Leicester is a medium-sized city in the centre of England. It has come into the limelight in the last few weeks because of an outbreak of COVID-19 in the city, forcing a local lockdown, while the rest of England starts to ‘come out’. Leicester has a relatively high British Asian community and many are concentratedContinue reading “Sweatshops and monopsony power – a review”
Category Archives: marxism
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 FinancialContinue reading “Trade wars and class wars: part one – the global savings glut?”
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).Continue reading “The deficit myth”
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 theContinue reading “Capitulating to adults”
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 forContinue reading “China in the post-pandemic 2020s”
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’Continue reading “Profitability, investment and the pandemic”
The scarring
Optimism reigns in global stock markets, particularly in the US. After falling around 30% when the lockdowns to contain COVID-19 virus pandemic were imposed, the US stock market has jumped back 30% in April. Why? Well, for two reasons. The first is that the US Federal Reserve has intervened to inject humungous amounts of creditContinue reading “The scarring”
The Greek tragedy: Act Three
On Thursday night, EU leaders again failed to agree on how to provide proper fiscal support for hard-hit member states to cope with the health costs of the coronavirus pandemic and collapse of their economies from the lockdowns. The EU leaders have already agreed to a €540bn package of emergency measures. This sounds a lotContinue reading “The Greek tragedy: Act Three”
COVID-19 and containment
It is a risky thing to start analysing the COVID stats and coming up with some conclusions at this still early stage of the pandemic. It is even riskier for an economist to delve into areas beyond his or her supposed expertise. But after looking at myriads of articles, heaps of data and lots ofContinue reading “COVID-19 and containment”
The post-pandemic slump
The coronavirus pandemic marks the end of longest US economic expansion on record, and it will feature sharpest economic contraction since WWII. The global economy was facing the worst collapse since the second world war as coronavirus began to strike in March, well before the height of the crisis, according to the latest Brookings-FT trackingContinue reading “The post-pandemic slump”
