The Financial Ethics Research Group (University of Gothenburg, Sweden) is organizing its first “Financial Ethics Workshop” on September 16-17. See the detailed schedule below.

The workshop will be held on zoom. Registration is free but mandatory. Please send an email to <louis.larue.2@gu.se> no later than September 14.

Following the workshop, a planned book on the philosophy of money and finance, edited by Joakim Sandberg and Lisa Warenski, is due to be published by Oxford University Press.

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Note: Time indicated below is UCT+2 (Central European Summer Time)

The programme for the conference on “Climate Change Adaptation Finance: Normative and Empirical Perspectives” is now online. It includes a Keynote by Stacy-Ann Robinson (accessible without registration) and a Panel Discussion with representatives from governments, NGOs, policy advice and science. The full programme and further information are available at: https://www.adjust-climate.org/en/conference-2021/

The online conference takes place from September 6 to 7 and registration is free. Just send an email to Jochen Heubach (jheubach@philsem.uni-kiel.de) until September 1, saying that you want to participate in the conference.

The conference brings together leading scholars working on adaptation finance who will present their work on topics such as risk reduction, justice & equity, access to finance, reporting and allocative issues. From a variety of perspectives and disciplines, it aims at discussing how to achieve an effective and fair distribution of available adaptation finance and how to increase that funding.

When: July 15-17, 2021

Where: The school will be held online. We will monitor existing conditions and regulations, and if possible, we will move the event to a blended format, featuring on-campus lectures and online sessions. In case of a blended format, the event will be hosted at the Auditorium of the Institute of Letters and Human Sciences (ILCH) at the ​University of Minho, Braga.

Organization: This event is co-organized by the Centre for Ethics, Politics, and Society of the University of Minho, and the Philosophy Department of the University of York

Convenors: Catarina Neves, Daniele Santoro, and Pedro Teixeira

Speakers:  Martin O’Neill (University of York), Katharina Pistor (Columbia University), João Rodrigues (Universidade de Coimbra), Nicholas Vrousalis (University of Rotterdam)

Website: https://12thsummerschoolcepsbraga.weebly.com

Description
Since Marx’s early theorization, exploitation has been identified as a defining feature of the capitalist mode of production. Exploitation sheds light on the causes of the unfair distribution of resources, opportunities, and wealth, the commodification of the labor market, as well as the plundering of natural resources. It also has the normative significance of both a moral wrongdoing and a structural aspect of an unjust system that calls for change, activism, and revolution once again. As inequalities soar and the concentration of wealth lacerates the social fabric of traditional welfare state societies, the exploitative nature of late-stage capitalism has drawn the attention of a new generation of political philosophers, both in the critical and the analytical tradition.

How does capitalist exploitation take place through legal, distribution, and productive means?  How should we understand the conceptual and normative dimensions of exploitation, and what policies should be pursued to create a less exploitative form of production? The goal of the 12th edition is to answer this question by exploring the role exploitation plays within new forms of capitalist production.

The critique of capitalism is a recurrent theme of the School. In past editions, we discussed alternatives to the existing capitalist regime, such as property-owning democracy (2014) and democratic socialism (2018). We also questioned the legitimacy of free-market capitalism and the role of corporations (2019). 

Our aim in this edition is to elucidate the concept of exploitation, investigate its distributive implications for public policy, its impact on labor and the labor market, and the legal framework enabling exploitative processes.

Among the questions we are particularly interested in debating are the following:   

• What is exploitation? Is exploitation always unjust? How to distinguish exploitation from other forms of moral wrongdoing?
• What taxonomy of exploitation can we identify in capitalistic and socialist regimes?
• Are new forms of exploitation essentially distinct from traditional forms of exploitation?
• Which are the forms of labor most affected by current forms of exploitation? How can decommodification mitigate individuals’ exploitation in the labor market?
• How can policies of predistribution and/or redistribution address issues of exploitation?
• Can egalitarian policies mitigate exploitation, and if so, which ones are the most effective?
• Can exploitation happen in an egalitarian society, and what can we do about it?
• What is the role of the law in perpetuating inequality and exploitation, especially through financial markets?

Format

The school will take place over three days. Two invited lectures will be delivered each day. We invite the participation of Ph.D. students, postdoctoral scholars, and established researchers to join us in the discussion and present their ongoing work on these topics or any related theme. Abstract proposals should not exceed 500 words. To submit a proposal, visit the School’s website.

Deadline for Abstract submission: May 30, 2021
Applicants who only wish to attend the summer school, and do not want to submit a proposal, should only register for the event (see information below).

Participation

Due to travel restrictions that could still affect on-site participation next Summer, the School is being organized in a digital format this year. We hope that delivering the event online will encourage proposals from many who might be hesitating to commit to an in-person event, giving the current uncertainty. We will follow the changes in travel restrictions and the regulations in Portugal regarding international academic events. In case the situation changes, we will consider a blended format for the school, and we will inform all participants. More information about the format will be provided closer to the date of the school. For now, participants will be asked to submit their preferences for the school’s format.

The participation fee is 30 Euros in case the school takes place online. In case we are able to organize a partial in-person event, we will ask participants to increase the fee up to 50 Euros to cover expenses.  Detailed information about registration and payment procedures are available on the School’s website.

Deadline for registration: June 20, 2021. ​​

Information about the program and the school format will be available later on the website. 

For other queries, contact: 12thbragasummerschool@gmail.com

Asynchronous / Online / June 16-30

https://cfi-onlineworkshop.net/2021-cfa

All solutions to climate change—whether mitigation, adaptation, or compensation—play out against a backdrop of domestic and global financial, economic, and political systems. Proposed climate solutions raise issues of justice as well as politics and finance. The complex interplay of these issues calls for conversation and collaboration across disciplinary boundaries.

Visions of a Just Transition, a Green New Deal, or a Green Recovery from COVID-19 have captivated imaginations: but to what extent should responses to climate change be intertwined with radical social, economic, or political transformation? Fossil fuel companies facing asset stranding have obstructed climate solutions: but do they hold the key to developing carbon dioxide removal technologies? Renewable energy remains generally capital-intensive: how can we incentivise breakthrough innovations? Future generations will benefit significantly from action on climate change today: should we “borrow from the future” to fund a clean energy transition?

Facilitating conversations addressing such questions is the aim of this year’s Climate Futures Workshop. We outline some other possible questions below:

Broad

• What role should we take self-interest to play in climate finance and politics, and how should self-interested motivations be constrained and channeled?
• Is it feasible or desirable for future generations to bear any of the costs of current mitigation measures?
• How do climate solutions connect with social movements for political and climate justice?

Narrow

• Can fossil-fuel firms transform themselves from part of the problem to part of the solution? Can and should they be forgiven for their past roles in causing climate change and obstructing action to mitigate it? What kinds of constructive contributions can they offer? How can the various resources of fossil-fuel companies be redirected for developing climate solutions?
• Developed countries agreed in Paris to a goal of “mobilising” $100bn per year by 2020 in climate finance. How should “mobilisation” be understood? How can climate finance be made more effective?
• Can payments for ecosystem services such as natural carbon sinks be both just and effective?
• What balance of command-and-control or pricing instruments will best achieve climate justice?
• What role should economic measurements of the social cost of carbon play in setting climate policy, given the theoretical and practical difficulties of an accurate assessment?
• Is buying fossil fuel reserves in order to keep them in the ground a feasible strategy?
• Can changes in corporate governance incentivise increased investment in climate change adaptation?

Presenters

• Robert Keohane
• John Broome
• Rebecca Henderson
• Michael Oppenheimer
• Simon Caney
• Alyssa Bernstein
• Paul Kelleher
• Rachel Kyte
• Angel Hsu
• Alexandre Gajevic Sayegh
• Matto Mildenberger
• Jessica Green
• Thea Riofrancos

Organizers

The Climate Futures Workshop 2021 is sponsored by the Climate Futures Initiative, the High Meadows Environmental Institute, and the Center for Human Values at Princeton University.