Category Archives: BITS & BRIEFS

B&B: History of being a liberal // Foucault’s power // Sen and Deaton talk // Accounting giants // Labor against its interests // Central banks think historically // Cities vs Multinationals

Posted on May 22, 2021 by Oleg Komlik

> “The story of the term neoliberalism is a tale about the changing meaning, power and, ultimately, diminishment of liberalism as a living political ideology”. The short history of ‘being liberal’ in the 20th century, depicted by Lawrence Glickman, an … Continue reading →

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B&B: Markets and the Decline of Democracy // Materiality of Finance // Myth of Agricultural Revolution // Data and the Future of Work // Books on Globalization // Academic Managerialism

Posted on April 11, 2021 by Oleg Komlik

This time especially worth reading and sharing pieces: > “Free Markets and the Decline of Democracy” is an insightful lecture given in 2018 by the late John Weeks, an progressive heterodox economist and avid critic of capitalism. Being a rigorous … Continue reading →

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B&B: Neoliberal Feminism // Corporate personhood // Kinship, religion and blockchain // Why is strike called ‘strike’? // The history of the planning state // Business’ grasp of universities

Posted on January 2, 2021 by Oleg Komlik

This time, especially worth reading and sharing pieces: > “The history of the planning state and its dismantlement is today more relevant than ever, as we continue to endure the deadliest pandemic in a century… This question is especially relevant … Continue reading →

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B&B: Tax flight myth // Covid-19 and a crisis of neoliberalism // Models, morals and Wall Street // Caste systems persist // Smart City or corporate siege // New Labour’s unions reform

Posted on November 27, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> If taxes rise, the rich will leave! No, they won’t. Contrary to popular opinion, although the rich have the resources and capacity to flee high-tax places, their actual migration is surprisingly limited — a video lecture by Cristobal Young, … Continue reading →

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B&B: Debt is a social construction // Erasure of a black middle class // Miseducation and inequality // Neoliberal quantification in academia // Promoting democracy or “free market” ideas?

Posted on October 21, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> “Debt is a social construction, fundamentally malleable, and what’s unmanageable must eventually be seen as immoral” — Olivia Schwob discusses the long history of debt cancellation and calls to consider taking this path, reflecting on excellent books on debt … Continue reading →

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B&B: Laissez-faire & monetary technophilia // Psychoanalysis as a capitalist drug // Sociology and economics // Hobsbawm on May Day // Big Tech uses the Covid-19 crisis // Artists’ strikes

Posted on September 14, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> “As ugly as the public provision of money can sometimes be, its digital privatization is all too likely to be vastly worse” — Frank Pasquale reviews three recent books examining the laissez-faire ideology of monetary technophilia: David Golumbia’s The … Continue reading →

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B&B: Piketty – Covid-19 is an opportunity // Gendered lens on Covid-19 // Economic histories of pandemics // Pharma and the shareholder value // Network, not skills // Nature’s economics

Posted on July 29, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> “Inequality is neither random nor unfortunate; it is structurally engineered, legally enforced, and politically and ideologically driven.” Gendered impacts of COVID-19 on work and workers — by Joanne Conaghan > What were pandemics’ effect on markets, prices and wages … Continue reading →

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B&B: Economists’ blindness to racism // We are all fast-food workers // For abolition of work // Arms purchase // Tests for profit // The financialized imagination // Gendered economics

Posted on June 24, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

This time, especially worth reading and sharing pieces: > Racism is a system that manifests in norms, institutions, and policies. Economists who want to challenge it must abandon neoclassical assumptions and recognize the role of history, power, and institutions in … Continue reading →

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The Probable Implications of the Coronavirus Crisis — Bruno Latour, James Galbraith, Mike Davis

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> Bruno Latour: “The [COVID-19] health crisis prepares, induces, incites us to prepare for climate change… What allows the two crises to occur in succession is the sudden and painful realization that the classical definition of society – humans among … Continue reading →

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The Probable Implications of the Coronavirus Crisis — Mariana Mazzucato, Eva Illouz, Alain Badiou

Posted on April 11, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> Mariana Mazzucato: “Capitalism is facing at least three major crises. A pandemic-induced health crisis has rapidly ignited an economic crisis with yet unknown consequences for financial stability, and all of this is playing out against the backdrop of a … Continue reading →

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The Probable Implications of the Coronavirus Crisis — Costas Lapavitsas, Katharina Pistor, David Runciman

Posted on April 3, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> Costas Lapavitsas: “This Crisis has exposed the absurdities of Neoliberalism. That doesn’t mean it’ll destroy it… The nation-state has always been at the heart of neoliberal capitalism, guaranteeing the class rule of the dominant corporate and financial bloc through … Continue reading →

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The Probable Implications of the Coronavirus Crisis — David Harvey, William Davies, Ivan Krastev

Posted on March 27, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> David Harvey: “Forty years of neoliberalism… had left the public totally exposed and ill-prepared to face a public health crisis of this sort… In many parts of the supposed “civilized” world, local governments and state authorities, which invariably form … Continue reading →

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The Probable Implications of the Coronavirus Crisis — Adam Tooze, Judith Butler, Radhika Desai

Posted on March 24, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> Radhika Desai: “The present pandemic is certain to be different not because it is more lethal than previous ones (it is not), nor because it is causing havoc in financial markets (as most crises of neoliberal era have), but … Continue reading →

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The Probable Implications of the Coronavirus Crisis — Slavoj Zizek, Branko Milanovic, David Grossman

Posted on March 20, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

> Branko Milanovic: “In the current crisis, people who have not become fully specialized enjoy an advantage… Everything that used to be an advantage in a heavily specialized economy now becomes a disadvantage, and the reverse.”[…] “The human toll of … Continue reading →

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B&B: Hannah Arendt // Research for profit // Neoliberalism and family values // Lessons of 1968 // Sociology of consumption // Index funds and inequality // Alienation and work

Posted on February 8, 2020 by Oleg Komlik

This time, especially worth reading and sharing pieces: > Hannah Arendt: “Revolutions always appear to succeed with amazing ease in their initial stages, and the reason is that those who supposedly “make” revolutions do not “seize power” but rather pick … Continue reading →

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