I thought I would remind myself and blog readers of what seemed to me were the best books on economics published this year.  The criteria for me were whether the book added any new idea or understanding of developments in modern capitalism or in Marxist economic theory. Yes, I know, very boring with no jokes or stories involved.

Let start with those books that looked at the activities of finance capital and imperialism in the major economies and globally.  In his excellent new book, Finance Capital Today, French Marxist Francois Chesnais analysed in detail the key developments in modern finance and the causes of the global financial crash in 2008.

As Francois says in a comment to my blog,  “Today not enough surplus value is being produced to re-launch the accumulation process and the amount that is serves to consolidate the accumulation of dividend and interest bearing assets…