As COVID-19 vaccines are rolled out and lock downs and economic crisis measures wind up, the federal government is painting a rosy view of the economic recovery. But, as Neville Spencer argues, this is far from the reality for millions of casual and insecure workers.
Neville Spencer reviews John Bellamy Foster's The Return of Nature, which examines the ecological thought of those who came after Karl Marx and were influenced by his philosophy, politics and ecology.
The Robbery of Nature demonstrates the importance of understanding nature and society with a Marxist perspective, writes Neville Spencer.
Modern Monetary Theory has gained in popularity in the past couple of years. Neville Spencer reviews two recent books that provide excellent guides as to what MMT is about.
French economist Thomas Piketty became something of a global phenomenon when Capital in the Twenty-First Century topped The New York Times’ Best Seller list in 2014. He has now produced a follow-up work, Capital and Ideology, writes Neville Spencer.
Modern Monetary Theory is getting increasing attention as a means to solve economic problems, especially as governments spend big under COVID-19. Neville Spencer explains its usefulness and its limitations.
Blame for the dramatic fall in international stock markets in the last week of February has widely been pinned on the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the likelihood of a stock market crash was in place well before the virus emerged, writes Neville Spencer.
While the rise of the Chinese economy has often been touted as a miracle, many economists have pointed out some alarming risks.
Climate scientist James Hansen has put forward a succinct guide to current climate science in Climate Change in a Nutshell: The Gathering Storm.
In Risking Together, Dick Bryan and Mike Rafferty look at how the financialisation of the global economy has swept up the lives of ordinary people who had nothing to do with playing the financial markets. In the process, their lives have come to mirror the risks of stock exchange, derivative and currency market speculation.
Welcome attention was drawn to the issue of poverty with the 2014 publication of Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-first Century, which became an international bestseller.
The Political Economy of Inequality by Frank Stilwell, Emeritus Professor of Political Economy at the University of Sydney, gives a more rounded overview of the issue in a more manageable volume than Piketty’s hefty magnum opus.
