Frequently Asked Questions
Why was CfESI formed?
CfESI was formed by members of Steve Keen’s Debtwatch blog (http://www.debtdeflation.com/blogs), initially to support the Keen Walk to Kosciuszko, which took place in April 2010. However the founders always wanted CfESI to have a continuing role in developing an empirically based approach to economics (specifically based on the “Circuit Theory” approach that Keen had built on the work of the European Circuitist School), and economic policies based on this approach. It has been largely quiescent since the Kosciuszko Walk, largely because the tasks required are well beyond what volunteers have time to do.
Who are on CfESI’s Board?
The current membership is: President–Steve Keen; Vice-President–Craig Tindale; Secretary–Colin McKay; Hon. Treasurer–Melina Forrest; Public Officer–Matt Carroll; Committee members–Joe McIvor, David Lawson. All positions will be open for election at the AGM on September 7th 2011.
What will CfESI do with the money raised from membership fees?
The first major task will be to support the continuing development of the economic simulation program “Minsky”. This program adapts the systems dynamics paradigm that has been so successful in engineering and other disciplines to the special needs of modeling monetary flows in a market economy.
Minsky’s initial development is being funded by a A$128,000 grant from INET, the Institute for New Economic Thinking. This will enable version 1.0 of the software to be developed, but this will be only the tip of what Minsky could achieve.
If sufficient funds are raised by membership (a minimum of A$10,000 p.a.), CfESI will participate in an application for an ARC Linkage Grant which will aim to raise up to A$500,000 p.a. for the further development of Minsky.
August 26, 2011 at 6:38 am
I have been reading Debtwatch regularly for some time and can follow and agree with Steve Keen’s view point about 85% of the time .About 15% is so technical or Mathematical that it’s over my head.
If you want U.S citizens to Join, all you need to do is spell out the cost of membership in U.S dollars and state that payment is considered a charitable contribution by the US IRS. Then stand back or get a bigger mailbox.Americans who are interested in this are all people who are acutely aware of the tax consequences of everything
August 26, 2011 at 6:46 am
Thanks Stephen, that’s good advice. I’ll amend the page now.
It is a non-profit, but I’m not sure about whether it would qualify under the IRS rules. We don’t yet have the same status in Australia, but we will arrange that–for the specifically research side of activities–very soon.
September 26, 2011 at 5:59 am
Hi Steve
Can whoever is managing the site on behalf of yourself consider sending updates with direct links to all new postings so it brings myself or any other member directly back to the latest postings that go on the site.
Could this be done for members so if a log on code is forgotten or we change our email address it is clearer where this is addressed and we dont miss out on any updates in the meantime.
ICA has a great process and Ken Phillips who oversees the site might be great to talk to. the regular updates link members straight back into the site.
Lazy I know but for time poor members it is wonderful to get the news first up.
regards pola
September 26, 2011 at 7:35 am
Hi Pola, I’ve set up cross-posting from Debtwatch to CfESI; now I’ll see if I can add email updates as well.
September 26, 2011 at 6:06 am
Thanks Pola,
Yes we’ll try to set something like that up. The real difficulty is that at present I’m still doing everything myself, and keeping 2 blogs going at once is more than I have time for. But we’re on the verge of getting enough funding for the Center to hire a full time web developer/office manager, so this stuff will be addressed soon I hope.
In the meantime, thanks to all for patience on this. The Center is getting momentum and will I hope be fully functional by about February of next year. In the meantime, the funding we ghave received so far has enabled me to meet with potential sponsors and set out what our aims, objectives and conditions are.
September 26, 2011 at 6:07 am
Thanks Pola,
I hope this answer gets posted: twice I’ve tried to put it up and it has been blocked by a “duplicate post detected” error!
Yes we’ll try to set something like that up. The real difficulty is that at present I’m still doing everything myself, and keeping 2 blogs going at once is more than I have time for. But we’re on the verge of getting enough funding for the Center to hire a full time web developer/office manager, so this stuff will be addressed soon I hope.
In the meantime, thanks to all for patience on this. The Center is getting momentum and will I hope be fully functional by about February of next year. In the meantime, the funding we ghave received so far has enabled me to meet with potential sponsors and set out what our aims, objectives and conditions are.
December 16, 2011 at 11:19 pm
Hi Steve,
I am excited to see your initiative to develop Minsky, which I learned about through understandingmoney@googlegroups.com.
Where might we learn more about this project — current state-of-play, development plans and so on? Is this entirely in-house development, or is there an open-source aspect to it?
May I also suggest embellishing the name somewhat to make mentions of it instantly prominent in search results, rather than overshadowed by the real Minsky? Say “MinskySim” or something even better?
Thanks,
– Graham
December 16, 2011 at 11:29 pm
Thanks Graham,
Good points: I’ll establish a page about it on Debtwatch and here.
It’s still at prototype stage, but we have a working prototype which we’ll release in about 6 weeks I hope (some additional functions are needed to make it usable–copying of objects and changing simulation speeds in particular).
It is Open Source, and will be released as such. We’re in the process of establishing a project page for it as well, but we want to wait until the prototype is usable before we do that.
Development has been funded by a grant from the Institute for New Economic Thinking (http://www.ineteconomics.org), and I’ll soon be applying for additional funding to greatly accelerate its development.
Good idea re the name too. We’ll work on something. Minsky was a good code name for the development stage of course, and we’ll probably go for a dual name once it is released.
December 17, 2011 at 1:58 pm
Hi admin (Steve?) — thanks for your interesting reply. May I ask what OSes you are targeting, and what development platform you are using?
December 17, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Yes it’s Steve (still haven’t raised enough sponsorship money to hire someone! More on that shortly).
It’s being developed in a Tcl/Tk environment in C++. Once a functional prototype is together, the Tcl/Tk graphics environment will be replaced with a platform independent graphics library. It all runs on top of Cairo so it will work on any platform: the developer uses a Linux box, I’m testing on a PC.
December 24, 2011 at 2:40 am
Hi Steve,
As you know, I’ve also signed up to your Debtwatch site, but it seems only sociable to post here as well. Best wishes to CfESI and fervent hopes it will achieve its objectives!
Since one of my interests is international development, I’d like to ask you what you see as the implications for your Minsky model in that area. Might it reveal aspects about conditionality or PRSPs that economic orthodoxy disguises?
On another topic, is there any way to volunteer services to CfESI, or are you not at that stage yet?
(BTW, the ineteconomics link in your post of Dec. 16 doesn’t work. I think there’s a syntax error.)
Michael
December 24, 2011 at 3:55 am
Thanks Michael!
I’ll answer the development question after some last minute Xmas shopping that I’m just heading out for now.
On the volunteer front, I can’t claim to be organised enough for that right now–too much to do, just me to do it syndrome–but we’re approaching the stage where I can hire someone to help organise such things. So give me an idea of the things you’d be able to help with (there is some possibility though of help in the data entry area shortly).
January 18, 2012 at 7:01 am
Hi Steve,
I’m catching up after the holiday season. I didn’t really have anything specific in mind as to what I could help with, so would be happy to do some data entry. Also happy to assist with editing and site maintenance, if that’s of any use.
Michael
January 22, 2012 at 8:32 pm
Hi Michael,
Sorry for a slow reply–I’m catching up after the holiday season too.
I’ll shortly have the first employee of CfESI on board–more about that in a post shortly–and he will be in a position to coordinate volunteer assistance. I’m not for the simple reason that I’m doing too much already; but I think one viable area is data entry once the Econodata system is viable.
February 24, 2012 at 4:10 am
Hi Steve,
Just checking in again to let you know that I’m still available to do data entry once the Econodata system is up and running.
Thanks.
Michael
February 11, 2012 at 5:21 am
Is it coincidence Steve that your last name aligns with Keynes. Will it now be ”
Keensian” economics? It certainly looks that to me.
February 16, 2012 at 11:47 am
I have often thanked my mother for choosing such a sensible last name for me via marrying my father…
March 4, 2012 at 12:22 pm
Thank you for developing sensible alternatives to the nonsense that I was taught in business school (U Chicago).
I’m about 1/2 way through DE II. It’s a good read, but shying away from math to keep it accessible to a general audience makes it more challenging for me (I used to be a scientist). Are there any plans to create a text book at some point? Or perhaps two text books – micro and macro? I know you’re busy, but it’s important that better materials become available to educate the next generation of economists.
May 8, 2012 at 11:40 am
I really enjoy reading your work (even if some of it does go over my head), its given me back my interest in economics. I studied a little economics in uni and high school but became disillusioned with it, in part because of the uncritical acceptance of the neo-classical models.
However I wonder whether your attempts to civilise capitalism is a viable project in the longer term. I don’t really consider myself a socialist but I do find it difficult to see how future crises can be prevented in any capitalist system if, to take an admitedly Marxist approach, the production of ideas is controlled by a few powerful sections of society.
Lets assume your model (or something similar) becomes widely accepted over the years as people increasingly question the neo-classical approach which has caused such problems. We then recover and enjoy a period of stable growth, as in the 50s and 60s (though obviously there will be many differences) but later, as happened to Keynesian economics starting in the 70s and 80s, the ideas fall out of favour again due perhaps to some sort of similar economic stagnation. This would be almost inevitable, unless the new economic paradigm is perfect AND perfectly implemented (and I don’t think you would claim this to be the case). What then stops the powerful from exploiting the situation to bring back some form a neo-classical model for their own benefit and thereby cause another crisis?
I would be very interested to hear your thoughts on this.
May 19, 2012 at 5:26 am
Hi Patrick,
Sorry for the slow approval–too much on right now.
I expect our problems after we resolve this financial one will be primarily environmental. I agree the scenario you present is feasible, which is why I argue for reforms that could prevent the financial sector from accumulating sufficient power to do damage in the future.