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Seminars
**************************************************************************************************************************************** Lecture by Dr. Immanuel Ness on 5 October 2005 Dr. Immanuel Ness, Professor of Political Science, Brooklyn College, City University of New York gave a talk on Workers of the World : Class Struggle and the Politics of Global Labour Migration on 5 October 2005. Abstract Temporary labour is growing as a crucial component in the global market for workers. As older industrial, economies in advanced capitalist countries shed jobs to developing economics, the new global labour market is giving rise to both growing inequality within nations and growing equality between them. The key argument is that corporate efforts to promote greater flexibility are giving rise to global integration, which in turn is creating the basis for the expansion of n global temporary migrant labour force. The focus of the talk is the effect of the rise of a temporary labour market in the information technology (IT) industry on workers in the Global North and Global South and the growing imperative of a migrant labour force. Beginning in the 1990s, the U.S. begun a policy or encouraging the migration of foreign guest-workers in high-technology firms. However, as the U.S. is shedding medium-income jobs, a growing number of foreign contract workers are forced to work under unbearable conditions in the major metropolitan areas of the United States. This paper examines worker resistance in the Global North and Global South to the degradation of work. Dr. Ness' books include Trade Unions and the Betrayal of the Unemployed: Labour Conflict; and, Organizing for Justice in Our Communities: Central Labour Councils and the Revival of American Unionism; and Immigrants, Unions and the New U.S. Labour Market (latest from Temple University). *************************************************************************************************************************************** Seminar by Professor Robin Ghosh on 11 November 2005 Professor Robin Ghosh, former Professor of Economics at the University of Western Australia and currently, the President of the Institute of Development Studies , Australia and also the editor of the Atlantic Journal of Development Studies delivered a talk on Adam Smith on Capital Accumulation and Economic Growth: Another Perspective on 11 November 2005 at 3 p.m.at IDSK. Abstract Adam Smith is generally known as an optimist thinker who supported capitalism for what he believed to be its capacity to increasenational output indefinitely. His two followers-- Ricardo and Malthus--were pessimists. By introducing diminishing returns in his model, Ricardo concluded that even with a constant real wage rate, a capitalist economy would inevitably move towards the stationary state. Malthus, a contemporary of Ricardo, was even more pessimistic about the future of capitalism. He accepted Ricardo's stationary state, but went further to say that capitalism could face premature stationariness and economic depression because of the possibility of a collapse of aggregate demand. Now, it would be argued in the seminar paper that Adam Smith was not as much of an optimist as he has made out to be. Indeed, Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" contained inconsistent ideas, some of which would strongly suggest that he too, like his followers, had worries about the future of capitalism. *********************************************************************************************************************************************************** Lecture by
Dr. Indraneel Dasgupta on 23 December 2005 Dr. Indraneel
Dasgupta,School of Economics, University of Nottingham, UK delivered
a lecture on Evasive Reform: We examine the impact of economic deregulation on employer evasion of union-mandated 'formal' wage-contracts in an import-competing industry. We show that, if the state maintains industrial employment despite import liberalisation, through cheaper credit to firms, then employer evasion will increase, due to a rise in the formal-informal wage gap. Institutional delays in punishment of employer evasion generate this outcome. Greater employer evasion will entail greater diversion of resources to employer-union conflicts. To moderate such waste, the state must attenuate its role as the enforcer of contracts between unions and employers, thereby reducing the total income of workers, and, paradoxically, firms' profits. Our results explain observed trends in developing countries, which are characterised by large informal labour markets. **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Seminar by Professor Abhijit Banerjee and Professor Arundhati Banerjee on 26 December 2005
A seminar was given by Professor Abhijit Banerjee and Professor Arundhati Banerjee of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA with a presentation of film (in association with Bappa Sen) on the theme The name of the disease: Challenges of delivering health care in rural India on 26 December 2005 at 3 p.m.The seminar was organized by the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata in collaboration with Government of West Bengal. Dr. Asim Kumar Dasgupta, Finance Minister, Government of West Bengal and Professor of Economics, University of Calcutta presided over the seminar. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ Lecture by Professor Marika Vicziany on 6 February 2006 Professor Marika Vicziany, Director, Monash Asia Institute and Advisor on South Asia to the Dean of Arts, Monash University, Australia, delivered a talk under the auspices of the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata in collaboration with Peace Studies Group, Department of History, University of Calcutta on Bang for the Buck: Chinese and Indian Defence Expenditures on 6 February 2006 (Monday) at 3 p.m. ************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************ Lecture by Professor Peter Kulchyski on 10 February 2006 Professor Peter Kulchyski, Professor of Native Studies, University of Manitoba, Canada, gave a lecture on Aboriginal Rights in Canada on 10 February 2006(Friday) at 3 p.m. at IDSK **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Lecture by Professor Irfan Habib on 21 February 2006 Professor Irfan Habib, formerly Professor of Aligarh Muslim University, delivered a talk under the auspices of the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata in collaboration with the Department of History, University of Calcutta on Towards Writing People's History of India on 21 February 2006 (Tuesday) at 3 p.m. **************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Lecture by Professor Yingyi Qian on 4 July 2006 On 4 July 2006, Professor Yingyi Qian, Professor of Economics, University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A., delivered a lecture on Transformation in China since 1978. Professor Qian dwelt on the major structural changes in the Chinese economy such as the enormous growth of manufactures and services to a point where the percentage of the working population engaged in agriculture has fallen below 50 percent and the value added in agriculture has fallen substantially below 20 percent of national value-added. He also gave figures on the huge and widening differentials in rural-urban earnings which have been the main contributor to a sharp rise in inequality of income in China in recent years. Professor Qian also dwelt on the changes in institutions and ideology, and phases through which these changes took place over the last twenty-seven years or so. The lecture was attended by the students of the M.Phil Course and various members of official and academic community in the city. ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Lecture by Professor Tanika Sarkar on 17 July 2006 Professor Tanika Sarkar, Professor of History, Jawaharlal Nehru University gave a talk on Fire-eaters : Law and Faith in Early Colonial Bengal on 17 July 2006 at 3 p.m. The talk was organized by the Institute of Development Studies Kolkata in collaboration with the Department of History and Women's Studies Research Centre, University of Calcutta. ***************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************************** Panchanan Chakrabartty Centennial Seminar on 24-25 July 2006 The Institute of Development Studies Kolkata in collaboration with the Department of Economics, University Calcutta commemorated the centenary of Late Professor Panchanan Chakrabartty by holding a seminar on 24 and 25 July 2006. The theme of the seminar was Macroeconomics and Public Policy. The speakers in the seminar included Professor Tapas Majumdar (Emeritus Professor, Zakir Hussain Centre for Educational Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University), Professor Mihir Rakshit(Former Professor of Economics, Presidency College, Calcutta; Currently Director, Monetary Research Project, ICRA Limited), Professor Prabhat Patnaik(Professor of Economics, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Deputy Chairman, State Planning Board, Government of Kerala), Professor Amiya Kumar Bagchi (Director, IDSK), Professor Ishita Mukhopadhyay (Professor of Economics, University of Calcutta) and some members of Forum of Development Economics Kolkata(FDEK).
Professor
Abhijit Banerjee,
Ford Foundation Professor of Economics, Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, USA gave a lecture on Corruption and Ethnic
Politics on 7 August 2006 at 3 p.m. at IDSK. |