Super Imperialism. The Economic Strategy of American Empire. Third Edition Paperback – 30 September 2021
by Michael Hudson (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars (251)
This edition of Super Imperialism is the finalized version of the analysis that Michael Hudson first published in the wake of President Nixon severing the dollar's link to gold in August 1971. Closing the gold window had been imminent since the London Gold Pool was disbanded in 1968 in response to the U.S. overseas military spending that had pushed the balance of payments into steadily deepening deficit since the Korean War (1950-51).
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494 pages
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Publication date : 30 September 2021
Language : English
Print length : 494 pages
Customer Reviews:
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars (251)
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Michael Hudson
Michael Hudson is a Distinguished Research Professor of Economics at the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC), and Professor of Economics at Peking University in China. He gives speeches, lectures and presentations all over the world for official and unofficial groups reflecting diverse academic, economic and political constituencies.
Before moving into research and consulting, Prof. Hudson spent several years applying flow-of-funds and balance-of-payments statistics to forecast interest rates, capital and real estate markets for Chase Manhattan Bank and The Hudson Institute (no relation). His academic focus has been on financial history and, since 1980, on writing a history of debt, land tenure and related economic institutions from the Sumerian period, antiquity, and feudal Europe to the present.
Since 1996 as president of the Institute for the Study of Long Term Economic Trends (ISLET), he has written reports and given presentations on balance of payments, financial bubbles, land policy and financial reforms for U.S. and international clients and governments.
He organized the International Scholars Conference on Ancient Near Eastern Economies (ISCANEE) in 1993, and to-date has co-edited the preceedings of six academic conferences on the evolution of property, credit, labor and accounting since the Bronze Age.
His website and blog can be found at michael-hudson.com. He has been interviewed on Democracy Now, Marketplace, and Naked Capitalism. Many of his interviews and public appearances can be seen on YouTube.
• • •
Paul Craig Roberts’ Bio of Michael Hudson
(Paul Craig Roberts is former under-secretary of the U.S. Treasury (Reagan Administration) and author of The Failure of Laissez Faire Capitalism and Economic Dissolution of the West. This bio is excerpted from an introduction to Michael Hudson’s book, Killing the Host (2015), originally posted at paulcraigroberts.org and at NakedCapitalism.com, February 6, 2016.)
Michael Hudson did not intend to be an economist. At the University of Chicago, which had a leading economics faculty, Hudson studied music and cultural history. He went to New York City to work in publishing. He thought he could set out on his own when he was assigned rights to the writings and archives of George Lukács and Leon Trotsky, but publishing houses were not interested in the work of two Jewish Marxists who had a significant impact on the 20th century.
Friendships connected Hudson to a former economist for General Electric who taught him the flow of funds through the economic system and explained how crises develop when debt outgrows the economy. Hooked, Hudson enrolled in the economics graduate program at N.Y.U. and took a job in the financial sector calculating how savings were recycled into new mortgage loans.
Hudson learned more economics from his work experience than from his Ph.D. courses. On Wall Street he learned how bank lending inflates land prices and, thereby, interest payments to the financial sector. The more banks lend, the higher real estate prices rise, thus encouraging more bank lending. As mortgage debt service rises, more of household income and more of the rental value of real estate are paid to the financial sector. When the imbalance becomes too large, the bubble bursts. Despite its importance, the analysis of land rent and property
valuation was not part of his Ph.D. studies in economics.
Hudson’s next job was with Chase Manhattan, where he used the export earnings of South American countries to calculate how much debt service the countries could afford to pay to U.S. banks. Hudson learned that just as mortgage lenders regard the rental income from property as a flow of money that can be diverted to interest payments, international banks regard the export earnings of foreign countries as revenues that can be used to pay interest on foreign loans. Hudson learned that the goal of creditors is to capture the entire economic surplus of a country into payments of debt service.
Soon the American creditors and the IMF were lending indebted countries money with which to pay interest. This caused the countries’ foreign debts to rise at compound interest. Hudson predicted that the indebted countries would not be able to pay their debts, an unwelcome prediction that was confirmed when Mexico announced it could not pay. This crisis was resolved with “Brady bonds” named after the U.S. Treasury Secretary, but when the 2008 U.S. mortgage crisis hit, just as Hudson predicted, nothing was done for the American homeowners. If you are not a mega-bank, your problems are not a focus of U.S. economic policy.
Chase Manhattan next had Hudson develop an accounting format to analyze the U.S. oil industry balance of payments. Here Hudson learned another lesson about the difference between official statistics and reality. Using “transfer pricing,” oil companies managed to avoid paying taxes by creating the illusion of zero profits. Oil company affiliates in tax avoidance locations buy oil at low prices from producers. From these flags of convenience locations, which have no tax on profits, the oil was then sold to Western refineries at prices marked up to eliminate profits. The profits were recorded by the oil companies’ affiliates in non-tax jurisdictions. (Tax authorities have cracked down to some extent on the use of transfer pricing to escape taxation.)
Hudson’s next task was to estimate the amount of money from crime going into Switzerland’s secret banking system. In this investigation, his last for Chase, Hudson discovered that under U.S. State Department direction Chase and other large banks had established banks in the Caribbean for the purpose of attracting money into dollar holdings from drug dealers in order to support the dollar (by raising the demand for dollars by criminals) in order to balance or offset Washington’s foreign military outflows of dollars. If dollars flowed out of the U.S., but demand did not rise to absorb the larger supply of dollars, the dollar’s exchange rate would fall, thus threatening the basis of U.S. power. By providing offshore banks in which criminals could deposit illicit dollars, the U.S. government supported the dollar’s exchange value.
Hudson discovered that the U.S. balance of payments deficit, a source of pressure on the value of the U.S. dollar, was entirely military in character. The U.S. Treasury and State Department supported the Caribbean safe haven for illegal profits in order to offset the negative impact on the U.S. balance of payments of U.S. military operations abroad. In other words, if criminality can be used in support of the U.S. dollar, the U.S. government is all for criminality.
When it came to the economics of the situation, economic theory had not a clue. Neither trade flows nor direct investments were important in determining exchange rates. What was important was “errors and omissions,” which Hudson discovered was a euphemism for the hot, liquid money of drug dealers and government officials embezzling the export earnings of their countries.
The problem for Americans is that both political parties regard the needs of the American people as a liability and as an obstacle to the profits of the military/security complex, Wall Street and the mega-banks, and Washington’s world hegemony. The government in Washington represents powerful interest groups, not American citizens. This is why the 21st century consists of an attack on the constitutional protections of citizens so that citizens can be moved out of the way of the needs of the Empire and its beneficiaries.
Hudson learned that economic theory is really a device for ripping off the untermenschen. International trade theory concludes that countries can service huge debts simply by lowering domestic wages in order to pay creditors. This is the policy currently being applied to Greece today, and it has been the basis of the IMF’s structural adjustment or austerity programs imposed on debtor countries, essentially a form of looting that turns over national resources to foreign lenders.
Hudson learned that monetary theory concerns itself only with wages and consumer prices, not with the inflation of asset prices such as real estate and stocks. He saw that economic theory serves as a cover for the polarization of the world economy between rich and poor. The promises of globalism are a myth. Even left-wing and Marxist economists think of exploitation in terms of wages and are unaware that the main instrument of exploitation is the financial system’s extraction of value into interest payments.
Economic theory’s neglect of debt as an instrument of exploitation caused Hudson to look into the history of how earlier civilizations handled the buildup of debt. His research was so ground-breaking that Harvard University appointed him Research Fellow in Babylonian economic history in the Peabody Museum.
Meanwhile he continued to be sought after by financial firms. He was hired to calculate the number of years that Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico would be able to pay the extremely high interest rates on their bonds. On the basis of Hudson’s work, the Scudder Fund achieved the second highest rate of return in the world in 1990.
Hudson’s investigations into the problems of our time took him through the history of economic thought. He discovered that 18th and 19th century economists understood the disabling power of debt far better than today’s neoliberal economists who essentially neglect it in order to better cater to the interest of the financial sector.
Hudson shows that Western economies have been financialized in a predatory way that sacrifices the public interest to the interests of the financial sector. That is why the economy no longer works for ordinary people. Finance is no longer productive. It has become a parasite on the economy. Hudson tells this story in Killing the Host (2015).
Read less about this author
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om other countries
- Armando Maya Martins CostaReviewed in Brazil on 25 May 2022
Conhecimento fundamental
Leitura obrigatória para qualquer um que deseje entender o mundo em que vivemos e não aceite as explicações que querem nos impor. - ScottReviewed in the United Kingdom on 22 June 2025
Super Imperialism
This book is a masterful exposé of how the United States restructured global finance to entrench its dominance. It argues that while corporate America remained profitable after World War II, it was the costs of the Vietnam War, not economic decline that forced the U.S. to abandon the gold standard in 1971. This shift enabled the dollar to become a pure fiat currency, compelling foreign central banks to hold U.S. Treasury bonds and, in effect, finance American deficits.
It describes this transformation as a move from industrial capitalism to rentier capitalism, where wealth is extracted through financial engineering rather than production. Institutions like the IMF and World Bank became tools of this strategy, enforcing debt dependency and austerity across the Global South.
The book also delivers a stark account of Britain’s post war subordination. Despite its wartime sacrifices, Britain was subjected to punitive financial terms by the U.S., including the 1946 Anglo-American Loan Agreement. Crucially, Britain was prohibited from devaluing the pound until 1949, a restriction that severely limited its ability to restore competitiveness and manage its balance of payments. It argues this was part of a broader effort to dismantle imperial trade preferences and integrate Britain into a U.S.-led financial order on American terms.
Dense, incisive, and deeply unsettling, Super Imperialism remains essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the monetary foundations of American hegemony and the economic costs borne by its allies. - CAD ReaderReviewed in Canada on 27 August 2022
The Roots of American Hegemony
The book is a spectacular piece of Economic history as it especially shows how the Americans deposed the British Pound Sterling and delivered a final wallop to the British Empire so they could create their own.
A must read to understand the Economic world order and how we arrived to it. - GenChReviewed in Germany on 11 April 2022
great research
quite an eye-opener - Cliente AmazonReviewed in Italy on 3 June 2023
Indispensabile
richiede un grande sforzo intellettuale ma la fatica è ripagata da quanto si apprende. - Amazon CustomerReviewed in the United States on 1 July 2025
Super Imperialism "The Economic Strategy of American Empire".
Learning a lot on the economic system of this country. Very interesting and I hope more of the fellow citizens of this country would take the time to learn more on what makes this country so great. - Alejandro A.Reviewed in Mexico on 14 July 2022
Muy buen libro
Para quien quiera aprender y entender que esta pasando en el mundo actualmente este libro les puede dar un gran vislumbre - もっちゃんReviewed in Japan on 18 August 2023
アメリカが推し進めてきた世界支配戦略の本質を理解するための必読書
経済学の門外漢（私が正にそれ）でもこの本を苦もなく読み進めることができる。そして、アメリカの世界支配戦略の本質が世界経済支配戦略であることを明快に解き明かしていることに魅了される。
マイケル・ハドソンの力量はマルクス主義経済学の本質的理解に基づくものだ。マルクス経済学を今日的に蘇らせていると実感。徳間書店から旧版の翻訳書が出版されているらしい（絶版で手に入らない）が、この新版を是非とも翻訳出版して、多くの人（特に若い人々）が読めるようにしてもらいたい。 - Antonio GimenoReviewed in Spain on 7 May 2023
Versión kindle horrorosa
No vengo a comentar el excelente libro de Hudson, que leí en su versión impresa, si no para desaconsejar la versión kindle. Al menos al desacargarlo en el lector del móvil, el libro parece hecho con copias montadas en pdf. Imposible de leer. - Amazon CustomerReviewed in the United States on 8 May 2025
Best post 1900 historical reference book I've read.
Best historical reference book I've read - explains the rise of the US since 1900 at the expense of the rest of the world. War and trade is a business model the US has ruthlessly exploited - Hudson has recorded the ugly, callous methodology.
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- Joe BloggsReviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 July 2025
Truth about our world
Everyone should read this book. Shows what has been happening for the last few decades and the American empire rip-off on the rest of the world. - antonio pirozziReviewed in Italy on 26 March 2022
Ottimamente documentato, eccessiva attenzione alla cronaca storica
Molto ben documentato e acuto nelle osservazioni e commenti che sono dedicati ai passaggi importanti descritti nel libro e che riguardano il concretizzarsi della strategia americana orientata al dominio del mondo.
Tuttavia, dedicare le prime 200 pagine alla descrizione minuziosa (quasi un cronaca) di come tale strategia prende corpo tra gli anni 1917-1950, mi sembra oggettivamente eccessivo. Molto spesso sono riportati frasi testuali, anche di personaggi minori, mentre l'attenzione dovrebbe essere maggiormente diretta a descrivere lo scenario complessivo e le linee di tendenza. La lettura, quindi, risulta alla fine pesante, per non dire a tratti noiosa. Ciò nonostante, la conoscenza di questi avvenimenti e di come essi si sono svolti, aiuta a capire come e perché siamo giunti al punto in cui siamo ed il carattere delle elité USA. Se ne consiglia la lettura con l'avvertenza circa la eccessiva "verbosità" dell'opera. - LaVerneReviewed in Canada on 28 December 2022
Everyone should read this book
Michael Hudson should be required reading. - Mez Aye newReviewed in the United States on 9 August 2025
The paradigm of Dollar supremacy
Michael Hudson demonstrates how dollar dominance allows the U.S. to sustain trade deficits and fund overseas commitments by exporting its debt. This system gives the U.S. unique financial advantages, enabling it to shape global economic flows while minimizing domestic strain. - Mr M A AnthonyReviewed in the United Kingdom on 11 May 2025
Excellent piece of work
Superbly written, a powerful and insightful fusion of journalism and history. - Ian MacKillopReviewed in the United Kingdom on 25 February 2024
Why America not Russia is the world's enemy. Why the Free World should be called America's slaves.
I know now that our present day history started in 1971 when America effectively exported its unemployment to Europe, from which it has yet to recover. And won't until they realise where the problem really lies. Mr Hudson has done the world a great service; now all we need is for enough of us to learn it. Which is why I cannot possibly recommend this book too highly. - Thom DReviewed in the United States on 5 October 2025
Global Finance
I am still reading the book. Outstanding information! - SaminaReviewed in the United Kingdom on 20 October 2022
Great read for those who love communism shows the true colors of the cold war
Great read for those who love communism shows the true colors of the cold war - Louis J WatsonReviewed in the United States on 4 July 2025
Don't understand the question.
Very Informative in understanding how our economy works on a global platform. - NealSangerReviewed in the United States on 4 November 2021
This book is a must read for anyone trying to understand the role of the US in trade.
Hudson explains US monetary policy from the pre-WWI era to the present day and the points at which it goes through significant changes. He covers the goals of the US at the time, the perspectives of the victims and opponents of these policies and the reasons for changes in monetary policy. I had already read the previous edition but he updates this book to include how the China and Russia are building effective resistance to the machinations of the world bank, IMF, and to the hegemony of the dollar zone in general. Essential reading!
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