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donate Economy and ethics in crisis
A new-old East-West divide?
financial crisis The aggressive monetary policies of western financial institutions were a major factor for the crisis of eastern European economies after the bubble burst in 2008. What are the ethical and political implications of western investment in eastern Europe and the globalized economy as a whole? [ more ]
Market mysticism
financial crisis Faith in the "efficient markets hypothesis" is largely to blame for the massive deregulation of the late 1990s and early 2000s that made the crisis more likely, if not inevitable. Two economists excoriate the ideology of self-regulating markets and its pseudo-scientific foundations. [ more ]
Written in the stars?
Global finance, precarious destinies
art and finance Where hard physics combines with traders' animal passions, financialized civilization becomes imbued with the relations between hunter and hunted. Systemic corruption produces the disconnect between the informational sky above our heads and the existential ground beneath our feet. [ more ]
Iceland: Stone broke wonderland
iceland Overshadowed by volcanic ash, Iceland's economic condition has not changed for the better since the March referendum. As punishment for Iceland's insubordination, the 2.1 million dollar aid package has yet to find its way up north, and neither can Iceland count on help from Brussels in its negotiations with the IMF. [ more ]
An obituary for the Third Way
The financial crisis and social democracy in Europe
Social democracy The Third Way made a virtue out of the necessity to adapt social democracy to the global market. But when the US system on which it was modelled collapsed, European social democracy was in no state to offer an alternative, argues Magnus Ryner. [ more ]
Banking regulation? Malfunction!
financial crisis The few regulatory measures introduced since the financial collapse are being supervised by the same banking sector that caused it in the first place, writes Lucas Zeise. Governments' delegation of regulatory responsibilities has deeply negative implications for democracy. [ more ]
Anger as the ship goes down
financial crisis Obama's proposed banking reforms are likely to face insurmountable opposition from Congress, where lobby interests have become all-powerful. Worse still, writes George Blecher, the proposals themselves don't go far enough. [ more ]
The crisis and the end of liberalism in central Europe
financial crisis Even as the state took over large portions of the private banking sector in the US and UK, politicians in central Europe were singing the praises of Anglo-Saxon market liberalism. They are the last orphans of Bush and Cheney, writes Jacques Rupnik. [ more ]
After the crisis, back to a Protestant ethic?
financial crisis "After the financial crisis, back to a Protestant ethic?" Rather not, says Ralf Dahrendorf, but still: the reduced circumstances in which developed countries are finding themselves call for a return to a responsible, parsimonious capitalism.
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Hungarian bubbles
Financial crisis Despite the horror-stories, Hungary's budget deficit at 3 per cent of GDP and its public debt at just above 70 per cent do not fare too badly in a global comparison. "So what's our problem?", asks Zoltán Farkas. [ more ]
Beyond transparency
financial crisis Advocates of financial regulation see markets as sound in principle, merely distorted by concealed risks. However transparency is no guarantee against bubbles and crashes, writes André Orléan. It is the rationale for the universal interconnection of capital that needs to be disputed. [ more ]
Failing all the way to the top
On the career of German Federal President Horst Köhler
financial crisis Horst Köhler, who has just been re-elected Federal German President, has recently publicly condemned the excesses of capitalism. This apparent gesture of self-critique was nothing other than an attempt at self-exculpation, writes Albrecht von Lucke. [ more ]
For a return to common sense
financial crisis The Romanian MEP criticizes neoliberal development policies divorced from "concrete local conditions" and instead pleads for market reforms that, while stimulating growth in poorer countries, are implemented "pragmatically". [ more ]
Cataclysm, anarchy and knitting
financial crisis US financial experts are talking of cataclysm and anarchy, but what really worries them is nationalization, writes George Blecher. Meanwhile, at street-level, the crisis is having some unusual effects. [ more ]
Turbulence and consequence
Imported economic crisis in eastern Europe
Financial crisis For the first time since the introduction of the market economy 20 years ago, the EU member states in eastern Europe are experiencing how heavily the stability of their currencies depends on foreign speculation. [ more ]
The instability of value
financial crisis Financial markets, like politics and the media, lurch between confidence and crisis, boom and bust. Olivier Mongin argues that to understand the crisis of contemporary finance, we should be turning not to Smith or Marx, but Walras, the first to posit desire as the cause of value. [ more ]
Fragile new Europe
financial crisis Despite talk of a "unified European plan" to combat recession, the motto among EU member states seems to be "each to his own". The financial crisis is reimposing the divide between eastern and western Europe, writes Mircea Vasilescu. [ more ]
What is the gender of the economic crisis?
financial crisis The stimulus packages now put into action are in no way gender equitable, argues Alexandra Scheele. On the contrary, they are based on a gender-political conservatism characterized by a concentration on the concept of the male breadwinner. [ more ]
Zero confidence
financial crisis Banks collapsing, homes repossessed, jobs disappearing... no wonder the world is in despair. Steven Lukes turns to Emile Durkheim to make sense of the real depression. Is there a remedy for "the malady of infinite aspiration"? [ more ]
Panic in the financial casino
financial crisis Self-regulation by the market has turned out to be an illusion: what's needed now is more governmental regulation of financial markets along with caps on managerial salaries, writes Heiner Flassbeck.
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From subprime to slump?
financial crisis The world has seen the power of money to socialize the costs of capitalist crisis, but are prices going to go on rising to Weimar-like levels? Jon Amsden explores the origins of the crisis and discerns something worse than inflation on the horizon. [ more ]
The next bubble
financial crisis Former venture capitalist Eric Janszen analyzes the causes and consequences of speculative bubbles. After the crash of the New Economy and the so-called subprime crisis, which bubble will burst next?
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Glänta supports the financial sector
financial crisis The financial crisis has made it clear how vital, yet how fragile, capitalism is. In solidarity, Glänta magazine would like to share its cultural capital. Sponsorship of the financial sector is not an act of charity! [ more ]
The crisis, money, and us
financial crisis The debate about managerial bonuses obscures the real problem: that income levels are fixed to debt and not to performance. There must be a return to the regulated capitalism of the old European variety, argues Heiner Ganssmann. [ more ]
Financial crisis and European ignorance
financial crisis The global financial system is in deep crisis as recession dawns upon the US. Heiner Flassbeck analyzes the dangers for Europe – and the ignorance of European economists and politicians. [ more ]
EU law as brake
The foreseeable failure of financial market regulation
financial crisis The role of EU law in hindering financial regulation is rarely analysed. Andreas Fisahn and Lars Niggemeyer argue that European states are captive to their own legal contracts, preventing a departure from the neoliberal path. [ more ]
The magic of debt, or Amortize this!
financial crisis Today we don't feel guilty about incurring debts, just the opposite – indebtedness is the entry price of being a good citizen, pulling more and more of us into the global financial system. [ more ]
High finance - a game of risk
financial crisis The current financial crisis, originating from US credit markets, is just the latest in the bad track record of economic liberalization, which never seems to learn from constantly recurring disasters. [ more ]
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