Sleepers, Wake
Sleep, and capitalism.
Read more...Category Archives: Social policy
Happiness Inequality and the Importance of Trust
Discussions about inequality tend to focus on the distribution of income and wealth. This column argues for a shift in focus towards another source of inequality – subjective wellbeing. Wellbeing inequality has grown significantly for the world as a whole and in eight of the ten global regions. One way to address this inequality is to increase social trust.
Read more...The Slave Power, Slave Credit, Slave Labor
Book reviews of Slavery’s Capitalism and This Vast Southern Empire, with some thoughts on their relevance to our own day.
Read more...There’s a Lot to Celebrate This Labor Day: The Summer Has Been Filled with Victories for Workers
A round-up of victories for labor in the last year.
Read more...Military Insiders and War Profiteers Will Be Reviewing Private Prisons for Homeland Security
Jerri-Lynn here. The Department of Justice received considerable plaudits in August when it announced a decision not to renew contracts with private prison companies. At the time, a Marshall Project analysis made it clear that significance of that decision was overstated, as it only affected about 15% of inmates held in private prisons. The Department […]
Read more...Fighting for Whose Freedom: Racism, Police Unions, Veterans, and Colin Kaepernick
Outrage over Colin Kaepernick’s comments on racism ignores the role of activism in improving the lives of veterans and Black Americans.
Read more...Credentialism and Corruption: Vile College Presidents Edition
Corruption at NYU, Baylor, and Penn State.
Read more...How Abusive Employers Combined With Job Insecurity Lead to Suicides
Labor activists charge that pressure-cooker jobs and employer abuse are leading to more work-related suicides. But how can companies by held to account?
Read more...Human Development, Inequality, and Long Working Hours
One-dimensional indicators such as GNI per capita are known to be flawed measures of well-being. The Human Development Index (HDI) introduced dimensions of health and education alongside income. This column argues that an HDI adjusted for inequality and hours worked gives deeper insight into a country’s economic standing. Using this composite measure, the US falls from first to seventh among G8 countries.
Read more...Taxcast on Big Four Accounting and the Duke of Westminster
Should the Big Four be broken up? And how about the Duke of Westminster’s $9 billion tax-free inheritance?
Read more...Gaius Publius: “You Broke It, You Bought It” – A Sanders Activist Challenges Clinton Supporters
Clinton’s hard move to the right is causing some consternation among bona fide progressives. But what will they do about it?
Read more...The Elite “Let Them Eat Education” Fallacy
Debunking the idea that better education is an adequate remedy for inequality and high unemployment.
Read more...The Strange Fate of Economists’ Interest in Collective Decision-Making
How economists studied collective decision-making after World War II, faced many impossibilities, and lost interest after solving them.
Read more...Bill Black: Thomas Friedman Wants A “Center-Left” Democratic Party Based on Austrian Economic Myths
Thomas Friedman has managed to outdo himself on the downside.
Read more...Emergy (with an “m”) and Environmental Accounting for Maine’s Landfill
Policy implementing the Maine Solid Waste hierarchy should be justified using emergy as the unit of account, and not dollars.
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