Description
Book SynopsisThis is a book that none of us can afford to ignore – an agenda-setting, campaigning investigation that shows how global finance works for the few and not the many.
** A Financial Times Book of the Year **
‘Essential reading’ YANIS VAROUFAKIS
We need finance – but when finance grows too big it becomes a curse.
The City of London is the single biggest drain on our resources, sucking talent out of every sphere, siphoning wealth and hoovering up government time. Yet to be ‘competitive’, we’re told we must turn a blind eye to money laundering and appease big business with tax cuts.
Tracing the curse back through economic history, Nicholas Shaxson uncovers how we got to this point. Moving from offshore tax havens to the bizarre industry of wealth management, he tells the explosive story of how finance established a stranglehold on society – and reveals how we can begin to break free.
‘A radical, urgent and important manifesto for improving our country’
Oliver Bullough, Observer
‘Superbly written… A must-read’
Misha Glenny, author of McMafia
‘Hard-hitting, well written and informative’
Financial Times
Trade ReviewUtterly convincing… The Finance Curse is a radical and important manifesto for improving Britain -- Oliver Bullough, author of MONEYLAND
This is a
splendid polemic against modern finance, in general, and the City of London, in particular. It is
hard-hitting, well written and informative. Instead of enabling productive investment, the predominant activity of contemporary finance is rent extraction. This comes in many different guises: modern finance does not only promote tax avoidance and evasion, but, argues Shaxson, enables gangsterism and corruption on an enormous scale. I fear he is right. -- Martin Wolf * Financial Times *
This superbly written book shows definitively how global finance has been grossly mis-sold to us all. It’s a must-read for anyone who lives, works and spends in this country -- MISHA GLENNY, author of McMafia
Gripping . . . a
superbly written overview * Times Literary Supplement *
Searing… Shaxson has form on being
prescient ... his ideas should not be dismissed lightly -- Caroline Binham * Financial Times *
