I have contributed a chapter to a new e-book called The Crash, published today, here. The blurb says:

Our economy is in crisis. The future is uncertain and full of threats — before us lies a period of economic dislocation unparalleled since the 1930s, and the dangers of climate change and resource depletion loom ever larger. We are at a turning point in the life of our country.

The political fault-lines of a new era are beginning to take shape. They divide those who still believe that privileging the market and individual self-interest is the best way to govern society from those who believe that democracy and society must come before markets. These fault-lines cut across party lines and divide them from within: Thatcherite politics versus the New Conservatism; market Liberal Democrats versus social Liberal Democrats; neo-liberal New Labour versus social-democratic Labour. The pro-market politics of all three main parties have lost credibility.

The Crash offers an alternative politics of the social that is democratic, plural and green. Contributors analyse and explain the economic and social issues that lie at the heart of our crisis: the credit crisis, the housing disaster, secrecy jurisdictions, the practices of private equity firms and the intellectual failure of orthodox economics. They put forward ideas for a new kind of agriculture to ensure food security, a People’s Post Bank, and a Green New Deal for tackling global warming; and make the case that Britain should think seriously about joining the Euro. And, taking a wider view, contributors identify historical trends in economic crashes, the immorality of inequality, and the arguments for a left alternative.

The task of this new politics is not to capture the political centre ground, but to transform it, and to embark on the deep and long transformation that will bring about a good society.

Contributors: Jon Cruddas, Clive Dilnot, Bryan Gould, John Grahl, Colin Hines, Adam Leaver, Toby Lloyd, Lindsay Mackie, Robin Maynard, Richard Murphy, Carlota Perez, Ann Pettifor, Michael Prior, Jonathan Rutherford, G??ran Therborn.

Get it here.