This is an English translation of a petition put together by a group of Italian economists which is seeking and has gained significant support from economists both inside and outside of Italy.  It is due to appear tomorrow in the Italian Press. Additional signatures are welcome. Please see details about where to send them below. [...]

A previous SEB article examined the profit rate in the Irish economy which is rising even though the economy continues to contract. Yet at the same time Ireland’s level of investment is falling. Corporate incomes - profits - are rising even though total economic activity is falling. Arithmetically, this can only occur by reducing the income [...]

The full scale of the difference in economic performance of China compared to the US, Europe and Japan during the international financial crisis is shown in Figure 1. It is summarised in the following figures:

In the four years to the latest available data, for the 3rd quarter of 2011, China’s [...]

As G20 leaders met in Cannes, they faced an economic situation in the developed economies best summed up by Goldman Sachs, the company which invented the term ‘BRIC’, as the ‘Great Stagnation’. Until recently developments following the financial crash of 2008 had been accurately termed the ‘Great Recession’ - describing the greatest economic downturn since [...]

TASC Pre-Budget submission Towards an Equality Budget was launched today and can be downloaded from here. A TASC Note summarising the proposals is also available here.
According to TASC the proposals are designed to reduce deficit, support jobs and protect low-income groups.

From the press release:
Speaking this afternoon, TASC Director Nat O’Connor said that the narrow focus in previous [...]

Publication of the latest estimate of GDP data shows that the recession was much sharper than previously thought. The revision shows that GDP contracted by 7.1% rather than the 6.4% previously estimated. The recovery which began in the 3rd quarter of 2009 was also slightly stronger than previously estimated, the economy expanding by 2.8% until [...]

In Ireland all discussion on public sector pay, wage coordination and labour cost competitiveness ignores the role of collective bargaining in a democratic society. Over 80 percent of employees in the Eurozone are covered by collective wage agreements. The type of wage coordination is generally described as multi-employer bargaining. This means that wages are set [...]

One of the more factually inaccurate pictures being spread by supporters of the policies of the present UK government - with its priority to budget deficit reduction - is that UK economic performance during the financial crisis is superior to that of the evidently crisis hit Eurozone. A typical version of this appears in an article [...]