After decades of public illness, Beveridge's most famous offspring has died

(The Guardian, Tuesday 8 January 2013)

For much of its short but celebrated life, the Welfare State was cherished by Britons. Instant public affection greeted its birth and even as it passed away peacefully yesterday morning, government ministers swore they would do all they could to keep it alive.

The Welfare State's huge appeal lay in its combination of simplicity and assurance. A safety net to catch those fallen on hard times, come rain or shine, boom or bust, it would be there for all those who had paid in.

Who are the winners and losers of the recent globalization?

Are we witnessing the first decline in global income inequality since the Industrial Revolution?

Read Milanovic's most recent contribution

On why the IMF was so wrong about Greece ... and admits it ... 'fiscal consolidation has been associated with lower growth than expected'

Read the article

The crucial boost to deliver green and decent jobs will have to wait is the message governments are sending to the worlds working people today, as they close the climate change conference in Doha, Qatar.
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, ITUC, said despite weak expectations for this conference, the labour movement was convinced that recent scientific reports and the urgent need to transform economies could speed up the pace of negotiations.

Our review of all different sources of development finance is nearly complete – look out for that in the new year – but I thought I’d whet your appetite with a summary table.

Using the most reliable sources we can find, here’s a summary of different inflows, outflows and domestic resources for developing countries as a group, given as an equivalent percentage of GDP to allow scale comparisons.  I’ve also include figures for low-income countries (LICs) as a group, when they are available. Detailed questions will all be answered when the paper is published – watch this space early in the new year!

This is Global Financial Integrity's third update of the original report.

Developing countries have lost 859 billion US$ in illicit outflows in 2010, which is an increase of 11 % over 2009. It is a consequence of crime, corruption, tax evasion and other illicit activities.

Read the report...

On what Greece can learn from the Argentinean debt crisis and the way the IMF (and the troika) are working

On October 1^st 2012 ‘pirates’ snatched the beautiful Libertad, the Argentinean training frigate, when it arrived in Ghana. This is only one asset Argentina’s creditors are trying to get hold on after its debt default of 2001.

But wasn’t Argentina constantly presented as a model for Greece to follow? Did many economists not say that debt-ridden Greece should also default and in this way get rid of all its debts?

Interesting new report showing the growing disparities in the world and the deteriorating situation of workers