This article is a re-evaluation of recent discourses around financial subjectivity and debt, popularised in the wake of the 2008 crash, from the perspective of critical media studies. Through an examination of the history and development of the Nasdaq market--the world's first electronic stock exchange which came to serve as the engine for the 'New Economy' and the dot-com boom of the 1990s--th…
China has emerged as an important source of foreign direct investment (FDI). In recent years, we have witnessed the reconfiguration of China's strategies as a global investor, moving from resource-seeking investment into more sophisticated and competitive market-sites for FDI such as Switzerland. Although Chinese FDI in Switzerland is still relatively small in magnitude, its rapid growth is wor…
This paper reconsiders the possibility for unification of sociological theory by the rational choice model. This is induced by the claims of rational choice theorists that extending this model from economics to sociology can be conducive to establishing a unifying paradigm and method to be given 'paradigmatic privilege' within sociology. The outcome of such an extension of the economic approach…
The starting point for the book is fifteenth- and sixteenth-century northwest Europe, which seems rather curious considering the title of the book, and it is not unreasonable to expect a book about the postcolonial world to acknowledge the civilisations of Africa, Asia and South America. Hoogvelt, unfortunately seems to fall into the trap of framing the postcolonial countries within a Western v…
Negativity is a news ideology, and its negative effects on attitude formation are widely documented. Contrary to this view, the present study demonstrates that negative economic news can in fact be good news. Based on a two-wave national panel survey and a media content analysis, we show that individual exposure to negative economic news enhances internal economic efficacy, a sense of competenc…
This essay employs a state-structuralist approach to explain the emergence ofsocial concertation as a policy mechanism to facilitate democratization andeconomic liberalization in post-Franco Spain. Concertation emphasizes theinstitutionalization of consultation and cooperation on macroeconomic policyinvolving peak representation from the state, employers' associations, and theorganized labor mo…
A renewed theory of 'degrowth' has recently emerged from different streams of political economy, ecological economics and environmental activism. Yet contemporary degrowth (and post-growth) has yet to develop any credible or inclusive theory of cultural production, art or aesthetics. A key challenge, as I see it, is to generate a progressive degrowth project that can not only more equitably sha…
In this article, I carry out a critical analysis of the two predominant categories of metaphors used in Western media to report the 2008 economic crisis: the metaphors representing the crisis as a disease and the ones depicting it as a natural disaster. First, I argue that these metaphors implicitly portray the markets as natural organisms, governed by their own laws and spontaneously tending t…
WITH THE ECONOMY APPARENTLY ALREADY IN RECESSION, GAS PRICES NEAR record levels, food prices rising, and inflation generally gaining momentum, economic issues are moving to the center of the presidential campaign. Political reporters have been forced to learn the financial crisis on the fly, while business reporters have had to learn to speak to an ever-growing audience. In March, Dean Starkman…
The present study was conducted to examine the extent and direction of exchange rate volatility and its impact on macroeconomic performance of Pakistan. It is implied that exchange rate volatility has direct bearings on macroeconomic variables and thus on macroeconomic performance. This study also investigates the effect of exchange rate (independent variable) of Pak Rupee to US Dollar on selec…