Prabhat Patnaik’s Blog

Donald Trump is threatening to use tariffs as a weapon against other countries. He has already made three threatening statements: first, he threatened the BRICS countries that if they dared to move away from the dollar, then they would have to face 100 per cent tariff in the US market. Second, he has threatened the European Union that unless the EU bought more American oil and gas as a means of reducing its trade surplus vis-à-vis the US (the surplus on goods trade was $208.7 billion in 2023), it would face high tariffs in the US market. Third, he has…

The aim of all fascistic governments is to disempower the people; and the Modi government is no exception. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) which promised one member in every rural household a maximum of 100 days of employment per year was a demand-driven scheme. In a limited sense therefore it gave people a right to employment, not to everyone and not for as many days as a person wanted; but a right nonetheless. It ran counter to the logic of neoliberalism, but became possible because of pressure from the Left at a time when the government…

Liberal opinion holds that the international monetary and financial system is a device for promoting the interests of all participating countries by providing a convenient payments arrangement within which trade can be carried on. The reality however is altogether different: the international system is founded upon the hegemony of western imperialism, and in turn sustains this hegemony. Since the US dollar is the lynchpin of this international system, one can say that the hegemony of the dollar in the international economy is both sustained by and in turn sustains, the hegemony of western imperialism; and this hegemony even comes in…

Karl Marx had once said that all criticism must begin with the criticism of religion. Paraphrasing Marx one can say in the current economic context that all criticism must begin with the criticism of the GDP. This conceptually and statistically dubious measure cannot cognize the phenomenon of exploitation. For instance, it looks at the income of the Mughal emperor and his aristocracy as a return for services rendered by them and adds it to the total production of the country in a blatant act of double counting; and yet it is used by defenders of neoliberalism to paint a rosy…

Hearing a petition on November 22 to remove the term “socialism” from the Preamble of the Indian Constitution, the Chief Justice of India made two significant observations: first,  the term “socialism” in the Preamble of the Constitution is used not in any doctrinaire sense but refers rather to a welfare state that ensures equality of opportunity for all citizens; and second, “socialism” in this sense is part of the basic structure of the Constitution; it is not just an add-on to the Preamble but rather something that permeates the very essence of what we want the Indian republic to be.…

Professor Amiya Kumar Bagchi, mentor and constant presence with IDEAs since its inception, passed away on the 28th of November 2024. His incisive and profound scholarly contributions built on the ideas developed in classical political economy, especially Marx, and in the work of Keynes and the Keynesians, viewing them through a lens incorporating analyses of the logic and consequences of colonialism and neocolonialism. His work emphasised the need to recognise that the colonies and the post-decolonisation neocolonial order were and are essential prerequisites for sustained capitalist accumulation on a global scale. His towering intellectual presence will be missed globally, especially…

It is common for governments these days to provide fiscal transfers to capitalists, whether through reduced corporate tax rates, or by providing direct cash subsidies, to encourage greater investment by them and thereby stimulate the economy. During Donald Trump’s first presidency there had been a cut in corporate tax rate with this objective in mind. In India the Modi government, as is well-known, has given massive tax concessions with the same objective. Even a minimum knowledge of economics however would show that such transfers to capitalists are counter-productive in a neoliberal regime. This is because such a regime is characterised…

Trump’s victory in the US Presidential election conforms to a pattern presently observable across the world, namely a collapse of the liberal centre and a growth in support either for the Left, or for the extreme Right, the neo-fascists, in situations in which the Left is absent or weak. This was visible in France where Macron’s party lost substantially, and the ascendancy of neo-fascism was prevented only by a hastily-formed Left alliance; this is also evident in our own neighbourhood, in Sri Lanka, where a Left candidate emerged as president through a sudden and substantial increase in his vote-share, defeating…

The Kazan summit of the BRICS countries was a historic one for several reasons: first, it created a new category called “partner nations” as a step towards full membership, and accepted 13 such new “partner” countries, among whom were Cuba and Bolivia. Second, it came out against unilateral economic sanctions that the US-led imperialist powers have been imposing on countries that dare to assert their independence from imperialist hegemony. Third, it suggested a programme of reform for the International Monetary and Financial System. The Kazan Declaration itself was brief in outlining measures to overcome the hegemony of the dollar, while…

This year’s Nobel Prize in economics (the Riksbank Prize to be more precise) has been awarded to three US-based economists for their research into what promotes or hinders the growth of wealth among nations; and they assign a crucial role to institutions, arguing that western institutions like electoral democracy are conducive to growth. Where colonialism led to the promotion of what they call “inclusive institutions” such as in settler colonies, growth flourished, but elsewhere in the colonial empire where colonialism set up “extractive institutions”, they turned out to be harmful for growth. Their work has aroused much criticism. Some have…