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Erwin Dekker

@erwindekker.bsky.social

1.4K followers 1.3K following 210 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%

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Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 4h

This week's Substack post discusses the links between Richard Wright's classic Chicago novel, Native Son, and Harold Garfinkel's early (ethnomethodological) studies of the way juries work in Chicago.

Or simply, how institutional racism was understood in the 1940s.

From Native Son to Ethnomethodology

On Richard Wright and Harold Garfinkel

seeinglikechicago.substack.com

Reposted by Anne Applebaum, Joe R. Feagin, Brendan Nyhan , and 39 more Anne Applebaum, Joe R. Feagin, Brendan Nyhan, Jesse H. Kroll, Patrick A. Jansen, Daniel L. Millimet, David Feldman, Eric Goldman, Fabián Muniesa, Jacob Montgomery, Bruce D. Baker, Juan Cole, Erwin Dekker, Sanford F. Schram, John Foot, Devon Greyson, W. Andy Knight, Nazita Lajevardi, Stacy D. VanDeveer, Scott A. Imberman, Caroline Fohlin, Florian Keller, Michael D. McDonald, Jason Lyall, Kate Starbird, Victor Pickard, Nils Zurawski, Nelson Flores, Arlene Stein, Federica Genovese, Richard M. Carpiano, Olivier Jourdan, Klaus Oschema, Meredith Farkas, Brandon Whitcher, Daxton R. Stewart, Albin Wagener, Aviel Roshwald, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Bruce Buchan, Southern Africa

The Daily Show @thedailyshow.com · 19h

The following is REAL footage from Portland, 2025. Viewer discretion is advised.

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker

Digressionsimpressions @nescio13.bsky.social · 22h

Rousseau, Adaptive Preferences, and Social Entrepeneurship
open.substack.com/pub/digressi...
Shout outs to @erwindekker.bsky.social, @lastpositivist.bsky.social, @serenekhader.bsky.social

Rousseau, Adaptive Preferences, and Social Entrepeneurship

Near the start of The Social Contract (1762), in his criticism of Aristotle, Rousseau (recall) diagnoses the phenomenon of adaptive preferences. What we desire is not just shaped by society, but what ...

open.substack.com

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Reposted by Anna O. Law, Rebecca Solnit, Jonathan A. Eisen , and 27 more Anna O. Law, Rebecca Solnit, Jonathan A. Eisen, Erich Fromm, Brendan Nyhan, Paul R. Bierman, Patrick A. Jansen, Patrick Dunleavy, Steve Peers, Christopher Wright, Steven French, Lisa M. Thompson, Laura K. Taylor, Marina Jirotka, Kevin J. O’Brien, Juan Cole, Erwin Dekker, Brian Medeiros, Silvia Secchi, W. Andy Knight, Michael Zimmer, Christine Kooi, Erica Weintraub Austin, Mark Rice, Ann Bartow, Henry Jones, Blair Fix, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Francesco Nicoli, Colin Woodard

Melanie D’Arrigo @darrigomelanie.bsky.social · 2d

I feel like this photo of masked, armed men pepper spraying a pastor protecting his community is going to be a defining picture of this moment in America for a long, long time.

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker

Maxime Desmarais-Tremblay @mdtremblay.bsky.social · 3d

Then, in 32(5), Lenfant reviews Bridel (following on their interview also in the same issue), Greitens reviews a new translation of Schurtz, @madelinew.bsky.social reviews @arnaudorain.bsky.social, @erwindekker.bsky.social reviews Slobodian www.tandfonline.com/toc/rejh20/3...

The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought

Controversies on the concept of progress in Progressive Era American Economics. Volume 32, Issue 5 of The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought

www.tandfonline.com

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker

David Ho @davidho.bsky.social · 3d

“People over Papers, a crowdsourcing project that maps sightings of US immigration agents, was taken offline yesterday by Padlet, the collaborative bulletin board platform on which it was built. It’s just the latest ICE-tracking initiative to be pulled by tech platforms in the past few days.”

Another effort to track ICE raids was just taken offline

People over Papers was removed by Padlet, the platform it was built on, yesterday.

www.technologyreview.com

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Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Kim L. Scheppele, Steve Peers , and 8 more Joanna Bryson, Kim L. Scheppele, Steve Peers, Ilya Somin, Erwin Dekker, Daniel W. Drezner, Robert C. Richards, Mary L. Dudziak, Manisha Sinha, Olúfẹ́mi Táíwò, David Darmofal

Kyle Cheney @kyledcheney.bsky.social · 5d

BREAKING: A federal judge has granted a restraining order blocking President Trump's call-up of the National Guard in Portland.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

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Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Michael A. Clemens, Erwin Dekker , and 7 more Richard S.J. Tol, Michael A. Clemens, Erwin Dekker, Daniel W. Drezner, Jacob T. Levy, Aviel Roshwald, Nathan P. Kalmoe, Colin Woodard, Dunlap, Stuart Shapiro

David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 6d

ICE says I cause assaults on ICE by reciting facts about ICE’s recent shooting but refuses to link to the thread. Only posting a picture. ICE lies and ICE hides. You can read the facts for yourselves

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker

Nathan Goodman @nathanpgoodman.bsky.social · 6d

My colleague Mikayla Novak has a new edited volume out called "Liberal Emancipation."

She has brought together a great group of scholars, including @erwindekker.bsky.social, @ottolehto.bsky.social, and even me, to analyze the emancipatory aspects of liberalism!

Read on to learn what I argue... 🧵

The cover of the book "Liberal Emancipation: Explorations in Political and Social Economy." It features a lot of pink as well as a photo with a stairway and a sunny blue sky with some white clouds.

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Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 7d

This week's post tells the story of Joseph D. Lohman who could not defend his dissertation because of death threats from the gang he had studied.

Chicago sociologists did much to 'normalize' crime, but this for them too must have been unusual.

seeinglikechicago.substack.com/p/on-not-fin...

Joseph D. Lohman, still alive in 1959, but without a Ph.D

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Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 14d

And here is the first post, on Ben Hecht and his humanism. In my eyes Hecht was the best and most characteristic observer of Chicago in the interwar period

seeinglikechicago.substack.com/p/ben-hechts...

Ben Hecht's Chicago

Living in Chicago in the early twentieth century meant getting the urban experience.

seeinglikechicago.substack.com

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Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 14d

I will be writing about my research on Chicago once a week at this new Substack: Seeing like Chicago

Do subscribe, for a weekly note!

seeinglikechicago.substack.com

Seeing like Chicago | Erwin Dekker | Substack

Observations about Chicago economics, sociology, literature and more by Erwin Dekker. Click to read Seeing like Chicago, by Erwin Dekker, a Substack publication. Launched 11 minutes ago.

seeinglikechicago.substack.com

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Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 15d

Great new paper on enactivism and expectations in economics: "Rather than understanding expectations as internal representations, it argues that engagement with institutional temporal affordances gives rise to distinct modes of expectation – institutionally enacted ways of relating to the future."

Enacting the future: institutions, temporal affordances, and the formation of expectations | Journal of Institutional Economics | Cambridge Core

Enacting the future: institutions, temporal affordances, and the formation of expectations - Volume 21

doi.org

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker, Daniel Kuehn

Economic thought @economicthought.bsky.social · 17d

A new issue of Œconomia. History | Methodology | Philosophy is available now
journals.openedition.org/oeconomia/18...

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Reposted by Rosemary A. Joyce, Erwin Dekker, Dana R. Fisher

Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social · 17d

I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win

www.cnn.com/2025/09/22/e...

Jimmy Kimmel’s show to return on Tuesday | CNN

“Jimmy Kimmel Live!” will return to air on ABC on Tuesday night, the network announced in a statement.

www.cnn.com

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Reposted by Diane Coyle, Paul Nightingale

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 17d

New PhD-student run journal in the history of economics, Oikonomos, has just published its first issue

oikonomosjournal.com/index.php/oi...

Vol. 1 No. 1 (2025): OIKONOMOS: A Journal of Student Research in the History of Economic Thought | OIKONOMOS: A Journal of Student Research in the History of Economic Thought

oikonomosjournal.com

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Reposted by Richard S.J. Tol, Jacob Montgomery, Erwin Dekker , and 2 more Richard S.J. Tol, Jacob Montgomery, Erwin Dekker, Michelle Everson, Jonathan Hopkin

Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 19d

I’m in Vienna right now. A city which went from being the intellectual and cultural capital of the world to a “provincial backwater” (to quote Brian Barry) in a couple of decades due to nationalism, anti-semitism and fascism which drove away the leading scholars and artists it didn’t murder.

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Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 19d

I remember when economists spoke of premature deindustrialization in Asia and Africa.

Now the Trump administration appears set on turning back the clock, and reindustrialize the USA.

It might well mean that the supposedly 'premature' can pick up the baton of the knowledge and tech economy.

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Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 20d

This Disney cancelation is not the easiest thing to explain to the kids. But our no. 2 is now explaining to her younger brother what a boycott is using Rosa Parks as an example. Great parenting moment.

Admittedly, it also involved negotiations over what they could finish right now before canceling.

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Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 20d

Did you see his classic during Trump 1?

youtu.be/ELD2AwFN9Nc?...

America First - The Netherlands Second - Donald Trump | ORIGINAL UPLOAD #ZML

YouTube video by De Avondshow met Arjen Lubach | VPRO

youtu.be

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 20d

Should say employer of course

Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 20d

This hits so close to home. We are only off the H1B for a year and a half. On the one hand very thankful my employee was so supportive with the green card procedure, on the other hand very angry at the closing of opportunities for so many.

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker

Kyle Trowbridge @kyletrow.bsky.social · 24d

A very Shklarian day, I’m afraid.

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Erwin Dekker @erwindekker.bsky.social · 27d

Was sent a very nice image from the WINIR conference in Prague

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker

Aaron Ross Powell ☸️ @aaronrosspowell.com · 29d

"Don't have empathy because he didn't" is precisely wrong. If we strive to be good, and we must, that means striving to be better than those who aren't. It means being ethical towards even the unethical. It means being virtuous towards even the unvirtuous. It means maintaining our humanity.

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker, Aaron Sojourner

Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 29d

"liberalism just doesn't provide people with meaning - only nativism can do that"

idk, i found meaning as an internationalist, but sure, the UK tried your way - cut off, imposed sanctions on ourselves

are we now filled with national pride & a sense of belonging? we seem pretty miserable to me

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker, Henry Jones, Olivier Mannoni

Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · Sep 9

This is what happens when justice serves power instead of people.

Banksy’s latest piece shows a judge beating a protester. They rushed to throw up barriers to hide it.

We need this here because it looks a lot like our own Supreme Court vs. the people.

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Michael Clemens @mclem.org · Sep 9

This is the official spokesperson for the White House, stating that the President hopes to deploy the United States military to occupy every city controlled by the political party that opposes him. Explicitly.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Sep 9

Leavitt: "These are the bad guys that we are picking up in Washington DC every day. The president would love to do this in every Democrat-run city across the country."

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Reposted by Erwin Dekker

jhetjournal.bsky.social @jhetjournal.bsky.social · Sep 9

The September issue of JHET is out (vol. 47:3)

We have six new articles (4OA), on the Road(s) to Serfdom, the origins of financial economics, Fred Taylor and Frank Knight, Teaching GE Theory, Smith on the East India monopoly and Hayek and Aristotle. As well as five OA book reviews.

Check it out!

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

Journal of the History of Economic Thought

www.cambridge.org

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