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Society

Essays and videos on social issues, history, political life and the future
The great abandonment | Aeon
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video

Demography and migration

How the world’s harshest lockdown hit India’s millions of migrant workers

27 minutes

Keeping the score | Aeon
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Anthropology

Keeping the score

The gifts we exchange are both generous and yet fraught with social rules and obligations. Marcel Mauss explained why

Gili Kliger

Lady of the Gobi | Aeon
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video

Work

Living out of a truck, Maikhuu finds promise and peril on Mongolia’s ‘coal highway’

25 minutes

Marilyn Waring on women and economics | Aeon
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video

Economics

We all play by economic rules set by men. What could a feminist economics look like?

30 minutes

The man who drew his own money | Aeon
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Art

Is paying with hand-drawn banknotes artistry or forgery? The knotty case of J S G Boggs

10 minutes

Beyond Eurocentrism | Aeon
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Economics

Beyond Eurocentrism

If you really want decolonisation, go beyond cultural criticism to the deep structural insights of economist Samir Amin

Ingrid Harvold Kvangraven

A softer economics | Aeon
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Economics

A softer economics

Financial markets are entangled and uncertain. When will economists let go of physics envy to embrace the quantum revolution?

David Orrell

The worldly turn | Aeon
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Economics

The worldly turn

After generations of ‘blackboard economics’, Berkeley and MIT are leading a return to economics that studies the real world

Tom Bergin

Caribbean honeymoon No 1 | Aeon
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video

Travel

‘My people!’ A Trinidadian’s love letter to his island, just before its 1962 independence

17 minutes

The biggest picture | Aeon
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Economics

The biggest picture

No wonder we cannot agree on how globalisation works and whether it’s a good thing. All the stories we have are flawed

Anthea Roberts & Nicholas Lamp

Bug farm | Aeon
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video

Animals and humans

Familiarity breeds roach-respect, and even love, for a group of Florida insect farmers

13 minutes

Small is beautiful: impressions of Fritz Schumacher | Aeon
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video

Thinkers and theories

Bigger isn’t better – the renegade ‘Buddhist economics’ of E F Schumacher

30 minutes

Stock-picking for humanity | Aeon
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Economics

Stock-picking for humanity

Everyone on the planet has a stake in making investment more ethical. What’s new is that they have the power to do so too

Ellen Quigley

How Big Tech betrayed us | Aeon
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video

Future of technology

Tech companies shroud their algorithms in secrecy. It’s time to pry open the black box

4 minutes

The abuses of Popper | Aeon
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Thinkers and theories

The abuses of Popper

A powerful cadre of scientists and economists sold Karl Popper’s ‘falsification’ idea to the world. They have much to answer for

Charlotte Sleigh

Spoils: extraordinary harvest | Aeon
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video

Subcultures

Dented cans, ugly fruit – it’s all tasty (and free) if you’re willing to get your hands dirty

21 minutes

Economics for the people | Aeon
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Economic history

Economics for the people

Against the capitalist creeds of scarcity and self-interest, a plan for humanity’s shared flourishing is finally coming into view

Dirk Philipsen

Weak links | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

Weak links

The idea of the ‘supply chain’ shackles how we think about economic justice. What forces could new metaphors unleash?

Michael Gibb

Universal unions | Aeon
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Work

Universal unions

Being an employee is a threat to your liberty. But while firms exist, compulsory unions are a basic safeguard of freedom

Mark R Reiff

Private gain, public loss | Aeon
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Human rights and justice

Private gain, public loss

Putting public services in private hands is bad economics. Worse, it undermines our bonds as a political community

Alon Harel

Private gain must no longer be allowed to elbow out the public good | Aeon
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idea

Economics

Private gain must no longer be allowed to elbow out the public good

Dirk Philipsen

The people’s economist | Aeon
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Economics

The people’s economist

Paul Samuelson’s mathematical brilliance changed economics, but it was his popular touch that made him a household name

Roger Backhouse

Winners take all | Aeon
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video

Fairness and equality

Win-win solutions are a fantasy: in reality, progress creates both winners and losers

5 minutes

Xmas unwrapped | Aeon
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video

Economics

Christmas is coming and Santa’s Chinese workshops have been on the case since summer

2 minutes