The Crisis of Democratic Capitalism

Martin Wolf

Penguin

From the author of The Shifts and the Shocks , and one of the most influential writers on economics, a reckoning with how and why the relationship between democracy and capitalism is coming undoneWe are living in an age when economic failings have shaken faith in global capitalism. Political failings have undermined trust in liberal democracy and in the very notion of truth. The ties that ought to bind open markets to free and fair elections are being strained and rejected, even in democracy's notional heartlands. Around the world, democratic capitalism, which depends on the determined separation of power from wealth, is in crisis. Some now argue that capitalism is better without democracy; others that democracy is better without capitalism.This book is a forceful rejoinder to both views. It analyses how the marriage between capitalism and democracy has become so fraught and yet insists that a divorce would be an almost unimaginable calamity. Martin Wolf, one of the wisest public voices on global affairs, argues that for all its recent failings - slowing growth, increasing inequality, widespread popular disillusion - democratic capitalism, though inherently fragile, remains the best system we know for human flourishing. Capitalism and democracy are complementary they need each other if either is to thrive. Wolf's superb exploration of their marriage shows us how citizenship and a shared faith in the common good are not romantic slogans but the essential foundation of our economic and political freedom.

Allen Lane.

A powerful case for the global market economy The debate on globalization has reached a level of intensity that inhibits comprehension and obscures the issues. In this book a highly distinguished international economist scrupulously explains how globalization works as a concept and how it operates in reality. Martin Wolf confronts the charges against globalization, delivers a devastating critique of each, and offers a realistic scenario for economic internationalism in the future.
 Wolf begins by outlining the history of the global economy in the twentieth century and explaining the mechanics of world trade. He dissects the agenda of globalization’s critics, and rebuts the arguments that it undermines sovereignty, weakens democracy, intensifies inequality, privileges the multinational corporation, and devastates the environment. The author persuasively defends the principles of international economic integration, arguing that the biggest obstacle to global economic progress has been the failure not of the market but of politics and government, in rich countries as well as poor. He examines the threat that terrorism poses and maps the way to a global market economy that can work for everyone.

Why Globalization Works (Yale Nota Bene)

Business & Money

Economics

Yale University Press

The latest book from Financial Times columnist Martin Wolf explains why global imbalances cause financial crises―including the one ravaging the United States right now―and outlines the steps for ending this destructive cycle.Reviewing global financial crises since 1980, Wolf lays bare the links between the microeconomics of finance and the macroeconomics of the balance of payments, demonstrating how the subprime lending crisis in the United States fits into a pattern that includes the economic shocks of 1997, 1998, and early 1999 in Latin America, Russia, and Asia. He explains why the United States is now the "borrower and spender of last resort," makes the case that this is an untenable arrangement, and argues that global economic security depends on the ability of emerging economies to develop robust financial systems based on domestic currencies.Sharply and clearly argued, Wolf’s prescription for fixing global finance illustrates why he has been described as "the world's preeminent financial journalist."

Fixing Global Finance , 2008 publication

Johns Hopkins University Press

The globalisation of finance should have brought substantial benefits. In practice it brought a series of devastating currency and banking crises in the 1980 and 1990s, particularly in the developing world. The failure of advanced countries and of the IMF to rescue the damaged economies of Asia, Russia or Brazil taught those countries, and the emerging Chinese giant, an overwhelming lesson: never again. Emerging economies ceased importing capital, but by keeping their exchange rates down, running huge current account surpluses, recycling capital inflows and accumulating enormous foreign currency reserves, they began to export it on a vast scale. Since several advanced countries also ran large current account surpluses, to which the oil exporters added their own massive contributions, the US emerged as the spender and borrower of last resort. But as its external deficit exploded, so did the domestic borrowing of US households, stimulated by rising house prices. The result was the subprime mortage crisis of 2007. In this expanded paperback edition. Martin Wolf includes a substantial new chapter on the global banking crisis of 2008-9 which has seen the argument of this book becoming the conventional wisdom among G20 policymakers. Only by tackling imbalances in the international financial system is there a chance of global financial stability.

Fixing Global Finance

Finance

The Shifts and the Shocks: What we've learned - and have still to learn - from the financial crisis

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Books by Martin Wolf