by Hans Taparia and Bruce Buchanan in The New York Times…More often than not, charities work to mitigate harms caused by business. Every year, corporations externalize trillions in costs to society and the planet. Nonprofits form to absorb those costs but have at their disposal only a tiny portion of the profits that corporations were able to generate by externalizing those costs in the first place. This is what makes charity such a good deal for businesses and their owners: They can earn moral credit for donating a penny to a problem they made a dollar creating.
Rolling out the doughnut
in Beshara Magazine…We talk to Leonora Grcheva of the Doughnut Economics Action Lab about how Kate Raworth’s innovative economic theory is being translated into sustainable practice in cities and regions across the world.
A food apocalypse is coming; There is no plan to feed Britain in a crisis
by James Rebanks in UnHerd…The answer is to be ready, with a more resilient and secure food system before something goes wrong. We need an inspired farming system that’s largely confined to our own island, and which we can rely upon in a crisis. There is no food security unless we can feed people locally in an emergency.
The next financial crisis: Insurance
by Robert Kuttner in The American Prospect… Increasing damage from fires, hurricanes, and floods will destabilize a lightly regulated industry—and spill over into broader financial markets.
Responding to platform firm power: differing national responses
by Angela Garcia Calvo in New Political Economy…In the second half of the 1990s, the commercial internet emerged as a remarkable connectivity tool that promised ever tighter integration of economies and societies. The desirability of internet use meant that it diffused globally with astonishing speed. In the US, technological leadership, enormous sums of venture capital, a large, single market, and a neoliberal, laissez-faire political economic environment, unleashed an ongoing process of entrepreneurship that resulted in the emergence of what became the global platform leaders.
Society is right on track for a global collapse, new study of infamous 1970s report finds
by Brandon Specktor in LiveScience.com…A steep downturn in human population and quality of life could be coming in the 2040s, the report finds.
More in this category
Is there a future in the doomsday economy?
by Alexander Nazaryan in The New York Times….With Fortitude Ranch, the entrepreneur Drew Miller is betting on franchised timeshares for people who are worried about the end of the world.
The status of U.S. oil production: 2024 update everything shines by dimming
by Roger Blanchard in Resilience.org…To maximize profitability of deep water fields, the industry cranks up production rapidly to a high production level, say 100,000 b/d or more, but peak production is reached within a year or two and generally followed by rapid decline.
Shrink the economy, save the world?
by Jennifer Szalai in The New York Times….Economic growth has been ecologically costly — and so a movement in favor of ‘degrowth’ is growing.
New world order?
by Kate Mackenzie and Tim Sahay in Phenomenal World….At The Polycrisis we have been tracking the whipsaw of the global financial system amid private finance mantras, interest-rate hikes at the Fed, and the explosion of debt in the global South.
The European Union’s economic security strategy update
By Emily Benson in CSIS….As partners advance to this new era of technology-driven economic security agendas, governments will need to work concertedly to break the long-standing barriers between trade policy and national security.
A starting point for degrowth: The Costa Rica “Pura Vida” meaning
By Juan Ignacio Marín Degrowth is a theory, a movement, and a practice with a long and distinguished history. The excellent Wikipedia article (worth consulting) starts this way: Degrowth or post-growth economics is an academic and social movement critical of the...
Crop insurance costs explode
by Robert Arnason in The Western Producer…Those massive payments are connected to the severe drought of 2021, which crushed crop yields across much of Western Canada. There’s also the factor of higher prices for grains, oilseeds and pulse crops, which exacerbated the size of crop insurance payments.
Towards multivalent currencies, bioregional monetary stewardship and a distributed global reserve currency
from Dark Matter Labs.org…Ultimately we hope to convene a community who have diverse skills and experiences beyond our own; a distributed team united in designing and building the alternative monetary system that we so desperately require. A first step towards that is to think carefully about what a desirable monetary system might in fact contain.
7 Structural Shifts:
by Indy Johar in Dark Matter… Furthermore, it is also becoming increasingly apparent that as we shift away from our current material economy — a system that has generated abundance for some segments of society and scarcity for others — we are entering an era marked by greater scarcity. This transition could potentially lead us towards a novel concept of abundance. However, this journey is not without its challenges. As we begin to encounter the limitations inherent in our economies, particularly the rise of net-zero-sum scenarios, the risk of conflict and war further escalates.
The world being on fire is swelling ‘catastrophe bonds’ to a record $45 billion—and it’s a key hedge fund strategy
by SHERYL TIAN TONG LEE et al, in Fortune….“I can’t tell you if there’s going to be a hurricane or earthquake this year, obviously,” said Hagood of Nephila Capital. “But what I can tell you is spreads are near historical highs in the sector. So broadly speaking, we believe the market is being well paid for the risk.”
In “The Ministry for the Future,” new ideas from ancient wisdom
By Forrest Brown in The Long Now Foundation….When we are bound in a system of reciprocity, not return on investment, we will be closer to being the kind of ancestors future people need.
It is time to tax the rich… and their foundations
by Lynn Murphy and Alnoor Ladha in Aljazeera….Philanthropic endowments are designed to protect the financial interests of the 1 percent. They should be taxed.
As water becomes a weapon of war, we must focus on cooperation and peace
by Peter Gleick in The Guardian…Record increase in water-related violence shows how urgently we need to reduce these tensions between countries
Russia and Israel lead global surge in attacks on civilian water supplies
by Nina Lakhani in The Guardian…Water-related violence surged to an all-time high in 2022 – driven in large part by Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israeli attacks against Palestinian water resources in the West Bank.
The blue dollar economy
Dollarization of the Argentine economy, which appeared an eccentric wish only a few months ago, now dominates media headlines and dinner table discussions and has become a subject of academic research.