A fundamental belief in personal liberty and in the ability of free markets to realise the good lies at the heart of the neoliberal economic orthodoxy that has now shaped public policy for a generation. Confidence in orthodox economics has, however, been badly shaken by the financial crisis of 2008 and, in the years following, by the effects of the Great Recession. The era of casino banking was not only an era of de-industrialisation and under-employment, but also of iniquitous tax avoidance schemes, and of grotesquely inflated levels of social inequality. Such factors, we now realise, have reduced the life-prospects of millions of our fellow-citizens. This interdisciplinary volume of essays, with wide-ranging contributions by theologians and social scientists, explores the theological, economic, and moral implications of these developments. Its central claim is that neoliberalism’s failure to appreciate the limitations of its fiduciary commitments contributed massively to the economic crisis. A more honest appraisal of the relation between the language of belief and the sphere of economic behaviour is therefore required. This must also result in appropriate policy changes, to harness the power of the economy to serve a more generous vision of the human good.

This collection gathers experts from Africa, North America, Asia and Europe to examine international policy responses to the 2008 global financial crisis. In doing so they reveal the implications for international cooperation, coordination and institutional change in global economic governance, and identify ways to reform and even replace the architecture created in the mid 20th century in order to meet the global challenges of the 21st.

The editors of this book have put together a compelling compendium of explanations and consequences of the global financial crisis. The essays are fairly homogeneous despite their apparent diversity, all providing a useful historical background. There is an obvious Institutionalist twist, with authors examining the changes in organizations and regulations that have accompanied the move towards financialization and money-manager capitalism. This analysis is often informed by the work of Hyman Minsky, pointing towards the inherent destabilizing forces of competition, as well as the dangers of deregulation, self-regulation, securitization, excess leverage, global imbalances, and the illusion of liquidity-enhancing and risk-reducing financial innovations. Marc Lavoie, University of Ottawa, Canada This valuable collection offers a stimulating range of heterodox views on the global financial crisis and proposals for reform of the financial system, nationally and internationally. The perspective of the authors is broadly Post Keynesian, sometimes with a radical or an institutionalist twist. Vigorously argued, clearly presented and largely non-technical, these essays provide a great deal of food for thought. John King, La Trobe University, Australia Though the worst of the financial crisis of 2008 has, with hope, ebbed, it has forever changed the economy in the United States and throughout the rest of the world. Using the financial and economic crisis as a catalyst, this volume examines how to better regulate the financial system and what to expect in the future if no steps are made toward reform. This book lays the foundation for those steps by providing concrete ideas that will push policy in the direction of jobs growth and widespread prosperity. Paired with a history of financial market problems, Heterodox Analysis of Financial Crisis and Reform analyzes complacency regarding the state of the economy, its lack of jobs, growing income disparity, poverty and the consequences of the false but widely shared belief that the economy is self-regulating. This book suggests ways to account for the inherent instability of financial markets and how to make asset values less precarious. Examining both the macro and micro sides of financial instability, the authors argue that existing rules and regulations are either not applied or that they are not effective enough to prevent market fluctuations of the magnitude experienced in 2008. This volume also sheds new light on just how inextricably linked success on Wall Street and welfare on Main Street have become. Students and scholars of heterodox economics, historians, political scientists, policymakers and all those with an interest in an economic renaissance will find this thought-provoking analysis of significant interest.

Charles Wheelan’s wonderfully whimsical, best-selling Naked series tackles the weird, surprisingly colorful world of money and banking. Consider the $20 bill. It has no more value, as a simple slip of paper, than Monopoly money. Yet even children recognize that tearing one into small pieces is an act of inconceivable stupidity. What makes a $20 bill actually worth twenty dollars? In the third volume of his best-selling Naked series, Charles Wheelan uses this seemingly simple question to open the door to the surprisingly colorful world of money and banking. The search for an answer triggers countless other questions along the way: Why does paper money (“fiat currency” if you want to be fancy) even exist? And why do some nations, like Zimbabwe in the 1990s, print so much of it that it becomes more valuable as toilet paper than as currency? How do central banks use the power of money creation to stop financial crises? Why does most of Europe share a common currency, and why has that arrangement caused so much trouble? And will payment apps, bitcoin, or other new technologies render all of this moot? In Naked Money, Wheelan tackles all of the above and more, showing us how our banking and monetary systems should work in ideal situations and revealing the havoc and suffering caused in real situations by inflation, deflation, illiquidity, and other monetary effects. Throughout, Wheelan’s uniquely bright-eyed, whimsical style brings levity and clarity to a subject often devoid of both. With illuminating stories from Argentina, Zimbabwe, North Korea, America, China, and elsewhere around the globe, Wheelan demystifies the curious world behind the paper in our wallets and the digits in our bank accounts.

In 2006 residential real estate prices peaked and started to fall, then threatened the world's financial institutions in 2007, and confronted the global economy with disaster in 2008. In the past few years, millions of people have lost very substantial portions of their wealth. And while the markets have rebounded considerably, they are still far from a full recovery. Now, professional economists, policy experts, public intellectuals, and the public at large are all struggling to understand the crisis that has engulfed us. In The Financial Crisis of Our Time, Robert W. Kolb provides an essential, comprehensive review of the context within which these events unfolded, arguing that while the crisis had no single cause, housing finance played a central role, and that to understand what happened, one must comprehend the mechanism by which the housing industry came into crisis. Kolb offers a history of the housing finance system as it developed throughout the twentieth century, and especially in the period from 1990 to 2006, showing how the originate-to-distribute model of mortgage financing presented market participants with a "clockwork of perverse incentives." In this system, various participants-simply by pursuing their narrow personal interests-participated in an elaborate mechanism that led to disaster. The book then gives a narrative of the crisis as it developed and analyzes all of the participants in the housing market, from the home buyers to investors in collaterialized debt obligations (CDOs). At each step, the book explains in a nontechnical manner the essential relationships among the market participants and zeroes in on the incentives facing each party. The book also includes an extensive glossary and a detailed, authoritative timeline of the subprime financial crisis. Offering a unique look at the participants and incentives within the housing finance industry and its role in the biggest financial catastrophe in recent history, Robert W. Kolb provides one of the most comprehensive and illuminating accounts of the events that will be studied for decades to come as the financial crisis of our time.