Some time ago, I delved into the unique advantages of the Theil index of inequality over the Gini index, when data is available. The Theil index offers a distinct advantage in its ability to provide a consistent quantitative deconstruction of inequality. It does so by utilizing various concepts such as class, region, gender, or any other relevant factor. This feature allows for a comprehensive explanation of (changes in) inequality using the same set of concepts. The Theil index...
Read More »Power and dominance in the Colonial and Post-colonial times
By Sunanda Sen (guest blogger)The recent uprising and protests, in a large number of the White-settled countries in connection with the murder of an unarmed Black-American, George Floyd by a White policeman on duty in Minneapolis has re-opened pages of history relating to unequal power , with state- sanction of White supremacy over ‘others’ having a subordinate status. As history unfolds it, the over-powered included the slaves acquired from Africa, the indentured labour shipped from...
Read More »History Lesson: Why China Wants to Become a Military Superpower — Harry J. Kazianis
Understanding the Chinese mindset means understanding their history. Key Point: China plans on never being humiliated ever again. Bingo. Harry J. Kazianis nails it.The US-initiated "trade war" and the manufactured Hong Kong separatist revolt are eerily reminiscent of the British colonization of China and the Opium War. It is blazingly obvious to all Chinese people but is lost on the West that the intention is to keep China down and make it subservient to the the West, led by the US.China...
Read More »Peter James Hudson — How Wall Street Colonized the Caribbean
The expansion of banks such as Citigroup into Cuba, Haiti, and beyond reveal a story of capitalism built on blood, labor, and racial lines. Scrubbed from the pages of glossy coffeetable books, the history of U.S. imperialism can be found in the archives of Wall Street’s oldest, largest, and most powerful institutions. A deep dive into the vaults and ledgers of banking houses such as Citigroup, Inc., and J. P. Morgan Chase and Co. reveals a story of capitalism and empire whose narrative is...
Read More »Thomas Fazi — French Colonialism Is Alive and Kicking in Africa, Has the Continent in an Iron Grip
Thomas Fazi is an Italian journalist and collaborator with Bill Mitchell on several books.The US is not the only neo-imperialist. It is joined by France and Great Britain.spikedFrench Colonialism Is Alive and Kicking in Africa, Has the Continent in an Iron Grip Thomas Fazi See also Disproportionate focus on corruption of national leaders distracts from the systemic theft of Ghana's wealth Slate98.3 percent of Ghana’s gold remains in the hands of multinational corporations Celina Della...
Read More »Jason Hickel — How Britain stole $45 trillion from India: And lied about it.
Colonialism and "the white man's burden." The story of the East India Company and how transnational corporate totalitarianism began. The rest is history that is still unfolding in accordance with this paradigm that has been adapted to neoliberal globalization and how capitalism is uplifting the masses, in particular those who are not of European descent. There is a story that is commonly told in Britain that the colonisation of India - as horrible as it may have been - was not of any...
Read More »Justin Podur — Why It’s So Hard for Most Countries to be Economically Independent from the West
The structures of the global economy present challenges to any country or political party that wants to try to break out of U.S. hegemony. Even for countries as big and with as much potential as Brazil or Egypt, countries that have experienced waves of relative independence, the inertia of these economic structures helps send them back into old patterns of extraction and debt. In this moment of right-wing resurgence it is hard to imagine political movements arising with plans to push off...
Read More »IPA’s weekly links
The rest of the Jack Ryan pilot is 45 minutes of talking about clustering standard errors David McKenzie has a nice post and discussion on descriptive studies in development. In his back and forth with Lant in the comments he mentions the count of how many development econ studies in 14 journals in 2015 were RCTs (9.7%). Google introduced a data set search, which trawls for publicly available data sets, similarly to how Google Scholar works. Here they describe how it works and how to...
Read More »Scholar Explains Macron’s Involvement in Syria — Sputnik interviews Dr. Binoy Kampmark
Sputnik spoke to Dr. Binoy Kampmark, a Senior Lecturer at RMIT University, Melbourne and former Commonwealth Scholar at Selywn College, Cambridge University; who is also a contributing editor to CounterPunch to find out more about the France's role in Syrian conflict as well as about the recent Emmanuel Macron's statements on the topic. Nails it here. Macron is playing what has been termed a more ‘reserved’ game to his predecessors Sarkozy and Hollande, who both felt that French power...
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