Thursday 9th February

Uneconomics: a challenge to the power of the economics profession

William Davies, 9 February 2012
The fall-out from the financial crash is continuing to destroy lives around the globe, yet the power of economists is being entrenched, rather than questioned. In this debate, we bring together anthropologists, sociologists, historians and heterodox economists to ask and answer the big questions.
Friday 3rd February

China’s big bet on green industry – and how it might green the world

John Mathews, 3 February 2012
After the failure of Durban, a promising plan B to reducing carbon emissions rests upon green development industrial strategies being pursued by individual countries. And here China is in the vanguard.
Monday 30th January

The flaws of Capitalism - and how to fix them

Dennis Nottebaum, 30 January 2012
In the run-up to Davos 2012, Martin Wolf has outlined some essential aspects of an overhaul of Capitalism. But does he go far enough, or do we need a more holistic approach? Which points is he missing? openDemocracy writers reflect on the flaws of Capitalism.
(updated)

What “Great Transformation”?

Jakob Vestergaard, 30 January 2012
Martin Wolf’s suggestions for an overhaul of our economic system are sensible, but fundamentally insufficient for the Great Transformation we need.
Saturday 28th January

Jimmy Wales or Kim Dotcom - is anti-SOPA about fundamental principles or competing commercial interests?

Tony Curzon Price and Albert Wenger, 28 January 2012
In this podcast, Tony Curzon Price talks to Albert Wenger, partner at Union Square Ventures, the venture capital fund behind a lot of the most innovative and visible web companies of today, to try to understand: is anti-SOPA activism more about principle or about the competing interests of big Tech vs. big Entertainment

A little rebellion, now and then...

Jeremy Fox, 28 January 2012
Martin Wolf recognizes many of the ills of our existing economic arrangements, but his solutions involve little more than tinkering.
Friday 27th January

Britain needs a transformative budget

Oliver Huitson, 27 January 2012
Britain is on the brink of a double-dip recession. She needs to begin the fundamental reshaping of her political economy... and this is where I'd start.

The Precariat: why it needs deliberative democracy

Guy Standing, 27 January 2012
To arrest the drift to social engineering, the voice of those subject to the steering should be inside the institutions responsible for social policy. This means more than putting token ‘community leaders’ on boards. It must be a collective democratic voice. At present, we see the opposite.
Wednesday 25th January

Travelling on duty

Christian Kellermann, 25 January 2012
If Martin Wolf remained true to his analysis, he would endeavour to explain the win-win-situation of an internationalisation of some taxation in order to regain national tax sovereignty and provide for the appropriate means to generate more equality effectively.
Tuesday 24th January

What happened to the greening of capitalism?

John Mathews, 24 January 2012
Martin Wolf has presented a provocative diagnosis of the current flaws found in capitalism. Unfortunately, he has nothing to say about the biggest issue of all – how to transform capitalism so that it does not continue to destroy the planet.
Monday 23rd January

Dear Mr Wolf… Reflections for the Magic Mountain

Simon Zadek, 23 January 2012
Can Davos 2012 offer real alternatives or will it serve up a smiling, gritted-teeth espousal that ‘business as usual’ can and should be sustained?
Saturday 21st January

Who got left behind? How rising inequality is affecting countries across the G20

Guppi Bola, 21 January 2012
The correlation between economic growth and inequality is not as strong as many would like to believe. Combating inequality can, in fact, lift the poor out of extreme poverty, but this can happen in countries with only modest growth.
Friday 20th January

A political economy fit for purpose: what the UK could learn from Germany

Alex Keynes, 20 January 2012
Is the UK wants to diversify its economy and stem rising inequalities it could learn a few tricks from the German model: do away with narrow-minded anti-union attitudes and restore the link between finance and industry
Thursday 19th January

Sanctioning Iranian oil

Reyhaneh Noshiravani, 19 January 2012
With increasing geopolitical instability in oil producing states and the barriers that stand in the way of reaching a multilateral policy, the threat of sanctions in Iran only serves to intensify uncertainty surrounding oil price forecasts for 2012

Strait of Hormuz: Iran’s bluff and the west’s fears

Richard Rousseau, 19 January 2012
Iranian military action in the Strait of Hormuz is highly unlikely. It would not at all benefit most global and regional powers and would have disastrous consequences for Iran itself.
Monday 16th January

Credit rating agencies: the wrong institutions for public judgement

Tony Curzon Price, 16 January 2012
Whether the ratings agencies get this or that decision right or wrong - they were probably right in the case of the European downgrades - is not the point. They have become the buck-passing agencies for weakened states. The most important public judgements of credit-worthiness ought to be made in public institutions, not behind corporate doors
Monday 9th January

High pay: what Machiavelli would have recommended a politician do

Tony Curzon Price, 9 January 2012
It's true that high pay for bosses serves no purpose except keeping them (and their headquarters) in the country. The only real solution is economic policy coordination. In its absence, Machiavelli would have been proud of the proposals and statements on display this new year in the UK
Saturday 31st December

The great Ethiopian land-grab: feudalism, leninism, neo-liberalism ... plus ça change

René Lefort, 31 December 2011
Land in Ethiopia is being leased to agro-industry investors on very long terms and below market rates. The beneficiaries have good political connections. But land has been the play-thing of centralising authoritarians throughout Ethiopia's recent history
Friday 30th December

Is inflation a good tax? Can we have an honest political discussion about it?

Julian Sayarer, 30 December 2011
UK inflation at 5% is considered almost a victory by the economic managers of the nation. Yet it is a blunt instrument with strong redistributive effects. So what is a well-managed currency, and can we have an honest political discussion about it?

Should Brussels resist Hungary's ‘Putinization’? Or do EU member states have a ‘democratic over-ride’?

Jan-Werner Mueller, 30 December 2011
The Copenhagen criteria for EU accession set strict democratic pre-requisites for any country wishing to join the club. But how should the EU react when members turn anti-democratic? This question of principle is given burning relevance today as Hungary's democracy comes under executive assault – even if Britain's parliamentary absolutism remains historically legitimate.
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