Economic Journalism and the Elitist Approach

ABSTRACT – Is economic journalism always dependent on elitist news sources or are there particular situations that can mitigate this pattern? The economic crisis of 2008 has specific characteristics that distinguish it from the issues usually covered by economic journalism, so a different pattern in the use of sources could be expected, especially if we consider the changing economic and political circumstances throughout the crisis. To explore this question, we conducted a content analysis of the crisis coverage of representative Spanish newspapers between 2008 and 2015. The results show that the political and economic elites were the dominant sources, meanwhile, other non-elite agents had little presence. This imbalance is not modified by the ideological and geographical profiles of the newspapers, or by the different phases of the crisis. However, we found intra-elite alterations over time: the actors with more decision-making power at each period had more presence as sources. RESUMO – Será o jornalismo econômico sempre dependente das fontes de elite ou existem determinadas situações que podem mitigar este padrão? A crise econômica de 2008 tem caraterísticas específicas que a distinguem dos assuntos habitualmente tratados pelo jornalismo econômico, pelo que poderia ser esperado um padrão diferente no uso de fontes de notícias, especialmente se considerarmos as diferentes circunstâncias econômicas e políticas ao longo da crise. Para explorar esta questão, realizamos uma análise de conteúdo da cobertura da crise de jornais representativos do caso espanhol entre 2008 e 2015. Os resultados mostram que as elites políticas e econômicas foram as fontes dominantes, enquanto outros agentes não elitistas tiveram escassa presença. Este desequilíbrio não é alterado pelos diferentes perfis ideológicos e geográficos dos jornais, nem pelas diferentes etapas da crise. No entanto, encontramos alterações intra-elite ao longo do tempo: os atores com maior poder de tomada de decisões em cada período, tiveram mais presença como fontes. RESUMEN – ¿Es el periodismo económico siempre dependiente de las fuentes elitistas o existen determinadas situaciones que pueden mitigar este patrón? La crisis económica de 2008 tiene características específicas que la distinguen de los asuntos habitualmente tratados por el periodismo económico, lo que permitiría esperar un patrón diferente en el uso de fuentes, especialmente si consideramos las diferentes circunstancias económicas y políticas durante la crisis. Para explorar esta cuestión, realizamos un análisis de contenido de la cobertura de la crisis de periódicos españoles representativos entre 2008 y 2015. Los resultados muestran que las élites políticas y económicas fueron las fuentes dominantes, mientras otros agentes no elitistas tuvieron escasa presencia. Este desequilibrio no es alterado por los diferentes perfiles ideológicos y geográficos de los periódicos, ni por las diferentes etapas de la crisis. Sin embargo, encontramos alteraciones intra-élite a lo largo del tiempo: aquellos actores con mayor poder de decisión en cada período tuvieron más presencia como fuentes.

Economic and political determinants of the South African labour share, 1971–2019

This study examines the drivers of the steady decline in South Africa’s private sector labour share between 1971 and 2019. The focus on South Africa is instructive as its distributional contestation is bounded in a matrix of racial conflict. Crucial reforms on trade, finance and welfare were undertaken since 1994, but the study finds little evidence that the extension of the franchise promoted egalitarianism, since white economic elites invested in de facto political power. This study employs an Unrestricted Error Correction Model to estimate the drivers of the private sector labour share, and the findings suggest that globalisation, financialisation and public spending have decreased the labour share, while the effects of education have been positive but insufficient to halt the decline.

Do Business-Backed Think Tanks Represent Class Interests? The Co-evolution of Policy Learning and Economic Elites in the Canadian Knowledge Regime

Business-backed think tanks are often presented as representing the interests of economic elites. This article provides a more nuanced argument by using field theory to present the co-evolutionary dynamics between economic elites and other social forces. Three Canadian think tanks are examined to illustrate how different social forces can converge around business-backed think tanks, and how governance contexts and institutions shape these relationships. The paper also reflects on the kinds of learning these think tanks can enable depending on the kinds of actors that converge around them and on the forms of power that these actors represent.

Post-Neoliberalism and External Financial Liberalization: Comparing Left-Wing and Right-Wing Populism

This article aims to discuss to what extent populist parties with opposite ideological backgrounds have differed in their policies towards inherited external financial liberalization (EFL). Building upon a comparative case study centred on Argentina under Kirchnerism (2003–15) and Hungary under Viktor Orbán (since 2010), I conclude that both experiences led to a partial EFL reversal. However, reflecting their opposite ideological underpinnings, each subtype of populism opted to restrict a different dimension of EFL. Argentina's left-wing populism re-regulated cross-border capital flows, harming financial operators, foreign investors and primary exporters through capital controls and export surrenders. These interventionist capital account regulations were needed to shield expansionary macroeconomic policies that attended the interests of subordinate socioeconomic strata, fuelling the tension with financial markets and domestic economic elites. Conversely, Hungary's right-wing populism focused on the ownership structure of the banking sector, aiming to redistribute assets from foreign to domestic private banks and improve the credit conditions for native capitalists. In this case, even when resorting to macroeconomic heterodoxy, the maintenance of fiscal balance and price stability retained support from both foreign investors and domestic business groups, mitigating tensions derived from financial nationalism.

NEW FORMAT OF DIALOGUE PLATFORMS BASED ON TRANSLATERAL THINKING

The article describes the dynamics of the evolution of political thinking in international relations from binary oppositions to lateral thinking. This evolution is motivated by the new social reality of regional ecosystems that form the basis of globalization processes. Marlene Laruelle and Kazushige Kobayashi initiated an intellectual discussion on the specifics and prospects of transforming the thinking of political and economic elites at the beginning of the 21st century. The article shows that a new platform for the dialogue of non-like-minded people can play a constructive role in the implementation of the glocalization of ecosystems with the possibility of preserving the historically functioning international division of labor. In such a situation, relations between politics and economics are being transformed. The commercial priorities of transactions and the development of transnational digital platforms integrated into the space of the national regulator come to the fore. Groups of economic trans-regional interests can become the fundamental basis for the annihilation of the conflicting intentions of binary political thinking.

Introduction—Everything You Know about Prohibition Is Wrong

The book begins with a vignette of the world’s most famous—and most misunderstood—prohibitionist: the hatchet-wielding saloon smasher, Carrie Nation. A deeper investigation finds that she was anything but the Bible-thumping, conservative evangelical that she’s commonly made out to be; but rather a populist-progressive equal-rights crusader. Chapter 1 lays bare the shortcomings of the dominant historical narrative of temperance and prohibitionism as uniquely American developments resulting from a clash of religious and cultural groups. By examining the global history of prohibition, we can shed new light on the American experience. Answering the fundamental question—why prohibition?—this book argues that temperance was a global resistance movement against imperialism, subjugation, and the predatory capitalism of a liquor traffic in which political and economic elites profited handsomely from the addiction and misery of the people.

Economic elites and the constitutional design of sharing political power

What explains the emergence and persistence of institutions aimed at preventing any ruling group from using the state apparatus to advance particularistic interests? To answer this recurring question, a burgeoning literature examines the establishment of power-sharing institutions in societies divided by ethnic or religious cleavages. Going beyond existing scholarly work focused on these specific settings, we argue that political power-sharing institutions can also be the result of common disputes within the economic elite. We propose that these institutions are likely to emerge and persist when competition between elite factions with dissimilar economic interests is balanced. To address the possibility of endogeneity between elite configurations and public institutions, we leverage natural resource diversity as an instrument for elite configurations. We show that, where geological resources are more diverse, competition between similarly powerful economic groups is more likely to emerge, leading ultimately to the establishment of power-sharing mechanisms that allow elite groups to protect their diverging economic interests.

Wealth wars: how productivity gaps explain democratic erosion in advanced economies

Why are democracies backsliding? I contend that a large productivity gap between economic groups motivates those with low productivity to capture the state for rent-seeking. They assess their relative position as weak and are willing to sacrifice certain democratic guarantees in exchange for favorable policies. Erosion takes two forms. (1) With high inter-class inequality and a large productivity gap among economic industries, losing economic elites capture the state through a political outsider who enacts favorable policy. Once in office, the outsider expands his personal executive control and attacks key democratic veto players. (2) When inter-class inequality is high but the inter-industry productivity gap is small, a united economic elite coordinate to stop a populist takeover. Traditional political elites respond to the populist threat by curtailing basic freedoms of speech and association. I use both quantitative and case study evidence from the US and Spain to support my main hypotheses.

Exporting the European Order Beyond the Border

The chapter focuses on the specific modus operandi of European policies towards the states of the Mediterranean Middle East and North Africa in the time period under consideration (1995 to 2015). It highlights the modalities of Europe’s attempt to export large parts of the European order beyond its borders. These have entailed the co-optation of political and economic elites in the MENA states, in addition to the selective ‘outsourcing’ of EU border controls to its southern periphery. Focusing primarily on trade policy and migration, security, and border control cooperation, the chapter shows that the interests and rationale of European policies towards its southern periphery remained largely unchanged during these two decades, both before and after the Arab uprisings.

MEDIA ARRANGEMENT AS A FACTOR OF EXTERNAL INFLUENCE IN SOCIOLOGICAL REFLECTION: THEORETICAL ASPECT

The article provides a descriptive characteristics and classification of media support theories as a factor of external influence in conflict situations. In accordance with this goal, groups of neo-Marxist, poststructuralist, and socio-behavioral theories are identified. It is determined that the set of general theoretical postulates of the first group is, firstly, the postulate on the usurpation of media power by political and economic elites who are behind the financing and social patronage of cultural industries. Secondly, the postulate of information distortion, which consists in the fact that monopolizing classes are interested in forming a distorted picture of social reality. Thirdly, the postulate of forming a unified strategy of influence in the media space by power and economic elites, in respect of which media actors are considered mainly as repeaters of discourses. It is determined that a set of general theoretical postulates of the second group is the recognition of linguistic (rhetorical and linguistic) factors of media support as the key ones. Secondly, the consideration of media actors as relatively independent producers of discourses, which have an independent meaning in the sphere of influence in comparison with social groups and institutions. Thirdly, the postulate regarding the positioning of supranational identities through language and the use of a specific (globalistic) vocabulary is of great importance for poststructuralism.