Deficits, debt and deflation after the pandemic

The Great Lockdown enforced by the COVID-19 pandemic has driven governments across the globe to apply extensive bailout and fiscal stimulus programmes.  On average, these measures of wage supplements, furlough payments, loans and grants to firms; and emergency spending on health and other public services, have been paid for by extra government spending equivalent to

Trade wars are class wars – part two: global imbalances?

Trade wars are Class Wars by Matthew Klein and Michael Pettis has now been entered as one of the best books of the year by the FT and one to read over the summer by Martin Wolf, the FT’s economics guru. Wolf says that “This is a very important book. Its central argument is that

Trade wars and class wars: part one – the global savings glut?

This review of a new book is in two parts as there is much to say. Here is the first part. ‘Trade wars are class wars‘ is the title of a new book by Matthew Klein and Michael Pettis. Matthew C. Klein is the Economics Commentator at Barron’s. He has previously written for the Financial

The deficit myth

Stephanie Kelton is  professor of economics and public policy at Stony Brook University, a former Chief Economist on the U.S. Senate Budget Committee (Democratic staff) and was an economic policy adviser to Senator Bernie Sanders, the leftist American presidential hopeful.  Kelton is a prominent exponent and populariser of what is called Modern Monetary Theory (MMT).

Resetting the economy – for social need not profit

In a recent World Economic Forum (WEF) virtual meeting, the ageing heir to the British monarchy, Prince Charles spoke with IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva. Charles’s speech was part of a launch event for The Great Reset, a project involving the WEF and the Prince of Wales’s Sustainable Markets Initiative, aimed at rebuilding the economic and social system

Returning to normal?

The recent release of the US jobs data for May, which apparently showed a reduction in the unemployment rate from April, sparked a sharp rally in the US stock market. And if you were to follow the stock markets of the major economies, you would think that the world economy was racing back to normal

Capitulating to adults

During the pandemic lockdown, I have been able to read a range of new economics books, some Marxist but most not.  It seems that many leading economists have published new stuff in the last two months. Over the next few weeks, I shall post some reviews of these. I shall start with Sellouts in the

Coronavirus, the economic crisis and Indian capitalism

Below is the transcript of the presentation that I made on 30 April to the Indian Students Forum (TISS) in Mumbai.  It has been published by Students’ Struggle, the monthly bulletin of the Students Federation of India, a student organisation associated with the Communist Party of India (Marxist).  It is a little out of date

China in the post-pandemic 2020s

China’s National Peoples Congress (NPC) opened today, having been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.  The NPC is China’s version of a parliament and used by the Communist party leaders to report on the state of the economy and outline their plans for the future, both domestically and globally. Prime Minister Li Keqiang announced that for

Profitability, investment and the pandemic

Last week’s speech by US Federal Reserve Chair Jay Powell at the Peterson Institute for International Economics, Washington was truly shocking.  Powell told his audience of economists that “The scope and speed of this downturn are without modern precedent”. One shocking fact that he announced was that, according to a special Fed survey of ‘economic well-being’