Economics

Healthcare is not God's work

A quick clarification on debts, deficits and affordability

Can Scotland chart a path apart from neo-liberal Britain? And are parts of the left still stuck in their comfort zones? Gerry Hassan’s observations from a Glasgow book festival panel on the future of the left

If the actions recommended by the 1995 Beijing Platform for Action on Equality, Development and Peace were honoured, Roberta Clarke argues that the Millennium Development Goals could be met.

The Ashcroft affair underlines why taxation and citizenship – for persons physical and moral – need to be closely tied

While inconsistency with respect to climate change runs so deep in government policy, how can we expect people to behave differently?

Israel’s attempt to rally support for energy sanctions against Iran look like failing, for good reason. They would be likely to work to the detriment of the West’s and Israel’s goals.

The UK Shadow Chancellor's proposal to offer the public a discount to buy shares in banks taken into state ownership over the last two years

The passage between Scylla and Charibdis in the ocean of currencies implies neither euro nor drachma, but more democratic control over the economy

IKEA, which has publicly railed against corruption in Russia, has itself been caught paying bribes there. Could President Medvedev's anti-corruption campaign really turn Russia into a place where foreigners can do business, wonders Jesse Heath?

The less power they have the more grandiose their claims, the law satirised by the Marx Brothers in Freedonia has just been confirmed by Britain's "Lord High Everything".

The Boston Tea Party's history of trying to properly separate government and business holds serious lessons for today's partiers

Today's big philanthropists understand the power of politics, and Michael Edwards should give them more credit

Much of Russian history is characterized by pendulum swings between orthodoxy and reform to overcome backwardness. Russia is again debating reform and the West has a vital stake.

British conservatives claim that the tax system penalises marriage and that this is responsible for social break down. Simon McMahon finds the first claim fair, but the second less so

The economic crisis has hit Russian regions hard. Natalya Zubarevich deems government solutions to the resulting unemployment to be mainly a smoke and mirrors job, which conceals a real unemployment figure of 8%.

Banks make money. Literally, money is their output. But social guarantees are their input. Should they be the ones making money?

Privatisation is often defended as increasing 'choice', a mantra invoked by politicians at every election. But this choice has its downsides, argues Daniel-Joseph MacArthur-Seal

Is the aid effort in Haiti ineffective and wasteful? If so, is this typical of the way the world responds to disasters? It may take decades to get Haiti on its feet.

The EU's trade negotiations with India bring back memories of colonial exploitation