Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the “Radical economics” issue in International Journal of Social Economics. Design/methodology/approach – “Radical economics” has two basic meanings. One employs the basic sense of “radical”, whatever goes to the roots of the...

Purpose – It is difficult to get an adequate account of human needs but there are known needs which, for hundreds of millions of people, are not met. Can the present economic system meet them? Can any economic system meet them? Is simple economic growth the answer? The purpose of this paper is...

Lenin argued that nationalism should be supported against colonialism, though ultimately subordinated to the interests of the working class. He admitted there were linguistic and cultural issues, but associated the nation state chiefly with capitalist economics. Contrasts Lenin′s historical...

Examines the relationship between economics and culture. Discusses the role of Protestantism, Calvanism and Catholicism in the affluency of societies. Refers to the article by D.J. O′Neil in this issue which discusses the works of Horace Plunkett, Edward Banfield and George Foster, who applied...

Perhaps the greatest peril to civilisation is the fragmentation of knowledge. Science often lends itself to easy application to technology and our economic systems are the result of applying this knowledge to our resources. But our knowledge of how societies work lags significantly, and the...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to introduce the “Radical economics” issue in International Journal of Social Economics . Design/methodology/approach – “Radical economics” has two basic meanings. One employs the basic sense of “radical”, whatever goes to the roots of the...

Purpose – It is difficult to get an adequate account of human needs but there are known needs which, for hundreds of millions of people, are not met. Can the present economic system meet them? Can any economic system meet them? Is simple economic growth the answer? The purpose of this paper is...

Socialism is in trouble, but some serious problems which provoked socialist theory remain. These do not have to do so much with the class war – which is remediable – as with the difficulties of establishing and maintaining an effective “social self” in an economic system which does not...

Time has run out for the “Vanguard Party”, but the growing disparity in wealth between the industrialized world and the less‐developed world and growing problems of income distribution and public order still give life to the “Dream Economy” proposed by Marxists and others. If the dream...