Education, Welfare and Economics: A Human Capabilities View

In terms of welfare, the human capabilities approach was developed as a means of measuring the opportunities open to an individual and through that, the welfare of a society. Two of the major authors in the capabilities approach are Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum. Popular metrics which gets conflated with the status of a nation’s welfare is that of Gross National Product (GNP) or Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Read more…

Economics: Special Exam by Donald Rutherford

In an attempt to make a holistic project model, I have been talking with as many economic minds as possible – alongside educationalists, sociologists and artists; as well as people from different communities.  The plan is to try and underpin local economic regeneration so that there are tangible benefits which come of the activities.  Hence starting the odyssey of learning economics so this is approached in a level headed and pragmatic way.  There is too much speculation in this area, so surprise surprise, I turn to the answer found through education… Read more…

Understanding How to Support a Local Economy

Originally put together in 2012 in a process of attempting to understand how local economies could be supported so peoples lives become collectively better, since then it seems that the written notes below feel primitive and shortsighted after learning more about how the UK economy has been hemorrhaging money to corporate companies and individuals who are based in tax havens, or more accurately known as secrecy jurisdictions.  Hence before the original notes published in 2012 there is the addendum. Read more…

11th Oct 2012: Why did the financial crisis happen? (and what to do about it) by Ben Stollery and Fran Boait

positive money

On the 11th of October Ben and Fran will be giving a talk at the Counting House in Edinburgh on the following subject…

Name of speaker and subject:

Ben Stollery and Fran Boait
We are in a crisis because so few of us, including policy makers, economists and journalists fully understand how our monetary system works. This is a dangerous situation to be in when money drives almost all activity on the planet. If you want to understand how the system works well, at least the basics – come along!
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A Crash Course in Social Capital

So, what is social capital? Jeremy Shearmur describes social capital as loosely as situations where people choose to voluntarily associate with each other and where membership in that group serves as a free resource to those members. Why is it important ? I feel that social capital is important because it helps to express aspects of community and belonging. I suppose that it is because we are social creatures and I suggest we are social creatures because of the greater benefits of being part of a community than of being solitary. Read more…