1st Edition
The Economic Crisis in Social and Institutional Context Theories, Policies and Exit Strategies
This book explores the foundations of the current economic crisis. Offering a heterodox approach to interpretation it examines the policies implemented before and during the crisis, and the main institutions that shaped the model of advanced economies, particularly in the last two decades.
The first part of the book provides a theoretical analysis of the crisis. The roots of the ‘great recession’ are divided into fundamentals with origins in financial liberalisation, financial innovation and income distribution, and complementary or contributory factors such as the international imbalances, the monetary policy,and the role of credit rating agencies. Part II suggests various paths to recovery while emphasising that it will be necessary to develop alternative strategies for sustainable economic recovery and growth. These strategies will require genuine political support and a new 'great European vision' to address major issues concerning the EU such as unemployment, structural regional differences and federalism.
Drawing on various schools of thought, this book explains the complexities of the crisis through a wider evolutionary-institutional and heterodox framework.
Introduction Sebastiano Fadda and Pasquale Tridico 1. Crisis and the analysis of Socio- economic- systems; an institutional perspective John Groenewegen 2. Causes of the ‘Great Recession’ and Economic Policy Implications Philip Arestis and Elias Karakitsos 3. Financial system and sustainable development Malcolm Sawyer 4. Financial Capitalism Trapped in "Impossible" Profit Rate: The infeasibility of a ‘usual’ profit rate, considering fictitious capital, and its redistributive, ecological, and political implications Wolfram Elsner 5. The Battle of Ideas in the Eurozone Crisis Management: German Ordoliberalism versus Post-Keynesianism Brigitte Young 6. From Economic Decline to the Current crisis: A comparison between Italy, France and Germany Pasquale Tridico 7. Should we cut the welfare State in order to get out of the crisis? Sebastiano Fadda 8. The Eurozone Crisis – Contribution and Reinterpretation of Varieties of Capitalism Klaus Nielsen 9. The future of the euro Vincent Duwicquet, Jacques Mazier, Pascal Petit and Jamel Saadaoui 10. Consumption and credit in run-up to crisis and in the efforts to overcome recession Maria Lissowska 11. United in diversity: consequences for common Labour Market Policy in the times of crisis. Jacek Wallusch and Beata Woźniak-Jęchorek 12. A Cultural Political Economy of Crisis Recovery: (Trans-)National Imaginaries of ‘BRIC’ and the Case of China Ngai-Ling Sum
Biography
Sebastiano Fadda is Professor of Economics and Director of the Research Center ASTRIL at the Department of Economics, University Roma Tre, Italy.
Pasquale Tridico is Professor of Economic Policy and Jean Monnet Chair at the Department of Economics, University Roma Tre, Italy.
Fadda and Tridico marshal diverse heterodox approaches interpreting the origins of the current European crisis (part I of the book) and discussing exit perspectives and political strategies (part II). Having put these pieces together in a volume, this book is both a forceful critique of (mainstream) economics as a discipline and of European crisis policies over the last years.Svenja Flechtner, Turkish Economic Review
