Alternative economies for a sustainable world

Until the late 1800s the (capitalist) world was shaped by a division of labour: work was done by those who carried out a task, and only then did it become clear that the human body, with its variety of body parts, and human skills, is not enough for most of what a modern person has to do. 

Organisations and individuals need material infrastructure. Without it we must rely on hand-me-down machinery or machines that are of questionable reliability.

In much of the developed world, apart from in the period immediately after the Second World War when the expansion of the labour market provided more and better jobs, industry has been replaced by the service economy, which is characterised by low labour productivity and low wages. 

Modern manufacturing has moved to low-wage areas, leaving workers out of employment in the North of Europe, as well as in much of Asia and Latin America. The remaining workers are mainly employed in service industries like health and education, where productivity is much lower and wages much lower. (Spain and Brussels)

This means that the corporate sector, which enjoys a profit rate of nearly 40 per cent, is able to afford to pay its workers lower wages than workers have achieved in the past. This in turn means that much of the wealth generated by the service sector is transferred upwards to the owners of capital. The increasing social inequality that results is one of the factors that has made economic crises more likely.

This is a situation that we have seen in other times and places. In the 19th century the expansion of industrial capitalism led to mass unemployment, apart from during the so-called Golden Age in the United Kingdom. 

Here again it was not the issue of providing for the needs of workers that caused the crisis, but rather the fact that huge amounts of cheap goods were exported in order to create an ever-growing surplus, which was taken on by financial speculation. The capitalists were rich; the workers were poor.

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Alternative economies for a sustainable world Until the late 1800s the (capitalist) world was shaped by a division of labour: work was done by those who carried out a task, and only then did it become clear that the human body, with its variety of body parts, and human skills, is not enough for most of what a modern person has to do. Organisations and individuals need material infrastructure. Without it we must rely on hand-me-down machinery or machines that are of questionable reliability. In much of the developed world, apart from in the period immediately after the Second World War when the expansion of the labour market provided more and better jobs, industry has been replaced by the service economy, which is characterised by low labour productivity and low wages. Modern manufacturing has moved to low-wage areas, leaving workers out of employment in the North of Europe, as well as in much of Asia and Latin America. The remaining workers are mainly employed in service industries like health and education, where productivity is much lower and wages much lower. This means that the corporate sector, which enjoys a profit rate of nearly 40 per cent, is able to afford to pay its workers lower wages than workers have achieved in the past. This in turn means that much of the wealth generated by the service sector is transferred upwards to the owners of capital. The increasing social inequality that results is one of the factors that has made economic crises more likely. This is a situation that we have seen in other times and places. In the 19th century the expansion of industrial capitalism led to mass unemployment, apart from during the so-called Golden Age in the United Kingdom. Here again it was not the issue of providing for the needs of workers that caused the crisis, but rather the fact that huge amounts of cheap goods were exported in order to create an ever-growing surplus, which was taken on by financial speculation. The capitalists were rich; the workers were poor. In those times it was the workers who led the

Alternative economies for a sustainable world Until the late 1800s the (capitalist) world was shaped by a division of labour: work was done by those who carried out a task, and only then did it become clear that the human body, with its variety of body parts, and human skills, is not enough for most of what a modern person has to do. Organisations and individuals need material infrastructure. Without it we must rely on hand-me-down machinery or machines that are of questionable reliability. In much of the developed world, apart from in the period immediately after the Second World War when the expansion of the labour market provided more and better jobs, industry has been replaced by the service economy, which is characterised by low labour productivity and low wages. Modern manufacturing has moved to low-wage areas, leaving workers out of employment in the North of Europe, as well as in much of Asia and Latin America. The remaining workers are mainly employed in service industries like health and education, where productivity is much lower and wages much lower. This means that the corporate sector, which enjoys a profit rate of nearly 40 per cent, is able to afford to pay its workers lower wages than workers have achieved in the past. This in turn means that much of the wealth generated by the service sector is transferred upwards to the owners of capital. The increasing social inequality that results is one of the factors that has made economic crises more likely. This is a situation that we have seen in other times and places. In the 19th century the expansion of industrial capitalism led to mass unemployment, apart from during the so-called Golden Age in the United Kingdom. Here again it was not the issue of providing for the needs of workers that caused the crisis, but rather the fact that huge amounts of cheap goods were exported in order to create an ever-growing surplus, which was taken on by financial speculation. The capitalists were rich; the workers were poor. In those times it was the workers who led the

Alternative economies for a sustainable world
Alternative economies for a sustainable world Until the late 1800s the (capitalist) world was shaped by a division of labour: work was done by those who carried out a task, and only then did it become clear that the human body, with its variety of body parts, and human skills, is not enough for most of what a modern person has to do. Organisations and individuals need material infrastructure. Without it we must rely on hand-me-down machinery or machines that are of questionable reliability. In much of the developed world, apart from in the period immediately after the Second World War when the expansion of the labour market provided more and better jobs, industry has been replaced by the service economy, which is characterised by low labour productivity and low wages. Modern manufacturing has moved to low-wage areas, leaving workers out of employment in the North of Europe, as well as in much of Asia and Latin America. The remaining workers are mainly employed in service industries like health and education, where productivity is much lower and wages much lower. This means that the corporate sector, which enjoys a profit rate of nearly 40 per cent, is able to afford to pay its workers lower wages than workers have achieved in the past. This in turn means that much of the wealth generated by the service sector is transferred upwards to the owners of capital. The increasing social inequality that results is one of the factors that has made economic crises more likely. This is a situation that we have seen in other times and places. In the 19th century the expansion of industrial capitalism led to mass unemployment, apart from during the so-called Golden Age in the United Kingdom. Here again it was not the issue of providing for the needs of workers that caused the crisis, but rather the fact that huge amounts of cheap goods were exported in order to create an ever-growing surplus, which was taken on by financial speculation. The capitalists were rich; the workers were poor. In those times it was the workers who led the Until the late 1800s the (capitalist) world was shaped by a division of labour: work was done by those who carried out a task, and only then did it become clear that the human body, with its variety of body parts, and human skills, is not enough for most of what a modern person has to do. Organisations and individuals need material infrastructure. Without it we must rely on hand-me-down machinery or machines that are of questionable reliability. In much of the developed world, apart from in the period immediately after the Second World War when the expansion of the labour market provided more and better jobs, industry has been replaced by the service economy, which is characterised by low labour productivity and low wages. Modern manufacturing has moved to low-wage areas, leaving workers out of employment in the North of Europe, as well as in much of Asia and Latin America. The remaining workers are mainly employed in service industries like health and education, where productivity is much lower and wages much lower. This means that the corporate sector, which enjoys a profit rate of nearly 40 per cent, is able to afford to pay its workers lower wages than workers have achieved in the past. This in turn means that much of the wealth generated by the service sector is transferred upwards to the owners of capital. The increasing social inequality that results is one of the factors that has made economic crises more likely. This is a situation that we have seen in other times and places. In the 19th century the expansion of industrial capitalism led to mass unemployment, apart from during the so-called Golden Age in the United Kingdom. Here again it was not the issue of providing for the needs of workers that caused the crisis, but rather the fact that huge amounts of cheap goods were exported in order to create an ever-growing surplus, which was taken on by financial speculation. The capitalists were rich; the workers were poor. In those times it was the workers who led the