Articles
Articles and analyses from the INET community on the key economic questions of our time.

Distribution Matters: Flawed Welfare Foundations in Classic Free Trade Arguments
The argument that free trade is always the correct policy is based on a flawed welfare analysis. Free trade results in winners and losers and economists are not competent to analyze the impact on well-being as a whole or the spillover social consequences of the discontent of the losers.

Why the World Bank’s Governance Reform Is Stuck – and How to Break the Stalemate
We examine the World Bank’s protracted and conflicted attempts at shareholding reform from 2008 to the present, situating them within the broader context of multipolarity and intensifying geopolitical rivalries.

Economist Chris Hughes on the Fed, Crypto, and the Danger of Trump’s Vision
Hughes discusses his recent book Marketcrafters, and how markets are deliberately built with outcomes that can serve the public good – or not. He uses this lens to unpack today’s economic flashpoints, from the Fed to crypto to climate.

Why Inflation Sticks Around: The Social Roots of Price Persistence
Inflation persists not just because of spending or interest rates, but because underlying social conflicts over income, expectations, and power remain unresolved.

U.S. Political System Is Bought, Not Broken. A New Party Won’t Fix the Basic Problem.
Why real reform in American politics won’t come from slogans, scandals, or new parties — but from breaking the grip of investor politics and rebuilding power from the ground up.

Rethinking Pharmaceutical Innovation Policy
Misaligned incentives account for many of the most troubling features of the pharmaceutical industry’s present practices and performance.

Europe’s Gas Roller Coaster
A new INET Working Paper by Yaroslav Melekh, James Dixon, Katrina Salmon, and Michael Grubb, interrogates the contradictions between fossil lock-in through LNG import capacity and overcontracting, and policy-driven demand reduction. Here is a summary of the paper’s main findings.
Trade in the Time of Trump

Leadership in the Senate: New Boss Same as the Old Boss?
To understand politics in America, follow the money. When we do, we find good cause to expect McConnell’s shadow to live long beyond his tenure.

“A Generational Loss of Talent” - Scientist Warns Funding Cuts in Science, Tech, and Health Undermine U.S. Leadership
Phillip Alvelda, a scientist and entrepreneur with past roles at NASA and DARPA, sounds the alarm on cuts that threaten the innovative capacities that have made America a global powerhouse.

How to Reclaim America’s ‘Democracy’ From the Big Finance Oligarchy
Sociologist Michael A. McCarthy’s latest book shows how ordinary people can take back control of financial capitalism and make it work for them.