{"product_id":"empty-vessel-the-story-of-the-global-economy-in-one-barge-hardcover","title":"Empty Vessel: The Story of the Global Economy in One Barge - Hardcover","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eIan Kumekawa\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe rise of globalization and financialization as seen from a barge--one Swedish barge, to be exact, built in 1979 \u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"The many-headed hydra of neoliberalism has found its chronicler.\" --Sven Beckert, author of \u003ci\u003eEmpire of Cotton\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\"I've rarely read a book that so deftly entwines a single, accessible story with the broad forces of globalization. A stunningly original history.\"\u003ci\u003e --\u003c\/i\u003eMaya Jasanoff, author of\u003ci\u003e \u003ci\u003eThe Dawn Watch\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/i\u003e \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhat do a barracks for British troops in the Falklands War, a floating jail off the Bronx, and temporary housing for VW factory workers in Germany have in common? \u003ci\u003eThe Balder Scapa: \u003c\/i\u003e a single barge that served all three roles. Though the name would eventually change to \u003ci\u003eFinnboda 12.\u003c\/i\u003e And then to \u003ci\u003eSafe Esperia.\u003c\/i\u003e And later on, to the \u003ci\u003eBibby Resolution.\u003c\/i\u003e And after that . . . in short, a vessel with so many names, and so many fates, that to keep it in our sights--as the protagonist of this fascinating economic parable--Ian Kumekawa has no choice but to call it, simply, the Vessel. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDespite its sturdy steel structure, weighing 9,500 deadweight tons, the Vessel is a figure as elusive and abstract as the offshore market it comes to embody: a world of island tax havens, exploited labor forces, free banking zones, Thatcherism, Reaganomics, and mass incarceration, where even the prisoners are held offshore. Fitted with modular shipping containers, themselves the product of standardized global trade, the ship could become whatever the market demanded. Whether caught in an international dispute involving Hong Kong, Nigeria, Indonesia, and the Virgin Islands--to be settled in an English court of law--or flying yet another foreign \"flag of convenience\" to mask its ownership--the barge is ever a container for forces much larger than even its hulking self. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eEmpty Vessel\u003c\/i\u003e is a jaw-dropping microhistory that speaks volumes about the global economy as a whole. In following the Vessel--and its Sister Vessel, built alongside it in Stockholm--from one thankless task to the next, Kumekawa connects the dots of a neoliberal world order in the making, where regulation is for suckers and \"Made in USA\" feels almost quaint.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eIAN KUMEKAWA is a historian at the Center for History and Economics at Harvard University. He is the author of \u003ci\u003eThe First Serious Optimist: A. C. Pigou and the Birth of Welfare Economics\u003c\/i\u003e (2017), which won the Joseph J. Spengler Prize. He has taught at Harvard and MIT. He hails from Clinton, CT and now lives in Boston.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 336\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 1.4 x 9.3 x 6.1 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e May 06, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"BooksCloud","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51964761833773,"sku":"9780593801475","price":28.19,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0938\/3185\/6429\/files\/empty-vessel-the-story-of-the-global-economy-in-one-barge-hardcover-6457363.webp?v=1775472067","url":"https:\/\/ishookbooks.com\/products\/empty-vessel-the-story-of-the-global-economy-in-one-barge-hardcover","provider":"iShook Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}