Building on the New Economic Foundation and Jubilee 2000's experience of making complex economic issues interesting and attractive to a mass audience, and publishing alternative reports, the Real World Economic Outlook provides an overview and reviews the global economy from a different and radical perspective. This first report looks at globalisation and debt deflation. It reviews the growth and new dominance of the finance sector since 1970 and outlines the negative impact of this sector over the corporate, productive, state, and environmental sectors. The implications of globalization and debt deflation in different regions or the world are also examined and compared. A comprehensive appendix provides a full set of supporting tables drawn upon in the text and presenting statistics on issues including personal, corporate, and sovereign debt and credit.

'The globalization of the world economy is a fact of life and here to stay. In this first of a series of Reports by the New Economics Foundation, edited by the renowned campaigner Ann Pettifor, the dramatic consequences of economic and financial liberalization for the world in general, and for poor countries in particular, are starkly portrayed. For anyone wanting to understand the anti-globalization movement, Real World Economic Outlook should be their first port of call.' - Tony Thirlwall, University of Kent, UK

'Many churchgoers read the gospel as it if it has no economics. Economics, they argue, is for specialists, not for them. But money, economics and inequality are at the heart of the scriptures. Africans, particularly those in the new South Africa, are often blinded, and intimidated by the science of economics, and in particular by the economics of globalization. This annual report on the global economy - the Real World Economic Outlook - lifts the veil of complexity behind which many economists hide, makes economics easy to understand and explains the mechanisms which have led to historically unprecedented inequalities between the many who are poor, and the few who are now incredibly rich. If we are to challenge this injustice, and the politicians and economists that perpetuate it, then it is vital that we educate ourselves, move beyond mere rhetoric, and begin to challenge the so-called science of economics. This book does just that, which is why it is essential reading for Africans - in particular those in the churches, in universities and in finance ministries.' - The Most Reverend Njongonkulu Winston Hugh Ndungane

'This first annual Real Global Economic Outlook could not be more timely, as the world economy lurches from crisis toward a general debt deflation reminiscent of the Great Depression of the 1930s. In the opening chapter, Ann Pettifor, moving spirit and principal editor of this excellent initiative, explains that 'globalization' is driven by an instituted process of deregulation of financial capital from national and international control. The ever mounting debts of governments and coporations, at high real rates of interest sustained by central banks and international financial institutions, drive international competition, mergers and acquisitions - and the systematic disestablishment of social support systems.
The contributors to this volume from North and South include eminent economists Jospeph Stiglitz, Dani Rodrik, Robert Wade and Herman Daly. The authors combine professional excellence with lucid styles of writing accessible to the general public. In the context of the gross imbalance of resources available to critics of economic globablization, the Real Global Economic Outlook is an essential and welcome corrective to the annual publications of the World Bank and IMF.' - Kari Polanyi-Levitt, Emeritus Professor of Economics, McGill University
'All in all, this report is as unfashionable as kipper ties and loon pants. On the grounds that there is a world of difference between a credit-driven cyclical upswing and a sustainable recovery, it calls for the taming of financial markets, the upsizing of the state and downsizing the single global market. This challenge to what Orwell called the 'smelly little orthodoxies' is long overdue.' - The Guardian

'Another feat of trademark brilliance and determination, the IFI's are no doubt once again shaking in their boots...' - Bono, U2

PART I: GLOBAL TRANSFORMATION AND GLOBAL OUTLOOK
Making Sense of our World; A.Pettifor
Globalization and its Consequences; R.Greenhill
Real World Economic Outlook; R.Greenhill
Real World Environmental Outlook; A.Simms
Inflation Paranoia, Slicing and Dicing Risk; J.Stiglitz
PART 2: REAL OUTLOOK FOR THE WORLD'S REGIONS
Middle East; E.Yeldan
South and Central America; F.Serrano
North America; D.Baker
South Asia; J.Ghosh
East Asia; K.S.Jomo
Europe; J.Bush
Africa; Z.Randriamaro
PART 3: GLOBALIZATION AND ITS INCONSISTENCIES
Globalization and its Inconsistencies; H.Daly
Primitive Accumulation Revisited; G.Sen
The Well-being of Nations; N.Marks
Poverty and Income Distribution: What is the Evidence?; R.Wade
Globalization: Economic Stagnation and Divergence A.Freeman
PART 4: RISE OF THE FINANCE SECTOR
Debt and Delusion; P.Warburton
The Dollar Bill: Who Picks up the Tab?; M.Hudson
The US Economy: A Changing Strategic Predicament; W.Godley
Why Financial Markets Misbehave; D.Rodrik
Globalizing Money: Dollarization in Latin America; F.Serrano
Localizing Money - Alternative Currencies; D.Boyle
Financial Architecture in the 20th Century; A.Pettifor
Financial Architecture in the 21st Century?; J.d'Arista
PART 5: NEW ERA?
Framework for Economic Justice and Sustainability; A.Pettifor & R.Greenhill

ANN PETTIFOR is Director of Jubilee Research at the New Economics Foundation. She co-founded the Jubilee 2000 movement for the cancellation of the debts of the poorest countries. Jubilee 2000's global petition collected over 24 million signatures. In 2000, Ann Pettifor was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Newcastle and she received an honorary Masters from the Archbishop of Canterbury the following year.