Many wonder why someone interested in contemporary economic issues should also engage with the history of economic theories. The answer is that history always helps us draw some correct conclusions for our own era, even though the conditions are different.

For example, with what policy did ancient Athens avoid famines while simultaneously not having developed technology, despite having the technical knowledge for many problems? Why did the Industrial Revolution happen in England and not in the more powerful France? Why did economists take so long to understand the 1929 crisis and respond correctly? Why were centrally planned economies unable to solve basic production and distribution problems and collapsed in 1989?

The book attempts a critical narration of the relationship between economic theories and crises from antiquity to the present and describes the criteria by which they can be evaluated and compared. Specifically, it analyzes which pillars of the dominant theory were shaken after the global crisis of 2008 and how they are being revised to interpret the causes and prevent its recurrence.