The lecture by Costas Lapavitsas, Professor of Economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London celebrates the release by Verso Press of Profiting Without Producing: How Finance Exploits Us All. Lapavitsas explores the roots of the recent economic crisis in terms of "financialization," the most salient feature of which is the rise of financial profit, in part extracted directly from households through financial expropriation, and discusses the options available for controlling finance and resolutions to the current crisis.
The event was moderated by Cornel Ban, Assistant Professor of International Relations at Boston University and a specialist in the political economy of crises and transitions.
Costas Lapavitsas's research interests include the relationship of finance and development, the structure of financial systems, and the evolution and functioning of the Japanese financial system.
The event was jointly sponsored by the Center for the Study of Europe, the Center for the Study of Asia, the Program in East Asian Studies, and the Undergraduate Economics Association at Boston University.
February 25, 2014