Economics Follow

Economist and author Graham Turner talked to Socialist Review about his new book No Way to Run the Economy, why he believes Keynes is misunderstood and what he has learned from Marxist economics.

Economic "reforms" for increased growth are often justified by the ruling class as being good for everyone. But what is the truth behind the statistics?

"Global Economic Recovery Is Growing, Says IMF." This Daily Mail headline was typical of the media's response to signs of economic recovery in August.

Chris Harman, Bookmarks Publications; £16.99

Every day seems to bring yet another announcement of job cuts. This is seen as having a terrible effect on the strength of the working class in Britain.

The percentage of workers in manufacturing has been in long term decline (1). There has however been a huge increase in productivity – the amount of wealth produced per worker (2). While the share of manufacturing goods exported has declined their actual value has gone up (3 & 4)

Joseph Choonara, Bookmarks Publications; £7.99

Joseph Choonara spoke to acclaimed Marxist theoretician David Harvey about capitalism's current crisis and his online reading group of Karl Marx's Capital which shows the revival of interest in this work.

In January chancellor Alistair Darling, discussing the economic crisis, claimed that, "Nobody is talking about printing money".

"There’s a rumour going around that states cannot go bankrupt," German Chancellor Angela Merkel said recently at a private bank event in Frankfurt. "This rumour is not true."

It is accepted wisdom that President Franklin D Roosevelt pulled the US out of the Depression with the New Deal. But in reality there were numerous forces at play.

Last week we saw how neoclassical economists argued that "free markets" would lead to a stable situation where everything was shared out as fairly as possible.