Eight years ago Nick Shaxson wrote one of the best books about modern finance. Treasure Islands was an exposé of tax havens and it is even more relevant today, after the leak of the Panama Papers. The book was so racy (a Cayman Islands banker ends up in the boot of a burning car in one chapter) that I read it cover to cover nonstop.

Now Shaxson is back, with something bigger to say. The “financialisation” of many of the companies that provide the goods and services we need and, with it, much of our economy, is a curse that is impoverishing us. Too many banks and businesses and too many professionals have moved away from creating wealth for the economy towards extracting wealth from