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Urban Connections
Urban Connections conducts guest interviews covering issues effecting our local, national, international and global communities from a Black perspective. Subjects include current events, trends, history, education, economics, science, political science, health, race, law and more.
Mathew Forstater is Professor of Economics and Black Studies and Director, Center for Full Employment and Price Stability, Department of Economics, University of Missouri —Kansas City. Forstater previously was a Visiting Scholar at the Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College (1997-1999) and taught at Bard and Gettysburg College (1992-1997), where he was the recipient of a number of teaching awards and recognitions. He remains a Research Associate with the Levy Economics Institute of Bard College. Forstater received his B.A. (summa cum laude) in African American Studies from Temple University (1987), and an M.A. (Honors, 1993) and Ph.D. (1996) in Economics from the New School for Social Research. His Ph.D. dissertation was supervised by Robert Heilbroner, author of The Worldly Philosophers. Forstater has published widely on the Employment Policy, Political Economy, and the History of Economic Thought in academic journals such as The Journal of Economic Issues, Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, Review of Political Economy, Review of Social Economy, Review of Austrian Economics, Advances in Austrian Economics, Economic and Labour Relations Review, Economie Appliquée, Review of Black Political Economy, American Journal of Economics and Sociology, History of Economic Ideas, Forum for Social Economics, Ecological Economics, Research in Political Economy, International Journal of Environment, Workplace, and Employment, Social Research, Economic Issues, Royal Economic Society Newsletter, and The Eastern Economic Journal, as well as chapters in edited volumes and encyclopedia entries. He has presented his research at Harvard University,
, New York University, George Mason University, Stanford, Berkeley, University of Ottawa, Copenhagen Business School, University of Leeds, University of Newcastle, University of Rome, Stellenbosch University, University of Utah, and elsewhere. Forstater co-edited Commitment to Full Employment (M.E. Sharpe, 2000), Reinventing Functional Finance (Elgar, 2003), Growth, Distribution and Effective Demand (M. E. Sharpe, 2004), Contemporary Post Keynesian Analysis (Elgar, 2004), Full Employment and Price Stability (Elgar, 2004), and Money, Financial Instability and Stabilization Policy (Elgar, 2005). He is an affiliated faculty member of the Missouri Institute for Public Policy and an Associate of Columbia University Seminars. He is interviewed regularly in the media and speaks in the Kansas City area on topics such as reparations for African Americans, employment policy, and race, class, and health. Forstater has served as an economic advisor in a variety of contexts, including a 2002 International Labour Organization-sponsored mission to advise the Ministry of Labour of Argentina, where his proposals for increases in the minimum wage and a public employment program were made into law..
Selected Publications
Forstater, Mathew “Taxation and Primitive Accumulation: The Case of Colonial Africa,” Research in
Political Economy, Vol. 22, pp. 51-64, 2005.
Forstater, Mathew “Green Jobs: Addressing the Critical Issues Surrounding the Environment, Workplace
and Employment,” International Journal of Environment, Workplace, and Employment, Vol. 1, No. 1,
2004.
Forstater, Mathew “Visions and Scenarios: Heilbroner’s Worldly Philosophy, Lowe’s Political
Economics, and the Methodology of Ecological Economics,” Ecological Economics, Vol. 51, Nos. 1-2,
pp. 17-30, 2004.
Forstater, Mathew “Envisioning Provisioning” Social Research, Vol. 71, No. 2, pp. 399-418, 2004.
Forstater, Mathew “Public Employment and Environmental Sustainability,” Journal of Post Keynesian
Economics, Winter, 2003.
Forstater, Mathew “Bones for Sale: ‘Development,’ Environment, and Food Security in East Africa,”
Review of Political Economy, Winter, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew “Unemployment,” in The Elgar Companion to Post Keynesian Economics, John King
(ed.), Edward Elgar, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew “Markets, Knowledge, and Democracy,” History of Economic Ideas, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew “‘Jobs for All’: Another Dream of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” Forum for
Social Economics, Vol. 31, No. 2, Spring, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew “Labor Surplus Models,” in J. Mokyr, ed., Oxford Encyclopedia of Economic
History, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew “Bond Sales,” in Cynthia Northrup, ed., History of U.S. Economic Policy, 1600s-
2000: An Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew “Depressions,” in Cynthia Northrup, ed., History of U.S. Economic Policy, 1600s-
2000: An Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew “Government Budgets,” in Cynthia Northrup, ed., History of U.S. Economic Policy,
1600s-2000: An Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew “Recession,” in Cynthia Northrup, ed., History of U.S. Economic Policy, 1600s-2000:
An Encyclopedia, ABC-Clio, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew “Tax-Driven Money,” in M. Setterfield, ed., Complexity, Endogenous Money, and
Exogenous Interest Rates, Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2005.
Forstater, Mathew “Full Employment and Social Justice,” in in D. P. Champlin and J. T. Knoedler, eds.,
The Institutionalist Tradition in Labor Economics, Armonk, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2004.
Forstater, Mathew “‘Jobs for All’: A Fitting Tribute to the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,” in D.
Menkart, A. D. Murray, and J. L. View, eds., Putting the Movement Back into Civil Rights Teaching,
Washington, D.C.: Teaching for Change and Poverty & Race Research Action Council, 2004.
Forstater, Mathew “Cumulative Causation à la Lowe: Radical Endogeneity, Methodology, and Human
Intervention,” in G. Argyrous, M. Forstater, and G. Mongiovi, eds., Growth, Distribution, and Effective
Demand: Alternatives to Economic Orthodoxy: Essays in Honor of Edward J. Nell, Armonk, N. Y.: M.
E. Sharpe, 2004.
Forstater, Mathew “Toward a New Instrumental Macroeconomics,” in E. J. Nell and M. Forstater (eds.):
Reinventing Functional Finance, Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2003.
Forstater, Mathew “Functional Finance and Full Employment: Lessons from Lerner for Today,” in E. J.
Nell and M. Forstater (eds.): Reinventing Functional Finance, Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar, 2003.
Forstater, Mathew “Must Spontaneous Order be Unintended?,” in Science as Spontaneous Order, M.Vendelo (ed.), Edward Elgar, 2003.
Forstater, Mathew “Full Employment Policies Must Consider Effective Demand and Structural and Technological Change,” in A Post Keynesian Perspective on Twenty-First Century Economic Problems, Paul Davidson (ed.), Edward Elgar, 2002.
Forstater, Mathew. “Community Service Job Assurance for the Prospect Corridor Initiative,” Special Report 2001/2, Center for Full Employment and Price Stability, University of Missouri – Kansas City (June 2001).
Forstater, Mathew. “Structural Change,” in R.J. Barry Jones (ed.) Encyclopedia of International Political Economy, Routledge, 2001.
Forstater, Mathew. “Beggar-My-Neighbor Policies,” in R.J. Barry Jones (ed.) Encyclopedia of International Political Economy, Routledge, 2001.
Forstater, Mathew. “Kuznets U-hypothesis,” in R.J. Barry Jones (ed.) Encyclopedia of International Political Economy, Routledge, 2001.
Forstater, Mathew. “Instrumentalism,” in R.J. Barry Jones (ed.) Encyclopedia of International Political Economy, Routledge, 2001.
Forstater, Mathew. “Public Service Job Assurance: A Most Fitting Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King,” Special Report 2001/1, Center for Full Employment and Price Stability, University of Missouri – Kansas City (January 2001).
Forstater, Mathew. Commitment to Full Employment, (with Sumner Rosen and Aaron Warner) White Plains, N.Y.: M. E. Sharpe, 2000.
Forstater, Mathew. “Savings-Recycling Public Employment: Vickrey’s Assets-Based Approach to Full Employment and Price Stability,” in A. Warner, M. Forstater, and S. Rosen (eds.): Commitment to Full Employment, New York: M.E. Sharpe, 2000.
Forstater, Mathew. “Public Service Employment Assurance: Job Security and Community Development,” Policy Note 2000/02, Center for Full Employment and Price Stability, University of Missouri – Kansas City (September 2000).
Forstater, Mathew. “Adolph Lowe on Freedom, Education, and Socialization,” Review of Social Economy, 58 (June 2000): 225-239.
Forstater, Mathew. “Savings-Recycling Public Employment: An Assets-Based Approach to Full Employment and Price Stability,” Journal of Post Keynesian Economics, 22 (Spring 2000): 437-450.
Forstater, Mathew. “The Full Employment Approach to Reducing Black Poverty and Unemployment in the United States,” Working Paper No. 8, Center for Full Employment and Price Stability, University of Missouri — Kansas City (March 2000).
Forstater, Mathew. “A General Framework for the Analysis of Currencies and Commodities” (with Warren Mosler), in Paul Davidson and Jan Kregel (eds.): Full Employment and Price Stability in the Global Economy,” Cheltenham: Edward Elgar, 1999.
Forstater, Mathew. “Full Employment and Economic Flexibility” Economic and Labour Relations Review, Volume 11, 1999.
Forstater, Mathew. “Vision and Analysis in Heilbroner’s Political Economy: Worldly Philosophy and the Nature and Logic of Capitalism,” Journal of Economic Issues, (December 1999): 1021-1028.
Forstater, Mathew. “Savings-Recycling Public Employment: An Assets-Based Approach to Full Employment and Price Stability,” Working Paper No. 273, The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College (July 1999).
Forstater, Mathew. “Functional Finance and Full Employment: Lessons from Lerner for today,” Working Paper No. 272, The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College (July 1999).
Forstater, Mathew. “Robert Eisner’s Common-Sense Commitment to Full Employment and Activist Fiscal Policy,” Journal of Economic Issues, 33 (June 1999).
Forstater, Mathew. “Functional Finance and Full Employment: Lessons from Lerner for Today,” Journal of Economic Issues, 33 (June 1999).
Forstater, Mathew. “Roundtable on Employment Policy,” Journal of Economic Issues, 33 (June 1999).
Forstater, Mathew. “The European Economic and Monetary Union: Introduction,” Eastern Economic Journal, 25 (April 1999).
Forstater, Mathew. “Public Employment and Economic Flexibility,” Public Policy Brief Highlight No. 50A, The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College (February 1999).
Forstater, Mathew. “Public Employment and Economic Flexibility,” Policy Brief No. 50, The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College (February 1999).
Forstater, Mathew. “Working Backwards: Instrumental Analysis as a Policy Discovery Procedure,” Review of Political Economy, 11 (January 1999): 5-18.
Forstater, Mathew. “Heilbroner’s Worldly Philosophy,” in P. O’Hara (ed.): Encyclopedia of Political Economy, London: Routledge, 1999.
Forstater, Mathew. “Lowe’s Instrumental Method,” in P. O’Hara (ed.): Encyclopedia of Political Economy, London: Routledge, 1999.
Forstater, Mathew. The Launching of the Euro, Proceedings of “A Conference on the European Economic and Monetary Union,” Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y.: The Bard Center, 1999.
Forstater, Mathew. “Imagining the Possibilities: The Dissent of Adolph Lowe,” in S. Pressman and R. F. P. Holt (eds.): Economics and its Discontents, London: Edward Elgar, 1998.
Forstater, Mathew. “Institutionalist Approaches to Full Employment Policies,” Journal of Economic Issues, 32 (December 1998): 1135-1139.
Forstater, Mathew. “Toward a New Instrumental Macroeconomics: Abba Lerner and Adolph Lowe on Economic Method, Theory, History and Policy,” Working Paper No. 254, The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College (October 1998).
Forstater, Mathew. “Flexible Full Employment: Structural Implications of Discretionary Public Sector Employment,” Journal of Economic Issues, 32 (June 1998): 557-564.
Forstater, Mathew. “Toward Full Employment Without Inflation: The Job Opportunity Program,” (with Dimitri B. Papadimitriou and L. Randall Wray), Report, The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College, Vol. 8, No. 3, pp. 5-8, 1998.
Forstater, Mathew. “Bones for Sale: ‘Development,’ Environment and Food Security in East Africa,” Central Pennsylvania Consortium Working Papers in Economics, No. 98-2 (March 1998).
Forstater, Mathew. “Selective Use of Discretionary Public Employment and Economic Flexibility,” Working Paper No. 218, The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College (December 1997).
Forstater, Mathew. “Policy Innovation as a Discovery Procedure: Exploring the Tacit Fringes of the Policy Formulation Process,” Working Paper No. 221, The Jerome Levy Economics Institute of Bard College (December 1997).
Forstater, Mathew. “Government as Employer of Last Resort: Outline of a Proposal for Full Employment with Price Stability,” in S. P. Dunn, et al. (Eds.): The Second Annual Postgraduate Economics Conference Papers and Proceedings, Leeds University Business School, 1997.
Forstater, Mathew. “Adolph Lowe and the Austrians,” Advances in Austrian Economics, Volume 4, 1997.
Forstater, Mathew. “The Methodology of Lowe’s Political Economics and the Reconstruction of Classical Political Economy,” Economie Appliquée, Vol. 47, 1994.
Forstater, Mathew. “Notes on Environmental Economics and Classical Political Economy,” in Y. Asamoah (ed.): Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Economics Association Annual Meeting 1993.
Forstater, Mathew. “‘Individualism and Social Welfare’: Comment on Zeman,” in Y. Asamoah (ed.): Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Economics Association Annual Meeting 1993.
