Finding a way to measure how well we are doing in terms of economics and sustainability has been an ongoing theme is Feasta. The Better Life Index sponsored by the OECD allows you to enter your own priorities and view selected countries of the world, including Ireland, according to your criteria. Have a go at http://oecdbetterlifeindex.org/.

The Currency Group is a primarily online Community of Practice for local currency advocates (and would-be advocates) to share experience and information around the development and implementation of local currencies – initially via a Facebook Group and a group email list.

The fact is Britain’s household, corporate and financial sector debts are vast, and may well never be repaid. As the McKinsey Global Institute points out, British banks, corporates and households are only beginning to ‘de-leverage’ these debts – pay them down, or write them off. The more is paid down, the less is available for spending. [...]

From On The Commons. This is exactly the kind of alternative voice and force we need here in Ireland.  The Environmental Pillar just submitted their response to the governments Framework Strategy for Sustainable Development which has the commons at its core.  It is nice to feel we are not alone and Roos is so right [...]

Major earthquakes are proving to be a catalyst for the Lyttelton community, near Christchurch in New Zealand, to create a sustainable future. Margaret Jeffries writes in Fleeing Vesuvius that “Rather than waiting on the sidelines for a Government agency to hand out solutions, Lyttelton is seeking out what its own localised answers might be.”

The Austrians Randall is talking about are not to be found on skiing trips in the Alps.  We don’t have many of them in Ireland.  But this is also a good intro to Randall’s next series of discussions on the Job Guarantee.  MMP Blog 38: MMT for Austrians by umkc.economists@gmail.com By L. Randall Wray ….Anyone [...]

Marshall Auerback is not so sure that the wall of money needed to cauterise any Greek default is so readily forthcoming as some suppose. Trouble in Euro Zone Paradise? by umkc.economists@gmail.com By Marshall Auerback The Europeans evidently thrive on instability and the ongoing threat of systemic risk. There is nothing else to explain the renewed [...]

The following is a guest post from Chris Cook, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Security and Resilience Studies at University College London. His work is focused on a new generation of networked markets – which will, in Chris’s view, necessarily be dis-intermediated, open, decentralised and, therefore, resilient.

Good, if a bit long and technical article by Pavlina R. Tcherneva in Naked Capitalism. Here is a snippet… 

In my research funded by the Institute for New Economic Thinking, I have argued that part of the JG needs to be done on the basis of a grants-based approach (especially in normal times, during normal business fluctuations), where the communities, nonprofits, and the unemployed themselves can participate in designing, proposing and executing the projects that would be performed in these communities. This is a model fully consistent with the entrepreneurial American spirit.

‘Land value tax’ would be fairer, says Mark Drakeford AM Welsh Labour AM Mark Drakeford has given his backing to a “land value tax”. The Cardiff West AM’s championing of the tax comes as the Silk Commission investigates giving the Assembly new fiscal powers. In an article for the Institute of Welsh Affairs, Mr Drakeford [...]

Ronan Lyons’s report on Site Value Tax in Ireland is available for download. The report assesses the obstacles to implementing SVT in Ireland and how these can be overcome. It also assesses the revenue potential of the tax and the distribution of land values in Ireland.

Date: 17th, 18th & 19th of February, Cloughjordan, Tipperary.

The aim of this weekend conference is to introduce the CSA concept to communities and growers on the island of Ireland. The event will bring together food producers and emerging Irish CSA’s while creating networking and learning opportunities with experienced initiatives from across Europe.

In the New Zealand edition of Fleeing Vesuvius James Bellamy describes how crises are opportunities to change things at a deep level – to rethink our relationships with one another and the world.