Michael Hudson
American economist, historian, and author known for his work on debt, financialization, and critiques of neoliberal economic policy; author of books including Super Imperialism and Killing the Host, and a longtime commentator and advisor on international finance and economic history.
Books
This list of books are ONLY the books that have been ranked on the lists that are aggregated on this site. This is not a comprehensive list of all books by this author.
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1. Super Imperialism
The Economic Strategy of American Empire
A critical economic history arguing that after World War II the United States established a new form of informal empire by using the dollar’s role as the world’s reserve currency, control of international financial institutions, and military power to extract wealth and sustain persistent deficits funded by foreign creditors. The system allows the U.S. to impose creditor-friendly policies, compel debtor nations into austerity, refinance its liabilities at others’ expense, and channel global trade and investment to benefit American finance and industry. The book traces how institutions like the IMF and World Bank and arrangements such as the petrodollar reinforce this dominance and warns that financialization and debt dependency undermine sovereignty and development in other countries.
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2. Killing The Host
How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy
A critical examination of how the modern finance sector has become a parasitic force that extracts income through interest, fees and rents, transforming productive activity into debt servitude and concentrating wealth in the hands of creditors. The book traces historical shifts toward rentier capitalism, explains how predatory lending, financial engineering and tax policies encourage speculation and debt bubbles, and shows how this dynamic undermines investment, wages and democratic governance. It argues for policy remedies such as debt relief, taxing unearned financial and land rents rather than labor, tighter banking regulation and measures to restore a more productive, equitable economy.
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