MACMILLAN Before the Neoliberal Turn: The Rise of Energy Finance and the Limits to US Foreign Economic Policy (Palgrave Studies in Economic History)

This book pinpoints continuities and changes in U.S. foreign economic policy from the fixed exchange rate system of the 1960s through to the period between the two oil crises of the 1970s. Chapters pay close attention to the interconnectedness between the long lasting decline of the U.S. Dollar on foreign exchange markets and the U.S. balance of payments, transformations in international capital markets, and international oil developments. The book charts the prolonged failure of Washington’s foreign economic policies to restore U.S. financial and monetary leadership through to the Carter Administration. Review “Selva’s in-depth analysis of US finance policies a welcome addition to the scholarship in aiding understanding of the actors who have co-created the market for alternative fuels through subsidies, mandates and the much-hyped knowledge-based economy. … Before the Neoliberal Turn is a valuable book for social scientists interested in the history of energy finance and American democracy.” (Ayesha Umar, LSE Business Review, blogs.lse.ac.uk, April 28, 2019) Review “Simone Selva’s book attempts to make sense of this transition between Bretton Woods and the liberalization of markets and exchange rates in the 1970s and 1980s before the “Neoliberal Turn”, by giving an account of US currency and the functioning of the international monetary system. Selva brings an interesting approach to the subject, specifically tracking the role of the dollar from the 1950s to the late 1970s and the research is well documented with archival material across Europe and the US. Selva’s contribution is a solid piece of serious scholarship that helps better understand the origins of the 1970s oil crisis, and how the US managed its balance of payments. This detailed analysis will benefit financial historians of the period as well as scholars interested in energy finance and modern American historians.” (Alain Naef, Department of Economics, University of Cambridge for EH.net (October 2018), UK)   From the Back Cover This book pinpoints continuities and changes in U.S. foreign economic policy from the fixed exchange rate system of the 1960s through to the period between the two oil crises of the 1970s. Chapters pay close attention to the interconnectedness between the long lasting decline of the U.S. Dollar on foreign exchange markets and the U.S. balance of payments, transformations in international capital markets, and international oil developments. The book charts the prolonged failure of Washington’s foreign economic policies to restore U.S. financial and monetary leadership through to the Carter Administration. About the Author Simone Selva is currently Research Fellow in the history of international economic relations at the University of Naples L’Orientale and visiting scholar at New York University. A former scholar at Harvard and Oxford Universities, he specializes in the process of international financial and monetary interdependence from Bretton Woods through the 1970s. He is the author of Supra-national integration and domestic economic growth: The United States and Italy in the Western Bloc Rearmament Programs, 1945-1955.