We are living through a cost of living crisis, with interest rate hikes and the prices of everyday consumables and energy bills sky-rocketing. Why is this happening? Sometimes we are told that wages are too high, or that the government has "printed" too much money or that events far away, such as the war in Ukraine, are solely to blame. The plain argument that high prices go together with high profits, falling wages, and weak production is often distorted and hidden by mainstream commentary in the media and elsewhere. This plain-speaking pamphlet tells it straight: the big businesses dominating production and distribution make huge profits out of high inflation, while working people lose out. It sets out factual evidence to illustrate that the source of record profits is the fall in real wages as inflation rises. A large part of the income of working people is being transferred directly into the profits of big business. The pamphlet shows that the deeper roots of the "cost of living crisis" lie in the very low investment and poor productivity growth for many years. The basic steps to resolving the crisis are simple: prices, especially of essentials, must be brought down, and wages, salaries, benefits, and pensions must be increased.

Extraordinary growth of the financial relative to the nonfinancial sector has marked the development of mature capitalism during the last four decades. The changing balance between the two sectors has altered the outlook of the economy and facilitated the spread of financial concerns, practices, and outlooks across society. The result has been the gradual transformation of contemporary capitalism - namely, its financialization since the late 1970s. There are similarities between the Marxian, the Post-Keynesian and other heterodox approaches to analyzing the profound changes in money and finance in the global economy since the 1980s. Prominent among them is a common focus on financialization but also on the limits of monetary policy, the transformation of banking, the tendency to crisis related to financial excess, and the problematic role of neoliberalism in finance. Furthermore, the complexity of the interrelationship between finance and the rest of the economy has increased since the great crisis of 2007-9. This book tackles several of these developments as well as engaging in debate among different currents of heterodox economics. The chapters in this book were originally published in The Japanese Political Economy.

This book considers the theoretical and empirical claims of Modern Monetary Theory (MMT) in developed and developing countries. It is structured as a debate between leading MMT theorists and MMT critics. MMT threw down a challenge to mainstream economics and forced it to respond, above all in the USA. This is a rare occurrence, almost unknown, for heterodox economics during the last few decades. It is not surprising, therefore, that MMT has attracted strong attention from a broad swathe of researchers. It is even less surprising that it has become the theoretical vehicle of choice for political activists opposing austerity. Its influence is remarkable and has gradually spread to other social disciplines, including even cultural theory. Furthermore, the policy responses to coronavirus by several governments, particularly the extraordinary expansion of central bank balance sheets in 2020, appears to support MMT in practice. This volume takes into account the rising popularity of MMT and considers its theoretical claims in depth, since popularity does not necessarily equate to being right in theory. It also considers MMT claims regarding fiscal and monetary policy in view of the implications of the pandemic crisis for public spending and public debt. It is not accidental that the strongest support for MMT, in both theory and policy, is to be found in the USA, since MMT conclusions rely heavily on close institutional analysis of US government financing mechanisms. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of The Japanese Political Economy.

This excellent book, newly available in paperback, addresses the growing dissatisfaction with the neo-liberal post-Washington consensus. The concern of the contributors in writing this collection was that this consensus has established itself as a new orthodoxy, more powerful and widespread than its predecessor. This broad-ranging critique explains that without a much broader political economy the consensus is unlikely to provide a coherent framework for successful development policies. Development Policy in the 21st Century is unique in its depth and assesses the postures of the new consensus topic by topic, whilst posing strong alternatives. It will improve and stimulate the reader's understanding of this important area, and is required reading for any student, academic or interested reader that wishes to understand one of the most important issues in international economics.

Where does the power of money come from? Why is trust so important in financial operations? How does the swapping of gifts differ from the exchange of commodities? Where does self-interest stop and communal solidarity start in capitalist economies?
These issues and many more are discussed in a rigorous, yet readable, manner in Social Foundations of Markets, Money and Credit. It is shown in particular that capitalist economies are permeated with non-economic characteristics.
This carefully argued book will prove interesting and valuable to students and researchers not only in economics, but also in sociology and anthropology. Well-informed critics of capitalism will also find it a useful read.

Because their economies were regulated, their financial systems 'repressed' and their states interventionist, for many years the countries of East Asia challenged the Washington consensus, offering an alternative development paradigm. However, in the 1990's, Asian capitalism was disrupted following Japan's stagnation and the financial crisis of 1997-98. Treading the unexplored theoretical terrain created by the simultaneous decline of the Washington Consensus and Asian developmentalism, this revealing book analyzes the comparative political economy of East Asia and Latin America. Divided into four key sections, it covers: Theoretical Framework Results of Globalization Converging and Diverging of Paths of Economic Development Finance and Regionalism. Through the juxtaposition of countries in East Asia and Latin America, leading academics analyze the impact of government intervention, institutional malfunction, social transformation and financial change as well as conflict and power on economic development. This book will prove to be invaluable to students and academics of development economics.

For many years the countries of East Asia challenged the Washington consensus and offered an alternative development paradigm; their economies were regulated, their financial systems 'repressed' and their states interventionist. However, Asian capitalism was disrupted in the 1990's following Japan's stagnation and the financial crisis of 1997-98. Treading the unexplored theoretical terrain created by the simultaneous decline of the Washington Consensus and Asian developmentalism, this book analyzes the comparative political economy of East Asia and Latin America. leading academics analyze the impact of government intervention, institutional malfunction, social transformation and financial change as well as that of conflict and power on economic development. Written in four distinct parts, it covers * theoretical framework * results of globalization * converging and diverging of paths of economic development * finance and regionalism. Institutionalist and Marxian; from prestigious contributors including Ben Fine and KS Jomo, this book will be of significant interest to students and academics of development economics.

Contents:
Part 1. Commodities, Markets and Capital 1. Social Relations Underpinning Commodity Markets 2. Commodities and Gifts Part 2. Money and Credit 3. Money's Monopoly over the Ability to Buy 4. The Social Content of Credit Relations Part 3. Theoretical Approaches to the Social Relations Sustaining Markets and Money 5. Social Norms and Institutions in the Capitalist Economy 6. The Emergence and Functioning of Money 7. Money as Unit of Account and Means of Exchange in a Socialist Economy

Contents:
1. Neither the Washington nor the Post-Washington Consensus: an introduction Ben Fine
2. Financial systems design and the Post-Washington Consensus Costas Lapavitsas and Sedat Aybar
3. Privatization and the Post-Washington Consensus: between the lab and the real world? Kate Bayliss and Christopher Cramer
4. From Washington to post Washington: does it matter for industrial policy? Sonali Deraniyagala
5. Consensus in Washington, upheaval in East Asia Dic Lo
6. The new political economy of corruption Mushtaq H. Khan
7. The social capital of the World Bank Ben Fine
8. Education and the Post-Washington Consensus Ben Fine and Pauline Rose
9. The Post-Washington consensus and lending operations in agriculture: new rhetoric and old operational realities Jonathan Pincus

The Post-Washington Consensus has succeeded in becoming the new theoretical underpinning for the World Bank's Structural Adjustment policies in developing countries. This broad-ranging critique explains that without a much broader political economy the Post-Washington Consensus is unlikely to provide a coherent framework for successful development policies.
Development Policy in the 21st Century is unique in its depth and assesses the postures of the new consensus topic by topic, whilst posing strong alternatives. It will improve and stimulate the reader's understanding of this important area, and is highly recommended to advanced students and professionals

The health emergency that broke out in 2020 is a landmark event in the development of capitalism, confirming the underlying change signalled by the Great Crisis of 2007-9. The Pandemic Crisis has catapulted the state to the centre of economic activity. However, a historic impasse is steadily becoming apparent at the core of the world economy Productive accumulation is flaccid, as both profitability and labour productivity are weak. Financialisation has entered a new phase, as "shadow banking" grew relative to other banks but is entirely dependent on the state. The power of the state derives from command over fiat money and can certainly deliver enormous boosts to aggregate demand, but that is not enough to tackle the weakness of the productive sector. The rise in inflation for the first time in forty years indicates the impasse. There is a transparent need for intervention on the supply side, directly challenging capitalist property rights. There is no evidence, however, that the ruling blocs in core countries would engage in such policies. The Pandemic Crisis also brought to the fore fresh divisions of core and periphery across the world economy. Imperialism has assumed new forms, spurred by globally active financial capital and internationalised productive capital. A renewed contest for hegemony has emerged as US power declined. The economic challenge of China will unfold steadily in the years ahead, intensifying political tensions and military rivalries. This book is the work of a research collective comprising authors from several parts of the world. It analyses these vital issues from the perspective of Marxist political economy and puts forth alternative anticapitalist proposals.

The on-going economic crisis commenced in the sphere of finance, spread into production lines and quickly became a global recession. In Financialisation in Crisis, several well-known political economists draw on the insights of Marxist and other heterodox economics to argue that the turmoil of 2007-2009 represents a crisis of financialised capitalism, and is thus systemic and unusual. The book puts the crisis in its appropriate context, drawing on Marxist and other unorthodox economics to cast light on the broader implications of financialisation for society.

On the 25th January 2015 the Greek people voted in an election of historic importance-not just for Greece but potentially all of Europe. The radical party Syriza was elected and austerity and the neoliberal agenda is being challenged. Suddenly it seems as if there is an alternative. But what? The Eurozone is in a deep and prolonged crisis. It is now clear that monetary union is a historic failure, beyond repair-and certainly not in the interests of Europe's working people. Building on the economic analysis of two of Europe's leading thinkers, Heiner Flassbeck and Costas Lapavitsas (a candidate standing for election on Syriza's list), Against the Troika is the first book to propose a strategic left-wing plan for how peripheral countries could exit the euro. With a change in government in Greece, and looming political transformations in countries such as Spain, this major intervention lays out a radical, anti-capitalist programme at a critical juncture for Europe. The final three chapters offer a detailed postmortem of the Greek catastrophe, explain what can be learned from it-and provide a possible alternative. Against the Troika is a practical blueprint for real change in a continent wracked by crisis and austerity.

Financialization is one of the most innovative concepts to emerge in the field of political economy in the last three decades, although there is no agreement on what exactly it is. Profiting Without Producing defines financialization in terms of the fundamental conduct of non-financial enterprises, banks and households. Its most prominent feature is the rise of financial profit, in part extracted directly from households through financial expropriation. Financialized capitalism is prone to crises, none greater than the gigantic turmoil that began in 2007. Using abundant empirical data, the book establishes the causes of the crisis and discusses the options broadly available for controlling finance.

This essential volume collects the papers of Costas Lapavistas, one of the first political economists to notice the ascendancy of money and finance as dominant features of contemporary capitalism. These ground breaking papers range far and wide, covering markets and money, finance and the enterprise, power and money, the financialisation of capitalism, finance and profit, and even the subject of money as art.

The Ottoman Empire went through rapid economic and social development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as it approached its end. Profound changes took place in its European territories, particularly and prominently in Macedonia. In the decades before the First World War, industrial capitalism began to emerge in Ottoman Macedonia and its impact was felt across society. The port city of Salonica was at the epicentre of this transformation, led by its Jewish community. But the most remarkable site of development was found deep in provincial Macedonia, where industrial capitalism sprang from domestic sources in spite of unfavourable conditions. Ottoman Greek traders and industrialists from the region of Mount Vermion helped shape the economic trajectory of 'Turkey in Europe', and competed successfully against Jewish capitalists from Salonica. The story of Ottoman Macedonian capitalism was nearly forgotten in the century that followed the demise of the Empire. This book pieces it together by unearthing Ottoman archival materials combined with Greek sources and field research. It offers a fresh perspective on late Ottoman economic history and will be an invaluable resource for scholars of Ottoman, Greek and Turkish history. Published in Association with the British Institute at Ankara

The Ottoman Empire went through rapid economic and social development in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, as it approached its end. Profound changes took place in its European territories, particularly and prominently in Macedonia. In the decades before the First World War, industrial capitalism began to emerge in Ottoman Macedonia and its impact was felt across society. The port city of Salonica was at the epicentre of this transformation, led by its Jewish community. But the most remarkable site of development was found deep in provincial Macedonia, where industrial capitalism sprang from domestic sources in spite of unfavourable conditions. Ottoman Greek traders and industrialists from the region of Mount Vermion helped shape the economic trajectory of 'Turkey in Europe', and competed successfully against Jewish capitalists from Salonica. The story of Ottoman Macedonian capitalism was nearly forgotten in the century that followed the demise of the Empire. This book pieces it together by unearthing Ottoman archival materials combined with Greek sources and field research. It offers a fresh perspective on late Ottoman economic history and will be an invaluable resource for scholars of Ottoman, Greek and Turkish history. Published in Association with the British Institute at Ankara

First, there was the credit crunch, and governments around the world stepped in to bail out the banks. The sequel to that debacle is the sovereign debt crisis, which has hit the eurozone hard. The hour has come to pay the piper, and ordinary citizens across Europe are growing to realize that socialism for the wealthy means punching a few new holes in their already-tightened belts. Building on his work as a leading member of the renowned Research on Money and Finance group, Costas Lapavitsas argues that European austerity is counterproductive. Cutbacks in public spending will mean a longer, deeper recession, worsen the burden of debt, further imperil banks, and may soon spell the end of monetary union itself. Crisis in the Eurozone charts a cautious path between political economy and radical economics to envisage a restructuring reliant on the forces of organized labour and civil society. The clear-headed rationalism at the heart of this book conveys a controversial message, unwelcome in many quarters but soon to be echoed across the continent: impoverished states have to quit the euro and cut their losses or worse hardship will ensue.