| Corruption
in the age of Liberalisation |
| C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| Liberalisation
does not mean that the state withdraws from
intervention, but merely that there is a
change in the form of state intervention
that also enables the state to deliver illegitimate
gains to individuals and private players.
During the phase of liberalisation in India
too, the state seems to be turning into
an important site for primitive accumulation
for the private sector. |
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| How
Brazil can defend against Financialization |
| Michael
Hudson |
|
| For
Brazil and other developing countries, privatizing
the public domain and financializing the
economy is akin to military defeat. To defend
themselves, the BRIC countries need to isolate
themselves from global debt creation. Brazil
as well as other developing countries need
to promote the investment of their economic
surplus for raising production and living
standards, so as to create a positive feedback
between higher wage levels and productivity,
hence higher global competitiveness. |
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| Public
Enterprises in Mixed Economies: Their Impact
on Social Equity |
| Andong
Zhu |
|
| This
paper is based on a study attempting to
improve on the existing research exploring
the impact of SOEs (state owned enterprises)
on income inequality by applying fixed effects
techniques and utilizing a panel data set
of more than 40 mixed economies for the
time period from the 1960s all through till
the 1990s. The results that show SOEs contribute
significantly and positively to income equality
raise serious concerns over the desirability
of indiscriminate privatization from the
perspective of long term growth and equity. |
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| Protecting
Foreign Investors |
| C.P.
Chandrasekhar & Jayati Ghosh |
|
| Bilateral
Investment Treaties (BITs), which have proliferated
especially for developing countries, have
far-reaching and typically negative implications
for host country governments and citizens,
because of the sweeping protections afforded
to investors at the cost of domestic socio-economic
rights and environmental standards. |
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| Chinese
Banking: The New Frontier for Global Finance |
| C.P.
Chandrasekhar |
|
| The
current spate of foreign acquisitions in
the Chinese banking industry reflects its
government's growing willingness to permit
sale of minority equity in the big four
state-owned banks. However, it is imperative
that the Chinese government recognises the
dangers associated with the entry of players
with international private concerns that
are sharply at variance with national social
concerns and reverse the trend. |
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| Bolivia
on the Boil |
| Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
current political turmoil in Bolivia is
part of a wider movement in Latin America,
of people rejecting not only corrupt politicians,
but also – and more importantly –
the neoliberal economic policy paradigm
that enriched a few at the expense of the
vast majority. |
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| Broadband
Marxism |
| Chris
Sprigman and Peter Lurie |
|
| Bridging
the digital divide will require poor nations
to reverse the privatization of their telecommunications
networks. |
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| Reconstruction
Mandates of an Illegitimate War |
| Smitha
Francis |
|
| As
the US-led illegitimate military aggression
against Iraq draws to a close and the scramble
for a piece of the reconstruction pie is
on, Iraq seems doomed to become another
victim of the notoriously discredited IMF-WB-style
economic restructuring programmes. |
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| Summits,
Sustainable Development and Stability |
| Jayati
Ghosh |
|
| The
Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development
is likely to be a failure in terms of pushing
for real change, despite worldwide popular
recognition of the need for it |
|
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| The
Future of Water |
|
| Future
trade in water is going to deprive millions
of the world’s poor access to a basic
human right. |
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| Momentum
Returns to Movements against Corporate Globalisations |
| Patrick
Bond |
|
| I
was glad to see Mokhiber/Weissman writing
for ZNet last week on the durability of
the anti-neoliberal movement. Here in Johannesburg,
September 11 came and went, with linkages
made between the Left peace movement's urgent
agenda--anti-war demonstrations against
US consulates in several South African cities--and
the broader problem of imperialism's new
form. |
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