Out of the crisis of our times, Joseph Stiglitz's Freefall: Free Markets and the Sinking of the Global Economy is a convincing, coherent and humane account that goes to the heart of how we run our societies.

When the world economy went into freefall, so too did our unquestioning faith in markets. But what happens now? Are bailouts and stern lectures enough, or do we need a rethink of our entire financial system?

This acclaimed and inspiring book, by one of the world's leading economic thinkers, dissects the flawed ideas that led to the credit crunch, but also looks to the future. Drawing on his years spent shaping policy at the World Bank, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz shows why far more radical reforms are needed to avoid future crises, why the cost of recovery should be borne by the financial sector, and how we now have the opportunity to create a new global economic order.

'Bang on the money ... unafraid to ask tough questions ... we need more of his ilk'

  Will Hutton, Observer

'A brilliant analysis ... always enthralling'

  Martin Jacomb, Spectator Business

'A powerful new book'

  Devin Leonard, The New York Times

'A seer of almost Keynesian proportions ... this is Joe Stiglitz's victory lap'

  Michael Hirsh, Newsweek

Joseph Stiglitz was Chief Economist at the World Bank until January 2000. He is currently University Professor of the Columbia Business School and Chair of the Management Board and Director of Graduate Summer Programs, Brooks World Poverty Institute, University of Manchester. He won the Nobel Prize for Economics in 2001 and is the author of the best-selling Globalization and Its Discontents, Making Globalization Work, The Roaring Nineties and The Price of Inequality, all published by Penguin.