The Cash Nexus: Economics and Politics from the Age of Warfare Through the Age of Welfare, 1700-2000

Does money make the world go round, as Cabaret's Master of Ceremonies sang to us? In The Cash Nexus, acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson offers a radical and surprising answer—No.Conventional wisdom ahs long claimed that economic change is the prime mover of political change, whether in the age of i [...]
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Does money make the world go round, as Cabaret's Master of Ceremonies sang to us? In The Cash Nexus, acclaimed historian Niall Ferguson offers a radical and surprising answer—No.Conventional wisdom ahs long claimed that economic change is the prime mover of political change, whether in the age of industry or the Internet. In our own time Paul Kennedy ahs claimed that economics provided the key to international power, while Francis Fukuyama and others have argued that capitalism doomed socialism and ensured the victory of democracy. Small wonder politicians are obsessed with the economy: the Clinton campaign motto—"It's the economy stupid"—sums up a central tenet of modern life.But is is the economy? Ferguson thinks it is high time we re-examined the link—the "nexus," to use Thomas Carlyle's term—between economics and politics, in the aftermath not only of the failure of socialism but also of the apparent triumph of American-style capitalism. His central argument is that the conflicting impulses of sex, violence, and power are together more powerful than money. In particular, political events and institutions have often dominated economic development.A bold synthesis of political history and modern economic theory, Cash Nexus will transform the landscape of modern history and draw challenging and unsettling conclusions about the prospects of both capitalism and democracy.Among Ferguson's startling claims are:nothing has done more to transform the world economy than war, yet wars themselves do not have primarily economic causes.in the future, we are likely to see the proliferation of currencies rather than their consolidationfinancial crises are almost always caused by unforeseen political events rather than economic fluctuations. the relationship between prosperity and leadership's approval ratings is largely illusory.since political and economic liberalization are not self-perpetuating, the so-called triumph of democracy worldwide may be short-lived.
About the Author:
Niall Ferguson is Fellow and Tutor in Modern History at Jesus College, Oxford. He is the author of The Pity of War and Virtual History.