Elements of novelty, known mechanisms, and the fundamental causes of the recent crisis

We briefly describe the recent evolution of the crisis and, by reviewing some of its explanations based on different theories, we proceed towards our own interpretation. The deregulation wave of the last decades has created new profit opportunities in various contexts – from labour flexibility to privatisation, from financialisation to globalisation – so promoting a renewed process of capitalist accumulation after the stagflation of the 1970s. This has taken place at the cost of a wide-ranging increase of inequality and instability, thus implying a crescendo of crises until the last one (and maybe beyond).