Description
NOTE: This book is currently available for Pre-Order only.
In Neoclassical Economics – the only theory of economics that students are taught at university – there is no economic cycle, no unemployment, no recession, every market for every product is at a stable equilibrium – permanently, money is a mere medium of exchange that does not affect the economy, and therefore banks are also considered irrelevant. In reality, the Great Financial Crisis of 2008-09 demonstrated that banks can crash the global economy, and that unemployment, recession, and a distinct lack of equilibrium are the inevitable consequences.
In a rational world, if reality contradicts your theory, you throw out the theory, but the economics profession has a long history of throwing out reality instead. The result is a banking system that exploits the economy rather than supports it, an endless boom-and-bust cycle, unemployment, instability, and levels of inequality approaching those of feudal times. It doesn’t have to be this way. If we ditch the delusions of Neoclassical Economics, we can create a fairer, more stable, and more prosperous system for all.
This book charts how we got into this mess and, more importantly, explains how we can get out of it by making money and banking a central part of our understanding of the economy.
If we are willing to learn from Japan’s post-war economic miracle, Germany’s and America’s historic strength, and China’s recent economic rise, we can adopt similar policies and achieve comparable results. The future is
bright, but only if we learn from the past.
About The Author:
Karim Ayoubi spent three years studying economics at the University of Oxford in the mid-1990s. He went on to work for some of the big names in banking, including JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs and Chase Manhattan, where he found that what he had learned at university didn’t measure up to reality.
With his faith in economics in tatters, Karim embarked on a journey to understand what drives the economy and financial markets. Realonomics is the result of that search for truth, where reality and economics finally meet.
