Book contents
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- List of Figures and Tables
- Note on the Text
- Part I Introduction
- Foreword: Financial Crises – Will it be Different Next Time?
- 1 Financial Innovation, Regulation and Crises: A Historical View
- Part II Episodes of Financial Innovation, Regulation and Crisis in History
- Part III Innovation, Regulation and the Current Financial Crisis
- Notes
- Index
Foreword: Financial Crises – Will it be Different Next Time?
from Part I - Introduction
- Frontmatter
- CONTENTS
- Acknowledgements
- List of Contributors
- List of Figures and Tables
- Note on the Text
- Part I Introduction
- Foreword: Financial Crises – Will it be Different Next Time?
- 1 Financial Innovation, Regulation and Crises: A Historical View
- Part II Episodes of Financial Innovation, Regulation and Crisis in History
- Part III Innovation, Regulation and the Current Financial Crisis
- Notes
- Index
Summary
The contributions in this volume reflect not only on the history of financial crises, but also on the present financial crisis. Past, present and future flow into one another. It is a clear demonstration of the policy relevance of research in the area of economic and financial history. Two fundamental questions can be asked about any financial crisis: What went wrong? And, who is to blame?
So, what went wrong? Several factors must be advanced, some of which can be regarded as old and familiar drivers of financial crises, while others are rather new factors. The credit cycle is a familiar phenomenon in a capitalist economy. Easy money, associated with loose monetary policy, is also a familiar phenomenon. Together, these two factors may, to a significant extent, explain the real estate cycle, an important element of the present crisis.
Financial innovation clearly played a role, and such innovation is certainly not a new phenomenon. The only thing that was perhaps new this time around was the sheer volume of the transactions and the application of highly sophisticated technology. The hype around financial innovation culminated in the phrase ‘this time it is different’. An illusion that is all too familiar for those who have studied financial crises throughout history.
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- Publisher: Pickering & ChattoFirst published in: 2014