Political economy

From the author of The Shifts and the Shocks, and one of the most influential writers on economics, a reckoning with how and why the relationship between democracy and capitalism is coming undone We are living in an age when economic failings have shaken faith in global capitalism.

If you're like most people, you want nothing more than a fair shot in life: a chance to seek out opportunities, work hard, and make your own way in this world.

La incipiente administración gubernamental asumida en diciembre de 2015 representó ciertos cambios en materia económica y social, llevando adelante medidas que por un lado rompían con la continuidad del modelo de gestión anterior como otras que representan ciertas continuidades, las cuales merecen ser analizadas en profundidad y desde una perspectiva amplia.

When the Treasury lost control of interest rates to the Bank of England in 1997, its status looked under threat.

We were drowning in in record levels of debt before the COVID-19 crisis, and we are now deluged in it.

Is work a primordial curse?

Populist upheavals like Trump, Brexit, and the Gilets Jaunes happen when the system really is rigged.

Poverty remains one of the most urgent issues of our time.

In 1517, Martin Luther nailed his 95 theses to the wall of Wittenberg church.

We think our wealth today comes from productive corporations and workers, but they merely add icing to a cake baked long ago.

Traditional economics is built on the assumption of self-interested individuals seeking to maximize personal gain, but that is far from the whole story.

The logics and ethics of neoliberal capitalism dominate public discourses and politics in the early twenty-first century.

For decades, a secret army of tax attorneys, accountants and wealth managers has been developing into the shadowy Wealth Defence Industry.

One of the most enduring ideas in economics is that unemployment is both unavoidable and necessary for the smooth functioning of the economy.

Does work give our lives purpose, meaning and status?

Most humans are significantly richer than their ancestors.

The idea that healthcare and education should be provided as universal public services to all who need them is widely accepted.

Largely privately funded with relatively little public regulation, the United States healthcare system is both expensive and inefficient, providing poor care to large parts of the population.

India has been catapulted to the centre of world attention.

Not so long ago, people thought that a ten-hour, six-day week was normal; now, it s the eight-hour, five-day week.

Unions face a once in a generation opportunity for renewal.

The problem of rent is at the root of vital social concerns in the twenty-first century, ranging from the climate emergency and spiralling economic inequality to the repercussions of global economic crises.

Our broken economic model drives inequality and disempowerment, lining the pockets of corporations while extracting wealth from local communities.

There were only a few women economists who made it to the surface and whose voices were heard in the history of economic thought of Adam Smith, David Ricardo, John Maynard Keynes, and Milton Friedman right?

Spiralling inequality since the 1970s and the global financial crisis of 2008 have been the two most important challenges to democratic capitalism since the Great Depression.

All of a sudden, everybody s talking about the gig economy.

China has gone from being a marginal to a leading power in Africa in just over two decades.

What we count matters - and in a world where policies and decisions are underpinned by numbers, statistics and data, if you re not counted, you don t count.

Harshly exploited migrant labour plays a fundamental role in the political economy of contemporary capitalism.

'Value' seems like an elusive and abstract concept.

The relentless pursuit of economic growth is the defining characteristic of contemporary societies.

Despite its oil wealth, the Middle East and North Africa is economically stagnating.

What is life like for workers in the gig economy?

Consumption used to be a disease.

The idea that the people have a right to shape political decisions through democratic means is widely accepted.

Too often, economics disassociates humans from nature, the economy from the biosphere that contains it, and sustainability from fairness.

In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, central banks created trillions of dollars of new money, and poured it into financial markets.

Many on the Left see the European Union as a fundamentally benign project with the potential to underpin ever greater cooperation and progress.

Much of our life involves working, preparing for work, searching for work, or thinking and worrying about work.

Should human organs be bought and sold?

Amartya Sen is one of the world s best-known voices for the poor, the destitute and the downtrodden and an inspiration for policy makers and activists across the globe.

Throughout the Western world, governments and financial elites responded to the financial crisis of 2008 by trying to restore the conditions of business as usual, but the economic, social and human damage inflicted by the crisis has given rise to a reconsideration of the inevitability of unfettered capitalism as a fact of life.

Although economic inequality provokes widespread disquiet, its supposed necessity is rarely questioned.

The economies of the eurozone countries are plagued by multiple crises, which cast major doubts over the future of the euro.

The Great Financial Crash had cataclysmic effects on the global economy, and took conventional economists completely by surprise.

John Maynard Keynes is the 20th century s greatest economist.

What is the connection between the sleaziness of Harvey Weinstein s business meetings and the passionless doctrine of neoclassical economics?

Austerity has dominated the policy agenda in the past decade.

Few economic phenomena provoke as much confusion as money.

The supreme challenge of our time is tackling climate change.