Economics

By Yanis Varoufakis* While the media are reporting the news of the deadlocked EU Summit negotiations over the so-called ‘Recovery Fund’, an eerie silence prevails regarding the Elephant in the Room: The huge wave of austerity the Eurozone is sleepwalking…

EU talks on a shared coronavirus stimulus package have broken up temporarily, with the bloc’s leaders still at an impasse. Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said progress had been made, but failure was still possible. EU leaders wrangled over the…

Empty Amsterdam during confinement by coronavirus (Image by Peter Noordendorf) As soon as the confinement imposed by the pandemic is over, in Amsterdam the model called “donut” or double circle has begun to be adopted, to try to repair the…

By Vijay Prashad On June 11, Laos (Lao People’s Democratic Republic)—a country of 7 million in Southeast Asia—said it had temporarily prevailed over COVID-19. Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith said that his country had “gained an important victory in the first…

In Finland, the number of homeless people has fallen sharply. The reason: The country applies the “Housing First” concept. Those affected by homelessness receive a small apartment and counselling – without any preconditions. 4 out of 5 people affected thus…

As the world moves ahead, Mexico lurches backward. Viewpoint by Bill Dahl  In June 2020, Mexico dropped out of the top 25 countries for foreign investment for the second time in over 20 years. For the second largest economy in Latin…

UK, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – the “axis of tax avoidance” – are responsible for 72 per cent of global tax losses Analysis of new OECD data published yesterday, on the basis of a reporting standard developed by the…

The horror of the coronavirus pandemic proves that progressives have been justified in demanding a single-payer health care system. By Sonali Kolhatkar A pandemic is not the time to be having discussions about how to design a national health care…

The causa causans Keynes identified in a passage cited in the previous note was investment*. Investment by profit-seeking investors is regarded as the source of employment. If it stops, employment, stops. At least that is true when one sees the…

The past month’s activism has changed a great deal. One thing it’s helped with is brushing aside the tired old argument over whether government should be big or small. In its place we have the much more useful argument over…