Financialization (financial markets, financial motives and financial actors in the operations of the economy) diverts resources to speculative investments and increases risks for most workers and middle class investors. A new volume edited by PERI Co-Director Gerald Epstein examines financialization in the context of the US economy, the international monetary system, and provides case studies of economic crises and policy perspectives and alternatives. "The breadth and depth of the analyses in this book," says reviewer Malcolm Sawyer, "will make it a most important contribution to the awareness of the problems raised by financialization and to the

development of policy responses."

Table of Contents

PREFACE

PART I: INTRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTIONAL IMPLICATIONS

1. Introduction: Financialization and the World Economy
Gerald A.Epstein

2. Costs and Benefits of Neoliberalism: A Class Analysis
Gerard Dumenil and Dominique Levy

3. The Rise of Rentier Incomes in OECD Countries: Financialization, Central Bank Policy and Labor Solidarity
Gerald A. Epstein and Arjun Jayadev

Part II: FINANCIALIZATION AND THE US ECONOMY

4. The Neoliberal Paradox: The Impact of Destructive Product Market Competition and ‘Modern’ Financial Markets on Nonfinancial Corporation Performance in the Neoliberal Era
James Crotty

5. The Late 1990s’ US Bubble: Financialization in the Extreme
Robert R. Parenteau

6. Derivatives Markets: Sources of Vulnerability in US Financial Markets
Randall Dodd

PART III: FINANCIALIZATION AND THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY SYSTEM

7. Financial Globalization, Exchange Rates and International Trade
Robert A. Blecker

8. The Eurodollar Market and the New Era of Global Financialization
Edwin Dickens

9. The Role of the International Monetary System in Financialization
Jane D'Arista

PART IV: CASE STUDIES OF FINANCIALIZATION AND ECONOMIC CRISIS

10. The Rise of the New Money Doctors in Mexico
Sarah Babb

11. The Making of the Turkish Financial Crisis
Yilmaz Akyuz and Korkut Boratav

12. The Recent Crisis – and Recovery – of the Argentine Economy: Some Elements and Background
Arturo O'Connell

13. International Liquidity and Growth Fluctuations in Brazil
Nelson H. Barbosa-Filho

14. The Causes and Consequences of Neoliberal Restructuring in Post-Crisis Korea
James Crotty and Kang-Kook Lee

PART IV: POLICY PERSPECTIVES

15. Averting Crisis? Assessing Measures to Manage Financial Integration in Emerging Economies
Ilene Grabel

16. Why International Capital Mobility Should be Curbed and How it Could be Done
David Felix

17. Applying a Securities Transactions Tax to the US: Design Issues, Market Impact and Revenue Estimates
Robert Pollin

INDEX