The Shifts and the Shocks

September 1, 2014
Tectonic changes in the global economy yielded collapse and an ill-judged fiscal austerity, according to this far-reaching study of the Great Recession. Financial Times editor Wolf (Fixing Global Finance) recaps the ongoing slump from the panic of 2008 and the frantic efforts of central banks to shore up the financial system, to the turn towards tight fiscal and monetary policies in the West in 2010, which he blames for the sluggish recovery and the subsequent Eurozone debt crisis. He ties these recent "shocks" to decades-long sea changes in the world economy: globalization and intensified competition; a "savings-glut" with few profitable outlets for investment; economic inequality that shrinks wages and demand. Wolf's provocative indictment of economic orthodoxy suggests that more government debt and fiscal stimulus are needed, and that responsible creditors like Germany are as culpable as bankrupt countries like Greece. He floats a number of radical reform proposals, including measures that would essentially abolish the private banking system. Although readers with some understanding of macroeconomics will profit the most, Wolf's discussions of the complex dynamics of investment, banking, trade and monetary policy are lucid, and his incisive analysis makes a compelling case for bold, activist economic policy.