Books Articles

Reading Piketty I: A Concise and Comprehensive Summary of Capital and Ideology

In this summary, Walden Bello distills the key ideas and data contained in Thomas Piketty’s monumental work Capital and Ideology. The French economist deserves to be read by more people, but many have neither the time nor energy to work through this sprawling...

The Bretton Woods Twins in the Era of COVID-19: Time for an Exit Strategy for the Global South?

As they mark their 76th year, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank have been presented with a grand opportunity, not to save the world, but to salvage their tattered reputation. The Fund enters the annual IMF-World Bank meetings with a big image problem....

China: An Imperial Power in the Image of the West?

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Focus is releasing a comprehensive study that seeks to answer the question: Is China an imperial power in the image of the West in its relationship with the global south? Over...

Paper Dragons: China and the Next Crash

 Emerging relatively unscathed from the banking crisis of 2008, China has been viewed as a model of both rampant success and fiscal stability. But beneath the surface lies a network of fissures that look likely to erupt into the next big financial crash. A bloated...