J. Adam Tooze

Looks at the ways that current dramatic shifts in the domestic and global economy have their roots in the 2008 economic crisis and its aftermath, exploring novel themes in the way the crisis has played out for the past decade and will influence the future.

how a decade of financial crises changed the world

Crashed

Brendan M

Tooze exposes the fault lines between the political and the technical, revealing a world lurching from the crisis of 2008 to subsequent crises with deep interconnectedness between states and markets driving the decisions and the tensions. He writes, 'Political choice, ideology and agency are everywhere across this narrative with highly consequential results... as vital reactions to the huge volatility and contingency generated by the malfunctioning of the giant "systems" and "machines" and apparatuses of financial engineering.'

This is an assured and panoptical view of the global financial crisis and its many aftermaths. For the general reader, it can often be hard going as it assumes a certain knowledge of economics and financial instruments. It also has a tendency to argue by inference about the connections between the geoeconomic and the geopolitical. The book would be clearer and more persuasive by making such links explicit.

Overall, it is a fascinating read and worth the effort to understand the massive global nature of markets and the role governments play in regulating, liberalising, and responding to them.

Crashed how a decade of financial crises changed the world

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