Parallel currencies: An overview

This is the chapter that has been published on 28.7.2023 in the Elsevier “Reference Collection in Social Sciences” and will be a chapter of the “Encyclopedia of Monetary Policy, Financial Markets and Banking” that will be released as a full compilation in 2025, under the editing of Prof. N.Apergis. The entry describes various types of currencies that are used along with the official ones in various economies of the 21st century, the main historical precedents and main debates concerning the character of the currencies and their use. The chapter includes examples like digital currencies and specialized currencies aiming at achieving a designated goal within the economy

Parallel currencies: An overview

Αυτή είναι η μελέτη που δημοσιεύτηκε στις 28.7.2023 στη “Reference Collection in Social Sciences” του Elsevier και θα είναι κεφάλαιο της “Encyclopedia of Monetary Policy, Financial Markets and Banking” που θα κυκλοφορήσει ως πλήρης συλλογή το 2025, υπό την επιμέλεια του Καθ. Ν. Απέργη. Το λήμμα περιγράφει διάφορους τύπους νομισμάτων που χρησιμοποιούνται μαζί με τα επίσημα σε διάφορες οικονομίες του 21ου αιώνα, τα σημαντικά ιστορικά προηγούμενα και τις βασικές συζητήσεις σχετικά με τον χαρακτήρα των νομισμάτων και τη χρήση τους. Το κεφάλαιο περιλαμβάνει παραδείγματα όπως ψηφιακά νομίσματα και εξειδικευμένα νομίσματα που επιδιώκουν την επίτευξη ενός συγκεκριμένου στόχου εντός της οικονομίας.

AI in the Edu-factory: A revenge of the invisible working classes in Higher Education

This is the slide series I used to present my paper “Artificial Intelligence in the Edu-factory: A revenge of the invisible working classes in Higher Education” at the 2023 SOLSTICE-CLT conference that took place at the Edge Hill University on 14-15th June 2023.

AI in the Edu-factory

Αυτή είναι η σειρά διαφανειών που χρησιμοποίησα για να παρουσιάσω την εργασία μου “Τεχνητή Νοημοσύνη στο Εκπαιδευτικό Εργοστάσιο: Μια εκδίκηση των αόρατων εργατικών τάξεων στην Ανώτερη Εκπαίδευση” στο συνέδριο SOLSTICE-CLT 2023 που πραγματοποιήθηκε στο Πανεπιστήμιο Edge Hill στις 14-15 Ιουνίου 2023.

Harm science, hard science & the quest of appropriate methods in economics

This is the slides series for the presentation of my paper “Harm science, hard science & the quest for appropriate methods in economics” that I presented on March 30th 2023 at the Online Conference “Economics – The Tragic Science?, organised by the London South Bank University Business School.

Harm science, hard science & the quest of appropriate methods in economics

Αυτές είναι οι διαφάνειες για την παρουσίαση της μελέτης “Επιστήμη της βλάβης, σκληρή επιστήμη & η αναζήτηση για κατάλληλες μεθόδους στα οικονομικά:, που παροσίασα την 30ή Μαρτίου 2023, στο Διαδικτυακό Συνέδριο “Οικονομικά – η Τραγική Επιστήμη;” το οποίο διοργανώθκε από την Σχολή Επιχειρήσεων του London South Bank University.

Σημείωση: Στα ελληνικά το hard science είχε μεταφραστεί ως “φυσικές επιστήμες”, στα αγγλικά όμως οι φυσικές επιστήμες ως “σκληρές” παρουσιάζονταν έτσι για αρκετό διάστημα, μέχρι που το πήραν απόφαση οι φυσικοί επιστήμονες ότι δεν υπάρχει τίποτε τέτοιο. Το πρόβλημα που έχουμε είναι ότι το φαντασιακό της “σκληρής επιστήμης” έχει διασωθεί στα οικονομικά, με ό,τι συνεπάγεται αυτό για μια κοινωνική και εν μέρει κανονιστική επιστήμη.

Abstract

The paper explores the contributions to economic methodology in the book “Economics – The tragic science” by G.F.DeMartino (2022) and how the search for better ethics in the discipline of economics is directly linked to better methods that fit the subject-matter of the field.

That economics can create extensive harm while pretending it is science and even more hard science, is known. Hard science as a term, with its connotations that refer to an approach to knowledge that is quite linked to modernity, patriarchy and (colonial) capitalism, tried to distinguish itself from other disciplines based on an assumption of certainty that some types of knowledge can have and some other types of knowledge cannot even dream of.

However, as capitalist structures seem to reach their environmental and social limits, the assumption of scientific certainty is not as it used to be two hundred years ago. Economics seems to be too slow to follow the trend of “hard sciences” in terms of understanding complexity, uncertainty, resilience and open-system analysis, much less to accept that there are parts of economic activity that we might never know or that we will get to know after it is too late for both the economy and the people living in it.

The ”Tragic science” book raises a very legitimate critique of currently prevailing methods in economics, as those being unethical because they cause immeasurable and irreparable harm to the societies the economic advice is given through those methods. However, any method that leads to so much harm is flawed and should not be used. It is not scientific to use methods that cause so much harm just like it would not be scientific to build a house without a proper engineering study and structure. The question that the book raises but leaves unanswered is whether we just have to manage the harm the current prevailing methods cause, or whether we have to search for better methods. The last chapters give a hint, by presenting the case of the California river and how the economists could contribute positively to policy-making by working with methods that prioritise the prevention of harm.

The despise of economics to methodologies of other social sciences that are less interventionist and less distanced from reality had a drawback that today seems evident, but some decades ago, it was not: it led to most economists not even understanding where the data they use is coming from; to adapting the data and the decision on what type of data they will use, to the model they have and not vice versa; to take modelling and statistical analysis of state-created data as the best way to understand the economy; and of course to turn to research fields that have certain types of data that are convenient for economics and its modelling urge, rather than to fields that are part of core sectors of the economy but are more messy and unstable as knowledge sources than a clean statistical set ready to find from a state or corporate organisation. Stated otherwise, the despise to methodological self-reflection led to ignorance or worse, to harmful economics.

The paper explains how centering the prevention of harm in economics requires completely different methodologies and not only different ethics; how the understandings of the economic activity and even more the policy making through economic expertise demands variety of methods, that would include both quantitative and qualitative methodological tools; and how the quantitative part of economic methodology needs to be re-built from scratch to include quantitative approaches that are appropriate for a planet in climate crisis and for societies struggling to escape inequality and poverty.

In other words, we do not only have unethical methodologies, we also have bad methodologies that cause harm. That unethical and bad science goes hand in hand is something that other disciplines know for some time now and by the occasion of DeMartino’s book, it is time that economics catches up with its peers.

Machines Against Measures – Μηχανές Εναντίον Μέτρων

This is my new book, to be released the upcoming months by Bloomsbury UK.

Αυτό είναι το νέο μου βιβλίο. Μηχανές Εναντίων Μέτρων, που θα εκδοθεί τους επόμενους μήνες από το εκδοτικό οίκο Bloomsbury UΚ.

Table of Contents

Part I: the non-mainstream modes of transaction and production and the quantity question

1. Introduction: the non-mainstream modes of transaction & production, or when what works in practice struggles to work in theory

2. Theoretical background: Capitalist patriarchy, quantification, historical materialism in the field and the “alternatives” to capitalism

3. Theory again: Is measuring a form of violence?

4. Approaches, research methodologies and the quantitative methods problem

Part II: The practices of quantifying otherwise

5. Quantities and measures in the non-mainstream field

6. The question of time

7. The question of value

8. ICTs in the non-mainstream field

9. Machines otherwise?

Part III: Machines, measures and (social) reproduction

10. Machines, measures, and the neoliberal version of capitalist patriarchy

11. Machines and measures in service of (social) reproduction

12. Capitalist patriarchal reprise: measures and machines as contested means of (re)production

13. Conclusion: “The Master’s Tools Will Never Dismantle the Master’s House” and the options we have

Bibliography

Πίνακας Περιεχομένων [το βιβλίο δεν έχει μεταφραστεί ακόμη στα ελληνικά και η μετάφραση είναι ενδεικτική, καθώς κάποιες έννοιες θέλουν πολλή συζήτηση για το πώς θα μεταφραστούν]

Μέρος I: Οι μη κυρίαρχοι τρόποι συναλλαγής και παραγωγής και το ζήτημα της ποσότητας

1. Εισαγωγή: Οι μη κυρίαρχοι τρόποι συναλλαγής και παραγωγής, ή όταν αυτό που λειτουργεί στην πράξη δυσκολεύεται να λειτουργήσει στη θεωρία

2. Θεωρητικό υπόβαθρο: Καπιταλιστική πατριαρχία, ποσοτικοποίηση, ιστορικός υλισμός στο πεδίο και οι «εναλλακτικές» στον καπιταλισμό

3. Θεωρία ξανά: Είναι η μέτρηση μια μορφή βίας;

4. Προσεγγίσεις, μεθοδολογίες έρευνας και το πρόβλημα των ποσοτικών μεθόδων

Μέρος II: Οι πρακτικές ποσοτικοποίησης αλλιώς

5. Ποσότητες και μέτρα στο μη κυρίαρχο πεδίο

6. Το ζήτημα του χρόνου

7. Το ζήτημα της αξίας

8. Τεχνολογίες Πληροφορικής και Επικοινωνίας στο μη κυρίαρχο πεδίο

9. Μηχανές αλλιώς;

Μέρος III: Μηχανές, μέτρα και (κοινωνική) αναπαραγωγή

10. Μηχανές, μέτρα και η νεοφιλελεύθερη εκδοχή της καπιταλιστικής πατριαρχίας

11. Μηχανές και μέτρα στην υπηρεσία της (κοινωνικής) αναπαραγωγής

12. Καπιταλιστική πατριαρχική επαναφορά: μέτρα και μηχανές ως διεκδικούμενα μέσα (ανα)παραγωγής

13. Συμπέρασμα: «Τα εργαλεία του αφέντη δεν θα γκρεμίσουν ποτέ το σπίτι του αφέντη» και οι επιλογές που έχουμε

Βιβλιογραφία

Documentary about small producers, small markets & the bioeconomy

This is a short documentary presenting the small producers and small markets and their importance to the local economy and the bioeconomy. The video is available at the link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri2llwix25s
The documentary has been prepared within the framework of the project “Getting to know the existing bioeconomy in East Riding: The farmers’ markets case” that was conducted by Prof. Pauline Deutz and Dr Irene Sotiropoulou as part of the THYME project at the University of Hull.

Ντοκυμανταίρ για τ@ς μικρ@ς παραγωγούς, τις μικρές αγορές & τη βιοοικονομία

Πρόκειται για ένα σύντομο ντοκυμανταίρ που παρουσιάζει τ@ς μικρ@ς παραγωγούς και τις μικρές αγορές και τη σημασία τους για την τοπική οικονομία και τη βιοοικονομία. Το βίντεο είναι διαθέσιμο στο σύνδεσμο https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ri2llwix25s

Το ντοκυμανταίρ ετοιμάστηκε στο πλαίσιο του ερευνητικού έργου «Μαθαίνοντας για την υπάρχουσα βιοοικονομία στο East Riding: Η περίπτωση των αγροτικών αγορών», που πραγματοποιήθηκε από την Καθηγήτρια Pauline Deutz και τη Δρα Ειρήνη Σωτηροπούλου στο πλαίσιο του προγράμματος THYME στο Πανεπιστήμιο του Hull.

“Why the sea is salty” – “Γιατί είναι η θάλασσα αλμυρά”

Το κεφάλαιο αναλύει ένα λαϊκό παραμύθι από την Κρήτη, που αναφέρεται στην χρήση της τεχνολογίας και στις επιπτώσεις της χρήσης αυτής όταν είναι υπό τον έλεγχο διάφορων κοινωνικών τάξεων.
Το κεφάλαιο βρίσκεται στον συλλογικό τόμο των W.G.Mullins & P.Batra-Wells (eds) (2019) The Folklorist in the Marketplace: The Economics of Folklore and the Folklore of Economics, Utah State University Press-University Press of Colorado, pp. 214-233.

https://www.academia.edu/41692570/_Why_the_sea_is_salty_Folktales_as_sources_of_grassroots_economics

The chapter analyses a folk tale from Crete island, referring to the use of technology and the impact of that use when technology is under the control of different social classes.
Chapter 10 in W.G.Mullins & P.Batra-Wells (eds) (2019) The Folklorist in the Marketplace: The Economics of Folklore and the Folklore of Economics, Utah State University Press-University Press of Colorado, pp. 214-233.

Women in solidarity economy in Greece: Liberation practices or one more task undertaken?

Paper presented at “En-gendering Macroeconomics & International Economics Summer Seminar”, (16-18.7.2013) Krakow, Poland.

 

https://www.academia.edu/38236531/Women_in_solidarity_economy_in_Greece_Liberation_practices_or_one_more_task_undertaken

Commons and private property as a patriarchal trap

The paper has been presented at the Heteropolitics International Workshop, held in Aristotle University of Thessalonike on 13-15.9.2017.

https://www.academia.edu/35957415/Commons_and_private_property_as_a_patriarchal_trap

Full Conference proceedings at

Click to access Conference_Proceedings_Website.pdf

Abstract:

The paper investigates the concept of commons as a western European patriarchal term constructed in antithesis to private property following the historical material conditions formed during the advance of capitalism. I use feminist theory to understand how commons have taken over the demand for collective arrangements in late capitalism concerning both natural ecosystems and human societies.

The paper examines commons in comparison to private property and its understandings within a framework where patriarchy is investigated as an economic system and capitalism is a form of patriarchy. I also examine how commons became prominent in the political discourse, exactly at the time of multi-layered changes in private property regimes under neoliberal policies.

The focus on the commons has reduced the interest in the critique of private property and in its abolition as an anti-capitalist anti-patriarchal claim of communities and social movements. Quite the opposite: Commons are a form of property and the logic of property seems to expand to the discourse about the alternatives to private property. In other words, commons and private property are constructed in late capitalism as one more patriarchal binary of propertied “things”.

Moreover, the commons are thought of as the “left-overs” of private property. This perception leads to prioritising private property demands and having the commoners following the agenda of the privatisers instead of setting a non-property agenda. It seems that the commons, as constructed till the moment, bear this acceptance of private property as the main political economic institution to define arrangements of access and control over means of production. They also represent the social understanding that property is the only way to institutionally understand our relationship to the world.

The paper contributes to the commons debate by showing that the patriarchal construction of the commons keeps them tied to private property sustaining the latter and degrading the potential of the former for social change.

Κρυμμένο στα ζυμαρένια φύλλα: Ένα έθιμο συμβολικής αναδιανομής στη Θράκη

Διαφάνειες από τη μελέτη (σε εξέλιξη) που παρουσιάστηκε στο 4ο Συμπόσιο Ελληνικής Γαστρονομίας που έλαβε χώρα στα Καράνου την 29-30.7.2017.

https://goo.gl/yb5vrS

Hidden in the doughsheets: A custom of symbolic redistribution in Thrace, Greece

This is the slide series for a paper (work in progress) presented at the 4th Symposium of Greek Gastronomy, held at Karanou of Chania (Greece) on 29-30.7.2017.

 

https://www.academia.edu/35575023/Hidden_in_the_dough_sheets_A_custom_of_symbolic_redistribution_in_Thrace_Greece