The Great Financial Meltdown reviews, advocates and critiques the systemic, conjunctural and policy-based explanations for the 2008 crisis. The book expertly examines the explanations for the global crisis to assess their analytical and empirical validity. Comprehensive yet accessible chapters, written by a collection of prominent authors, cover a wide range of political economy approaches to the crisis, including Marxian, Post Keynesian and other heterodox schools. This interrogation of economic policy in light of the financial crisis is essential reading for real-word economists. To those seeking to understand the current economic stagnation and failings of the system, it offers an enlightening exposition of contemporary political economy. Contributors include: E. Bakir, R. Bellofiore, A. Campbell, R. Desai, B. Fine, D. Fouskas, A. Freeman, D. Harvey, A. Kaltenbrunner, E. Karacimen, D. Kotz, S. Mavroudeas, S. Mohun, O. Orhangazi, M. Roberts, T. Subasat, J. Toporowski, J. Weeks

Table of Contents:
Contents: PART I INTRODUCTION 1. The Crisis in Context Turan Subasat 2. Roots of the Current Economic Crisis: Capitalism, Forms of Capitalism, Policies, and Contingent Events David M. Kotz PART II CRISIS AND PROFITABILITY 3. Crisis Theory and the Falling Rate of Profit David Harvey 4. Monocausality and Crisis Theory – A Reply to David Harvey Michael Roberts 5. Booms, Depressions, and the Rate of Profit: A Pluralist, Inductive Guide Alan Freeman PART III THE CRISIS IN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL REPRODUCTION 6. A Global Approach to the Global Financial Crisis John Weeks 7. The Incubator of the Great Meltdown of 2008: The Structure and Practices of US Neoliberalism as Attacks on Labor Al Campbell and Erdogan Bakir 8. The Value of History and the History of Value Radhika Desai 9. The Systemic Failings in Framing Neo-Liberal Social Policy Ben Fine 10. The Policy-Based and Conjunctural Causes of the 2008 Crisis Turan Subasat 11. The Systemic Causes of the 2008 Crisis – An Alternative Theoretical Perspective Turan Subasat PART IV CRISIS AND FINANCE 12. Inequality, Money Markets and Crisis Simon Mohun 13. The Crisis of Finance and the Crisis of Accumulation: It Was Not a ‘Lehman Brothers Moment’ Jan Toporowski 14. Contradictions of Capital Accumulation in the Age of Financialization Özgür Orhangazi 15. Which Crisis, of Which Capitalism? A Marxian and Financial Keynesian Interpretation of Neoliberalism and the Great Recession Riccardo Bellofiore 16. The Contested Nature of Financialization in Emerging Capitalist Economies Annina Kaltenbrunner and Elif Karacimen. PART V THE CRISIS UNFOLDS 17. The Greek Crisis: Structural or Conjunctural? Stavros D. Mavroudeas 18. Greece, Global Fault-lines and the Disintegrative Logics of Germany's Primacy in Europe. Vassilis K. Fouskas 19. Conclusions John Weeks Index