scholarly journals Capitalism and poverty. Automation signals the final stage of capitalism. Basic income for a peaceful transition to post-capitalism

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 9-25
Author(s):  
Julio Boltvinik ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Economic Theory ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Final Stage ◽  
Main Mechanism ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Basic Income ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

This article provides an impressionistic history of recent capitalism by describing its intrinsic tendencies to produce poverty and crises. It argues that the automation revolution and globalization are generalizing and globalizing poverty, especially since neoliberalism replaced Keynesianism. This picture is contradicted by the poverty statistics of the World Bank, but when these are examined carefully it is shown that the decrease in global poverty that they show is false. An examination of Marxist and mainstream theories of capitalist crises shows both that financiarization has become the main mechanism to keep afloat financial monopoly capitalism, and that conventional economic theory is impotent to deal with the current crises. Total automation is bringing to an end the wage-based society, which is incompatible with generalized automation. This in turn opens up the possibility of human emancipation from «forced», alienated work. Finally, Universal Citizen Income is regarded as an alternative that solves the aforementioned contradiction by saving and radically transforming capitalism.

Organizing Collaboration

2020 ◽  
pp. 22-42
Author(s):  
Constantine Michalopoulos
Keyword(s):  
The Netherlands ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
The Political ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Poor Countries ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
The Uk

The story of Eveline Herfkens, Hilde F. Johnson, Clare Short and Heidemarie Wieczorek-Zeul, all of whom, with different titles became ministers in charge of development cooperation in the Netherlands, Norway, the UK, and Germany in 1997–8, and what they did together to bridge the gap between rhetoric and reality in the war against global poverty, starts with a short discussion of their background. This is followed by a discussion of the political situation and the different government arrangements that determined development policy in their countries at the time. The last part of the chapter reviews the beginnings of their collaboration which focused on ensuring that the debt relief provided to highly indebted poor countries (HIPCs) in programmes supported by the World Bank and the IMF resulted in actually lifting people out of poverty.

scholarly journals The Unbearable Errorlessness of Global Poverty Estimates

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michail Moatsos
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Poverty Line ◽  
Research Community ◽  
Global Poverty ◽  
Administrative Authority ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
Error Terms

Abstract In October 2015 the World Bank initiated the Atkinson Commission on Global Poverty seeking advise on (1) keeping the international poverty line (iPL) constant in real terms, and (2) what else the Bank should make available to complement the dollar-a-day estimates. The Commission’s Report bears a set of 21 key recommendations, largely covering the most important voiced worries of the research community over the Bank’s methods and estimates. In response the Bank adopted fully and unconditionally only one–out of ten–recommendations regarding point one above, and three–out of nine–recommendations to the second point. In addition the Bank accepted one of the two overarching recommendations. Among the remaining 16 sidelined or partially accepted recommendations lies arguably the most obvious and important one: the urge that the Bank publishes the error terms of its estimates. Without them these estimates are supported by little else other than the administrative authority of the Bank.

The History of the World Bank

2002 ◽  
Vol 112 (477) ◽  
pp. F119-F135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Edward Marcus
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

Gunboats and Diplomacy

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taylor St John
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Dispute Settlement ◽  
British Government ◽  
High Expectations ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Un Security Council ◽  
The World ◽  
The Icj ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Memories

Chapter two outlines antecedents of the ICSID Convention. The antagonisms emerging from the long history of investment dispute settlement are briefly discussed, in particular historical memories about separate courts and separate law for foreigners. Early twentieth-century efforts to replace the use of force with arbitration and later work to reframe foreign investment as a tool for development instead of a tool of imperialism provided more hopeful antecedents. Decolonization brought with it high expectations, but also disillusionment: disputes like Abadan (in which the British government sent gunboats, then asked the UN Security Council, the ICJ, and the World Bank to act, before ultimately staging a coup) made capital-importing governments wary and led many officials to believe the world needed new machinery to resolve disputes between investors and states.

Not a Knowledge Bank: The Divided History of Development Economics and Development Organizations

2016 ◽  
Vol 40 (4) ◽  
pp. 627-656 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Alacevich
Keyword(s):  
World War Ii ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Development Economics ◽  
Development Theory ◽  
History Of Development ◽  
Development Organizations ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of

Development economics was born as a distinct disciplinary field in the aftermath of World War II, when the development of so-called Third World countries, due to the dynamics of decolonization and the Cold War, became an international priority. At the institutional level, the birth of development economics was paralleled by the reorientation of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (so-called the World Bank) from the support of European reconstruction to funding development policies worldwide. Not surprisingly, the paths of the Bank and of pioneers of development economics often crossed, and it is fair to say that the Bank and the new discipline—from the perspective of the history and sociology of social sciences—are part of the same story. Indeed, one would think that the Bank was the natural place for the breeding of development economics. This seems coherent with the image we have of the Bank today: the reign of economists. Yet, for most of the years when development theory was shaped, the Bank, although very active in development policies worldwide, was remarkably silent in the field of development economics. This paper will connect the study of economic ideas and economists in international organizations with the history of economic policies. Based on previously untapped archival sources, it will discuss how the history of development economics and of development organizations—and especially the largest among them, that is, the World Bank—proceeded separated for a long stretch of time, and how they later converged.

Capital at work

Focaal ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 2007 (49) ◽  
pp. 129-135
Author(s):  
Istvan Adorjan
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
New York ◽  
International Finance ◽  
World Bank ◽  
Oxford University ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Oxford University Press

David Harvey, A brief history of neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2005, 247 pp., 0-19928-327-3 (paperback).Patrick Bond, Against the global apartheid: South Africa meets the World Bank, IMF and international finance. 2nd ed. London and New York: Zed Books, 2003. 326 pp, 1-84277-393-3 (paperback).

The Dynamics of the Lost Decade

2019 ◽  
pp. 160-168
Author(s):  
Sara Lorenzini
Keyword(s):  
World Bank ◽  
Social Engineering ◽  
Physical Capital ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
Lost Decade ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Major Donors ◽  
Rich Countries

This chapter discusses how the 1980s are often described as the lost decade in the history of development, when the allegedly universal crusade against poverty failed to deliver the expected results. In the early 1980s, neoliberal criticism of development continued apace. Critics railed against the social engineering underlying development and extolled the virtues of the market. The World Bank made no exception, as it moved away from Robert McNamara's basic needs-based policies, now considered harmful rather than useful. During the 1970s, while major donors retreated from bilateral lending, the World Bank had increased its commitments from $1 billion in 1968 to $13 billion in 1981. Cynical developing countries thought that it was “the rich countries' substitute for the NIEO.” However, results were poor, and key elements of the system came under attack: the overextension of the public sector with duties beyond normal governmental functions; excessive emphasis on physical capital and the resulting underestimation of human capital; and the proliferation of economy-distorting controls. The African case was seen as exemplifying the distortions caused by antipoverty World Bank policies.

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