This insightful book assesses the theory of constitutional pluralism in light of the events of the Eurozone crisis of the past decade. Based on an analysis of how national courts reviewed the crisis response mechanisms and participated in the European-level political process, Tomi Tuominen argues that constitutional pluralism is not a valid normative theory of European constitutionalism. The analysis of crisis response mechanisms focuses on how the lack of a proper economic policy competence for the EU affected the formation of the measures and is at the root of the criticism concerning these mechanisms. Furthermore, the author connects discussions on the Eurozone crisis and constitutional pluralism in an innovative fashion, whilst also explaining how asymmetry and pluralism are linked. A novel reading on the horizontal and vertical aspects of Article 4(2) TEU is also developed throughout. Utilizing up-to-date and original analyses, The Euro-Crisis and Constitutional Pluralism will be an important read for scholars and students of European law, EU constitutional law and public policy.

For the last decade, progressive scholars determined to understand the 2008 financial crisis have examined the growth of US subprime mortgage debt in the period leading up to the collapse and how government policy supported this accumulation. However, the long history of the subprime crisis, its connection to the patterns of financial risk designated by the postwar international monetary system, has been all too often overlooked. Subsequently, the literature has considered the financial crisis as somehow disconnected from the specific evolution of the Bretton Woods financial system and the perceived safety of US Treasury bonds. With this, an important opportunity has been lost to develop critical political economy literature on financial markets. This book explores the long history of the subprime crisis through an original theoretic lens that sheds light on the institutional basis of global debt markets and the role of US Treasury debt in the international financial system. This book will introduce new ideas and appeal to university students and faculty interested in learning more about US financial power and the origins of the subprime crisis.

Crisis management has become one of the core challenges facing governments, but successful crisis response depends on effective public leadership. Building on insights from Pragmatist philosophy, this deeply nuanced book provides guidance and direction for public leaders tackling the most challenging tasks of the twenty-first century. This timely and insightful book demonstrates how Pragmatism enables leaders to strategically address the fog of uncertainty that characterizes crises. Illuminating the power of practical rationality in crisis situations, Christopher Ansell and Martin Bartenberger develop a model of Pragmatist political crisis management and contrast this with crisis decision making and meaning making guided by principle. Examining the interplay of practical rationality and principle during the US financial crisis of 2008, the authors develop empirical indicators to evaluate when and why crisis leaders may adopt Pragmatist or principle-guided strategies. Flawlessly blending theory with practice, Ansell and Bartenberger offer key insights to those active in the crisis management community. Crisis management and public administration scholars will benefit from the detailed overview of Pragmatism and its applications to concrete issues of governance, while practitioners will profit from the book's insight into crisis leadership and decision making.

Born in Massachusetts, Jared Bibler relocated to Iceland in 2004 only to find himself in the middle of an unprecedented financial crisis a handful of years later. Personally wiped out and seeking to uncover the truth about a collapse that brought the pastoral country to its knees, he became the lead investigator into some of the largest financial crimes in the world. This work helped Iceland to famously become the only country to jail its bank CEOs in the wake of the 2008 crisis. But the real story behind that headline is far more complex - and sinister. A decade after the investigations, the story can be told at last and in full. The crisis, barely understood inside or outside of Iceland even today, is a cautionary tale for the world: an inside look at the high crimes that inevitably follow Wild West capitalism. With the next global financial meltdown just around the corner, this untold tale is as timely as ever.

Ray Dalio, the legendary investor and international bestselling author of Principles - whose books have sold more than five million copies worldwide - shares his unique template for how debt crises work and principles for dealing with them well. This template allowed his firm, Bridgewater Associates, to antic ipate 2008's events and navigate them well while others struggled badly. As he explained in his international best seller Principles, Ray Dalio believes that almost everything happens over and over again through time, so that by studying patterns one can understand the cause-effect relationships behind events and develop principles for dealing with them well. In this three-part research series, he does just that for big debt crises and shares his template in the hopes of reducing the chances of big debt crises hap pening and helping them be better managed in the future. The template comes in three parts: 1. The Archetypal Big Debt Cycle (which explains the template) 2. Three Detailed Cases (which examines in depth the 2008 financial crisis, the 1930s Great Depression and the 1920s infla tionary depression of Germany's Weimar Republic) 3. Compendium of 48 Cases (which is a compendium of charts and brief descriptions of the worst debt crises of the last 100 years) Whether you're an investor, a policy maker, or are simply interested in debt, this unconventional perspective from one of the few people who navigated the crisis successfully, Principles for Navigating Big Debt Crises will help you understand the economy and markets in revealing new ways.

Incorporating insights from political economy and behavioural psychology, this radical book provides an up-to-date account of the dilemmas facing social policy this decade: where did we go wrong, and what we can do about it? Ian Greener reconsiders one of the leading analyses by Jessop of the relationship between the economic and the political, combining it with insights from behavioural science. Covering the economy, healthcare, education and social security, detailed case studies show that the tensions and contradictions in present policy stem from the relationship between government and corporations and a resulting growth in inequality. The author presents a new, unified and effective framework to consider where social policy has come from, where it is now, and what what can we do about it? This book is ideal for those who want the bigger picture of politics and social policy, including advanced undergraduates and postgraduate students of social policy, welfare studies, politics, or other social science disciplines.

The paperback of the critically acclaimed popular history book: the story of the South Sea Bubble which in Balen's hands becomes a morality tale for our times. A classic collision of political ambition, mercenary greed and financial revolution. The early years of the 18th-century produced two great monuments: one, Christopher Wren's new cathedral of St Paul's, an enduring testament to principled craft and masterful construction; the other, an empty fraud of such magnitude that its collapse threatened to overturn monarchies and governments. Its failure delayed the introduction of modern market economies by two generations. Yet the full scale of this monumental deceit was quietly covered up and hidden, its enduring legacy a poorly understood colloquialism: the South Sea Bubble. It was all planned by one ambitious promoter, who had decided to launch 'a company for carrying on an undertaking of great advantage, but nobody to know what it is'. This eighteenth-century mission statement has now acquired an almost uncanny resonance: these words could aptly have been applied to the bursting of the internet bubble and the collapse of Enron. With the financial scandals that have beset global companies recently, such as Rank Xerox and Worldcom, this tale is all the more relevant today. Balen reveals the full story of corruption and scandal that attended the birth of the first shareholder economy, and with it uncovers a parable for our times.

This insightful book provides an astute analysis of how resilient multiple regional economies across Europe were to the global economic crisis of 2008-9. Assessing the impact and geography of the crisis, this book offers a cross-comparative study of how regional economies were affected, as well as an exploration of the role of local and regional policy in influencing economic resilience. The different experiences seen across Europe throughout the economic crisis raise a number of important questions: why were some regions more resilient to the crisis than others? What is meant when discussing a resilient economy? How might local and regional policy-makers help support the resilience of their economies? The expert contributors take these crucial questions into account, presenting detailed case studies using quantitative and qualitative research data to analyse how the crisis affected various European regions. Economic Crisis and the Resilience of Regions will be an essential read for academics, researchers, and policymakers interested in the concept of regional economic resilience, its measurement, and the factors influencing it, as well as for analysts interested in the geographical impact of the 2008-9 global economic crisis. Contributors include: G. Bristow, A. Healy, C. Kakderi, L. Kirchner, F. Koch, G. Masik, I. Sagan, M. Sensier, V. Sepp, D. Speda, U. Varblane, U. Varblane, R. Wink

We live in a world in which financial markets have become completely decoupled from the real economy…

The world’s four largest banks now all reside in one nation: China…

Lines of code are considered more trustworthy than central banks…

In this broad-ranging, deeply researched review of modern banking and financial systems, analysts David Buckham, Robyn Wilkinson and Christiaan Straeuli unpick in parallel the ongoing erosion of trust in capitalist free markets and Western democratic institutions, and the directly related, unprecedented growth of the Chinese banking system. The former is a decades-long tale of intermittent market manipulation, inadequately regulated hubris and outright criminality, which produced the Global Financial Crisis, the most devastating financial meltdown since the Great Depression. The latter, which in various ways mirrors the conditions that led to the Crisis, may well prove worse.

In detailing the unheeded lessons of financial history, the authors reveal how the inconsistently managed tension between free markets and government regulation has led us from depression and regulation to deregulation and crisis. And with incursions into string theory, the mathematics of cryptocurrency and the intricacies of money supply, we discover what happens when an authoritarian command economy fills the moral and ideological vacuum left behind.

In a post-Covid world – in which we are witnessing booming stock markets entirely disconnected from real-world economic hardship, and communist billionaires propagating just as global inequality skyrockets – public trust in the international banking system has never been lower. This is an unprecedented survey of a fraught and complex landscape that has never been more urgent.

How did economic ''experts'' worldwide fail to predict the financial crisis of 2007-2008? Eminent economist Paul Davidson discusses how mainstream economic theory may not be applicable to the world of experience. Post Keynesian theory, on the other hand, is designed to be applicable to the real world, and this book shows how applying it to policy formulation could help practically resolve economic problems. Davidson goes on to show how many Post Keynesian economists warned of the crisis as early as 2002. Post Keynesian Theory and Policy challenges the axioms on which orthodox economic theory is based and argues against their applicability to a money-using, market-oriented economy. It explores the basis for Keynes's revolutionary general theory and seeks to dispel misconceptions often found in orthodox textbooks. This accessible and expertly constructed book explains why modern economies use money-denominated contracts to organize all market transactions for production and exchange and why the law of comparative advantage's argument for free trade is not applicable to mass production industries' exports and imports. This book is a valuable resource for professional economists as well as students and academics in economics, political Science, and history, who will appreciate its new perspective and analysis of global financial events.

`Peter van Bergeijk has written a fascinating book on the recent trade collapse, that in size can only be compared to the (trade) crises of the 1930s. There are at least two reasons to read the book. The first is to get a better understanding why the world has witnessed a dramatic decline of international trade. Peter van Bergeijk systematically analyzes the standard explanations that are given for this collapse, for example those put forward by the WTO, and concludes that most are wrong or unconvincing, and provides his own thought provoking explanation: risk and uncertainty. The second reason to read the book is that it provides all those interested in international trade with a clear and interesting introduction to understand the world of international trade and learn a great deal along the way, and not only about the recent trade collapse.' - Steven Brakman, University of Groningen, The Netherlands On the Brink of Deglobalization addresses the breakdown of international trade and capital flows in 2008/09 and challenges the mainstream narrative for the world trade collapse. Detailed chapters on international finance, fragmentation of production, protectionism and earlier episodes of collapsing trade reveal data that contradicts conventional explanations and demonstrates that the trade collapse was driven by the shock of (perceived) trade uncertainty. Peter van Bergeijk discusses why trade barriers and import substitution are seen as solutions during depressions while presenting empirical evidence demonstrating the risks of such policies. This book provides a broad, historical and statistical analysis relevant to understanding the recent world trade collapse. Being the first comprehensive analysis of the risks and drivers of deglobalization, this unique and challenging book will appeal to trade economists, trade policymakers and analysts as well as those involved in international business.

The Demise of Finance-Dominated Capitalism goes well beyond the dominant interpretation that the recent financial and economic crises are rooted in malfunctioning and poorly regulated financial markets. The book provides an overview of different theoretical, historical and empirical perspectives on the long-run transition towards finance-dominated capitalism, on the implications for macroeconomic and financial stability, and ultimately on the recent global financial and economic crises. In the first part of the book the macroeconomics of finance-dominated capitalism, the theories of financial crisis and important past crises are reviewed. The second part deals with the 2007-09 financial and economic crises in particular, and discusses five explanations of the crises in more detail. The special focus of the book is the long-run problems and inconsistencies of finance-dominated capitalism that played a key role in the crisis and its severity. The comprehensive literature reviews on the issues of financialization and economic crises will be a valuable aid to students. Policy makers will find the broader views on the causes of the recent financial and economic crises and the contradictions of finance-dominated capitalism of great interest. Alternative views on the long-run developments towards financialization, as well as on the relationships of these developments with the recent financial crises, will appeal to researchers in this field. Contributors: R. Barradas, N. Budyldina, C.A. Carrasco, D. Detzer, N. Dodig, T. Evans, G. Gabbi, E. Hein, H. Herr, A. Kalbaska, S. Lagoa, E. Leao, J. Michell, OE. Orhangazi, F. Serrano, A. Vercelli

This book analyzes how financial liberalization affected the development of the financial crisis in Europe, with particular attention given to the ways in which power asymmetries within Western Europe facilitated financial liberalization and distributed the costs and gains from it. The author combines institutional narrative analysis with empirical surveys and econometrics, as well as country-level studies of financial liberalization and its consequences before and after the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Author Nina Eichacker charts institutional liberalization and privatization of European finance from the 1960s onward and presents a survey of descriptive statistics that show how different financial stability, financial flow and macroeconomic variables have changed in Western Europe since the early 1980s, generally increasing financial and economic instability. It also demonstrates the change in securitization, and European banks' tendencies to hold securitized assets on their balance sheets. It creates a framework for understanding the power dynamics between national, industrial, and class interests in Western Europe that promoted secular financial liberalization as well as the institutional design of the EMU that mandated financial liberalization. Finally, it examines the process of financial liberalization in detail in three states, Iceland, Ireland, and Germany. Students and researchers interested in financial liberalization and financial crises as well as policymakers will find the analyses in this book invaluable.

The Great Financial Meltdown reviews, advocates and critiques the systemic, conjunctural and policy-based explanations for the 2008 crisis. The book expertly examines the explanations for the global crisis to assess their analytical and empirical validity. Comprehensive yet accessible chapters, written by a collection of prominent authors, cover a wide range of political economy approaches to the crisis, including Marxian, Post Keynesian and other heterodox schools. This interrogation of economic policy in light of the financial crisis is essential reading for real-word economists. To those seeking to understand the current economic stagnation and failings of the system, it offers an enlightening exposition of contemporary political economy. Contributors include: E. Bakir, R. Bellofiore, A. Campbell, R. Desai, B. Fine, D. Fouskas, A. Freeman, D. Harvey, A. Kaltenbrunner, E. Karacimen, D. Kotz, S. Mavroudeas, S. Mohun, O. Orhangazi, M. Roberts, T. Subasat, J. Toporowski, J. Weeks

This innovative book focuses on the current global financial crisis and the inadequacies of the economic theories being used to guide policy. In so doing, it tackles the economic theories that have been used firstly to understand its causes and thereafter to contain the damage it has brought. The contributors bring together different perspectives from across the entire spectrum of economic opinion to examine what is likely to be the single most important economic problem of our time. The unifying feature is that all of the authors disagree with the standard mainstream neo-classical models being applied in attempting to comprehend what has gone on and then, more importantly, to devise policies to bring this recession to an end. The problems that modern macroeconomics may have caused in being the basis for economic policy are addressed, and it is concluded that the deepening problems found in economies across the developed world are not due to governments having refused to take the advice of their economic advisors but are in many respects due to their actually having taken this advice. Suggesting alternative ways of understanding how economies work so that other types of policies might be used instead, this book will prove a fascinating read not just for scholars and policy-makers concerned with our macroeconomic and financial problems but for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of our contemporary economic debate.

All Fall Down traces the ways in which changes in financial structure and regulation eroded monetary control and led to historically high levels of debt relative to GDP in both developed and emerging economies. Rising stocks of debt drove the global financial system into crisis in 2008 when households, businesses, financial institutions and the public sector in some countries strained to generate sufficient income for debt service. The stagnation and fall in asset prices that followed began the process of unwinding that led to a run on the financial sector by the financial sector. This engaging examination describes critical developments that changed the structure of US financial markets as well as developments and innovations in US credit markets that created the context for crisis. It discusses the advent of dollar hegemony, the critical role of international reserves in generating credit, the emergence of the debt bubble in the 1980s and the mounting risks of debt in the new millennium. The author also proposes a systemic approach to monetary control, offering two new reform proposals. The analysis concludes that reforms are needed in order to support sustainable economic activity in the US and global economies. This volume will appeal to students and scholars of economics interested in international finance and banking, financial regulation and monetary policy implementation. It will also be of interest to business economists, lawyers, policymakers and journalists concerned with the effects of financial instability and involved in ongoing debates on financial and monetary reform.

The global financial crisis had a dramatic short-term effect on federal relations and, as the twelve case studies in this illuminating book show, set in place a new set of socio-political factors that are shaping the longer-run process of institutional change in federal systems. The Future of Federalism illustrates how an understanding of these complex dynamics is crucial to the development of policies needed for effective and sustainable federal governance in the 21st century. The book finds that growing fiscal pressures are interacting with domestic political variables to produce country specific federal dynamics. Arguably the first detailed study of the medium term impact of the financial crisis and its aftermath on federal governance, this volume highlights how growing budget pressures are contributing to increased centralisation in many federations, while in others national governments are devolving power to appease regional grievances and preserve the federal union. Contributions from leading federalism and public finance scholars test recent theoretical explanations of change in federal systems against the experiences of a diverse cross-section of federal jurisdictions. The case studies include both established federations and 'federalizing' jurisdictions, such as the UK and China, and highlights the complex dynamics which shape the evolution of federal governance Comprehensive and interdisciplinary, this timely book will appeal to students and scholars - from political science, economics and law - studying federalism, governance studies and comparative political economy. It is essential reading for public officials and policy makers interested in intergovernmental relations, public finance and budgeting and tax policy. Contributors include: J.R. Afonso, D.M. Brown, C. Colino, T.J. Conlan, L. de Mello, E. del Pino, R. Eccleston, R. Hortle, R. Jha, R. Krever, S. Lee, R. Mabugu, E. Massetti, P. Mellor, J. Schnellenbach, N. Soguel, C. Wong

A crisis is a period of uncertainty that may or may not lead to disaster, depending in part on the capacity of actors to make sense of what is happening and respond effectively. Disasters in different spheres occur and recur at different speeds and in idiosyncratic ways, but in essence they follow the same pattern. In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis and Eurozone upheavals this timely book argues that the disaster cycle - a framework normally used in the context of natural disasters - is equally applicable to the analysis of other types of catastrophe.Employing a modified version of the disaster cycle framework to compare and analyse a range of catastrophes in different spheres, the author draws on ideas from a variety of disciplines including economics and economic history, disaster studies, management, and political science. This unique comparative approach presents case studies of several important disasters: Hurricane Katrina, the First World War, the depression of the early 1930s, Welsh coal mining accidents, the deadly effects of smoking tobacco, and the Global Financial Crisis and Eurozone catastrophe of the early twenty first century. The author argues that economists and economic policy makers routinely misuse the term crisis to describe episodes that ought to be called disasters. This accessible and fascinating exploration will appeal to students and scholars in economic history, disaster studies, management, public policy, and related disciplines. The comparison of crisis and disaster management is also essential reading for policy makers.

Despite the global financial crisis in 2007-2008, neoliberalism has remained dominant and even informs the responses to the crisis. In his masterful analysis, Damien Cahill demonstrates that this resilience is due to neoliberalism being firmly embedded within wider class relations, institutions and ideological norms. And yet, as Cahill also argues, progressive change is possible provided it is based on large-scale political mobilisation. I most strongly recommend this book for reading.' - Andreas Bieler, Nottingham University, UK'Damien Cahill has emerged as one of the most penetrating social scientists on the politics of neoliberalism in the advanced capitalist societies. In his new book, he brings his many years of pouring over policy documents to examine neoliberalism in the new 'age of austerity'. The result is an impressive survey of the history and debates about neoliberal policies. But more powerful is Cahill's hard-headed analysis of why neoliberalism may not simply be in decline, despite the great social disasters it has produced: the 'Great Recession' of 2008 only being the most spectacular. Cahill insists on what many are only beginning to realize: that a new progressive political economy will not emerge as a result of the 'failure of neoliberal ideas', but only when an alternative vision of society fuses with new organized forms of social resistance.' - Greg Albo, York University, Toronto, Canada When the global financial crisis hit in 2007, many commentators thought it heralded the end of neoliberalism. Several years later, neoliberalism continues to dominate policy making. This book sets out why such commentators got it so wrong, and why neoliberalism remains so durable in the face of crisis. This book is the first comprehensive critique of the dominant 'ideas-centered' approach to understanding neoliberalism. It offers an alternative view of neoliberalism as a policy regime that is embedded in institutions, class relations and ideological norms. Damien Cahill argues that the socially embedded nature of neoliberalism explains why policy makers continue to use neoliberal policies as forms of crisis response, even though the crisis itself resulted from several decades of neoliberal restructuring. It takes aim at dominant interpretations of neoliberalism, arguing that it is wrongly viewed as reflecting neoliberal free market ideals, or as resulting from the influence of fundamentalist neoliberal intellectuals. The book concludes with a prognosis of the future prospects for neoliberalism. The End of Laissez-Faire? is a compelling and insightful analysis of neoliberalism, which will appeal to scholars and students of public policy, political science, sociology, political economy, anthropology, human geography, industrial relations and economics-related studies. Contents: Introduction 1. The Idealist View of Neoliberalism 2. Actually Existing Neoliberalism 3. Did Neoliberal Ideas Create the Neoliberal State and Economy? 4. Always Embedded Neoliberalism 5. The Class Embedded Nature of Neoliberalism 6. Institutionally Embedded Neoliberalism 7. Ideologically Embedded Neoliberalism 8. The Global Financial Crisis and the Future of Embedded Neoliberalism Bibliography Index

'This book highlights the complexities of how developing countries have responded to the global crisis and points to the strongly adverse effects of trade shocks for some. Fiscal and monetary policies were important in mitigating adverse negative effects, but these are being undermined by reliance on cross-border financial flows. These are important results for policy makers and citizens to understand.' - Jayati Ghosh, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India The Global South After the Crisis is an appraisal and analysis of how the Great Recession of 2008 to 2009 unfolded in the developing world and an exploration of its effects on those countries, particularly on each one's economic management. Essays identify the ways in which the crisis was transmitted to these countries and the associated policy responses of the governments concerned. This volume is split into two accessible sections. The first part concentrates on the impact of the crisis on growth, development, policy responses and policy shifts in key areas such as central banking. The second part comprises individual country case studies and includes an exploration of the vulnerabilities related to the integration of developing economies into the world economy. The effect of the crisis on trade, and the ways in which some developing countries have entered into a prolonged period of stagnant growth following the global crisis are all considered. This well-integrated compilation of both original case studies and thematic essays will be of interest to scholars and professionals working in the development field and other readers wishing to obtain an understanding of socio-economic developments in the wider world. Aid workers, policy makers, and social science researchers will also find value in this book. Contributors include: S. Bahce, A. Benlialper, H. Coemert, M.S. Colak, A. de Melo Modenesi, O. Justo, A.H. Koes, R.A. McKenzie, R.L. Modenesi, S. Nambiar, M. Reis, J.E. Santarcangelo, E.N. Ugurlu

The Great Recession is more than four years old and counting. Yet, as Paul Krugman points out in this powerful volley, "Nations rich in resources, talent, and knowledge all the ingredients for prosperity and a decent standard of living for all remain in a state of intense pain." How bad have things gotten? How did we get stuck in what now can only be called a depression? And above all, how do we free ourselves? Krugman pursues these questions with his characteristic lucidity and insight. He has a powerful message for anyone who has suffered over these past four years a quick, strong recovery is just one step away, if our leaders can find the "intellectual clarity and political will" to end this depression now."

This fascinating volume offers a comprehensive synthesis of the events, causes and outcomes of the major financial crises from 1929 to the present day. Beginning with an overview of the global financial system, Sara Hsu presents both theoretical and empirical evidence to explain the roots of financial crises and financial instability in general. She then provides a thorough breakdown of a number of major crises of the past century, both in the United States and around the world. Hsu's thorough and ambitious survey begins with the Great Depression of 1929, the first crisis created within the institutions of our current financial system, and moves through the aftermath of the Depression in the 1930s and 1940s, the inter-crisis period of the 1950s through the 1970s, and the emerging market debt default crisis of the 1980s. From there, she tackles major crises in specific countries from the 1990s on, including those in Mexico, Asia (Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and Malaysia), Russia, Brazil and Argentina, as well as the Great Recession of 2008. The book concludes with a chapter detailing insightful policy recommendations for preventing future crises. Students and professors of economic history, financial and regulatory economics and banking will find this an invaluable resource, both for its comprehensive historical approach and its thoughtful look toward the future of the global economy.

Financialisation and the Financial and Economic Crises provides comparative, empirical case studies of a diverse set of eleven countries. In particular, the book helps in understanding the current (mal)performance of Euro area economies by explaining the causes of the shifts in growth regimes during and after the crises. It goes well beyond the dominant interpretation of the recent financial and economic crises as being rooted in malfunctioning and poorly regulated financial markets. The contributions to this book provide detailed accounts of the long-term effects of financialisation and cover the main developments leading up to and during the crisis in eleven selected countries: the US, the UK, Spain, Greece, Portugal, Germany, Sweden, Italy, France, Estonia, and Turkey. The introductory chapter presents the theoretical framework and synthesizes the main findings of the country studies. Furthermore, the macroeconomic effects of financialisation on the EU as a whole are analyzed in the final chapter. Offering an illuminating overview and invaluable alternative perspective on the long-run developments leading to the recent crises, this book is essential reading for researchers, students and policymakers and an ideal starting point for further research. Contributors: S. Bahce, R. Barradas, C.A. Carrasco, H. Coemert, G. Cornilleau, J. Creel, D. Detzer, N. Dodig, N. Erdem, T. Evans, J. Ferreiro, G. Gabbi, C. Galvez, C. Gomez, A. Gonzalez, E. Hein, E. Juuse, E. Karacimen, A.H. Koese, S. Lagoa, E. Leao, J. Lepper, OE. Orhangazi, G. OEzgur, R. Paes Mamede, M. Shabani, A. Stenfors, E. Ticci, J. Toporowski, L. Tserkezis, J. Tyson, Y. Varoufakis, P. Vozzella, G.L. Yalman

"Once-in-a-lifetime" financial crises have been a recurrent part of life in the last three decades. It is no longer possible to dismiss or ignore them as aberrations in an otherwise well-functioning system. Nor are they peculiar to recent times. Going back in history, asset price bubbles and bank-runs have been an endemic feature of the capitalist system over the last four centuries. The historical record offers a treasure trove of experience that may shed light on how and why financial crises happen and what can be done to avoid them - provided we are willing to learn from history. This book interweaves historical accounts with competing economic crisis theories and reveals why commentaries are often contradictory. First, it presents a series of episodes from tulip mania in the 17th century to the subprime mortgage meltdown. In order to tease out their commonalities and differences, it describes political, economic, and social backgrounds, identifies the primary actors and institutions, and explores the mechanisms behind the asset price bubbles, crashes, and bank-runs. Second, it starts with basic economic concepts and builds five competing theoretical approaches to understanding financial crises. Competing theoretical standpoints offer different interpretations of the same event, and draw dissimilar policy implications. This book analyses divergent interpretations of the historical record in relation to how markets function, the significance of market imperfections, economic decision-making process, the role of the government, and evolutionary dynamics of the capitalist system. Its diverse theoretical and historical content of this book complements economics, history and political science curriculum.

The global economic crisis that closed the first decade of the twenty-first century has demonstrated that the contradictions of capitalism cannot be overcome. The challenge for socialist analysis is to reveal both the nature of these contradictions in the neo-liberal era of globalized finance, and their consequences in our time. Crises need to be understood as turning points that open up opportunities. How to facilitate this is the sharpest challenge posed to socialists by the most severe global economic crisis since the 1930s.

What implications does the crisis this time have in terms of capitalist economic and political restructuring? Does it portend the end of neo-liberalism? Can working classes reverse the pattern of defeat in recent decades, build new capacities, and impose their own template for types of economic and political renewal that can put back on the agenda the need to transcend capitalism itself? What additional costs will they be expected to bear as capitalists states prepare their 'exit strategies'? This edition of the "Socialist Register" addresses these questions and more with typically wide-ranging analysis from contributorsaround the globe.

Provisional Contributors: Leo Panitch, Sam Gindin, Alfredo Saad Filho, Hugo Radice, Anwar Shaikh, David McNally, Doug Henwood, Johanna Brenner, Michael Moran, Julie Froud, Adriana Nilsson, Karel Williams, Riccardo Bellofiore, R. Taggart Murphy, Ho-Fung Hung, Adam Hanieh, Ben Fine, Samantha Ashman, Susan Newman, Susanne Soederberg, Larry Lohmann, Dick Bryan, Michael Rafferty, Ursula Huws, and Greg Albo.