Economics and policy

Rising oil prices correlate to higher compensation for chief executives, yet their pay cheques don't go down when prices fall, research shows. LUCAS DAVIS and CATHERINE HAUSMAN report

There is a crisis in affordable and efficient homes. We need to develop a model which ensures fair access, minimum impact, and long-term financial and environmental security. BRUCE DAVIS reports

Is geoengineering realistic, is it safe - or is it just sleight of hand?

Thatcherism was the implementation of neoliberalism - the school of free market economics led by Friedrich von Hayek. This school claimed economics was a science that should direct society and social policy. But, strangely, Hayek felt science itself should be avoided - as it led to socialism. BRENDAN MONTAGUE reports

Hayek achieved his dream of becoming a university academic - but could he really challenge the intellectual prowess and political influence of the master John Maynard Keynes? BRENDAN MONTAGUE investigates

JEREMY LENT argues that a change in our collective and individual thinking is necessary to avert social and environmental collapse.

The political leadership in China has vowed to make the ancient country the world's first ‘ecological civilisation’. But how sincere is this grand ambition? JAMES P GRAHAM travelled to a conference at the Fujian Province University of Forestry and Agriculture to find out

Systems thinking - and in particular game theory - can provide startling new insights into how and why liberal economics is leading to a fatal depletion of ecological landscapes. It can also provide 'an alternative pathway', writes DR ROBERT BIEL

Discussion of Karl Marx’s continuing relevance was on his recent 200th birthday still dominated by 'traditional' understandings of Marxism. TED BENTON, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, University of Essex, argues that sadly, there was little – far too little – on Marx’s thinking on the relations between humans and nature

Reforms should be made to the Bank of England’s mandate to make climate stability a core purpose, according to a new report. CATHERINE EARLY reports

Adam Smith, the author of The Wealth of Nations, is sometimes credited as the first political economist and many of his followers today advocate free market, laissez-faire, policy. Here Dr ROBERT BIEL argues that Smith was also an early systems theorist - but also sets out why Smith's theory and the system he described are a threat to our ecology

Campaigners have welcomed chancellor Philip Hammond’s call for ideas on financial carrots and sticks to drastically cut single-use plastics in his spring statement. However, they stressed the need for more rapid action, reports CATHERINE EARLY