It has become a rarely challenged commonsense assumption that, as part of the globalisation process, there is an inexorable haemorrhaging of jobs from the “Global North” to the “Global South”. China and other countries in Asia are cited as prime… Continue Reading
The global capitalist crisis has now reached its half-decade point, and the months leading up to this unhappy anniversary saw the publication of a number of interesting papers on Marxist political economy. Here I will briefly survey some of them,… Continue Reading
For Marx, the proximate cause of crises is the fall in the average rate of profit (ARP).1 An increasing number of studies has shown that this thesis not only is logically consistent but is also supported by a robust and… Continue Reading
A review of Gillian Tett, Fool’s Gold: How Unrestrained Greed Corrupted A Dream, Shattered Global Markets and Unleashed a Catastrophe (Abacus, 2009), £8.99; Paul Krugman, The Return of Depression Economics (Penguin, 2008), £9.99; and Joseph Stiglitz, Freefall: Free Markets and… Continue Reading
A review of David McNally, Global Slump: The Economics and Politics of Crisis and Resistance (Spectre, 2011), £12.95; and Leo Panich, Greg Albo and Vivek Chibber (eds), Socialist Register 2011: The Crisis This Time (Merlin, 2011), £25 David McNally’s Global… Continue Reading
The 2007 financial crisis has reignited the discussion on crises, their origin and possible remedies.1 At present the most influential thesis on the left sees the crisis as caused by underconsumption and recommends Keynesian policies as a solution. This paper… Continue Reading
A review of David Harvey, The Enigma of Capital (Profile, 2010), £14.99 David Harvey ranks today among the world’s most renowned Marxist theoreticians. His fame is thoroughly deserved. Few red professors have his gift for presenting sophisticated ideas with such… Continue Reading
A recent paper produced by Goldman Sachs (GS) claims to shed new light on the trajectory of the global economy in the run-up to the current crisis.1 As well as discussing the “global savings glut”,2 the paper presents new research… Continue Reading
This is the first in a series of responses to Chris Harman’s latest book, Zombie Capitalism: Global Crisis and the Relevance of Marx. When Chris Harman began work on Zombie Capitalism in late 2006 his goal was to criticise what… Continue Reading
Just as medical science progresses through pathology, Marxist political economy develops through the analysis of the actual crises of capitalism. It is therefore no surprise that the current paroxysm has sparked both a revival of interest in Marxism1 and a… Continue Reading