Most people are put off by the world of economics. Too boring. Too obscure. Too technical. It's hard not to share some of those feelings. After all, it's what economists themselves would have us believe. They are the priesthood and we are the novices, waiting for the mysteries of the faith to be revealed.

Despite their fancy forecasting tools and econometric equations, orthodox economists have been completely hopeless at predicting financial disasters or managing the international economy. They don't know any better than the rest of us.

And they're silent on the really big issues. What is economic progress? How can we make better lives for all without damaging a fragile planet? We're all qualified to sound off on questions like those.

My knowledge of economics is self-taught. Some years ago I belonged to a purposeful little group called the Canadian News Synthesis Project. We would meet weekly to clip a dozen daily papers according to an elaborate category scheme. At the end of each month we'd merge the clippings by subject and parcel them out to members. Each of us would then take home our wadge of articles, read them through and try to come up with some overall sense of what the press was saying - or not saying - by comparing our conclusions. That's where the 'synthesis' came from.

It was a simple but amazingly revealing process. For me the most fascinating stuff always emerged from the business pages. I was soon convinced that if you wanted to find out what the rich and powerful were up to, the business press was where you'd get the real scoop. This is no less true today. Take the lead paragraph from a recent article in my local paper: 'Sony Corporation shares surged 8.9 per cent yesterday after it announced plans to cut ten per cent of its work force and close about a fifth of its factories over four years.'

Could anything be clearer about the screwed-up priorities of the global economy? Close factories, put people out of work and watch your stock value soar. Great if you've sunk the family fortune in Sony stocks, not so great if you're one of the 17,000 workers scheduled to get the axe.

This sort of reporting routinely passes without question - a way of thinking about the function and purpose of the economy is built into the perspective of the writer.

But it's an assumption I no longer share. And neither do millions of others around the world who keep waiting patiently for a miracle of progress which never seems to appear.

The truth is the global economic system has broken down. Tired plans to dust it off and prop it up aren't going to do the trick. This issue is an attempt, faltering and limited though it may be, to create a plan for an alternative world economy. An impossible task you might say - and you'd be right. But, as you will discover, I'm not the only one who's taken it on.

Redesigning the global economy
The time is ripe for an international financial system that puts people first, says Wayne Ellwood.

Dogmatists in dark suits
We can't live with the International Monetary Fund. But can we live without it?
By Duncan Green.

Africa's hidden killers
Mark Lynas on the effects of structural adjustment in Zambia.

Money Mavericks
A clutch of economic critics who've dared to be different.

Ousting the oligarchs
An interview with Jane D'Arista on her idea for an International Clearing Bank.

Dollars and dinars
Ellen Frank wants to remove the control of money from the hands of the rich.

Time for Tobin!
A layperson's guide to the Tobin Tax. By Robin Round. & Tobin tax bonus poster

Mass Attac
Sputnik Kilambi reports from Paris on the birth of a citizen's movement against financial speculation.

Rewriting the rules
An alternative investment treaty could help rein in global corporations, argues Tony Clarke.

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY - THE FACTS

The Lugano Report
A disturbing glimpse into the murky future of capitalism.

Trade now, pay later
Learn from your enemy, advises environmentalist Steven Shrybman.

NICK COBBING / STILL PICTURES

Back from the grave
Lily Hyde warns that Westernization in the Ukraine may spawn further Chernobyls.

Solving insolvency
An international debt court is needed now, argues Wayne Ellwood.

Debtbusters
Peruvian kids fight debt. By Stephanie Boyd.

Action/reading

On-line forum on the Global Economy
Your chance to take part in the ongoing discussion and strategy development.

CHRONICLE OF 1999:
a look back at the year's major events from the NI's unique and unpredictable perspective

Letters
Letter from Lebanon
Update
Jumbo Crossword
Reviews: including Best of 1999
Planet profile: Earth

FRONT COVER ILLUSTRATION: BELLE MELLOR / 3 IN A BOX
MAGAZINE DESIGNED BY ALAN HUGHES.
ONLINE MAG MAINTAINED BY SIMON LOFFLER