Programs

Students Tackle Public Finance Challenges at Economic Democracy Initiative Workshop

Fresh off completing their final exams and wrapping up a busy semester, fifty students from around the world gathered at Bard College’s campus in New York June 6-10, 2022 for the inaugural OSUN Economic Democracy Initiative’s Summer Workshop in Public Finance and Economic Policy.

Hailing from twenty countries and five continents, the students joined a distinguished  group of international faculty for an intensive week of seminars, lectures, and interactive sessions to study new approaches for tackling some of today’s most urgent challenges, including inequality, unemployment, and poverty.

Over the course of the workshop, students developed an understanding of public finance by examining country-specific financial arrangements, monetary regimes, the spectrum of monetary sovereignty, and the crucial role of food and energy security in achieving core public policy objectives.

2021 Global Forum on Democratizing Work

The first-ever Global Forum on Democratizing Work follows the Democratizing Work op-ed turned manifesto published one year ago in more than 43 newspapers, in 27 languages and 36 countries. The central lesson of the COVID crisis is that working people are much more than resources.

"Human health and the care of the most vulnerable cannot be governed by market forces alone. If we leave these things solely to the market, we run the risk of exacerbating inequalities to the point of forfeiting the very lives of the least advantaged. How to avoid this unacceptable situation?"
Democratizing Work Manifesto

The Global Forum provided the answer: by democratizing, decommodifying and decarbonizing work—by involving employees in workplace decision-making, by guaranteeing useful employment to all, and by marshaling our collective strength and efforts to preserve life on the planet. The forum, organized by eight prominent women scholars, featured leading economists, such as Jayati Ghosh, Thomas Piketty, Dani Rodrick, Jean Dréze and OSUN EDI’s Director, Pavlina R. Tcherneva. 
 

EDI Summer Workshop

The Open Society University Network (OSUN) welcomes undergraduate applications for its summer workshop in Public Finance and Economic Policy. Organized and hosted by the OSUN Economic Democracy Initiative (EDI), this five-day workshop is for undergraduate students interested in public policy to tackle economic instability and insecurity, and in understanding the financing capacity and policy space available to governments to pursue these aims. 

Curricular Initiatives

One of our core goals is to bring cutting edge economic research into the classroom.

Summer Workshop in Public Finance and Economic Policy
OSUN Network Collaborative Courses
OSUN Certificate in Public Policy

Student-led Engaged Learning

• Student-led Local Green New Deal projects
• Engaged research projects,
• Data resources for engaged research-to-action 
• Job guarantee campaigns.

EDI Policy

• In 2020 EDI Director testified before the US Financial Services Committee, European Parliament, French National Assembly, and Mexico City Congress.
• A Job Guarantee for the U.S.
• A Job Guarantee in the European Union
• A Job Guarantee for France: Un emploi vert pour tous
• UN-Geneva Glocal Leadership Forum, Belgium's Royal Academy of Sciences presentation.

Research

• EDI Notes
• Working Papers (coming January 2022)
• Economic Democracy Keynote Lectures
• Research to Action Lecture Series
• EDI Data Resource Tools
• Research Scholars
• Micro-grants (coming in 2022)