By T. Sabri Öncü & Ahmet Öncü In Memory of David Graeber (1961–2020) This article first appeared in the Indian journal, Economic and Political Weekly, on 21 November, 2020 On 30 March 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) called for a $2.5 trillion COVID-19 crisis package for developing countries.[1] The UNCTAD proposals were: (i) $1 trillion to be made available through the expanded use of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) issued Special Drawing Rights (SDRs); (ii) $1 trillion for debt cancellation; (iii) $500 billion to fund a Marshall Plan for health ..read more

Photo from Paris demo October 2017 (by Jeanne Menjoulet , via https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Make_our_public_services_great_again_(23768004778).jpg PRIME is supporting a new programme to develop and communicate universal basic services (UBS) as a route to wellbeing for all, greater equality, full and decently-paid employment, and ecologically sustainable economic activity.  UBS is a framework for policy and practice that fosters collective responsibility, exercised through public institutions, to meet needs we all share.  It recognises that income has two dimensions: one is ..read more

This article was written in July, 2020 for Project Syndicate where it was finally published on 1st October, 2020. The global economy suffers from dangerous imbalances.  Economic goals for endless ‘growth’ lead to rises in heat-trapping gases that conflict with the earth’s limited capacity to manage rising toxic emissions.  Urbanisation, pollution, soil erosion, deforestation, depletion of wildlife, degradation of marine ecosystems – these and other economic activities disturb the equilibrium of nature – humanity’s life support system. Ecological imbalances are compounded by economic ..read more

PRIME is pleased to be working with colleagues on a new project to promote the concept of and need for Universal Basic Services. We are now seeking to engage a part-time Project Officer to help the Task Force launch the project. Details of the project and role below, and also set out in this pdf. PROJECT OFFICER: UNIVERSAL BASIC SERVICES (UBS) Summary We are seeking to engage the services of an energetic and creative person to help build support for Universal Basic Services. UBS aims to ensure that everyone has access to life’s necessities as a pre-condition for individual freedom and security ..read more

This is a You Tube recording of a discussion organised by the Trans National Institute (TNI) on Wednesday, 7th October, 2020. Jayati Ghosh, Ann Pettifor, Alvin Mosioma and Oscar Reyes hold a stimulating conversation on how to finance a recovery from COVID-19 and invest in a just climate transition. They address key questions such as ..read more

Nigel Doggett and Mike Davis of The Chartist magazine spoke to Ann Pettifor about why a Green New Deal is central to our recovery Published 20 September, 2020. How do you see the GND playing out against the Covid crisis? There are two roads to travel. One is the progressive one in which our leaders wake up to the scale of the climate threat and decide they are going to prepare. There are signs of that happening: little things like the French deciding to abolish burners in Paris streets. But there are signs of a nationalist, autocratic and reactionary response too. This in some senses is the ..read more

September 4, 2020 The following article appeared on Progressive Post, the website of the Foundation of Progressive European Studies (FEPS) Today’s capitalism cannot tackle climate breakdown and cannot prevent the loss of biodiversity. It considers work as a cost to be minimised, to the detriment of the economy and the social meaning of work. High rates of return on capital (interest) require ever-rising extraction of the earth’s finite assets and the felling of its biodiverse ecosystem. Nature is crowded out by intensive agriculture, mineral extraction and housebuilding linked to expanded tra ..read more

The following debate between Paul Wallace and Ann Pettifor appeared in Prospect magazine on 10 July, 2020. Is our capitalist economy an unparalleled engine of prosperity, or a human and ecological disaster? Two contributors debate whether the system is worth saving Yes—Paul Wallace It is tempting, when living through a once-in-a-century event such as the coronavirus pandemic, to say everything must change: that it’s time to tear up the rulebook and to create a completely new kind of economy. Tempting, but wrong. In fact, what we need is to rebuild the existing capitalist economy, which for al ..read more

On Wednesday (30 September) the Office for National Statistics published its second estimate of GDP for the second quarter of 2020, April to June.  The very marginally positive news is that the fall, between Q1 and Q2, was reduced from 20.4% to 19.8%.  Since this was still the largest recorded quarterly fall since records commence in 1955, this is hardly a cause for jubilation – and even less so since the Q1 drop was raised from -2.2% to -2.5%. As we discuss below, the position would arguably be still worse, save for the curious treatment of ‘imputed rent’ for houseowners, which - a ..read more

Image with acknowledgment to The Korea Herald Till now, I have supported much of what Chancellor Rishi Sunak has put in place, as measures to help the economy through the pandemic.  The furlough scheme has proved its worth. But today’s measures are inadequate and disappointing.  The new Job Support Scheme, under which the government will pay some 22% of the wages of employees who work at least one third of their usual hours.  This compares with the 60% of wages to be paid by the government in October, the last month of the furlough scheme. According to the Financial Times, the ..read more