Manias, Panics, and Crashes: A History of Financial Crises (Wiley Investment Classics)

Manias, Panics, And Crashes, Fifth Edition Is An Engaging And Entertaining Account Of The Way That Mismanagement Of Money And Credit Has Led To Financial Explosions Over The Centuries. Covering Such Topics As The History And Anatomy Of Crises, Speculative Manias, And The Lender Of Last Resort, This Book Puts The Turbulence Of The Financial World In Perspective. The Updated Fifth Edition Expands Upon Each Chapter, And Includes Two New Chapters Focusing On Significant Financial Crises Of The Last Fifteen Years. - Publisher. Financial Crisis : A Hardy Perennial -- Anatomy Of A Typical Crisis -- Speculative Manias -- Fueling The Flames : The Expansion Of Credit -- The Critical Stage -- Euphoria And Economic Booms -- International Contagion -- Bubble Contagion : Tokyo To Bangkok To New York -- Frauds, Swindles, And The Credit Cycle -- Policy Responses : Letting It Burn Out, And Other Devices -- The Domestic Lender Of Last Resort -- The Lessons Of History And The Most Tumultuous Decaded Ever. Charles P. Kindleberger And Robert Z. Aliber ; [with A New Foreword By Robert Solow]. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 266-295) And Index. "Manias, Panics, and Crashes probes the most recent natural disasters of the markets - from Black Monday to the Japanese boom and bust, from the sterling crisis and peso devaluation to the explosion in today's technology stocks.". "Kindleberger's writing leads the reader through a myriad of financial free falls. From the currency devaluation in the Holy Roman Empire in 1618, through the California gold rush of the 1840s and '50s to the crash of 1987, all the way up to the present day, his sharply drawn history confronts a host of key questions: In the ups and downs of market behavior, where is the line between rational and irrational? Are the markets a fool's paradise in an explosive world? When the storm expands to dangerous proportions, who will calm the panic? Should a "lender of last resort" intervene to repair the wreckage?" "Manias, Panics, and Crashes can be regarded as a warning or a proposition, reminding readers, in many ways, that what goes around comes around. Like all true classics, Kindleberger's book remains timely - for better or for worse."--BOOK JACKET. The best known and most highly regarded book on financial crises Financial crises and speculative excess can be traced back to the very beginning of trade and commerce. Since its introduction in 1978, this book has charted and followed this volatile world of financial markets. Charles Kindleberger's brilliant, panoramic history revealed how financial crises follow a nature-like rhythm: they peak and purge, swell and storm. Now this newly revised and expanded Fourth Edition probes the most recent "natural disasters" of the markets--from the difficulties in East Asia and the repercussions of the Mexican crisis to the 1992 Sterling crisis. His sharply drawn history confronts a host of key questions. Charles P. Kindleberger (Boston, MA) was the Ford Professor of Economics at MIT for thirty-three years. He is a financial historian and prolific writer who has published over twenty-four books. This volume takes the reader through nearly every major crash and financial panic from the early currency devaluationin the Holy Roman Empire in 1618 (a result of the Thirty Years War), to the gold rush during the push West in the US, to the more recent historic crashes of 1929, and 1997-98. Offers an account of the way that mismanagement of money and credit has led to financial explosions over the centuries. This book covers topics such as the history and anatomy of crises, speculative manias, and the lender of last resort. The years since the early 1970s are unprecedented in terms of the volatility in the prices of commodities, currencies, real estate and stocks, and the frequency and severity of financial crises. There is hardly a more conventional subject in economic literature than financial crises.