The lows of high finance

Abstract

his book is an excellent treatise on finance, seamlessly blending the discussion from Lenin to the principles of modern finance. In keeping with the recent trend of remixing old songs and themes in Bollywood, the book does an excellent job of updating the 17 published articles that cover nearly half a century until March 2013. Sunanda Sen has been successful in revealing the darker side of global finance. The book, though written with much conviction, is dense and difficult to read. But the persistent reader is rewarded with extensive knowledge of national and international finance. Ms Sen takes an alternative view of modern instruments of finance, mainly through the lens of output and labour. To illustrate her point, she observes that derivatives were invented with the tacit connivance of the authorities. She also argues that labour-displacing technology is responsible for many woes of the advanced and developing countries. She even cautions that financial reforms instituted by international institutions, such as the International Monetary Fund and the Bank for International Settlements, offering a trade-off between financial stability and growth with distributive justice are also cause for concern. Read more at: https://www.business-standard.com/article/beyond-business/the-lows-of-high-finance-114031101172_1.html