Current Economic Issues (28th edition)

Edited by Mariko Frame, Robert Larson, Chris Sturr, and the Dollars & Sense collective

In the United States, the economy has seen an ongoing recovery with a stronger-than-expected labor market, declining inflation, and interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve; in the developing world, there is a growing debt crisis, and China's economic model has faced headwinds. The 28th edition of Current Economic Issues offers progressive perspectives on the the macroeconomic situation and other major economic issues of the day, in the United States and around the world.

This thoroughly revised edition covers key controversies—the state of the macroeconomy, fiscal policy and taxation, banking and finance, the social-welfare state, environmental protection, labor and unions, economic inequality, corporations, and the changing global economy. This new edition includes articles on Bidenomics, Trump's economic record, the labor market, the impact of AI, and tax policy. This edition also covers the global economy, with articles on SWIFT and the U.S. dollar, the global debt crisis, and how so-called “free trade” agreements are weaponized. New to this edition: nine of the articles are keyed to online audio content, with “The D&S Debrief” author interviews.

Current Economic Issues’ distinguished contributors include Frank Ackerman, Sasha Breger Bush, James M. Cypher, Lynn Duggan, Jayati Ghosh, John Miller, Arthur MacEwan, Débora Nunes, and many others. This book is an invaluable tool for understanding the main economic problems of today and contending policy proposals to address them.

Praise for Current Economic Issues:

“The articles in Current Economic Issues are unique in their ability to draw on both passion and intellect from students of all political persuasions.” —DAVID E. KAUN, University of California–Santa Cruz

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Note: This is the table of contents for the latest (28th) edition of Current Economic Issues. If you are ordering a pdf of an earlier edition of this title, please ask your instructor for that edition's table of contents, and make sure you order your pdf using the URL your instructor gave you.

• Chapter 1—The Big Picture
  • 1.1 Assessing Bidenomics
    Nick French
  • 1.2 Neither the Best Nor Good: Trump's Economic Record in Context John Miller
  • 1.3. Will the Harris Anti-Gouging Plan Gore the Market? Hardly!
    John Miller
  • 1.4 How to Ignore Childhood Poverty Without Having to Say You’re Sorry John Miller
  • 1.5 Income, Wealth, and All That
    Bill Barclay
    
    
• Chapter 2—Fiscal Policy
  • 2.1 The Fiscal Crisis of the State?
    Gerald Friedman
  • 2.2 Trump Tax Cut Redux
    John Miller
  • 2.3 Majority Checked: The IRA and the Constitution
    Robert Ovetz
  • 2.4 Taxing Corporations Is Infrastructure
    John Miller
  • 2.5 The Myth of Millionaire Tax Migration
    John Miller
    
    
• Chapter 3—Money, Banking, and Finance
  • 3.1 The New Tools of the Fed
    John Miller
  • 3.2 Concentration of Stock Ownership
    Ed Ford
  • 3.3 Is “MMT” an Answer for the United States? For Greece?
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 3.4 The Other Debt Crisis
    Kendall Stephenson
  • 3.5 Silicon Valley Fractures
    James M. Cypher
    
    
• Chapter 4—Social Policy
  • 4.1 The Heavy, Unequal Burden of Student Debt
    Nick French
  • 4.2 Will Medicaid Expansion Ever Come to Mississippi?
    Ingrid Cruz
  • 4.3 Privatizing Medicare
    John Miller
  • 4.4 Forced Labor vs. Forced Idleness
    Tyler Bowman
  • 4.5 Social Security and Inequality
    Arthur MacEwan
    
    
• Chapter 5—The Environment
  • 5.1 Can We Afford a Stable Climate? 
    Frank Ackerman
  • 5.2 Climate Change and Inequality
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 5.3 Nuclear Power Will Not Solve the Climate Crisis
    Robert Pollin
  • 5.4 A Carbon Tax Alone Will Not Solve the Climate Crisis
    John Miller
  • 5.5 A Battle over Copper in Colombia
    Austin Landis
    
    
• Chapter 6—Corporations
  • 6.1 Monopoly Power Everywhere
    Armağan Gezici
  • 6.2 Corporate Taxes: Less, Less, and Less
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 6.3 The Landlord Lobby Fights Dirty
    Sam Knight
  • 6.4 Control the Vampire Companies
    Jayati Ghosh
  • 6.5 The U.S. Corporations Profiting from the Israeli Occupation
    Nick French
    
    
• Chapter 7—Labor, Unions, and Working Conditions
  • 7.1 What Is the State of Organized Labor?
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 7.2 A Night in the Life of an Amazon Warehouse Worker
    Rose Baker
  • 7.3 Immigrants Create Jobs for U.S. Workers
    Ed Ford
  • 7.4 Putting Children to work
    John Miller
  • 7.5 AI and the Future of Work
    Robert Ovetz
    
    
• Chapter 8— Inequality
  • 8.1 Inequality and the Structure of Markets
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 8.2 A Country of Mini-Millionaires?
    John Miller
  • 8.3 Power, Wages, and Inequality: All in a Government Report!
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 8.4 Death and Inequality
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 8.5 Economic Inequality and Homelessness
    Arthur MacEwan
    
    
• Chapter 9— Gender, Race, and Class
  • 9.1 Who Can Afford to Have Kids, Anyway?
    Débora Nunes
  • 9.2 Is the Gender Pay Gap by Choice?
    Lynn Duggan
  • 9.3 The Fed and the Racial Wealth Gap
    John Miller
  • 9.4 The Economic Conditions of Black People in the United States
    Arthur MacEwan
  • 9.5 Race Inequality, Class Inequality
    Arthur MacEwan
    
    
• Chapter 10—The Global Economy
  • 10.1 Globalization in Crisis
    John Miller
  • 10.2 SWIFT, the U.S. Dollar, and the Global Political Economy of Trade
    Bill Barclay
  • 10.3 The Whole World Debt Crisis
    Sasha Breger Bush
  • 10.4 Credit Squeeze
    Justin Villamil
  • 10.5 Dangerous Inflection Point: Is China's Growth Model Exhausted?
    Bill Barclay
    
    
• Chapter 11—Resistance and Alternatives
  • 11.1 Finance in the Public Interest Nicole Levy and
    Deborah M. Figart
  • 11.2 Police Violence Is Enabled by Massive Spending
    Sonali Kolhatkar
  • 11.3 UC's Strike-Busting over Palestine Protests
    Hassan Farhat and Michael Wasney
  • 11.4 Is the World Cup Worth It?
    Saurav Sarkar
  • 11.5 “Migration Is a Form of Fighting Back”
    David Bacon

Edition: 28th

Date of publication: October 2024

ISBN: 978-1-939402-97-4

Pages: 292

Price: $44.50