With this pamphlet, our first publication, we hope to provide activists and thinkers with an understanding of the causes and consequences of the Global Financial Crisis, and to chart the beginnings of an alternative economic course. Edited by PEF Chair and founder Patrick Allen, it is based around four essays from members of our Council.
First, Ann Pettifor explains the historic causes of the crash, the running theme being forty years of deregulation of financial markets. Professor John Weeks then lays bare the damage that the crisis and subsequent austerity has inflicted on the economy. In her contribution, Dr Johnna Montgomerie explains the devastating consequences of the UK’s “debt economy”, in which many members of society rely on debt to get by in the face of stagnant wages. Finally, Professor Stephany Griffith-Jones outlines how a National Investment Bank could be used to finance the investment necessary to rebuild the British economy and prepare for challenges such as climate change, forming a vital part of a progressive policy programme.
Interspersed with these essays are a number of resources: a timeline of the crisis, summaries of the consequences of the crash and austerity, a history of failed austerity experiments and an analysis of the changing Conservative narrative around Labour’s handling of the crash, with contributions from Patrick Allen and PEF economist Michael Davies.
