Introduction

Abstract

“Seriously? Not another book about the crisis? And, unfortunately too, it’s probably written by academics; you know these wise guys that never set foot in the real world”. This may well have been your reaction on seeing the title of this book. We understand — the financial crisis of 2008 has generated such an enormous amount of discussion, in all aspects of economic and social life, that some might find it tiresome to continue to ponder about what happened and how things can improve.

Responding to the Queen’s criticism for the failure to anticipate the credit crunch, a group of influential economists apologised: “…most were convinced that banks knew what they were doing. They believed that the financial wizards had found new and clever ways of managing risks”.

(Beesly et al., 2009: 2)