After the Crash, Beyond Liquidity

At our planning meeting, we sketched out a reading list. A quorum of group members seemed to want to “begin at the beginning” with Adam Smith, even if his monetary theory was discarded by the “neoclassical” tradition. It was suggested we allow our selves more flexibility to pursue distinct thematic constellations after that foundation. The plan is to meet once a week in the run up to the conference (October 31st). And we can adjust our goals as we go.

We’re going to try Monday at 6pm as our meeting time, with Monday August 31st as our first meeting with assigned reading. We’ll meet in the English Faculty Lounge, 2nd floor of Bryan Hall, across from the elevator. If you’re coming late, that’s fine. We may adjust the meeting time in the future.

Here’s our reading assignment:

• Adam Smith, Vol I, Book I, Chapters 3-7, The Wealth of Nations (1776)
• David Hume, “Of Money,” “Of Interest,” “Of the Balance of Trade,” “Of Public Credit,” from Essays: Moral, Political, and Literary (1777)

Both of these texts are available at the “Online Library Liberty” and may be downloaded for free:

• http://oll.libertyfund.org/
• Hume’s Essays
• Smith’s The Wealth of Nations, Vol I

A sketch of reading assignments and suggestions appears pasted in below. Future readings that are protected by copyright may be stored behind a firewall on a UVa Collab worksite.

To Be Scheduled:
Ian Baucom, Specters of the Atlantic
Ritu Birla, Stages of Capital
Thomas Malthus, Essay on Population
Randy Martin, Financialization of Daily Life
Joseph Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy

The “Beyond Liquidity” Reading Group
When: August 24, 2009 at 5pm
Where: Faculty Lounge, 2nd floor of Bryan Hall (across from the elevator)

Our interdisciplinary reading/working group will hold its first, organizational meeting on Monday, August 24th. We’re dedicated to reading the classics of economic thought this semester before and after the “Beyond Liquidity” conference on October 31st.

The meeting will be quick. We’ll decide what, exactly, we’re planning to read and what day and time our future meetings will be scheduled.

If you are unable to make the meeting but would like to participate, please feel free to use the comments to suggest readings our meeting times.

We’ve launched our conference website, welcome!

Please feel free to use make use of the blog comments or email us with questions, comments etc.

Brad Pasanek may be contacted at bmp7e at virginia dot edu, Simone Polillo at sp4ft at virginia dot edu. Our graduate student coordinator, Yuliya Dudaronak, is at yd7h at virginia dot edu.