CFP: Ethics of Business, Trade & Global Governance – An Online Conference

Date:  Friday, December 4, 2020
Proposal Submission Deadline: September 15, 2020
Plenary Speaker: Douglas Irwin, John French Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College

The Saint Anselm College Center for Ethics in Business and Governance, in cooperation with the Department of Finance—University of Vienna and the University of St. Andrews Centre for Responsible Banking & Finance, announces a call for proposals for a one-day conference on the economics, ethics and governance of global commerce.

International trade policies and disputes have dominated domestic and international politics.  From the continued negotiations in the EU and the UK over Brexit to US/China tariff “battles,” the questions and debates over international trade and capital flows will not be going away, particularly in the midst, and in the aftermath, of the COVID-19 pandemic.  Many of these trade discussions highlight the economic benefits and costs of individual trade deals or policies without examining the diverse ethical, economic, social and political ramifications of globalization and trade for global actors as well as for local communities and businesses. What is needed now is a more comprehensive, interdisciplinary discussion of the complexities of international commerce.

The goal of this one-day conference is to bring together ethicists, economists, political scientists, international relations scholars, policy experts, and business leaders to examine not only the political and economic impact of globalization but also how international trade and investment can be conducted more ethically.

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Postdoc “Democratic Governance of Funded Pension Schemes” at Leiden University

The Institute of Public Administration of the Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs at Leiden University is looking for a post-doctoral researcher for the NORFACE-funded project  “Democratic Governance of Funded Pension Schemes” (DEEPEN). The position is for up to 3 years, with a start date  between September 1 and December 1, 2020.

The postdoc will be part of the research team at Leiden University, led by Dr. Natascha van der Zwan. Other research teams are based in Austria, Ireland and Spain. We’re looking for candidates with a PhD in political science, sociology, or related discipline. Candidates should also have a strong command of qualitative research methods. In addition to proficiency in English, a good command of Dutch is considered an important asset.

Deadline for applications is soon: *June 23, 2020*.

A full description of the position can be found here <https://nataschavanderzwan.com/2020/06/09/postdoc-for-deepen-project/>.

To apply, please use the Leiden University application portal <https://career012.successfactors.eu/career?_s.crb=gkRl6T%252bfNEZ9InAGuuUxS6knMFaVWIh5IZF%252fWRVXIKE%253d>.

Seventh Annual Amartya Sen Essay Prize 2020

This year, Global Financial Integrity and Academics Stand Against Poverty will be awarding the seventh annual Amartya Sen Prizes to the two best original essays examining one particular component of illicit financial flows, the resulting harms and possible avenues of reform. Entered essays should be about 7,000 to 9,000 words long. There is a first prize of $5,000 and a second prize of $3,000.

Illicit financial flows are generally defined as cross-border movements of funds that are illegally earned, transferred, or used. Examples are funds earned through illegal trafficking in persons, drugs or weapons; funds illegally transferred through mispriced exchanges (e.g., among affiliates of a multinational corporation seeking to shift profits to reduce taxes); funds moved to evade taxes; and funds used for corruption of or by public or corporate officials. Illicit financial flows are explicitly recognized as an obstacle to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and singled out as a separate target #4 of SDG 16.

Components of illicit financial flows can be delimited by sector and geographically. Delimitation by sector might focus your essay on some specific activity, business or industry – such as art, real estate, health care, technology, entertainment, shipping, agriculture, sports, gaming, education, politics, tourism, natural resource extraction, banking and financial services – or on an even narrower subsector such as the diamond trade, hunting, insurance or prostitution. Delimitation by geography might further narrow the essay’s focus to some particular country, province or region.

Your essay should describe the problematic activity and evaluate the adverse effects of it that make it problematic. Also, in quantitative terms insofar as this is possible, you should estimate the magnitude of the relevant outflows as well as the damage they do to the institutions and to the affected populations. This might include harm from abuse, exploitation and impoverishment of individuals, harm through subdued economic activity and reduced prosperity, and/or harm through diminished tax revenues that depress public spending.

Your essay should also explain the persistence of the harmful activity in terms of relevant incentives and enabling conditions and, based on your explanation, propose plausible ways to curtail the problem. Such reform efforts might be proposed at diverse levels, including supranational rules, national rules, corporate policies, professional ethics, individual initiatives, or any combination thereof. The task is to identify who has the responsibility, the capacity and (potentially) the knowledge and motivation to change behavior toward effective curtailment.

We welcome authors from diverse academic disciplines and from outside the academy. Please send your entry by email attachment on or before 31 August 2020 to senprize@gfintegrity.org. While your email should identify you, your essay should be stripped of self-identifying references, formatted for blind review.

Post-doc in Economic Ethics

The University of Gothenburg is looking to hire a 2-year postdoctoral researcher in economic ethics; that is, the application of moral or political philosophy to critical issues in business organizations or the economic system. The topic should be understood broadly so as to include subtopics like business ethics, professional ethics, ethics and economics, the political philosophy of markets, and the philosophy of economics.

The post doc will join the Financial Ethics Research Group under the direction of Professor Joakim Sandberg. The group is funded by the University of Gothenburg, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Marcus and Amalia Wallenberg Foundation, and the Swedish Foundation for Strategic Environmental Research (Mistra). For more information about the group, see https://flov.gu.se/english/research/research-programs/financial-ethics

Subject area

Practical philosophy

Subject area description

Economic ethics is the application of concepts, methods and theories from practical philosophy to critical issues in business organizations and the economic system.

Job assignments

The position provides the postdoctoral researcher with an opportunity to solidify and develop his or her scientific skills through conducting research in economic ethics. He or she is expected to spend most of his or her employment on research. The research will be conducted in close collaboration with the rest of the research group, and he or she is expected to actively participate in group-related seminars, events and other activities. He or she is expected to carry out the vast majority of the research in Gothenburg and to participate in a regular and consistent manner in the department’s other relevant research activities. There is an additional possibility to assist in the educational development or teaching of a new M.A. programme in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics (PPE) that is being planned at the department. However, such additional duties will not exceed 20 %.

Eligibility

Eligible for a postdoctoral position are those with a PhD or other foreign degree that is deemed equivalent to PhD. The subject of the doctoral thesis should be in a research area relevant to the subject description above. Since the postdoctoral position is intended to give junior researchers the opportunity to establish themselves in the field, we aim to employ applicants that graduated with PhDs within 3 years of the application deadline.

Assessment

Most emphasis will be put on research proficiency as it is demonstrated in the applicant’s PhD thesis, other publications and project plan. Emphasis will also be put on a documented ability to cooperate and strong skills in planning and organizing research as well as disseminating research results. Furthermore, we give priority to applicants whose project plan and prior work can strengthen the research group overall. The recruitment process may include interviews (possibly by video link) and contacting references.

Apply by

Please submit your application by 2020-06-01.

For more information

For further information about the position, including instructions on how to apply, please visit:

https://www.gu.se/english/about_the_university/job-opportunities/vacancies-details/?id=5703

Contact person

Joakim Sandberg, Project leader
joakim.sandberg@gu.se
https://flov.gu.se/english/research/research-programs/financial-ethics

Fellowships in economic or social ethics

The Hoover Chair in Economic and Social Ethics hosts every year a number of short-term post-doctoral fellows. This year 2020-21 we will offer:

Honorary Hoover post-doctoral fellowships in the field of economic or social ethics. Honorary Hoover post-doctoral fellowships cover travel costs and up to EUR 500 for other expenses

FAIR INHERITANCE, full post-doctoral fellowship, specifically devoted to research on fairness and inheritance. Fellows with no other source of income are offered an all-inclusive gross monthly stipend of EUR 2000 for a period not exceeding 4 months. Fellows on paid leave from their own institution are offered a contribution to their travel and housing expenses.

The selection committee will give special consideration to applications from underrepresented groups in academia (women, minorities and persons with disabilities) and from researchers who live in jurisdictions where academics face significant material or political constraints. Qualified researchers who correspond to this profile are strongly encouraged to apply.

  • Privileges. All fellows will be full members of the Hoover Chair for the duration of their stay. They will be provided with office space, internet connection, free access to various other services, some secretarial assistance, and help in finding accommodation. They will be welcome to take an active part in the Hoover Chair’s activities and will have access to the University’s seminars, lectures and libraries.
  • Eligibility. Candidates must be scholars from outside Belgium, who hold a doctorate or possess equivalent qualifications and are active in the field of economic or social ethics broadly conceived. Candidates to a full fellowship must have no professional income from other sources in the period concerned. Proficiency in either English or French is required, and at least a passive knowledge of both is desirable.
  • Domain. Scholars with an active interest in the main research themes of the Hoover Chair’s members are particularly welcome. These themes include theories of social justice, theories of democracy, the institutional division of distributive labor, the potential and limits of corporate social responsibility, basic income and the future of the welfare state, the stigmatization of social categories, the destiny of the European Union, intergenerational justice, linguistic justice, democracy and solidarity in multinational polities, workplace democracy, ethical behaviour under extreme circumstances, social science research ethics, climate justice, etc. Many of them are illustrated in the essays contained in the volume Arguing about Justice, which can be downloaded free of charge.

* Applications must reach Dina Geron through e-mail with “Hoover post-doctoral fellowship” or “Inheritance post-doctoral fellowship” as subject no later than March 10 2020.

  1. Fill in the form on this page.
  2. Attach to your mail a short letter (in French or English) stating briefly your current research interests with regard to the Hoover Chair as well as your research plan for your stay at the Chair.
  3. Also attach a detailed Curriculum Vitae.

Research Position in Philosophy/Economics

In the Koselleck project Reflexive Rationality of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Spohn at the Department of Philosophy of the University of Konstanz a Research Position in Philosophy / Economics — either as Ph.D. position for 3 years (part time 65% E13) or as a Postdoc position for 2 years (full time 100% E13) — is to be filled at June 1, 2020, or at the earliest convenient date. An extension of this position is possible.

The Koselleck project is about the following issues: The paradigm of homo oeconomicus, as explicated in modern decision and game theory, shapes extensive parts of our social sciences. These theories count as delivering a basically complete normative ideal and hence serve as the critical reference point of behavioral, psycho-, and neuroeconomics, which attempt to overcome the empirical deficiencies of those theories. In contrast to this mainstream, the present project takes game and decision theory to be normatively deficient and thus attempts to improve the normative ideal of a homo oeconomicus and to thereby shift the point of attack of empirical criticism. The project does so by rigorously theorizing ‘reflexive ascent’. According to it, a person considers not only her possible actions and their possible consequences, but also her possible (future) decision situations, which entail those actions. This will provide a systematization of so-called dynamic choice, a systematic treatment of (pre-)commitment and self-binding, and in particular a new fundamental equilibrium concept for game theory, which promises a novel treatment of cooperation and indeed a unification of non-cooperative and cooperative game theory.

A more detailed description of the Koselleck project is found here. Applicants are requested to study this description. The researcher is supposed to contribute in particular to section 3 of that description. This requires competences in microeconomics, decision theory, and/or (practical) philosophy and, by the time the position starts, a master*s degree for the Ph.D. position or a Ph.D. for the postdoc position. He or she will be well embedded not only at the Department of Philosophy, but also at the Department of Economics (Prof. Dr. Urs Fischbacher); he or she will be associated to the Graduate School of Decision Sciences and will find an outstanding research environment at our excellence university.

Applications including a CV, a letter of motivation, a list of publications, possibly a writing sample and a list of courses taught, and copies of academic degree certificates are to be submitted via this application portal no later than February 29, 2020. He is also responsive to any questions concerning this position. For any questions concerning this position please contact Prof. Spohn: wolfgang.spohn@uni-konstanz.de

Tenure Track Position in Economic Ethics

UCLouvain invites applications for a tenure track or tenured full time position in Economic and Social Ethics at the Hoover Chair of Economic and Social Ethics. More info: https://jobs.uclouvain.be/PersonnelAcademique/job/An-academic-position-in-Economic-and-Social-Ethics-%281-EFT%29/560236701/

The successful candidate will have teaching assignments in the field of economic and social ethics, i.e. political philosophy understood as a normative discipline concerned with all aspects of social institutions and social life, with special emphasis on the economic dimension.

The successful candidate will develop and drive a cutting-edge research program principally in the field of economic and social ethics. More specifically, the successful candidate will actively collaborate with economists, political scientists, sociologists, legal scholars or researchers in any relevant disciplines.

Next to her/his research and teaching activities, the successful candidate will need to contribute actively to the twofold mission of the Hoover Chair of economic and social ethics, namely (1) to stimulate ethical reflection in the research and teaching of the Faculty of economic, social, political and communication sciences of the University; and (2) to contribute to a clear and well informed public debate, in Belgium and beyond, about the ethical issues that arise in our society in the various areas covered by the Faculty’s disciplines.

Application deadline: 15th November, 2019

Starting date:  1st September, 2020 Continue reading

Workshop: Extreme wealth as a moral problem

Date: 13-14 November 2019.
Location: Emil-Figge-Str. 50, 44127 Dortmund (Germany), room 0.442
Organisers: Christian Neuhäuser and Dick Timmer

Attendance is free. Limited number of places available. Please register via k.d.timmer@uu.nl or Christian.Neuhaeuser@udo.edu.

Questions about the accumulation of wealth have acquired a new urgency in recent years. Economic inequality is fierce and still rising, both within countries and on a global level. It contributes to, among other things, social and political inequality and distributive unfairness. In light of this, there is a pressing need for work in normative political theory that engages closely with the question of what the justice has to say about the rich and their wealth. Are there distinctive features about the rich compared to the ‘merely’ affluent that we should worry about in particular? Should there be limits to how much wealth and income people can appropriate? And what kinds of institutions and policies are most defensible in curtailing the harmful effects of extreme wealth?

In this workshop, we want to consider the place extreme wealth should have in thinking about justice. We do this by critically examining ‘limitarianism’, which is the view in distributive justice which advocates that it is not morally permissible to have more resources than are needed to fully flourish in life. Ingrid Robeyns (2018) has coined and defended this view, arguing for limits on wealth in order to protect political equality and meet unmet urgent needs.

Provisional schedule

13th November
16.00-17.00: Ingrid Robeyns (Utrecht), “Economic limitarianism: merely moral or also political?”
17.15-18.15: Alan Thomas (York), “Limitarianism and the Political Problem of the Rich”
19.00: Dinner

14th November
9.00-10.00: Stefan Gosepath (Berlin), “Problems with too much (inherited) wealth”
10.15-11.15: Tammy Harel Ben Shahar (Haifa), “Limitarianism and Relative Thresholds”
11.30-12.30: Alexandru Volacu (Bucharest) “Some Reasons to Qualify Orthodox Limitarianism”
12.30-14.00: Lunch
14.00-15.00: Annelien De Dijn (Utrecht), “Republicanism and egalitarism”
15.15-16.15: Lasse Nielsen (Odense), “Limitarianism and social flourishing”
16.30-17.30: Dick Timmer (Utrecht) & Huub Brouwer (Utrecht) “Earning Too Much: The Case For Maximum Income Policies”
19.00 Dinner

CFA: Post-doc on “Values in Finance” at Erasmus University

The Erasmus Initiative “Dynamics of Inclusive Prosperity” is seeking to appoint a postdoctoral researcher in philosophy (3 years fixed-term, 1,0 FTE). The initiative combines members of the Erasmus School of Philosophy (ESPhil), Rotterdam School of Management (RSM), and Erasmus School of Law (ESL), and channels their expertise into ambitious multi-disciplinary research projects. Work is done in collaborative teams that cut across disciplines.

Research Theme “Values in Finance”
We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher in philosophy, in the area of philosophy of economics, to contribute to the research theme “Values in Finance”. Within this research theme, members of the core faculty of the Erasmus Initiative will engage in (i) detailed methodological assessment of finance models and theories through the lens of key theories in the philosophy of science, social science and economics regarding scientific values, explanation, and use of models, and (ii) contribute to debates regarding the future of scientific research in finance, especially with regards to non-epistemic value concepts related to sustainability and inclusive prosperity. The postdoctoral researcher is expected to focus on stream (i) of this research theme.

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The postdoctoral researcher is expected to:

  • Develop the research theme “Values in Finance” together with the scientific director and core faculty of the Erasmus Initiative;
  • Collaborate closely with core faculty of the Erasmus Initiative, as well as researchers in the Department of Finance of RSM and researchers at the Erasmus Institute for Philosophy and Economics (EIPE) of ESPhil;
  • Conduct original interdisciplinary research at the intersection of philosophy and finance, co-authoring scientific articles to be published in leading journals in the philosophy of science, social science, and economics, in particular on the methodology of economics, on questions regarding issues such as values in science, causality, explanation, and models in relation to finance;
  • Disseminate the research at international academic conferences in philosophy of science, social science, and economics as well as in finance and at interdisciplinary workshops and events;
  • Co-organise events and disseminate the research in the public domain;
  • Contribute to teaching courses in the philosophy of science, social science, and economics.

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CFP: Money: What is it? How should it function?

When: November 1-2, 2019
Where: University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Invited speakers:
– Eyja Brynjarsdóttir (University of Iceland)
– Francesco Guala (Milan)
– Uskali Mäki (Helsinki)
– J.P. Smit (Stellenbosch)

Deadline: Please submit an abstract before June 15 to r.d.doody@rug.nl.
Number of words: 1,000. A limited number of submissions will be accepted for presentation. Full papers are due on October 1, 2019.
The Journal of Social Ontology (JSO) will publish a special issue dedicated to papers presented at this conference.

Topic. Money used to be a simple thing in practice: a set of coins and notes. It was of course more complicated in theory, and scholars throughout history have discussed what it is that makes those coins and notes into money: certain natural properties (that are inherent in gold or silver) or certain social properties (being generally accepted and used or being backed by the state).

While these discussions continue, over the last few decades money has also become more complicated in practice. Besides the old coins and notes, we now have electronic money of various sorts, including a large array of digital currencies such as Bitcoin. This is a good time to take the age-old philosophical discussions to a new and more complex level.

Some of the puzzles that new forms of money raise are:

  • How can money have a virtual existence?
  • Can the institution of money function without state support and if so how?
  • Is it possible to develop a unified theory of commodity, fiat and electronic money?

The ontological issues here often lie close to normative issues and debates. For example,

  • Is there a moral right to choose whatever currency one wants?
  • Will new forms of money eventually violate the public’s trust in stability and justice?

This conference brings together experts on the ontology, economics, ethics and politics of money to develop novel answers to questions such as these.

Organizing institutions:
Financial Ethics Research Group of the University of Gothenburg
– Department of Financial Economics of the Faculty of Economics and Business
Centre for Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) of the University of Groningen

Organizing committee: Ryan Doody, Frank Hindriks, Joakim Sandberg