The Financial Crisis of 2008: A History of US Financial Markets 2000–2012 (Studies in Macroeconomic History)

Supported by ten years of research, Wigmore has gathered extensive data covering the 2008 financial crisis and subsequent recovery to provide the first comprehensive history of the period. Financial crises cannot occur unless institutional investors finance the bubbles that created them. Wigmore follows the trail of data putting pressure on institutional investors to achieve higher levels of returns that led to over-leverage throughout the financial system and placed such a burden on recovery. Here is a 'very good picture - and painful reminder - of the crisis' evolution across multiple asset classes, structures, participants, and geographies.' This work serves as a critical analysis of modern portfolio management and an important reference work for financial professionals, academics, investors, and students. "Investors in 2000 looking back at the 1990s could have been pardoned for feeling euphoric. The S&P 500 (Chart 1.1) had risen 237% since 1992-a compound annual rate of 16.4%. This gain followed a plethora of troubles at the end of the 1980s-the savings & loan crisis that corresponded with widespread commercial real estate problems; the collapse of the nascent junk bond market; the bankruptcy of Drexel Burnham, and the jailing of its hero, Michael Milken; and the military down-sizing that followed the end of the Cold War"-- Provided by publisher The first history to explain fully the causes of the 2008 financial crisis. Written by an expert in global finance, it follows the money trails, synthesizes all the available data, and explores the motivations of the many different institutions involved.