Information for Students
Starting in the Summer term of 2026, we’re welcoming our eleventh Vienna Karl Polanyi Visiting Professor, Isabella Weber, to Vienna. In the course of her stay in Vienna, Isabella Weber, Associate Professor of Economics at University of Massachusetts Amherst, will hold a PhD-seminar, give a public lecture and participate in an internal workshop at CEU accompanied with a public debate.
The Seminar will be open for students from University of Vienna, Central European University and Vienna University of Economics and Business and requires application by students.
PHD - SEMINAR
The Research Seminar Anti-fascist Economics: Exploration of an Urgent Agenda held at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, will be open for students from all three universities participating in the Vienna Karl Polanyi Visiting Professorship; the Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), the University of Vienna and the Central European University (CEU). Participation is limited.
Information for Students
APPLICATION
Interested Students have to submit an application with a letter of motivation (1 page max) and a CV. Please send your application to the following mail-addresses and pay attention to the deadline:
Send your application to: polanyi_visitingprofessor@wu.ac.at, by February 27th 2026
SEMINAR CONTENT
This PhD seminar, held by Isabella Weber (Associate Professor of Economics at UMass Amherst) and supported by Andreas Novy (Associate Professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business) is open to students of social science, economics and related fields that are interested in the interactions between economic systems, economic policy making and the return of fascist forces.
The seminar conducts a close reading of classic contributions on the economic conditions for fascism and visions for economic alternatives and reviews recent empirical literature on the economic conditions for the rise of the extreme right.
Based on this theoretical and empirical foundation the last part of the seminar discusses how economics can help to halt rather than fuel fascist forces and be in that sense antifascist.
In each session, a lecture by Isabella Weber on the readings and their significance for the themes pursued in the seminar will be followed by a class discussion. Attendance is required and participation in seminar discussions is important.
Students will have to hold short oral presentations on parts of the course literature, draft a proposal for their term paper and hand in a term paper at the end of the seminar. Students are encouraged to relate the topics of the seminar to their personal PhD-project.
