Populist Plutocrats

The Rise of Business Politicians

Over the last two decades, the share of senior corporate executives holding national political office has increased in the United States as...

“Avoiding Plutocracy Would Require a Political Change”: Branko Milanovic on the Future of Capitalism

In an interview with ProMarket, CUNY Graduate Center economist Branko Milanovic discussed the differences and similarities between US-style and China-style capitalism and explained why,...

Contrary to Popular Opinion, There Is No Populist Upsurge in Britain

Taken how often we use the term, we need to be more accurate in who/what we call populist, writes University of Edinburgh professor Luke March. In...

Is Economic Insecurity Behind the Specter of Populism?

A new study examines the role of the 2007–9 global financial crisis and its metastasis in Europe on voting and political beliefs, showing that crisis-driven economic...

Populism and Time Inconsistency

This recent VoxEU.org column analyzes the recent ascendance of populists across the international stage through the lens of the concept of ‘time inconsistency’—that is, the...

"What’s Happening in the U.S. and in European Countries Is a Reaction Against the Political Class"

"Despite some specifics on the national level, I would say that all the populist regimes and leaders share common characteristics," says José Ugaz, the...

“There Are Good Grounds for Being Very Cynical About Western Elites”

Ahead of his visit to the Stigler Center on October 25, Edward Luce, Washington columnist for the Financial Times and author of The Retreat of...

The Only Viable Option for Resisting Populist Plutocrats: “Put the Leader Aside – Address Their Supporters"

The only viable option for resisting populist plutocrats is “to put the leader aside and look at how you can address their supporters," says...

How to Defeat Populist Plutocrats? “Build a Counter-Narrative”

Beppe Severgnini, one of the most influential journalists in Italy, talks to ProMarket about what the U.S. can learn from Italy on how to defeat...

The Berlusconi Voter, Taken Seriously: a Little Exercise in Historical Comprehension

The Berlusconi phenomenon in Italy both anticipated and exhibits features that epitomize the plight of Western politics.     This is the third installment of ProMarket’s new article...

LATEST NEWS

The Banking Risks of Central Bank Digital Currencies

The implementation of central bank digital currencies as the primary medium of exchange would exacerbate the flaws of our current fiat system which encourage banks to overextend credit and create liabilities that they cannot redeem. This will worsen the already recurring cycles of financial crises, writes Vibhu Vikramaditya.

The Whig History of the Merger Guidelines

A pervasive "Whig" view of United States antitrust history among scholars and practitioners celebrates the Merger Guidelines' implementation of increasingly sophisticated economic methods since their...

Algorithmic Collusion in the Housing Market

While the development of artificial intelligence has led to efficient business strategies, such as dynamic pricing, this new technology is vulnerable to collusion and consumer harm when companies share the same software through a central platform. Gabriele Bortolotti highlights the importance of antitrust enforcement in this domain for the second article in our series, using as a case study the RealPage class action lawsuit in the Seattle housing market.

The Future Markets Model Explains Meta/Within: A Reply to Herb Hovenkamp

In response to both Herb Hovenkamp’s February 27 article in ProMarket and, perhaps more importantly, also to Hovenkamp’s highly regarded treatise, Lawrence B. Landman, first, shows that the Future Markets Model explains the court’s decision in Meta/Within. Since Meta was not even trying to make a future product, the court correctly found that Meta would not enter the Future Market. Second, the Future Markets Model is the analytical tool which Hovenkamp says the enforcers lack when they try to protect competition to innovate.

The Chicago Boys and the Chilean Neoliberal Project

In a new book, The Chile Project: The Story of the Chicago Boys and the Downfall of Neoliberalism, Sebastian Edwards details the history of neoliberalism in Chile over the past seventy years. The Chicago Boys—a group of Chilean economists trained at the University of Chicago through the U.S. State Department’s “Chile Project”—played a central role in neoliberalism’s ascent during General Augusto Pinochet’s rule. What follows is an excerpt from the book on University of Chicago economist Milton Friedman’s 1975 visit to Chile to meet with Pinochet and business leaders.