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Left Hook Economics

The Byproducts of the War on Iran

Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz affects not just oil and fertilizer, but also the many oil- and gas-based inputs essential to everyday goods.

C. P. Chandrasekhar and Jayati Ghosh May 6, 2026

May/June 2026

Who Will Work in a Warming World?

The impacts of climate change on workers, especially outdoor workers, are having global consequences.

Andrew Ahern May 1, 2026

Left Hook Economics

Retirement Savings in the Dark

For most of the 20th century, there was a clear wall between working people’s pension funds and the riskier corners of financial markets. This wasn’t accidental—it was the law.

Lenore Palladino Apr 24, 2026

May/June 2019

May/June 2019

The Optimal Tax

John Miller

Mainstream economics supports a 70% top income tax rate (or higher). | Read more »
The Rocket Science of Sanitation

Abhilasha Srivastava

Understanding the plight of the Indian workers who are not considered workers. | Read more »
Why Is the Economy Doing So Well?

Arthur Macewan

First we should ask: Has the U.S. economy really been doing so well? | Read more »
Traditional Measures of Unemployment Are Missing the Mark

Mark Paul

Puzzling through why, despite low unemployment, significant wage increases remain elusive. | Read more »

Available only in the print edition:

Surviving Academia and
Performing Sex Work

Jenny Heineman

A Look at Labor under Neoliberalism

Beyond the Myth and Through the Mexican Labyrinth

James M. Cypher and Mateo Crossa

Labor under the “New NAFTA,” the U.S.-Canada-Mexico Agreement |

the regulars

editor’s note Labor and Ideology
the short run
comment Shop & Stop Victory
in review James Bloodworth, Hired, and Heike Geissler, Seasonal Associate
economy in numbers State of the Unions
45th anniversary reprints From March 1984: Target—Labor’s Elite