In discussing mental health, we tend to focus on issues such as the distress and suffering of mental health service users as well as the most appropriate manner in which we might respond to their needs. The human rights of mental health service users are also a significant issue and have been assuming a more [...]

The economist Michael Burke has an article in Tribune Magazine which makes the point, for a UK audience being sold the Conservative Party line, that austerity measures are economically counter-productive, and that during a period which has seen such a significant decline in private investment and consumer spending the last thing a government should do [...]

A comment on the EU’s new strategy
Sometimes no news is not good news - and this is certainly the case as far as Europe 2020 - the European Union‘s proposal for a new overarching strategy is concerned. Most of it copies the Lisbon Strategy, adopted in March 2000, and if you think the past decade [...]

I was asked to write something up about my book, Manufacturing Discontent. I thought that I would share it with you. Any comments would be be appreciated.
Of all my books, Manufacturing Discontent may seem to have the least links with Marxism. After I published The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History [...]

Michael Burke and Michael Taft have a post on Progressive Economy which estimates the deflationary impact of cuts in government spending up to 2014 and examines how much the cuts will actually reduce our borrowing requirement and ultimately our deficit, which after all is what they are being put in place to achieve.
Using the ERSI’s [...]

Writing in the Irish Independent today Brendan Keenan seemed to have an epiphany regarding Ireland’s deflation problem. He, like most Irish newspaper economic commentators considers the deflationary effects of the strategy to reduce spending, including public sector pay and pension provision as unimportant.  In order to achieve this revelation, however, all he had to do [...]

The TASC open letter published in the Irish Times on Monday is still providing plenty of food for thought. Focusing on the section of the letter that discusses the prospect of ‘restructuring taxation and expenditure in a progressive and expansionary manner’ Michael Taft expands on what this might entail in terms of taxation.
The phrase ‘fiscal [...]

“All euro area members must conduct sound national policies in line with the agreed rules”.
This was the opening line in a statement from EU heads of government made in Brussels on 11 February. The statement was about Greece and it welcomed the austerity measures being introduced by the errant EU member in an attempt to [...]

Davy Stockbrokers has produced the must-read report (so far) of the year. Entitled, ‘Years of High Income Largely Wasted’, it is one of the most damning indictments of the squandered boom years. Okay, on the surface it appears a pretty dry affair - analysing the growth in our net capital stock since 2000. But I [...]

This is the paper that the economist Michael Burke gave at the Irish Unity Conference in London last Saturday. Some of the points made by Michael were discussed in Seumas Milne’s post in The Guardian’s Comment is Free site today. As readers may know, Michael, a former senior international economist with CityBank, is a regular [...]