Further thoughts on the economics of imperialism

Back in 2021, Guglielmo Carchedi and I published a paper in Historical Materialism called The Economics of Modern Imperialism.  The paper focused exclusively on the economic aspects of imperialism. We defined that as the persistent and long-term net appropriation of surplus value by the high-technology advanced capitalist countries transferred from the low-technology dominated countries.  We

India: Modi and the rise of the billionaire Raj

A general election in India starts today.  970m Indians, more than 10% of the world’s population, will head to the polls in what will be the largest election in history for the Lok Sabha (House of the People) parliamentary elections.  The poll will spread across India and take up to 4 June to complete.  Opinion

The tepid twenties

The semi-annual meeting of the IMF and World Bank starts this week.  The agencies and their invited guests will discuss the state of the world economy and the challenges ahead and present policy solutions.  At least that’s the ostensible idea.  Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the IMF, has just been re-appointed for another five-year term

China’s unfair ‘overcapacity’

The recent nonsense issued by the US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on China’s ‘overcapacity’ and ‘unfair subsidies’ to its industries is particularly pathetic.  As Renaud Bertrand put it: “the so-called threat of China’s industrial overcapacity” is a buzzword that actually means that China is simply too competitive, and by asking it to address this, what

From the Magnificent Seven to the Desperate Hundred

In Q1 2024, global stock markets recorded their best first-quarter performance in five years, buoyed by hopes of a soft economic landing in the US and enthusiasm about artificial intelligence.  A MSCI index of worldwide stocks has gained 7.7% this year, the most since 2019, with stocks outperforming bonds by the biggest margin in any

Bitcoin 24

Last week, Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison.  He ran the highly successful FTX bitcoin hedge fund that supposedly made millions for his clients.  But Friedman was exposed and convicted of stealing $8 billion from his FTX customers. He was found to have siphoned billions in customer funds into FTX’s sister hedge

The state of capitalism

The book, The State of Capitalism, is an ambitious work.  Written by the NAMe Collective with the lead from Professor Costas Lapavitsas from SOAS University, London, it seeks to analyse all aspects of capitalism in the 21st century from a Marxist perspective.  It has been widely praised by the likes of Yanis Varoufakis and Grace

The IMF, Georgieva and Keynes

Current IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva is seeking a second five-year term as IMF managing director after being nominated by a string of European countries to lead the institution.  In doing so, she recently delivered a number of speeches outlining what she sees the IMF will be trying to achieve over the rest of this decade.

Profits: margins and rates

US corporate profit margins are at record highs, despite slowing price inflation and rising wage increases.  Looking at the whole US economy, non-financial sector profit margins are at their highest level in the 21st century (over 16%) and not far short of the record levels of the ‘golden age’ of capitalist growth in the mid-1960s.

Russians vote for Putin

Today Russians are set to head to the polls for their country’s presidential election over three days – with only one expected outcome. Incumbent President Vladimir Putin will win comfortably.  The Russian president is elected by direct popular vote. If no candidate receives over 50% of the vote, then a second round is held between