Category Archives: The dismal science

Neoliberalism Is Dying – Now We Must Replace It

From taming Big Tech to competing with China, Western governments are retreatig from neoliberalism. But what comes next?

Imperialism Then and Now: Wealth, Unemployment and Insufficient Demand

Prabhat Patnaik on imperialism and capitalism: to accumulate wealth, somewhere demand must be suppressed to provide cheap inputs.

How the Economics of Walking About Helps Predict Unemployment, or the Value of Soft Data

On the short-sightedness of over-reliance on hard data.

A Half Century Since The Beginning Of The End Of The Post WW II Economic Order

Marking the 50th anniversary of the end of the Bretton Woods economic system.

Why Economists Don’t Write More Papers on Political Finance

Despite the commonly held views of economists on regulatory capture, our profession has been much more hesitant in recognising similar conflicts of interests that may exist in economics research.

Globalization, Specialization, and the Division of Labour

A new angle on why workers lose out as globalization increases.

Michael Hudson Discusses Financialization, Rentierism, and Other Favorite Topics with Jessi Ora of Swedish Positiva Pengar Group

Michael Hudson gives another wide-ranging, tour de force interview. Enjoy!

Understanding the Opioid Epidemic: When Innovation Fails, or Rather Works Too Well

The opioid crisis provides a deadly example of why innovation often is simply a new-fangled form of predation.

How Policies Affect Beliefs and Preferences: The Example of Covid-19 Vaccination Willingness

Covid and other major political challenges show that devising policies isn’t the hard part: it’s getting the public to go along.

The Data Privacy Paradox and Digital Demand

Data privacy worrywarts appear to be the most promiscuous. What gives?

Mindat: The Wikipedia for Minerologists, Miners, and “Rock Hounds” (Except Not)

Citizen science goes unreward by giant monopolists Wikipedia and Google.

Why the Neoliberal Drive to Privatize Everything Is Running Out of Gas

A look at the current acceptance of neoliberal policies.

Rethinking Unemployment: From Adam Smith to Marx “Reserve Army of the Unemployed” to the Neoliberal War on Full Employment

Unemployment as a balancing act between workers ‘fearing the sack’ and employers ‘fearing the quit,” with employers usually winning out.

Bob Pollin: Modest Inflation Is Good for Workers

If inflation is linked to higher wages, that’s not bad for workers, says Bob Pollin of the Political Economy Research Institute in Amherst.

What if Large Businesses Are Really Macroeconomic Entities?

Mega businesses are a huuge problem. But what to do?