Category Archives: Social policy

Ignacio Portes: How the Left Underestimates Chile’s Right-Wing Keynesians

Yves here. Please welcome Igancio Portes to NC. He’s a sophisticated young writer who has a sharp eye for power dynamics and is keenly interested in why the left (the genuine left as opposed to the fake version we have in the US) so often fails to achieve its intended results when it gets control of a government. He’ll be providing posts from time to time on Latin America, which is too often covered in a cursory and propagandized manner in the mainstream English language press.

Are the Davos Men Getting a Bit Nervous?

Normally I try not to pay much attention to Davos because it is meant to reinforce the idea that plutocracy is simply a manifestation of natural aristocracy.

This entry was posted in CEO compensation, Income disparity, Social policy, Social values, The destruction of the middle class on January 27, 2014 by Yves Smith.

Gar Alperovitz on Mondragon and the Potential of Worker Owned Co-ops Economy

Gar Alperovitz, professor of economics at the University of Maryland, speaks on Real News Network about the potential and limits of worker cooperatives like Mondragon.

This entry was posted in Social policy, Social values on January 27, 2014 by Yves Smith.

The Myth of Maximizing Shareholder Value

So many of the assertions made about “maximizing shareholder value” are false that they should be assumed to be a lie until proven otherwise.

This entry was posted in Income disparity, Social policy, Social values, Taxes, The destruction of the middle class, The dismal science on January 24, 2014 by Yves Smith.

Philip Pilkington: Behavioral Economics as Victorian Moralizing

Why behavioural economics is nothing but Victorian morality passed down to the modern age.

This entry was posted in Guest Post, Social policy, Social values, The dismal science on January 23, 2014 by Yves Smith.

Minimum Wages: The Effects on Employment and Labour-Force Turnover

Minimum-wage increases are associated with a lower probability that a job will end, and with a lower probability that an unemployed person will find work.

This entry was posted in Guest Post, Income disparity, Regulations and regulators, Social policy, The dismal science on January 22, 2014 by Yves Smith.

Debunking the Idea that “Structural Reforms” Reduce Unemployment

Both the IMF and the ECB call for “structural reforms” which are code for further weakening labor protection as beneficial to “competitiveness” and job creation. Does this claim stand up to scrutiny?

Can Chile Reform the Neoliberal Model?

Chile is often a social laboratory that gives an advance view of what is coming……

This entry was posted in Economic fundamentals, Free markets and their discontents, Guest Post, Income disparity, Politics, Social policy, Taxes on January 13, 2014 by Yves Smith.

Yanis Varoufakis: Greek Finance Minister Reveals Advanced Case of Stockholm Syndrome

This is a stupendous story. Possibly for the first time in its tainted history, the International Monetary Fund had a major change of heart and tried to do the right thing by a ‘program’ country, only to be turned down by that very same country’s finance minister!

This entry was posted in Banana republic, Europe, Macroeconomic policy, Politics, Social policy, Social values on January 11, 2014 by Yves Smith.

Frigid Weather Puts Homeless at Risk

Yves here. Although the current spell of nasty cold weather isn’t unusual by the standards of three decades ago, in the intervening years we’ve also had a big increase in homelessness, which means a lot more people are at risk of freezing to death.

This entry was posted in Real estate, Social policy, Social values, The destruction of the middle class on January 8, 2014 by Yves Smith.

The Three Card Monte of Generational Warfare

Stock speculator Jay Gould remarked, “I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.” That, sports fans, is the real foundation of the generational warfare propaganda effort.

Death By A Thousand Cuts: The Silent Assassination Of European Democracy

The European Union is riddled with fatal flaws and defects. Chief among them is the single currency which, rather than serving as the Union’s springboard to global dominance, could well be its ultimate undoing.

This entry was posted in Banana republic, Currencies, Doomsday scenarios, Economic fundamentals, Europe, Guest Post, Politics, Social policy, Social values on January 7, 2014 by Yves Smith.

Michael Sandel: The Moral Limits of Markets

Since I imagine many of you are staying indoors even more than usual on a winter Saturday due to the nasty weather in the Northeast and Midwest, I though a video double-header was in order.

This entry was posted in Free markets and their discontents, Politics, Social policy, Social values, The dismal science on January 4, 2014 by Yves Smith.

Bill Moyers Talks with Thomas Cahill About the People’s Pope

In this segment, Thomas Cahill, author of the Hinges of History series and former director of religious publishing for Doubleday, discusses how Pope Francis is upsetting both conservatives in the Catholic Church and the public generally through his stress on traditional Christian values.

This entry was posted in Income disparity, Social policy, Social values on January 4, 2014 by Yves Smith.

Should Taxpayers Subsidize Insuring Homeowners Against Climate-Change-Induced Flood Damage?

The problem of who should bear the costs of climate-change-induced rises in flood frequency in coastal communities is difficult even before throwing in the not-trivial problem that is it also highly politicized.

This entry was posted in Environment, Free markets and their discontents, Global warming, Politics, Social policy, The dismal science on January 2, 2014 by Yves Smith.

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