Right-wing Populism: A Wave of Nostalgia (tags)
For decades, western societies were marked by pluralization, individualization, and liberalization. Why are attitudes and pressures of society against these trends becoming dominant? Right-wing populism is anti-liberal.
Austerity Policy Leads to Low Economic Growth, 43pp (tags)
This IMF Working Paper published on January 31, 2013 was co-authored by the chief IMF economist Olivier Blanchard. The IMF erred in its fiscal multiplier in estimating the effects of state spending cuts in deficit countries. The paper was greeted by silence in Germany and the US.
The Shift of Power to the East and South (tags)
The shift of political and economic power from West to East and North to South and the rapid development of technological innovations have created a completely new reality..The claim of the US and Europe to being masters of the universe must be ended.
Economists Rediscover the Distrribution Question (tags)
Higher taxes for the rich-traditionally a horror to liberal economists-appear in a new light as state transfers to poorer sectors. Those richer than 95% pocket around 20% of the total income. It was less than half as much at the end of the 70s.
IMF Working Paper: "Inequality, Leverage and Crises" (tags)
"A financial crisis can reduce leverage if it is very large and not accompanied by a real contraction. But restoration of the lower income group's bargaining power is more effective."
In one of many reports and accounts of economic life in the Gaza Strip that I have recently read, I was struck by a description of an old man standing on the beach in Gaza throwing his oranges into the sea. The description leapt out at me because it was this very same scene I myself witnessed some 21 years ago during my very first visit to the territory. It was the summer of 1985 and I was taken on a tour of Gaza by a friend named Alya. As we drove along Gaza's coastal road I saw an elderly Palestinian man standing at the shoreline with some boxes of oranges next to him. I was puzzled by this and asked Alya to stop the car. One by one, the elderly Palestinian took an orange and threw it into the water. His was not an action of playfulness but of pain and regret. His movements were slow and labored as if the weight of each orange was more than he could bear. I asked my friend why he was doing this and she explained that he was prevented from exporting his oranges to Israel and rather than watch them rot in his orchards, the old man chose to cast them into the sea. I have never forgotten this scene and the impact it had on me.
White Privilege: Unpacking the Invisible Knapsack (tags)
I was taught to see racism only in individual acts of meanness, not in invisible systems conferring dominance on my group