Topic: Finance and debt

Circular economy isn’t a magical fix for our environmental woes

Blog / 14th August 2017

To truly flourish, the circular economy needs to be part of a bigger effort to tackle economic growth, wasteful consumerism and undemocratic power structures in the global economy. It needs to be geared to the real needs of all people, rather than the excessive consumption of a few, writes Micha Narberhaus and Joséphine von Mitschke-Collande.

La commercializzazione: l’antitesi della condivisione

Article / 1st August 2017

'Non possiamo parlare dell’importanza della condivisione senza percepire gli effetti distruttivi per l’umanità della commercializzazione dilagante. Fintanto che viviamo in una società che é ciecamente guidata dalle forze della commercializzazione, il principio della condivisione sarà sempre periferico.’

Prepare now for the next financial crisis

Article / 25th July 2017

The Asian financial crisis started 20 years ago and the global financial crisis and recession 9 years back. When a new global financial crisis strikes, the developing countries will be more damaged than in the last crisis as they have become less resilient and more vulnerable. They thus need to prepare from being overwhelmed.

Re-imagining UK aid: What a progressive strategy could look like

Report / 25th July 2017

For too long aid spending has been driven by notions of charity, national self-interest, and an ideological belief that free markets and multinational business can solve the world’s problems. A new progressive vision for UK aid is urgently needed—re-focused on principles of social justice and the need to redistribute economic and political power in the world. This report lays out the key ways in which this can be achieved, by Global Justice Now.

Inequality is not inevitable, it’s a policy choice. For proof, look at Namibia

Article / 20th July 2017

Don’t despair that the huge gaps between rich and poor cannot ever be bridged. As Oxfam's new 'Commitment to Reducing Inequality' index shows, government policies really can help to shape more – or less – equal societies and economies. By Max Lawson.

A world in trouble: drought, war, food, flight

Article / 19th July 2017

Climate change is becoming a permanent reality affecting food supplies in many parts of the world, escalating a new international food crisis in 19 countries. As the trend of increasing migratory flows worsens, there is no escape from the need for a rapid reduction in carbon emissions, writes Paul Rogers for openDemocracy.

Poverty reduction as a goal sounds lovely, but this fairy tale vision of development and of human rights betrays a serious misunderstanding of poverty

Article / 17th July 2017

A collection of myth-busting insights about global inequality and the creation of poverty, with key questions to ponder in the latest human rights reader no. 417, by Claudio Schuftan.