Fixing Global Finance
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- $37.99
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- $37.99
Publisher Description
The latest book from Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf explains why global imbalances cause financial crises—including the one ravaging the United States right now—and outlines the steps for ending this destructive cycle.
Reviewing global financial crises since 1980, Wolf lays bare the links between the microeconomics of finance and the macroeconomics of the balance of payments, demonstrating how the subprime lending crisis in the United States fits into a pattern that includes the economic shocks of 1997, 1998, and early 1999 in Latin America, Russia, and Asia. He explains why the United States is now the "borrower and spender of last resort," makes the case that this is an untenable arrangement, and argues that global economic security depends on the ability of emerging economies to develop robust financial systems based on domestic currencies.
Sharply and clearly argued, Wolf’s prescription for fixing global finance illustrates why he has been described as "the world's preeminent financial journalist."
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In his latest, author and economics journalist Wolf (Why Globalization Works) pronounces the current, "nearly inevitable" global economic crisis the product of a "perfect storm" of global macroeconomic imbalances: the scale of net borrowing by the U.S. and the lack of corporate demand for outside funding, exacerbated by aggressive monetary easing, consequent financial excess, and the housing bubble. Wolf's writing is hardly popular economics, requiring some work to understand and absorb, but it bridges a gap in economic understanding not yet addressed by Congressional subcommittees or the media, whose only suspects thus far have been Republican free market policy and Wall Street greed. The primary problem, argues Wolf, is global reliance on the United States as the borrower of last resort. Whether Wolf is correct is another question-determining that would require putting his suggested policies into action. Domestic financial housecleaning aside, Wolf's plan includes countries like China finding domestic uses for their enormous account surpluses and emerging countries creating first-world financial systems that complement but don't depend upon global financial markets, goals requiring significant international cooperation. Heavy but rewarding, Wolf's analysis fills in a lot of blanks for those seeking to understand the new U.S. recession in a global context.
