Articles
Articles and analyses from the INET community on the key economic questions of our time.


To Understand China’s Economy, Look to Its Politics
The removal of term limits for Xi Jinping may be a better indicator of economic health—or crisis—than official statistics

Worrying About the Deficit is So 17th Century
In “celebration” of the late Pete Peterson’s 92nd birthday (see guest list), an excerpt from 19th Century historian Lord Macaulay’s History of England, on hundreds of years of unwarranted panic about government debt.
Argentina’s Unseen Fragility
How Bill Cosby, Obama and Mega-preachers Sold Economic Snake Oil to Black America
It’s time to connect political violence with economic violence.

The Real Driver of Rising Inequality
Wage suppression—not monopoly power—is fueling corporate profits and the growing gap between rich and poor

The Forgotten Economic Vision of Martin Luther King
In the last years of his life, King was boldly forging a radical, multi-racial movement for economic justice

Noam Chomsky on the Populist Groundswell, U.S. Elections, the Future of Humanity, and More
The renowned linguist, cognitive scientist, and historian on where we stand as an economy, as a country, and as human beings

How Cuba Became a Biopharma Juggernaut
Cuba’s entirely state-owned biopharmaceutical industry has been remarkably successful, and can serve as a model for other nations

What Piketty Missed in Measuring Wealth
Despite assembling a formidable data set and leveling a bold argument, Thomas Piketty’s Capital in the Twenty-First Century has theoretical and accounting flaws that distort its central findings
When Demand Shapes Supply

Should You Buy Bitcoin?
Over the next year, the Bitcoin price could double, soar tenfold, or collapse by 95% or more, and no economic analysis can help predict where in that range it will lie. Like other cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin serves no useful economic purpose, though in macroeconomic terms, such currencies probably also do little harm.