'The Future of Finance' From London School of Economics

The London School of Economics (LSE) is publishing a new book, The Future of Finance: The LSE Report, which asks: "What is a financial system for?" The book posits that the "the existing system has become far more complicated than it needs to be to discharge its functions–and dangerously unstable into the bargain," according to an August 31 news release.

The book gathers the thinking of several "leading academics, financiers, journalists and officials from the UK's Financial Services Authority, the Bank of England and the UK Treasury," the release states. Discussion centers around the thinking that the "scale of financial asset creation has been grossly excessive and far beyond the needs of the real economy–which is the ultimate touchstone of a healthy financial system."

Contributing writers include "first author" Adair Turner, who chairs the Working Party of the G20 Financial Stability Board, and, per the announcement, "Charles Goodhart, John Kay, Martin Wolf, Andrew Haldane, Sushil Wadhwani, Andrew Smithers, Simon Johnson, Paul Woolley, Andrew Large, Peter Boone and Sir Richard Layard." The book will be available September 1.