Crisis and Inequality: The Political Economy of Advanced Capitalism

by Mattias Vermeiren

Spiralling inequality since the 1970s and the global financial crisis of 2008 have been the two most important challenges to democratic capitalism since the Great Depression. To understand the political economy of contemporary Europe and America we must, therefore, put inequality and crisis at the heart of the picture. In this innovative new textbook Mattias Vermeiren does just this, demonstrating that both the global financial crisis and the European sovereign debt crisis resulted from a mutually reinforcing but ultimately unsustainable relationship between countries with debt-led and export-led growth models, models fundamentally shaped by soaring income and wealth inequality. He traces the emergence of these two growth models by giving a comprehensive overview, deeply informed by the comparative and international political economy literature, of recent developments in the four key domains that have shaped the dynamics of crisis and macroeconomic policy, social policy, corporate governance and financial policy. He goes on to assess the prospects for the emergence of a more egalitarian and sustainable form of democratic capitalism. This fresh and insightful overview of contemporary Western capitalism will be essential reading for all students and scholars of international and comparative political economy.

Genres: Politics, Economics, Nonfiction

304 pages, Paperback

Published March 29, 2021

Reviews

[Ella Roose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Niet gelezen: hoofdstukken 3, 5, 7

[Maxime · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am extremely disappointed in the final chapter. Vermeiren’s tone about economic alternatives to growth is extremely dismissive, which he discards as not worth examining because they are politically infeasible. Yet he conveniently does not offer the reader any of the scientific facts and data often cited to prove that indefinite economic growth is impossible on a planet with finite resources, or how “clean growth” is feasible as an alternative.

This is a disservice to all young students reading this book and only serves further ignorance on the climate change issue, and is quite frankly tone deaf to otherwise generally acknowledged climate science (acknowledged outside of university economics faculties, that is).

If you read this chapter and also felt sour about this part, then I can recommend you read The New Economics (Steve Keen, 2022), Doughnut Economics (Kate Raworth, 2017), or if you’re already convinced that fighting climate change and growth-oriented economics are incompatible, check out Jason Hickel’s Less Is More.

~

Nevertheless I enjoyed this textbook to learn about the political-economic history of advanced capitalist democracies in the period 1945-2020. The book is a nice complementary to Piketty’s Capital and Ideology in this regard.

[Natalia Pantaleona · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a must-read for all those that got brainwashed by the neoliberal doctrine and for all those elected to change our society.

[Tibo De Waele · Rating 5 out of 5]

Based

[Britt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dit boek schopt casually neoliberale mythes omver, love it