Economic and financial crises and disasters Books

Book SynopsisThe subprime mortgage crisis wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of people and threatened to derail the US economy and economies around the world. This book calls for a restructuring of the institutional foundations of the financial system that can allow people once again to buy and sell homes with confidence.Trade ReviewRobert J. Shiller, Co-Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics Winner of the 2009 Bronze Medal in Finance/Investment/Economics, Independent Publisher Book Awards Honorable Mention for the 2008 PROSE Award in Business, Finance, and Management, Association of American Publishers "One man who does have some ideas is the Yale economist Robert Shiller, who would merit attention if only for the fact that he predicting the bursting of the Internet bubble, in 2000, with his book Irrational Exuberance, then discussed at length the dangers of systematic risk in his next, The New Financial Order. Now, in The Subprime Solution--published in August, after the start of the meltdown, but before the full scale of the disaster had become manifest--he comes up with a set of startlingly counterintuitive suggestions about what to do next."--John Lanchester, The New Yorker "With The Subprime Solution, Robert J. Shiller offers his formula to protect us from repeating such disasters: more financial engineering. It would be easy to sneer at this idea, but Mr. Shiller, an economics professor at Yale University, always deserves a hearing... In what he describes as a 'brief manifesto,' Mr. Shiller argues that bailouts of distressed borrowers are inevitable to avoid wrecking our economy and shredding our social fabric--even though bailouts may punish the prudent (say, through higher taxes) while comforting those who gambled on real estate and lost."--James R. Hagerty, Wall Street Journal "Irrational exuberance, or the 'social contagion of boom thinking,' is ... the subject of Shiller's new book, The Subprime Solution, a slim but valuable addition to the growing literature on the ongoing collapse of the housing market."--Max Fraser, The Nation "[The Subprime Solution is] a lucid primer on how we slipped into this money pit and what it might take to clamber out of it... Shiller is sometimes called a Cassandra, and his prophesies about the dot-com and housing bubbles did come true. Yet in these pages he sounds more like a visionary optimist who considers today's emergency to be a grand opportunity."--James Pressley, Bloomberg News "In The Subprime Solution, [Shiller] briskly sketches out his views on both short-term and long-term strategies for dealing with a housing meltdown that's left millions of Americans a lot less wealthy--and an unfortunate number at risk for losing their homes... The book's most compelling discussion centers on the long-term opportunities that lie in this crisis. Shiller describes how key parts of America's financial system--the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the FDIC, to name only three--were created in the reforms after earlier bank crises or the Great Depression... Shiller suggests that political leaders should look at the current crisis as an opportunity to rethink the homebuying process and add new protections to keep homeowners from getting in over their heads during a future bubble."--Daniel McGinn, Newsweek.com "What sets Shiller apart--brilliantly apart--from other analysts of the housing bubble are the sharpness of his diagnoses and the creativity of his solutions. These are the core of his excellent new book, The Subprime Solution... [A] brilliant and radical--but not implausible--perspective on putting the Humpty Dumpty that is American finance together again."--Arvind Subramanian, Forbes.com "Yale University's Robert Shiller is one of the world's outstanding economic thinkers and intellectual innovators, with a record of foresight that is the envy of his profession... His short, snappy and surprisingly far-reaching book on the subprime crisis is as interesting and indispensible as you would expect... The Subprime Solution is an ambitious little volume... It covers a remarkable amount of ground in less than 200 pages... [T]he book's broad framing of the issues is novel and valuable, and its arguments are always stimulating... Shiller ... is an ardent financial-technology optimist, and his book is a torrent of fascinating ideas. Anybody interested in the subject must profit from reading it."--Clive Crook, Financial Times "Robert J. Shiller explains how trillions of dollars of mortgage debt, based on dubious loans to doubtful borrowers, were forfeited and how it can be fixed. An influential economist, he offers insights into the growth of the credit bubble and solutions for curing the ensuing chaos... Shiller's reputation in economics, his majestic prose style, his statistical proofs and his vast coterie of admirers suggest that at least some of his recommendations will become part of U.S. mortgage regulation... For those who want to figure out how to fix the global credit crisis that has developed as a result of Americans' inability or unwillingness to read their mortgage contracts, The Subprime Solution is vital reading. It is advocacy built on faith that government does good, that intervention never produces unintended results and that there is no other way to fix the mortgage mess."--Andrew Allentuck, The Globe & Mail "In his new book, The Subprime Solution, the Yale University professor sounds an alarm that the credit crunch, now early in its second year, poses a dire risk. His text is a stimulating, rapid response to current events--and a forceful demand for dramatic action from Washington, where, he says, the White House and Congress have been 'totally inadequate' to the task... [A] storehouse of valuable, provocative ideas awaits the reader of The Subprime Solution."--Christopher Farrell, BusinessWeek "In The Subprime Solution, he argues that what united the missteps by the Federal Reserve, mortgage brokers, Wall Street bankers, and home buyers that together brought on the current financial mess was a shared belief that house prices never go down. What's the antidote to that kind of mass delusion? Shiller seems to have no interest in substituting his judgment, or the government's, for the market's. Instead, he sees information and innovation as the counter to group think."--Justin Fox, Time "Robert J. Shiller's clear-eyed look at what happened in the U.S. housing market--and what might be done about it--is not keen to attribute blame to the actors in the drama. He explains that the development of subprime mortgages in the Nineties was welcomed as a way of extending home ownership to those once locked out of the market, and it was not the dishonesty of the mortgage lenders, or the greed of bankers, that led to the bubble. There was dishonesty and greed, but these were the result of the bubble, not its cause."--Tim Worstall, The Telegraph "American optimism: Is there any investment bubble it can't fuel? Consider the excesses of the housing market, the effects of which are roiling the global economy. As Yale University economist Robert Shiller demonstrates in his short, whip-smart new book The Subprime Solution, there was a contagion at work that helped pushed home prices to unsustainable levels... Shiller's views are grounded in exhaustive research and penetrating analysis. The Subprime Solution should be read by anyone with assets at risk in the global financial crisis and a desire to fix things ahead of the next crisis. Which is to say, all of us."--Robert Elder, Austin American-Statesman "Robert Shiller's got an argument that will make some peoples' heads explode in his new book The Subprime Solution--we need more speculation in the housing market... I said above that this solution will make some peoples' heads explode, that the solution to an excess of speculation is to create a market in yet more speculation. Yet in this case ti is indeed true, this is a valid solution."--Tim Worstall, The Register "[The Subprime Solution] is short, punchy and political. Shiller is a top-flight academic economist who has often warned of the tendency of markets towards irrational exuberance, and of the harmful consequences that follow. He is rightly scathing towards the 'boosters' who kept assuring us that house prices only rise, and he gains authority for having spoken out during the boom, when it was an unpopular position to hold... Shiller's debunking of house price myths is masterful. Especially important is his rubbishing of the concept of scarcity ... Shiller's explanations are sophisticated and intelligent, and they are also admirably clear."--Michael Savage, Fund Strategy "The Subprime Solution, his postmortem on irrational exuberance in the real estate market, is superb, even for general-interest readers otherwise confused by the whole mess. Though his introduction reads a bit like an arid position paper, his insistence on the fundamentally psychological, rather than economic, basis of the boom is supple and fascinating."--Andrew Rosenblum, New York Observer "If you're unfamiliar with Robert Shiller then understand that he is perhaps the most eminent and considered examiner of modern investment bubbles... Shiller's new book, The Subprime Solution, is a concise attempt to elaborate in just seven short chapters the genesis of the housing bubble, explode its myths, explore its scale and the dangers of its deepening impact, assert the need to maintain confidence in our economic and financial institutions by aggressive action, and then explore longer-term, more fundamental reforms and innovations that will create a population much more attuned to economic risk... There are many more recommendations, but if this book has the ambition of Keynes' earlier work, and the scale of the problem is as suggested, I'd argue that the book is as accessible as you are going to get from such a modern behavioural economics guru. It's a book that everyone who lives in a house should own; just don't buy ten and try to rent them out to friends."--The Knackered Hack "In his latest work, The Subprime Solution, Shiller explains that greater financial 'democracy' and a 'contagion of ideas' led many to conclude a 'new era' had been reached in real estate. The public expected prices to rise continually. Worse, Shiller wrote: 'The very people responsible for oversight were caught up in the same high expectations for future prices.'... Shiller's The Subprime Solution is well worth the read for individuals and private enterprise looking to understand current real estate bubble. It should be required reading for public policy makers who need to take immediate action to solve the subprime crisis."--John Fout, TheStreet.com "Like the financial bubble in technology stocks that exploded in 2000, real estate investors acted on unrealistic assumptions that prices could only go up. In the aftermath, Shiller's recommendation to policy makers is 'Mend It, Don't End It.' He advises regulatory modifications and greater financial disclosure from all players in the complex mortgage-banking process."--Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers "In [The Subprime Solution], he provides the ignoramuses on Wall Street, asleep-at-the-switch regulators and dumbfounded investors worried about their savings with a stark insight to digest over the last two weeks of summer: 'We as a society do not understand or know how to deal with speculative bubbles.'"--Robert Lenzner, Forbes.com " [I]t's an interesting book... [S]hiller convinced me ... that bailing out banks and borrowers who've been clobbered might be the right thing to do."--Dan Pink, danpink.com "In his now-famous 2005 book, Irrational Exuberance, Second Edition, Yale professor and economist Robert Shiller predicted a boom and bust in real estate would have terrifying global ramifications. He was mocked by realtors, but global bank failures and the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have proved him dead on. Now Shiller strikes again with The Subprime Solution, his suggestion for sweeping economic reform to get us out of this mess."--Katie Benner, Fortune "While initially providing a short and concise understanding of the subprime fiasco, Shiller goes on to investigate the various financial collapses over the years and the history of recent housing arrangements, searching for clues that might inspire a universal remedy to our current predicament... Along the way, the narrative, which skips along without being fussy or intrusive, also emphasises the characteristics, psychology and lifespan of the bubble--be it financial, IT or housing--and how the way we've changed the way we think 'is the deepest cause' of the current variant of the malignancy."--Paul O'Doherty, The Investor "[Shiller] offers a primer on the history of home prices, roots of subprime lending and a road map of what to do now. The book is at its best when explaining how so few in authority imagined what has come to pass. Shiller says they were filled with same housing boom faith held by the public."--Jim Wasserman, The Sacramento Bee "In his latest book, The Subprime Solution, he briefly but deftly dissects how easy credit, lack of government oversight and human behavior allowed the subprime bubble to inflate. Shiller's understanding of human behavior is the book's genius, both in the diagnosis and the proposed cures."--Robert Frick, Kiplinger's "For a closer examination of the crisis, there's The Subprime Solution by Yale University economist Robert J. Shiller, the bestselling author of Irrational Exuberance. In his new book, Shiller focuses more tightly on the stock market bubble of the 1990s and the housing bubble of the last seven years, which led lenders to loosen requirements for loans and resell these questionable loans in the subprime market. He shows how the bubble, when overheated housing prices cooled and asset values fell, burst and led directly to the subprime mortgage crisis that torpedoed the credit markets and with them stock markets worldwide."--Geeta Sharma-Jensen, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel "In this slim volume, Shiller not only describes the problem but also places equal emphasis on various proposals to correct it. Rather than viewing the subprime meltdown and credit contraction as a handwringing crisis, he sees it as an opportunity to initiate institutional reforms that will ensure against repeat failures and extend opportunities for home ownership... An important, timely book."--E.L. Whalen, Choice "Reading Shiller also makes me optimistic. Ever the contrarian, he's convinced that, used properly, the new financial technologies that have such a bad name right now will make us all much better off in the long run. In particular, he's working on ways ordinary folk can get out from under the now standard but truly bizarre investment custom in which most of us sink most of our net worth into a single piece of real estate. What kind of sensible diversification is that? What Shiller proposes is the market-led 'democratization of finance.' Coming from anyone else you'd think it was a scam. But read his book and you'll end up feeling strangely optimistic, despite the enveloping gloom."--William Watson, Montreal Gazette "The Subprime Solution is an easy read at less than 200 pages. People seeking to understand the cause of the housing bubble, and those wanting to consider short- and long-term solutions would be well-served reading it."--Bill Freehling, Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star "In The Subprime Solution, which he wrote just as the system was beginning to implode, he says that what is needed now is the next stage of financial innovation, not constriction...He also sees government intervention as vital to channel animal spirits and innovation...In essence, Shiller is laying the intellectual groundwork for the next financial revolution."--Zachary Karabell, Newsweek "The book is not so much an analysis of the subprime crisis as an essay that ruminates on the genesis and evolution of financial bubbles in general and housing bubbles in particular. Shiller believes correctly that economists, in their emphasis on rational decision-making, have confused desired outcomes with actual outcomes--and have paid far too little attention to the reality of swings in social sentiments that can move market prices far from sustainable levels."--Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs "This is an important book from a distinguished academic... The book offers a coherent alternative to policy makers. They should consider its recommendations very seriously."--Shamik Dhar, The Business Economist "[T]his is an exciting book that is to be read under the current market condition. It provides us some hope of correcting the existing problems, so as to have a brighter future."--Ye Xu, Journal of Property Investment & Finance "Policymakers, and students of financial history, money and macroeconomics, will find much of value in Shiller's assessment of the subprime debacle."--Oscar T. Brookins, Eastern Economic JournalTable of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Chapter 1: Introduction 1 Chapter 2: Housing in History 29 Chapter 3: Bubble Trouble 39 Chapter 4: The Real Estate Myth 69 Chapter 5: A Bailout by Any Other Name 87 Chapter 6: The Promise of Financial Democracy 115 Chapter 7: Epilogue 171 Index 179

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Book SynopsisThroughout history, rich and poor countries alike have been lending, borrowing, crashing - and recovering - their way through an extraordinary range of financial crises. Each time, the experts have chimed, "this time is different". This book covers topics ranging from medieval currency debasements to today's subprime catastrophe.Trade ReviewWinner of the 2011 Gold Medal Arthur Ross Book Award, Council on Foreign Relations Winner of the 2010 Paul A. Samuelson Award, TIAA-CREF One of USA Today's "Year's Best Business Books To Make Sense of Financial Crisis" Listed on Bloomberg.com by James Pressley as one of "our favorite financial-crisis books this year" Shortlisted for the 2010 Spear's Book of the Year Award in Financial History Finalist for the 2011 Estoril Global Issues Distinguished Book Prize Runner-Up for the Book of the Year, The Atlantic Finalist for the 2009 Business Book Award ("Best of the Rest") in Current Interest, 800-CEO-READ One of Library Journal Best Business Books - Economics/U.S. Economy category "Mr. Rogoff, a professor of economics at Harvard University, accurately predicted the eurozone debt crisis and for years has been telling anyone who would listen that China posed the next big threat to the global economy. He is starting to look right, again... 'China is the classic "This time is different" story,' Mr. Rogoff said."--Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times "[E]ssential reading ... both for its originality and for the sobering patterns of financial behaviour it reveals."--Economist "Reinhart and Rogoff have compiled an impressive database, which covers eight centuries of government debt defaults from around the world. They have also collected statistics on inflation rates from every country where information is available and on banking crises and international capital flows over the past couple of centuries. This lengthy historical study gives what they call a 'panoramic view' of the unending cycle of boom and bust, showing how claims that 'this time is different' are invariably proven wrong... This Time Is Different doesn't simply explain what went wrong in our most recent crisis. This book also provides a roadmap of how things are likely to pan out in the years to come... This Time Is Different is an important addition to the literature of financial history."--Edward Chancellor, Wall Street Journal "Everyone working on economic policy should own This Time is Different and open it for a bracing blast of sobriety when things seem to be going well."--Greg Ip, Washington Post "[T]he most comprehensive study of financial crises and their aftermath."--Eduardo Porter, New York Times "The authors use copious amounts of data ... to make the compelling case that any well-informed person should have seen the Great Recession coming. The essence of their book is that while financial crises come in different varieties, they are not mysteriously born of undersea earthquakes, but frequently occurring events that can be spotted and even controlled if politicians and regulators know what to look for."--Devin Leonard, New York Times "This Time is Different takes a Sergeant Friday, just-the-facts-ma'am approach: before we start theorizing, let's take a hard look at what history tells us. One side benefit of this approach is that the current book manages to be both extremely useful to professional economists and accessible to the intelligent lay reader. The Reinhart-Rogoff approach has already paid off handsomely in making sense of current events."--Robin Wells and Paul Krugman, New York Review of Books "[A] terrific book."--Andrew Ross Sorkin, New York Times "Among policy experts and economists, This Time is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly ... has become so influential that when somebody says, 'We live in a Reinhart-Rogoff world,' everybody else in the room nods sagely."--Justin Lahart, Wall Street Journal "Professor Rogoff and his longtime collaborator Carmen Reinhart ... know more about the history of financial crises than anyone alive. The pair have just published their broad survey of financial crises, This Time is Different. In an era when most 'analysts' rely on maybe 30 or 40 years' worth of financial history--and then only that of the U.S.--the authors' knowledge of financial crises and government bond defaults going back to the Spanish empire and before offers a richer perspective."--Brett Arends, Wall Street Journal "[O]ne of the most important economic books of 2009."--Jon Hilsenrath, Wall Street Journal "[T]he definitive book on financial crises."--Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post "Two top-notch economists provide a clear and interesting explanation of why economic crises keep occurring. Broadly speaking, downturns such as the one we are recovering from are historically associated with characteristics that should sound quite familiar to today's investors."--David Schwartz, Financial Times "[A] masterpiece."--Martin Wolf, Financial Times "The four most dangerous words in finance are 'this time is different.' Thanks to this masterpiece by Carmen Reinhart at the University of Maryland and Kenneth Rogoff of Harvard, no one can doubt this again... The authors have put an immense amount of work into collecting the data financial institutions needed if they were to have any chance of making quantitative risk management work."--Martin Wolf, Financial Times "Here's a deep and rewarding assignment for all of you, young and old, poor and rich, bullish and bearish. Retire to a quiet spot with a copy of This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly, by Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff."--Bob Lenzner, Forbes.com "[A] fine new history of financial debacles."--Daniel Gross, Newsweek "Wouldn't it be nice to have $1,000 for every time a pundit proclaims an era of endless prosperity, consigning booms and busts to the dumpster of history? The next time you hear that canard (and you will) pour yourself a single malt and dip into Carmen M. Reinhart and Kenneth S. Rogoff's landmark study, This Time Is Different. Wherever you open the book, you'll find proof that debt-fueled expansions have ended in financial ruin for hundreds of years... The result is a visual history laid out in beguilingly simple graphs and tables, making the book both definitive--a must read for professors and investors--and accessible to a wider audience."--James Pressley, Bloomberg News "Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff have delivered a powerful and eloquent statement... Reinhart and Rogoff have done an extraordinary job in putting together statistics on government debt--a task that economic historians should have done long ago but shied away from because of the difficulties of defining 'government', which is often complex and multi-layered."--Harold James, The American Interest "Unlike prior narrative accounts of market panics from such finance writers as Charles Kindleberger and Edward Chancellor, Reinhart and Rogoff give us a data-driven study that is global in sweep but also a model of clarity. The authors package their notably nonhysterical analysis of the latest crisis in a large, self-contained section of the book inviting harried readers to skip right ahead to it."--Daniel Akst, CNNMoney.com "A tour de force of quantitative analysis covering financial crises affecting 66 countries over the past 800 years, the book identifies pre-crisis patterns that recur with eerie consistency. This Time is Different is a must-read for anyone on the lookout for canaries in coal mines."--Barron's "This is certainly one of the must-read books of the year."--Arnold Kling, Econlog.com "Rogoff and Reinhart ... provide an eye-opening look at the cycles of boom and bust and how governments deal with those cycles."--Arkansas Business "[A] valuable new book."--Idaho Statesman "Having studied mountains of economic data during the past eight centuries, the authors insightfully point out the highly repetitive nature of financial crises resulted from a dangerous mix of hubris, euphoria and amnesia."--Shanghai Daily "This Time is Different ... is an unusually powerful bull detector designed to protect investors and taxpayers alike--eventually, at least, and provided the spirit is willing... The book's most memorable passages--what the authors call its 'core life'--are to be found not in colorful stories about long-ago personalities, but rather in its various tables and figures. They take some time to comprehend, but any responsible citizen can and ought to consider they evidence they present. It is overwhelming."--David Warsh, Harvard Magazine "Financial folly, economists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff show in this groundbreaking book, knows no boundaries and has no expiration date... For a book built around numbers, This Time is Different makes for surprisingly good reading. The authors are well aware that human nature is at the heart of the disasters they document, and they enliven the text with brief and amusing accounts of charlatans and cheats."--Paul Wiseman, USA Today "The credit crunch of 2007 became the financial crash of 2008 and the recession of 2009. But there has been much debate about the scale of this crisis, and how it ranks against previous events. Reinhart and Rogoff have produced the most detailed study yet of financial crises, going back as far as 12th-century China... [This Time is Different] will be a vital source of reference in debates on the causes and consequences of financial crises. By cataloguing so thoroughly every known instance of financial crisis, it performs a significant service and opens up new lines of inquiry."--Andrew Gamble, New Statesman "[T]his is the kind of economics we desperately need, as it is relevant, fact-based and replete with wisdom from the past--and lessons for the future."--Irish Times "For those who want to relearn the forgotten lessons of the past, This Time is Different, by economics professors Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff, is an excellent place to start... These are lessons worth learning."--Liaquat Ahamed, National Interest "This book's distinctive strength is that it's built around a massive international database going back as far as twelfth-century China and medieval Europe."--Harvard Business Review "[S]uperb."--Neil Reynolds, Globe & Mail "Reinhart and Rogoff have compiled an encyclopedic analysis of the history of financial crises over the last 750 years. But their volume is not merely of historical interest. Rather, it has great relevance for anyone interested in understanding how the current financial crisis is likely to unfold."--Choice "Reinhart and Rogoff present a sobering reminder that financial crises are a serial phenomenon--caused in no small part by the seductive 'this-time-is-different syndrome,' the prevalent belief that to us, here and now, old economic laws of motion no longer apply. Their ambitious quantitative history of financial crises draws out sweeping parallels between financial crises, across times and continents; and between inflating away domestic debt, currency debasements, and defaults on external debt."--Finance & Development "[I]nstant classic tome on debt crises."--Alen Mattich, Dow Jones Newswires "[A]wesome."--William Easterly, AidWatch "One book in particular has been circulating among economists and market insiders. This Time is Different analyzes vast amounts of historical data on financial debacles, including state failures around the world, bank crises, currency woes and high inflation. The title satirizes those who fail to learn from past blunders and repeat them while insisting, 'This time is different.'"--Hideo Tsuchiya, Nikkei Weekly "Reinhart and Rogoff have produced a splendid book detailing the massive self-destructive behavior that all states have been undergoing over the past several centuries... Reading this excellent book on the paths of previous economic cycles could help avoid some of the worst results of our self-destructive financial acts."--Lloyd Demause, Journal of Psychohistory "Anyone looking for a more academic take on where this meltdown places in the history of financial folly should turn to This Time is Different, a magisterial work on the causes and consequences of crises stretching back 800 years."--Matthew Valencia, Economist.com "I couldn't put it down until I had gone all the way through it, and then I immediately ordered it as an assigned text for my Spring 2010 MBA course, 'The Development of Financial Institutions and Markets.' My students are finding it useful and engaging."--Richard Sylla, EH.Net "Easily the most useful, and arguably the best, is this splendid piece of research and analysis on, as the subtitle says, 800 years' worth of booms and busts."--Bill Emmott, Survival "This Time Is Different changes the way we can study financial crises. It is the start of a truly comprehensive approach to the subject... It adds new ideas that will be useful for gauging the risk of future crises and perhaps even reducing their impact, if investors and policymakers are willing to learn from other people's mistakes, not just their own mistakes."--Kurt Schuler, CATO Journal "[T]he book will be essential reading for anyone who wants to put the recent crisis into some historical perspective--and get some ideas on how to prevent, or at least delay, the next one."--David Orrell, Foresight "It's the only book I have seen that provides, with great detail and over 800 years, clearly defined, analytical, data-driven evidence of what the impact of a post-financial crisis period is and hence what we can anticipate... I've never seen anything that comes close in terms of being comprehensive. It's a tour de force."--Dambisa Moyo, The Browser "[T]his Time is Different [is a] landmark work on financial crises."--Megan McArdle, TheAtlantic.com "Readable, shocking, and vital, this is a book that every investor who has been tempted by a hefty interest rate in a faraway land should study."--Andrew Allentuck, National Post "[This Time is Different] is perhaps the finest study of financial crises ever published."--Ezra Klein, Washington Post "[A] modern classic... In their landmark study of hundreds of financial crises in 66 countries over 800 years, Reinhart and Rogoff find oft-repeated patterns that ought to alert economists when trouble is on the way. One thing stops them waking up in time: their perpetual belief that 'this time is different.'"--Ross Gittins, Sydney Morning Herald "[S]eminal."--Rana Faroohar and Bill Saporito, Time "[T]he pre-eminent history of financial crises."--Adam Davidson, New York Times Magazine "The book by Reinhart and Rogoff is one for the ages, and it will be remembered as a landmark event, not least given the coincidence of its publication of such a deep and broad historical analysis of economic crises with the very moment when the world was entering a massive 'hundred year flood' type of calamity. The authors' empirical work is encyclopedic and much of the data are highly original and the result of intense effort. The necessary theoretical framing is provided, but in terms that all target readers should be able to absorb. The overall view is panoramic and the message carried is an important one for all to hear--policymakers, commentators, and researchers. Crises are still with us, they are very painful indeed, and perhaps it will always be so. It is up to us to figure out why and how crises happen, and to figure out what, if anything, can and should be done to mitigate their devastating effects in future. This book is therefore, above all, a call to action."--Journal of Economic Literature "[E]conomists Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff take a much-needed longer view, placing the current crisis, with a focus on the U.S. housing bubble, into historical perspective."--Anil Hira, Perspectives on Politics "Reinhart and Rogoff's book belongs to the tradition of studies that appear in the middle of a crisis but it manages to keep its spine above water because of its historical depth and systematic rigour."--Sakis Gekas, Dublin Review of BooksTable of ContentsLIST OF TABLES xiii LIST OF FIGURES xvii LIST OF BOXES xxiii PREFACE xxv ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xxxvii PREAMBLE: SOME INITIAL INTUITIONS ON FINANCIAL FRAGILITY AND THE FICKLE NATURE OF CONFIDENCE xxxix PART I: Financial Crises: An Operational Primer 1 Chapter 1: Varieties of Crises and Their Dates 3 Crises Defined by Quantitative Thresholds: Inflation, Currency Crashes, and Debasement 4 Crises Defined by Events: Banking Crises and External and Domestic Default 8 Other Key Concepts 14 Chapter 2: Debt Intolerance: The Genesis of Serial Default 21 Debt Thresholds 21 Measuring Vulnerability 25 Clubs and Regions 27 Reflections on Debt Intolerance 29 Chapter 3: A Global Database on Financial Crises with a Long-Term View 34 Prices, Exchange Rates, Currency Debasement, and Real GDP 35 Government Finances and National Accounts 39 Public Debt and Its Composition 40 Global Variables 43 Country Coverage 43 PART II: Sovereign External Debt Crises 49 Chapter 4: A Digression on the Theoretical Underpinnings of Debt Crises 51 Sovereign Lending 54 Illiquidity versus Insolvency 59 Partial Default and Rescheduling 61 Odious Debt 63 Domestic Public Debt 64 Conclusions 67 Chapter 5: Cycles of Sovereign Default on External Debt 68 Recurring Patterns 68 Default and Banking Crises 73 Default and Inflation 75 Global Factors and Cycles of Global External Default 77 The Duration of Default Episodes 81 Chapter 6: External Default through History 86 The Early History of Serial Default: Emerging Europe, 1300-1799 86 Capital Inflows and Default: An "Old World" Story 89 External Sovereign Default after 1800: A Global Picture 89 PART III: The Forgotten History of Domestic Debt and Default 101 Chapter 7: The Stylized Facts of Domestic Debt and Default 103 Domestic and External Debt 103 Maturity, Rates of Return, and Currency Composition 105 Episodes of Domestic Default 110 Some Caveats Regarding Domestic Debt 111 Chapter 8: Domestic Debt: The Missing Link Explaining External Default and High Inflation 119 Understanding the Debt Intolerance Puzzle 119 Domestic Debt on the Eve and in the Aftermath of External Default 123 The Literature on Inflation and the "Inflation Tax" 124 Defining the Tax Base: Domestic Debt or the Monetary Base? 125 The "Temptation to Inflate" Revisited 127 Chapter 9: Domestic and External Default: Which Is Worse? Who Is Senior? 128 Real GDP in the Run-up to and the Aftermath of Debt Defaults 129 Inflation in the Run-up to and the Aftermath of Debt Defaults 129 The Incidence of Default on Debts Owed to External and Domestic Creditors 133 Summary and Discussion of Selected Issues 136 PART IV: Banking Crises, Inflation, and Currency Crashes 139 Chapter 10: Banking Crises 141 A Preamble on the Theory of Banking Crises 143 Banking Crises: An Equal-Opportunity Menace 147 Banking Crises, Capital Mobility, and Financial Liberalization 155 Capital Flow Bonanzas, Credit Cycles, and Asset Prices 157 Overcapacity Bubbles in the Financial Industry? 162 The Fiscal Legacy of Financial Crises Revisited 162 Living with the Wreckage: Some Observations 171 Chapter 11: Default through Debasement: An "Old World Favorite" 174 Chapter 12: Inflation and Modern Currency Crashes 180 An Early History of Inflation Crises 181 Modern Inflation Crises: Regional Comparisons 182 Currency Crashes 189 The Aftermath of High Inflation and Currency Collapses 191 Undoing Domestic Dollarization 193 PART V: The U.S. Subprime Meltdown and the Second Great Contraction 199 Chapter 13: The U.S. Subprime Crisis: An International and Historical Comparison 203 A Global Historical View of the Subprime Crisis and Its Aftermath 204 The This-Time-Is-Different Syndrome and the Run-up to the Subprime Crisis 208 Risks Posed by Sustained U.S. Borrowing from the Rest of the World: The Debate before the Crisis 208 The Episodes of Postwar Bank-Centered Financial Crisis 215 A Comparison of the Subprime Crisis with Past Crises in Advanced Economies 216 Summary 221 Chapter 14: The Aftermath of Financial Crises 223 Historical Episodes Revisited 225 The Downturn after a Crisis: Depth and Duration 226 The Fiscal Legacy of Crises 231 Sovereign Risk 232 Comparisons with Experiences from the First Great Contraction in the 1930s 233 Concluding Remarks 238 Chapter 15: The International Dimensions of the Subprime Crisis: The Results of Contagion or Common Fundamentals? 240 Concepts of Contagion 241 Selected Earlier Episodes 241 Common Fundamentals and the Second Great Contraction 242 Are More Spillovers Under Way? 246 Chapter 16: Composite Measures of Financial Turmoil 248 Developing a Composite Index of Crises: The BCDI Index 249 Defining a Global Financial Crisis 260 The Sequencing of Crises: A Prototype 270 Summary 273 PART VI: What Have We Learned? 275 Chapter 17: Reflections on Early Warnings, Graduation, Policy Responses, and the Foibles of Human Nature 277 On Early Warnings of Crises 278 The Role of International Institutions 281 Graduation 283 Some Observations on Policy Responses 287 The Latest Version of the This-Time-Is-Different Syndrome 290 DATA APPENDIXES 293 A.1. Macroeconomic Time Series 295 A.2. Public Debt 327 A.3. Dates of Banking Crises 344 A.4. Historical Summaries of Banking Crises 348 NOTES 393 REFERENCES 409 NAME INDEX 435 SUBJECT INDEX 443

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Book SynopsisThe subprime mortgage crisis has already wreaked havoc on the lives of millions of people and now it threatens to derail the US economy and economies around the world. In this book, the author reveals the origins of this crisis and puts forward bold measures to solve it.Trade ReviewRobert J. Shiller, Co-Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics Winner of the 2009 Bronze Medal in Finance/Investment/Economics, Independent Publisher Book Awards Honorable Mention for the 2008 Award for Excellence in Business, Finance and Management, Association of American Publishers "One man who does have some ideas is the Yale economist Robert Shiller, who would merit attention if only for the fact that he predicting the bursting of the Internet bubble, in 2000, with his book Irrational Exuberance, then discussed at length the dangers of systematic risk in his next, The New Financial Order. Now, in The Subprime Solution--published in [2008], after the start of the meltdown, but before the full scale of the disaster had become manifest--he comes up with a set of startlingly counterintuitive suggestions about what to do next."--John Lanchester, The New Yorker "With The Subprime Solution, Robert J. Shiller offers his formula to protect us from repeating such disasters: more financial engineering. It would be easy to sneer at this idea, but Mr. Shiller, an economics professor at Yale University, always deserves a hearing... In what he describes as a 'brief manifesto,' Mr. Shiller argues that bailouts of distressed borrowers are inevitable to avoid wrecking our economy and shredding our social fabric--even though bailouts may punish the prudent (say, through higher taxes) while comforting those who gambled on real estate and lost."--James R. Hagerty, Wall Street Journal "Irrational exuberance, or the 'social contagion of boom thinking,' is ... the subject of Shiller's new book, The Subprime Solution, a slim but valuable addition to the growing literature on the ongoing collapse of the housing market."--Max Fraser, The Nation "In The Subprime Solution, [Shiller] briskly sketches out his views on both short-term and long-term strategies for dealing with a housing meltdown that's left millions of Americans a lot less wealthy--and an unfortunate number at risk for losing their homes... The book's most compelling discussion centers on the long-term opportunities that lie in this crisis. Shiller describes how key parts of America's financial system--the Federal Reserve, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the FDIC, to name only three--were created in the reforms after earlier bank crises or the Great Depression... Shiller suggests that political leaders should look at the current crisis as an opportunity to rethink the homebuying process and add new protections to keep homeowners from getting in over their heads during a future bubble."--Daniel McGinn, Newsweek.com "Yale University's Robert Shiller is one of the world's outstanding economic thinkers and intellectual innovators, with a record of foresight that is the envy of his profession... His short, snappy and surprisingly far-reaching book on the subprime crisis is as interesting and indispensible as you would expect... The Subprime Solution is an ambitious little volume... It covers a remarkable amount of ground in less than 200 pages... [T]he book's broad framing of the issues is novel and valuable, and its arguments are always stimulating... Shiller ... is an ardent financial-technology optimist, and his book is a torrent of fascinating ideas. Anybody interested in the subject must profit from reading it."--Clive Crook, Financial Times "In his new book, The Subprime Solution, the Yale University professor sounds an alarm that the credit crunch, now early in its second year, poses a dire risk. His text is a stimulating, rapid response to current events--and a forceful demand for dramatic action from Washington, where, he says, the White House and Congress have been 'totally inadequate' to the task... [A] storehouse of valuable, provocative ideas awaits the reader of The Subprime Solution."--Christopher Farrell, BusinessWeek "[The Subprime Solution is] a lucid primer on how we slipped into this money pit and what it might take to clamber out of it... Shiller is sometimes called a Cassandra, and his prophesies about the dot-com and housing bubbles did come true. Yet in these pages he sounds more like a visionary optimist who considers today's emergency to be a grand opportunity."--James Pressley, Bloomberg News " [I]t's an interesting book... [S]hiller convinced me ... that bailing out banks and borrowers who've been clobbered might be the right thing to do."--Dan Pink, danpink.com "Robert J. Shiller explains how trillions of dollars of mortgage debt, based on dubious loans to doubtful borrowers, were forfeited and how it can be fixed. An influential economist, he offers insights into the growth of the credit bubble and solutions for curing the ensuing chaos... Shiller's reputation in economics, his majestic prose style, his statistical proofs and his vast coterie of admirers suggest that at least some of his recommendations will become part of U.S. mortgage regulation... For those who want to figure out how to fix the global credit crisis that has developed as a result of Americans' inability or unwillingness to read their mortgage contracts, The Subprime Solution is vital reading. It is advocacy built on faith that government does good, that intervention never produces unintended results and that there is no other way to fix the mortgage mess."--Andrew Allentuck, The Globe & Mail "What sets Shiller apart--brilliantly apart--from other analysts of the housing bubble are the sharpness of his diagnoses and the creativity of his solutions. These are the core of his excellent new book, The Subprime Solution... [A] brilliant and radical--but not implausible--perspective on putting the Humpty Dumpty that is American finance together again."--Arvind Subramanian, Forbes.com "In The Subprime Solution, which he wrote just as the system was beginning to implode, he says that what is needed now is the next stage of financial innovation, not constriction...He also sees government intervention as vital to channel animal spirits and innovation...In essence, Shiller is laying the intellectual groundwork for the next financial revolution."--Zachary Karabell, Newsweek "In The Subprime Solution, he argues that what united the missteps by the Federal Reserve, mortgage brokers, Wall Street bankers, and home buyers that together brought on the current financial mess was a shared belief that house prices never go down. What's the antidote to that kind of mass delusion? Shiller seems to have no interest in substituting his judgment, or the government's, for the market's. Instead, he sees information and innovation as the counter to group think."--Justin Fox, Time "Robert J. Shiller's clear-eyed look at what happened in the U.S. housing market--and what might be done about it--is not keen to attribute blame to the actors in the drama. He explains that the development of subprime mortgages in the Nineties was welcomed as a way of extending home ownership to those once locked out of the market, and it was not the dishonesty of the mortgage lenders, or the greed of bankers, that led to the bubble. There was dishonesty and greed, but these were the result of the bubble, not its cause."--Tim Worstall, The Telegraph "American optimism: Is there any investment bubble it can't fuel? Consider the excesses of the housing market, the effects of which are roiling the global economy. As Yale University economist Robert Shiller demonstrates in his short, whip-smart new book The Subprime Solution, there was a contagion at work that helped pushed home prices to unsustainable levels... Shiller's views are grounded in exhaustive research and penetrating analysis. The Subprime Solution should be read by anyone with assets at risk in the global financial crisis and a desire to fix things ahead of the next crisis. Which is to say, all of us."--Robert Elder, Austin American-Statesman "Robert Shiller's got an argument that will make some peoples' heads explode in his new book The Subprime Solution--we need more speculation in the housing market... I said above that this solution will make some peoples' heads explode, that the solution to an excess of speculation is to create a market in yet more speculation. Yet in this case ti is indeed true, this is a valid solution."--Tim Worstall, The Register "[The Subprime Solution] is short, punchy and political. Shiller is a top-flight academic economist who has often warned of the tendency of markets towards irrational exuberance, and of the harmful consequences that follow. He is rightly scathing towards the 'boosters' who kept assuring us that house prices only rise, and he gains authority for having spoken out during the boom, when it was an unpopular position to hold... Shiller's debunking of house price myths is masterful. Especially important is his rubbishing of the concept of scarcity ... Shiller's explanations are sophisticated and intelligent, and they are also admirably clear."--Michael Savage, Fund Strategy "The Subprime Solution, his postmortem on irrational exuberance in the real estate market, is superb, even for general-interest readers otherwise confused by the whole mess. Though his introduction reads a bit like an arid position paper, his insistence on the fundamentally psychological, rather than economic, basis of the boom is supple and fascinating."--Andrew Rosenblum, New York Observer "If you're unfamiliar with Robert Shiller then understand that he is perhaps the most eminent and considered examiner of modern investment bubbles... Shiller's new book, The Subprime Solution, is a concise attempt to elaborate in just seven short chapters the genesis of the housing bubble, explode its myths, explore its scale and the dangers of its deepening impact, assert the need to maintain confidence in our economic and financial institutions by aggressive action, and then explore longer-term, more fundamental reforms and innovations that will create a population much more attuned to economic risk... There are many more recommendations, but if this book has the ambition of Keynes' earlier work, and the scale of the problem is as suggested, I'd argue that the book is as accessible as you are going to get from such a modern behavioural economics guru. It's a book that everyone who lives in a house should own; just don't buy ten and try to rent them out to friends."--The Knackered Hack "In his latest work, The Subprime Solution, Shiller explains that greater financial 'democracy' and a 'contagion of ideas' led many to conclude a 'new era' had been reached in real estate. The public expected prices to rise continually. Worse, Shiller wrote: 'The very people responsible for oversight were caught up in the same high expectations for future prices.'... Shiller's The Subprime Solution is well worth the read for individuals and private enterprise looking to understand current real estate bubble. It should be required reading for public policy makers who need to take immediate action to solve the subprime crisis."--John Fout, TheStreet.com "Like the financial bubble in technology stocks that exploded in 2000, real estate investors acted on unrealistic assumptions that prices could only go up. In the aftermath, Shiller's recommendation to policy makers is 'Mend It, Don't End It.' He advises regulatory modifications and greater financial disclosure from all players in the complex mortgage-banking process."--Kevin G. Hall, McClatchy Newspapers "In [The Subprime Solution], he provides the ignoramuses on Wall Street, asleep-at-the-switch regulators and dumbfounded investors worried about their savings with a stark insight to digest over the last two weeks of summer: 'We as a society do not understand or know how to deal with speculative bubbles.'"--Robert Lenzner, Forbes.com "In his now-famous 2005 book, Irrational Exuberance, Second Edition, Yale professor and economist Robert Shiller predicted a boom and bust in real estate would have terrifying global ramifications. He was mocked by realtors, but global bank failures and the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have proved him dead on. Now Shiller strikes again with The Subprime Solution, his suggestion for sweeping economic reform to get us out of this mess."--Katie Benner, Fortune "While initially providing a short and concise understanding of the subprime fiasco, Shiller goes on to investigate the various financial collapses over the years and the history of recent housing arrangements, searching for clues that might inspire a universal remedy to our current predicament... Along the way, the narrative, which skips along without being fussy or intrusive, also emphasises the characteristics, psychology and lifespan of the bubble--be it financial, IT or housing--and how the way we've changed the way we think 'is the deepest cause' of the current variant of the malignancy."--Paul O'Doherty, The Investor "[Shiller] offers a primer on the history of home prices, roots of subprime lending and a road map of what to do now. The book is at its best when explaining how so few in authority imagined what has come to pass. Shiller says they were filled with same housing boom faith held by the public."--Jim Wasserman, The Sacramento Bee "In his latest book, The Subprime Solution, he briefly but deftly dissects how easy credit, lack of government oversight and human behavior allowed the subprime bubble to inflate. Shiller's understanding of human behavior is the book's genius, both in the diagnosis and the proposed cures."--Robert Frick, Kiplinger's "For a closer examination of the crisis, there's The Subprime Solution by Yale University economist Robert J. Shiller, the bestselling author of Irrational Exuberance. In his new book, Shiller focuses more tightly on the stock market bubble of the 1990s and the housing bubble of the last seven years, which led lenders to loosen requirements for loans and resell these questionable loans in the subprime market. He shows how the bubble, when overheated housing prices cooled and asset values fell, burst and led directly to the subprime mortgage crisis that torpedoed the credit markets and with them stock markets worldwide."--Geeta Sharma-Jensen, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel "In this slim volume, Shiller not only describes the problem but also places equal emphasis on various proposals to correct it. Rather than viewing the subprime meltdown and credit contraction as a handwringing crisis, he sees it as an opportunity to initiate institutional reforms that will ensure against repeat failures and extend opportunities for home ownership... An important, timely book."--E.L. Whalen, Choice "Reading Shiller also makes me optimistic. Ever the contrarian, he's convinced that, used properly, the new financial technologies that have such a bad name right now will make us all much better off in the long run. In particular, he's working on ways ordinary folk can get out from under the now standard but truly bizarre investment custom in which most of us sink most of our net worth into a single piece of real estate. What kind of sensible diversification is that? What Shiller proposes is the market-led 'democratization of finance.' Coming from anyone else you'd think it was a scam. But read his book and you'll end up feeling strangely optimistic, despite the enveloping gloom."--William Watson, Montreal Gazette "The Subprime Solution is an easy read at less than 200 pages. People seeking to understand the cause of the housing bubble, and those wanting to consider short- and long-term solutions would be well-served reading it."--Bill Freehling, Fredricksburg Free Lance-Star "The book is not so much an analysis of the subprime crisis as an essay that ruminates on the genesis and evolution of financial bubbles in general and housing bubbles in particular. Shiller believes correctly that economists, in their emphasis on rational decision-making, have confused desired outcomes with actual outcomes--and have paid far too little attention to the reality of swings in social sentiments that can move market prices far from sustainable levels."--Richard N. Cooper, Foreign Affairs "This is an important book from a distinguished academic... The book offers a coherent alternative to policy makers. They should consider its recommendations very seriously."--Shamik Dhar, The Business Economist "[T]his is an exciting book that is to be read under the current market condition. It provides us some hope of correcting the existing problems, so as to have a brighter future."--Ye Xu, Journal of Property Investment & Finance "Policymakers, and students of financial history, money and macroeconomics, will find much of value in Shiller's assessment of the subprime debacle."--Oscar T. Brookins, Eastern Economic JournalTable of ContentsPreface to the Paperback Edition ix Acknowledgments xxv Chapter 1 Introduction 1 Chapter 2 Housing in History 29 Chapter 3 Bubble Trouble 39 Chapter 4 The Real Estate Myth 69 Chapter 5 A Bailout by Any Other Name 87 Chapter 6 The Promise of Financial Democracy 115 Chapter 7 Epilogue 171 Index 179

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Book SynopsisThe untold story of how FDR did the unthinkable to save the American economy.Trade Review"[Sebastian Edwards] skillfully narrates a pivotal episode in American political and economic history he considers too little remembered. . . . Edwards writes equally knowledgeably about economics and politics: . . . At a time of economic uncertainty at home and abroad, this comprehensive study of an important event in U.S. fiscal history has significant implications for today." * Publishers Weekly *"Sebastian Edwards' American Default is just such a superb history of the US exit from gold in 1933-34, satisfyingly detailed and highly accessible on both the relevant economics & law."---David Frum"Edwards analyses the default that followed President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s 1933 decision to devalue the dollar against gold. . . . The story is fascinating and the lessons eternal."---Martin Wolf, Financial Times"[American Default] is the history of that mighty legal, moral, political and monetary controversy, the effects of which are with us still. . . . [Sebastian Edwards] knowledgably compares the 20th-century American default to Argentina’s 2002 abrogation of its dollar denominated debt."---James Grant, Wall Street Journal"Brilliantly told."---Steve Hanke, Forbes"Edwards ends his admirably accessible and illuminating book with some careful thoughts on recent financial crises around the world, such as those in Argentina and Greece, and shows why US gold cases from 1933 to 1935 are a useful precedent to understand how future such crises may be successfully resolved by hewing carefully to the rule of law. He believes that the cases may even be invoked by lawyers in other national, or international, arenas. If so, those involved will, no doubt, turn to this book for inspiration and guidance."---Benn Steil, Financial World"Excellent. . . . A fascinating narrative of FDR's decision to devalue the dollar in 1933-34."---Scott Sumner, EconLog"Edwards’ book is fascinating, well written and enjoyable."---Geoffrey Wood, Central Banking"Great book by UCLA economist Sebastian Edwards about a key moment in American economic history. Many economists believe that the most important thing FDR did to help the economy recover from the Great Depression was to go off the gold standard. As part of that policy, he pursued laws that rewrote many bond contracts, annulling gold clauses. It was controversial then (and surely would be again if such an issue were ever to arise). Edwards does a wonderful job telling the story."---Greg Mankiw, Greg Mankiw's Blog"Fascinating. . . . I couldn't put this book down."---Brenda Jubin, Seeking Alpha"A shimmering example of the benefits of historical distance can be found in the UCLA economist Sebastián Edwards’ American Default, a sharp-eyed exploration of a little-noted episode in US economic history."---Ken Rogoff, Project Syndicate"Sebastian Edwards has written a very important book on a monumental episode in U.S. history, the great debt default of 1933-35, which was a true turning point in American political and economic history. . . . I highly recommend American Default. It is more than compelling history; it is a tract for our times."---Gerald P. O'Driscoll Jr., Cato Journal"A magnificent piece of scholarship."---Kenneth Rogoff, Project Syndicate"This easily accessible economic, political, and legal history should be read by undergraduates, graduate students, and the general public. Each audience will gain a new perspective on an important though underappreciated episode in international political economy."---Laura Phillips Sawyer, Journal of American History"Rarely does one read a book on a topic already researched thoroughly and still feel as if one has walked away with a new perspective."---James Caton, Independent Review"Edwards’ clarity enables him to sustain the interest of the reader in spite of the technical nature of his narrative."---Peter Fearon, Journal of Transatlantic Studies

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Book SynopsisIn 2012, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, gave a series of lectures about the Federal Reserve and the 2008 financial crisis, as part of a course at George Washington University on the role of the Federal Reserve in the economy. In this unusual event, Bernanke revealed important background and insights into the central bank's crucTrade ReviewOne of China Business News' Financial Books of the Year for 2014 "Anyone interested in a primer on recent financial history will likely find Bernanke's book to be worthwhile reading."--Publishers Weekly "The lectures are consistently lucid and informal ... and above all intelligent and interesting... [I]t would be difficult to find a better short and not very technical account of what went wrong, and of how the Fed (and the Treasury) managed to keep it from getting much worse."--Robert Solow, New Republic "Readers who are not fans of the Fed chairman and his Keynesian, fiat-money policies should find as much of interest here as those who are; it's the sort of primary-source book that investors will scrutinize, politicians will seize on, pundits will plunder and generations of scholars will analyse... [The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis] brings what Bernanke said in the classroom to a vastly larger audience; now, it's up to the readers of varying political and economic persuasions to make what they will of his behind-the-scenes account."--Alan Wallace, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review "This book is, in short, not just an excellent guide to the Fed and its response to the financial crisis, but also constitutes an important document of its time, a reflection that central banks can do some very effective short-term anti-crisis measures, but they cannot be miracle workers."--Harold James, Central Banking Journal "The lectures, and Bernanke's answers to students' questions, are uniformly erudite, elegant and concise. Perhaps, the most arresting aspect of the lectures is the fascinating insight they provide into the thinking and motivation of the world's most powerful central banker."--Selwyn Cornish, Economic Record "The author examines what the Federal Reserve was intended to accomplish, how it performed its statutory task as it evolved over time and the special functions of the lender-of-last-resort that have been called upon during the financial crisis. These lectures provide a useful primer on matters not often presented in such a comprehensive or unequivocal way. Bernanke's reputation is often identified with his expertise on the Great Depression. Here, he presents himself differently, as a practitioner of central banking... A great introduction to the functioning of central banking for general readers."--Kirkus Reviews "This important book deserves to be read widely both because Bernanke admirably explains the Fed and its actions and because his authorship provides a window into his thinking as one of the world's most powerful financial figures."--Library Journal (starred review) "In March 2012, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the US Federal Reserve, gave four guest lectures at George Washington University. This slim volume--at only 130 pages, comfortably finished in the time it takes to watch a TV movie--comprises those lectures apparently almost verbatim, with a few astute audience questions and answers at the end of each... This is easy reading."--Financial World "The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis ... provides a useful tutorial on the workings of an institution in its most difficult hour. For that reason alone, it makes an important contribution to the historical record."--Marc L. Ross, Financial Analysts Journal "[T]his is a useful and highly approachable take on the history of central banking and the recent financial crisis. It's worth a read, if only to get a first-person narrative from one of the most important figures in global capital markets."--Carrie Sheffield, Washington Times "[F]or those interested in why we have central banks, what led to the 2008 financial crisis and how the nation's top officials reacted, there isn't a better primer... This is no boring textbook, despite the occasional chart. Bernanke presents a clear and engaging narrative of the economic history of the United States, while also tackling a few of the perennial anti-Fed bugaboos... One of the book's most important achievements is to place the Fed's extraordinary interventions during the crisis--including the emergency lending of $1.2 trillion to the financial industry--in context."--Ben Weyl, Roll Call "That loud crack you hear are the necks snapping as money-managers and financial specialists all over the country do double takes before snatching this book off the shelves."--C.D. Quyn, San Francisco Book Review "[The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis] is a helpful primer on modern central banking by one of its preeminent practitioners."--Foreign Affairs "This book will be particularly useful for those teaching a class in either macroeconomics or economic history of the twentieth century at the undergraduate level, as these lectures provide a succinct and accessible account of U.S. macro policymaking over the last hundred years."--Kris James Mitchener, EH.Net "Providing first-hand knowledge of how problems in the financial system were handled, The Federal Reserve and the Financial Crisis will long be studied by those interested in this critical moment in history."--World Book Industry "I learned so much about the Fed, the crisis, the financial market. Say what you want about Bernanke, but he is one great teacher."--Tibi Puiu, ZME Science "[T]his is an extremely useful book, especially to monetary neophytes like myself. I learned so much about the Fed, the crisis, the financial market. Say what you want about Bernanke, but he is one great teacher."--Tibi Puiu, ZME ScienceTable of ContentsPublisher's Note vii Lecture 1 - Origins and Mission of the Federal Reserve 1 Lecture 2 - The Federal Reserve after World War II 29 Lecture 3 - The Federal Reserve's Response to the Financial Crisis 64 Lecture 4 - The Aftermath of the Crisis 97 Index 131

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewRobert J. Shiller, Co-Winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Economics A New York Times Bestseller Winner of the 2000 Commonfund Prize for the Best Contribution to Endowment Management Research "Robert J. Shiller ... has done more than any other economist of his generation to document the less rational aspects of financial markets."--Paul Krugman, New York Times "Irrational Exuberance is not just a prophecy of doom... [I]t is a serious attempt to explain how speculative bubbles come about and how they sustain themselves."--John Cassidy, New Yorker "What set off this speculation and what feeds it? Shiller ranges widely his explanations, laying them out in the first 168 pages in easy-to-read, sometimes passionate prose... [T]hose first 168 pages are must reading for anyone with savings invested in stocks."--Louis Uchitelle, New York Times Book Review "Mr. Shiller's book offers a dose of realism... [I]t presents a message investors would be wise to head: Make sure your portfolio is adequately diversified. Save more and don't count on double-digit gains of the past decades continuing to bail you out during retirement."--Burton G. Malkiel, Wall Street Journal "Informative and well-argued ... A calm and reasonable antidote to today's euphoria."--Jeff Madrick, New York Review of Books "Although its message may be unwelcome to many, this important book should be read by anyone interested in economics or the stock markets."--Rene M. Stulz, Science "Dazzling, richly textured, provocative . . By far the most important book about the stock market since Jeremy J. Siegel's Stocks for the Long Run."--William Wolman, Business Week "Shiller has provided an accessible guide to the usually impenetrable literature on financial markets, especially the American stock market."--Foreign Affairs "Shiller contends that investor psychology is so given to herd behavior that it's almost impossible to manipulate or even influence. The market can 'go through significant mispricing lasting years or even decades.'"--Robert J. Samuelson, Washington Post "Irrational Exuberance should be compulsory reading for anybody interested in Wall Street or financially exposed to it; at the moment, that would be roughly everybody in the United States."--Economist "[An] excellent new book... If you want to preserve capital, unload most of your stocks and invest in government bonds."--Steve H. Hanke, Forbes "Likely to be the year's most-talked-about finance book... You can agree or disagree with it. But you owe it to yourself to read it if you are investing in equities or contemplating doing so."--Fred Barbash, International Herald Tribune "Irrational Exuberance is likely to cause a stir... Shiller illustrates how the current market is like a naturally occurring Ponzi scheme in which investors become promoters for the game after receiving initial payments with money taken from subsequent investors."--David Henry, USA Today "Irrational Exuberance is not billed as a personal finance book. But it is. You can agree or disagree with it. But you owe it to yourself to read it if you're investing, or contemplating investing, in inequities."--The Washington Post "A must-read ... Refreshing, well-reasoned ... And very readable."--Michael P. Niemira, Barron's "So why have share prices soared so high in the past five years, taking market valuations past all historical records? Professor Shiller's answer, as the title indicates, is not encouraging. His message is: diversify now as much as you can, and batten down the hatches."--Diane Coyle, Independent "Shiller has written a crystal-clear and tough-minded critique."--David Warsh, Boston Globe "The point of Irrational Exuberance is not to help investors dump their houses before the current exuberance fades. It is to deepen our understanding of the events we are watching as one bubble gives birth to another and to encourage readers to think about economic behavior and economic policies that can cushion the nasty side of volatility."--Sharon Reier, The International Herald Tribune "The first edition of this book was widely read because of its timing. This one, too, seems perfectly timed, coming when we're starting to fear we've been fooling ourselves. Again... There's a world of important information for everyone."--Lyn Miller, USA Today "The second edition's new component ... is Shiller's exploration of how market psychology has responded to the ensuing five years of retrenchment. One chilling conclusion he reaches from his knowledge of past market performance is that the 2005 market may still be correcting and that a return to 2000 levels may be a decade away. He further warns that many investors are still too heavily invested in equities and that proposals to invest Social Security funds in the stock market would subject the retirement system to unacceptable risk. Shiller expands his focus to include the booming real estate market where he sees another speculative bubble building."--Library Journal "There's plenty of new material in this edition... Chief among the new additions is Shiller's deeper focus on recent excesses in the stock market and his skepticism about investing in real estate... Shiller's ideas have so many devoted followers that I wouldn't be surprised to see many more editions."--Angele McQuade, BetterInvesting "Yale University Professor Robert Shiller pretty much called the stock market drop when this book was first published in 2000. In this fact-packed book, Shiller describes the psychological origins of volatility, among other things. And in the newest edition, Shiller compares the recent housing boom to the stock market bubble of the 1990s."--Registered Rep. "[Shiller] fully updates his argument here, adding new material (a chapter on the bond market, his 2013 Nobel lecture) and augmenting the text to reflect developments since the 2005 second edition. He vacuums up all manner of cultural phenomena, from the important (rising income inequality) to the possibly significant (Google Glass) to the trivial (Kim Kardashian), to reinforce his thesis, and he writes expressively, whether explaining arcane economic issues or illustrating how the story behind Mona Lisa's smile helps account for the painting's astonishing market value. A rare example of economic analysis, deeply respected within the discipline, wholly accessible to general readers."--Kirkus "A superb, well-written, well-argued contribution for serious scholars and practitioners, whether they agree with Shiller or not."--Choice "Shiller provides an excellent synthesis of all the evidence contradicting the efficient market hypothesis, especially how a form of irrational exuberance sometimes leads to price bubbles... Without any doubt, Irrational Exuberance must be read by anyone interested in finance. And it really can be read by anyone interested in finance because the genius of this book is to explain complex phenomena easily, avoiding specialist jargon, including mathematics."--David Le Bris, Journal of EconomicsTable of ContentsList of Figures and Tables ix Preface to the Third Edition xi Preface to the Second Edition, 2005 xix Preface to the First Edition, 2000 xxv Acknowledgments xxxi 1 The Stock Market in Historical Perspective 1 2 The Bond Market in Historical Perspective 11 3 The Real Estate Market in Historical Perspective 18 Part 1 Structural Factors 4 Precipitating Factors: The Internet, the Capitalist Explosion, and Other Events 39 5 Amplification Mechanisms: Naturally Occurring Ponzi Processes 70 Part 2 Cultural Factors 6 The News Media 101 7 New Era Economic Thinking 123 8 New Eras and Bubbles around the World 150 Part 3 Psychological Factors 9 Psychological Anchors for the Market 165 10 Herd Behavior and Epidemics 175 Part 4 Attempts to Rationalize Exuberance 11 Efficient Markets, Random Walks, and Bubbles 195 12 Investor Learning-and Unlearning 214 Part 5 A Call to Action 13 Speculative Volatility in a Free Society 225 Appendix Nobel Prize Lecture: Speculative Asset Prices 239 Notes 281 References 321 Index 339

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Book SynopsisIn The Shifts and the Shocks, Martin Wolf - one of the world''s most influential economic commentators and author of Why Globalization Works - presents his controversial and highly original analysis of the economic course of the last seven yearsThere have been many books that have sought to explain the causes and courses of the financial and economic crisis which began in 2007-8. The Shifts and the Shocks is not another detailed history of the crisis, but the most persuasive and complete account yet published of what the crisis should teach us us about modern economies and economics.The book identifies the origin of the crisis in the complex interaction between globalization, hugely destabilizing global imbalances and our dangerously fragile financial system. In the eurozone, these sources of instability were multiplied by the tragically defective architecture of the monetary union. It also shows how much of the orthodoxy that shaped mone

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Book SynopsisA completely revised third edition of a classic development studies textbookTrade Review'An ideal lift off point for anyone interested in the issues that underpin poverty and injustice at local and global levels. It combines accessible, informative writing on the most essential international development issues' -- Marina Sitrin, author of They Can't Represent Us: Reinventing Democracy from Greece to Occupy (with Dario Azzellini, Verso, 2014) and Everyday Revolutions: Horizontalism and Autonomy in Argentina (Zed Books, 2012).'Of global value to a radically changing world. It is essentially a survey of all the issues that affect the global South and shape the global North' -- Hector Maldonado Felix, Faculty of Social Sciences, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos, Peru, and founder of the NGO Asociacion Gestion Salud y Poblacion.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction: Creating New Paradigms for Development - Stephen McCloskey Part I: Development Discourse and Definitions 1. Measuring Human Development - Andy Storey 2. A Human Rights Based Approach to Development - Máire Braniff and Paul Hainsworth Part II: The Economics of Development 3. Overseas Development Aid: Is It Working? - Patrick Marren 4. Trade, Development and Inequality - Denis O’Hearn 5. Debt Injustice in the Global North and South - Nessa Ni Chasaide Part III: Development Policy 6. Climate Change: Reorienting the Development Agenda - David Selby 7. Europe, Development and the Colonial Legacy - Gerard McCann 8. Post-2015 Development Assessment: Proposed Goals and Indicators - Walden Bello 9. Women Contributing to Gender-Just, Equitable and Sustainable Development - Patricia Muñoz-Cabrera 10. The Complexity of Migration - Michal Cenker Part IV: Regional Development 11. Rethinking Latin America: Back to the Future? - Ronaldo Munck 12. The Arab Spring: Trading Development for Stability - Heba M. Khalil 13. China: The New Face of Development - Russell Duncan 14. Meaningful Development Goals and Sub-Saharan Africa - Chrispin R. Matenga Part V: Human Development 15. Children, Childhood and Work: Perceptions and Practices - Madeleine Leonard 16. Development Education as an Agent of Social Change - Stephen McCloskey Conclusion: Neoliberal Decline and International Development Post-2015 - Gerard McCann Notes on Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisCapitalism has become a system of economic revenge, meted out against oppressed populations around the globe.Trade Review'Perhaps the most theoretically creative radical thinker of the moment' -- David Graeber, author of 'Debt: The First 5000 Years''Max Haiven retraces the roots of the current regression, of the reactionary trend that is driving the world toward a new darkness. These roots are humiliation and revenge. In my opinion, this book is of strategic importance' -- Franco Berardi, author of 'Futurability: The Age of Impotence and the Horizon of Possibility''A deeply learned debt warrior, Haiven lays bare the abject cruelty of financial capitalism, and provides us with a rich supply of sources and arguments for a fightback that gives as good as it takes' -- Andrew Ross, author of 'Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal'Table of ContentsList of figures Acknowledgments Preface Introduction: we want revenge 1. Toward a materialist theory of revenge Interlude: Shylock’s vindication, or Venice’s bonds? 2. The work of art in an age of unpayable debts: social reproduction, geopolitics, and settler colonialism Interlude: Ahab’s coin, or Moby Dick’s currencies? 3. Money as a medium of vengeance: colonial accumulation and proletarian practices Interlude: Khloé Kardashian’s revenge body, or the Zapatisa nobody? 4. Our Opium Wars: pain, race, and the ghosts of empire Interlude: V's vendetta, or Joker's retribution? 5. The dead zone: financialized nihilism, toxic wealth, and vindictive technologies Conclusion: revenge fantasy or avenging imaginary? Coda: 11 theses on revenge capitalism Postscript: after the pandemic – against the vindictive normal Notes Index

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Book SynopsisCapitalism has become a system of economic revenge, meted out against oppressed populations around the globe.Trade Review'Perhaps the most theoretically creative radical thinker of the moment' -- David Graeber, author of 'Debt: The First 5000 Years''Max Haiven retraces the roots of the current regression, of the reactionary trend that is driving the world toward a new darkness. These roots are humiliation and revenge. In my opinion, this book is of strategic importance' -- Franco Berardi, author of 'Futurability: The Age of Impotence and the Horizon of Possibility''A deeply learned debt warrior, Haiven lays bare the abject cruelty of financial capitalism, and provides us with a rich supply of sources and arguments for a fightback that gives as good as it takes' -- Andrew Ross, author of 'Creditocracy and the Case for Debt Refusal'Table of ContentsList of figures Acknowledgments Preface Introduction: we want revenge 1. Toward a materialist theory of revenge Interlude: Shylock’s vindication, or Venice’s bonds? 2. The work of art in an age of unpayable debts: social reproduction, geopolitics, and settler colonialism Interlude: Ahab’s coin, or Moby Dick’s currencies? 3. Money as a medium of vengeance: colonial accumulation and proletarian practices Interlude: Khloé Kardashian’s revenge body, or the Zapatisa nobody? 4. Our Opium Wars: pain, race, and the ghosts of empire Interlude: V's vendetta, or Joker's retribution? 5. The dead zone: financialized nihilism, toxic wealth, and vindictive technologies Conclusion: revenge fantasy or avenging imaginary? Coda: 11 theses on revenge capitalism Postscript: after the pandemic – against the vindictive normal Notes Index

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Book SynopsisWe are living in a time of crisis which has cascaded through society. Financial crisis has led to an economic crisis of recession and unemployment; an ensuing fiscal crisis over government deficits and austerity has led to a political crisis which threatens to become a democratic crisis.Trade Review"This extraordinary book gives us a sharp and illuminating examination of a condition that it is easy to think we understand … until we read this book. We may all be touched by it but Walby shows us all that is actually mobilized in producing the outcomes."Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, author of Expulsions"Sylvia Walby’s new complexity theory analysis of the current crises adds an essential dimension, addressing the financial, economic, welfare state and political ramifications of the crisis as strongly connected dynamics. She convincingly argues why the conflict between democracy and capitalism can only be resolved through a deepening of democracy. As such, her book is an indispensable academic intervention in the politics of knowledge and empowers academics, politicians and citizens alike to address crisis."Mieke Verloo, Radboud University "A lucid text that ranges across disciplines yet maintains accessibility for a wide readership including sociologists, policy communities, students, and activists. [Walby] has produced a book that comfortably straddles the alleged divides among professional, policy, public, and critical sociology…Crisis makes signal contributions to sociological analysis and presents a pragmatic alternative to neoliberalism, which could be fairly readily implemented." American Journal of Sociology"[Walby] gives us conceptual tools adequate for a global theory of inequalities […and] also enables an integration of micro-social transactions into societal theory: the concept of a tipping point in crises where agency of a few may produce massive results."SociologyTable of ContentsAcknowledgements1 Introduction2 Theorizing Crisis3 Financial Crisis4 Economic Crisis: Recession5 Fiscal Crisis: Austerity6 Democratic Crisis7 Crisis in the Gender Regime8 Conclusions: Implications for Social Theory and Public PolicyReferences

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Book SynopsisWe are living in a time of crisis which has cascaded through society. Financial crisis has led to an economic crisis of recession and unemployment; an ensuing fiscal crisis over government deficits and austerity has led to a political crisis which threatens to become a democratic crisis.Trade Review"This extraordinary book gives us a sharp and illuminating examination of a condition that it is easy to think we understand � until we read this book. We may all be touched by it but Walby shows us all that is actually mobilized in producing the outcomes."Saskia Sassen, Columbia University, author of Expulsions"Sylvia Walby�s new complexity theory analysis of the current crises adds an essential dimension, addressing the financial, economic, welfare state and political ramifications of the crisis as strongly connected dynamics. She convincingly argues why the conflict between democracy and capitalism can only be resolved through a deepening of democracy. As such, her book is an indispensable academic intervention in the politics of knowledge and empowers academics, politicians and citizens alike to address crisis."Mieke Verloo, Radboud University "A lucid text that ranges across disciplines yet maintains accessibility for a wide readership including sociologists, policy communities, students, and activists. [Walby] has produced a book that comfortably straddles the alleged divides among professional, policy, public, and critical sociology�Crisis makes signal contributions to sociological analysis and presents a pragmatic alternative to neoliberalism, which could be fairly readily implemented." American Journal of SociologyTable of ContentsAcknowledgements1 Introduction2 Theorizing Crisis3 Financial Crisis4 Economic Crisis: Recession5 Fiscal Crisis: Austerity6 Democratic Crisis7 Crisis in the Gender Regime8 Conclusions: Implications for Social Theory and Public PolicyReferences

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Book SynopsisThe idea was simple: pack a suitcase, go to another city where you have no connections and try to find a job, anonymously. That was the idea that took Florence Aubenas - one of France's most accomplished undercover journalists - on a journey into the worst recession since the Great Depression.Trade Review"Aubenas's story is bleak because it lacks a conviction that things could be different. The story lies in the rubble - literally - of the achievements and failures of organised labour."The Guardian "The Night Cleaner records Aubenas' time among those for whom the job of supermarket cashier is 'prestigious' and a refuse collector is 'well paid' ... While 'l'exception francaise' may still mean something to those in the middle, there is little sign of it in the world documented by Aubenas. Perhaps she has hit on the exception to the exception."London Review of Books "This personal account of the unmaking of the French working class is not only great journalism, it is a true work of literature: beautifully written, intense, unforgettable."Katha Pollitt, The Nation "Follow Florence Aubenas into the armies of the night, among the invisible souls who clean up the mess we make by day, absorb her insights into the great recession and its impact on the most marginal."Beatrix Campbell, author of Wigan Pier Revisited "Too often, the impact of the global recession is reduced to general statistics. But in Florence Aubenas' provocative and passionate book it is captured in exquisite detail, emotion, and human faces. Whether in Cairo, Caen, or Wisconsin, the desperation that accompanies the soul-destroying search for work and economic stability continues to push people to the brink of their patience and dignity. What makes Aubenas' book so brilliant is that this culmination of her undercover investigation does not simply linger on their lack of hope, but also on the depth of their spirit."Nomi Prins, author of It Takes a Pillage "A vivid account of the insecurities and indignities of trying to cobble together a living from the part-time, temporary jobs of the West's postindustrial economy. The insufficient hours, abrupt layoffs, and inadequate wages Aubenas describes so clearly will be with us long after the current global recession ends."Stephanie Coontz, author of The Way We Really Are: Coming to Terms with America's Changing Families "Recommended for those wanting to understand more about what it means to be on the bread line."New Times

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Book Synopsis* This new book by one of the world s leading sociologists reflects on the major events of our time, from the financial crisis to the chaos in the eurozone, from the Arab uprisings to protests in Athens, Barcelona, New York and elsewhere.Trade Review"Beck is one of the most influential sociological theorists alive today, and not just in the academic sphere."Canadian Journal of Sociology"The astonishingly diverse world in turmoil is here trenchantly dissected by the analyst of risk and uncertainty."John Urry, Lancaster UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction Twenty Observations on a World in Turmoil 1. Mushrooms and Other Flowers of Capitalism 2. All aboard the Nuclear Power Superjet Ð Just Don't Ask about the Landing Strip 3. This Appalling Injustice! 4. Harm in Exchange for Money 5. Illegal World Citizens 6. The Cards of Power Are Being Reshuffled across the World 7. Felt Peace and Waged War 8. The Return of Social Darwinism or: Which University Do We Want? 9. A Kind of Berlin Wall Has Again Collapsed 10. German Euro-Nationalism 11. Beyond the Aeroplane 12. Global Domestic Politics from below: How Global Families Are Becoming Normal 13. The Environmental Storm on the Bastille 14. Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian 15. The Caterpillar's Mistake: Fukushima and the End of Nuclear Power 16. It's Time to Get Angry, Europe. Create the Europe of Citizens Now! 17. Powerless but Legitimate: the Occupy Movement in the Financial Crisis 18. Cooperate or Bust! The Existential Crisis of the European Union 19. What Is Meant by Global Domestic Politics? 20. The Five Self-Delusions of a Supposedly Unpolitical Age

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Book Synopsis* This new book by one of the world s leading sociologists reflects on the major events of our time, from the financial crisis to the chaos in the eurozone, from the Arab uprisings to protests in Athens, Barcelona, New York and elsewhere.Trade Review"Beck is one of the most influential sociological theorists alive today, and not just in the academic sphere."Canadian Journal of Sociology"The astonishingly diverse world in turmoil is here trenchantly dissected by the analyst of risk and uncertainty."John Urry, Lancaster UniversityTable of ContentsIntroduction Twenty Observations on a World in Turmoil 1. Mushrooms and Other Flowers of Capitalism 2. All aboard the Nuclear Power Superjet Ð Just Don't Ask about the Landing Strip 3. This Appalling Injustice! 4. Harm in Exchange for Money 5. Illegal World Citizens 6. The Cards of Power Are Being Reshuffled across the World 7. Felt Peace and Waged War 8. The Return of Social Darwinism or: Which University Do We Want? 9. A Kind of Berlin Wall Has Again Collapsed 10. German Euro-Nationalism 11. Beyond the Aeroplane 12. Global Domestic Politics from below: How Global Families Are Becoming Normal 13. The Environmental Storm on the Bastille 14. Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian 15. The Caterpillar's Mistake: Fukushima and the End of Nuclear Power 16. It's Time to Get Angry, Europe. Create the Europe of Citizens Now! 17. Powerless but Legitimate: the Occupy Movement in the Financial Crisis 18. Cooperate or Bust! The Existential Crisis of the European Union 19. What Is Meant by Global Domestic Politics? 20. The Five Self-Delusions of a Supposedly Unpolitical Age

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Book SynopsisHow the current paradigm of technologically driven economic progress could destroy the planet and its socio-economic systemsTrade ReviewThere is always a need for clearly written cultural theory that is accessible but tries to identify macro trends using contemporary examples and data. Stuart Sim excels in this kind of informed, politically engaged, sceptical theory which is not infatuated with jargon or mystification. It's grown-up analysis for students of contemporary culture. Sim has authority, is totally on top of the material and has a certain quiet panache. -- Caspar Melville, New Humanist Magazine There is always a need for clearly written cultural theory that is accessible but tries to identify macro trends using contemporary examples and data. Stuart Sim excels in this kind of informed, politically engaged, sceptical theory which is not infatuated with jargon or mystification. It's grown-up analysis for students of contemporary culture. Sim has authority, is totally on top of the material and has a certain quiet panache.Table of ContentsPreface; Part I: The End of Modernith? The Cultural Dimension; 1. Introduction: The End of Modernity; 2. Modernity: Promise and Reality; 3. Beyond Postmodernity; Part II: The End of Modernity? The Economic Dimension; 4. Marx was Right, But ...; 5. Diagnosing the Market: Fundamentalism as Cure, Fundamentalism as Disease; 6. Forget Friedman; Part III: Beyond Modernity; 7. Learning from the Arts: Life After Modernism; 8. Politics After Modernity; 9. Conclusion: A Post-Progress World; Bibliography; Index.

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Book SynopsisRose Chapman is the Global Head of Compliance for a leading travel commerce platform and solutions provider. With over 20 years of experience working in compliance and ethics in global organizations, she is accustomed to the demands and challenges faced by business professionals and compliance teams working in fast-moving, culturally diverse and dynamic environments. She is a lecturer and training manual writer/reviewer for the ICA in Post Graduate Diplomas and Certificates in Compliance, a member of the Institute of Money Laundering Prevention Officers Committee, UK, and a recognised speaker and expert voice on anti-money laundering.Table of Contents Section - 00: Introduction; Section - 01: Reaction: The rise of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing activity; Section - 02: Implementing an anti-money laundering risk control framework; Section - 03: Using the anti-money laundering strategy wheel; Section - 04: Applying the brakes at key moments; Section - 05: Country and people risk; Section - 06: Product and delivery channel risk; Section - 07: Regulators: External reporting and Financial Intelligence Unit activity; Section - 08: Navigating cultural change; Section - 09: Conclusion;

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Book SynopsisWhen the first rumblings of the coming financial crisis were heard in August 2007, three men who were never elected to public office suddenly became the most powerful men in the world. They were the leaders of the world''s three most important central banks: Ben Bernanke of the U.S. Federal Reserve, Mervyn King of the Bank of England, and Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank. Over the next five years, they and their fellow central bankers deployed trillions of dollars, pounds and euros to try and contain the waves of panic that threatened to bring down the global financial system.Neil Irwin''s The Alchemists is both a gripping account of the most intense exercise in economic crisis management we''ve ever seen, and an insightful examination of the role and power of the central bank. It begins in Stockholm, Sweden, in the seventeenth century, where central banking had its rocky birth, and then progresses through a brisk but dazzling tutorial on how the central bankTrade ReviewBrilliantly reported and riveting, Neil Irwin's The Alchemists is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the global reach of the financial crisis through which we are still living. The international perspective brings a fascinating and wholly new dimension to the story, one that has until now not been adequately told. -- Liaquat Ahamed, author of 'Lords of Finance'Brings events to life without losing sight of the bigger issues * Money Week *[Mr. Irwin] has provided an accessible, engrossing account of the tribulations that Mr. Bernanke, with Mervyn A. King of the Bank of England and Jean-Claude Trichet of the European Central Bank, endured in pulling the world financial system back from collapse... Mr. Irwin seems to have talked with everyone, read the right scholarly papers and interviewed important dissenters in the Fed, the European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bundesbank... He has a nice touch for translating central banking's mysteries, opaque and forbidding, into understandable English. He is astute in describing the internal and external politics of institutions traditionally expected to remain above politics of the usual sort. * New York Times *A detailed and fast-moving account of these perilous years. This is the crisis as told through emails, phone calls, meetings and one very fateful walk along the beach in Deauville, France. * The Wall Street Journal *

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Book SynopsisYoussef Cassis is Professor of Economic History at the European University Institute, in Florence, Italy. His work mainly focuses on banking and financial history, as well as business history more generally. His most recent books include Crises and Opportunities. The Shaping of Modern Finance (2011), and, with Philip Cottrell, Private Banking in Europe: Rise, Retreat and Resurgence (2015).Jean-Jacques van Helten is currently a Visiting Fellow at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy, and formerly the Managing Director & Chief Risk Officer, EMEA for the Bank of Montreal (BMO) Financial Group. He is a Non-Executive Director on the Boards of an Irish bank and a FinTech company, has a PhD in Economic History from London University and is a frequent speaker on risk management at international conferences.Trade ReviewYoussef Cassis and Jean-Jacques van Helten have assembled a ‘dream team’ of authors, including academics, bankers, central bankers, journalists, politicians, and regulators, for this accessible, engaging, and informed edited volume on the legacy of the Global Financial Crisis. This book is a major contribution to our collective memory of the greatest financial crisis since the Great Depression. * John Turner, Professor of Finance and Financial History, Queen’s University Belfast, UK and Author of Boom and Bust: A Global History of Financial Bubbles *It is unique to have such a variety of established practitioners and academics reflecting on the Global Financial Crisis from multiple angles. I attended the original conference and I learned and thoroughly enjoyed the wide diversity of topics on the impact of the financial crisis. I am sure that the reflections and lessons now gathered in this book will be useful for future crisis management challenges. * Keishi Hotsuki, Chief Risk Officer, Morgan Stanley *Table of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables Contributors Acknowledgements Introduction: The Legacy of the Global Financial Crisis (Youssef Cassis and Jean-Jacques van Helten) Part 1: Perspectives on the Global Financial Crisis 1.Moral Hazard and Equity Finance: Why Policy has been Sub-optimal since the Global Financial Crisis (C.A.E. Goodhart) 2. The Global Financial Crisis Ten Years On: Using and Forgetting the Past? (Catherine R. Schenk) 3. On Volatility, Economic Slow-Motion and Populism: The Global Financial Crisis and Beyond (Gerald Braunberger) 4. Lessons from the Great Financial Crisis in Perspective (Ramon Marimon) 5. The Wasted Legacy of a Crisis (Pervenche Berès) Part 2: National Experiences 6.The Financial Crisis, National Policy Responses and the Rise of Conservative Nationalism (Dorothee Bohle) 7.Financial Crisis Management: Unanswered Key Questions (Patrick Honohan) 8. SEB and the Financial Crisis in the Baltics (Magnus Agustsson and Karlis Danevics) 9.The Legacy of the Global Financial Crisis: The View from Greece (George Papaconstantinou) Part 3: The Architecture of Control 10.The Danger of Raising and then Dashing Expectations: The Lesson from Lehman? (Thomas Huertas) 11. Governing EU Banks after the Global Financial Crisis: From Regulation to Governance (Agnieszka Smolenska) 12. From Sets of Rules to Codes of Conduct (Jacques Beyssade) 13. Risk Management and Corporate Governance (Laurence Bogni-Bartholmé) Index

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Book SynopsisGrey Zones in International Economic Law and Global Governance examines contested zones of global governance to understand state policy and market behaviour in the current era.Table of ContentsForeword / Pitman B. PotterIntroduction: Grey Zones of International Economic Law and Global Governance / Daniel Drache and Lesley A. JacobsPart 1: Hot Button Issues in Global Governance1 A Crafty Madness Kept Aloof: Anti-Dumping as Faulted Global Governance / Tomer Broude2 The Anti-Dumping Wars: An Analysis of Unfair Trading Suits, 1995–2011 / Daniel Drache and Yin Jiyuan3 Investor-State Dispute Settlement Mechanisms in International Economic Law / Lesley A. Jacobs4 The WTO and the Future of Subsidies and Food Security / Carlos M. CorreaPart 2: Global Trade and Local Adaptation5 Is Anti-Dumping a Smart Policy for Global South Countries? / Welber Barral6 Grey Zones in the European Union: Between Flexibility and Uniformity of the State Aid Rules / Ljiljana BiukovicPart 3: Labour and Food Rights in the Global Policy Arena7 A New Grey Zone in Global Trade Governance? Recent Developments on Food Security at the WTO / Matias E. Margulis8 Labour Relations and Trade Policy in China: Opportunities for Coordinated Compliance / Pitman B. Potter9 What Constitutes Legitimate Policy Space for Food Security? / Katie SykesPart 4: The Greening of International Economic Law10 Renewable Energy and WTO Law: More Policy Space or Enhanced International Disciplines? / Thomas Cottier11 Green Energy Programs and the WTO Subsidies Agreement: Is There Enough Policy Space? / Debra P. StegerConclusion: Living in a Dangerous Age: Trade Policy Options for Canada / Daniel Drache and Lesley A. JacobsIndex

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Book SynopsisThis book is motivated by the simple hope that the cloud of the global financial crisis may yet have a silver liningthat political leaders, economists, and management scholars might seize this opportunity to reflect critically on the assumptions, practices, and infrastructures that have precipitated the crisis and to imagine and create new forms of organization that sustainably enhance the well-being of global stakeholders.The contributors suggest that aesthetic management, high reliability and crisis management, and sustainability science have much to contribute to the resolution of the collapse that we''ve witnessed, and to providing enduring lessons for how to structure the institutions of the future. Learning From the Global Financial Crisis devotes a section to each of these areas, offering full-length chapters which explore key issues in depth, as well as shorter commentaries that focus on practical considerations. The chapters progress from micro-level issues thTrade Review"The editors and contributors are on target in identifying creativity—human, social, organizational, and ecological—as key to any paradigm shift in the economy. This volume makes tangible this key insight, engaging readers with essays that are at once informative and provocative."—Ronald Purser, San Francisco State University, co-editor of 24/7: Time and Temporality in the Network Society"Yes, we have considered the financial crisis, but no other book has fruitfully examined this historical moment in the same way as this volume. It is through taking on new perspectives-like creativity, sustainability, and reliability-that we reveal the deeper fallacies in our approaches to markets and organizations. We know what caused the crisis; in this book we come to understand what underpinned those causes and how to shift our foundations."—Hans Hansen, Texas Tech University

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Book SynopsisFeaturing essays by Nobel laureate economists and an afterword by Richard Posner, this volume provides a comprehensive overview of the collapse of the global financial sector in 2008. It will be essential reading for anyone interested in the nature of modern capitalism and regulation.Trade Review"You will find in this collection some of the best efforts so far to understand the financial crisis." * Edmund Phelps, Columbia University *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations 1. Capitalism and the Crisis: Bankers, Bonuses, Ideology, and Ignorance —Jeffrey Friedman PART I. THE CRISIS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE 2. An Accident Waiting to Happen: Securities Regulation and Financial Deregulation —Amar Bhide 3. Monetary Policy, Credit Extension, and Housing Bubbles, 2008 and 1929 —Steven Gjerstad and Vernon L. Smith PART II. WHAT WENT WRONG (AND WHAT DIDN'T)? 4. The Anatomy of a Murder: Who Killed the American Economy? —Joseph E. Stiglitz 5. Monetary Policy, Economic Policy, and the Financial Crisis: An Empirical Analysis of What Went Wrong —John B. Taylor 6. Housing Initiatives and Other Policy Factors —Peter J. Wallison 7. How Securitization Concentrated Risk in the Financial Sector —Viral V. Acharya and Matthew Richardson 8. A Regulated Meltdown: The Basel Rules and Banks' Leverage —Juliusz Jablecki and Mateusz Machaj 9. The Credit-Rating Agencies and the Subprime Debacle —Lawrence J. White 10. Credit-Default Swaps and the Crisis Peter J. Wallison PART III. ECONOMISTS, ECONOMICS, AND THE FINANCIAL CRISIS 11. The Crisis of 2008: Lessons for and from Economics —Daron Acemoglu 12. The Financial Crisis and the Systemic Failure of the Economics Profession —David Colander, Michael Goldberg, Armin Haas, Katarina Juselius, Alan Kirman, Thomas Lux, and Brigitte Sloth Afterword: The Causes of the Financial Crisis —Richard A. Posner List of Abbreviations and Acronyms Notes References List of Contributors Index Acknowledgments

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Book SynopsisIn this illuminating and provocative work, Richard Vague argues that the rapid expansion of private debt-rather than public spending-is what constrains economic growth and triggers economic calamities like the financial crisis of 2008.Trade Review"Economists failed to predict the 2007 meltdown and they're on course to miss the next one too. As a consumer lending practitioner who saw it coming, Richard Vague's voice should not be ignored. His emphasis on the dangers of rising private household debt is a key both to the last crisis and the next." * Ed Luce, Financial Times Chief U.S. Commentator and Columnist *"If you want to understand why financial crises occur, read The Next Economic Disaster. In this penetrating new book, serial entrepreneur Richard Vague succinctly documents how all financial collapses originate with too much private borrowing. In plain English, he outlines some of the steps we need to take to avoid the next cataclysm." * Liaquat Ahamed, author of Lords of Finance: The Bankers Who Broke the World *"We all know that too much debt is bad. But if you want to know how bad, you need to read this book. Packed with insightful analysis, it is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how we got onto the road to financial ruin-and how to avoid the next disaster." * Megan McArdle, Bloomberg View *Table of ContentsPreface Chapter One. Boom and Crisis Chapter Two. The Deleveraging Challenge Chapter Three. The Paradox of Debt and the Long-term View Conclusion Acknowledgments Appendices can be found online at www.debt-economics.org/appendix/

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Book SynopsisOffers a comprehensive overview of the financial and economic crises of 2008-2009 and the economic and financial policy implications for growth in developing countries.

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Book SynopsisTaking the so-called subprime mortgage crisis as her case study, Janet Roitman analyzes "crisis" as a narrative device, explaining how the term enables some narratives and questions while foreclosing others.Trade Review“One of the great strengths of Roitman’s book is that by analysing how we come to view certain events as being indications of a ‘crisis’, she also sheds light on the way we construct our notion of ‘normalcy.’ . . . Anti-Crisis is clearly the product of a serious attempt to think outside the usual academic boxes, and as such it deserves much praise. It is to Roitman’s credit, and to the reader’s benefit, that she largely succeeds in her aim to illuminate the notion of crisis as an object of knowledge.” -- Luke McDonagh * LSE Review of Books *“Anti-Crisis is an engaging, timely, and provocative critical analysis of contemporary crisis narratives. It does work that few others have undertaken by plumbing the roots of crisis as a historico-philosophical concept and approaching its narration as a discursive tool for the defense of the status quo and the interests animating it. Roitman does a superb job of excavating and analyzing the technical practices that allowed for what were at one moment regarded as legitimate and lucrative practices of debt capitalization to be transfigured in the next moment into toxic obligations requiring public bailouts in order to rescue the world as we know it.” -- Alex Khasnabish * Anthropological Quarterly *“Roitman’s book fulfills multiple timely and important tasks. . . . Roitman therefore calls attention to the contingent practices which constitute normality as institutional legitimacy. . . . The merit of this perspective is that it restores politicality both in and beyond crisis conditions.” -- Sascha Engel * New Political Science *“Anti-Crisis draws our attention to a range of key issues in social theory: critique and crisis are cognates whereby crisis is necessary for the enunciation of critique and that crisis may be understood as a blind spot that regulates narratives about contemporary history—enabling and disenabling certain questions. Ultimately, Roitman’s elaboration of crisis is significant insofar as it is understood, not as a condition, but as an observation about history that generates meanings — meanings that are contested and the product of particular ideological vantage points.” -- Jude Fokwang * Anthropology of Southern Africa *“The book offers important insights for ethnography insofar as crisis is either a backdrop for many ethnographic projects. . . . Furthermore, our discipline’s increasing focus on problems rather than ethnoi will require anthropologists to reflect carefully on articulations of crisis. Conceptual work is delicate business, which Roitman handles with aplomb. Anti-Crisis offers an important caution for those engaged in ethnographic work: fieldworkers should be attentive to the overlaps and differences between the concepts used by participants in research and the concepts deployed in analysis.” -- Daromir Rudnyckyj * American Ethnologist *"An immensely rich, atypical and inspiring account of the calculus of crisis." -- Radman Selmic * Journal of Cultural Economy *"Well written and provocative, Anti-Crisis makes a great contribution to conceptual anthropology. By dislodging a key term in contemporary critical theories, it poses an exciting challenge to scholars within and beyond the discipline, at the same time reasserting anthropology’s broader intellectual relevance." -- Amalia Sa’ar * American Anthropologist *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments xi Introduction. What Is at Stake? 1 1. Crisis Demands 15 Judgment Day The Moral Demand The Test 2. Crisis Narratives 41 Bubbles Houses Finance Subjects 3. Crisis: Refrain! 71 Noncrisis Narrations The Crisis that does not Obtain Conclusion: Dreams 91 Notes 97 References 133 Index 153

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Book SynopsisSince the mid-20th century, organizational theorists have increasingly distanced themselves from the study of core societal power centers and important policy issues of the day. This title addresses the global financial crisis debates.Trade Review"Bravo! Finally, a stellar group of economic sociologists speak out about the antecedents, processes, and consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. Markets on Trial ably combines sharp analytic insights with much needed policy recommendations. Viviana Zelizer, Lloyd Cotsen '50 Professor of Sociology, Princeton University, author of Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy". "Now that it's clear to just about everyone that there are institutions and organizations behind markets and that both have a major hand in market failures, who are you going to call? Organizational and economic sociologists of course! This book assembles scholars of significant repute from both fields with much to say about why we are where we are today. The messages are provocative and important. It's time to listen to the voices in this timely and important book. At the moment, this book should be on every thinking person's ""to read"" list. Stephen R. Barley, Richard Weiland Professor and Co-Director, Center for Work, Technology and Organization, Stanford University". Markets on Trial is an essential foundation for understanding the Great Recession of 2008-09, and for averting future financial catastrophes. Drawing on research by the era's premier economic sociologists, this volume makes a compelling case for seeing the subprime mortgage disaster, Lehman failure, and financial meltdown as predictable - and thus avoidable - products of free-market ideology, shareholder-value capitalism, misapplied agency-theory, corporate-elite fragmentation, and, ultimately, a massive failure of leadership. Michael Useem, Professor of Management and Director of the Center for Leadership and Change, Wharton School, University of PennsylvaniaTable of ContentsPART A INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL 2 VOLUME SET Chapter 1: Markets on Trial: Towards a Policy-Oriented Economic Sociology, Michael Lounsbury (University of Alberta) and Paul M. Hirsch (Northwestern University) SECTION I: THE FINANCIAL CRISIS AND ITS UNFOLDING Chapter 2: The Anatomy of the Mortgage Securitization Crisis, Neil Fligstein and Adam Goldstein (University of California at Berkeley) Chapter 3: The Structure of Confidence and the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, Richard Swedberg (Cornell University) Chapter 4: The Role of Ratings in the Subprime Mortgage Crisis: The Art of Corporate and the Science of Consumer Credit Rating, Akos Rona-Tas (University of California at San Diego) and Stefanie Hiss (University of Jena) Chapter 5: Knowledge and Liquidity: Institutional and Cognitive Foundations of the SubPrime Crisis Bruce Carruthers (Northwestern University) Chapter 6: Terminal Isomorphism and the Self-Destructive Potential of Success: Lessons from Sub-Prime Mortgage Origination and Securitization, Jo-Ellen Pozner (University of California at Berkeley), Mary Katherine Stimmler (University of California at Berkeley) & Paul Hirsch (Northwestern University) SECTION II: THE NORMAL ACCIDENT PERSPECTIVE Chapter 7: A Normal Accident Analysis of the Mortgage Meltdown, Don Palmer and Michael Maher (University of California at Davis) Chapter 8: The Global Crisis of 2007-2009: Markets, Politics, and Organizations, Mauro F. Guillen (University of Pennsylvania) and Sandra L. Suarez (Temple University) Chapter 9: Regulating and Redesigning Finance: Market Architectures, Normal Accidents and Dilemmas of Regulatory Reform, Marc Schneiberg (Reed College) and Tim Bartley (Indiana University) Chapter 10: The Meltdown was not an Accident, Charles Perrow (Yale University)

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Book SynopsisSince the mid-20th century, organizational theorists have increasingly distanced themselves from the study of core societal power centers and important policy issues of the day. This title addresses the global financial crisis debates and struggles around how to organize economies and societies around the world.Trade Review"Bravo! Finally, a stellar group of economic sociologists speak out about the antecedents, processes, and consequences of the 2008 financial crisis. Markets on Trial ably combines sharp analytic insights with much needed policy recommendations. Viviana Zelizer, Lloyd Cotsen '50 Professor of Sociology, Princeton University, author of Economic Lives: How Culture Shapes the Economy". "Now that it's clear to just about everyone that there are institutions and organizations behind markets and that both have a major hand in market failures, who are you going to call? Organizational and economic sociologists of course! This book assembles scholars of significant repute from both fields with much to say about why we are where we are today. The messages are provocative and important. It's time to listen to the voices in this timely and important book. At the moment, this book should be on every thinking person's ""to read"" list. Stephen R. Barley, Richard Weiland Professor and Co-Director, Center for Work, Technology and Organization, Stanford University".Table of ContentsPART A INTRODUCTION TO THE SPECIAL 2 VOLUME SET Chapter 1: Markets on Trial: Towards a Policy-Oriented Economic Sociology, Michael Lounsbury (University of Alberta) and Paul M. Hirsch (Northwestern University) SECTION I: THE FINANCIAL CRISIS AND ITS UNFOLDING Chapter 2: The Anatomy of the Mortgage Securitization Crisis, Neil Fligstein and Adam Goldstein (University of California at Berkeley) Chapter 3: The Structure of Confidence and the Collapse of Lehman Brothers, Richard Swedberg (Cornell University) Chapter 4: The Role of Ratings in the Subprime Mortgage Crisis: The Art of Corporate and the Science of Consumer Credit Rating, Akos Rona-Tas (University of California at San Diego) and Stefanie Hiss (University of Jena) Chapter 5: Knowledge and Liquidity: Institutional and Cognitive Foundations of the SubPrime Crisis Bruce Carruthers (Northwestern University) Chapter 6: Terminal Isomorphism and the Self-Destructive Potential of Success: Lessons from Sub-Prime Mortgage Origination and Securitization, Jo-Ellen Pozner (University of California at Berkeley), Mary Katherine Stimmler (University of California at Berkeley) & Paul Hirsch (Northwestern University) SECTION II: THE NORMAL ACCIDENT PERSPECTIVE Chapter 7: A Normal Accident Analysis of the Mortgage Meltdown, Don Palmer and Michael Maher (University of California at Davis) Chapter 8: The Global Crisis of 2007-2009: Markets, Politics, and Organizations, Mauro F. Guillen (University of Pennsylvania) and Sandra L. Suarez (Temple University) Chapter 9: Regulating and Redesigning Finance: Market Architectures, Normal Accidents and Dilemmas of Regulatory Reform, Marc Schneiberg (Reed College) and Tim Bartley (Indiana University) Chapter 10: The Meltdown was not an Accident, Charles Perrow (Yale University) PART B SECTION III: HISTORICAL ORIGINS OF THE U.S. FINANCIAL CRISIS Chapter 11: The Misapplication of Mr. Michael Jensen: How Agency Theory Brought Down the Economy and Why it Might Again, Frank Dobbin and Jiwook Jung (Harvard University) Chapter 12: Neoliberalism in Crisis: Regulatory Roots of the U.S. Financial Meltdown, John Campbell (Dartmouth College) Chapter 13: The American Corporate Elite and the Historical Roots of the Financial Crisis of 2008, Mark Mizruchi (University of Michigan) Chapter 14: The Political Economy of Financial Exuberance, Greta Krippner(University of Michigan) SECTION IV: CRISIS PRODUCTION: SPECULATIVE BUBBLES AND BUSINESS CYCLES Chapter 15: The Institutional Embeddedness of Market Failure: Why Speculative Bubbles Still Occur, Mitch Abolafia (State University of New York at Albany) Chapter 16: The Social Construction of Causality: The Effects of Institutional Myths on Financial Regulation, Anna Rubtsova (Emory University), Rich DeJordy (Boston College), Mary Ann Glynn (Boston College) and Mayer Zald (University of Michigan) Chapter 17: Business Cycles, Entrepreneurship, and Economic Crisis in the Commercial Building Market: Toward a Mesoeconomics, Tom Beamish and Nicole Biggart (University of California at Davis) SECTION V: COMPARATIVE INSTITUTIONAL DYNAMICS Chapter 18: Through the Looking Glass: Inefficient Deregulation in the United States and Efficient State-Ownership in China, Doug Guthrie and David Slocum (New York University) Chapter 19: Precedence for the Unprecedented: A Comparative Institutionalist View of the Financial Crisis, Gerald McDermott (University of South Carolina) SECTION VI: A FUTURE SOCIETY AND ECONOMY Chapter 20: After the Ownership Society: Another World is Possible, Jerry Davis (University of Michigan) SECTION VII: POSTSCRIPTS Chapter 21: What If We Had Been in Charge? The Sociologist as Builder of Rational Institutions Ezra Zuckerman (MIT) Chapter 22: The Future of Economics, New Circuits for Capital, and Re-envisioning the Relation of State and Market, Fred Block (University of California at Davis)

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Book SynopsisThis collection brings together leading scholarly thinking to understand why CSR failed to prevent the global financial crisis, how corporate social irresponsibility (CSI) contributed to the financial crisis, and how we may reframe CSR or improve CSR frameworks to help prevent or mitigate any future financial and economic crises.Trade Review"Sharply crafted and refreshingly forthright, this edited collection is easily the most incisive scholarly treatment of the rhetoric and reality of 'Corporate Social Responsibility' (CSR) produced since the depths of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2007-8. It is also the first in what promises to be (under William Sun's expert editorial guidance) a steady flow of high-quality multi-author volumes addressing front-of-mind issues in corporate responsibility, governance and sustainability from a critical yet constructive perspective. If is incontestable that GFC exposed with brutal clarity the depths of corporate irresponsibility and regulatory ineptitude in western market economies, it is also plausible to argue - as do the 13 chapter contributions in this book - that the crisis also laid bare the underlying contradictions and limitations of pre-crisis approaches to CSR. In 2008, CSR (as then conceptualised and practised) was tested and found to wanting - perhaps even exacerbating the crisis rather than ameliorating it. This fine volume offers intelligent and lateral explains as to why this may have been so, as well as providing informed and thoughtful suggestions as to how CSR discourse and practice might be transformed for the greater good. As the volume's editors assert, the overriding conceptual and policy challenge is to reframe CSR from being an optional extra to an 'embedded' ethical imperative, integral to and inseparable from business discourse and values. Here is a book, then, that is designed both to unsettle and to assure; a book that should surely be mandatory reading for every business executive, every business student, and every business academic. Dr John Shields, Professor of Human Resource Management and Organisational Studies, The University of Sydney Business School"Table of ContentsList of Tables. List of Figures. List of Boxes. Acknowledgments. Reframing corporate social responsibility. The nature of responsibility and the credit crunch. The role of corporate social responsibility in the financial crisis. Corporate social irresponsibility: The role of government and ideology. Performance management and neo-liberal labour market governance: the case of the UK. Who is responsible for the financial crisis? Lessons from a separation thesis. Crisis, rescue, and corporate social responsibility under American corporate law. Institutionalisation of corporate social responsibility in the corporate governance code: The new trend of the Dutch model. When should companies voluntarily agree to stop doing things that are legal and profitable but ‘socially useless’; and would they ever?. The dark side of social capital: Lessons from the Madoff case. CSR 2.0: from the age of greed to the age of responsibility. Dying of consumption? Voluntary simplicity as an antidote to hypermaterialism. Corporate social responsibility in developing countries: polish perspective. Editorial Advisory and Review Board. List of Contributors. Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability. Critical Studies on Corporate Responsibility, Governance and Sustainability. Copyright page.

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Book SynopsisThe Global Financial Crisis of 2007-2009 has highlighted the resilience of the financial markets and economies from the developing world. This title investigates and assesses the impact and response to the crisis from an emerging markets perspective including asset pricing, contagion, financial intermediation, market structure and regulation.Table of ContentsList of Contributors. The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Emerging Financial Markets. The Global Financial Crisis. The Causes of the Global Financial Crisis. The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Emerging and Newly Industrialized Asia. Sailing Out of Crisis Emerging Markets Style. Bargaining game and LDCs' commercial bank debt restructuring outcomes. Has International Financial Co-Movement Changed? Emerging Markets in the 2007–2009 Financial Crisis. Financial Sector Surveillance and the IMF. What can the East and Northeast Asian Communities Learn from the EU?. Has the International Banking and Financial Crisis Damaged Emerging Market MNCs?. Changing Central Bank Transparency in Central and Eastern Europe During the Financial Crisis. Return Seasonality in Emerging Markets. How Long Memory in Volatility Affects Market Risk Estimation. Dependence and Return Distributions During Crises. Elasticities of Stock Prices in Emerging Markets. Financial Crises Propagation. Financial Crises and Structural Breaks in Autocorrelation on the Bric's Stock Markets. Macroeconomic Dynamics and the Term Structure of Interest Rates in Emerging Markets. Subprime Crisis and its Impact on the Brazilian Mutual Fund Industry. Determining the RMB Exchange Regime. Grass-Root stock market investment and long-term commonality in liquidity. Properties of Realized Correlation. Pricing the Currency Premium Under Flexible Exchange Rates. Determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in Thailand. A Comparison of Financial Robustness in the United States and Turkey During 2007–2010. The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on Emerging Financial Markets. Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis. Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis. Copyright page.

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Book SynopsisThis book brings together some of the very top scholars in the world in economic and organizational sociology to address the recent global financial crisis and concomitant debates and struggles around how to organize economies and societies around the world. The books consists of original contributions in theory and empirical settings and resultsTrade Review"Now that it's clear to just about everyone that there are institutions and organizations behind markets and that both have a major hand in market failures, who are you going to call? Organizational and economic sociologists of course! This book assembles scholars of significant repute from both fields with much to say about why we are where we are today. The messages are provocative and important. It's time to listen to the voices in this timely and important book. At the moment, this book should be on every thinking person's "to read" list." Stephen R. Barley, Richard Weiland Professor and Co-Director, Center for Work, Technology and Organization, Stanford University

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Book SynopsisPresents research on corporate governance from a number of countries across the world, including the United States, Spain, Malaysia, Israel and others. This title examines many important corporate governance mechanisms, such as board characteristics, ownership structure, legal protection of shareholders, and annual general meetings.Table of ContentsList of Contributors. Corporate Governance of Dual-Class Firms. The Effect of CEO Pay on Firm Valuation in Closely Held Firms. Does Public Debt Discipline Managers and Controlling Owners?. The Use of Warrants in Mergers and Acquisitions. The Role of Annual General Meetings in a Civil-Law Country. Corporate Governance and Agency Costs. Does Corporate Governance Matter? Evidence from Related Party Transactions in Malaysia. The Influence of Corporate Venture Capital Investment on the Likelihood of Attracting a Prestigious Underwriter. International Corporate Governance. Advances in Financial Economics. Advances in Financial Economics. Copyright page.

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Book SynopsisAs the aftershocks of the economic meltdown reverberate throughout the world, and people organize to physically occupy the major financial centers of the West, few experts and even fewer governments have dared to consider a world without the powerful markets that brought on the crash. The author offers a way forward.

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Book SynopsisThis insightful book explores the economic conditions and policy response of four major East Asian economies in the wake of the 2008 global economic crisis.Table of ContentsContents: Preface PART I: FINANCIAL SYSTEM AND FINANCIAL CRISIS 1. The Global Financial Crisis: Lessons for Taiwan Sheng-Cheng Hu 2. A Perspective on the US Dollar after the Current Financial Crisis: Lessons from the Fall of the Pound Sterling and the Gold Standard after World War I Lee-Rong Wang 3. De-Privatization? Case Studies of Government Banks’ Performance in Developing Countries During the Financial Crisis Chung-Hua Shen and Chih-Yung Lin PART II: IMPACTS, CONSEQUENCES AND POLICY RESPONSES 4. Why World Exports are so Susceptible to the Economic Crisis: The Prevailing ‘Export Overshooting’ Phenomenon, with Particular Reference to Taiwan Bih Jane Liu 5. The Impact of the Global Financial Crisis on the Taiwanese Economy and its Industrial Policy in Response Jiann-Chyuan Wang and Chia-Hui Lin 6. The American Crisis and Korean Financial Distress Un Chan Chung 7. Why Was Japan Hit So Hard by the Global Financial Crisis? Masahiro Kawai and Shinji Takagi 8. China’s Policy Responses to the Global Financial Crisis Yongding Yu PART III: POLICY CONSTRAINTS 9. Fiscal Discipline in the Recovery from a Global Financial Crisis Chih-Chin Ho, Yu-Shan Hsu and Ching-Shin Mao 10. A Challenge to Sustainable Development: The Dual Crisis of Energy and the Economy Daigee Shaw and Pi Chen Index

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Book SynopsisAgainst the backdrop of the financial crisis that unfolded in 2008, this book deals with policy challenges going forward, focusing in particular on the ongoing catching-up process in Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries.Table of ContentsContents: Preface PART I: CATCHING-UP AND GROWTH PROSPECTS AFTER THE CRISIS 1. Challenges to European Economic Integration Vítor Constâncio 2. A Forward-looking View on Catching-up Strategies from an Austrian Angle Ewald Nowotny 3. Re-establishing Growth After the Crisis – Lessons from the Nordic Countries Seppo Honkapohja 4. Catching-up Prospects After the Crisis for the EU’s CESEE Region Kieran Mc Morrow and Werner Röger 5. Growth Prospects in the EU-10 Members States After the Crisis Dariusz K. Rosati 6. Neoclassicism in the Balkans Vladimir Gligorov 7. Unlocking Growth Potential in the Balkans Boštjan Jazbec and Albulenë Kastrati 8. The Catching-up Experience of the Western Balkans – the Cases of Serbia, FYR of Macedonia and Albania Michael Loufir PART II: POLICY CHALLENGES IN THE CESEE REGION AND BEYOND 9. Monetary Policy and Financial Stability: What’s Ahead for Central and Eastern Europe Stephen G. Cecchetti 10. Central Banking for the 21st Century: An American Perspective Paul A. Wachtel 11. Monetary Policy Challenges in the CESEE Region: Architecture for an Earthquake Zone Bas B. Bakker and Leslie Lipschitz 12. A Policy Recipe for Successful Convergence of CESEE Countries in the Post-crisis World Júlia Király, Attila Csajbók and Mihály András Kovács 13. Monetary Policy Challenges in the CESEE Region – the Case of Poland Marek Belka 14. Monetary Policy Challenges in the CESEE Region – the Case of Romania Christian Popa 15. Monetary Policy Challenges in the CESEE Region – the Case of Croatia Boris Vujčić 16. Challenges for Monetary and Exchange Rate Policy in CESEE Created by the Crisis: Back to Square One? Peter Mooslechner PART III: THE NEW ROLE OF FINANCIAL INTEGRATION, GROWTH FINANCING AND EXPORTS 17. Policy Perspectives on Financial Integration After the Crisis Ignazio Angeloni 18. The Need for an Enhanced Role of Local Supervisors and Shareholder Oversight Andrzej Stopczyński 19. Firms’ Patterns of Trade and Access to Finance Jože P. Damijan and Črt Kostevc 20. Financing for Growth in CESEE Joachim Nagel and Corinna Knobloch 21. Capital Inflows, Exports and Growth in the CESEE Region Jarko Fidrmuc and Reiner Martin 22. Structural Components of International Trade Growth 1995–2009 Joseph F. Francois and Julia Wörz 23. The Great Trade Collapse and its Impact on Firms in Europe László Halpern PART IV: CHALLENGES FOR BANKING IN THE CESEE REGION 24. After the Crisis: Financial Sector Reform in the EU María Teresa Fábregas Fernández 25. Banking Challenges in the CESEE Region from the Erste Group Perspective Andreas Treichl 26. Challenges for Banking in the CESEE Region – the Situation in Austria and CESEE in November 2010 Michael Hysek 27. The CESEE Experience of KBC Group Marko Voljć 28. Challenges for Banking in the CESEE Region – the Case of Swedbank Baltic Banking Håkan Berg Index

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Book SynopsisThe Global Financial Crisis is a unique investigation into the causes of the most savage economic downturn experienced since the Great Depression. With the advent of this challenging new work, these alternative perspectives should now receive a far closer examination given the unmistakable economic failures endured over the past few years.Table of ContentsContents: Introduction Steven Kates 1. Been There Done That: The Political Economy of Déjà Vu Peter J. Boettke, Daniel J. Smith and Nicholas A. Snow 2. Traditional Monetary Economics vs Keynesianism, Creditism and Base-ism Tim Congdon 3. Can a Progressive Capital Gains Tax Help Avoid the Next Crisis? Public Sector Governance in a Comprehensive Neo-Schumpeterian System Horst Hanusch and Florian Wackermann 4. The Great Recession and its Aftermath from a Monetary Equilibrium Theory Perspective Steven G. Horwitz and William J. Luther 5. Policy in the Absence of Theory: The Coming World of Political Economy without Keynes Steven Kates 6. Hindsight on the Origins of the Global Financial Crisis? Steve Keen 7. Four Theses on the Global Financial Crisis J.E. King 8. Monetary Policies During the Financial Crisis: An Appraisal Mervyn K. Lewis 9. After the Crash of 2008: Financial Reform in an Age of Plutocracy Robert E. Prasch 10. The New Institutional Economics and the Global Financial Crisis Martin Ricketts 11. Economics in the Mirror of the Financial Crisis Rodolfo Signorino 12. Human Resources: The Key to Institutional Economics after the Great Recession Charles J. Whalen 13. What Should a Financial System Do? Minskian Lessons from the Global Financial Crisis L. Randall Wray Index

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Book SynopsisThis book develops concrete recommendations for financial sector reform and regulation in Asian economies aimed at preventing the recurrence of systemic financial crises.Trade ReviewFilled with fresh observations from the global financial crisis, this book provides a blueprint for making Asia's financial systems safe. With contributions from experts in several countries, it is both comprehensive and rigorous. It will be invaluable to policymakers and students of finance everywhere, but its unique Asian perspective provides special insight into the systems that managed to ride out the global crisis - but absent further reform might set the stage for another one. The book's analysis and recommendations deserve urgent policy attention. - Peter Petri, Brandeis University, US What are the lessons of the global financial crisis of 2007 - 2009 for Asia? This is a key issue for Asia today. On one hand, some observers argue that following the Asian financial crisis in 1997 - 98, most Asian developing countries built up strong mechanisms to guarantee financial stability. But the recent financial shocks across America and Europe show that even the best financial systems have key weaknesses. This book is a valuable guide for Asian financial policymakers of the road ahead. --- Peter McCawley, Australian National UniversityTable of ContentsContents: Preface 1. The Global Financial Crisis and its Implications for Financial Sector Reform and Regulation in Asia David G. Mayes and Peter J. Morgan PART I: FINANCIAL SURVEILLANCE AND REGULATION TO PREVENT CRISES 2. Strengthening Systemic Financial Regulation Masahiro Kawai and Michael Pomerleano 3. Enlisting Macroprudential and Market Regulatory Structures to Strengthen Prudential Supervision Larry D. Wall 4. Dynamic Provisioning: Some Lessons from Experience Santiago Fernández de Lis and Alicia García-Herrero 5. Securitized Products, Financial Regulation and Systemic Risk Mariko Fujii 6. Liberalization and Regulation of Capital Flows: Lessons for Emerging Market Economies Rakesh Mohan and Muneesh Kapur PART II: REGIONAL FINANCIAL MONITORING AND COORDINATION 7. The Financial Crisis: A Wake-up Call for Strengthening Regional Monitoring of Financial Markets and Regional Coordination of Financial Sector Policies? Adalbert Winkler 8. Regional Monitoring of Capital Flows and Coordination of Financial Regulation: Stakes and Options for Asia Michael G. Plummer PART III: FINANCIAL CRISIS MANAGEMENT AND RESOLUTION 9. The Role of State Intervention in the Financial Sector: Crisis Prevention, Containment and Resolution Yoon Je Cho 10. The Role of the State in Managing and Forestalling Systemic Financial Crises: Some Issues and Perspectives Charles Adams PART IV: PROMOTION OF ASIAN BOND MARKETS 11. Developing Asian Local Currency Bond Markets: Why and How? Mark M. Spiegel 12. Foreign Bond Markets and Financial Market Development: International Perspectives Jonathan A. Batten, Warren P. Hogan and Peter G. Szilagyi Index

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