Jason Hickel

New research highlights from 2025!  This thread covers some of our latest work on capitalism, imperialism, post-growth and ecosocialist futures. It's all open access, and free PDFs are available via the link at the end of the thread. 🧵

The people have asked, who am I to deny them. Spain, which has 36% less GDP per capita than the US, has a life expectancy that is 5 years longer. And Spain's advantage in terms of healthy longevity is even greater.

Btw, Spain's advantage here is not just in raw longevity, but in *healthy* life expectancy. Spain's healthy life expectancy is 2.5 years longer than Britain's. People in Spain live longer, healthier lives.

People are talking about how Spain has lower GDP than the UK... but look how Spain's life expectancy surpasses the UK's in the early 1970s, with progress accelerating again after 2010. Today people in Spain live 2.5 years longer than people in Britain.

Scholars point out that rich countries enjoy this ‘exorbitant privilege’ because they issue international reserve currencies. This allows them to pull in the savings of the periphery by issuing low-yield bonds and other low-return assets denominated in their currency. Core states and corporations can then invest these inflows into more profitable ventures, pocketing the difference as a net gain. This net flow from periphery to core not only boosts the income of the core, but also directly gives the core more power over production in the world economy – more power to determine what to produce and for whose benefit. Meanwhile, the periphery is forced to finance this capital transfer with a trade surplus or with more debt.

For more charts and analysis of world-system dynamics, you can find it all here: globalinequality.org

The imperial core has gained $15 trillion through exorbitant privilege since 1970, getting higher returns on foreign assets than what they pay on foreign debt. This privilege is financed by transfers from the global South, outstripping aid flows many times over.

Tony Blair could have lived a quiet life as a retired war criminal but instead he feels compelled to pop up from time to time to remind everyone how evil he is, just to feel like he’s still relevant.

This is disturbing. And it accords with my own experience, where Western pundits will pronounce very strong opinions about China's political system, with great certainty, but when you ask them even basic questions like "how do NPC elections work", "how do CPC elections work", or "what is the CPPCC", they have nothing to say, they literally don't know.

The ethnic cleansing of Indigenous Americans constituted an act of genocide, even according to Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term "genocide". Historians estimate that in 1800 some 600,000 Indigenous Americans lived in what would become the modern United States, declining to 250,000 by 1890.

On this day in 1830, the US ruling class passed the Indian Removal Act, legalising the ethnic cleansing of Indigenous Americans from their ancestral homelands. Thousands were killed as this crime was carried out. One of the most evil and disgraceful acts in US history.

Take a look inside the rehearsal room of A Fine Idea, and hear from our incredible cast and creative team. 🌍 A Fine Idea 📷 11 Jun - 4 Jul 2026 📷@arcolatheatre) A theatrical response to THE DIVIDE by @jasonhickel arcolatheatre.com/event/a-fine-i…

Watch the full conversation here: aljazeera.com/video/reframe/…

The West uses its power over the SWIFT system to strangle any country that refuses to align with Western economic and geopolitical interests. It is imperative for global South countries to establish alternative financial institutions.

Thanks to all the wonderful people who led or contributed to this work. I will post more as it comes out.

And this one led by our colleagues at LSE shows public support for eco-social transformation is very high in the US & UK. When policies are described, support is high regardless of label. Support is lower when "degrowth" is used without explanation. thelancet.com/journals/lanpl…

Three years ago we started a new ERC-funded project called REAL, with three teams of brilliant researchers. Here are ten exciting papers involving my team that we've published so far, so you can see what we've been up to. And there's more to come... stay tuned! 🧵