Economy and ecology | IPS Journal

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picture alliance / Ikon Images/Nick Shepherd

Economy and ecology

Consumers or workers first?

Most economists have long equated a good economy with cheap goods. But there is an alternative view that values meaningful work and human dignity

By Dani Rodrik

Canva/ IPS

Economy and ecology

When the swell turns east

The China Shock 2.0 hits Europe’s industrial core. The question for Spain and the EU is not to escape the storm, but to navigate it without capsizing

By Miguel Otero-Iglesias

picture alliance / ASSOCIATED PRESS | Morteza Akhoondi

Economy and ecology

War at the world’s oil chokepoint

What is happening in Iran poses a deeper question for energy security: how much should the global economy depend on a single maritime chokepoint?

By Laury Haytayan

picture alliance / dpa | Ralf Hirschberger

Economy and ecology

Keeping the climate flywheel spinning

Europe’s carbon-pricing framework is finally inducing other countries to act. Backtracking now would jeopardise that momentum

By Catherine Wolfram

Canva/ IPS

Economy and ecology

Consume, depend, unplug, repeat

Energy policy is power politics. For years, EU leaders failed to grasp this basic fact. Now there is only one way out: produce our own energy

By Annika Joeres

picture alliance / Wolfgang Maria Weber | Wolfgang Maria Weber

Economy and ecology

Traditionally strong — what went wrong?

As China floods Europe with EVs and the US dominates tech, Germany’s industrial base struggles. How did the old manufacturing giant fall behind?

By Peter Bofinger

picture alliance/Reuters/Agustin Marcarian

Economy and ecology

Strength in partnership

The EU–Mercosur deal is more than a trade agreement. It is a commitment to rules-based cooperation in an increasingly unstable world

By Bernd Lange

picture alliance / IPON | Stefan Boness

Economy and ecology

A moonshot in retreat

Once heralded as Europe’s man on the moon moment, the Green Deal now wavers under political compromise and legal uncertainty

By Daniel Harper

picture alliance / Anadolu | Ihsaan Haffejee

Economy and ecology

What makes a just transition just?

An answer from African workers

By Rhoda Boateng, John Mark Mwanika

picture alliance / Anadolu | Ozge Elif Kizil

Economy and ecology

Africa’s debt meets climate innovation

With COP30 around the corner, Africa’s debt crisis risks climate resilience — ‘debt-for-blue’ swaps could forge a new model of EU-Africa partnership

By Atunde Ahmed Olarewaju