New Consensus
“The World Needs a New Worldview.” Right on.
A truly beautiful world is possible—one without poverty or pollution, and with prosperity and dignity for everyone. Humanity has everything it needs to build that world in a single generation: billions of creative, hard working people, technology that already can allow us to make a comfortable living safely and sustainably, and unlimited energy from the sun that we can now harness to power that technology.
So begins the opening statement from New Consensus, a bold new group that’s helping to spark the New Green Deal. Read more here.
And check out their reading list here.
Economists for Inclusive Prosperity
From the website of a new group committed to development of policies for inclusive prosperity:
There is considerable ferment in economics that is often not visible to outsiders. At the same time, the sociology of the profession – career incentives, norms, socialization patterns – often mitigates against adequate engagement with the world of policy, especially on the part of younger academic economists…
While prosperity is the traditional concern of economists, the “inclusive” modifier demands both that we consider the interest of all people, not simply the average person, and that we consider prosperity broadly, including non-pecuniary sources of well-being, from health to climate change to political rights.
Our World in Data
Our World in Data presents eye-popping visualizations on an array of topics. Check out, for example, worldwide death rates from air pollution:
See more here.
Promoting Economic Pluralism
An international initiative seeks to “make space for diversity in economics,” among other ways by creating a new accreditation program for pluralist economics masters programs around the world. Check them out here.
Shares of the 1 percent
Check out the graphics at the World Wealth & Income Database:
Source: http://wid.world/
The Unequal States of America
A new interactive website from the Economic Policy Institute compares the one percent and everyone else in the U.S. – by state and by county:
Check out the numbers for your state here.
Funny numbers: counting unemployment
In this “Economics for the Rest of Us” podcast, Diptherio breaks down the peculiar ways “unemployment” is measured by the U.S. government. Check it out here.
It’s Our Economy
The “It’s Our Economy” project works for economic democracy:
It’s Our Economy is dedicated to changing the dynamic of the current economy designed for the wealthiest to an economy built on principles of equity, cooperation, and sustainability. An economy that puts people and the planet before profits would reduce the wealth divide while giving people more control over their economic lives. We believe that a more just, modern, and restorative economy would involve the people in economic decision-making in both their communities and the nation more broadly.
This basic idea is economic democracy.
Check out their website here.
An international student call for pluralism in economics
From an open letter signed by student associations from across the world:
It is not only the world economy that is in crisis. The teaching of economics is in crisis too, and this crisis has consequences far beyond the university walls. What is taught shapes the minds of the next generation of policymakers, and therefore shapes the societies we live in. We, over 65 associations of economics students from over 30 different countries, believe it is time to reconsider the way economics is taught.
Read more here.
Inequality.org
http://inequality.org/
