America Will Keep Losing Its Middle Class as Long as “The Free Market” Dominates the Economic Debate
How free market fundamentalism has undermined industrial policy and other pro-worker measures.
Read more...Category Archives: Social policy
What Randomised Control Trials Can and Cannot Do: The 2019 Nobel Prize
A long-form discussion of the randomised approach celebrated in this year’s “Nobel” for economics.
Read more...Neoliberalism Tells Us We’re Selfish Souls – How Can We Promote Other Identities?
Public support for co-operation, collective ownership and mutual care have persisted, despite the popularity of some of the neoliberal agenda. What policies could the left pursue to build from where we are now?
Read more...NCAA Votes to Allow College Athletes to Benefit from the Use of Their Names, Images, and Likenesses
NCAA bows to the seeming inevitable and votes to allow college athletes to profit from endorsements: or does it? Details to follow…
Read more...The Rise and Fall of the Roman Republic: Part 4 of 4: The Empire as Hegemonic “Banana Republic” Ruled by Caudillos
The finale in a short history of the Roman Republic.
Read more...Grab Your Apocalypse Bag — It’s Fire Season in California
Increased fire risk is creating new behaviors in California. May be coming to your area soon….
Read more...Global Protests Round-Up: Authoritarian Adaptation, Data Gathering, and the Role of Class
A review of the literature on global protests (as in Chile, France, Hong Kong, Iraq, Lebanon, and Spain/Catalonia).
Read more...Our Response to the Next Crisis Must Tackle Consumerism
Ideas for taking on consumerism.
Read more...The Famous Baseball-Watching Equality-Equity Graphic, Scrutinized
Turning to a classic policy debate: equality versus equity.
Read more...Chile in Flames: The Neoliberal Model in Crisis Throughout the Region
An overview of the protests in Chile.
Read more...Impoverished Economics? Unpacking the Economics Nobel Prize
Yves here. Even thought the mainstream media, as usual, duly applauded the winners of this year’s “Nobel” prize in economics, there’s been less attention paid to the recipients than usual and far more criticism, some very measured, others more critical. The winners helped develop and promote an approach to development economics they called “randomized control […]
Read more...A Bitter(Sweet) Pill: The Impacts of Private Provision of Medicaid
A study on Texas turning Medicaid over to private contractors shows mixed results, which is better than most critics would expect. But does this study attribute bennies to privatization that aren’t justified?
Read more...America’s Health Care Ripoff: An Example of Cancer Treatment in Australia
An Australian example of cancer treatment puts US health care to shame.
Read more...Computer Science Now Counts as Math Credit in Most States – Is This a Good Idea?
Tech squillionaires are the moving force behind a succesful campaign to have secondary schools in the US give math credits for computer science courses.
Read more...The California Workers’ Rights Bill Is a Start, but We Need a More Radical Approach to the ‘Gig Economy’
Stronger rights for Uber and Amazon workers are essential. But we must also address the economic context that makes insecure work a reality.
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