The proletarianization of the professoriate and the threat to free expression, creativity, and economic dynamism Jon D. Wisman and Quentin Duroy Journal of Economic Issues Issue 3, 2020
Over the past four decades, forces have been set in motion that are proletarianizing professors—reducing their control over their workplaces. This has been in part propelled by a resurgence of laissez-faire doctrine that has legitimated public policies which have fueled soaring inequality. This article addresses the threat to freedom and economic dynamism posed by the debasement of professors by examining six forces that are driving the proletarianization of the professoriate: the replacement of tenured with contingent faculty, an expansion of for-profit colleges and universities, the rise of online education, the introduction of annual evaluations and merit pay, the development of outcomes assessment, and the increased reliance on external research funding. The essay then surveys how laissez-faire doctrine and rising inequality have led to cuts in government funding for higher education, have placed an increased emphasis on providing student consumers with vocational training as opposed to a liberal education, and have reshaped higher education through the introduction of corporate values within universities’ systems of governance.

Developed nations profit by exploiting the global South Ariane Lange Academic Times April 18, 2021 Original article: Plunder in the Post-Colonial Era: Quantifying Drain from the Global South Through Unequal Exchange, 1960–2018 Jason Hickel, Dylan Sullivan, and Huzaifa Zoomkawala New Political Economy 2021

My advice to an aspiring economist: Don’t be an economist. There is a new world that is fast-overtaking us, and it needs to be seen and explained on its own terms. David Bollier Evonomics January 31, 2021