Economic Philosophy

What if we understood the economy not as some abstract construct at once shaping society but separated from the living planet that we all call home? What if the European Union transformed itself to dedicate itself to meeting the people’s needs without pushing beyond planetary boundaries? The Green European Journal sat down with Kate Raworth, the renegade thinker and author of Doughnut Economics, to talk prosperity beyond growth.

Despite its growing visibility, the degrowth agenda finds limited appeal in politics and in public discourse.

A plea for an economy in which the market is once again embedded in the community.

Neoliberalism is failing to meet the crises of our time. What in its worldview, social and ecological consequences call for putting it to rest?

Was Marx an environmental activist before the term even existed? According to John Bellamy Foster and Paul Burkett, he was. They claim the work of Karl Marx offers an insight into the relationship between the current ecological crisis and the historical crisis of capitalism.

Inequality is back on the agenda. French economist Thomas Piketty has drawn attention to it again with his book Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and that is a good thing. Green and Left-wing parties are drooling over the book, but I have heard few suggestions as to how we should fundamentally tackle that inequality. To do that, we need an idea from a completely different world.

“Marx is often judged on what he did not know, but we need to look at what he has to offer. He was an economist, sociologist, political scientist, historian, philosopher and philosopher of science. He was truly an omnipotent genius and remains relevant to a huge number of issues,” according to political economist Angela Wigger.

Belgian philosopher Philippe Van Parijs analysis the issue of inequality from a European and international perspective. Comparing the contrasting the economic systems of the US and Europe, he outlines a series of measures to reduce inequalities that exists across Europe today.