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Anzac Day (the anniversary of the disastrous Gallipoli landings in 1915) is always a sad day, but even more so this year, with the horrors unfolding before us in Gaza. The carve-up of the Ottoman Empire by the British and French, of which the Gallipoli campaign was part is the direct cause of the current catastrophe. As well as grabbing colonial possessions for themselves, the Allies made promises to Jews (seeking a homeland) and Arabs (seeking independence from Turkey) which could...

from Crelis Rammelt and current issue of RWER Our presumed dominion over nature is an illusion. No matter how clever technological innovations may seem, they remain subject to the laws of thermodynamics. Consequently, a growth-centered capitalist economy finds itself trapped in futile attempts to completely decouple itself from nature – aiming for a 100% circular, service-oriented and zero-waste existence. This obsession stems from an incapacity to imagine an economy that does not grow,...

Οι καταστροφικές επιπτώσεις της ΕΕ στην Ελλάδα και τους εργαζόμενους Στ. Μαυρουδέας Η προδιαγραμμένη κωλοτούμπα του ΣΥΡΙΖΑ το 2015 – για την οποία ευθύνονται όλα τα τμήματα του σημερινού μετα-συριζαϊκού παλίμψηστου, διαφωνήσαντα και μη – έχει επιβάλλει σιγή ιχθύος στην επίσημη δημόσια συζήτησης σχετικά με τον ρόλο και της επιπτώσεις της ΕΕ στη χώρα μας. Σε αυτή την σιγή συμβάλλουν και οι δυνάμεις του αριστερού κοινοβουλευτικού φάσματος, με το ΚΚΕ να υποβαθμίζει το ζήτημα και να...

Η φοιτητική παράταξη Παντειέρα-Attack του Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου διοργανώνει εκδήλωση με θέμα «Κοινωνικές επιστήμες: είδος υπό εξαφάνιση;» την Τρίτη, 23/4/2024, 5.30μμ στον κήπο του Παντείου. Ομιλητές: Καλούσης Ακρίτας (καθηγητής Κοινωνιολογίας σε ΓΕΛ) Μαυρουδέας Σταύρος (καθηγητής Πολιτικής Οικονομίας του Παντείου Πανεπιστημίου)...

Robert Farley has replied to my recent post on the obsolescence of naval power. Unlike our previous exchange, a pile-on where I was (as he points out) in a minority of one, Robert’s tone is mostly civil this time, and I intend to reciprocate. Our disagreements have narrowed a fair way. On many points, it’s a matter of whether the glass is half-full or half-empty. For example, Farley observes that despite Houthi attacks, 2 million tonnes of shipping per day is passing through the...

from Lars Syll No sooner had I finished my comment on the irrelevancy of economics but I had confirmation — albeit unwittingly — in this morning’s Financial Times.  There on the editorial page was a short column by Soumaya Keynes talking about the rise of Hank. For those of you not on the cutting edge, “Hank” stands for Heterogeneous Agent New Keynesian, as in a complicated model of the economy. Hank is a whole new way of looking at model economies, with the really big breakthrough being...

In all the discussion of Leif Wenar’s critique of Effective Altruism , I haven’t seen much mention of the central premise: that development aid is generally counterproductive (unless, perhaps, it’s delivered by wealthy surfers in their spare time). Wenar is quite clear that his argument applies just as much to official development aid and to the long-standing efforts of NGOs as to projects supported by EA. He quotes burned-out aid workers “hoping their projects were doing more good...

from Peter Radford What are we to say of a discipline that steadfastly ignores reality in its pursuit of ever more formality in its methods? Wow. Steve Levitt has really shaken me. I come not to mock, but to follow up … Stand up and take a bow Ben Moll!  You daring soul. Clearly I need to explain. No sooner had I finished my comment on the irrelevancy of economics but I had confirmation — albeit unwittingly — in this morning’s Financial Times.  There on the editorial page was a short...

from Junaid Jahangir and current issue of RWER [Ha-Joon] Chang’s latest book Edible Economics (2022) crystallizes the narrative that he has developed through his popular books over the years. . . . I have reviewed the salient ideas as follows in a bid to draw out lessons I could share with my ECON 101 students. . . . the main ideas of Ha-Joon Chang can be distilled in point form as follows. Neoclassical economics gives precedence to mathematics over real-world issues of inequality and...

My latest in Crikey Peter Dutton (Image: AAP/Diego Fedele)Peter Dutton can’t seem to take a trick on nuclear power. Any option he puts forward seems to vanish as soon as he makes a commitment. Since Dutton became opposition leader, he’s pushed the idea of small modular reactors (SMRs). At least in their original concept, these were reactors small enough (say 50-to-70MW capacity) to be built in a factory and shipped to sites where they could be installed in whatever number was...