unternehmergewinn, Kapital, Kredit, Zins und den Konjunkturzyklus (Muenchen and Leipzig: Verlag von Dunckel & Humblot, 1926), pp. 1, 75.
55. for Hansen's views, see Hansen, Policy and Business Cycles, Chapter XIV, "The Dynamic versus the Circular Flow Economy. "
56. For Hansen's discussion of proposals to limit the flow of money that were put forward in the US in the 1930s, see Hansen, Fiscal Policy, Chap. V, "Recent Trends in Business Cycle Literature. "
57. Herman E. Daly and Kenneth N. Townsend, Valuing the Earth: Economics, Ecology, Ethics (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1993), Chaps. 13, 15, 19.
58. for the impossibility of unending exponential growth in extraction of natural resources, see notably King Hubbart, "Exponential Growth as a Transient Phenomenon in Human History, " in Daly and Townsend, Valuing the Earth, p. 113.
59. See Herman Daly, "The Steady State Economy: Towards a Political Economy of Biophysical Equilibrium and Moral Growth, " in Daly and Townsend, Valuing the Earth, p. 340. These ideas on depletion quota may be compared with the example of the auctioning of oil fields by the Iraqi government.
60. see Xander van Uffelen, "Jacht op Lucratieve Iraakse Olie Verloopt Stroef, " De Volkskrant (Amsterdam), July 1, 2009.
61. also Campbell Robertson and Keith Bradsher, "China Stakes Its Claim to Develop Iraq Oil Reserves, " International Herald Tribune, July 1, 2009, p. 1.
62. John Vidal, "Climate Change Creates New 'Global Battefield', " The Guardian Weekly, June 5-11, 2009.
63. For the current debate on degrowth or decroissance in France, see for instance Sylvia Zappi, "La Crise Relance le Theme de la Decroissance, " Le Monde, November 15-16, 2009, p. 8.
64. also Serge Latouche, "Would the World Actually Be Happier with Less?, " Le Monde Diplomatique, December 2003.
65. and Serge Latouche, "Degrowth Economics, " Le Monde Diplomatique, November 2004.