North Korea’s Quiet Market Reforms

Kim Jong Un, leader of North Korea. Image: Democracy Chronicles/Flickr

This article was originally published by NK News.org on 14 September, 2015.

Not everybody would agree, but it seems increasingly likely that Kim Jong Un and his administration (whatever that means) are executing a careful set of market-oriented reforms. These reforms bear some similarities to what the Chinese leadership did in the 1970s, though they are significantly less radical in many regards.

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Uncategorized

Elusive Employment

Sign of a sickly job market in Chicago, photo: ChiBart/flickr

With unemployment in many parts of the world the worst of the post-World War II era, policymakers are scrambling for solutions. This week the ISN examines the long-term unemployment trends of this ‘Great Recession’ and puts forward some potential policy prescriptions.

This ISN Special Report contains the following content:

  • An Analysis by Dr Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, on the worst US unemployment figures in the post-World War II era – and why Europe is faring better.
  • A Podcast interview with Dr Johannes Jütting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development examines how workers in developing countries are adjusting to increasing job insecurity – namely by moving deeper into the informal labor market.
  • Security Watch articles about job security crises from Spain to Honduras, the US to India, and much more.
  • Publications housed in our Digital Library, including an analysis from the US Congressional Research Service on the current trend in long-term unemployment compared with that during previous recessions.
  • Primary Resources, like the US Bureau of Labor Statistics report on how governments measure unemployment.
  • Links to relevant websites, such as the International Labor Organization’s Youth Employment Network.
  • Our IR Directory, featuring Women in Informal Employment: Globalizing and Organizing, a global research-policy network that seeks to improve the status of the working poor, especially women, in the informal economy.
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Audio/Video

1948-1953: Psychology of Hope in Propaganda Films

In early May London’s Barbican Centre showed its audience the lost and re-discovered propaganda films of the Marshall Plan.

Produced between 1948 and 1953 these films taught the wider Western European public about democratic values and free trade market principles.

The Barbican screening was made possible through the Selling Democracy Project, curated by Sandra Schulberg and Ed Carter.

For all propaganda film nostalgics out there: Some of the films shown at the Barbican’s are also viewable online, via the Film Archive of the German Historical Museum. All available material comes with valuable English descriptions.

Air of Freedom is one of the propaganda films available in the German Historical Museum archive
Air of Freedom is one of the propaganda films available in the German Historical Museum archive

And yet another “vraie trouvaille”, free of charge: The German Newsreel Archives.
The archives are in the process of being set up, but so far 6044 items can be called up.

Screenshot: German Historical Museum Film Archive.