The Gods that Failed

Rethinking Central Banking and Macrofinancial Policy for the Age of Polycrisis

Josh Ryan-Collins (Author)

The Gods that Failed

Rethinking Central Banking and Macrofinancial Policy for the Age of Polycrisis

Josh Ryan-Collins (Author)

Ebook (Epub & Mobi) ₹2685.00 Ebook (PDF) ₹2685.00 Ebook (PDF) ₹2685.00

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Description

Independent, inflation-targeting central banks were supposed to deliver stable prices, financial stability and lasting prosperity. Instead, they have presided over financial crises, stagnant growth, rising inequality and the return of inflation. Yet policy makers and politicians have proved remarkably reluctant to challenge the orthodoxy. Why has this model proved so resilient-and what should replace it?

In The Gods That Failed, economist Josh Ryan-Collins argues that today's macroeconomic policy framework rests on five powerful myths that have shaped economic thinking since the 1980s. From the “natural” rate of interest and the management of inflation expectations to efficient financial markets and the taboos surrounding fiscal dominance and credit policy, these ideas continue to constrain policymakers even as the evidence against them becomes overwhelming.

Blending colourful economic history, cutting-edge research and vivid real-world examples, Ryan-Collins opens-up the often opaque and technocratic world of monetary and financial policy for a wide readership and illustrates its fundamental flaws. At a time of repeated economic and financial shocks, ecological breakdown and geopolitical instability, The Gods That Failed argues that rebuilding our economies will require a wholesale rethinking of how central banks, governments and financial institutions work together to manage money, credit and the macroeconomy.

Table of contents
1: Introduction: the gods that failed?
2: Wishing upon an R-star: the myth of the 'natural' rate of interest
3. Anything but anchored: the myth of central bank inflation expectations management
4. Whatever it takes (sometimes): the fiscal dominance taboo
5. No steering required: the credit policy taboo
6. Lost paradise: the myth of efficient financial markets
7: Not the only game in town: rethinking central banking and macrofinancial policy

Product details

Published	07 Jan 2027
Format	Ebook (PDF)
Edition	1st
Pages	296
ISBN	9781350556140
Imprint	Bloomsbury Academic
Illustrations	43 Figures and 5 Tables
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing

Author

Josh Ryan-Collins

This illuminating book debunks myths about what financial markets and central banks really do. A must-read for anyone ready to move beyond preconceptions and abstractions, and focus on how money and finance shape today's societies.

Eric Monnet, Professor of Economic History, Paris School of Economics and EHESS.
A vital book for anyone who understands that finance must be shaped, not merely regulated.

Mariana Mazzucato, Professor at University College London and author of The Common Good Economy: a new compass
If you want to understand what makes central banks tick, look no further. In clear and accessible language, Josh Ryan-Collins explores five myths that frame monetary policy and how they shape the economy today - with alternatives. Essential reading!

Dirk Bezemer, Professor at the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Groningen
A patient, thorough and impressive attack on the neoclassical and 'New Keynesian' doctrines that have dominated central bank thought for decades, with results ranging from disappointment to disaster.

James K. Galbraith, author of The Power to Destroy: How Bad Economics Drove America's
This book is an essential and illuminating read for all students and professors of economics; for mainstream and heterodox economists alike. Ryan Collins writes with the clarity of one both steeped in, and at ease with the full spectrum of economic thinking.

Ann Pettifor, Director of Policy Research in Macroeconomics