Two companies have presently the world market for computer chips in an iron grip: Intel/AMD and ARM. Inspired by the success of the open software movement, an open source hardware technology, called RISC-V, is now challenging this monopoly. My guess is that it will be successful, not least because more and more countries are worried about the monopolization. That is obviously the case for China and Russia, but India, Brazil and EU are also betting on RISC-V.

We know from history that cooperation among small producers in cooperatives under certain circumstances can beat commercial private companies. But within software, another type of cooperation has appeared during the last decades. The whole thing was started by hobbyists who liked what they were doing and were cooperating which each other, despite that there was no economic benefit in it. In some areas it has proven extremely effective in challenging monopolies and bringing down excess costs for the user.

Recent events show that China has been able to overcome the US sanctions campaign against its High Tech industry. The US has reacted with a new wave of sanctions against China. This is a dead-end. It will eventually hurt the US more than China. Thank you, Mr. Biden.

The political debate in the US about new spending is bizarre. They are bickering about more money for this and for that: the military, border defence, chip production, Ukraine, Israel, you name it. The only thing that is never mentioned, is how to pay for it. And this is despite that the US is running the biggest deficit since the 2009 financial crisis and the Covid emergency. The national debt is spiralling. They are spending as if there is no tomorrow.

The Russian economy has apparently resisted the ‘sanctions from hell’ which were supposed to lead to an economic collapse. This has left a lot of economists and politicians perplexed. But it is no mystery. Sanctions hurt, but they also create opportunities, particularly in big and relatively advanced countries as Russia. The reason it is so difficult for many economists to understand is that they have enclosed themselves in a narrow neoliberal universe. What is happening in Russia has an important message for developing countries.