This is a superb primer on the economic crisis of 2009 for anyone who wants to get a better handle on the immediate causes of the financial meltdown that at one stage threatened to plunge the world into another great depression. Mason, economics correspondent for the BBC’s Newsnight, begins with a colourful first-hand survey of the day-by-day drama of the crisis from what he saw on Wall Street and Washington. He identifies the deeper roots of the crisis in financialization, the ‘subprime’ housing boom and, ultimately, neoliberal economics. His prescriptions are somewhat weak, however; he recommends merely a revamped Keynesianism. SS
Verso; 2009; 198 pages
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