David Fields — Imperialism in the 21st Century

With respect to to this post, readers might be interested in a long set of follow-up debates below. h/t Patrick Bond, whose contribution was just published here at Human Geography.

David Harvey Denies Imperialism

In a major critique of David Harvey’s work, the radical political economist John Smith takes on Harvey’s claim that the “East” is now exploiting the “West,” a statement, he argues, that is backed up by nothing more than his authority. Harvey could not be more wrong, or about a bigger issue. The root of Harvey’s error is his denial that the global shift of production to low-wage countries represents a major deepening of imperialist exploitation….

Short summaries of moments in an ongoing debate over neo-imperialism.

Radical Political Economy
Imperialism in the 21st Century
David Fields

Brad DeLong — Must-Read: Marshall Steinbaum: The Unseen Threat of Capital Mobility

The race to the bottom. Unseen. It's blindingly obvious. Capital flows to where it can extract the maximum rent. Negative externality is a form of rent that involves socializing the expenses.

WCEG — The Equitablog
Must-Read: Marshall Steinbaum: The Unseen Threat of Capital Mobility
Brad DeLong

Mark Gilbert — Currency Wars Have a Nuclear Option

If rate cuts and currency-market interventions don’t do the job, capital controls -- the introduction of taxes and prohibitions to regulate the flow of money into and out of a nation -- may creep higher up the agenda of increasingly desperate central banks. 

Three years ago, the International Monetary Fund softened its strict opposition to such strategies, conceding that "in certain circumstances, capital flow management measures can be useful," with the caveat that "they should not, however, substitute for warranted macroeconomic adjustment."

Further sign of a breakdown of the neoliberal order? The big boys love neoliberalism until it hurts them.

Bloomberg View
Currency Wars Have a Nuclear Option

Mark Gilbert, Bloomberg
ht/ Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism

Kevin Gallagher on capital controls in developing countries

Letter to the editor of The Financial Times recommending capital controls in EMs.

Naked Keynesianism
Kevin Gallagher on capital controls in developing countries
Matias Vernengo | Associate Professor of Economics, University of Utah