Nick Johnson
@nickfj.bsky.social
Blogging at peofdev.wordpress.com, mainly on heterodox economics, development, political economy | Former grad student at SOAS, London Uni
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Nick Johnson
@nickfj.bsky.social
· May 21
What I am reading right now, and why: Ann Pettifor’s The Global Casino
Ann Pettifor has a new book out, The Global Casino, from which I featured a brief extract in Monday’s “quote of the week”. Pettifor is an impassioned progressive economist, champi…
peofdev.wordpress.com
New post: What I am reading right now, and why - Ann Pettifor's The Global Casino peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/21/w...
New post: What I am reading right now, and why - Ann Pettifor's The Global Casino peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/21/w...
What I am reading right now, and why: Ann Pettifor’s The Global Casino
Ann Pettifor has a new book out, The Global Casino, from which I featured a brief extract in Monday’s “quote of the week”. Pettifor is an impassioned progressive economist, champi…
peofdev.wordpress.com
May 21, 2026 at 9:06 AM
New post: What I am reading right now, and why - Ann Pettifor's The Global Casino peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/21/w...
New post: Quote of the week - Ann Pettifor on deregulated finance and the rise of the far-right peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/18/q...
Quote of the week: Ann Pettifor on deregulated finance and the rise of the far-right
Today’s quote is taken from Ann Pettifor’s new book The Global Casino, a trenchant critique of deregulated and globalised finance, and its impact on the lives of ordinary citizens acros…
peofdev.wordpress.com
May 18, 2026 at 9:03 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Ann Pettifor on deregulated finance and the rise of the far-right peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/18/q...
New post: Dissenting economists on competition - International trade, competition and the problem of underconsumption peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/13/d...
Dissenting economists on competition: International trade, competition and the problem of underconsumption
In the last post in this series on competition, I take a look at international trade and the way in which it can generate scarce global demand and unemployment. The potential solution to this also …
peofdev.wordpress.com
May 13, 2026 at 8:58 AM
New post: Dissenting economists on competition - International trade, competition and the problem of underconsumption peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/13/d...
New post: Quote of the week - Robert Rowthorn summarises a Marxist explanation for inflation peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/11/q...
Quote of the week: Robert Rowthorn summarises a Marxist explanation for inflation
Robert Rowthorn has for many years been a professor of economics at Cambridge University. He was very much a Marxist in the early part of his career, but always pursued an eclectic range of researc…
peofdev.wordpress.com
May 11, 2026 at 8:49 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Robert Rowthorn summarises a Marxist explanation for inflation peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/11/q...
New post: Dissenting economists on competition - Power, conflict and cooperation
How reducing competition in the labour market might impact economic performance
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/07/d...
How reducing competition in the labour market might impact economic performance
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/07/d...
Dissenting economists on competition: Power, conflict and cooperation
How reducing competition in the labour market might impact economic performance The concept of class is central to Marxist economics, which has also influenced other leftist schools of economics su…
peofdev.wordpress.com
May 7, 2026 at 9:01 AM
New post: Dissenting economists on competition - Power, conflict and cooperation
How reducing competition in the labour market might impact economic performance
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/07/d...
How reducing competition in the labour market might impact economic performance
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/07/d...
New post: Quote of the week - Geoffrey Hodgson on the purpose of economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/04/q...
Quote of the week: Geoffrey Hodgson on the purpose of economics
Geoffrey Hodgson is a prominent, distinguished economist in the institutionalist tradition. Once a Marxist and socialist, he now makes the case for a liberal social democracy in modern capitalist e…
peofdev.wordpress.com
May 4, 2026 at 9:00 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Geoffrey Hodgson on the purpose of economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/05/04/q...
New post: Dissenting economists on competition - Competition under capitalism - absolute good, or unalloyed bad?
Today's post consider the good and the bad of competition in a number of its vital aspects. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/30/d...
Today's post consider the good and the bad of competition in a number of its vital aspects. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/30/d...
Dissenting economists on competition: Competition under capitalism – absolute good, or unalloyed bad?
As discussed before in this series, competition is central to capitalism and how it functions. But whether or not it is largely beneficial remains an object of contention, at least outside the main…
peofdev.wordpress.com
April 30, 2026 at 9:04 AM
New post: Dissenting economists on competition - Competition under capitalism - absolute good, or unalloyed bad?
Today's post consider the good and the bad of competition in a number of its vital aspects. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/30/d...
Today's post consider the good and the bad of competition in a number of its vital aspects. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/30/d...
New post: Quote of the week - John Weeks on Marx on competition peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/27/q...
Quote of the week: John Weeks on Marx on competition
The late John Weeks was a Marxist economist at SOAS, where the economics department is dominated by radical and heterodox thinkers generally highly critical of the mainstream, often with a particul…
peofdev.wordpress.com
April 27, 2026 at 9:05 AM
New post: Quote of the week - John Weeks on Marx on competition peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/27/q...
New post: Dissenting economists on competition: institutionalism versus the classics and Marx - comparing the fundamentals
Continuing the current series on capitalist competition, with an application to Big Tech.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/d...
Continuing the current series on capitalist competition, with an application to Big Tech.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/d...
Dissenting economists on competition: institutionalism versus the classics and Marx – comparing the fundamentals
Today’s post continues the current series on capitalist competition, contrasting the competing visions of original institutional economics and classical and Marxist political economy. While b…
peofdev.wordpress.com
April 22, 2026 at 8:34 AM
New post: Dissenting economists on competition: institutionalism versus the classics and Marx - comparing the fundamentals
Continuing the current series on capitalist competition, with an application to Big Tech.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/d...
Continuing the current series on capitalist competition, with an application to Big Tech.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/22/d...
New post: Quote of the week - Michael Hudson on inflation
At at a time of rising inflation around the world, an excerpt from a radical professor's iconoclastic dictionary of economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/q...
At at a time of rising inflation around the world, an excerpt from a radical professor's iconoclastic dictionary of economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/q...
Quote of the week: Michael Hudson on inflation
Inflation is rising across the world, thanks to the impact of the conflict in Iran on energy prices. Central banks will respond by hiking interest rates, or keeping them higher than they would have…
peofdev.wordpress.com
April 20, 2026 at 9:04 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Michael Hudson on inflation
At at a time of rising inflation around the world, an excerpt from a radical professor's iconoclastic dictionary of economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/q...
At at a time of rising inflation around the world, an excerpt from a radical professor's iconoclastic dictionary of economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/20/q...
New post: Quote of the week - Marx on creative labour peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/q...
Quote of the week: Marx on creative labour
This week’s quote is the second in a row from Karl Marx. Regular readers will know that I have plenty of time for his ideas, but not in toto. Nevertheless his writing is often powerful, which…
peofdev.wordpress.com
April 13, 2026 at 9:02 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Marx on creative labour peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/13/q...
New post: Dissenting economists on competition: from Marx to Anwar Shaikh and the theory of "real competition" peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/08/d...
Dissenting economists on competition: from Marx to Anwar Shaikh and the theory of “real competition”
Following last week’s introduction, this is the first part of a series on the views of some dissenting economists on competition under capitalism. This week, I consider Anwar Shaikh’s t…
peofdev.wordpress.com
April 8, 2026 at 9:02 AM
New post: Dissenting economists on competition: from Marx to Anwar Shaikh and the theory of "real competition" peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/08/d...
New post: Dissenting economists on competition - introduction to a new series peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/01/d...
Dissenting economists on competition: introduction to a new series
Does big tech have too much market (and political) power? Or is it competing fiercely and reaping the rewards for continuous innovation? What role (if any) should governments play in encouraging a …
peofdev.wordpress.com
April 1, 2026 at 9:03 AM
New post: Dissenting economists on competition - introduction to a new series peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/04/01/d...
New post: Quote of the week - Geoffrey Hodgson on the power and limits of competition under capitalism peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/30/q...
Quote of the week: Geoffrey Hodgson on the power and limits of competition under capitalism
Today’s quote comes from Geoffrey Hodgson’s comprehensive book Conceptualizing Capitalism. Hodgson is a prominent and distinguished economist in the tradition of original institutionali…
peofdev.wordpress.com
March 30, 2026 at 9:02 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Geoffrey Hodgson on the power and limits of competition under capitalism peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/30/q...
New post: Responses to rising inflation - workers, bosses and the state
Drawing on Marxist theories of inflation, I explore the potential impact of the current energy price shock. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/25/r...
Drawing on Marxist theories of inflation, I explore the potential impact of the current energy price shock. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/25/r...
Responses to rising inflation – workers, bosses and the state
The third Gulf war is delivering a significant energy price shock to the world economy, as the prices of oil and gas on global markets soar. Even if it is not enough to provoke a global recession, …
peofdev.wordpress.com
March 25, 2026 at 10:13 AM
New post: Responses to rising inflation - workers, bosses and the state
Drawing on Marxist theories of inflation, I explore the potential impact of the current energy price shock. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/25/r...
Drawing on Marxist theories of inflation, I explore the potential impact of the current energy price shock. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/25/r...
New post: Quote of the week - The "troubling" Marxian alternative peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/23/q...
Quote of the week: The “troubling” Marxian alternative
Today’s quote is another from Richard Wolff and Stephen Resnick’s Contending Economic Theories, their original, informative and provocative book which compares neoclassical, Keynesian a…
peofdev.wordpress.com
March 23, 2026 at 10:04 AM
New post: Quote of the week - The "troubling" Marxian alternative peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/23/q...
New post: Making history - Donald Trump as case study
With the Trump presidency offering a dramatic practical illustration, I explore some key concepts in social science
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/18/m...
With the Trump presidency offering a dramatic practical illustration, I explore some key concepts in social science
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/18/m...
Making history: Donald Trump as case study
With the Trump presidency offering a dramatic practical illustration, I explore some key concepts in social science Donald Trump has made a habit of testing the limits of human agency. He cares lit…
peofdev.wordpress.com
March 18, 2026 at 10:03 AM
New post: Making history - Donald Trump as case study
With the Trump presidency offering a dramatic practical illustration, I explore some key concepts in social science
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/18/m...
With the Trump presidency offering a dramatic practical illustration, I explore some key concepts in social science
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/18/m...
New post: Quote of the week - The dysfunctions of modern economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/q...
Quote of the week: The dysfunctions of modern economics
Today’s quote comes from a recent issue of the generally leftist, heterodox Cambridge Journal of Economics, and is a critical attack on both the mainstream and non-mainstream economics commun…
peofdev.wordpress.com
March 16, 2026 at 10:01 AM
New post: Quote of the week - The dysfunctions of modern economics peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/16/q...
New post: Moving beyond capitalism, part 3 - possible futures
Drawing on ideas from Geoffrey Hodgson's comprehensive work "Conceptualizing Capitalism", I outline some possible futures beyond our current economic system. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/m...
Drawing on ideas from Geoffrey Hodgson's comprehensive work "Conceptualizing Capitalism", I outline some possible futures beyond our current economic system. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/m...
Moving beyond capitalism, part 3: possible futures
Following the last two weeks’ posts on the USSR and Richard Wolff’s proposals for a ‘genuine’ communism, this is the third and final part in this short series on moving beyo…
peofdev.wordpress.com
March 11, 2026 at 10:14 AM
New post: Moving beyond capitalism, part 3 - possible futures
Drawing on ideas from Geoffrey Hodgson's comprehensive work "Conceptualizing Capitalism", I outline some possible futures beyond our current economic system. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/m...
Drawing on ideas from Geoffrey Hodgson's comprehensive work "Conceptualizing Capitalism", I outline some possible futures beyond our current economic system. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/11/m...
New post: Quote of the week - The impossibility of value-free social science peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/q...
Quote of the week: The impossibility of value-free social science
Today’s quote comes, for once, not from an economist, but from a philosophically- and ecologically-minded physicist, Fritjof Capra, in his book The Turning Point. The latter contains an extra…
peofdev.wordpress.com
March 9, 2026 at 10:05 AM
New post: Quote of the week - The impossibility of value-free social science peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/09/q...
New post: Moving beyond capitalism, part 2: Richard Wolff's micro-founded communism
A continuation of this three-part series, which considers aspects of a potential future beyond capitalism. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/m...
A continuation of this three-part series, which considers aspects of a potential future beyond capitalism. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/m...
Moving beyond capitalism, part 2: Richard Wolff’s micro-founded communism
Following last week’s post on an alternative view of the ‘communist’ experience of the Soviet Union, today I continue this three-part series, which considers aspects of a potentia…
peofdev.wordpress.com
March 4, 2026 at 10:07 AM
New post: Moving beyond capitalism, part 2: Richard Wolff's micro-founded communism
A continuation of this three-part series, which considers aspects of a potential future beyond capitalism. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/m...
A continuation of this three-part series, which considers aspects of a potential future beyond capitalism. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/04/m...
New post: Quote of the week - The myriad problems with central planning
A critique of this major aspect of many socialist programmes from institutionalist economist Geoffrey Hodgson's 2025 intellectual biography "From Marx to Markets".
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/q...
A critique of this major aspect of many socialist programmes from institutionalist economist Geoffrey Hodgson's 2025 intellectual biography "From Marx to Markets".
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/q...
Quote of the week: The myriad problems with central planning
Today’s quote comes from Geoffrey Hodgson’s 2025 intellectual biography From Marx to Markets. A one-time socialist, he is now a prominent institutionalist economist, and the book recoun…
peofdev.wordpress.com
March 2, 2026 at 10:07 AM
New post: Quote of the week - The myriad problems with central planning
A critique of this major aspect of many socialist programmes from institutionalist economist Geoffrey Hodgson's 2025 intellectual biography "From Marx to Markets".
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/q...
A critique of this major aspect of many socialist programmes from institutionalist economist Geoffrey Hodgson's 2025 intellectual biography "From Marx to Markets".
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/03/02/q...
New post: Moving beyond capitalism, part 1: The Soviet experience and the neglect of class
Transcending capitalism need not mean a return to the deeply flawed experiments of the past.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/25/m...
Transcending capitalism need not mean a return to the deeply flawed experiments of the past.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/25/m...
Moving beyond capitalism, part 1: The Soviet experience and the neglect of class
Transcending capitalism need not mean a return to the deeply flawed experiments of the past. Today’s post is part 1 of 3 in a new series drawing critically on some novel analyses of economic …
peofdev.wordpress.com
February 25, 2026 at 10:10 AM
New post: Moving beyond capitalism, part 1: The Soviet experience and the neglect of class
Transcending capitalism need not mean a return to the deeply flawed experiments of the past.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/25/m...
Transcending capitalism need not mean a return to the deeply flawed experiments of the past.
peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/25/m...
New post: Quote of the week - Choosing between contending economic theories peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/q...
Quote of the week: Choosing between contending economic theories
Today’s quote is one more from American Marxists Stephen Resnick and Richard Wolff’s accessible, informative and in many ways provocative book Contending Economic Theories. While the au…
peofdev.wordpress.com
February 23, 2026 at 10:10 AM
New post: Quote of the week - Choosing between contending economic theories peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/23/q...
New post: From Newton to Quantum
Heterodox economics offers many striking parallels with aspects of modern physics. The neoclassical mainstream has yet to catch up. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/f...
Heterodox economics offers many striking parallels with aspects of modern physics. The neoclassical mainstream has yet to catch up. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/f...
From Newton to Quantum
Heterodox economics offers many striking parallels with aspects of modern physics. The neoclassical mainstream has yet to catch up For much of its history, economics has aspired to the status of a …
peofdev.wordpress.com
February 18, 2026 at 10:20 AM
New post: From Newton to Quantum
Heterodox economics offers many striking parallels with aspects of modern physics. The neoclassical mainstream has yet to catch up. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/f...
Heterodox economics offers many striking parallels with aspects of modern physics. The neoclassical mainstream has yet to catch up. peofdev.wordpress.com/2026/02/18/f...