The Global Minotaur - Economic Controversies by Yanis Varoufakis Hardcover

Book Synopsis

'The emerging rock-star of Europe's anti-austerity uprising.'
Daily Telegraph

'A spirited book.'
New Yorker

In this remarkable and provocative book, Yanis Varoufakis, former finance minister of Greece, explodes the myth that financialisation, ineffectual regulation of banks, greed and globalisation were the root causes of both the Eurozone crisis and the global economic crisis. Rather, they are symptoms of a much deeper malaise which can be traced all the way back to the Great Crash of 1929, then on through to the 1970s: the time when a Global Minotaur was born.

Today's deepening crisis in Europe is just one of the inevitable symptoms of the weakening Minotaur; of a global system which is now as unsustainable as it is imbalanced. Going beyond this, Varoufakis reveals how we might reintroduce a modicum of reason into what has become a perniciously irrational economic order.

An essential account of the socio-economic events and hidden histories that have shaped the world as we now know it.

Review Quotes

"Yanis Varoufakis is a rare economist: skilled at explaining ideas, happy to join in public debates and able to put his discipline in a broader context." --Aditya Chakrabortty, Guardian lead economics writer

"The emerging rock-star of Europe's anti-austerity uprising" --Daily Telegraph

"In the most comprehensive guide to the contemporary economic crisis yet written, Yanis Varoufakis traces out the path from post-war US economic supremacy to the current predicament." --Gary Dymski, University of California, Riverside

"Clearly and strongly written, with logical organization building towards simple conclusions, the book is an easy yet rewarding read ... perhaps should become the standard way we think about the nature of our increasingly dysfunctional world economy." --Joel Campbell, International Affairs

"This trenchant and readable critique sets the eurozone crisis within a much longer context." --London Evening Standard

"A spirited book." --New Yorker

"If you want to know how serious the current crisis is, you should read this book. With much eloquence, Yanis Varoufakis argues that the current financial problems are connected to the emerging fault lines of the international monetary system." --Shaun Hargreaves-Heap, University of East Anglia

"Yanis is one of the best, brightest and most innovative economists on the planet." --Steve Keen, author of Debunking Economics

"The book is one of those exceedingly rare publications of which one can say they are urgent, timely and absolutely necessary." --Terry Eagleton

"His argument has an ambitious sweep." --The Times

About the Author

Yanis Varoufakis is Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens, Greece, where he now lives after more than two decades of studying and teaching in Britain and Australia (where he held academic posts, in reverse order, at the Universities of Sydney, Glasgow, Cambridge and East Anglia). This is his first book aimed at the general reader. His more stuffy books include Rational Conflict (1991), Foundations of Economics (1998) and (with Shaun Hargreaves Heap) Game Theory: A critical text (2004).
Yanis Varoufakis is Professor of Economic Theory at the University of Athens, Greece, where he now lives after more than two decades of studying and teaching in Britain and Australia (where he held academic posts, in reverse order, at the Universities of Sydney, Glasgow, Cambridge and East Anglia). This is his first book aimed at the general reader. His more stuffy books include Rational Conflict (1991), Foundations of Economics (1998) and (with Shaun Hargreaves Heap) Game Theory: A critical text (2004).