Topic: Finance and debt
Is a ‘global social floor’ the right path for ending poverty?
Article / 31st March 2011An internationally coordinated effort to secure universal social protection may not address the structural factors which make people vulnerable to poverty, but it could represent a major step forward in the fight against needless suffering and deprivation, argues Adam Parsons.
Share The World's Resources joins 'World Bank out of climate finance' campaign
News / 9th December 2010Plans to hand control of global climate funds over to the World Bank – an undemocratic institution recognised as one of the main drivers of current unsustainable development trends – are being met with stiff opposition. In an open letter to the governments of the world, STWR joins the call to keep the World Bank out of climate finance.
The seven myths of ‘slums’ – Myth 5: the free market can end slums
Report / 8th December 2010According to the international institutions and powerful states that drive globalisation (along with most of the business community, conservative political parties, libertarian ideologues and the corporate-controlled media that gives voice to their concerns), we are told that social injustice can only be addressed by the proper application of some version of free market capitalism...
The seven myths of ‘slums’ – introduction
Report / 8th December 2010For anyone who takes an interest in the problem of slums, a few basic facts will soon become clear. Firstly, the locus of global poverty is moving from rural areas to the cities, and more than half the world population now lives in urban areas for the first time in human history. Secondly...
The seven myths of ‘slums’ – a summary
Report / 8th December 2010It is easy to believe that urban slums are a consequence of too many people living in cities, or too many poor people migrating from rural to urban areas for governments to contend with the strain on housing. But the real problem is rooted in...
The seven myths of ‘slums’ – myth 4: slums are an inevitable stage of development
Report / 8th December 2010There is an underlying assumption to much of the debate surrounding slums and urban poverty: that the urban poor will get to our standard of living eventually, and countries of the South will rise to the same level of material affluence as the industrialised North, just so long as...
Share The World's Resources at the UK steady state economy conference
News / 22nd June 2010STWR joined a diverse group of academics, activists and business people at the first ever international conference on steady state economics held in Leeds.
In defence of downshifting and work sharing
Article / 4th June 2010The proposal for fewer and more evenly shared work hours seems counter-intuitive in the current economic framework. Only by removing the structural bias towards overwork and hyper-consumerism can we build lasting prosperity within ecological limits, argues Anna White.
Challenging the bailout economy
Blog / 18th May 2010As Europe frantically shores up an unravelling economic system, popular protests are erupting against adjustments made to placate the finance markets. Austerity measures and bailouts may keep the banks happy, but what about the people? By Anna White.
Unemployment and the free market in Africa
Article / 7th April 2010Growing unemployment across sub-Saharan Africa is linked to the free market restructuring of national economies over recent decades. Governments must embrace an alternative paradigm of development that prioritises social needs above short-term profit, says Adam Parsons in an interview with Uwana Archibong.