During the big waves of privatisation in the 1980s and 1990s, the debate was framed around who can manage production more efficiently, the state or capital. Everyone bought into this frame and we forgot the more important question, which is who gets to decide what is produced, and for whose benefit.

Correct, and here we use the IMF's list of "advanced economies" as a proxy for that group, following existing published methods, which includes: the US, UK, Eurozone, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, Korea, and a few other small countries.

Western narratives about China being the main exploiter of Africa are not supported by evidence from the CFA zone. Of course, to draw stronger conclusions we want to know how trends have evolved over time, to more recent years, and for the rest of Africa - that's done and will be published soon!

Meanwhile, as both figures show, China provides a net-transfer of embodied energy and labour to Africa’s CFA zone, representing a degree of reciprocity that is generally not evident in the case of the core.

And here are the results in per capita terms, for trade in final demand. The Eurozone appropriates on average 56x more than China across materials, land and water.

Here are the results in absolute terms, for both direct trade and final demand (the latter capturing resources that transit through third countries).

Yes, but it remains a small fraction of core appropriation, in both absolute and per capita terms.

The model we used provides data only through 2015. In a forthcoming paper we assess trends through 2023, looking not only at per capita but also absolute flows, exchange ratios, price levels etc.

Clearer image here.

Who is draining Africa? This figure shows net-appropriation of resources from Africa's CFA zone, illustrating two key facts. 1) Eurozone countries are the biggest appropriators, benefitting from the Francafrique system. 2) Contrary to conventional Western narratives, China's appropriation is tiny.

The British Empire was one of the most violent institutions in modern history, built on explicitly racist ideology and guilty of serial crimes against humanity. It is astonishing that OBEs and other honours are given, accepted and celebrated in its name.

Never forget that the clowns who are currently saying “we can’t stop climate change, just accept it” are the same people who spent the last decade doing everything possible to prevent us from stopping climate change.

We explore a global post-growth scenario where all countries converge to levels of consumption compatible with achieving the Paris Agreement objectives. In this scenario, China's average consumption can increase ~3x while its elites reduce consumption and the core degrows to converge.

In August 5th, 1962, Nelson Mandela was arrested by apartheid police, with support from the CIA, for resisting white minority rule. He was imprisoned for 27 years. US government agencies listed Mandela as a "terrorist" until 2008.