Marco Boffo - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Marco Boffo

Research paper thumbnail of Marco Boffo, Andrew Brown and David A. Spencer, "From happiness to social provisioning: addressing well-being in times of crisis"

The paper offers a critique of happiness research based on subjective well-being (SWB) data and p... more The paper offers a critique of happiness research based on subjective well-being (SWB) data and proposes an alternative approach to the study of well-being drawing on the political economy tradition. The World Happiness Report (WHR) interpretation of the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on SWB data is used to illustrate the problems with happiness research and the merits of an alternative political economy approach to well-being. The development of such an approach takes inspiration from broader notions of social provisioning rooted in political economy, and its application is seen to yield a better understanding of the meaning of, and the changes in, SWB data than that found in the WHR.

Research paper thumbnail of Global labour, global business, global crisis (2012)

This paper introduces a special journal issue focusing on globalization and the working class. T... more This paper introduces a special journal issue focusing on globalization and the working class. The paper reviews the shifts in global labour and situates the papers that follow. The papers are drawn form the heterodox economics tradition.

Research paper thumbnail of "Historical immaterialism: from immaterial labour to cognitive capitalism"

This paper reviews the debates on immaterial labour and cognitive capitalism, highlighting affini... more This paper reviews the debates on immaterial labour and cognitive capitalism, highlighting affinities and divergences between them, as well as their shortcomings. Taking the restructuring of capitalism since the 1970s, and Antonio Negri's reading of society and the Grundrisse as point of departure, these debates, and the work of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt in particular, derive systemic conclusions from a particular view of the implications of the role of knowledge and information within the labour process for the capital–labour relation, developing a paradigm seeking to recast analysis of contemporary capitalism in material and structural terms. The paper critically reviews the latest developments within Hardt and Negri's thought in light of the crisis, and their consequences for the paradigm as a whole.

Working Papers by Marco Boffo

Research paper thumbnail of FESSUD Working Paper Series No 94: "Avoided “act of vandalism” or “missed opportunity”? Two alternative accounts of the European Financial Transactions Tax proposal"

After the seeming exhaustion of the Tobin tax debates in the early 2000s, the idea of levying a t... more After the seeming exhaustion of the Tobin tax debates in the early 2000s, the idea of levying a tax on financial transactions has recently resurfaced at the centre stage of European politics. This has been prompted by a concatenation of events which includes the persistence of the current economic crisis and the paucity of the responses to it, the initial European Commission proposal to tax all types of financial instruments, all financial markets and all financial institutions and, ultimately, the subsequent progressive dilution of the application of such prospects in practice. Given such backdrop, this paper reviews closely two distinct accounts of financial transaction taxes in general and of the European Commission proposal in particular: Grahl and Lysandrou’s argument against them (together with their preference for financial activities taxes instead), and Gabor’s alternative account of their rationale. Such a review aims to constitute a preliminary assessment of these two distinct accounts of the material socio-economic relations, processes and structures underpinning the prospects for global financial reform, which is then offered as a base to relate such perspectives to broader issues and debates about financialisation.

Book Chapters by Marco Boffo

Research paper thumbnail of "Analytical Marxism", in Fine, B. and Saad-Filho, A. (Eds.) with the assistance of Marco Boffo (2012) The Elgar Companion to Marxist Economics. Aldershot: Edward Elgar

Books by Marco Boffo

Research paper thumbnail of The Elgar Companion To Marxist Economics

Book Reviews by Marco Boffo

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: The Great Leveler. Capitalism and Competition in the Court of Law, by Brett Christophers

Research paper thumbnail of Book review: Hacking Capitalism: The Free and Open Source Software Movement, by Johan Söderberg

Capital & Class, Jan 1, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: Commonwealth (Hardt and Negri) and Behind the Crisis (Carchedi)

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: "Nuove tecnologie, tra valorizzazione e socializzazione" (pubblicato con il titolo “L’arcano della ricchezza” su Il Manifesto – 16 Novembre 2012)

Recensione a "Marx e la società del XXI secolo - Nuove tecnologie e capitalismo globale", a cura ... more Recensione a "Marx e la società del XXI secolo - Nuove tecnologie e capitalismo globale", a cura F. Antonelli B. Vecchi (Ombre Corte).

Research paper thumbnail of Review Essay: "From Post- to Neo-: Whither Operaismo Beyond Hardt and Negri?"

This paper reviews the recent writing of Sergio Bologna and Carlo Formenti. These authors are pro... more This paper reviews the recent writing of Sergio Bologna and Carlo Formenti. These authors are proposed as post-workerist dissenters with respect to Hardt and Negri’s conceptualisation of contemporary capitalism. Therefore, while the latter has risen to prominence within Anglo-American academia as the radical (post-workerist) account of the political economy of the knowledge economy, the work of Bologna and Formenti is here presented as providing alternative accounts of contemporary capitalism and its dynamics. In doing so, this work challenges the Anglo-American reception of post-operaismo. However, these analyses are also assessed by showing the many similarities they share with Hardt and Negri’s account (not least with respect to the category of class composition). These similarities are argued to pose immanent limits, impeding this post-workerist dissent’s ability to carry operaismo beyond Hardt and Negri.

PhD Thesis by Marco Boffo

Research paper thumbnail of Interrogating the knowledge-based economy: from knowledge as a public good to Italian post-workerism

Research paper thumbnail of Marco Boffo, Andrew Brown and David A. Spencer, "From happiness to social provisioning: addressing well-being in times of crisis"

The paper offers a critique of happiness research based on subjective well-being (SWB) data and p... more The paper offers a critique of happiness research based on subjective well-being (SWB) data and proposes an alternative approach to the study of well-being drawing on the political economy tradition. The World Happiness Report (WHR) interpretation of the impact of the Global Financial Crisis on SWB data is used to illustrate the problems with happiness research and the merits of an alternative political economy approach to well-being. The development of such an approach takes inspiration from broader notions of social provisioning rooted in political economy, and its application is seen to yield a better understanding of the meaning of, and the changes in, SWB data than that found in the WHR.

Research paper thumbnail of Global labour, global business, global crisis (2012)

This paper introduces a special journal issue focusing on globalization and the working class. T... more This paper introduces a special journal issue focusing on globalization and the working class. The paper reviews the shifts in global labour and situates the papers that follow. The papers are drawn form the heterodox economics tradition.

Research paper thumbnail of "Historical immaterialism: from immaterial labour to cognitive capitalism"

This paper reviews the debates on immaterial labour and cognitive capitalism, highlighting affini... more This paper reviews the debates on immaterial labour and cognitive capitalism, highlighting affinities and divergences between them, as well as their shortcomings. Taking the restructuring of capitalism since the 1970s, and Antonio Negri's reading of society and the Grundrisse as point of departure, these debates, and the work of Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt in particular, derive systemic conclusions from a particular view of the implications of the role of knowledge and information within the labour process for the capital–labour relation, developing a paradigm seeking to recast analysis of contemporary capitalism in material and structural terms. The paper critically reviews the latest developments within Hardt and Negri's thought in light of the crisis, and their consequences for the paradigm as a whole.

Research paper thumbnail of FESSUD Working Paper Series No 94: "Avoided “act of vandalism” or “missed opportunity”? Two alternative accounts of the European Financial Transactions Tax proposal"

After the seeming exhaustion of the Tobin tax debates in the early 2000s, the idea of levying a t... more After the seeming exhaustion of the Tobin tax debates in the early 2000s, the idea of levying a tax on financial transactions has recently resurfaced at the centre stage of European politics. This has been prompted by a concatenation of events which includes the persistence of the current economic crisis and the paucity of the responses to it, the initial European Commission proposal to tax all types of financial instruments, all financial markets and all financial institutions and, ultimately, the subsequent progressive dilution of the application of such prospects in practice. Given such backdrop, this paper reviews closely two distinct accounts of financial transaction taxes in general and of the European Commission proposal in particular: Grahl and Lysandrou’s argument against them (together with their preference for financial activities taxes instead), and Gabor’s alternative account of their rationale. Such a review aims to constitute a preliminary assessment of these two distinct accounts of the material socio-economic relations, processes and structures underpinning the prospects for global financial reform, which is then offered as a base to relate such perspectives to broader issues and debates about financialisation.

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: The Great Leveler. Capitalism and Competition in the Court of Law, by Brett Christophers

Research paper thumbnail of Book review: Hacking Capitalism: The Free and Open Source Software Movement, by Johan Söderberg

Capital & Class, Jan 1, 2012

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: Commonwealth (Hardt and Negri) and Behind the Crisis (Carchedi)

Research paper thumbnail of Book Review: "Nuove tecnologie, tra valorizzazione e socializzazione" (pubblicato con il titolo “L’arcano della ricchezza” su Il Manifesto – 16 Novembre 2012)

Recensione a "Marx e la società del XXI secolo - Nuove tecnologie e capitalismo globale", a cura ... more Recensione a "Marx e la società del XXI secolo - Nuove tecnologie e capitalismo globale", a cura F. Antonelli B. Vecchi (Ombre Corte).

Research paper thumbnail of Review Essay: "From Post- to Neo-: Whither Operaismo Beyond Hardt and Negri?"

This paper reviews the recent writing of Sergio Bologna and Carlo Formenti. These authors are pro... more This paper reviews the recent writing of Sergio Bologna and Carlo Formenti. These authors are proposed as post-workerist dissenters with respect to Hardt and Negri’s conceptualisation of contemporary capitalism. Therefore, while the latter has risen to prominence within Anglo-American academia as the radical (post-workerist) account of the political economy of the knowledge economy, the work of Bologna and Formenti is here presented as providing alternative accounts of contemporary capitalism and its dynamics. In doing so, this work challenges the Anglo-American reception of post-operaismo. However, these analyses are also assessed by showing the many similarities they share with Hardt and Negri’s account (not least with respect to the category of class composition). These similarities are argued to pose immanent limits, impeding this post-workerist dissent’s ability to carry operaismo beyond Hardt and Negri.