Economics

As William Nordhaus illustrated in his Nobel award address in December last year, the free-rider problem is particularly severe for climate change. Those who do nothing ride free, while those who undertake costly reductions pay dearly. If an important player…

Despite global progress in tackling poverty, hunger and disease, a “new generation of inequalities” indicates that many societies are not working as they should, the UN Development Programme (UNDP) argues in its latest report released on Monday [9 December 2019]. …

During the UK election campaign the incumbent Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been criticised for repeatedly telling lies, and Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for presenting an unrealistic set of economic policies. The latter criticism has now been debunked by a…

The Conservative Party used to look after big, nationwide businesses. Now it serves a finance industry based in a few small areas of the capital. Frances Coppola for openDemocracy Last Friday, openDemocracy revealed that a secretive group of business leaders…

By Howard Richards A compassionate realist acknowledges the positive social functions of delusions, of which there are many in CWP [Community Work Programme] at Orange Farm [a suburb of Johannesburg]: Delusions about how many jobs there are (“Many people are…

“If we measure the wrong thing,” warns Joseph Stiglitz, “we will do the wrong thing.” by Jon Queally, staff writer for Common Dreams Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz is warning the world that unless the obsession many world leaders have…

Nick Hanauer, a self-professed capitalist billionaire, spoke at a TED conference only recently. He exposed neoliberalism’s brand of capitalism getting away with murder in plain sight. Mr. Hanauer described himself: “After a 30-year career in capitalism spanning three dozen companies,…

By Vijay Prashad The overthrow of the elected leader cannot be understood without a glance at the nation’s massive reserves of this crucial mineral. Bolivia’s president Evo Morales was overthrown in a military coup on November 10. He is now…

By Peter Koenig China has by far the largest lithium market. China produces already today the most electric cars, about 1 million in 2018, and will at least triplicate their production by 2025 – and in the following decade or…

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) today launched the Global Environment Outlook-6 (GEO-6) for Youth in Africa report on the margins of the 17th session of the African Ministerial Conference on the Environment (AMCEN). The report analyses the economic opportunities…