A central feature of the Alternative Approaches Research Group is a commitment to pluralism, and in particular to a recognition that mathematical modelling is not the only way to study social phenomena. All members of this grouping prioritise real world relevance, and contribute to the history of economic thought and heterodox economics. Within heterodox economics, a focus on institutional economics and forms of development economics is fairly strong. The majority also work on philosophical issues, most especially social ontology, that is on studying the nature of social phenomena (the nature of money, firms, technology, etc.), and are participants of the Cambridge Social Ontology Group (https://www.csog.econ.cam.ac.uk/).
Carolina Alves
Joan Robinson Research Fellow in Heterodox Economics (Girton College)
Research Interests
Macroeconomics, Money, Monetary and Fiscal Policy, Public Debt, Financialisation, Marxist Economics and Latin America
Dr Ivano Cardinale
Senior Lecturer, Goldsmiths, University of London
Research Interests
Political Economy, History of Economic Thought, Economic Theory
Dr Ha-Joon Chang
University Reader
Research Interests
Role of the state in economic change
Dr Phil Faulkner
Fellow, Senior College Teaching Officer, Director of Studies in Economics (Clare College)
Research Interests
Social Ontology, Realist Social Theory, Ontology of Technology
Professor Tony Lawson
Professor of Economics and Philosophy
Research Interests
Social ontology, philosophy of science, political economy and history of thought
Dr Clive Lawson
College Teaching Officer (Girton College)
Research Interests
Aviation and the Environment, Philosophy of Technology, Social Ontology, Methodology of Economics, History of Thought
Dr Jose Gabriel Palma
Emeritus Senior Lecturer
Research Interests
The economic development of Latin America and East Asia and their integration within the World Economy. In particular, the study of these economies from the point of view of their economic history, macroeconomics, international trade and international finance.
Research Grants
- ISRF Professorial Research Fellowship (INDEPENDENT SOCIAL RESEARCH FOUNDATION (ISRF)) - Lawson, T.
Published Papers
Faulkner, P. and Runde, J. Theorizing the Digital Object, MIS Quarterly (2019)Lawson, T. Money’s Relation to Debt: some problems with MMT’s conception of money, Real-World Economics Review (2019)
Lawson, T. The Constitution and Nature of Money, Cambridge Journal of Economics (2018)
Naqvi, N., Henow, A. and Chang, H. J. Kicking away the financial ladder? German development banking under economic globalisation, Review of International Political Economy (2018)
Lawson, T. Debt as Money, Cambridge Journal of Economics (2018)
Feduzi, A., Runde, J., Cabantous, L., Faulkner, P. and Loch, C. Updating “Small World Representations” In Strategic Decision-Making Under Extreme Uncertainty, Proceedings of the Seventy-eighth Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (2018)
Andreoni, A. and Chang, H. J. The political economy of industrial policy: structural interdependencies, policy alignment and conflict management, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics (2018)
Andreoni, A., Chang, H. J. and Scazzieri, R. Industrial policy in context: building blocks for an integrated and comparative political economy agenda, Structural Change and Economic Dynamics (2018)
Andreoni, A., Chang, H. J., Konzelmann, S. and Shipman, A. Introduction to the special issue: towards a production-centred agenda, Cambridge Journal of Economics (2018)
Cambridge Working Papers in Economics
Palma, J. G. Why is inequality so unequal across the world? Part 1. The diversity of inequality in disposable income: multiplicity of fundamentals, or complex interactions between political settlements and market failures?, CWPE1999
(2019)Palma, J. G. The Chilean economy since the return to democracy in 1990. On how to get an emerging economy growing, and then sink slowly into the quicksand of a “middle-income trap”, CWPE1991
(2019)Alves, C., Toporowski, J. Growth of international finance and emerging economies: Elements for alternative approach, CWPE1930
(2019)Palma, J. G. Why is inequality so unequal across the world? Part 2 The diversity of inequality in market income ─ and the increasing asymmetry between the distribution of income before and after taxes and transferences, CWPE19100
(2019)Palma, J. G. Do nations just get the inequality they deserve? The 'Palma Ratio' re-examined, CWPE1627
(2016)Palma, J. G. Why corporations in developing countries are likely to be even more susceptible to the vicissitudes of international finance than their counterparts in the developed world: A Tribute to Ajit Singh, CWPE1539
(2015)Lawson, T. Comparing Conceptions of Social Ontology: Emergent Social Entities and/or Institutional Facts?, CWPE1514
(2015)Palma, J. G. Has the income share of the middle and upper-middle been stable over time, or is its current homogeneity across the world the outcome of a process of convergence? The 'Palma Ratio' revisited , CWPE1437
(2014)Palma, J. G. Latin America's social imagination since 1950. From one type of 'absolute certainties' to another - with no (far more creative)'uncomfortable uncertainties' in sight,, CWPE1416
(2014)Palma, J. G. How to create a financial crisis by trying to avoid one: the Brazilian 1999-financial collapse as "Macho-Monetarism" can't handle "Bubble Thy Neighbour" levels of inflows, CWPE1301
(2013)Palma, J. G. Was Brazil's recent growth acceleration the world's most overrated boom?, CWPE1248
(2012)Palma, J. G. How the full opening of the capital account to highly liquid financial markets led Latin America to two and a half cycles of ‘mania, panic and crash’, CWPE1201
(2012)Palma, J. G. Homogeneous middles vs. heterogeneous tails, and the end of the ‘Inverted-U’: the share of the rich is what it’s all about, CWPE1111
(2011)Palma, J. G. Why has productivity growth stagnated in most Latin-American countries since the neo-liberal reforms? (Revised 26-07-2011), CWPE1030
(2010)Palma, J. G. The Revenge of the Market on the Rentiers: Why neo-liberal Reports of the end of history turned out to be premature, CWPE0927
(2009)Authored Books
Lawson, T. The Nature of Social Reality: Issues in Social Ontology, (2019), RoutledgeLawson, C. Technology and Isolation, (2017), Cambridge University Press
Lawson, T. The Nature and State of Modern Economics, (2015), Routledge
Chang, H.J. Economics : the user guide, (2014), Penguin
Chang, H.J. 23 things they don't tell you about capitalism, (2011), Penguin
Lawson, T. Reorienting Economics, (2003), Routledge
Lawson, T. Economics and Reality, (1997), Routledge
Chapter in Book
Chang, H..J. Economic development, (2019), forthcoming in Development : mechanisms of change. Edited by Torsten Krude, Sara Baker - Cambridge University PressLawson, C. Feenberg, rationality and isolation, (2018), forthcoming in Critical theory and the thought of Andrew Feenberg. Edited by Darrell Arnold, Michel Andreas - Palgrave Macmillan
Lawson, T. Eudaimonic Bubbles, Social Change and the NHS, (2017), forthcoming in Morphogenesis and Eudaimonia. - Springer
Lawson Collective learning, system competences and epistemically signicant moments, (2017), forthcoming in High-technology clusters, networking and collective learning in Europe. Edited by David Keeble, Frank Wilkinson - Taylor and Francis
Lawson, T. What is this 'school' called neoclassical economics?, (2016), forthcoming in What is neoclassical economics? Debating the origins, meaning and significance. Edited by Jamie Morgan - Routledge
Lawson, T. Ideology and economics, (2016), forthcoming in Crisis system: a critical realist and environmental critique of economics and the economy. Edited by Peter Naess, Leigh Price - Routledge
Lawson, T. A Conception of Social Ontology, (2015), forthcoming in Social ontology and modern economics. Edited by Stephen Pratten - Routledge
Chang,H.J. Is industrial policy necessary and feasible in Africa?: theoretical considerations and historical lessons, (2015), forthcoming in Industrial policy and economic transformation in Africa. Edited by Akbar Noman, Joseph Stiglitz - Columbia University Press
