Essays
“Our Techno-Feudal Hellscape” – On the Real News Network, with Jason Myles & Pascal Robert
, 02/05/2022
From the push to turn more of the workforce into precarious “gig workers” to the ways profit-seeking digital platforms condition how we act and think while extracting free data from us, we can see and feel everyday the creeping evidence that we are living in a new reality. As world-renowned Greek economist, author, and politician […]
Cloudalists: The New Ruling Class & how can we confront its technofeudal order – iai lecture, 10 APR 2022
, 25/04/2022
Capital triumphed over democracy a long time ago. Today, following the Crash of 2008, the deployment of central bank money to refloat Big Finance, and the rise of Big Tech’s platform corporations, a new type of capital has emerged: Cloud capital (a form of command capital living in the ‘Cloud’). Cloud Capital is crushing the […]
Discussing Crypto, the Left & Technofeudalism with Evgeny Morozov – CRYPTO SYLLABUS long interview
, 23/04/2022
Rare is the person who could expertly comment – in a single interview! – on the rise of NFTs and their origins in the virtual worlds of gaming, the logic of the emerging regime of techno-feudalism, and the folly of El Salvador’s Bitcoin-heavy negotiating tactics with the IMF. Luckily, we have found this person in […]
Our moral duty to Ukraine, and to each other – UNHERD (video + full transcript)
, 23/04/2022
Since war broke out in Ukraine, Greek politician and economist Yanis Varoufakis has been accused of being a Putin apologist, a “Westsplainer”, and a conspiracy theorist. But what does he really think about this conflict? Freddie Sayers spoke to him about liberal warmongering, who’s benefitting from the war, and the West’s moral duty to put […]
Saving Ukraine, dealing with Russia and the global repercussions of failing to do so – On TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin
, 23/04/2022
When economist Yanis Varoufakis last visited The Agenda a decade ago, the world was still reeling from the 2008 economic crash, which decimated the economy of his native Greece. In the years since, he ran for political office, became Greece’s finance minister, and started his own political party. Varoufakis is the focus of a new […]
Here is what Central Banks could do to stem inflation without crushing the poor or killing off the Green Transition – The Guardian
, 16/04/2022
Inflation is a disease that disproportionately afflicts the poor. Even before Vladimir Putin unleashed his brutal war on Ukraine, whose byproducts include soaring energy and food prices, inflation was already over 7.5% in the US and above 5% in Europe and the UK. Calls for its taming are, therefore, fully justified – and the interest rate rise in the US, […]
Cloudalists: Our New Cloud-based Ruling Class – Project Syndicate op-ed
, 12/04/2022
Capital is everywhere, yet capitalism is on the wane. In an era when the owners of a new form of “command capital” have gained exorbitant power over everyone else, including traditional capitalists, this is no contradiction. ATHENS – Once upon a time, capital goods were just the manufactured means of production. Robinson Crusoe’s salvaged fishing […]
Why Stop at the Russian Oligarchs? Project Syndicate op-ed
, 12/04/2022
At a time when Russian bombs are destroying Ukrainian cities, there is good reason to focus on the oligarchs supporting the Kremlin. But do American multi-billionaires and Saudi princes enjoy less political clout, stash less money abroad, and use their influence any better? ATHENS – No sooner had Roman Abramovich, newly targeted by the United […]
Putin’s criminal invasion, Europe’s response, America’s role – AVVENIRE interview (English version)
, 05/03/2022
Avvenire wanted to know my opinion of Putin, of his invasion, of Europe’s and America’s role, of what this war means for Europe and, of course, they wanted me to explain my support for a diplomatic solution based on the idea of an independent, free, neutral Ukraine. Here is the original English text. What is […]
How the euro divided Europe, and why countries like Bulgaria should not join – Project Syndicate, Oxford Union video & Keynote audio
, 26/01/2022
This January marked the 20th anniversary of euro notes and coins circulating. In an op-ed published by Project Syndicate I argue that the euro was an unmitigated failure even by the criteria of its architects. This is an updated analysis of a keynote I delivered a few years ago at the Oxford Union – see […]
Why We Must Challenge Zuckerberg’s Ring of Power – Project Syndicate
, 26/01/2022
Learning to appreciate that control is an illusion is hard, especially when we are prepared to sacrifice almost everything, to pay any price, to control others. But if we are to stop others—Mark Zuckerberg, for example—from controlling us, it is a lesson we must learn. Once upon a time, in the ancient kingdom of Lydia, a […]
The causes of inflation and what to do about it – Keynote at Banking Conference, Sofia 2 DEC 2021
, 26/01/2022
Invited by the Bulgarian Central Bank’s Deputy Governor, here is a keynote I delivered in Sofia, on 2nd December 2021, in which I offer a historical explanation of the nature and causes of our current inflation – as well as a proposed policy response that would help (but which vested interests are impeding).
The State of the Global Economy under the heavy burden of twelve lost years – Keynote (audio + text)
, 21/01/2022
A keynote summing up my view that, since 2009, the world has wasted enormous resources in a bid to re-float finance and at the expense of our capacity to look after each other, and the planet, at a time humanity is facing existential threats – from climate catastrophe to war and toxic politics. My discussants […]
On Brexit and the task of confronting technofeudalism – Interview in The Morning Star
, 03/01/2022
ONE YEAR since the final deal for Brexit was announced, it remains one of the most divisive political subjects for a generation. Perhaps unknown to most, the incendiary B-word had its genesis in the term “Grexit” — coined during tumultuous years after the 2008 credit crunch when a Greek exit from the EU was speculated, […]
A prediction for 2022, plus two book recommendations – Happy New Year everyone!
, 30/12/2021
No impending New Year deserves to be unaccompanied with predictions that it, the New Year, will then proceed to ridicule. So, to tempt fate, here is my prediction for the 2022. Plus, two eye-opening books I recommend to people kept up at night by concerns similar to mine. Happy New Year to all, friends and […]
Why Croatia should NOT adopt the euro PLUS European politics, technofeudalism, US & China – Interviewed by Vecernji List
, 27/12/2021
In an exclusive interview by Nataša Vlašić Smrekar for Croatian media Vecernji List, I explained why it would be a grave error for non-eurozone EU member-states, like Croatia, to adopt the euro. We also talked extensively about European politics, Technofeudalism, my novel Another Now, and the US-China stand-off. Here is the original English language version […]
Defining wealth in 65 words for SPEARS magazine
, 27/12/2021
Spears asked me, and three others, to define WEALTH in fewer than 70 words. Their rationale was that, at the time of Spear’s founding, in 2006, there were fewer than 1,000 billionaires world-wide; their combined net worth a little under $3 trillion. Today, there are 2,755 billionaires, according to Forbes, and they have a collective […]
How should self-managed enterprises work in a postcapitalist setting? Follow the ongoing M. Albert-Y. Varoufakis debate
, 24/12/2021
Tragically, most people take bosses for granted. Capitalist firms have them by construction, by design. But, what of cooperative enterprises that are owned by everyone working within them? Do they also need bosses? A managerial class that tells the rest what to do? Or can we envisage boss-less firms? If so, how do things that […]
The West’s Wasted Year – Project Syndicate
, 06/12/2021
A year that began hopefully is ending grimly. Western political elites, unable (and perhaps unwilling) to turn a deadly pandemic and climate crisis into a life-preserving opportunity, have only themselves to blame. ATHENS – The silver lining in the gloomy cloud of the pandemic was the opportunity it gave the West to mend its ways. […]
A Progressive Monetary Policy Is the Only Alternative – Project Syndicate
, 06/12/2021
Torn between inflationary jitters and fear of deflation, central bankers in the major advanced economies are taking a potentially costly wait-and-see approach. Only a progressive rethink of their tools and aims can help them play a socially useful post-pandemic role. ATHENS – As the coronavirus pandemic recedes in the advanced economies, their central banks increasingly […]
LA STAMPA interview on the Italian edition of ANOTHER NOW: From Marinnetti & the Sex Pistols to Hephaestus & favourite books
, 17/11/2021
On the occasion of the publication of my ANOTHER NOW in Italian (Un Altro Presente), La Stampa put to me some quirky and irreverent questions. Just in case you wanted to read them, and my answers, in the English original, here they are. Have fun! Marinetti and the Sex Pistols are milestones for Costa: is […]
What’s behind the Cop26 fraud? – The Guardian
, 16/11/2021
There are three reasons Cop26 proved such a spectacular debacle: A planet-wide collective action problem over “free-riding”. A global coordination failure. And… capitalism! “Make no mistake, the money is here, if the world wants to use it,” said Mark Carney, the former Bank of England Governor who today serves as UN climate envoy while also representing […]
Assessing the Biden Presidency one year after his election – Rick Wolf & Yanis Varoufakis
, 06/11/2021
In this edition of THE INTERNATIONALIST, following news from the global struggle against reactionaries, Rick Wolf and I discuss the US situation (from the 8th minute onwards). Yes, it has been one year since Joe Biden came into office. While he is at COP26 making weak and unconvincing commitments on the climate, the global crisis […]
What’s behind our #yourNHSneedsYou campaign: DiEM25 ushering in a new way of doing progressive politics – The New Statesman
, 06/11/2021
A new campaign to save the NHS from privatisation-from-within (#yourNHSneedsYou) is going from strength to strength in the UK. In this New Statesman article, Yanis Varoufakis, Nathalie Bennett and John McDonnell explain why and how the NHS is being eaten up from within by Big Tech, Big Pharma and Big Business more generally. What makes […]