Capital and the Debt Trap

Hi, we are delighted to share this new development with you.  The Midwest Book Review provides books reviews, resources and advice for writers and publishers. In its November 2011 number, volume 6, number 11, the Economic Studies Shelf  <http://www.midwestbookreview.com/lbw/nov_11.htm> it has taken up our book to say the following:

“Capital And The Debt Trap
Claudia Sanchez Bajo & Bruno Roelants
Palgrave Macmillan
175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10001
www.palgrave-usa.com
9780230252387, $100.00, www.amazon.com

In every financial crisis there is also financial opportunity. What economists have known from the days of 19th Century ‘Boom & Bust’ cycles, through the 20th Century ‘Great Depression’ driven reforms, down to the economic disasters (both foreign and domestic) of the present day, is that debt can be a useful tool to regulate the economic system, bringing order and stability out of chaos and volatility. That is the central message of “Capital And The Debt Trap: Learning From Cooperatives In The Global Crisis”, a 288-page compendium by the team of Claudia Sanchez Bajo and Bruno Roelants in which the authors draw upon four ‘real world’ case studies of how cooperatives have been able to generate wealth despite significant regional and global financial disruptions. Of special note is the concluding chapter ‘The Global Crisis: Mother of All Warnings”. Informed, analytical, and informative, “Capital And The Debt Trap” will prove to be thoughtful, thought-provoking, and usefully instructive, making it especially recommended for professional, governmental, and academic library Economic Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.”

We would just like to add that we are very happy. We also thank the Midwest Book Review for its critique.

The Midwest Book Review is an organization serving community and academic library organizations. It is located in California, Wisconsin and the Upper Midwest and all its reviews are indexed by Gale Research.

Value of Cooperatives in the Financial Crisis

The 2008 global financial crisis has dealt a heavy blow to the world economy. Till now, the recovery of the economy has still been rather slow. The American economy is lurching forward, the sovereign debt crises in the EU tend to worsen, the emerging markets are fighting against increasing inflation, the IMF keeps downgrading its forecast for economic growth and the global economy is full of uncertainties. This financial crisis prompted the political and business leaders in the world to have a rethink and triggered expert opinions and numerous symposia and academic papers. Apparently, the economic crisis has pushed the world towards a more rational direction.
Same as other types of economic organizations, cooperatives also endured the ordeal of the financial crisis. The book “Capital and the Debt Trap” now being published summarizes the development of cooperatives during economic crises with detailed data and proves to the world the value of cooperatives. The information provided by this report not only boosts the confidence of cooperatives in the world but also dispels a century’s doubts on the value of cooperatives. Continue reading →

Capital and the Debt Trap combines a searing critique of the unstable debt- and-profit driven system that came close to final collapse in the Great Crisis with a fine portrait of the modern cooperative alternative that exists today in Mexico, Canada, France and Spain. Are these perhaps the small creatures that will survive and flourish after the great dinosaurs are gone? Let’s hope so.

James K. Galbraith,
Professor of Economics at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs and University of Texas at Austin
Author of The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too.

This book presents a thoughtful and exciting consideration of the roles cooperatives can play – and should be expected to play – today… It deserves to be widely read and discussed within and across the boundaries that have long divided cooperative proponents and the general public.

Ian MacPherson,
Emeritus professor of history, University of Victoria, Canada
Author of “Hands around the globe : a history of the international credit union movement”

This book is a major step forward in understanding the working of co-operative economies. Its appearance could hardly have been more timely. At a point when the global financial system and the models of economic governance have been thrown into question, it shows how it is that co-operative financial systems are more crisis resistant than contemporary private banking, and how finance can be structured to service long term local and industrial growth rather than subject it to the imperative of short term profitability. More generally, the authors describe an architecture of co-operative governance that has not only been innovative and resilient but is particularly well suited to any post crisis world that is reshaped round multi stakeholder engagement.

Robin Murray,
Senior Visiting Fellow at the London School of Economics Centre of Global Governance
Author of ‘Co-operation in the Age of Google’
Formerly Director of Industry at the Greater London Council

This is a timely and important book which both analyses current economic turmoil and shows how the crisis may foment new and more co-operative forms of enterprise. Anyone interested in advancing the cause of participatory ownership as one means of guarding against recurrent crises should read this book.

George Irvin,
Professorial Research Associate in economics, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Author of “Regaining Europe: An Economic Agenda for the 21st Century”

This book is simply a masterpiece on cooperativism for the xxi century. Forward and outward looking, from exceptionally well informed cooperatives analysts. It outstandingly demonstrates why cooperatives are more resilient to the crisis and avoid falling into the dept trap and its implacable cohort of inhuman effects.
A decisive contribution not only to economic democracy but also to Democracy as a political system by which men and women preserve and control our common good and common wealth, on the basis of one person-one vote, independently of their wealth or capital.
A rational and passionate book of hope for our common future.

Yves Cabannes
Chair of Development Planning, Development Planning Unit, University College London
Formerly senior advisor to the Municipality of Porto Alegre, Brazil
Regional coordinator of the Programme of Urban Management of the United Nations for Latin America and the Caribbeans (1997-2003)