Mad Money

by Susan Strange

This work follows up the themes raised in Susan Strange's classic work "Casino Capitalism", re-issued by Manchester University Press in September 1997. This volume covers the last decade, during which there has been continued instability and volatility, and much innovative development, in global financial markets. The context for this book is the growing divergence of informed opinion on how to interpret the rapid change in international money and finance. The profound disagreements which exist between the optimists and the pessimists illustrate the extent of the problem. Susan Strange gets to the heart of the current debates in official and business circles as well as among academics. Is the recent weakness of the US dollar merely a temporary and reversible phenomenon, or does it betoken a more profound weakness in the economy? Do the necessary political and economic conditions exist for international policy co-ordination between the three pillars of the triad - the US, Germany and Japan? Is the move to independent central banks helpful to long-term stability? And what is the future of European Monetary Union?

Genres: Economics, International Relations, Finance

Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Susan Strange was a British scholar of international relations who was "almost single-handedly responsible for creating international political economy".

Susan Strange earned a first in Economics at the London School of Economics (LSE) in 1943; it would be twenty years before she established her reputation as an academic. She raised a family of six and worked as a financial journalist for The Economist, then The Observer until 1965, when she began to conduct full-time research.

In 1942, she married Denis Merritt (died 1993); they had one son, and one daughter, and the marriage was dissolved in 1955. In 1955 she married Clifford Selly, with whom she had three sons, and one daughter.

She was a major figure in the professional associations in both Britain and the United States. She was an instrumental founding member and the first treasurer of the British International Studies Association and served as the third female President of the International Studies Association in 1995.