At the beginning of August The Scotsman published a review of my latest book The Cost of Free Money (July 2020, Yale University Press). As more reviews are steadily coming in, I thought it would make sense to create one place where they can be accessed easily. You can find the list below, which I’ll update as needed.

Reviews

• “A stack of new books wants to disabuse you of these ideas and many more. Though the books all look like general studies of money, they are not (except for the most important and difficult of them, Paola Subacchi’s The Cost of Free Money. Rather, they are concerned with the US dollar and, chiefly, with the oversized place of money and budgets in US political rhetoric over the past forty or fifty years. They aim to change all our thinking not just about money but about politics and society as well. ” Rebecca L. Spang, The Times Literary Supplement (July 2021)

• “This book is an ambitious attempt to bring together several threads relating to globalization, multilateral institutions, and national economic power. A world of free trade and (especially) capital flows requires multilateral governance institutions to avoid contagious liquidity and solvency crises. The rise of China and other developing countries means that such institutions must be more inclusive than in the past. However, waning US interest in global leadership combined with mistrust of Chinese influence makes a smooth transition much harder. Finally, the lack of an alternative to the US dollar as a reserve currency adds to the tensions in the global monetary system and acts as a stumbling block to the emergence of alternatives. In the author’s words, ‘‘I ask what happens when competition for markets and resources, especially among contrasting systems led by states determined to pursue their own domestic interests, spreads into open rivalry’’.” Arslan Razmi, Journal of Economics (February 2021)

• “Just as we are getting used to the existence of  ‘magic money trees’ which have helped finance the massive  stimulus packages we have seen during the pandemic (some 12% of GDP in the UK and the US for example, so far), here comes this excellent book to remind us that there is no such thing as free money.” Vicky Pryce, The Society of Professional Economists (8 March 2021)

• “Paola Subacchi gives a brilliantly clear and concise analytical history of monetary management from the Gold Standard, through Bretton Woods, the Washington Consensus, into the post crisis period.” Originally posted on Amazon (25 February 2021)

• “The need for global governance could never be more critical. It is a fascinating read” Frank Diana, Are We Heading Towards A New World Order? (10 February 2021)

• “Paola Subacchi’s book helped me, as a non-economist, to understand what it means to live in a world with low or negative interest rates. For governments and international institutions to run up debts seemingly without limits goes against everything I thought I had learned. But there is no free lunch and this book explains why!” Originally posted on Amazon (9 January 2021)

• “I was delighted to find the writing crisp and fluid. The explanations of the current monetary system are characterized through the wide lens of history. Instead of a chronological survey, they form a causal analysis of the monetary agreements, systems, and institutions that we take for granted today. A such, The Cost of Free Money makes for an entertaining, informative, and thought-provoking read.” Originally posted on Amazon (4 January 2021)

• Una recensione (in italiano) di The Cost of Free Money su Aspenia 91, 2020. Andrea Goldstein offre spunti interessanti e una chiave di lettura efficace. Per esempio, il rapporto tra interdipendenza e cooperazione internazionale: “[…] lungi dal rappresentare elementi di vulnerabilità – come invece nella tradizione realista – l’interdipendenza rappresenta un elemento posi- tivo perché incita alla cooperazione. Subacchi identifica alcuni problemi fondamentali cui solo un’azione comune può dare risposta – la difficile e forse impossibile convivenza tra paesi strutturalmente in avanzo e paesi in disavanzo, l’eccessiva libertà di movimento di capitali di cui godono gli speculatori e l’abbondanza di buchi nelle maglie comunque tutt’altro che strette della regolamentazione della tassazione internazionale.”

• The Cost of Free Money was named one of the Best Economics Books of 2020 by the Financial Times; “Subacchi, an expert on global financial and monetary systems, lucidly describes the failings of the international monetary “non-system” that emerged after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in the 1970s, the dominance of the dollar, and the need to restore a co-operative and global monetary and financial order.” (Martin Wolf, 17 November 2020)

• “The problem with economic globalisation is not, as many leftists have it, free trade, but rather the free movement of capital, argues economist Paola Subacchi.” Money Week (Matthew Partridge, 28 August 2020)

• “With so much uncertainty surrounding the new lay of the economic land, and the behaviour of those with key roles in shaping it, this book offers some well-presented solutions, formulated with fairer outcomes firmly in mind.” The Scotsman, Book review: The Cost Of Free Money – How Unfettered Capital Threatens Our Economic Future, by Paola Subacchi (Emma Newlands, 2 August 2020)

• “A well-researched, valuable book about the structural causes of macroeconomic imbalances, written with great sensitivity.” ACEMAXX-ANALYTICS, The Cost of Free Money (Ben Dispinar, 5 July 2020)

• ACEMAXX-ANALYTICS, Interview: Paola Subacchi, Queen Mary University of London (Ben Dispinar, 10 July 2020)

You can also read a preview of the book on Google Books here.