Escape From Capitalism
Economics is Political, and Other Liberating Truths
Published on 22. January 2026
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-241-74218-1 (ISBN)
Description
Economics is sold as pure and apolitical: scientific, neutral, exact. This urgent book exposes its true role: to convince us there's no alternative to capitalism.
We live in a world dominated by the dogma that austerity is necessary, unemployment natural, endless wars inevitable and central banks all-powerful. It doesn't have to be this way.
In her bold, ground-breaking manifesto, economist Clara E. Mattei tears the mask off our economic system. She unpacks key concepts like growth, inflation, unemployment and balanced budgets to show how they're weaponized to enforce market dependence, not freedom, stripping us of the power to shape the democratic decisions that govern our daily lives. Enduring problems such as poverty and inequality are not accidents or bugs in the economy, but core features - justified with pseudoscientific models to support a system that unfairly rewards people with the most resources.
Why should we accept this? Capitalism, Mattei argues, isn't inevitable, scientific, or natural - it's a relatively young system that can be replaced. Inspired by a lineage of political resistance, Escape from Capitalism calls for us to challenge the broken economics of our times, and pave the way towards liberation.
We live in a world dominated by the dogma that austerity is necessary, unemployment natural, endless wars inevitable and central banks all-powerful. It doesn't have to be this way.
In her bold, ground-breaking manifesto, economist Clara E. Mattei tears the mask off our economic system. She unpacks key concepts like growth, inflation, unemployment and balanced budgets to show how they're weaponized to enforce market dependence, not freedom, stripping us of the power to shape the democratic decisions that govern our daily lives. Enduring problems such as poverty and inequality are not accidents or bugs in the economy, but core features - justified with pseudoscientific models to support a system that unfairly rewards people with the most resources.
Why should we accept this? Capitalism, Mattei argues, isn't inevitable, scientific, or natural - it's a relatively young system that can be replaced. Inspired by a lineage of political resistance, Escape from Capitalism calls for us to challenge the broken economics of our times, and pave the way towards liberation.
Reviews / Votes
A brilliantly illuminating book that reveals how political power is encoded within the very structure of economic theory -- Adam Tooze A book for the times. Mattei takes aim at the notion that the forces which regulate market and social outcomes are socially neutral -- Anwar Shaikh Clara Mattei has written a powerful plea for the return of economics to what it was, and should be: an art and science for the improvement of lives of ordinary people not a seemingly non-political and technocratic instrument for the enrichment of the few -- Branko Milanovic The increasingly dysfunctional capital order we live in is neither inevitable nor permanent. Clara Mattei brilliantly shows this order was built by design and provocatively challenges us to imagine new, genuinely democratic ones in its place -- Daniela Gabor One of the brightest voices of a coming generation, Clara Mattei here offers an impassioned plea for new and wider economic and political horizons -- James K. Galbraith A compelling and insightful book on austerity that, through meticulous research and historical documentation, unveils the deep political forces behind economic decisions and offers essential tools for understanding today's world -- Thomas Piketty A brilliant and lucid expose of how capitalism actually works, and the myths that economists have spun to hide that reality -- William Davies Mattei concisely and elegantly runs through common claims in capitalism's favour... Readers will come away ready for change * Publishers Weekly *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Penguin Books Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 226 mm
Width: 147 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
330 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-241-74218-1 (9780241742181)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
approx. 01/2027
Penguin Books Ltd
€16.50
Not yet published
E-Book
01/2026
Penguin
€14.99
Available for download
Person
Clara E. Mattei is Professor of Economics at The University of Tulsa. She is the Founding President of FREE, the Forum for Real Economic Emancipation, and the author of The Capital Order (University of Chicago Press), which was praised by the Financial Times as one of the ten best economics books of 2022 and has been translated into over a dozen languages.