Do Fair Trade Labels Actually Mean Anything?
How to tell borderline sham fair trade certifications from the real deal.
Read more...Category Archives: Free markets and their discontents
Inequality and Ordinary Living Standards in Rich Countries
How the evolution of the rise in inequality in the US has dominated and distorted economists’ and pundits’ commentary; data show that some pet generalizations don’t hold up.
Read more...Austerity Caused Brexit
Yves here. Lambert sent me a copy of the underlying paper on Brexit voting patterns a week ago, suggesting I write it up. I sat on it due to focusing on seemingly more pressing stories, plus being behind on administrativa due to travel. I’ve embedded the article at the end of this post. This finding […]
Read more...Misperceptions About Immigration and Support for Redistribution
A large scale survey in six countries found that respondents typically had inaccurate ideas about the level of immigration, but thinking about migrants made them less supportive of redistribution policies.
Read more...Missed Visits, Uncontrolled Pain And Fraud: Report Says Hospices Lacks Oversight
Hospices, which were intended to offer a dignified and humane alternative to costly and often painful and distressing end of life “interventions,” sadly often offer substandard care.
Read more...Google Android: European ‘Techlash’ or Milestone in Antitrust Enforcement?
A discussion of the legal and economic issues at play in the EU Competition Commission’s antitrust ruling against Google for abuse of its dominant position with Android phones.
Read more...Can the Migration Plan of Spain’s PSOE Reverse the Fortunes of Europe’s Social Democrats?
Why he future of the EU social democratic parties very likely depends on how the PSOE will address the migration issue.
Read more...Michel Barnier Nixes Theresa May’s Customs Union Scheme as Bad Brexit Dynamics Worsen
More Brexit Groundhog Day as the EU is compelled to say the same old “nos” to the UK.
Read more...Tom Engelhardt: Three Failing Experiments – Mine, America’s Humanity’s?
Engelhardt’s birthday post reflects on how failings are catching up with us, individually and collectively.
Read more...The Middle Precariat: The Downwardly Mobile Middle Class
The middle class has taken a big hit. Is it going to mobilize?
Read more...Financial Times: Chinese Officials “Awed” by Trump’s “Skill as a Strategist and Tactician”
Believe it or not, many top Chinese officials are impressed with Trump’s game so far.
Read more...Michael Hudson: Argentina’s New $50 Billion IMF Loan Is Designed to Replay its 2001 Crisis
Michael Hudson explains why the new IMF bailout of Argentina will not end well.
Read more...Argentina 20 Years On: Has the IMF Really Changed Its Ways?
The IMF is back in Argentina. The fund pretends that it’s moved away from borrower-punitive programs, but the evidence says otherwise.
Read more...(Mis)Adventures in Portland and a Visit to Occupy ICE
My visit last week to Portland was more exciting, in the good and bad sense, than I expected it to be.
Read more...John Feffer: Trump Doctrine as Kamikaze Antiglobalism
Is extreme antiglobalism the doctrine that undergirds many of Trump’s actions?
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