Economics
Clear-eyed economic analysis, aimed at dispelling myths, and arguing that a transformed economy is possible, desirable and necessary.
Photo: Mark McNestry
Photo: Mark McNestry
Popular treatment of economics — from talk of debt and austerity, gender and racial pay inequality, the economic sustainability of the welfare, to the global trading system — is shrouded in much mystification. This mystification has two effects: in the short-term, to recast the cruel as necessary, and the compassionate as impossible; in the long-term, stymies the our ability to imagine transformations or produce novel critiques of our current path or how we imagine a socialist future.
New Socialist provides clear-eyed economic analysis, aimed at dispelling these myths, and arguing that such a transformed economy is possible, desirable and necessary. We invite contributions, on topics large and small, technical and theoretical, analytical and descriptive, such as:
- Debates on Labour’s or other Social Democratic or Socialist governments current economic policy, both domestic and global. Its potential successes and failures, our understanding of its future and the foundations from which its developed.
- The continued exploitation of affective, emotional, migrant, and domestic labor in modern work places, and impacts on workers’ mental health.
- Future economic challenges, from flexible labor and proletarianisation to platform capitalism and ecological crisis, which are still developing. Identifying both the challenges this is creating as well as novel ways to use them without increasing exploitation.
- Discussions on novel changes in capitalism as neoliberalism’s economic challenge is met with a political one from both the left and right. What can be done with finance? Can the split between urban and rural communities be resolved as economic activity becomes focused on cities?
- The challenges of working within a global system still dominated by free trade. Can internationalist goals be achieved without the support of foreign radicals? How should radicals engage with the liberal institutions underpinning global economic power?
Send pitches to [email protected]
articles
The rise of N-UBIs (non-universal basic incomes) and a national-populist ‘commons’
While Labour's new UBI report is focused on one policy, it is also informed by long-simmering debates over the meaning, definitions and implications of ‘the commons which limit its universality.
by
Angela Mitropoulos
/
May 19, 2019
/
Economics
How Labour’s common sense on Neoliberalism creates space for Nationalism
This March the Labour Party officially came out against freedom of movement. Though often empathetic, its cause is worrying deep. Reflecting its the definition of neoliberalism it critiques.
by
Nolan MacGregor
/
May 18, 2019
/
Economics
Resilience as Ideology
Resilience suggests being strong in the face of crisis. On the surface, it could be seen as a state of mind. Incorporated into the political economy of the everyday, however, it takes on an ideological form.
by
Matthew Donoghue
/
May 6, 2019
/
Economics
How To Profit From Poverty
In 2018, under the guise of social purpose, corporations invested a quarter of a trillion dollars to save the world.
by
Navid Somani
/
March 4, 2019
/
Economics
Democratising public ownership: Labour’s new consultation
Today, the Labour Party launches an official National Policy Forum consultation on the subject of democratic public ownership.
by
Thomas M. Hanna
/
Feb. 25, 2019
/
Economics
Once More For Those At The Top: Fake News Is A Symptom
The problems of our modern public sphere are not the inevitable results of progress - addressing the “post-truth” crisis requires reckoning with the politics of technology.
by
Erik Martin
/
Feb. 21, 2019
/
Economics
Private Equity by and for the People
Can the left reclaim a financial vehicle long associated with capitalist exploitation?
by
People's Private Equity
/
Feb. 13, 2019
/
Economics
Managerial Failure
The contradiction between us working harder every day and the apparent productivity crisis is obvious to every worker. Here we look at the root cause: management.
by
Paddy Bettington
/
Dec. 14, 2018
/
Economics
Beyond “Taming” the Tech Giants
To truly challenge the power of the tech giants, we need more than better regulation. We need class struggle.
A Spatial Economy for the Many?
Britain's dramatic and unique spatial challenges demand radical answers. The Preston model offers one potential solution for matching both democratic and economic challenges.
by
Joe Bilsborough
/
Nov. 13, 2018
/
Economics
Care, Not Car Parks
Labour's promise of free parking at hospitals has been criticised as a waste of resources—resources that should be going to care. But we don't have to choose between the two.
by
Dan Howdon
/
Nov. 9, 2018
/
Economics
Tech Workers' Inquiry at The World Transformed
Organising the tech industry may be difficult, but it’s crucial for challenging capitalism. A transcript of the Tech Workers Coalition session at TWT 2018.
Mistaking Technology for Capitalism and Capitalism for Technology
Technology is not merely bundles of wires, silicon, and touchscreens; it is a way of systematised thinking that emulates capitalism.
Power to the people! McDonnell’s ambitious agenda on democratic public ownership
Defending Labours ambitious and potentially transformative agenda for reforming the economy—one with new, cutting edge forms of public ownership and economic democracy.
by
Thomas M. Hanna
/
Sept. 24, 2018
/
Economics
Decentralising the Internet
The internet has become highly centralised due to its role as a site of capital accumulation. Challenging capital requires revisiting the internet’s architecture.
by
Jason Prado
/
Sept. 23, 2018
/
Economics
Balancing the books: the controversy over Labour’s macroeconomic policy commitments
The fiscal credibility rule appears to make a concession to 'sound finance', but has been defended as anything but. Can this position reflect wider understandings of progressive macroeconomics?
Tackling the platforms: on IPPR's Digital Commonwealth report
Top-down regulation, bottom-up resistance, or some combination of the two? A response to IPPR's new report on technology platforms
We need a state-owned platform for the modern internet
It’s time to take the internet back from the American megacorps. But how should a nationalised version of the international internet look?
by
Jimi Cullen
/
Sept. 8, 2018
/
Economics
Worker Power in the Platform Economy
Trade union strategy in Germany in the age of platform capitalism
by
Luke Beesley
/
Aug. 24, 2018
/
Economics
Servants of Industry? Getting Financialisation Wrong
When Jeremy Corbyn bemoaned Britain’s decades of industrial struggle and the narrow interests of the City of London, he revived one of the most enduring tropes in British politics: decline.
by
Sahil Dutta
/
Aug. 19, 2018
/
Economics
Towards an Organized Tech Industry—Part Two
Transcript of a panel co-hosted by Tech Workers Coalition and Tech Action at Left Forum 2018, on what a socialist vision for the tech industry should look like.
Class since the financial crisis
An extract from "Class Matters" analysing how "class" has been deployed and manipulated and the struggles behind these uses.
by
Charles Umney
/
July 22, 2018
/
Economics
When you find the forest, don’t forget the trees: A review of Class Matters by Charles Umney
Class Matters: Inequality and Exploitation in 21st Century is an excellent introduction to Marxist debates on class, but its understanding of class variety and how it changes is limited.
Relinquishing Work
A collective reduction in working hours could benefit all, including those in insecure jobs.
by
Paddy Bettington
/
July 20, 2018
/
Economics
Who Owns the City?
Spain is putting alternative models of ownership into practice. What can the left learn?
by
Hettie O'Brien
/
July 10, 2018
/
Economics
When we go into government, we all go into government together
We have the potential to rewrite history if we understand the magnitude of the situation we find ourselves in.
Designing the future: a review of Economic Science Fictions
A little over a century ago, there was an expectation that the future was ours to map and manage.
by
Justin Reynolds
/
May 26, 2018
/
Economics
The “Great Man” Theory of History and New Labour
A worker reads "Dragons: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain" by Liam Byrne MP, emblem of the New Labour tradition
by
Steffan Blayney
/
May 20, 2018
/
Economics
Technological Development For The Many
A transcript of a talk delivered at the technology breakout session of John McDonnell's State of the Economy conference at Imperial College
Is automation really such a threat?
Why anxiety over technology is simply misplaced anxiety over capitalism
by
Felix Holtwell
/
May 18, 2018
/
Economics
Capitalist and Socialist Universal Basic Incomes
Debates on UBI as a practical policy are well-rehearsed, but this article seeks to answer these questions through a critical review of the Marxist perspectives on the concept.
by
John Marlow
/
May 13, 2018
/
Economics
Was There a Third Way in New Labour’s Social Exclusion Policy?
The theory of social exclusion became a central component of New Labour’s social policies and their drive for what they viewed as a programme of modernisation.
by
Jack Yates
/
May 12, 2018
/
Economics
Ownership and Markets in Energy
The plans for partial re-nationalisation of energy in Labour's manifesto are too locally-oriented. Instead, we should embrace national planning of electricity through centralised ownership.
by
Chris MacMackin
/
April 12, 2018
/
Economics
Public Ownership of the Public Sphere
On February 15th the Sun ran a front page story, ‘Corbyn and the Commie Spy’.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Seven, Jeremy Corbyn's Speech
This is the seventh (and final) part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Six, Plenary Session
This is the sixth part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Five, Local Democratic Economic Strategies
The fifth part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Four, Co-Operatives Session
The fourth part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Three, Housing Session
The third part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part One, Introductory Session
The first part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Two, Digital Session
The second part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
The Meidner Funds: A Swedish Perspective on Alternative Models of Ownership
The Meidner funds, proposed in Sweden in the seventies, offer a potential complement to Labour's Alternative Models of Ownership report.
by
Mio Tastas Viktorsson
/
Feb. 20, 2018
/
Economics
Monopoly’s Fallacy
Calls to break up tech giants miss the problem: monopolies are inevitable to competitive capitalism.
by
Hettie O'Brien
/
Feb. 19, 2018
/
Economics
Universal Basic Services Won't Fix Our Economy
Universal basic services will not address all the flaws of universal basic income. It's the bare minimum, and we should aim higher.
by
Grace Blakeley
/
Feb. 8, 2018
/
Economics
Battleground NHS
How the imposition of market forces has forced the NHS into critical condition.
by
Pete Kennedy
/
Jan. 28, 2018
/
Economics
Bitcoins and Beanie Babies
In 2017 the value of the world’s most used cryptocurrency doubled 4 times.
by
Jack Chadwick
/
Jan. 7, 2018
/
Economics
Seventy-seven nation industrial reserve army
The story told by the "Paradise Papers" is ultimately about the core structural fault-line in capitalism between capital and labour.
by
David Quentin
/
Jan. 6, 2018
/
Economics
Labour's Digital Strategy Is a Missed Opportunity
The pace of technological advancement is double-edged.
Social Murder, Productivity Crisis & Irresponsible Technology Policy: The 2017 Budget
Wednesday’s budget was more striking for the economic indicators and forecasts produced by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility than for any of its specific policies.
The Inevitability of the Gig Economy
The gig economy may finally be souring in the eyes of the public.
Three Cheers for the Unemployed
The Conservative government has made much fanfare recently of the fact that, alongside record employment levels, they have brought unemployment levels down to their lowest point since 1975.
by
Connor Devine
/
Nov. 12, 2017
/
Economics
Why read "Capital", 150 years later?
Out of all his works, the reputation of Karl Marx as theorist of the socialist tradition is undoubtedly based primarily on his magnum opus, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy.
by
Matthijs Krul
/
Oct. 11, 2017
/
Economics
Building Platform Socialism: Beyond the Taylor Review
The future of work has moved to the centre of mainstream political debate.
by
Justin Reynolds
/
Aug. 16, 2017
/
Economics
A Socialist Bank? Labour's National Investment Bank Proposal
The Labour Manifesto proposes to establish a National Investment Bank and a network of regional development banks.
by
John Marlow
/
Aug. 11, 2017
/
Economics
Barely managing: on what’s missing from left political economy
There’s a difference between policies and power. If a left-wing party wants to turn its manifesto promises into political practice it needs to construct the capacity to do so.
Full Corbynism: Constructing a new left Political Economy beyond Neoliberalism
Labour is now on a permanent war footing and is a realistic contender for office. As a result, the left must now get much more serious about policy and strategy.
Labour's Alternative Models of Ownership Report
Our economy is clearly not working, and this report provides an indispensable analysis of why, situating present outcomes in fundamental structural flaws.
by
The Editors
/
June 11, 2017
/
Economics
The rise of N-UBIs (non-universal basic incomes) and a national-populist ‘commons’
While Labour's new UBI report is focused on one policy, it is also informed by long-simmering debates over the meaning, definitions and implications of ‘the commons which limit its universality.
by
Angela Mitropoulos
/
May 19, 2019
/
Economics
How Labour’s common sense on Neoliberalism creates space for Nationalism
This March the Labour Party officially came out against freedom of movement. Though often empathetic, its cause is worrying deep. Reflecting its the definition of neoliberalism it critiques.
by
Nolan MacGregor
/
May 18, 2019
/
Economics
Resilience as Ideology
Resilience suggests being strong in the face of crisis. On the surface, it could be seen as a state of mind. Incorporated into the political economy of the everyday, however, it takes on an ideological form.
by
Matthew Donoghue
/
May 6, 2019
/
Economics
How To Profit From Poverty
In 2018, under the guise of social purpose, corporations invested a quarter of a trillion dollars to save the world.
by
Navid Somani
/
March 4, 2019
/
Economics
Democratising public ownership: Labour’s new consultation
Today, the Labour Party launches an official National Policy Forum consultation on the subject of democratic public ownership.
by
Thomas M. Hanna
/
Feb. 25, 2019
/
Economics
Once More For Those At The Top: Fake News Is A Symptom
The problems of our modern public sphere are not the inevitable results of progress - addressing the “post-truth” crisis requires reckoning with the politics of technology.
by
Erik Martin
/
Feb. 21, 2019
/
Economics
Private Equity by and for the People
Can the left reclaim a financial vehicle long associated with capitalist exploitation?
by
People's Private Equity
/
Feb. 13, 2019
/
Economics
Managerial Failure
The contradiction between us working harder every day and the apparent productivity crisis is obvious to every worker. Here we look at the root cause: management.
by
Paddy Bettington
/
Dec. 14, 2018
/
Economics
Beyond “Taming” the Tech Giants
To truly challenge the power of the tech giants, we need more than better regulation. We need class struggle.
A Spatial Economy for the Many?
Britain's dramatic and unique spatial challenges demand radical answers. The Preston model offers one potential solution for matching both democratic and economic challenges.
by
Joe Bilsborough
/
Nov. 13, 2018
/
Economics
Care, Not Car Parks
Labour's promise of free parking at hospitals has been criticised as a waste of resources—resources that should be going to care. But we don't have to choose between the two.
by
Dan Howdon
/
Nov. 9, 2018
/
Economics
Tech Workers' Inquiry at The World Transformed
Organising the tech industry may be difficult, but it’s crucial for challenging capitalism. A transcript of the Tech Workers Coalition session at TWT 2018.
Mistaking Technology for Capitalism and Capitalism for Technology
Technology is not merely bundles of wires, silicon, and touchscreens; it is a way of systematised thinking that emulates capitalism.
Power to the people! McDonnell’s ambitious agenda on democratic public ownership
Defending Labours ambitious and potentially transformative agenda for reforming the economy—one with new, cutting edge forms of public ownership and economic democracy.
by
Thomas M. Hanna
/
Sept. 24, 2018
/
Economics
Decentralising the Internet
The internet has become highly centralised due to its role as a site of capital accumulation. Challenging capital requires revisiting the internet’s architecture.
by
Jason Prado
/
Sept. 23, 2018
/
Economics
Balancing the books: the controversy over Labour’s macroeconomic policy commitments
The fiscal credibility rule appears to make a concession to 'sound finance', but has been defended as anything but. Can this position reflect wider understandings of progressive macroeconomics?
Tackling the platforms: on IPPR's Digital Commonwealth report
Top-down regulation, bottom-up resistance, or some combination of the two? A response to IPPR's new report on technology platforms
We need a state-owned platform for the modern internet
It’s time to take the internet back from the American megacorps. But how should a nationalised version of the international internet look?
by
Jimi Cullen
/
Sept. 8, 2018
/
Economics
Worker Power in the Platform Economy
Trade union strategy in Germany in the age of platform capitalism
by
Luke Beesley
/
Aug. 24, 2018
/
Economics
Servants of Industry? Getting Financialisation Wrong
When Jeremy Corbyn bemoaned Britain’s decades of industrial struggle and the narrow interests of the City of London, he revived one of the most enduring tropes in British politics: decline.
by
Sahil Dutta
/
Aug. 19, 2018
/
Economics
Towards an Organized Tech Industry—Part Two
Transcript of a panel co-hosted by Tech Workers Coalition and Tech Action at Left Forum 2018, on what a socialist vision for the tech industry should look like.
Class since the financial crisis
An extract from "Class Matters" analysing how "class" has been deployed and manipulated and the struggles behind these uses.
by
Charles Umney
/
July 22, 2018
/
Economics
When you find the forest, don’t forget the trees: A review of Class Matters by Charles Umney
Class Matters: Inequality and Exploitation in 21st Century is an excellent introduction to Marxist debates on class, but its understanding of class variety and how it changes is limited.
Relinquishing Work
A collective reduction in working hours could benefit all, including those in insecure jobs.
by
Paddy Bettington
/
July 20, 2018
/
Economics
Who Owns the City?
Spain is putting alternative models of ownership into practice. What can the left learn?
by
Hettie O'Brien
/
July 10, 2018
/
Economics
When we go into government, we all go into government together
We have the potential to rewrite history if we understand the magnitude of the situation we find ourselves in.
Designing the future: a review of Economic Science Fictions
A little over a century ago, there was an expectation that the future was ours to map and manage.
by
Justin Reynolds
/
May 26, 2018
/
Economics
The “Great Man” Theory of History and New Labour
A worker reads "Dragons: Ten Entrepreneurs Who Built Britain" by Liam Byrne MP, emblem of the New Labour tradition
by
Steffan Blayney
/
May 20, 2018
/
Economics
Technological Development For The Many
A transcript of a talk delivered at the technology breakout session of John McDonnell's State of the Economy conference at Imperial College
Is automation really such a threat?
Why anxiety over technology is simply misplaced anxiety over capitalism
by
Felix Holtwell
/
May 18, 2018
/
Economics
Capitalist and Socialist Universal Basic Incomes
Debates on UBI as a practical policy are well-rehearsed, but this article seeks to answer these questions through a critical review of the Marxist perspectives on the concept.
by
John Marlow
/
May 13, 2018
/
Economics
Was There a Third Way in New Labour’s Social Exclusion Policy?
The theory of social exclusion became a central component of New Labour’s social policies and their drive for what they viewed as a programme of modernisation.
by
Jack Yates
/
May 12, 2018
/
Economics
Ownership and Markets in Energy
The plans for partial re-nationalisation of energy in Labour's manifesto are too locally-oriented. Instead, we should embrace national planning of electricity through centralised ownership.
by
Chris MacMackin
/
April 12, 2018
/
Economics
Public Ownership of the Public Sphere
On February 15th the Sun ran a front page story, ‘Corbyn and the Commie Spy’.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Seven, Jeremy Corbyn's Speech
This is the seventh (and final) part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Six, Plenary Session
This is the sixth part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Five, Local Democratic Economic Strategies
The fifth part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Four, Co-Operatives Session
The fourth part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Three, Housing Session
The third part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part One, Introductory Session
The first part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
Labour's New Economics Conference: Part Two, Digital Session
The second part of our write-up and analysis of Labour's New Economics Conference on alternative models of ownership.
The Meidner Funds: A Swedish Perspective on Alternative Models of Ownership
The Meidner funds, proposed in Sweden in the seventies, offer a potential complement to Labour's Alternative Models of Ownership report.
by
Mio Tastas Viktorsson
/
Feb. 20, 2018
/
Economics
Monopoly’s Fallacy
Calls to break up tech giants miss the problem: monopolies are inevitable to competitive capitalism.
by
Hettie O'Brien
/
Feb. 19, 2018
/
Economics
Universal Basic Services Won't Fix Our Economy
Universal basic services will not address all the flaws of universal basic income. It's the bare minimum, and we should aim higher.
by
Grace Blakeley
/
Feb. 8, 2018
/
Economics
Battleground NHS
How the imposition of market forces has forced the NHS into critical condition.
by
Pete Kennedy
/
Jan. 28, 2018
/
Economics
Bitcoins and Beanie Babies
In 2017 the value of the world’s most used cryptocurrency doubled 4 times.
by
Jack Chadwick
/
Jan. 7, 2018
/
Economics
Seventy-seven nation industrial reserve army
The story told by the "Paradise Papers" is ultimately about the core structural fault-line in capitalism between capital and labour.
by
David Quentin
/
Jan. 6, 2018
/
Economics
Labour's Digital Strategy Is a Missed Opportunity
The pace of technological advancement is double-edged.
Social Murder, Productivity Crisis & Irresponsible Technology Policy: The 2017 Budget
Wednesday’s budget was more striking for the economic indicators and forecasts produced by the Office for Budgetary Responsibility than for any of its specific policies.
The Inevitability of the Gig Economy
The gig economy may finally be souring in the eyes of the public.
Three Cheers for the Unemployed
The Conservative government has made much fanfare recently of the fact that, alongside record employment levels, they have brought unemployment levels down to their lowest point since 1975.
by
Connor Devine
/
Nov. 12, 2017
/
Economics
Why read "Capital", 150 years later?
Out of all his works, the reputation of Karl Marx as theorist of the socialist tradition is undoubtedly based primarily on his magnum opus, Capital: A Critique of Political Economy.
by
Matthijs Krul
/
Oct. 11, 2017
/
Economics
Building Platform Socialism: Beyond the Taylor Review
The future of work has moved to the centre of mainstream political debate.
by
Justin Reynolds
/
Aug. 16, 2017
/
Economics
A Socialist Bank? Labour's National Investment Bank Proposal
The Labour Manifesto proposes to establish a National Investment Bank and a network of regional development banks.
by
John Marlow
/
Aug. 11, 2017
/
Economics
Barely managing: on what’s missing from left political economy
There’s a difference between policies and power. If a left-wing party wants to turn its manifesto promises into political practice it needs to construct the capacity to do so.
Full Corbynism: Constructing a new left Political Economy beyond Neoliberalism
Labour is now on a permanent war footing and is a realistic contender for office. As a result, the left must now get much more serious about policy and strategy.
Labour's Alternative Models of Ownership Report
