*** PABLO IGLESIAS-RODRIGUEZ (Ed.): Building Responsive and Responsible Financial Regulators in the Aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis. Intersentia (31 Groenstraat, B-2640 Mortsel. Tel: (32-3) 6801550 - Email: mail@intersentia.be - Internet: http://www.intersentia.com ). 2015, 273 pp, €75, £53.90, $81.92. ISBN 978-1-78068-179-5.
This is a book that should be read, re-read and digested by anyone concerned about the state of the world of finance. Written by economists, lawyers, political scientists and sociologists combining academic and practical activities, it goes to the heart of the failings that have marred the action of the structures whose job it is to ensure the proper functioning of the financial sector. The major crisis that broke out in 2007 bears witness to the fact that the regulatory and supervisory bodies for markets and the financial institutions were not up to scratch. The emergency measures passed in order to change tack as far as possible also ended up confirming the failure of the various authorities in charge of financial regulation and supervision.
The ten very high-flying contributions in this book examine the reasons for these failings and assess the pertinence of the improvements decided in the firing line by European, American and Canadian political leaders. In his introductory chapter, researcher Pablo Iglesias-Rodriguez (of the law faculty of the VU University of Amsterdam) explains that the authorities responsible for regulation and supervision looked in the key domains of 'responsiveness and responsibility' to ensure their legitimacy. He goes on to explain how the accountability mechanisms that have been the common focus of the various reform plans can lead to a sharp improvement in the way the financial world may be forced in the future to stick rather more closely to the rules. Various concepts that contribute to good governance of the institutions responsible for supervising financial markets, viz. responsibility and independence, along with the impact of two economic hypotheses ('Efficient Market' and Rational Expectations'), are analysed in the first section of the book.
The second section is wholly devoted to the hurriedly introduced reforms. Much space is given to the measures introduced in the framework of the European Union. Sociologist Nicholas Dorn, for example, analyses the Banking Union mechanisms adopted as part of what he describes as a 'regulatory cascade,' which he says are ambiguous in terms of democracy. Carmine Di Noia and Matteo Gargantini look at the European Securities and Markets Authority that was set up in 2010 and particularly the influence that the directly concerned financial parties enjoy there. Finally, Guillaume Prache, head of the European Federation of Financial Service Users, points out that there are still serious asymmetries favouring representatives of the financial industry in the regime established within the Union. The other contributions are equally detailed and interesting, examining the measures implemented in the United States and Canada, a country preserved by the crisis. Pierre Bouvier
*** LUDO CORNELIS (Ed.): Finance and Law: Twins in Trouble. Intersentia (see above). 2015, 327 pp, €55, £39.23, $60. ISBN 978-1-78068-172-6.
Did private law institutions, mechanisms and instruments, such as they were at the time, contribute to the financial and economic crisis that started in 2007? Does private law have institutions, mechanisms and/or instruments that could have prevented the emergence of a crisis of this nature? If so, how come they didn't manage to prevent it? Is it necessary to amend these various means or even create new ones in order to improve the way private law impacts on events that could lead to a new financial and economic crisis? These are some of the questions that Belgian experts wanted to answer when they set up a working group to prepare for a conference held two years ago, whose end result was this book. In fact, as Michel Flamée, Former Vice-Chairman of the Belgian Financial Supervisory Authority and Former Chair of the International Association of Insurance Supervisors points out, the real question was 'whether legal rules are lacking, whether they have not been properly applied, or even whether they have helped to trigger or exacerbate the crisis.' It very soon became clear to the authors that 'the 2007 crisis should not only be attributed to a failure of public law, but also to private law.' This is highlighted in the contributions, which examine various aspects of the financial and economic crisis, along with family law and its impact on revenue and assets at the family level. Prof. Ludo Cornelis of the Vrij Universiteit Brussel explains that the considerations in this book of public order, speculation, credit default swaps and interest rates reveal that 'the legal issues encountered (in public and private law) are not simply connected with, but are fully determined by, the political, social and economic organisation, becoming a 'system' available within a particular society in a particular time. (PBo)
*** GEORGE KASSIMATIS: Le statut inhumain de l'emprunt de la Grèce. L'expérience grecque, un problème européen aux dimensionsmondiales. Editions Livanis (98 Solonos, GR-10680 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3661200 - Fax: 3617791 - Email: webmaster@livanis.gr - Internet: http://www.livanis.gr ). 2015, 328 pp, €18.88. ISBN 978-960-14-2919-9.
Since the start of the crisis, the Greeks have been the victim of constant manipulation and psychological violence which, with the active complicity of the media, generates fear and a climate of 'systemic opposition.' Hence the Greeks have reached a point of an acute feeling or even complex of guilt that makes them think that everything is their own fault… There has also been total dissimulation of the social impact of the inhuman regime imposed on the population and the reactions of despair that this has induced. In reality, all institutions active in Greek democracy, ranging from the press in its entirety to the justice system via the trade unions, have contributed to this social and societal disaster. This is analysed and denounced by Prof. George Kassimatis in this book. Now 84 years old and an emeritus professor of law at Athens University, where he taught political systems and constitutional law, he writes that it is particularly important, not for Greece alone but also for the future of Europe, to be concerned about this manipulation of the country's political power by outside forces, because it is patently obvious that Greek political and economic actors are totally dependent on international financial institutions. The author also observes the development of 'political corruption' and reviews the various methods of manipulating political leaders, businessmen, scientists and other figureheads. Prof. Kassimatis says that the system currently imposed on Greece affects the whole of Europe and should therefore be repealed as soon as possible. In any case, he remains convinced that Greece has strong weapons to help it emerge from the crisis. The book is studded with explanatory boxes in English and Greek. (AKa)
*** COSTAS LAPAVITSAS: Un programmeradical pour la Grèce et la périphérie de la zone euro. Editions Livanis (see above). 2015, 112 pp, €10. ISBN 978-960-14-2874-1.
After five years of memoranda, Greece is trapped between very low interest rates and very high unemployment without the economic policy tools needed to effectively change tack. Low pay, the law of the market and the privatisation of public goods hardly presage better days or sustainable development. The enormous debt that is still on the rise, along with the austerity policies, are instead synonymous with 'servitude through debt.' The left that is currently in power brandishes the idea of a radical programme to get the country out of crisis by creating growth, making it possible to provide social aid to the lower classes. In this book, professor of economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University Costas Lapavitsas explains that Greece needs radical measures to solve the situation, in the form of a substantial reduction in the debt, an end to austerity policies, effective measures to reduce unemployment and alleviate the humanitarian crisis and even privatisation of the banks. No radical changes, however, will be possible without a transformation of the State and clashing with the European Union, and more particularly its economic and monetary union. As the author sees it, a radical left government should not be afraid of entering into conflict with its European partners, even though this attitude might lead to Greece leaving the eurozone. He concludes that the future of Greece and Greek society will depend on the determination of the government and lower classes. (AKa)
*** YANNIS MANIATIS (Ed.): De la crise au développement. Editions Papazisi (2 Nikitara, GR-10678 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3822496 - Fax: 3809020 - Email: papazisi@otenet.gr - Internet: http://www.papazisi.gr ). 2015, 344 pp, €29.82. ISBN 978-960-023074-1.
This book contains the proceedings of an international scientific conference organised by the Mediterranean Foundation of Germany's Friedrich Ebert Foundation under the auspices of the president of Greece, Karolos Papoulias, on 29 April 2014 on the theme 'From the crisis to development: in search of new development models for Greece and Southern Europe.' The collection of essays stands out in two respects. Firstly, it contains comparative essays by Greek and non-Greek scientists on the experiences of six European Union member states - Greece, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Germany and Hungary. Next, it includes interventions by representatives of six parties and institutes, viz. the Konstantinos Karamanlis Institute of Democracy, the Istame Andreas Papandreou Institute of Strategic and Development Studies, the Nikos Poulantzas Institute, the Marxist Studies Centre, Democratic Left and the Mediterranean Foundation. According to the publication's director, agronomist Yannis Maniatis, professor at the University of Thessalonica, these presentations, interventions and conclusions can help ensure a proper interpretation of the causes of the crisis and provide better awareness of the experiences of other countries in order to exit the crisis in a consensual manner and develop new development models. The various sections of the book are devoted to the crisis, exit strategies and models, the role of the Union during the crisis and the drawing up of a new agenda for Europe and Greece, with suggestions scattered throughout the book. (AKa)
*** KOSTAS MELAS: Argentine-Grèce: une analyse comparative et descriptive des évolutions financières dans les deux pays après l'incapacité de paiement. Editions Patakis (38 Panayi Tsaldari, GR-10437 Athens. Tel: (30-210) 3650000 - Fax: 3811940 - Email: bookstore@patakis.gr - Internet: http://www.patakis.gr ). Sciences sociales et politiques series. 2015,184 pp, €10.50. ISBN 978-960-16-6283-1.
Comparing two national economies is an extremely difficult if not impossible process. As economist Kostas Melas explains at the start, what is specific about each country acts as a living substratum that makes each society and each economy similar to no other. Consequently, the abstractions of macroeconomic data are worthless if one doesn't take due account of the real economic conditions of each country. Aware of these difficulties, the author of this book attempts what is essentially a descriptive approach, interlaced with value judgements justified by the gathered elements. Professor of economics at Pantheon University in Athens, Kostas Melas sketches the macroeconomic fundamentals and development indicators of the economies of Argentina and Greece in order to discern the path taken by each of the two countries since the time when the financial markets made Argentina unable to repay its debt and Greece to seek financing from the eurozone nations, along with the imperative obligation to scrupulously follow a drastic budget adjustment programme. This 'descriptive' approach makes perfectly apparent the macroeconomic and development differences between the two countries over the period of crisis, along with the problems created by the logic of the implemented programmes. (AKa)
*** Politique. Revue de débats. ASBL Politique (9 rue du Faucon, B-1000 Brussels. Tel: (32-2) 5386996 - Email: secretariat@politique.eu.org - Internet: http://politique.eu.org ). May/June 2015, No. 90, 84 pp, €9. Subscription: €40.
This issue of a progressive Belgian French language review contains a rich dossier on the Transition movement that has seen ordinary people virtually everywhere in Europe following on from England in shaping their own destiny based on collective inventiveness, social diversity and relocating economic activity. Prof. Olivier De Schutter, who edited this collection of essays, says that with these 'consomm'acteurs,' a new way of doing politics has arisen and even scientists are led to 'talk about the sixth grand extinction,' a time in history of mankind when 'at least 75% of annual and vegetable species are disappearing from land and ocean.' This sixth extinction is 'the first one for which Humanity is responsible,' which makes the approach taken by these Transition actors interesting, or even pertinent. Against the stream of a 'hyper-individualist society in which each person's place should be defined by his consumption,' it is links in the chain of a 'million quiet revolutions' that are re-examining 'the dominant macroeconomic approach which is wholly focussed today on the control of public deficits in order, over the long-term, to encourage measured growth in terms of an increase in GDP.' Prof. De Schutter explains that this model of infinite growth will lead to a dead-end in terms of the resources available and the waste to be absorbed, unless one pays attention to some extent to the Transition actors. (MT)