What is the finance curse?

It is widely recognised that natural resources like oil can become a curse rather than a blessing for many countries or states that produce them.  Similarly, financial centres which grow beyond their optimal size and beyond their useful roles can damage the countries that host them, often for rather similar reasons.

• For a longer summary, see here – or read the book.
• For a range of existing academic research on this topic, please click here.
• For some “Big Numbers” assessing the cost of oversized finance to the UK and the US, please click here.