Tag: economics

Omair Ahmad: What would the proposed large-scale cultivation of oil palm mean to India’s ecology and economy?

The truth is that Indians have switched to palm oil not because of some great choice but merely because it has come cheap. For most people cooking their food in palm oil or some mixture thereof, the content makes little difference. It is just another vegetable oil to them. The very versatility of the oil… Read More Omair Ahmad: What would the proposed large-scale cultivation of oil palm mean to India’s ecology and economy?

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George Monbiot: Dead Line – Future corporate profits are officially more important than life on Earth

The human tragedy is that there is no connection between what we know and what we do. Almost everyone is now at least vaguely aware that we face the greatest catastrophe our species has ever confronted. Yet scarcely anyone alters their behaviour in response: above all, their driving, flying and consumption of meat and dairy.… Read More George Monbiot: Dead Line – Future corporate profits are officially more important than life on Earth

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DANIEL BLOCK: How the Facebook-Reliance combine and the farm laws pave the way for digital colonisation

In April 2020, Facebook purchased a 10-percent stake in Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, the telecommunications arm of the Reliance empire. In addition to dominating telecom, Reliance is the largest player in petrochemicals and in retail. When its latest acquisition is complete, the company will control 40 percent – a large plurality – of India’s organised groceries sector. That could… Read More DANIEL BLOCK: How the Facebook-Reliance combine and the farm laws pave the way for digital colonisation

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Michael Roberts: 1% own 45% of the world’s personal wealth while nearly 3bn people have little or none / Fouâd Oveisy: On the Authoritarian Turn of Global Capital

Just 56m or 1% of adults out of 5.3bn globally are millionaires in net wealth terms. And they own 45% of all global personal wealth. The other 99% own the rest and there are nearly 3bn people in the world that have little or no wealth at all (after debts are deducted). Every year I… Read More Michael Roberts: 1% own 45% of the world’s personal wealth while nearly 3bn people have little or none / Fouâd Oveisy: On the Authoritarian Turn of Global Capital

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Arun Kumar: Articles and discussions on COVID and impact, Global Corporate taxation and Academic Autonomy

Article on the US proposal for a common minimum tax on corporations and its likely benefits for India in The Hindu on April 27. It is attached here https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/an-idea-on-taxation-that-is-worth-a-try/article34417756.ece  Panel discussion on reverse migration of workers during second coronavirus wave in India, organized by IMPRI on April 26. https://youtub.e/xopvAKaivV4   Article on fighting the second wave… Read More Arun Kumar: Articles and discussions on COVID and impact, Global Corporate taxation and Academic Autonomy

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Concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1% // The evolution of wealth inequalities over the last two centuries

Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century is an indispensable book for anyone interested in learning more about the unequal distribution of wealth in the world today. As I read this major 950-page study, which is supplemented by a large amount of statistical data and tables available on Internet), it became obvious that the Occupy Wall Street movement… Read More Concentration of wealth in the hands of the 1% // The evolution of wealth inequalities over the last two centuries

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Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in the United States. Why? By Nick Estes

Bill Gates’ achievement, according to the report, is that he’s largest private owner of farmland in the US. A 2018 purchase of 14,500 acres of prime eastern Washington farmland – which is traditional Yakama territory – for $171m helped him get that title. In total, Gates owns approximately 242,000 acres of farmland with assets totaling… Read More Bill Gates is the biggest private owner of farmland in the United States. Why? By Nick Estes

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SOPHIE KIDERLIN: The biggest banks have poured $3.8 trillion into fossil fuels since 2016. J P Morgan tops the list of contributors

NB: Anyone who still needs evidence that capitalism is the structural form of nihilism may reflect on these facts: DS    Banks funneled more money into fossil fuels in 2020 than in 2016, according to a report by the Rainforest Action Network. JPMorgan, Citi and Wells Fargo were the biggest financiers from 2016 to 2020. Funding of the companies… Read More SOPHIE KIDERLIN: The biggest banks have poured $3.8 trillion into fossil fuels since 2016. J P Morgan tops the list of contributors

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China’s relations with the African continent: Three elephants in the room. By Abdul-Gafar & Tobi Oshodi

How racism, the media and local realities could shape the future of migration between China and Africa    From the landmark $200m African Union secretariat building in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which is the meeting place of African leaders, which was a gift in 2012, to the roads, airports, railways, universities and libraries, China’s visibility in Africa’s infrastructural landscape is… Read More China’s relations with the African continent: Three elephants in the room. By Abdul-Gafar & Tobi Oshodi

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