Dan Atkinson

A timely and provocative account of why the euro has failed and why, as a result, the Union will unravel Examining key economic indicators and assessing the situation across Europe, two British journalists assess why the euro has failed—and what will happen when the European Union completely unravels. “This book is a must-read for anyone who cares about the future of Europe and progressive politics. Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson correctly predicted the euro would prove a calamity. They are right today that the euro crisis is far from over. Their demand for a radical change of approach must be taken seriously—by policy makers and politicians alike.”—Ed Balls, UK Shadow Chancellor from 2011 to 2015 “[The book] offers useful insight into why so many people thought the euro was a good idea in the first place.”—Harvard Business Review

A timely and provocative account of why the euro has failed and why, as a result, the Union will unravel Europe's center-left is rapidly falling out of love with the European single currency. Fifteen years after its creation, British journalists Larry Elliott and Dan Atkinson assess its performance to show why. Looking at a range of key indicators the authors show how the euro has failed to deliver on its promise of more jobs, more growth and greater equality. Instead it has undermined the European Union. Elliott and Atkinson compare the European Central Bank to the Federal Reserve, arguing that the architects of the euro subjugated economic measures to political considerations. Consequently, countries that didn’t meet the economic convergence criteria were still allowed entry. The end result is a dysfunctional currency union that is unable to cope with difficult economic circumstances. Assessing the situations in Greece, Germany, Italy, France, Ireland, and Iceland, as well as Britain, they show that the current policy of kicking the can down the road and hoping that something will turn up is proving increasingly unpopular with the currency's one-time fans in progressive politics. This engaging and accessibly written volume will be widely read by economists, pundits, and policymakers as Britian considers its future relationship with Europe.

A risk-prone, privatised profit-driven economic model overseen by a largely unaccountable, greedy and arrogant elite has resulted in one of the worst financial crises in history. The over-paid heroes of Wall Street and the City worshipped the gods of globalisation, financialisation and speculation.

We live in an era in which the culture and values of big business are dominant. The riptides of capital swirl around the globe ruining entire economies overnight. Directors and chief executives cash in stock options for unimaginable fortunes while whole workforces are "downsized" as companies relocate at a whim. Environmental degradation escalates as the earth's resources are looted. The dream of worldwide prosperity and peace is given the lie from Kosovo to the Congo, from the drug baronies of South America to the criminal empires of the former Soviet Union. Welcome to the Age of Insecurity.In the face of this slow-motion global coup d'etat by untrammelled finance, traditionally left leaning parties now in power have abandoned their concern with regulating business for a compulsive and self-righteous moralism; the Blair government stands as a perfect exemplar in this trend. In the coruscating argument the authors make a plea for government to turn strictures concerning ethics away from the citizen and on to a financial system that is making our society ever more precarious.Since the publication of the hardback of The Age of Insecurity in May 1998 events have conspired to validate the author's argument. In a new preface and afterword Elliott and Atkinson draw out the lessons to be learned from the hedge-fund crisis, the disintegration of the rouble and the spreading of economic turmoil in Latin America.The Age of Insecurity is, more than ever, a vital and radical tract for our times.