TeleSUR English’s “The Laura Flanders Show” hosted a conversation with economic theorists Gar Alperovitz and David Harvey on what is to be done about wealth inequality and capitalism, and efforts currently underway to move beyond them.
Listen now:
TeleSUR English’s “The Laura Flanders Show” hosted a conversation with economic theorists Gar Alperovitz and David Harvey on what is to be done about wealth inequality and capitalism, and efforts currently underway to move beyond them.
Listen now:
Originally published in the Los Angeles Times on September 4, 2014.
The concept of “secular stagnation” — that the economy may be facing a protracted period of low growth and high unemployment — has been seeping back into economic and policy discourse. Once relegated to the margins of heterodox economic theory, the idea of stagnation as a likely ongoing direction for the economy, in fact, is now virtually mainstream, expounded by such well-known figures as Lawrence Summers and Paul Krugman.
Major economic floundering in the first quarter of the 20th century was relieved by the boost World War I gave to the economy, and the tremendous economic collapse in the second quarter was ended by World War II’s huge increase in military spending. In the third quarter, the Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War added major stimulus at key times.