Category Archives: economics
Capital Ideas
I walked completely around the Christchurch central cordon a few weeks ago, and over the handful of hours it took I started to wake up to some realities I’ve really been trying to ignore. My city, the country it lives … Continue reading
Filed under economics, Government policy, media
Turtles are cute, and it is freezing.
Just you try to deny it. To start with the turtles, the NZIFF* is currently on in Christchurch, so if you feel like getting the warm fuzzies, go see Turtle: The incredible journey. It looks like a feel good film, … Continue reading
Filed under economics, Film/Documentary, Government policy
Story of stuff expands
The first time I watched Annie Leonard’s “The Story of Stuff” I almost cried with joy. Finally, someone was communicating the most important issues of our time with a clear, simple message which also didn’t bore. The cartoons in The … Continue reading
Filed under Climate Change, economics, Film/Documentary, media, Products
Quote of the day
I’m doing POLS essay research at the moment, and found this gem of a paragraph in Leiss, Kline, Jhally & Botterill (2005, p. 38): Hierarchy, inequality, and power have shaped all societies, but were distinctly patterned in modern society. One … Continue reading
Filed under economics
Yet more motivation to shop at farmer’s markets and start growing your own
Finally there is some mainstream acknowledgement of the way fresh fruit and vegetables are priced by the supermarket duopoly – high, and more interestingly, far higher than processed food. Sue Kedgley’s survey only consisted of 75 farmers and the actual … Continue reading
Fair trade clothing in NZ
Cue Micah clothing, a Salvation Army initiative that is bringing fair trade clothing to New Zealand. It looks like they’re still starting out, as they aren’t yet available in retail stores, and their prices are really reasonable (especially the sale … Continue reading
Filed under economics, Fashion/lifestyle
The second enclosure movement (Boyle)
Yay for the Internet! I tried to find a better version of one of our readings this week (for POLS403), and at the top of the search results was a FREE (without having to be a Uni student), clear PDF … Continue reading
Filed under economics
Junichi Semitsu’s call for “internalising” economics
I don’t like law professors, but Junichi Semitsu is the one that I would have no problem hugging. Okay, maybe that’s a little overstated – but if you read his speech given to Economics graduates at Berkeley, you might understand … Continue reading
Filed under economics
Impossible dreams
We will be using twice the planet’s capacity; that’s physically impossible. And that’s our collective dream. – Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of the Global Footprint Network. Eternal growth is the central dream of capitalism. The promise of profit informs investment, … Continue reading
Filed under Climate Change, economics, Food
Reimagining Society
Communism began with the dream of a classless society, free of the exploitation and inequality of capitalism. Instead of private control of industry for private purposes, the fruits of human labour were to be shared by all. The left never … Continue reading
Filed under economics
Zo Zhou
Leith
