The divide
by Jason Hickel · first published 2017
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"More than four billion people--some 60 percent of humanity--live in debilitating poverty, on less than $5 per day. The standard narrative tells us this crisis is a natural phenomenon, having to do with climate, geography, and culture. It tells us all we have to do is give aid to help poor countries up the development ladder. If poor countries would only adopt the right institutions and economic policies, they could join the ranks of the rich world. Anthropologist Jason Hickel argues that this story ignores the broader political forces at play. Global poverty--and the growing inequality betwee
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…difference with the latter being a 1,000 British colonial-era holdover that's home to the largest tax haven hub in the world. As a bonus, it features Jason Hickel, an economic anthropologist who wrote The Divide [4]. Which, for reasons outlined above, is also one of my favorite books ever. If you find my poor attempt of summary or the article/podcast interesting, I'd implore you to buy the book and learn something…
on “Ask HN: Favorite Podcast Episode of 2021?” ↗Sure: two somewhat recent books that cover this are "Silent Coup" by Claire Provost and Matt Kennard, and "The Divide" by Jason Hickel. Another that covers this topic is "Superimperialism" by Michael Hudson. The purpose of the IMF is not to help countries out of some kind of benevolence, it's to use debt as a control…
In case you don't see the comment above, a few books that I know cover this topic include "Superimperialism" (Hudson), "Silent Coup" (Kennard), and "The Divide" (Hickel).
I'm currently reading The Divide by Jason Hickel, a book that explores the origin and causes of global inequality. This article reminded me of the book's chapter about the enclosure movement in Britain: Families used to just farm and…
on “Just Too Efficient” ↗…about what neoliberalism actually is, and why foreign intervention is directly related to it and your original premise. Once you do that, we'll be able to have a fruitful discussion. An excerpt from The Divide: > People commonly think of neoliberalism as an ideology that promotes totally free markets, where the state retreats from the scene and abandons all interventionist policies. But if we step back a bit,…
on “US Administration announces 34% tariffs on China, 20% on EU” ↗What a great critique. I'd like to see a similar treatment of Jason Hickel's "The Divide", which feels both terribly important and very biased and sloppy.
on “Ask HN: Best books you read in the past decade?” ↗