Background

Arthur MacEwan was born on April 7, 1942, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States.

Education

MacEwan holds a Doctor of Philosophy in Economics from Harvard University.

Career

From 1968 to 1975, Arthur MacEwan taught at Harvard before moving to the University of Massachusetts Boston where he served from 1975 to 2008 and is now professor emeritus in the Department of Economics.

His range of courses included those on economic development, macroeconomics, the economics of education, Latin America, economic history, and Marxist economics.

During 2001-2002, MacEwan was the university's interim provost and vice chancellor for academic affairs; he served three separate terms as chairperson of the Department of Economics; and in the 1990s and 2000s, he held positions as vice president, grievance officer, and president of the Faculty Staff Union at University of Massachusetts Boston.

After his retirement from teaching, Arthur MacEwan has continued his work at the University of Massachusetts Boston as a Senior Research Fellow and then Interim Director at the Center for Social Policy and as Interim Director of the Labor Resource Center and Labor Studies Program.

His most recent book focuses on the financial crisis and the Great Recession in the United States. His earlier books dealt with issues of international development - for example, Neo-liberalism or Democracy? Economic Strategy, Markets and Alternatives for the 21st Century (1999) and Debt and Disorder: International Economic Instability and U.S. Imperial Decline (1992).

In addition to his scholarly work, MacEwan writes regularly for Dollars & Sense magazine.

Achievements

• Arthur MacEwan is widely recognized as an educator and economist, whose works are highly praised by critics. MacEwan was awarded the Wells Prize by the Department of Economics, Harvard University in 1969, for his work Development Alternatives in Pakistan: A Multisectoral and Regional Analysis of Planning Problems. Artur's Debt and Disorder: International Economic Instability and U.S. Imperial Decline was cited as one of the twenty-five best books of 1989 by the Village Voice.

Works

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  • Revolution and Economic Development in Cuba 1981
  • Economic Collapse, Economic Change: Getting to the Roots of the Crisis 2011
  • Debt and Disorder: International Economic Instability and U. S. Imperial Decline 1990
  • Neo-Liberalism or Democracy? 1999
  • Instability and Change 1989
  • Development Alternatives in Pakistan: A Multisectoral and Regional Analysis of Planning Problems 1972

Views

MacEwan argues against the popular belief in the neoliberal ideology of free trade, which posits that markets will self-regulate and that governments should remain largely hands-off in their approach to economic management. He states that free trade has not produced successful economic growth in Third World countries (with the exception, perhaps, of Hong Kong). He disagrees with the contention that a greater degree of economic inequality promotes a greater degree of development. In fact, he suggests quite the opposite: that greater levels of inequality work against incentives toward development, while relative equality often provides a solid basis for economic growth.

Membership

MacEwan is a member of the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

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  Massachusetts Teachers Association , United States