Economics

An income of one’s own: the citizen’s income October 2012
Bill Jordan says the citizen’s income is an idea whose time has come

The who, what and where of work October 2012
Karel Williams, Sukhdev Johal and Andrew Bowman introduce our 'The future isn't working' theme by looking at industrial strategy

A different way of doing things May 2012
Robin Murray explores the potential of co-ops to form the basis of an alternative economy

A bank worth backing May 2012
Christopher Hird looks at how the Co-op Bank has fared in the financial crisis

Co-operatise the state? May 2012
Can the co-op movement be one source of alternatives to marketisation? Hilary Wainwright explores

It’s all at the co-op May 2012
Jim Keogan reports on how co-ops are combining economic resilience with egalitarianism

The banks’ real stress test is still to come April 2012
The solvency of Europe’s governments has been under the spotlight in recent months, but Europe’s fragile and under-reformed banking system is a disaster waiting to happen, says Hugo Radice

Plan B and beyond April 2012
Dexter Whitfield argues that Compass’s alternative economic strategy, Plan B, is not enough

Richard Wilkinson interview: ‘The Spirit Level’ three years on March 2012
Tom Robinson talks to Richard Wilkinson, co-author of The Spirit Level, the influential book on inequality which is now being made into a documentary

The consequences of the EU bank rescue March 2012
Hugo Radice outlines the implications of the European Central Banks' recent actions to support the European Union's banking sector.

The euro: break or remake? December 2011
Kenneth Haar opens our debate about the future of the euro

Jeremy Hardy thinks… about a planned economy December 2011
'Millions of people have mind-numbing and soul-destroying jobs manufacturing crap we don’t need'

Economic crisis and post-capitalism May 2011
Mat Little interviews the economist Harry Shutt about economic crisis and the left alternative

The 2011 Budget and its global context March 2011
Hugo Radice picks apart Osborne's budget, and predicts difficult times ahead for the UK economy.

Bad news and more bad news? January 2011
Hugo Radice on the UK's latest GDP figures, and how they relate to the global economic context.

There is an alternative – unlock the surplus December 2010
UK companies are sitting on £600 billion, writes Duncan Weldon

The illusion of poverty reduction September 2010
'Microfinance' is much-celebrated, but has a terrible record, argues Milford Bateman

Countering the cuts myths August 2010
The government and the press say we are in the grip of a debt crisis caused by the 'bloated' public sector. Here, Red Pepper debunks the myths used to push cuts to jobs and public services

We are the crisis of capital June 2010
John Holloway, author of Change the World Without Taking Power, argues that our response to the global economic crisis should be to create spaces outside of capitalism, not demand that it exploits us better

Fiscal fire-raisers June 2010
Three Credit Ratings Agencies hold huge and unaccountable power over the economic policies of whole countries, says Paul Cotterill

International Money Fiends April 2010
The International Monetary Fund devastated the developing world - and now it's targeting eastern Europe, writes Nick Dearden

Confronting the city November 2009
Mat Little profiles Maurice Glasman, dubbed the father of 'Blue Labour' and learns more about Glasman's plans to clean up the City of London

A real green deal October 2009
35 years ago, workers at the Lucas Aerospace company formulated an 'alternative corporate plan' to convert military production to socially useful and environmentally desirable purposes. Hilary Wainwright and Andy Bowman consider what lessons it holds for the greening of the world economy today

Transitioning the financial crisis June 2009
While the financial crisis seems to have knocked the wind out of the international community and the British government's environmental passion, one group is going from strength to strength, Sam Mohun Himmelweit reports

Meltdown politics June 2009
Larry Elliott welcomes Paul Mason's new book Meltdown, because it takes forward the urgent task facing the left of developing a coherent alternative to neoliberalism. But Elliott urges us also to seek solutions to the climate and energy crisis simultaneously with the financial crisis

Feelbad Britain and the future of the left June 2009
If the left in all its diversity is to develop the coherence to meet the new challenges posed by the implosion of the capitalist financial markets, then it needs to overcome the weaknesses that allowed neoliberalism to triumph in the 1980s. Here Pat Devine and David Purdy suggest strategic thoughts for the future, drawing from their analysis of what they see as the left's lack in the past of a positive project for social change

Wanted: alternative banking system May 2009
Nationalising the banks is a a good first step - but then what? What would a genuine people's bank be like? Sargon Nissan of the New Economics Foundation looks at local, international and historical experience to find answers

Their crisis, our challenge March 2009
In a far reaching interview with Red Pepper, David Harvey argues that the current financial crisis and bank bail-outs could lead to a massive consolidation of the banking system and a return to capitalist 'business as usual' - unless there is sustained revolt and pressure for a dramatic redistribution and socialisation of wealth

Green jobs to beat recession January 2009
Jean Lambert says what the UK now needs is new green jobs and training for a new green economy

A Green New Deal January 2009
Jim Jepps and Rupert Read say the UK needs a 'Green New Deal' to tackle the 'triple crunch' of credit, oil prices and climate change

Credit where credit’s due January 2009
Credit unions are more than ever the essential financial alternatives to traditional banks for the poor, says Mick Mcateer

The world after Keynes January 2009
Keynes is back in fashion, but his policies did not give to the state - at all levels - the leading role in investment that is now necessary, argues Stuart Holland. What is required is a radical rebalancing of relations between economic and social power, led by democratised state institutions

What kind of crisis? January 2009
Hugo Radice delves through the layers of the financial crisis and lays out the challenges that any adequate alternatives have to meet

Crisis for Christmas January 2009
With so much of this, Red Pepper’s Christmas issue, examining the financial crisis, it doesn’t look like we are exactly bringing yuletide good cheer. But the holiday is also a time to reflect, recharge and prepare for the New Year. So we’re unashamedly adding to your seasonal menu some tough food for thought! We want [...]

Rebuilding banking January 2009
Leo Panitch argues that what is needed is for the banks to become a public utility

Pressing the limits January 2009
Robin Blackburn says that publicly controlled social funds could play a central role in a transition from a very unequal and crisis-prone world

Technological alternatives January 2009
Michel Bauwens points to the importance of the possibilities for co-operative, peer-to-peer production opened up by new technologies

The green road to socialism January 2009
Martin Ryle and Kate Soper say that now is the moment to stop the economy killing the planet

If not capitalism, what? [intro] January 2009
It ain’t over till it’s made over. The old neoliberal order is in severe crisis, and its leaders in a state of uncertainty and even confusion. But those struggling to help a new order to be born are not prepared. Preparedness involves organisation and popular mobilisation around proposals that defend people’s living standards and livelihoods [...]

Prophet of doom December 2008
Dissident economist Harry Shutt was arguing that capitalism was heading for a fall long before the current crisis. Interview by Mat Little

After the meltdown December 2008
On the eve of the US election, five critical writers and economists met to discuss the financial crisis - and what should be done. With Barack Obama heading for the White House, is this time for the left to think big? William Greider, Frances Fox Piven, Doug Henwood, Arun Gupta and Naomi Klein put their heads together

Credit crunch (book extract) November 2008
In this extract from his book, The Credit Crunch: Housing Bubbles, Globalisation and the Worldwide Economic Crisis, economist Graham Turner argues that in the current financial turmoil, the omens are not encouraging for remedying the inherent flaws that will tip us in to debt deflation

The Beijing Declaration: Another Economic World is Possible October 2008
'Another World is Possible', the familiar slogan of the World Social Forum, is now being put to the test, writes Hilary Wainwright from Beijing. Can the activists and intellectuals of the movements for global justice propose convincing alternatives, drawing on the struggles and experiments of recent years and on interesting historical experiences?

The Beijing Declaration October 2008
{{{The global financial crisis: an historic opportunity for social transformation}}} {An initial response from individuals, social movements and non-governmental organisations in support of a transitional programme for radical economic transformation Beijing, 15 October 2008}

The end of the world as we know it August 2008
As fuel prices rocket, a new world energy order is emerging. It will bring with it a fierce international competition for dwindling stocks of oil, natural gas, coal and uranium, and also an epochal shift in power and wealth from energy-deficit states such as the US, Japan and the newly-industrialising China to energy-surplus states such as Russia, Venezuela and the oil producers of the Middle East. Michael Klare examines the likely consequences of the growing competition for the soon-to-be diminishing supply of energy

When the bucks stop July 2008
The current financial crisis highlights fundamental failings in a global economy run for private profit rather than broader social opportunity. Jim Stanford explains how risky financial speculation created a bubble that has now burst, and argues that we need to refocus attention on a real economy founded on the production of actual goods and services