JSPES, Vol. 41, No. 2 (Summer 2016)
pp. 84–94

BOOK REVIEW ARTICLE
Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Destroy the Global Economy, Michael Hudson Islet-Verlag, 2015

Dwight D. Murphey

Wichita State University, retired

Michael Hudson’s Killing the Host: A Disorganized Potpourri that’s Provocative on Many Subjects, Valuable and Important on Some

Although we are quick to point out the weaknesses in this book as a hodge-podge of assorted columns and blogs, we find much that’s conducive to serious thought within its pages. Some of it is even quite valuable, as when Hudson reviews the long history of the insight that a significant part of wealth accrues to its owners as a windfall, with only the remainder being due to their own efforts. This insight is often attributed to the nineteenth century economist Henry George, but actually goes back to include such luminaries as the French Physiocrats, Adam Smith, David Ricardo and John Stuart Mill. In this Book Review Article, we discuss this and a number of other topics of considerable interest as raised by Killing the Host.