Tag Archives: financial crisis

The IMF’s Reconstruction of Economic Orthodoxy since the Crash

Posted on June 29, 2018 by Oleg Komlik

by Ben Clift* Analysing how the International Monetary Fund (IMF) contributes to prevailing understandings of sound economic policy reveals how economic orthodoxy is historically contingent, and throws into relief the malleability of economic policy credibility. These indirect IMF attempts to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Community members posts | Tagged economics, Eurozone crisis, financial crisis, fiscal policy, ideas, IMF, institutions, policy, Political economy | Leave a comment

A Critique of the Critique of Finance: Critics of neoliberal capitalism rarely recognize the productive power of speculation

Posted on February 23, 2018 by Oleg Komlik

by Martijn Konings* If there is one theme that unites the various critiques of contemporary finance, it is the emphasis on its speculative character. Financial growth is said to be driven not by the logic of efficient markets, but rather … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Community members posts | Tagged financial crisis, financial markets, financialization, Hyman Minsky, neoliberalism, speculation, state | Leave a comment

Ten years after the 2007-2008 global financial crisis – the human toll in the financial services sector

Posted on August 18, 2017 by Oleg Komlik

by Gregor Gall* Ten years ago this summer, the first rumblings of the thunderclap of what would become the global storm of the great financial crisis of 2007-2008 were heard. The first rumble to be heard was of the panic … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Community members posts | Tagged banking, Critical management studies, financial centres, financial crisis, labor, sociology of work, Unions, United Kingdom | Leave a comment

Market Bubbles: Finance, Art, and the Golden Calf

Posted on June 23, 2017 by Oleg Komlik

Two overwhelming events occurred on September 15 and 16, 2008. The first is known to all, the second – to few — but a thread passes between them, showing the fabric of the current socio-economic and cultural system. On September 15 Lehman … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Books, Oleg Komlik | Tagged Art, conspicuous consumption, financial crisis, financialization, markets | Leave a comment

The debt crisis and austerity in the Eurozone: social and political impacts

Posted on April 1, 2016 by Oleg Komlik

During the past six years, the countries of the European periphery – Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece and Spain – have been experiencing severe economic-financial crises. In the shadow of these drastic events, the EU institutions and the IMF initiated “bailout programs” for … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged austerity, banking system, debt, European Union, Eurozone crisis, financial crisis, Greece, monetary policy, policy, Political economy, politics, Spain, welfare | 4 Comments

Markets, policy and sociology of economic immorality

Posted on January 16, 2016 by Oleg Komlik

In a highly influential book Situating the Self: Gender, Community and Postmodernism in Contemporary Ethics, a distinguished Yale philosopher Seyla Benhabib argued that: “Moral judgment is what we ‘always already’ exercise in virtue of being immersed in a network of human … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Papers | Tagged Economic Sociology, financial crisis, markets, morality, policy | Leave a comment

Accounting truth

Posted on December 12, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

AIG Vice Chairman Jacob Frenkel: “The left side of the balance sheet has nothing right and the right side of the balance sheet has nothing left. But they are equal to each other. So accounting-wise we are fine” (2008) *** … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik | Tagged accounting, economics, ethics, financial crisis | 1 Comment

Lehman Brothers collapsed, but the neoliberal tune keeps playing on

Posted on September 16, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

Today marks the 7th anniversary of Lehman Brothers disastrous collapse and the ‘official’ beginning of the global financial crisis. This is what Citigroup CEO Chuck Prince said in July 2007, about a year before the financialization fete temporarily halted: “When the music stops, in terms of … Continue reading →

Posted in Oleg Komlik | Tagged financial crisis, financialization, neoliberalism | 1 Comment

China’s Minsky moment? Stability leads to instability

Posted on August 24, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

Hyman Minsky (1919–1996) was a distinguished American scholar and prominent post-Keynesian economist. In the wake of the 2008-2009 crisis Minsky’s invaluable scientific contribution has widely spread, but soon he has unfortunately disappeared from public and economic discussions. While most of the mainstream economists are … Continue reading →

Posted in Papers | Tagged banking system, capitalism, crisis, financial crisis, financial markets, financialization, Hyman Minsky, neoliberalism | 4 Comments

Fed with credit: financial “liberalization”, deregulation and the role of credit in Iceland’s collapse

Posted on August 19, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

Beginning in the 1990s, Iceland embarked on a major “liberalization” policy, privatizing its financial sector and reorganizing regulation. The resulting highly concentrated banking sector refocused on investment banking and international operations, while businesses, consumers and the finance industry itself borrowed … Continue reading →

Posted in Papers | Tagged banking system, credit, financial crisis, financial liberalization, Iceland, neoliberalism, policy, regulation | Leave a comment

“Aftermath of a Crisis”: Manuel Castells and his colleagues tackling the crisis and its consequences

Posted on July 14, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

“In this crisis, some people are trying to go back and other people are trying to discover what the future could be. What doesn’t work anymore is the present, for anyone. That’s why it’s Aftermath Time.” – Manuel Castells Shortly after … Continue reading →

Posted in Video | Tagged capitalism, Economic Sociology, financial crisis, neoliberalism, state | 2 Comments

From Socialism to Neoliberalism: the case of Central Eastern European countries

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

The transition from communism or socialism to capitalism has proved to be a rockier road than many in the West (think of Fukuyama as an example) anticipated. The degree and character of challenges that countries faced during the transition depended … Continue reading →

Posted in Papers | Tagged debt, democracy, Europe, financial crisis, inequality, institutional change, institutions, labor, neoliberalism, Political economy, Post-communist countries, privatization, socialism, varieties of capitalism | 5 Comments

What is financialization? Marxism, Post-Keynesianism and Economic Sociology’s complementary theorizing

Posted on January 31, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

The economic crisis erupted in 2007-2008, commonly known around the world as the Global Financial Crisis and in the US as the Great Recession, highlighted – for those who deliberately or unintentionally have in recent years overlooked – the ascendancy of finance, a … Continue reading →

Posted in Papers | Tagged banking system, capitalism, corporations, Economic Sociology, finance, financial crisis, financialization, households, Marxism, neoliberalism, Political economy, profit | 2 Comments

The incredible collapse of Ireland’s Celtic Tiger: corporatism, neoliberalism and globalization run amok

Posted on January 25, 2015 by Oleg Komlik

In 2008 Ireland experienced one of the most dramatic economic crises of any economy in the world. It remains at the heart of the international crisis, sitting uneasily between the US and European economies. Not long ago, however, Ireland was … Continue reading →

Posted in Books | Tagged banking system, comparative political economy, debt, Economic Sociology, embeddedness, financial crisis, financialization, fiscal sociology, globalization, Ireland, neoliberalism, Political economy, politics, varieties of capitalism | 1 Comment

Why the Federal Reserve Failed to See the 2008 Financial Crisis: The Role of “Macroeconomics” as a Sensemaking and Cultural Frame

Posted on October 1, 2014 by Oleg Komlik

In this very interesting and enlightening paper by Neil Fligstein, Jonah Stuart Brundage & Michael Schultz (University of California, Berkeley), they tackle one of the puzzles about the crisis of 2008: why the regulators were so slow to recognize the … Continue reading →