Articles
Articles and analyses from the INET community on the key economic questions of our time.
Why Hysteria Over the Italian Budget Is Wrong-Headed
Reactions to the size of the proposed plan rely on discredited assumptions and betray a fundamental misunderstanding of economic growth—and austerity
A Better Bailout Was Possible
Macroeconomics Predicted the Wrong Crisis
Distracted by the perceived threat of a Chinese savings glut, mainstream macroeconomists missed the writing on the wall of the 2008 crisis
Mortgage Fraud Fueled the Financial Crisis—and Could Again
Both before 2008 and today, there’s a disturbing tendency in Washington to not take mortgage fraud seriously
The Zero-Sum Economy
The anthropologist David Graeber has argued that as much as 30% of all work is performed in “bullshit jobs,” which are unnecessary to produce truly valuable goods and services but arise from competition for income and status. But the deeper problem is that more and more economic activity performs a merely distributive function.
The Mechanics of Cryptocurrency
INET Global Commissioner Peter Bofinger breaks down cryptocurrencies, and why they’re actually far from “anonymous”
Austerity Caused Brexit
Boycott the Journal Rankings
Reproducibility Crisis Reaches All Randomised Controlled Trials
The social and medical sciences depend on randomised control trials – though they face more assumptions and biases than commonly thought.
Was Martin Luther King a socialist?
Was Martin Luther King a socialist? New book may surprise you.
Who Says Labor Laws Are “Luxuries”?
The World Bank and IMF say developing economies can’t afford to have strong labor laws. Actually, they can’t afford not to.
To Understand China’s Economy, Look to Its Politics
The removal of term limits for Xi Jinping may be a better indicator of economic health—or crisis—than official statistics
Argentina’s Unseen Fragility
Why We Need a Global Public Economics
Global public goods, from health to peace to security, crisscross national and social boundaries. We need a new economic theory to understand their pivotal role in the global economy.