Enormously looking forward to this event on April 21 at 6:30pm ET (online!) with the amazing @emilymbender.bsky.social
and @alexhanna.bsky.social talking about their new book, The AI Con.
Register here:
virginia.zoom.us/webinar/regi...
From Malthus to planetary boundaries: the genealogy of ‘carrying capacity’ as a political technology Vicky Kluzik ABSTRACT How much is too much? The concept ‘carrying capacity’, believed to be first employed in the context of shipping in the nineteenth century, became a key element of Neo-Malthusianism of the 1960s and 1970s, which aimed to curb surplus populations against the backdrop of looming ecological collapse. Adopting an approach that merges a Foucauldian governmentality perspective with Science and Technology Studies (STS) sensitivities, the article investigates the lively genealogy of how ecologists and economists approached the ‘population problem’ through ‘capacity thinking’ to envisage, model, and predict planetary futures. By examining several discursive constellations from the 1920s to the 2000s, the paper illuminates the ascendancy of ‘carrying capacity’ as a ‘fixed ideal’ and a ‘political technology’ that traverses scientific disciplines and societal discourses. This exploration unfolds the presumably simultaneous economization of the environment vis-à-vis the environmentalization of economics, cautioning against claims of a hybridization of these interlinked yet distinct processes. This retro- and prospective analysis unfolds both the ascendancy and the persistence of ‘carrying thinking’ by illuminating how contemporary rationalities of ‘capacity thinking’ are echoed in conceptions of planetary boundaries, circular economy, as well as right-wing and techno-libertarian visions of economic and ecological futures.
Recently published in @jcultecon.bsky.social: @vkluzik.bsky.social on the genealogy of the concept of "carrying capacity" and how it was seized and shaped by both ecologists and economists. Must read for anyone interested in the links between population and the environment.
doi.org/10.1080/1753...
J'ai réalisé pour @franceculture.fr un podcast sur l'histoire des méthodes que les économistes ont développé pour donner une valeur, ou un prix, aux "choses de la vie" depuis 100 ans
La série de 10 (courts) épisodes est ici:
www.radiofrance.fr/francecultur...
Félicitations à Antoine MISSEMER, qui a reçu la médaille de bronze du CNRS 2026 pour la section 40, sciences économiques et de gestion
www.inshs.cnrs.fr/fr/personne/...
✍️ Apply to our ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship!
The European Institute is looking to support a Postdoctoral Fellow for the 2026/27 academic year.
🗓️ Deadline: Monday 1 June, 23.59 (UK time)
👉 Find out more: www.lse.ac.uk/european-institute/resea...
𝗔𝗽𝗽𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗻 for the 𝗘𝗦𝗥𝗖 𝗣𝗼𝘀𝘁𝗱𝗼𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗼𝘄𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 at the LSE European Institute @lse-ei.bsky.social
A great opportunity for 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆-𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿 𝘀𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀 in political economy, public policy, politics, and migration.
𝗗𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗲: 1 June 2026 (23:59 UK)
More info 👇
www.lse.ac.uk/european-ins...
Very useful comparative oil shock data viz.
And, the last but not least highlights:
@raf-danna.bsky.social 's book on the diffusion of Indo-Arabic numerals is finally out! 📚📜🔥🥳
Super key note lecture on the evolution of British Elites. Key concept (for me) was the rise of elite 'ominivore' and the symbolic market for 'ordinary-ness'
Powerfull and informative quant. analysis of the evolution of the publications in the @echistsocreview.bsky.social by @thaleszp.bsky.social
Richard Trainor (Oxf) adds that to maintain the dual identity of EH, its pluralism and integration of different types of methods, it requires 'deliberate design' (institutional arrangements, publication venues, society's org, etc.)
Striking discussions on how politics shaped the field then and now, the rise of male networks after WWII and constant debates about the proper method of EH, notably the relation between social and economic history. Interesting point is that split are usually as methodological as thematic. 2/
A description of an invitation to a kitchen party (morning dress) by Eileen Power
Some (late) highlights from the #EHS100 @echistsoc.bsky.social
Amazing centenary sessions in general, and in part. the one on the history of economic history, incl. Maxine Berg's contribution on Eileen Power and her role in the field's institutionalization (and kitchen parties) 1/
Please help share what must be one of the best jobs ever. We are looking for a writer to join @ourworldindata.org to work with our fantastic team including @maxroser.bsky.social and @hannahritchie.bsky.social. £80k - £120k / ideally full time / location flexible
ourworldindata.org/hiring-write...
More than twenty interviews with some of the leading figures in economic history in the last century are now available to watch on our website & YouTube channel.
Interview with Professor Tony Wrigley:
ehs.org.uk/multimedia/i...
www.youtube.com/@EconomicHis...
A grim subject for most, but a pleasure for me to chat with the excellent @soumayakeynes.ft.com on the Economics Show of @financialtimes.com about three centuries of economic warfare and sanctions www.ft.com/content/2404...
My book (!) How Economics Discovered Women is now available for pre-order from the University of California Press. The book is a survey and critique of how the economics of gender has developed since the mid-1970s. www.ucpress.edu/books/how-ec...
NEW: @annpettifor.bsky.social reviews The Story of Capital by @davidharvey.org @versobooks.bsky.social, an authoritative and essential reading of Marx's Capital for our age of spiralling accumulation and finance capital.
What began as a lecture on the field's evolution is turning into a paper. An animation mapping the affiliations of over 3,000 authors published in the EHR over the last century (Latin America is the most underrepresented region).
@echistsocreview.bsky.social @echistsoc.bsky.social
If you missed the screening of the Women’s Committee video retrospective at #EHS100, you can catch it here 👇
ehs.org.uk/society/wome...
Deux postes de doctorant·e·s à pourvoir au Centre Walras Pareto pour la rentrée 2026
un·e Assistant diplômé·e en Histoire de la pensée et philosophie économiques
un·e Assistant diplômé·e en Histoire des idées politiques
Délai de postulation : 2 mai 2026!
Today in unexpected revolutionaries: The minister of digitisation in the tiny German state that is the leading laboratory for public administration decoupling from US software dominance – a CDU member who cites Hayek and Baumol and wants to “break monopolistic strangleholds and unleash competition.”
Nancy Fraser's remembrance of Habermas is really great. At once respectful and critical.
Fraser is really important to me for her feminist critique of the system-lifeworld dichotomy that is found in nearly all cultural pessimist technology criticism.
www.lrb.co.uk/blog/2026/ma...
Based on his recent book
Superbe public lecture by Spencer Banzhaf @lseechist.bsky.social
journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/18...
I love writing book reviews. They’re still a place where you can debate ideas, something that’s becoming a bit rarer in academia. OEconomia is especially great for this.The editors give us plenty of room to engage fully with the books we review.
Front cover of CO2 Newsletter Vol 1 no 4, April 1980
Vol. 1, no.4 of the CO2 Newsletter, first published in April 1980 (that's not a typo) is now downloadable. Founded by American geologist William Barbat, each was 8 pages of excerpts from recent reports, editorials and deeply researched articles.
1/9
allouryesterdays.info/2026/03/01/t...
