Dear users, today we have a very personal request. We have decided to offer our learning materials free of charge because we believe in an open, pluralist economic science that is available to everyone, worldwide. We do this without advertising because we want to remain independent of commercial interests. But our commitment to independence and open access also has its price. Every year we have large costs for programming, staff and to support our authors. If everyone reading this gave a small amount, we could keep Exploring Economics thriving for years to come - but 99% of our users don't give. So today we ask you to protect Exploring Economics's independence. The heart and soul of Exploring Economics is a community of people working to bring you unlimited access to high-qualitiy, economic learning and teaching material. Please take just a few moments to help us keep Exploring Economics going. Thank you!
We are a registered non-profit organization | Bank account: Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik e.V., IBAN: DE91 4306 0967 6037 9737 00, SWIFT-BIC: GENODEM1GLS | Imprint
Modern Political Economics – Making Sense of the Post-2008 World

Blurb
Once in a while the world astonishes itself. Anxious incredulity replaces intellectual torpor and a puzzled public strains its antennae in every possible direction, desperately seeking explanations for the causes and nature of what just hit it. 2008 was such a moment. Not only did the financial system collapse, and send the real economy into a tailspin, but it also revealed the great gulf separating economics from a very real capitalism. Modern Political Economics has a single aim: To help readers make sense of how 2008 came about and what the post-2008 world has in store.
The book is divided into two parts. The first part delves into every major economic theory, from Aristotle to the present, with a determination to discover clues of what went wrong in 2008. The main finding is that all economic theory is inherently flawed. Any system of ideas whose purpose is to describe capitalism in mathematical or engineering terms leads to inevitable logical inconsistency; an inherent error that stands between us and a decent grasp of capitalist reality. The only scientific truth about capitalism is its radical indeterminacy, a condition which makes it impossible to use science's tools (e.g. calculus and statistics) to second-guess it. The second part casts an attentive eye on the post-war era; on the breeding ground of the Crash of 2008. It distinguishes between two major post-war phases: The Global Plan (1947-1971) and the Global Minotaur (1971-2008).
This dynamic new book delves into every major economic theory and maps out meticulously the trajectory that global capitalism followed from post-war almost centrally planned stability, to designed disintegration in the 1970s, to an intentional magnification of unsustainable imbalances in the 1980s and, finally, to the most spectacular privatisation of money in the 1990s and beyond. Modern Political Economics is essential reading for Economics students and anyone seeking a better understanding of the 2008 economic crash.
Donate
This project is brought to you by the Network for Pluralist Economics (Netzwerk Plurale Ökonomik e.V.). It is committed to diversity and independence and is dependent on donations from people like you. Regular or one-off donations would be greatly appreciated.