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The Global Casino: How Wall Street Gambles with People and the Planet
From the price of food to the devastation of climate change, what is the cost of the global financial system? Best-selling author of The Case for the Green New Deal on how finance underpins the fossil economy, and what we can do about it.
For readers of Brett Christophers, Yanis Varoufakis and Grace Blakeley, Pettifor unpacks the hidden world of shadow banking and show how global markets really work.
Wall Street controls the price of anything. Larger than the national economies, and almost invisible, it nevertheless determines the international costs of everyday things - from the cost of oil to household goods and most importantly of all, credit. Unless we understand how the money system works we will never be able to face the challenges of the climate crisis.
We can not hope to face climate catastrophe until we have taken control of the financial system. It is the pursuit of profit, wherever in the world it can be leveraged, that makes it impossible for national governments to impose restrictions on carbon. Pettifor charts the vast networks that ensnare us, and shows that prices are more than supply and demand. She shows us that the rise in the price of oil in 2022 had little to do with Russia. And why the global price of copper is determined by an exchange in Chicago. Understanding these networks matter, and turning them towards the common good, if we have any hope for the future.
For readers of Brett Christophers, Yanis Varoufakis and Grace Blakeley, Pettifor unpacks the hidden world of shadow banking and show how global markets really work.
Wall Street controls the price of anything. Larger than the national economies, and almost invisible, it nevertheless determines the international costs of everyday things - from the cost of oil to household goods and most importantly of all, credit. Unless we understand how the money system works we will never be able to face the challenges of the climate crisis.
We can not hope to face climate catastrophe until we have taken control of the financial system. It is the pursuit of profit, wherever in the world it can be leveraged, that makes it impossible for national governments to impose restrictions on carbon. Pettifor charts the vast networks that ensnare us, and shows that prices are more than supply and demand. She shows us that the rise in the price of oil in 2022 had little to do with Russia. And why the global price of copper is determined by an exchange in Chicago. Understanding these networks matter, and turning them towards the common good, if we have any hope for the future.
240 pages, Hardcover
Published January 27, 2026
26 people are currently reading
406 people want to read
About the author
Ann Pettifor
15 books92 followersAnn Pettifor is a director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics (PRIME), Honorary Research Fellow at the Political Economy Research Centre at City University (CITYPERC), and a fellow of the New Economics Foundation, London.
She is best known for correctly predicting the Global Financial Crisis in several publications including The New Statesman (Coming soon: the new poor) and her 2006 publication The Coming First World Debt Crisis.
Pettifor's background is in sovereign debt. She was one of the leaders in the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign which succeeded in writing off $100 billion of debts (in nominal terms) owed by 35 of the poorest countries. She is also Executive Director of Advocacy International, which advises governments and organisations on matters relating to international finance and sustainable development.
She recently published Just Money: How Society Can Break the Despotic Power of Finance.
She is best known for correctly predicting the Global Financial Crisis in several publications including The New Statesman (Coming soon: the new poor) and her 2006 publication The Coming First World Debt Crisis.
Pettifor's background is in sovereign debt. She was one of the leaders in the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign which succeeded in writing off $100 billion of debts (in nominal terms) owed by 35 of the poorest countries. She is also Executive Director of Advocacy International, which advises governments and organisations on matters relating to international finance and sustainable development.
She recently published Just Money: How Society Can Break the Despotic Power of Finance.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 28, 2026
Ann Pettifor clearly lays out how modern economics and financial markets operate on a global scale, showing how capital flows, speculation, and deregulation shape everything from housing and energy prices to food costs. She situates these systems within wider global trends — rising inequality, financialization, and climate breakdown — and makes a compelling case that today’s economic instability is the result of deliberate political choices rather than inevitability.
That said, for readers already familiar with economics or financial markets, much of this will feel intuitive rather than revelatory. I kept waiting for deeper analysis or sharper insights, but many ideas are revisited without being pushed further. The writing can also feel padded in places, which slightly dulls the urgency of an otherwise important argument.
Overall, The Global Casino is a clear, informative introduction to global economics with a strong ethical core. It’s best suited to beginners looking to understand how global financial systems affect everyday life, rather than readers seeking a more advanced or groundbreaking take. A compelling concept that ultimately left me wanting more.
That said, for readers already familiar with economics or financial markets, much of this will feel intuitive rather than revelatory. I kept waiting for deeper analysis or sharper insights, but many ideas are revisited without being pushed further. The writing can also feel padded in places, which slightly dulls the urgency of an otherwise important argument.
Overall, The Global Casino is a clear, informative introduction to global economics with a strong ethical core. It’s best suited to beginners looking to understand how global financial systems affect everyday life, rather than readers seeking a more advanced or groundbreaking take. A compelling concept that ultimately left me wanting more.
December 9, 2025
3.5 ⭐️
Pettifor ambitiously tackles how the constructed “black box” of global financial capitalism operates and impacts our lives, with varying degrees of success. As someone with a minimal background in finance and economics, I found her higher-level arguments and examples to be accessible. However, I struggled with some of the more complex details and would have appreciated more explanation. I think a reader with a deeper understanding of finance or that has already read some of the references she mentions would understand the content with more depth.
That being said, I still learned a lot about how global financial markets operate and how the current system was created from a series of critical choices made by politicians across the political spectrum over the past century. Pettifor does a good job showing how these choices are showing-up for us today in the era of climate disaster and increasingly deregulated markets that control our housing, food, insurance, and energy costs. She also provides tangible ways we can address the climate crisis by simply imposing some global market regulations and banking measures that were removed in the late 20th century.
I found the organization of the book content to be a bit confusing, as many high-level ideas were stated repeatedly in many chapters but lacked specific examples to support them or a clear connection to the chapter topic. However, I read the ARC copy, so it is unclear how much of this will be improved in the published version.
I can’t lie, I left this book wanting to withdraw my entire savings and hide it under my mattress to prevent it being gambled away on imagined financial assets, but I digress.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc.
Pettifor ambitiously tackles how the constructed “black box” of global financial capitalism operates and impacts our lives, with varying degrees of success. As someone with a minimal background in finance and economics, I found her higher-level arguments and examples to be accessible. However, I struggled with some of the more complex details and would have appreciated more explanation. I think a reader with a deeper understanding of finance or that has already read some of the references she mentions would understand the content with more depth.
That being said, I still learned a lot about how global financial markets operate and how the current system was created from a series of critical choices made by politicians across the political spectrum over the past century. Pettifor does a good job showing how these choices are showing-up for us today in the era of climate disaster and increasingly deregulated markets that control our housing, food, insurance, and energy costs. She also provides tangible ways we can address the climate crisis by simply imposing some global market regulations and banking measures that were removed in the late 20th century.
I found the organization of the book content to be a bit confusing, as many high-level ideas were stated repeatedly in many chapters but lacked specific examples to support them or a clear connection to the chapter topic. However, I read the ARC copy, so it is unclear how much of this will be improved in the published version.
I can’t lie, I left this book wanting to withdraw my entire savings and hide it under my mattress to prevent it being gambled away on imagined financial assets, but I digress.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing an e-arc.
February 3, 2026
It’s all about the shadow banking system that holds trillions in assets. Astounding to read her account of deregulation that’s put enormous financial strain on taxpayers. Infuriating but necessarily so! Really enjoyed reading it.
March 5, 2026
5 stars just for the fact this book exists. After hating every econ class I’ve ever taken, I loved reading this book even though many of the econ concepts remain confusing to me. I think the author could have made it more understandable for a general audience, but even so, I don’t think you need to understand every single detail in order to appreciate the fact that the author tears apart the inequity and corruption of the world financial system.
March 3, 2026
Clairement une excellente économiste, mais écrivaine, je ne sais pas. Beaucoup de répétitions et manque d'organisation. Le message est bon mais je pense qu'il manque d'énormes facteurs à la piste de solution proposée, peut-être un peu "simpliste" ou optimiste ?
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews