Economics

A new paper finds that more than half of economic studies are unreproducible. But there could be even deeper issues with the discipline, says David Matthews

Inequality in income lowers the life expectancy of everyone in society, says Marcus Chown

Fears that discipline is particularly susceptible to statistical ‘hacking’ of data to gain a positive result

When it comes to meritocracy in free market capitalism, people don’t hate the game, they hate the players, says Angelia Wilson

Princeton academic recognised for work on poverty and consumption

Sample list of questions says applicants were asked about bankers’ pay and invited to carry out an engineering experiment with a ruler

Gene Grossman says restrictions on globalising the academy are ‘hugely damaging’

A study of the predatory nature of markets holds up a mirror to the field, says Victoria Bateman

The University of Cambridge is the top UK institution for hosting both international and British students who go on to win Nobel prizes, finds British Council

Academic ‘scallywags’ are gaining doctorates thanks to the circulation of dodgy theses within some universities, says the founder of plagiarism pressure group

Majority of academics publishing in journals with lax peer review are from Asia, study concludes

The good, the bad and the offbeat – the academy through the lens of the national press

An economic historian who ‘almost single-handedly’ transformed our understanding of technological change has died

Stomach-churning detail reminds us of the blood, sweat and tears in clothes, says Shahidha Bari

Maverick economist explains ‘why the modern world happened’

Studies on urine, pain thresholds and unboiled eggs honoured in annual awards for improbable research. John Elmes takes a look

Victoria Bateman looks at the gender mix within economics and details her own attempts to encourage more women into the discipline

Firm’s scheme offers degree funding in exchange for students returning home to work in the country

Deluge of submitted papers leads journals to fall back on alma mater prestige, research suggests

The causes of and solutions to disparity in income are eclectic, says Victoria Bateman

Rising liabilities may again focus attention on whether Universities Superannuation Scheme assumptions are ‘unreasonably pessimistic’

Robotics will affect our societies and economies more than we expect, discovers John Gilbey

A scholar who pioneered the study of the economies of Japan and East Asia – and comparative organisational structures across the world – has died.

New plans focus on putting Hungarian higher education on solid international foundations

‘Critical Muslims’ square up to the challenges facing higher education and research

Report attributes decline to UK government trebling tuition fees 

Academic and former finance minister succeeded by Euclid Tsakalotos as Greece debt crisis continues, writes deputy news editor John Morgan

‘Buoyant market’ leads to unfilled posts

The idea of equilibrium is a dangerous delusion, finds Stewart Lansley

A remarkable investigation into the global traffic in cheap shelf-fillers uncovers both meanness and meaning in the market, says Louise Crewe

A tax rate of 67.5% is part of an economist’s plan to stem excessive inequality, finds Danny Dorling

Liz Young discovers how failures in governance exacerbated the severity of historical famines

Rising inequality can be addressed without taking to the barricades, Victoria Bateman suggests

A wide-ranging examination of garment recycling should whet the appetite of readers for more research on the subject, says Ruth Pearson

The big players in finance and technology misuse their power over our lives, says Paul Bernal

Vasilis Leontitsis weighs arguments for economic reform co-written by a scholar turned Syriza MP

Top-down ideas narrow a New Labour architect’s vision of a brave new Britain, says Philip Roscoe

A thoughtful study on joblessness has little to say on the most pressing problems, finds Kitty Stewart

A petite primer with grand ambitions excels in its secondary themes, says Michelle Baddeley

This text plugs a gaping hole and shows that successful economies need women who are free to succeed, writes Victoria Bateman

Most people receive from the welfare state what they pay in taxes, argues Danny Dorling

Jonathan Mirsky on the unfairness and exploitation rife in modern Chinese society

To share the wealth we must challenge attitudes that perpetuate the great divide, finds Mary Evans

Corruption is rife and legal among those who hold the power in the UK, says Danny Dorling

Angelia Wilson on a national narrative that distorts reality with its boundless optimism

Tim Hall review an exploration of the placing overseas of work, tax, leisure, waste and security

Jörg Michael Dostal on how the NSS has enabled the US to attain technological leadership to serve its geopolitical objectives

Howard Davies seeks a coherent link between the economic crisis and the economics of energy

Vera Troeger on a persuasive, if gloomy, look at the dangerous paradoxes at the heart of neoliberalism

Kitty Stewart on the reality of suffering caused by the coalition’s reductions of the welfare state

Tracey Warr on a myth-busting examination of the mass production of oil paintings in Dafen village

Philip Roscoe savours the latest entertaining and enlightening serving of maverick thinking

Ioana Negru on a work that challenges macroeconomic assumptions and policies after the financial crisis

Martin Daunton on the history of the anti-tax movement in America

Amanda Pyman on the changes necessary to improve conditions for shop workers

Danny Dorling lauds an impassioned call to tame the UK’s ever more toxic worship of money

Chris Knight extols a persuasively argued work from a Marxist thinker on tensions in the system

Marta Herrero lauds an analysis from an insider affording rare insight into the market

Philip Roscoe extols a mischievous economics blockbuster brimming with ideas and predictions

Virginia Doellgast finds workers pay dearly when big firms devolve oversight of pay and conditions