The Finance Curse

Utterly convincing… The Finance Curse is a radical and important manifesto for improving Britain – Oliver Bullough, author of MONEYLANDThis is a splendid polemic against modern finance, in general, and the City of London, in particular. It is hard-hitting, well written and informative. Instead of enabling productive investment, the predominant activity of contemporary finance is rent extraction. This comes in many different guises: modern finance does not only promote tax avoidance and evasion, but, argues Shaxson, enables gangsterism and corruption on an enormous scale. I fear he is right. – Martin Wolf * Financial Times *This superbly written book shows definitively how global finance has been grossly mis-sold to us all. It’s a must-read for anyone who lives, works and spends in this country – MISHA GLENNY, author of McMafiaGripping … a superbly written overview * Times Literary Supplement *Searing… Shaxson has form on being prescient … his ideas should not be dismissed lightly – Caroline Binham * Financial Times *If you want to understand why walls of money can be bad for an economy like Britain’s, and what we should do about it, The Finance Curse is essential reading. – YANIS VAROUFAKISCompelling * Prospect *Eight years ago Nick Shaxson wrote one of the best books about modern finance… Now Shaxson is back, with something bigger to say… forensic accounting analysis, sharp reporting and interviews – John Arlidge * Sunday Times *The book’s principle virtue springs from Shaxson’s skill in unpicking the complexity of the system and explaining it in layman’s terms… enlightening – Emma Duncan * The Times *A powerful call to arms against a self-serving, over-bearing and growth-sapping global finance system. – Stewart Lansley, author of A Sharing Economy and The Cost of Inequality

Nicholas Shaxson is the author of Treasure Islands- Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World and Poisoned Wells- the Dirty Politics of African Oil. He is a journalist, a campaigner and world expert on both tax havens and financial centres; and on the Resource Curse. His writing has appeared in Vanity Fair, Financial Times, The Economist, The Economist Intelligence Unit, and many others. He is part of the organisation the Tax Justice Network.