Category Archives: India

What India Can Teach the US About a Federal Job Guarantee

As Bernie Sanders’s proposal for a federal job guarantee attracts criticism, it is worth mulling India’s successful rural job guarantee program, enacted in 2005.

Fast Fashion Juggernaut Rolls Along

The fast fashion cycle continues to accelerate, as sustainability concerns fall to the wayside. Algorithms are trotted out as a panacea for products that embed an offensive message.

Plastic Watch: Great Pacific Garbage Patch Grows

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a major plastic accumulation zone located between California and Hawaii, is growing at a rate greater than previously believed, according to a new scientific paper published last week.

Davos: Alive or Dead?

Politicians and economists are meeting at Davos, but as times change, does neoliberalism retain its cachet?

Q & A: What Price Do We Put on Our Oceans?

Interview with Erik Solheim, on agenda for UN Environment Assembly, starting tomorrow, that will discuss measures to clean up the oceans.

Don’t Look to India’s Universal ID System as Model for Biometrics to Replace Social Security Numbers

India’s Aadhaar universal identification number scheme, including biometrics, is no viable model for replacing Social Security numbers.

Remember, Remember the Eighth of November: India’s War on Cash Assessed One Year Later

One year after India launched its demonetization debacle, the economy remains cash based, and Modi has yet to pay politically.

India’s Demonetization Experiment Fails to Demonetize: Cash Comes Full Circle

Cash withdrawals from Indian ATM machines are nearly back to the level of just before Modi’s demonetization shock.

Fast Fashion: Magical Shift in Consumption Patterns Will Save the Planet?

Forbes thinks that emerging markets consumers might save the planet from fast fashion folly. Ahem. I’m not so sure.

India’s Demonetization: No Impact on Black Money Despite Huge Costs It Imposed

India’s demonetization exercise was for naught, with the RBI reporting last week a scant 1% of banned notes not converted into new currency.

The New New Deal

The myth of the virtues of markets is past its sell-by date. Time for a new guiding principle, and the New Deal may be the place to start.

Climate Change: What Follows as US Surrenders Global Leadership Role?

Shell CEO calls on Trump not to renounce Paris climate accord, but if the US does, other efforts- e.g. Chinese, Indian– will loom larger.

Apple Spends Big to Thwart Right to Repair in New York and Elsewhere

Apple spends big to thwart right to repair, while efforts to expand into to India meet mixed results and fail to snare concessions as sought.

Growing Inequality Under Global Capitalism

The benefits of capitalism are accruing even more to a very few at the top.

Globalization and the End of the Labor Aristocracy, Part 3

On the current structure of globalization and its implications for the distribution of income within and between countries.