China's Great Wall of Debt

Download China's Great Wall of Debt PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : HarperCollins
ISBN 13 : 1328846024
Total Pages : 285 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (288 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis China's Great Wall of Debt by : Dinny McMahon

Download or read book China's Great Wall of Debt written by Dinny McMahon and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 285 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A stunning inside look at how and why the foundations upon which China has built the world’s second largest economy, have started to crumble. Over the course of a decade spent reporting in China as a financial journalist, Dinny McMahon came to the conclusion that the widely held belief in China’s inevitable economic ascent is dangerously wrong. In this unprecedented deep dive, McMahon shows how, lurking behind the illusion of prosperity, China’s economic growth has been built on a staggering mountain of debt. While stories of newly built but empty cities, white elephant state projects, and a byzantine shadow banking system have all become a regular fixture in the press, McMahon goes beyond the headlines to explain how such waste has been allowed to flourish, and why one of the most powerful governments in the world has been at a loss to stop it. Through the stories of ordinary Chinese citizens, McMahon tries to make sense of the unique—and often bizarre—mechanics of the nation’s economy, whether it be the state’s addiction to appropriating land from poor farmers; or why a Chinese entrepreneur decided it was cheaper to move his yarn factory to South Carolina; or why ambitious Chinese mayors build ghost cities; or why the Chinese bureaucracy was able to stare down Beijing’s attempts to break up the state’s pointless monopoly over table salt distribution. Debt, entrenched vested interests, a frenzy of speculation, and an aging population are all pushing China toward an economic reckoning. China’s Great Wall of Debt unravels an incredibly complex and opaque economy, one whose fortunes—for better or worse—will shape the globe like never before.

China's Great Wall of Debt

Download China's Great Wall of Debt PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Hachette UK
ISBN 13 : 1408710331
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (87 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis China's Great Wall of Debt by : Dinny McMahon

Download or read book China's Great Wall of Debt written by Dinny McMahon and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-03-13 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'One of the clearest and most thorough statements of an argument often made about the country: that its government has relied on constant stimulus to keep growth strong, an addiction that is bound to backfire. Second, he comes closer than any previous writer to covering the Chinese economy as Michael Lewis, the hugely popular author of The Big Short, might do. His analysis is informed but accessible, animated by anecdotes and characters, some colourful, some verging on tragic . . . McMahon is among the most compelling of the many analysts who conclude that China's economic miracle will end painfully' The Economist The world has long considered China a juggernaut of economic strength, but since the global financial crisis, the country's economy has ballooned in size, complexity, and risk. Once dominated by four state-owned banks, the nation's financial system is a tangle of shadow banking entities, informal financial institutions, and complex corporate funding arrangements that threaten growth, stability, and reform efforts. The country has accumulated so much debt so quickly that economists increasingly predict a financial crisis that could make 'Brexit' or Greece's economic ruin seem minor, and could undermine China's ascent as a superpower. Earlier this year, President Xi Jinping issued an urgent call for reform that gives the country until 2020 to transform its economy - a vaguely-defined objective that most economists agree is unrealistic. Whether or not China will be responsible for the next global recession, as some experts forecast, the fate of its economy will have far-reaching consequences for the rest of the world. Yet the inner workings of China's financial system are still very much a mystery to most outsiders. Now more than ever, as the country's slowing economy is being felt around the globe, it is essential to understand how China allowed its economy to become so mired in debt. China's Great Wall of Debt is a penetrating examination of the country's opaque financial system and the complex factors - demographic shifts; urbanization; industrialization; a pervasive over-reliance on debt-fueled investments - that have brought the country to the brink of crisis. Anchored by stories of China's cities and its people; from factory workers and displaced farmers to government officials and entrepreneurs, the narrative will take readers inside the country's ghost cities, zombie companies, start-ups, and regulatory institutions as McMahon explains how things got so bad, why fixing the problems is so hard, and what the economic outlook means for China and for the rest of us.

China's Superbank

Download China's Superbank PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118176367
Total Pages : 228 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (181 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis China's Superbank by : Henry Sanderson

Download or read book China's Superbank written by Henry Sanderson and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-01-22 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Inside the engine-room of China's economic growth—the China Development Bank Anyone wanting a primer on the secret of China's economic success need look no further than China Development Bank (CDB)—which has displaced the World Bank as the world's biggest development bank, lending billions to countries around the globe to further Chinese policy goals. In China’s Superbank, Bloomberg authors Michael Forsythe and Henry Sanderson outline how the bank is at the center of China's domestic economic growth and how it is helping to expand China's influence in strategically important overseas markets. 100 percent owned by the Chinese government, the CDB holds the key to understanding the inner workings of China's state-led economic development model, and its most glaring flaws. The bank is at the center of the country's efforts to build a world-class network of highways, railroads, and power grids, pioneering a lending scheme to local governments that threatens to spawn trillions of yuan in bad loans. It is doling out credit lines by the billions to Chinese solar and wind power makers, threatening to bury global competitors with a flood of cheap products. Another $45 billion in credit has been given to the country's two biggest telecom equipment makers who are using the money to win contracts around the globe, helping fulfill the goal of China's leaders for its leading companies to "go global." Bringing the story of China Development Bank to life by crisscrossing China to investigate the quality of its loans, China’s Superbank travels the globe, from Africa, where its China-Africa fund is displacing Western lenders in a battle for influence, to the oil fields of Venezuela. Offers a fascinating insight into the China Development Bank (CDB), the driver of China's rapid economic development Travels the globe to show how the CDB is helping Chinese businesses "go global" Written by two respected reporters at Bloomberg News As China's influence continues to grow around the world, many people are asking how far it will extend. China’s Superbank addresses these vital questions, looking at the institution at the heart of this growth.

China

Download China PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0190877405
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (98 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis China by : Thomas Orlik

Download or read book China written by Thomas Orlik and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2020 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A provocative perspective on the fragile fundamentals, and forces for resilience, in the Chinese economy, and a forecast for the future on alternate scenarios of collapse and ascendance.

You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Great Wall of China!

Download You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Great Wall of China! PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : The Salariya Book Company
ISBN 13 : 1912006057
Total Pages : 40 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (12 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Great Wall of China! by : Jacqueline Morley

Download or read book You Wouldn't Want to Work on the Great Wall of China! written by Jacqueline Morley and published by The Salariya Book Company. This book was released on 2021-01-29 with total page 40 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: You’re a hardworking farmer trying to support your family. But you disobey the Emperor’s orders and soon you’re marching through deserts on your way to work on the Great Wall of China! This title in the best-selling children’s history series, You Wouldn't Want To…, features full-colour illustrations which combine humour and accurate technical detail and a narrative approach placing readers at the centre of the history, encouraging them to become emotionally-involved with the characters and aiding their understanding of what life would have been like working on the Great Wall of China. Informative captions, a complete glossary and an index make this title an ideal introduction to the conventions of information books for young readers. It is an ideal text for Key Stage 2 shared and guided reading and helps achieve the goals of the Scottish Standard Curriculum 5-14.

China and the Credit Crisis

Download China and the Credit Crisis PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 0470825073
Total Pages : 241 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (78 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis China and the Credit Crisis by : Giles Chance

Download or read book China and the Credit Crisis written by Giles Chance and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2010 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The western world attributed China’s role as world’s largest financer of the developed world and third largest economy in the world to new economic efficiencies, a revolution in risk management and its own wise policies. China and the Credit Crisis argues that if the extent of the role played in the new prosperity by an emerging China, and the fundamental nature of the changes it brought had been better understood, more appropriate policies and actions would have been adopted at the time which could have avoided the crash, or at least limited its impact. China’s Credit Crisis examines the larger role that China will play in the recovery from the current credit crisis and in the post-crisis world. It addresses the major questions which arise from the financial crisis and discuss the landscape of the post-credit crisis world, initially by continuing to provide growth to a world deep in recession, and later by sharing global economic and political leadership

Debt

Download Debt PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Melville House
ISBN 13 : 1612194206
Total Pages : 709 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (121 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Debt by : David Graeber

Download or read book Debt written by David Graeber and published by Melville House. This book was released on 2014-12-09 with total page 709 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in paperback, the updated and expanded edition: David Graeber’s “fresh . . . fascinating . . . thought-provoking . . . and exceedingly timely” (Financial Times) history of debt Here anthropologist David Graeber presents a stunning reversal of conventional wisdom: he shows that before there was money, there was debt. For more than 5,000 years, since the beginnings of the first agrarian empires, humans have used elaborate credit systems to buy and sell goods—that is, long before the invention of coins or cash. It is in this era, Graeber argues, that we also first encounter a society divided into debtors and creditors. Graeber shows that arguments about debt and debt forgiveness have been at the center of political debates from Italy to China, as well as sparking innumerable insurrections. He also brilliantly demonstrates that the language of the ancient works of law and religion (words like “guilt,” “sin,” and “redemption”) derive in large part from ancient debates about debt, and shape even our most basic ideas of right and wrong. We are still fighting these battles today without knowing it.

Red Flags

Download Red Flags PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
ISBN 13 : 0300240953
Total Pages : 247 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (2 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Red Flags by : George Magnus

Download or read book Red Flags written by George Magnus and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 2018-09-11 with total page 247 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A trusted economic commentator provides a penetrating account of the threats to China's continued economic riseUnder President Xi Jinping, China has become a large and confident power both at home and abroad, but the country also faces serious challenges. In this critical take on China’s future, economist George Magnus explores four key traps that China must confront and overcome in order to thrive: debt, middle income, the Renminbi, and an aging population. Looking at the political direction President Xi Jinping is taking, Magnus argues that Xi’s authoritarian and repressive philosophy is ultimately not compatible with the country’s economic aspirations.Thorough and well researched, the book also investigates the potential for conflicts over trade, China’s evolving relationship with Trump, and the country’s attempt to win influence and control in Eurasia through the Belt and Road initiative.

China's Economy

Download China's Economy PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190946490
Total Pages : 465 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (99 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis China's Economy by : Arthur R. Kroeber

Download or read book China's Economy written by Arthur R. Kroeber and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2020-06-05 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China's economic growth has been revolutionary, and is the foundation of its increasingly prominent role in world affairs. It is the world's second biggest economy, the largest manufacturing and trading nation, the consumer of half the world's steel and coal, the biggest source of international tourists, and one of the most influential investors in developing countries from southeast Asia to Africa to Latin America. Multinational companies make billions of dollars in profits in China each year, while traders around the world shudder at every gyration of the country's unruly stock markets. Perhaps paradoxically, its capitalist economy is governed by an authoritarian Communist Party that shows no sign of loosening its grip. China is frequently in the news, whether because of trade disputes, the challenges of its Belt and Road initiative for global infrastructure, or its increasing military strength. China's political and technological challenges, created by a country whose political system and values differ dramatically from most of the other major world economies, creates uncertainty and even fear. China's Economy: What Everyone Needs to Know® is a concise introduction to the most astonishing economic and political story of the last three decades. Arthur Kroeber enhances our understanding of China's changes and their implications. Among the essential questions he answers are: How did China grow so fast for so long? Can it keep growing and still solve its problems of environmental damage, fast-rising debt and rampant corruption? How long can its vibrant economy co-exist with the repressive one-party state? How do China's changes affect the rest of the world? This thoroughly revised and updated second edition includes a comprehensive discussion of the origins and development of the US-China strategic rivalry, including Trump's trade war and the race for technological supremacy. It also explores the recent changes in China's political system, reflecting Xi Jinping's emergence as the most powerful leader since Mao Zedong. It includes insights on changes in China's financial sector, covering the rise and fall of the shadow banking sector, and China's increasing integration with global financial markets. And it covers China's rapid technological development and the rise of its global Internet champions such as Alibaba and Tencent.

The Great Wall of Money

Download The Great Wall of Money PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Cornell University Press
ISBN 13 : 0801454662
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (14 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Great Wall of Money by : Eric Helleiner

Download or read book The Great Wall of Money written by Eric Helleiner and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 2014-09-08 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As an economic superpower, China has become an increasingly important player in the international monetary system. Its foreign exchange reserves are the largest in the world and its exchange rate policy has become a major subject of international economic diplomacy. The internationalization of the renminbi (RMB) raises critical questions in international policy circles: What kinds of power is China acquiring in international monetary relations? What are the priorities of the Chinese government? What explains its preferences? In The Great Wall of Money, a distinguished group of contributors addresses these questions from distinct perspectives, revealing the extent to which China’s choices, and global monetary affairs, will be shaped by internal political factors and affect world politics. The RMB is a likely competitor for the dollar in the next couple of decades; its emergence as an important international currency would have substantial effects on the balance of power between the United States and China. By illuminating the politics of China’s international monetary relations, this book provides a timely account of the global economy, the role of the renminbi in international relations, and the trajectory of China’s continuing ascendency in the coming decades.

Great State

Download Great State PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Profile Books
ISBN 13 : 1782833471
Total Pages : 548 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (828 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Great State by : Timothy Brook

Download or read book Great State written by Timothy Brook and published by Profile Books. This book was released on 2019-09-19 with total page 548 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China is one of the oldest states in the world. It achieved its approximate current borders with the Ascendancy of the Yuan dynasty in the 13th century, and despite the passing of one Imperial dynasty to the next, it has maintained them for the eight centuries since. Even the European colonial powers at the height of their power could not move past coastal enclaves. Thus, China remained China through the Ming, the Qing, the Republic, the Occupation, and Communism. But, despite the desires of some of the most powerful people in the Great State through the ages, China has never been alone in the world. It has had to contend with invaders from the steppe and the challenges posed by foreign traders and imperialists. Indeed, its rulers for the majority of the last eight centuries have not been Chinese. Timothy Brook examines China's relationship with the world from the Yuan through to the present by following the stories of ordinary and extraordinary people navigating the spaces where China met and meets the world. Bureaucrats, horse traders, spiritual leaders, explorers, pirates, emperors, invaders, migrant workers, traitors, and visionaries: this is a history of China as no one has told it before.

Where Credit is Due

Download Where Credit is Due PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 019764421X
Total Pages : 230 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (976 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Where Credit is Due by : Gregory Smith

Download or read book Where Credit is Due written by Gregory Smith and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-12-01 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Borrowing is a crucial source of financing for governments all over the world. If they get it wrong, then debt crises can bring progress to a halt. But if it's done right, investment happens and conditions improve. African countries are seeking calmer capital, to raise living standards and give their economies a competitive edge. The African debt landscape has changed radically in the first two decades of the twenty-first century. Since the clean slate of extensive debt relief, states have sought new borrowing opportunities from international capital markets and emerging global powers like China. The new debt composition has increased risk, exacerbated by the 2020 coronavirus pandemic: richer countries borrowed at rock-bottom interest rates, while Africa faced an expensive jump in indebtedness. The escalating debt burden has provoked calls by the G20 for suspension of debt payments. But Africa's debt today is highly complex, and owed to a wider range of lenders. A new approach is needed, and could turn crisis into opportunity. Urgent action by both lenders and borrowers can reduce risk, while carefully preserving market access; and smart deployment of private finance can provide the scale of investment needed to achieve development goals and tackle the climate emergency.

In Defense of Public Debt

Download In Defense of Public Debt PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0197577911
Total Pages : 321 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (975 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis In Defense of Public Debt by : Barry Eichengreen

Download or read book In Defense of Public Debt written by Barry Eichengreen and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021-08-11 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A dive into the origins, management, and uses and misuses of sovereign debt through the ages. Public debts have exploded to levels unprecedented in modern history as governments responded to the Covid-19 pandemic and ensuing economic crisis. Their dramatic rise has prompted apocalyptic warnings about the dangers of heavy debtsabout the drag they will place on economic growth and the burden they represent for future generations. In Defense of Public Debt offers a sharp rejoinder to this view, marshaling the entire history of state-issued public debt to demonstrate its usefulness. Authors Barry Eichengreen, Asmaa El-Ganainy, Rui Esteves, and Kris James Mitchener argue that the ability of governments to issue debt has played a critical role in addressing emergenciesfrom wars and pandemics to economic and financial crises, as well as in funding essential public goods and services such as transportation, education, and healthcare. In these ways, the capacity to issue debt has been integral to state building and state survival. Transactions in public debt securities have also contributed to the development of private financial markets and, through this channel, to modern economic growth. None of this is to deny that debt problems, debt crises, and debt defaults occur. But these dramatic events, which attract much attention, are not the entire story. In Defense of Public Debt redresses the balance. The authors develop their arguments historically, recounting two millennia of public debt experience. They deploy a comprehensive database to identify the factors behind rising public debts and the circumstances under which high debts are successfully stabilized and brought down. Finally, they bring the story up to date, describing the role of public debt in managing the Covid-19 pandemic and recession, suggesting a way forward once governmentsnow more heavily indebted than beforefinally emerge from the crisis.

Cracking the China Conundrum

Download Cracking the China Conundrum PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190630043
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (96 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Cracking the China Conundrum by : Yukon Huang

Download or read book Cracking the China Conundrum written by Yukon Huang and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2017-06-22 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: China's rise is altering global power relations, reshaping economic debates, and commanding tremendous public attention. Despite extensive media and academic scrutiny, the conventional wisdom about China's economy is often wrong. Cracking the China Conundrum provides a holistic and contrarian view of China's major economic, political, and foreign policy issues. Yukon Huang trenchantly addresses widely accepted yet misguided views in the analysis of China's economy. He examines arguments about the causes and effects of China's possible debt and property market bubbles, trade and investment relations with the Western world, the links between corruption and political liberalization in a growing economy and Beijing's more assertive foreign policies. Huang explains that such misconceptions arise in part because China's economic system is unprecedented in many ways-namely because it's driven by both the market and state- which complicates the task of designing accurate and adaptable analysis and research. Further, China's size, regional diversity, and uniquely decentralized administrative system poses difficulties for making generalizations and comparisons from micro to macro levels when trying to interpret China's economic state accurately. This book not only interprets the ideologies that experts continue building misguided theories upon, but also examines the contributing factors to this puzzle. Cracking the China Conundrum provides an enlightening and corrective viewpoint on several major economic and political foreign policy concerns currently shaping China's economic environment.

Unlikely Partners

Download Unlikely Partners PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Harvard University Press
ISBN 13 : 067497347X
Total Pages : 412 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (749 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Unlikely Partners by : Julian Gewirtz

Download or read book Unlikely Partners written by Julian Gewirtz and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2017-01-02 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Unlikely Partners recounts the story of how Chinese politicians and intellectuals looked beyond their country’s borders for economic guidance at a key crossroads in the nation’s tumultuous twentieth century. Julian Gewirtz offers a dramatic tale of competition for influence between reformers and hardline conservatives during the Deng Xiaoping era, bringing to light China’s productive exchanges with the West. When Mao Zedong died in 1976, his successors seized the opportunity to reassess the wisdom of China’s rigid commitment to Marxist doctrine. With Deng Xiaoping’s blessing, China’s economic gurus scoured the globe for fresh ideas that would put China on the path to domestic prosperity and ultimately global economic power. Leading foreign economists accepted invitations to visit China to share their expertise, while Chinese delegations traveled to the United States, Hungary, Great Britain, West Germany, Brazil, and other countries to examine new ideas. Chinese economists partnered with an array of brilliant thinkers, including Nobel Prize winners, World Bank officials, battle-scarred veterans of Eastern Europe’s economic struggles, and blunt-speaking free-market fundamentalists. Nevertheless, the push from China’s senior leadership to implement economic reforms did not go unchallenged, nor has the Chinese government been eager to publicize its engagement with Western-style innovations. Even today, Chinese Communists decry dangerous Western influences and officially maintain that China’s economic reinvention was the Party’s achievement alone. Unlikely Partners sets forth the truer story, which has continuing relevance for China’s complex and far-reaching relationship with the West.

Trade Governance of the Belt and Road Initiative

Download Trade Governance of the Belt and Road Initiative PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1351331957
Total Pages : 106 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (513 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Trade Governance of the Belt and Road Initiative by : Dawei Cheng

Download or read book Trade Governance of the Belt and Road Initiative written by Dawei Cheng and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2018-05-11 with total page 106 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at the rationale behind the Belt and Road Initiative by China, and attempts to explain the motivation from economical and historical perspectives. The book also compares trade governance of China with those of the United Kingdom and United States, and analyzes the value construction and promotion process of Chinese trade governance.

Between Debt and the Devil

Download Between Debt and the Devil PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691175985
Total Pages : 330 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Between Debt and the Devil by : Adair Turner

Download or read book Between Debt and the Devil written by Adair Turner and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2017-08-02 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Why our addiction to debt caused the global financial crisis and is the root of our financial woes Adair Turner became chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority just as the global financial crisis struck in 2008, and he played a leading role in redesigning global financial regulation. In this eye-opening book, he sets the record straight about what really caused the crisis. It didn’t happen because banks are too big to fail—our addiction to private debt is to blame. Between Debt and the Devil challenges the belief that we need credit growth to fuel economic growth, and that rising debt is okay as long as inflation remains low. In fact, most credit is not needed for economic growth—but it drives real estate booms and busts and leads to financial crisis and depression. Turner explains why public policy needs to manage the growth and allocation of credit creation, and why debt needs to be taxed as a form of economic pollution. Banks need far more capital, real estate lending must be restricted, and we need to tackle inequality and mitigate the relentless rise of real estate prices. Turner also debunks the big myth about fiat money—the erroneous notion that printing money will lead to harmful inflation. To escape the mess created by past policy errors, we sometimes need to monetize government debt and finance fiscal deficits with central-bank money. Between Debt and the Devil shows why we need to reject the assumptions that private credit is essential to growth and fiat money is inevitably dangerous. Each has its advantages, and each creates risks that public policy must consciously balance.