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Corporate Welfare

In the last 3 yrs UK Govt gave £100bn subsidy to banks in the form of interest on central reserves.

Practice started in 2009 after govt created QE. It was supposed to compensate for ultra low interest rates.

EU mostly stopped such payments in 2023

What would you do with £100bn?

With housing affordability one of the hattest topics of our times, this policy brief could not be more timely.

Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out Exclusive: Leading ecologists say warnings over threat to wildlife have been ignored in drive to build 1.5m new homes The scale of lobbying of ministers by developers on Labour’s landmark planning changes, which seek to rip up environmental rules to boost growth, can be exposed as campaigners make last-ditch attempts to secure protections for nature. The government published its planning and infrastructure bill in March. Before and after the bill’s publication the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, and housing minister Matthew Pennycook have met dozens of developers in numerous meetings. The body representing professional ecologists, meanwhile, has not met one minister despite requests to do so. Continue reading...

Developers met ministers dozens of times over planning bill while ecologists were shut out

Pension financialization and workplace pension wealth inequality: evidence from Britain Abstract. The growth of Defined Contribution (DC) pensions, in which retirement depends on individual savings and financial market investments, has been a

Our article with @hulya-dagdeviren.bsky.social and Ben Tippet is out in Socio-Economic Review!

We examine pension financialisation and pension wealth inequality in the UK — focusing on how the rise of Defined Contribution (DC).

academic.oup.com/ser/advance-...

Tax games: the case of Ireland in the global dynamics of corporate taxation This article proposes a new analytical framework of ‘tax games’ providing fresh insights into the dynamics of global corporate taxation. Tax games are defined as institutionalised configurations of...

Now open access on @tandfresearch.bsky.social!

Ní Chasaide, N., & Ó Riain, S. (2025). Tax games: the case of Ireland in the global dynamics of corporate taxation. Review of International Political Economy
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

Block Elon Musk’s bid to supply UK home energy, Ed Davey urges Exclusive: Lib Dem leader says giving Tesla a foothold in Britain’s energy market could be national security risk

Tesla has a clean energy arm and applied in July for a licence to supply power to British homes.
www.theguardian.com/business/202...

The UK’s year of climate U-turns exposes a deeper failure Breaking free of the dangerous pretence that current efforts suffice demands a fundamental rethink of the UK’s climate policy consensus.

New piece on Carbon Colonialism, net-zero nonsense, and how the UK Government's climate advisors (and many experts) shy away from speaking truth to power. We need a fundamental reboot of climate policy; - physics doesn't care about political sensibilities. theconversation.com/the-uks-year...

David Lammy faces possible legal action over Foreign Office secondments Campaigners say placing staff from Shell and BAE Systems in ministries creates potential for improper influence

David Lammy faces possible legal action over Foreign Office secondments. Placing staff from Shell and BAE Systems in ministries creates potential for improper influence. David Lammy faces possible legal action over Foreign Office secondments www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

British state, stripped of resources by 14 years of reckless rightwing government [is] contorting itself to maintain relations with ever more extreme regimes abroad... www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

We are delighted that our Special Issue on "The Politics of Growth, Stagnation and Upgrading in Peripheral Economies" coedited w/ @fbulfone.bsky.social & Aldo Madariaga is now out in Competition & Change @compchange.bsky.social, Vol. 29(3–4).
🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1024...

♨️Hot off the press

The 3⃣rd article of our SI (w/ @elsaclaramassoc.bsky.social) on the Transformation of Banking @Competition is online

Fulya Apaydin, Dora Piroska & I study the various ways in which authoritarian leaders instrumentalise the banking sector 👇

doi.org/10.1177/1024...

Southern Water applies for permission to draw water from rare chalk stream Environment secretary urged to stop drought order that could damage the ecology of River Test in Hampshire

Southern Water applies for permission to draw water from rare chalk stream.

Macquarie controlled company loses 91m litres of water per day to leaks.

No new reservoirs built since 1989.

Dumped sewage for 300,000 hours into rivers.

Customer bills up 47% this year.

End fleecing. Nationalise water.

A fair price to the public for water nationalisation | Letter Letter: The government is wrong on the cost of bringing water back into public ownership, write Prof Becky Malby, Dr Kate Bayliss, Prof Frances Cleaver and Prof Ewan McGaughey

A fair price to the public for water nationalisation | Letter www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Interesting handbook on Degrowth here. Open access www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/downl...

Rolling out the Wall Street Consensus? Multilateral development banks and the trilemma of private capital mobilization - Anissa Bougrea, Mattias Vermeiren, 2025 This article offers the first comprehensive account of the challenges Multilateral Development Banks (MDBs) face in implementing the Wall Street Consensus, a fi...

🚨New article out with @mattvermeir.bsky.social in @compchange.bsky.social: "Rolling out the Wall Street Consensus? MDBs & the Trilemma of Private Capital Mobilization"
We examine why MDBs are failing to deliver on the promise of "mobilizing trillions" for the SDGs👇
Here:

🚨 New publication out: “The Anatomy of Chinese Capitalism” (Competition & Change / Köncke, Erlbacher & Schmalz, 2025)

How and to what extent does the party-state govern top Chinese firms?

We unpack this with new data and a sectoral lens.
🔗 doi.org/10.1177/1024...

@sfb294.bsky.social

Public ownership is the only way to save the water industry Public ownership is the only viable alternative but is opposed by the government

Are you ready to hand more than £1,000bn to England's privatised water companies by 2050?

Shareholders don't invest. Money will be extracted from customers, shareholders will own the resulting assets and income streams and collect dividends.

Public ownership is the only sane way.

Realizing an Alternative Political Economy of Sustainability: The Contributions of Radical Ecology and Heterodox Economics Engagement with and between a plurality of progressive, non-neoclassical traditions is an important step in fostering a more capacious understanding of sustainability – both as a concept and as a poli...

📢New book on the block📢 curious and looking forward to checking this out. www.routledge.com/Realizing-an...

Zack Polanski ‘open to’ working with new Corbyn and Sultana party Green leadership candidate says any decision on alliance would be one for party members

Zack Polanski ‘open to’ working with new Corbyn party

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

We are very happy to announce the publication of our edited volume ‘State, Capitalism & Finance in Emerging Markets: Between Subordination and Statecraft’ (/w Andreas Nölke) with @brisunipress.bsky.social! 🥳

Check out the book here:
bristoluniversitypressdigital.com/edcollbook/b...

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I'm very happy to be joining the editorial board of Competition & Change, a journal which has become home to some of the best and most stimulating interdisciplinary research in political economy and socioeconomics. Give us a follow and stay tuned for updates!

Look who's here, and doing very well 👇

Forget about the improved impact factor: The best news for @compchange.bsky.social is that @aritassinari.bsky.social has joined as associate editor!

🚨@compchange.bsky.social is now on Bsky!🚨If you’re not following it yet, now’s the time — stay connected for updates on cutting-edge research and calls for papers

@benbraun.bsky.social @aritassinari.bsky.social @johannespetry.bsky.social @antonioandreoni.bsky.social @emilyrosenman.bsky.social

Hello! 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 & 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 has joined Bsky. We'll be sharing new articles and other journal-related updates.

To start, excellent news: Our 2024 impact factor is up four points: 3.4.

This reflects the high-quality work of our authors, reviewers, and editors—thank you, and keep them coming! 🙏

If you are around London tomorrow join this great workshop at SOAS organised by post Keynesian Society.

13:30 – 16:00 Panel 1 Yannis Dafermos, SOAS University of London, PKES Annual Report Hannah Hasenberger, University of Cambridge, From austerity to bankruptcy: Tracing the impact of Coalition Government cuts on English local government (with Hulya Dagdeviren and Mia Gray) Hulya Dagdeviren, University of Hertfordshire, The political economy of financing net zero at local level (with Christina Wolf) Lorena Lombardozzi, SOAS University of London, Energy transition, industrial policy and the new geo-economic governance in Central Asia Chair: Christina Wolf, University of Hertfordshire 16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break 16:30 – 18:30 Panel 2 Leila Gautham, University of Leeds, Extended income poverty and time poverty: New estimates for the U.S. Jo Michell, University of the West of England, An analytical heterogeneous agent macro model of concentration, markups, and falling labour shares (with Ayoze Alfageme and Karsten Kohler) Peter Skott, Aalborg University Business School and University of Massachusetts Amherst, The recent wage compression: Tightness, turbulence, and power-biased economic policy (with Adam Aboobaker) Chair: Maria Nikolaidi, University of Greenwich 18:30 – 20:00 Drinks reception

Our Annual Workshop is tomorrow, 12 June, at SOAS with Hannah Hasenberger, @hulya-dagdeviren.bsky.social,
@lorena-lombardozzi.bsky.social, @leilagautham.bsky.social @jomichell.bsky.social and Peter Skott.

13:30 - 18:30 UK time. No registration required.

postkeynesian.net/event/2025-a...

Colonial extraction and unequal exchange have shaped two centuries of North-South inequality.
A thread on the new study written with @gatonievas.bsky.social
[A thread 1/8🧵]

‘Ticking timebomb’: sea acidity has reached critical levels, threatening entire ecosystems – study Ocean acidification has already crossed a crucial threshold for planetary health, scientists say in unexpected finding

‘Ticking timebomb’: sea acidity has reached critical levels, threatening entire ecosystems’ www.theguardian.com/environment/...