economics
Articles on economics and political economy.
The buck stops here?
Amidst late-noughties currency fluctuation, Daniel Berchenko considers the history of the dollar's haphazard rise to global currency standard, its geopolitical consequences and the difficulty of breaking its hold
In a briefing at the Council on Foreign Relations last March, US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner admitted that he was ‘open' to a Chinese proposal to replace the dollar as the world's reserve currency. Within moments, Geithner's offhand remark appeared on Bloomberg monitors around the world, roling currency markets.
Manufactured scarcity - the profits of deindustrialisation
'Green capitalism': a new paradigm of sustainable production or a licence to shut down plants and print money? Basing this article on excerpts from his recent book, James Heartfield looks at the case of Enron, an influential pioneer in increasing profits by cutting output
Of course companies that sell climate change solutions stand to benefit as greenhouse gas emissions come to bear a price tag.– Daniel Esty Hillhouse, Professor of Environmental Law, Harvard University1
- 1. The Green List, The Guardian supplement, p.29, 5 November 2007.
Money and Crisis: Marx as Correspondent of the New York Daily Tribune, 1856-57 - Sergio Bologna
Sergio Bologna on Marx's writings on capitalism and crisis in the world recession of 1856-58.
Editorial Note: This article was written in 1973. It was a key article in developing the theoretical base of the newly emerging politics of working-class autonomy. This translation is taken from a forthcoming volume to be published by Red Notes: Selected Writings of Sergio Bologna. For further details, write to Red Notes, BP15, 2a St Paul's Road, London N1.
Some fundamental presuppositions for a materialist discussion of crisis theory - Karl Korsch
Korsch writes on crisis theory in 1933.
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Sticky fingers: KPMG and the accountancy oligopoly
Following their involvement in the bankruptcy of car parts manufacturer Visteon, John Barker examines KPMG and the murky world of the "big four" accountancy firms.
A participatory society or libertarian communism?
A debate over 'anti-capitalist vision' between the Project for a Participatory Society, proponents of Parecon, and the libcom.org group.
The debate is also available as a pdf and a print-ready pdf pamphlet.
The political economy of hybrid corn
Marxist geneticist Richard Lewontin and economist Jean-Pierre Berlan discuss the economics of and role of capital in the production of hybrid corn. This article follows their 'Technology, research, and the penetration of capital: the case of U.S. agriculture' article.
Source: Monthly Review, July-August, 1986 by Jean-Pierre Berlan, R.C. Lewontin
Technology, research, and the penetration of capital: the case of U.S. agriculture
Economist Jean-Pierre Berlan and marxist geneticist Richard Lewontin reveal the politics and economics behind 1980s US agribusiness.
Source: Monthly Review, July-August, 1986 by R.C. Lewontin, Jean-Pierre Berlan
Fictitious Capital and the New-Fangled Schemes of Public Credit
The text of talk by Marx's theory of fictitious capital, capital accumulation and the current economic crisis.
The following is a talk given by Michael Egoavil at the Left Forum 2009 panel “Marx’s ‘Capital’ and the Economic Crisis”. Michael can be reached at michaelegoavil@gmail.com. It was originally posted at http://marxisthumanistinitiative.org/2009/05/06/fictitious-capital-and-credit-schemes/
Crisis stories
Overview and comparison of different theories about the crisis - Keynesians, stagnationists, Marxists, globalisation.
crisis stories
These notes come from the reading I've done recently trying to understand the causes of the current economic crisis. There are thousands of books, essays and articles out there now, but they all work within a few basic explanations or underlying "stories". Here I outline and compare four of the main ones.
