Oligopolies and monopolies are very important ways of obtaining income without providing a productive service. They produce goods, a productive service. However, they receive additional income by raising prices, and their oligopoly/monopoly profits are distinguished by economists from normal profits and other expenses, which are the returns to productive activity. There are other harmful aspects to concentration and large firms as well, including restriction of innovation, using patents to defend market position, labor market power, including non-compete requirements for their employees, and substantial political power. It is important to bring out that this harm involves the productive sector. Goods are being produced, but part of the income is from harmful activity. This is very often true–harmful activity is intertwined with productive. Also see Obtaining income from the government as both are often involved. Tax havens are another way in which taxes can be minimized and income from corruption can be laundered.
Congress offers $1 billion for climate aid, falling short of Biden’s pledgeLisa FriedmanNew York Times December 20, 2022 Activists called the funding to help developing countries cope with the impacts of climate change “hugely disappointing.” The pledge was to spend $11.4 billion annually by 2024 to ensure developing nations can transition to clean energy and adapt to a warming planet.
Review: Uncommon Wealth by Kojo KoramLeah CowanRed Pepper September 11, 2022 A book that cuts through tabloid headlines to examine the material legacy of colonialism: extreme wealth for an elite few; poverty for the rest.
Climate change is a matter of extreme urgency. Integrating science and economics, this book demonstrates the need for measures to put a strict lid on cumulative carbon emissions and shows how to implement them. Using the carbon budget framework, it reveals the shortcomings of current policies and the debates around them, such as the popular enthusiasm for individual solutions and the fruitless search for ‘optimal’ regulation by economists and other specialists. On the political front, it explains why business opposition to the policies we need goes well beyond the fossil fuel industry, requiring a more radical rebalancing of power. This wide-ranging study goes against the most prevalent approaches in mainstream economics, which argue that we can tackle climate change while causing minimal disruption to the global economy. The author argues that this view is not only impossible, but also dangerously complacent.