Moral philosophy and economics: the formation of François Huet's doctrine of property rights

François Huet (1814–1869), Professor of Philosophy at the University of Ghent, is known for his attempt to reconcile Christianity with socialism in Le Règne Social du Christianisme (1853). The book clearly belongs to a distinctively Belgian tradition of ‘liberal socialism’. Drawing upon archival material, we try to clarify the origins of Huet's theory of property rights. We focus on two intimately related questions: (1) Have the core ideas formulated by Huet in Le Règne been expressed and discussed before the publication of the book? (2) In what sense have reflections upon the science of economics contributed to Huet's views?     

Criminals,Terrorists, and Outside Agitators: Representational Tropes of the ‘Other’ in the 5 July Xinjiang,China Riots

This article is a critical geopolitical analysis of Chinese media representations of the 5 July 2009 riots in Xinjiang, China. Significant events often define the geopolitical climate by creating a space for the construction of boundaries between identity categories and the appropriate norms for behaviour towards the Other. The post-riot reports framed the event through the prism of the global war on terror to justify a violent response to protect Chinese citizens from the perceived threat of the Other. After connecting theories of narratives, the event, and group making, the article identifies three representational tropes – the criminal, the terrorist, and the outside agitator – in Chinese documents that create boundaries between the identity categories Uyghur and Han and define how the Other should be treated. The three representation tropes of the Other in the aftermath of the 5 July riots simultaneously situate the protestors as outside Chinese society and perpetuate the claim of the superiority of Chinese culture and civilisation.     

A critique of the paper by Kanabar,R. and Simmons,P. (2016), ‘To defer or not to defer? UK state pension and work decisions in a lifecycle model’, Applied Economics, 48, 58, 5699-5716

We suggest corrections to the paper by Kanabar and Simmons and provide analyses for deriving the internal rate of return arising from a UK state pension deferral decision and for an actuarially fair deferral scheme.