[MGSA-L] Columbia University Seminar in Modern Greek, Kim, "How to Do (Two) Things with Numbers: Enumerating the Greek Economy, " March 29

Dimitris Antoniou dmtrsntn19 at gmail.com
Tue Mar 26 08:55:58 PDT 2019


Dear list members,

This year's fifth meeting of the University Seminar in Modern Greek at
Columbia will take place on Friday, March 29.

DATE AND TIME: Friday, March 29, 2:00-3:30 PM
LOCATION: 617B Hamilton
TITLE: How to Do (Two) Things with Numbers: Enumerating the Greek Economy
SPEAKER: Soo-Young Kim (Princeton University)
DISCUSSANT: Elizabeth Davis (Princeton University)

To request a copy of the paper (see abstract below), contact the author at
csk2 at princeton.edu.

Please be reminded that the seminar will consist of a short introduction
from the speaker followed by comments from the discussant and then
discussion among all attendees. We therefore ask attendees to read the
paper in advance and come with questions and/or comments.

More information about the University Seminar in Modern Greek can be found
at https://hellenic.columbia.edu/modern-greek-seminar/spring-2019.

With all good wishes,
Dimitris Antoniou
Co-chair of the University Seminar in Modern Greek


How to Do (Two) Things with Numbers: Enumerating the Greek Economy

Abstract: What do numbers do? This paper takes up this question by looking
back at a decade of crisis and austerity in Greece sparked by a revision to
a projected deficit figure, from -6.7 to -12.7. By considering multiple
cases of economic statistics in action—which take me from the IMF and
Elstat to the primary surplus and the cleaning staff of the Ministry of
Finance—I examine how numbers work and the consequences of the ways in
which they do. Through these cases, I show how recognizing numbers’
capacity to perform two kinds of semiotic work is crucial to understanding
what numbers do. Specifically, I examine how numbers in general and
economic statistics in particular at once symbolically represent a thing
and metrically describe it. This dual function of numbers, I argue, allows
contention over the descriptive accuracy of numbers to nevertheless
underscore their representative efficacy, rendering poor counts as decent
accounts. I consider the significance of this argument for how numbers
facilitate thinking about, acting upon, and worrying over one object in
particular—the Greek economy.
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