The Global Minotaur: America, Europe and the Future of the World Economy(Economic Controversies)

In this remarkable and provocative book, Yanis Varoufakis explodes the myth that financialisation, ineffectual regulation of banks, greed and globalisation were the root causes of the global economic crisis. Rather, they are symptoms of a much deeper malaise which can be traced all the way back to the Great Crash of 1929, then on through to the 1970s: the time when a 'Global Minotaur' was born. Just as the Athenians maintained a steady flow of tributes to the Cretan beast, so the 'rest of the world' began sending incredible amounts of capital to America and Wall Street. Thus, the Global Minotaur became the 'engine' that pulled the world economy from the early 1980s to 2008. Today's crisis in Europe, the heated debates about austerity versus further fiscal stimuli in the US, the clash between China's authorities and the Obama administration on exchange rates are the inevitable symptoms of the weakening Minotaur; of a global 'system' which is now as unsustainable as it is imbalanced. Going beyond this, Varoufakis lays out the options available to us for reintroducing a modicum of reason into a highly irrational global economic order. An essential account of the socio-economic events and hidden histories that have shaped the world as we now know it.

Table of Contents:
1. Introduction 2. Laboratories of the future 3. The Global Plan 4. The Global Minotaur 5. The Beast's Handmaidens 6. Crash 7. The Handmaidens Strike Back 8. The Minotaur's Global Legacy: The Dimming Sun, the Wounded Tigers, a Flighty Europa and an Anxious Dragon 9. A future without the Minotaur?

About the Author :
Yanis Varoufakis is Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens, Greece, where he now lives after more than two decades of studying and teaching in Britain and Australia (where he held academic posts, in reverse order, at the Universities of Sydney, Glasgow, Cambridge and East Anglia). This is his first book aimed at the general reader. His more stuffy books include Rational Conflict (1991), Foundations of Economics (1998) and (with Shaun Hargreaves Heap) Game Theory: A critical text (2004). Yanis Varoufakis is Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens, Greece, where he now lives after more than two decades of studying and teaching in Britain and Australia (where he held academic posts, in reverse order, at the Universities of Sydney, Glasgow, Cambridge and East Anglia). This is his first book aimed at the general reader. His more stuffy books include Rational Conflict (1991), Foundations of Economics (1998) and (with Shaun Hargreaves Heap) Game Theory: A critical text (2004).

Review :
Yanis Varoufakis is a rare economist: skilled at explaining ideas, happy to join in public debates and able to put his discipline in a broader context. The emerging rock-star of Europe's anti-austerity uprising In the most comprehensive guide to the contemporary economic crisis yet written, Yanis Varoufakis traces out the path from post-war US economic supremacy to the current predicament. Clearly and strongly written, with logical organization building towards simple conclusions, the book is an easy yet rewarding read ... perhaps should become the standard way we think about the nature of our increasingly dysfunctional world economy. This trenchant and readable critique sets the eurozone crisis within a much longer context. A spirited book. If you want to know how serious the current crisis is, you should read this book. With much eloquence, Yanis Varoufakis argues that the current financial problems are connected to the emerging fault lines of the international monetary system. Yanis is one of the best, brightest and most innovative economists on the planet. The book is one of those exceedingly rare publications of which one can say they are urgent, timely and absolutely necessary. His argument has an ambitious sweep.