Against the Consensus Reflections on the Great Recession

In June 2008, Justin Yifu Lin was appointed Chief Economist of the World Bank, right before the eruption of the worst global financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression. Drawing on experience from his privileged position, Lin offers unique reflections on the cause of the crisis, why it was so serious and widespread, and its likely evolution. Arguing that conventional theories provide inadequate solutions, he proposes new initiatives for achieving global stability and avoiding the recurrence of similar crises in the future. He suggests that the crisis and the global imbalances both originated with the excess liquidity created by US financial deregulation and loose monetary policy, and recommends the creation of a global Marshall Plan and a new supranational global reserve currency. This thought-provoking book will appeal to academics, graduate students, policy makers, and anyone interested in the global economy.

Preface; Overview; Part I. What Caused the 2008–9 Global Crisis?: 1. The world economy and the 2008–9 crisis; 2. The real causes of the crisis; 3. Financial deregulation and the housing bubble; 4. What's wrong with the Eurozone; 5. Why China's reserves rose so much; Part II. A Win-Win Path to Recovery: 6. Infrastructure investments - beyond Keynesianism; 7. A massive global infrastructure initiative; Part III. How Poor Countries Can Catch up: Flying Geese and Leading Dragons: 8. The mystery of the great divergence; 9. The mechanics and benefits of structural change; 10. Lessons from the failures and successes of structural transformation; 11. Unique opportunities for poor countries; Part IV. Toward a Brave New World Monetary System: 12. The evolution of the international monetary system; 13. Emerging pressures and policy challenges; 14. (In)stability of the emerging multiple reserve currency system; 15. The thinking behind the main reform proposals; 16. Costs and benefits of major reform proposals; 17. A proposal for a new global reserve currency - paper gold ('p-gold'); 18. Why it still matters; References; Index.

Justin Yifu Lin is Professor and Honorary Dean of the National School of Development at Peking University. He was former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President of the World Bank between 2008 and 2012, and was the first economist from the developing world to hold this position. Prior to joining the Bank, Professor Lin served for 15 years as Founding Director and Professor of the China Centre for Economic Research (CCER) at Peking University. He is corresponding fellow of the British Academy, fellow of the World Academy of Sciences for the Developing World and the author of 23 books, including The Quest for Prosperity: How Developing Countries Can Take Off (2012), New Structural Economics: A Framework for Rethinking Development and Policy (2012), Benti and Changwu: Dialogues on Methodology in Economics (2011), Economic Development and Transition: Thought, Strategy, and Viability (2009) and Demystifying the Chinese Economy (Cambridge University Press, 2011).