Gambling Debt

Gambling Debt is a game-changing contribution to the discussion of economic crises and neoliberal financial systems and strategies. Icelands 2008 financial collapse was the first case in a series of meltdowns, a warning of danger in the global order. This full-scale anthropology of financialization and the economic crisis broadly discusses this momentous bubble and burst and places it in theoretical, anthropological, and global historical context through descriptions of the complex developments leading to it and the larger social and cultural implications and consequences. Chapters from anthropologists, sociologists, historians, economists, and key local participants focus on the neoliberal policiesmainly the privatization of banks and fishery resourcesthat concentrated wealth among a select few, skewed the distribution of capital in a way that Iceland had never experienced before, and plunged the country into a full-scale economic crisis. Gambling Debt significantly raises the level of understanding and debate on the issues relevant to financial crises, painting a portrait of the meltdown from many points of viewfrom bankers to schoolchildren, from fishers in coastal villages to the urban poor and immigrants, and from artists to philosophers and other intellectuals. This book is for anyone interested in financial troubles and neoliberal politics as well as students and scholars of anthropology, sociology, economics, philosophy, political science, business, and ethics. Publication supported in part by the National Science Foundation. Contributors: Vilhjlmur rnason, smundur smundsson, Jn Gunnar Bernburg, James Carrier, Sigurlna Davsdttir, Dimitra Doukas, Nels Einarsson, Einar Mar Gumundsson, Tinna Grtarsdttir, Birna Gunnlaugsdttir, Gun S. Gubjrnsdttir, Pamela Joan Innes, Guni Th. Jhannesson, rn D. Jnsson, Hannes Lrusson, Kristn Loftsdttir, James Maguire, Mr Wolfgang Mixa, Evelyn Pinkerton, Hulda Propp, James G. Rice, Rgnvaldur J. Smundsson, Unnur Ds Skaptadttir, Margaret Willson