Author Description

'The thoroughgoing disaster inflicted on the global economy in 2008 by the gambling of the financial system should have resulted serious sanctions for financial actors and the jettisoning of any belief in the efficacy and fairness of the neoliberal regime. But the tepid action of policy makers has allowed the system to muddle through and undermined any remaining trust and faith among the polity. It is not hard to see the breakdown of political stability across the world in the last two to three years as resulting direct from the justified belief that the rules of the global economy favor the very few. In this book, a group of critical scholars painstakingly identify and illuminate key aspects of the global financial system that continue to reinforce global inequalities of power and that contribute to dangerous political and economic instability. Through a series of thorough case studies ranging from the macroeconomic instability engendered by untrammeled capital flows, to the way sovereign debt restructuring favors northern creditors, to the hierarchy of the monetary system that concentrates enormous power in the hands of a few central banks, these studies throw light on the ways global financial neoliberalism and political and social power work to undermine macroeconomic stability and social justice. It will be read by serious scholars of the political economy of finance with great interest.' - Arjun Jayadev, Azim Premji University, India and Institute for New Economic Thinking The essays in this book describe and analyze the current contours of the international financial system, covering both developed and developing countries, and focusing on the ways in which the current international financial system structures and is affected by profound inequalities in the international system. This keen analysis of key topics in international finance takes a heterodox perspective, with focus on the role of inequalities in power in shaping th