Books in the Wea Books series

After the 2008 financial meltdown, the American crisis soon infected the European financial system, becoming both a sovereign debt crisis and a banking debacle in many peripheral Euro area countries. The European crisis spread quickly among closely integrated economies and the implementation of austerity policies reinforced a spiral of economic contractions and provoked a rising political rebellion. This World Economics Association book, edited by Victor Baker and Beniamino Moro, was written to address monetary, financial and debt issues, alongside the questions of social stabilization, strategies for structural reform and economic growth that may be re-considered to frame new economic perspectives for Europe. The call for reflection is persuasively made by the contributors: Jacques Sapir; Gerson Lima; Carmelo Ferlito; Merijn Knibbe; Enrico Marelli and Marcello Signorelli; Tom Vleeschhouwer and Tara Koning; Cristiano Boaventura Duarte and André de Melo Modenesi; Dimitri B. Papadimitriou, Michalis Nukiforos and Gennaro Zezza. "The World Economics Association's on-line forums are an important step toward the goal of open exchange on policy questions among economists of diverse views world-wide. I congratulate Victor Beker and Beniamin Moro, who here bring together a set of important papers on the European question."James K. Galbraith, The University of Texas at Austin"The huge debates on the future of the European Union as well as the management of the Euro are among the hottest issues in both contemporary politics and finance. The papers in this volume offer a broad survey of the terrain and a broad menu of possible solutions. The authors and the World Economics Association have provided a major public service with this text of great interest for both the general public and for policymakers."Carlos Marichal , El Colegio de México "The European Union is suffering from many crises - and many self-inflicted through the structures of the Eurozone. This book is to be highly welcomed for debating the causes of those crises and seeking ways forward. The chapters here offer two contrasting routes away from the crisis of the Eurozone: radical reforms of the economic governance of EMU with creation of a viable monetary union, a sensible fiscal policy and building convergence or the orderly dismantaling of the euro and arrangements to co-ordinate currencies. These authors have set out agendas - when will the policy makers join the debates?" Malcolm Sawyer, University of Leeds, UK

In the short span of a few essays, this book takes the reader on a trip from the historical roots of the current financial architecture to the imaginable futures one can envision for it, only if there is the political will to change it. If we accept that, as put by the editors, financial markets' marginal imperfections are rather endemic pathologies, the consequences for the financial architecture have Copernican proportions. Every scholar and practitioner interested in the problems posed by the global economy at a critical moment when it has reached what looks like a dead end, will appreciate the refreshing inspiration offered by the authors that a star editing team has put together.Aldo Caliari, Director, Rethinking Bretton Woods Project, Center of Concern. The stagnation that we suffer since 2008 was originated by the global financial crisis of a system that is outside the control of national governments and has a dynamic of its own. In a few chapters, the book offers a historical account and a perspective of what could be a more rational financial system if there were political will to change it. All those interested in this topic will find in the ideas presented by this combination of authors, a deep understanding of the subject and inspiration for future research.Juan Carlos Moreno Brid, UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. He is Professor at the Faculty of Economics, UNAM, Mexico. As the book authors argue, the financial institutional settings were profoundly modified in the 1970s, imposing new instruments, new mechanism, new institutions that revolutionized the world of finance, missing a central characteristic: financial regulations. In this context the book's conclusions are of outmost importance: taxes on financial activity, new ways of financial accounting, sovereign debts regulators as the new central bank supervisions are vital to overcome the present crisis and set the grounds for a new period of economic growth and development. Noemy Levy, Professor at the Faculty of Economics, UNAM, Mexico. Since the last 2008 economic crisis the implementation of a new financial institutionality is taking too much time, showing the current correlation of power. The discussions at multinational level require more action and inputs as those in this book. Congratulations!Katiuska King Mantilla from the Government of Ecuador.

This is a great book. Against the background of the dogmatism of much of modern economics, Fullbrook has produced an innovative, wide-ranging argument for narrative pluralism. The timely book is beautifully written, accessible to all, provocative, extraordinarily insightful, and extremely compelling.Tony Lawson, Cambridge University, UK This fascinating and profound work should be read … by anyone who is taken in by mainstream economics' false claims of scientific objectivity. Fullbrook's erudite, systematic and thoughtful investigation into the philosophical and conceptual bases of the "singular narrative" exposes the limitations of neoclassical economics and its degenerate practice, and provides a powerful critique of different models of economic rationality.Jayati Ghosh, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India For anyone interested in the state of modern (mainstream) economics, and especially in how and why the neoclassical school has remained so dominant since the Crash of 2008, Fullbrook's book is a must-read. It goes far beyond other treatments in the way that it compares (unfavourably) the prevailing "mono-epistemology" in economics with the norms of epistemological pluralism in the natural sciences. Robert H. Wade, London School of Economics This genuinely original book… scrutinizes the weird make-believe world of mainstream economics and its narrative dogmatism, determinism and atomism, it constitutes a powerful plaidoyer for real pluralism in economics. Fullbrook brings bold new perspectives on the logic of economic choice, rationality, ideology, naturalism, and microfoundations. Whether you agree with him or not, he forces you to think.Lars P Syll, Malmö University, Sweden This book is provocative and highly convincing. It shows us that there is no such thing as a one and unique truth, neither in natural sciences, nor in social sciences. Because reality is multifaceted, narrative pluralism is essential for the advancement of knowledge and for the good health of a democratic society. Fullbrook changes our understanding of what is science and what is ideology.André Orléan, l'École des hautes études en sciences sociales, Paris The neoclassical monopoly in economics necessarily ignores most of what really counts, and locks out competitors. Fullbrook establishes this persuasively in a thoughtful, grounded, and accessible study. To be adequate, economic understanding requires a plurality of approaches. This book shows conclusively that no other position is tenable.Anver Offer, All Souls College, Oxford University, UK Edward Fullbrook's Narrative Fixation in Economics is an exceptionally erudite exploration of the descent of economics into scientism and anti-knowledge.Julie Nelson, University of Massachusetts, Boston