Summary of The Shifts and the Shocks

Martin Wolf

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Recommendation

This is a radical treatise from Martin Wolf, the chief economics commentator and associate editor of The Financial Times. He argues persuasively that policy makers should force banks to hold more equity, embracing the possibility that the financial sector could shrink drastically as a result. His agenda includes other widely discussed ideas, such as changing the US dollar’s global role and encouraging developing countries to insure themselves against fiscal crisis. While always politically neutral, getAbstract suggests Wolf’s clear language and intriguing arguments to financial professionals, investors and executives.

In this summary, you will learn

How low global inflation and interest rates misdirected advanced economies’ macroeconomic policies;
Why aiming for business as usual is dangerous; and
Which reforms in money creation, bank equity levels and reserve currencies could make economies more resilient.

About the Author

Associate editor and chief economics commentator at The Financial Times, Martin Wolf has received many awards for journalism. His previous books include Why Globalization Works and Fixing Finance.

Summary

A Shock to the System

The scale of the 2008 financial crisis wasn’t the only factor that made it so significant. Consider how it caught the political and economic establishment off guard: The large, rich economies that took the worst blows had been cruising along. They seemed to have solved their inflation problems and to have improved the performance of their profitable financial sectors through risk management and financial innovation.