This election, let’s really talk about the economy
Here’s a short, “populist” piece on going beyond the very limited economic debate in the election campaign so far. It was published on Ricochet: The word ‘austerity’ is finally in…
political economy
Reflections on David Harvey: Neoliberalism and The State
For three decades, neoliberalism has dominated the political and economic landscape. Following David Harvey, I contend that neoliberalism depends on the manufacturing of consent to a neoliberal agenda and the…
Reflections on David Harvey: Neoliberalism and The State
For three decades, neoliberalism has dominated the political and economic landscape. Following David Harvey, I contend that neoliberalism depends on the manufacturing of consent to a neoliberal agenda and the…
Renzi budget has business ‘dreaming’ and unions worried – English – ANSA.it
Renzi budget has business ‘dreaming’ and unions worried – English – ANSA.it. CGIL and FIOM metalworkers rally for jobs Redazione ANSA Rome 14 October 2014 (ANSA) – Rome, October 14…
The Militarization of Police: But Why?
Since the beginning of the year, several stories in high-profile mainstream media publications have examined what some find to be the increasing militarization of police forces in North America. In…
Needed: A Real Deal For Cities
Over at NinetyTwoPointEight, I have written a post about the need for substantive discussion during the ongoing Toronto municipal election about freeing up the city from the paternalism of its…
Ontario’s Early Economic Development: A Political Economic Analysis
When writing about her adopted home of Ontario in Roughing it in the Bush, settler Susanna Moodie recalls penning a letter to Lieutenant-Governor Sir George Arthur requesting that he continue…
A Political Economic Analysis of Canada’s Role in the Atlantic Slave Triangle
As Ontario reflects on Emancipation Day, I think it is crucial to remember the role of both Upper Canada and British North America in the Atlantic Slave Triangle, one of…
Slides on Piketty’s Capital
I spoke at an event dedicated to Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century last night in Vancouver. It was great to have a conversation about inequality, economics and politics with…
Corporatism, capitalism and real alternatives: On the power to choose our destiny
Corporatism is simply a more virulent form of capitalism – or a late stage of capitalism: it is what happens when capitalism is left unchecked, to run its own course.…
New Left Project | Articles | Underestimating Capital, Overestimating Labour: A Response to Andrew Kliman
New Left Project | Articles | Underestimating Capital, Overestimating Labour: A Response to Andrew Kliman. What caused the 2008 economic crisis? In an article published earlier this year by Jacobin,…
Political Eh-conomy Radio: In and out of crisis with Sam Gindin
Today’s podcast is a feature interview with fellow political economist Sam Gindin. I interrogate Sam about the political economy of the present: the exit from the 2007 crisis, the role…
The rise of Bitcoin: and the challenge to the global domination of big money
The following article was written on October 25. I wanted to read it over once more before publishing it, then got busy with other things and forgot about it. In…
New studies show babies have basically decent impulses and are strongly driven by moral imperatives
More research shows once again that compassion, empathy and mutual aid, and an instinct toward cooperation, are innate in human beings, confirming what the great Russian biologist and anarchist philosopher…
NAFTA, “Free Trade” and the TPP: Fast-Track To Full Corporate Rule
“Twenty years ago, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed into law. At the time, advocates painted a rosy picture of booming U.S. exports creating hundreds of thousands…
Mexico City: A study in impermanence, and a lesson to us all
pablo lopez luz photographs the concrete waves (or carpet, as he puts it) of Mexico City The unbelievably sprawling concrete carpet of Mexico City seen in these photos make me…
New studies show generosity and cooperation are both natural and intelligent
A new study shows a mathematical proof that generosity leads to evolutionary success. Biologists offer a mathematically based explanation for why cooperation and generosity have evolved in nature “Ever since…
The deeper reasons for the “war on drugs”
There is a deeper reason for the war on drugs, which is the central reason for the policy, even outweighing profits from private prisons and seizure of property by law…
Smith and Hayek on the Labour Market
Over the past few decades, the work of Adam Smith has been enlisted into the neoliberal cause. His casual reference to the ‘invisible hand’ has permeated popular discourse in a…