Reflections from David Graeber’s “Debt, the first 5000 years” “The story of money for economists always begins with a fantasy world of barter.” (Graeber, 2011, p23) From the first chapters of his expansive work ‘Debt, the first 5000 years‘, David Graeber sets out to demolish much of the mythology around… Read More »Barter, Money and Debt
When we are faced with a new social situation, we have a choice about how we will interact with the people we have just met. Maybe it’s a new job, or a new club we have joined, or maybe it’s a military unit or street gang. We can choose to… Read More »Subservience, Co-operation or Dominance?
Is AI going to ruin the economy or take over the world? The short answer is no. The longer answer is yes, but not in the way that many people fear. The first thing to realise is that Artificial Intelligence is not Intelligent, at least using a strict definition of… Read More »AI : Is this the End?
In their continued push to outflank Labour on the left, the UK Green Party have promised to abolish private landlords. It works politically, in that left-leaning voters for whom more wealth redistribution is beneficial, are also more likely to be renters, because they cannot afford the deposit to buy a… Read More »Evicting Private Landlords – clever politics but terrible economics
The populist right loves to hate on the climate crisis narrative. But even if we overlook the environmental consequences of burning fossil fuels, these guys really need to update their perspective in the light of the latest (spring 2026) shenanigans in the middle east. The populist right is down to… Read More »Populists love their Oil dependency?
Imagine an office filled with people and activity. Maybe it’s part of a company or maybe it’s in a public hospital or a school. A few of the workers enjoy a cup of coffee and the office doesn’t provide anything, so those workers band together and buy a kettle and… Read More »Hand in the Coffee Jar?
On Profit In his economic theory, Karl Marx defines profit as the difference between the sale price of a product and the total cost of manufacture of the product, including fixed costs and worker wages. Because of his theory of labour value, he wants the workers to be paid all… Read More »Demythologising Profit and Competition
Every state makes theft illegal: if I cosh you in the street and steal your money, I am breaking the law, and should expect to go to prison for it. Yet, curiously, there are numerous examples of the state legalising theft. 1) William the Conqueror In 1066, William of Normandy… Read More »State Legalisation of Theft
When analysing the effect of a National Minimum Wage (NMW), the first point to consider is whether the mandatory NMW is higher or lower than the market wage for the same work in the same location. Setting a national level minimum wage is therefore problematic, in that the market… Read More »Effects of Minimum Wage laws
Is Green Capitalism a Contradiction in Terms? Certain voices lay the blame for the incipient climate crisis at the door of capitalism. In this view, it is the very system of capitalist economics which is the proximate cause of the pervasive environmental degradation, which poses a threat to future food… Read More »Green Capitalism?