Great Financial Meltdown

Edited by Turan Subasat, Department of Economics, Mugla Sitki Kocman University, Turkey

'What caused the 2007-09 global financial crisis and Great Recession? Why was the ''recovery'' from this crisis period anemic or, in many countries, such as Greece, non-existent? Orthodox economists have almost completely drawn a blank in providing useful answers. By contrast, The Great Financial Meltdown provides a rich array of alternative-and frequently conflicting-perspectives from the Marxian, Post Keynesian and related heterodox traditions. All serious students of real-world economics will have their minds opened by studying this impressive collection.'--Robert Pollin, University of Massachusetts-Amherst'This book offers fresh insights across the ultimate causes and the long-term implications of the current crisis. It also critically examines the policy alternatives currently on the table, advancing constructive forms of engagement both among the heterodoxy, and with mainstream economics. There is simply no better starting-point to understand the ongoing predicament of advanced as well as ''emerging'' economies.'--Alfredo Saad-Filho, SOAS, University of London, UK

• Contents:PART I INTRODUCTION1. The Crisis in ContextTuran Subasat 2. Roots of the Current Economic Crisis: Capitalism, Forms of Capitalism, Policies, and Contingent EventsDavid M. KotzPART II CRISIS AND PROFITABILITY 3. Crisis Theory and the Falling Rate of ProfitDavid Harvey4. Monocausality and Crisis Theory – A Reply to David HarveyMichael Roberts5. Booms, Depressions, and the Rate of Profit: A Pluralist, Inductive GuideAlan FreemanPART III THE CRISIS IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL REPRODUCTION6. A Global Approach to the Global Financial CrisisJohn Weeks7. The Incubator of the Great Meltdown of 2008: The Structure and Practices of US Neoliberalism as Attacks on LaborAl Campbell and Erdogan Bakir8. The Value of History and the History of ValueRadhika Desai9. The Systemic Failings in Framing Neo-Liberal Social PolicyBen Fine10. The Policy-Based and Conjunctural Causes of the 2008 CrisisTuran Subasat11. The Systemic Causes of the 2008 Crisis – An Alternative Theoretical PerspectiveTuran SubasatPART IV CRISIS AND FINANCE12. Inequality, Money Markets and CrisisSimon Mohun13. The Crisis of Finance and the Crisis of Accumulation: It Was Not a ‘Lehman Brothers Moment’Jan Toporowski14. Contradictions of Capital Accumulation in the Age of FinancializationÖzgür Orhangazi15. Which Crisis, of Which Capitalism? A Marxian and Financial Keynesian Interpretation of Neoliberalism and the Great RecessionRiccardo Bellofiore16. The Contested Nature of Financialization in Emerging Capitalist EconomiesAnnina Kaltenbrunner and Elif Karacimen.PART V THE CRISIS UNFOLDS17. The Greek Crisis: Structural or Conjunctural?Stavros D. Mavroudeas18. Greece, Global Fault-lines and the Disintegrative Logics of Germany's Primacy in Europe.Vassilis K. Fouskas19. Conclusions John WeeksIndex