Turner's book presents a new approach to monetary theory and policy. What's novel in Turner's book is not the proposition that debt can be dangerous, but that debt is what modern financial systems naturally create; and always to excess. Debt as an economic evil is an old characterization....

A key objective of this book is to show that (p. vii) "plain economic history can help pick out the more durable of the arrangements that favour growth." He argues that the conditions favoring long run growth are largely political and include competitive markets, free trade, decentralized...