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“The Heretic’s Guide to Global Finance” by Brett Scott empowers activists by breaking down the complexities of the financial system and showing us how meaningful change is possible. Mr. Scott is an anthropologist, a student of the famed economist Ha-Joon Chang, and a financial activist who shares the deep knowledge and insights gained while working hands-on as a trader in London and the alternative finance community. This fascinating, useful and timely book will interest everyone who believes in a financial system that works better for people can be ours, if we want it.
The book is divided into three sections. “Exploring” helps readers gain financial literacy by introducing us to the terminology, institutions and practices that makes the financial system tick. Sharing his experiences as a financial trader, Mr. Scott writes in an interesting, relatable and witty manner. Anecdotes are used to more memorably illustrate key points; for example, the story of Mitt Romney and Bain Capital helps us understand how private equity firms profit from the breakup of profitable companies. One of the key takeaways is that everyone participates in the financial system; and therefore, the people collectively have the power to change the system if we can learn how to apply pressure in just the right way.
“Jamming” discusses the valuable social and info tech networks that help makes the everyday financial world turn round. Mr. Scott contends that financially-literate activists have a world to gain through culture hacking and interacting with progressive-minded individuals within the financial community. Mr. Scott maps the money trails that fund the fossil fuel industry in order to help us better understand how shareholder activism can be used to help derail big oil projects. Mr. Scott believes the precautionary principle should be invoked in order to curb the commodity trading practices that have caused food prices to escalate beyond the reach of poor and vulnerable populations. The author goes on to evaluate the tools that activists might use to draw more attention to the egregious financial practices that pose the greatest harms to people and the environment.
“Building” explores how finance might evolve for the better. Mr. Scott does not want the future to belong to state and corporate-sponsored solutions such as carbon trading schemes. Rather, Mr. Scott envisions that social impact stocks and bonds can be used to channel money to socially beneficial ventures such as retiring carbon credits and reducing prison recidivism. Mr. Scott is spot on when he says that we must have workable alternatives in place before Wall Street crashes yet again. Fortunately, we learn about a few of the myriad new technologies that promise to help community banks, peer-to-peer insurance pools, time banking and other socially-conscious trading systems thrive and scale up quickly. Mr. Scott also includes resources to help activists get involved in the struggle to democratize finance. In the final analysis, we cannot help but get excited about the very real possibility of how a new kind of financial system that prioritizes people’s needs over profits might come to pass.
I highly recommend this excellent book to everyone.
- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Pluto Press (May 8, 2013)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0745333508
- ISBN-13: 978-0745333502
- Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.7 x 7.8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Customer Reviews: 20 customer ratings
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#389,086 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #675 in Political Economy
- #492 in Banks & Banking (Books)
- #625 in International Economics (Books)
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