War or Peace, Barbarism or Hope?
The spectre of “stagflation” threatens the world once again. This time, the risk is the direct consequence of political provocations and war.
2y ago
Climate Injustice at Glasgow Cop-Out
The planet is already 1.1 degrees Celsius warmer than in pre-industrial times. July 2021 was the hottest month ever recorded in 142 years. Despite the pandemic slowdown, 2020 has been the hottest year so far, ending the warmest decade (2011-2020) ever.
2y ago
WTO finished without TRIPS waiver
Quickly enabling greater and more affordable production of and access to Covid-19 medical needs are urgently needed in the South.
3y ago
The Carbon Tax is Overrated
Addressing global warming requires cutting carbon emissions by almost half by 2030! For the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), emissions must fall by 45 percent below 2010 levels by 2030 to limit warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, instead of the 2.7 degrees Celsius now expected.
3y ago
Bleak Prospects for Least Developed Countries
“The outlook for LDCs is grim.”—the latest United Nations (UN) assessment of the prospects for the least developed countries (LDCs) notes recent setbacks without finding any silver lining on the horizon.
3y ago
Better late than never, but act now
The world should now be more aware of the likely Covid-19 devastation unless urgently checked. Last week, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a USD 8 billion plan to quickly vaccinate many more people to expedite the end of the pandemic.
3y ago
Biden disappoints: Must do more, not less
US President Biden’s earlier support for a vaccine patent waiver raised hopes for his summit more than a week ago. However, it proved disappointing, not only for efforts to end the pandemic, but also for US leadership in these challenging times.
3y ago
Progressive taxation for our times
As developing countries struggle to cope with the pandemic, they risk being set back further by restrictive fiscal policies. These were imposed by rich countries who no longer practice them, if they ever did. Instead, the global South urgently needs bold policies to ensure adequate relief, recovery and reform.
3y ago
August 28, 2020
World Bank’s ‘Mobilising Finance for Development’ not financing development
The World Bank leadership must urgently abandon its “Maximising Finance for Development” (MFD) hoax. Instead, it should resume its traditional multilateral development bank role of mobilising funds at minimal cost to finance developing countries.
August 24, 2020
ISDS enables making more money from losses
With the Covid-19 contagion from late 2019 spreading internationally this year, governments have responded, often in desperation. Meanwhile, predatory international law firms are encouraging multimillion-dollar investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) lawsuits citing Covid-19 containment, relief and recovery measures.
July 14, 2020
Financialisation: Tackling the other virus
The 1971 Bretton Woods (BW) system collapse opened the way for financial globalisation and transnational financialisation. Before the 1980s, most economies had similar shares of trade and financial openness, but cross-border financial transactions have been increasingly unrelated to trade since then.
April 2, 2020
West First policies expose myths
As the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic shifts from China to the developed West, all too many rich countries are acting selfishly, invoking the “national interest”, by banning exports of vital medical supplies.
February 14, 2020
Intellectual property raises costs of living
Many medicines and medical tests are unaffordable to most of humanity owing to the ability of typically transnational pharmaceutical giants to abuse their monopoly powers, enforced by intellectual property laws, to set prices to maximise profits over the long term.
December 5, 2019
Inequality and its many discontents
Much recent unrest, such as the “yellow-vest” protests in France and the US “Abolish the Super-Rich” campaign, is not against inequality per se, but reflects perceptions of changing inequalities. Most citizens resent inequalities when it is not only unacceptably high, but also rising.
November 9, 2019
Trade liberalisation for development?
The International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation (WTO), all dominated by rich countries, have long promoted trade liberalisation as a “win-win” solution for “all people—rich and poor—and all countries—developed and developing countries”, arguing that “the gains are large enough to enable compensation to be provided to the losers”.
October 1, 2019
Finance Global Green New Deal for Sustainable Development
the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) can only be achieved by 2030 with the political will to change international economic rules and mobilise resources needed for a massive public sector-led investment push to reinvigorate world
July 31, 2019
Privatisation increases corruption
International financial institutions (IFIs) have typically imposed wide-ranging policy reforms—called “conditionalities”—in exchange for country governments to secure access to financial assistance.
May 10, 2019
Neoliberal reforms strengthening monopoly power and abuses
Over the last four decades, growing concentration of market power in the hands of oligopolies, if not monopolies, has been greatly enabled by ostensibly neoliberal reforms, worsening wealth concentration and gross inequalities in the world.
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