Readings in Political Economy

Abstract: The late 2010s have witnessed a dramatic retreat from the multilateral trading order that characterized the post-Cold War era. This paper investigates the political economy of contemporary trade wars, particularly focusing on the escalation of tariffs between the United States, China, and the European Union. Unlike traditional protectionism, which sought to nurture infant industries, we argue that modern economic nationalism operates as an electoral strategy to consolidate domestic power bases disaffected by deindustrialization. Through an empirical analysis of tariff schedules and voting patterns in rust-belt regions across three continents, we demonstrate how political elites weaponize trade policy to address domestic inequality, without actually implementing redistributive domestic reforms. The study explores the concept of "performative protectionism," wherein the disruption of global supply chains causes localized economic harm while simultaneously boosting the political capital of incumbent governments. Furthermore, we examine the institutional paralysis of the World Trade Organization (WTO) amidst this environment, arguing that the deliberate disabling of its appellate body signals a definitive shift toward a power-based, rather than rules-based, international economic architecture. The paper concludes by forecasting the long-term structural realignments of global capitalism in an era of persistent geopolitical friction.

Keywords: Economic Nationalism, Trade Wars, WTO, Global Supply Chains, Performative Protectionism

Abstract: The ascendancy of transnational technology corporations necessitates a radical re-evaluation of traditional economic theories of value and capital. This article introduces the concept of "data rentiership" to explain how digital platforms extract immense profits not through the production of novel goods, but by enclosing and monetizing the digital commons. By analyzing the business models of the five largest global tech firms, we trace how user-generated behavioral surplus is transformed into highly lucrative predictive algorithms. We argue that these platforms function similarly to historical absentee landlords; they own the digital infrastructure (the market itself) and charge a structural rent to both consumers and third-party producers for access. The study utilizes a Marxist political economy framework to unpack the exploitation inherent in uncompensated digital labor, where every online interaction is commodified. Additionally, we evaluate current antitrust discourses in the European Union and the United States, concluding that standard monopoly frameworks—focused primarily on consumer price harm—are wholly inadequate for addressing the structural power of data monopolies. The paper posits that treating foundational digital infrastructure as a public utility is a necessary first step toward democratizing the digital economy and curtailing rent-seeking behaviors.

Keywords: Tech Monopolies, Data Rentiership, Digital Labor, Antitrust, Surveillance Capitalism

Abstract: China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) represents the most ambitious global infrastructure development strategy of the 21st century. This research provides a critical political economy analysis of the BRI, moving beyond simplistic narratives of "debt-trap diplomacy" to understand its structural function within global capitalism. Focusing on case studies of railway and port financing in East Africa and Southeast Asia, we illustrate how the BRI acts as a spatial fix for China's domestic industrial overcapacity and capital surplus. We analyze the complex negotiations between Chinese state-owned enterprises, host country elites, and local labor unions, revealing a highly negotiated, rather than unilaterally imposed, form of economic statecraft. The paper demonstrates that while the BRI addresses genuine infrastructure deficits in the Global South, the terms of engagement frequently lock host nations into long-term raw material export trajectories, perpetuating unequal exchange. Furthermore, we contrast the Beijing consensus on state-led development with the Washington consensus, arguing that the BRI is fundamentally reshaping the institutional architecture of international development finance. We conclude that understanding the BRI requires viewing it as an evolutionary phase of global capital accumulation, possessing both developmental potential and significant neo-imperial characteristics.

Keywords: Belt and Road Initiative, Infrastructure Finance, Spatial Fix, Unequal Exchange, Economic Statecraft

Abstract: A decade after the global financial crisis, housing systems across Southern Europe remain deeply fractured. This paper traces the ongoing transformation of residential real estate in Spain, Italy, and Greece from a localized, socially embedded necessity into a highly liquid, globalized financial asset. We examine how post-crisis state interventions, particularly the creation of 'bad banks' and the mass sell-off of non-performing loan portfolios to transnational private equity funds, have fundamentally restructured urban property markets. Through qualitative interviews with housing activists and analysis of municipal eviction data, we document the brutal social consequences of this financialization process, which has precipitated an unprecedented crisis of affordability and displacement in major metropolitan centers. The study argues that the state has not retreated from the housing market; rather, it has actively re-engineered legal and tax frameworks to facilitate corporate landlordism and secure yields for international investors at the expense of local residents. Furthermore, we analyze the emergence of robust anti-eviction movements and municipalist political platforms as counter-hegemonic responses. The paper concludes that resolving the housing crisis requires aggressive decommodification strategies, strict rent controls, and the revitalization of public housing stock, rather than relying on market-based supply-side interventions.

Keywords: Housing Financialization, Private Equity, Evictions, Southern Europe, Urban Political Economy

Abstract: As fears of technological unemployment and wage stagnation mount, two radical policy proposals have moved to the center of political economy debates: Universal Basic Income (UBI) and the Job Guarantee (JG). This article provides a rigorous comparative analysis of these competing frameworks, evaluating their distinct ideological underpinnings and projected macroeconomic consequences. We utilize post-Keynesian economic modeling to simulate the implementation of both policies in a stylized advanced economy. Our findings suggest that while a debt-financed UBI provides immediate poverty relief, its lack of an automatic counter-cyclical anchor risks generating demand-pull inflation, potentially eroding the real purchasing power of the grant over time. In contrast, we argue that a federally funded, locally administered Job Guarantee functions as a more effective macroeconomic stabilizer. By establishing a fixed wage floor and absorbing surplus labor during economic downturns, the JG directly addresses involuntary unemployment while simultaneously provisioning neglected public goods, such as green infrastructure and care work. The paper unpacks the political tensions surrounding the commodification of labor, ultimately contending that while UBI offers a compelling vision of post-work emancipation, the Job Guarantee provides a more structurally sound transition toward an equitable and stable economic system.

Keywords: Universal Basic Income, Job Guarantee, Macroeconomics, Post-Keynesian Theory, Labor Markets

Abstract: The proliferation of "green bonds," ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) investing, and corporate sustainability pledges represents a profound shift in how financial markets conceptualize the climate crisis. This paper critically interrogates the political economy of green finance, questioning its capacity to deliver meaningful reductions in global carbon emissions. By conducting a forensic accounting analysis of the portfolios of major institutional asset managers, we expose a pervasive pattern of 'greenwashing,' wherein capital continues to flow into fossil fuel expansion under the guise of transition finance. We argue that the architecture of green finance relies on a fundamental contradiction: attempting to solve a crisis of overproduction and planetary limits using the very mechanisms of speculative capital accumulation that generated it. The study highlights the regulatory capture of ESG disclosure standards, which prioritize the protection of corporate valuations against climate risk over the protection of the biosphere from corporate activities. The paper posits that delegating the ecological transition to the private financial sector is a dangerous abdication of state responsibility. To achieve genuine decarbonization, we advocate for the implementation of strict capital controls, the penalization of brown investments, and massive, direct public financing of renewable energy infrastructure.

Keywords: Green Finance, ESG, Greenwashing, Climate Change, Financialization

Abstract: The rapid expansion of platform-based contingent labor—commonly referred to as the gig economy—is fundamentally restructuring the social contract that underpinned 20th-century industrial capitalism. This article investigates the political economy of gig work, focusing on how digital platforms exploit legal ambiguities to dismantle the "standard employment relation." Through comprehensive qualitative surveys of ride-share drivers and delivery couriers in London and Paris, we document the lived realities of extreme wage volatility, arbitrary algorithmic deactivation, and the shifting of capital and maintenance costs entirely onto the worker. We conceptualize this business model as a form of regulatory arbitrage, wherein venture capital subsidizes operating losses to secure monopoly market share while simultaneously evading payroll taxes and labor protections. The research highlights the strategic use of classification (labeling workers as independent contractors) as a mechanism to forestall unionization and collective bargaining. We evaluate recent legislative battles and judicial rulings in Europe attempting to reclassify gig workers, arguing that piecemeal legal victories are constantly outpaced by algorithmic adaptation. The paper concludes that reversing this trend requires updating labor law to encompass dependent contractors and implementing sectoral bargaining to ensure a living wage regardless of employment classification.

Keywords: Gig Economy, Platform Labor, Regulatory Arbitrage, Employment Classification, Algorithmic Control

Abstract: More than ten years after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the non-bank financial intermediation sector—often termed "shadow banking"—is larger and more complex than ever. This paper provides a critical political economy analysis of the post-2008 regulatory environment, arguing that policymakers have largely failed to address the structural vulnerabilities inherent in off-balance-sheet leverage. By tracing the lobbying efforts of major asset managers, hedge funds, and private equity firms, we demonstrate how the financial industry successfully diluted the ambitious macroprudential reforms initially proposed by the G20. The study maps the contemporary landscape of shadow banking, focusing on the systemic risks posed by open-ended mutual funds, collateralized loan obligations (CLOs), and the repurchase agreement (repo) market. We argue that regulatory forbearance is not merely a bureaucratic failure, but reflects the deep structural power of financial capital over the state, ensuring that liquidity provision remains privatized while the risk of systemic collapse is implicitly underwritten by central banks. The paper concludes by warning that the shifting of credit intermediation away from regulated commercial banks has created a more opaque and fragile global financial system, proposing a holistic regulatory architecture that regulates financial function rather than institutional form.

Keywords: Shadow Banking, Financial Crisis, Macroprudential Regulation, Regulatory Capture, Systemic Risk

Abstract: The National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom has been subjected to the most prolonged period of financial constraint in its history following the 2010 implementation of fiscal austerity. This research examines the political economy of this manufactured crisis, arguing that chronic underfunding is not merely a budgetary necessity, but a deliberate ideological strategy to facilitate creeping privatization. By analyzing a decade of NHS budgetary data, procurement contracts, and wait-time statistics, we trace the profound degradation of universal healthcare provision. The study details how austerity measures function as a mechanism to break down integrated public monopolies, creating discrete, profitable service segments that are subsequently outsourced to private healthcare conglomerates. We highlight the disastrous consequences of the Private Finance Initiative (PFI), which saddled hospital trusts with insurmountable debt obligations, further compressing operational budgets for frontline care. The paper documents the resulting crisis in social reproduction, evidenced by the unprecedented demoralization and exodus of nursing and medical staff. We conclude that defending the NHS requires understanding healthcare austerity as a class-based project of wealth upward redistribution, necessitating a political movement dedicated to the full public ownership and adequate taxation-based funding of the health system.

Keywords: Healthcare, Austerity, NHS, Privatization, Social Reproduction

Abstract: Over the past decade, the prevailing logic of fiscal consolidation has driven governments across the OECD to execute massive sell-offs of state-owned enterprises and public land. This paper provides a comprehensive political economy analysis of contemporary privatization programs, arguing that they represent a fundamental transfer of wealth and power from the public sphere to private capital. Through comparative case studies of municipal water privatization in France and the fire-sale of public infrastructure in Greece, we dissect the financial mechanics of these transactions. The research demonstrates that, far from improving operational efficiency, these sell-offs typically result in monopolistic pricing, degraded service quality, and the loss of democratic oversight. Furthermore, we explore how austerity functions as a coercive mechanism, forcing cash-strapped municipalities into predatory leaseback agreements that generate short-term revenue while inflicting long-term fiscal damage. The study posits that the relentless commodification of public assets undermines the very foundation of the social democratic state, replacing citizen rights with consumer contracts. We advocate for a robust municipalist agenda centered on "insourcing" and the reclamation of the public commons, arguing that democratic control over vital infrastructure is essential for equitable economic development and climate resilience.

Keywords: Privatization, Austerity, Public Infrastructure, Municipalism, Corporate State