Why is the U.S. F’ed Up? 8 Lectures from Occupy Harvard Teach-In Provide Answers

Last Wednesday, the Occupy movement gained a little more intellectual momentum when eight faculty members from Harvard, Boston College, and N.Y.U. gathered in Cambridge to present a daylong Teach-In. In one talk, Archon Fung (Ford Foundation Professor of Democracy and Citizenship and Co-Director of Transparency Policy Project at Harvard) took a vague thesis of the Occupy movement — “Shit is Fucked Up and Bullshit” — and gave it some academic depth in a data-filled talk called “Why Has Inequality Grown in America? And What Should We Do About It?” The other talks are available on YouTube (see links below) or via audio stream:

Heterodox Economics: Alternatives to Mankiw’s Ideology – Stephen Marglin, Walter Barker Professor of Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University

Wall Streetʼs Role in the European Financial Crisis – Richard Parker, Lecturer in Public Policy and Senior Fellow at the Shorenstein Center, Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

The Occupy Movement and Student Debt Refusal – Andrew Ross, Professor of Social and Cultural Analysis, New York University

Economics for the 99% – Juliet Schor, Professor of Sociology, Boston College

Booms and Busts: The Legal Dynamics of Modern Money – Christine Desan, Professor of Law, Harvard Law School, Harvard University

Fear and Power – Brad Epps, Professor of Romance Languages & Literatures and Department Chair for Studies in Women, Gender, and Sexuality, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University

Vigilance, Inquiry, Alienation & Hope at Harvard and in the USA – John Womack, Robert Woods Bliss Professor of Latin American History and Economics, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University

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