by Nicholas Shaxson (author)
About the Author
Nicholas Shaxson is a journalist who has written for the Financial Times, The Economist Group, African Energy, and the insider newsletter Africa Confidential. He is the author of the highly acclaimed Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil and an associate fellow with the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London.
About this book
Global finance is a system that works for the few and against the many.
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; it sucks talent out of every sphere, it siphons wealth and hoovers 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. We are told global finance is about wealth creation; the reality is wealth extraction.
Tracing the curse back through economic history, Shaxson uncovers how we got to this point. He exposes offshore tax havens; the uncontrolled growth of monopolies; the myths around the Celtic Tiger and its low corporate tax rate; the bizarre industry of wealth management; the destructive horrors of private equity; and the sinister ‘Competitiveness Agenda’.
Nicholas Shaxson revealed the dark heart of tax havens long before the Panama and Paradise Papers. Now he tells the explosive story of how finance established a stranglehold on society and points us towards a way out.
This is a book that none of us can afford to ignore.
Table of contents
1: Sabotage
2: Neoliberalism Across Borders
3: Britain’s Second Empire
4: The Invisible Fist
5: The Third Way
6: The Celtic Tiger
7: The London Loophole
8: Wealth and its Armour
9: Private Equity
10: The March of the Takers
11: The Evidence Machine
Publisher: The Bodley Head Ltd (October 11, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1847925383
ISBN-13: 978-1847925381