top10myths

10 Most Common Economic Myths Debunked

Seek Understanding Beyond Your Immediate Perception

Myth 1:

The Luddites were a bunch of thugs who fought progress: they couldn’t understand that technological progress would benefit everybody, including them.

https://qz.com/968692/luddites-have-been-getting-a-bad-rap-for-200-years-but-turns-out-they-were-right

Output Growth and the British Industrial Revolution. A Restatement of the Crafts-Harley View. Economic History Review 45, 703-730

CH Feinstein 1998, Pessimism Perpetuated: Real Wages and the Standard of Living in Britain During and After the Industrial Revolution. Journal of Economic History 58, 625-658

H Voth, 2000, Time and Work in England 1750- 1830

RC Allen 2009, Engels’ Pause..Explorations in Economic History 46, 418-435

PH Lindert, 2000, When did Inequality rise in Britain and America? Journal of Income Distribution 9, 11-25

Clark, Huberman and Lindert, 1995, A British food Puzzle 1770-1850, Economic History Review 48, 215-237

S Horrel , 1996, Home Demand and British Industrialisation, Journal of Economic History, 561-604

RH Steckel, 2008, Biological Measures of the Standard of Living, Journal of Economic Perspectives 22, 129-152

Flood, Wachter and Gregory, 1990, Height Health and History: Nutritional History in the UK 1750 -1980, Penguin, Chapter 10.

Berg, 1976, The Machinery Question, PhD diss, Oxford University

J Horn, 2008, The Path Not Taken, French Industrialisation in the Age of Revolution, Chapter 4

C.B. Frey, 2019, The Technology Trap, passim

F.Engels, 1845, The Condition of the Working Class in England, passimK Sale, 1996, Rebels Against The Future: The Luddites And Their War On The Industrial Revolution: Lessons For The Computer Age, passim

G Mueller, 2021, Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job, passim

Myth 2:

A government should handle its finances as if it were a regular household, current levels of government debt are unsustainable and unprecedented.

https://www.communistparty.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/11/Communist-Party-Government-Deficits-Briefing-2.pdf

https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2022/june/new-unite-investigation-exposes-how-corporate-profiteering-is-driving-inflation-not-workers-wages/

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/334/uk-economy/uk-national-debt/

https://www.statista.com/statistics/282841/debt-as-gdp-uk/#

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-62090621

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2020/06/22/book-review-the-deficit-myth-modern-monetary-theory-and-the-birth-of-the-peoples-economy-by-stephanie-kelton/

Myth 3:

High taxes, particularly on rich people and corporations damage economic growth

https://www.statista.com/statistics/281734/gdp-growth-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

https://ecommons.cornell.edu/bitstream/handle/1813/79450/CRS_Taxes_and_the_Economy.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

https://economistsview.typepad.com/economistsview/2012/10/does-taxing-the-wealthy-hurt-growth.html

https://www.epi.org/publication/ib364-corporate-tax-rates-and-economic-growth/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2014/feb/26/imf-inequality-economic-growth

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/jan/07/imf-boss-says-raise-taxes-on-the-rich-to-tackle-inequality

https://www.institutionalinvestor.com/.../The-MBA-Myth...

https://www.ft.com/content/abc7085e-c857-11e6-9043-7e34c07b46ef

Myth 4:

The State Never Backs Winners and Only the Private Sector Innovates Successfully

https://marianamazzucato.com/books/the-entrepreneurial-state

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Truth-about-Drug-Companies-Deceive/dp/0375760946#:~:text=From%20the%20Back%20Cover&text=of%20Medicine%2C%20Dr.-,Marcia%20Angell%20had%20a%20front%2Drow%20seat%20on%20the%20appalling,control%20over%20their%20own%20fortunes.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/bad-pharma/ben-goldacre/9780007498086

https://www.macobserver.com/analysis/apple-receive-subsidies-from-us-states/#:~:text=Apple%20Got%20US%24891%20Million%20in%20Subsidies%20in%202021&text=It%20is%20though%20worth%20noting,state%20makes%20such%20subsidies%20public.

https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/resource/pills-and-profits-how-drug-companies-make-killing-out-public-research/

https://stopaids.org.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Pills-and-profits-report-WEB-002.pdf

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2021/apr/15/oxfordastrazeneca-covid-vaccine-research-was-97-publicly-funded

https://www.ft.com/content/7276f9d6-1fc3-4623-a5cb-4fc0c43a9d40

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/new-economic-paradigm-common-good-market-shaping-by-mariana-mazzucato-2023-05

Myth 5:

Manufacturing Doesn’t Matter, our future is the “knowledge” economy.

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/445457/edible-economics-by-chang-ha-joon/9780141998336

https://www.unido.org/sites/default/files/2016-07/16-02034_UNIDO_AR2015_eBook_0.pdf

https://www.elgaronline.com/display/edcoll/9781788976145/9781788976145.00007.xml

http://www.prometheusjournal.co.uk/product/manufacturing-matters-the-myth-of-the-post-industrial-economy-basic-books-new-york-1987-19-95-isbn-0-465-04384-4/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6egGoCrbIo

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/may/18/making-things-matter-britain-forgot-manufacturing-brexit

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2010/aug/29/my-bright-idea-ha-joon-chang

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/speri

Myth 6:

The UK’s financial sector is good for the economy and holds it all together, without it we would be lost.

https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn06193/

https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/supporting-businesses/economic-research/research-publications/city-statistics-briefing

https://www.marxists.org/archive/hilferding/1910/finkap/

Paul M. Sweezy, “More (or Less) on Globalization,” Monthly Review 49, no. 4 (September 1997), 3–4.

https://monthlyreview.org/product/monopoly_capital/

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUS376402736120140711

https://www.theasset.com/article/47836/global-economic-echoes-of-british-near-collapse

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2018/oct/05/the-finance-curse-how-the-outsized-power-of-the-city-of-london-makes-britain-poorer

https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/434424/the-finance-curse-by-nicholas-shaxson/9781784705046

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2564267

https://www.bis.org/publ/work381.pdf

https://www.bis.org/publ/work490.pdf

https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/speri

https://www.bankofengland.co.uk/-/media/boe/files/speech/2017/are-firms-underinvesting-and-if-so-why.pdf?la=en&hash=96588BB2D1AEEA1C13C0E2E159962B2B3E505DD4

https://financecurse.net/research/who-are-uk-banks-lending-to/

https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/financial-services/our-insights/the-rise-and-rise-of-the-global-balance-sheet-how-productively-are-we-using-our-wealth

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/europpblog/2021/03/28/book-review-the-asset-economy-by-lisa-adkins-melinda-cooper-and-martijn-konings/

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/09/04/book-review-rethinking-the-economics-of-land-and-housing-by-josh-ryan-collins-toby-lloyd-and-laurie-macfarlane/

https://www.schroders.com/en-gb/uk/individual/insights/what-174-years-of-data-tell-us-about-house-price-affordability-in-the-uk/

https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-11775181/House-prices-expensive-level-147-years.html

https://bylinetimes.com/2022/11/04/financialisation-the-growth-of-british-economic-inequality/

https://neweconomics.org/2016/04/the-financialisation-of-uk-homes

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/11/opinion/pandora-papers-britain-london.html

https://www.advocatmoldova.com/blog/london_the_money_laundering_capital_of_the_world/2017-04-30-176

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2011/feb/08/tory-funds-half-city-banks-financial-sector

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/4808373/Gordon-Brown-helped-fuel-banking-crisis-FSA-head.html

https://www.cityam.com/i-wont-soak-the-city-starmer-promises-not-to-hike-bank-taxes-if-elected/

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/04/12/lse-rb-feature-essay-opening-capitalist-realism-by-alfie-bown/

Myth 7:

The 1970s were a disastrous time economically. When people warn about a return to the ‘dark days of the 1970s’ we should listen.

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/GBR/united-kingdom/gdp-growth-rate

https://www.waterstones.com/book/two-hundred-years-of-muddling-through/duncan-weldon/9780349144276

https://www.nytimes.com/1975/05/01/archives/us-spent-141billion-in-vietnam-in-14-years.html

https://ifs.org.uk/taxlab/taxlab-data-item/revenue-north-sea-oil-and-gas-share-gdp-over-time

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/6994/economics/uk-wage-growth/

https://www.tuc.org.uk/news/2022-worst-year-real-wage-growth-nearly-half-century

https://www.ippr.org/research/publications/our-common-wealth

https://www.statista.com/statistics/279898/unemployment-rate-in-the-united-kingdom-uk/

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1983/06/04/Opposition-Thatcher-fiddled-jobless-rate/6399423547200/

https://www.radstats.org.uk/no079/webster.htm

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/8/unemployment/the-true-level-of-unemployment-in-uk/

https://academic.oup.com/ehr/article/137/585/513/6565512

https://www.ft.com/content/dee332d0-0c1d-4590-bad5-2c37006d9b90

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/1976-when-national-happiness-peaked-64679.html

https://www.gspublishing.com/content/research/en/reports/2022/02/24/c9116edf-3ff1-4ec3-a459-bf9889763b0b.html

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/135320/economics/labour-share-of-gdp/

https://www.tuc.org.uk/sites/default/files/tucfiles/TheGreatWagesGrab.pdf

https://www.oecd.org/g20/topics/employment-and-social-policy/The-Labour-Share-in-G20-Economies.pdf

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/economicoutputandproductivity/output/articles/changesintheeconomysincethe1970s/2019-09-02

https://ifs.org.uk/publications/what-does-rise-self-employment-tell-us-about-uk-labour-market

https://www.statista.com/statistics/318234/united-kingdom-self-employed/

https://www.tuc.org.uk/blogs/almost-half-self-employed-are-poverty-pay

https://www.ft.com/content/9e8fe677-0abf-4fce-bbfc-8c0c87fd5c51

https://billmitchell.org/blog/?p=33907

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/132993/economics/uk-imf-crisis-of-1976/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2003/jun/22/comment.economicpolicy

https://www.macrotrends.net/2549/pound-dollar-exchange-rate-historical-chart

https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Mrs-Thatchers-Economic-Experiment-by-William-Keegan/9780140077490

https://www.imf.org/en/Topics/Inequality

https://www.samaaenglish.tv/news/1238241

Myth 8:

Free trade benefits everybody and should be expanded

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/comparativeadvantage.asp

https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/Poverty-Philosophy.pdf

https://anthempress.com/kicking-away-the-ladder-pb

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2002/jun/24/globalisation

https://www.promarket.org/2018/05/30/70-years-us-corporate-profits/

https://research.chicagobooth.edu/stigler/research/-/media/8ee68ec563aa4c70aa94897ee04f68b6

https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2017/04/12/drivers-of-declining-labor-share-of-income

https://www.epi.org/productivity-pay-gap/

https://www.epi.org/blog/nothing-misleading-about-this-typical-workers-pay-and-productivity-have-diverged/

https://www.economicshelp.org/blog/7637/trade/containerisation/

https://www.economist.com/the-economist-explains/2013/05/21/why-have-containers-boosted-trade-so-much

https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/gep/documents/papers/2013/2013-02.pdf

https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG

https://ourworldindata.org/trade-and-globalization

https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w24554/w24554.pdf

https://www.uni-trier.de/fileadmin/fb4/studium/FFA/Downloads/Dozent/Prezdricka/SS_2014/1_Offsh_of_Amer.pdf

https://www.epi.org/publication/bp155/

https://www.port.ac.uk/news-events-and-blogs/blogs/democratic-citizenship/how-multinationals-avoid-taxes-in-africa-and-what-should-change

https://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/wp/2015/wp15118.pdf

https://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/tax-evasion-damaging-poor-country-economies

https://taxjustice.net/2020/11/20/427bn-lost-to-tax-havens-every-year-landmark-study-reveals-countries-losses-and-worst-offenders/

https://newint.org/features/2019/07/09/free-trade-myth

https://ethicalshop.org/privatized-planet-free-trade-as-a-weapon-against-democracy-healthcare-and-the-environment-by-t-j-coles.html

https://www.ciel.org/news/no-winners-pac-rim-mining-company-vs-el-salvador/

https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/news/investor-state-dispute-settlement-as-a-new-avenue-for-climate-change-litigation/

https://leftbloc.ie/the-eu-proud-heir-to-european-colonialism/

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/02/looting-machine-warlords-tycoons-smugglers-systematic-theft-africa-wealth-review

https://www.jstor.org/stable/2591017

https://www.routledge.com/The-Continuing-Imperialism-of-Free-Trade-Developments-Trends-and-the-Role/Grady-Grocott/p/book/9780367585273

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/01/10/after-20-years-nafta-leaves-mexicos-economy-ruins

https://www.politico.eu/article/its-time-for-a-new-economic-deal-between-the-eu-and-africa/

https://www.globaljustice.org.uk/news/69-richest-100-entities-planet-are-corporations-not-governments-figures-show/

https://www.dw.com/en/africa-begins-to-emerge-as-car-industry-hub/a-59500532

https://www.codeofafrica.com/EN/blog/Outsourcing-to-Africa

https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/publication/156112/adbi-wp257.pdf

https://iap.unido.org/articles/what-are-global-value-chains-and-why-do-they-matter#fn-100-0

https://on.ft.com/3q5uS81

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/china-trump-global-value-chains-by-erik-berglof-2020-01?barrier=accesspaylog

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/sleepwalking-war-part-1

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/us-decoupling-and-cgina-sleepwalking-war

https://drodrik.scholar.harvard.edu/files/dani-rodrik/files/a_primer_on_trade_and_inequality.pdf

https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/free-trade-losers-compensation-too-late-by-dani-rodrik-2017-04

https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt4cghc9

https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691208015/1177-bc

http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2014/ph240/pope1/docs/pirog.pdf

https://medium.com/@kravmaga.elondon/socialism-or-extinction-87163f669ef6

https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo3683965.html

https://www.briefingsforbritain.co.uk/myths-about-the-long-term-impact-of-brexit/

https://thenextrecession.wordpress.com/2021/05/30/the-productivity-crisis/

Key factors behind productivity trends in euro area countries; prepared by Paloma Lopez-Garcia and Bela Szörfi; published as part of the ECB Economic Bulletin, Issue 7/2021.

https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/tdr2013_en.pdf

https://econpapers.repec.org/paper/iloilowps/993701203402676.htm

Myth 9:

Capitalism has lifted billions of people out of poverty.

https://www.currentaffairs.org/2019/07/5-myths-about-global-poverty

https://www.fao.org/3/i3027e/i3027e.pdf

https://www.cgdev.org/blog/12-things-we-can-agree-about-global-poverty

https://www.hks.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/centers/cid/files/publications/faculty-working-papers/265_Lant.pdf

https://jacobin.com/2019/02/steven-pinker-global-poverty-neoliberalism-progress

http://www.economicpolicyresearch.org/econ/2015/NSSR_WP_252015.pdf

https://www.jasonhickel.org/blog/2019/3/17/two-hump-world

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/mar/30/it-will-take-100-years-for-the-worlds-poorest-people-to-earn-125-a-day

https://www.jasonhickel.org/the-divide

https://www.jasonhickel.org/less-is-more

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-glass-half-empty/rodrigo-aguilera/9781912248803

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2020/11/22/book-review-the-glass-half-empty-debunking-the-myth-of-progress-in-the-twenty-first-century-by-rodrigo-aguilera/

https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2016/05/25/book-review-global-inequality-a-new-approach-for-the-age-of-globalization-by-branko-milanovic/

Myth 10:

The Cost of Living Crisis is caused by excessive wage demands.

https://www.epi.org/blog/corporate-profits-have-contributed-disproportionately-to-inflation-how-should-policymakers-respond/

https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2022/june/new-unite-investigation-exposes-how-corporate-profiteering-is-driving-inflation-not-workers-wages/

https://morningstaronline.co.uk/article/f/inflation-class-issue

https://www.communistparty.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/InflationSMA4-2022.pdf

https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/economy/news/its-time-for-corporate-profits-to-return-to-the-90s-so-companies-can-make-up-for-decades-of-underpaying-workers-morgan-stanley-says/articleshow/88038295.cms

https://www.ft.com/content/f5fa4747-f9c1-4e95-878f-6e9b5db5579c

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/gdpfirstquarterlyestimateuk/januarytomarch2022#:~:text=UK%20gross%20domestic%20product%20(GDP,compared%20with%20Quarter%201%202021.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi11NeAjJH_AhUOYsAKHRQFCMMQFnoECBwQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fbusiness%2F2022%2Ffeb%2F16%2Fweve-had-a-run-on-champagne-biggest-uk-banker-bonuses-since-financial-crash&usg=AOvVaw2stypUhFu_K0_dkH29r8oE

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/gdpmonthlyestimateuk/march2023

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/may2023

https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/bulletins/gdpmonthlyestimateuk/april2023

https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/averageweeklyearningsingreatbritain/june2023

https://foodfoundation.org.uk/press-release/new-data-shows-uk-essential-workers-face-devastating-food-insecurity-levels-0#:~:text=Latest%20data%20on%20national%20food,food%20insecurity%20in%20same%20month.

https://www.cityam.com/shell-unveils-3-2bn-share-buyback-programme-after-posting-mega-profits/#

https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/bp-profit-rises-5-bln-share-buyback-is-reduced-2023-05-02/#:~:text=The%20London%2Dbased%20company%20repurchased,worth%20of%20shares%20in%202022.

https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Big-Oils-41-Billion-Buyback-Bonanza.html

https://www.tescoplc.com/interims-announcement-202223/

https://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/AN_1667467126172366300/london-market-open-bt-results-disappoint;-pound-falls-on-fed-outlook.aspx

https://www.cityam.com/british-gas-ownerhands-250m-to-shareholders-as-profits-surge/

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2022/nov/16/sse-profits-more-than-triple-as-uk-energy-prices-soar-windfall-tax

https://www.current-news.co.uk/e-on-records-surging-profits-amid-the-energy-crisis/

https://www.common-wealth.co.uk/publications/power-ahead-an-energy-system-fit-for-the-future

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/may/24/failure-to-grasp-uk-inflation-drivers-will-continue-to-keep-prices-high?fbclid=IwAR2foHxWmkHKT6t_ET5MMX44TkQov-J3eSNHph_id0_VEwrIrEjMzDewkiw

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-05/have-employers-used-high-inflation-as-cover-isabella-weber/102051798

https://www.ubs.com/global/en/wealth-management/insights/chief-investment-office/market-insights/paul-donovan/2023/profit-led-inflation-under-scrutiny.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/01/business/food-prices-profits.html

https://thehill.com/business/3469128-big-four-meatpackers-deny-price-fixing-amid-record-profits/