This paper suggests an explanation for the heavy trading volume observed on the US capital markets, the world's largest. Heterodox economic theory puts much of this volume down to speculation. Mainstream theory tends to support this thesis, either directly or indirectly, by giving space to the...

This paper presents a radical critique of the Tobin tax--a tax on currency transactions--by undercutting certain assumptions about the size and character of the world's foreign exchange markets which furnish the tax with its basic rationale. While it is acknowledged that only a fraction of the...

This review article surveys accounts of the recent global financial crisis by ten leading economists -- nine in the US and one, Martin Wolf, in the UK -- all of whom are critical of mainstream economic thinking. Since their explanations of the crisis are very similar, the review concentrates on...

This paper sets out to explain the factors behind Ireland's exceptional period of economic growth from the early 1990s to the mid 2000s. It suggests that an unbending commitment to economic openness and an on-going effort to establish quality domestic institutions were the main drivers of the...