Erwin Dekker

@erwindekker.bsky.social

1.5K followers 1.3K following 220 posts

Historian of economics, culture and econ, author of 'Realizing the Values of Art' the biography of 'Jan Tinbergen and the Rise of Economic Expertise' and 'Viennese Students of Civilization'.

Videos

Economics 45%

Political science 19%

Posts Replies Media Videos

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 12d

Our illustrations all come from the (performing) arts, we inquire for instance why crowd co-production might or might not work, and how credible commitments like 'the encore' can contribute to audience co-production.

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 12d

Very proud of this (open-access) paper with Valeria Morea in which we develop a theory of co-production, grounded in economic theory, particularly household production.

We sift through the many definitions, and specify precisely when co-production is likely to work!

doi.org/10.1007/s108...

A theory of co-production as joint household production with illustrations from the arts - Journal of Cultural Economics

Co-production is prevalent in the arts but current usage of the term is loose and insufficiently grounded in economic theory. We propose a baseline theory of non-contractual co-production between prod...

doi.org

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 17d

This week's post at Seeing Like Chicago explores academic freedom ca. 1915 through William Thomas defense of his lecture on women's rights

seeinglikechicago.substack.com/p/william-i-...

William I. "Controversy" Thomas

Women’s rights, academic freedom, and a career cut short

seeinglikechicago.substack.com

Reposted by Erwin Dekker

Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 25d

Neon Liberalism #60: Samantha and guest Will Stancil talk the murder of Renée Good and the Trump administration's larger assault on Minneapolis. Will is working with his neighborhood rapid reaction group in Minneapolis, and he recounts witnessing ICE abductions and confronting ICE agents.

Neon Liberalism #60: Minneapolis Under Siege

Samantha and guest Will Stancil talk the murder of Renée Good and the Trump administration's larger assault on Minneapolis. Will is on the front lines of monitoring ICE in Minneapolis, working with hi...

www.liberalcurrents.com

Reposted by Erwin Dekker, Margot C. Finn, Michael H. Whitworth , and 2 more Erwin Dekker, Margot C. Finn, Michael H. Whitworth, Brian Weatherson, Iwan Rhys Morus

Simon Tillotson @simontillotson.bsky.social · 26d

We’re back today, with JS Mill (and as we’ll hear Harriet Taylor Mill) on the case for personal liberty and the limits of state interference. The presenter is Misha Glenny www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, On Liberty

John Stuart Mill's argument for the limits of power that society has over the individual.

www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Erwin Dekker

jhetjournal.bsky.social @jhetjournal.bsky.social · Dec 19

Our December issue is out, with five article, four book reviews, and two letters to the editor.

This is the last issue edited by Pedro Duarte and Jiména Hurtado. As incoming editors, we would like to take
the opportunity to express a great thanks for the excellent job they have done!

Latest issue | Journal of the History of Economic Thought | Cambridge Core

Journal of the History of Economic Thought

www.cambridge.org

Reposted by Erwin Dekker

Aurélien Goutsmedt @aurelien-goutsmedt.com · Dec 15

➡️ Œconomia 15(3) — Accounting for Quality in Economics
Edited by C. Bessy, @erwindekker.bsky.social & @juliengradoz.bsky.social
🔗 journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/19...

Comes also with a dozen of book reviews on hedge funds, econ expertise in Soviet Union, Solow's model, or digital capitalism.

15-3 | 2025 Accounting for Quality in Economics

journals.openedition.org

Reposted by Juan Cole, Erwin Dekker, Melanie C. Green , and 2 more Juan Cole, Erwin Dekker, Melanie C. Green, David R. Miller, David Darmofal

Senator Chris Van Hollen @vanhollen.senate.gov · Dec 13

Today, I spoke with Kilmar Abrego Garcia and his wife, Jennifer. In April, when I met with him in El Salvador, Trump said he would never set foot in the U.S. again.

This case has never been about one man alone; if the govt can violate the constitutional rights of one, all our rights are threatened.

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · Dec 12

This week's post returns to Friedman's Methodology of Positive Economics, to uncover some Knightian themes

seeinglikechicago.substack.com/p/lets-argue...

Reposted by Erwin Dekker

jhetjournal.bsky.social @jhetjournal.bsky.social · Dec 7

New open-access article at JHET by Miriam Bankovsky, Rebeca Gomez Betancourt, and Marianne Johnson, which discusses family economics and poverty around the turn of the 20th century:

doi.org/10.1017/S105...

FAMILY PLANNING AND POVERTY: BIRTH CONTROL, CONTRACEPTION, SEX EDUCATION, AND POVERTY IN MARSHALL, PARETO, AND WICKSELL | Journal of the History of Economic Thought | Cambridge Core

FAMILY PLANNING AND POVERTY: BIRTH CONTROL, CONTRACEPTION, SEX EDUCATION, AND POVERTY IN MARSHALL, PARETO, AND WICKSELL

doi.org

Reposted by Erwin Dekker

jhetjournal.bsky.social @jhetjournal.bsky.social · Dec 6

New book review out at JHET, Minghui Hu reviews Amelung and Schefold's edited volume comparing European and Chinese Histories of Economic Thought:
doi.org/10.1017/S105...

Iwo Amelung and Bertram Schefold, eds., European and Chinese Histories of Economic Thought: Theories and Images of Good Governance, Routledge Studies in the History of Economics (Abingdon: Routledge, ...

doi.org

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · Dec 5

This week's post continues the comparison between Knight and Hayek, and traces the origins of the 'de gustibus non est disputandum' phrase within the Chicago school.

And it tells you something about how to become a better version of yourself: seeinglikechicago.substack.com/p/lets-argue...

Reposted by Erwin Dekker, Bessma Momani, Mark Rice

Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · Nov 29

"By dangling multibillion-dollar rare-earth and energy deals, Moscow could reshape the economic map of Europe—while driving a wedge between America and its traditional allies"

Read this excellent @wsj.com account of the business deals behind the "peace"negotiations

www.wsj.com/world/russia...

Make Money Not War: Trump’s Real Plan for Peace in Ukraine

The Kremlin pitched the White House on peace through business. To Europe’s dismay, the president and his envoy are on board.

www.wsj.com

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · Nov 28

Hayek famously proposed that the economist should act more like a gardener than the artisan or craftsman. In this week's post I discuss Frank Knight's critique of the gardener metaphor (formulated quite a few decades before Hayek made his arguments).

Economics and gardening metaphors

On the different conceptions of scientism in Knight and Hayek

seeinglikechicago.substack.com

Reposted by Erwin Dekker, Sanford F. Schram, Gerald Friedman , and 2 more Erwin Dekker, Sanford F. Schram, Gerald Friedman, Peter Cook, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò

Marc Elias @marcelias.bsky.social · Nov 27

This is a really big story that should not be missed. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

DOJ Says Noem Made Final Decision on El Salvador Removals in Breach of Court Order

Read more here.

www.democracydocket.com

Reposted by Erwin Dekker

jhetjournal.bsky.social @jhetjournal.bsky.social · Nov 26

New article at JHET: doi.org/10.1017/S105...

On Heinrich Dietzel's attempt to reconcile the different camps in the German Methodenstreit of the late 19th century.

NON NOVA, NOVITER? HEINRICH DIETZEL AND THE LAST SIGH OF CLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY IN GERMANY | Journal of the History of Economic Thought | Cambridge Core

NON NOVA, NOVITER? HEINRICH DIETZEL AND THE LAST SIGH OF CLASSICAL POLITICAL ECONOMY IN GERMANY

doi.org

Reposted by Kim L. Scheppele, Nandita Sharma, Erwin Dekker , and 5 more Kim L. Scheppele, Nandita Sharma, Erwin Dekker, Melanie C. Green, Aaron Sojourner, Jacob T. Levy, Scott A. Imberman, Nathan P. Kalmoe

Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · Nov 22

Dipshit is smashing out a car window with his gun, barrel first. Just rogue, cowboy stiff.

There were two US citizens in the car. They were apprehended and detained for “obstructing” ICE by honking their horn to let people know ICE was in the neighborhood.

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · Nov 21

This week's post at Seeing Like Chicago is about Saul Alinsky, the famous community organizer and author of Rules for Radicals. To my surprise, he studied crime, hanging out with Al Capone's gang, while studying sociology around 1930.

seeinglikechicago.substack.com/p/saul-alins...

Reposted by Erwin Dekker

jhetjournal.bsky.social @jhetjournal.bsky.social · Nov 21

Antoine Missemer and two guest editors Béatrice Cointe and Christophe Cassen are launching a call for papers for a special issue of Œconomia on the history of climate economics.

journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/19...

History of Climate Economics

Editors of the Special Issue Christophe Cassen (CNRS, CIRED Paris) Béatrice Cointe (CNRS, CSI Paris) Antoine Missemer (CNRS, CIRED Paris) Call for Papers In 2018, the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Eco...

journals.openedition.org

Reposted by Erwin Dekker

jhetjournal.bsky.social @jhetjournal.bsky.social · Nov 16

New JHET article out, open access.

ECONOMIC KNOWLEDGE AS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: ANDERS CHYDENIUS ON THE GOALS OF MONETARY POLICY IN SWEDEN IN THE 1760S | Journal of the History of Economic Thought | Cambridge Core

ECONOMIC KNOWLEDGE AS PUBLIC KNOWLEDGE: ANDERS CHYDENIUS ON THE GOALS OF MONETARY POLICY IN SWEDEN IN THE 1760S

doi.org

Reposted by Ilya Somin, Erwin Dekker

Walter Olson @walterolson.bsky.social · Nov 15

"If courts endorse the broad definition of 'invasion' advocated by the admin, dire consequences will follow.... the federal government could suspend the writ of habeas corpus and detain people (including U.S. citizens) at will." -- @ilyasomin.bsky.social on Cato's amicus brief in AEA case @cato.org

Our Amicus Brief in W.M.M. v. Trump - En Banc Fifth Circuit Alien Enemies Act Case

I coauthored the brief on behalf of the the Cato Institute, the Brennan Center for Justice, legal scholars Geoffrey Corn and John Dehn, and myself.

reason.com

Reposted by Scott L. Greer, Erwin Dekker, Peter Bergman

James Fallows @jfallows.bsky.social · Nov 14

1) 'Why I Resigned' from UVa Prez 100% worth reading www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

2) Events were forced by NYT story w leaked info that he was under pressure to resign. UVa prez has 'no idea' where leaks came from (See below.)

3) FWIW same NYT team did leaked "Harvard will cave" stories

Story says:
Headline "The Final Day"
Then:
The Final Day

Rachel went to meet with the DOJ lawyers the next day—Thursday, June 26th. That morning, an article came out in the NY Times describing how DOJ lawyers were pressuring me to resign. I still have no
idea who leaked the story.

At around 1pm on Thursday, I was called by Rachel and the two outside
lawyers, Jack and Farnaz, who attended the meeting with Rachel. I was told that the DOJ lawyers were very upset with the leaked story in the Times and that the only offer on the table was that I needed to
resign by 5pm that day or the DOJ would basically rain hell on UVA.

I also needed my resignation to be effective prior to the students returning. If I did not resign that day, I was told that the DOJ would
extract/block hundreds of millions of dollars from UVA before they would even negotiate.

I was then told that the DOJ had offered an amazing deal—unlike any the lawyers had ever seen, in their words. They were basically willing to grant UVA blanket immunity—all of the inquires and investigations would be suspended, no financial penalties would be imposed, and agencies would be told not to cut off our research funding. They said they had never seen or heard about such a great deal for any university.

Rachel praised the lawyers for their astute and savvy bargaining, and I was told this was an amazing deal.

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · Nov 14

This week's post 'Hotel Life' is actually coming from Chicago, where I am doing archival work. It reflects, from my own long-stay hotel-room, on the 1920s fear that the rich and upper middle-class would give up their homes to live in hotels.

seeinglikechicago.substack.com/p/hotel-life

Reposted by Erwin Dekker

David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · Nov 13

I just received a document from DHS showing that it has a detained population of 65,000, a staggering total, nearing half the total prison population detained by the Bureau of Prisons. The project is to jam them in horrible conditions until they give up their rights to stay

Reposted by Erwin Dekker, Richard Pettigrew

weird medieval guys @weirdmedieval.bsky.social · Nov 12

hey i wrote an article about folk names for birds and you should check it out!!!

open.substack.com/pub/weirdmed...

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · Nov 9

The perfect symbol of a rigged economy

A Two-Headed Coin That Always Comes Up ‘Trump’

www.nytimes.com

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · Nov 7

This week's Seeing like Chicago post revisits Hofstadter's Age of Reform, and its analysis of agrarian populism ca. 1890 and the coalition it formed with the Progressives in the next decade.

seeinglikechicago.substack.com/p/the-age-of...

The Age of Reform (1)

Reading Hofdstadter's classic from Bryan to FDR

seeinglikechicago.substack.com

Reposted by Peter Thorne, Rosemary A. Joyce, Erwin Dekker , and 5 more Peter Thorne, Rosemary A. Joyce, Erwin Dekker, Miranda J. Lubbers, Aurélien Mondon, Césari Laurent, David Stott, Southern Africa

I said abolish and I fucking meant it @astridoverthere.bsky.social · Nov 6

Wondering why no one likes your posts anymore, even among your friends? It's because @jay.bsky.team and team have decided to hide a huge amount of content from all of our feeds by default.

Here's how to turn it off.

First go to the hamburger menu in the upper left corner

Screenshot of the top of a Bsky feed, with a red circle around the hamburger menu in the top left.

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · Nov 5

"The alternative is to start with Hayek’s idea that the theory of the individual should be a theory of the individual in society. This theory should explain how society generates individual heterogeneity and enables individual subjectivity."

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · Nov 5

New paper alert

Toward an Austrian Theory of the Self in The Review of Austrian Economics. It's Open Access!

In the paper I explore connect the Austrian theory of subjectivism to the philosophical sociology of George Herbert Mead and argue that we to explain, not assume, individual heterogeneity

Toward an Austrian theory of the self - The Review of Austrian Economics

One of the key distinguishing features of Austrian economics is subjectivism. Subjectivism has been understood as the foundation for why individuals are different from each other, and as a basis for i...

doi.org

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