★★★★★ 5
Deep Into the Financial Nuts and Bolts
Format: Paperback
This a very, very informative book about the financial crash of 2008 and its lengthy recovery. The British author is a fine writer and definitely appears to master the subject. His background is as an economic historian and his approach to the financial collapse is thru the lens of political economy.
For a European, he is very charitable towards the failures of the US markets and the responses of the US govt in the crisis. In fact, he is much more critical of the Germans and the British and the EU govts in their involvement in the crisis and their failure to more effectively guide the Eurozone out of the financial crisis.
The book is somewhat dense and daunting and is 616 pages of text. Definitly not for the faint of heart or those who are not somewhat financially and economically literate. It does not lend itself to speed reading. A glossary and list of abbreviations would have been very helpful--as other commenters have suggested. Abbreviated acronyms of organizations, treaties, agreements,govt agencies, etc. come flying fast and furious. Still, with due and diligent effort on the part of the reader, you can see how very well the author knits his technocratic financial narrative together.
The negative reviews often seem poorly informed. It's a difficult book to get thru. Some readers appear to dislike the author because he is a Keynesian liberal. I understand that, but they should note that he tends to be very positive about US govt financial leadership leading the world out of the crisis. Some don't like the fact that he thinks Trump is a grifter. Unfortunately, Trump is, irrefutably, a grifter and a con man.
The only areas where I found myself disagreeing with the author were on the issues of immigration and protectionism. The Eurozone and the US cannot support unrestricted immigration. There are too many millions in the world of 8 billion people who would kick down the gateways of either entitity to gain entry. Unrestricted immigration is an existential threat to all the Western countries involved. Sober assessment of reality is something other than "racist". "Realistic" is a far more accurate term.
The author is a classic liberal and against national "protectionism". However, this is 2023. The book was written in 2017. Much water has passed under the bridge since then. Countries are political entities with borders. Too often--as the writer points out--economic and financial advisors forget the "political" part of "political economy". Trump's legions are there to remind them. At least they are good for something. Protecting your economy from essential foreign supply chain failures and from hostile foreign competitors is just good governance. And insuring that others share in general prosperity besides coastal elites is another part of good governance. "Flyover Country" is every bit as important as the two coasts. Probably more so. Never forget the "political" part of "political economy".
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Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2023
