Keyword: Ha-Joon Chang

Best of SACSIS: What Kind of Society Do You Want to Live In?

Picture: Platinum belt mineworkers courtesy GovernmentZa/flickr Fazila Farouk - Inequality is hard to avoid here in the most unequal country in the world, yet South Africa’s chattering classes have for a very long time done exactly that. Admittedly there are many titillating distractions, from our polygamous president engulfed in corruption scandals to the vulgar display of wealth by our black economic empowerment beneficiaries, there is much to keep the chins of the more established sections of South African society wagging in gloomy disapproval. However, as...

Ha-Joon Chang: 'Economics Is Too Important to Leave to the Experts'

Picture: RSA Video Acclaimed economist, Ha-Joon Chang, professor in the faculty of politics and economics at Cambridge University argues that economics is too important to leave to the experts. By publishing his latest book, Economics: The User's Guide, he crosses the chasm separating academic theory and regular life and produces a book that seeks to turn every one of us into an economist. Chang contends that 95% of economics is common sense. You don’t need a degree to understand it. He visited the RSA...

23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism

Video Part One The clip above is part one of a multi-part interview by Paul Jay of The Real News Network with Ha-Joon Chang, Cambridge economist and author of the book, "23 Things They Don't Tell You About Capitalism." The debate about "capitalism" being at the core of the economic meltdown seems to have died down. But what about the future of the capitalist system? Is the world facing another meltdown? And, is there a more rational way to have a capitalist system?...