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This paper explains how growing inequality of wealth and asset inflation inhibits social mobility and the functioning of the labour market, whose efficiency is a key feature of macroeconomic theory and labour economics. However, because the composition of wealth differs between social classes, growing inequality of wealth tends to more rigid social stratification, preventing the social mobility that is held to be the great advantage of free market capitalism. The paper outlines a theory of wealth distribution and credit practices that maintain a more or less rigid system of social stratification, which we call industrial feudalism. The origin of this idea is found in the work of Polish economists and social critics in the first half of the last century. Industrial feudalism also restricts the functioning of the labour market. State welfare provision, which is supposed to overcome barriers to social mobility, is undermined when the propertied classes find that they can meet their welfare needs from cash flows generated by their wealth. In this way, industrial feudalism signals the end of the welfare state and social democracy.

The scope and reach of fiscal policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic contrasted with the fiscal policy implemented in the immediate aftermath of the 2007 global financial crisis. However, the advent of high inflation that followed effectively nipped the prospects of a more radical shift in the fiscal policy paradigm in the bud, with monetary policy taking the lead. This article analyses the causes of the subsequent lack of a step change in the approach to fiscal policymaking through a comparative study of fiscal policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK and the USA. Based on qualitative interdisciplinary analysis, the article shows how the ideological foundations of fiscal policy are formed and their consequences for policy implementation in times of crises and recovery. The article discusses what changes in the approach to fiscal policy are needed to secure a more equitable, long-term economic prosperity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Bastard balm grows in forests, in central and southeastern part of Europe. The herb of this species is rich in phenolics, mainly flavonoids, phenolic acids and coumarins. The plant is used in traditional European medicine, in digestive problems and for aromatizing tobacco and alcohol products.

Among the different Hawthorn species, Crataegus monogyna seems to be one of the most often used in herbal medicine, and is commercially available. The methanolic extract and the acidified methanol extract of an herbal medicinal product based on Crataegus monogyna inflorescences were analyzed by using high-pressure liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (HPLC/ESI-MS). On the basis of m/z of [M-H]− ions and characteristic fragmentation patterns, a number of polyphenolic compounds, namely flavonoids and chlorogenic acids, were identified. It was found that the contents of the acid extract were enriched with methyl chlorogenates showing attractive biochemical properties. Analogous results were obtained for other plant materials, e.g., nectarine kernels. Apart from that, acid extraction had a minor influence on the polyphenolic compounds present in the plants, and thus it did not affect the natural antioxidant values of the plant extracts.